Letter 239: Augustine presses Pascentius to state his Arian doctrine plainly and in writing.

Pascentius, from Augustine. I hear that you do not keep silent in saying that you told me your faith and that I refused to tell you mine. Please remember how false both claims are. You did not want to tell me your faith, and I did not refuse to tell you mine. I wanted to tell it in such a way that no one could say either that I had said something I had not said, or that I had not said what I did say. You would have told me your faith if you had said where you disagree with us; if you had said, "I believe in God the Father, who made the Son the first creature before all other creatures; and in that Son, not equal to the Father, not like him, not true God; and in the Holy Spirit, made by the Son after the Son." This is what I hear you people say. Or if perhaps it is false that you say these things, that is what I want to learn from you. But if it is true that you say these things, I want to know how you defend them from the holy Scriptures. Instead, you said that you believe "in God the Father almighty, invisible, immortal, begotten by no one, and from whom are all things; and in his Son Jesus Christ, God born before the ages, through whom all things were made; and in the Holy Spirit." This faith is not yours but belongs to both of us, just as if you added that the same Son of God, Jesus Christ, was also born from the virgin Mary, which we believe together, and whatever else we confess in common. So if you had wanted to state your own belief, you would not have stated the one we share, but rather the one in which we disagree with you. I would have said these things in your presence, if, as had been agreed, our words were being taken down. But because you refused this, saying that you feared slander from us, and because you withdrew after lunch from the arrangement to which you had agreed in the morning, why should I say something that you could report me as having said however you wished, while I would have no way to show what I said or how I said it? Do not boast any longer, then, that you stated your faith and I did not state mine. There are people who can consider that I had more confidence in my faith, since I wanted it written down, while you did not, because you pretend to fear slander. You were ready, then, to deny what you had said if someone charged you with saying anything against my faith. See what judgment you have forced people to make about you. If you were not going to deny it when charged, why did you not want what was said to be written down, especially since you had strongly wanted honorable men to be present at our conversation? Since you wanted to avoid slander, why were you afraid of the notaries' stylus and not afraid of the testimony of most distinguished men? If you want me also to state my faith in the way you say you stated yours, I can say it even more briefly: I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But if you want to hear something proper to my position, where you disagree with me: I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, not saying that the Son is the Father, or the Father the Son, or that either is the Spirit or that the Spirit is Father or Son; and yet I believe the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, alone eternal and immortal in his own substance, just as God alone is eternal and immortal in that divinity which exists before the ages. If this displeases you, and if you are pleased to hear from me how it is asserted from the holy Scriptures, read also the longer writing I sent to Your Kindness. But if you have no time to read that, I have no time to throw words around in vain. Still, as much as the Lord grants ability, whether by dictating or by writing, I too am able to answer whatever you wish either by dictation or in writing. I, Augustine, dictated this writing, reread it, and signed it.

EPISTOLA 239 Scripta versus a. 404. A. Pascentio de eadem re agens, illi exprobrans impudentiam in veritate depravanda (n. 1) atque urgens ut fidem suam tandem aliquando explanet ut ipse iterum facit (nn. 2-3). PASCENTIO AUGUSTINUS Vera quaestionis causa contra Pascentii mendacia. 1. Si dicis te mihi dixisse fidem tuam, et me tibi noluisse dicere fidem meam, quod te audio non tacere; recordare, obsecro, quam utrumque sit falsum. Nam nec tu mihi voluisti dicere fidem tuam, et ego tibi fidem meam non dicere nolui; sed ita dicere volui ut nemo posset dicere, aut dixisse me aliquid quod non dixerim, aut non dixisse quod dixerim. Diceres autem mihi fidem tuam, si hoc diceres unde dissentis a nobis; si diceres: "Credo in Deum Patrem, qui Filium fecit primam creaturam ante omnes caeteras creaturas; et in ipsum Filium, nec aequalem Patri, nec similem, nec verum Deum; et in Spiritum sanctum, factum per Filium post Filium": haec enim vos audio dicere. Aut si forte falsum est quod ista dicatis, hoc potius abs te volo scire. Si autem verum est quod ista dicitis, volo scire quemadmodum ea de Scripturis sanctis defendatis. Nunc autem dixisti credere te "in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, invisibilem, immortalem, non ab aliquo genitum, et ex quo sunt omnia. Et in Filium eius Iesum Christum, Deum natum ante saecula, per quem facta sunt omnia. Et in Spiritum Sanctum". Haec fides non est tua, sed utriusque nostrum; quemadmodum si adiungeres quod eumdem Filium Dei Iesum Christum etiam Maria virgo peperit, quod pariter credimus, et si qua alia communiter confitemur. Si voluisses ergo tuam dicere, non istam diceres quae communis est nobis, sed illam potius in qua dissentimus a vobis. Cur P. refutaverit fidem suam a notariis excipi. 2. Haec et praesens dicerem, si quemadmodum placuerat, verba nostra exciperentur. Sed quia hoc noluisti, dicens te a nobis timere calumniam, et a placito cui mane consenseras, post prandium recessisti; utquid dicerem quod, quemadmodum velles, me dixisse narrares, et ego non haberem unde ostenderem quid vel quemadmodum dixerim? Noli ergo ulterius iactare quod tu fidem tuam dixeris, et ego meam non dixerim; quia sunt homines qui considerent me potius habuisse fiduciam fidei meae, qui eam scribi voluerim; te autem non habuisse, dum quasi calumniam pertimescis. Paratus ergo eras negare, si tibi obiceretur quod contra fidem meam aliquid dixeris. Vide ergo quid de te ipse sentiri feceris. Quod si obiectum non eras negaturus, cur dictum scribi noluisti; praesertim cum magnopere voluisses etiam honoratos viros nostro interesse sermoni? Cur ergo volens calumniam devitare, notariorum stilum timebas, et clarissimorum virorum testimonium non timebas? A. fidem suam iterum explanat. 3. Si autem sic vis ut etiam ego dicam fidem meam, quomodo te dicis dixisse tuam, ego etiam brevius possum dicere, credere me in Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum. Si autem proprium aliquid unde dissentis a me, vis audire: credo in Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum, nec Filium dicens Patrem, nec Patrem Filium, nec utrumque Spiritum vel Patrem vel Filium; et tamen Patrem Deum, et Filium Deum, et Spiritum sanctum Deum, solum aeternum et immortalem propria sua substantia, sicut Deus solus et aeternus et immortalis est, ea divinitate quae est ante saecula. Hoc si tibi displicet, et placet a me audire quemadmodum de Scripturis sanctis asseratur, lege etiam illud quod prolixius conscriptum misi Benignitati tuae. Si autem illud tibi non vacat legere, nec mihi vacat frustra verba iactare. Possum tamen, quantum Dominus dederit facultatis, vel dictandi tibi vel scribendi ego quoque vel dictando vel scribendo ad quod volueris respondere. Huic scripturae a me dictatae et relectae ego Augustinus subscripsi.