RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Hilary
Hilary of Poitiers
and Eusebius of Vercelli, Lucifer of Calaris, and Dionysius of Milan in 355, the Arian controversy began to affect Hilary, who had been present neither at Aries nor at Milan. With other 2. Exile in Gallic bishops, he renounced comthe East, munion with Ursacius and Valens, who had dominated the situation at Milan, and their partizan, Saturninus of Aries. At the same time (355 or early in 356) he wrote his first address to the Emperor Constantius. In it, without discussing dogmatic problems, he complains of the behavior of the Arians and appeals for a cessation of the persecution and the recall of the banished bishops. He now evidently knows what Arianism means, and takes his stand on the Nicene side because it represents what he has always believed. The Arianizing party knew what his influence was worth, and made every effort to have him also banished. They succeeded soon after the synod held in 356 at Biterrae, the modern B6ziers, where he made fruitless efforts to win over his opponents. Envoys from the synod to the emperor procured a decree of banishment against him. The place of his exile was at first kept secret; after a long journey he reached the civil province of Asia, where (principally in Phrygia) he remained until after the Synod of Seleucia, spending his time in study and writing. The result of his studies was his most important work, the De trinitate, called by Jerome Contra Arianos, by Rufinus, Cassian, and others De fide. It was written before he came in contact with homoiousianism, and thus before the Synod of Ancyra in the spring of 358. The peculiar western Christological tradition still appears in it; in spite of the expression trinitas, which naturally occurs more than once, binitarian views make themselves decidedly felt. But he has now come to know Greek theology. The homoousion is acknowledged; in place of the Novatian conception of the eternity of the Son are clear expressions as to his eternal generation; instead of speaking only of the human corpus of Christ, as before, he now speaks also of an anima created through the Logos together with the body formed in Mary; and in spite of all his use of the phrase susceptus homo, he guards carefully the identity of the Logos-subject in the incarnate Logos.
Hilary followed with attention the exciting course of events in the East: the synod of the court bishops at Sirmium in 357, whose colorless formula (known as the Second Sirmian) even a 3. Activity Hosius subscribed; the appearance of in Arian the Homoiousians at the Synod of Controversy. Ancyra; the struggle of Basil of Ancyra, Eustathius of Sebaste, and Eleusius of Cyzi'cus with the court bishops; the reception of the consecration formula at the Synod of Sirmium in 358; the recrudescence of the Arianizing tendency; and the plans for a new council in Nicomedia. At this time Hilary had news at last from Gaul, where the orthodox faith was prevailing; the Sirmian formula had been rejected at a synod held simultaneously with that of Ancyra, and Saturninus of Aries had not improved his position in the three intervening years. The plan for calling a new council, to which also some Gallic
bishops were invited, troubled him, because he knew that his friends in Gaul believed that orthodoxy dwelt there alone, and was afraid that discord would arise between them and the Homoiousians, out of which only the extreme Arians could make profit. When the plan of holding two synods, one at Ancyra and one at Rimini, was adopted, Hilary addressed both the Gallic bishops and the Homoiousians in his De synodis, a document which was intended to unite all the anti-Arians, the Homoousians of the West and the Homoiousians of the East, in opposition to the graver danger by explaining the position of each to the others. He was somewhat in advance of his time, and zealous Westerns, especially Lucifer of Calaris, attacked him, so that he was compelled to write an Apologetica ad reprehensores libri de synodis responsio, of which only a few fragments remain. Even before writing this, probably, he took practical steps in the same direction. Attending the Synod of Seleucia, he maintained friendly relations with the Homoiousians, and accompanied their deputies to the capital at the close of the sessions. He remained here while the delegates from Seleucia met with those from Rimini (among whom seems to have been his antagonist Saturninus of Aries), and were compelled to agree on a bare Homoian formula. He was still in Constantinople during the synod of January and February, 360, and then wrote his second book, Ad Constantium. After boldly pointing out the evils of the existing confusion, and strongly reprobating Homoianism, he asked leave to confront Saturninus in the emperor's presence and debate the question with him. Immediately after this he was allowed to return to Gaul — either because he was considered a disturber of the peace of the East or his exile being terminated.
The mood in which he came back is evidenced by his indignant letter to the Gallic bishops under the title of Contra Constantium. He exhorts them to resist the " Antichrist " Constantius 4. Later to the death, and makes his policy, Life in especially the Homoianism introduced Gaul. by him, responsible for the troubles and the degradation of the Church. When Hilary returned to Poitiers — in 360 or more probably in 361 — is uncertain; but it was he who beat down heresy in Gaul. His spirit breathes through the letter of the Synod of Paris (361) which excommunicated Saturninus. Nor did he confine his efforts to Gaul alone. In Italy he supported Eusebius of Vercelli, now also returned from exile; but their chief opponent, Auxentius of Milan, delated them to the new emperor, Valentinian, as disturbers of the peace, and Valentinian forbade them to trouble the church of Milan, which he regarded as orthodox. Hilary made countercharges against Auxentius, and after a personal hearing before court officials, the latter, as a point of policy, acknowledged the homoousion — though he repudiated it again not later than the following spring— and threw fresh odium on Hilary and Eusebius. Hilary, attempting to expose his duplicity, was ordered to leave Milan, and in his book Contra Auxentium gave a full account of these proceedings to
Hilary of Poitiers Hilduin