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6 HISTORY OF THE FRANKS that he sits on the right hand of the Father, that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I beHeve that the holy Spirit pro- ceeded from the Father and the Son, that it is not inferior and is not of later origin, but is God, equal and always co-eternal with the Father and the Son, consubstantial in its nature, equal in omnip- otence, equally eternal in its essence, and that it has never existed apart from the Father and the Son and is not inferior to the Father and the Son. I believe that this holy Trinity exists with separation of persons, and one person is that of the Father, another that of the Son, another that of the Holy Spirit. And in this Trinity I confess that there is one Deity, one power, one essence. I believe that the blessed Mary was a virgin after the birth as she was a virgin before. I believe that the soul is immortal but that never- theless it has no part in deity. And I faithfully beHeve all things that were established at Nicaea by the three hundred and eighteen bishops. But as to the end of the world I hold behefs which I learned from our forefathers, that Antichrist will come first. And Antichrist will first propose circumcision, asserting that he is Christ ; next he will place his statue in the temple at Jerusalem to be wor- shiped, just as we read that the Lord said: You shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place." But the Lord himself declared that that day is hidden from all men, saying : "But of that day and that hour knoweth no one not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father alone." Moreover we shall here make answer to the heretics^ who attack us, asserting that the Son is inferior to the Father since he is ignorant of this day. Let them learn then that Son here is the name applied to the Chris- tian people, of whom God says : "I shall be to them a father and they shall be to me for sons." For if he had spoken these words of the only-begotten Son he would never have given the angels first place. For he uses these words : Not even the angels in heaven nor the Son," showing that he spoke these words not of the only- begotten but of the people of adoption. But our end is Christ him- self, who will graciously bestow eternal Hfe on us if we turn to him. As to the reckoning of this world, the chronicles of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and of Jerome the priest, speak clearly, and they reveal the plan of the whole succession of years. Orosius 1 The Arians.