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| Arian Persecution Under Constantine.
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History of the Arians.
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Part I.
Arian Persecution Under
Constantine.
And not long after they
put in execution the designs for the sake of which they had had
recourse to these artifices; for they no sooner had formed their plans,
but they immediately admitted Arius and his fellows to communion. They
set aside the repeated condemnations which had been passed upon them,
and again pretended the imperial authority1514
in
their behalf. And they were not ashamed to say in their letters,
‘since Athanasius suffered, all jealousy1515
has ceased, and let us henceforward receive Arius and his
fellows;’ adding, in order to frighten their hearers,
‘because the Emperor has commanded it.’ Moreover, they were
not ashamed to add, ‘for these men profess orthodox
opinions;’ not fearing that which is written, ‘Woe unto
them that call bitter sweet, that put darkness for light1516
;’ for they are ready to undertake
anything in support of their heresy. Now is it not hereby plainly
proved to all men, that we both suffered heretofore, and that you now
persecute us, not under the authority of an Ecclesiastical sentence1517
, but on the ground of the Emperor’s
threats, and on account of our piety towards Christ? As also they
conspired in like manner against other Bishops, fabricating charges
against them also; some of whom fell asleep in the place of their
exile, having attained the glory of Christian confession; and others
are still banished from their country, and contend still more and more
manfully against their heresy, saying, ‘Nothing shall separate us
from the love of Christ1518
?’
2. Arians sacrifice morality and integrity to
party.
And hence also you may discern its character, and
be able to condemn it more confidently. The man who is their friend and
their associate in impiety, although he is open to ten thousand charges
for other enormities which he has committed; although the evidence and
proof against him are most clear; he is approved of by them, and
straightway becomes the friend of the Emperor, obtaining an
introduction by his impiety; and making very many pretences, he
acquires confidence before the magistrates to do whatever he desires.
But he who exposes their impiety, and honestly advocates the cause of
Christ, though he is pure in all things, though he is conscious of no
delinquencies, though he meets with no accuser; yet on the false
pretences which they have framed against him, is immediately seized and
sent into banishment under a sentence of the Emperor, as if he were
guilty of the crimes which they wish to charge upon him, or as if, like
Naboth, he had insulted the King; while he who advocates the cause of
their heresy is sought for and immediately sent to take possession of
the other’s Church; and henceforth confiscations and insults, and
all kinds of cruelty are exercised against those who do not receive
him. And what is the strangest of all, the man whom the people desire,
and know to be blameless1519
, the Emperor takes
away and banishes; but him whom they neither desire, nor know, he sends
to them from a distant place with soldiers and letters from himself.
And henceforward a strong necessity is laid upon them, either to hate
him whom they love; who has been their teacher, and their father in
godliness; and to love him whom they do not desire, and to trust their
children to one of whose life and conversation and character they are
ignorant; or else certainly to suffer punishment, if they disobey the
Emperor.
3.
Recklessness of their proceedings.
In this manner the impious are now proceeding, as
heretofore, against the orthodox; giving proof of their malice and
impiety amongst all men everywhere. For granting that they have accused
Athanasius; yet what have the other Bishops done? On what grounds can
they charge them? Has there been found in their case too the dead body
of an Arsenius? Is there a Presbyter Macarius, or has a cup been broken
amongst them? Is there a Meletian to play the hypocrite? No: but as
their proceedings against the other Bishops shew the charges which they
have brought against Athanasius, in all probability, to be false; so
their attacks upon Athanasius make it plain, that their accusations of
the other Bishops are unfounded likewise. This heresy has come forth
upon the earth like some great monster, which not only injures the
innocent with its words, as with teeth1520
;
but it has also hired external power to assist it in its designs. And
strange it is that, as I said before, no accusation is brought against
any of them; or if any be accused, he is not brought to trial; or if a
shew of enquiry be made, he is acquitted against evidence, while the
convicting party is plotted against, rather than the culprit put to
shame. Thus the whole party of them is full of idleness; and their
spies, for Bishops1521
| 1521 Cf.
§49. [The play on words cannot be rendered.] | they are not, are
the vilest of them all. And if any one among them desire to become a
Bishop, he is not told, ‘a Bishop must be blameless1522
;’ but only, ‘Take up opinions
contrary to Christ, and care not for manners. This will be sufficient
to obtain favour for you, and friendship with the Emperor.’ Such
is the character of those who support the tenets of Arius. And they who
are zealous for the truth, however holy and pure they shew themselves,
are yet, as I said before, made culprits, whenever these men choose,
and on whatever pretences it may seem good to them to invent. The truth
of this, as I before remarked, you may clearly gather from their
proceedings.
4. Arians persecute Eustathius and
others.
There was one Eustathius1523
| 1523 Apol. Fug. 3, note 9. | ,
Bishop of Antioch, a Confessor, and sound in the Faith. This man,
because he was very zealous for the truth, and hated the Arian heresy,
and would not receive those who adopted its tenets, is falsely accused
before the Emperor Constantine, and a charge invented against him, that
he had insulted his mother1524
| 1524 If
the common slander of the day concerning S. Helena was imputed to S.
Eustathius, Constantine was likely to feel it keenly.
‘Stabulariam,’ says S. Ambrose, ‘hanc primo fuisse
asserunt, sic cognitam Constantio.’ de Ob. Theod. 42,
Stabularia, i.e. an innkeeper; so Rahab is sometimes considered to be
‘cauponaria sive tabernaria et meretrix,’ Cornel. à
Lap. in Jos. ii. 1. ἐξ
ὁμιλιας
γυναικὸς οὐ
σεμνῆς ουδὲ
κατὰ νόμον
συνελθούσης. Zosim, Hist. ii. p. 78. Constantinus ex concubina
Helena procreatus. Hieron. in Chron. Euseb. p. 773. (ed.
Vallars.) Tillemont however maintains (Empereurs, t. 4. p. 613),
and Gibbon fully admits (Hist. ch. 14. p. 190), the legitimacy
of Constantine. The latter adds, ‘Eutropius (x. 2.) expresses in
a few words the real truth, and the occasion of the error, “ex
obscuriori matrimonio ejus filius.”’ [Cf.
Soz. ii. 19.] | . And immediately he
is driven into banishment, and a great number of Presbyters and Deacons
with him. And immediately after the banishment of the Bishop, those
whom he would not admit into the clerical order on account of their
impiety were not only received into the Church by them, but were even
appointed the greater part of them to be Bishops, in order that they
might have accomplices in their impiety. Among these was Leontius the
eunuch1525
, now of Antioch, and his predecessor
Stephanus, George of Laodicea, and Theodosius who was of Tripolis,
Eudoxius of Germanicia, and Eustathius1526
,
now of Sebastia.
5. Did they then stop here? No. For Eutropius1527
, who was Bishop of Adrianople, a good man,
and excellent in all respects, because he had often convicted Eusebius,
and had advised them who came that way, not to comply with his impious
dictates, suffered the same treatment as Eustathius, and was cast out
of his city and his Church. Basilina1528
was the most
active in the proceedings against him. And Euphration of Balanea,
Kymatius of Paltus, Carterius of Antaradus1529
| 1529 [The
text must be corrected thus; see Apol. Fug. 3.] | ,
Asclepas of Gaza, Cyrus of Berœa in Syria, Diodorus of Asia,
Domnion of Sirmium, and Ellanicus of Tripolis, were merely known to
hate the heresy; and some of them on one pretence or another, some
without any, they removed under the authority of royal letters, drove
them out of their cities, and appointed others whom they knew to be
impious men, to occupy the Churches in their stead.
6. Case of Marcellus.
Of Marcellus1530
, the Bishop of
Galatia, it is perhaps superfluous for me to speak; for all men have
heard how Eusebius and his fellows, who had been first accused by him
of impiety, brought a counter-accusation against him, and caused the
old man to be banished. He went up to Rome, and there made his defence,
and being required by them, he offered a written declaration of his
faith, of which the Council of Sardica approved. But Eusebius and his
fellows made no defence, nor, when they were convicted of impiety out
of their writings, were they put to shame, but rather assumed greater
boldness against all. For they had
an introduction to the Emperor from the women1531
| 1531 i.e.
Constantia, Constantine’s sister. | ,
and were formidable to all men.
7. Martyrdom of Paul of
Constantinople.
And I suppose no one is ignorant of the case of
Paul1532
| 1532 Ap. Fug. 3. For the presence of Ath. at CP. in 337, see
Prolegg. ii. §5 fin.] | , Bishop of Constantinople; for the more
illustrious any city is, so much the more that which takes place in it
is not concealed. A charge was fabricated against him also. For
Macedonius his accuser, who has now become Bishop in his stead (I was
present myself at the accusation), afterwards held communion with him,
and was a Presbyter under Paul himself. And yet when Eusebius with an
evil eye wished to seize upon the Bishopric of that city (he had been
translated in the same manner from Berytus to Nicomedia), the charge
was revived against Paul; and they did not give up their plot, but
persisted in the calumny. And he was banished first into Pontus by
Constantine, and a second time by Constantius he was sent bound with
iron chains to Singara in Mesopotamia, and from thence transferred to
Emesa, and a fourth time he was banished to Cucusus in Cappadocia, near
the deserts of Mount Taurus; where, as those who were with him have
declared, he died by strangulation at their hands. And yet these men
who never speak the truth, though guilty of this, were not ashamed
after his death to invent another story, representing that he had died
from illness; although all who live in that place know the
circumstances. And even Philagrius1533
| 1533 [Cf.
Prolegg. ch. ii. §6 (1) note 3.] | , who was then
Deputy-Governor1534
| 1534 Vicarius, i.e. ‘vicarius Præfecti, agens vicem
Præfecti;’ Gothofred in Cod. Theod. i. tit. 6. vid.
their office, &c., drawn out at length, ibid. t. 6, p.
334. | of those parts, and
represented all their proceedings in such manner as they desired, was
yet astonished at this; and being grieved perhaps that another, and not
himself, had done the evil deed, he informed Serapion the Bishop, as
well as many other of our friends, that Paul was shut up by them in a
very confined and dark place, and left to perish of hunger; and when
after six days they went in and found him still alive, they immediately
set upon the man, and strangled him. This was the end of his life; and
they said that Philip who was Prefect was their agent in the
perpetration of this murder. Divine Justice, however, did not overlook
this; for not a year passed, when Philip was deprived of his office in
great disgrace, so that being reduced to a private station, he became
the mockery of those whom he least desired to be the witnesses of his
fall. For in extreme distress of mind, groaning and trembling like
Cain1535
, and expecting every day that some one would
destroy him, far from his country and his friends, he died, like one
astounded at his misfortunes, in a manner that he least desired.
Moreover these men spare not even after death those against whom they
have invented charges whilst living. They are so eager to shew
themselves formidable to all, that they banish the living, and shew no
mercy on the dead; but alone of all the world they manifest their
hatred to them that are departed, and conspire against their friends,
truly inhuman as they are, and haters of that which is good, savage in
temper beyond mere enemies, in behalf of their impiety, who eagerly
plot the ruin of me and of all the rest, with no regard to truth, but
by false charges.
8. Restoration of the Catholics.
Perceiving this to be the case, the three
brothers, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, caused all after the
death of their father to return to their own country and Church; and
while they wrote letters concerning the rest to their respective
Churches, concerning Athanasius they wrote the following; which
likewise shews the violence of the whole proceedings, and proves the
murderous disposition of Eusebius and his fellows.
A copy of the Letter of Constantine Cæsar to
the people of the Catholic Church in the city of the Alexandrians.
I suppose that it has not escaped the knowledge
of your pious minds1536
| 1536 Given
above, Apol. contr. Arian. §87. | , &c.
This is his letter; and what more credible
witness of their conspiracy could there be than he, who knowing these
circumstances has thus written of them? E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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