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| Chapter XXXVI.
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Chapter XXXVI.
Accordingly, they first
attack and condemn in his absence Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, a
holy man, who had been present as deacon at the Synod of Nicæa.
For they added to the charges which false witnesses had heaped up
against him, this one, that, with wicked intentions, he had
received366
| 366 Different periods
and events are here mixed up by our author. | Marcellus and
Photinus, heretical priests who had been condemned by a sentence of the
Synod. Now, it was not doubtful as to Photinus that he had been justly
condemned. But in the case of Marcellus, it seemed that nothing had
then been found worthy of condemnation, and367
| 367 The text is in
utter confusion, and we can only make a probable guess at the
meaning. |
a belief in his innocence was above all strengthened by the
animus of that party, inasmuch as no one doubted that those same
judges were heretical by whom he had been condemned. But the Arians did
not so much desire to get these persons out of the way as Athanasius
himself. Accordingly, they constrain the emperor to go so far as this,
that Athanasius should be sent as an exile into Gaul. But ere long,
eighty bishops, assembling together in Egypt, declare that Athanasius
had been unjustly condemned. The matter is referred to Constantine: he
orders368
| 368 It has been
remarked that Sulpitius is in error in ascribing the summoning of this
council to Constantine the Great, instead of his son Constantine II.
The curious thing is that he should have made a mistake regarding an
event so near his own time. | bishops from the whole world to
assemble at Sardes, and that the entire process by which Athanasius had
been condemned, should be reconsidered by the council. In the meantime,
Constantine dies, but the Synod, called together while he was yet
emperor, acquits Athanasius. Marcellus, too, is restored to his
bishopric, but the sentence on Photinus, bishop of Sirmion, was not
rescinded; for even369
| 369 “qui etiam
nostrorum judicio hæreticus probatur.” | in the judgment
of our friends, he is regarded as a heretic. However, even this result
chagrined Marcellus, because Photinus was known to have been his
disciple in his youth. But this, too, tended to secure an acquittal for
Athanasius, that Ursatius and Valens, leading men among the Arians,
when they were openly separated from the communion of the Church after
the Synod at Sardes, entering into the presence of Julius, bishop of
Rome, asked pardon of him for having condemned the innocent, and
publicly declared that he had been justly acquitted by the decree of
the Council of Sardes.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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