Glossary
Glossary GLOSSARY Imperial ranks and titles comes (pl: comites) – the rank of comes, or 'companion', was created by Constantine
I and reflected the holder's connections with the imperial centre. Although the title was bestowed on some members of the bureaucracy ex officio, it was also granted to other individuals who attracted the personal attention and favour of the emperor. The comites were divided into three grades, although the rationale and operation of this division remain obscure. See Kelly (2004) 196–9. curiosus (pl: curiosi) – the curiosi were officials drawn from the agentes in rebus
(a sub-division of the palatini – see below) and carried out inspection duties for the cursus publicus (the imperial post and messenger service) and at ports, although provincial appeals to them (here and elsewhere) suggest that they soon came to be seen as important official figures. See Jones (1964) I 103–4,
II 578–80.
dux (pl: duces) – the dux was the military commander of the frontier regions of a province or a group of provinces. The title developed during the separation of military and civil powers that was begun by the Tetrarchy at the end of the third century and continued during the reign of Constantine I. See Elton (2006)
330–31. notarius (pl: notarii) – the notarii were clerks and bureaucratic officials in the imperial secretariat, but were also regularly employed as representatives of the emperor on official business throughout the empire, including investigating the behaviour of other officials. See Jones (1964) II 572–4; Kelly (1998) 159–60. palatinus (pl: palatini) – palatini was a general title for the civil and administrative functionaries who constituted the central imperial bureaucracy. As well as the notarii, this group also included the agentes in rebus (messengers who also performed some similar tasks as the notarii) and the members of the various
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scrinia (clerks who dealt with correspondence, judicial matters and records).
See Jones (1964) II 572–86; Kelly (1998) 162–9. vicarius (pl: vicarii) – the vicarius was a late Roman civilian official who oversaw the governors of a group of provinces, known as a diocese, and reported to the Praetorian Prefect of the region. See Jones (1964) I 373–5; Kelly (2004) 72.
Theological terms More information on all these terms and their use in the theological disputes of this period can be found in the Introduction, as well as in footnotes to relevant parts of the translations.
Anomoian – this title has often been given to the theologians Aetius and Eunomius, as well as their followers, because they supposedly stated that the Son was anomoios ('unlike') the Father. This is a misrepresentation that was employed by their enemies, leading to the 'Anomoians' being presented as a heretical sect in chapter 76 of the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis. Modern scholarship has sought other terms for them, including 'Neo-Arians' and the more neutral
'Heterousians', which reflects their view that the Son is 'of different essence' from the Father.
Arian – in a narrow sense, this title could refer to those who agreed with the theological beliefs of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius, which probably included the notion that the Son is inferior to the Father and is not co-eternal with him. The term did, however, quickly come to be used in a tendentious manner by 'Nicene' authors such as Athanasius as a way of creating a unified, negative identity for their opponents in the theological disputes of this period, even though many of the figures they criticised openly disavowed Arius' beliefs. It is this polemical sense of the word that is to be found throughout the texts translated in this volume. Modern scholarship has sought to provide more neutral and accurate titles for the different theological positions that were deemed 'Arian', leading to the creation of terms such as 'Homoiousian',
'Heterousian' and 'Homoian'. The 'Arians' or 'Ariomaniacs' were to have a long afterlife in heresiological literature and were presented as both the heirs and progenitors of other heretical groups. homoios – this Greek term, meaning 'like', came to prominence in 359 and 360 as a simple description of the resemblance that the Son has to the Father, accompanied by the phrase 'as the Holy Scriptures say and teach'. In the 'Dated Creed' of 359 homoios is followed by the words kata panta ('in all
GLOSSARY respects'), but these were dropped in the final agreements after the Councils of Seleucia and Ariminum and at the Council of Constantinople in 360. This theological settlement, which is often referred to as 'Homoian', was called
'Arian' by its opponents, but nonetheless had a long afterlife, especially among the 'barbarian' successor kingdoms of the early medieval West. homoiousios – this term, meaning 'of like essence', appears to have been coined in the late 350s as an attempt to define the relationship between the Father and the Son, and briefly enjoyed the support of Constantius II. It is particularly associated with Basil, bishop of Ancyra, and was acceptable to some 'Nicene' figures, including Hilary of Poitiers, although Epiphanius of Salamis went on to describe the advocates of homoiousios as 'Semi-Arians' at Panarion 73. homoousios – this term for the relationship between the Father and the Son was adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and means 'of the same essence'. It was criticised as unscriptural, but was fiercely defended by the three authors in this volume and eventually succeeded in being widely, although not universally, accepted as orthodox after the Council of Constantinople in 381. hypostasis – this Greek term is frequently translated into English as 'subsistence', although 'substance' is also used. It was sometimes rendered into Latin as substantia, which could cause confusion since this word was also employed by some authors as the equivalent of the Greek theological term ousia – see, for example, p. 128 n. 83 and p. 137 n. 126 on Hilary, In Const. It did not feature particularly prominently in the theological debates covered by the texts in this volume, although it does appear in the 'Fourth Creed' of Antioch and in the statement produced by the Council of Sirmium in 351. It played a significant role in the theological settlement adopted at the Council of Constantinople in 381, whereby the Trinity was described as consisting of three hypostaseis in a single ousia. ousia – this Greek term, often translated into English as 'essence' or 'substance', was widely discussed in fourth-century theological definitions of the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Trinity. It is fundamental to the description of the Son as homoousios ('of the same essence'), which was adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and which was defended by the three authors in this volume, as well as to the formulation of homoiousios ('of like essence'), which was briefly prominent in the later 350s, and the 'Heterousian'
('of different essence') position taken by Aetius and Eunomius. Some theologians avoided ousia altogether on the grounds that it was not scriptural, and its use was explicitly rejected in the 'Blasphemy of Sirmium' and the 'Homoian' creeds of 359/360. Hilary uses the terms essentia and substantia to render it into Latin, which sometimes caused confusion, since substantia was
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also employed as a translation of the Greek term hypostasis – see p. 128 n. 83 and p. 137 n. 126 on Hilary, In Const.
Sabellius/Sabellianism – Sabellius is believed to have been a presbyter at Rome, probably in the third century, who advocated a 'Monarchian' theology (in which God was regarded as a single 'person' or 'principle'), stressing the oneness of the Trinity, with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being merely 'modes' of the Godhead. This involved differentiating between the three persons to a much lesser extent than many other theologians did. For this reason, the accusation of 'Sabellianism' was sometimes used by fourth-century Christians as a way of attacking positions, including the Nicene homoousios, which they regarded as not articulating the relationship between the Father and the Son (or of the Trinity as a whole) with sufficient distinction. See Epiphanius, Panarion 62;
Simonetti (1980); Bienert (1993).
Germanicia SYRIA Jerusalem Caesarea Antioch B l a c k S e a ( E u x i n e ) Ariminum Nicaea Ancyra Seleucia Alexandria R. Nile Nicomedia EGYPT Constantinople Niké R. Danube Serdica Singidunum M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a
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