insertions which might have been made for the very purpose of letting
the Arians escape. However, the conservatives were well satisfied with
the Lucianic creed, and frequently refer to it with a veneration akin to
that of Athanasius for the Nicene. But the wire-pullers were determined
to upset it. The confession next presented by Theophronius of Tyana was
more to their mind, for it contained a direct anathema against
"Marcellus and those who communicated with him." It secured a momentary
approval, but the meeting broke up without adopting it. The Lucianic
formula remained the creed of the council.
[Sidenote: The fourth creed.]
Defeated in a free council, the wire-pullers a few months later
assembled a cabal of their own, and drew up a fourth creed, which a
deputation of notorious Arianizers presented to Constans in Gaul as the
genuine work of the council. It seems to have suited them better than
the Lucianic, for they repeated it with increasing series of anathemas
at Philippopolis in 343, at Antioch the next year, and at Sirmium in
351. We can see why it suited them. While in substance it is less
opposed to Arianism than the Lucianic, its wording follows the Nicene,
even to the adoption of the anathemas in a weakened form. Upon the
whole, it is a colourless document, which left all questions open.
[Sidenote: Constans demands a council.]
The wording of the creed of Tyana was a direct blow at Julius of Rome,
and is of itself enough to show that its authors were no lovers of
peace. But Western suspicion was already roused by the issue of the
Lucianic creed. There could no longer be any doubt that the Nicene faith
was the real object of attack. Before the Eastern envoys reached
Constans in Gaul, he had already written to his brother (Constantine II.
was now dead) to demand a new general council. Constantius was busy with
the Persian war, and could not refuse; so it was summoned to meet in the
summer of 343. To the dismay of the Eusebians, the place chosen was
Sardica in Dacia, just inside the dominions of Constans. After their
failure with the Eastern bishops at Antioch, they could not hope to
control the Westerns in a free council.
[Sidenote: Council of Sardica (343).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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