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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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56 Pages
Page 2
But for all Basil might say, the Dated Creed by the use of the word homoion had opened the door to any evasion that an Arian could desire: for homoion is a relative term admitting of degrees: what is only 'like' is ipso facto to some extent unlike (see below, S:53). The party of Basil, then, entered upon the decisive contest already outmanoeuvred, and doomed to failure. The events which followed are described by Athanasius (S:S:8-12). At Ariminum the Nicene, at Seleucia the Semi-Arian cause carried all before it. The Dated Creed, rejected with scorn at Ariminum, was unsuccessfully propounded in an altered form by Acacius at Seleucia. The rupture between Homoeans and Semi-Arians was complete. So far only does Athanasius carry his account of the Synods: at this point he steps in with a fresh blow at the link which united Eastern Conservatism with the mixed multitude of original Arians like Euzoius and Valens, ultra Arians like Aetius and Eunomius, and Arianising opportunists like Acacius, Eudoxius, and their tribe. In the latter he recognises deadly foes who are to be confuted and exposed without any thought of compromise; in the former, brethren who misunderstand their own position, and whom explanation will surely bring round to their natural allies. In this twofold aim the de Synodis stands in the lines of the great anti-Arian discourses (supra, p. 304). But with the eye of a general Athanasius suits his attack to the new position. With the Arians, he has done with theological argument; he points indignantly to their intrigues and their brow-beating, to their lack of consistent principle, their endless synods and formularies (S:S:21-32); concisely he exposes the hollowness of their objection to the Nicene formula, the real logical basis upon which their position rests (S:33-40, see Bright, xc.-xcii.). But to the Semi-Arians he turns with a serious and carefully stated vindication of the homoousion. The time has come to press it earnestly upon them as the only adequate expression of what they really mean, as the only rampart which can withstand the Arian invasion. This, the last portion (S:S:41-54) of the letter, is the raison d'etre of the whole: the account of the Synods is merely a means to this end, not his main purpose; the exposure of Arian principles and of Arian variations subserves the ultimate aim of detaching from them those of whom Athanasius was now hoping better things. It may be said that he over-rated the hopefulness of affairs as far as the immediate future was concerned. The weak acceptance by the Seleucian majority (or rather by their delegates) of the Arian creed of Nike, the triumph of Acacius, Eudoxius and their party as Constantius drifted in the last two years of his life nearer and nearer to ultra-Arianism (de Syn. 30, 31, his rupture with Basil, Theodt. ii. 27), the ascendancy of Arianism under Valens, and the eventual consolidation of a Semi-Arian sect under the name of Macedonius, all this at the first glance is a sad commentary upon the hopefulness of the de Synodis. But (1) even if this were all the truth, Athanasius was right: he was acting a noble part. In the de Synodis 'even Athanasius rises above himself.' Driven to bay by the pertinacity of his enemies, exasperated as we see him in the de Fuga and Arian History, 'yet no sooner is he cheered with the news of hope than the importunate jealousies of forty years are hushed (contrast Ep. Aeg. 7) in a moment, as though the Lord had spoken peace to the tumult of the grey old exile's troubled soul' (Gwatkin, Studies, p. 176, Arian Controv., p. 98). The charity that hopeth all things is always justified of her works. (2) Athanasius, however, was right in his estimate of the position. Not only did many of the Semi-Arians (e.g. the fifty-nine in 365) accept the homoousion, but it was from the ranks of the Semi-Arians that the men arose who led the cause of Nicaea to its ultimate victory in the East. There accompanied Basil of Ancyra from the Seleucian Synod to Constantinople a young deacon and ascetic, who read and welcomed the appeal of Athanasius. Writing a few months later, this young theologian, Basil of Caesarea, adopts the words of the de Synodis: 'one God we confess, one in nature not in number, for number belongs to the category of quantity,...neither Like nor Unlike, for these terms belong to the category of quality (cf. below, S:53)...He that is essentially God is Coessential with Him that is essentially God....If I am to state my own opinion, I accept "Like in essence" with the addition of "exactly" as identical in sense with "Coessential"...but "exactly like" [without "essence"] I suspect....Accordingly since "Coessential" is the term less open to abuse, on this ground I too adopt it' (Epp. 8, 9, the Greek in Gwatkin, Studies, p. 242) [3447] . Basil the Great is, not indeed the only, but the conspicuous and abundant justification of the insight of Athanasius in the de Synodis.
[3447] Observe also that the Semi-Arian document of reconciliation in 363 (Socr. iii. 25) adopts the point pressed in de Syn. 41.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/councils.asp?pg=2
