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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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39 Pages
Page 7
3. Now it happened to Eusebius and his fellows in the Nicene Council as follows:--while they stood out in their irreligion, and attempted their fight against God [764] , the terms they used were replete with irreligion; but the assembled Bishops who were three hundred more or less, mildly and charitably required of them to explain and defend themselves on religious grounds. Scarcely, however, did they begin to speak, when they were condemned [765] , and one differed from another; then perceiving the straits in which their heresy lay, they remained dumb, and by their silence confessed the disgrace which came upon their heterodoxy. On this the Bishops, having negatived the terms they had invented, published against them the sound and ecclesiastical faith; and, as all subscribed it, Eusebius and his fellows subscribed it also in those very words, of which they are now complaining, I mean, "of the essence" and "one in essence," and that "the Son of God is neither creature or work, nor in the number of things originated [766] , but that the Word is an offspring from the substance of the Father." And what is strange indeed, Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine, who had denied the day before, but afterwards subscribed, sent to his Church a letter, saying that this was the Church's faith, and the tradition of the Fathers; and made a public profession that they were before in error, and were rashly contending against the truth. For though he was ashamed at that time to adopt these phrases, and excused himself to the Church in his own way, yet he certainly means to imply all this in his Epistle, by his not denying the "one in essence," and "of the essence." And in this way he got into a difficulty; for while he was excusing himself, he went on to attack the Arians, as stating that "the Son was not before His generation," and as thereby rejecting His existence before His birth in the flesh. And this Acacius is aware of also, though he too through fear may pretend otherwise because of the times and deny the fact. Accordingly I have subjoined at the end the letter of Eusebius, that thou mayest know from it the disrespect towards their own doctors shewn by Christ's enemies, and singularly by Acacius himself [767] .
[764] theomachein, theomachoi. vid. Acts v. 39; xxiii. 9. are of very frequent use in Athan. as is christomachoi, in speaking of the Arians, vid. infra passim. also antimachomenoi to soteri, Ep. Encycl. S:5. And in the beginning of the controversy, Alexander ap. Socr. i. 6. p. 10. b.c.p. 12. p. 13. Theod. Hist. i. 3. p. 729. And so theomachos glossa, Basil. contr. Eunom. ii. 27. fin. christomachon. Ep. 236. init. vid. also Cyril (Thesaurus, p. 19 e. p. 24 e.). theomachoi is used of other heretics, e.g. the Manichees, by Greg. Naz. Orat. 45. S:8.
[765] i.e. "convicted themselves," infr. S:18. init. heauton aei kategoroi, ad. Ep. Aeg. S:6. i.e. by their variations, vid. Tit. iii. 11 autokatakritos
[766] geneton.
[767] The party he is writing against is the Acacian, of whom he does not seem to have had much distinct knowledge. He contrasts them again and again in the passages which follow with the Eusebians of the Nicene Council, and says that he is sure that the ground they take when examined will be found substantially the same as the Eusebian. vid. S:6 init. et alib. S:7. init. S:9. circ. fin. S:10. circ. fin. S:13. init. tote kai nun. S:18. circ. fin. S:28. fin [On Acacius see Prolegg. ch. ii. S:8 (2) b.]
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/defence-nicene-definition.asp?pg=7
