An alternative theory of the history of Christianity
Article 59: The Council of Nicaea - Theodore of Mopsuestia
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COMMENTARY OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA ON THE NICENE CREED

Translator: Alphonse Mingana

References by Theodore of Mopsuestia to Arius of Alexandria

Reference (1)
In this way all the heretics who are outside the Church and who have ascribed the name of Christ with untruth to themselves, because they have no faith, have erred and strayed from the truth. In order not to mention to your hearing all the heresies, it will be sufficient to refer to Arius and Eunomius and all those who subscribe to their opinion, and note how they were affected with the disease of the Jews; and because of their lack of faith they did not understand nor did they accept that the Son is of Divine nature.

Reference (2)
Of all those who had received the knowledge of Christ, Arius was the first to dare and to say impiously that the Son was a creature and was made from nothing: a novel theory alien to public opinion and to the laws of nature, as any one who is created is not a Son, and any one who is a Son is not a creature, because it is impossible that a creature should be called a true Son or a true Son to be called a creature.

Reference (3)
The partisans of Arius and Eunomius, however, say that He assumed a body but not a soul, and that the nature of the Godhead took the place of the soul. They lowered the Divine nature of the Only Begotten to the extent that from the greatness of its nature it moved and performed the acts of the soul and imprisoned itself in the body and did everything for its sustenance.

Reference (4)
The reason why our blessed Fathers did not hand down to us in a complete form all things that were said later concerning the Holy Spirit is clear and evident, and it is that at that time had risen the unholy Arius who was the first to blaspheme against the Son of God, and assert wickedly that the Only Begotten Son of God, and God the Word, was created and made from nothing. Because of this our blessed Fathers rightly assembled and held a wonderful Council. The time was propitious for their gathering because the God-loving and the blessed Constantine urged them to it in order to destroy the wickedness of the heretics and to confirm the faith of the Church. This is the reason why they made use in their doctrine concerning the Son of clear statements and copious words for the destruction of the heresy of Arius and the confirmation of the true faith of the Church of God. They did not do the same in the case of the Holy Spirit because at that time no question had yet been raised concerning Him by the heretics.

Reference (5)
This being the case it is only men of ill will who make show of insolence and call the Holy Spirit a servant or a creature, while some others amongst them although refraining from these words yet refuse to call Him God. It is with a sense of duty, therefore, that the Doctors of the Church, who assembled from all parts of the world and who were the heirs of the first blessed Fathers, proclaimed before all men the wish of their Fathers and in accurate deliberations made manifest the truth of their faith and interpreted also their mind. They wrote to us words which warn the children of faith and destroy the error of the heretics. As their Fathers did in the profession of faith concerning the Son for the refutation of the ungodliness of Arius, so they did in their words concerning the Holy Spirit for the confutation of those who blasphemed against Him.

COMMENTARY OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA ON THE NICENE CREED
CAMBRIDGE, W. HEFFER & SONS LIMITED., 1932

Translator : Alphonse Mingana

The work of which I give an edition and translation in the following pages is in form of catechetical lectures, and is the one called "The Book on Faith" by `Abdisho` in his Catalogue,28 while the Chronicle of Seert 29 calls it more accurately "The interpretation of the faith of the three hundred and eighteen," i.e., of the Council of Nicea. In a letter of the Pope Pelagius the work is referred to as "De interpretatione symboli trecentorum decem et octo Patrum," 30 and the Acts of the fifth Council mention it also once under the same title: "De interpretatione symboli trecentorum decem et octo sanctorum Patrum." 31 Nicephorus Theotokes 32 has doubtless this work in mind when he writes: ?pµ??e?a e?? t? ???a?? s?µß????, "An explanation of the Nicene Profession of faith."

From the extracts that I give below it will be seen that the work is more frequently referred to under the title "Liber ad baptizandos." The Acts of the fifth Council quote it once under the title " Interpretatio symboli trecentorum decem et octo sanctorum Patrum" 33 and eight times under the title of "Liber ad baptizandos." Facundus also quotes it under the slightly modified title of "Liber ad baptizatos." 34

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Nicene Creed (1932) pp.18-116 The text for Theodore of Mopsuestia, On the Council of Nicaea is ultimately derived from this site.

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