Synod of Milan

[2] Lucifer of Cagliari was deputed by Pope Liberius, with the priest Pancratius and the deacon Hilary, to request the Emperor Constantius to convene a council, to deal with the accusations directed against St. Athanasius and his previous condemnation.

[3] The council however did not follow the hopes of the Pope due to the overwhelming number of Arians bishops and the initial forced absence of the champion of the Nicaean faith, Eusebius of Vercelli.

[4] The bishop of Milan Dionysius initially seemed ready to follow the Arians in condemning Athanasius, accused not of heresy but of lese-majesty against the Emperor.

Constantius, unaccustomed to independence on the part of the bishops, moved the synod to his palace and grievously maltreated the papal embassy.

[7] In 451, St. Maximus of Turin was again at a synod in Milan where the bishops of Northern Italy accepted the celebrated letter (epistola dogmatica) of Pope Leo I, setting forth the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation against the Nestorians and Eutychians.