教會史 第 1 章 第 9/18 段

For he said that Cyril had sold the sacred robe which the all-glorious emperor Constantine, in honoring the church of Jerusalem, had given to Macarius, the bishop of that city, so that, wearing it, he might perform the ministry of divine baptism (it had been made of golden threads); and that one of the contortionists of the stage had bought this robe and put it on, but had fallen while dancing, been crushed, and been delivered over to death.

"Having such a man as their partner," he said, "they attempt to judge and pass sentence upon others."

Taking this as their pretext, those in charge of palace affairs persuaded the emperor not to summon the whole synod (for they feared the unanimity of the multitude), but only ten of its leading men.

Among these were Eustathius the Armenian, Basil the Galatian, Silvanus of Tarsus, and Eleusius of Cyzicus.

When these arrived, they urged the emperor that the blasphemy and lawlessness of Eudoxius be exposed and refuted.

But he, being instructed by those of the opposing persuasion, said that it was necessary first for the matters of the faith to be settled, and only then for the matters concerning that man to be examined.

But Basil, emboldened by their former familiarity, boldly rebuked the emperor to his face for scheming against the apostolic doctrines; Constantius grew angry and ordered Basil to be silent, as being a cause of turmoil for the churches.

When Basil had ceased his discourse, Eustathius said, "Since you wish, O Emperor, that the matters of the faith be settled, behold the blasphemies against the Only-begotten which Eudoxius has dared to utter."

And as he spoke, he handed over a document in which, along with many other impious statements, the following were also included:

"Things spoken of in an unlike manner are unlike in essence;

one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things;

but 'from whom' is unlike 'through whom';

therefore the Son is unlike God the Father."

Constantius, having ordered this document to be read, and being greatly angered at the impiety it contained, asked Eudoxius whether he himself had composed it.

But he immediately denied it, and said that Aëtius had written these things.

At that time, indeed, he was in company with Eudoxius, together with Eunomius.

For when Leontius had died and Eudoxius had seized the presidency of the church of the Antiochenes, Aëtius returned from Egypt, bringing Eunomius with him;

and finding Eudoxius to be of like mind and given, besides his impiety, to Sybaritic luxury, he preferred his sojourn in Antioch above all else, and together with Eunomius became attached to that man's couches;

for he had adopted the life of a flatterer, and continually went now to this man, now to that, frequenting their tables and filling his belly.

At that time, then, the emperor, having learned this, ordered Aëtius to be brought in, and when he had entered, showed him that document, inquiring whether he himself had been the father of those statements.

But he, being altogether ignorant of what had happened and not understanding the manner of the inquiry, but expecting to reap praise from his admission, said that he himself was the author of those statements.

But the emperor, perceiving the extremity of the impiety, immediately banished him, ordering that he be led away to a certain place in Phrygia.

And thus that man, having reaped the disgrace resulting from his blasphemy, was cast out of the palace.

And Eustathius said that Eudoxius also held these same views —

for Aëtius was his housemate and table-companion, and that man, ministering to Aëtius's opinion, had composed the blasphemy.

And he said this was clear proof that Eudoxius was privy to what had been written: that no one else but he himself had said that the document belonged to Aëtius.

[He asked] that Eudoxius show that we do not hold these views, by anathematizing the treatise of Aëtius. And when the emperor gladly received the request and ordered that this be done, Eudoxius shrank back and resorted to many devices to evade the challenge.

But when the emperor grew angry and threatened to send him away together with Aëtius as a partner in his impious opinion, he denied the very teaching which both then and afterward he continued to advocate.

He, however, retorted against Eustathius and his party, saying that they too must anathematize the term homoousios, since it was unscriptural.

"But," said Silvanus, "'out of nothing,' and 'creature,' and 'of a different substance' (heteroousios) are likewise unscriptural, attached neither to the prophetic nor to the apostolic oracles; it is right that these too be disavowed, and that those who use them be driven out of the sacred assemblies." The emperor voted in agreement with these points, and ordered that those men be anathematized.

At first they set themselves in opposition;

but afterward, seeing the emperor's anger, though displeased, they nevertheless disavowed the things which Silvanus had proposed to them.

From then on they pressed more vehemently, exacting the anathematizing of homoousios.

But Silvanus, both syllogistically and truthfully, said to them and to the emperor:

"If God the Word is not from things that do not exist, and is neither a creature nor of a different substance, then he is consubstantial with the God who begot him, as God from God and light from light, and he has the same nature as his begetter." But these things he had spoken both forcefully and truthfully, yet none of those present were persuaded; rather, there arose a great outcry from the party of Eudoxius and Acacius, and the emperor grew angry and threatened to drive them out of the churches.

But Eleusius and Silvanus, together with the others, said that he too had authority over his own folly, just as they themselves had authority over their own piety or impiety;

yet they would not abandon the ancestral teaching.

But Constantius, though he ought to have admired both their wisdom and their courage and their boldness of speech on behalf of the apostolic doctrines, drove them out of the churches and ordered others to be appointed in their place.

Then Eudoxius tyrannically seized the throne of the church of the Constantinopolitans, and having driven out Eleusius from Cyzicus, he appointed Eunomius in his place.

And when these things had thus come to pass, the emperor ordered in writing that Aetius be denounced, and his partners in impiety, being persuaded, denounced their like-minded associate.

And they also wrote to George, the leader of the Alexandrians, informing him of the matters concerning him.

And I shall insert this letter also into my history, to display their wickedness.

For indeed they dealt in like manner both with those who agreed and with those who opposed them.

Copy of the letter written by the whole council to George against Aetius, his deacon, on account of his lawless blasphemy.

The holy council assembled at Constantinople, to the lord George, most honored bishop of Alexandria, greetings.

Concerning the condemnation pronounced by the council against Aetius on account of his lawless writings full of scandals, that which accords with the ecclesiastical canons has been carried out against him by the bishops.

For he was deposed from the diaconate and estranged from the church;

and exhortations from us followed, that his lawless letters should not even be read, but should be cast away as useless and unprofitable.

And to these we add that he, if he persists in the same purpose, is to be anathematized together with those who agree with him.

It was therefore fitting that all the bishops assembled together at the council should with one accord detest the man who was the cause of scandals, disturbances, and schisms, and of the uproar throughout the world and of the discord of the churches with one another, and should agree with the verdict pronounced against him.

When Serras also accused the aforesaid Aetius of another frenzied arrogance —

for he said that this man, leaping forward with more reckless daring, asserted that the very things God had hidden from the apostles until now had been revealed to him, and affirmed this without wavering.

And even after these frenzied and arrogant words concerning Aetius, testified to by Serras, the aforesaid bishops were neither ashamed nor persuaded to join with all of us in voting to render judgment concerning him.

Yet we, being patient for a longer time, deliberated together with them, at times expressing indignation, at times exhorting, at times rebuking, and at times also entreating them to come to their senses and to declare themselves in accord with the whole council;

and we persisted in waiting, in case they might perhaps listen, in case they might perhaps understand and yield.

But since, having persevered for a long time, we could not persuade them to follow the decisions concerning the aforesaid man, we, considering the canon of the church more honorable than friendship with these men, decreed excommunication against them, giving them for this purpose a full period of six months for conversion and repentance and for the desire of union and agreement with the council;

if, within the appointed time given to them, they turn back and choose harmony with their brethren and agree to what has been determined concerning him, we have resolved that they be accepted back into the church and into the councils, and recover their own freedom of speech and love toward us;

but if they persist unrepentant in their daring, having preferred human friendship to the canons of the church and to agreement with us, then we consider them alienated from episcopal dignity.

And when they undergo deposition, it is necessary that other bishops be appointed in their places, so that the lawful church, having received its proper order, may be in harmony with itself, while the bishops everywhere preserve the bond of love by speaking the same things, being perfected in the same mind and the same judgment.

So that you may know what has been decided by the council, we have sent these things to your reverence;

which things we pray that you, keeping them, may by the grace of Christ govern peacefully and lawfully the churches under you. This man Eunomius extols in his writings, calling him a man of God and honoring him with the most abundant praises.

Yet at that time he too was in company with those who denounced Aetius, and received his episcopal ordination from them.

And the party of Eudoxius and Acacius, having subscribed to the creed set forth at Nicé in Thrace, which we mentioned earlier in this history, ordained others in the churches of Basil and Eleusius in place of them.

And I consider it superfluous to mention the others, but I shall relate only the matters concerning Eunomius.

For since Eunomius received Cyzicus while Eleusius was still living, and Eudoxius, seeing the soundness of the multitude and observing the emperor's anger against those who said the only-begotten Son of God was created, advised Eunomius to conceal his opinion and not reveal it to those who were hunting for pretexts of accusation.

"For," he said, "when we have found the opportune time, we shall proclaim what we now conceal, and we shall teach those who are ignorant, and we shall either persuade or compel or punish those who oppose us." Persuaded by this counsel, Eunomius put forth his impiety in veiled form.

But those who had been nurtured in the divine oracles, seeing the deceitfulness of what was said, were indeed troubled, yet they considered openly opposing him to be an act of rashness, not of prudence.

So, putting on the mask of the heretical false opinion themselves, they came to him at his house and openly besought him to set forth to them the truth of the doctrine, and not to allow them to be carried about hither and thither by conflicting teachings.

And he, taking courage, revealed the opinion he had been concealing.

For they said it was unjust and utterly impious that not all those under him should partake of the truth.

And he, won over by these and similar arguments, laid bare his blasphemy in the assemblies of the church.

Having sharpened their spirits, they hastened to Constantinople.

And first they lodged a written accusation against Eunomius before Eudoxius;

but when he did not receive it, they went to the emperor and lamented the outrage being committed by him;

for they said that what was being said by this man was more impious than the blasphemy of Arius.

And the emperor, being angered at these things, ordered Eudoxius to bring Eunomius, and, once he was convicted, to strip him of the priesthood.

But since Eudoxius, though repeatedly pressed by the accusers, continued to draw back, they went again to the emperor, lamenting and crying out that Eudoxius had done nothing of what he had been commanded, but was overlooking so great a city being handed over to the blasphemies of Eunomius.

Then Constantius threatened to drive out Eudoxius himself, unless he brought Eunomius to trial and, upon his being convicted of the charges against him, punished him.

Fearing this threat, Eudoxius informed Eunomius by letter to flee from Cyzicus, and told him to blame himself for not having heeded his counsel.

And Eunomius, being afraid, withdrew; but unable to bear the dishonor, he accused Eudoxius of betrayal, and said that both he himself and Aetius had been wronged.

From this point on, he formed his own faction.

For as many as had been privy to the agreement in their doctrines fell away from Eudoxius, having condemned him for betrayal, and attached themselves to Eunomius, and they bear his name even to this day.

From this point, having become the founder of a heresy, Eunomius, by additions to his impiety, augmented the blasphemy of Arius.

That, enslaved to the passion of ambition, he formed his own assembly, the very deeds themselves proclaim.

For when Aetius was denounced and driven out, he did not go out together with him, although he called him his teacher and a man of God, but remained bound together with Eudoxius;

but when he himself was made to pay the penalty for his impiety, he did not accept the verdict of the council, but, though stripped of episcopal dignity, went on to ordain bishops and presbyters.

These things, then, took place at Constantinople.

And when Sapor, king of the Persians, made war against the Romans, Constantius came to Antioch, having gathered his army.

But it was not the army of the Romans that drove out the enemy, but the God of those among the Romans who lived piously.

And I shall relate the manner of the victory.

Nisibis, which some call Antioch of Mygdonia, lies on the border between the dominions of the Persians and the Romans.

Of this city James — whom I have also mentioned before — was bishop, guardian, and commander, and he sent forth the rays of apostolic grace.

Having already written of his admirable and much-celebrated wonder-workings in my Religious History, I think it superfluous and tedious to enumerate them again here;

but I shall tell only one, for the sake of the narrative now before us.

The Persian army besieged the city governed by him, which was subject to the Romans.

And having laid siege for seventy days, and having brought many siege engines against the wall, and having set up many other machines, and having dug palisades and trenches, he was not able to take the city.

But afterward, having dammed up from a distance the stream of the river that cuts through the middle of the city (its name is the Mygdonius), and having built up the banks on either side and made them high, so as to hem in the flow, when he saw that it had become very great and was now overflowing the embankment, he suddenly released it against the wall like an engine of war.

But it could not withstand the assault, which was most violent, but bent and collapsed.

And the other part of the circuit wall, through which the Mygdonius had its outlet, suffered the same fate;

for it too was swept down, unable to withstand the force of the current.

When Sapor saw this, he hoped that he would henceforth become master of the city without a struggle.

And that day he remained quiet, so that the marshy ground might dry out and the river become fordable.

For that divine man, having through prayer filled both the soldiers and the other inhabitants with strength, both rebuilt the wall and, having set up engines, drove back those who approached;

and he did these things not by drawing near to the wall, but within the divine temple, supplicating the Lord of all.

Sapor was astounded not only by the speed of the building work, but another vision also terrified him.

For he saw someone standing on the wall, clothed in royal attire, and radiance streaming forth from the purple robe and the diadem.

Supposing this to be the emperor of the Romans, he threatened with death those who had reported that he was not present.

But when they insisted that what they had said was true, and affirmed that Constantius was residing in Antioch, he recognized the meaning of the vision, and declared that the God of the Romans was fighting on their side.

And in his vexation the wretched man shot an arrow into the air, knowing that he could not strike the bodiless one, yet unable to bear the surge of his madness.

Then the wonderful Ephraim (this man became the finest writer among the Syrians) besought the divine Jacob to mount the wall, behold the barbarians, and let fly the arrows of a curse against them.

So the divinely-inspired man yielded and went up onto a certain tower;

and seeing the countless multitude, he did not utter any other curse, but asked that gnats and mosquitoes be sent upon them, so that even through these tiny creatures they might come to know the power of him who was their helper.

And clouds of gnats and mosquitoes followed upon the prayer, filling the elephants' trunks, which are shaped like pipes, and the ears and nostrils of the horses and the other beasts of burden.

Unable to bear the assault of these creatures, they snapped their reins and threw off their riders, threw the ranks into confusion, and, abandoning the camp, fled with all their might.

Thus the thrice-wretched king, having learned the power of God, who provides for those who worship him, by this small and kindly chastisement, withdrew from there, having reaped shame, not victory, from the siege.

At this time Constantius was residing in Antioch.

When a truce had been made and the Persian war had ceased, he again assembled bishops, compelling all to renounce both the homoousion and the heteroousion.

After Eudoxius, following that Leontius, had seized the throne, and then, being driven out, had after many councils unlawfully taken possession of Constantinople, the church of Antioch was deprived of a shepherd.

Then, therefore, the bishops who had assembled (and they were many, gathered from every quarter) said that a shepherd must first be put forward for the flock, and only then, together with him, take counsel in common concerning the doctrines.

At that time the divinely-inspired Meletius was governing a certain city of Armenia; then, being vexed by the intractability of those he governed, he lived in quiet, residing elsewhere.

Those of the faction of Arius, suspecting him to be of like mind and a partner in their doctrines, requested Constantius to hand over the reins of the church of Antioch to him.

For they transgressed every law without fear, striving to entrench their impiety, and the transgression of ordinances became the foundation of blasphemy.

And many such innovations they wrought in many parts of the earth.

But those who held fast to the apostolic doctrines, knowing the soundness of the great Meletius in matters of doctrine, and clearly aware also of the splendor of his life and the wealth of his virtue, voted together with the others, and took the utmost care that a decree be drawn up in writing and signed by all.

And this, both the one party and the other, gave to Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, a noble champion of the truth, to keep as a kind of common covenant.

When the great Meletius, having received a summons from the emperor, arrived, all who had a share in the high priesthood went out to meet him;

and the other choirs of the church went out to meet him also, and the whole multitude of the city;

The emperor charged both him and the others who were capable of speaking to expound to the multitude the text, 'The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works';

and he commanded those trained in swift writing to record what was said by each speaker, supposing that the teaching would thereby be more accurate.

And first George of Laodicea vomited forth his heretical stench;

after him Acacius of Caesarea offered a kind of middling teaching, standing at a great distance from their blasphemy, yet not preserving the apostolic character pure and undefiled;

third, the great Meletius rose up and displayed the straightness of the rule of theology.

For, using the truth as a kind of plumb-line, he avoided both excess and deficiency.

When the crowd offered abundant acclamation and entreated him to give them a brief teaching, he held up three fingers, then drew two of them together, leaving one, and uttered that praiseworthy saying:

"Three are what is conceived, but we speak as to one."

Against this teaching, those who carried the disease of Arius in their soul set their tongues in motion and wove a slander, declaring that the divine Meletius held the views of Sabellius;

and they persuaded that fickle strait of a man, easily carried this way and that, and brought it about that he was banished to his own homeland.

And immediately they put forward Euzoius in his place, an open advocate of the doctrines of Arius;

for the great Alexander had excommunicated this man too, along with Arius, though he had been deemed worthy of the diaconate.

At once, therefore, the healthy multitude, separating from those who had received the disease, gathered together at the apostolic church situated in the district called "the Old."

For thirty years, after the plots that had been contrived against the all-renowned Eustathius, they had continued to endure the Arian abomination, expecting some favorable change.

But when they saw impiety increasing among them, and those who held fast to the apostolic doctrines being openly warred against and secretly plotted against, and the divine Meletius driven out, while Euzoius, the champion of the heresy, had received the presidency in his place, they were reminded of the words spoken to Lot, "Flee, save your own soul"; and besides these, of the evangelical laws which clearly declare, "If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you."

The Lord likewise legislated the same concerning the hand and the foot, and added:

"For it is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell."

Thus, then, did the division of the church come about.

But the admirable Eusebius, of whom I made mention before, who had been entrusted with the common decree, when he beheld the violation of the agreement, set out for the city entrusted to him;

but those who feared the written proof persuaded Constantius to send someone to fetch the decree.

And indeed, being persuaded, the emperor sent a man accustomed to riding relay horses along the way and carrying replies with the utmost speed.

When this man arrived and announced the emperor's message, the admirable Eusebius said, "I cannot consent to give up the common deposit until all those who entrusted it are gathered together in the same place."

This he reported to the one who had sent him;

and the emperor, boiling with anger, wrote to him again, commanding him to give it up, and added that he had ordered his right hand to be cut off if he did not give up the decree.

He wrote this, however, only to intimidate him;

for he had forbidden the bearer of the letter to carry out what he had threatened.

But when that divine man opened the letter and saw in its words the punishment which the emperor had threatened, he put forth his left hand together with his right, bidding him cut off both hands;

"For I will not give up the decree," he said, "since it is a clear proof of Arian wickedness."

When Constantius learned of this man's courage, he was filled with admiration then, and continued to marvel at it.

Even enemies, constrained by the greatness of what had been done, acknowledged the merits of their rivals.

At this time, Constantius, learning that Julian, whom he had made Caesar of Europe, was aspiring to greater things and gathering an army against the man who had honored him, set out from Syria, but ended his life in Cilicia.

For he had no helper, since he had not kept undefiled the heritage of his father's piety which his father had left to him.

For this reason he bitterly bewailed the alteration of the faith.

The chapters of Book Three. 1.

On the reign of Julian

That though he was brought up in piety from childhood, he ran aground on impiety

How at first he concealed his impiety, but later laid it bare

On the return of the bishops

On the ordination of Paulinus

That it was not out of benevolence, but because he was struck by envy, that he did not openly put the pious to death

How many and what sort of things the Greeks, having received authority from him, dared against the Christians

What laws he enacted against the Christians

On the fourth exile and flight of Saint Athanasius

On Theodore the Confessor

On the confiscation of the sacred treasures and the withdrawal of the grain allowances

The affairs concerning Julian, his uncle

On the martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus

Concerning Valentinian, who later became emperor.

Concerning the other confessors.

Concerning Publia the deaconess, and her godly boldness.

The events concerning the Jews, their undertaking to rebuild the temple, and the God-sent plagues brought upon them.

Concerning the campaign against the Persians.

Concerning the boldness of the councillor of Beroea.

Concerning the prediction of the tutor.

Concerning the prophecy of the holy monk Julian.

Concerning the slaying of the emperor Julian, which took place in Persia.

Concerning the sorcery discovered at Carrhae after his death.

Concerning the heads found in the palace at Antioch.

Concerning the public dance held at Antioch, in which the whole populace took part.

Now Julian, as he was crossing from Europe into Asia, learned of the death of Constantius; and taking courage, since he now had no rival, he assumed the imperial power.

Now this man, while still of tender age together with his brother Gallus, and not yet come to adolescence, drank in the milk of pious instruction; and indeed, on becoming a stripling and then a young man, he continued to share in the same teaching.

But fearing Constantius (for he was destroying his kinsmen, being afraid of usurpations), he was admitted into the order of readers, and read aloud the sacred books to the people in the church assemblies.

And he built a shrine of martyrs, but the martyrs did not accept it, foreseeing his turning aside into impiety;

for the foundations, as though imitating the instability of his mind, collapsed before the shrine could be consecrated.

Such, then, were the events of his first and second periods of life.

Now when Constantius, departing for the West (for the war against Magnentius drew him thither), appointed Gallus, who was pious and remained so to the end, as Caesar of the East, Julian dispelled from his soul the fear that had been of benefit to him, and taking a boldness that did him no good, he set his desire upon the imperial sceptre.

For this reason, wandering about Greece, he sought out diviners and oracle-mongers, longing to learn whether he would attain what he desired.