''Against Varimadus the Arian'' (''Contra Varimadum arianum'') is an anonymous

Nicene The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

theological handbook against the

Homoian The Acacians (), or perhaps better described as the Homoians (from gr. hómoios) or Homoeans (), were a non-Nicene branch of Christianity that dominated the church during much of the fourth-century Arian Controversy. They declared that the Son ...

heresy, written in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

in a

polemical Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

style between 439 and 484.

Caroline Humfress Caroline Humfress, FRHS, FSLS, is a legal historian who is professor at the University of St Andrews and a former director of its ''Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research''. In 2020 she was appointed L. Bates Lea Global Professor of La ...

, ''Orthodoxy and the Courts in Late Antiquity'' (Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 231–232. It is in the literary form of ''testimonia'' (testimonies), which the reader is supposed to be able to use to respond to Homoian adversaries.Judith McClure, "Handbooks against Heresy in the West, from the Late Fourth to the Late Sixth Centuries," ''Journal of Theological Studies'' 30 (1979): 186–197, at 194–195. It belongs to the genre of

heresiology In theology or the history of religion, heresiology is the study of heresy, and heresiographies are writings about the topic. Heresiographical works were common in both medieval Christianity and Islam. Heresiology developed as a part of the emerg ...

, which was used to define orthodoxy and heresy.Robin Whelan, ''Being Christian in Vandal Africa'' (University of California Press, 2017), pp. 55–60. According to its preface, its author was a native of

Roman Africa Roman Africa or Roman North Africa is the culture of Roman Africans that developed from 146 BC, when the Roman Republic defeated Carthage and the Punic Wars ended, with subsequent institution of Roman Empire, Roman Imperial government, through th ...

living in exile in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

after the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal ...

takeover of his province.This is according to Whelan. Humfress hedges by saying that he was "possibly" writing in Naples and McClure considers him a bishop. He had received from a "learned and extremely pious" friend a copy of a work written by one Varimadus, whom he describes as "deacon of the Arian sect". He chose to write a lengthy refutation using "weighty evidence" and "legal documents", by which he means the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. His quotations from the Bible belong to the Old Latin translation.H. A. G. Houghton, ''The Latin New Testament: A Guide to Its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts'' (Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 61–62. Although ''Against Varimadus'' presents itself as a refutation of a (now lost) work by Varimadus, there is ample evidence that the author made use of existing anti-Arian writings. The actual, specific beliefs of Varimadus are therefore "unrecoverable". In the preface, the author admits to omitting certain "superfluous and unconnected words ... proffered by he Ariansto subvert the faithful" in order "to refute those things, which we know to be put forward" by them. ''Against Varimadus'' is divided into three books. The first contains 73 headings and concerns the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

, especially the equality of

God the Son God the Son (, ; ) is the second Person of the Trinity in Christian theology. According to Christian doctrine, God the Son, in the form of Jesus Christ, is the incarnation of the eternal, pre-existent divine ''Logos'' (Koine Greek for "word") ...

and

God the Father God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first Person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, Jesus Christ the Son, and the third person, God th ...

. The second concerns the equality of the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

with Father and Son. The third, in 100 headings, covers the

names of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various Quality (philosophy), qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word ''God (word), god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to ref ...

as found in the Old and

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

s. The basic structure of a singular refutation is "if they say X, you should say Y". In some manuscripts, ''Against Varimadus'' is erroneously attributed to

Vigilius of Thapsus Vigilius of Thapsus (before 484) also known as Vigilius Tapsensis, Vigilius Afer, or Vergil of Tapso, was a 5th-century Bishop of Thapsus in the province Byzacena, Byzacium, in what is now Tunisia, and as well as a theological writer and polemicist ...

. Its anonymous author is thus sometimes known for convenience as Pseudo-Vigilius. The text is notable as one of only two Latin witnesses to the

Book of Enoch The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch; Hebrew language, Hebrew: סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ, ''Sēfer Ḥănōḵ''; , ) is an Second Temple Judaism, ancient Jewish Apocalyptic literature, apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to the Patriar ...

(the other being ''

Ad Novatianum Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically used ...

''). It quotes a single verse.Bronson Brown-deVost, "4QENC (4Q204) Column I: A New Reconstruction", in Lorenzo DiTommaso and Gerbern S. Oegema (eds.), ''New Vistas on Early Judaism and Christianity: From Enoch to Montréal and Back'' (Bloomsbury, 2016), pp. 60–84, at 61.

Editions

References

{{reflist 5th-century Christian texts 5th-century books in Latin