Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople; his Refusal to receive Arius into Communion; Arius is burst asunder while seeking Natural Relief.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter
XXIX.—Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople; his Refusal
to receive Arius into Communion; Arius is burst asunder while seeking
Natural Relief.
After the Synod of Jerusalem,
Arius went to Egypt,1200
| 1200Ruf. H. E. i. 12, 13; Soc. i. 37, 38; Athan.
Ep. ad Serapion, and ad Episcop. Ægypt. et Lib. 19.
Soz. follows Athan. and Ruf. Athan. says he derived his statements from
Macarius, a presbyter, an eye-witness of some of the events narrated in
this chapter and the next.
|
but as he could not obtain permission to hold communion with the Church
of Alexandria, he returned to Constantinople. As all those who had
embraced his sentiments, and those who were attached to Eusebius,
bishop of Nicomedia, had assembled cunningly in that city for the
purpose of holding a council, Alexander, who was then ordering the see
of Constantinople, used every effort to dissolve the council. But as
his endeavors were frustrated, he openly refused all covenant with
Arius, affirming that it was neither just nor according to
ecclesiastical canons, to make powerless their own vote, and that of
those bishops who had been assembled at Nicæa, from nearly every
region under the sun. When the partisans of Eusebius perceived that
their arguments produced no effect on Alexander, they had recourse to
contumely, and threatened that unless he would receive Arius into
communion on a stated day, he should be expelled from the church, and
that another should be elected in his place who would be willing to
hold communion with Arius. They then separated, the partisans of
Eusebius, to await the time they had fixed for carrying their menaces
into execution, and Alexander to pray that the words of Eusebius might
be prevented from being carried into deed. His chief source of fear
arose from the fact that the emperor had been persuaded to give way. On
the day before the appointed day he prostrated himself before the
altar, and continued all the night in prayer to God, that his enemies
might be prevented from carrying their schemes into execution against
him. Late in the afternoon, Arius, being seized suddenly with pain in
the stomach, was compelled to repair to the public place set apart for
emergencies of this nature. As some time passed away without his coming
out, some persons, who were waiting for him outside, entered, and found
him dead and still sitting upon the seat. When his death became known,
all people did not view the occurrence under the same aspect. Some
believed that he died at that very hour, seized by a sudden disease of
the heart, or suffering weakness from his joy over the fact that his
matters were falling out according to his mind; others imagined that
this mode of death was inflicted on him in judgment, on account of his
impiety. Those who held his sentiments were of opinion that his death
was brought about by magical arts. It will not be out of place to quote
what Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, stated on the subject. The
following is his narrative:—
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
