Palladius said; 'I do not answer you.'
Constantius, Bishop, said; ' Do not you answer when you have so long blasphemed?'
Eusebius, Bishop, said; 'But you are under an obligation to express frankly the faith you claim the right to hold. If a heathen were to ask of you in what way you believe in Christ, you would be bound not to be ashamed to confess.'
10. SABINUS, Bishop, said; 'It was your own request that we would answer: we are come together this day |36 according to your wish, and upon your own solicitation, and we have not waited for our other brethren, who might have come. It is therefore not open to you to wander from the subject. Do you say that Christ was created? or do you say that the Son of God is everlasting?'
Palladius said; ' I have told you already: we said we would come and prove that you have not done well to take advantage of the Emperor.'
Ambrose, Bishop, said; 'Let Palladius's letter be read to shew whether he sent us this message, and it will appear that even now he is deceiving.'
Palladius said; 'Let it be read by all means.'
The Bishops said: 'When you saw the Emperor at Sirmium, did you address him, or was it he that pressed you?' And they added: 'What do you answer to this?'
Palladius answered; 'He said to me, "Go." We said: "Are the Eastern Bishops summoned to attend?" He said, "They are." Should we have come if the Eastern Bishops had not been summoned?'
11. AMBROSE, Bishop, said; 'Let the matter of the Eastern Bishops stand over. I enquire at present into your sentiments. Arius's letter has been read to you: you are in the habit of denying that you are an Arian. Either condemn Arius now, or defend him.'
Palladius said; 'It is not within the compass of your authority to ask this of me.'
Eusebius, Bishop, said; 'We do not believe that the religious Emperor said other than he wrote. He has ordered the Bishops to meet: it is impossible that he said to you and no one else contrary to his own letter, that the case was not to be discussed without the presence of the Eastern Bishops.'
Palladius said; 'He did, if the Italian Bishops alone were ordered to assemble.'
Evagrius, Presbyter and deputy, said; [It is plain] 'that he promised to appear within four and even within two days. What then were you waiting for? was it, as you say, that you considered the opinion of your colleagues, the |37 Eastern Bishops was to be waited for? Then you ought to have said so in your message, and not to have pledged yourself to discussion.'
Palladius said; 'I had come, believing it to be a General Council, but I saw that my colleagues had not assembled. I decided however to come, in accordance with the summons, to bid you to do nothing to the prejudice of a future Council.'
12. AMBROSE, Bishop, said; 'You yourself required that we should sit to-day, moreover, even this very day you have said yourself 'we come as Christians to Christians.' You have therefore acknowledged us for Christians. You promised that you would engage in discussion: you promised that you would either assign your own reasons or accept ours. We therefore willingly accepted your opening, we wished that you should come as a Christian. I offered you the letter of Arius, which that Arius wrote, from whose name you say that you often suffer wrong. You say that you do not follow Arius. To-day your sentiments must be made clear; either condemn him, or support him by whatever passage you will.'
He went on; 'Then according to Arius's letter Christ the Son of God is not everlasting?'
Palladius said; 'We said that we would prove ourselves Christians, but in a full Council. We do not answer you at all to the prejudice of a future Council.'
Eusebius, Bishop, said; 'You ought to state your profession of faith straightforwardly.'
Palladius said; 'And what do we reserve for the Council?'
13. AMBROSE, Bishop, said; 'He has been unanimously condemned who denies the Eternity of the Son of God. Arius denied it, Palladius, who will not condemn Arius, follows him. Consider then, whether his opinion is approved of; it is easy to perceive whether he speaks according to the Scriptures, or against the Scriptures. For we read: God's eternal Power and Godhead. Christ is the Power of God. If then the Power of God is everlasting, Christ surely is everlasting; for Christ is the Power of God' |38
Eusebius, Bishop, said; ' This is our faith: this is the Catholic doctrine; who says not this, let him be anathema.' All the Bishops said; 'Anathema.'
14. EUSEBIUS, Bishop, said; 'He says specifically that the Father alone is everlasting, and that the Son at some time began to be.'
Palladius said; 'I have neither seen Arius, nor do I know who he is.'
Eusebius, Bishop, said; ' The blasphemy of Arius has been produced, in which he denies that the Son of God is everlasting. Do you condemn this wickedness and its author, or do you support it?'