“The Fourth Creed of Sirmium (The 'Dated Creed' of the year 359)”

 The Greek text as found in Athanasius, De Synodis, and Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica is given with an English translation alongside.

This creed, which the Emperor Constantius urged the churches to accept, affirmed that the Son is like the Father in all things and prohibited the use of terms including "essence", "substance" or "ousia" when speaking of God.

 

Amazon Kindle Reading Device Click on picture for more details. For UK click here. -------------- Relevant books  available at Amazon  Frances Young ----- J.N.D. Kelly ----- Lewis Ayres ----- Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski Early Christian Doctrine and the Creeds ----- Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski ----- Liuwe H. Westra Apostles' Creed: Origin History and Some Early Commentaries (Instrumenta Patristica Et Mediaevalia, 43)

The Catholic Faith was published in the presence of our Master the most religious and gloriously victorious Emperor, Constantius, Augustus, the eternal and august, in the Consulate of the most illustrious Flavii, Eusebius and Hypatius, in Sirmium on the 11th of the Calends of June. We believe in one Only and True God, the Father Almighty, Creator and Framer of all things: And in one Only-begotten Son of God, who, before all ages, and before all origin, and before all conceivable time, and before all comprehensible essence, was begotten impassibly from God: through whom the ages were disposed and all things were made; and Him begotten as the Only-begotten, Only from the Only Father, God from God, like to the Father who begat Him, according to the Scriptures; whose origin no one knoweth save the Father alone who begat Him. We know that He, the Only-begotten Son of God, at the Father’s bidding came from the heavens for the abolishment of sin, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and conversed with the disciples, and fulfilled the Economy according to the Father’s will, and was crucified, and died and descended into the parts beneath the earth, and regulated the things there, Whom the gate-keepers of hell saw and shuddered; and He rose from the dead the third day, and conversed with the disciples, and fulfilled all the Economy, and when the forty days were full, ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and is coming in the last day of the resurrection in the glory of the Father, to render to every one according to his works. And in the Holy Ghost, whom the Only-begotten of God Himself, Jesus Christ, had promised to send to the race of men, the Paraclete, as it is written, ‘I go to My Father, and I will ask the Father, and He shall send unto you another Paraclete, even the Spirit of Truth. He shall take of Mine and shall teach and bring to your remembrance all things’. But whereas the term ‘essence,’ has been adopted by the Fathers in simplicity, and gives offence as being misconceived by the people, and is not contained in the Scriptures, it has seemed good to remove it, that it be never in any case used of God again, because the divine Scriptures nowhere use it of Father and Son. But we say that the Son is like the Father in all things, as also the Holy Scriptures say and teach.

-----

Mac Users please note that the site may not work with Safari versions lower than version 4. (It has been tested with version 4.0.3.) It will work with Firefox, which can be downloaded from here.

Please note that for all features of the site to work correctly javascript must be enabled and the operation of "pop-up" windows must not be blocked. Click here for more information.

Fourth Creed of Sirmium
359
The Dated Creed
Ὅμοιον δὲ λέγομεν τὸν Υἱὸν τῷ Πατρὶ κατὰ πάντα
Ὅμοιος
Homoian
Homoean
The Son is like the Father
Prohibition of homoousios
essence
substance
ousia
Jerome
Acacius
Valens and Ursacius
Ariminum and Seleucia
Rimini
Isauria
the whole world groaned and wondered to find itself Arian
ingemuit totus orbis, et Arianum se esse miratus est
Athanasius De Synodis,
Socrates Historia Ecclesiastica
Emperor Constantius
Arian Controversy
 

Back to Entry Page