Church History 1 part 15/18

And in every province this indeed took place without dispute; but in Antioch, the leading city of the East, a contention arose concerning this matter, as follows:

For some, immediately after the plot fabricated against the great Eustathius, having abhorred the Arian abomination and gathering by themselves, had Paulinus as their leader;

In addition to these, Apollinaris of Laodicea declared himself the leader of another faction;

who, having put on the mask of piety and seeming to defend the apostolic doctrines, a little later was seen to be its open enemy.

For indeed, concerning the divine nature, he used counterfeit arguments, fashioning certain grades of dignity, and he dared to declare the mystery of the divine economy imperfect, and asserted that the rational soul entrusted with governing the body had been deprived of the salvation that was wrought.

For since, according to his argument, God the Word had not assumed it, He neither deemed it worthy of healing nor imparted honor to it;

but the earthly body is worshipped by the invisible powers, while the soul, which was made according to the divine image, has remained below, clothed with the dishonor of sin.

And besides these, with an erring and blind mind, he introduced many other innovations as well.

For at one time he himself agreed that the flesh had been assumed from the holy Virgin; at another time he said that it had come down from heaven together with God the Word; and at yet another time, that He Himself had become flesh, having taken nothing from us.

And he also joined other myths and absurdities to the divine promises, which I have judged it superfluous to relate at present.

He, then, saying such things, not only filled his own followers with the plague, but also imparted the contagion to some of our own people.

For in the course of time, seeing their own paltriness and beholding the splendor of the Church, all but a few were reunited and shared again in the communion of the Church;

yet they did not lay aside their former disease, but even infected many who had long been sound with it.

From this root there sprang up in the churches the doctrine of the one nature of the flesh and the Godhead, and the attaching of the passion to the Godhead of the Only-Begotten, and all the other teachings that have engendered strife among both the peoples and the priests.

But these things came to pass later.

But the divine Meletius sat quietly, bearing with their strife.

But Flavian, the most wise, who was still enrolled among the company of the presbyters, first spoke to Paulinus, in the general's hearing, as follows:

for that man, while confessing the one essence of the Trinity, openly proclaims the three hypostases; whereas you, on the contrary, by denying the hypostases, do away with the Trinity.

Show, then, the agreement of your doctrines, and take the churches according to the law.

Having thus silenced him with these refutations, he said to Apollinaris:

for you deprive our mind of salvation.

So the most wise Flavian, by his true arguments, put a stop to their boldness of speech.

But Meletius, the gentlest of all men, spoke kindly and mildly to Paulinus, saying:

Since the Lord of the sheep has entrusted to me the care of these sheep, and you likewise have taken up the charge of the others, and since the flocks share piety with one another in common, let us, my friend, join our flocks together and put an end to our contention over the primacy;

and, tending the sheep in common, let us offer them a common care.

But if the middle seat breeds this strife, I will endeavor to remove that too.

For, having set the divine Gospel upon it, I propose that we sit on either side of it.

And if I should be the first to reach the end of my life, you alone, my friend, will hold the leadership of the flock;

but if this should befall you first, I in turn will, to the best of my ability, take care of the sheep.

These things the divine Meletius said, both gently and kindly at once; but Paulinus did not accept them.

So the general, having become the judge of what had been said, delivered the churches to the great Meletius, while Paulinus continued to lead the sheep that had separated from the beginning.

But Apollinaris, having failed to obtain the leadership of the churches, thereafter openly proclaimed his newly-fabricated teaching and declared himself the founder of the heresy.

And he himself spent most of his time in Laodicea;

but already before this he had ordained Vitalius in Antioch, a man adorned with an excellent life and nurtured in the apostolic doctrines, though he later fell into the disease of the heresy.

And he entrusted the episcopal charge of Apamea to John, who indeed possessed the distinction of noble birth, but shone more by his own achievements than by those of his ancestors;

For in him alike both eloquence and manner of life shed their adornment.

This man, in the time of the storm, governed the assembly of those of like faith, having as his fellow-worker the praiseworthy Stephen.

But this man too the divine Meletius transferred to other contests.

For learning that Germanicia had been corrupted by the plague of Eudoxius, he sent this man there as a healing physician;

for he had been trained in the whole of Greek learning, and had been nurtured in the divine doctrines,

and he was not deceived of his hope;

for by employing spiritual teaching he changed the wolves into sheep.

And the great Eusebius, having returned from his exile, ordained Acacius, whose fame was great, in Beroea; and in Hierapolis Theodotus, whose ascetic manner of life all still sing of even to this day; and Eusebius over Chalcis; and Isidore over our own Cyrrhus—both men worthy of admiration and adorned with divine zeal.

They say that he also ordained as shepherd of Edessa that famous Eulogius, who had contended on behalf of the apostolic doctrines and had been sent, together with Protogenes, to Antinoë;

for the divinely-inspired Barses had by then already received the end of his life.

And Eulogius set Protogenes, his partner in the contests, over Carrhae, bestowing a healing physician upon a city that was in ill condition;

for this was a small town, and at that time it had partaken of the Arian disease.

As he was entering, a certain woman filled with the Arian disease let fall a tile from above, from the roof, which crushed his head and shortly afterward sent him on to the better life.

As he lay dying, he charged those present, binding them by oaths, to exact no penalty at all from the woman who had done this; for he was emulating his own Master, who said concerning those who had crucified him:

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"; and he emulated also his fellow-servant Stephen, who, after the many showers of stones, cried out:

"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."

Such an end, after his manifold contests, did the great Eusebius receive.

And having escaped the barbarians in Thrace, he did not escape the hands of the impious heretics, but through them he bound on the crown of martyrdom.

These things, then, took place after the return of the bishops.

Gratian, on learning that Thrace was being ravaged by the barbarians who had burned Valens, left Italy and arrived in Pannonia.

At that time Theodosius, both on account of the distinction of his forebears and on account of his own valor, was most renowned; and for this reason, being assailed by the envy of his peers and fellow-countrymen, he was living in the Spains;

for it was there that he was born and reared.

(the barbarians both were, and were reputed to be, hard to fight in battle), he supposed that the generalship of Theodosius would be a solution to these evils.

So at once he summoned the man from the Spains, and having appointed him general, sent him out with the army that had been assembled.

And he, having fortified himself with faith, set out boldly;

and having entered Thrace and seen the barbarians advancing to close quarters, he drew up the army as for battle.

When a skirmish took place, they, unable to bear the onset, abandoned their formation.

When the rout occurred, some fled, while others pursued with all their might.

And there was great slaughter of the barbarians;

for they were slain not only by the Romans but also by one another.

Thus, when the greater part had been destroyed, and only a few who had managed to escape notice had crossed the Ister, the excellent general immediately divided the army he had among the neighboring cities, and himself, riding with all speed, came to the emperor Gratian, becoming the messenger of his own trophies.

And even to the emperor himself, astonished beyond measure at what had happened, it did not seem that he was speaking the truth;

but those who were pierced by the darts of envy said both that he had fled and that he had destroyed the army.

But he requested that men be sent to those who had been posted opposite the enemy, and there to learn the number of the barbarians slain.

He said it would also be easy to ascertain the number from the spoils.

Yielding to these words, the emperor sent men to observe what had been done and to report it.

The excellent general, remaining there, saw a certain divine vision, clearly shown to him by the God of all things himself.

For he seemed to see the divine Meletius, president of the church of the Antiochenes, placing a royal robe about him and adorning his head with a corresponding crown.

Having seen this by night, at dawn he disclosed it to one of his familiars.

And this man said that the dream was clear, and contained nothing enigmatic or ambiguous.

After very few days had passed, the observers of what had happened returned, and reported that many myriads of the barbarians had been struck down.

Persuaded, the emperor, judging that he had chosen an excellent general, appointed him emperor, and handed over to him the scepters of Valens' portion of the empire.

And he himself set out for Italy, while he sent that man to the dominion given to him.

Immediately, then, upon assuming the sovereignty, he cared above all else for the concord of the churches, and commanded the bishops of his own dominion to hasten to Constantinople;

for this alone had been filled with the Arian plague;

for the West remained free of this disease.

For Constantine, the eldest of Constantine's sons, and Constans, the youngest, preserved their paternal faith undefiled;

and again, Valentinian, emperor of the West, kept piety pure and unmixed.

But the eastern portion received this plague from many quarters.

For Arius, being a presbyter of Alexandria in Egypt, engendered the blasphemy there;

and Eusebius and Patrophilus and Aëtius, the Palestinians, and Paulinus and Gregory, the Phoenicians, and Theodotus of Laodicea and George who succeeded him, and along with these Athanasius and Narcissus, the Cilicians, nourished the seeds that had been wickedly sown.

And Eusebius and Theogonius, the Bithynians, and Menophantus of Ephesus, and Theodore of Perinthus, and Maris of Chalcedon, and certain others from Thrace, notable for wickedness alone, continued for a long time watering and warming the sowing of the tares.

And with these evil husbandmen the pliability of Constantius and the depravity of Valens cooperated.

For this reason he ordered that only the bishops of his own kingdom should be assembled at Constantinople.

When they had arrived (and they numbered a hundred and fifty), he charged that no one should reveal to him which one was the great Meletius;

for he wished the man to be revealed to him through the memory of his dream.

Having, after a long time, enjoyed the sight of him as of a father, he embraced him and kissed his eyes and lips and breast and head, and the right hand that had crowned him;

and he also disclosed the vision that he had seen.

And having received all the others also with kindness, he asked them, as fathers, to deliberate concerning the matters at hand.

At that time the man who had most recently shepherded Nazianzus was residing in Constantinople, opposing the Arian blasphemies;

and watering the divine people with evangelical teachings, and capturing those who were wandering outside the flock and freeing them from the deadly pasturage, he thus made that flock, which had been small, great.

Seeing this man, and knowing the purpose of those who had drawn up the canon (for by cutting off the occasions of ambition they had forbidden translation from see to see), the divine Meletius confirmed to the most divine Gregory the presidency of Constantinople.

When a short time had passed, the divine Meletius departed to the life free of grief, being wreathed by all who had a share in eloquence with funeral eulogies.

But Timothy, bishop of the Alexandrians, who succeeded Peter (who had become heir to the presidency of Athanasius), ordained, in place of the admirable Gregory, a certain Maximus, a Cynic, immediately shearing off his Cynic locks;

and this man was also full of the trickery of Apollinarius.

But those who were then assembled did not tolerate the absurdity of what had happened.

And they were men worthy of admiration, full of divine zeal and wisdom;

Helladius, the successor to the see of the great Basil, and Gregory and Peter, who boasted the same parents as Basil;

and there were present also Pelagius of Laodicea, and Eulogius of Edessa, and Acacius, and our own Isidore, and Cyril of Jerusalem, and Gelasius of Caesarea in Palestine, adorned alike in word and in life, and very many other champions of virtue.

Then, therefore, all these men, having separated themselves from the Egyptians, celebrated the divine festivals together with the great Gregory.

But the divine Gregory urged those assembled to discuss concord to prefer mutual harmony to the wrong done to one man.

"For I," he said, "once freed from the greater part of my cares, shall regain the quiet that is dear to me, and you shall regain, after that long and grievous war, the thrice-longed-for peace."

"For it is utterly absurd that, having just been freed from the weapons of war, we should turn to strike one another and squander our own strength;"

"for in this way we shall become a source of delight to our enemies."

"Seek out, then, a man worthy of praise and possessed of understanding, able both to take up the multitude of these cares and to administer them well, and put him forward as high priest." Persuaded by this counsel, the best of shepherds ordained Nectarius — a man of noble family, adorned with the distinction of his lineage and resplendent with the forms of virtue — bishop of that greatest city.

Maximus, as one who had shared in the mental derangement of Apollinarius, they stripped of the episcopal dignity and publicly repudiated.

And having drawn up canons concerning good order in the Church, and having decreed that the faith set forth at Nicaea should remain firm and unshaken, they returned each to his own homeland.

When the following summer came, most of these bishops again gathered in that city — for ecclesiastical business once more called them together — and there they received a synodal letter from the bishops of the West, urging them to come to Rome, since a very great council was being assembled there.

But they declined the journey, as offering no advantage;

instead they wrote back, describing the storm that had arisen against the churches and hinting at the neglect that had been shown toward them, and in summary they embodied in their letter the apostolic temper.

The letter itself will show more clearly the courage and wisdom of its authors:

To instruct your piety as though it were ignorant, and to recount the multitude of the sufferings inflicted upon us by the tyranny of the Arians, is perhaps superfluous,

for we do not think your godliness regards our affairs as so trivial a matter that it would need to be informed of things with which it was bound to sympathize, nor were the storms that beset us of so slight a kind as to pass unnoticed through their insignificance;

and the time of the persecutions is recent, keeping the memory of it still fresh, not only for those who suffered, but also for those who, through love, made the sufferings of the afflicted their own.

For it was, so to speak, only yesterday and the day before, that some, released from the bonds of exile, made their way back to their own churches through countless afflictions, while the remains of others, who had died in exile, were brought home.

and some, even after their return from exile, falling victim to the heretics' still-boiling rage, endured on their own soil things more bitter than what they had suffered abroad, being stoned to death by them after the manner of the blessed Stephen;

others, having been mangled with various forms of violence, still bear about in their bodies the marks of Christ and the scars of their wounds;

As for financial losses and fines imposed on whole cities, and the confiscations, conspiracies, insults, and imprisonments suffered by individuals — who could possibly enumerate them? For truly every kind of affliction was multiplied upon us beyond counting, whether because we were paying the penalty for our sins, or because the God who loves mankind was training us through the abundance of our sufferings.

For all this, then, thanks be to God, who both disciplined his own servants through so many afflictions and, according to the abundance of his mercies, has once more brought us out into refreshment.

Yet we still needed long leisure, much time, and much labor for the restoration of the churches, so that, as if nursing the body of the Church back from a long illness through gradual care, we might lead it back to the ancient health of piety.

For even though we seem, for the most part, to have been freed from the violence of the persecutions, and the churches long held by the heretics are now at last being recovered, still the wolves weigh heavily upon us, even after being driven out of the fold, ravaging the flocks throughout the wooded glens, daring to hold rival assemblies, stirring up popular uprisings, and shrinking from nothing that might harm the churches.

It was, then, as we have said, necessary for us to be occupied for a still longer time.

Since, however, you showed your brotherly love toward us by convening, at God's will, a council at Rome, and by your letters — sent through the most God-beloved emperor — invited us as members of your own household, so that, whereas at that time we alone were condemned to affliction, now, in this concord of the emperors concerning piety, you should not reign without us, but that we too, according to the apostolic word, might reign together with you — it was indeed our wish, if it were possible, that all of us together might leave our churches at once and so gratify either your longing or your need.

— since we had neither anticipated any need of travel nor heard of it at all before we assembled in Constantinople, and moreover, the time being too short, it allowed neither opportunity to prepare for so long a journey, nor for all the bishops in communion throughout the provinces to be informed and their consent obtained — since these considerations, and many others besides, prevented the greater number of us from coming, we have done what was next best, both for the correction of affairs and as proof of our love toward you: we have persuaded our most reverend and most honored brothers and fellow ministers, the bishops Cyriacus, Eusebius, and Priscian, to undertake eagerly the labor of the journey to you.

through whom we demonstrate that our purpose is peaceful and aims at unity, and make manifest our zeal on behalf of the sound faith.

For whatever persecutions, afflictions, imperial threats, cruelties of magistrates, or any other trial we have endured at the hands of the heretics, we have undergone it for the sake of the evangelical faith ratified at Nicaea in Bithynia by the three hundred and eighteen fathers.

For it is necessary that this faith find favor with both you and us, and with all who do not distort the word of the true faith — a faith which is most ancient, and which accords with baptism, teaching us to believe in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that is, believing in one Godhead, power, and substance of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in honor of dignity and co-eternal in kingship, in three most perfect hypostases, or rather three perfect persons — so that neither may the disease of Sabellius find room by confusing the hypostases or abolishing their proper characteristics, nor may the blasphemy of the Eunomians, Arians, and Pneumatomachians prevail by cutting apart the substance, nature, or Godhead, and introducing into the uncreated, consubstantial, and co-eternal Trinity some later, created, or heterogeneous nature.

And we preserve undistorted the doctrine of the Lord's incarnation, admitting the economy of the flesh as neither soulless, nor mindless, nor imperfect, but knowing him to be, in his entirety, perfect God the Word before the ages, and perfect man in the last days, made so for our salvation.

Such, then, in summary, are the things concerning the faith proclaimed by us without hesitation.

On these matters you will also be able to be more fully instructed, should you be pleased to consult the Tome composed at Antioch by the synod assembled there, and the document set forth last year in Constantinople by the ecumenical synod, in which we confessed the faith at greater length and drew up a written condemnation of the heresies recently introduced.

As for the particular administration of affairs in the several churches, an ancient custom, as you know, has prevailed, together with the decree of the holy fathers of Nicaea, that in each province the bishops of that province — and, should they so wish, the neighboring bishops together with them — should carry out ordinations as is expedient.

In accordance with this you should understand that the remaining churches among us are governed, and that the bishops of the most eminent churches have been duly appointed.

For this reason, for the — one might say — newly founded Church of Constantinople, which we snatched, as it were, from the very mouth of the lion of heretical blasphemy, recently, through the mercies of God, we have, at the ecumenical synod and with common concord, ordained as bishop the most reverend and God-beloved Nectarius, in the sight of the most God-beloved emperor Theodosius and of all the clergy, with the whole city giving its assent.

...the bishops of the Eastern diocese, having come together, canonically ordained him, the whole church, as if with a single voice, honoring the man;

and this lawful ordination was accepted also by the whole body of the synod.

And as for the mother of all the churches, the church in Jerusalem, we acknowledge the most reverend and God-beloved Cyril to be its bishop, canonically ordained long ago by the bishops of the province, and one who has contended vigorously against the Arians on many occasions.

We urge your piety to rejoice together with us over these men, who have thus been lawfully and canonically established among us, since spiritual love acts as mediator, and the fear of the Lord restrains all merely human partiality, holding the edification of the churches to be more precious than personal attachment or favor shown to any individual.

For thus, once the doctrine of the faith has been agreed upon and Christian love confirmed among us, we shall cease to say what was condemned by the apostles:

"I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas" — but all appearing to be of Christ, who is not divided among us. By God's grace, we shall keep the body of the Church undivided, and shall stand before the tribunal of the Lord with boldness. These things they wrote against the madness of Arius, Aetius, and Eunomius, and likewise against Sabellius, Photinus, and Marcellus, Paul of Samosata, and Macedonius.

Likewise they also openly repudiated the innovation of Apollinarius, declaring:

"And we preserve undistorted the doctrine of the Lord's incarnation, admitting the economy of the flesh as neither soulless, nor mindless, nor imperfect."

This he also made known, by letter, to the bishops governing the East — a letter which I have judged it useful to insert into this history.

In that your love pays to the Apostolic See the reverence it is owed, you confer the greatest benefit upon yourselves, most honored sons.

For even though it is in the holy Church where the holy apostle sat and taught how we ought to steer the helm we have received, we nevertheless confess ourselves unworthy of the honor.

But for this very reason we strive, by whatever means we may, in the hope that we might somehow be able to attain to the glory of his blessedness.

Know, then, that we have deposed the profane Timothy of old, the disciple of Apollinarius the heretic, together with his impious doctrine, and we do not believe that any remnant of it retains force any longer, in any way whatsoever.

But if that ancient serpent, though struck down once and again, still revives to his own punishment — being one who stands outside the Church, and who never ceases his attempts to trip up the unfaithful with his deadly poisons — then shun this as you would some deadly plague.

Yet do you, remembering the apostolic faith — above all that which was set down in writing by the fathers at Nicaea — remain unmoved, standing firm and strong in the faith upon a sure foundation;

and do not permit your clergy or your laity to give ear to idle talk and specious disputations directed against it.

For we have already, once for all, given this rule: that whoever knows himself to be a Christian should keep that which was handed down by the apostles, as the holy Paul says:

"If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed."

For Christ, the Son of God, our Lord, through his own passion rendered to the race of men the fullest salvation, that he might set the whole man, held fast in sin, free from every sin.

If anyone says that he possessed less of either his humanity or his divinity, that person, filled with the spirit of the devil, proves himself a son of Gehenna.

...of the see, in the presence also of Peter, bishop of the city of Alexandria, was deposed together with his teacher Apollinarius, who, too, will on the day of judgment undergo the punishments and torments that are his due.

But if he persuades any of the more fickle, as though he had some hope to offer — he who has exchanged the true hope in Christ for his own confession — then whoever chooses to contend against the canon of the Church shall likewise perish along with him.

"May God keep you in good health, most honored sons." They also wrote, having assembled in great Rome, certain other things against various heresies, which I have thought it necessary to insert into this history.

Since, after the Council of Nicaea, this error arose, whereby some dared with profane mouth to say that the Holy Spirit came into being through the Son, we anathematize those who do not proclaim with entire freedom that the Holy Spirit, together with the Father and the Son, is of one and the same substance and power.

Likewise, we also anathematize those who follow the error of Sabellius, who say that the same person is both Father and Son.