Church History 1 part 7/18

who not only dragged people off from the marketplace, insulting and abusing them, but also, going shamelessly into houses, dragged out both men and women adorned with modesty.

And so that I may not extend the narrative too greatly by recounting his wickedness, I shall relate what was dared against those most excellent men:

for it will suffice to demonstrate what was lawlessly done by him against the citizens.

This man, having come to a certain prostitute, told her that some strangers who had recently arrived needed her services by night.

Having hidden these men among the stone walls at the foot of the hill, he came leading her;

and having uttered the agreed-upon watchword and learned that the accomplices in the plot were present, he came to the courtyard door of the lodging of those men.

And finding it open (for he had persuaded one of the servants with money to do this), he brought the woman in;

and having pointed out to her the door of the room where one of the bishops happened to be sleeping, he ordered her to go inside, while he himself went out to summon his fellow-conspirators.

Now it happened that Euphratas (for this was the elder's name) was sleeping in the antechamber, while Vincentius (for so the other was named) remained in the inner chamber.

When the woman had come inside the doors, Euphratas, perceiving the sound of footsteps (for it was dark), asked who was walking there;

and when she spoke, Euphratas was filled with alarm, supposing it to be a demon imitating a woman's voice, and he immediately called upon Christ the Savior for help.

Then Onager (for so the leader of the wicked band was called, since besides his hands and feet he also used weapons against the pious) came in with his band, calling those who were expected to be judges of lawlessness "lawless" men themselves.

As a very great outcry arose, the servants came running together, and Vincentius also rose up;

and having shut the courtyard door, they were able to seize seven of the conspirators (but Onager himself, along with the others, fled), and the woman too was kept guarded along with them.

At dawn, having roused the general who had come with them, they went to the governor's residence;

and, crying out against the outrages of Stephen, they said that his transgressions had no need of trial or torture.

But the general cried out vehemently, begging that the emperor order the unlawful outrage to be examined not synodically but judicially, and he promised to hand over the bishops' clerics first for scourging, saying that Stephen's own attendants ought to suffer this too.

But since that man shamelessly wrangled and said that clerics ought not to endure blows, it seemed good to both the emperor and the officials that the inquiry into the matter should take place within the palace.

And first they asked the woman who had led her away to the lodging of the bishops.

She said that a certain young man had come to her and told her of the arrival and need of the strangers, and that, coming in the evening, he led her away to the lodging; and having sought out his own band and found them, he brought her inside the courtyard door and directed her to enter the porch.

She added also the bishop's questioning, and the fear that arose, and the prayer, and the onrush of those who burst in.

Having learned these things, the judges brought forth into the midst the youngest of those who had been arrested together.

He, without waiting for the compulsion of the scourges, laid bare the contrived drama, and confessed that Onager had done all these things.

And when that man was brought forward, he said that Stephen had ordered these things.

Thus, having learned of Stephen's wickedness, they permitted the bishops then present to depose him, and they drove him out of the church.

Yet the church was not entirely freed from the Arian blight.

For Leontius succeeded to the see after him, a man Phrygian by race, but in disposition secretive, resembling reefs hidden beneath the sea.

But I will relate the matters concerning him a little later.

At that time Constantius, having learned by experience the machinations being contrived against the bishops, wrote to the great Athanasius, once, and twice, and indeed a third time, urging him to return from the West.

I will insert into this history the middle letter, which is short.

Constantius, Victor, Augustus, to Athanasius.

Although we have already made it especially clear by former letters that you should come to our court without anxiety, since we especially wish to send you back to your own see, nevertheless we have now also given this letter to your Firmness—

—that you should mount the public conveyances and hasten to us, so that you may be able to enjoy what you desire. Thus, when he had returned, Constantius received him graciously and ordered him to receive back the church of the Alexandrians.

But those who then held power alongside him, having embraced the Arian disease, said that Athanasius ought to grant one church to those who were unwilling to commune with him.

When they had said these things to the emperor, and the emperor had spoken them to him, he said it was right to yield to the emperor's commands; yet he himself also wished to declare something and make a request.

When the emperor promised readily to grant whatever he might ask, he said that those in Antioch who were unwilling to commune with those holding the churches also had need of a house of prayer, and that it was just for one of the divine houses to be granted to them as well.

When the emperor consented, judging the request to be right and just, those who presided over the heretical phalanx objected, saying that the churches ought to be granted to neither party.

Thus Constantius, admiring Athanasius, sent him back to Alexandria.

Now Gregory had died, having met his death at the hands of those very men.

Having beheld their shepherd, they held public feasts and most splendid festivals, honoring him and singing hymns to God.

But again, after a short time had passed, Constans reached the end of his life.

Those who led Constantius wherever they wished reminded him of the dissension that had arisen with his brother on account of Athanasius, and how they had come close to breaking the bonds of nature and stirring up war against one another.

Led astray by these men, Constantius ordered that the divine Athanasius should not merely be driven out but also slain, and he sent forth a certain Sebastian as general with as large an army as possible, commanding him to destroy him as a criminal.

How this man marched against him, and how the other escaped, he himself who suffered these things and was marvelously saved will relate better than I.

For in his Apology for his Flight he recounts these things:

Let them nevertheless examine also the manner of my withdrawal, and let them learn it from their own people.

For there were Arians who had run together with the soldiers, to incite them and to point us out to those who did not know us.

And even if they are so lacking in compassion, yet let them at least, upon hearing this, keep silent out of shame.

For it was already night, and some of the people were keeping an all-night vigil, since an assembly was expected.

And the general suddenly appeared with more than five thousand soldiers, bearing weapons and drawn swords and bows and arrows and clubs, just as has been said before.

And he himself surrounded the church, stationing the soldiers close together, so that no one who went out from the church could get past them.

But I, considering it unreasonable in such great confusion to abandon the people and not rather to face danger for their sake, sat down upon the throne and urged the deacon to read a psalm, and the people to respond, "For His mercy endures forever," and thus all to withdraw and go to their homes.

But when at length the general burst in and the soldiers surrounded the sanctuary in order to seize us, the clerics who were found there, and those of the people, cried out and demanded that we too should now withdraw.

But I refused all the more, saying that I would not withdraw before every single one of them had first gone out.

So I rose up, and having ordered a prayer, in this way I in turn urged everyone to leave, saying that it was better for me to be in danger than for any of you to be harmed.

So when most had gone out and the rest were following, the monks who were there with us, and some of the clerics, came up and pulled us away.

...amid those who were searching for us, we were able to escape. Thus, when he had escaped the bloodstained hands of those men, George, another wolf, was entrusted with authority over those sheep, and he treated the sheep more savagely than any wolf, bear, or leopard.

For those women who had vowed lifelong virginity he compelled not only to renounce communion with Athanasius but also to anathematize the faith of the Fathers.

As his accomplice in cruelty he had a certain Sebastian, commander of the military rolls, who, having kindled a fire in the middle of the city and set the virgins naked before it, commanded them to renounce the faith.

But they, set forth as a spectacle both dreadful and pitiable to the faithful and unbelieving alike, considered the utmost dishonor to be the greatest honor, and gladly endured the scourges for the sake of the faith.

And these things their shepherd will relate more clearly than I.

Then, coming during Lent, George, who had been sent by them from Cappadocia, increased the evils he had learned from them.

For after the octave of Easter, virgins were thrown into prison, bishops were led away bound by soldiers, the houses of orphans and widows were plundered, plunderings and raids were made against houses, and by night Christians were dragged off; houses were sealed up, and the brothers of clerics were endangered on account of their brothers.

These things were terrible, but the outrages that followed were even more terrible.

For in the week after holy Pentecost, the people, having fasted, went out to pray around the cemetery, because everyone was turning away from communion with George.

But when that utterly wicked man learned of this, he himself incited the general Sebastian, who was a Manichaean.

And thereupon he himself, with a multitude of soldiers bearing weapons and drawn swords and bows and arrows, rushed upon the people on that very Sunday.

And finding only a few at prayer (for most had already withdrawn on account of the hour), he did such things as it was fitting for one who had learned them from such men to do.

For having kindled a fire and set virgins beside it, he compelled them to say that they belonged to the faith of Arius.

But when he saw that they were prevailing, he stripped them and then so gashed their faces that afterward they could scarcely be recognized.

And having seized forty men, he cut them in a rather novel manner.

For with rods freshly cut from palm trees, which still had their spikes on them, he flayed their backs in such a way that some of them had to undergo surgery many times because of the spikes embedded in them, while others, unable to endure it, died.

So then, they banished all who survived, together with the virgins, all at once, to the Great Oasis.

As for the bodies of those who had died, they did not even at first allow them to be given back to their own kin, but hid them as they pleased, casting them out unburied, so that they might seem to conceal such great cruelty.

But in doing this, these madmen, deceived in their minds, only deceive themselves.

For since the relatives of the dead rejoiced on account of their confession, but lamented on account of the bodies, the outcry of the charge of cruelty against those men resounded all the more loudly.

And they drove them so harshly that some of them died on the roads, and others in the very place of their exile.

And they banished more than thirty bishops.

For it was their earnest endeavor, after the manner of Ahab, if possible, to root out the truth. And, writing words of consolation to those virgins who had endured those utterly grievous things, he inserted also these words:

For the destructive assault of the Arians extended even to these lengths.

...that the bodies of the departed be laid to rest. These things, then, and others like them, George was doing in Alexandria.

But the divine Athanasius considered no place secure enough for safety, since the emperor had commanded that he be brought either alive, or, if dead, that his head be brought to him, and had promised the greatest possible reward to whoever should do this.

Now Constantius himself, since Magnentius had seized control of the West after the death of Constans, set out for Europe, marching against that man's tyranny.

But not even this grievous war put an end to the war against the churches.

For they persuaded him, who was easily persuaded of everything and had welcomed the heretical disease, to convene a synod at Milan (this is a city of Italy), and first to compel all those who had gathered to agree to the deposition made by those unjust judges at Tyre, and then, once Athanasius had been driven from the churches, to set forth another doctrine of the faith.

So they came together, having received the imperial letters, but they would not endure to do either of the things mentioned; rather, they openly rebuked the emperor, present as he was, as one enjoining unjust and impious things, and for this they were both driven from their churches and condemned to dwell in the remotest ends of the inhabited world.

And this too the admirable Athanasius has again recorded in that same Apology:

having no pretext whatever, except that they would not assent to the Arian heresy nor sign, in the slanders they contrived, against us

For concerning the great Hosius, of most venerable old age and truly a confessor, it is superfluous for me even to speak;

for it has doubtless become known to all that they caused even him to be exiled; for the old man is not obscure, but indeed the most illustrious of all.

For over what council did he not preside, and speaking rightly, did he not persuade all? What church does not have most excellent memorials of his patronage? Who ever came to him grieving and did not depart from him rejoicing? Who ever asked him in supplication and did not go away having obtained what he desired? And yet they have dared to act even against him, because he too, knowing the calumnies which they perpetrate on account of their impiety, did not subscribe to their plots against us. What was dared against those holy men, the writings themselves teach.

And how many plots the leaders of the Arian phalanx contrived also against very many others, this divine man again related in this same treatise:

For whom, pursuing and overtaking him, did they not outrage as they pleased? Whom, seeking and finding him, did they not so treat that he either perished miserably or was maimed on every side? For whatever the judges seem to do, these are in fact their doings;

and these judges are rather the servants of their design and wickedness.

What place, then, has no memorial of their wickedness? Whom, thinking rightly against them, did they not frame with contrived pretexts after the manner of Jezebel? What church does not now mourn on account of their plots? Antioch on account of Eustathius, the confessor and orthodox bishop; Balaneae on account of Euphration; Paltus and Antaradus on account of Cymatius and Carterius; Adrianople on account of Eutropius, the lover of Christ, and Lucius who succeeded him, who was often bound by them in chains and so died; Ancyra on account of Marcellus; Beroea on account of Cyrus; and Gaza on account of Asclepas.

For having first outraged these men in many ways, the deceivers also caused them to be exiled.

...to undergo capital punishment;

and perhaps we too would have died in this way, had we not fled, contrary to their intention, even then.

This Hosius was bishop of Cordoba, and he distinguished himself at the great council of Nicaea, and held first place among those who assembled at Sardica.

For my part, I wish to insert into this history the boldness of the all-renowned Liberius on behalf of the truth, and the admirable words which he used toward Constantius,

for they were recorded by those who at that time loved God, being sufficient to whet and stir up to zeal the lovers of divine things.

This man governed the church of the Romans after Julius, who had succeeded Silvester.

The Emperor Constantius said:

Because you are a Christian and bishop of our city, we have judged it fitting, and having summoned you for this purpose, we exhort you to renounce communion with the unspeakable madness of the unholy Athanasius.

For the whole world has approved this as right, and by the decree of a council has judged him alien to ecclesiastical communion. The bishop Liberius said:

O Emperor, ecclesiastical judgments ought to be conducted with great justice.

Therefore, if it seems good to your piety, command that a tribunal be convened;

and if Athanasius should be found worthy of condemnation, then, according to the order of ecclesiastical procedure, sentence shall be pronounced against him.

For it is not possible to condemn a man whom we have not judged. The Emperor Constantius said:

The whole world has condemned him for his unholiness, and from the start he has been mocking the occasion. The bishop Liberius said:

Those who subscribed were not eyewitnesses of what took place, but signed on account of ambition, and fear, and the dishonor they feared from you. The Emperor:

What is this ambition, and fear, and dishonor? Liberius:

Those who do not love the glory of God, but rather have preferred the gifts that come from you, condemned him whom they had not even seen with their own eyes, without judging him;

which is foreign to Christians. The Emperor:

And yet he has been judged face to face, in the council held at Tyre, and in that council all the bishops of the world condemned him. Liberius:

This man has never been judged face to face;

for those who assembled at that time and condemned him did so after Athanasius had withdrawn from the tribunal. Eusebius the eunuch said:

In the council held at Nicaea he was shown to be alien to the catholic faith. Liberius:

Only five of those who had sailed with him to the Mareotis rendered judgment—those whom they had sent to draw up records against the accused.

Now of these who were sent, two have died, Theognis and Theodore, but the remaining three are alive, that is, Maris, and Valens, and Ursacius;

and concerning these who were sent, a verdict on this very matter was rendered at Sardica:

namely, that those who submitted documents to the council, asking pardon for having, in the Mareotis, through calumny, one-sidedly drawn up records against Athanasius—

these very documents of theirs we now have in hand.

Which of these, O Emperor, ought we to be persuaded to hold communion with—those who first condemned him and then a second time asked pardon, or those who now condemn these very men? The bishop Epictetus said:

O Emperor, Liberius makes this speech today not for the sake of the faith, nor because he is contending over ecclesiastical judgments, but so that he may boast to the senators in Rome that he has out-argued the emperor. The Emperor said to Liberius:

What fraction of the world are you, that you alone take the side of an unholy man and destroy the peace of the world and of the whole cosmos? Liberius:

The cause of the faith is not weakened merely because I alone maintain it;

for indeed, in ancient times, only three men are found to have withstood a royal command. Eusebius the eunuch said:

You have made our emperor into Nebuchadnezzar. Liberius:

Not so; rather, it is you who thus unreasonably condemn a man whom we have not judged.

But I too request that first a universal subscription be drawn up, confirming the faith set forth at Nicaea, so that, once our brothers have thus been recalled from exile and restored to their own places, if those who now stir up disturbances in the churches should be found to assent to the apostolic faith, then let us all meet together at the city of the Alexandrians, where the accused and the accusers and the one who contends on their behalf may be, and having examined the matters concerning them, let us come to a decision together. The bishop Epictetus said:

But the public post will not sustain the expense of the bishops' journey. Liberius:

Ecclesiastical matters have no need of the public post;

for the churches are well able to send their own bishops as far as the sea. The Emperor:

It is not possible to undo what has already taken a fixed form;

for the vote of the majority of bishops ought to prevail.

You alone are the one who contends for the friendship of that unholy man. Liberius said:

O Emperor, we have never heard of a judge, in the absence of the accused, pronouncing him unholy, while bringing his own personal enmity against the man. The Emperor:

He has wronged all men in common, but none so much as me,

who, not content with the destruction of my elder brother, did not even cease provoking the late Constans into enmity against us, had we not with far greater gentleness endured the impulse both of the one provoking and of the one being provoked.

No achievement of mine, not even my victory over Magnentius and Silvanus, would please me as much as ridding ecclesiastical affairs of that abominable man. Liberius:

Do not avenge your private enmity through the bishops, O Emperor;

for the hands of churchmen ought to have leisure for the work of sanctification.

Wherefore, if it seems good to you, command that the bishops be recalled to their own places,

and if they should be found to be of one mind with him who today contends for the orthodox faith set forth at Nicaea, then let them assemble together and take counsel for the peace of the world, so that a man who has not sinned may not be judged fit to be branded as guilty. The Emperor:

For I wish, once you have embraced communion with the churches, to send you back again to Rome.

Therefore be persuaded to accept peace, and having subscribed, return to Rome. Liberius:

I have already bid farewell to the brothers in Rome;

for the ordinances of the Church are of greater worth than residence in Rome. The Emperor:

Well then, you have an interval of three days for deliberation;

if you wish, subscribe and return to Rome; or else consider to what place you would rather be transferred. Liberius:

The interval of three days will not change my resolve;

therefore send me wherever you please. The Emperor, after two days, when Liberius had been examined and his resolve had not changed, ordered him to be exiled to Beroea in Thrace.

And when Liberius had departed, the Emperor sent him five hundred solidi for his expenses.

Liberius said to the one who had brought them:

Go, give these to the emperor;

for he has need to give them to his soldiers.

Likewise the empress sent him the same things.

for he has need of them for the soldiers' pay.

But if the emperor has no need of them, let him give them to Auxentius and Epictetus.

But since he did not accept them from these, Eusebius the eunuch offered him others.

"You have laid waste the churches of the world, and do you offer me alms as to a condemned man? Begone — first become a Christian."

And after three days, having received nothing, he was sent into exile.

So the victorious champion of the truth reached Thrace, as he had been commanded.

And when two years had passed, Constantius arrived at Rome.

...to the flock, declaring that, if they failed to persuade them, they would abandon them and hasten to that great shepherd.

But they said they feared the emperor's wrath;

"for being men, perhaps he will grant no pardon to us; but to you who entreat him, he will surely extend clemency; and one of two things will happen: either he will accept the supplication, or, remaining unpersuaded, he will send you away unharmed."

Having received this suggestion, the praiseworthy women approached the emperor in their customary splendid attire, so that, taking them to be of distinguished rank because of their apparel, he might deem them worthy of respect and clemency.

Thus they approached and besought him to have pity on so great a city, deprived of its shepherd and left an easy prey to the plots of wolves.

But he said the city had no need of another shepherd, since it had one who was able to provide for it.

For indeed, after the great Liberius, one of his deacons had been ordained — his name was Felix — who, while keeping the faith set forth at Nicaea inviolate, nevertheless communed fearlessly with those who corrupted it.

However, none of the inhabitants of Rome entered a house of prayer while he was within it;

and this too those women told the emperor.

For this reason, being moved, he ordered that man, best in every respect, to return, and that both together should govern the church.

When this letter was read out in the hippodrome, the crowd cried out that the emperor's decision was just;

for the spectators were divided into two factions, taking their names from the racing colors, and it was right that one bishop should lead the one, and the other the other.

Thus mocking the emperor's letter, they raised a single common cry:

"One Christ, one bishop!"

for they thought it right to record these very words.

After these cries of the Christ-loving people, adorned with piety and justice, the divine Liberius returned, while Felix withdrew and settled in another city.

I have joined these events to what befell the bishops at Milan, in order to preserve the coherence of the narrative;

but now I return again to the order of events.

For when the champions of the faith had been driven out, those who were bending the emperor's mind to their own wishes, thinking that they would very easily overthrow the faith opposed to them and confirm the teaching of Arius, persuaded Constantius to assemble at Ariminum the bishops of both the East and the West, and to command that "being" (ousia) and "consubstantial" (homoousios) be removed from the faith — the devices against Arius's

evil craft — the devices discovered by the fathers;

for they said these had caused the division of the churches.

But when they had assembled, those who partook of the plague of Arius attempted to deceive the multitude of those gathered, and especially the Westerners, who were men of simple character.

They said that it was not right, for the sake of two words — and unscriptural ones at that — that the body of the church should be torn apart; rather, it should be said that the Son was "like" the one who begot him "in all things," while the term "ousia" should be omitted as an unscriptural word.

But perceiving the deceit, they excommunicated those who said such things, and themselves made known their own judgment to the emperor by letter.

For they said they were the children and heirs of the fathers who had assembled at Nicaea;

"and if we should dare to take away anything from what was written by them, or to add anything to what has been most excellently established, we would declare ourselves illegitimate, becoming accusers of those who begot us." Their own letter written to Constantius will show more clearly the exact rule of their faith.

Letter written to the Emperor Constantius by the council assembled at Ariminum

"By both the command of God and the decree of your piety, we believe that what was decreed of old has come to pass again.

For at Ariminum we, all the bishops, assembled together from all the cities of the West, so that both the faith of the catholic church might be made known, and those who hold contrary views might be made manifest.