Historical Note on the Lost
“Tome” of the Second Council.
We know from the Synodical letter sent by the bishops
who assembled at Constantinople in
a.d.
382
(the next year after the Second Ecumenical Council) sent to Pope
Damasus and other Western bishops, that the Second Council set forth a
“Tome,” containing a statement of the doctrinal points at
issue. This letter will be found in full at the end of the
treatment of this council. The Council of Chalcedon in its
address to the Emperor says: “The bishops who at
Constantinople detected the taint of Apollinarianism, communicated to
the Westerns their decision in the matter.” From this we
may reasonably conclude, with Tillemont,
226
that the lost Tome treated also of the Apollinarian heresy. It is
moreover by no means unlikely that the Creed as it has come down to us,
was the summary at the end of the Tome, and was followed by the
anathemas which now form our Canon I. It also is likely that the
very accurate doctrinal statements contained in the Letter of the Synod
of 382 may be taken almost, if not quite, verbatim from this
Tome. It seems perfectly evident that at least one copy of the
Tome was sent to the West but how it got lost is a matter on which at
present we are entirely in the dark.
226
Tillemont.
Mémoires
, Tom. ix. art. 78, in the treatise on St. Greg.
Nonz.