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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
The death of Constantine in AD 337 brought forth a struggle between leading bishops of the eastern and western empire which proved crucially important in the development of ecclesiastical politics. Athanasius of Alexandria was one of several controversial bishops who, having been deposed during Constantine’s reign, were re-instated by the new emperors after the change of regime which followed his death. As with other cases, Athanasius’s restoration was fiercely contested within the Church, where many bishops felt that an imperial edict of repeal could not overrule a just and final deposition by an ecclesiastical synod. He therefore found himself quickly ejected from Alexandria by rival ecclesiastical powers. The numerous theological and polemical writings which Athanasius produced following this period became enormously influential. Historians still widely follow his version of events, seeing the struggle among bishops which his restoration sparked as centred on an ‘Arian versus orthodox’ theological battle, whereby western supporters of Athanasius fended off eastern attacks against the divinity of Christ. This approach is dangerous. Although the Alexandrian’s writings are both detailed and prolific, they can hardly be called disinterested. Throughout his histories, bishops whom he attacks most fervently as Arians are precisely those who contested his own legitimacy as a bishop.
This paper represents a summary of a series of detailed discussions in C. W. B Stephens, ‘The Council of Antioch’, forthcoming D.Phil, thesis through the University of Oxford. It aims to introduce a wider readership to the issues involved in those discussions.
1 For the canons in Greek and English, see J. Fulton, Index Canonum (New York, 1872).
2 Athanasius, De synodis, 22–5.
3 On the creeds, see Kelly, J. N. D., Early Christian Creeds (London, 1950), 263–74 Google Scholar; Hanson, R. P. C., The Search for the Christian Doctrine of Cod: the Arian Controversy, 318–381 AD (Edinburgh, 1988; repr. 2000), 274–92 Google Scholar; Schneemelcher, Wilhelm, ‘Die Kirchweihsynode von Antiochien 341’, in Lippold, A. and Himmelmann, N., eds, Bonner Festgabe Johannes Straub zum 65. Geburtstag (Bonn, 1977), 319–46 Google Scholar; Barnes, T. D., Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire (Cambridge, MA and London, 1993), 34–62.Google Scholar
4 Most telling is Socrates, Historia ecclesiastica, 2.10 and 2.18 [hereafter: Socrates, HE], which, despite presenting one unified synod, describes Creed One as an epistle sent well before the meeting which produced Creeds Two and Three.
5 On a selection of these, see Hefele, C.J., A History of the Councils of the Church, ed. and trans. Clark, W. R., 5 vols (Edinburgh, 1876-96), 2: 59–64.Google Scholar
6 Athanasius, De Synodis, 28; Socrates, HE, 2.18; Sozomen, Historia ecclesiastica, 3.10.3-6 [hereafter: Sozomen, HE].
7 Athanasius, De Synodis, 26.
8 Athanasius, Apologia contra Arianos, 3–19 [hereafter: Apol. c. Ar.].
9 Epistula encyclica, 6.1; Apol. c. Ar., 3.5-7, 19.4-5.
10 Pistus was ordained by Secundus of Ptolemais, excommunicated at Nicaea. Julius of Rome’s objection is clear in Apol. c. Ar., 24.
11 Socrates, HE, 2.8-10.
12 Athanasius, De Synodis, 22–5; Socrates, HE, 2.8-10; Sozomen, HE, 3.5-6.
13 Socrates, HE, 2.7-10; Sozomen, HE, 3.5-6.
14 Socrates, HE, 2.10.
15 Ibid., 2.8; Sozomen, HE, 3.5.
16 Schwartz, Eduard, Die Kanonessammlungen der alten Reichskirche (Berlin, 1936), 33.Google Scholar
17 The Latin Isidore, for example. Turner, C. H., Ecclesiae Occidentalis Monumenta Iuris Antiquissima, 2 vols (Oxford, 1899–1939)Google Scholar, [hereafter: Turner, EOMIA].
18 Dialogus, 31.
19 Turner, EOMIA, 2: 216–320.
20 Pietro, and Ballerini, Girolamo, Opera Sancti Leonis Magni, 9 vols (Venice, 1753–57), 3: xxv Google Scholar. Schwartz, E., Gesammelte Schriften, 5 vols (Berlin, 1938-63), 3: 215–26 Google Scholar. Chadwick, Henry, ‘The Fall of Eustathius of Antioch’, Journal of Theological Studies 49 (1948), 27–35 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Hess, Hamilton, The Canons of the Council of Sardica (Oxford, 1958), 145–50 Google Scholar. On the Syriac MSS, Schulthess, Friedrich, ‘Die syrischen Kanones der Synoden von Nicaea bis Chalcedon’, Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Philologisch-Historische Klasse 10 (Berlin, 1908)Google Scholar. On the Latin, Turner, EOMIA.
21 Eusebius of Caesarea, Vita Constantini, 3.62[hereafter: VC]. G. Bardy, ‘Antioche (Concile et Canons d’)’, in R. Naz, ed., Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, 7 vols (Paris, 1935–67), 1: cols 589–98 is an important example which summarizes the scholarly debates and consensus following Schwartz but prior to the revisions of Chadwick.
22 Chadwick, ‘Fall of Eustathius’, 34–5.
23 VC, 3.60-3.
24 Summaries and bibliographies of the issues surrounding the deposition of Eustathius can be found in Chadwick, ‘Fall of Eustathius’, and in R. P. C. Hanson, Search for the Christian Doctine.
25 Schwartz, Gesammelte Schriften, 3:220.
26 Fulton, Index Canonum, 63. S. Le Nain de Tillemont, The History of the Arians and the Council of Nice, trans. T. Deacon, 2 vols (London, 1721), 1: 102; Hefele, History of the Councils, 2:75; W. A. Hammond, The Definitions of the Faith and Canons of Discipline of the Six Ecumenical Councils (Oxford, 1843), 153–4; Bright, W., The Age of the Fathers, 2 vols (London, 1903), 1: 173 Google Scholar; Neale, J. M., A History of the Holy Eastern Church: the Patriarchate of Antioch (London, 1873), 108.Google Scholar
27 Palladius, Dialogus, 30–1; Sozomen, HE, 3.5; 8.26; Socrates, HE, 2.8.
28 De synodis, 20.
29 Frend, W. H. C., The Early Church (London, 2003), 152.Google Scholar
30 Athanasius, Apol. c. Ar., 20, 22; Historia Arianorum, 11.
31 Barnard, L. W., The Council of Serdica 343 AD (Sofia, 1983), 113 Google Scholar; Hess, H., The Early Development of Canon Law and the Council of Sardica (Oxford, 2002), 179–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar