Encyclical Letter of Alexander, Archbishop of Alexandria,
upon his Deposition and Excommunication of Arius

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Prefatory Notice

{1} THIS Epistle, which belongs to the year 321, seems to have been written by Athanasius, acting as secretary to his Archbishop, and forms a suitable introduction to his acknowledged works which follow. He was, it is true, at this date not more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old, but he seems already to have written his Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione, the two most finished of his works, and was in familiar intercourse with Alexander, and high in his esteem and confidence, if not already his Archdeacon. In consequence Tillemont goes so far as to say, "We need not doubt that St. Athanasius had a great share in the multitude of letters which at this time St. Alexander wrote on all sides to defend the faith."

Of course a vague probability, such as this, cannot determine a matter of fact, but it may fairly be adduced in order to obtain a hearing for the proper proof of it, which lies in {2} the style, so like Athanasius's, so unlike Alexander's. This internal evidence shall be set before the reader in the Appendix to this Volume. The text is here translated mainly from Socr. i. 6.

Encyclical, &c.

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{3} WHEREAS the Catholic Church is one body, and we are bidden in Holy Scripture to preserve the bond of concord and peace, it is fitting that we should write and signify to each other what is happening in our own parts, so that, whether one member suffer or rejoice, we all may suffer or rejoice with it. Now in this our diocese at this time there have gone forth rebellious men and enemies of Christ, teaching an apostasy, which may reasonably be accounted and called a forerunner of Antichrist. On a matter such as this I could wish to be silent, in the hope that the evil might spend itself in the persons of the apostates, without spreading to other places and contaminating the ears of the simple; but, inasmuch as Eusebius, at this time of Nicomedia, having escaped all punishment for his covetous seizure of that see, to the abandonment of Berytus, has now proceeded, as if with him lay all matters of the Church, to place himself at the head of these apostates, and has taken upon himself to write letters all round in their favour, with the hope, by some means, of drawing men aside unawares to this last and most unchristian heresy, I have felt it a duty, knowing what is written in the Law, no longer to hold my peace, but to give you full information, {4 | ENCYCL. EPISTLE.} in order that you may all know who they are and who have apostatised, and what their miserable tenets, and may pay no attention to Eusebius, should he write to you. For, with the purpose of reviving, by means of these men, that old bad spirit, which of late had not shown itself, he pretends to defend them, but really for the furtherance of his own interests.

2. Those who have apostatised are Arius, Achillas, Aïthales, and Carpones, another Arius, Sarmates, sometime presbyters; Euzoïus, Lucius, Julian, Menas, Helladius, and Gaïus, sometime deacons; and with them Secundus and Theonas, sometime of the rank of Bishops.

3. And their unscriptural novelties are these:—"God was not always a Father, but once was not a Father. The Word of God was not always existing, but came into being out of nothing [Note 1]; for God who is, did make out of nothing Him who was not. Therefore once He was not, for the Son is a creature and work. He is neither like in substance [Note 2] to the Father, nor the Father's true and natural Word; nor is He His true Wisdom; but He is one of those things which were made and brought to be [Note 3], and only by an abuse of words [Note 4], Word and Wisdom, having come into existence Himself by God's own Word and God's intrinsic Wisdom, by which God made all things, and Him in their number. Accordingly He, the Word of God, is by nature mutable [Note 5] and variable, as are all rational beings; and foreign and alien and separated off from the substance of God. And to the Son the Father is an ineffable God [Note 6], for not properly and accurately does the Son know the Father, nor can He perfectly see Him. For neither does the Son know His own substance, as it really is; for He was made {5 | ED. BEN. § 1-3.} for our sake, in order that by Him, as by an instrument, God might create us; and He would not have subsisted [Note 7], unless God had wished to create us." Accordingly, when they were asked whether the Word of God could change, as the devil had changed, they were not afraid to answer, "Yes, He can; for having come into being by creation, He is of a mutable nature."

4. These were the avowals of Arius and his followers, and when they boldly persisted in them, we together with the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, nearly a hundred in number, in Council assembled, anathematised them and their adherents. On this Eusebius and his party received them, having it at heart to confuse together falsehood with truth, and impiety with piety; but in vain, for truth ever conquers, nor is there any communion of light with darkness, any agreement of Christ with Belial. Who ever yet heard such language? and who that hears it now, but is shocked and stops his ears, that its foulness should not enter into them? Who that hears John saying, In the beginning was the Word, does not denounce the tenet, "Once He was not"? Who that hears in the gospel the Only begotten Son, and by Him all things were made, will not hate men who pronounce that "the Son is one of God's works"? How can He be on a level with His own creations? how can He be Only begotten, who, as they say, is to be numbered with all other creatures? how can He be out of nothing, when the Father says, My heart has burst out with a good Word? and Out of the womb before the morning star have I borne Thee? or how "unlike the Father in substance," if He be the perfect Image and Radiance of the Father, saying of Himself, Whoso hath seen Me hath seen the Father? And how, if the Son be God's Word and Wisdom, was He "Once not" in being? for this is as much as to say that once God was without {6} mind, without wisdom. How, too, is He mutable, or variable, who says by His own mouth, I am in the Father and the Father in Me, and I and the Father are one; and by the mouth of His Prophet, Behold Me, for I am and vary not. For, though these words belong also to the Father, yet here they may be more appositely said of the Son, that in His becoming man He was not changed, but as the Apostle says is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and for ever. And what has persuaded them to say, that, "for our sakes He was made," though Paul writes, For whom are all things and by whom are all things? After so extreme a step, we need not wonder to hear their blasphemy that the Son has not perfect knowledge of the Father; for having once made up their minds to war against Christ, they put aside even His own words, As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father. If then the Father knows the Son imperfectly, then indeed it is plain that the Son too has but an imperfect knowledge of the Father; but if to say this is a sin, and the Father knows the Son perfectly, then too, as the Father knows His own Word, so, it is plain, does the Son know His own Father whose Word He is.

5. By such arguments and explanations of divine Scripture we have oftentimes refuted them; but still, like chameleons, they changed their colours [Note 8], as if ambitious of fixing upon themselves the Scripture, The wicked man when he is come into the depth of sins contemneth [Note 9]. Certainly many heresies have existed before them, which, venturing where they ought not, have become foolishness; but these men, scheming in all they have laid down to destroy the Word's divinity, have made those others white by the contrast of themselves, being so much more like Antichrist. Therefore it is that they have been proscribed and anathematised by the Church. Grieve, however, as {7 | ED. BEN. § 3-6.} we do, over their ruin, and especially because, after their early grounding in the doctrines of the Church, they have now fallen away, nevertheless we are not much surprised; for a fate like this befell Hymenæus and Philetus; and before them Judas, who, once a follower of the Saviour, was afterwards a traitor and apostate. Nor have we been without lessons concerning these very persons; for the Lord foretold, Take heed lest any man deceive you, for many shall come in My name, saying, I am He, and the time draweth near, and they shall deceive many. Go ye not after them. And Paul, who was taught these things by the Saviour, has written that In the last times some shall apostatise from the sound faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons who turn away from the truth.

6. Seeing then that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ doth both by His own mouth charge us, and by the Apostle warn us concerning such men, it was fitting that we, the personal witnesses of their impiety, should anathematise them as aforesaid, declaring them aliens from the Catholic Church and faith; and we have further also made this known to your piety, our beloved and most honoured colleagues, in order that you may be on your guard against receiving any of them who may have the insolence to come to you, or giving ear to Eusebius or any other writing in their behalf. For it becomes us as Christians to turn away from all who by word and in intention blaspheme Christ, as being God's foes and destroyers of souls; nor even to say God speed you to such men, lest, as blessed John has charged us, we become partakers of their sins. Salute the brethren who are with you. Those with me give you greeting.

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Notes

1. [ex ouk onton]. Hence the Arians were called Exucontii.
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2. [homoios kat' ousian]. Vid. Append. Homœusion.
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3. Vid. App. [geneton].
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4. [katachrestikos]. Vid. p. 19. infr.
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5. [treptos]. Vid. App. [atrepton].
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6. [arrhetos].
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7. [hupeste].
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8. p. 24 infr.
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9. Prov. xviii. 3.
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Newman Reader — Works of John Henry Newman
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