Letters

eam rem, whom he had proposed to make his own, he brought much assistance. For when the sun itself was burning, and casting a great force of heat across the fields, and the nature of the Egyptian region was such that it heated up more quickly than other places and, beyond all other lands, was ignited by the heat of the sun, the prefect himself built a certain wall in the field, and erected it in such a way that those who wished could not escape from that place. And when he had shut those concordant martyrs inside that wall, he said: "Give your punishment, all of you, since you labor under one and the same madness." He also engaged guards, whom he ordered to ask the martyrs frequently whether they wished to depart from their conviction; and he commanded them to say these things to the martyrs: "Water is available to us, and it is abundant, and the necessary things for sustenance are at hand. If, therefore, you are thirsty or hungry, deny your God and be saved; do this, and we will supply you with necessities." But they, correctly judging that martyrdom itself is the one and true liberty, that one salvation hangs upon the confession of God, and that one life proceeds from this present death, were moved neither by any heat of the burning sun, nor by heavy hunger; and finally, they did not care to relieve their dry thirst, but instead of food they recited psalms, and instead of drink they recounted the praise of God. ^B

Thus, their faith did not differ from that voice of the Gospel, which voice Jesus returned to the devil in the mountain when he proposed these things, "Say that these stones may become bread." He says, "It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And in another place he said to the Samaritan woman: "Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst forever; but the water which I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water leaping up into eternal life." In this way those most holy martyrs were nourished; thus, the perseverance in good things provided them with a true drink, and one similar to the fountain toward which they were hastening. This was their exultation; this praise set before them urged them most greatly to attain the pleasure of paradise: for they desired to draw drink from that holy fountain. After these things, when the time was at hand for their souls to hasten to their own places and to their own God, the martyrs themselves, having proclaimed God with many hymns and praises, delivered their most pure souls to God, as was fitting. When this matter was reported to the leader of Egypt, he ordered the wall, built to guard them, to be their tomb: but we, Christian men, let us send up glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^C

EUSEBIUS'S EPISTLES

^A regarding the great council convened at Nicaea, it is likely, beloved, that you have learned of them from other sources as well, since rumor usually runs ahead of an accurate account of what has taken place. But so that the truth may not be reported to you differently on the basis of such hearsay, we have deemed it necessary to send you, first, the formula of faith which was proposed by us, and then the second one which they published, having added certain things to our words. Therefore, our document—which was read in the presence of our most pious emperor and was declared to be correct and worthy of approval—is as follows.

2. Just as we received from the bishops who preceded us, and in the first catechesis, and when we received the washing [of baptism], and just as we learned from the Divine Scriptures, and as we believed and taught in the presbyterate and in the episcopate itself; so also, believing now, we offer you our faith, which is as follows:

3. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, light of light, life of life, the only-begotten Son, the firstborn of all creation, begotten of the Father before all ages, ^B through whom also all things were made; who for our salvation was incarnate and lived among men, and suffered, and rose on the third day, and ascended to the Father, and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We believe also in one Holy Spirit, believing each of these to be and to exist: the Father as truly Father, the Son as truly Son, and the Holy Spirit as truly Holy Spirit; just as our Lord also said when sending His disciples out to preach: "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" ^C (Matt. xxviii, 19). Concerning these things we affirm that we so hold, and have so thought, and have so held from old, and will stand by this faith until death, anathema-tizing every godless heresy. We testify before God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ that we have always thought these things from the heart and soul, ever since we have known ourselves, and that we now think and speak ^D of them out of truth; and we are able to show and to persuade you, by means of arguments, that we also believed and taught this in times past.

^A 4. Once this faith had been set forth by us, there was no room for contradiction, but our most pious emperor himself was the first to testify that it contained most orthodox statements, and he confessed that he himself likewise held these views, and he exhorted all others to embrace this faith and to subscribe and assent to these dogmas, with the addition of only one word, *consubstantial* (homoousios). He himself interpreted this word, explaining that the term *consubstantial* was not to be understood according to the affections of bodies, nor that the Son existed from the Father by any division or separation; for it was impossible, he argued, for an immaterial, intellectual, and incorporeal nature to be subject to any bodily affection, but such things must be conceived only in divine and ineffable terms. Such was the philosophical discourse of our wisest and most religious emperor. But they, on the pretext of this addition of the word *consubstantial*, drew up the following formula.

The Faith Published in the Synod

• We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, ^B only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father: God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came to be, both those in heaven and those on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and became incarnate, was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit. And those who say, "There was once when he was not," and, "Before being begotten he was not," and, "He came to exist from non-existence," or those who claim that the Son of God is of another hypostasis or substance, ^C or is created, or is mutable or changeable, the catholic Church anathematizes.

5. Now that this formula had been set forth by them, as has been said, we did not leave the expression "from the substance of the Father" and "consubstantial with the Father" unexamined by them. Questions and answers were thus raised, ^D and we examined the meaning of what was said.

And in fact, the phrase "from the substance" was admitted by them, as a way of indicating that the Son is indeed from the Father, yet does not exist as a part of the Father. ^A For this reason, it also seemed right to us to assent to this meaning of the pious teaching, which declares the Son to be from the Father, yet not as part of His substance. Therefore, we ourselves also agreed to this meaning, not rejecting the term "consubstantial," as the goal of peace was before our eyes, and also so that we might not fall away from the right judgment.

6. Likewise, we also accepted "begotten and not made," since "made" was a term commonly used, ^B he said, for the rest of the creatures that came to be through the Son, to which the Son bears no resemblance. Therefore, he argued that the Son should not be called a creature similar to the things that came to be through Him, but that He is of a substance more excellent than any creature—a substance which the divine oracles teach was begotten of the Father, and whose manner of generation is inexpressible and incomprehensible to any begotten nature.

7. Thus, the meaning under examination sustains the statement that the Son is consubstantial with the Father; this is not after the manner of bodies, nor after the likeness of mortal animals; for it is not by division of the substance, ^C nor by excision, nor indeed by any affection, alteration, or change of the Father’s substance and power—for the unbegotten nature of the Father is alien to all these things. The term "consubstantial with the Father" is meant to signify that the Son of God bears no resemblance to created things, but in every way is made like only to the Father who begat Him, and that He is not of any other hypostasis and substance, but from the Father. Since this, too, was interpreted in this manner, it seemed right to us to assent, ^D especially since we know that some learned and illustrious bishops and writers of old have used the term "consubstantial" when discoursing on the theology of the Father and the Son.

8. Let these things, then, have been said concerning the faith that was set forth, to which we all consented, not without examination, but having examined it according to the meanings set forth before the most religious emperor himself, and which

^A had been approved by the reasons given above. Furthermore, concerning the anathema which was added by them after the faith, we considered it to have nothing grave or burdensome, since it forbids the use of expressions which are not found in the Scriptures; for this, in fact, was the cause of almost all the dissension and commotion which has arisen in the Church. Since, therefore, no divinely inspired Scripture has used the expressions "out of things which do not exist," and "there was a time when he was not," and the other things thereafter spoken of, it did not seem reasonable to say or teach these things—a position to which we ourselves agreed, as it seemed right, since we were not accustomed to use such terms in the previous time.

9. Nor did we think it absurd to say as an anathema that "he was not before he was begotten," since all confess that the Son of God existed before He was begotten according to the flesh.

10. Indeed, our most religious emperor himself was proving by his discourse that He also existed according to His divine generation, which is before all ages; ^B since, even before He was begotten in actuality, He was by potentiality in the Father—as the Father is always Father, even as He is always King and Savior, being all things by potentiality, and always being in the same way and likewise.

11. We deemed it necessary to write these things to you, dearly beloved, so that it might be clear to you with what mature judgment we have pondered and approved all things, and how reasonably we resisted until the very last hour, as long as the things which appeared to be proposed differently from our own formula were displeasing to us; but then, without any contention, we embraced those expressions which had nothing objectionable in them, when, upon weighing with a sincere and fair mind what they signified, it appeared to us that they were nothing else than similar to those which we ourselves had previously confessed ^C in the faith that was set forth. ^D