Maximin’s Dissertation

AUXENTIUS
or
Excerpts on Bishop Wulfila of the Visigoths (translator of the first Germanic Bible);  from the polemical Arian ecclesiatico-political tract known as “Maximin’s Dissertation,” a collection of Arian polemical writings against orthodox Catholicism first put together about A.D. 382/383 in the Balkans.
The Latin text of these excerpts appears in Streitberg’s Bibel, pp. xiv-xixx, except for emendations proposed by Karl Kurt Klein in the Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum (LXXXIV [1952/53], pp. 239-271, “Die Dissertatio Maximi als Quelle der Wulfilabiographie”), and by Wolfgang lange in Texte zur germanischen Bekehrungsgeschichte (Tübingen:  Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1962), p. 9, which are here followed.

Included are:  the letter of Auxentius of Durostorum (near modern Silistria, Bulgaria);  supplementary elaborations by the editor of the collection;  and the collection’s recapitulatory final paragraph, appended by the scribal copyist of the “Dissertation” at least half a century after its origin.

The piecemeal translations of some sentences and paragraphs into German by Klein (op. cit.) and into English by Charles A.A. Scott (in:  Ulfilas, Apostle of the Goths, together with an Account of the Gothic Churches and their Decline, Cambridge:  Macmillan and Bowes, 1885), as well as the more extensive translation of paragraphs 53-63 into German by Rudolf Plate (in:  Geschichte der gotischen Literatur, Berlin:  Ferd. Dümmlers Verlag, 1931, pp. 30-34), have been examined for phrasings and viewpoints of possible benefit to this translation.

Epistula Auxentii Durostorensis
de
Wulfila Episcopo
inter annos 382-385 p. Chr. n. scripta
in dissertatione Maximini Episcopi contenta

X X X
The Letter of Auxentius of Durostorum
on
Bishop Wulfila
written A.D. 382-385
and contained in the “dissertation”
of Bishop Maximinus
X X X
Folium 304
§ 43:  Nam et ad orientem perrexisse memoratos episcopos [i.e., Palladianum Secundianumque] cum Wulfila Episcopo ad comitatum Theodosii [I Magni,] Imperatoris [Imperii Romani Orientis p.Chr.n. 379-395], epistula declarat... § 43:  Now the letter [of Auxentius] makes clear that the above-mentioned [Illyrian] bishops [Palladius of Ratiaria and Secundianus of Singidunum, who had been declared heretics and deposed from their bishoprics at the Council of Aquileia in September, A.D. 381, which had been led by the anti-Arian Bishop (Saint) Ambrose of Milan], with Bishop Wulfila, had proceeded to the east to the court of the Emperor Theodosius [I, “the Great,” Eastern Roman emperor 379-395] ….
Epistula Auxentii
I:  Pars Invectiva Doctrinalisque I:  The Polemical and Doctrinal Section
Folium 304’
<Erat Wulfila> valde decorus, vere confessor Christi, doctor pietatis et prædicator veritatis.  Unum solum verum deum, patrem Christi, secundum ipsius Christi magisterium satis aperte et nimis evidenter volentibus et nolentibus prædicare numquam hæsitavit, sciens hunc solum verum deum, solum esse ingenitum, sine principio, sine fine, sempiternum ;  supernum, sublimem, superiorem ;  auctorem altissimum, omni excellentiæ excelsiorem, omni bonitati meliorem ;  interminatum, incapabilem ;  invisibilem, immensum ;  immortalem, incorruptibilem ;  incommunicabilem, substantia incorporalem ;  incompositum, simplicem ;  immutabilem, indivisum, immobilem ;  inindigentem ;  inaccessibilem ;  inscissum ;  irregnatum ;  increatum ;  infectum ;  perfectum in singularitate exstantem ;  incomparabiliter omnibus majorem et meliorem.  Qui, quum esset solus, non ad divisionem vel deminutionem divinitatis suæ, sed ad ostensionem bonitatis et virtutis suæ, sola voluntate et potestate, impassibilis impassibiliter, incorruptibilis incorruptibiliter et immobilis immobiliter unigenitum Deum creavit et genuit, fecit et fundavit. <Wulfila was> a man of exceeding propriety, truly an avower of Christ, a teacher of piety and a preacher of the truth.  He never hesitated to preach, distinctly enough and with extreme clarity, to the willing and the unwilling, the one, sole, true God, the Father of Christ, the secondary authority of Christ Himself  knowing that this sole true God is alone unbegotten, without beginning, without end, sempiternal;  celestial, sublime, superior;  the highest Author, loftier than all excellence, better than all good;  unbounded, uncontainable;  invisible, immense;  immortal, incorruptible;  incommunicable, incorporeal in substance;  not composite;  of one piece;  immutable, undivided, unmoving, lacking nothing;  inaccessible;  unsundered;  unbounded, ungoverned;  uncreated, not made;  existing perfect in oneness;  incomparably greater and better than all things.  When He was alone, He, not to the division or diminution of His own divinity, but for the manifestation of His own goodness and might, by His will and power alone, dispassionate did dispassionately, incorruptible did incorruptibly, unmoving did unmovingly, create and beget, make and establish the only-begotten God.
§ 44:  Secundum traditionem et auctoritatem Divinarum Scripturarum, hunc secundum Deum et auctorem omnium a Patre et post Patrem et propter Patrem et ad gloriam Patris esse nunquam celavit; § 44:  <Bishop Wulfila> never concealed that, according to the tradition and authority of the Divine Scriptures, this secondary God and Originator of all things was from the Father and after the Father and on account of the Father, and for the glory of the Father;
Folium 305
sed et magnum Deum et magnum Dominum et magnum regem et magnum mysterium, magnum lumen, magnificum Dominum provisorem et legislatorem, redemptorem, | salvatorem, pastorem, totius creationis auctorem, vivorum et mortuorum justum judicem, majorem habentem Deum et Patrem suum secundum Sanctum Evangelium semper manifestavit, but he always manifested, in accordance with the holy Gospel, both the great God and great Lord, and the great King and great Mystery, great Light, glorious Lord, Provider and Lawgiver, Redeemer, | Savior, Shepherd, the Author of all creation, just Judge of the living and the dead, holding His own God and Father as greater;
§ 45:  quia Homousianorum odibilem et exsecrabilem, pravam et perversam professionem ut diabolicam adinventionem et dæmoniorum doctrinam sprevit et calcavit.  Et ipse sciens et nobis tradens, quod si unigeniti Dei infatigabilis virtus cælestia et terrestria, invisibilia et visibilia omnia facile fecisse honeste prædicatur et a nobis Christianis jure et fideliter creditur, ¿ quare Dei Patris impassibilis virtus unum Filium proprium fecisse non credatur ? § 45:  Because he despised and trampled under foot the odious and execrable, depraved and perverse profession of he Homoousians as a diabolical invention and a doctrine of demons.  And he himself knew and passed on to us that, if the untiring power of the only-begotten God is honorably preached, and rightfully and faithfully believed by us Christians to have easily created all things celestial and terrestrial, invisible and visible, why should not the dispassionate power of God the Father be believed to have made his own and only Son for Himself?
§ 46:  Sed et Homœusianorum errorem et impietatem flevit et devitavit ;  et ipse, de Divinis Scripturis caute instructus et in multis conciliis sanctorum episcoporum diligenter confirmatus, et per sermones et tractatus suos ostendit, differentiam esse divinitatis Patris et Filii, Dei ingeniti et Dei geniti, et Patrem quidem Creatorem esse Creatoris, Filium vero Creatorem esse totius creationis ;  et Patrem esse Deum Domini, Filium autem Deum universæ creaturæ. § 46:  But he lamented and shunned the error and impiety of the Homoiousians, having been himself carefully instructed from the Divine Scriptures and diligently fortified in many councils of the holy bishops.  And he made plain through his preachings and tracts, that there was a difference of divinity of the Father and the Son, of the unbegotten God and the only-begotten God, and that the Father was in fact the Creator of the Creator, that the Son, however, was the Creator of all creation;  and that the Father was the God of the Lord, whereas the Son is the God of creation as a whole.
§ 47:  Quapropter Homousianorum sectam destruebat, quia non confusas et concretas personas, sed discretas et distinctas credebat ; § 47:  Wherefore he tore down the sect of the Homoousians because he believed the Persons not mixed up together and congealed, but discrete and distinct.
§ 48:  Homœusion autem dissipabat, quia non comparatas res, sed differentes affectus defendebat.  Et Filium similem esse Patri suo non secundum Macedonianam fraudulentam pravitatem et perversitatem contra Scripturas dicebat, sed secundum Divinas Scripturas et traditiones. § 48:  He put to rout, moreover, Homoiousianism, because he championed not the comparable things, but the differing constitutions.  And he habitually said that the Son was similar to His Father, not in accordance with the fraudulent Macedonian depravity and perversity, contrary to the Scriptures, but rather in accordance with the Divine Scriptures and traditions.
Folium 305’
§ 49:  Prædicatione vel expositione sua omnes hæreticos non Christianos sed antichristos, non pios sed impios, non religiosos sed irreligiosos, non timoratos sed temerarios, non in spe sed sine spe, non cultores Dei sed sine Deo esse, non doctores sed seductores, non prædicatores sed prævaricatores asserebat, sive Manichæos, sive Marcionistas, sive Montanistas, sive Paulinianos, sive Sabellianos sive Antropianos, sive Patripassianos, sive Photinianos, sive Novatianos, sive Donatianos, sive Homousianos, sive Homœusianos, sive Macedonianos.  Vere, ut apostolorum æmulator et martyrum imitator, hostis effectus hæreticorum, pravam eorum doctrinam repellebat et populum Dei ædificabat, lupos graves et canes — malos operarios — effugabat et gregem Christi per gratiam ipsius ut pastor bonus cum omni prudentia et diligentia servabat. § 49:  By his preaching and expounding, he asserted that all heretics were not Christians but anti-Christs, not pious but impious, not religious but irreligious, not God-fearing but reckless, not in hope but without hope, not worshippers of God but devoid of God, not teachers but seducers, not preachers but sinners, whether [they be] Manicheans or Marcionites, or Montanists or Paulinians or Sabellians or Antropians or Patripassians or Photinians or Novatians or Donatists or Homoousians or Homœousians or Macedonians.  But as the emulator of the Apostles and the imitator of martyrs, as the proven enemy of the heretics, he repulsed their depreaved doctrine and edified the people of God, and put to flight baneful wolves and dogs, evil workers, and as a good shepherd, he saved the flock of Christ from harm through His grace, with all prudence and diligence.
§ 50:  Sed et Spiritum Sanctum non esse nec Patrem nec Filium, sed a Patre per Filium ante omnia factum ;  non esse primum nec secundum, sed a Primo per Secundum in tertio gradu substitutum ;  non esse ingenitum nec genitum, sed ab Ingenito per Unigenitum in tertio gradu creatum secundum evangelicam prædicationem et apostolicam traditionem (Sancto Johanne dicente, “Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nec unum” ;  et beato Paulo as- § 50:  But he also assented to the fact that the Holy Spirit was neither Father nor Son, but made by the Father through the Son before all things;  that He was neither first nor second, but made by the First through the Second to stand beneath in the third gradation;  that He was neither unbegotten nor begotten, but created by the Unbegotten through the Only-Begotten in third gradation, according to the preaching of the Gospel and the apostolic tradition (as when Saint John says [Jn 1,3]:  “All things were made through Him, and without Him was made not even one thing”;  and when blessed Paul as-
Folium 306
serente, “Unus Deus Pater, ex quo omnia, et unus Dominus Jesus Christus, per quem omnia”) approbabat. serts [1 Cor 8,6]:  “There is only one God, the Father from Whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things”).
§ 51:  Uno enim Deo ingenito exstante, et uno Domino unigenito Deo subsistente, Spiritus Sanctus Advocatus nec Deus nec Dominus potest dici, sed a Deo per Dominum ut esset accepit ;  non auctor nec creator, sed illuminator et sanctificator, doctor et ducator, adjutor et postulator, precator et præceptor et informator, Christi minister et gratiarum divisor, pignus hereditatis in quo signati sumus in diem redemptionis, sine quo nemo potest dicere “Dominum Jesum,” Apostolo dicente, “Nemo potest dicere « Dominum Jesum », nisi in Spiritu Sancto,” et Christo docente, “Ego sum via et veritas et vita ;  nemo venit ad Patrem nisi per me.” § 51:  Whereas the one God stands unbegotten in independent existence, and the one Lord stands beneath as the only-begotten God, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, can be called neither God nor Lord, but has received from God through the Lord that He might have being:  neither Author nor Creator, but Illuminator and Sanctifier, Teacher and Educator, Helper and Petitioner, Intercessor and Preceptor and Instructor, the Minister of Christ and Distributor of grace, the Pledge of the inheritance in Whom we have been marked for the day of redemption, without Whom no one can say “Jesus is Lord,” since the Apostle [Paul;  1 Cor 12,3] says:  “No one can say ‘Jesis is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit,” and Christ teaches [Jn 14,6]:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
§ 52:  Ergo hi sunt Christiani qui in Spiritu et veritate Christum adorant, …ante, et per Christum cum dilectione Deo Patri gratias agunt. § 52:  Therefore they are Christians who adore Christ in the Spirit and truth, … and who give thanks to God the Father through Christ with love.
§ 53:  Hæc et his similia exsequente, quadraginta annis in episcopatu gloriose florens, apostolica gratia, Græcam et Latinam et Gothicam linguam sine intermissione in una et sola ecclesia Christi prædicavit, quia et una est ecclesia Dei vivi, columna et firmamentum veritatis.  Et unum esse gregem Christi, Domini et Dei nostri, unam culturam et unum ædificium ;  unam virginem et unam sponsam, unam reginam ;  et unam vineam, unam domum, unum templum, unum conventum esse Christianorum ;  cetera vero omnia conventicula non esse ecclesias Dei, sed synagogas esse Satanæ § 53:  In setting forth these and similar things, flourishing gloriously in the episcopacy for forty years, he preached by apostolic grace in the Greek, Latin and Gothic tongue unceasingly in the one and only Church of Christ, for one only is the Church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay of truth.  And he asserted and gave witness that one is the flock of Christ, our Lord and God, one worship and one edifice;  one virgin and one bride, one queen;  and that there is one vine, one house, one temple, one assembly of Christians;  that in truth all other assembly places are not churches of God,
Folium 306’
asserebat et contestabatur. but synagogues of Satan.
§ 54:  Et hæc omnia de Divinis Scripturis eum dixisse et nos descripsisse, qui legit, intellegat.  Qui et, ipsis tribus linguis, plures tractatus et multos interpretationes, volentibus ad utilitatem et ad ædificationem, sibi ad æternam memoriam et mercedem, post se dereliquit. § 54:  And let the reader understand that he said all these things in accordance with the Divine Scriptures, and that we transcribed his words.  He also left behind after himself, to his eternal memory and reward, numerous tracts and many interpretations in those same three tongues, for benefit and for edification, to those who are willing.
II:  Vita et res gestæ Wulfilæ II:  Wulfila’s Life and Works
§ 55:  Quem condigne laudare non sufficio et penitus tacere non audeo, cui plus omnium ego sum debitor, quantum et amplius in me laboravit, qui me a prima ætate mea a parentibus meis discipulum suscepit et sacras litteras docuit et veritatem manifestavit et per misericordiam Dei et gratiam Christi et carnaliter et spiritaliter ut filium suum in fide educavit. § 55:  A man whom I am not adequate to praise as much as he deserves, and yet I do not dare to keep entirely silent;  to whom I, more than all others, am indebted, he labored for me so much and more;  who, in my early youth, received me from my parents as a pupil and taught me the Sacred Writ and revealed the truth to me, and through the mercy of God and the grace of Christ educated me both physically and spiritually in the faith as his own son.
Antiochiæ, anno 341º Antioch, A.D. 341
§ 56:  Hic, Dei providentia et Christi misericordia, propter multorum salutem in gente Gothorum, de lectore triginta annorum episcopus est ordinatus, ut non solum esset heres Dei et coheres Christi, sed et in hoc per gratiam Christi imitator Christi et sanctorum ejus ;  ut, quemadmodum Sanctus David triginta annorum rex et propheta est constitutus, ut regeret et doceret populum Dei et filios Isræl, ita et iste beatus tanquam propheta est manifestus et sacerdos Christi ordinatus, ut regeret et corrigeret, doceret et ædificaret gentem Gothorum — quod et, Deo volente et Christo auxiliante, per ministerium ipsius admirabiliter est adimpletum.  Et sicuti Joseph in Ægypto triginta annorum est manifestatus …. § 56:  By the providence of God and the mercy of Christ, this man, at age thirty, was ordained from lector to bishop, for the salvation of many among the nation of the Goths, so that he might be not only an heir of God and co-heir of Christ, but also, through the grace of Christ, an imitator of Chirst and His saints in this matter.  Thus, just as holy David was constituted king and prophet at the age of thirty, that he might rule and teach the people of God and the sons of Israel, so likewise that blessed man was also made manifest as a prophet and ordained a priest of Christ, that he might rule and reform, and teach and edify the nation of the Goths;  through his ministry, with God willing and Christ helping, this was accomplished admirably.  And as in Egypt Joseph was made manifest at age thirty ….
Folium 307
§ 57:  … et quemadmodum Dominus et Deus noster Jesus Christus, Filius Dei, triginta annorum secundum carnem constitutus et baptizatus, cœpit evangelium prædicare et animas hominum pascere, ita et iste sanctus, ipsius Christi dispositione et ordinatione, in fame et penuria prædicationis indifferenter agentem ipsam gentem Gothorum secundum evangelicam et apostolicam et propheticam regulam emendavit et vivere docuit et Christianos vere Christianos esse manifestavit et multiplicavit. § 57:  … And just as our Lord and God Jesus Christ, the Son of God, at thirty years of age according to the flesh, began, having been appointed and baptized, to preach the Gospel and nurture the souls of men, so also this holy man, at the instruction and directive of Christ Himself, reformed, according to the rule of the Gospels and the Apostles and the Prophets, the nation of the Goths, which was living indifferently in hunger and in need of preaching, and he taught them how to live, and showed Christians how to be truly Christians, and multiplied them.
§ 58:  Ubi et ex invidia et operatione Inimici tunc ab irreligioso et sacrilego judice Gothorum, tyrannico terrore in Barbarico, Christianorum persecutio est excitata :  ut Satanas, qui male facere cupiebat, nolens, faceret bene ;  ut, quos desiderabat prævaricatores facere et desertores, Christo opitulante et propugnante, fierent martyres et confessores ;  ut persecutor confunderetur, et qui persecutionem patiebantur, coronarentur ;   ut his, qui temptabat vincere, victus erubesceret, et qui temptabantur, victores gauderent. § 58:  Whereat, also, out of the envy and activity of the Enemy a persecution of the Christians was at that time stirred up with tyrannous terror among the barbarians by an irreligioius and sacrilegious judge of the Goths.  So that Satan, who desired to do evil, unwillingly did good, so that those whom he desired to make apostates and deserters became, with Christ helping and defending, martyrs and confessors, so that the persecutor was confounded, and those who were suffering persectuion were crowned;  so that he who had been attempting to conquere, blushed, conquere by them, and those who had been put ot the test rejoiced as victors.
In Mœsia, anno 348º In Mœsia, A.D. 348
§ 59:  Ubi et post multorum servorum et ancillarum Christi gloriosum martyrium, imminente vehementer ipsa persecutione, completis septem annis tantummodo in episcopatu, sanctissimus vir, beatus Wulfila, cum grandi populo confessorum de Barbarico pulsus in solo Romaniæ, adhuc beatæ memoriæ Constantio Principe, honorifice est susceptus ;  ut sicuti Deus per Moysem, de potentia et violentia Pharaonis et Ægyptiorum, populum § 59:  Whereat, also, after the glorious martyrdom of many servants and handmaids of Christ, with the persecution itself threatening fiercely ahead, having completed only seven years in the episcopate, the most holy man, blessed Wulfila, was driven from Barbarian territory with a large multitude of professing Christians;  he was received with honor on the soil of the Roman Empire by the then ruler Constantius, of blessed memory, so that, as God liberated His people from the power and violence of Pharaoh and the Egyptians through Moses
Folium 307’
suum liberavit et per mare transire fecit et sibi servire providit, ita et per sæpe dictum Deus confessores Filii sui unigeniti de Barbarico liberavit et per Danuvium transire fecit et in montibus secundum sanctorum imitationem sibi servire. and made them cross through the sea and provided for them to serve Him, so also, through the oft-mentioned one, did God liberate the confessors of His own, only-begotten, holy Son from the land of the barbarian and make them cross the Danube to serve Him in the mountains in imitation of the saints.
§ 60:  Degens cum suo populo in solo Romaniæ, absque illis septem annis, triginta et tribus annis veritatem prædicavit. Et in hoc antiquorum sanctorum imitator erat, quod explevit quadraginta annorum spatium et tempus ut, multis gestis rebus et LXX annorum, vir iret e vita. § 60:  Living with his people on the soil of the Roman Empire (apart from those seven years) for thirty-three years, he preached the truth, so that in this, too, he was an imitator of the holy ancients, which filled up the space and time of forty years when, having accomplished many things, and seventy years of age, the man passed from life.
Mors Wulfilæ Wulfila’s Death
Concilium œcumenicum II
mm. Maji — Julii 381º
Second Ecumenical Council
May — July A.D. 381
§ 61:  Qui, cum præcepto imperiali, completis quadraginta annis, ad Constantinopolitanam urbem ad disputationem quidem contra perfidos apostatas perrexit et, eundo in Domini Dei nostri nomine, ne Christi ecclesias sibi a Christo deditas docerent et infestarent, laborabat ; § 61:  In conformity with an imperial summons, after a completed forty years [in the bishopric], he hastened to the city of Constantinople, to the debate to be held against the perfidious apostates.  And going in the name of the Lord our God, he worked zealously lest they destroy and turn into collaborating witnesses the churches of Christ entrusted to him by Christ;
Et ingressus est supradictam civitatem.  Recogitato ab impiis de statu concilii, ne arguerentur miseris miserabiliores, proprio judicio damnati et perpetuo supplicio plectendi, statim cœpit infirmari.  In qua infirmitate susceptus est ad similitudinem Elisei prophetæ. but by the time he entered the above-said city, the impious had changed their minds about the holding of the council, lest they, more pitiable than the wretched, be revealed as condemned by their own testimony and worthy of eternal punishment;  he suddently became sick and in that infirmity was taken up like the prophet Elisha.
A.D. 383º A.D. 383
§ 62:  Considerare modo oportet meritum viri qui ad hoc, duce Domino, obiit Constantinopolim, immo vero Christianopolim, ut sanctus et immaculatus sacerdos Christi a sanctis et consacerdotibus, a dignis dignus digne in tanta multitudine Christianorum pro meritis suis mire et gloriose honoraretur. § 62:  It is now proper to consider the merit of this man who, under the leadership of the Lord, went to this Constantinople — nay, actually Christianople [at the time of his funeral] — that he, holy and sinless priest of Christ, might be honored by holy men and fellow priests, a worthy honored worthily by worthies, honored wondrously and gloriously for his merits amid such a great multitude of Christians.
III:  Wulfilæ Symbolum et Confessio Fidei
in Hora Mortis
III:  Wulfila’s Deathbed Testament of Faith
Qui et in exitu suo, usque in ipso mortis momento, Even in his passing, up to the very moment of death,
Folium 308
per testamentum fidem suam descriptam populo sibi credito dereliquit, ita dicens : through his testament, he left his creed, written down, to the people entrusted to him, saying thus:
§ 63:  Ego, Wulfila, episcopus et confessor, semper sic credidi et in hac fide sola et vera transitum facio ad Dominum meum :
Credo
unum esse Deum Patrem, solum ingenitum et invisibilem ;  et in unigenitum Filium ejus, Dominum et Deum nostrum, opificem et factorem universæ creaturæ, non habentem similem suum ;  ideo unus est omnium Deus Pater, qui et Dei nostri est Deus ;  et unum Spiritum Sanctum, Virtutem Illuminantem et Sanctificantem,
§ 63:  I, Wulfila, bishop and professing Christian, have always believed thus, and in this sole and true faith make the passage to my Lord:
I believe
there there is one God, the Father;  Who alone is unbegotten and invisible, and in His only begotten Son, our Lord and God, the Artisan and Maker of all creation, not having His own like;  wherefore there is one God of all, the Father, Who is also God of our God;  and one Holy Spirit, the Illuminating and Sanctifying Power
(Ut ait Christus post resurrectionem ad apostolos suos, « Ecce, ego mitto promissum Patris mei in vobis ;  vos autem sedete in civitate Jerusalem, quoadusque induamini virtute ab alto » ;  item et :  « accipietis virtutem, superveniente in vos Sancto Spiritu ».) (as Christ states to His Apostles after the resurrection:  “Behold, I send forth upon you the promise of my Father.  But wait here in the city of Jerusalem, until you are clothed with power from on high[Lk 24,49].  And also:  “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you[Acts 1,8])
nec Deum nec Dominum sed Ministrum Christi fidelem, nec æqualem, sed subditum et obœdientem in omnibus Filio ;  et Filium subditum et obœdientem et in omnibus Deo Patrique subservientem, sicut Deus omnia genuit per Christum et in Spiritu Sancto ordinavit. who is neither God nor Lord, but the faithful minister of Christ, nor equal, but subject and obedient, and in all things subservient to His God and Father, as God begot all things through Christ and ordered them in the Holy Spirit.
— Finis Epistulæ Auxentii — — End of the Letter of Auxentius —
SUPPLEMENTUM
ab editore Dissertationis Maximini additum
EDITORIAL SUPPLEMENT
to Auxentius’s Account of the Events
Surrounding the Death of Wulfila
(as added by the original compiler
of Maximin’s Dissertation)
§ 64:  Quæ dum gerebantur, fuit apostolorum æmulatoribus placitum, legationem decernere Dei servorum, sanctorum episcoporum nostrorum — ut non solum in partibus occidentalibus de Illyrico advenirent, putantes concilium dari (ut gesta ab ipsis hæreticis confecta indicant), verum etiam quæ confessio ab ipsis processit, quod deberent respondere pacifice … litteræ § 64:  And there follows again:
While these things were going on, the emulators of the apostles decided to decree an embassy of the servants of God, our holy bishops, so that they would arrive not only from Illyricum in the western parts — expecting that a council would be held (so that they might make publicly known the synodal acts made up by those heretics), and also which profession [of faith] came forth from those men, to which they were supposed to answer peaceably … letters
Folium 308’
recitatæ — sed etiam ad orientem perrexerunt, idem postulantes. [having] been read out — but also they proceeded to the east requesting the same [council].
§ 65:  Ut autem recitatum est ab Auxentio episcopo de « recogitato de statu concilii ne arguerentur miseris miserabiliores proprio judicio damnati et perpetuo supplicio plectendi hæretici » — hoc ipsum necesse est ut disseramus. § 65:  However, what is recited by Bishop Auxentius about “changing their minds about the holding of the council lest they, more pitiable than the wretched be revealed as heretics condemned by their own testimony and worthy of being punished with eternal punishment” — it is necessary that we discuss this very thing.
* * *
Folium 309’
§ 71:  Nunc tempus est respondendi de eo quod fuit supra dictum de Sancto Wulfila, qui, ingressus in civitatem Constantinopolitanam, defunctus est, « recogitato ab impiis de statu concilii, ne arguerentur miseris miserabiliores », ut et nos ab ipsis patribus nostris, Christi servis, sedentes in memoratam urbem, sæpius audivimus. § 71:  Now it is time to reply to that which was said above about holy Wulfila who, having just entered the city of Constantinople, died, the impious having changed their minds about the holding of the council lest they, more pitiable than the wretched, be revealed, as even we very frequently heard from our [churchly] fathers, servants of Christ living in the above-mentioned city.
§ 72:  Hæc fuit ratio, ut et ibi recogitarent de concilio promisso a Theodosio Imperatore, quod Gratianus Imperator jam interdixerat :  Pervenerunt enim scripta episcoporum, Ambrosii ceterorumque qui in Aquileja consederant, per quæ gesta ipsa transmiserunt, § 72:  Here is the reason why, there too, they changed their minds about the council promised by the Emperor Theodosius [in the East], which the Emperor Gratian [in the West] had already forbidden:  writings of the bishops arrived, specifically of Ambrose and others, who had sat in council at Aquileia … [, messages by which] they transmitted those synodal acts
Folium 310
quæ ipsi e voluntate sua confecerunt, dicentes, sicut epistulæ datæ ad Gratianum Imperatorem personant eorum, ut circumventi sunt, sacerdotium eis imperiali auctoritate interdixerunt et in locum eorum alios ordinandos surrogaverunt et ecclesias æque eis auferendas postulaverunt. which they themselves had made up out of their own free will, saying, as the letters given to the emperor Gratian cry out:  inasmuch as they [i.e., the Arian bishops, Palladius and Secundianus] had been outmaneuvered, by means of the imperial power they denied them the power of the priesthood and in their place they substituted others who were to be ordained, and demanded that the churches likewise be taken away from them.
§ 73:  Hoc factum est, ut et Theodosius Imperator per orbem terrarum daret legem, quæ concordaret præceptis Gratiani. § 73:  This was done, with the result that the emperor Theodosius, too, enacted a law throughout the world which agreed with the decrees of Gratian.
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Folium 349
IV:  Summarium novissimum
a « Dissertationis » librario
sæculi quinti quodam additum
IV:  Concluding recapitulation
appended by the “Dissertation’s”
fifth-century copyist
Dissertatio Maximini,
paragraphus ultima
Maximin’s Dissertation,
final paragraph
Unde quum et cum Sancto Wulfila ceterisque consortibus ad alium comitatum Constantinopolim venissent, ibique etiam et Imperatores adissent atque eis promissum fuisset concilium, ut Sanctus Auxentius exposuit, cognita promissione præfati præpositi, hæretici omnibus viribus institerunt, ut lex daretur quæ concilium prohiberet, sed nec privatim in domo vel in publico vel in quolibet loco disputatio de fide haberetur, sicut textus indicat legis: They [Palladius and Secundianus] had come from there with both holy Wulfila and other associates to a second assembly in Constantinople, and there, moreover, the emperors were present too, and a council had been promised to them.  As holy Auxentius reveals, when the above-mentioned heretics [i.e., Bishop Ambrose and his supporters] learned of he promise, with all their might they set in motion the enactment of a law that would prohibit the council, but also so that no debate would be held, either privately, in a house, or in public, or in any place at all, as the text of the law reveals:
(Sequitur Codex Theodosianus, 16, 4, 2 {388} et 16, 4, 1 {386}.) (There follows the text of two almost completely irrelevant laws, enacted 386 and 388, respectively, but in the formulation of the Codex Theodosianus [of Theodosius II, Eastern Roman emperor 408-450] of A.D. 438, in consequence of the later addition of this appendix to the collection of writings composing Maximin’s Dissertation.)

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Deus vult ! Dies immutationis recentissimæ:  die Veneris, 2011 Julii 15