Church History 1 part 6/18

Perceiving that Constantius's mind was like a strait tossed by shifting currents, resembling reeds bent this way and that by contrary winds, he took courage to undertake war against the evangelical doctrines.

And, pretending to lament the storm afflicting the churches, he said that those who had introduced the unscriptural word homoousios into the teaching of the faith were to blame, and that it was this which wrought division both among the clergy and among the people.

From this point, accusing Athanasius and those who held the same views, he began to contrive plots against them.

By these and similar arguments, besieging his exceedingly fickle mind, they persuaded him to drive Athanasius out of the church;

but he, having learned of the plot beforehand, withdrew and made his way to the West.

For indeed Eusebius and his party sent to the bishop of Rome (Julius was at that time shepherding that church) the calumnies they had concocted against Athanasius.

But he, following the law of the church, both ordered them to come to Rome and summoned the divine Athanasius to trial.

And he indeed set out at once upon receiving the summons;

but those who had concocted the drama did not go to Rome, knowing that their falsehood would be easily exposed; and seeing the sheep bereft of their shepherd, they set over them a wolf instead of a shepherd;

Gregory was his name.

For six years, treating the flock more savagely than wild beasts, he paid the penalty for his wickedness, being cruelly destroyed by the very sheep.

Athanasius, having come to Constans (for Constantine the eldest had died in war), lamented the plots of the Arian phalanx and bewailed the war waged against the apostolic faith; he reminded him of their father, and of the very great council which he had assembled, and how, as a participant, he had confirmed by law what had been decreed by that assembly.

By such entreaties he roused the emperor to zeal for his father.

For as soon as he heard these things, he wrote to his brother, exhorting him to keep the clergy inviolate in accordance with their father's piety;

for indeed he had strengthened his rule through piety, and both overthrew the tyrants among the Romans and subdued the barbarians round about.

For indeed many other afflictions of the church stood in need of the remedy of a council.

For those who had partaken of the Arian disease indicted Paul (this man was bishop of Constantinople, standing in the forefront of danger for the orthodox doctrines) as the ringleader of sedition, adding certain other charges of the kind with which they were accustomed to slander the heralds of piety.

But at that time the people would not allow him to be carried off to Sardica, fearing the plots of their opponents.

A little later, having persuaded the emperor's exceedingly fickle mind, they banished him from the imperial city and removed him to Cucusus;

this is a small town, formerly belonging to the nation of the Cappadocians, but now reckoned as part of Armenia Secunda.

But for those who stirred up all things, the admirable Paul's sojourn in that desolate place was not enough;

for having sent agents of their murderous purpose, they delivered him over to a violent death.

And the divine Athanasius has taught us this also, in his Apology concerning his own flight, where he has added the following:

For having pursued Paul, bishop of Constantinople, and found him, they caused him to be openly strangled at the place called Cucusus in Cappadocia, employing as executioner for this purpose Philip, the former prefect;

for he was both a champion of their heresy and a servant of their wicked designs. Such acts of bloodshed has the blasphemy of Arius brought forth.

For the outrages committed against his servants correspond to the very rage waged against the Only-Begotten.

But having thus dispatched him to death — or rather, to the kingdom of the heavens — they put forward Macedonius in his place, supposing him to be of one mind with them, since he likewise blasphemed the all-holy Spirit.

But a little later they drove him out as well, since he could not bear to call him whom the divine Scripture styles Son a creature.

For this reason, having broken with them, he became the leader of his own heresy;

for he too did not say that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, but taught that he is like in all things to the one who begot him, while openly calling the Spirit a creature.

At Sardica two hundred and fifty bishops assembled, as the ancient accounts teach.

And the great Athanasius arrived, and Asclepas of Gaza, whom I have mentioned before, and Marcellus of Ancyra, the metropolis of the Galatians, who had also been a bishop at the great council.

Their accusers also arrived, together with the leaders of the heretical phalanx, who had formerly been judges in the case against Athanasius and his companions.

But having learned of the council's unbending firmness and its soundness in divine doctrines, they did not enter the assembly even when summoned, but both the accusers and the unjust judges fled together.

And this the letters of the council teach more clearly, which, for the sake of plain instruction, I shall insert into this history.

Many things, and many times, have the Arian madmen dared against the servants of God who keep the right faith.

For by insinuating a spurious teaching, they attempted to drive out the orthodox;

and at length they rose up so greatly against the faith that it did not even escape the hearing of the most God-beloved emperors.

Therefore, with the grace of God cooperating, the most pious emperors themselves gathered us together from various provinces and cities, and granted that this holy council be held in the city of the Sardians, so that all discord might be removed and, all false belief being driven out, piety toward Christ alone might be preserved among all.

For bishops came from the East, they too having been urged on by the most pious emperors, especially on account of what was repeatedly being noised abroad concerning our beloved brothers and fellow ministers, Athanasius bishop of Alexandria, and Marcellus bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas of Gaza.

For perhaps these slanders have reached you yourselves as well, just as they also attempted to unsettle our own ears, so that what they say against the innocent might be believed, while they conceal the suspicion of their own wicked heresy.

But they were not permitted to do this for long.

For the one who presides over the churches is the Lord, who endured death on behalf of these and of all of us, and through it has granted to all of us the ascent into the heavens.

Now formerly Eusebius and Maris and Theodore and Theognis and Ursacius and Valens and Menophantus and Stephen wrote to Julius, our fellow minister, bishop of the church of the Romans, against the aforementioned fellow ministers of ours — I mean Athanasius bishop of Alexandria, and Marcellus bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas of Gaza.

And the bishops from the other regions also wrote, testifying to the purity of our fellow minister Athanasius, and declaring that the things done by the party of Eusebius were nothing else but full of lies and calumnies.

Even though it was already especially evident from the fact that, when they were summoned by our beloved fellow minister Julius, they did not answer, and from what was written by that same bishop Julius, that their calumny stood exposed (for they would have come, had they trusted in what they did and had done against our fellow ministers); nevertheless, by what they have done in this holy and great synod, they have made their own conspiracy even more manifest.

They were afraid to come to trial.

And though summoned not once nor twice but many times, they did not obey the summons;

and yet, although all the assembled bishops — especially the venerable Hosius, who on account of his age, his confession of faith, and his having endured so great toil, was worthy of all honor and respect — were waiting for them and urging them to come to trial, so that they might be able, being present, to disprove the things which they had bruited abroad and written against our fellow ministers in their absence,

yet, as we have already said, though summoned, they did not come, thereby showing by this too their calumny, and all but proclaiming aloud, by their refusal, the plot and the conspiracy which they had contrived.

For those who have confidence in what they say are also able to stand face to face in support of it.

Since, then, they did not come, we think that henceforth no one is ignorant — even should they again wish to do mischief — that, having nothing to prove against our fellow ministers, they slander them when absent, but avoid them when present.

For they fled, beloved brethren, not only because of their calumny against these men, but also because they saw that those who were bringing various charges against them had come.

For there were chains and irons being displayed;

and there were men who had returned from exile, and fellow ministers who had come from those still detained in exile;

and the relatives and friends of those who had died because of them were present;

and, greatest of all, bishops were present, of whom one displayed the irons and fetters which he had worn because of them, while others testified to a death caused by their slander.

For they proceeded to such a pitch of madness as even to attempt to murder a bishop;

and they would have killed him, had he not escaped their hands.

Accordingly, our fellow minister of blessed memory, Theodulus, rose up, fleeing their slander;

for, through their slander, orders had been given for him to be put to death.

others displayed wounds from swords, while others lamented that they had suffered hunger because of them.

And these things were testified not by ordinary men, but whole churches were involved, on whose behalf those who came and acted as delegates related them: soldiers with drawn swords, mobs with clubs, threats from judges, the introduction of forged letters (for letters of the party of Theogonius against our fellow ministers Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas were read out, in order that they might stir up even the emperors against them;

and this was proved by those who were at that time deacons of Theogonius) — besides these things, the stripping of virgins, the burning of churches, imprisonments inflicted on our fellow ministers;

and all these things for no other reason than the ill-named heresy of the Arian madmen.

For those who refused ordination and communion with these men were compelled to experience these things.

Perceiving these things, then, they found themselves in a strait as to their course of action.

For, being ashamed of what they had done, and since they could no longer conceal it, they came to the city of Serdica, in order that, through their arrival, they might seem to create the impression that they had done no wrong.

But when they saw those whom they had slandered and those who had suffered at their hands, and had before their eyes their accusers and the proofs against them, they were not able to enter, though summoned — even though our fellow ministers Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas used great boldness, protesting, pressing, and challenging them, and promising not only to refute the calumny but also to show all the wrongs they had committed against their churches.

But they were seized by such fear of their own conscience that they fled, and by their flight both proved their own calumny and confessed, through their flight, the wrongs they had committed.

Although their perversity and calumny are shown most plainly not only from earlier events but also from these, nevertheless, so that they might not be able to derive from their flight some pretext for further mischief, we resolved to examine, according to the standard of truth, the things which had been contrived by them.

and in the things done we found them to be slanderers, who had contrived nothing else than a conspiracy against our fellow ministers.

For as to Arsenius, whom they said had been murdered by Athanasius, this man is alive and is found among the living.

And from this it is evident that the other things noised abroad by them are likewise fabrications.

And since they also spread a rumor about a chalice, as though it had been broken by Macarius, the presbyter of Athanasius, those who had come from Alexandria and Mareotis and the other places testified against them, that none of this had been done;

and the bishops from Egypt too, writing to our fellow minister Julius, affirmed sufficiently that not even a suspicion of such a thing had ever arisen.

Besides, they say that they have minutes against him, which were shown to have been drawn up in a one-sided manner.

And yet, even in these minutes, it was pagans and catechumens who were questioned;

of whom, when questioned, one catechumen said that he was inside when Macarius arrived at the place, while another, when questioned, said that the Ischyras so much talked of by them was lying sick in his cell, so that from this it appears that none of the mysteries had taken place at all, since the catechumens were inside while Ischyras was not present, but lay sick in bed.

For indeed Ischyras himself, that thoroughly wicked man, though he lied in saying that Athanasius had burned certain of the divine books, and was proved false, nevertheless confessed that at that very time, when Macarius was present, he was sick and lying in bed — so that by this too he is shown to be a slanderer.

Indeed, as the wages of this calumny, they have given to Ischyras himself the title of bishop, though he is not even a presbyter.

For two presbyters, who had come, who had once been with Meletius but were later received by the blessed Alexander, who became bishop of Alexandria — these, being present together with Athanasius, testified that this man had never been a presbyter of Meletius, and that Meletius had never had a church or a minister at all in the Mareotis.

And yet, him who is not even a presbyter, they have now promoted as a bishop, so that by this title they might seem to overawe their hearers in support of their calumny.

The treatise of our fellow minister Marcellus was also read, and the malicious artifice of the party of Eusebius was discovered;

for the things which Marcellus had stated by way of inquiry, they slanderously represented as though they were affirmed doctrines.

Accordingly these passages were read, both what followed and what preceded these inquiries, and the man's faith was found to be orthodox.

For he did not, as they had insisted, ascribe a beginning to the Word of God from the holy Mary, nor did he hold that His kingdom would have an end, but rather he wrote that His kingdom is without beginning and without cessation.

And Asclepas our fellow minister also produced minutes drawn up at Antioch, in the presence of his accusers and of Eusebius of Caesarea;

and from the verdicts of the bishops who had presided as judges, he showed himself to be innocent.

Reasonably, then, beloved brethren, they did not obey though called many times; reasonably they fled.

For, driven by their own conscience, they confirmed their own calumnies by their flight, and caused to be believed against them all that their accusers, being present, said and demonstrated.

Moreover, in addition to all these things, those who had long ago been accused and expelled on account of the heresy of Arius, they not only received back, but even promoted to a higher rank — deacons to the presbyterate, and from presbyters to the episcopate — for no other reason than that they might be able to sow and spread abroad their impiety, and corrupt the pious faith.

Now, after the party of Eusebius, the ringleaders of these men are: Theodore of Heraclea, Narcissus of Neronias in Cilicia, Stephen of Antioch, George of Laodicea, Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine, Menophantus of Ephesus in Asia, Ursacius of Singidunum in Moesia, and Valens of Mursa in Pannonia.

they did not permit them either to enter the holy synod, or to come at all into the church of God.

And as they were coming to Serdica, they held local meetings among themselves along the way and made agreements accompanied by threats, that when they arrived at Serdica they should not come to trial at all, nor assemble together with the holy and great synod, but only, having come and made a perfunctory show of their presence, should quickly flee.

For we have been able to learn these things from our fellow ministers Macarius of Palestine and Asterius of Arabia, who came together with them and then withdrew from their faithlessness.

For these men, coming to the holy synod, lamented the violence they had suffered, and said that nothing right was being done among them, adding also this: that they were laying claim to the right doctrine and were being hindered from coming here, on account of threats and orders issued against those who wished to withdraw from them.

For this reason, indeed, they took care that all should remain together in a single house, not allowing them to be alone even for the briefest moment.

Since, then, it was not right to pass over in silence, nor to leave unavenged, the calumnies, the imprisonments, the murders, the beatings, the contrivances of forged letters, the outrages, the stripping of virgins, the banishments, the demolitions of churches, the burnings, the transfers from small cities to greater sees, and, before all these, the ill-named Arian heresy which has now risen up against the orthodox faith through their agency — for this reason, then, we have declared our beloved brethren and fellow ministers, Athanasius bishop of Alexandria, Marcellus of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas of Gaza, together with those who minister to the Lord along with them, to be innocent and pure, and we have written also to each several see, so that the people of each church may know the purity of their own bishop, and may hold and expect this man as their bishop; but as for those who have invaded their churches like wolves — Gregory at Alexandria, Basil at Ancyra, and Quintianus at Gaza — that these are not to be called bishops at all, nor even Christians, and that no one is to have any communion whatsoever with them, nor to receive any letters from them, nor to write to them.

As for the party of Theodore of Heraclea in Europe, and Narcissus of Neronias in Cilicia, and Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine, and Stephen of Antioch, and Ursacius of Singidunum in Moesia, and Valens of Mursa in Pannonia, and Menophantus of Ephesus, and George of Laodicea — although the last, out of fear, did not come from the East, nevertheless, because he had been deposed by the blessed Alexander, formerly bishop of Alexandria, and because these men also shared with him in the madness of Arius, and on account of the charges brought against them, the holy synod deposed all of them from the episcopate by unanimous vote;

and we have decided that they are not only not to be bishops, but that they are not even worthy of communion with the faithful.

For it is fitting that those who separate the Son from the substance and Godhead of the Father, and alienate the Word from the Father, should themselves be separated from the catholic Church and be strangers to the name of Christian.

Let them, then, be anathema to us and to all, because they have adulterated the word of truth.

For it is an apostolic precept:

"If anyone preaches to you a gospel other than what you received, let him be anathema."

Charge that no one hold communion with these men;

"for what fellowship has light with darkness?"

Keep all these men far from you;

"for what concord has Christ with Belial?"

And take heed, beloved brethren, neither to write to them nor to receive letters from them,

that the unanimity of our fellow ministers everywhere may be preserved.

And we renounce and banish from the catholic Church those who affirm that Christ is indeed, in name, God, but not true God; that He is Son, but not true Son; that He is at once begotten and made.

For thus they confess that they themselves understand the one begotten, since they have spoken as follows:

"The begotten is a created thing"; and that, though Christ existed before the ages, they assign to Him a beginning and an end — a beginning which He has not in time, but before all time.

And besides, you have two recently born from the Arian asp: Valens and Ursacius;

who boast, and do not hesitate to say, that they themselves are Christians, and that the Word — and that the Spirit — was crucified and slain and died and rose; and, what the system of the heretics contentiously maintains, that the hypostases of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are different and are separated;

But we have received this, and have been taught this; this is the catholic and apostolic tradition and faith and confession which we hold:

that there is one hypostasis — which the heretics themselves call "ousia" — of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit;

and if they should ask what the hypostasis of the Son is, we confess that this is the very one confessed to be the Father's alone, and that the Father never came to be without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, nor can that which is the Word, the Spirit, exist otherwise;

for it is most absurd to say that the Father at any time did not exist as Father;

that the Father can neither be named nor exist without the Son is the testimony of the Son himself:

"I am in the Father, and the Father in me," and "I and the Father are one."

None of us denies that he was begotten; but begotten for something — for all things whatsoever that are called invisible and visible — begotten as artificer both of archangels and of angels and of the world and for the human race, because it says:

"Wisdom, the artificer of all things, taught me," and "all things were made through him."

For he could not have always existed if he had received a beginning, since the Word, who always is, has no beginning, and God never undergoes an end.

We do not say that the Father is the Son, nor again that the Son is the Father;

but the Father is Father, and the Son is the Father's Son.

We confess that the Son is the power of the Father;

we confess that the Word belongs to God the Father, beside whom there is no other, and that the Word is true God and Wisdom and Power.

We hand down a true Son, but we do not speak of the Son as the rest are called sons — for those are called sons either because they become gods by the grace of being reborn, or because of being deemed worthy, but not on account of the one hypostasis which is [common] to the Father and the Son.

We confess him both Only-begotten and Firstborn:

as the Word, he is Only-begotten, who always was and is in the Father;

while "Firstborn" pertains to his humanity,

and he differs in relation to the common creation, in that he is also "Firstborn from the dead."

We confess that God is one; we confess one Godhead of Father and Son.

Nor does anyone ever deny that the Father is greater than the Son — not on account of a different hypostasis, not on account of any difference, but because the very name "Father" is greater than "Son."

But this is their blasphemous and corrupt interpretation: they contentiously insist that he said, on this account, "I and the Father are one," because of concord and unanimity [of will alone].

We, all the catholics, have condemned their foolish and pitiable way of thinking.

They say that, just as mortal men, when they begin to differ and have clashed, are of two minds and then come around to reconciliation, so too there can be separation and discord between God the Father Almighty and the Son;

which is most absurd both to conceive and to suppose.

But we believe and affirm and understand it thus: that the sacred voice spoke "I and the Father are one" also on account of the unity of hypostasis, which is one — of the Father and of the Son —

and one kingdom, because that which always exists never began to be, nor can it come to an end.

We believe and receive the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord himself both promised and sent to us.

And we believe that this was sent;

and that this one did not suffer, but rather the man whom he put on, whom he took from Mary the Virgin — the man capable of suffering — did;

for man is mortal, but God is immortal.

We believe that on the third day it was not God in the man that rose, but the man in God that rose — whom he also offered to his own Father as a gift, the one whom he had set free.

And we believe that at a fitting and appointed time he himself will judge all people and concerning all things.

So great is their folly, and their understanding has been so blinded by such thick darkness, that they are unable to see the light of truth.

They do not understand for what reason it was said, "that they also may be one in us" —

namely, because the apostles received the Holy Spirit of God;

but nevertheless they themselves were not the Spirit, nor was any of them Word or Wisdom or Power, nor was any Only-begotten.

Just as he says, "I and you are one," so also may they be one in us.

But the divine voice made a precise distinction:

"Just as we are one, I and the Father" —

but the disciples, paired and united among themselves, are one in faith, in confession, <so that> through the grace and piety of God the Father and the forgiveness and love of our Lord and Savior they may be able to be one. From these letters one may learn both the calumny of the accusers and the injustice of those who formerly passed judgment, and, besides these, the soundness of the doctrines.

For the blessed fathers taught us not only concerning the divine nature, but also set forth teaching concerning the [divine] economy.

When Constans learned these things, he was distressed to see his brother's pliability, and he was angry at those who had contrived these things and had deceived the emperor's credulity.

Accordingly, having chosen two of the bishops who had assembled at Sardica, he sent them to his brother with letters;

and he sent along with them also a general (Salianus was his name), who was distinguished for both piety and justice.

The letters contained not only exhortation and counsel, but also a threat befitting a pious emperor.

For first he wrote to his brother to give the bishops a hearing and to learn of the transgressions dared by Stephen and the others, and moreover to restore Athanasius to his flock, since both the calumny and the lawlessness and ill-will of those who had formerly passed judgment had become manifest.

He added, moreover, that if his brother were not persuaded and did not do what was just, he himself would go to Alexandria and restore Athanasius to the sheep who longed for him, and would drive out the band of his ill-wishers.

Constantius, having received this letter (he happened at that time to be in Antioch), promised to do what his brother, sharer of the same birth-pangs, had urged.

But those who were accustomed to war against the truth, grieved at this, contrived that utterly abominable and impious drama.

For the pair of bishops had been lodged at the foot of the hill, while the general had taken up lodging elsewhere.

Now Stephen (for he, holding the helm of the church of Antioch, was sinking the ship) had other accomplices as well in his tyrannical outrages, whom he used to surround those who held fast to orthodox doctrines with calamities of every kind.

At the head of these was a certain young man who lived in company with recklessness, and who embraced a lawless life;