2

if one compares them, those at Nicaea are more than the several synods, inasmuch as the whole is greater than the part. And if anyone should wish to discern from these men the cause of the council in Nicaea and of the so many synods that came after it, he would find that the one in Nicaea had a reasonable cause, but the others were convened by force out of hatred and contentiousness. For the one was assembled on account of the Arian heresy and on account of the Pascha; since those throughout Syria, and Cilicia, and Mesopotamia disagreed with us, and kept the feast at the time when the Jews keep it. But thanks to the Lord, just as concerning the faith, so also concerning the holy feast an agreement has been reached. And this was the cause of the council in Nicaea; but those after it, though beyond number, were devised against the ecumenical council. 26.1033 And since these things are so demonstrated, who will accept those who name Ariminum or any other synod besides the one in Nicaea? Or who would not hate those who set aside the things of the Fathers, but prefer the newer things composed at Ariminum through contentiousness and violence? And who would wish to assemble with these men, who do not even accept their own things? For those men, writing different things at different times in their own ten or more synods, as we have said before, are clearly becoming accusers of each one themselves. And they are suffering something of this kind, as the traitors of the Jews at that time also suffered; for as they, having abandoned the only spring of living water, dug for themselves broken cisterns, that will not be able to hold water, and this is written in the prophet Jeremiah; so these men, fighting against the one and ecumenical council, have dug for themselves many synods; and all are empty, which among them have appeared like a handful that has no strength. Let us not therefore tolerate those who name Ariminum or any other synod besides the one held in Nicaea. For indeed they themselves who name Ariminum seem not to know the things done in it; for otherwise they would have been silent. For you know, beloved, you too having learned from those who went from you to Ariminum, that Ursacius and Valens, Eudoxius and Auxentius, and Demophilus was there with them, were deposed, for wishing to write things other than those of Nicaea; when also, having been required to anathematize the Arian heresy, they refused, and preferred to be its champions. But the bishops, the truly genuine servants of the Lord and orthodox believers, and they were about two hundred, wrote that they were satisfied with the one in Nicaea alone, and to seek or think nothing more or less than it. These things they also declared to Constantius, who had also commanded the synod to be held. But those who were deposed at Ariminum, going to Constantius, caused those who had decided against them to be insulted, and threats to be made, that they would not return to their own dioceses, and to suffer violence in Thrace in the middle of winter, so that they would tolerate the innovations made by them. If therefore any name Ariminum, let them first show the deposition of the aforementioned, and what the bishops wrote, saying to seek nothing more than what was confessed by the Fathers at Nicaea, 26.1036 nor to name any other synod besides that one. But these things they hide, and they put forward the things done by violence in Thrace; from which they are shown to be proponents of the Arian heresy, and alien from the sound faith. And if anyone should wish to examine in parallel the great council itself, and those of theirs, he would find the piety of the one, and the absurdity of the other. Those who assembled at Nicaea did not assemble after being deposed, but also confessed that the Son is of the Father's substance; but these men, having been deposed once and twice, and a third time at Ariminum itself, dared to write that one must not say that God has substance or hypostasis. From these things it is possible to see, brethren, how those at Nicaea breathe of the Scriptures, with God Himself saying in Exodus, I am the one who is; and through Jeremiah, Who has stood in His counsel, and seen

2

συμβάλῃ, πλείους οἱ ἐν Νικαίᾳ τῶν κατὰ μέρος εἰσὶν, ὅσον καὶ τὸ ὅλον πλεῖόν ἐστι τοῦ μέρους ἄν τε τὸ αἴτιον τῆς ἐν Νικαίᾳ καὶ τῶν μετ' αὐτὴν τοσούτων γενομένων συνόδων παρὰ τούτων διαγνῶναι τις ἐθέλοι, εὕροι ἂν τὴν μὲν ἐν Νικαίᾳ ἔχουσαν τὸ αἴτιον εὔλογον, τὰς δὲ ἄλλας διὰ μῖσος καὶ φιλονεικίαν ἐκ βίας συγκροτηθείσας. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ διὸ τὴν Ἀρειανὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ διὰ τὸ Πάσχα συνήχθη· ἐπειδὴ οἱ κατὰ Συρίαν, καὶ Κιλικίαν, καὶ Μεσοποτα μίαν διεφώνουν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ τῷ καιρῷ, ἐν ᾧ ποιοῦσιν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἐποίουν καὶ αὐτοί. Ἀλλὰ χάρις τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὥσπερ περὶ τῆς πίστεως, οὕτω καὶ περὶ τῆς ἁγίας ἑορτῆς γέγονε συμφωνία. Καὶ τοῦτο ἦν τὸ αἴτιον τῆς ἐν Νικαίᾳ συνόδου· αἱ δὲ μετὰ ταύτην ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν μὲν, κατὰ δὲ τῆς οἰκουμενικῆς συνόδου ἐπενοήθησαν. 26.1033 Τούτων δὲ οὕτω δεικνυμένων, τίς ἀποδέξεται τοὺς τὴν Ἀρίμηνον ἢ ἄλλην σύνοδον παρὰ τὴν ἐν Νικαίᾳ ὀνομάζοντας; ἢ τίς οὐκ ἂν μισήσειε τοὺς ἀθετοῦντας μὲν τὰ τῶν Πατέρων, τὰ δὲ νεώτερα ἐν τῇ Ἀριμήνῳ κατὰ φιλονεικίαν καὶ βίαν συντιθέντα προκρίνοντας; Τίς δὲ τούτοις συνελθεῖν ἐθελήσοι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, μηδὲ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἀποδεχομένοις; Οἱ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν δέκα που καὶ πλέον, καθὰ προείπαμεν, συνόδοις, ἄλλοτε ἄλλα γράφοντες, δῆλοί εἰσιν ἑκάστης αὐτοὶ κατήγοροι γινόμενοι. Πάσχουσι δέ τι τοιοῦτον, οἷον καὶ οἱ τότε τῶν Ἰουδαίων προδόται πεπόνθασιν· ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι, καταλείψαντες τὴν μόνην πηγὴν τοῦ ζῶντος ὕδατος, ὤρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς λάκκους συντετριμμένους, οἳ οὐ δυνήσονται ὕδωρ συνέχειν, γέγραπται δὲ τοῦτο παρὰ τῷ προφήτῃ Ἱερεμίᾳ· οὕ τως οὗτοι, μαχόμενοι πρὸς τὴν μίαν καὶ οἰκουμενικὴν σύνοδον, ὤρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς συνόδους πολλάς· καὶ πᾶσαι κεναὶ, αἳ παρ' αὐτοῖς ὡς δράγμα μὴ ἔχων ἰσχὺν ἐφάνησαν. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀνεχώμεθα τῶν τὴν Ἀρί μηνον ἢ ἄλλην ὀνομαζόντων σύνοδον παρὰ τὴν ἐν Νι καίᾳ γενομένην. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ τὴν Ἀρίμηνον ὀνομάζοντες ἐοίκασι μὴ εἰδέναι τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ πραχθέντα· ἢ γὰρ ἂν ἐσιώπησαν. Οἴδατε γὰρ, ἀγαπητοὶ, μαθόντες καὶ ὑμεῖς παρὰ τῶν ἐλθόντων ἐξ ὑμῶν εἰς τὴν Ἀρίμηνον, ὡς Οὐρσάκιος καὶ Οὐάλης, Εὐδόξιος καὶ Αὐξέντιος, ἐκεῖ δὲ ἦν σὺν αὐτοῖς καὶ ∆ημόφιλος, καθῃρέθησαν, θελήσαντες ἕτερα παρὰ τὰ ἐν Νικαίᾳ γράφειν· ὅτε καὶ ἀπαιτηθέντες ἀναθεματίσαι τὴν Ἀρειανὴν αἵρεσιν, παρῃτήσαντο, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῆς ἤθελον εἶναι προστάται. Οἱ δέ γε ἐπίσκοποι, οἱ ἀληθῶς γνήσιοι δοῦλοι τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ὀρθῶς πιστεύοντες, ἦσαν δὲ ἐγγὺς διακόσιοι, ἔγραψαν ἀρκεῖσθαι τῇ ἐν Νικαίᾳ μόνῃ, καὶ μηδὲν πλέον ἢ ἔλαττον παρ' ἐκεί νην ζητεῖν ἢ φρονεῖν. Ταῦτα καὶ Κωνσταντίῳ δεδηλώκασι, τῷ καὶ τὴν σύνοδον κελεύσαντι γενέσθαι. Ἀλλ' οἱ ἐν τῇ Ἀριμήνῳ καθαιρεθέντες, ἀπελθόντες πρὸς Κωνστάντιον, πεποιήκασιν ὑβρισθῆναι μὲν, ἀπειλὰς δὲ γενέσθαι, μὴ ἀνακάμψειν εἰς τὰς ἰδίας παροικίας τοὺς κατ' αὐτῶν ἀποφηναμένους, βίαν τε παθεῖν ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ χειμῶνι· ὥστε τῶν παρ' αὐτῶν καινοτομουμένων ἀνέχεσθαι. Εἴπερ οὖν τινες τὴν Ἀρίμηνον ὀνομάζουσι, δεικνύτωσαν πρῶτον τὴν καθαίρεσιν τῶν προειρημένων, καὶ ἅπερ ἔγραψαν οἱ ἐπίσκοποι, λέγοντες μηδὲν πλέον ζητεῖν τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ παρὰ τῶν Πατέρων ὁμολογη 26.1036 θέντων, μηδὲ ὀνομάζειν ἄλλην σύνοδον παρ' ἐκείνην. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν κρύπτουσι, τὰ δὲ ἐν τῇ Θρᾴκῃ κατὰ βίαν πραχθέντα προβάλλονται· ἐξ ὧν δείκνυνται, τῆς μὲν Ἀρειανῆς αἱρέσεως ὄντες ὑποκριταὶ, ἀλλότριοι δὲ τῆς ὑγιαινούσης πίστεως. Καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν με γάλην σύνοδον, καὶ τὰς παρ' ἐκείνων ἄν τις ἐξετάζειν ἐκ παραλλήλου θέλοι, εὕροι ἂν τῶν μὲν τὴν θεο σέβειαν, τῶν δὲ τὴν ἀλογίαν. Οἱ ἐν Νικαίᾳ συνελθόν τες οὐ καθαιρεθέντες συνῆλθον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡμολόγη σαν τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Πατρὸς εἶναι τὸν Υἱόν· οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ἅπαξ καὶ δεύτερον καθαιρεθέντες, καὶ τρίτον ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ Ἀριμήνῳ, γράφειν ἐτόλμησαν, μὴ χρῆναι λέγειν οὐσίαν ἢ ὑπόστασιν ἔχειν τὸν Θεόν. Ἐκ δὴ τούτων σκοπεῖν ἔξεστιν, ἀδελφοὶ, ὡς οἱ μὲν ἐν Νικαίᾳ τῶν Γραφῶν πνέουσι, λέγοντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν μὲν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν· διὰ δὲ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου· Τίς ἐστιν ἐν ὑποστήματι αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶδε