In the year 427(= the first year of Hadrian's reign), in the days of Hadrian, the king, Sabellius arose against the Church, 117 years after the birth of Christ, and said that there was one Person in the Trinity, and that the body and blood which we receive from the altar is the Trinity. And forty-three Bishops met at Ancyra, of Galatia, and excommunicated him from the Church.
the Letter of Philoxenos sometime between 730 - 790 CE
In the days of the Emperor Hadrian Sabellius rose against the Church of God, and he blasphemed and said that there was only one person in the Trinity, and because of that Mary was the mother of the Trinity, and passion, death and crucifixion belonged to the Trinity, and that the Body and the Blood which we receive from the altar were of the Trinity. Forty-three Bishops assembled in Ancyra of Galatia, and anathematised from the Church of God the feeble-minded Sabellius because he did not wish to recant his impiety.
the Zuqnin Chronicle (= Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel Mehre) 775 CE
no available translation yet but from Witakowski we can confirm - (a) the event took place in the first year of Hadrian's rule (b) it did not make mention of Valentinus and (c) the location was Ancyra of Galatia
Michael the Syrian 12th century:
Sous cet Adrien se réunit à Nicée un premier synode de 43 évoques qui anathématisèrent [Sa]bellius, qui blasphémait en disant que le Père, le Fils et le Saint-Esprit ne sont qu'une seule personne manifestée en trois [manières] ; ils anathématisèrent aussi Valentinus qui disait que Notre-Seigneur avait fait descendre son corps du ciel.
Bar Hebraeus 13th century
And the Christian philosophers KURTOS (QUADRATUS?) and ARISTIDES, the ATHENIANS, wrote an Apologia for the doctrine of the Christians. And SAYRAINOS (SERENUS) the governor wrote to the Emperor [saying], 'It is not right to kill them merely because of the name Ch;istian, without any blameworthy act'; and the Emperor wrote, 'Unless there is a reason for condemnation they shall not die'. And in his days the First Council in NICEA was gathered together, namely forty-three bishops; and they excommunicated SABELLIUS, who said, 'One Person of the Trinity', and VALENTlNUS, who confessed that our Lord brought a body for Himself from heaven.
The only other question is -are there other references? Witakowski assumes there was an original 'List of Synods' which was the ultimate source but this can't be correct as he has forgotten the Letter of Philoxenos which disagrees with the Chronicle of 724:
Chronicle of 724
In the year 427, in the days of Hadrian, the king, Sabellius arose against the Church, 117 years after the birth of Christ, and said that there was one Person in the Trinity,
and that the body and blood which we receive from the altar is the Trinity. And forty-three Bishops met at Ancyra, of Galatia, and excommunicated him from the Church. And in the year 530, in the days of Severus, the king, arose Paul of Samosata against the Church, He was Bishop of Antioch, and he called the Son of God righteous, as one of the ancient righteous who had been in the world. And this was 220 years from the birth of Christ. And all the Bishops assembled at Antioch, Dionysius of Rome, and Dionysius of Alpharno {i.e. Alexandria), and Gregory Thaumaturgus, and excommunicated him from the Church. And in the year 640, in the days of Julian, the impious king, arose Eustathius against the Church, 330 years after the birth of Christ. And there assembled the Sons of the Covenant, who ate not flesh and took not wines, with the Sons of the Covenant who ate flesh and took wines ; and there was a division in the Church, and seventy Bishops met in the city of Gangra, and they read in the sacred Scriptures, and decided and said thus : " That after God had set apart for Aaron, the priest, the right shoulder and the jaw and the (appurtenances?) until Eli, the priest, the priests of Israel ate flesh, and no man was stumbled by them, because they ate it in rectitude and propriety, as God commanded by the prophets ; and when the sons of Eli came and snatched the flesh from the people, Paul comes and decides it not (to be) for impurity but for gluttony, and says, ' I will never eat flesh, that I cause not my brother to stumble. That of 318, met at Nicea, in the days of Constantine, the first Christian king, in the year 636, on the 19th of Haziran, in the 13th. In this was the overthrow of wicked Arius. From the birth of Christ, it was 326. Its heads were, Silvester at Rome, and Alexander the Great, of Alexandria, and Eustathius of Antioch, and Macarius of Jerusalem. There was there also the great Athanasius, who was a deacon, who ministered as a true son to holy Alexander. There was there also Eusebius of Cardabus (? Hosius of Corduba), who also in that of Saddica (Sardica) was found, with Eustathius of Ludion (?) Ethilhas of Urhi, Jacob of Nisibis, Antiochus of Resaina, Eusebius of Caesarea of Palestine, Eusebius of Nicomedia. That of 150, met in the days of the great king Theodosius at Constantinople, in the year 691, in the month Ab (the 10th?). Herein was the overthrow of wicked Macedonius of Constantinople, from the birth of Christ 380 years, and from the (Council) of Nicea 55 years. Its chiefs were Timothy of Alexandria, and Meletus of Antioch, and Cyril of Jerusalem. And Nectarius came into the place of Macedonius. There were there also Gregory, the speaker of divine things, (Theologus) of Anzianzi (Nazianzum), and Gregory of Nysa, brother of Basil, and Anphilochius of Iconium, and Diodorus of Tarsus, Gelasius of Caesarea of Palestine, Rufus of Beishan, and Acac of Haleb, Eulog of Urhi, Abrahan of Batnan, Mara of Amid, Betho of Tela, Helladius of Caesarea of Cappadocia, and Eutherius of Tryna (Tyana). The first of Ephesus of 220, in the 13th consulate of Theodosius the Little, and the 3rd of Valentinus, in the year 740; 50 years from the preceding, and from the birth of Christ 430. Herein was the condemnation of Nestorius, on the 28th of Haziran. Its principals were, Cyril of Alexandria, and Celestinus of Rome, by means of those who were sent from him; Theodotus of Ancyra of Galatia, Syenasus of Dioscuria, Acac of Melitene, Valerianus of Macalla (?), Menas of Ephesus itself, and Jubilianus of Jerusalem. The second of Ephesus, in the days of Theodosius the Little, in the year 760, and 450 from the birth of Christ, 19 years after the previous one, met through Flavianus of Constantinople, and Eusebius of Dorylaeum, on account of Eutyches, a chief monk. And they insisted to the wicked Eutyches that the body of our Lord was a partaker of our nature, and he confessed this which before he did not confess. They also urged him to confess that there are two natures in Christ, and because he would not confess this Flavian and the rest made his deposition. This cause forced King Theodosius to assemble the second Synod in Ephesus. Now its leaders were, Dioscurus of Alexandria, and Jubilianus of Jerusalem, and Stephen of Ephesus, and Eustathras of Bostra, and Amphilochius of Saida, and others; and when that was read before them which was done in the imperial city, they found that Flavian required Eutyches to confess the two natures, and they made the deposition of Flavian and of Eusebius. Afterwards they deposed Domius of Antioch, Renius of Tyre, Hiba of Urhi, Celenius of Bibulus, Theodoritus of Cyrus, Daniel of Haran, Spirion of Tela, Mari, a Persian, and others, who were in number 35. Eutyches presented a document, in which was the creed of the 318, and the God-clad fathers anathematised all who had accused him in these things at Constantinople. They received him by this which deceived them as men, that wicked matter of ungodly heresy which was in his soul: for it is written that man sees into the eyes, and the Lord sees into the heart. That of Chalcedon met in the days of Marcion, the king. There were 665 there, and it was three years after the preceding, and 453 years from the birth of Christ. It met in the year 763, and its chiefs were Leo of Rome, Anatolius of Constantinople, Maximus of Antioch, Jubilius of Jerusalem, Aninicus (?) of Saida, Hiba of Urhi, Theodoritus of Cyrus, Eusebius of Dorliaeus, Basil of Seleucia, in Isauria, Seleucus of Amasea, who, after they were found to be with Flavian, at Constantinople, in the deposition of Eutyches, when they saw that Flavian was condemned, returned and drew up a document at the second Council of Ephesus, and anathematized that opinion, and were there received. And, again, afterwards, they came to the Council of Chalcedon, when they saw that everything was done in opposition to this second Synod cf Ephesus; and at its dissolution, again they returned to their vomit as before, and went back to whatever they did in the second Synod of Ephesus, saying that they did them not willingly, but by compulsion. Now this was the opinion which they set up in Constantinople at the deposition of Eutyches, requiring us to confess two natures in Christ, which was anathematized in the second Synod of Ephesus. When they met in Chalcedon after they had deposed the holy and great confessor Dioscurus, they were asked by the principals and the senators who were with them to make a confession of faith. But they cried out and said, "It is not lawful for us to do this, and we do not venture, and dare not, for there is a canon which forbids us to do this." And after they had said this many times, and the chiefs did not persuade them, they were forcibly persuaded by the chiefs, and they removed all their excommunications, for they anathematized themselves 35 times, saying that there were not two natures in Christ, but unity was in it. |
The Letter of Philoxenos
In the days of the Emperor Hadrian Sabellius rose against the Church of God, and he blasphemed and said that there was only one person in the Trinity, and because of that Mary was the mother of the Trinity, and passion, death and crucifixion belonged to the Trinity, and that the Body and the Blood which we receive from the altar were of the Trinity. Forty-three Bishops assembled in Ancyra of Galatia, and anathematised from the Church of God the feeble-minded Sabellius because he did not wish to recant his impiety. In the days of the Emperor Valerianus Paul of Samosata rose against the Church of God, and called the living Son of God a just man only, like one of those just men that were in the world before Him. The Bishops gathered together at Antioch and anathematised Paul of Samosata, and threw him away from the Church of God because he did not wish to recant. In the days of the victorious Emperor Constantine the accursed serpent Arius rose against the Church of God, and called the Son of God a creature. Three hundred and eighteen Fathers congregated in Nicaea and anathematised Arius and drove him out of the Church of God, because he did not desist from his impiety. These holy Fathers established the true faith and laid down various Canons. In the days of Constantine the younger Eusebius of Cresarea rose against the Church of God, and he foolishly pretended that the Son of God was younger than His Father. Sixty Bishops assembled in Rome in order to drive Eusebius out of the Church of God, and they rose and anathematised his opinion. He recanted the false opinions whereby he had blasphemed against the living Son of God, showed penitence, and subscribed to the true doctrines; whereupon the Orthodox Fathers received him into the holy Church of the true God. In the days of Theodosius the Great Macedonius rose against the Church of God, and called the Holy Spirit a creature, and a hundred and fifty Bishops assembled in Constantinople, the Metropolis. and anathematised Macedonius, because he did not wish to tum away from .the false opinions that he was holding. [extremely long lacuna follows narrating the life of Nestorius] When the believing Emperor Honorius, worthy of good memory, died, he was succeeded by Theodosius the younger. and then the two accursed and anathematised hawks, Nestorius and Theodore, began to divulge openly the falsehood of their doctrine. But when the victorious Emperor Theodosius became aware of the fact that they were both of them contradicting. the tenets of the true faith, he gave orders and two hundred and twenty Bishops assembled concerning them in the town of Ephesus. [long lacuna follows] In the days of the Emperor Marcian, Eutyches rose against the Holy Church, and said that the body of the Son of God came down with Him from heaven. Five hundred and sixty seven Bishops assembled to reject Eutyches from the Church of God. When Leo of Rome heard this, he sent to them an epistle (suggesting to them) to receive Nestorius and his impure interpretations. Soon after the epistle of Leo, the accursed, the anathematised, and the impure Patriarch of Rome, was read; on hearing it the Emperor Marcian sent to them a letter intimating that all those who refused to accept all that was in the tomos of Leo should leave their chairs and sit on the ground; and because they loved their chairs, they transgressed the vows with which they had hound themselves thirty-six times, and they rashly disregarded the anathemas of the Holy Fathers, and subscribed to the tomos of Leo. They all remained in their chairs except Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who by his own free will rose up and sat on the ground; and because he did not subscribe to them they sent the Saint of God Mar Dioscorus to exile, and they locked him up in the town of Gangra, and in his place they promoted Proterius his syncellus, that is to say his secretary. to the see of Alexandria. |
Yet it has to be noted that aside from the initial agreement between Philoxenos and 724 with respect to the first two councils there seems to be little agreement there after.
dating back to conversations with his grandfather, Gaston Frank. "He said we represent one of the last descendants of the Frankist Jewish faith in the world," he muses. "I grew up thinking that our family was something like the Last of the Mohicans."