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| Account given by the Great Athanasius of the Death of Arius.
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Chapter XXX.—Account
given by the Great Athanasius of the Death of Arius.
“Arius,1201
| 1201
Cf. Athan. Ep. ad Episc. Ægypt. et Lib. 18, 19; cf.
Athan. Ep. ad Serapion, which treats of the death of
Arius.
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the author of the heresy and the associate of Eusebius, having been
summoned before the most blessed Constantine Augustus, at the
solicitation of the partisans of Eusebius, was desired to give in
writing an exposition of his faith. He drew up this document with great
artfulness, and like the devil, concealed his impious assertions
beneath the simple words of Scripture. The most blessed Constantine
said to him, ‘If you have no other points in mind than these,
render testimony to the truth; for if you perjure yourself, the Lord
will punish you’; and the wretched man swore that he neither held
nor conceived any sentiments except those now specified in the
document, even if he had ever affirmed otherwise; soon after he went
out, and judgment was visited upon him; for he bent forwards and burst
in the middle. With all men the common end of life is death. We must
not blame a man, even if he be an enemy, merely because he died, for it
is uncertain whether we shall live to the evening. But the end of Arius
was so singular that it seems worthy of some remark. The partisans of
Eusebius threatened to reinstate him in the church, and Alexander, bishop of
Constantinople, opposed their intention; Arius placed his confidence in
the power and menaces of Eusebius; for it was the Sabbath, and he
expected the next day to be readmitted. The dispute ran high; the
partisans of Eusebius were loud in their menaces, while Alexander had
recourse to prayer. The Lord was the judge, and declared himself
against the unjust. A little before sunset Arius was compelled by a
want of nature to enter the place appointed for such emergencies, and
here he lost at once both restoration to communion and his life. The
most blessed Constantine was amazed when he heard of this occurrence,
and regarded it as the proof of perjury. It then became evident to
every one that the menaces of Eusebius were absolutely futile, and that
the expectations of Arius were vain. It also became manifest that the
Arian madness could not be fellowshipped by the Saviour both here and
in the church of the Firstborn. Is it not then astonishing that some
are still found who seek to exculpate him whom the Lord condemned, and
to defend that heresy which the Lord proved to be unworthy of
fellowship, by not permitting its author to enter the church? We have
been duly informed that this was the mode of the death of Arius.”
It is said that for a long period subsequently no one would make use of
the seat on which he died. Those who were compelled by necessities of
nature, as is wont to be the case in a crowd, to visit the public
place, when they entered, spoke to one another to avoid the seat, and
the place was shunned afterwards, because Arius had there received the
punishment of his impiety. At a later time a certain rich and powerful
man, who had embraced the Arian tenets, bought the place of the public,
and built a house on the spot, in order that the occurrence might fall
into oblivion, and that there might be no perpetual memorial of the
death of Arius.
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