A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

347in DCB; see also Catholic Encyclopædia, art. “Liberius.” It wasalso received in the synod of Seleucia in the East. On thesecouncils see Athanasius, De Synodis (PNF). It was in referenceto this acceptance of the creed of Nice that Jerome wrote “Thewhole world groaned and was astonished that it was Arian.” SeeJerome, Contra Luciferianos, §§ 18 ff. (PNF. ser. II, vol. VI).Inasmuch as the anti-Nicene opposition party was a coalitionof all parties opposed to the wording of the Nicene creed, assoon as that creed was abolished the bond that held them togetherwas broken. At once there arose an extreme Arianism whichhad remained in the background. On the other hand, those whowere opposed to Arianism sought to draw nearer the Niceneparty. These were the Homoiousians, who objected to the termhomoousios as savoring of Sabellianism, and yet admitted theessential point implied by it. That this was so was pointed out byHilary of Poitiers (c) who contended that what the West meant byhomoousios the East meant by homoiousios. The Homoiousianparty of the East split on the question of the deity of the HolySpirit. Those of them who denied the deity of the Spirit remainedSemi-Arians.(a) Second Creed of Sirmium, in Hilary of Poitiers, De Synodis,ch. 11. (MSL, 10:487.) Cf. Hahn, § 161.The Council of Sirmium in 357 was the second in that city. Itwas attended entirely by bishops from the West. But amongthem were Ursacius, Valens, and Germinius, leaders of theopposition to the Nicene creed. Hosius under compulsionsigned the following; see Hilary, loc cit. The Latin original isgiven by Hilary.It is evident that there is one God, the Father Almighty, accordingas it is believed throughout the whole world; and His only Son[317]