The Council
at Antioch of 341, generally known as the Dedication Council,
assembled for the dedication of the great cathedral church which had
been commenced there by the emperor Constantine, who did not live to
see its completion. Four creeds were then drawn up, if we reckon
a document which was drawn up at Antioch by a continuation of the
Council in the following year. The second, and most important, of
these creeds became the creed of the Semi-Nicene party. Capable
of a wholly orthodox interpretation, it was insufficient of itself to
repel Arianism, but not insufficient to be used as an auxiliary means
of opposing it. Hilary throughout assumes that it is not to be
interpreted in an Arian sense, and uses it as an introduction to Nicene
theology.