'Cursed shall you be in the city, cursed shall you be in the field, cursed shall be your storehouses and your remaining goods, and cursed the offspring of your womb and the fruits of your land, the herds of your oxen and the flocks of your sheep, cursed shall you be in your coming in. The Lord shall send upon you weariness and affliction and anxiety in all things, upon whatever you set your hand, whatever you do, whatever, until He destroys you in a short time on account of the wickedness of your pursuits.' If it is not an evil pursuit to send forth false charges, to persecute the worshippers of God, to introduce the idolatry of God into the Church, to slaughter with the soldiery those who believe in the only Son of God, then these curses will be able not to seize you and those who run with you.
You summoned us to slaughter a priest of God, to destroy the one through whom God has ordained that you should hear His precepts. 'And Moses wrote the words of this law in a book, and gave it to the priests and the Levites who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them on that day, saying:'
'After seven years, in the time of the year of remission, on the feast day of tabernacles, when all Israel comes together to appear in the sight of the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this law in the sight of Israel in their ears, having gathered into the assembly the men and women and children and the stranger who shall be in your cities, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God and hear to do all the words of this law. And their children, who do not know, hearing shall learn the Lord your God all the days that they themselves live upon the land.' You persecute the one through whom the Lord has ordained that you should hear Him;
while he was still engaged in human affairs, you promoted your fellow heretic George as his successor — even though, although Athanasius had already been freed from the body, it would not have been lawful for you to appoint one, but it would have been and is in God's hand whom He had deigned to establish as bishop over His people, namely through His servants, that is, the catholic bishops. For no one could be filled by the power of the Holy Spirit for the governing of God's people except him whom God had chosen and on whom hands had been laid through the catholic bishops — just as, when Moses died, we find his successor Joshua son of Nun filled with the Holy Spirit, as holy Scripture says: 'And Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of understanding; for Moses had laid his hand upon him.'
'And the sons of Israel hearkened to him and did according to what the Lord commanded Moses.' You perceive that you went against the ordination of God by acting against the will of God, and that you have slaughtered yourself with the point of your own sword, since indeed it was not lawful to ordain unless Athanasius had died, and Athanasius being dead a catholic ought to have been ordained by catholic bishops. Holy Scripture relates that God said to Joshua son of Nun: 'Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore rising up, cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I will give to them. Every place, wherever you set the sole of your foot, I will give it to you, as I said to Moses.'
'The wilderness and before Lebanon as far as the great river Euphrates and as far as the great sea, toward the going down of the sun, shall be the bounds of your borders. No man shall stand before you all the days of your life, and as I was with Moses, so I will be with you, and I will not forsake you nor despise you.' Can God be with His enemy George? Can He be favourable to one whom He has not ordained, whom He has not chosen? Such is George, as Arius had been, and such as are Valens and Ursacius, or the one to whom you dispatched me, Auxentius of the Germanicians; for briars could not proceed except from briars. That these things are so, you will be able to gather by reading the depositions of the Alexandrians drawn from the very acts of this George;
and although it pleases you that that blasphemer is a criminal — for indeed he could not otherwise be most dear to you, unless because he is a criminal — nevertheless I have brought these things forward, that you may be able to discern your own excellent handiwork. Since therefore you recognize that God is not with George, but perceive that He is with Athanasius, whom He established as bishop over His people, you will at last be able to recognize that you attempted to destroy the ordination of God, that in Athanasius you persecuted God. For you hear God say to the successor of Moses: 'As I was with Moses, so I will be with you, and I will not forsake you nor despise you'; and behold, in another place: 'Be strong and act manfully, to keep and to do as Moses my servant commanded you.'
'And you shall not turn aside from it to the right hand or the left, that you may have understanding in all things whatever you do. And the book of this law shall not depart from your mouth, and you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may keep to do all the things that are written. Then I will direct your ways, and then you shall understand. Behold, I have commanded you: be strong and act manfully; there is no cause for you to be terrified nor to fear, for the Lord your God is with you in every place.' Now it remains for you to prove — whether you or George — that what you do, if it comes from the commandments of God. For you hear God promise that He will be with the successor of Moses, as He was also with Moses, if only he keeps the things that are written in the book of the law.
If therefore you do not find it written that you should do these things, it will at last belong to your fairness to perceive that God is not with you Arians, but that he abides in you — he who abode also in Cain. What cause impelled you, Constantius, to do these things — that, being led by the power of your kingdom to such great pride, you should have decreed that he be killed, whom God chose for Himself in the priestly honour? Had you not found written in the first book of Kingdoms? 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, to know and understand God and to do judgement and justice in the midst of the earth.' Why, passing these things by,
you who at all times ought to have executed just judgement, did you compel even us to commit injustice with you? You had decreed that a catholic be deposed by us, but that a heretic be confirmed; but when would men of sound mind have done such a thing? For if the priest Eli, because he had set his unworthy sons in the honour of the priesthood, heard those things which he suffered from the Lord, what should we deserve to hear and suffer, if, condemning a catholic bishop and indeed one unheard, we permitted George the Arian to be made bishop of the Alexandrians? 'And there came,' it says, 'a man of God and said: Thus says the Lord:'
'I plainly revealed myself to the house of your father out of all the tribes of Israel, to be my priesthood, that they should go up to my sacrifice and burn incense and bear the ephod. And I gave to the house of your father all the offerings of the sons of Israel for food. And why have you looked upon my incense and my sacrifice with a shameless eye, and honoured your sons more than me, that you might bless them from the beginning in all the sacrifices of Israel before me? Therefore thus says the Lord of Israel: I said, your house and the house of your father shall pass before me forever, and now it is not so. Thus says the Lord: By no means to me, it shall not be so from me, because those who honour me I will honour, and he who despises me shall be brought to nothing.'
'And behold, the days are coming, and I will destroy your seed and the seed of your father's house, and you shall not have an old man in my house all the days, and I will destroy for you a man from my sanctuary, that his eyes may fail and his soul melt away. And all the multitude that shall remain of your house shall fall by the sword of men. And this shall be the sign to you, which shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall both die by the sword of men.' If he received this rebuke from God on account of his sons, what should we deserve to receive on account of you, Constantius? I believe it would have been said to us: 'You have honoured Constantius more than me,' just as it was said to him that he had honoured his sons more than God. 'On what account,' you say?
Because if we had done your bidding, we should have been found to have despised the Lord, since George — just as the sons of Eli were — is a son of pestilence, whom you had judged should be set in place of Athanasius, the man of God, by us. Then, since God says: 'He who honours me shall be honoured, and he who despises me shall be brought to nothing' — if we had heeded your sacrilegious voice, uttered against His divine commandments, should we have honoured God? Or rather, if, judging you to be nothing, we strove to obey only His sacred statutes? Meanwhile you rejoice, because you are dishonouring God. For you hear Him say that all who despise Him shall come to nothing. Or will you deny that you have dishonoured God, by removing from the congregations the priests whom He ordained?
Or will you deny that you have dishonored the Lord, when, against His own decrees, you forced His priests to condemn a man who was absent and unheard? Have you not then dishonored God, when you abolished the apostolic and evangelical tradition, and decreed that the idolatry which the devil built up in the heart of Arius should be held by all the worshippers of God? Since these things are so, it will now belong to your prudence to weigh what is expedient for you to do: whether, correcting your errors here and obtaining pardon for such great crimes, you may be found among the household of God, or, reduced to nothing—as the Lord promises to those who despise Him—you may begin to pay for ever the penalties which they pay whose paths you have chosen to follow.
And that you may fully see what perils await you, because you are dishonoring the Divinity, receive also what was said to Samuel concerning the sons of Eli: And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold, I am doing My words in Israel, and everyone who hears them, both his ears shall tingle, in that day when I will raise up against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, and I will accomplish what I foretold to him; for I take vengeance on his house for ever, for the iniquities of his sons which I know, because his sons, despising the Lord, spoke evil, and he did not admonish them nor chastise them. And now thus I have sworn to the house of Eli: the iniquity in the house of Eli shall never be atoned for by incense or by sacrifices, for ever.
If these things were promised to Eli on account of the sin of his sons, what for you on account of your sacrilege? If to him these things were promised for eternity, what for you who do such great deeds? If God said the sons of Eli spoke evil of Him, how much more may He say it of you, who have taken up the blasphemy of Arius to assail the very faith which the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and all the martyrs held? We ask you, amid these things, to do penance for your deeds, considering at least what befell the sons of Eli for dishonoring God. Eli, says Scripture, was very old, and his sons in going had gone astray, and their way was wicked before the Lord. And it came to pass in those days that the foreigners gathered for battle against Israel; and further on:
And the battle went hard, and the man of Israel fell before the foreigners, and there were wounded in the battle line in the field four thousand men. And the people came into the camp, and the elders of Israel said: Why has the Lord made us fail today before the foreigners? Let us therefore take the ark of the Lord our God from Shiloh, and let it go forth in our midst and deliver us from the hands of our enemies. And the people sent to Shiloh, and they took from there the ark of the Lord, where the Cherubim were seated. And both sons of Eli went with the ark of God, Hophni and Phinehas; and further on: they overcame them, and the man of Israel failed before the sight of the foreigners, and each one fled to his own tent.
And there was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand men. And the ark of God was captured, and both sons of Eli died; and further on: and a man hastening came to Eli and said to him: I am he who came from the camp, fleeing from the battle today. And Eli said: What word has come to pass, my little son? And the man answered and said: The man of Israel fled from the face of the foreigners, and there was a great slaughter among the people, and both your sons died, and the ark of God was captured. And it came to pass, when he heard that the ark of God was captured, he fell backward from his seat beside the gate, and his back was crushed, and he died; for he was old and a heavy man, and he had judged Israel twenty years.
If these evils came upon Eli, the priest and judge of the Israelites, in a single day, because he had not, as was fitting, chastised his sons, what do you perceive will come upon you, the destroyer of God's religion? This I judged should be proven to you in this place. For that it comes from the will of God that we His servants are made subject to you our persecutors, you will not deny having said: 'Unless our faith—that is, this which is called Arian by Lucifer—had been catholic, I would never have received power over all peoples.' If it is so, then even the faith of those foreigners who had captured the ark of God could have been better than that of the worshippers of God.
You say that your faith, which we know to be heretical, has bestowed this on you; but Maxentius, Nero, and all those persecutors of the house of God said it was done by the power of their gods that we Christians came under their dominion. Run through what happened to those who rejoiced that they had captured the ark of God, who said they had conquered the Israelites by the strength of their gods, and you will find yourself one of those who persecuted the house of God. And the foreigners took away the ark of God from Ebenezer and brought it into Ashdod. And the foreigners took up the ark and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon. And the Ashdodites rose early in the morning and entered the house of Dagon and saw.
And behold, Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of God. And they lifted up Dagon and set him in his place. And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites and tormented them. And He struck them in their houses, in Ashdod and its regions. And it came to pass, when they had risen before dawn, that Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off in a hundred pieces, and both the joints of his hands had fallen on the threshold. And further on: and the hand of the Lord was heavy upon Ashdod, and He brought mice upon them, and there was a great confusion of death in the city.
And the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, and they said: The ark of the Lord God of Israel shall not remain with us, for His hand is hard upon us and upon Dagon our god. And they sent and summoned the lords of the foreigners to themselves and said: What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And the Gathites said: Let the ark of the God of Israel pass over into Gath. And it came to pass, after the ark of God had been transferred, the hand of the Lord came upon the city, and there was a very great disturbance. And He struck the men of the city from the least to the greatest, and mice swarmed up upon them in their seats; and the Gathites made for themselves seats of skins, and they sent the ark of God to Ashkelon.
And it came to pass, as the ark of the God of Israel entered Ashkelon, the Ashkelonites cried out saying: Why have you sent the ark of the God of Israel to us, to give us and our people over to death? And they sent and summoned the lords of the foreigners and said: Send back the ark of the God of Israel, and let it be brought back to its own place, and it will not give us and our people over to death; for a grievous confusion has arisen in the whole city, exceedingly grievous, since the ark of God entered there. And those who were living and had not died were struck in their seats, and the cry of the cities went up to heaven.
You see, Constantius, how our God allows His religion to appear humbled by you foreigners, and indeed humbled to such a degree, until even you, persecutors of the true religion, may see that there is no other god except our God. But that I may return again to the case of Athanasius: did you not know that it is written in the First Book of Kingdoms: And Samuel judged the people of Israel in all the sanctuaries—so that you should think it right to command an innocent man to be condemned through the priests of the Lord? You have read that Samuel judged the people of God in every sanctuary; and because we are unwilling to depart from this just way of judging, we endure persecution from you.
It is nothing new that Saul persecuted the just Samuel because he told him the truth—and indeed persecuted the very one through whom he had been anointed king, through whom the Lord had advanced him to such great glory. Saul was persecuting the prophet and priest of the Lord because he was not of sound mind; for otherwise, how would Saul, if sane, persecute one whom he knew to be God's minister, full of the Spirit of God? He was persecuting the one who continually groaned for the salvation of his persecutor. Scripture speaks in the First Book of Kingdoms that the Lord said to Samuel: How long do you mourn over Saul? Behold, I cast him out, that he may not reign over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and come; I will send you to the house of Jesse as far as Bethlehem, for I have seen among the sons of Jesse one to be king for Me.
And Samuel said: How shall I go, lest Saul hear it and kill me? He sought to destroy the very one whom he already remembered in many ways to be a man of God. The man of God does not cease to ask pardon for his persecutor, whereas the son of pestilence, on the contrary, seeks to take away his life; for Saul was so far a persecutor of Samuel, the priest of the Lord, that he said to the Lord, who said to him 'Come, I will send you': And how shall I go? Saul will hear it and kill me. You perceive, Constantius, that when you withdraw from God, you are esteemed not men, but wild beasts, monsters, and robbers. Or is it not in this—that you unjustly persecute Athanasius—that you are to be compared to Saul?
Since you so desire to slaughter the innocent Athanasius, just as he too desired to kill not only Samuel but also David—for Saul indeed threatened to kill those with whom he knew God to be. And Saul saw, says Scripture, that the Lord was with David, and all Israel loved him. And Saul the more feared before the face of David. And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants about killing David. Answer, most shameless emperor, whether one who has the Spirit of God can do these things. At what time did Saul begin to do these things? Surely when he was cursed and reprobated through Samuel; for at that same time it is written that God departed from him and was truly with David.
By these things it is proved that you are Arians without the Spirit of God, who persecute Athanasius, a man full of the Holy Spirit. And David, says Scripture, was wise in all his ways, and the Lord was with him, and all Israel and Judah loved David. Therefore, that you may recognize that you are doing to Athanasius what Saul did to David, receive what is written: And Jonathan, son of Saul, loved David greatly, and Jonathan told David, saying: Saul seeks to kill you; and further on: And Jonathan spoke to his father, saying: Do not sin, O king, against your servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds are very good.
And he put his life in his hands and slew the foreigner, and the Lord wrought salvation in Israel, and all Israel saw and rejoiced. And why do you sin against innocent blood, seeking to kill David without cause? And Saul heard the voice of Jonathan his son, and Saul swore, saying: The Lord lives, David shall not die; and further on: And war arose again, and David prevailed and stormed the foreigners and struck them with a great slaughter, and they fled from the face of David. And an evil spirit came upon Saul, and he was sleeping in his house, and there was a spear in his hand, and behold, David was playing the harp with his hands. And Saul sought to strike David with the spear, and he struck the wall, and David turned away from the face of Saul.
And the spear struck into the wall, and David fled and was saved. And it came to pass on that night that Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him, so that in the morning he might kill him. And David fled and was saved. And he came to Samuel in Ramah and reported to him all that Saul had done; and further on: And Saul became very angry at Jonathan; and further on: And he said: Send these things, take the young man, for he is a son of death. And Jonathan answered his father: Why does he die? What has he done? And Saul raised the spear against Jonathan to kill him. Whom would Saul spare, when telling him the truth, since he did not even spare his own son? Thus you too transgress the commands of God and establish your own.
Finally, we do not wonder if, because it is said that 'one absent cannot be condemned,' you persecute the priests of the Lord, since we see that Saul likewise persecuted those who served God. Scripture speaks, saying: And the king said: You shall die the death, Ahimelech, you and all the house of your father; and further on: And the king said to the runners and to those standing by him: Bring and kill the priests of the Lord, for their hand is with David, since they knew that David was fleeing and did not uncover my ear. And the servants of the king would not lay their hands against the priests of the Lord. What do you say, most just king?
If those servants of the king are reported to have refused to obey the king's command, if they are shown to have despised the orders of Saul, lest they act against God's commands, was it then fitting that we bishops, trampling the Lord's commands, should fulfill yours, O sacrilegious murderer? Do you therefore deem us worthy of persecution because we do not prefer your commands to the Lord's? Saul did this too, which sacred Scripture proves to be so, saying: And Saul said to Doeg: Turn yourself against the priests of the Lord. And Doeg the Syrian turned, and he himself put to death the priests of the Lord, and killed on that day three hundred and five men, and all who bore the ephod; in Nob, the city of the priests, he slew with the edge of the sword, from man to nursing infant.
In a similar manner now you have attempted, and still attempt, to tear apart the bodies of those whom you see to be mindful of God's precepts and to resist your command. Therefore we shall not be able to wonder if you persecute us, since we see that Saul—because his men did not deliver the Lord's servant David into his hands—destroyed not only three hundred and five priests, but the whole city. Saul persecuted David, in whose power, though David often was, David yet often spared him. And it came to pass, says Scripture, when Saul had returned from pursuing the foreigners, they reported to him, saying: Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi. And he took with him three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men before the face of the hunting of deer.
And he came to the flocks of sheep that were by the way, and there was a cave there, and Saul went in to relieve himself, while David and his men were sitting in the inner part of the cave. And David's men said to him: Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said: I will give your enemy into your hands, and you shall do to him what is pleasing before your eyes. And David rose and secretly cut off the border of Saul's cloak. And it came to pass after this that David's heart smote him because he had cut off the border of the cloak. And David said to his men: May it not befall me from the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the anointed of the Lord, to lay my hand on him, for he is the anointed of the Lord.
And David persuaded his men with words and did not permit them to rise up and kill Saul. And Saul rose and went down on his way, and David went out after Saul, saying: My lord king. And Saul looked behind him, and David bowed his face to the ground and worshipped him, and David said to Saul: Why do you listen to the words of the people who say: Behold, David seeks your life? And behold, on this day your eyes have seen how the Lord delivered you today into my hands in the cave, and I would not kill you, but spared you, and said: I will not lay my hand on my lord, for he is the anointed of the Lord.
I who took the border of your cloak in my hand, and cut off the fringe of your cloak, and did not kill you—know and see today that there is no malice nor injustice in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, and yet you seek to take my life. May the Lord judge between me and you, and may He avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. As the old proverb says: From the wicked shall wickedness go forth. But my hand shall not be against you. After whom do you pursue? A dead dog and a single flea? May the Lord be the judge and avenger between me and you; may the Lord see and judge my cause and justify me from your hand. Such is the custom of God's worshippers, to reserve everything to God, knowing that it is a great thing to be avenged by Him.
Meanwhile, as I said above, see Saul, where he is of sound mind, what he says; but where he becomes out of his mind, how he thirsts for the blood of the just and innocent David: And it came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said: Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul cried out and wept. And he said to David: You are more just than I, for you have rendered me good, but I have repaid you with evil. And you have declared to me today the good you have done for me, since the Lord shut me up in your hands and you did not kill me. And as one finds his friend and sends him forth on a good way—may the Lord repay you with good things for what you have done for me today.
And now behold, I know that reigning you shall reign, and the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand; and now swear to me by the Lord that you will not root out my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father's house. And David swore to Saul. After this indeed Saul ought now to have been changed, but even yet he neither ceases to persecute nor fails to spare David. And Saul arose, says Scripture, and went down into the shady wilderness, and with him three thousand chosen men out of Israel to seek David; and further on: And David sent spies and learned that Saul had come to Ziklag. And David rose secretly and went to the place where Saul was sleeping, and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army.