the history of heresies, and their refutation - Catholic Apologetics ...

46. Ten bishops were now sent as legates from the council to the Emperor, bearers of the letters of the
council, giving him notice that the fathers had decided that there should be nothing added to or taken
from the council of Nice, and that they regretted to find that Ursacius and Valens wished to establish
another formula of faith, according to the document they presented to the council. The ten legates
accordingly went, but the Arians sent ten likewise, along with Ursacius and Valens, and these arrived
first and prejudiced the Emperor against the council, and presented him with the formula of Sirmium,
which was rejected by the Council of Rimini. When the legates sent by the council arrived, they could not
obtain an audience from the Emperor, and it was only after a long delay, that he sent an answer to the
council, that he was about to proceed against the barbarians, and that he had given orders to the legates
to wait for him in Adrianople, where he would see them on his return, and give them his final answer.
The fathers of the council wrote again to Constantius, telling him that nothing would ever change them,
and begging therefore that he would give an audience to the legates and let them depart. When the
Emperor came to Adrianople, the legates followed him, and were taken to the small town of Nice, in the
neighbourhood; and there they began to treat with the Arians, against the express orders of the council,
which particularly restricted them on this point. Partly by deception, and partly by threats, they were
induced to sign a formula, worse even than the third formula of Sirmium; for not only was the word
substance omitted, but the Son was said to be like unto the Father, but leaving out in all things, which
was admitted in the Sirmium formula. They were, likewise, induced to revoke the deposition of Ursacius,
and his companions, condemned by the council; and they signed the formula with their own hands (14).
(14) Thood. l. 2. c. 19; Soz. l. 4; Soc. l. 2,
47. The legates having put things in this state returned to Rimini, and Constantius then gave orders to his
Prefect Taurus, not to permit the council to be dissolved, till the bishops had signed the last formula of
Nice, and to send into banishment any bishops refusing their signature, if their number did not exceed
fifteen. He likewise wrote a letter to the fathers of the council, prohibiting them from using any more the
words substantial and consubstantial. Ursacius and Valens now returned to Rimini, and as their party
was now in the ascendant, they seized on the church, and wrote to the Emperor that he was obeyed, and
that the expressions he objected to were not allowed to be used any more. The Catholics, at first, made a
show of constancy, and refused to communicate with the legates, who excused their error by alleging all
they suffered at the Court of the Emperor; but by degrees they were tired out, their constancy failed, and
they subscribed the same formula as the legates (15).
48. We cannot deny but that the bishops of Rimini committed a great error, but they are not so much to be
blamed for bad faith, as for not being more guarded against the wiles of the Arians. This was the snare
that was laid for them : They were wavering as to whether they should sign the formula or not, and when
they were all assembled in the church, and the errors attributed to Valens, who drew up the formula,
were read out, he protested that he was not an Arian. " Let him be excommunicated," he exclaimed, "who
asserts that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. Let him be
excommunicated who says that he is not like unto the Father, according to the Scriptures; or, he who
says he is a creature, like all other creatures (how he conceals the poison, for he taught that Christ was a
creature, but more perfect than all the others); or that he is from nothing, and not from the Father; or that
there was a time when he was not; or that any thing was before him; he who teaches any of those things
let him be excommunicated." And all answered : " Let him be excommunicated." These denunciations of
anathema, so fraudulently put forward, threw the Catholics off their guard. They persuaded themselves
that Valens was not an Arian, and were induced to sign the formula; and thus the Council of Rimini,
which opened so gloriously, was ignominiously terminated, and the bishops got leave to return to their
homes. They were not long, St. Jerome tell us, till they discovered their error; for the Arians, immediately
on the dissolution of the council, began to boast of their victory. The word substantial, said they, is now
abolished, and along with it the Nicene faith; and when it was said, that the Son was not a creature, the
meaning was, that he was not like the other created beings, but of a higher order, and then it was that the
world, St. Jerome says, groaning, found itself Arian. Noel Alexander proves, from St. Jerome, St.
Ambrose, and others, and with very convincing arguments, too, that the bishops of Rimini, in subscribing
that formula, did not violate the faith; for, taken in its obvious sense, it contained nothing heretical.
(15) St. Hilar. Fragmen. p. 453. Sulp. Ser. l. 2.
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