The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret
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Translated with Notes by the Rev. Blomfield Jackson, M.A.
Vicar of St. Bartholomew's, Moor Lane, and Fellow of King's College,
London.
Under the editorial supervision of Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D.,
Professor of Church History in the Union Theological Semimary, New York,
and Henry Wace, D.D., Principal of King's College, London
Published in 1892 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Book IV.
Chapter I.--Of the reign and piety of Jovianus
After Julian was slain the generals and prefects met in council and
deliberated who ought to succeed to the imperial power and effect both
the salvation of the army in the campaign, and the recovery of the
fortunes of Rome, now, by the rashness of the deceased Emperor, placed
to use the common saying, on the razor edge of peril. [665] But while
the chiefs were in deliberation the troops met together and demanded
Jovianus for emperor, though he was neither a general nor in the next
highest rank; a man however remarkably distinguished, and for many
reasons well known. His stature was great; his soul lofty. In war, and
in grave struggles it was his wont to be first. Against impiety he
delivered himself courageously with no fear of the tyrant's power, but
with a zeal that ranked him among the martyrs of Christ. So the
generals accepted the unanimous vote of the soldiers as a divine
election. The brave man was led forward and placed upon a raised
platform hastily constructed. The host saluted him with the imperial
titles, calling him Augustus and Cæsar. With his usual bluntness, and
fearless alike in the presence of the commanding officers and in view
of the recent apostasy of the troops, Jovianus admirably said "I am a
Christian. I cannot govern men like these. I cannot command Julian's
army trained as it is in vicious discipline. Men like these, stripped
of the covering of the providence of God, will fall an easy and
ridiculous prey to the foe." On hearing this the troops shouted with
one voice, "Hesitate not, O emperor; think it not a vile thing to
command us. You shall reign over Christians nurtured in the training
of truth; our veterans were taught in the school of Constantine
himself; younger men among us were taught by Constantius. This dead
man's empire lasted but a few years, all too few to stamp its brand
even on those whom it deceived." [666]
Footnotes
[665] The common proverbial saying, from Homer downwards; epi xurou
histatai akmes holethros ee bionai. Il. 10. 173.
[666] Jovianus, son of Count Varronianus of Singidunum (Belgrade), was
born in 330 or 331 and reigned from June 363 to February 364. His
hasty acceptance by a part of the army may have been due to the
mistake of the sound of "Jovianus Augustus" for that of "Julianus
Augustus" and a belief that Julian survived. "Gentilitate enim prope
perciti nominis, quod una littera discernebat, Julianum recreatum
arbitrati sunt deduci magnis favoribus, ut solebat." Amm. xxv. v. 6.
"Jovian was a brilliant colonel of the guards. In all the army there
was not a goodlier person than he. Julian's purple was too small for
his gigantic limbs. But that stately form was animated by a spirit of
cowardly selfishness. Jovian was also a decided Christian," but "even
the heathen soldiers condemned his low amours and vulgar tippling."
Gwatkin, "Arian Controversy," 119.
Chapter II.--Of the return of Athanasius.
Delighted with these words the emperor undertook for the future to
take counsel for the safety of the state, and how to bring home the
army without loss from the campaign. He was in no need of much
deliberation, but at once reaped the fruit sprung from the seeds of
true religion, for the God of all gave proof of His own providence,
and caused all difficulty to disappear. No sooner had the Persian
sovereign been made acquainted with Jovian's accession than he sent
envoys to treat for peace; nay more, he despatched provisions for the
troops and gave directions for the establishment of a market for them
in the desert. A truce was concluded for thirty years, and the army
brought home in safety from the war. [667] The first edict of the
emperor on setting foot upon his own territory was one recalling the
bishops from their exile, and announcing the restoration of the
churches to the congregations who had held inviolate the confession of
Nicæa. He further sent a despatch to Athanasius, the famous champion
of these doctrines, beseeching that a letter might be written to him
containing exact teaching on matters of religion. Athanasius summoned
the most learned bishops to meet him, and wrote back exhorting the
emperor to hold fast the faith delivered at Nicæa, as being in harmony
with apostolic teaching. Anxious to benefit all who may meet with it I
here subjoin the letter. [668]
Footnotes
[667] The terms were in fact humiliating, "pacem cum Sapore
necessariam quidem sed ignobilem fecit; multatus finibus, ac nonnulla
imperii Romani parte tradita: quod ante eum annis mille centum et
duobus de viginti fere ex quo Romanum imperium conditum erat, nunquam
accidit." Eut. brev x. 17.
[668] "Gibbon (Chap. xxv) sneers at Athanasius for assuring Jovian
`that his orthodox faith would be rewarded with a long and peaceful
reign,' and remarks that after his death this charge was omitted from
some mss., referring to Valesius on the passage of Theodoret, and
Jortin's Remarks, iv. p. 38. But the expression is not that of a
prophet who stakes his credit on the truth of his prediction, but
little more than a pious reflection, of the nature of a wish." Bp. J.
Wordsworth, Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 463. n. Jortin says "the good
bishop's mantike failed him sadly; and the emperor reigned only one
year, and died in the flower of his age." The note of Valesius will be
found below.
Chapter III.--Synodical letter to the Emperor Jovian concerning the
Faith.
To Jovianus Augustus most devout, most humane, victorious, Athanasius,
and the rest of the bishops assembled, in the name of all the bishops
from Egypt to Thebaid, and Libya. The intelligent preference and
pursuit of holy things is becoming to a prince beloved of God. Thus
may you keep your heart in truth in God's hand and reign for many
years in peace. [669] Since your piety has recently expressed a wish
to learn from us the faith of the Catholic Church, we have given
thanks to the Lord and have determined before all to remind your
reverence of the faith confessed by the fathers at Nicæa. This faith
some have set at nought, and have devised many and various attacks on
us, because of our refusal to submit to the Arian heresy. They have
become founders of heresy and schism in the Catholic Church. The true
and pious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ has been made plain to all as
it is known and read from the Holy Scriptures. In this faith the
martyred saints were perfected, and now departed are with the Lord.
This faith was destined everywhere to stand unharmed, had not the
wickedness of certain heretics dared to attempt its falsification; for
Arius and his party endeavoured to corrupt it and to bring in impiety
for its destruction, alleging the Son of God to be of the nonexistent,
a creature, a Being made, and susceptible of change. By these means
they deceived many, so that even men who seemed to be somewhat, [670]
were led away by them. Then our holy Fathers took the initiative, met,
as we said, at Nicæa, anathematized the Arian heresy, and subscribed
the faith of the Catholic Church so as to cause the putting out of the
flames of heresy by proclamation of the truth throughout the world.
Thus this faith throughout the whole church was known and preached.
But since some men who wished to start the Arian heresy afresh have
had the hardihood to set at naught the faith confessed by the Fathers
at Nicæa, and others are pretending to accept it, while in reality
they deny it, distorting the meaning of the homoousion and thus
blaspheming the Holy Ghost, by alleging it to be a creature and a
Being made through the Son's means, we, perforce beholding the harm
accruing from blasphemy of this kind to the people, have hastened to
offer to your piety the faith confessed at Nicæa, that your reverence
may know with what exactitude it is drawn up, and how great is the
error of them whose teaching contradicts it. Know, O holiest Augustus,
that this faith is the faith preached from everlasting, this is the
faith that the Fathers assembled at Nicæa confessed. With this faith
all the churches throughout the world are in agreement, in Spain, in
Britain, [671] in Gaul, in all Italy and Campania, in Dalmatia and
Mysia, in Macedonia, in all Hellas, in all the churches throughout
Africa, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, Pamphylia and Isauria, and Lycia,
those of all Egypt and Libya, of Pontus, Cappadocia and the
neighbouring districts and all the churches of the East except a few
who have embraced Arianism. Of all those above mentioned we know the
sentiments after trial made. We have letters and we know, most pious
Augustus, that though some few gainsay this faith they cannot
prejudice [672] the decision of the whole inhabited world.
After being long under the injurious influence of the Arian heresy
they are the more contentiously withstanding true religion. For the
information of your piety, though indeed you are already acquainted
with it, we have taken pains to subjoin the faith confessed at Nicæa
by these three hundred and eighteen bishops. It is as follows.
We believe in one God, Father Almighty, maker of all things visible
and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten
of the Father, that is of the substance of the Father, God of God,
Light of Light, very God of very God: begotten not made, being of one
substance with the Father, by whom all things were made both in Heaven
and in earth. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from
Heaven, was incarnate and was made man. He suffered and rose again the
third day. He ascended into Heaven, and is coming to judge both quick
and dead. And we believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church anathematizes those who say there was a time when the
Son of God was not; that before He was begotten He was not; that He
was made out of the non-existent, or that He is of a different essence
or different substance, or a creature or subject to variation or
change. In this faith, most religious Augustus, all must needs abide
as divine and apostolic, nor must any strive to change it by
persuasive reasoning and word battles, as from the beginning did the
Arian maniacs in their contention that the Son of God is of the
non-existent, and that there was a time when He was not, that He is
created and made and subject to variation. Wherefore, as we stated,
the council of Nicæa anathematized this heresy and confessed the faith
of the truth. For they have not simply said that the Son is like the
Father, that he may be believed not to be simply like God but very God
of God. And they promulgated the term "Homoüsion" because it is
peculiar to a real and true son of a true and natural father. Yet they
did not separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, but
rather glorified It together with the Father and the Son in the one
faith of the Holy Trinity, because the Godhead of the Holy Trinity
[673] is one.
Footnotes
[669] Scarcely a prophecy, even if we read hexeis, "you shall keep;" a
bare wish if we read echois, "may you keep." Vide preceding note. In
Athanasius we find hexeis. Valesius says "The latter part of this
sentence is wanting in the common editions of Athanasius, and Baronius
supposes it to have been added by some Arian, with the object of
ridiculing Athanasius as a false prophet. As a fact the reign of
Jovian was short. But I see nothing low, spurious or factitious.
Athanasius is not in fault because Jovian did not live as long as he
had wished."
[670] Gal. vi. 3
[671] Christianity thus appears more or less constituted in Britain
more than 200 years before the mission of Augustine. But by about 208
the fame of British Christianity had reached Tertullian in Africa. The
date, that of the first mention of the Church in Britain, indicates a
probable connexion of its foundation with the dispersion of the
victims of the persecution of the Rhone cities. The phrase of
Tertullian, "places beyond the reach of the Romans, but subdued to
Christ," points to a rapid spread into the remoter parts of the
island. Vide Rev. C. Hole's "Early Missions," S. P. C. K.
[672] prokrima poiein
[673] "Trias is either the number Three, or a triplet of similar
objects, as in the phrase kasigneton trias (Rost u. Palm's Lexicon.
s.v.) In this sense it is applied by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. IV.
vii. 55) to the Triad of Christian graces, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
As Gregory of Nazianzus says (Orat. xiii. p. 24) Trias ou pragmaton
anison aparithmesis, all' ison kai homotimon sullepsis. The first
instance of its application to the Three Persons in the one God is in
Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autol. ii. 15)" [/-. c. 185] "Similarly the
word Trinitas, in its proper force, means either the number Three or a
triad. It is first applied to the mystery of the Three in One by
Tertullian, who says that the Church `proprie et spiritualiter ipse
est spiritus, in quo est Trinitas unius divinitatis, Pater, et Filius,
et Spiritus Sanctus.' De Pudicita 21." [/- c. 240] Archd. Cheetham.
Dict. Christ. Biog. S.V.
Chapter IV.--Of the restoration of allowances to the churches; and of
the Emperor's death.
When the emperor had received this letter, his former knowledge of and
disposition to divine things was confirmed, and he issued a second
edict wherein he ordered the amount of corn which the great
Constantine had appropriated to the churches to be restored. [674] For
Julian, as was to be expected of one who had gone to war with our Lord
and Saviour, had stopped even this maintenance, and since the famine
which visited the empire in consequence of Julian's iniquity prevented
the collection of the contribution of Constantine's enactment, Jovian
ordered a third part to be supplied for the present, and promised that
on the cessation of the famine he would give the whole.
After distinguishing the beginning of his reign by edicts of this
kind, Jovian set out from Antioch for the Bosphorus; but at Dadastanæ,
a village lying on the confines of Bithynia and Galatia, he died.
[675] He set out on his journey from this world with the grandest and
fairest support and stay, but all who had experienced the clemency of
his sway were left behind in pain. So, methinks, the Supreme Ruler, to
convict us of our iniquity, both shews us good things and again
deprives us of them; so by the former means He teaches us how easily
He can give us what He will; by the latter He convicts us of our
unworthiness of it, and points us to the better life.
Footnotes
[674] cf. III. 8 page 99.
[675] At an obscure place called Dadastanæ, half way between Ancyra
and Nicæa, after a hearty supper he went to bed in a room newly built.
The plaster was still damp, and a brazier of charcoal was brought in
to warm the air. In the morning he was found dead in his bed. (Amm.
xxv. 10. 12. 13.) This was in February or March, 364.
Chapter V.--Of the reign of Valentinianus, and how he associated
Valens his brother with him.
When the troops had become acquainted with the emperor's sudden death,
they wept for the departed prince as for a father, and made
Valentinian emperor in his room. It was he who smote the officer of
the temple [676] and was sent to the castle. He was distinguished not
only for his courage, but also for prudence, temperance, justice, and
great stature. He was of so kingly and magnanimous a character that,
on an attempt being made by the army to appoint a colleague to share
his throne, he uttered the well-known words which are universally
repeated, "Before I was emperor, soldiers, it was yours to give me the
reins of empire: now that I have taken them, it is mine, not yours, to
take counsel for the state." The troops were struck with admiration at
what he said, and contentedly followed the guidance of his authority.
Valentinian, however, sent for his brother from Pannonia, and shared
the empire with him. Would that he had never done so! To Valens, [677]
who had not yet accepted unsound doctrines, was committed the charge
of Asia and of Egypt, while Valentinian allotted Europe to himself. He
journeyed to the Western provinces, and beginning with a proclamation
of true religion, instructed them in all righteousness. When the Arian
Auxentius, bishop of Milan, who was condemned in several councils,
departed this life, [678] the emperor summoned the bishops and
addressed them as follows: "Nurtured as you have been in holy writ,
you know full well what should be the character of one dignified by
the episcopate, and how he should rule his subjects aright, not only
with his lip, but with his life; exhibit himself as an example of
every kind of virtue, and make his conversation a witness of his
teaching. Seat now upon your archiepiscopal throne a man of such
character that we who rule the realm may honestly bow our heads before
him and welcome his reproofs,--for, in that we are men, it needs must
be that we sometimes stumble,--as a physician's healing treatment."
Footnotes
[676] Vide page 101. "Valentinian belongs to the better class of
Emperors. He was a soldier like Jovian, and held the same rank at his
election. He was a decided Christian like Jovian, and, like him, free
from the stain of persecution. Jovian's rough good humour was replaced
in Valentinian by a violent and sometimes cruel temper, but he had a
sense of duty, and was free from Jovian's vices." Gwatkin, Arian Cont.
121.
[677] "Valens was timid, suspicious, and slow, yet not ungentle in
private life. He was as uncultivated as his brother, but not inferior
to him in scrupulous care for his subjects. He preferred remitting
taxation to fighting at the head of the legions. In both wars he is
entitled to head the series of financial rather than unwarlike
sovereigns whose cautious policy brought the Eastern Empire safely
through the great barbarian invasions of the fifth century." Gwatkin,
p. 121.
[678] Vide note on page 81.
Chapter VI.--Of the election of Ambrosius, the Bishop of Milan.
Thus spoke the emperor, and then the council begged him, being a wise
and devout prince, to make the choice. He then replied, "The
responsibility is too great for us. You who have been dignified with
divine grace, and have received illumination from above, will make a
better choice." So they left the imperial presence and began to
deliberate apart. In the meanwhile the people of Milan were torn by
factions, some eager that one, some that another, should be promoted.
They who had been infected with the unsoundness of Auxentius were for
choosing men of like opinions, while they of the orthodox party were
in their turn anxious to have a bishop of like sentiments with
themselves. When Ambrosius, who held the chief civil magistracy [679]
of the district, was apprised of the contention, being afraid lest
some seditious violence should be attempted he hurried to the church;
at once there was a lull in the strife. The people cried with one
voice "Make Ambrose our pastor,"--although up to this time he was
still [680] unbaptized. News of what was being done was brought to the
emperor, and he at once ordered the admirable man to be baptized and
ordained, for he knew that his judgment was straight and true as the
rule of the carpenter and his sentence more exact than the beam of the
balance. Moreover he concluded from the agreement come to by men of
opposite sentiments that the selection was divine. Ambrose then
received the divine gift of holy baptism, and the grace of the
archiepiscopal office. The most excellent emperor was present on the
occasion and is said to have offered the following hymn of praise to
his Lord and Saviour. "We thank thee, Almighty Lord and Saviour; I
have committed to this man's keeping men's bodies; Thou hast entrusted
to him their souls, and hast shown my choice to be righteous."
Not many days after the divine Ambrosius addressed the emperor with
the utmost freedom, and found fault with certain proceedings of the
magistrates as improper. Valentinian remarked that this freedom was no
novelty to him, and that, well acquainted with it as he was, he had
not merely offered no opposition to, but had gladly concurred in, the
appointment to the bishopric. "Go on," continued the emperor, "as
God's law bids you, healing the errors of our souls."
Such were the deeds and words of Valentinian at Milan.
Footnotes
[679] By the constitution of Constantine, beneath the governors of the
twelve dioceses of the Empire were the provincial governors of 116
provinces, rectores, correctores, præsides, and consulares. Ambrosius
had been appointed by Probus Consularis of Liguria and Æmilia. Probus,
in giving him the appointment, was believed to have "prophesied," and
said "Vade; age non ut judex, sed ut episcopus." Paulinus S.
[680] amuetos
Chapter VII.--Letters of the Emperors Valentinianus and Valens,
written to the diocese [681] of Asia about the Homoüsion, on hearing
that some men in Asia and in Phrygia were in dispute about the divine
decree.
Valentinian ordered a council to be held in Illyricum [682] and sent
to the disputants the decrees ratified by the bishops there assembled.
They had decided to hold fast the creed put forth at Nicæa and the
emperor himself wrote to them, associating his brother with him in the
dispatch, urging that the decrees be kept.
The edict clearly proclaims the piety of the emperor and similarly
exhibits the soundness of Valens in divine doctrines at that time. I
shall therefore give it in full. The mighty emperors, ever august,
augustly victorious, Valentinianus, Valens, and Gratianus, [683] to
the bishops of Asia, Phrygia, Carophrygia Pacatiana, [684] greeting in
the Lord.
A great council having met in Illyricum, [685] after much discussion
concerning the word of salvation, the thrice blessed bishops have
declared that the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is of one
substance. [686] This Trinity they worship, in no wise remitting the
service which has duly fallen to their lot, the worship of the great
King. It is our imperial will that this Trinity be preached, so that
none may say "We accept the religion of the sovereign who rules this
world without regard to Him who has given us the message of
salvation," for, as says the gospel of our God which contains this
judgment, "we should render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's and
to God the things that are God's." [687]
What say you, ye bishops, ye champions of the Word of salvation? If
these be your professions, thus then continue to love one another, and
cease to abuse the imperial dignity. No longer persecute those who
diligently serve God, by whose prayers both wars cease upon the earth,
and the assaults of apostate angels are repelled. These striving
through supplication to repel all harmful demons both know how to pay
tribute as the law enjoins, and do not gainsay the power of their
sovereign, but with pure minds both keep the commandment of the
heavenly King, and are subject to our laws. But ye have been shewn to
be disobedient. We have tried every expedient but you have given
yourselves up. [688] We however wish to be pure from you, as Pilate at
the trial of Christ when He lived among us, was unwilling to kill Him,
and when they begged for His death, turned to the East, [689] asked
water for his hands and washed his hands, saying I am innocent of the
blood of this righteous man. [690]
Thus our majesty has invariably charged that those who are working in
the field of Christ are not to be persecuted, oppressed, or ill
treated; nor the stewards of the great King driven into exile; lest
to-day under our Sovereign you may seem to flourish and abound, and
then together with your evil counsellor trample on his covenant, [691]
as in the case of the blood of Zacharias, [692] but he and his were
destroyed by our Heavenly King Jesus Christ after (at) His coming,
being delivered to death's judgment, they and the deadly fiend who
abetted them. We have given these orders to Amegetius, to Ceronius to
Damasus, to Lampon and to Brentisius by word of mouth, and we have
sent the actual decrees to you also in order that you may know what
was enacted in the honourable synod.
To this letter we subjoin the decrees of the synod, which are briefly
as follows.
In accordance with the great and orthodox synod we confess that the
Son is of one substance with the Father. And we do not so understand
the term `of one substance' as some formerly interpreted it who signed
their names with feigned adhesion; nor as some who now-a-days call the
drafters of the old creed Fathers, but make the meaning of the word of
no effect, following the authors of the statement that "of one
substance" means "like," with the understanding that since the Son is
comparable to no one of the creatures made by Him, He is like to the
Father alone. For those who thus think irreverently define the Son "as
a special creation of the Father," but we, with the present synods,
both at Rome and in Gaul, hold that there is one and the same
substance of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in three persons, that is in
three perfect essences. [693] And we confess, according to the
exposition of Nicæa, that the Son of God being of one substance, was
made flesh of the Holy Virgin Mary, and hath tabernacled among men,
and fulfilled all the economy [694] for our sakes in birth, in
passion, in resurrection, and in ascension into Heaven; and that He
shall come again to render to us according to each man's manner of
life, in the day of judgment, being seen in the flesh, and showing
forth His divine power, being God bearing flesh, and not man bearing
Godhead.
Them that think otherwise we damn, as we do also them that do not
honestly damn him that said that before the Son was begotten He was
not, but wrote that even before He was actually begotten He was
potentially in the Father. For this is true in the case of all
creatures, who are not for ever with God in the sense in which the Son
is ever with the Father, being begotten by eternal generation.
Such was the short summary of the emperor. I will now subjoin the
actual dispatch of the synod.
Footnotes
[681] The twelve dioceses of the Empire, as constituted under
Diocletian, were (1) Oxiens; (2) Pontica; (3) Asiana; (4) Thracia; (5)
Moesia; (6) Pannonia; (7) Britanniæ; (8) Galliæ; (9) Viennensis; (10)
Italiciana; (11) Hispaniæ; (12) Africa.
[682] Under Constantine Illyricum Occidentale included Dalmatia,
Pannonia, Noricum, and Savia; Illyricum Orientale, Dacia, Moesia,
Macedonia and Thrace.
[683] Eldest son of Valentinian I. Born a.d. 359. Named Augustus 367.
Succeeded his father 375; his uncle Valens 378. Murdered 383. The
synod was convoked in the year of Valentinian's death.
[684] Phrygia Pacatiana was the name given in the fourth century to
the province extending from Bithynia to Pamphylia. "Cum in veterum
libris non nisi duæ Phrygiæ occurrant, Pacatiana et salutaris, mavult
Valesius h. l. scribere, karias phrugias pakatianes. Sed
consentientibus in vulgata lectione omnibus libris mallem servare
karaphrugias pakatianes, quam Pacatianam karophrugian dictam esse
putaverim quod Cariæ proxime adhæresceret." Schulze.
[685] The date of this Council is disputed. "Pagi contending for 373,
others for 375, Cave for 367." Dict. Ch. Ant. i. 813.
[686] homoousion
[687] Matt. xxii. 21
[688] hemeis echresametha to halpha heos tou o humeis de heautous
apedokate The passage is obscure and perhaps corrupt. Schulze's note
is "Nisi mendosus sit locus, quod quidem suspicabatur Camerarius,
sensus talis esse videtur: `Nos quidem primis usi sumus ad extrema,'
h.e. omnia adhibuimus et tentavimus ad pacem restituendam et
cohibendas vexationes, `vos vero impotentiæ obsecuti estis.' Alias
interpretationes collegit suamque addidit Valesius." The note of
Valesius is as follows: hic locus valde obscurus est. Et Epiphanius
quidem scholasticus ita eum vertit: et nos quidem subjicimur ei qui
primus est et novissimus: vos autem vobismet arrogatis. Quæ
interpretatio, meo quidem iudicio, ferri non potest. Camerarius vero
sic interpretatur: nos quidem ordine a primo ad ultimum processimus
tractatione nostra: ipsi vero vosmet ipsos abalienastis. At
Christophersonus ita vertit: nos patientia semper a principio usque ad
finem usi sumus: vos contra animi vestri impotentiæ obsecuti
estis...mihi videtur verbum chresthai hoc loco idem significari quod
communicare et commercium habere. Cujus modi est illud in Evangelio:
non coütuntur Judæi Samaritanis. (Johon IV. 9.)
[689] The turning to the East is not mentioned in the Gospel of St.
Matthew or in the Apocryphal Acts of Pilate; and the Imperial Decree
seems here to import a Christian practice into the pagan Procurators
tribunal. Orientation was sometimes observed in Pagan temples and the
altar placed at the east end; perhaps in connexion with the ancient
worship of the sun. cf. Æsch. Ag. 502; Paus. V. 23. i; Cic. Cat. iii.
§43. In. Virg. Æn. viii. 68 Æneas turns to the East when he prays to
the Tiber. cf. Liv 1. 18. But praying towards the East is specially a
primitive Christian custom, among the earliest authorities being
Tertullian (Apol. XVI.) and Clemens Al. (Stromat. VII. 7).
[690] Matthew xxvii. 24
[691] "Locus densis," says Valesius, "tenebris obvolutus"...The note
of Schulze is "primum ho parakeklemenos videtur malus genius esse
(phthorimaios daimon postea dicitur) qui excitaverat (parekalese)
episcopos ad dissentientes vexandos plane ut crudeles Judæi
excitaverant Pilatum ut Christum interimerent; sic enim in
superioribus Valentinianus dixerat. Porro Valent. non modo ad
historiam Zachariæ a Judæis in templo interfecti alludit, sed, si quid
video, etiam ad verba ea quibus utitur Paulus, Heb. x. 29 ton hui&
232;n tou Theou katapatein kai to haima tes diathekes koinon
hegesasthai, quare placet conjectura Valesii patein" (the reading
adopted in the translation above), "ta tes diathekes autou hos epi tou
Zachariou tou haimatos, ut tota sententia sit: ne hodie sub nostro
imperio incrementa capiatis et cum eo qui vos incitat conculcetis
sanguinem foederis, fere ut Zachariæ tempore factum est a Judæis."
[692] It is to be observed that the imperial letter does not add the
probably interpolated words "son of Barachias" which are a difficulty
in Matt. xxiii. 35, and do not appear in the Codex Sinaiticus.
[693] Here for the first time in our author we meet with the word
Hypostasis to denote each distinct person. Compare note on page 36.
"Origen had already described Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three
hupostaseis or Beings, in opposition to the Monarchians, who saw in
them only three modes of manifestation of one and the same Being. And
as Sabellius had used the words tria prosopa for these modes of
manifestation, this form of expression naturally fell into disfavour
with the Catholics. But when Arius insisted on (virtually) three
different hypostases in the Holy Trinity, Catholics began to avoid
applying the word hypostases to the Persons of the Godhead. To this
was added a difficulty arising from the fact, that the Eastern Church
used Greek as the official language of its theology, while the Western
Church used Latin, a language at that time much less well provided
with abstract theological terms. Disputes were caused, says Gregory of
Nazianzus (Orat. xxi. p. 395), dia stenoteta tes para tois 'Italois
glottes kai onomaton penian. (Compare Seneca Epist. 58.) The Latins
used essentia and substantia as equivalent to the Greek ousia and
hupostasis, but interchanged them, as we have seen in the translation
of the Nicene Creed with little scruple, regarding them as synonyms.
They used both expressions to describe the Divine Nature common to the
Three. It followed that they looked upon the expression "Three
Hypostases" as implying a division of the substance of the Deity, and
therefore as Arian. They preferred to speak of "tres Personæ."
Athanasius also spoke of tria prosopa, and thus the words prosopa and
Personæ became current among the Nicene party. But about the year 360,
the Neo-Nicene party, or Meletians, as they are sometimes called,
became scrupulous about the use of such an expression as tria prosopa,
which seemed to them to savour of Sabellianism. Thus a difference
arose between the old Athanasian party and the Meletians." Archd.
Cheetham in Dict. Christ. Biog. Art. "Trinity."
[694] Compare note on page 72.
Chapter VIII.--Synodical Epistle of the Synod in Illyricum concerning
the Faith.
"The bishops of Illyricum to the churches of God, and bishops of the
dioceses of Asia, of Phrygia, and Carophrygia Pacatiana, greeting in
the Lord.
"After meeting together and making long enquiry concerning the Word of
salvation, we have set forth that the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost is of one substance. And it seemed fitting to pen a letter to
you, not that we write what concerns the worship of the Trinity in
vain disputation, but in humility deemed worthy of the duty.
"This letter we have sent by our beloved brother and fellow labourer
Elpidius the presbyter. For not in the letters of our hands, but in
the books of our Saviour Jesus Christ, is it written `I am of Paul and
I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ. Was Paul crucified for
you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?' [695]
"It seemed indeed fitting to our humility not to pen any letter to
you, on account of the great terror which your preaching causes to all
the region under your jurisdiction, separating as you do the Holy
Spirit from the Father and Son. We were therefore constrained to send
to you our lord and fellow labourer Elpidius to ascertain if your
preaching is really of this character and to carry this dispatch from
the imperial government of Rome.
"Let them who do not regard the Trinity as one substance be anathema,
and if any man be detected in communion with them let him be anathema.
"But for them that preach that the Trinity is of one substance the
Kingdom of Heaven is prepared.
"We exhort you therefore brethren to teach no other doctrine, nor even
hold any other and vain belief, but that always and everywhere,
preaching the Trinity to be of one substance, ye may be able to
inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.
"While writing on this point we have also been reminded to pen this
letter to you about the present or future appointment of our fellow
ministers as bishops, if there be any sound men among the bishops who
have already discharged a public office; [696] and, if not, from the
order of presbyters: in like manner of the appointment of presbyters
and deacons out of the actual priestly [697] order that they may be in
every way blameless, and not from the ranks of the senate and army.
"We have been unwilling to pen you a letter at length, because of the
mission of one representative of all, our lord and fellow labourer
Elpidius, to make diligent enquiry about your preaching, if it really
is such as we have heard from our lord and fellow labourer Eustathius.
"In conclusion, if at any time you have been in error, put off the old
man and put on the new. The same brother and fellow labourer Elpidius
will instruct you how to preach the true faith that the Holy Trinity,
of one substance with God the Father, together with the Son and Holy
Ghost, is hallowed, glorified, and made manifest, Father in Son, Son
in Father, with the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. For since this has
been made manifest, we shall manifestly be able to confess the Holy
Trinity to be of one substance according to the faith set forth
formerly at Nicæa which the Fathers confirmed. So long as this faith
is preached we shall be able to avoid the snares of the deadly devil.
When he is destroyed we shall be able to do homage to one another in
letters of peace while we live in peace.
"We have therefore written to you in order that ye may know the
deposition of the Ariomaniacs, who do not confess that the Son is of
the substance of the Father nor the Holy Ghost. We subjoin their
names,--Polychronius, Telemachus, Faustus, Asclepiades, Amantius,
Cleopater.
"This we thus write to the glory of Father and Son and Holy Ghost for
ever and ever, amen. We pray the Father and the Son our Saviour Jesus
Christ with the Holy Ghost that you may fare well for many years."
Footnotes
[695] 1 Cor. i. 12
[696] The original is here obscure, and has been altered and
interpreted in various ways.
[697] ex autou tou hieratikou tagmatos. It is noticeable that the word
hieratikon is used here of the clerical order generally, inclusive of
lower ranks, such as the readers, singers, doorkeepers and orphans
enumerated in the Apostolic Constitutions from whom deacons and
presbyters were to be appointed. For illustrations of the phrases
hieratike taxis and ieratikon tagma vide Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1470.
The exclusively sacrificial sense sometimes given to hiereus and
sacerdos, with their correlatives, is modified by the fact that
derivatively both only mean "the man concerned with the sacred."
(hieros = vigorous, divine. IS.; sacer = inviolate, holy, SAK, fasten;
of the latter the suffix adds the idea of giver.
Chapter IX.--Of the heresy of the Audiani.
The illustrious emperor thus took heed of the apostolic decrees, but
Audæus, a Syrian alike in race and in speech, appeared at that time as
an inventor of new decrees. He had long ago begun to incubate
iniquities and now appeared in his true character. At first he
understood in an absurd sense the passage "Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness." [698] From want of apprehension of the
meaning of the divine Scripture he understood the Divine Being to have
a human form, and conjectured it to be enveloped in bodily parts; for
Holy Scripture frequently describes the divine operations under the
names of human parts, since by these means the providence of God is
made more easily intelligible to minds incapable of perceiving any
immaterial ideas. To this impiety Audæus added others of a similar
kind. By an eclectic process he adopted some of the doctrines of Manes
[699] and denied that the God of the universe is creator of either
fire or darkness. But these and all similar errors are concealed by
the adherents of his faction.
They allege that they are separated from the assemblies of the Church.
But since some of them exact a cursed usury, and some live unlawfully
with women without the bond of wedlock, while those who are innocent
of these practices live in free fellowship with the guilty, they hide
the blasphemy of their doctrines by accounting as they do for their
living by themselves. The plea is however an impudent one, and the
natural result of Pharisaic teaching, for the Pharisees accused the
Physician of souls and bodies in their question to the holy Apostles
"How is it that your Master eateth with publicans and sinners?" [700]
and through the prophet, God of such men says "Which say, `come not
near me for I am pure' this is smoke of my wrath." [701] But this is
not a time to refute their unreasonable error. I therefore pass on to
the remainder of my narrative. [702]
Footnotes
[698] Gen. i. 26
[699] Vide note on page 75.
[700] Mark ii. 16. Observe verbal inaccuracy of quotation.
[701] Is. lxv. 5. The Greek of the text is hoi legontes katharos eimi,
me mou haptou houtos kapnos tou thumou mou. In the Sept. the passage
stand hoi legontes por¿o ap' emou, me engises moi hoti katharos
eimi, etc. The O.T. is quoted as loosely as the New.
[702] Anthropomorphism, or the attribution to God of a human form is
the frequent result of an unintelligent anthropopathism, which
ascribes to God human feelings. Paganism did not rise higher than the
material view. Judaism, sometimes apparently anthropomorphic, taught a
Spiritual God. Tertullian uses expressions which exposed him to the
charge of anthropomorphism, and the Pseudo Clementines (xvii. 2) go
farther. The Audæus of the text appears to be the first founder of
anything like an anthropomorphic sect.
Chapter X.--Of the heresy of the Messaliani.
At this time also arose the heresy of the Messaliani. Those who
translate their name into Greek call them Euchitæ. [703]
They have also another designation which arose naturally from their
mode of action. From their coming under the influence of a certain
demon, which they supposed to be the advent of the Holy Ghost, they
are called enthusiasts. [704]
Men who have become infected with this plague to its full extent shun
manual labour as iniquitous; and, giving themselves over to sloth,
call the imaginations of their dreams prophesyings. Of this heresy
Dadoes, Sabbas, Adelphius, Hermas, and Simeones were leaders, and
others besides, who did not hold aloof from the communion of the
Church, alleging that neither good nor harm came of the divine food of
which Christ our Master said "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my
blood shall live for ever." [705]
In their endeavor to hide their unsoundness they shamelessly deny it
even after conviction, and abjure men whose opinions are in harmony
with their own secret sentiments.
Under these circumstances Letoius, who was at the head of the church
of Melitine, [706] a man full of divine zeal, saw that many
monasteries, or, shall I rather say, brigands' caves, had drunk deep
of this disease. He therefore burnt them, and drove out the wolves
from the flock.
In like manner the illustrious Amphilochius [707] to whom was
committed the charge of the metropolis of the Lycaonians and who ruled
all the people, no sooner learnt that this pestilence had invaded his
diocese than he made it depart from his borders and freed from its
infection the flocks he fed.
Flavianus, [708] also, the far famed high-priest of the Antiochenes,
on learning that these men were living at Edessa and attacking with
their peculiar poison all with whom they came in contact, sent a
company of monks, brought them to Antioch, and in the following manner
convicted them in their denial of their heresy. Their accusers, he
said, were calumniating them, and the witnesses giving false evidence;
and Adelphius, who was a very old man, he accosted with expressions of
kindness, and ordered to take a seat at his side. Then he said "We, O
venerable sir, who have lived to an advanced age, have more accurate
knowledge of human nature, and of the tricks of the demons who oppose
us, and have learnt by experience the character of the gift of grace.
But these younger men have no clear knowledge of these matters, and
cannot brook to listen to spiritual teaching. Wherefore tell me in
what sense you say that the opposing spirit retreats, and the grace of
the Holy Ghost supervenes." The old man was won over by these words
and gave vent to all his secret venom, for he said that no benefit
accrues to the recipients of Holy Baptism, and that it is only by
earnest prayer that the in-dwelling demon is driven out, for that
every one born into the world derives from his first father slavery to
the demons just as he does his nature; but that when these are driven
away, then come the Holy Ghost giving sensible and visible signs of
His presence, at once freeing the body from the impulse of the
passions and wholly ridding the soul of its inclination to the worse;
with the result that there is no more need for fasting that restrains
the body, nor of teaching or training that bridles it and instructs it
how to walk aright. And not only is the recipient of this gift
liberated from the wanton motions of the body, but also clearly
foresees things to come, and with the eyes beholds the Holy Trinity.
In this wise the divine Flavianus dug into the foul fountain-head and
succeeded in laying bare its streams. Then he thus addressed the
wretched old man. "O thou that hast grown old in evil days, thy own
mouth convicts thee, not I, and thou art testified against by thy own
lips." After their unsoundness had been thus exposed they were
expelled from Syria, and withdrew to Pamphylia, which they filled with
their pestilential doctrine.
Footnotes
[703] The Syriac name whence comes "Messaliani" or "Massaliani" means
praying people N%J+L+ZJoM+°, J+ #L+oZJ° Dan. vi. 1. Epiphanius
rendered the name euchomenoi, but they were soon generally known in
Greek as euchetai or euchitai
[704] The form enthousiastes is ecclesiastical, and late Greek, but
the verb enthousiazein occurs at least as early as Æschylus. (Fr. 64
a.)
[705] Compare John vi. 54 and 51; the citation as before is inexact.
[706] Melitine (Malatia). metropolis of lesser Armenia; the scene of
the defeat of Chosroes Nushirvan by the Romans a.d. 577.
[707] Archbishop of Iconium, the friend of Basil and first cousin of
Gregory of Nazianzus, B. probably about 344. He is not mentioned after
the beginning of the 5th century.
[708] cf. ii. 19, and iv. 22. He was not consecrated bishop until 381.
Chapter XI.--In what manner Valens fell into heresy.
I will now pursue the course of my narrative, and will describe the
beginning of the tempest which stirred up many and great billows to
buffet the Church. Valens, when he first received the imperial
dignity, was distinguished by his fidelity to apostolic doctrine. But
when the Goths had crossed the Danube and were ravaging Thrace, he
determined to assemble an army and march against them; and accordingly
resolved not to take the field without the garb of divine grace, but
first to protect himself with the panoply of Holy Baptism. [709] In
forming this resolution he acted at once well and wisely, but his
subsequent conduct betrays very great feebleness of character,
resulting in the abandonment of the truth. His fate was the same as
that of our first father, Adam; for he too, won over by the arguments
of his wife, lost his free estate and became not merely a captive but
an obedient listener to woman's wily words. His wife [710] had already
been entrapped in the Arian snare, and now she caught her husband, and
persuaded him to fall along with her into the pit of blasphemy. Their
leader and initiator was Eudoxius, who still held the tiller of
Constantinople, with the result that the ship was not steered onwards
but sunk [711] to the bottom.
Footnotes
[709] Valens was baptized in 368.
[710] Albia Dominica.
[711] The use of the word baptized for submerged is significant.
Polyb. 1: 51. 6 uses it of sinking a ship. It first appears with the
technical sense of baptized in the Evangelists.
Chapter XII.--How Valens exiled the virtuous bishops.
At the very time of the baptism of Valens Eudoxius bound the unhappy
man by an oath to abide in the impiety of his doctrine, and to expel
from every see the holders of contrary opinions. Thus Valens abandoned
the apostolic teaching, and went over to the opposite faction; nor was
it long before he fulfilled the rest of his oath; for from Antioch he
expelled the great Meletius, from Samosata the divine Eusebius, and
deprived Laodicea of her admirable shepherd Pelagius. [712] Pelagius
had taken on him the yoke of wedlock when a very young man, and in the
very bridal chamber, on the first day of his nuptials, he persuaded
his bride to prefer chastity to conjugal intercourse, and taught her
to accept fraternal affection in the place of marriage union. Thus he
gave all honour to temperance, and possessed also within himself the
sister virtues moving in tune with her, and for these reasons he was
unanimously chosen for the bishopric. Nevertheless not even the bright
beams of his life and conversation awed the enemy of the truth. Him,
too, Valens relegated to Arabia, the divine Meletius to Armenia, and
Eusebius, that unflagging labourer in apostolic work to Thrace.
Unflagging he was indeed, for when apprised that many churches were
now deprived of their shepherds, he travelled about Syria, Phoenicia
and Palestine, wearing the garb of war and covering his head with a
tiara, ordaining presbyters and deacons and filling up the other ranks
of the Church; and if haply he lighted on bishops with like sentiments
with his own, he appointed them to empty churches.
Footnotes
[712] Present at Antioch in 363; banished to Arabia in 367. Present at
Constantinople in 381.
Chapter XIII.--Of Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, and others.
Of the courage and prudence shewn by Eusebius after he had received
the imperial edict which commanded him to depart into Thrace, I think
all who have been hitherto ignorant should hear. [713]
The bearer of this edict reached his destination in the evening, and
was exhorted by Eusebius to keep silent and conceal the cause of his
coming. "For," said the bishop, "the multitude has been nurtured in
divine zeal, and should they learn why you have come they will drown
you, and I shall be held responsible for your death." After thus
speaking and performing evening service, as he was wont, the old man
started out alone on foot, at nightfall. He confided his intentions to
one of his household servants who followed him carrying nothing but a
cushion and a book. When he had reached the bank of the river (for the
Euphrates runs along the very walls of the town) he embarked in a boat
and told the oarsmen to row to Zeugma. [714] When it was day the
bishop had reached Zeugma, and Samosata was full of weeping and
wailing, for the above mentioned domestic reported the orders given
him to the friends of Eusebius, and told them whom he wished to travel
with him, and what books they were to convey. Then all the
congregation bewailed the removal of their shepherd, and the stream of
the river was crowded with voyagers.
When they came where he was, and saw their beloved pastor, with
lamentations and groanings they shed floods of tears, and tried to
persuade him to remain, and not abandon the sheep to the wolves. But
all was of no avail, and he read them the apostolic law which clearly
bids us be subjects to magistrates and authorities. [715] When they
had heard him some brought him gold, some silver, some clothes, and
others servants, as though he were starting for some strange and
distant land. The bishop refused to take anything but some slight
gifts from his more intimate friends, and then gave the whole company
his instruction and his prayers, and exhorted them to stand up boldly
for the apostolic decrees.
Then he set out for the Danube, while his friends returned to their
own town, and encouraged one another as they waited for the assaults
of the wolves.
In the belief that I should be wronging them were the warmth and
sincerity of their faith to lack commemoration in my history I shall
now proceed to describe it.
The Arian faction, after depriving the flock of their right excellent
shepherd, set up another bishop in his place; but not an inhabitant of
the city, were he herding in indigence or blazing in wealth, not a
servant, not a handicraftsman, not a hind, not a gardener, nor man nor
woman, whether young or old, came, as had been their wont, to
gatherings in church. The new bishop lived all alone; not a soul
looked at him, or exchanged a word with him. Yet the report is that he
behaved with courteous moderation, of which the following instance is
a proof. On one occasion he had expressed a wish to bathe, so his
servants shut the doors of the bath, and kept out all who wished to
come in. When he saw the crowd before the doors he ordered them to be
thrown open, and directed that every one should freely use the bath.
He exhibited the same conduct in the halls within; for on observing
certain men standing by him while he bathed he begged them to share
the hot water with him. They stood silent. Thinking their hesitation
was due to a respect for him, he quickly arose and made his way out,
but these persons had really been of opinion that even the water was
affected with the pollution of his heresy, and so sent it all down the
sinks, while they ordered a fresh supply to be provided for
themselves. On being informed of this the intruder departed from the
city, for he judged that it was insensate and absurd on his part to
continue to reside in a city which detested him, and treated him as a
common foe. On the departure of Eunomius (for this was his name) from
Samosata, Lucius, an unmistakable wolf, and enemy of the sheep, was
appointed in his place. But the sheep, all shepherdless as they were,
shepherded themselves, and persistently preserved the apostolic
doctrine in all its purity. How the new intruder was detested the
following relation will set forth.
Some lads were playing ball in the market place and enjoying the game,
when Lucius was passing by. It chanced that the ball was dropped and
passed between the feet of the ass. The boys raised an outcry because
they thought that their ball was polluted. On perceiving this Lucius
told one of his suite to stop and learn what was going on. The boys
lit a fire and tossed the ball through the flames with the idea that
by so doing they purified it. I know indeed that this was but a boyish
act, and a survival of the ancient ways; but it is none the less
sufficient to prove in what hatred the town held the Arian faction.
Lucius however was no follower of the mildness of Eunomius, but
persuaded the authorities to exile many others of the clergy, and
despatched the most distinguished champions of the divine dogmas to
the furthest confines of the Roman Empire; Evolcius, a deacon, to
Oasis, to an abandoned village; Antiochus, who had the honour of being
related to the great Eusebius, for he was his brother's son, and
further distinguished by his own honourable character, and of priestly
rank, to a distant part of Armenia. How boldly this Antiochus
contended for the divine decrees will be seen from the following
facts. When the divine Eusebius after his many conflicts, whereof each
was a victory, had died a martyr's death, the wonted synod of the
people was held, and among others came Jovinus then bishop of Perrha
[716] who for some little time had held a communion with the Arians.
Antiochus was unanimously chosen as successor to his uncle. When
brought before the holy table and bidden there to bend the knee, he
turned round and saw that Jovinus had put his right hand on his head.
Plucking the hand away he bade him be gone from among the
consecrators, saying that he could not endure a right hand which had
received mysteries blasphemously celebrated.
These events happened somewhat later. At the time I am speaking of he
was removed to the interior of Armenia.
The divine Eusebius was living by the Danube where the Goths were
ravaging Thrace and besieging cities, as is described in his own
works.
Footnotes
[713] Samosata, the capital of Commagene on the Euphrates, is of
interest as the birthplace of Lucian (c. 120) as well as the see of
this Eusebius, the valued friend of Basil and of Gregory of Nazianzus.
We shall find him mentioned again v. 4.
[714] Zeugma was on the right bank of the Euphrates, nearly opposite
the ancient Apamea and Seleucia and the modern Biredjik. The name is
derived from the "Zeugma" or Bridge of Boats built here by Alexander.
Strabo xvi. 2. 3.
[715] Titus iii. 1
[716] Jovinus was a friend of Basil (Ep. 118) as well as of Eusebius
of Samosata. Perrha, a town of Euphratensis, is more likely to have
been his see than the Perga of the commoner reading.
Chapter XIV.--Of the holy Barses, and of the exile of the bishop of
Edessa and his companions.
Barses, whose fame is now great not only in his own city of Edessa,
and in neighbouring towns, but in Phoenicia, in Egypt, and in the
Thebaid, through all which regions he had travelled with a high
reputation won by his great virtue, had been relegated by Valens to
the island of Aradus, [717] but when the emperor learnt that
innumerable multitudes streamed thither, because Barses was full of
apostolic grace, and drove out sicknesses with a word, he sent him to
Oxyrynchus [718] in Egypt; but there too his fame drew all men to him,
and the old man, worthy of heaven, was led off to a remote castle near
the country of the barbarians of that district, by name Pheno. It is
said that in Aradus his bed has been preserved to this day, where it
is held in very great honour, for many sick persons lie down upon it
and by means of their faith recover.
Footnotes
[717] An island off the coast of Phoenicia; now Ruad. The town on the
opposite mainland was Antaradus.
[718] Oxyrynchus on the Nile, at or near the modern Behnese (?) was so
called because the inhabitants worshipped the "sharp-snout," or pike.
Strabo xvii. 1. 40.
Chapter XV.--Of the persecution which took place at Edessa, and of
Eulogius and Protogenes, presbyters of Edessa.
Now a second time Valens, after depriving the flock of their shepherd,
had set over them in his stead a wolf. The whole population had
abandoned the city, and were assembled in front of the town, when he
arrived at Edessa. He had given orders to the prefect, Modestus by
name, to assemble the troops under his orders who were accustomed to
exact the tribute, to take all who were present of the armed force,
and by inflicting blows with sticks and clubs, and using if need be
their other weapons of war to disperse the gathering multitude. Early
in the morning, while the prefect was executing this order, on his way
through the Forum he saw a woman holding an infant in her arms, and
hurrying along at great speed. She had made light of the troops, and
forced her way through their ranks: for a soul fired with divine zeal
knows no fear of man, and looks on terrors of this kind as ridiculous
sport. When the prefect saw her, and understood what had happened, he
ordered her to be brought before him, and enquired whither she was
going. "I have heard," said she, "that assaults are being planned
against the servants of the Lord; I want to join my friends in the
faith that I may share with them the slaughter inflicted by you." "But
the baby," said the prefect, "what in the world are you carrying that
for?" "That it may share with me," said she, "the death I long for."
When the prefect had heard this from the woman and through her means
discovered the zeal which animated all the people, he made it known to
the emperor, and pointed out the uselessness of the intended massacre.
"We shall only reap," said he "a harvest of discredit from the deed,
and shall fail to quench these people's spirit." He then would not
allow the multitude to undergo the tortures which they had expected,
and commanded their leaders, the priests, I mean, and deacons, to be
brought before him, and offered them a choice of two alternatives,
either to induce the flock to communicate with the wolf, or be
banished from the town to some remote region. Then he summoned the
mass of the people before him, and in gentle terms endeavoured to
persuade them to submit to the imperial decrees, urging that it was
mere madness for a handful of men who might soon be counted to
withstand the sovereign of so vast an empire. The crowd stood
speechless. Then the prefect turned to their leader Eulogius, an
excellent man, and said, "Why do you make no answer to what you have
heard me say?" "I did not think," said Eulogius, "that I must answer,
when I had been asked no question." "But," said the prefect, "I have
used many arguments to urge you to a course advantageous to
yourselves." Eulogius rejoined that these pleas had been urged on all
the multitude and that he thought it absurd for him to push himself
forward and reply; "but," he went on, "should you ask me my individual
opinion I will give it you." "Well," said the prefect, "communicate
with the emperor." With pleasant irony Eulogius continued, "Has he
then received the priesthood as well as the empire?" The prefect then
perceiving that he was not speaking seriously took it ill, and after
heaping reproaches on the old man, added, "I did not say so, you fool;
I exhorted you to communicate with those with whom the Emperor
communicates." To this the old man replied that they had a shepherd
and obeyed his directions, and so eighty of them were arrested, and
exiled to Thrace. On their way thither they were everywhere received
with the greatest possible distinction, cities and villages coming out
to meet them and honouring them as victorious athletes. But envy armed
their antagonists to report to the emperor that what had been reckoned
disgrace had really brought great honour on these men; thereupon
Valens ordered that they were to be separated into pairs and sent in
different directions, some to Thrace, some to the furthest regions of
Arabia, and others to the towns of the Thebaid; and the saying was
that those whom nature had joined together savage men had put asunder,
and divided brother from brother. Eulogius their leader with
Protogenes the next in rank, were relegated to Antinone. [719]
Even of these men I will not suffer the virtue to fall into oblivion.
They found that the bishop of the city was of like mind with
themselves, and so took part in the gatherings of the Church; but when
they saw very small congregations, and on enquiry learnt that the
inhabitants of the city were pagans, they were grieved, as was
natural, and deplored their unbelief. But they did not think it enough
to grieve, but to the best of their ability devoted themselves to
making these men whole. The divine Eulogius, shut up in a little
chamber, spent day and night in putting up petitions to the God of the
universe; and the admirable Protogenes, who had received a good
education [720] and was practised in rapid writing, pitched on a
suitable spot which he made into a boys' school, and, setting up for a
schoolmaster, he instructed his pupils not only in the art of swift
penmanship, but also in the divine oracles. He taught them the psalms
of David and gave them to learn the most important articles of the
apostolic doctrine. One of the lads fell sick, and Protogenes went to
his home, took the sufferer by the hand and drove away the malady by
prayer. When the parents of the other boys heard this they brought him
to their houses and entreated him to succour the sick; but he refused
to ask God for the expulsion of the malady before the sick had
received the gift of baptism; urged by their longing for the
children's health, the parents readily acceded, and won at last
salvation both for body and soul. In every instance where he persuaded
any one in health to receive the divine grace, he led him off to
Eulogius, and knocking at the door besought him to open, and put the
seal of the Lord on the prey. When Eulogius was annoyed at the
interruption of his prayer, Protogenes used to say that it was much
more essential to rescue the wanderers. In this he was an object of
admiration to all who beheld his deeds, doing such wondrous works,
imparting to so many the light of divine knowledge and all the while
yielding the first place to another, and bringing his prizes to
Eulogius. They rightly conjectured that the virtue of Eulogius was by
far the greater and higher.
On the quieting of the tempest and restoration of complete calm, they
were ordered to return home, and were escorted by all the people,
wailing and weeping, and specially by the bishop of the church, who
was now deprived of their husbandry. When they reached home, the great
Barses had been removed to the life that knows no pain, and the divine
Eulogius was entrusted with the rudder of the church which he had
piloted; [721] and to the excellent Protogenes was assigned the
husbandry of Charræ, [722] a barren spot full of the thorns of
heathendom and needing abundant labour. But these events happened
after peace was restored to the churches.
Footnotes
[719] Antinoopolis, now Enseneh on the right bank of the Nile.
[720] The manuscripts here vary considerably.
[721] Eulogius was at Rome in 369, at Antioch in 379, and
Constantinople in 381.
[722] Charræ, now Harran, in Mesopotamia, on the point of divergence
of the main caravan routes, is the Haran to which Terah travelled from
Orfah. It was afterwards made famous by the defeat of the Romans in
b.c. 53, when "miserando funere Crassus, "Assyrias Latio maculavit
sanguine Carras." Lucan. 1. 104.
Chapter XVI.--Of the holy Basilius, Bishop of Cæsarea, and the
measures taken against him by Valens and the prefect Modestus.
Valens, one might almost say, deprived every church of its shepherd,
and set out for the Cappadocian Cæsarea, [723] at that time the see of
the great Basil, a light of the world. Now he had sent the prefect
before him with orders either to persuade Basil to embrace the
communion of Eudoxius, or, in the event of his refusal, to punish him
by exile. Previously acquainted as he was with the bishop's high
reputation, he was at first unwilling to attack him, for he was
apprehensive lest the bishop, by boldly meeting and withstanding his
assault, should furnish an example of bravery to the rest. This artful
stratagem was as ineffective as a spider's web. For the stories told
of old were quite enough for the rest of the episcopate, and they kept
the wall of the faith unmoved like bastions in the circle of its
walls.
The prefect, however, on his arrival at Cæsarea, sent for the great
Basil. He treated him with respect, and, addressing him with moderate
and courteous language, urged him to yield to the exigencies of the
time, and not to forsake so many churches on account of a petty nicety
of doctrine. He moreover promised him the friendship of the emperor,
and pointed out that through it he might be the means of conferring
great advantages upon many. "This sort of talk," said the divine man,
"is fitted for little boys, for they and their like easily swallow
such inducements. But they who are nurtured by divine words will not
suffer so much as a syllable of the divine creeds to be let go, and
for their sake are ready, should need require, to embrace every kind
of death. The emperor's friendship I hold to be of great value if
conjoined with true religion; otherwise I doom it for a deadly thing."
Then the prefect was moved to wrath, and declared that Basil was out
of his senses. "But," said the divine man, "this madness I pray be
ever mine." The bishop was then ordered to retire, to deliberate on
the course to be pursued, and on the morrow to declare to what
conclusion he had come. Intimidation was moreover joined with
argument. The reply of the illustrious bishop is related to have been
"I for my part shall come to you tomorrow the same man that I am
today; do not yourself change, but carry out your threats." After
these discussions the prefect met the emperor and reported the
conversation, pointing out the bishop's virtue, and the undaunted
manliness of his character. The emperor said nothing and passed in. In
his palace he saw that plagues from heaven had fallen, for his son
[724] lay sick at the very gates of death and his wife [725] was beset
by many ailments. Then he recognised the cause of these sorrows, and
entreated the divine man, whom he had threatened with chastisement, to
come to his house. His officers performed the imperial behests and
then the great Basil came to the palace.
After seeing the emperor's son on the point of death he promised him
restoration to life if he should receive holy baptism at the hands of
the pious, and with this pledge went his way. But the emperor, like
the foolish Herod, remembered his oath, and ordered some of the Arian
faction who were present to baptize the boy, who immediately died.
Then Valens repented; he saw how fraught with danger the keeping of
his oath had been, and came to the divine temple and received the
teaching of the great Basil, and offered the customary gifts at the
altar. The bishop moreover ordered him to come within the divine
curtains where he sat and talked much with him about the divine
decrees and in turn listened to him.
Now there was present a certain man of the name of Demosthenes, [726]
superintendent of the imperial kitchen, who in rudely chiding the man
who instructed the world was guilty of a solecism of speech. Basil
smiled and said "we see here an illiterate Demosthenes;" and on
Demosthenes losing his temper and uttering threats, he continued "your
business is to attend to the seasoning of soups; you cannot understand
theology because your ears are stopped up." So he said, and the
emperor was so delighted that he gave him some fine lands which he had
there for the poor under his care, for they being in grievous bodily
affliction were specially in need of care and cure.
In this manner then the great Basil avoided the emperor's first
attack, but when he came a second time his better judgement was
obstructed by counsellors who deceived him; he forgot what had
happened on the former occasion and ordered Basil to go over to the
hostile faction, and, failing to persuade him, commanded the decree of
exile to be enforced. But when he tried to affix his signature to it
he could not even form one tittle of a word, [727] for the pen broke,
and when the same thing happened to the second and to the third pen,
and he still strove to sign that wicked edict, his hand shook; he
quaked, his soul was filled with fright; he tore the paper with both
his hands, and so proof was given by the Ruler of the world that it
was He Himself who had permitted these sufferings to be undergone by
the rest, but had made Basil stronger than the snares laid against
him, and, by all the incidents of Basil's case, had declared His own
almighty power, while on the other hand He had proclaimed abroad the
courage of good men. Thus Valens was disappointed in his attack.
Footnotes
[723] Cæsarea Ad Argæum (now Kasaria) at the foot of Mount Argæus, was
made a Roman province by Tiberius a.d. 18. The progress of Valens had
hitherto been successful, and the Catholic cause was endangered.
Bithynia had been coerced, and the mobile Galatians had given in. "The
fate of Cappadocia depended on Basil." cf. Dict. Ch. Biog. i. 289.
[724] Galates. cf. Soc. iv. 26.
[725] Dominica. cf. Soc. iv. 26.
[726] If this Demosthenes "is the same person with the Demosthenes who
four years later held the office of vicar of Pontus we have in him one
of the many examples presented by the history of the Eastern empire of
the manner in which base arts raised the meanest persons to the
highest dignities." Dict. Chris. Biog. s.v. But the chief cook may
have been a high functionary like the chief baker at the court of the
Pharaohs or the Lord High Steward at that of St. James's. Of the
elevation of a menial to power many parallels may be found.
Demosthenes of Pontus afterwards became a partisan of the Semi-arians
and accused Basil's brother, Gregory of Nyssa, of dishonesty. Basil.
Epist. 264, 385, 405.
[727] stoicheion is a simple sound of the voice as distinguished from
gramma, a letter.
Chapter XVII.--Of the death of the great Athanasius and the election
of Petrus.
At Alexandria, Athanasius the victorious, after all his struggles,
each rewarded with a crown, received release from his labours and
passed away to the life which knows no toil. Then Peter, a right
excellent man, received the see. His blessed predecessor had first
selected him, and every suffrage alike of the clergy and of men of
rank and office concurred, and all the people strove to show their
delight by their acclamations. He had shared the heavy labours of
Athanasius; at home and abroad he had been ever at his side, and with
him had undergone manifold perils. Wherefore the bishops of the
neighbourhood hastened to meet; and those who dwelt in schools of
ascetic discipline left them and joined the company, and all joined in
begging that Peter might be chosen to succeed to the patriarchal chair
of Athanasius. [728]
Footnotes
[728] "The discussions about the year of his death may be considered
as practically closed; the Festal Index, although its chronology is
sometimes faulty, confirming the date of 373, given in the Maffeian
fragment. The exact day, we may believe, was Thursday, May 2, on which
day of the month Athanasius is venerated in the Western Church. He had
sat on the Alexandrian throne forty-six complete years. He died
tranquilly in his own house." Canon Bright in Dict. Christ. Biog. S.V.
Chapter XVIII.--On the overthrow of Petrus and the introduction of
Lucius the Arian.
No sooner had they seated him on the episcopal throne than the
governor of the province assembled a mob of Greeks and Jews,
surrounded the walls of the church, [729] and bade Peter come forth,
threatening him with exile if he refused. He thus acted on the plea
that he was fulfilling the emperor's good pleasure by bringing those
of opposite sentiments into trouble, but the truth was that he was
carried away by his impious passion. For he was addicted to the
service of the idols, and looked upon the storms which beset the
Church as a season of brilliant festivity. The admirable Peter,
however, when he beheld the unforeseen conflict, secretly withdrew,
and embarked in a vessel bound for Rome.
After a few days Euzoius came from Antioch with Lucius, and handed
over the churches to him. This was he of whose impiety and lawlessness
Samosata had already had experience. But the people nurtured in the
teaching of Athanasius, when they now saw how different was the
spiritual food offered them, held aloof from the assemblies of the
Church.
Lucius, who employed idolators as his attendants, went on scourging
some, imprisoning others; some he drove to take to flight, others'
homes he rifled in rude and cruel fashion. But all this is better set
forth in the letter of the admirable Peter. After recounting an
instance of the impious conduct of Lucius I shall insert the letter in
this work.
Certain men in Egypt, of angelic life and conversation, fled from the
disquiet of the state and chose to live in solitude in the wilderness.
There they made the sandy and barren soil bear fruit; for a fruit
right sweet and fair to God was the virtue by whose law they lived.
Among many who took the lead in this mode of life was the far-famed
Antonius, most excellent master in the school of mortification, who
made the desert a training place of virtue for his hermits. He after
all his great and glorious labours had reached the haven where the
winds of trouble blow no more, and then his followers were persecuted
by the wretched and unhappy Lucius. All the leaders of those divine
companies, the famous Macarius, his namesake, Isidorus, and the rest
[730] were dragged out of their caves and despatched to a certain
island inhabited by impious men, and never blessed with any teacher of
piety. When the ship drew near to the shore of the island the demon
reverenced by its inhabitants departed from the image which had been
his time-old home, and filled with frenzy the daughter of the priest.
She was driven in her inspired fury to the shore where the rowers were
bringing the ship to land. Making the tongue of the girl his
instrument, the demon shouted out through her the words uttered at
Philippi by the woman possessed with the spirit of Python, [731] and
was heard by all, both men and women, saying, "Alas for your power, ye
servants of the Christ; everywhere we have been driven forth by you
from town and hamlet, from hill and height, from wastes where no men
dwell; in yon islet we had hoped to live out of the reach of your
shafts, but our hope was vain; hither you have been sent by your
persecutors, not to be harmed by them, but to drive us out. We are
quitting the island, for we are being wounded by the piercing rays of
your virtue." With these words, and words like these, they dashed the
damsel to the ground, and themselves all fled together. But that
divine company prayed over the girl and raised her up, and delivered
her to her father made whole and in her right mind.
The spectators of the miracle flung themselves at the feet of the new
comers and implored to be allowed to participate in the means of
salvation. They destroyed the idol's grove, and, illuminated by the
bright rays of instruction, received the grace of holy baptism. On
these events becoming known in Alexandria all the people met together,
reviling Lucius, and saying that wrath from God would fall upon them,
were not that divine company of saints to be set free. Then Lucius,
apprehensive of a tumult in the city, suffered the holy hermits to go
back to their dens. Let this suffice to give a specimen of his impious
iniquity. The sinful deeds he dared to do will be more clearly set
forth by the letter of the admirable Peter. I hesitate to insert it at
full length, and so will only quote some extracts from it.
Footnotes
[729] The church Theonas, where Syrianus nearly seized Athanasius in
356.
[730] There are traces of some confusion about the saints and
solitaries of this name at this period. "There were two hermits or
monks of this name both of the 4th c., both living in Egypt, whose
character and deeds are almost indistinguishable." "One of them is
said to have been the disciple of Anthony, and the master of
Evagrius." "The name of Macarius, like a double star, shines as a
central light in the monkish history, and is enshrined alike in the
Roman martyrologies, and in the legends of the Greek church. Macarius
is a favourite saint in Russia." (Canon Fremantle, Dict. Christ. Biog.
iii. 774.) cf. Soc. iv. 23. In iv. 24 Soc. describes both the Macarii
as banished to the island "which had not a single Christian
inhabitant." Sozomen (vi. 20) has the same story. There was an
Isidorus, bishop of Cyrus in 378, mentioned by Theodoretus in his
Religious History (1143), and an Isidorus, bishop of Athribis in
Egypt. cf. Dict. Christ. Biog. s.v. But the Isidorus of the text
appears to have been a monk.
[731] Acts xvi. 16, where the reading pneuma puthona recommended on
the overwhelming authority of #ABCD is adopted by the R.V., and
rendered in the margin "a spirit, a python." In the text it is to
pneuma tou puthonos
Chapter XIX.--Narrative of events at Alexandria in the time of Lucius
the Arian, taken from a letter of Petrus, Bishop of Alexandria.
Palladius governor of the province, by sect a heathen, [732] and one
who habitually prostrated himself before the idols, had frequently
entertained the thought of waging war against Christ. After collecting
the forces already enumerated he set out against the Church, as though
he were pressing forward to the subjugation of a foreign foe. Then, as
is well known, the most shocking deeds were done, and at the bare
thought of telling the story, its recollection fills me with anguish.
I have shed floods of tears, and I should have long remained thus
bitterly affected had I not assuaged my grief by divine meditation.
The crowds intruded into the church called Theonas [733] and there
instead of holy words were uttered the praises of idols; there where
the Holy Scriptures had been read might be heard unseemly clapping of
hands with unmanly and indecent utterances; there outrages were
offered to the Virgins of Christ which the tongue refuses to utter,
for "it is a shame even to speak of them." [734] On only hearing of
these wrongs one of the well disposed stopped his ears and prayed that
he might rather become deaf than have to listen to their foul
language. Would that they had been content to sin in word alone, and
had not surpassed the wickedness of word by deed, for insult, however
bad it be, can be borne by them in whom dwells Christ's wisdom and His
holy lessons. But these same villains, vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction, [735] screwed up their noses and poured out, if I may so
say, as from a well-head, foul noises through their nostrils, and rent
the raiment from Christ's holy virgins, whose conversation gave an
exact likeness of saints; they dragged them in triumph, naked as when
they were born, through all the town; they made indecent sport of them
at their pleasure; their deeds were barbarous and cruel. Did any one
in pity interfere and urge to mercy he was dismissed with wounds. Ah!
woe is me. Many a virgin underwent brutal violation; many a maid
beaten on the head, with clubs lay dumb, and even their bodies were
not allowed to be given up for burial, and their grief-stricken
parents cannot find their corpses to this day. But why recount woes
which seem small when compared with greater? Why linger over these and
not hurry on to events more urgent? When you hear them I know that you
will wonder and will stand with us long dumb, amazed at the kindness
of the Lord in not bringing all things utterly to an end. At the very
altar the impious perpetrated what, as it is written, [736] neither
happened nor was heard of in the days of our fathers.
A boy who had forsworn his sex and would pass for a girl, with eyes,
as it is written, smeared with antimony, [737] and face reddened with
rouge like their idols, in woman's dress, was set up to dance and wave
his hands about and whirl round as though he had been at the front of
some disreputable stage, on the holy altar itself where we call on the
coming of the Holy Ghost, while the by-standers laughed aloud and
rudely raised unseemly shouts. But as this seemed to them really
rather decorous than improper, they went on to proceedings which they
reckoned in accordance with their indecency; they picked out a man who
was very famous for utter baseness, made him strip off at once all his
clothes and all his shame, and set him up as naked as he was born on
the throne of the church, and dubbed him a vile advocate against
Christ. Then for divine words he uttered shameless wickedness, for
awful doctrines wanton lewdness, for piety impiety, for continence
fornication, adultery, foul lust, theft; teaching that gluttony and
drunkenness as well as all the rest were good for man's life. [738] In
this state of things when even I had withdrawn from the church [739]
--for how could I remain where troops were coming in--where a mob was
bribed to violence--where all were striving for gain--where mobs of
heathen were making mighty promises?--forth, forsooth, is sent a
successor in my place. It was one named Lucius, who had bought the
bishopric as he might some dignity of this world, eager to maintain
the bad character and conduct of a wolf. [740] No synod of orthodox
bishops had chosen him; [741] no vote of genuine clergy; no laity had
demanded him; as the laws of the church enjoin.
Lucius could not make his entrance into the city without parade, and
so he was appropriately escorted not by bishops, not by presbyters,
not by deacons, not by multitudes of the laity; no monks preceded him
chanting psalms from the Scriptures; but there was Euzoius, once a
deacon of our city of Alexandria, and long since degraded along with
Arius in the great and holy synod of Nicæa, and more recently raised
to rule and ravage the see of Antioch, and there, too, was Magnus the
treasurer, [742] notorious for every kind of impiety, leading a vast
body of troops. In the reign of Julian this Magnus had burnt the
church at Berytus, [743] the famous city of Phoenicia; and, in the
reign of Jovian of blessed memory, after barely escaping decapitation
by numerous appeals to the imperial compassion, had been compelled to
build it up again at his own expense.
Now I invoke your zeal to rise in our vindication. From what I write
you ought to be able to calculate the character and extent of the
wrongs committed against the Church of God by the starting up of this
Lucius to oppose us. Often rejected by your piety and by the orthodox
bishops of every region, he seized on a city which had just and
righteous cause to regard and treat him as a foe. For he does not
merely say like the blasphemous fool in the psalms "Christ is not true
God." [744] But, corrupt himself, he corrupted others, rejoicing in
the blasphemies uttered continually against the Saviour by them who
worshipped the creature instead of the Creator. The scoundrel's
opinions being quite on a par with those of a heathen, why should he
not venture to worship a new-made God, for these were the phrases with
which he was publicly greeted "Welcome, bishop, because thou deniest
the Son. Serapis loves thee and has brought thee to us." So they named
their native idol. Then without an interval of delay the afore-named
Magnus, inseparable associate in the villainy of Lucius, cruel
body-guard, savage lieutenant, collected together all the multitudes
committed to his care, and arrested presbyters and deacons to the
number of nineteen, some of whom were eighty years of age, on the
charge of being concerned in some foul violation of Roman law. He
constituted a public tribunal, and, in ignorance of the laws of
Christians in defence of virtue, endeavoured to compel them to give up
the faith of their fathers which had been handed down from the
apostles through the fathers to us. He even went so far as to maintain
that this would be gratifying to the most merciful and clement Valens
Augustus. "Wretched man" he shouted "accept, accept the doctrine of
the Arians; God will pardon you even though you worship with a true
worship, if you do this not of your own accord but because you are
compelled. There is always a defence for irresponsible compulsion,
while free action is responsible and much followed by accusation.
Consider well these arguments; come willingly; away with all delay;
subscribe the doctrine of Arius preached now by Lucius," (so he
introduced him by name) "being well assured that if you obey you will
have wealth and honour from your prince, while if you refuse you will
be punished by chains, rack, torture, scourge and cruel torments; you
will be deprived of your property and possessions; you will be driven
into exile and condemned to dwell in savage regions."
Thus this noble character mixed intimidation with deceit and so
endeavoured to persuade and compel the people to apostatise from true
religion. They however knew full well how true it is that the pain of
treachery to right religion is sharper than any torment; they refused
to lower their virtue and noble spirit to his trickery and threats,
and were thus constrained to answer him. "Cease, cease trying to
frighten us with these words, utter no more vain words. We worship no
God of late arrival or of new invention. Foam at us if you will in the
vain tempest of your fury and dash yourselves against us like a
furious wind. We abide by the doctrines of true religion even unto
death; we have never regarded God as impotent, or as unwise, or
untrue, as at one time a Father and at another not a Father, as this
impious Arian teaches, making the Son a being of time and transitory.
For if, as the Ariomaniacs say, the Son is a creature, not being
naturally of one substance with the Father, the Father too will be
reduced to non-existence by the nonexistence of the Son, not being as
they assert at one period a Father. But if He is ever a Father, his
offspring being truly of Him, and not by derivation, for God is
impassible, how is not he mad and foolish who says of the Son through
whom all things came by grace into existence, "there was a time when
he was not."
These men have truly become fatherless by falling away from our
fathers throughout the world who assembled at Nicæa, and anathematized
the false doctrine of Arius, now defended by this later champion. They
laid down that the Son was not as you are now compelling us to say, of
a different substance from the Father, but of one and the same. This
their pious intelligence clearly perceived, and so from an adequate
collation of divine terms they owned Him to be consubstantial.
Advancing these and other similar arguments, they were imprisoned for
many days in the hope that they might be induced to fall away from
their right mind, but the rather, like the noblest of the athletes in
a Stadium, they crushed all fear, and from time to time as it were
anointing themselves with the thought of the bold deeds done by their
fathers, through the help of holy thoughts maintained a nobler
constancy in piety, and treated the rack as a training place for
virtue. While they were thus struggling, and had become, as writes the
blessed Paul, a spectacle to angels and to men, [745] the whole city
ran up to gaze at Christ's athletes, vanquishing by stout endurance
the scourges of the judge who was torturing them, winning by patience
trophies against impiety, and exhibiting triumphs against Arians. So
their savage enemy thought that by threats and torments he could
subdue and deliver them to the enemies of Christ. Thus therefore the
savage and inhuman tyrant evilly entreated them by inflicting on them
the tortures that his cruel ingenuity devised, while all the people
stood wailing and shewing their sorrow in various ways. Then he once
more mustered his troops, who were disciplined in disorder, and
summoned the martyrs to trial, or as it might rather be called, to a
foregone condemnation, by the seaport, while after their fashion hired
cries were raised against them by the idolaters and the Jews. On their
refusal to yield to the manifest heresy of the Ariomaniacs they were
sentenced, while all the people stood in tears before the tribunal, to
be deported from Alexandria to the Phoenician Heliopolis, [746] a
place where none of the inhabitants, who are all given over to idols,
can endure so much as to hear the name of Christ.
After giving them the order to embark, Magnus stationed himself at the
port, for he had delivered his sentence against them in the
neighbourhood of the public baths. He showed them his sword
unsheathed, thinking that he could thus strike terror into men who had
again and again smitten hostile demons to the ground with their
two-edged blade. So he bade them put out to sea, though they had got
no provisions on board, and were starting without one single comfort
for their exile. Strange and almost incredible to relate, the sea was
all afoam; grieved, I think, and unwilling, if I may so say, to
receive the good men upon its surface, and so have part or lot in an
unrighteous sentence. Now even to the ignorant was made manifest the
savage purpose of the judge and it may truly be said "at this, the
heavens stood astonished." [747]
The whole city groaned, and is lamenting to this day. Some men beating
on their breast with one hand after another raised a mighty noise;
others lifted up at once their hands and eyes to heaven in testimony
of the wrong inflicted on them, and so saying in all but words, "Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth," [748] what unlawful deeds are being
done. Now all was weeping and wailing; singing and sighing sounded
through all the town, and from every eye flowed a river of tears which
threatened to overwhelm the very sea with its tide. There was the
aforesaid Magnus on the port ordering the rowers to hoist the sails,
and up went a mingled cry of maids and matrons, old men and young, all
sobbing and lamenting together, and the noise of the multitude
overwhelmed the roar raised by the waves on the foaming sea. So the
martyrs sailed off for Heliopolis, where every man is given over to
superstition, [749] where flourish the devil's ways of pleasure, and
where the situation of the city, surrounded on all sides by mountains
that approach the sky, is fitted for the terrifying lairs of wild
beasts. All the friends they left behind now alike in public in the
middle of the town and each in private apart groaned and uttered words
of grief, and were even forbidden to weep, at the order of Palladius,
prefect of the city, who happened himself to be a man quite given over
to superstition. Many of the mourners were first arrested and thrown
into prison, and then scourged, torn with carding combs, tortured,
and, champions as they were of the church in their holy enthusiasm,
were despatched to the mines of Phennesus [750] and Proconnesus. [751]
Most of them were monks, devoted to a life of ascetic solitude, and
were about twenty-three in number. Not long afterwards the deacon who
had been sent by our beloved Damasus, bishop of Rome, to bring us
letters of consolation and communion, was led publicly through the
town by executioners, with his hands tied behind his back like some
notorious criminal. After sharing the tortures inflicted on murderers,
he was terribly scourged with stones and bits of lead about his very
neck. [752] He went on board ship to sail, like the rest, with the
mark of the sacred cross upon his brow; with none to aid and none to
tempt him he was despatched to the copper mines of Phennesus. During
the tortures inflicted by the magistrate on the tender bodies of
little boys, some have been left lying on the spot deprived of holy
rites of burial, though parents and brothers and kinsfolk, and indeed
the whole city, begged that this one consolation might be given them.
But alas for the inhumanity of the judge, if indeed he can be called
judge who only condemns! They who had contended nobly for the true
religion were assigned a worse fate than a murderer's, their bodies
lying, as they did, unburied. The glorious champions were thrown to be
devoured by beasts and birds of prey. [753] Those who were anxious for
conscience' sake to express sympathy with the parents were punished by
decapitation, as though they had broken some law. What Roman law, nay
what foreign sentiment, ever inflicted punishment for the expression
of sympathy with parents? What instance is there of the perpetration
of so illegal a deed by any one of the ancients? The male children of
the Hebrews were indeed once ordered to be slain by Pharaoh, but his
edict was suggested by envy and by fear. How far greater the
inhumanity of our day than of his. How preferable, if there be a
choice in unrighteousness, their wrongs to ours. How much better; if
what is illegal can be called good or bad, though in truth iniquity is
always iniquity.
I am writing what is incredible, inhuman, awful, savage, barbarous,
pitiless, cruel. But in all this the votaries of the Arian madness
pranced, as it were, with proud exultation, while the whole city was
lamenting; for, as it is written in Exodus, "there was not a house in
which there was not one dead." [754]
The men whose appetite for iniquity was never satisfied planned new
agitation. Ever wreaking their evil will in evil deeds, they darted
the peculiar venom of their iniquity at the bishops of the province,
using the aforesaid treasurer Magnus as the instrument of their
unrighteousness.
Some they delivered to the Senate, some they trapped at their good
pleasure, leaving no stone unturned in their anxiety to hunt in all
from every quarter to impiety, going about in all directions, and like
the devil, the proper father of heresy, they sought whom they might
devour. [755]
In all, after many fruitless efforts, they drove into exile to
Dio-Cæsarea, [756] a city inhabited by Jews, murderers of the Lord,
eleven of the bishops of Egypt, all of them men who from childhood to
old age had lived an ascetic life in the desert, had subdued their
inclinations to pleasure by reason and by discipline, had fearlessly
preached the true faith of piety, had imbibed the pious doctrines, had
again and again won victory against demons, were ever putting the
adversary out of countenance by their virtue, and publicly posting the
Arian heresy by wisest argument. Yet like Hell, [757] not satisfied
with the death of their brethren, fools and madmen as they were, eager
to win a reputation by their evil deeds, they tried to leave memorials
in all the world of their own cruelty. For lo now they roused the
imperial attention against certain clerics of the catholic church who
were living at Antioch, together with some excellent monks who came
forward to testify against their evil deeds. They got these men
banished to Neocæsarea [758] in Pontus, where they were soon deprived
of life in consequence of the sterility of the country. Such tragedies
were enacted at this period, fit indeed to be consigned to silence and
oblivion, but given a place in history for the condemnation of the men
who wag their tongues against the Only begotten, and infected as they
were with the raving madness of blasphemy, strive not only to aim
their shafts at the Master of the universe, but further waged a
truceless war against His faithful servants.
Footnotes
[732] ethnikos, "foreigner" a "gentile." Another common term for
"heathen" in ecclesiastical Greek is ;'Ellen, but neither "Gentile"
nor "Greek" expresses the required sense so well as "Heathen," which,
like the cognate "Pagan," simply denotes a countryman and villager,
and marks the age when Christianity was found to be mainly in towns.
[733] Vide note on page 120.
[734] Eph. v. 12
[735] Romans ix. 22
[736] Joel i. 2
[737] I adopt the reading stibe for stimmi. cf. Ez. xxiii. 40 (Sept.).
estibizon tous ophthalmous sou
[738] cf. Greg. Naz. Orat. xxv. 12. p. 464 Ed. Migne.
[739] cf. Soc. 21.
[740] Observe the pun.
[741] On the subject of episcopal election, vide Dict. Christ. Biog.
iv. 335.
[742] o ton kometatesion de largitionon komes. Valesius says,
"thesauri principis, qui vulgo sacræ largitiones dicebantur, alii
erant per singulas dioeceses quibus proeerant comites. Alii erant in
comitatu una cum principe, qui comitatenses largitiones dicebantur.
His præerat comes largitionum comitatensium."
[743] Beyrout, between the ancient Byblus and Sidon. Near here St.
George killed the dragon, according to the legend. Our patron saint's
dragon does not seem to have been, as may possibly have been the case
in some similar stories, a surviving Saurian, but simply a
materialization of some picture of George vanquishing the old dragon,
the Devil.
[744] Ps. xiv. 1. The Sept. reads Eipen aphron en kardia autou ouk
esti Theos, which admits of the translation "He is not God."
[745] 1 Cor. iv. 9
[746] In Coele-Syria, near the sources of the Orontes, where the ruins
of the temple of the sun built by Antoninus Pius are known by the
modern equivalent of the older title--Baal-Bek, "the city of the sun."
[747] Jer. ii. 12. A.V. "Be astonished, O ye heavens." But in Sept. as
in text exeste ho ouranos epi touto
[748] Isaiah i. 2
[749] Here the obvious sense of deisidaimonon matches the
"superstitious" of A.V. in Acts xvii. 22
[750] Valesius identifies Phennesus with Phynon in Arabia Petræa, now
Tafileh.
[751] The island of Marmara in the sea of that name.
[752] The Roman "Flagellum" was a frightful instrument of torture, and
is distinguished from the "scutica," or whip, and "virga," or rod. It
was knotted with bones and bits of metal, and sometimes ended in a
hook. Horace (Sat. I. iii. 119) calls it "horribile."
[753] cf. Soph. Ant. 30, Where the corpse of Polyneikes is described
as left ----"unwept unsepulchred A prize full rich for birds."
(Plumptre.) Christian sentiment is still affected by the horror felt
by the Greeks at deprivation of the rites of burial which finds
striking expression in the dispute between Teucer and Menelaos about
the burial of Ajax.
[754] Ex. xii. 30
[755] 1 Peter v. 8
[756] Now Sefurieh, anciently Sepphoris; an unimportant place till
erected by Herod Antipas into the capital of Galilee.
[757] Proverbs xxvii. 20
[758] Now Niksar, on the river Lykus, the scene of two councils; (i.)
a.d. 315, when the first canon ordered every priest to forfeit his
orders on marriage (Mansi ii. 539) (ii.) a.d. 350, when Eustathius of
Sebaste was condemned (Mansi, iii. 291).
Chapter XX.--Of Mavia, [759] Queen of the Saracens, and the ordination
[760] of Moses the monk.
At this time [761] the Ishmaelites were devastating the country in the
neighbourhood of the Roman frontier. They were led by Mavia, a
princess who regarded not the sex which nature had given her, and
displayed the spirit and courage of a man. After many engagements she
made a truce, and, on receiving the light of divine knowledge, begged
that to the dignity of high priest of her tribe might be advanced one,
Moses by name, who dwelt on the confines of Egypt and Palestine. This
request Valens granted, and ordered the holy man to be conveyed to
Alexandria, and there, as the most convenient place in the
neighbourhood, to receive episcopal grace. When he had arrived and saw
Lucius endeavouring to lay hands on him--"God forbid" said he "that I
should be ordained by thine hand: the grace of the Spirit visits us
not at thy calling." "Whence," said Lucius, "are you led to conjecture
this?" He rejoined "I am not speaking of conjecture but of clear
knowledge; for thou fightest against the apostolic decrees, and
speakest words against them, and for thy blasphemous utterances thy
lawless deeds are a match. For what impious man has not on thy account
mocked the meetings of the Church? What excellent man has not been
exiled? What barbarous savagery is not thrown into the shade by thy
daily deeds?" So the brave man said, and the murderer heard him and
desired to slay him, but was afraid of kindling once again the war
which had come to an end. Wherefore he ordered other bishops to be
produced whom Moses had requested. After receiving the episcopal grace
of the right worthy faith Moses returned to the people who had asked
for him, and by his apostolic teaching and miracles led them in the
way that leads to truth. [762]
These then were the deeds done by Lucius in Alexandria under the
dispensation of the providence of God.
Footnotes
[759] cf. Soz. vi. 38, and Soc. iv. 36.
[760] The word used is cheirotonia, of which it is well to trace the
varying usages. These are given by the late Rev. E. Hatch (Dict.
Christ. Ant. ii. 1501) as follows. "This word is used (a) in the N.T.
Acts xiv. 24, cheirotonesantes de autois kat' ekklesian presbuterous:
2 Cor. viii. 19 (of Titus) cheirotonetheis hupo ton ekklesion; (b) in
sub-apostolic Greek, Ignat. ad Philad. c. 10; (c) in the Clementines,
Clement. Ep. ad Jacob. c. 2; (d) in the Apostolical Constitution; (e)
in the Canon Law; (f) in the Civil Law. Its meaning was originally "to
elect," but it came afterwards to mean even in classical Greek, simply
"to appoint to office," without itself indicating the particular mode
of appointment (cf. Schömann de Comitüs, p. 122). That the latter was
its ordinary meaning in Hellenistic Greek, and consequently in the
first ages of church history, is clear from a large number of
instances; e.g. in Josephus vi. 13, 9, it is used of the appointment
of David as King by God; id. xiii, 22, of the appointment of Jonathan
as High Priest by Alexander; in Philo ii, 76 it is used of the
appointment of Joseph as governor by Pharaoh; in Lucian, de morte
Peregrini c. 41 of the appointment of ambassadors. "In Sozomen vii, 24
of the appointment of Arcadius as Augustus by Theodosius." "In later
times a new connotation appears of which there is no early trace; it
was used of the stretching out of the bishop's hands in the rite of
imposition of hands." The writer of the above seems hardly to do
justice to its early use for ordination as well as for appointment. In
the Pseudo-Ig. ad. Her. c. iii, it is said of bishops ekeinoi
cheirotonousi, cheirothetousi and Bp. Lightfoot comments "while
cheirothesia is used of laying on of hands, e.g. in confirmation,
cheirotonia is said of ordination, e.g. Ap. Const. viii. 27.
`episkopos hupo trion e duo episkopon cheirotoneistho.' Referring
originally to the election of the Clergy cheirotonia came afterwards
to be applied commonly, as here, to their ordination." Theodoretus
uses the word in both senses, and sometimes either will fit in with
the context.
[761] i.e. about 375.
[762] Sozomen (vi. 38) describes Lucius as remonstrating in moderate
language. "Do not judge of me before you know what my creed is."
Socrates (iv. 36) makes Moses charge Lucius with condemning the
orthodox to exile, beasts, and burning. On Socrates Valesius annotates
"Hanc narrationem de episcopo Saracenis dato et de pace cum iisdem
facta, desumpsit quidem Socrates, ex Rufini lib. ii. 6." Lucius was
ejected from Alexandria when the reign of Valens ended with his death
in 378. Theodoretus appears to confound this Lucius with an Arian
Lucius who usurped the see of Samosata. Vide chap. xviii.
Chapter XXI
At Constantinople the Arians filled a boat with pious presbyters and
drove her without ballast out to sea, putting some of their own men on
another craft with orders to set the presbyters boat on fire. So,
fighting at the same time against both sea and flames, at last they
were delivered to the deep, and won the martyrs crown.
At Antioch Valens spent a considerable time, and gave complete license
to all who, under cover of the Christian name, pagans, Jews and the
rest, preached doctrines contrary to those of the gospel. The slaves
of this error even went so far as to perform pagan rites, and thus the
deceitful fire which, after Julian, had been quenched by Jovian, was
now rekindled by permission of Valens. The rites of Jews, of Dionysus,
and of Demeter were now no longer performed in a corner, as they would
be in a pious reign, but by revellers running wild in the forum.
Valens was a foe to none but them that held the apostolic doctrine.
First he drove them from their churches, the illustrious Jovian having
given them also the new built church. And when they assembled close up
to the mountain cliff to honour their Master in hymns, and enjoy the
word of God, putting up with all the assaults of the weather, now of
rain, now of snow and cold, and now of violent heat, they were not
even suffered this poor protection, and troops were sent to scatter
them far and wide.
Chapter XXII.--How Flavianus and Diodorus gathered the church of the
orthodox in Antioch. [763]
Now Flavianus and Diodorus, like break-waters, broke the force of the
advancing waves. Meletius their shepherd had been constrained to
sojourn far away. But these looked after the flock, opposing their own
courage and cunning to the wolves, and bestowing due care upon the
sheep. Now that they were driven away from under the cliff they fed
their flocks by the banks of the neighbouring river. They could not
brook, like the captives at Babylon, to hang their harps upon the
willows, [764] but they continued to hymn their maker and benefactor
in all places of his dominion. [765] But not even in this spot was the
meeting of the pious pastors of them that blessed the Lord suffered by
the foe to be assembled. So again this pair of excellent shepherds
gathered their sheep in the soldiers training ground and there tried
to show them their spiritual food in secret. Diodorus, in his wisdom
and courage, like a clear and mighty river, watered his own and
drowned the blasphemies of his opponents, thinking nothing of the
splendour of his birth, and gladly undergoing the sufferings of the
faith.
The excellent Flavianus, who was also of the highest rank, thought
piety the only nobility, [766] and, like some trainer for the games,
anointed the great Diodorus [767] as though he had been an athlete for
five contests. [768]
At that time he did not himself preach at the services of the church,
but furnished an abundant supply of arguments and scriptural thoughts
to preachers, who were thus able to aim their shafts at the blasphemy
of Arius, while he as it were handed them the arrows of his
intelligence from a quiver. Discoursing alike at home and abroad he
easily rent asunder the heretics nets and showed their defences to be
mere spiders webs. He was aided in these contests by that Aphraates
whose life I have written in my Religious History, [769] and who,
preferring the welfare of the sheep to his own rest, abandoned his
cell of discipline and retirement, and undertook the hard toil of a
shepherd. Having written on these matters in another work I deem it
now superfluous to recount the wealth of virtue which he amassed, but
one specimen of his good deeds I will proceed now to relate, as
specially appropriate to this history.
Footnotes
[763] Cf. ante, ii. 19, page 85.
[764] Psalm cxxxvii
[765] Psalm ciii. 22
[766] cf. "Virtus sola nobilitas."
[767] Diodorus was now a presbyter. Chrysost. (Laus Diodori §4. tom.
iii. p. 749) describes how the whole city assembled and were fed by
his tongue flowing with milk and honey, themselves meanwhile supplying
his necessities with their gifts. Valens retorted with redoubled
violence, and anticipated the "noyades" of Carrier at Lyons. cf.
Socrates iv. 17 and Dict. Christ. Biog. ii. 529.
[768] The five contests of the complete athlete are summed up in the
line halma, podokeien, diskon, akonta, palen
[769] Relig. Hist. viii.
Chapter XXIII.--Of the holy monk Aphraates.
On the north of the river Orontes lies the palace. On the South a vast
two storied portico is built on the city wall with lofty towers on
either side. Between the palace and the river lies a public way open
to passengers from the town, through the gate in this quarter, and
leading to the country in the suburbs. The godly Aphraates was once
passing along this thoroughfare on his way to the soldiers' training
ground, in order to perform the duty of serving his flock. The emperor
happened to be looking down from a gallery in the palace, and saw him
going by wearing a cloak of undressed goat's skin, [770] and walking
rapidly, though of advanced age. On its being remarked that this was
Aphraates to whom all the town was then attached, the emperor cried
out "Where are you going? Tell us." Readily and cleverly he answered
"To pray for your empire." "You had better stop at home" said the
emperor "and pray alone like a monk." "Yes," said the divine man, "so
I was bound to do and so I always did till now, as long as the
Saviour's sheep were at peace; but now that they are grievously
disturbed and in great peril of being caught by beasts, I needs must
leave no means untried to save the nurslings. For tell me, sir, had I
been a girl sitting in my chamber, and looking after the house, and
had seen a flash of flame fall and my father's house on fire, what
ought I to do? Tell me; sit within and never mind the house being on
fire, and wait for the flame to approach? or bid my bower good bye and
run up and down and get water and try to quench the flame? Of course
you will say the latter, for so a quick and spirited girl would do.
And that is what I am doing now, sir. You have set fire to our
Father's house and we are running about in the endeavour to put it
out." So said Aphraates, and the emperor threatened him and said no
more. One of the grooms of the imperial bedchamber, who threatened the
godly man somewhat more violently, met with the following fate. He was
entrusted with the charge of the bath, and immediately after this
conversation he came down to get it ready for the emperor. On entering
he lost his wits, stepped into the boiling water before it was mixed
with the cold, and so met his end. The emperor sat waiting for him to
announce that the bath was ready for him to enter, and after a
considerable time had gone by he sent other officers to report the
cause of the delay. After they had gone in and looked all about the
room they discovered the chamberlain slain by the heat, and lying dead
in the boiling water. On this becoming known to the emperor they
perceived the force of the prayers of Aphraates. Nevertheless they did
not depart from the impious doctrines but hardened their heart like
Pharaoh, and the infatuated emperor, though made aware of the miracle
of the holy man, persisted in his mad rage against piety.
Footnotes
[770] The word Sisura was used for a common upper garment, but
according to the grammarian Tzetzes (Schol. Ad. Lyc. 634) its accurate
meaning is the one given in the text.
Chapter XXIV.--Of the holy monk Julianus.
At this time too the celebrated Julianus, whom I have already
mentioned, was forced to leave the desert and come to Antioch, for
when the foster children of lies, the facile framers of calumny, I
mean of course the Arians, were maintaining that this great man was of
their faction, those lights of the truth Flavianus, Diodorus, and
Aphraates sent Acacius, [771] an athlete of virtue who afterwards very
wisely ruled the church at Beroea, to the famous Julianus [772] with
the entreaty that he would take pity on so many thousands of men, and
at the same time convict the enemy of lies and confirm the
proclamation of the truth. The miracles worked by Julianus on his way
to and from Antioch and in that vast city itself are described in my
Religious History, which is easily accessible to all who wish to
become acquainted with them. But I am sure that no one who has
enquired into human nature will doubt that he attracted all the
population of the city to our assembly, for the extraordinary is
generally sure to draw all men after it. The fact of his having
wrought great marvels is attested even by the enemies of the truth.
Before this time in the reign of Constantius the great Antonius [773]
had acted in the same way in Alexandria, for he abandoned the desert
and went up and down that city, telling all men that Athanasius was
the preacher of the true doctrine and that the Arian faction were
enemies of the truth. So those godly men knew how to adapt themselves
to each particular opportunity, when to remain inactive, and at rest,
and when to leave the deserts for towns.
Footnotes
[771] A monk of Gindarus near Antioch (Theod. Vit. Pat. ii.) afterward
envoy from the Syrian churches to Rome, and Bishop of Beroea, (Aleppo)
a.d. 378. He was at Constantinople in 381, (cf. v. 8.) and is famous
for his opposition to Chrysostom.
[772] Julianus Sabas (i.e. Abba) an ascetic solitary of Osrhoëne, the
district south of the modern Harran. He is the second of the saints of
Theodoret's "Religious History," where we read that he lived on millet
bread, which he ate once a week, and performed various miracles, which
are recorded by Theodoret on the authority of Acacius.
[773] Antonius, St. Anthony, the illustrious and illiterate ascetic,
friend and correspondent of Constantine (Soc. i. 13), the centre of
many wild legends, was born in 250 a.d. in upper Egypt. Athanasius
calls him the "founder of Asceticism." In 335 he revisited Alexandria
to oppose the Arians, as narrated in the text. He died in his cell in
355, bequeathing his "hair shirt. his two woollen tunics, and his bed,
among Amathas and Macarius who watched his last hours, Serapion, and
Athanasius." Vide Ath. Vit. S. Ant.
Chapter XXV.--Of what other monks were distinguished at this period.
There were also other men at this period who emitted the bright rays
of the philosophy of solitary life. In the Chalcidian [774] desert
Avitus, Marcianus [775] and Abraames, [776] and more besides whom I
cannot easily enumerate, strove in their bodies of sense to live a
life superior to sense. In the district of Apamea, [777] Agapetus,
[778] Simeon, [779] Paulus and others reaped the fruits of the highest
wisdom.
In the district of the Zeugmatenses [780] were Publius [781] and
Paulus. In the Cyrestian [782] the famous Acepsemas had been shut up
in a cell for sixty years without being either seen or spoken to. The
admirable Zeumatius, though bereft of sight, used to go about
confirming the sheep, and fighting with the wolves; so they burnt his
cell, but the right faithful general Trajanus got another built for
him, and paid him besides other attentions. In the neighbourhood of
Antioch, Marianus, [783] Eusebius, [784] Ammianus, [785] Palladius,
[786] Simeon, [787] Abraames, [788] and others, preserved the divine
image unimpaired; but of all these the lives have been recorded by us.
But the mountain which is in the neighbourhood of the great city was
decked like a meadow, for in it shone Petrus, the Galatian, his
namesake the Egyptian, Romanus Severus, [789] Zeno, [790] Moses, and
Malchus, [791] and many others of whom the world is ignorant, but who
are known to God.
Footnotes
[774] i.e. the district round Chalcis in Syria, to be distinguished
from the Macedonian Chalcidice.
[775] Native of Theodoret's see of Cyrus. He built himself a cell like
the "Little Ease" of the Tower of London, and promoted orthodoxy by
the influence of his austerities. /-c. 385. cf. Tillemont, viii. 483.
[776] A. went on missionary journeys disguised as a pedlar, and
eventually unwillingly became bishop of Carræ. Theod. Relig. Hist. 3.
[777] Presumably Apamea ad Orontem. (Famiah.)
[778] Bishop of Apamea, a comrade and disciple of Marcianus. (Relig.
Hist. iii.)
[779] Also a disciple of Marcian. For fifty years he maintained a
school of ascetic philosophy. cf. Chrysost. Ep. 55. and Tillemont. ix.
304. Apparently not the same as Simeones Priscus of Relig. Hist. vi.
[780] i.e. near Zeugma, on the Euphrates, opposite Apamea.
[781] vide Relig. Hist. v.
[782] i.e. round Theodoret's see of Cyrus.
[783] Uncle of Eusebius, a "faithful servant of God." Relig. Hist. iv.
[784] Relig. Hist. iv. Abbot of Mt. Coryphe, nephew of Marianus. He
chained his neck to his girdle that he might be compelled to violate
the prerogative of his manhood (cf. Ovid. Met i. 85) and keep his eyes
on the ground.
[785] Vide Relig. Hist. iv. He had a monastery near Antioch.
[786] Relig. Hist. vii.
[787] cf. the Symeones Priscus of Relig. Hist. vi.
[788] The disciple of Ephrem Syrus. Vide Soz. iii. 16, and Eph. Syr.
Act. S. Abraam.
[789] Born at Rhosus. His life is given in Relig. Hist. xi.
[790] Relig. Hist. xii. He lived "without bed, lamp, fire, pitcher,
pot, box, or book, or anything."
[791] Met in his old age by Jerome, to whom he told the story of his
life. Born at Edessa, he ended his days at Maronia, near Antioch. Vide
Jer. vita Malchi.
Chapter XXVI.--Of Didymus of Alexandria and Ephraim the Syrian.
At that period at Edessa flourished the admirable Ephraim, and at
Alexandria Didymus, [792] both writers against the doctrines that are
at variance with the truth. Ephraim, employing the Syrian language,
shed beams of spiritual grace. Totally untainted as he was by heathen
education [793] he was able to expose the niceties of heathen error,
and lay bare the weakness of all heretical artifices. Harmonius [794]
the son of Bardesanes [795] had once composed certain songs and by
mixing sweetness of melody with his impiety beguiled the hearers, and
led them to their destruction. Ephraim adopted the music of the songs,
but set them to piety, and so gave the hearers at once great delight
and a healing medicine. These songs are still used to enliven the
festivals of our victorious martyrs.
Didymus, however, who from a child had been deprived of the sense of
sight, had been educated in poetry, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, the logic of Aristotle, and the eloquence of Plato.
Instruction in all these subjects he received by the sense of hearing
alone,--not indeed as conveying the truth, but as likely to be weapons
for the truth against falsehood. Of holy scriptures he learnt not only
the sound but the sense. So among livers of ascetic lives and students
of virtue, these men at that time were conspicuous.
Footnotes
[792] Flourished c. 309-399. Blind from the age of four, he educated
himself with marvellous patience, and was placed by Athanasius at the
head of the catechetical school of Alexandria. Jerome called him his
teacher and seer and translated his Treatise on the Holy Spirit. Jer.
de Vir. Illust. 109.
[793] "paideias ;;Ellenikes." His ignorance of languages weakens the
force of his dialectic and illustrations. Vid. Dict. Christ. Biog.
s.v.
[794] Harmonius wrote about the end of the 2nd century, both in Greek
and in Syriac. cf. Theod. Hæret. Fabul. Compend. i. 22, where he is
said to have learned Greek at Athens.
[795] Bardesanes, or Bar Daisan, the great Syrian gnostic, was born in
155. cf. the prologue to the "Dialogues."
Chapter XXVII.--Of what bishops were at this time distinguished in
Asia and Pontus.
Among the bishops were the two Gregorii, the one of Nazianzus [796]
and the other of Nyssa, [797] the latter the brother and the former
the friend and fellow worker of the great Basilius. These were
foremost champions of piety in Cappadocia; and in front rank with them
was Peter, born of the same parents with Basilius and Gregorius, who
though not having received like them a foreign education, like them
lived a life of brilliant distinction.
In Pisidia Optimus, [798] in Lycaonia Amphilochius, [799] fought in
the front rank on behalf of their fathers' faith, and repelled the
enemies' assaults.
In the West Damasus, [800] Bishop of Rome, and Ambrosius, entrusted
with the government of Milan, smote those who attacked them from afar.
In conjunction with these, bishops forced to dwell in remote regions,
confirmed their friends and undid their foes by writings--thus pilots
able to cope with the greatness of the storm were granted by the
governor of the universe. Against the violence of the foe He set in
battle array the virtue of His captains, and provided means meet to
ward off the troubles of these difficult times, and not only were the
churches granted this kind of protection by their loving Lord, but
deemed worthy of yet another kind of guidance.
Footnotes
[796] Gregorius of Nazianzus (in Cappadocia, on the Halys) was so
called not as bishop of Nazianzus. He was bishop successively of
Sasima, "a detestable little village,"--(Carm. xi. 439-446)--and of
Constantinople, and was called "Nazianzenus" because his father and
namesake was bishop of that see. On his acting as bishop at Nazianzus
after his withdrawal from Constantinople, vide note on page 136.
[797] A younger brother of Basil, bishop of Cæsarea, born about 335;
he was bishop of Nyssa, an obscure town of Cappadocia, from 372 to
395. Their parents were Basil, an advocate and Emmelia. Petrus, the
youngest of ten children, was bishop of Sebaste.
[798] Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia; was present at Constantinople in
381. He was a witness to the will of Gregory of Nazianzus.
[799] Vide note on p. 114.
[800] Vide note on p. 82.
Chapter XXVIII.--Of the letter written by Valens to the great
Valentinianus about the war, and how he replied.
The Lord roused the Goths to war, and drew on to the Bosphorus him who
knew only how to fight against the pious. Then for the first time the
vain man became aware of his own weakness, and sent to his brother to
ask for troops. But Valentinian replied that it were impious to help
one fighting against God, and right rather to check his rashness. By
this the unhappy man was filled with yet greater infatuation, yet he
did not withdraw from his rash undertaking, and persisted in ranging
himself against the truth. [801]
Footnotes
[801] On this Valesius remarks that Valentinian was already dead
(/-375) when the Goths crossed the Danube and ravaged Thrace (376).
Theodoretus should have written "Gratianus" for "Valentinianus," and
"nephew" for "brother."
Chapter XXIX.--Of the piety of Count Terentius.
Terentius, an excellent general, distinguished for his piety, had set
up trophies of victory and returned from Armenia. On being ordered by
Valens to choose a boon, he mentioned one which it was becoming in a
man nurtured in piety to choose, for he asked not gold nor yet silver,
not land, not dignity, not a house, but that one church might be
granted to them that were risking their all for the Apostolic
doctrine. Valens received the petition, but on becoming acquainted
with its contents he tore it up in a rage, and bade Terentius beg some
other boon. The count, however, picked up the pieces of his petition,
and said, "I have my reward, sir, and I will not ask another. The
Judge of all things is Judge of my intention."
Chapter XXX.--Of the bold utterance of Trajanus the general.
After Valens had crossed the Bosphorus and come into Thrace he first
spent a considerable time at Constantinople, in alarm as to the issue
of the war. He had sent Trajanus in command of troops against the
barbarians. When the general came back beaten, the emperor reviled him
sadly, and charged him with infirmity and cowardice. Boldly, as became
a brave man, Trajanus replied: "I have not been beaten, sir, it is
thou who hast abandoned the victory by fighting against God and
transferring His support to the barbarians. Attacked by thee He is
taking their side, for victory is on God's side and comes to them whom
God leads. Dost thou not know," he went on, "whom thou hast expelled
from their churches and to whose government these churches have been
delivered by thee?" Arintheus and Victor, [802] generals like
Trajanus, confirmed the truth of what he said, and implored the
emperor not to be angered by reproaches which were founded upon fact.
[803]
Footnotes
[802] Magister equitum. Amm. xxxi. 7.
[803] Gibbon (chap. xxvi) records the conduct of the war by "Trajan
and Profuturus, two generals who indulged themselves in a very false
and favourable opinion of their own abilities." "Anhelantes altius.
sed imbelles." Amm. The battle alluded to is presumably the doubtful
one of Salices. Ammianus does not, as Gibbon supposes, imply that he
had himself visited this particular battlefield, but speaks generally
of carrion birds as "adsuetæ illo tempore cadaveribus pasci, ut
indicant nunc usque albentes ossibus campi." Amm. xxxi. 7. 16.
Chapter XXXI.--Of Isaac [804] the monk of Constantinople and Bretanio
the Scythian Bishop.
It is related that Isaac, who lived as a solitary at Constantinople,
when he saw Valens marching out with his troops, cried aloud, "Whither
goest thou, O emperor? To fight against God, instead of having Him as
thy ally? 'Tis God himself who has roused the barbarians against thee,
because thou hast stirred many tongues to blasphemy against Him and
hast driven His worshippers from their sacred abodes. Cease then thy
campaigning and stop the war. Give back to the flocks their excellent
shepherds and thou shalt win victory without trouble, but if thou
fightest without so doing thou shalt learn by experience how hard it
is to kick against the pricks. [805] Thou shalt never come back and
shalt destroy thy army." Then in a passion the emperor rejoined, "I
shall come back; and I will kill thee, and so exact punishment for thy
lying prophecy." But Isaac undismayed by the threat exclaimed, "If
what I say be proved false, kill me."
Bretanio, a man distinguished by various virtues, and entrusted with
the episcopal government of all the cities of Scythia, fired his soul
with enthusiasm, and protested against the corruption of doctrines,
and the emperor's lawless attacks upon the saints, crying in the words
of the godly David, "I spoke of thy testimonies also before Kings and
was not ashamed." [806]
Footnotes
[804] Possibly the Isaac who opposed Chrysostom. Soz. viii. 9.
[805] Acts ix. 5
[806] Psalm cxix. 46. The text quotes the Sept. elaloun en tois
marturiois sou enantion basileon kai ouk eschunomen
Chapter XXXII.--Of the expedition of Valens against the Goths and how
he paid the penalty of his impiety.
Valens, however, spurned these excellent counsellors, and sent out his
troops to join battle while he himself sat waiting in a hamlet for the
victory. His troops could not stand against the barbarians' charge,
turned tail and were slain one after another as they fled, the Romans
fleeing at full speed and the barbarians chasing them with all their
might. When Valens heard of the defeat he strove to conceal himself in
the village where he lay, but when the barbarians came up they set the
place on fire and together with it burnt the enemy of piety. Thus in
this present life Valens paid the penalty of his errors. [807]
Footnotes
[807] "On the 9th August, 378, a day long and fatally memorable in the
annals of the empire, the legions of Valens moved forth from their
entrenched camp under the walls of Hadrianople, and after a march of
eight miles under the hot sun of August came in sight of the barbarian
vanguard, behind which stretched the circling line of the waggons that
guarded the Gothic host. The soldiers of the empire, hot, thirsty,
wearied out with hours of waiting under the blaze of an August sun,
and only half understanding that the negotiations were ended and the
battle begun, fought at a terrible disadvantage but fought not ill.
The infantry on the left wing seem even to have pushed back their
enemies and penetrated to the Gothic waggons. But they were for some
reason not covered as usual by a force of cavalry and they were jammed
into a too narrow space of ground where they could not use their
spears with effect, yet presented a terribly easy mark to the Gothic
arrows. They fell in dense masses as they had stood. Then the whole
weight of the enemy's attack was directed against the centre and
right. When the evening began to close in, the utterly routed Roman
soldiers were rushing in disorderly flight from the fatal field. The
night, dark and moonless, may have protected some, but more met their
death rushing blindly over a rugged and unknown country. "Meanwhile
Valens had sought shelter with a little knot of soldiers (the two
regiments of "Lancearii and Mattiarii"), who still remained unmoved
amidst the surging sea of ruin. When their ranks too were broken, and
when some of his bravest officers had fallen around him, he joined the
common soldiers in their headlong flight. Struck by a Gothic arrow he
fell to the ground, but was carried off by some of the eunuchs and
life-guardsmen who still accompanied him, to a peasant's cottage hard
by. The Goths, ignorant of his rank, but eager to strip the
gaily-clothed guardsmen, surrounded the cottage and attempted in vain
to burst in the doors. Then mounting to the roof they tried to smoke
out the imprisoned inmates, but succeeding beyond their desires, set
fire to the cottage, and emperor, eunuchs, and life-guardsmen perished
in the flames. Only one of the body-guard escaped, who climbed out
through one of the blazing windows and fell into the hands of the
barbarians. He told them when it was too late what a prize they had
missed in their cruel eagerness, nothing less than the emperor of
Rome. Ecclesiastical historians for generations delighted to point the
moral of the story of Valens, that he who had seduced the whole Gothic
nation into the heresy of Arius, and thus caused them to suffer the
punishment of everlasting fire, was himself by those very Goths burned
alive on the terrible 9th of August. Thomas Hodgkin--"The Dynasty of
Theodosius," page 97.
Chapter XXXIII.--How the Goths became tainted by the Arian error.
To those ignorant of the circumstances it may be worth while to
explain how the Goths got the Arian plague. After they had crossed the
Danube, and made peace with Valens, the infamous Eudoxius, who was on
the spot, suggested to the emperor to persuade the Goths to accept
communion with him. They had indeed long since received the rays of
divine knowledge and had been nurtured in the apostolic doctrines,
"but now," said Eudoxius, "community of opinion will make the peace
all the firmer." Valens approved of this counsel and proposed to the
Gothic chieftains an agreement in doctrine, but they replied that they
would not consent to forsake the teaching of their fathers. At the
period in question their Bishop Ulphilas was implicitly obeyed by them
and they received his words as laws which none might break. Partly by
the fascination of his eloquence and partly by the bribes with which
he baited his proposals Eudoxius succeeded in inducing him to persuade
the barbarians to embrace communion with the emperor, so Ulphilas won
them over on the plea that the quarrel between the different parties
was really one of personal rivalry and involved no difference in
doctrine. The result is that up to this day the Goths assert that the
Father is greater than the Son, but they refuse to describe the Son as
a creature, although they are in communion with those who do so. Yet
they cannot be said to have altogether abandoned their Father's
teaching, since Ulphilas in his efforts to persuade them to join
communion with Eudoxius and Valens denied that there was any
difference in doctrine and that the difference had arisen from mere
empty strife. [808]
Footnotes
[808] Christianity is first found among the Goths and some German
tribes on the Rhine about a.d. 300, the Visigoths taking the lead, and
being followed by the Ostrogoths. They were converted under Arian
influences, and simply accepted an Arian creed. So Salvian writes of
them with singular charity, in a passage partly quoted by Milman (Lat.
Christ. I. p. 349.) "Hæretici sunt sed non scientes. Denique apud nos
sunt hæretici, apud se non sunt. Nam in tantum se catholicos esse
judicant ut nos ipsos titulo hæreticæ appellationis infament. Quod
ergo illi nobis sunt, hoc nos illis. Nos eos injuriam divinæ
generationis facere certi sumus quod minorem patre filium dicant. Illi
nos injuriosos patri existimant, quia æquales esse credamus. Veritas
apud nos est. Sed illi apud se esse proesumunt. Honor Dei apud nos
est, sed illi hoc arbitrantur honorem divinitatis esse quod credunt.
Inofficiosi sunt; sed illis hoc est summum religionis officium. Impii
sunt; sed hoc putant veram esse pietatem. Errant ergo, sed bono animo
errant, non odio, sed affectu Dei, honorare se dominum atque amare
credentes." (Salvianus de Gub. Dei V. p. 87.) The spirit of this good
Presbyter of Marseilles of the 5th century might well have been more
often followed in Christian controversy. "Of the early Arian
missionaries the Arian Records, if they ever existed, have almost
entirely perished. The church was either ignorant of or disdained to
preserve their memory. Ulphilas alone,"--himself a semi-Arian, and
accepter of the creed of Ariminum,--"the apostle of the Goths, has, as
it were, forced his way into the Catholic records, in which, as in the
fragments of his great work, his translation of the Scriptures into
the Moeso-Gothic language, this admirable man has descended to
posterity." "While in these two great divisions, the Ostrogoths and
Visigoths, the nation gathering its descendants from all quarters,
spread their more or less rapid conquests over Gaul, Italy, and Spain,
Ulphilas formed a peaceful and populous colony of shepherds and
herdsmen on the pastures below Mt. Hæmus. He became the primate of a
simple Christian nation. For them he formed an alphabet of twenty-four
letters, and completed all but the fierce books of Kings"--which he
omitted, as likely to whet his wild folks' warlike passions,--"his
translation of the Scriptures." Milman Lat. Christ. III. Chap. ii. The
fragments of the work of Ulphilas now extant are (1) Codex Argenteus,
at Upsala. (2) Codex Carolinus. (3) Ambrosian fragments published by
Mai. cf. Philost. ii. 5, Soc. ii. 41 and iv. 33. On Eudoxius, who
baptized Valens, and was "the worst of the Arians," cf. note on page
86.
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