Marius Victorinus as Fourth-Century Hero of the Nicene Creed - January 28, 2025

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Thank you to all who participated in the Divina Eloquia Patristics Talk, hosted by the Ecclesiastical Faculty of Theology at St. Augustine’s Seminary on January 28, 2025, at the University of St. Michael’s College.  Dr. Wendy Helleman gave an insightful presentation on “Marius Victorinus as Fourth-Century Hero of the Nicene Faith.”

Aside from a stint teaching at the University of Toronto, Dr. Helleman taught internationally at Moscow State University (Russia) and the University of Jos (Nigeria) under the auspices of Global Scholars Canada. She brings a background in Classical Languages, Literature, and in Ancient Philosophy to her study of Marius Victorinus.

Already well advanced in years, Victorinus (ca. 290 – ca. 365 CE) became a Christian in Rome in the mid-fourth century, at a time when the Arian view, subordinating Jesus Christ as Son to the Father, threatened to undermine the Nicene affirmation of his full deity as Son (325 CE). The talk focused on serious confusion in use of language and terminology, East and West, which would finally be clarified at the Council of Constantinople (381 CE). But well before that council, Victorinus was among the first Christian theologians to discuss the mystery of the Trinity when addressing the full deity of Christ. Not only did he give clear expression to the distinction of the “One” and “Three” in Greek; he was the first to establish and defend the appropriate corresponding terminology in Latin.

You can view Dr. Helleman’s full talk below.

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