The Emperor Theodosius And The T

The Emperor Theodosius was appointed colleague of Gratian and Valentinian

II, 378. He issued in conjunction with these emperors an edict (Cod.

Theod., XVI, 1, 2; cf. Cod. Just., I, 1, 1, v. infra, § 72, b,

e), requiring all subjects of the Empire to hold the orthodox faith in

the Trinity. He then called a council of Eastern bishops to meet at

Constantinople in 381 to settle the question as to the succession to the

see of that city and to confirm the creed of Nicaea as the faith of the

Eastern half of the Church. Gregory of Nazianzus was appointed bishop of

Constantinople, but was forced to resign, having formerly been bishop of

Sasima, from which he had been translated in violation of the Nicene

canons. As soon as it was apparent that the bishops would have to accept

the Nicene faith the thirty-six Macedonians withdrew. Their opinion as to

the Holy Spirit, that He was not divine in the same sense that the Son was

divine, was condemned, without express statement of the point condemned,

as was also the teaching of Apollinaris as to the nature of Christ. The

council was not intended to be an ecumenical or general council, and it

was not regarded as such even in the East until after the Council of

Chalcedon, A. D. 451, and then probably on account of the creed which was

then falsely attributed to the Fathers of Constantinople. In the West the

council was not recognized as an ecumenical council until well into the

sixth century. (See Hefele, § 100.) The council issued no creed and made

no additions to the Nicene creed. It published a tome, since lost, setting

forth the faith in the Trinity. It enacted four canons, of which only the

first three are of general application.





Additional source material: Percival, Seven Ecumenical Councils

(PNF); Theodoret, Hist. Ec., V, 6-9; Socrates, Hist. Ec., V,

8; Basil, De Spiritu Sancto (PNF), Hefele, §§ 95-100.





(a) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, Canons, Bruns, I, 20. Cf.

Kirch, nn. 583 ff.





The text of the canons of the council may be found in Hefele, §

98, and also in Bruns. The Translations and Reprints of the

University of Pennsylvania give translations. For the address of

the council to Theodosius, see § 72, b. The fourth canon is of a

merely temporary importance.





Canon 1. The faith of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers who were

assembled at Nicaea in Bithynia shall not be set aside but shall remain

dominant. And every heresy shall be anathematized, especially that of the

Eunomians or Anomoeans, the Arians or Eudoxians, the semi-Arians or

Pneumatomachians, the Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, and

Apollinarians.



Canon 2. The bishops are not to go beyond their dioceses to churches lying

outside of their bounds, nor bring confusion on churches; but let the

bishop of Alexandria, according to the canons, alone administer the

affairs of Egypt; and let the bishops of the East manage the East alone,

the privileges of the church in Antioch, which are mentioned in the canons

of Nicaea, being preserved; and let the bishops of the Asian diocese

administer the Asian affairs only; and the Pontic bishops only Pontic

matters; and the Thracian bishops only Thracian matters. And let not the

bishops go beyond their dioceses for ordination or any other

ecclesiastical ministrations, unless they be invited. And the aforesaid

canon concerning dioceses being observed, it is evident that the synod of

each province will administer the affairs of that particular province as

was decreed at Nicaea. But the churches of God in heathen nations must be

governed according to the custom which has prevailed from the time of the

Fathers.



Canon 3. The bishop of Constantinople, however, shall have the prerogative

of honor after(123) the bishop of Rome; because Constantinople is New

Rome.





(b) Cyril of Jerusalem, Creed. (Cf. MSG, 35:533.) Cf. Hahn, § 124.





The clauses which are here given are the headings of the sixth to

the eighteenth Catechetical Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem in

which the writer expounded the baptismal creed of Jerusalem. This

creed is approximately reconstructed by bringing together the

headings. Its date is circa 345. It should be compared with the

creed of the church of Salamis, in the next selection. They are

the precursors of what is now known as the Nicene creed,

incorrectly attributed to the Council of Constantinople A. D. 381.





We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and

of all things visible and invisible.



And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, begotten

of the Father, true God, before all the ages, through whom all things were

made;



Incarnate and made man; crucified and buried;



And rose again the third day;



And ascended into heaven;



And sat on the right hand of the Father;



And shall come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead, of whose

kingdom there shall be no end.



And in one Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, who spake by the prophets;



And in one baptism of repentance for remission of sins;



And in one holy Catholic Church;



And in the resurrection of the flesh;



And in the life eternal.





(c) Epiphanius, Ancoratus, chs. 119 f. (MSG, 43:252.) Cf. Hahn, §

125.





Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, was the most important of the

hereseologists of the Fathers, gathering to form his work on

heresies some scores of heterodox systems of teachings. His

passion for orthodoxy was taken advantage of by Theophilus of

Antioch to cause trouble for Chrysostom and others; see

Origenistic controversy, § 87. The Ancoratus, from which the

following creed is taken, is a statement of the Catholic faith

which, amidst the storms of the Arian controversy, should serve as

an anchor of salvation for the Christians. The date of the

following creed, which has come to be known as the Salaminium, is

374. It is evidently based upon that of Jerusalem given by Cyril.





We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and

of all things visible and invisible.



And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of

the Father before all worlds, that is, of the substance of the Father,

light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one

substance [homoousios] with the Father; by whom all things were made, both

those in heaven and those on earth; who for us men and for our salvation

came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin

Mary, and was made man; He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and

suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the

Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the

Father; and He shall come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead;

of whose kingdom there shall be no end.



And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the

Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and

glorified, who spake by the prophets; and in one holy Catholic and

Apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;

and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to

come.



But those who say there was a time when He was not, and He was not before

He was begotten, or He was made of nothing, or of another substance or

essence [hypostasis or ousia], saying that the Son of God is effluent or

variable--these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.