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| Cruelty of Macedonius, and Tumults raised by him.
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Chapter
XXXVIII.—Cruelty of Macedonius, and Tumults raised by
him.
The bishops of the Arian party
began to assume greater assurance from the imperial edicts. In what
manner they undertook to convene a Synod, we will explain somewhat
later. Let us now briefly mention a few of their previous acts. Acacius
and Patrophilus having ejected Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, installed
Cyril in his see. Macedonius subverted the order of things in the
cities and provinces adjacent to Constantinople, promoting to
ecclesiastical honors his assistants in his intrigues against the
churches.412
| 412From this place it plainly appears, as Valesius
remarks, that the authority of the see of Constantinople was
acknowledged, even before the council of Constantinople, throughout the
region of the Hellespont and Bithynia, which conclusion is also
confirmed by the acts of Eudoxius, bishop of Constantinople, who made
Eunomius bishop of Cyzicus. Two causes co-operated to secure this
authority, viz. (1) the official establishment of the city as the
capital of the empire by Constantine, and (2) the transference to it of
Eusebius of Nicomedia, a most vigorous and aggressive bishop, who
missed no opportunity for enlarging and consolidating the power of his
see.
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He ordained Eleusius bishop of
Cyzicus, and Marathonius, bishop of Nicomedia: the latter had before
been a deacon under Macedonius himself, and proved very active in
founding monasteries both of men and women. But we must now mention in
what way Macedonius desolated the churches in the cities and provinces
around Constantinople. This man, as I have already said,413
having seized the bishopric, inflicted innumerable calamities on such
as were unwilling to adopt his views. His persecutions were not
confined to those who were recognized as members of the catholic
church, but extended to the Novatians also, inasmuch as he knew that
they maintained the doctrine of the homoousion; they therefore
with the others underwent the most intolerable sufferings, but their
bishop, Angelius by name, effected his escape by flight. Many persons
eminent for their piety were seized and tortured, because they refused
to communicate with him: and after the torture, they forcibly
constrained the men to be partakers of the holy mysteries, their mouths
being forced open with a piece of wood, and then the consecrated
elements thrust into them. Those who were so treated regarded this as a
punishment far more grievous than all others. Moreover they laid hold
of women and children, and compelled them to be initiated [by baptism];
and if any one resisted or otherwise spoke against it, stripes
immediately followed, and after the stripes, bonds and imprisonment,
and other violent measures. I shall here relate an instance or two
whereby the reader may form some idea of the extent of the harshness
and cruelty exercised by Macedonius and those who were then in power.
They first pressed in a box, and then sawed off, the breasts of such
women as were unwilling to communicate with them. The same parts of the
persons. of other women they burnt partly with iron, and partly with
eggs intensely heated in the fire. This mode of torture which was
unknown even among the heathen, was invented by those who professed to
be Christians. These facts were related to me by the aged Auxanon, the
presbyter in the Novatian church of whom I spoke in the first book.414
He said also that he had himself endured not a few severities from the
Arians, prior to his reaching the dignity of presbyter; having been
thrown into prison and beaten with many stripes, together with
Alexander the Paphlagonian, his companion in the monastic life. He
added that he had himself been able to sustain these tortures, but that
Alexander died in prison from the effects of their infliction. He is
now buried on the right of those sailing into the bay of Constantinople
which is called Ceras, close by the rivers, where there is a church of
the Novatians named after Alexander. Moreover the Arians, at the
instigation of Macedonius, demolished with many other churches in
various cities, that of the Novatians at Constantinople near Pelargus.
Why I particularly mention this church, will be seen from the
extraordinary circumstances connected with it, as testified by the same
aged Auxanon. The emperor’s edict and the violence of Macedonius
had doomed to destruction the churches of those who maintained the
doctrine of consubstantiality; the decree and violence reached this
church, and those also who were charged with the execution of the
mandate were at hand to carry it into effect. I cannot but admire the
zeal displayed by the Novatians on this occasion, as well as the
sympathy they experienced from those whom the Arians at that time
ejected, but who are now in peaceful possession of their churches. For
when the emissaries of their enemies were urgent to accomplish its
destruction, an immense multitude of Novatians, aided by numbers of
others who held similar sentiments, having assembled around this
devoted church, pulled it down, and conveyed the materials of it to
another place: this place stands opposite the city, and is called
Sycæ, and forms the thirteenth ward of the town of Constantinople.
This removal was effected in a very short time, from the extraordinary
ardor of the numerous persons engaged in it: one carried tiles, another
stones, a third timber; some loading themselves with one thing, and
some with another. Even women and children assisted in the work,
regarding it as the realization of their best wishes, and esteeming it
the greatest honor to be accounted the faithful guardians of things
consecrated to God. In this way at that time was the church of the
Novatians transported to Sycæ. Long afterwards when Constantius
was dead, the emperor Julian ordered its former site to be restored,
and permitted them to rebuild it there. The people therefore, as
before, having carried back the materials, reared the church in its
former position; and from this circumstance, and its great improvement
in structure and ornament, they not inappropriately called it
Anastasia. The church as we before said was restored afterwards
in the reign of Julian. But at that time both the Catholics and the
Novatians were alike subjected to persecution: for the former
abominated offering their devotions in those churches in which the
Arians assembled, but frequented the other three415
| 415According to Valesius it appears incredible that the
Catholics should have done what Socrates says they did. ‘For
there is nothing more contrary to ecclesiastical discipline than to
communicate with heretics either in the sacraments or in prayer.’
Hence ‘Socrates was probably imposed upon by the aged Auxano, who
fixed upon all the Catholics what was perhaps done by some few
Christians who were less cautious.’ But Socrates’ own
attitude towards the Novatians (cf. Introd. p. x.) shows that the
difference between them and the Catholics (οἱ τῆς
ἐκκλησίας) was
not universally regarded as an absolute schism forbidding communication
even during such times of trial as these described here, which might
certainly have drawn together parties already as near to one another as
the Novatians and Catholics.
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—for this is the number of the churches which the Novatians have in the
city—and engaged in divine service with them. Indeed they would
have been wholly united, had not the Novatians refused from regard to
their ancient precepts. In other respects however, they mutually
maintained such a degree of cordiality and affection, as to be ready to
lay down their lives for one another: both parties were therefore
persecuted indiscriminately, not only at Constantinople, but also in
other provinces and cities. At Cyzicus, Eleusius, the bishop of that
place, perpetrated the same kind of enormities against the Christians
there, as Macedonius had done elsewhere, harassing and putting them to
flight in all directions and [among other things] he completely
demolished the church of the Novatians at Cyzicus. But Macedonius
consummated his wickedness in the following manner. Hearing that there
was a great number of the Novatian sect in the province of Paphlagonia,
and especially at Mantinium, and perceiving that such a numerous body
could not be driven from their homes by ecclesiastics alone, he caused,
by the emperor’s permission, four companies of soldiers to be
sent into Paphlagonia, that through dread of the military they might
receive the Arian opinion. But those who inhabited Mantinium, animated
to desperation by zeal for their religion, armed themselves with long
reap-hooks, hatchets, and whatever weapon came to hand, and went forth
to meet the troops; on which a conflict ensuing, many indeed of the
Paphlagonians were slain, but nearly all the soldiers were destroyed. I
learnt these things from a Paphlagonian peasant who said that he was
present at the engagement; and many others of that province corroborate
this account. Such were the exploits of Macedonius on behalf of
Christianity, consisting of murders, battles, incarcerations, and civil
wars: proceedings which rendered him odious not only to the objects of
his persecution, but even to his own party. He became obnoxious also to
the emperor on these accounts, and particularly so from the
circumstance I am about to relate. The church where the coffin lay that
contained the relics of the emperor Constantine threatened to fall. On
this account those that entered, as well as those who were accustomed
to remain there for devotional purposes, were in much fear. Macedonius,
therefore, wished to remove the emperor’s remains, lest the
coffin should be injured by the ruins. The populace getting
intelligence of this, endeavored to prevent it, insisting ‘that
the emperor’s bones should not be disturbed, as such a
disinterment would be equivalent, to their being dug up’: many
however affirmed that its removal could not possibly injure the dead
body, and thus two parties were formed on this question; such as held
the doctrine of consubstantiality joining with those who opposed it on
the ground of its impiety. Macedonius, in total disregard of these
prejudices, caused the emperor’s remains to be transported to the
church where those of the martyr Acacius lay. Whereupon a vast
multitude rushed toward that edifice in two hostile divisions, which
attacked one another with great fury, and great loss of life was
occasioned, so that the churchyard was covered with gore, and the well
also which was in it overflowed with blood, which ran into the adjacent
portico, and thence even into the very street. When the emperor was
informed of this unfortunate occurrence, he was highly incensed against
Macedonius, both on account of the slaughter which he had occasioned,
and because he had dared to move his father’s body without
consulting him. Having therefore left the Cæsar Julian to take
care of the western parts, he himself set out for the east. How
Macedonius was a short time afterwards deposed, and thus suffered a
most inadequate punishment for his infamous crimes, I shall hereafter
relate.416
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