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| Council of Milan.
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Chapter XII.—Council of Milan.
After the death of Constans, Magnentius assumed the chief authority over
the Western empire; and, to repress his usurpation, Constantius
repaired to Europe. But this war, severe as it was, did not put an end
to the war against the Church. Constantius, who had embraced Arian
tenets and readily yielded to the influence of others, was persuaded to
convoke a council at Milan517
| 517 Athanasius was condemned at Arles (353) as well as at Milan in
355. At the latter place Constantius affected more than his
father’s infallibility, and exclaimed, “What I will, be
that a Canon.” Ath. Hist. Ar. §33. | , a city of Italy,
and first to compel all the assembled bishops to sign the deposition
enacted by the iniquitous judges at Tyre; and then, since Athanasius
had been expelled from the Church, to draw up another confession of
faith. The bishops assembled in council on the receipt of the imperial
letter, but they were far from acting according to its directions. On
the contrary, they told the emperor to his face that what he had
commanded was unjust and impious. For this act of courage they were
expelled from the Church, and relegated to the furthest boundaries of
the empire.
The admirable Athanasius thus
mentions this circumstance in his Apology518
| 518 Apol. de fug. §4 and
§5. | :—“Who,” he writes,
“can narrate such atrocities as they have perpetrated? A short
time ago when the Churches were in the enjoyment of peace, and when the
people were assembled for prayer, Liberius519
| 519 For
the persecution and vacillation of Liberius, “one of the few
Popes that can be charged with heresy” (Principal Barmby in
Dict. Christ. Biog. s.v.), see also Ath. Hist. Ar.
§35 et seqq. | ,
bishop of Rome, Paulinus, bishop of the metropolis of Gaul520
| 520 Treves.
Dionysius was the successor of St. Maximinus and a firm champion of
orthodoxy. Cf. Sulp. Sev. II. 52. | , Dionysius, bishop of the metropolis of
Italy521
| 521 Milan.
Paulinus was banished to Cappadocia. | , Luciferus, bishop of the metropolis of the
Isles of Sardinia522
| 522 Calaris (Cagliari). Luciferus, a vehement defender of Athanasius,
was banished to Eleutheropolis in Palestine. Mr. Ll. Davies (Dict.
Christ. Biog. s.v.), thinks the traditional story of the
imprisonment of Luciferus at Milan, to prevent his outspoken advocacy
of Athanasius, shews internal evidence of probability. | , and Eusebius,
bishop of one of the cities of Italy523
| 523 Eusebius, bishop of Vercellæ (Vercelli), was a staunch
Athanasian. He was banished to Scythopolis, where the bishop
Patrophilus (cf. Book I. chapter VI. and XX.), a leading Arian, was, he
says, his “jailer.” (Vide his letters.) | , who were all
exemplary bishops and preachers of the truth, were seized and driven
into exile, for no other cause than because they could not assent to
the Arian heresy, nor sign the false accusation which had been framed
against us. It is unnecessary that I should speak of the great Hosius,
that aged524
| 524 The
epithet εὐγηρότατος
felicitously describes the honoured old age of the
bishop of Cordova—he was now a hundred years old (Hist.
Ar. §45)—before his pitiable lapse. He was sent to
Sirmium (Mitrovitz). | and faithful confessor of the faith,
for every one knows that he also was sent into banishment. Of all the
bishops he is the most illustrious. What council can be mentioned in
which he did not preside, and convince all present by the power of his
reasoning? What Church does not still retain the glorious memorials of
his protection? Did any one ever go to him sorrowing, and not leave him
rejoicing? Who ever asked his aid, and did not obtain all that he
desired? Yet they had the boldness to attack this great man, simply
because, from his knowledge of the impiety of their calumnies, he
refused to affix his signature to their artful accusations against
us.”
From the above narrative will be
seen the violence of the Arians against these holy men. Athanasius also
gives in the same book an account of the numerous plots formed by
the chiefs
of the Arian faction against many others:—“Did any
one,” said he, “whom they persecuted and got into their
power ever escape from them without suffering what injuries they
pleased to inflict? Was any one who was an object of their search found
by them whom they did not subject to the most agonizing death, or else
to the mutilation of all his limbs? The sentences inflicted by the
judges are all attributable to these heretics; for the judges are but
the agents of their will, and of their malice. Where is there a place
which contains no memorial of their atrocities? If any one ever
differed from them in opinion, did they not, like Jezebel, falsely
accuse and oppress him? Where is there a church which has not been
plunged in sorrow by their plots against its bishop? Antioch has to
mourn the loss of Eustathius, the faithful and the orthodox525
| 525 Cf.
Book I. Chap. 20. | . Balaneæ weeps for Euphration526
| 526 Euphration is mentioned also in Hist. Ar. §5.
Balaneæ is now Banias on the coast of Syria. | ; Paltus527
| 527 Now
Boldo, a little to the N. of Banias. | and
Antaradus528
| 528 In
Phœnicia, now Tortosa. | for Cymatius and Carterius.
Adrianople has been called to deplore the loss of the well-beloved
Eutropius529
| 529 “A good and excellent man,” Ath. Hist. Ar.
§5. | , and of Lucius his successor, who was
repeatedly loaded with chains, and expired beneath their weight530
. Ancyra, Berœa, and Gaza had to mourn
the absence of Marcellus531
| 531 On
the question of the orthodoxy of Marcellus of Ancyra (Angora), vide the
conflicting opinions of Bp Lightfoot (Dict. Christ. Biog. ii.
342), and Mr. Ffoulkes (id. iii. 810). Ath. (Apol. contra Ar.
§47) says of the Council of Sardica, “The book of our
brother Marcellus was also read, by which the frauds of the Eusebians
were plainly discovered…his faith was found to be correct,”
cf. p. 67, note. | , Cyrus532
| 532 The
successor of Eustathius at Berœa, cf. p. 41, note 65. Socrates
says the statement that Cyrus accused Eustathius of Sabellianism is an
Arian calumny (Soc. i. 24; ii. 9). | and Asclepas533
| 533 Asclepas or Æsculapius was at Tyre (p. 62), and was deposed
on the charge of overturning an altar, ὡς θυσιαστηριον
ἀνατρέψας (Soz. iii. 8). | ,
who, after having suffered much ill-treatment from this deceitful sect,
were driven into exile. Messengers were sent in quest of Theodulus534
and Olympius535
| 535 Bishop of Ænos in Thrace, now Enos. (Hist. Ar.
§19.) Here was shown the tomb of Polydorus. Plin. 4, 11, 18.
Virgil (Æn. iii. 18) makes Æneas call it Æneadæ,
but see Conington’s note. | ,
bishops of Thrace, as well as of me and of the presbyters of my
diocese; and had they found us, we should no doubt have been put to
death. But at the very time that they were planning our destruction we
effected our escape, although they had sent letters to Donatus, the
proconsul, against Olympius, and to Philagrius536
| 536 Philagrius was præfect of Egypt a.d.
335–340. Ath. (Ep. Encyc.) calls him “a persecutor
of the Church and her virgins, an apostate of bad
character.” | ,
against me.”
Such were the audacious acts of
this impious faction against the most holy Christians. Hosius was the
bishop of Cordova, and was the most highly distinguished of all those
who assembled at the council of Nicæa; he also obtained the first
place among those convened at Sardica.
I now desire to insert in my
history an account of the admirable arguments addressed by the
far-famed Liberius, in defence of the truth, to the emperor
Constantius. They are recorded by some of the pious men of that period
in order to stimulate others to the exercise of similar zeal in divine
things. Liberius had succeeded Julius, the successor of Silvester, in
the government of the church of Rome. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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