Key Facts:

Date Autumn 357
Location Sirmium (in modern-day Serbia)
Number of Participants
 A small number of bishops
Key Participants
 Germinius; Valens; Ursacius
Purpose To create a confession of faith that avoided the extremes of Arianism but subordinates the Son to the Father
Key Events
 The production of an anti-Nicene creed, the so-called “Blasphemy of Sirmium.”
Ancient Descriptions
 Athanasius Apol. Sec. 39 and De Synodis II.28; Apol de Fuga 5; HA 45; Hilary De Synodis 11; Phoebadius Con. Arianos 3; Sozomen HE 4.6, 12; Socrates HE 2.29 and 2.30.3141. (For these last two sources, see note on Council of Sirmium AD 351.)

Surviving Documents:

The Second Creed of Sirmium*

*See also Hanson The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God 344-345; Hilary De Synodis II; Stevenson Creeds, Councils and Controversies 4.27

Bibliography

Hanson, R.P.C. The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God (New York: T&T Clark, 1988).

Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Creeds (New York: Longman Inc., 1972), pp. 285-288

Simonetti, M. “Sirmium” in The Encyclopedia of the Early Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Created by MKM, JCB and PSAM

Last updated: 11-30-2010

 

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