The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

134
EVAGRIUS
Encyclical of Basiliscus
The emperor Caesar Basiliscus, pious, victor, triumphant, greatest,
ever-venerable, Augustus, and Marcus the most illustrious
Caesar, to Timothy, the most devout and most beloved of God,
archbishop of the megalopolis of the Alexandrians.
Whatever laws on behalf of the correct and apostolic faith
have been decreed by the most pious emperors before us, all
those who continued to serve correctly the blessed, ageless and
life-creating Trinity, these we desire never to be inactive, in that
they have always been salutary for the entire universe; rather, we
promulgate these laws as our very own. In that beyond all
concern with human a¡airs we honour piety and devotion to our
God and saviour Jesus Christ, who has created and glori¢ed us;
and in that we are in addition con¢dent that the unifying bond of
the £ocks of Christ is our own salvation and that of all our subjects,
a ¢rm foundation and unshakeable defence of our empire,
hence, with our thoughts appropriately bestirred by sacred devotion,
and as ¢rst-fruits of our empire, o¡ering to our God and
saviour Jesus Christ the unity of the holy Church, we decree that
the basis and con¢rmation of human prosperity, namely the
creed of the 318 holy Fathers who in company with the Holy
Spirit were assembled at Nicaea long ago, into which we and all
the faithful before us were baptized, this alone governs and holds
sway over the orthodox people in all the most holy churches of
God, as [102] the only valid de¢nition of the unerring faith, and
being su⁄cient for on the one hand the universal destruction of
every heresy and on the other the utmost unity of the holy
churches of God. Clearly their proper force is also accorded to
what was transacted in this imperial city by the 150 holy Fathers
for the con¢rmation of the same divine creed against the blasphemers
of the Holy Spirit; and, in addition also, all that was transacted
in the metropolis of the Ephesians against the impious
Nestorius and those who subsequently shared his views. 10
10 The emphasis on the absolute su⁄ciency of the Nicene doctrine is in line with the initial
position of the vast majority of bishops at Chalcedon,who argued in opposition to Pope Leo’s
wishesthat nonew formulationoffaithwas necessaryordesirable,and alsowiththe responses
to Emperor Leo’s encyclical, many of which had accepted Chalcedon as a rea⁄rmation of
Nicaea rather than an Ecumenical Council in its own right: Grillmeier, Christ II.1 210^18.