Church History 1 part 27/28

for out of modesty of manner and love of true wisdom she always made it her practice to remain unnoticed, so that she neither sought earnestly to attain the rank of deaconess, nor, though John often urged her, would she ever consent to preside over the church's virgins.

When the greatest fear had fallen upon all, and it was evident that the multitude would no longer riot, the prefect of the city came forward publicly, ostensibly to investigate the burning of the church and the senate-house, and severely punished many;

for being a pagan, he seemed to mock at the church's calamities and took pleasure in what had happened.

At that time also a certain reader named Eutropius was brought forward to denounce those who had set the fire; though scourged with oxhide whips and rods, and torn with claws on his sides and cheeks, and, besides these, though he endured a torch applied to his body — and this while he was young and tender of skin — he confessed to knowing nothing.

After the tortures he was shut up in prison, where, not long afterward, he died.

It is worth committing to writing also the dream that occurred concerning him.

For to Sisinnius, bishop of the sect of the Novatians, already asleep, a man of most striking beauty and stature, standing beside the altar of their church, which he had built in honor of Stephen the protomartyr, seemed to be in distress at the scarcity of good men, as though for this reason he had gone about the whole city and found no one save Eutropius alone.

Astonished at the vision, Sisinnius confessed the dream to one of his most trusted presbyters and ordered him to seek out who the man might be.

He, shrewdly reasoning that such a man was likely to be found among those recently tortured before the prefect, went about the prisons and inquired whether there was among them anyone named Eutropius.

And having found him, he came and spoke with him, and related the bishop's dream, and, weeping, entreated him to pray on his behalf.

Such, then, was the affair concerning Eutropius.

In these calamities Olympias the deaconess also showed herself courageous.

For when she was brought before the tribunal on this charge, and the prefect asked her why in the world she had set fire to the church, she took up the question and said, "That is not the course my life has chosen."

"For I have spent great wealth on the renewal of God's temples." And when he said that he well knew her manner of life, she said, "Then take your place in the rank of accuser, and another shall judge between us." Since the accusation lacked witnesses, the prefect, having nothing he could justly charge her with, turned somewhat more gently to another charge, and, as though offering counsel, reproached her and the other women for folly, in that they refused communion with the bishop, though it was open to them to repent and be freed from their troubles.

...that, once refuted, she should be dragged into a defense against charges involving no real culpability.

"Permit me, then, to engage advocates in answer to the earlier charge."

"For even if I should be unlawfully compelled to commune with those with whom I ought not to commune, I will not do what is not permitted to the pious." And he, since he could not persuade her to commune with Arsacius, released her for the time, as though she would go instruct advocates, but on another occasion, having brought her before him again, condemned her to pay a large sum of gold.

For he thought that in this way he would change her resolve;

but she, disdaining the money, did not yield;

and leaving Constantinople, she took up residence at Cyzicus.

At that time also the presbyter Tigrius was stripped of his clothing and scourged on the back; bound hand and foot and stretched upon the rack, his joints were wrenched apart.

He was a barbarian by birth, and a eunuch not from birth;

having first served as a slave in the household of a certain man of power, and having been commended by his owner, he obtained his freedom.

Having in time advanced to the rank of presbyter, he showed himself in character most equitable and gentle, and toward those in need and toward strangers, if anyone, most kindly disposed.

Such, then, were the events at Constantinople.

Meanwhile, Siricius having completed fifteen years in the episcopate of the Romans, and Anastasius three, after him Innocent filled this succession.

Flavian also died, without having assented to the deposition of John;

Porphyry succeeded to the church of the Antiochenes;

and since he had voted with those who had condemned him, many in Syria separated from the church there, holding their assemblies by themselves, and endured very many hardships in consequence.

For the sake of communion with Arsacius, this Porphyry, and Theophilus bishop of Alexandria, through the zealous efforts of the powerful men at court, a law was enacted that those holding the orthodox faith should not assemble outside the churches, and that those who did not commune with them should be driven out.

About this time, as is generally found to happen amid the dissensions of priests, public affairs also experienced tumults and disorder;

and the Huns, crossing the Danube, ravaged the Thracians, while the brigands in Isauria, gathering into great numbers, plundered the cities and villages between, as far as Caria and Phoenicia.

Stilicho, the general of Honorius, a man who had risen to greater power than perhaps any man ever had, having both the Roman and the barbarian youth obedient to him, having fallen into enmity with the officials of Arcadius, had plotted to bring the two courts into collision with one another.

And having procured from Honorius the rank of Roman general for Alaric, leader of the Goths, he stirred him up against the Illyrians;

and having sent ahead Jovius, who had been appointed prefect of that region, he agreed with him that he would cooperate with the Roman soldiers, so as ostensibly to bring the subjects there under the rule of Honorius.

And having remained there for a considerable time, he returned to Italy.

For when he was about to set out, as Stilicho had agreed, he was restrained by letters from Honorius.

Now Innocent, bishop of the Romans, on learning what had been done against John, was greatly indignant;

and he condemned those responsible, and being eager to convene an ecumenical council, he wrote to John, and in part also to the clergy of Constantinople;

and having found each of these two letters in the Latin tongue, I have set them down here.

To my beloved brother John, Innocent [sends greeting].

Although the innocent must in all things look for good things and ask mercy of God, nevertheless a fitting letter has also been sent by us, who counsel patience under wrong, through Cyriacus the deacon, so that outrage may not have more power to crush him than a good conscience has to give him hope.

to those who abide at the height of endurance and yield to no distress of affliction;

and conscience is indeed a truly firm and secure possession against all things that befall one unjustly;

and if a man does not overcome these by enduring, he thereby brings forth a proof of a base reputation;

for the man who trusts first in God, and then also in his own conscience, ought to endure all things;

since it is precisely then that the good and virtuous man is able to be trained in endurance, but not to be overcome, inasmuch as the divine Scriptures guard his understanding.

The divine readings which we hand down to the peoples abound in examples, which have confirmed that nearly all the saints were afflicted in various ways and continually, and were tested as it were in some process of trial, and thus came to the crown of endurance.

Let your own conscience console your charity, most honored brother, that same conscience which in afflictions holds the consolation of virtue.

For while the Lord Christ watches over it, the conscience, once come to anchor in the harbor of peace, shall stand firm... Innocent, bishop, to the presbyters and deacons and all the clergy and people of the church of Constantinople under Bishop John, beloved brothers, greeting.

From the letter of your charity, which you sent by Germanus the presbyter and Cassian the deacon, I have learned, with anxious concern, the spectacle of evils which you set before my eyes;

and with how many hardships and toils the faith is afflicted—a matter which, upon repeated

readings, taken up again and again, I have come to perceive clearly.

a matter which only the consolation of endurance can heal.

For our God will soon bring an end to so many afflictions, and it will prove profitable to have endured them.

But indeed, in praising that necessary consolation set at the beginning of the letter of your charity, we have recognized your understanding, that letter containing many testimonies exhorting to endurance.

For you have anticipated, by your own letters, the very consolation which we owed you and should have sent.

For our Master is accustomed to grant this endurance to those who labor, so that the servants of Christ, finding themselves in afflictions, may console themselves by reflecting that the very things they now suffer had already befallen the saints before them.

And we too are able to draw consolation for ourselves from your very letters.

For we are not strangers to sharing your suffering, since we too are afflicted in you.

For who could bear the sins committed by those who ought above all to be zealous for the calm of peace and for concord itself? But now, in a manner utterly reversed, innocent priests are being thrust out from the presidency of their own churches.

This is what our brother and fellow-minister John, your bishop, was the first to suffer unjustly, obtaining no hearing whatsoever.

No charge is brought, no one is given a hearing.

And what is this forbidden device? So that no pretext for a trial should arise or be sought, others are put in the place of priests still living, as though those who proceed from such a wrongdoing could be judged by anyone to hold, or to have done, anything rightly.

For we have never known that such things were ever dared by our fathers; rather, we know it was forbidden, no one being given authority to ordain another into the place of one still living;

for an invalid ordination cannot take away the honor of the [true] priest, since he who is unjustly installed in his place cannot even be a bishop.

That we also write concerning the safeguarding of the canons, that these ought to be followed which were defined at Nicaea, which alone the catholic Church is bound to follow and to acknowledge;

these other things are rejected by the catholic bishops.

For these things devised by heretics are no longer to be attached to the catholic canons;

for they are always seeking, through things contrary and unlawful, to diminish the decision of those assembled at Nicaea.

We say not only that these ought not to be followed, but rather that they, together with heretical and schismatic doctrines, ought to be condemned, just as was done before at the Council of Sardica by the bishops before us.

For it is fitting, most honored brothers, that things wrongly done should be condemned, rather than that things done in direct violation of the canons should have any validity.

But what should we do at present against such men? A synodical judgment is needed, which we long ago declared must be convened;

for it alone is able to still the disturbances of so many storms;

and in order that we may attain it, it is useful for the present to defer the remedy to the will of the great God and of his Christ, our Lord.

All the things that have now, through the envy of the devil, been thrown into confusion for the testing of the faithful, will be calmed.

In the firmness of our faith we ought to despair of nothing from our Lord.

For indeed we too are giving much thought as to how an ecumenical council might be convened, so that by the will of God these tumultuous disturbances may cease.

Let us therefore endure for the present, and, fortified by the wall of endurance, let us hope that all things will be restored by the help of our God.

From these things one may perceive what opinion he held concerning John.

Meanwhile a very great hailstorm broke over Constantinople and its suburbs, and on the fourth day after this the emperor's wife died.

And it seemed to most people that these things happened because God was angered on account of John.

For indeed Cyrinus, bishop of Chalcedon, who had reviled him most bitterly, not long before had, on account of a misfortune that befell his foot, had both his legs sawn off by the physicians, and died a pitiable death.

Arsacius too, after presiding over the church of Constantinople for a short time, died.

Since many were seeking to succeed him, in the fourth month after his death Atticus was ordained—a presbyter of the clergy of Constantinople, one of those who had plotted against John.

He was by birth from Sebasteia in Armenia, and from his youth had been trained in the ascetic life by monks of the sect of Macedonius;

monks who at that time were distinguished at Sebasteia in this ascetic discipline, being of the school of Eustathius, of whom we have already learned that he became bishop there and leader of most excellent monks.

But upon reaching manhood he went over to the catholic Church;

being prudent by nature rather than by learning, he had a firm grasp of what needed to be done, capable both of contriving plots and of withstanding plots against him; in character he was engaging, so as to be pleasing to many, but moderate in his discourses in church, such that his hearers judged them neither worthy of being written down nor yet altogether devoid of learning;

for being a man of refined taste, whenever he found leisure he studied the most esteemed writers among the Greeks;

and though seeming, when he discoursed on such matters, to be but a layman, he often went undetected even by experts.

It was said that he was earnest toward those of like belief, but formidable toward those of differing belief, easily inspiring fear in them whenever he wished, and then again, changing his manner, appearing gentle.

Such, they say, was the character of the man, according to those who knew him.

But John, even in exile, became all the more renowned;

for as she [Olympias] kept sending funds, he purchased many captives from the Isaurian brigands and restored them to their families, and to many who were in need he supplied what was necessary;

and those who had no need of money he won over by his word, and he was found to be exceedingly beloved among the Armenians and among those

with whom he dwelt, and also among the neighboring peoples.

And very many resorted to him from Antioch and the rest of Syria and Cilicia.

Innocent, bishop of Rome, as he had written before, being eager for John's return, together with the bishops who had come as envoys from the East on this matter, sent five bishops and two presbyters of the Roman church to Honorius and to the emperor Arcadius, to request a council, and its time and place.

But those at Constantinople who were hostile to John, on the ground that these proceedings were an insult to the imperial power there, contrived a false accusation;

and they contrived that those who had meddled with authority beyond their own borders should be sent away in disgrace, while as for John himself, they succeeded in having him removed still farther away, by imperial decree, to Pityus;

and soldiers, arriving speedily, carried this out.

They say that he, being led by these men along the road, foresaw the day on which he was to die, when the martyr Basiliscus appeared to him at Comana in Armenia;

There, no longer able to endure the journey (for his head ached, and he was unable to bear the rays of the sun), he departed this life through illness.

Such, then, were the events concerning John.

Not long after his death, when Atticus was already in the third year of his episcopate at Constantinople, in the consulship of Bassus and Philip, Arcadius departed this life, leaving as successor to the imperial power his son Theodosius, who had only just ceased to be nursed with milk, and daughters Pulcheria, Arcadia, and Marina, who were still quite young.

In this event it seems to me that God most clearly showed that piety alone suffices for the safety of those who rule, and that without it armies, the emperor's might, and all other provisions are nothing.

Since, then, the divine power that watches over all things foresaw that the emperor would be most pious, it appointed his sister Pulcheria as guardian of him and of the empire.

Though she was not yet fifteen years old, she possessed a mind wise and godly beyond her years.

First of all, she consecrated her own virginity to God, and trained her sisters in the same way of life, so that she might not introduce another man into the palace, and might remove every occasion for jealousy and intrigue.

And to confirm her resolve, calling God Himself, the priests, and every subject to witness what she had determined, she dedicated, out of gold and precious stones, a wondrous object, the most beautiful of sights, as a sacred altar-table in the church of Constantinople, on behalf of her own virginity and her brother's reign;

and on the front of the table, so that it might be plain to all, she inscribed the following:

Having taken upon herself the care of the government, she administered the Roman world excellently and with great good order, taking wise counsel, and swiftly carrying out and putting in writing whatever needed to be done.

for she had been precisely trained to speak and write correctly in both the Latin and Greek tongues.

But the credit for what was done she referred back to her brother;

and she took care that he should be brought up in the most royal manner, being instructed in the studies suitable to his age.

how to walk, and how to control his laughter, and to be gentle, yet formidable when the occasion required, and to make fitting inquiry of those who came with requests about anything.

Not least of all, she led him toward piety, accustoming him to pray continually and to frequent the churches, to honor the houses of prayer with votive offerings and treasures, and to hold in honor the priests and...

...other good men, and those who practiced philosophy according to the law of the Christians.

Moreover, when the faith was in danger of being subverted by spurious doctrines, she stood forth in its defense with zeal and wisdom.

And we shall find that she is chiefly responsible for the fact that no new heresies have prevailed in our own times, as we shall learn in what follows.

As she worshipped the divine with great reverence, it would take too long to tell among what places, and how many houses of prayer she magnificently built, and how many lodging-houses for the poor and for strangers, and monastic dwellings she established, having fixed a perpetual allowance for their expenses and for the food-rations of those dwelling in them.

If anyone should wish to test the truth of these matters from the facts themselves, rather than simply trust my words, he will learn that I am writing neither falsely nor out of flattery, if he goes through the written record of such things kept by those who administer her household, and inquires of those enrolled therein whether the facts agree with what is written.

But if these things alone do not suffice for anyone's belief, let him also be persuaded by the fact that God Himself, surely, holds her in favor because of her way of life, readily hearkening to her prayers and often revealing to her beforehand what ought to be done.

For I would never say that God's favor comes to men, unless through their deeds they show themselves worthy of it.

But as for all the particular proofs that demonstrate that the emperor's sister is beloved of God, I shall for now willingly pass over them, lest someone find fault with me for having turned, while engaged in another task, to the manner of panegyric.

But that which seems to me at once proper to ecclesiastical history and a manifest proof of her being beloved of God, I shall relate here forthwith, even though it occurred at a later time.

A certain woman named Eusebia, a deaconess of the Macedonian heresy, had a house and a garden before the wall of Constantinople;

and there she kept the sacred relics of the forty soldiers who had been martyred at Sebasteia in Armenia in the time of Licinius.

When she was about to die, she left the aforementioned place to monks of the same belief, and under oath she begged them to bury her there, and to hollow out, at the head end of her coffin, a private cavity of her own devising, and to place together with her the relics of the martyrs, and to reveal this to no one.

So that the martyrs might receive the fitting service, while outsiders remained ignorant of it, in accordance with what had been agreed with Eusebia, they constructed underground a house of prayer around her tomb, while above, in the visible building, the floor was covered with baked bricks, with a concealed stairway leading down from it to the martyrs.

After this, Caesarius, a man of power at that time, who had attained to the rank of both consul and prefect, buried his deceased wife beside Eusebia's tomb;

for this had been agreed upon while both women were still alive, since they were extraordinarily devoted to one another, and of one mind regarding both doctrine and religious observance.

This gave Caesarius an occasion to acquire this place for himself, so that he too might be buried near his wife.

The aforementioned monks were relocated elsewhere, without confessing anything about the martyrs.

After this, the building fell down, and earth and rubble having been piled upon it, the whole place was leveled, since Caesarius himself erected there, in honor of the martyr Thyrsus, a magnificent temple to God.

It seems, then, that God willed that the aforementioned place should thus be so carefully obliterated, and that so much time should elapse, in order to make more marvelous and more manifest both the discovery of the martyrs and the God-belovedness of the one who found them.

his sister, the empress Pulcheria.

For the divinely inspired Thyrsus appeared to her a third time, and revealed those who were hidden beneath the earth, and commanded that they be moved to be with him, so that they might share in a like position and honor.

At the same time, the Forty themselves, clothed in shining garments, also made themselves manifest to her.

The matter seemed to surpass belief, and to be altogether beyond finding out.

For neither the older clergy of that place, though questioned repeatedly, nor anyone else, was able to reveal where the martyrs lay.

At last, when everyone was at a loss, the divine power brought to the mind of a certain presbyter, Polychronius — who had formerly been one of Caesarius's household — those who had once dwelt in that place,

and going to the clergy of the Macedonians, he inquired about them.

Since all of them had already died, he found only one still living, as if he had been kept alive precisely for the disclosure of the sought-after martyrs, and he begged him to tell whether he knew of any sacred relics hidden beneath the aforementioned place.

But when Polychronius, seeing him hesitating to speak on account of the agreement made with Eusebia, disclosed to him the divine manifestation, the empress's insistent inquiries, and their own perplexity, the man acknowledged that God had truly shown the truth to the sovereign lady;

for, being at that time a mere boy and being instructed in the monastic life under elderly abbots, he knew for certain that the martyrs lay beside Eusebia's tomb;

however, he said he did not know whether they were buried beneath the sacred precinct or elsewhere, since a long time had passed and the former appearance of the place had been changed into what now appeared.

'And yet,' said Polychronius, 'I have not had the same experience;'

'for I remember having been present at the burial of Caesarius's wife, and reckoning by the nearby avenue that lies close by, I judge that she is buried near the ambo' (this being the platform for the readers).

'Then,' the monk replied, taking up the matter, 'Eusebia's tomb too must be sought near Caesarius's wife, since while both were alive they were much together with one another, and upon dying they had agreed to have their tombs side by side.' Since, then, according to what had been said, it was necessary to dig and to search out the sacred relics, the empress, on learning of this, ordered that the work be undertaken.

When the area around the ambo was dug up, the tomb of Caesarius's wife was found, just as Polychronius had conjectured, and a little way off to the side, a pavement of baked bricks, and a marble slab equal in size to their circuit.

beneath which Eusebia's own tomb was revealed, together with the oratory around it, quite fittingly clad in white-and-purple marbles;

and the lid of the tomb had been fashioned as if into a sacred altar-table.

At the end, where the martyrs lay, a small hole appeared.

A certain man of the imperial household, who was standing by and happened to be holding a thin rod, let it down through the hole;

and drawing it up again, he brought it to his nose, and smelled the fragrance of perfumed oils.

From this, good hopes arose among those who were working and those who were standing by, and eagerly uncovering the tomb, they found Eusebia.

The part of the tomb projecting at her head, carved into the shape of a chest, was covered on the inside with its own lid;

and on either side, at its edges, iron fastenings lay upon it, held fast together by molten lead.

In the middle, the same hole appeared again, showing yet more clearly that the martyrs were contained within.

When this was reported, both the empress and the bishop hastened together to the martyr-shrine;

and at once, the iron fastenings having been removed by skilled craftsmen, the lid was easily drawn off;

and beneath it were found abundant perfumed oils, and within these oils two silver alabaster caskets, in which the sacred relics lay.

Then the empress offered up prayers of thanksgiving to God, having been deemed worthy of so great a manifestation, and having succeeded in the discovery of the sacred relics;

and that these events occurred thus, those who were present at the festival will bear witness;

for almost all of them are still living, inasmuch as this event occurred much later, while Proclus was presiding over the church of Constantinople.

It is also reported that, in many other matters as well, God repeatedly revealed beforehand to the empress what was to come, and that a great many events testifying to divine favor occurred concerning her and her sisters;

since these sisters too conduct their lives in the same manner, devoting themselves earnestly to the clergy and the houses of prayer, and being generous toward strangers and the poor who stand in need.

Their table and manner of life are for the most part the same for all of them, and together, both by night and by day, they sing hymns to God.

And, as is customary among admirable women, they occupied themselves with weaving and similar tasks;

for although they were reigning princesses, born and raised in the palace, they judged ease and idleness to be unworthy of the sacred virginity that they were pursuing, and banished them from their own way of life.

And because of these things, God being manifestly gracious and fighting on behalf of their house, He granted increase in age and rule to him who held power, while every plot and war raised up against him was automatically dissolved.

At that time, then, the Persians, though they had been roused to war, made a hundred years' truce with the Romans.

Stilicho, the commander of Honorius's army, being suspected of striving to proclaim his own son Eucherius emperor in the East, was killed by the soldiers at Ravenna.

This man, even earlier while Arcadius was still living, having come into enmity with that emperor's officials, had plotted to set the two courts at odds with each other.

And having procured for Alaric, the leader of the Goths, the rank of a Roman general, he urged him to seize Illyricum.

And having sent ahead Jovius, who had been appointed prefect over them, he agreed also himself to cooperate with the Roman soldiers, so as to bring the peoples there, ostensibly, under the rule of Honorius.

And having stayed there a long time, he returned to Italy without having accomplished anything.

For when he was about to set out abroad in accordance with the agreements, he was held back by letters of Honorius.

But when Arcadius died, Honorius, out of tender concern for his nephew, set out to go to Constantinople and to appoint trustworthy officials and guardians for the boy's safety and reign.

For regarding him as in the place of a son, he feared lest some harm should befall him, since, because of his youth, he was an easy target for conspiracy.