Address to Emperor Constantine
Allocutio ad imperatorem Constantinum
Thanks to God who shares your earthly rule§1
1We thank God, most mighty emperor, who shares the earthly kingdom with you — who through you abolished the error of idols and set the faithful in bold, cheerful freedom. The reek of demons has ceased; the cults of Greek polytheism are dissolved; the darkness of ignorance is driven off; the world is lit by the light of knowing God. The Father is glorified; the Son is worshipped with him; the Holy Spirit is proclaimed; a consubstantial Trinity — one Godhead in three persons and hypostases — is preached.
Greek · §1
Εὐχαριστοῦμεν Θεῷ, κράτιστε βασιλεῦ, τῷ τὴν ἐπίγειον συνθύνοντί σοι βασιλείαν· τῷ τὴν πλάνην τῶν εἰδώλων διὰ σοῦ καταργήσαντι, καὶ τῶν πιστῶν καταστήσαντι ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ τὸν εὔθυμον. Πέπαυται κνίσσα δαιμόνων· καταλέλυται πολυθεΐας Ἑλληνικῆς τὰ σεβάσματα· τὸ τῆς ἀγνωσίας ἀπελαύνεται σκότος· τῷ τῆς θεογνωσίας φωτὶ ἡ οἰκουμένη καταυγάζεται· Πατὴρ δοξολογεῖται· Υἱὸς συμπροσκυνεῖται· τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καταγγέλλεται· Τριὰς ὁμοούσιος, μία 676 θεότης ἐν τρισὶ προσώποις καὶ ὑποστάσεσι κηρύττεται.
Guard this piety; let no heretic strip the Trinity§2
2With this, O emperor, your pious power is walled about — keep it inviolate for us. Let no heretic, slipping into the Church, take away any one of the Trinity and leave what remains dishonored.
Greek · §2
Ταύτῃ τειχίζεται, βασιλεῦ, τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας σου κράτος· ταύτην ἡμῖν ἄσυλον διαφύλαττε. Μηδεὶς αἱρετικὸς, ὑποδὺς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἕν τι τῆς Τριάδος ἀφαιρείτω, καταλιμπάνων τὸ λειπόμενον ἄτιμον.
Arius the namesake of madness§3
3Arius — namesake of madness — is the cause of this dispute and gathering: somehow enrolled in the Alexandrian priesthood, he escaped our notice while remaining alien to the teaching of the thrice-blessed prophets and apostles. He is not ashamed to strip the only-begotten Son and Word of the Father of the Father’s consubstantiality, and as a worshipper of the creature he presses to number the Creator with the creation.
Greek · §3
Ἄρειος ἡμῖν ὁ τῆς μανίας ἐπώνυμος τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς συνελεύσεως αἴτιος· ὃς, ὡς οὐκ ἴσμεν ὅπως, τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων ἐγκαταλεγεὶς Ἐκκλησίας, ἐλάνθανεν ἡμᾶς, τῆς τῶν τρισμακαρίων προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων διδασκαλίας ὑπάρχων ἀλλότριος. Τὸν γὰρ μονογενῆ Υἱὸν καὶ Λόγον τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀποστερεῖν τῆς ὁμοουσιότητος τοῦ Πατρὸς οὐκ ἐντρέπεται, καὶ τῇ κτίσει τὸν κτίστην ὁ κτιστολάτρης συναριθμεῖν ἐπείγεται.
Persuade him — or drive him from Christ’s fold§4
4Persuade him, emperor, if he will change his mind, not to fight the apostolic teachings; or, if he stays sunk in the impieties in which he was caught, wipe him clean out of Christ’s fold and ours — so that the muddy flattery of his words may not make pasture of simpler souls.
Greek · §4
Τοῦτον ἂν πείσειας, αὐτοκράτωρ, μεταφρονοῦντα, τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς μὴ ἀντιτείνειν διδάγμασιν· ἢ τοῖς ἐν οἷς ἑάλω κακοδοξίας ἐγκείμενον ἀσεβήμασιν, ἄρδην τῆς Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡμῶν ἀφανίσειας ἐπαύλεως, ὡς ἂν μὴ τῆς θολερᾶς αὐτοῦ λογοθωπείας τὰς τῶν ἁπλουστέρων ψυχὰς ἐργάσηται θέραμα.