In 359

359

Year 359 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius...

, the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Constantius II

Constantius II

Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....

 requested a church council, at Constantinople, of both the eastern and western bishops, to resolve the split at the Council of Seleucia

Council of Seleucia

The Council of Seleucia was an early Christian church synod at Seleucia Isauria .In 358, the Roman Emperor Constantius II requested two councils, one of the western bishops at Ariminum and one of the eastern bishops at Nicomedia to resolve the Arian controversy over the nature of the divinity of...

. According to Socrates Scholasticus, only about 50 of the Eastern bishops, and an unspecified number of the western ones, actually attended.

Acacius of Caesarea

Acacius of Caesarea

Acacius of Caesarea in Greek Ἀκάκιος Mονόφθαλμος was a Christian bishop, the pupil and successor in the Palestinian see of Caesarea of Eusebius AD 340, whose life he wrote. He is remembered chiefly for his bitter opposition to St. Cyril of Jerusalem and for the part he was afterwards enabled to...

 declared that the Son was like the Father "according to the scriptures," as in the majority decision at Ariminum and close to the minority at Seleucia. Basil of Ancyra

Basil of Ancyra

Basil of Ancyra, was a Christian priest in Ancyra, Galatia during the fourth century. Very meager information about his life is preserved in a metaphrastic work: “Life and Deeds of the Martyred Priest Basil.” He fought against the pagans and the Arians...

, Eustathius of Sebaste

Eustathius of Sebaste

Eustathius, was bishop of Sebastia in Armenia. Together with Basil of Ancyra, he was the author of the sect of the Macedonians....

, and their party declared that the Son was of similar substance to the Father, as in the majority decision at Seleucia. Maris of Chalcedon, Eudoxius of Antioch

Eudoxius of Antioch

Eudoxius was the eighth bishop of Constantinople from January 27, 360 to 370, previously bishop of Germanicia and of Antioch, and was one of the most influential Arians.-Biography:...

, and the deacons Aëtius

Aëtius (theologian)

Aëtius of Antioch , surnamed "the Atheist" by his trinitarian enemies, founder of an Arian Christian movement, was a native of Coele-Syria.-Life and writings:...

 and Eunomius

Eunomius of Cyzicus

Eunomius , one of the leaders of the extreme or "anomoean" Arians, who are sometimes accordingly called Eunomians, was born at Dacora in Cappadocia early in the 4th century....

 declared that the Son was of a dissimilar substance from the Father.

The Heteroousians defeated the Homoiousians in an initial debate, but Constantius banished Aëtius, after which the council, including Maris and Eudoxius, agreed to the homoian creed of Ariminum with minor modifications.

Wulfila

Ulfilas

Ulfilas, or Gothic Wulfila , bishop, missionary, and Bible translator, was a Goth or half-Goth and half-Greek from Cappadocia who had spent time inside the Roman Empire at the peak of the Arian controversy. Ulfilas was ordained a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work...

 also attended the council and endorsed the resulting creed.

After the Council of Constantinople, the homoian bishop Acacius deposed and banished several homoiousian bishops, including Macedonius I of Constantinople

Macedonius I of Constantinople

Macedonius was a Greek bishop of Constantinople from 342 up to 346, and from 351 until 360. He inspired the establishment of the Macedonians, a sect later declared heretical.-Biography:...

, Basil, Eustathius, Eleusius of Cyzicus, Dracontius of Pergamum, Neonas of Seleucia, Sophronius of Pompeiopolis, Elpidius of Satala and Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church . He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII...

.

At the same time, Acacius also deposed and banished the Anomoean deacon Aëtius.

Creed of Constantinople of 359

The resulting creed read:

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, of whom are all things. And in the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of God before all ages, and before every beginning; through whom all things visible and invisible were made: who is the only-begotten born of the Father, the only of the only, God of God, like to the Father who begat him, according to the Scriptures, and whose generation no one knows but the Father only that begat him. We know that this only-begotten Son of God, as sent of the Father, came down from the heavens, as it is written, for the destruction of sin and death: and that he was born of the Holy Spirit, and of the Virgin Mary according to the flesh, as it is written, and conversed with his disciples; and that after every dispensation had been fulfilled according to his Father's will, he was crucified and died, and was buried and descended into the lower parts of the earth, at whose presence hades itself trembled: who also arose from the dead on the third day, again conversed with his disciples, and after the completion of forty days was taken up into the heavens, and sits at the right hand of the Father, whence he will come in the last day, the day of the resurrection, in his Father's glory, to requite every one accord-to his works. [We believe] also in the Holy Spirit, whom he himself the only-begotten of God, Christ our Lord and God, promised to send to mankind as the Comforter, according as it is written, "the Spirit of truth;" whom he sent to them after he was received into the heavens.

But since the term ousia [substance or essence], which was used by the fathers in a very simple and intelligible sense, but not being understood by the people, has been a cause of offense, we have thought proper to reject it, as it is not contained even in the sacred writings; and that no mention of it should be made in future, inasmuch as the holy Scriptures have nowhere mentioned the substance of the Father and of the Son. Nor ought the "subsistence" of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit to be even named. But we affirm that the Son is like the Father, in such a manner as the sacred Scriptures declare and teach. Let therefore all heresies which have been already condemned, or may have arisen of late, which are opposed to this exploitation of the faith, be anathema.

The Greek text:

Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα μόνον Θεὸν, Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα·καὶ εἰς τὸν μονογενῆ Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων καὶ πρὸ πάσης ἀρχῆς γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ· δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα· γεννηθέντα δὲ μονογενῆ, μόνον ἐκ μόνου τοῦ Πατρὸς, Θεὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ, ὅμοιον τῷ γεννήσαντι αὐτὸν Πατρὶ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς· οὗ τὴν γέννησιν οὐδεὶς γινώσκει, εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ γεννήσας αὐτὸν Πατήρ. Τοῦτον οἴδαμεν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸν, πέμποντος τοῦ Πατρὸς, παραγενέσθαι ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὡς γέγραπται, ἐπὶ καταλύσει τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου· καὶ γεννηθέντα ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου, καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ὡς γέγραπται, καὶ ἀναστραφέντα μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν· καὶ πάσης τῆς οἰκονομίας πληρωθείσης κατὰ τὴν πατρικὴν βούλησιν, σταυρωθέντα, καὶ ἀποθανόντα, καὶ ταφέντα, καὶ εἰς τὰ καταχθόνια κατεληλυθότα· ὅν τινα καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ᾅδης ἔπτηξεν. Ὅς τις καὶ ἀνέστη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ διέτριψε μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν· καὶ πληρωθεισῶν τῶν τεσσαράκοντα ἡμερῶν, ἀνελήφθη εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ καθέζεται ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἐλευσόμενος ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐν τῇ πατρικῇ δόξῃ, ἵνα ἀποδώσῃ ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ὅπερ αὐτὸς ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ Χριστὸς, ὁ Κύριος καὶ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ἐπηγγείλατο πέμπειν τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων Παράκλητον, καθάπερ γέγραπται, «τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας·» ὅπερ αὐτοῖς ἔπεμψεν, ὅτε ἀνελήφθη εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς.

Τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τῆς «οὐσίας,» ὅπερ ἁπλούστερον ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων ἐτέθη, ἀγνοούμενον δὲ τοῖς λαοῖς σκάνδαλον ἔφερε, διότι μηδὲ αἱ γραφαὶ τοῦτο περιέχουσιν, ἤρεσε περιαιρεθῆναι, καὶ παντελῶς μηδεμίαν μνήμην τοῦ λοιποῦ γενέσθαι, ἐπειδήπερ καὶ αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ οὐδαμοῦ ἐμνημόνευσαν περὶ οὐσίας Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει «ὑπόστασις» περὶ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὀνομάζεσθαι. Ὅμοιον δὲ λέγομεν τὸν Υἱὸν τῷ Πατρὶ, ὡς λέγουσιν αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ καὶ διδάσκουσι. Πᾶσαι δὲ αἱρέσεις, αἵ τε ἤδη πρότερον κατεκρίθησαν, καὶ αἵ τινες ἐὰν καινότεραι γένωνται, ἐναντίαι τυγχάνουσαι τῆς ἐκτεθείσης ταύτης γραφῆς, ἀνάθεμα ἔστωσαν.