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scribed as Fides catholica dicta a sancto Athanasio episcopo Alexandrino,' the 'Damasi symbolum' as 'Fides catholica dicta a sancto iheronimo presbitero,' and the Fides Romanorum' as 'Fides catholica ab ortodoxis patribus exposita,' also as ' Exemplar fidei catholice.' The Toledan fathers must have had these three documents before them, and gathered from thence the materials for the construction of their own confession 1.

6. The next document I desire to refer to as affording evidence of the antiquity of the Athanasian Creed is the profession of obedience made by Denebert to Ethelheard, Archbishop of Canterbury, at his consecration as Bishop of the Huiccii, i. e. of Worcester, A.D. 798. After avowing his purpose of obedience, Denebert proceeds to declare his faith in the Holy Trinity in terms obviously culled from the Creed: Orthodoxam, catholicam apostolicamque fidem, sicut didici, paucis exponam verbis, quia scriptum est quicunque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est illi ut teneat catholicam fidem. Fides autem catholica haec est, ut unum Deum in Trinitate et Trinitatem in Unitate veneremur; neque confundentes personas neque substantiam separantes. Alia enim est persona Patris, alia Filii, alia Spiritus Sancti: sed Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti una est Divinitas, aequalis gloria, coaeterna majestas. Pater a nullo factus est, nec creatus nec genitus: Filius a Patre solo est, non factus nec creatus, sed genitus: Spiritus a Patre et Filio, non factus nec creatus nec genitus, sed procedens. In

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'For some account of the 'Fides Romanorum' and the 'Damasi Symbolum,' I may refer to my book entitled Early History of the Athanasian Creed, pp. 202-212. Copies of both from Paris MSS. are printed in Appendix H of the same volume. They are also to be found in Hahn's Bibliothek, the former as the Erste Formel' of the symbols ascribed to Damasus, the latter as the Zweite Formel,' pp. 204 and 207. The Fides Romanorum' is the combination of two shorter confessions, which appear in their separate form in the same MS., as the Trèves fragment.

hac Trinitate nihil prius aut posterius, nihil majus aut minus, sed totae tres personae co-aeternae sibi sunt et coaequales. Ita ut per omnia, sicut supra dictum est, et Trinitas in Unitate et Unitas in Trinitate veneranda sit. Suscipio etiam decreta Pontificum et sex synodos catholicas antiquorum heroicorum virorum, et praefixam ab iis regulam sincera devotione conservo. Haec est fides nostra, evangelicis et apostolicis traditionibus atque auctoritate firmata, et omnium quae in hoc mundo sunt catholicarum ecclesiarum societate fundata; in qua nos per gratiam Dei Omnipotentis permanere usque ad finem vitae hujus confidimus et speramus. Amen 1.'

It will be noticed that Denebert introduces his brief abstract from the Quicunque by the term 'scriptum est 2,' indicating that he was quoting from a well-known and authoritative document-one, too, which apparently, if we may judge from the expression 'ut didici,' he had learnt by heart. Brevity of exposition being avowedly his object, he does not go on to employ the language of the Creed for expounding his faith in the Incarnation, deeming it sufficient for this purpose to declare his adhesion to the six Oecumenical Councils. Hence his omission to quote the latter part of the Creed can afford no presumption in support of the hypothesis that in his time it existed only in an imperfect, embryo state.

7. Among the works of Alcuin is printed a Libellus de Processione Spiritus Sancti ad Carolum Magnum. The work consists of quotations from the Fathers; and the Athanasian Creed is twice quoted, on both occasions as the work of Athanasius. The blessed Athanasius, the most

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1 See Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, edited by A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, vol. iii. p. 525.

* The use of this term in St. Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10, may be considered.

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reverend bishop of the city of Alexandria, . . . in the "Exposition of the Catholic Faith," which that eminent doctor himself composed, and which the universal Church (universalis ecclesia) confesses, declares the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son, thus saying, "The Father is made of none," &c. The twentieth and two following verses down to 'but proceeding,' are then quoted. The other quotation is not noticed by Waterland: "For such as the Father is," as the blessed Athanasius, bishop of the city of Alexandria testifies, "such also is the Son, such also is the Holy Ghost, for in this Trinity none is before," &c. The quotation is continued to the end of the twenty-sixth verse, 'Let him thus think of the Trinity The editor of Alcuin, Frobenius, places this treatise among his genuine works upon the authority of a MS. of the ninth century, in which it appears with the title, 'Alcuinus de Processione Spiritus sancti.' The codex was given to the cathedral church of Laon by Dido, who was bishop of that see in the latter part of the ninth century, his death having occurred in 891. So that it could not have been written long after the time of Alcuin. There seems therefore good ground for attributing the treatise to him; and, if it is his work, it must have been written between the year 800, when Charlemagne was crowned Emperor-for it is dedicated to him in that character, 'Serenissimo Augusto Carolo'—and the year 804, when Alcuin died. It may very well have been written at that epoch, as the Procession was a prominent subject of discussion at the close of the eighth century, having been mooted at the Council of Gentiliacum in 867. If it is not genuine, the dedication still shows it to have

1 Migne, Patrologia Latina, tom. ci. pp. 73, 82; Alcuini Libellus de Processione, cap. i. and cap. iii.

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been written before the year 814, the date of Charlemagne's death. Thus, whether it was composed by Alcuin or not, it affords a remarkable testimony to the widespread reception of the Quicunque at the commencement of the ninth century, as well as to the fact that it was then considered to be the work of Athanasius.

8. Side by side with the last-named work may fitly be adduced another of the same age and dealing with the same subject, The Procession of the Holy Spirit, written by Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans, at the command of Charlemagne. This also consists of a series of quotations from the Fathers, and it quotes the Quicunque as the work of Athanasius, citing from the twentieth to the twenty-sixth verses inclusive, from the words The Father is made of none' to 'let him thus think of the Trinity '.'

9. In the year 809, the Latin monks of Mount Olivet at Jerusalem wrote to the Pope respecting a dispute which had arisen between themselves and some Greek monks headed by John of the monastery of St. Sabas. The letter alludes particularly to the introduction of the Filioque into the Nicene or rather Constantinopolitan Creed, as one of the subjects of debate and adduces several authorities in support of the assertion of the double procession, among them the Athanasian Creed, which it entitles 'Fides S. Athanasii 2.

10. After the death of Felix of Orgel in 818, a document was found among his papers reaffirming the errors of Adoptionism which he had abjured; and with the view of confuting them Agobard, Bishop of Lyons, composed a treatise consisting mainly, like those of Theodulf and Alcuin already mentioned, of citations from the Fathers. 1 See Migne, Patrol. Lat., tom. cv. p. 247.

2 The epistle of the Franck monks is edited in Baluzii Miscellanea, tom. ii.

The third section asserts the necessity of a belief in the Catholic Faith in the very language of the Creed: 'But he who does not condescend to read what proceeds from ourselves, may rest satisfied with the judgements of the holy Fathers here annexed, because the blessed Athanasius says, Except a man keep the Catholic Faith whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly1. No one can doubt that it is the second verse of the Quicunque which is here quoted by Agobard; and he quotes the words as those of Athanasius.

11. Baluze in his Miscellanea 2 has printed 'Ex veteri codice MS. Bibliothecae Colbertinae,' a catalogue of the first fourteen abbots of the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Fleury on the Loire, subjoined to which is a brief notice respecting Theodulf, the last-named in the list, containing several particulars of his life and writings which are not found elsewhere. Among other things it states that he wrote expositions of the Mass and the Athanasian Creed. My principal reason for drawing attention to this interesting and important document here, lies in the incidental mention which it makes of the daily recital of the Creed at the hour of Prime as the contemporaneous practice of monks: 'explanationem edidit,' it says of Theodulf, 'symboli sancti Athanasii, quod a monachis post tres regulares psalmos ad primam cotidie canitur.' This passage is adduced by Martene as evidence of the ancient use by the Benedictines of the Quicunque in the office of Prime 3. The document is clearly subsequent in date to

1 'Beatus Athanasius ait, Fidem Catholicam nisi quis integram inviolatamque servaverit, absque dubio in aeternum peribit.' Agobardus adversus Felicem: see Migne, Patrol. Latina, tom. cv. p. 35.

2 Baluzii Miscellaneorum liber primus, pp. 491, 492.

1788.

Martene, De antiquis monachorum ritibus, lib. i. cap. iv. p. 17, ed.

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