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| Successors of Theodosius the Great. Rufinus, the Prætorian Prefect, is Slain. The Chief Priests of the Principal Cities. Differences among the Heretics. Account of Sisinius, Bishop of the Novatians.
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Book VIII.
Chapter I.—Successors
of Theodosius the Great. Rufinus, the Prætorian Prefect, is Slain.
The Chief Priests of the Principal Cities. Differences among the
Heretics. Account of Sisinius, Bishop of the Novatians.
Such was the death of
Theodosius, who had contributed so efficiently to the aggrandizement of
the Church.1578
| 1578Soc. v. 26; vi. 1, 22; Philost. xi. 3; Theodoret,
H. E. v. 26.
|
He expired in the sixtieth year of his age, and the sixteenth of his
reign. He left his two sons as his successors. Arcadius, the elder,
reigned in the East, and Honorius in the West. They both held the same
religious sentiments as their father.
Damasus was dead; and at this period Siricius was the
leader of the church of Rome; Nectarius, of the church in
Constantinople; Theophilus, over the church of Alexandria; Flavian,
over the church of Antioch; and John, over that of Jerusalem. Armenia
and the Eastern provinces were at this time overrun by the barbarian
Huns.1579
| 1579Claudianus, in Rufinum, lib. ii.; Hieron.
Ep. lxxvii. ad Oceanum, de morte Fabiolæ, 8; Eunap.
Fragm. ii. 52.
|
Rufinus, prefect of the East, was suspected of having clandestinely
invited them to devastate the Roman territories, in furtherance of his
own ambitious designs; for he was said to aspire to tyranny. For this
reason, he was soon after slain; for, on the return of the troops from
the conquest of Eugenius, the Emperor Arcadius, according to custom,
went forth from Constantinople to meet them; and the soldiers took this
opportunity to massacre Rufinus. These circumstances tended greatly to
the extension of religion. The emperors attributed to the piety of
their father, the ease with which the tyrant had been vanquished, and
the plot of Rufinus to gain their government arrested; and they readily
confirmed all the laws which had been enacted by their predecessors in
favor of the churches, and bestowed their own gifts in addition. Their
subjects profited by their example, so that even the pagans were
converted without difficulty to Christianity, and the heretics united
themselves to the Catholic Church.
Owing to the disputes which had arisen among the Arians
and Eunomians, and to which I have already alluded, these heretics
daily diminished in number. Many of them, in reflecting upon the
diversity of sentiments which prevailed among those of their own
persuasion, judged that the truth of God could not be present with
them, and went over to those who held the same faith as the
emperors.
The interests of the Macedonians of Constantinople were
materially affected by their possessing no bishop in that juncture;
for, ever since they had been deprived of their churches by Eudoxius,
under the reign of Constantius, they had been governed only by
presbyters, and remained so until the next reign. The Novatians, on the
other hand, although they had been agitated by the controversy
concerning the Passover, which was an innovation made by Sabbatius, yet
the most of them remained in quiet possession of their churches, and
had not been molested by any of the punishments or laws enacted against
other heretics, because they maintained that the Three Persons of the
Trinity are of the same substance. The virtue of their leaders also
tended greatly to the maintenance of concord among them. After the
presidency of Agelius they were governed by Marcian, a good man; and on
his decease,1580
| 1580i.e. Nov. 27, 395 a.d.
|
a little while before the time now under consideration, the bishopric
devolved upon Sisinius,1581
| 1581Soc. vi. 22. Soz. is careful to omit the joke on
John Chrysostom.
|
a very eloquent man, well versed in the doctrines of philosophy and of
the Holy Scriptures, and so expert in disputation that even Eunomius,
who was well approved in this art and effective in this work, often
refused to hold debates with him. His course of life was prudent and
above the reach of calumny; yet he indulged in luxury, and even in
superfluities; so that those who knew him not were incredulous as to
whether he could remain temperate in the midst of so much abundance.
His manners were gracious and suave in assemblies, and on this account
he was esteemed by the bishops of the Catholic Church, by the rulers,
and by the learned. His jests were replete with good nature, and he
could bear ridicule without manifesting the least resentment. He was
very prompt and witty in his rejoinders. Being once asked wherefore, as
he was bishop, he bathed twice daily, he replied, “Because I do
not bathe thrice.” On another occasion, being ridiculed by a
member of the Catholic Church
because he dressed in white, he asked where it was commanded that he
should dress in black; and, as the other hesitated for a reply, he
continued, “You can give no argument in support of your position;
but I refer you to Solomon, the wisest of men, who says, ‘Let
your garments be always white.’ Moreover Christ is described in
the Gospel as having appeared in white, and Moses and Elias manifested
themselves to the apostles in robes of white.” It appears to me
that the following reply was also very ingenious. Leontius, bishop of
Ancyra, in Galatia, settled in Constantinople after he had deprived the
Novatians in his province of their churches. Sisinius went to him to
request that the churches might be restored; but far from yielding
compliance, he reviled the Novatians, and said that they were not
worthy of holding churches, because, by abolishing the observance of
penance, they intercepted the philanthropy of God. To this Sisinius
replied, “No one does penance as I do.” Leontius asked him
in what way he did penance. “In coming to see you,”
retorted Sisinius. Many other witty speeches are attributed to him, and
he is even said to have written several works with some elegance. But
his discourses obtained greater applause than his writings, since he
was best at declamation, and was capable of attracting the hearer by
his voice and look and pleasing countenance. This brief description may
serve as a proof of the disposition and mode of life of this great
man.
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