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Latin · Commentary ·

Expositio Fidei

Monumenta Vetera Ad Arianorum Doctrinam · ogl-pl

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machine-draft · no human review 3 passages · 649 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

The Expositio Fidei is an anonymous Latin creedal statement preserved within the Monumenta Vetera Ad Arianorum Doctrinam, a collection of anti-Arian texts from the late 4th to early 5th centuries. It articulates Nicene Trinitarian theology, explicitly rejecting Arian subordinationism and affirming the coessential and consubstantial nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The text survives without secure authorial attribution and was not widely cited in medieval scholasticism, but it serves as a primary source for modern patristic studies of post-Nicene anti-Arian polemic. Its triadic doxological formulas echo contemporary Latin creeds and reflect the theological vocabulary of figures such as Hilary of Poitiers and Augustine.

The Expositio Fidei is significant as a concise Latin expression of Nicene orthodoxy in the post-Nicene period, illustrating how Western theologians adapted Greek theological terms (e.g., ὁμοούσιος) into Latin creedal formulas. It relates to other anti-Arian works by Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, and Augustine, and its triadic doxologies echo the 'Athanasian Creed' and 'Te Deum', reinforcing the distinct roles of the Trinity against Arian subordinationism.

Historical context

The Expositio Fidei was composed in Latin, likely in the late 4th or early 5th century, within a Western Christian community engaged in anti-Arian polemic after the Council of Nicaea (325). Its inclusion in the Monumenta Vetera Ad Arianorum Doctrinam—a collection assembling anti-Arian writings—suggests it circulated among orthodox circles seeking to refute Arian subordinationism, which held the Son was a created being inferior to the Father. The text's theological vocabulary, including terms like 'coessentialem' (Greek ὁμοούσιος) and 'substantialem', aligns with Nicene orthodoxy as developed by Latin theologians such as Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan. The manuscript tradition does not provide a consistent authorial ascription, and the work may be anonymous. Its survival is tied to the collection, which was transmitted through medieval manuscripts but not widely cited in scholasticism; modern patristic scholarship has recovered it as a witness to late antique Trinitarian debates.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

18 commentary units 6 term3 structure3 background2 reception2 caution1 parallel1 scripture 0 derived notes 4 open questions 3 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: commentary in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 3 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
tmp207.tmp207.opp-lat1:1 · narrativehigh
Source
EXPOSITIO FIDEI a. Profitemur nos credere indivisibilem et inseparabilem sanctam Trinitatem, hoc est Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum, unum Deum, ita unum et trinum, et ita trinum et unum: Trinitatem in distinctis atque discretis personis: hoc est Patrem ex quo omnia. Filium per quem omnia, Spiritum sanctum in quo omnia; unius tamen deitatis, unius essentia, uniusque Substantiae, in tribus quidem subsistentiis seu personis, ut Pater pater sit, Filius filius sit, Spiritus sanctus spiritus sanctos sit, in una natura onaque substantia, ut Deos unus et solus et summus credatur. Non tres naturas introducentes ut Arius blasphemat, qui tres deos praedicavit, excellentiorem, minorem, et inferiorem. Nos vero sanctam Trinitatem in unitate, et unitatem in sancta Trinitate confitemur. Nam cum dicimus omnipotentem Patrem, appellatio hujus Paterni nominis ad Filii personam attenditur. Et cum dicimus aeternum Filium, ad aeterni Patris personam refertur. Et cum nominamus Spiritum sanctum, ab aeterni Patris persona eum credere demonstramus. Cum autem dicimus Deum Patrem omnipotentem, non potest hujus nominis evacuari sacramentum: quia cum dieimus Patrem, Filium demonstramus: et cum dicimus Filium, Patrem declaramus: et cum dicimus aeternum Patrem, aeternum Filium demonstramus.
English
We profess that we believe in the indivisible and inseparable holy Trinity, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, so one and three, and so three and one: a Trinity in distinct and discrete persons: that is, the Father from whom all things, the Son through whom all things, the Holy Spirit in whom all things; yet of one deity, of one essence, and of one substance, in three subsistences or persons, so that the Father is father, the Son is son, the Holy Spirit is holy spirit, in one nature and one substance, so that God is believed to be one and only and supreme. We do not introduce three natures as Arius blasphemes, who proclaimed three gods, a higher, a lesser, and a lower. But we confess the holy Trinity in unity, and unity in the holy Trinity. For when we say almighty Father, the appellation of this Fatherly name is directed toward the person of the Son. And when we say eternal Son, it is referred to the person of the eternal Father. And when we name the Holy Spirit, we show that we believe him from the person of the eternal Father. But when we say God the Father almighty, the mystery of this name cannot be emptied: because when we say Father, we show the Son; and when we say Son, we declare the Father; and when we say eternal Father, we show the eternal Son.
tmp207.tmp207.opp-lat1:2 · narrativehigh
Source
Nam si non invenimus initium vocabuli hujus Paterni nominis, quando Pater sit dictus, consequenter ostenditur, quia nec initium Geniti reperiemus. Obsecramus ut detur nobis ratio, quando Pater hoc vocabulum, ut pater vocitaretur sortitus est. Si in tempore, si extra tempus, dicat nobis aliquis quando primitus coeperit appellari: et si potuerit hoc approbari, nulla erit dubietas ex illo initio Paterni nominis Filium initium accepisse, quo Pater nominatus est. Et si defecerit, immo quia et defecit, nec poterit approbari nec dari initium Paterni nominis, quando pater esse coeperit, profiteatur ergo nobis sanctam Trinitatem coessentialem atque substantialem: nec Patrem ante Filium, nec Filium post Patrem, nec Spiritum sanctum inferiorem fuisse: quia dum initium Paterni nominis non invenitur, nescimus qua ratione Filio initium ascribatur, quia cum dicimus sempiternum Deum Patrem, sempiternum Der Filium ostendimus. Ideo sanctam Trinitatem in una natura unaque essentia atque substantia, In tribus subsistentiis sive personis profitemur. Credimus autem ipsum Dei Verbum, hoc est Filium Patris sine initio genitum, cumdem unum ex tribus subsistentiis de sancta Trinitate aeternum filium, per dispensationem factam pro nobis et nostra salute descendisse incarnatum Verbum Dei, et hominem factum.
English
For if we do not find a beginning of this word of the Father’s name, when the Father was so called, it consequently shows that we will not find a beginning of the Begotten. We beseech that a reason be given to us, when the Father obtained this word, so that he was called Father. If in time, if outside time, let someone tell us when he first began to be so named: and if this can be proven, there will be no doubt that from that beginning of the Father’s name the Son received a beginning, when the Father was named. And if it fails—indeed, because it has failed—and neither can the beginning of the Father’s name be proven nor given, when he began to be Father, then let him profess to us the holy Trinity as coessential and consubstantial: neither the Father before the Son, nor the Son after the Father, nor the Holy Spirit as inferior: because while the beginning of the Father’s name is not found, we do not know by what reason a beginning is ascribed to the Son, since when we say the eternal God the Father, we show the eternal God the Son. Therefore we profess the holy Trinity in one nature and one essence and substance, in three subsistences or persons. We believe, moreover, that the Word of God Himself, that is, the Son of the Father, begotten without beginning, the same one of the three subsistences of the holy Trinity, the eternal Son, through the dispensation made for us and for our salvation descended, the Word of God incarnate, and made man.
tmp207.tmp207.opp-lat1:3 · narrativehigh
Source
Intra Virginis uterum veniens sibi nostrae naturae virtutem assumpsit ex sancta gloriosa Dei genitrice Maria Virgine, perfectus Deus et perfectus homo, in duabus naturis, divinitatis scilicet atque humanitatis: consubstantialis item ipse nobis secundum humanitatem: non in duos filios divisus, sed unus et idem Dei et hominis filius, in veritate duarum naturarum, in una subsistentia sive persona divinitatis et humanitalis unitione facta; ut ex duabus perfectis naturis non duo filii, sed unus, idem Dei et hominis filius permanens quod erat, coeperit esse quod non erat, dum sine initio aeterni Patris Filius, factus est hominis filius. Ideo et unus est Dominus.
English
Coming into the Virgin’s womb, he assumed for himself the power of our nature from the holy, glorious God-bearer Mary the Virgin, perfect God and perfect man, in two natures, namely of divinity and of humanity: likewise consubstantial with us according to humanity: not divided into two sons, but one and the same son of God and of man, in the truth of two natures, in one subsistence or person of divinity and humanity, a union having been made; so that from two perfect natures there are not two sons, but one, the same son of God and of man, remaining what he was, he began to be what he was not, while the Son of the eternal Father without beginning became the son of man. Therefore he is one Lord.
Citation. Tergwame, “Expositio Fidei”, tmp207.tmp207.opp-lat1:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/tmp207.tmp207.opp-lat1#s1
Colophon. Source: ogl-pl · licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0021 · generated 2026-11-15.