ERRATA. P. 183, 1. 15, for E. A. read A. E. Burn. P. 189, 1. 18, for controversy read heresy. P. 212, l. 14, for is read in. P. 486, l. 13, for montem read mortem. PART I. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. INTRODUCTORY. THE evidences of the ancient history of the Athanasian Creed must be sought firstly in passages of ancient authors or documents containing express references to it or quoting or adopting its language: also in Canons and authoritative injunctions relating to it: also in manuscript copies of it now existing, or which are known to have existed, though now lost also in Commentaries or expositions upon its text: lastly, in the different versions or translations into which it has been rendered. I propose first to review these several classes of evidence categorically, and then to consider the conclusions to be drawn from them with respect to the language in which the Creed was composed, its date and authorship, the titles applied to it, its text, its use and reception in the Church. In regard to the three first of these points it will be necessary also to take into consideration the internal evidence supplied by the document itself. CHAPTER I. TESTIMONIES. PASSAGES of ancient authors or documents containing express references to the Creed or quoting or adopting its language. These I will classify as ancient testimonies. 1. The earliest writer who can with good reason be alleged as a witness to the existence of the Quicunque and its reception in the Church as a work of authority is Avitus, who became Bishop of Vienne in Gaul, A.D. 490, and is believed to have died A.D. 518. In a fragment of a work De Divinitate Spiritus Sancti, written contra Gundobadum Arrianum regem, he quotes, and that as from a well-known work of authority, the very language of the Athanasian Creed respecting the Holy Spirit: 'quem nec factum legimus nec genitum nec creatum,' adding shortly afterwards: 'Nos vero Spiritum Sanctum dicimus a Filio et Patre procedere.' What makes the matter still more clear, if that is possible, is that in another fragment of the same book he refers, as it appears, to some formulated confession of the Catholic Faith as teaching this doctrine of the Double Procession: 'Sicut est proprium Spiritui Sancto a Patre Filioque procedere, istud Catholica Fides etiamsi renuentibus non persuaserit, in suae tamen disciplinae regula non excedit.' If a Confession of Faith is here alluded to, what else but the Quicunque could be intended, the Filioque not having been inserted, at least so far as we are aware, in the Constantino politan Creed so early as the commencement of the sixth. century? We shall find too, as we proceed, that the Athanasian Creed was entitled sometimes' Catholica Fides,' and that this was probably its earliest title1. 2. Evidence of the early existence of the Athanasian. Creed is supplied by Sermons on the Apostles' Creed addressed to Catechumens at the Traditio Symboli previous to Baptism. The first of these which I shall adduce, as being probably the earliest, is preserved in two MSS. of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Latin 3848 B. and 21232. It commences: 'Rogo vos et admoneo, fratres karissimi, quicunque vult salvus esse fidem rectam catholicam firmiter teneat inviolatamque conservet : quam si quis digne non habuerit, regnum Dei non possidebit.' The resemblance here to the two first verses of the Creed is such, as to produce the conviction either that the Creed borrowed from the Sermon or the Sermon from the Creed. The latter is clearly the most probable alternative. In two other places the language of the Quicunque crops up-in the comment upon the Articles, 'conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:' 'Hoc est sine matre de Patre Deus ante secula, et homo de matre sine patre carnali in finem seculorum,' and in the exposition of the doctrine of the Trinity: 'Pater Deus est et Filius Deus est et Spiritus Sanctus Deus est et non sunt tres Dii, sed unus est Deus.' This discourse may be considered to be coeval with Avitus, the Creed which it expounds being of a type which cannot be assigned to a later date apparently, as it 1 See Baluzii Miscellaneorum liber primus. Paris, 1678. Baluze published these fragments, as appears from the list of contents, from an ancient MS. of the Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland. 2 The expository portion of it is printed in Appendix G of my volume entitled Early History of the Athanasian Creed. It was also edited by Caspari, Kirchenhistorische Anecdota, p. 283. did not contain the words 'passus' or 'mortuus' or 'omnipotentis,' nor yet the articles 'descendit ad inferna,' 'sanctorum communionem,' 'vitam aeternam.' In all probability it was preached in Gaul, but the author is unknown. 3. The second of these Sermons which I shall refer to as adopting the terminology of the Quicunque was at first published among the works of St. Augustine, but was relegated by the Benedictines to the Appendix of their edition, and assigned to Caesarius, who was Bishop of Arles from A.D. 502 until his death in 542 A.D.1 The commencement corresponds almost word for word with that of the previously-mentioned Sermon: 'Rogo et admoneo vos, fratres carissimi, ut quicunque vult salvus esse, fidem rectam ac catholicam discat, firmiter teneat, inviolatamque conservet.' The word discat' introduced here is noticeable, as possibly suggested by the requirement to learn the Athanasian Creed by heart, which was imposed upon the clergy, as we shall see by-and-by, in places as early as the seventh and sixth centuries. The preacher then continues his address in terms apparently borrowed both from the first part of the Quicunque relating to the Trinity, and from the second relating to the Incarnation: 'Ita ergo oportet unicuique observare, ut credat Patrem, credat Filium, credat Spiritum Sanctum. Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus et Spiritus Sanctus; sed tamen non tres Dii, sed unus Deus. Qualis Pater, talis Filius, talis et Spiritus Sanctus. Attamen credat unusquisque fidelis, quod Filius aequalis est Patri secundum divinitatem et minor est Patri secundum humanitatem carnis.' 4. The third Sermon of this class which I must appeal to as a witness to the antiquity of the Athanasian Creed 1 S. Augustini Opera, Appendix tomi quinti, Sermo ccxliv: Migne, Patrol. Latina, tom. xxxix. 2194. |