Ambrose, Bishop, said; ‘You have heard, Secundianus, what sort of sentence the impious Palladius has received, having been condemned by the Council of Bishops: and though we have been displeased that you have not shrunk from his madness, I nevertheless make some special enquiries of you. Do you say that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is or is not very God?’
Secundianus said; ‘He who denies the Father of our Lord and God Jesus Christ to be true God is not a Christian, nor is he who denies that the Lord is the very Son of God.’
Ambrose, Bishop, said; ‘Do you confess that the Son of God is very God?’
Secundianus said; ‘I say that He is the very Son of God, the very only begotten Son of God.’
66. AMBROSE, Bishop, said; ‘Do you call Him very Lord?’
Secundianus said; ‘I call Him the very only-begotten Son of God. Who denies that He is the very Son of God?’
Eusebius, Bishop, said; ‘It is not enough that you confess Him to be the only-begotten Son of God, for all confess this. But what influences us is that Arius said that the Father alone is Lord, alone is true, and denied that the Son of God is very Lord. Do you confess simply that the Son of God is very God?’
Secundianus said; ‘Who Arius was, I know not; what he said, I know not. You speak with me, living man with living man. I say what Christ said: S. John i. 18. The only begotten Son Which is in the bosom of the Father. Therefore He asserts Himself to be the only-begotten Son of the Father: the only-begotten Son is then the very Son of God.’
67. AMBROSE, Bishop, said; “Is the very Son of God also very God? It is written in the divine books: Isa. lxv. 16. he that sweareth on the earth, shall swear by the true God, and that this applies to Christ there is no doubt. We thereforeprofess the true God, and this is our faith and profession, that the only-begotten Son of the Father is very God. Do you then say ‘of very God,’ and then that the Son is very God.”
Secundianus said; ‘Of very God.’