On the Councils (De Synodis)
A letter written by Hilary from his exile in the East to the bishops of Gaul, Germany and Britain before the councils of Ariminum and Seleucia met. It translates and explains the eastern creeds issued since Nicaea and argues that homoousios and homoiousios can mean the same.
Hilary of Poitiers wrote this letter while banished to the East. He says in it that he had learned that synods were to meet at Ancyra and Ariminum and wished the western bishops to understand, before they went, what the eastern bishops had decided against the creed issued at Sirmium (8). The work therefore stands just before the events of the Councils of Rimini and Seleucia and does not describe them. The translators’ introduction dates it to the beginning of 359.
The first part gives the eastern creeds in Latin with Hilary’s commentary. The second speaks to both sides. He tells the westerners that “like in essence”, rightly understood, comes to the same thing as “of one essence”, and he begs the easterners not to condemn the Nicene word (88–91). He remarks in passing that he had been a bishop for some time and had never heard the Nicene creed until he was going into exile (91). It is the statement of a man trying to bring two parties together; the introduction notes that it pleased neither the opponents of Nicaea nor its strictest defenders.