De Decretis

St. Athanasius the Great

  1. 1. Introduction. The complaint of the Arians against the Nicene Council; their fickleness; they are like Jews; their employment of force instead of reason.
  2. 2. — Conduct of the Arianstowards the Nicene Council
  3. Chapter 3
  4. 4. — Proof of the Catholic Sense of the Word Son
  5. 5. — Defence of the Council's Phrases, from the essence, And one in essence
  6. 6. — Authorities in Support of the Council. Theognostus; Dionysius of Alexandria; Dionysius of Rome; Origen.
  7. 7. On the ArianSymbol Unoriginate. This term afterwards adopted by them; and why; three senses of it. A fourth sense. Unoriginate denotes God in contrast to His creatures, not to His Son; Father the scriptural title instead; Conclusion.

1. Thou hast done well, in signifying to me the discussion you have had with the advocates of Arianism, among whom were certain of the friends of Eusebius, as well as very many of the brethren who hold the doctrine of the Church. I hailed your vigilance for the love of Christ, which excellently exposed the irreligion of their heresy; while I marvelled at the effrontery which led the Arians, after all the past detection of unsoundness and futility in their arguments, nay, after the general conviction of their extreme perverseness, still to complain like the Jews, Why did the Fathers at Nicæa use terms not in Scripture, 'Of the essence' and 'One in essence?' Thou then, as a man of learning, in spite of their subterfuges, convicted them of talking to no purpose; and they in devising them were but acting suitably to their own evil disposition. For they are as variable and fickle in their sentiments, as chameleons in their colors; and when exposed they look confused, and when questioned they hesitate, and then they lose shame, and betake themselves to evasions. And then, when detected in these, they do not rest till they invent fresh matters which are not, and, according to the Scripture, 'imagine a vain thing '; and all that they may be constant to their irreligion.

Now such endeavours are nothing else than an obvious token of their defect of reason, and a copying, as I have said, of Jewish malignity. For the Jews too, when convicted by the Truth, and unable to confront it, used evasions, such as, 'What sign do You do, that we may see and believe You? What do You work? [[John 6.30]] Though so many signs were given, that they said themselves, 'What do we? For this man does many miracles.' In truth, dead men were raised, lame walked, blind saw afresh, lepers were cleansed, and the water became wine, and five loaves satisfied five thousand, and all wondered and worshipped the Lord, confessing that in Him were fulfilled the prophecies, and that He was God the Son of God; all but the Pharisees, who, though the signs shone brighter than the sun, yet complained still, as ignorant men, 'Why do You, being a man, make Yourself God?' Insensate, and verily blind in understanding! They ought contrariwise to have said, Why have You, being God, become man? for His works proved Him God, that they might both worship the goodness of the Father, and admire the Son's Economy for our sakes. However, this they did not say; no, nor liked to witness what He was doing; or they witnessed indeed, for this they could not help, but they changed their ground of complaint again, Why do You heal the paralytic, why do You make born-blind to see, on the sabbath day? But this too was an excuse, and mere murmuring; for on other days as well did the Lord heal 'all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease [[Matthew 4.23]],' but they complained still according to their wont, and by calling Him Beelzebub, preferred the suspicion of Atheism, to a recantation of their own wickedness. A