Fragments from two letters of Theognius of Bithynia
| Reference | Dok. 13; CPG 2070 |
| Incipit | Ergo filium genitum |
| Date | c. 322-323 |
| Ancient source | Vat. lat 5750, p. 275 |
| Modern edition | Gustave Bardy. Recherches sur saint Lucien d’Antioche et son école. (Paris: Beauchesne, 1936), pp. 212. |
As with Dok. 12, these fragments from a letter of Theognis, the bishop of Nicaea were preserved in Latin in Vat. Lat 5750. Again, they probably come from the period between the council held in Palestine and the general council in Nicaea. At the 325 council in his own city, Theognis would support Arius, but eventually sign the Nicene Creed (though deceitfully, according to Philostorgius, H.E. 1.9) and, together with Eusebius of Nicomedia would later be exiled after confessing his duplicity to Constantine (ibid., 2.1a), and still later seek re-instatement from the emperor (Dok. 36 = Urk. 31).
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| Similiter etiam Bithynius episcopus Theognius ad papam: | Similarly also the Bithynian bishop Theognis to the bishop of Alexandria: |
| Ergo Filium genitum dicimus, Filius autem ingenitus nunquam fieri potest. Solum autem Patrem scientes ingenitum de sanctis scripturis (illum solum adoramus); veneramur autem Filium, quia apud nos certum est hanc eius gloriam ad Patrem ascendere. | Therefore we say the Son is begotten, and the Son was never able to have been unbegotten. Since we know from the Holy Scriptures that the Father alone is unbegotten, <we worship him alone>; but we venerate the Son, because among us it is certain that this glory of his ascends to the Father. |
| Et post pauca idem: | And a bit further on, the same person writes: |
| Cum ergo maiorem se Patrem ostendat, certum est quia <Pater est Deus>, non solum ob rationem creaturae, sed quia ingenitus est. | And since he shows that the Father is greater than himself, it is certain that <the Father is God>, not only because of the creation, but because he is unbegotten. |
| Similiter idem ipse in alia epistula: | Similarly he writes in another letter: |
| E Patre autem et Filio dicere iusta, sicut scis, super nubeculam est ambulare. Ergo uere primum deprecabor Dominum, ut ueniam mihi tribuat propter necessitatem, et ita de his incipiam, non de plurimis quaestionibus, neque per circuitum, sed per compendium. | As you know, to speak correctly about the Father and the Son is to try to walk above the clouds. And so I will first pray to the Lord, so that when I come he will grant me favor for what I must do, and so I will begin in these matters, not with an extensive examination, nor in a roundabout way, but concisely. |
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Last updated 10/20/24 by GLT.
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