Primary source · Latin
On the Synods (De Synodis)
Hilary of Poitiers · AD 358–359
What this text is
Hilary's dossier of the Eastern creeds for his Gallic colleagues — transmitting, under its own heading, 'the blasphemy composed at Sirmium by Osius and Potamius,' the manifesto of 357 that forbade the word 'substance.'
Profile of Ursacius of Singidunum →
Public-domain translations
Working translation (from the Latin)
The creed written at Sirmium by Osius and Potamius: ...there should be no mention at all of 'substance' (substantia), because it is contained in no Scripture and is beyond man's knowledge — which blasphemy Hilary sets out, and answers clause by clause.
Manuscript witnesses
Carolingian tradition of Hilary
9th c. onwardDe Synodis in the standard Hilary corpus manuscripts.
Patrologia Latina, vol. 10 (Migne)
1845Standard pre-critical text.
Provenance
Written from exile in Phrygia to the bishops of Gaul
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Hilary of Poitiers on the Trinity and De Synodis (NPNF II/9)E. W. Watson et al., 1898Public-domain English translation.
- Arianism after AriusMichel R. Barnes & Daniel H. Williams (eds.), 1993Studies of the creed-making decade Hilary documents.