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Epistula ad Caesarienses

A letter from Eusebius of Caesarea, the Arian-minded, to those of his own parish.

1 The matters concerning the ecclesiastical faith that were dealt with at the great council assembled in Nicaea it is likely, beloved, that you have learned from other sources, since rumor is accustomed to run ahead of the accurate account of what is done. But, lest from such hearsay the matters of the truth should be reported to you differently, we have of necessity sent to you, first, the formula of faith proposed by us, and then the second, 2 which they have published, having imposed additions to our own words. Our own formula, then, read in the presence of our most God-beloved emperor and declared to be sound and well-approved, is as follows: 3 "As we have received from the bishops before us, both in our first instruction and when we received the laver, and as we have learned from the divine scriptures, and as we have believed and taught in the presbyterate and in the episcopate itself, so also now believing, we present our faith to you; and it is this:"

4 We believe in one God, Father, Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God from God, light from light, life from life, only-begotten Son, firstborn of all creation, begotten of the Father before all ages, through whom also all things were made; who for our salvation was incarnate and lived among men, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the Father, and will come again in glory to judge 5 the living and the dead. And we believe also in one Holy Spirit. Believing each of these to be and to exist, the Father truly Father, and the Son truly Son, and the Holy Spirit truly Holy Spirit, as also our Lord, sending forth his disciples for the preaching, said: "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Concerning which things we also affirm that this is so, and that we think so, and that we have long held so, and that we will stand firm until death for this 6 faith, anathematizing every godless heresy. We testify before God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ that we have always thought these things from our heart and soul, from the time we have known ourselves, and that we now think and speak in truth, being able to show by proofs and to persuade you that in times past we also believed and preached so.

7 When this faith was set forth by us, there was no room for contradiction, but our most God-beloved emperor himself was the first to testify that it was most correctly composed. And he confessed that he himself thought thus, and he urged all to assent to it and to subscribe to the doctrines and to agree with these same things, with the single addition of the word homoousios, which he himself also interpreted, saying: that homoousios <the Son> was not said in the sense of the affections of bodies, nor therefore did he subsist from the Father by division or by any cutting off; for the immaterial and intellectual and incorporeal nature could not undergo any bodily affection, but it was fitting to understand such things by divine and ineffable words. And so our most wise and most pious emperor philosophized on these things. But they, on the pretext of the addition of homoousios, have composed this formula:

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Epistula ad Caesarienses

Εὐσεβίου Καισαρέως τοῦ ἀρειανόφρονος ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς τοὺς τῆς παροικίας αὐτοῦ.

1 Τὰ περὶ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς πίστεως πραγματευθέντα κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην

σύνοδον τὴν ἐν Νικαίᾳ συγκροτηθεῖσαν εἰκὸς μὲν ὑμᾶς, ἀγαπητοί, καὶ ἄλλοθεν μεμαθηκέναι, τῆς φήμης προτρέχειν εἰωθυίας τὸν περὶ τῶν πραττομένων ἀκριβῆ λόγον. ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ ἐκ τοιαύτης ἀκοῆς τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἑτεροίως ὑμῖν ἀπαγγέλληται, ἀναγκαίως διεπεμψάμεθα ὑμῖν πρῶτον μὲν τὴν ὑφ' ἡμῶν προταθεῖσαν περὶ τῆς πίστεως γραφήν, ἔπειτα τὴν δευτέ2 ραν, ἣν ταῖς ἡμετέραις φωναῖς προσθήκας ἐπιβαλόντες ἐκδεδώκασιν. τὸ μὲν οὖν παρ' ἡμῶν γράμμα ἐπὶ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ θεοφιλεστάτου ἡμῶν βασιλέως ἀναγνωσθὲν εὖ τε ἔχειν καὶ δοκίμως ἀποφανθὲν τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον· 3 «Καθὼς παρελάβομεν παρὰ τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν ἐπισκόπων καὶ ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ κατηχήσει καὶ ὅτε τὸ λουτρὸν ἐλαμβάνομεν καὶ καθὼς ἀπὸ τῶν θείων γραφῶν μεμαθήκαμεν καὶ ὡς ἐν τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἐπισκοπῇ ἐπιστεύομέν τε καὶ ἐδιδάσκομεν, οὕτως καὶ νῦν πιστεύοντες τὴν ἡμετέραν πίστιν ὑμῖν προσαναφέρομεν· ἔστι δὲ αὕτη·»

4 Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα θεόν, πατέρα, παντοκράτορα, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν, καὶ εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, φῶς ἐκ φωτός, ζωὴν ἐκ ζωῆς, υἱὸν μονογενῆ, πρωτότοκον πάσης κτίσεως, πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεγεννημένον, δι' οὗ καὶ ἐγένετο τὰ πάντα· τὸν διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν σαρκωθέντα καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώποις πολιτευσάμενον καὶ παθόντα καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἀνελθόντα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἥξοντα πάλιν ἐν δόξῃ κρῖναι 5 ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς. πιστεύομεν δὲ καὶ εἰς ἓν πνεῦμα ἅγιον. τούτων ἕκαστον εἶναι καὶ ὑπάρχειν πιστεύοντες πατέρα ἀληθῶς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν ἀληθῶς υἱὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἀληθῶς ἅγιον πνεῦμα, καθὼς καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ἀποστέλλων εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς εἶπεν· «πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος». περὶ ὧν καὶ διαβεβαιούμεθα οὕτως ἔχειν καὶ οὕτως φρονεῖν καὶ πάλαι οὕτως ἐσχηκέναι καὶ μέχρι θανάτου ὑπὲρ ταύτης 6 ἐνίστασθαι τῆς πίστεως ἀναθεματίζοντες πᾶσαν ἄθεον αἵρεσιν. ταῦτα ἀπὸ καρδίας καὶ ψυχῆς πάντοτε πεφρονηκέναι, ἐξ οὗπερ ἴσμεν ἑαυτούς, καὶ νῦν φρονεῖν τε καὶ λέγειν ἐξ ἀληθείας ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ παντοκράτορος καὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρόμεθα, δεικνύναι ἔχοντες δι' ἀποδείξεων καὶ πείθειν ὑμᾶς, ὅτι καὶ τοὺς παρεληλυθότας χρόνους οὕτως ἐπιστεύομέν τε καὶ ἐκηρύσσομεν.

7 Ταύτης ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἐκτεθείσης τῆς πίστεως οὐδενὶ παρῆν ἀντιλογίας τόπος, ἀλλ' αὐτός τε πρῶτος ὁ θεοφιλέστατος ἡμῶν βασιλεὺς ὀρθότατα περιέχειν αὐτὴν ἐμαρτύρησεν. οὕτω τε καὶ ἑαυτὸν φρονεῖν συνωμολόγησε καὶ ταύτῃ τοὺς πάντας συγκαταθέσθαι ὑπογράφειν τε τοῖς δόγμασι καὶ συμφωνεῖν τούτοις αὐτοῖς παρεκελεύετο, ἑνὸς μόνου προσεγγραφέντος ῥήματος τοῦ ὁμοουσίου, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸς ἑρμήνευε λέγων· ὅτι μὴ κατὰ τῶν σωμάτων πάθη λέγοιτο ὁμοούσιος <ὁ υἱός>, οὔτ' οὖν κατὰ διαίρεσιν οὔτε κατά τινα ἀποτομὴν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποστῆναι· μηδὲ γὰρ δύνασθαι τὴν ἄυλον καὶ νοερὰν καὶ ἀσώματον φύσιν σωματικόν τι πάθος ὑφίστασθαι, θείοις δὲ καὶ ἀπορρήτοις λόγοις προσήκειν τὰ τοιαῦτα νοεῖν. καὶ ὁ μὲν σοφώτατος ἡμῶν καὶ εὐσεβέστατος βασιλεὺς τοιάδε ἐφιλοσόφει. οἱ δὲ προφάσει τῆς τοῦ ὁμοουσίου προσθήκης τήνδε τὴν γραφὴν πεποιήκασιν·