No. VIII. COUNCIL OF LAMPSACUS.* It is suggested in the History† that Felix may have been bishop of Rome till A.D. 366. Any approach, however, to such an idea was very far removed from the view which the Roman Church desired should be taken of this period. While they have removed Felix from his chair as soon as possible after the rescript, A. D. 357., they have left us an account of the holding of a Western Ecumenical Council in the last moments of Liberius (in fact they have overshot the mark), at which some Oriental legates are represented to have been present. This we must now notice. The object of this fiction, as I regard it, was twofold ;-to prove that Liberius was bishop of Rome A. D. 366; and also to show that there was an application to him from the East, on the ground of the purity and stability of the faith, as well as of the authority of the Roman Church, in order to compose the confusions of the Oriental Churches. Among the prelates recalled by Julian were many who objected to the term "of the same substance." In the Council of Seleucia they had signed the Creed of Antioch, and deposed the Arian prelates then under the leadership of Acacius, bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine. In the succeeding Council of Constantinople, when the Acacians were *Socr. Hist. Eccl. iv. 2, &c. Sozom. vi. 6, &c. the ruling party, they in their turn had been deposed and sent into exile. It is now said, that having been recalled by Julian, and some of them having regained their sees, they were adopting measures of retaliation. They procured leave to assemble at Lampsacus in Bithynia, A. D. 364, and were two months in consultation. The result of their labours was the deposition of Eudoxius, bishop of Constantinople, the new leader of the Arian party, with his brother Arians, and the publishing of the following decrees: That the acts of Eudoxius and Acacius. at Constantinople were invalid, and the Creed a nullity; that the doctrine to be believed was the Homoousian, since the expression "like" must be introduced to distinguish the Persons; that the creed to be adopted by all churches was the Creed of Antioch, confirmed at Seleucia; that those who had been deposed by the Anomoans, having been unjustly deposed, should be restored to their sees; that if any one should bring an accusation against those prelates he should do it at his peril; and that the judges should be neighbouring orthodox prelates of the same nation, who should meet in the church near which the witnesses, who could testify to the conduct of the parties, resided. Having made these decrees, they summoned the Eudoxians to give them an opportunity of expressing their contrition; but when they paid no heed to them, they published to all the churches every where what they had ordained. Eudoxius might win over the emperor to his side, and bring accusations against them, they resolved to anticipate him; and for that purpose proceeded to inform Valens of their proceedings. They met him at Heraclea, in Thrace, returning from accompanying his brother Valentinian during some part of his journey to old Rome. But Eudoxius, like the cunning Arians at Rimini and Seleucia, had been first to the emperor; so that, when they arrived, they received a short reply with an order to communicate with Eudoxius; and when they talked of the fraud (that is the pretence that the Western prelates had signed the creed at Rimini) practised at Constantinople, and Eudoxius's anti-Seleucian decrees made in that city, he flew into a great rage, ordered them into exile, and commanded that their churches should be given to those in communion with Eudoxius. All these proceedings took place before the war with Procopius. That war occupied the year following, and was terminated by the battle of Nacolæ, fought on the 27th May, A.D. 366. After the usurper's defeat, the emperor Valens is described as beginning a persecution of those who differed from him in his religious views, and especially of the parties who had assembled at the council of Lampsacus, and who are called Macedonians. We are then told that the latter, agitated by fear, had frequent intercourse with each other by synods; and, at length, came to a decision that it would be better to fly to Valentinian and the bishop of Rome, and be joined to their communion, than to communicate with Eudoxius and Valens, and their party. Accordingly, Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, Sylvanus, bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia, and Theophilus, bishop of Castabala, also in Cilicia, were sent on a mission to Valentinian. They took also with them letters to Liberius, the Roman prelate, and to the Western bishops generally, on the ground that the Western faith was tried and firm, and derived from the Apostles; and that, before all the rest of the bishops, it was their duty to watch over the faith; and they asked them to aid the legates with all their influence, and to consult with them on what should be done, and put the Church in such order as should seem good to them. (I follow Valois's translation.) The legates, on their arrival in Italy, found that Valentinian was absent in Gaul, and, despairing of seeing him, they presented their letter to Liberius. He, however, was by no means willing to receive them. He said the legates and their principals belonged to the Arian faction, and could not be received by the Church on account of their rejecting the Nicene Creed. They replied, however, that they had changed their minds, and now acknowledged its truth; and that they had already denied the Anomoan opinions, having confessed that the Son was like the Father in all things [the Rimini Creed]; and they added that there was no difference between the terms μoooos and polos (a fact which all the Western prelates would be glad to hear, and, coming from Greeks, the information would doubtless have more weight): and therefore no surprise can be felt that, upon this intelligence, Liberius, having required from them a written confession, which they gave him, and in which the words of the Nicene Creed were inserted, received them into his communion. The synodal letters of the Councils of Smyrna, Pisidia, Isauria, Pamphylia, and Lycia, Socrates did not insert on account of their length; but the profession of faith which the legates presented to Liberius is given, and also a letter which he gave to them on their return. On leaving Rome they went to Sicily. A council was convoked, and the same decrees made as at Rome. They then returned to those who had sent them. At that time, Sozomen says (vi. 12.), a council was sitting at Tyanæ; Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, Athanasius, bishop of Ancyra, Pelagius of Laodicea, Zeno of Tyre, Paul of Emesa, Otreius of Mytilene, Gregory of Nazianzum, and many others, were present, who, during the reign of Jovian, in a council at Antioch, had signed the Nicene Creed. The letters of Liberius and the Western bishops were read. The Orientals were delighted on hearing them, and discovering how unanimously they adhered to the Nicene Creed. They wrote to all the Oriental Churches, asking them to read the decrees of the Western bishops, and the letters of Liberius, and of the bishops of Italy and Africa, and Gaul and Sicily (for the legates had brought letters from these bishops also), and to reckon them, and they would be found far exceeding in number the bishops of the |