教會史 第 1 章 第 9/28 段

And at that time they too set forth another written statement of faith, more expansive than that of Nicaea, but preserving the same sense, and not differing greatly from its wording.

Hosius and Protogenes, who were then the leaders of those from the West assembled at Sardica, fearing perhaps that they might be thought by some to be innovating upon what had been decreed at Nicaea, wrote to Julius and affirmed that they held that decree to be authoritative, but that, for the sake of needed clarity, they had expanded the same meaning, so that those who held the views of Arius might not, by taking advantage of the brevity of the document, draw those inexperienced in disputation into absurdity.

Having done these things, each side dissolved the assembly, and each returned to his own home.

This synod was held during the consulship of Rufinus and Eusebius.

And this was the eleventh year from the death of Constantine.

And there assembled from the cities of the West about three hundred bishops, and from the East seventy-six.

With these there was also Ischyrion, who had been entrusted with the bishopric of the Mareotis by those who were hostile to Athanasius.

After this council they no longer associated with each other as being of the same belief, nor did they hold communion, those in the West separating themselves as far as Thrace, and those in the East as far as Illyria.

And the affairs of the churches, as was natural, were thrown into confusion amid dissensions, and were beset by mutual slanders.

For even if previously they had differed concerning doctrine, still, so long as they remained in communion with one another, they did no great harm and were thought to hold much the same views.

For, generally speaking, the church throughout the whole West, being guided purely by the doctrines of the fathers, remained free from strife and from vain wrangling over these questions.

For even though those in authority there were eager to bring the populace subject to them over to the opinion of Arius — namely Auxentius, who became bishop of Milan, and Valens and Ursacius, who came from Pannonia — their zeal did not by any means succeed according to their intent, since the occupant of the see of Rome and the other bishops diligently forestalled them and cut off the shoots of such heresy.

As for the East, although it was in turmoil after the council of Antioch and was already openly at variance with the faith of Nicaea, in truth, I think, according to the judgment of the majority it converged upon the same conviction and agreed that the Son was of the substance of the Father, though some contentiously fought against the term "homoousios."

For those who had from the outset opposed this term, as I conjecture — this being indeed what happens to many — considered it shameful to appear to have been defeated.

Others, having through the habit of frequent disputations on these matters been turned to hold this view about God, henceforth held to it unchangeably.

Others still, knowing that they contended without proper cause, inclined toward whichever side pleased them, out of considerations of power, kinship, or other motives by which men are led to grant favors that are not fitting, or to withhold the frankness that ought to expose error.

But many considered it mere folly to wear themselves out over such verbal contentions, and quietly held fast to the opinion of those who had assembled at Nicaea.

Beyond all others throughout the East, those who appeared openly and steadfastly to hold fast to what had been decreed at Nicaea were Paul, bishop of Constantinople, and Athanasius of Alexandria, and the whole multitude of monks — Antony the Great, still living at that time, and those who had companied with him, and very many others throughout Egypt and elsewhere in the Roman dominion.

Since I have made mention of these, I will briefly run through my account of as many illustrious men of this same period as I have come upon.

I will begin from Egypt, and with the two Macarii, the most celebrated leaders of Scetis and of the mountain there.

Of these two, the one was called "the Egyptian," the other "the Politicus," as being a townsman;

for he was by birth an Alexandrian.

Both of them became most wondrous, possessing divine foreknowledge and philosophy, and were dreaded by demons, and were workers of many marvelous deeds and cures.

Of the Egyptian, report says that he even raised a dead man back to life, in order to persuade a person of a different belief that there would be a resurrection of the dead.

He lived to about ninety years of age, sixty of which he spent in the deserts.

He was ordained presbyter at the age of forty.

The other became a presbyter at a later time, but he underwent nearly every form of asceticism, in part devising practices of his own, in part bringing to full effect whatever he heard from others; so that, from excessive self-mortification, the hairs of his beard would not even grow.

At this same time, in the same region, there also practiced this philosophy Pambo, Heraclides, Cronius, Paphnutius, Putubastes, Arsisius, Serapion the Great, and Pityrion, who had his abode among the Thebans, and Pachomius, who became the founder of those called Tabennesiotes.

Their outward garb and manner of life differed in certain respects from that of other monks, yet it looked toward virtue, and accustomed the soul to despise things upon earth and to look upward, so that it might pass with ease to heavenly things whenever it should be released from the body.

They clothed themselves in skins in imitation, I think, of Elijah the Tishbite, so that, being ever reminded by the hide they wore of the prophet's virtue, they might manfully array themselves against the desires of carnal lust, and out of zeal for him and hope of like rewards might practice self-control the more eagerly.

Report also has it that the other garments of the Egyptian monks were designed as a pattern of a certain philosophy, and did not differ from the rest merely by chance.

They wore tunics without sleeves, thereby teaching that the hands should not be ready for outrage; and the head-covering, which they call a "koukoullion," was meant so that they might live equally guilelessly and purely as infants fed on milk, upon whom such caps are placed, covering and cherishing the seat of the mind.

The girdle and the shoulder-strap — the one binding the loins tightly, the other holding up the shoulders and arms — enjoin that they be ready for the service of God and for whatever work is required.

I am not unaware that others have given differing accounts concerning these matters;

but for me it suffices to have said thus much.

As for Pachomius, they say that at first he alone practiced this philosophy in a cave.

A divine angel appeared to him and directed him to gather young monks together and to live in community with them;

for he had already conducted his own affairs well in this philosophy, and it was fitting that, as leader of communities, he should benefit many, and lead them according to whatever laws he should give.

And the angel gave him a tablet, which they still preserve to this day.

The writing inscribed upon it directed that each be permitted, according to his own capacity, to eat and drink and work, and to fast or not to fast; that to those who were stronger and who did eat, the more laborious tasks be assigned, and the easier ones to those in strict ascetic discipline.

He had many small dwellings constructed, and in each dwelling three were to remain together;

but all were to partake of food together under one roof;

and they were to eat in silence, and to sit at the tables with their faces covered, so as neither to see one another nor anything else save the table and what was set before them.

No stranger was to eat together with them, unless he happened to be a traveler received as a guest;

and whoever wished to dwell together with them must first, for a period of three years, labor at the more difficult tasks, and only thus come to share in their common life.

He directed them to clothe themselves in skins, and to cover their heads with woolen caps, and these caps were to be marked with something like purple studs.

They were to make use of linen tunics and girdles, and to sleep girded, together with their tunics and their skins, seated in built seats enclosed on either side, so as to hold in place each one's bedding.

On the first and the last day of the week, when approaching the altar for communion in the divine mysteries, they were to loosen their girdles and lay aside their skins;

twelve times throughout the day they were to pray, and likewise twelve times toward evening, the same number of times also by night, and a third round at the ninth hour.

Whenever they were about to eat, before each prayer a psalm was to be sung.

And he assigned to each rank/order a designation matching its character — for instance, calling the simpler ones "iota," and the crooked ones "xi," and others by other letters, according as one might aptly infer, from the shape of the letter, the disposition of the order.

According to these laws Pachomius led his own disciples, being a man exceedingly benevolent and beloved of God, so that he foreknew things to come and often conversed with divine angels.

He dwelt at Tabennesi in the Thebaid, whence they are even now called Tabennesiotes.

Living under these laws, they became most renowned, and in time grew in number, so as to amount to as many as seven thousand men.

The community at Tabennesi, with whom Pachomius himself lived, numbered about thirteen hundred;

the rest dwell throughout the Thebaid and the rest of Egypt.

One and the same discipline governs all, and all things are held in common throughout;

and just as they regard the community at Tabennesi as their mother, so they regard those who lead them in each place as fathers and rulers.

At this same period Apollonius also excelled in monastic philosophy; they say that at the age of fifteen he practiced philosophy in the deserts;

and having reached forty years of age, by divine command he came into inhabited places.

He too had his community in the Thebaid.

He became exceedingly beloved of God, and a worker of marvelous cures and signs, skilled in whatever was needful, and a good and gracious teacher of those devoted to this philosophy, and so readily heard in his prayers that nothing he sought of God went unaccomplished;

for being altogether wise, he made his requests wisely — requests to which the Divine is by nature ready readily to assent.

I conjecture that the wondrous Anouph also lived in this same period;

concerning whom I learned that, from the time he first made confession of the faith during the persecutions, he never told a lie nor desired anything upon earth;

and that he obtained everything whatsoever he asked of God, and was instructed in every virtue by a divine angel as his teacher.

But concerning the monks in Egypt, let this much be said by us for the present.

By this time Palestine also began to practice this same philosophy, having learned it from the Egyptians;

and there at that time the wondrous Hilarion was distinguished.

His homeland was Thabatha, a village lying to the south of Gaza, beside the winter torrent which, flowing out into the sea, took its local name from this very village.

While studying grammar in Alexandria, out of a desire to see Antony the Great, the monk, he went into the desert, and having spent time in his company, resolved to practice this same philosophy in like manner.

Having spent a short time there, he returned to his homeland;

for he was not permitted to remain at rest according to his own wish, there being always many who kept coming to him just as they came to Antony.

Finding that his parents had died, he distributed his property among his brothers and those in need, and, keeping nothing whatsoever for himself, took up his abode in a desert place by the sea, about twenty stadia distant from his village.

His dwelling was a small chamber constructed of bricks, rubble, and broken tiles, of such breadth, length, and height that, when standing, he had to bend his head, and when lying down, he was compelled to draw up his feet.

For in every way he trained himself to endure hardship and to master ease and comfort.

Indeed, of all whom we know, he left no one to surpass him in unpretentious and well-tested self-control, as he contended against lack of food, thirst, cold, heat, and against all other passions and the flattering allurements of the body and of the soul.

He was earnest in character, dignified in speech, and possessed a retentive memory and precise grasp of the sacred Scriptures.

He became so beloved of God that even now many who are sick or possessed by demons are healed at his tomb, and — most remarkable of all — this occurs both among the Cypriots, where he was first buried, and among the Palestinians, among whom he now lies,

and he was held in great honor and veneration among them.

After this, Hesychas, who had become the most esteemed of his disciples, stole the relic and conveyed it to Palestine, and buried it in his own monastery.

And from that time the local inhabitants keep there each year a public and most splendid festival.

For it is the custom among the Palestinians to honor the good men who have arisen among them, just as, indeed, they also honor Aurelius of Anthedon, Alexion of Bethagathon, and Alaphion of Asalea, who lived at the same time, under the present reign, and who lived piously and courageously in the philosophic (monastic) life, and by their own virtues advanced religion in the cities and villages there, which are exceedingly Hellenized.

At that time Julian practiced philosophy around Edessa, undertaking a most rigorous and, as it were, incorporeal discipline and manner of life, so that he seemed to consist of nothing but bones and skin apart from flesh, and he became the occasion for Ephraim the Syrian, the writer, to compose a treatise narrating his life.

God himself also confirmed by his deeds what men believed concerning him, granting him the power to drive away demons and to heal diseases of every kind, not through any medicines but accomplished by prayer.

But concerning the monks in Syria, let this much be said for now;

more fully, if God so wills, we shall speak of them in what follows.

It is said that among the Armenians, Paphlagonians, and those dwelling near Pontus, Eustathius, who administered the church at Sebastia in Armenia, initiated monastic philosophy, and became the founder of its earnest discipline there — concerning the foods of which one ought to partake or abstain, the clothing one ought to wear, and precise conduct and manner of life — so that some insist that the book entitled the Ascetic Treatise, ascribed to Basil of Cappadocia, is actually his own composition.

It is said that through excessive strictness he fell into irrational observances entirely out of harmony with the laws of the church.

Others exempt him from the charge, but blame certain of his disciples for condemning marriage, refusing to pray in the houses of married persons, despising married presbyters, fasting on the Lord's days, holding church services in private houses, declaring the rich to be utterly without share in the kingdom of God, abhorring those who eat meat, refusing to wear the customary tunics and robes but adopting strange and unusual dress, and practicing many other innovations.

As a result of this, many women were deceived and abandoned their husbands;

and then, being unable to practice continence, they fell into adultery;

and some, under pretext of piety, cut off their hair and dressed in a manner improper for a woman but customary for men.

For these reasons the neighboring bishops assembled at Gangra, the metropolis of the Paphlagonians, and voted to declare them alien to the catholic church, unless each should renounce every one of the aforementioned practices according to the canons of the synod.

From this account it is said that Eustathius, wishing to show that it was not out of self-will but for the sake of godly discipline that he introduced and pursued these practices, changed his manner of dress and thereafter conducted his advancement in a manner similar to the other priests.

Being such in his manner of life, he was also admired for his eloquence;

but to speak truly, he was not skilled in speaking (for he had not trained in this art), but his character was wondrous and most capable of persuasion, so that he converted many men and women given to fornication to take up a chaste and earnest life.

He was zealous to make those who were being slandered cease their association with one another;

but when he failed, he lamented greatly and said that a wife lawfully living with her husband, upon hearing his discourses on chastity, abstained from the intercourse which it is lawful for wives to share with their own husbands, whereas those who were consorting unlawfully with one another rendered his persuasion powerless.

It is said, then, that this man became the founder of the strict monastic discipline in this region.

The Thracians and Illyrians, and all who inhabit what is called Europe, though as yet unacquainted with monastic communities, were nevertheless not entirely without men devoted to the philosophic life.

There was known among them at that time Martin, who was of distinguished family, from Sabaria in Pannonia, and who served brilliantly under arms and became commander of a regiment.

But preferring things divine, he pursued the philosophic life.

At first he spent his time among the Illyrians;

but since, contending eagerly for the true doctrine, he detected some of the bishops there holding the views of Arius, he was plotted against and often publicly beaten, and was driven out; and coming to Milan he lived there by himself.

He withdrew from there also, being plotted against by Auxentius, the bishop of that city, who himself was not sound in the faith established by those who assembled at Nicaea.

For a time, content with the roots of herbs, he dwelt on an island which they call Gallinaria;

this island is small and uninhabited, lying in the Tyrrhenian sea.

Some time later he was also entrusted with the episcopate of the church at Tarracina.

He is reported to have advanced so far in wonder-working that he is even believed to have raised a dead man, and to have performed other signs not inferior to those of the apostles.

We have learned that in this same province at that time there was also Hilary, a man admirable in life and in word, who shared Martin's exile on account of his zeal for the doctrine.

Concerning, then, the men who at that time practiced philosophy in piety and ecclesiastical order, I have set down what I learned, as I have written it.

At the same time, exceedingly many and highly learned men were distinguished in the churches.

Most eminent among these were Eusebius, who administered the priesthood of Emesa, Titus of Bostra, Sarapion of Thmuis, Basil of Ancyra, Eudoxius of Germanicia, Acacius of Caesarea, and Cyril, who administered the see of Jerusalem.

They composed writings that testified to their learning and have left behind many works worthy of note.

In this man dwelt also learning of every kind: poets and rhetoricians, astronomy and geometry and arithmetic, and the opinions of philosophers.

Of all these he acquired knowledge by mind alone and by hearing.

For while still young, he became blind at the very first attempt at learning his letters.

But when he came to be a youth, he desired eloquence and education;

and attending upon those who taught these things, he only listened;

and he attained to such a degree of learning that he even grasped the most difficult theorems in the disciplines.

It is said that he learned the shapes of the letters, deeply carved into a tablet, by touching them with his fingers, and syllables, words, and the rest in turn by mental comprehension, continuous listening, and memory of the things gathered by hearing.

And many came to Alexandria on account of the man's fame, some to hear him, others merely to see him.

He grieved those of Arius's doctrine not a little, by upholding the doctrine of the synod of Nicaea.

For he persuaded with ease, seeming to do this not by force of argument, but by his exceeding persuasiveness he made each of them, as it were, his own judge concerning the matters in dispute.

He was much sought after by those of the catholic church;

and the orders of monks in Egypt praised him, as did Antony the Great.

"Blessed and gracious is it, that like the angels you have eyes, through which you clearly perceive things divine and precisely behold true knowledge." ...Not only in Egypt, but also among the Italians and those dwelling in that province, Eusebius and the aforesaid Hilary were distinguished for their excellence in ancestral learning, concerning whom it is said that celebrated discourses on the faith and against the heterodox are extant, and Lucifer, who is said to have been the founder of the heresy bearing his name.

At this time Aetius too was admired by the heterodox, being a skilled dialectician, capable in argumentation, devoted to disputations of words, and pursuing these things quite artlessly and zealously.

Indeed, because he discoursed so readily concerning God, he was called "atheist" by many.

They say that, having at first been a physician in Antioch of the Syrians, and diligently frequenting the churches and discoursing on the sacred Scriptures, he became known to Gallus, who was then Caesar, a man who took great account of religion and rejoiced exceedingly in those devoted to piety;

and as is likely, having become his friend on the occasion of such discussions, he cultivated this kind of discourse, that he might please him the more.

For it was said that he had also gone through the teachings of Aristotle and studied in Alexandria under the teachers of these subjects.

And besides these there were a great many others in the churches, capable of teaching and discoursing concerning the sacred Scriptures;

to enumerate them all would be a task in itself.

Let it not seem harsh to anyone that I have spoken in praise of some who became either founders or zealous adherents of the aforesaid heresies;

for I acknowledge that they were admirable for their eloquence and skill in speech, but concerning their doctrines, let those judge to whom it is fitting to do so;

for I did not set out to write of these matters, nor is it fitting for history, whose task is only to narrate what actually occurred, introducing nothing of its own.

As for all those known to us who, using the tongue of the Greeks and Romans, became most renowned for education and eloquence, let them be reckoned among those already mentioned.

It seems that Ephraim the Syrian surpassed all others in renown and, more than anyone, brought glory to the catholic church;

he had his family from Nisibis or the regions thereabouts, and having practiced his life in monastic philosophy, though he had neither studied nor been expected to become such a man, he suddenly advanced so far in learning in the Syriac tongue that he attained the loftiest theorems of philosophy, and in ease and brilliance of style and in the density and soundness of his thought he surpassed the most celebrated writers among the Greeks.

Thus, indeed, if one were to translate the writings of others into the Syriac or another tongue, and remove, so to speak, the seasoning of the Greek idioms, the loss is at once detected, and the work falls away from its former grace;

but with Ephraim's writings it is not so.

For while he was living, and even now, they translate what he composed into the Greek tongue, and it falls not far short of the excellence it possesses in its native form;

indeed, even when read in Greek, it is admired just as much as when read in Syriac.

Indeed, Basil too, who afterward became bishop of the metropolis of the Cappadocians, admired the man and marveled at his learning;

so that it rightly appears to me that this testimony, given in common by those then admired among the Greeks for their eloquence, is fittingly rendered concerning Ephraim through the voice of Basil, who is agreed to have been the most learned of all his contemporaries.

It is said that he wrote in all about three million lines, and that he had many disciples who zealously emulated his instruction, the most distinguished being Abbas and Zenobius, Abraham, Maras, and Symeon, in whom the sons of the Syrians take great pride, as do all who have precisely mastered the learning current among them.

Likewise they praise Paulonas and Aranad for their eloquence;

but they say that these men erred from sound doctrines.

I am not unaware that in like manner there were of old, among the Osrhoenians, men of the highest renown in this kind of composition — Bardaisan, who established the heresy called after him, and Harmonius, the son of Bardaisan, who is said to have been the first, being trained in the learning of the Greeks, to reduce his native tongue to metres and musical laws and to hand it over to choruses, just as even now the Syrians frequently chant, using not the writings of Harmonius but his melodies.

For since he was not entirely free from his father's heresy, and from the opinions which those who philosophize among the Greeks hold concerning the soul, the generation and dissolution of the body, and reincarnation, setting these very notions to the lyre in the compositions he wrote, he mixed these opinions in with his own writings.

Ephraim, seeing the Syrians enchanted by the beauty of the words and the rhythm of the melody, and thereby becoming accustomed to hold the same opinions as he, though himself without a share in Greek education, applied himself to grasping the metres of Harmonius;

and to the melodies of that man's compositions he set other writings that were in harmony with ecclesiastical doctrine, such as those he laboriously composed in divine hymns and encomia of good men.

and from that time the Syrians sing the works of Ephraim according to the law of Harmonius' ode.

How great, then, he was by nature, one must judge even from this;

in his life, too, he was renowned for good works and exact conduct, and was an exceeding lover of quietness; he was also dignified, and was so wary of slanderous talk to such a degree—

—that he was careful to avoid even the very sight of any woman.

At any rate, there is a story that once a certain woman, careless of her life and perhaps shameless in her manner — whether she herself was testing the man, or was zealously doing this for others for hire — deliberately met him face to face in a narrow lane, staring at him unblinkingly;

and he rebuked her, and bade her look toward the ground;

'And how,' said the woman, 'should I do so, seeing I was made not from the earth, but from you? For it is more just that you should look toward the earth, from which you have your origin, but I toward you, from whom I am.' And Ephraim, marveling at the woman, shaped what had happened into a written composition, which the learned men of the Syrians have placed among the most serious of his discourses.

It is said that although formerly he was uncontrollably given to anger, from the time he took up the monastic way of life he was never once seen by anyone to be angry.

At any rate, on one occasion, when for many days he was fasting as was his custom, the one who served him, while bringing him his dish, broke the pot;

and seeing him overcome by shame and fear, he said, 'But take courage; let us then go to the dish, since it has not come to us.' And sitting down beside the broken pieces of the pot, he took his meal.

How free he was from vainglory, one may learn from this.

Once certain persons cast a vote for the episcopate upon him, and attempted to seize him in order to bring him to ordination;

but as soon as he perceived it, he rushed into the marketplace and made himself appear to be out of his mind, walking about disorderly, dragging his garment, and eating in public;

and when those who were about to seize him, supposing him to be out of his mind, were checked in their pursuit of him, he found an opportunity and fled, and remained hidden until another man had been ordained.

But with these things I shall content myself concerning Ephraim.

The greater part the natives of that region know and relate.

But a certain deed which he performed not long before his death, since it seems to me worthy of record, I shall here set down.

For when famine seized the city of the Edessenes, he came forth, after a long time, from the dwelling in which he practiced his philosophy, and rebuked those who possessed property, on the ground that they wrongly despised their own kindred, who were perishing for want of necessities, while they carefully guarded their own wealth to their own harm and to the punishment of their own soul — which soul, as he ever maintained, he showed to be more precious than every kind of wealth, than the body itself, and than all other things.

and he refuted, by his own deeds, those who held this soul of no account.