The
Council of Ariminum (Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy) was held in
359 a.d., Constantius being Emperor.
“The Bishops who attended the Council of Ariminum,”
observes Hurter, “to the number of more than 400, informed the
Emperor that they had resolved to allow no change in what had been
determined upon at Nicæa. This is the ‘first
confession.’ That great confession, however, was not
maintained for long. Partly overawed by the Emperor, partly
deceived by the Arians, the Bishops agreed to strike out the words
‘substance’ and ‘consubstantial.’ After
this came the ‘correction,’ which Ambrose calls the
‘second,’ being made either by those Bishops who,
recognizing their error, withdrew the decrees of the Council held at
Ariminum, or by the Councils that followed—namely, the Councils
of Alexandria (presided over by Athanasius), of Paris (362 a.d.), and of Rome (held under Pope Damasus, in
a.d. 369).”