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Epistula ad Afros episcopos

OF THE NINETY BISHOPS THROUGHOUT EGYPT AND LIBYA AND OF THE BLESSED ATHANASIUS, AGAINST THE ARIANS, TO THOSE IN AFRICA

TO THE MOST HONORABLE BISHOPS Sufficient indeed are the things written both by our beloved fellow-minister Damasus, the bishop of great Rome, and by the so many bishops gathered with him; no less also are those of the other synods held in both Gaul and Italy concerning the sound faith, which Christ bestowed, the apostles preached, and the Fathers who assembled in Nicaea from all our inhabited world have handed down. For so great was the zeal at that time on account of the Arian heresy, that those who had fallen into it might be drawn out, and its inventors might be made manifest. To this, at any rate, the whole inhabited world long ago agreed, and now also, with many synods having been held, all those throughout Dalmatia, and Dardania, and Macedonia, and Epirus, and Greece, and Crete, and the other islands, and Sicily, and Cyprus, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Isauria, and all of Egypt and the Libyas, and most of those in Arabia have been reminded and have acknowledged it; and they have admired its subscribers, because, if any bitterness growing up from the root of the Arians had been left among them—we mean Auxentius and Ursacius, and Valens and those who think the same as they do—through these writings they have been cut off and left behind. Sufficient, therefore, are the things confessed at Nicaea, and self-sufficient, as we have said before, both for the overthrow of every impious heresy, and for the security and benefit of the Church's teaching. But since we have heard that some, wishing to fight 26.1032 against it, are attempting to name a certain synod as having taken place at Ariminum, and are striving that this one should prevail rather than that one; we have thought it necessary to write and remind you not to tolerate such men; for this is nothing other than an offshoot of the Arian heresy once again. For those who reject the synod held against it (that is, the one held in Nicaea), what else do they want than for the doctrines of Arius to prevail? Of what, then, are such men worthy but to be called Arians, and to share in the same condemnation as they? They who neither feared God Who says, "Do not move the ancient boundaries which your fathers have set," and, "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die"; who neither respected the Fathers, who commanded that those who think contrary to their confession should be anathema. For this reason the synod in Nicaea was made ecumenical, with three hundred and eighteen bishops having assembled concerning the faith on account of the Arian impiety; so that no longer might partial councils be held under the pretext of faith; but, even if they are held, they might not prevail. For what is lacking in that one, that someone should seek for newer things? It is full of piety, beloved; it has filled the whole inhabited world. This faith the Indians have known, and as many Christians as are among the other barbarians. Vain, therefore, is the labor of those who have often attempted to oppose it. For such men have already held ten and more synods, changing at each one, and subtracting some things from the first ones, while altering and adding other things in those that followed. And they have gained nothing up to now by writing, erasing, using force, not knowing that "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." But the word of the Lord which came through the ecumenical synod in Nicaea remains forever. For if one were to number with number

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Epistula ad Afros episcopos

ΤΩΝ ΚΑΤ' ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΛΙΒΥΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩΝ ΕΝΕΝΗΚΟΝΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΥ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΚΑΤΑ ΑΡΙΑΝΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΑΦΡΙΚΗ

ΤΙΜΙΩΤΑΤΟΥΣ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥΣ Ἱκανὰ μὲν τὰ γραφέντα παρά τε τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ συλλειτουργοῦ ἡμῶν ∆αμάσου, τοῦ ἐπισκόπου τῆς μεγάλης Ῥώμης, καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ τοσούτων συνελθόντων ἐπισκόπων· οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων γενομένων συνόδων ἔν τε τῇ Γαλλίᾳ καὶ τῇ Ἰταλίᾳ περὶ τῆς ὑγιαινούσης πίστεως, ἣν ὁ μὲν Χριστὸς ἐχαρίσατο, οἱ δὲ ἀπόστολοι ἐκήρυξαν, καὶ οἱ Πατέρες παραδεδώκασιν οἱ ἐν τῇ Νικαίᾳ συν ελθόντες ἀπὸ πάσης τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης. Τοσαύτη γὰρ γέγονε τότε σπουδὴ διὰ τὴν Ἀρειανὴν αἵρεσιν, ἵνα οἱ μὲν πεπτωκότες εἰς αὐτὴν ἀνασπασθῶσιν, οἱ δὲ ἐφευρόντες ἔκδηλοι γένωνται. Ταύτῃ γοῦν καὶ πάλαι πᾶσα ἡ οἰκουμένη συμπεφώνηκε, καὶ νῦν δὲ πολλῶν συνόδων γενομένων, ὑπομνησθέν τες πάντες οἵ τε κατὰ τὴν ∆αλματίαν, καὶ ∆αρδανίαν, καὶ Μακεδονίαν, Ἠπείρους τε καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ Κρήτην, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας νήσους, Σικελίαν τε καὶ Κύπρον, καὶ Παμφυλίαν, Λυκίαν τε καὶ Ἰσαυρίαν, καὶ πᾶσάν τε τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὰς Λιβύας, καὶ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ ταύτην ἐπέγνωσαν· καὶ ἐθαύμασάν τε τοὺς ὑπογράψαντας, ὅτι, εἰ καί τι περιελέλειπτο παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐκτῆς ῥίζης τῶν Ἀρειανῶν ἄνω φύουσα πικρία, Αὐξέντιόν φαμεν καὶ Οὐρσάκιον, καὶ Οὐάλεντα καὶ τοὺς τὰ αὐτὰ φρονοῦντας αὐτοῖς, διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων τούτων ἐξεκόπησαν καὶ ἀπελεί φθησαν. Ἱκανὰ μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐν τῇ Νικαίᾳ ὁμολογηθέντα, καὶ αὐτάρκη, καθὰ προείπομεν, πρός τε ἀνατροπὴν πάσης ἀσεβοῦς αἱρέσεως, καὶ πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν καὶ ὠφέλειαν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς διδασκαλίας. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἠκούσαμεν, ὅτι τινὲς, βουλόμενοι μάχεσθαι 26.1032 πρὸς αὐτὴν, ὀνομάζειν ἐπιχειροῦσι σύνοδόν τινα ὡς ἐν Ἀριμήνῳ γενομένην, καὶ φιλονεικοῦσι ταύτην μᾶλλον ἢ ἐκείνην κρατεῖν· ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμεθα γράψαι καὶ ὑπομνῆσαι ὑμᾶς, ἵνα μὴ ἀνέχησθε τῶν τοιούτων· τοῦτο γὰρ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἐστιν ἢ πάλιν τῆς Ἀρειανῆς αἱρέσεως παραφυάς. Οἱ γὰρ τὴν κατ' αὐ τῆς σύνοδον γενομένην παραιτούμενοι (ἔστι δὲ ἡ ἐν Νικαίᾳ γενομένη), τί ἕτερον βούλονται, ἢ τὰ Ἀρείου κρατεῖν; Τίνος οὖν ἄξιοι οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἢ Ἀρειανοὶ μὲν καλεῖσθαι, τῆς αὐτῆς δὲ ἐπιτιμίας ἐκείνοις μετασχεῖν; οἳ μήτε τὸν Θεὸν ἐφοβήθησαν λέγοντα· Μὴ μέταιρε ὅρια αἰώνια, ἃ ἔθεντο οἱ πατέρες σου· καὶ, Ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα θανάτῳ τελευτάτω· οἳ μήτε τοὺς Πατέρας ᾐδέσθη σαν, παραγγείλαντας ἀνάθεμα εἶναι τοὺς τὰ ἐναντία φρονοῦντας τῆς ὁμολογίας αὐτῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ οἰκουμενικὴ γέγονεν ἡ ἐν Νι καίᾳ σύνοδος, τριακοσίων δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ συνελθόντων ἐπισκόπων περὶ τῆς πίστεως διὰ τὴν Ἀρειανὴν ἀσέβειαν· ἵνα μηκέτι κατὰ μέρος προφάσει πίστεως γίνωνται· ἀλλὰ, κἂν γένωνται, μὴ κρατῶσι. Τί γὰρ ἐκείνῃ λείπει, ἵνα καινότερα ζητήσῃ τις; Πλήρης ἐστὶν εὐσεβείας, ἀγαπητοί· αὕτη πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην πεπλήρωκε. Ταύτην ἔγνωσαν καὶ Ἰνδοὶ, καὶ ὅσοι παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις βαρβάροις εἰσὶ Χριστιανοί. Οὐκοῦν μάταιος ὁ κάματος τοῖς κατ' αὐτῆς πολλά κις ἐπιχειρήσασιν. Ἤδη γὰρ οἱ τοιοῦτοι δέκα καὶ πλέον που συνόδους πεποιήκασι, καθ' ἑκάστην μεταβαλλόμενοι, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν πρώτων ἀφαιροῦντες, τὰ δὲ ταῖς μετὰ ταῦτα ἐναλλάσσοντες καὶ προστιθέντες. Καὶ ὤνησαν οὐδὲν μέχρι νῦν γράφοντες, ἐξαλείφοντες, βιαζόμενοι, οὐκ εἰδότες, ὅτι Πᾶσα μὲν φυτεία, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος, ἐκριζωθήσεται τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ Κυρίου τὸ διὰ τῆς οἰκουμενικῆς συνόδου ἐν τῇ Νικαίᾳ γενόμενον μέ νει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἄν τε γὰρ ἀριθμὸν ἀριθμῷ τις