deposition of Marcellus and Athanasius at Antioch
should be accepted without discussion. Such a demand was absurd. There
was no reason why the deposition at Antioch should be accepted blindly
rather than the acquittal at Rome. At any rate, the council had an
express commission to re-open the whole case, and indeed had met for no
other purpose; so, if they were not to do it, they might as well go
home. The Westerns were determined to sift the whole matter to the
bottom, but the Eusebians refused to enter the council. It was in vain
that Hosius asked them to give their proofs, if it were only to himself
in private. In vain he promised that if Athanasius was acquitted, and
they were still unwilling to receive him, he would take him back with
him to Spain. The Westerns began the trial: the Easterns left Sardica by
night in haste. They had heard, forsooth, of a victory on the Persian
frontier, and must pay their respects to the Emperor without a moment's
delay.

[Sidenote: Acquittal of Marcellus and Athanasius.]

Once more the charges were examined and the accused acquitted. In the
case of Marcellus, it was found that the Eusebians had misquoted his
book, setting down opinions as his own which he had only put forward for
discussion. Thus it was not true that he had denied the eternity of the
Word in the past or of his kingdom in the future. Quite so: but the
eternity of the Sonship is another matter. This was the real charge
against him, and he was allowed to evade it. Though doctrinal questions
lay more in the background in the case of Athanasius, one party in the
council was for issuing a new creed in explanation of the Nicene. The
proposal was wisely rejected. It would have made the fatal admission
that Arianism had not been clearly condemned at Nicaea, and thrown on the
Westerns the odium of innovation. All that could be done was to pass a
series of canons to check the worst scandals of late years. After this
the council issued its encyclical and the bishops dispersed.

[Sidenote: Rival council of Philippopolis.]

Meanwhile the Easterns (such was their haste) halted for some weeks at
Philippopolis to issue their own encyclical, falsely dating it from
Sardica. They begin with their main argument, that the acts of councils
are irreversible. Next they recite the charges against Athanasius and
Marcellus, and the doings of the Westerns at Sardica. Hereupon they
denounce Hosius, Julius, and others as associates of heretics