Church History 1 part 23/28

and when the appointed time arrives, as though he had discharged some debt by his punishment, he is released from his sin and assembles with the people in church.

These practices the priests of the Romans have preserved from the beginning even down to our own time.

In the church of Constantinople the presbyter appointed over those doing penance likewise carried on his office, until a certain woman of noble birth, having been enjoined by this presbyter, on account of sins which she had confessed, to fast and to entreat God, and for this reason spending her time in the church,

denounced that she had been debauched by a certain man, a deacon.

On learning of this, the multitude were indignant, as though the church had been outraged.

And the greatest reproach fell upon the clergy.

Nectarius, being at a loss how to deal with what had occurred, removed from the diaconate the man who had committed the offense.

And when certain persons advised that each one should be permitted, according to his own conscience and as he might have confidence, to partake of the mysteries, he abolished the office of the presbyter in charge of penance.

And from that time this practice has continued to prevail, since, I suppose, the ancient custom, with its gravity and strictness, had already begun little by little to slip into an indifferent and neglected habit;

for sins were fewer, both because of the shame felt by those who confessed their own transgressions, and because of the strictness of the judges appointed for this purpose.

For this reason I conjecture that the emperor Theodosius also, taking thought for the good repute and dignity of the churches, enacted a law that women, unless they were childless and above sixty years of age, should not be permitted to serve as deaconesses of God, in accordance with the apostle's injunction; and that those who had their heads shorn should be expelled from the churches, and that the bishops who admitted such women should be deprived of their bishopric.

But let each one judge of these matters as he sees fit.

The emperor at that time condemned Eunomius to exile beyond the borders.

For while he was still residing in the suburbs of Constantinople, or in private houses, he held assemblies of his own and displayed the treatises he had composed, and persuaded many to think as he did, so that in a short time the people of the heresy named after him became numerous.

He, however, died not long after his exile, and obtained burial in his native land;

but Theophronius, who had been instructed in the same doctrines under him as teacher, being likewise a Cappadocian, upheld his tenets.

Having gone moderately far through the studies of Aristotle, he left behind an introduction suited to acquaintance with the syllogisms current among his followers, which he entitled On the Exercise of the Mind.

But having fallen, as I have learned, into absurd disputations, he did not see fit to remain in agreement with his teacher's doctrines.

Being over-curious, he constructed arguments from the terms found in the sacred scriptures, maintaining that the Divine, foreknowing that which does not yet exist, and knowing that which exists, and remembering that which has come to pass, does not remain always in the same disposition, but changes its knowledge with respect to the future, the present, and the past.

On account of such doctrines, being deemed intolerable even by the followers of Eunomius, he was expelled from their church, and formed those who were called after him the Theophronians.

Not long afterward, a certain Eutychius also, in Constantinople, holding the doctrines of Eunomius, left behind a heresy named after himself.

For when the question was raised whether the Son knows the last hour, and the words in the gospels—that the Father alone knows—seemed to refute this, he insisted that the Son was not without a share of this knowledge either, since he had received all things from the Father without any lack.

But when those who then presided over the heresy would not accept this argument, he separated himself from communion and went to Eunomius, who was then in exile.

But when deacons and others, who had been sent from Constantinople to accuse him and, if need be, to argue against him, had already arrived, Eunomius, on learning the purpose for which they had come, approved of Eutychius's arguments,

and he prayed together with him, although among them it is not lawful to join in prayer with those who arrive from elsewhere without letters—letters which reveal to their fellow believers, by means of signs inscribed in them and unknown to others, that they are of like faith.

Not long after this dispute, when Eunomius had died, the man who presided over the heresy in Constantinople would not accept Eutychius, being estranged from him out of jealousy, because, although Eutychius, though not even a cleric, was striving to oppose his arguments, he himself was unable to resolve the problem.

From this point, Eutychius, together with those who thought as he did, separated into his own distinct heresy.

Common report, however, holds both him and Theophronius responsible for the disagreement concerning divine baptism.

These things I have written, from what I have learned, for a brief account of the causes from which the Eunomians were divided.

But to go through all the arguments stirred up on this account would be a long task, and not easy for me either, since I am not well versed in such disputations.

About this same time a question also arose among the Arians in Constantinople, whether, before the Son existed—since it was agreed among them that he was made out of things that were not—God could be called Father.

The heresy declared, on the ground that the name is relative, that God was not called Father before the Son came into being.

For this reason the multitude was divided into two parties.

They were called Psathyrians, or the party of the Goths: the former because a certain Theoctistus, a seller of psathyra (a kind of cake), zealously upheld this opinion; the latter, of the Goths, because Selinas, their bishop, held the same view, and, following him, almost all the barbarians assembled in church together with them.

For they were, above all, obedient to Selinas, who had become secretary and successor of Ulfilas, who had served as their bishop, and who was capable of teaching in church, not only in their ancestral tongue, but also in that of the Greeks.

Not long after, a dispute arose over precedence between Marinus and Agapius, whom he had ordained bishop of those of like belief in Ephesus; and, being at odds with one another, they all but went to war against each other, the Goths coming to the aid of Agapius.

For this reason it is said that many of the clergy there, blaming the ambition of their leaders, entered into communion with the catholic church.

This is how the Arians were originally divided, and even now, in whatever cities they are, they hold separate assemblies of their own;

but those in Constantinople, who had been at variance with one another for thirty-five years, were later brought into concord by Plinta, a man of consular rank and commander of the cavalry and infantry forces, who was of the same belief as they and who was at that time the most powerful man at court.

And having come together as one, they decreed that this question should never again be brought up for debate.

And this is how matters later turned out.

During the present reign, the Novatians also, being at variance among themselves concerning the paschal feast, formed another sect, that of the so-called Sabbatians.

For a certain Sabbatius, a presbyter ordained by Marcian, together with Theoctistus and Macarius, his fellow presbyters, following those who had assembled at Pazucome during the reign of Valens, insisted on celebrating the feast of Pascha together with the Jews.

And having withdrawn from the church, at first he pretended to do so, on the one hand, for the sake of ascetic discipline (for he lived an excellent life), and on the other, on the ground that he suspected certain persons of being unworthy to partake of the mysteries;

but when he had become manifestly an innovator, Marcian found fault with the ordination he had conferred upon him;

and, they say, he often cried out that it would have been better to have laid his hands upon thorns than upon him.

And seeing the church being cut off from him into another body, he convened bishops of like belief at Sangarus (a place in Bithynia, situated on the sea not far from Helenopolis);

there, having assembled, they summoned Sabbatius.

And when, being required to state the cause of his displeasure, he blamed the difference over the festival, they, suspecting that he alleged this out of a desire for precedence, demanded of him an oath that he would never accept a bishopric.

And when he had made this confession under oath, they, concluding that this cause was not sufficient grounds for a breach of communion, decreed that all should be of one mind and assemble together in church, but that each should keep this festival as he saw fit.

And they established a canon concerning this, which they named 'indifferent.'

Such, then, was the decision of those who assembled at Sangarus.

From that time on, Sabbatius, following the Jews, whenever it did not happen that all observed the feast on the same day, would anticipate it, fasting as was his custom, and would celebrate Pascha by himself according to the prescribed rites.

And having passed the Sabbath, from evening until the proper hour, in vigil and in fitting prayers, on the following day he assembled in church together with all and partook of the mysteries.

And as in time he became noted for this, he had many who emulated him, especially Phrygians and Galatians, for whom it was ancestral custom to keep this festival in this manner.

Later, having openly broken away, he assumed the bishopric of those who obeyed him, as shall be told in due course.

But it occurs to me to marvel at this man and his followers, that they introduced these innovations, since the Hebrews of old—as Eusebius records, on the testimony of Philo, Josephus, Aristobulus, and very many others—offered the Passover sacrifice after the vernal equinox, while the sun was traversing the first twelfth-part sign, which the Greeks call Aries, and the moon, on the fourteenth day, was making its course in opposition to it.

since even the Novatians themselves, those who are careful about accuracy, maintain that this was not previously the custom either for them or for the founder of their sect, but that it was innovated by those who had assembled at Pazucome;

and that even now those of like belief with them in Elder Rome celebrate it together with the other Romans, whom past time has never shown to have celebrated it otherwise, following the tradition handed down by the apostles Peter and Paul.

Moreover, the Samaritans too, who are especially zealous followers of the law of Moses, do not permit this festival to be celebrated before the new crop has come to maturity;

for, they say, the law calls it the festival 'of new grain';

and while these have not yet appeared, it is not lawful to celebrate the feast, so that of necessity it comes after the equinox in spring.

It is remarkable that, while imitating the Jews in this matter, they did not rather commend the ancient custom prevailing among them.

It seems, however, that apart from these and those in Asia called the Quartodecimans, those of the other sects too keep this festival in the same manner as the Romans and Egyptians;

but the former celebrate it on the fourteenth day itself, together with the Jews, whence they are so named.

The Novatians, however, observe the day of the Resurrection;

yet these too follow the Jews, and in the end come to the same result as the Quartodecimans.

Except when it happens that the fourteenth day of the moon coincides with the first day of the week [Sunday], they come after the Jews, by however many days it happens that the following Sunday falls later than the fourteenth day of the moon.

The Montanists, whom they call Pepuzites and Phrygians, introduce a certain strange method and celebrate Easter according to it.

For they find fault with those who busy themselves over this matter with the course of the moon, and they say that those who rightly regulate these things need only follow the solar cycles;

and they determine that each month has thirty days, and that the first month begins from the vernal equinox, which, according to the Romans, would be called the ninth day before the Kalends of April, since, he says, it was then that the two great lights came into being, by which the seasons and the years are marked.

And this, they say, is demonstrated by the fact that the moon comes into conjunction with the sun over an eight-year cycle, and that for both the new moon falls on the same day; since the eight-year cycle of the lunar course is completed in ninety-nine months, that is, in two thousand nine hundred twenty-two days, in which the sun accomplishes its eight courses, each year being reckoned at three hundred sixty-five days, plus a further quarter of a day.

From the ninth day before the Kalends of April, then, as being the beginning of the creation of the sun and of the first month, they calculate the fourteenth day mentioned in the sacred Scriptures, and they say that this falls on the eighth day before the Ides of April, on which they always keep Easter, if it should happen that the day of the resurrection coincides with it;

but if not, they celebrate the feast on the following Sunday.

For it is written, they say, 'from the fourteenth even unto the twenty-first.'

Such, then, are the differences concerning this feast.

I think that Victor, then bishop of Rome, and Polycarp of Smyrna, together with those around them, resolved most wisely the contention that had long before arisen concerning this matter,

...of dishonoring the tradition of Peter, while those from Asia maintained that they were following John the Evangelist; yet, when this was resolved in common, each keeping the feast as they had been accustomed, they were not divided from communion with one another.

For they rightly and very justly supposed it foolish to be divided from one another over customs, while they agreed on the essentials of religion.

For indeed one cannot find identical traditions observed alike in every respect in all the churches, even where they hold the same faith.

For instance, the Scythians, though comprising many cities, all have but one bishop;

whereas among other nations there are places where bishops are ordained even in villages, as I have learned is the case among the Arabians and the Cypriots, and among the Novatians and Montanists in Phrygia.

Among the Romans, moreover, even to this day the deacons are no more than seven, in imitation of those ordained by the apostles, of whom Stephen was the first to be martyred;

but among the rest their number is not fixed.

Again, in Rome they chant the Alleluia only once each year, on the first day of the paschal feast, so that for many Romans it is reckoned a solemn privilege to be deemed worthy to hear and to sing this hymn.

And neither the bishop nor anyone else there preaches in church, whereas among the Alexandrians only the bishop of the city does so.

And they say that this was not the previous custom, but arose only after Arius, while still a presbyter, introduced innovation by disputing about doctrine.

And this too is strange among these Alexandrians:

when the Gospels are read, the bishop does not rise;

a thing which I have neither known nor heard of anywhere else.

And this sacred book is read there only by the archdeacon, whereas among others it is read by deacons, and in many churches by the priests alone, and on notable days by the bishops, as in Constantinople on the first day of the feast of the Resurrection.

And as for the period before this, called the Forty Days [Lent], during which the multitude fasts, some reckon it as six weeks, as do the Illyrians and those toward the west, and all Libya and Egypt together with the Palestinians; others as seven, as in Constantinople and the surrounding nations as far as the Phoenicians; others fast three weeks scattered within the six or seven; others join together three continuous weeks just before the feast; and others two, as do those who hold the views of Montanus.

Moreover, the time and manner of assembling for church is not the same among all.

For instance, some assemble for church on the Sabbath just as on the first day of the week, as in Constantinople and almost everywhere, but no longer so in Rome and Alexandria;

but among the Egyptians, in many cities and villages, contrary to what is customarily observed everywhere in common, they gather on the Sabbath toward evening, having already dined,

and one cannot find all using the same prayers, psalmodies, or readings at the same time.

Thus, for example, the so-called Apocalypse of Peter, though judged by the ancients to be entirely spurious, I have learned is still read to this day, once each year, in certain churches of Palestine, on the day of Preparation, on which all the people devoutly fast in remembrance of the saving Passion.

And the work now circulated as the Apocalypse of the apostle Paul, which none of the ancients knows, is highly esteemed by very many of the monks.

Some maintain that this book was discovered during this reign.

For they say that, through a divine revelation, a marble chest was found underground in Tarsus of Cilicia, at the house of Paul, and that the book was inside it.

But when I inquired about this, a Cilician presbyter of the church at Tarsus told me it was false;

for he had lived for many years, as his grey hair also showed;

and he said that he knew of nothing of the kind having happened among them, and that he wondered whether this had not been fabricated by heretics.

But so much for this matter.

One might find many customs, city by city and village by village, which those brought up in them consider it neither pious nor tolerable to transgress, out of reverence for those who handed them down from the beginning, or for those who succeeded them.

One must suppose that men act in the same way also concerning this feast, on account of which I was led into this discussion of these matters.

For when the emperor saw that the custom of past times was still drawing his subjects toward their ancestral worship and toward the places venerated by them, upon beginning his reign he forbade access to these;

and finally he even tore down many of them.

And they, for lack of houses of prayer, gradually became accustomed over time to frequenting the churches;

for indeed it was not even safe to sacrifice secretly in the Hellenic manner, but a law was in force establishing, as the penalty against those who dared such things, the removal of head and property.

And at that time, they say, the river of Egypt fell behind schedule in the first rising of its waters;

and the Egyptians were angry that they were not permitted, according to their ancestral custom, to sacrifice to the river.

And the governor of the province, suspecting that they were preparing themselves for insurrection, reported this.

And when the emperor learned of it, he said that it was better to remain faithful toward God than to prefer the waters of the Nile and the resulting prosperity above piety;

for let that river never flow at all, if indeed it is truly capable of being subjected to sorceries, and of delighting in sacrifices, and of defiling with a flow of blood the streams that flow forth from the divine paradise.

And not long after, the Nile poured forth abundantly and sent its currents even over the higher ground.

And when it reached the fullest measure, one rarely attained, and the water nonetheless kept rising to its crest, the Egyptians were turned to the opposite fear;

and there was fear that it might even flood the city of Alexander and the part of Libya belonging to it;

at which time, it is said, the Hellenizing Alexandrians, indignant at what had happened contrary to their expectation, jeered and cried out in the theaters that the river, like some doddering old man, had wet itself.

As a result of this, very many of the Egyptians condemned their ancestral superstition and turned to Christianity.

About this time, the head of John the Baptist, which Herodias had requested from Herod the tetrarch, was brought to Constantinople.

It is said to have been found among certain monks of the sect of Macedonius, who at first resided in Jerusalem, but later removed to Cilicia.

And in the reign before this one, when Mardonius — who was chief eunuch of the imperial household — made this known, Valens ordered it to be brought to Constantinople.

And those who were sent for this purpose placed it upon a public carriage and were conveying it;

but when they reached Pantichium (a place belonging to Chalcedon), the mules drawing the carriage would no longer endure to go any further, even though the grooms threatened them and the driver savagely goaded them with the whip.

And when they accomplished nothing (and the matter seemed extraordinary and divine to everyone, even to the emperor himself), they laid this sacred head to rest in the village of Cosilaus;

for it happened to be nearby, and to be the property of this same Mardonius.

And about this time — whether God himself or the prophet himself was moving him — the emperor Theodosius came to this village; and when he wished to take the relic of the Baptist, they say that Matrona alone opposed him — she who was a holy virgin, and who accompanied it as its deaconess and guardian;

and though she resisted with all her might, he did not think it right to use force against her, but pleaded and entreated her to consent.

And when she at last reluctantly yielded, judging that resistance against one who held power would be fruitless, in light of what had happened in the time of Valens, he wrapped in imperial purple the reliquary in which it lay, and taking it, returned; and before the city of Constantinople he deposited it in the place called the Hebdomon, raising there for God a very great and most beautiful church.

For she [Matrona] belonged to the sect of Macedonius.

And yet the presbyter Vincentius, who held the same belief as she did, and who likewise tended the coffin of the prophet and served as its priest, immediately followed and entered into communion with those of the universal Church — although he had, as those who hold the views of Macedonius say, sworn under oath never to abandon their belief, he had in the end openly determined that, should the Baptist choose to follow the emperor, he too would enter into communion with him without any disagreement.

This man was a Persian by birth, and during the reign of Constantius, when persecution overtook the Christians in Persia, he fled together with Addas, his cousin, and came to the Romans.

And he was enrolled in the clergy and advanced to the rank of presbyter;

and Addas, having married, greatly benefited the Church, leaving behind a son, Auxentius — a man most faithful toward God, diligent toward his friends, harmonious in his manner of life, a lover of learning, and well-versed in what has been recorded by Greek and ecclesiastical writers, moderate in character, congenial both to the emperor and to those around him, and one who had attained a distinguished military career.

But there is much testimony concerning him among the most highly esteemed

monks and earnest men, who had personal experience of him.

Matrona remained in the village of Cosilaus until her death.

She lived a life most befitting sanctity and full of great modesty, presiding over the sacred virgins.

I have learned that many of them are still living even now, bearing a character worthy of the training received under Matrona.

Theodosius, meanwhile, governing the eastern empire in peace, occupied himself with these matters and worshipped the Divine with the utmost diligence.

Meanwhile it was reported that the emperor Valentinian had perished by strangulation.

It was said that this death had been contrived for him by the chamberlain eunuchs, along with certain others about the palace, and by Arbogast, who had been appointed over his armies, because they had found the young man following his father's ways in the conduct of the government, and displeased at many of the things that seemed good to them.

But others hold that he became his own slayer, as one attempting certain improper things in the heat of his youth and being prevented, and for this reason not deeming life worth living, because, though he was emperor, he was not permitted to do as he wished.

They say indeed that this youth, by nobility of body and by the excellence of his imperial character, seemed extraordinarily worthy of the rule, and that he was such as would have surpassed his own father in magnanimity and justice, had he lived to reach manhood.

Being such a one, he died in this manner.

A certain Eugenius, who held unsound views regarding the doctrine of the Christians, seized upon the government and clothed himself with the insignia of imperial power.

He supposed that he would securely hold on to his undertaking, being led on by the words of men who professed to know the future by certain sacrifices, by the inspection of livers, and by the observation of the stars.

Occupied with these matters were, among other Roman officials of rank, Flavian, then prefect, a man reputed learned and prudent in political affairs, and moreover thought to determine future events precisely through knowledge of every kind of divination.

For it was chiefly by this means that he persuaded Eugenius to prepare for war, maintaining that the empire was destined for him by fate, and that victory would fall to him in battle, and that a change would come over the religion of the Christians.

Eugenius, then, beguiled by these hopes, raised a very great army, and, having seized beforehand the gates leading into Italy, which the Romans call the Julian Alps, kept guard over them, since they have but a single narrow passage, fenced in on both sides by precipitous and very lofty mountains.

Theodosius, pondering how the war against him would turn out, and whether he ought to march against him or wait for his approach, decided to take counsel on this matter with John, the monk in the Thebaid, who, as has been said before, was at that time most renowned for his foreknowledge of things to come.

...one of the eunuchs he sent to Egypt, to bring him back if possible, or, should he decline, to learn what ought to be done.

And this man, having come to John, could not persuade him to come to the emperor, but on returning reported that John had said he would win the war and, having overthrown the tyrant, would depart this life in Italy after the victory.

The outcome showed both predictions to be true.

Meanwhile, on account of the needs of the war, it seemed good to the officials in charge of the matter to exact from the subject peoples somewhat more than the customary taxes.

At this the people of Antioch in Syria rose in sedition and pulled down the statues of the emperor and of his wife, and, having fastened a rope to them, dragged them along, as was to be expected from an enraged mob, uttering abusive cries.

But when it was reported that he intended to destroy many of the Antiochenes, the multitude was struck with terror at the mere rumor, and, ceasing from their madness, repented.

And as though the reported calamities were already upon them, they groaned and wept, and besought God to put an end to the ruler's wrath, employing certain mournful chants in their supplications.

It was then that Flavian, bishop of the Antiochenes, acting as ambassador on behalf of the citizens while the emperor was still angry, persuaded the young men accustomed to sing at the imperial table to render the psalmody used in the supplications of the Antiochenes.

At this it is said that the emperor, melted with humanity, was overcome by pity, and at once cast off his anger and made peace with the city, wetting with his tears the cup he happened to be holding.

They say that on the preceding night — after which, day having come immediately, the sedition took place — an apparition of a woman was seen, extraordinary in size and terrible in appearance, running aloft through the streets of the city and lashing the air with a discordant whip, of the kind with which those who labor at such spectacles goad wild beasts into fury.

Thus it was that some avenging demon, by malicious design, stirred up the sedition.

Great slaughter would also have followed, had not the emperor, out of reverence, put an end to his anger before the priestly supplication made through piety.

When his preparations for the war were complete, he proclaimed his younger son Honorius emperor as well.

For he had already appointed Arcadius.

Leaving both of them in Constantinople, he hastened with speed, together with the armies from the East, toward the empire beginning in the West.

And there followed him also a multitude of allies from among the barbarians along the Ister.

It is said that then, as he was departing from Constantinople, upon reaching the seventh milestone, he prayed to God in the church there, which he had built in honor of John the Baptist, and asked that the outcome of the war might be favorable to himself, to the army, and to all the Romans, and called upon the Baptist himself as an ally.

Having prayed these things, he arrived in Italy.