History of the Arians

These things the impious do now and have done long ago against the orthodox, everywhere giving all a token of their malice and impiety. For grant that they accused Athanasius—what had the other bishops done? What pretexts had they? Or what dead Arsenius was found in their case too? What presbyter Macarius did they have, and what cup was broken? What Meletian played the part? But, as it seems, from those cases the charges against Athanasius too are shown to be false; and from what they attempted against Athanasius it is plain that the charges against those others were fabricated as well. A great beast has come forth upon the earth, this heresy; for it harms the simple not only with its words as with teeth, but has also hired outside power for its plotting. And the strange thing is that, as I said before, none of them is ever accused; or if he is accused, he is not tried; or if he seems to be heard, he is acquitted against those who convict him; and it is rather the one who convicts who is plotted against than the guilty one who is put to shame at all. All their people, then, are full of filth; and their overseers—for they are spies rather than bishops—are the filthiest of all. And if anyone among them wishes to become a bishop, he does not hear, “A bishop must be blameless,” but only, “Think against Christ, and do not trouble about morals; that is enough for your recommendation and for the emperor’s friendship.” So much for those who hold the views of Arius. But the zealots for the truth, even if they appear holy and pure, as I said before, become guilty whenever these men wish, and as it seems good to them, inventing a pretext; and this one may see, as I said, from what they have done.

There was one Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, a confessor and pious in the faith. Because he was very zealous for the truth, hated the Arian heresy, and would not receive those who held its views, he is slandered to the emperor Constantine, and a pretext is devised, that he had insulted the emperor’s mother; and at once he is exiled, and with him a great number of presbyters and deacons. Then those whom he had refused to admit to the clergy because of their impiety, once the bishop had been exiled, they not only brought into the Church, but made most of them bishops, so that they might have confederates in their impiety. Of these are Leontius the eunuch, now at Antioch, and Stephen before him, George at Laodicea, Theodosius who was at Tripolis, Eudoxius at Germanicia, and Eustathius, now at Sebastia. [5] Did they then stop here? No. For Eutropius too, who was bishop of Adrianople, a good man and perfect in all things, because he often refuted Eusebius and advised those passing through not to trust the impious words of Eusebius, suffers the same as Eustathius and is cast out of the city and the church; for it was Basilina who was very zealous against him. Euphration of Balanea, Cymatius of Paltus, another Cymatius of Antaradus, Asclepas of Gaza, Cyrus of Beroea in Syria, Diodorus in Asia, Domnion of Sirmium, and Hellanicus of Tripolis—these were known only to hate the heresy; and some on a pretext, others without one, they removed by imperial letters and drove out of their cities, and appointed in their churches others whom they knew to be impious.

About Marcellus, the bishop of Galatia, it is perhaps superfluous to speak; for all know how Eusebius and his party, having first been accused of impiety by him, brought countercharges against him and had the old man exiled. He went up to Rome and made his defense; and when they demanded it, he gave his faith in writing, which the synod of Sardica also accepted. But Eusebius and his party neither made a defense nor were put to shame when convicted of impiety from what they had written, but became bolder against all; for they had recommendation to the emperor through the women, and were feared by all.

As for Paul, bishop of Constantinople, I think no one is unaware; for the more famous the city, the less hidden is what happened. Against him too a pretext was invented. For Macedonius, who accused him and has now become bishop in his place, communicated with him in our presence while the accusation was going on, and was a presbyter under Paul himself. And yet, since Eusebius cast covetous eyes on the see of that city, wishing to seize it (for so he had also moved from Berytus to Nicomedia), the pretext against Paul remained; they did not neglect the plot but went on slandering him. First he was exiled to Pontus by Constantine; second, by Constantius, he was bound with iron chains and exiled to Singara in Mesopotamia, and from there transferred to Emesa; and the fourth time to Cucusus in Cappadocia, near the deserts of the Taurus, where, as those who were with him reported, he was strangled by them and died. Having done this, these men, who never tell the truth, were not ashamed even after his death to invent another pretext, that he had died of illness, although all who live in that place know the truth. For even Philagrius, who was then vicar of those parts and played the part in all their affairs as they wished, nevertheless marveled at this—grieved perhaps that not he but another had done the evil—and reported to many others, including friends of ours and Bishop Serapion, that Paul had been shut up by them in a very small and dark place and left to perish of hunger; then after six days, when they went in and found him still breathing, they set upon the man and strangled him; and so he ended his life. They said that the agent of this death was Philip, who had been prefect. But divine justice did not overlook this either; for not a year passed before Philip was deprived of his office with great dishonor, so that, having become a private person, he was mocked by those by whom he least wished to be. Greatly grieved himself, groaning and trembling like Cain, and daily expecting someone to kill him, away from his own country and his family, as one struck with terror, he died, not as he would have wished. Yet they do not spare even the dead, against whom they invented pretexts while they lived; for they have been eager to show themselves fearsome to all in this way: they exile the living and have no pity on the dead; but even then, alone of all men, they hate the departed and plot against their families—truly inhuman haters of good, more savage in character than enemies because of their impiety, men who not from truth but from …

Seeing this, the three brothers, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, caused all to return after their father’s death to their homelands and their churches, writing about the others separately to each one’s church, and about Athanasius as follows—which again shows the violence of the affair and convicts the murderous purpose of Eusebius and his party. Copy of the letter of Constantine Caesar to the people of the catholic Church of the city of the Alexandrians: “I think it has not escaped the knowledge of your holy mind that Athanasius, the interpreter of the venerable law …” (It is written above, in the Defense, without change.) This, then, is what was written; and what more trustworthy witness of their plot could there be than he? For he knew these things when he wrote as he did.

But Eusebius and his party, seeing their heresy diminishing, write to Rome, and write also to the emperors Constantine and Constans against Athanasius. But when those sent by Athanasius refuted what they had written, they were put to shame by the emperors; and Julius, the bishop of Rome, wrote that a synod should be held wherever we wished, so that they might prove their accusations, and we too might confidently defend ourselves against the charges they made. For the presbyters they had sent, seeing themselves refuted, had asked for this. When this happened, these men, ready for anything, seeing that they would not prevail in an ecclesiastical trial, go to Constantius alone and lament to him as to the patron of the heresy: “Spare the heresy,” they say. “You see that all have fallen away from us; only a few of us are left. Begin to persecute, for we are being abandoned even by the few and left desolate. For those whom we forced, when these men were in exile, they have persuaded on their return to think against us again. Write, then, against all, and send Philagrius a second time as prefect of Egypt; for he is able to persecute fittingly, having already shown it by experience, especially as he is an apostate. Send Gregory too as bishop to Alexandria; for he too is able to establish our heresy.”

Then Constantius writes, persecutes everyone, and sends Philagrius as prefect, and one Arsacius, a eunuch; he sends Gregory too with military force. And the same things happened as before. For they gathered a crowd of herdsmen and shepherds and other market loafers and dissolute young men, with swords and clubs, and attacked in a body the church called that of Quirinus; some they killed, others they trampled underfoot, others they beat with blows, threw into prison, and exiled; many women they dragged publicly to the court and outraged, dragging them by the hair; some they had their property confiscated, others deprived of their bread—for no other reason than that they might join the Arians and accept Gregory, who had been sent by the emperor.

Athanasius, then, before these things happened, on merely hearing of them, sailed to Rome, knowing the fury of the heretics, and so that the synod might be held as had been agreed. Julius writes and sends presbyters, Elpidius and Philoxenus, also fixing a date, so that they might either come or know that they were suspect in everything. But Eusebius and his party, as soon as they heard that there was to be an ecclesiastical trial—at which no count is present, no soldiers stand before the doors, and the proceedings of the synod are not completed by imperial command (for by these things they have always prevailed against the bishops, and without them they do not dare to speak at all)—cowered so that they detained the presbyters even beyond the appointed date and invented an unseemly pretext: “We cannot come now because of the wars caused by the Persians.” This was not true, but the fear of conscience. For what has war to do with bishops? Or why, if they could not come to Rome because of the Persians, though it is far away and across the sea, did they go round the places of the East and those near them like lions, seeking who opposed them, whom they might slander and exile?

At any rate, having dismissed the presbyters with this implausible pretext, they said to one another, “Since we cannot prevail in an ecclesiastical trial, let us show our usual audacity.” They write, then, to Philagrius and make him go out with Gregory, after a little while, into Egypt; and then bishops are scourged and cruelly put in chains. Sarapammon, a bishop and confessor, they exile; Potammon, a bishop and confessor, who had lost an eye in the persecution, they so beat with blows on the neck that they did not stop until the man was thought dead. So he was thrown aside, and with difficulty, after some hours of care and fanning, he revived, God granting him life; but a short time afterwards he died from the pain of the blows, having in Christ the glory of a second martyrdom. And how many monks were scourged while Gregory sat with Balacius, the so-called duke! How many bishops were beaten! How many virgins were struck!

Then, after this, the wretched Gregory urged all to communicate with him. Yet if you asked to have communion with them, they did not deserve blows; and if you beat them as wicked, why did you urge them as saints? But he had no purpose but to fulfill the wishes of those who sent him and to establish the heresy. For this reason the fool became a murderer and an executioner, insolent, deceitful, profane—in a word, a Christ-fighter. He so persecuted the bishop’s aunt that he would not allow her even to be buried when she died; and this would have happened, and she would have been thrown out unburied, had not those who had taken her in carried her out as their own dead. So unholy was his character even in such things. Moreover, when widows and other helpless people had received alms, he ordered what had been given to be seized, and the vessels in which they carried the oil and the wine to be broken, so that he might not only be impious in taking it, but also dishonor the Lord by his deeds—he who would very soon hear from him, “Inasmuch as you dishonored these, you dishonored me.”

And he did many other things that surpass the power of words, and that anyone hearing of them would think incredible. He acted so because he had his appointment neither by ecclesiastical canon, nor had he been called to be bishop by apostolic tradition, but had been sent from the palace with military force and pomp, as one entrusted with a secular office. For this reason he wished to be the friend of magistrates rather than of bishops and monks. If ever father Antony wrote from the mountain, then, as godliness is an abomination to a sinner, so he abhorred the holy man’s letters. But if ever the emperor, or a general, or another magistrate wrote, he was as overjoyed as those in the Proverbs, as the word says reproachfully: “O you who forsake straight paths, who delight in evil and rejoice in the perverseness of the wicked.” At any rate he honored those who brought such letters with money; but once, when Antony wrote, he made the duke Balacius spit on the letter and throw it away. But divine justice did not overlook it; for not long after, as the so-called duke was mounted on a horse and going to the first halting place, the horse turned, bit him on the thigh, and threw him down, and within three days he died.

They, then, acted thus against all; but at Rome about fifty bishops assembled, and they rejected Eusebius and his party as suspect and afraid to come, and even declared what they had written invalid; but they received us and gladly embraced communion with us. While this was happening, the synod held at Rome, and the things done against the churches at Alexandria and throughout the East, came to the knowledge of the emperor Constans; and he writes to his brother Constantius, and it pleased them both that a synod should be held and the matters examined, so that those who had been wronged might suffer no more, and those who did wrong might no longer be able to dare such things. So there assembled from both East and West at the city of Sardica bishops numbering about one hundred and seventy, more or less. Those from the West were bishops only, having Hosius as their father; but those from the East brought with them tutors and advocates, Musonianus the count and Hesychius the castrensis, on whose account they came eagerly, thinking that everything would again be done by their authority. For by such men they always made themselves fearsome to whom they wished, and plotted against whom they pleased. But when they arrived and saw an ecclesiastical trial alone, held without count or soldiers; when they saw the accusers from every church and city, and the proofs against them; when they saw Arius and Asterius, honored bishops, who had come up with them but had departed from them and come over to us, and were relating their villainy—how they were suspect in their dealings and afraid that a trial would take place, lest they be convicted as false accusers by us, and by those whom they had put up as accusers as the ones who had suggested everything and contrived such things—seeing this, though they had come with eagerness, thinking that we would not appear for fear, when they saw our readiness, they shut themselves up in the palace (for they were lodging there), and then said to one another, “We came for one thing and we see another; we arrived with counts, and … Athanasius and his party have the minutes of the Mareotis, by which he is cleared and we are … Let us invent pretexts and depart, lest by staying we be condemned. It is better to blush as fugitives than to be put to shame as convicted false accusers. If we flee, we can somehow still lead the heresy; but if they condemn us even as we flee … that we are driven out of the churches by the people.”

Such were their deliberations. But Hosius and all the other bishops frequently informed them of the readiness of Athanasius and his companions, and that they were prepared to make their defense, promising to prove them false accusers; and they said, “If you fear the trial, why did you come? You ought either not to have come, or, having come, not to flee.” On hearing this they were still more dismayed, and using another pretext, more unseemly than the one at Antioch—that the emperor had written to them about his victory over the Persians—they attempted to flee. And they were not ashamed to send this pretext by Eustathius, a presbyter of the church at Sardica. But not even so did their flight turn out as they wished; for at once the holy synod, whose spokesman was the great Hosius, wrote to them plainly: “Either come and make your defense against the charges brought against you and the false accusations you have made, or know that the synod condemns you as guilty and declares Athanasius and his companions free and clean of every charge.” But they were driven by the fear of their conscience rather than persuaded by the letter; for seeing those whom they had wronged, they did not even turn toward those who spoke, but fled all the faster.

So shameful and unseemly was their flight. The holy synod, assembled from thirty-five provinces and more, recognizing the malice of the Arians, admitted Athanasius and his companions to make their defense concerning what they had suffered and what those men had charged; and when they had defended themselves, as we have related above, it accepted them and admired them greatly, so that it embraced them and communion with them, and wrote everywhere, and to the diocese of each, especially to Alexandria and Egypt and the Libyas, that Athanasius and those with him were clean and beyond all blame, while those who had acted against them were false accusers, evildoers, and anything rather than Christians. So it dismissed them in peace, and deposed Stephen and Menophantus, Acacius and George of Laodicea, Ursacius, Valens, Theodore, and Narcissus. As for Gregory, who had been sent by the emperor to Alexandria, they denounced him as never having been a bishop at all and not deserving even to be called a Christian; they also annulled the appointments he had seemed to make, ordering that these should not even be named in the Church, because of the novelty of the lawlessness. So Athanasius and those with him were dismissed in peace. The letters are written at the end, because of the length of the letter; and the synod was dissolved.

But the deposed, who ought even so to have kept quiet, after their so shameful flight came back and did such things that their earlier acts appeared small by comparison. For since the people of Adrianople would not communicate with them, as fugitives from the synod and men found guilty, they reported to the emperor Constantius and had ten laymen from the place there called the Fabrica beheaded, with Philagrius, who had again become count there, serving them in this too. Their tombs are before the city; we ourselves saw them as we passed by. Then, as though they had succeeded—though they fled precisely so that they might not be convicted as false accusers—whatever they wished the emperor ordered. So they had two presbyters and three deacons from Alexandria exiled to Armenia; and Arius and Asterius, bishops—the one of Petra in Palestine, the other of Arabia—who had left them, they not only exiled to Upper Libya, but caused them to suffer insults as well.

Lucius, bishop of Adrianople, since they saw him speaking against them with great boldness and exposing their impiety, they again, as before, had bound with iron chains on his neck and hands, and so exiled him to the place where he died, as they know. Diodorus, a bishop, they banish. Olympius of Aenus and Theodulus of Trajanopolis, both bishops of Thrace, good and orthodox men, since they saw that they hated the heresy, they slandered: first Eusebius and his party did so, and the emperor Constantius wrote; and the second time these men reminded him. What was written was that they should not only be driven out of their cities and churches, but suffer capital punishment wherever they were found. This, though astonishing, is not foreign to their purpose. For, as men who learned such things from Eusebius and his party and are heirs of their impiety and their purpose, they wished, as their fathers had in Thrace, so in Alexandria to show themselves fearsome; and they have it written that the harbors and the gates of the cities be watched, lest by the permission of the synod they return to their churches. They also have it written to the magistrates at Alexandria concerning Athanasius and certain presbyters by name, that, whether the bishop or any one of them be found setting foot in the city or its territory, the magistrate should cut off the heads of those found. Thus this new Jewish heresy not only denies the Lord, but has learned to murder.

Nor even so were they quiet; but as the father of their heresy goes about like a lion seeking whom he may devour, so these men, having obtained the use of the public post and going about, whomever they found reproaching them with their flight and hating the Arian heresy they scourged, put in chains, and had exiled from their own country; and they made themselves so fearsome that they turned many into hypocrites, and many fled into the deserts rather than meet them at all. Such were the audacious deeds of their madness after their flight. And they did something else new, in keeping with their heresy, never heard of before, and perhaps never to happen even among the more dissolute of the pagans, let alone among Christians. When the holy synod sent as envoys the bishops Vincent of Capua (the metropolis of Campania) and Euphrates of Agrippina (the metropolis of Upper Gaul), so that, as the synod had decided, the emperor might allow the bishops to return to their churches, since it was he who had expelled them—the most pious Constans too had written to his brother and commended the bishops—these admirable men, bold for anything, when they saw them at Antioch, took counsel together, and Stephen alone undertook the drama, as being well suited to such things. They hire a public prostitute during the very days of the most holy Pascha, strip her, and send her in by night to Euphrates the bishop. The prostitute at first, thinking that the one who had called her was a young man, followed eagerly; but when, thrown in by them, she saw the man asleep and unaware of what was happening, and then, looking closely, saw the face of an old man and the bearing of a bishop, she at once cried out and shouted that she was being forced. They urged her to keep quiet and to bring a false charge against the bishop. When day came, the matter was noised abroad and the whole city ran together; those of the palace too were stirred, marveling at the report and demanding that it not be hushed up. So there was a trial: the brothel-keeper exposed those who had come for the prostitute, and they exposed Stephen, for they were his clerics. So Stephen is deposed, and Leontius the eunuch is made bishop in his place, only so that the Arian heresy might not lack a champion.

The emperor Constantius, somewhat pricked in conscience, came to himself; and reasoning from what they had done to Euphrates that their attempts against the others too were of the same kind, he orders the presbyters and deacons exiled from Alexandria to Armenia to be released at once. He writes openly to Alexandria that the clergy and people who were with Athanasius should no longer be persecuted. Then, when about ten months later Gregory died, he sends for Athanasius with all honor, writing to him not once nor twice but three times friendly letters, in which he urged him to take courage and come. He sends a presbyter and a deacon too, so that he might return with still more confidence; for he thought that I was neglecting to return because of fear of what had happened before. He writes also to his brother Constans, so that he too might urge me to return. For he affirmed that he had been waiting a whole year for Athanasius, and would never permit any innovation or appointment, keeping the churches for Bishop Athanasius.

When he had written thus, and urged him through many persons (for he had his counts too write—Polemius, Datianus, Bardio, Thalassus, Taurus, and Florentius—whom one might the more trust), Athanasius, committing the whole matter to God, who had pricked Constantius’s conscience to this, came with those who were with him to the emperor; and he received him kindly and let him go to his homeland and the churches, writing also to the magistrates in the various places, since he had previously ordered the routes to be watched, so that they might have unhindered passage. Then, when the bishop lamented what he had suffered and the letters written against him by the emperor, and asked that after his departure there might not again be slanders from his enemies, saying, “Call them, if you wish (for you may have them stand here, for our sake), and let us refute them,” he did not do this; but all that had previously been written against him through slander he ordered to be removed and expunged, affirming that he would no longer listen to slanders in future, but that his purpose was firm and unchangeable. And he did not say this simply, but sealed his words with oaths, calling God to witness them. Having urged him with many other words too, and bidden him take courage, he writes to the bishops and the magistrates as follows. [23] “Constantius Victor Maximus Augustus to the bishops and clergy of the catholic Church. The most reverend Athanasius has not been left without the grace of God …” (It is written above, in the sixty-fifth treatise, and is wholly the same as this.) Another letter, of Constantius to the people of Alexandria: “Having in view your good order in all things …” (This too is written likewise in the same sixty-fifth treatise.) Another letter: “Constantius Victor Augustus to Nestorius, prefect of Egypt. It is plain that before this an order of ours was issued that certain letters should be found against the reputation of Athanasius, the most reverend bishop; and these are known to be in the office of your devotion. We wish, therefore, that your sobriety, approved by us, should send to our court, in accordance with this our command, all the letters concerning the name of the aforesaid that were made in the office under you …” [24] What he wrote after the death of the blessed Constans is this, written in Latin and translated into Greek: “Constantius Victor Augustus to Athanasius. That it was always my prayer that everything should turn out as he wished for my late brother Constans has not escaped your prudence; and in what grief I was when I learned that he had been killed by certain most unholy men, your wisdom can again conjecture. Since, then, there are some who at this time, so full of mourning, are trying to frighten you, I have thought it right that this letter be given to your firmness, urging you, as befits a bishop, to teach the people what is due to the divine religion, to devote yourself with them to prayers as usual, and not to believe vain rumors, whatever they may be. For it is fixed in our soul that you should always, in accordance with our purpose, be bishop in your place. May divine providence preserve you for many years, most beloved father.”

When these things had been done, and they had taken leave and set out on the road, friends rejoiced to see their friend; of the others, some were put out of countenance at the sight of him, some, having no confidence, hid, and some … about what they had written against the bishop. All the bishops of Palestine, except perhaps two or three, and those suspect, received Athanasius and embraced communion with him, so that they even wrote and excused themselves, saying that what they had written before they had done not willingly but under compulsion. Of the bishops in Egypt and the Libyas, and of the people there and in Alexandria, it is superfluous even to speak: all ran together and had inexpressible joy, not only because they received back their own alive beyond hope, but also because they were rid of the heretics, as of tyrants and raging dogs. Great, then, was the gladness, the people in the assemblies stirring one another up to virtue. How many unmarried women, formerly ready for marriage, remained virgins for Christ! How many young men, seeing others, came to love the solitary life! How many fathers urged their children, and how many were begged by their children not to hinder them from the ascetic life in Christ! How many wives persuaded their husbands, and how many were persuaded by their husbands, to devote themselves to prayer, as the Apostle said! How many widows and orphans, formerly hungry and naked, through the great zeal of the people were no longer hungry, but went about clothed! In short, so great was the emulation in virtue that every house and every household seemed to be a church, because of the inhabitants’ love of goodness and their prayer to God. And there was deep and wonderful peace in the churches, bishops from everywhere writing and receiving from Athanasius the customary letters of peace.

For Ursacius and Valens too, as if scourged by their conscience, changed their minds, and they write to the bishop himself a friendly and peaceable letter, though they had received no letter from him. And going up to Rome they repented, confessing that everything they had done and said against him was false and mere false accusation. Nor did they do this simply; but anathematizing the Arian heresy, they gave their repentance in writing, writing to Bishop Julius in Latin; what follows is translated into Greek. For the copy was sent to us in Latin by Paul, bishop of Trier. Translation from the Latin: “To my most blessed lord Pope Julius, Ursacius and Valens. Since it is established that we previously … many grave things …” (It is written above, in the sixty-eighth treatise, and is in all respects the same and equal.) Translation from the Latin: “To my lord brother Athanasius, bishop, Ursacius and Valens, bishops. An occasion was given us through our brother and fellow presbyter …” (It is written above, in the same sixty-eighth treatise, and is wholly the same and equal.) Having written this, they also signed the letters of peace when presbyters of Athanasius, Peter and Irenaeus, and Ammonius, a layman, were passing through, although he had not written to them through these men.

Who, then, did not marvel at seeing this, and the great peace of the churches? Who did not rejoice to see the concord of so many bishops? Who did not glorify the Lord, beholding the gladness of the people in the assemblies? How many enemies repented! How many of his former slanderers excused themselves! How many who formerly hated him came to love him! How many who had written against him recanted! Many too, who were with the Arians not by choice but by necessity, came by night and excused themselves; they anathematized the heresy and asked to be pardoned, because, on account of the … and the slanders made by those men, they appear there in body, but in heart they assemble with Athanasius and are always with him. Believe me.

But hearing and seeing this, the heirs of the opinion and impiety of Eusebius and his party—Leontius the eunuch, who ought not to be in communion even as a layman, because he castrated himself so that he might thereafter sleep without hindrance with one Eustolium, a woman on his account, but called a virgin; and George, Acacius, Theodore, and Narcissus, who had been deposed at the synod—were greatly ashamed. Then, seeing the agreement and peace of the bishops with Athanasius—and they were more than four hundred, from great Rome and all Italy, Calabria, Apulia, Campania, Bruttium, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and all Africa; those from the Gauls, Britain, and the Spains, with the great confessor Hosius; then those from the Pannonias, Noricum, Siscia, Dalmatia, Dardania, Dacia, Moesia, Macedonia, Thessaly, all Achaia, Crete, Cyprus, Lycia, and most of those of Palestine, Isauria, Egypt, the Thebaid, all Libya, and Pentapolis—seeing this, they were seized with envy and fear: envy because of the communion of so many, and fear lest those deceived by them should join the unanimity of so many, and their heresy then be exposed, made a public spectacle, and branded everywhere.

First they persuade Ursacius and Valens to change again, like dogs, and turn back to their own vomit, and like pigs to wallow again in the former mire of impiety, and to invent a pretext for their repentance, that they had done it for fear of the most God-fearing Constans. Yet even if there had been fear, they ought not, if they had confidence in what they had done, to have become traitors to it. And since there was no fear, but they lied, how do they not deserve every condemnation? For it was not with a soldier present, nor with palatines or notaries sent, such as they themselves now use, nor with the emperor present, nor because they were summoned by anyone at all, that they wrote; but of their own will they went up to Rome, and in the church, where there was no fear from outside, but only the fear of God, and each has free choice, they repented of themselves and wrote. And yet, having become Arians a second time and invented such an unseemly pretext again, they do not blush.

Then they went together to the emperor Constantius and besought him, saying: “At first, too, when we made our request, we were not believed; for we said, when you were sending for Athanasius, that by inviting him you were driving out our heresy. For he has been against it from the beginning and does not cease anathematizing it. He has already filled every place with letters against us; most people have communion with him; of those who seemed to be with us, some have joined him and others are about to; and we have been left alone. We fear that the heresy too will become known, and that from now on both we and you will be called heretics; and if this happens, see to it that we are not reckoned with the Manichees. Begin, then, to persecute again, and champion the heresy; for it too has you as its emperor.” Such were their crafty words. And he himself, passing through when he was hastening against Magnentius, and seeing the communion of the bishops with Athanasius, changed his mind as if set on fire; he neither remembered his oaths, but even forgot what he had written, and became unmindful of the duties owed to his brother. For in writing to him, and when he had seen Athanasius, he had given oaths that he would not act otherwise than as the people wished and as was agreeable to the bishop. But his zeal for impiety made him forget everything at once. One need not wonder if after so many letters and so many oaths Constantius changed, when Pharaoh too, then the tyrant of Egypt, often promising and thereby obtaining relief from the plagues, changed his mind, until at last he perished with those who agreed with him.

These, then, he first forced city by city to change sides; but when he was at Arles and Milan, from then on he did as the heretics advised and suggested—or rather they themselves carried things through, and leapt upon everyone, having the power. And at once orders and letters came here to the prefect that the grain should be taken away from Athanasius and given to those who hold the views of Arius, and that whoever wished might insult those who assembled with him. There was also a threat to the magistrates if they did not hold communion with the Arians. These were the preludes to what happened later through the duke Syrianus. To the outside parts, again, orders went, and notaries and palatines carrying threats were sent city by city to the bishops and magistrates: that the magistrates should press, and the bishops should write against Athanasius and hold communion with the Arians, or else they themselves should suffer the punishment of exile, and the people who assembled with them should know that chains, insults, blows, and the confiscation of their property would come upon them. Nor was the order neglected; for those sent had with them clerics of Ursacius and Valens, to incite them and to report to the emperor any magistrates who were negligent. The other heresies, as their own younger sisters, they allowed to blaspheme the Lord, and plotted only against the Christians, not bearing to hear pious words about Christ. How many bishops, then, as it is written, were brought before governors and kings, and heard from magistrates, “Either sign, or withdraw from your churches; for the emperor has ordered you to be deposed”! How many were harassed by them city by city, so that they might not accuse them of being friends of the bishops! For it was written to the city councillors too, and there was the threat of a fine if each did not compel the bishop of his own city to sign. In short, every place and every city was filled with fear and confusion, the bishops being dragged off, and the magistrates witnessing the lamentations and groans of the people.

These things were done by the palatines who were sent; but the admirable men, confident in the patronage they have, set to work zealously; and so some of the bishops they summon to the emperor, others they ensnare by letters, inventing pretexts against them, so that some might cower in the presence of Constantius, and others, fearing those sent and the threats of false accusation on some pretext, might abandon their right and pious mind. Thus the emperor forced that great multitude of bishops, partly by threats, partly by promises, to say, “We no longer communicate with Athanasius.” For those who came to him were not admitted to see him, nor allowed any rest or to leave their lodging, until they either signed or, refusing, were exiled. He did this because he saw that the heresy was hated by all; and that is why he compelled so many to be counted with the few. And they were eager to collect a crowd of names, to stir up odium against the bishop and for show on behalf of the Arian impiety, of which he is the patron, thinking that, as he could change men, so he could change the truth; not knowing, nor having read, that not even the Sadducees and Herodians, taking the Pharisees with them, were able to hide the truth. Rather, even so it is shown brighter every day, while they, though they cried out, “We have no king but Caesar,” and had Pilate’s judgment, are no less desolate, expecting every shame, and very soon to be left naked themselves, like the partridge, when they see their patron dying.

But if it is unseemly that any of the bishops should change sides at all from fear of such things, it is still more unseemly, and the mark of men who have no confidence in what they believe, to force and compel the unwilling. So the devil, since he has nothing true, comes with axe and hammer and breaks down the doors of those who receive him; but the Savior is so gentle that he teaches, “If anyone wishes to come after me,” and “Whoever wishes to be my disciple”; and when he comes to each, he does not force, but rather knocks and says, “Open to me, my sister, my bride”; and if they open, he enters, but if they delay and are unwilling, he withdraws. For the truth is proclaimed not with swords or darts, nor by soldiers, but by persuasion and counsel. What persuasion is there, then, where there is fear of the emperor? Or what counsel, where the one who contradicts ends in exile and death? David, though he was king and had his enemy in his hands, when his soldiers wished to kill the enemy, did not restrain them by authority, but, as the Scripture says, “David persuaded his men with words, and did not allow them to rise up and kill Saul.” But he, having no reason to give, forces all by authority, so that it may be shown to all that their wisdom is not according to God but human, and that those who hold the views of Arius truly have no king but Caesar; for through him the Christ-fighters do everything they wish. But while they seemed through him to plot against many, they did not realize that they were making many confessors, among whom are those who have now made a splendid confession, devout men and good bishops: Paulinus, bishop of Trier, the metropolis of the Gauls; Lucifer, bishop of the metropolis of Sardinia; Eusebius of Vercelli in Italy; and Dionysius of Milan, which is also a metropolis of Italy. For the emperor summoned them and ordered them to sign against Athanasius and to communicate with the heretics. When they marveled at this new practice and said that this was not an ecclesiastical canon, he at once said, “But whatever I wish, let that be regarded as a canon; for the so-called bishops of Syria put up with me when I speak so. Either obey, then, or you too will be banished.”

Hearing this, the bishops were utterly amazed, and lifting up their hands to God they spoke against him with great boldness, teaching that the kingdom was not his but God’s, who had given it, whom they bade him fear, lest he suddenly take it away; they threatened him with the day of judgment and advised him not to corrupt church affairs, nor to mix Roman rule with the ordering of the Church, nor to bring the Arian heresy into the Church of God. But he neither listened nor allowed them to say more, but threatened them the more, bared his sword against them, and ordered some of them to be led away; and again, like Pharaoh, he changed his mind. So the saints, shaking off the dust and looking up to God, neither feared the emperor’s threat nor betrayed the faith when the sword was bared, but regarded exile as a ministry of service. For passing through places and cities, though in chains, they preached the gospel, proclaiming the pious faith, anathematizing the Arian heresy, and publishing the repentance of Ursacius and Valens. This turned out contrary to what the plotters intended; for the greater the distance of the exile, the more the hatred against them grew, and the confessors’ journey was a proclamation against their impiety. For who, seeing them pass by, did not greatly admire them as confessors, and turn away from and abhor those others, calling them no longer only impious but executioners and murderers and anything rather than Christians?

It would have been better if Constantius had never belonged to this heresy from the beginning, or, having belonged to it, had not yielded so much to the impious, or, having yielded, had stopped with them at this point, so that they might at least share a common judgment for what they had dared up to then. But, as it seems, like fools entangling themselves in the bonds of impiety, they draw on themselves a heavier judgment. For they did not spare even Liberius, bishop of Rome, at the beginning, but extended their madness even to those there; they had no respect for its being an apostolic throne, nor reverence for Rome’s being the metropolis of Romania, nor did they remember that formerly in writing they had called them apostolic men. But mixing everything together, they forgot everything at once and cared only for their zeal on behalf of impiety. For when they saw that he was orthodox and hated the Arian heresy and was eager to persuade all to turn away and withdraw from it, the impious reasoned, “If we persuade Liberius, we shall soon prevail over all”; and they slander him to the emperor. And he quickly, expecting to draw all to himself through Liberius, writes and sends a eunuch called Eusebius with letters and gifts, to flatter with the gifts and threaten with the letters. The eunuch, then, went to Rome and first urged Liberius to sign against Athanasius and to communicate with the Arians, saying, “The emperor wishes this and orders you to do it”; then, showing the gifts, he urged him, and took hold of his hands, saying, “Obey the emperor and accept these.”

But the bishop, persuading by reason, taught him: “How can this be done against Athanasius? A man whom not only one synod but a second, assembled from everywhere, fully cleared, and whom the church of the Romans sent away in peace—how can we condemn him? Or who will accept us, if we cast off in his absence one whom we loved when present and held in communion? This is not an ecclesiastical canon, nor have we ever had such a tradition from the Fathers, who themselves received it from the blessed and great apostle Peter. But if the emperor really cares about the peace of the Church, if he orders what we have written about Athanasius to be undone, let what those men did against him be undone too, and let what was done against everyone be undone; and then let an ecclesiastical synod be held far from the palace, where the emperor is not present, no count attends, no magistrate threatens, but only the fear of God and the ordinance of the apostles suffice; so that thus, first of all, the faith of the Church may be preserved, as the Fathers defined it at the synod of Nicaea, and those who hold the views of Arius may be cast out and their heresy anathematized; and then, after a trial has been held on the charges against Athanasius and anyone else, and on the charges against them too, the guilty may be cast out and the innocent have freedom. For it is not possible for those who are impious about the faith to be numbered in a synod; nor is it fitting that an inquiry into conduct should take precedence over the inquiry into the faith. First all disagreement about the faith must be cut away, and then the investigation of conduct made. For our Lord Jesus Christ did not heal the sufferers before they had shown and said what faith they had in him. This we learned from the Fathers; report this to the emperor; for this is both for his good and builds up the Church. Let not Ursacius and Valens be listened to; for they repented of their former acts, and in what they now say they are not to be trusted.”

Such were the words of Bishop Liberius. But the eunuch, grieved not so much that he did not sign as that he found him an enemy of the heresy, and forgetting that he was in the presence of a bishop, went out with great threats, taking the gifts; and he does something lawless, foreign to Christians and too audacious even for eunuchs. For imitating the transgression of Saul, he went to the martyrium of the apostle Peter and offered the gifts there. But when Liberius learned of it, he was greatly indignant with the keeper of the place for not preventing it, and cast the gifts out as an unlawful sacrifice; and this moved the eunuch to still greater anger. So he provokes the emperor, saying, “Our concern is no longer about Liberius signing, but that he is so opposed to the heresy as to anathematize the Arians by name.” And he stirs up the other eunuchs to this; for there are many eunuchs, or rather everything is eunuchs, around Constantius, and they have all power with him, and without them nothing can be done there. The emperor, then, writes to Rome; and again palatines and notaries and counts are sent, and letters to the prefect, so that they might either lure Liberius out of Rome by guile and send him to the emperor at the camp, or persecute him by force.

Such being the letters, fear and plotting thereafter flourished there too throughout the city. Against how many houses were threats made! How many received promises to act against Liberius! How many bishops, seeing this, hid! How many freeborn women withdrew to the country because of the slanders of the Christ-fighters! How many ascetics did they plot against! How many who were living there and had their homes there did they cause to be persecuted! How often and how closely they guarded the harbors and the entrances of the gates, so that no orthodox person might enter and see Liberius! Rome too had experience of the Christ-fighters, and learned at last what it had not believed when it heard it before—how the other churches city by city had been ravaged by them. And it was eunuchs who stirred up both these things and those against everyone. And the strange thing in the plot is this: the Arian heresy, which denies the Son of God, has its help from eunuchs, who, as they are barren by nature, so are barren in soul of virtue, and cannot bear to hear of a Son at all. The eunuch from Ethiopia, not understanding what he was reading, was persuaded by Philip teaching about the Savior; but the eunuchs of Constantius neither bear Peter’s confession, but even turn away from the Father who points out the Son, and rage against those who say that the Son of God is genuine, championing a eunuchs’ heresy, that nothing genuine and true comes from the Father. For this reason the law too forbids such men to be admitted to an assembly of the church; and yet now they have reckoned them lords of church judgments; and whatever seems good to them, Constantius decides, and the so-called bishops play the part. O who could chronicle these things? Who will report them to another generation? Who would believe it on hearing that eunuchs, who are scarcely trusted with household services (for their kind is pleasure-loving and cares for nothing else than to hinder in others what nature took from them), now rule church affairs, and that Constantius, submitting to them, plotted against all and exiled Liberius?

For when he had been very busy writing to Rome, threatening, sending, and plotting, and when the persecution at Alexandria had also taken place, Liberius too is dragged before the emperor; and he too used great boldness of speech. “Stop persecuting Christians,” he says; “do not try through us to bring impiety into the Church. We are ready to endure anything rather than be called Ariomaniacs. Do not compel us, who are Christians, to become Christ-fighters. This we advise you too: do not fight against him who gave you this rule; do not, instead of gratitude, act impiously toward him; do not persecute those who believe in him, lest you too hear, ‘It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ Yet would that you might hear it, so that you too might be persuaded, like the holy Paul! See, we are here; we have come before they invent a pretext. For this reason we hastened, knowing that exile awaits us from you, so that we might suffer before any pretext is made, and it might be shown plainly to all that all the others too have suffered as we have, and that the pretexts alleged against them were invented by their enemies, and that everything said against them is false accusation and lies.”

So Liberius, speaking thus at that time, was admired by all; but the emperor, instead of answering, only gave orders and exiled them, separating each from the others, as he had also done with the former ones. For in exiling, he himself set this precedent, so that even in punishments he might be crueler than the tyrants and persecutors before him. For in the former persecution Maximian, who was then emperor, used to exile confessors together, many at once, and lightened their punishment, consoling them by each other’s company; but this man has become crueler even than he, and has separated those who spoke boldly and confessed together, and divided those bound together in the faith, so that even when dying they might not see one another—thinking that separation of the body altogether parts the disposition of the soul, or that, separated from one another, they would forget their agreement and unanimity; not knowing that, even if each remains alone, he has with him the Lord whom they confessed together, who will make those with each of them more (as he did with Elisha the prophet) than the soldiers who are with Constantius. Truly wickedness is blind; for in the very thing by which they thought to grieve the confessors, separating them from one another, they rather did great harm to themselves. For if they had been together and in the same place, the abomination of the impious would have been made known from one place; but now, by separating them, they have caused their impious heresy and wickedness to run through every place and become known.

What they did while doing this—who, hearing it, will not think them anything rather than Christians? For when Liberius sent to the emperor Eutropius, a presbyter, and Hilary, a deacon, with letters, at the time when Lucifer and his companions were making their confession, they at once exiled the presbyter; and the deacon Hilary they stripped, scourged on the back, and exiled, crying out, “Why did you not resist Liberius, but even brought letters from him?” This Ursacius and Valens and the eunuchs with them did. And the deacon, as he was scourged, blessed the Lord, remembering him who said, “I gave my back to the scourges.” But they, while scourging him, laughed and mocked him, not blushing that they were insulting a Levite. They, in laughing, thought what befitted them, and he, blessing, endured. For to be beaten is the mark of Christians, but to scourge Christians is the audacity of Pilate and Caiaphas. So they tried to corrupt the church of the Romans too at the beginning, wishing to mix impiety into it also. And Liberius, after being exiled, gave way after two years, and, fearing the death with which he was threatened, signed. But this too shows their violence, and Liberius’s hatred of the heresy and his vote for Athanasius while he had free choice. For what is done under torture contrary to one’s original judgment is the will not of those who were afraid but of those who tortured them. They have tried to do everything on behalf of the heresy; but in every church those who keep the faith they learned await their teachers; they have found out the Christ-fighting heresy, and all turn away from it as from a serpent.

Having done such and so many things, the impious thought they had done nothing so long as the great Hosius had not experienced their wickedness. For they planned to extend their madness even against so great an old man; and they were neither ashamed that he is the father of the bishops, nor respectful that he had been a confessor, nor reverent of the length of his episcopate, which he had held sixty years and more; but they despised everything and looked only to the heresy—men truly neither fearing God nor regarding man. So they went to Constantius and again used such words: “We have done everything: we have exiled the bishop of the Romans, and before him we exiled very many bishops, and we have filled every place with fear; but these great works of yours are nothing to us, nor have we achieved anything at all, so long as Hosius remains. For while he is in his own place, all are in their own churches; he is able by word and faith to persuade all against us. He presides over synods, and when he writes he is listened to everywhere; he set forth the faith at Nicaea and proclaimed the Arians heretics everywhere. If, then, he remains, the exile of the others has been in vain, for our heresy is being put out of the way. Begin, then, to persecute him too, and do not spare him, even though he is old; for our heresy does not know how to honor even the gray hairs of the aged.”

Hearing this, the emperor did not delay, but, knowing the man and the old man’s ability, he writes and orders him to come to him, at the time when he was first trying Liberius. When he came, he asked and urged him with the usual words, by which he thought he had deceived the others too, to write against us and to hold communion with the Arians. But the old man, bearing the very hearing of it with displeasure and grieved that he had even uttered such a thing, rebuked him, persuaded him, and withdrew to his homeland and his church. But when the heretics complained and provoked him again—and he had the eunuchs too reminding him and provoking him more—the emperor then writes with threats; and Hosius is insulted, but is not moved by fear of the plot; standing firm in mind, and having built the house of his faith on the rock, he spoke boldly against the heresy, regarding the threats in the letters as drops of rain and gusts of wind. So when Constantius wrote many times, now flattering him as a father, now threatening, naming those who had been exiled, and saying, “Are you still the only one against the heresy? Be persuaded and write against Athanasius; for whoever writes against him will certainly hold the views of the Arians with us,” Hosius, not alarmed but suffering insults, himself wrote as follows; we have read the letter, and it is written at the end. “Hosius to Constantius the emperor, greeting in the Lord.

I made my confession the first time too, when persecution arose under your grandfather Maximian. If you too persecute me, I am ready now too to endure anything rather than shed innocent blood and betray the truth; but I do not accept you when you write such things and threaten. Stop writing such things; do not hold the views of Arius, nor listen to the Easterners, nor trust Ursacius and Valens. For what they say, they say not because of Athanasius but because of their own heresy. Believe me, Constantius, who am your grandfather in age: I was myself at the synod of Sardica, when you and your brother of blessed memory, Constans, assembled us all; and I myself challenged the enemies of Athanasius, when they came to the church where I was staying, to say whatever they had against him, promising them that they might be confident and expect nothing else than that the judgment would be right in all things. This I did not once but twice, urging that, if they were unwilling before the whole synod, then at least before me alone; promising again that, if he were shown guilty, he would certainly be rejected by us too; but if he were found blameless and proved you false accusers, and you still refused the man, I would persuade Athanasius to come with me to the Spains. And Athanasius agreed to these terms and did not object; but they, having confidence in nothing, refused. And again Athanasius came to your court, when you sent for him by letter, and asked that his enemies, who were present in Antioch itself, be summoned, all together or each of them, so that they might either convict or be convicted, and either prove in his presence what they say or not slander him in his absence. You would not bear him saying this, and they too refused. Why, then, do you still listen to those who speak ill of him? How do you tolerate Valens and Ursacius, though they repented and confessed their false accusation in writing? For they confessed not under force, as they pretend, not with soldiers pressing on them, not with your brother’s knowledge (for no such things happened under him as happen now—God forbid!), but of their own will they went up to Rome and wrote in the presence of the bishop and the presbyters, having first written to Athanasius a friendly and peaceable letter. If they plead force, and know that this is evil, and you too disapprove of it, then stop using force: do not write, do not send counts, release those who have been exiled, lest, while you complain of force, they commit greater acts of force. For what such thing was done by Constans? What bishop was exiled? When did he intervene in an ecclesiastical judgment? What palatine of his compelled anyone to sign against anyone, that Valens and his party should say such things? Stop, I beseech you, and remember that you are a mortal man; fear the day of judgment; keep yourself pure for it. Do not intrude yourself into church affairs, nor give us orders about them; rather learn these things from us. God has entrusted the kingdom to you; to us he has committed the affairs of the Church. And as one who would steal your rule from you opposes God who ordained it, so you too must fear lest, by drawing the affairs of the Church to yourself, you become guilty of a great offense. “Render,” it is written, “to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” It is not lawful, then, for us to rule on earth, nor have you, O emperor, authority to burn incense. These things I write out of care for your salvation. Concerning what you wrote, this is my judgment: I neither agree with the Arians—indeed I anathematize their heresy—nor do I write against Athanasius, whom we and the church of the Romans and the whole synod have cleared. Indeed you too, perceiving this, sent for the man and allowed him to return with honor to his homeland and his church. What, then, has been the pretext for so great a change? For the same enemies he had before he has now; and what they now whisper (for they do not speak when he is present), they spoke against him before you sent for Athanasius; these things they also bandied about when they came to the synod; and when asked by me, as I said, for proofs, they could not provide them; for if they had had them, they would not have fled so shamefully. Who, then, persuaded you, after so long a time, to forget your own letters and words? Hold back, and do not be persuaded by wicked men, lest through your obligations to one another you make yourself guilty. For here you oblige these men, but at the judgment you will have to make your defense alone. These men wish through you to wrong their own enemy, and wish you to become the minister of their wickedness, so that through you they may sow their abominable heresy in the Church. It is not …

This the old man of Abraham’s stock, Hosius, truly holy, thought and wrote. But the emperor neither ceased from plotting nor stopped seeking a pretext against him, but went on threatening terribly, either to bring him over by force or, if he would not be persuaded, to exile him. And as the officers and satraps of Babylon, seeking a pretext, found none against Daniel except in the law of his God, so the present satraps of impiety could not invent any other charge against the old man; for the truly holy Hosius was known to all, and his life was blameless, except for his hatred of the heresy. So they slander him too—no longer as those men slandered Daniel to Darius (for Darius heard the charge against Daniel with displeasure), but as Jezebel did against Naboth, and as the Jews to Herod—saying: “He not only does not sign against Athanasius, but condemns us on his account; and he so hates the heresy that he writes to others to endure death rather than become traitors to the truth. For it is on its account, he says, that our beloved Athanasius is persecuted, and Liberius, bishop of the Romans, and all the others are plotted against.” Hearing this, the patron of impiety and emperor of the heresy, Constantius—and especially that there are others in the Spains who think the same as Hosius—having tried to make them too sign and being unable to compel them, sends for Hosius; and instead of exile he detains him a whole year at Sirmium: the godless man not fearing God, the unholy one not respecting his father’s affection for Hosius, the unloving one not ashamed of his old age (for he is now a hundred years old). For he disregarded all these things because of impiety, this new Ahab, another Belshazzar arisen in our days. He used such violence on the old man and confined him so much that, being hard pressed, he with difficulty communicated with Valens and Ursacius and their party, but did not sign against Athanasius. Yet even so the old man did not neglect the matter; for when he was about to die, as if making his will, he bore witness to the violence, anathematized the Arian heresy, and charged that no one should accept it.

Who, seeing this, or even only hearing it, will not himself be amazed and cry out to the Lord, saying, “Will you make a full end of Israel?” Who, considering this, will not fittingly cry out, “An astonishing and horrible thing has been done in the land,” and, “The heaven was astonished at this, and the earth shuddered exceedingly”? The fathers of the people and teachers of the faith are taken away, and the impious are brought into the churches. When Liberius, bishop of Rome, was exiled, and the father of the bishops, the great Hosius, suffered thus, who, seeing so many bishops exiled from Spain and the other parts, did not recognize, if he had even a little perception, that the pretexts against Athanasius and the others are false and all full of false accusation? For this reason those men too endured to suffer everything, perceiving the plot made by the false accusation of these. For what charge was there against Liberius? Or what accusation against the old man Hosius? Who even told a lie against Paulinus, Lucifer, Dionysius, and Eusebius? Or what sin was alleged against the other exiled bishops, presbyters, and deacons? There is none—God forbid! For the plots did not come about because of charges, nor was each exiled because of an accusation; but it is an uprising of impiety against piety, zeal on behalf of the Arian heresy, and a prelude to the coming of Antichrist, for whom Constantius is preparing the way.

For after he had accomplished all he wished in the churches of Italy and the other parts—after exiling some, compelling others, and filling every place with fear—he then turned his anger, like a disease, upon Alexandria. This was done craftily by the Christ-fighters: so that they might have a show of the signatures of many bishops, and so that Athanasius, when persecuted, might not have even a bishop to complain to, they first filled every place with fear, and kept him in reserve for their plot—not knowing, the fools, that they were displaying not the choice of the bishops but the violence they themselves had used; and that, even if brothers forsake us, even if friends and acquaintances stand afar off, and no one is found to share our grief and comfort us, yet above all refuge in God suffices. For Elijah too was alone when persecuted, and God was all in all to the saint. And the Savior has given us this example: he too was left alone and plotted against by his enemies, so that we too, if persecuted and forsaken by men, may not lose heart, but have our hope in him and not betray the truth, which, though at the beginning it may seem to be afflicted, yet afterwards even its persecutors will acknowledge.

So they provoke him, and the emperor first writes and sends a threat to the duke and the soldiers. The notaries Diogenius and Hilary are sent, and palatines with them; and all those terrible and cruel things were done against the church that have been told briefly a little before, and that all have come to know from the protests drawn up by the people, which anyone can read, written at the end of this account. Then, after what was done by Syrianus—after so much had happened, and the outrages against the virgins—having approved of such evils done in this way, he writes again to the council and people of Alexandria, inciting the young men that all should gather together and either persecute Athanasius or know that they were his enemies. Athanasius, however, had withdrawn even before this letter came, from the time Syrianus attacked the church, knowing what is written: “Hide yourself for a little while, until the wrath pass by.” The bearer of these letters was one Heraclius, a count by rank, going ahead of one George, sent by the emperor as a spy—for one sent by him could not be a bishop, God forbid!—as both what happened and the preludes of his entry show. [49–50] The letter, then, he posted publicly, and it showed great shame on the part of the writer. For since, as the great Hosius wrote, he could find no plausible pretext for his change, he devised one far more unseemly for himself and for those who advised him; for he said, “Out of regard for my friendship with my brother of divine and pious memory, for a time … to you …”; this shows him to have lied, and to be ungrateful toward his brother after his death. Then he calls him, rightly, “of divine and pious memory,” as indeed he is; whose command and friendship … as he himself wrote. And yet, even if he had yielded for the sake of Constans of blessed memory, he ought not to have been undutiful toward his brother, so that he might be heir of his judgment as of his kingdom. But he deposed Vetranio, wishing to claim his right, saying, “To whom does the inheritance belong after the death of brothers?”; yet because of the abominable heresy of the Christ-fighters he does not know what is right, but is undutiful toward his brothers. Because of this heresy he did not even think to keep his father’s judgment whole; but where it pleases the impious, he pretends to keep it, and where it grieves them, he does not even know how to keep reverence toward his father. For his father sent the bishop to the Gauls for a time, through the slander of Eusebius and his party, because of the cruelty of those plotting against him (as the younger Constantine of blessed memory, his brother, made plain after their father’s death, as is shown from his letter); but he was not persuaded by Eusebius and his party to send the bishop they wished, but even prevented them when they wished it and restrained them with a terrible threat when they attempted it. [51] How, then, if he wished, as he writes, to keep the arrangements of his father, did he send first Gregory and now George, the devourer of the treasury? Or why is he eager to bring into the Church the Arians, whom his father named Porphyrians, and as their patron exiles others? And if his father did receive Arius, yet Arius, having perjured himself and burst asunder, cancelled his father’s kindness; for he too, learning of it, then condemned him as a heretic. And how, while pretending to care for the ecclesiastical canon, has he devised to do everything contrary to it? For what canon is there that a bishop be sent from the palace? Or what canon that soldiers invade churches? Or who handed down that counts and irrational eunuchs should rule church affairs, and that the judgment of so-called bishops should be published by edict? He lies in everything because of the unholy heresy; for against his father’s judgment he then sent Philagrius as prefect a second time, and what is now happening has happened. And concerning his brother he does not tell the truth; for after his death too he wrote to the bishop not once nor twice but three times, and again promised not to change, and even urged him to take courage, so that he should be troubled by no one, but remain in the church in all security; and he sent orders through Asterius the count and Palladius the notary to Felicissimus, then duke, and to Nestorius the prefect, that, whether Philip the prefect or anyone else should dare to plot against Athanasius, they should prevent him.

For this reason too, when Diogenius came and Syrianus laid his ambush, both he and we and the people asked for the emperor’s letters, thinking that, as it is written, “Let no lie be spoken to the king from the mouth,” so too the emperor, having promised, would neither lie nor change. How then, if he yielded for his brother’s sake, did he write after his death too? And if he wrote then out of regard for his memory, why afterwards was he wholly ungrateful to him, persecuting the man and writing such things, in which he pretends a judgment of bishops, but himself does whatever seems good to him—not escaping notice, however, but having the proof of his villainy close at hand? For if it is a judgment of bishops, what has the emperor to do with it? But if it is the emperor’s threat, what need is there here of the so-called bishops? When since the world began was such a thing heard? When did a judgment of the Church receive its authority from the emperor, or was such a decision even known? There have been many synods before this, many judgments of the Church; but neither did the Fathers ever persuade an emperor about such things, nor did an emperor meddle in the affairs of the Church. The apostle Paul had friends of Caesar’s household, and in writing he greeted the Philippians from them; but he did not take them as partners in judgments. But now there is a new spectacle, and this is an invention of the Arian heresy: heretics and the emperor Constantius have come together, so that he, using the bishops as a pretext, may act by his authority against whom he wishes and, persecuting, not be called a persecutor; and they, having the emperor’s power, may plot against whom they wish—and they wish it against those who are not impious as they are. One might see this played among them as a comedy on a stage: the so-called bishops acting their parts, and Constantius doing their business and again making promises, as Herod did to Herodias; and they again dancing their slanders for the exile and death of those who are pious toward the Lord.

Whom, then, have they not harmed by slander? Against whom have the Christ-fighters not plotted? Whom did Constantius not exile when they denounced him? When did he not listen to them gladly? And, what is strange, whom did he ever receive when he spoke against them, and did he not rather welcome them, whatever they said? What church now worships Christ with freedom? For if it is pious, it is in danger; and if it dissembles, it is afraid. He has filled everything, as far as lay in him, with hypocrisy and impiety. For if anywhere there is someone pious and a lover of Christ (and there are many such everywhere, like the prophets and the great Elijah), they hide—if they too can find a faithful man, like Obadiah—and either go off into a cave and the holes of the earth, or spend their time wandering in deserts. For the fools invent such slanders as Jezebel invented against Naboth, and the Jews against the Savior; and then he, being the patron of the heresy and wishing to pervert the truth, as Ahab wished to turn the vineyard into a garden of herbs, does what they wish, since he too has heard from them what he wished.

So, as I said before, he exiled the true bishops, because they would not be impious as he wished; so too he has now sent Heraclius the count against Athanasius, who posted the edicts publicly and announced the emperor’s orders: that if they did not obey the letters, there would be a withdrawal of the bread allowance and an overturning of the idols, and many councillors and people of the city would certainly be carried off captive. Then, after threatening this, he was not ashamed to say publicly with a loud voice, “The emperor rejects Athanasius and has ordered the churches to be handed over to the Arians.” When all marveled at this and nodded to one another, “Has Constantius become a heretic?”, and said that he ought to blush, he compelled the more the councillors and the people—pagans and temple-wardens of the idols—to sign to this and to profess that they would receive whatever bishop the emperor sent. A fine champion of the canons of the Church, Constantius, to have this done! For instead of the church he demanded letters from the marketplace, and instead of the people, from the temple-wardens; for he knew that he was sending not a bishop for Christians but a busybody for those who signed.

The pagans, then, as though buying with their signature the immunity of their idols, and some of the trade guilds, signed—unwillingly, but still they signed—as though about a governor or some other magistrate being sent, because of the threats he uttered; for what were they, being pagans, likely to do but what pleases the emperor? But when the people had assembled in the great church (for it was the fourth day of the week), on the next day Heraclius the count takes with him Cataphronius the prefect of Egypt, Faustinus the catholicus, and Bithynus, a heretic, and they stir up the young men of the marketplace and the idol-worshippers, saying that this was the emperor’s order, that they should attack the church and stone the people. Most of the people had already gone out, the dismissal having taken place, and only a few women remained, when it happened as they had ordered. And it was a pitiable sight: a few women were sitting just after the prayer, when the young men, stripped, came upon them at once with stones and clubs; some they stoned, and the godless men beat the holy bodies of the virgins with blows, pulled off their veils and bared their heads, and kicked those who tried to pull them back—the wretches. These things are terrible, very terrible; but what followed was more terrible and more unbearable than any outrage. For knowing the modesty of the virgins and the purity of their hearing, and that they can bear stones and swords more easily than words of obscenity, they used such words in attacking them; and it was the Arians who suggested them to the young men, for they laughed when these things were said and done. The holy virgins and other modest women fled such utterances as the bites of asps; but the Christ-fighters cooperated, and perhaps even joined the young men in uttering them; for they delighted in the words flung out by them with licentiousness.

Then, as though fulfilling the whole of the order (for this was what they were eager for, and what the count and the catholicus enjoined), they seized the benches, the throne, the table (for it was of wood), and the curtains of the church, and whatever else they could, carried them out, burned them before the gate in the great square, and threw incense on them. Oh! Who, hearing this, would not weep, and perhaps shut his ears, so as not to bear even someone else telling it, thinking it harmful even to hear such a thing? For they praised their idols and said, “Constantius has become a pagan, and the Arians have recognized our ways”; for they do not care even to feign paganism, if only the heresy may stand. Indeed they attempted to sacrifice a heifer that drew water for the gardens in the Caesareum, and would have sacrificed it, had it not been female; for they said that such animals may not be sacrificed among them.

Such things, then, the impious Arians did with the pagans, thinking that these acts reached to our dishonor. But divine justice exposed their wickedness and worked a great and remarkable sign, showing plainly to all by this too that, as in their impiety they dare against none other than the Lord, so in doing these things they attempted again to act in insult to him; and this had a still clearer proof from the miracle that happened. For one of the dissolute young men ran in and dared to sit on the throne; and having sat down, the wretch let out some obscene sound through his nose. Then he rose and tried violently to tear away the throne and drag it toward himself; but he did not know he was drawing judgment upon himself. For as those who then lived in Azotus, having dared to touch the ark, on which it was not lawful for them even to look, were at once destroyed by it, first being afflicted with tortures in their seats, so this wretch too only dared to drag it, and what he dragged he drew upon himself; and as if justice sent the wood back against him, he struck his own belly with it, and by the blow of the throne he brought out his own bowels; and the throne rather tore his life from him than it was torn away by him. So, as it is written of Judas, his bowels gushed out, and he fell and was carried out, and after one day he died. And another, who entered with branches and, like a pagan, waved them with his hand and mocked, was at once blinded, and no longer saw nor knew where on earth he was; and as he too was about to fall, he was led by the hand by those with him and supported as he went out; and the bold man scarcely came to himself after a day, knowing neither what he had done nor what he had suffered.

Seeing this, the pagans were afraid and dared nothing further; but the Arians were not ashamed even so, but, like the Jews, though they saw signs, the unbelievers did not believe; rather they hardened themselves like Pharaoh, having their hopes too set somewhere below, on the emperor and his eunuchs. They permitted the pagans—or rather the more abandoned of the pagans—to do what has been described; for they had someone to act these things for them and incite the pagans: Faustinus, called the catholicus, but a market lout in character and licentious in soul. But they themselves undertook to do things like these with their own hands, so that, as they copied their heresy from the other heresies, so they might have their wickedness shared with the most licentious. The rest they did through those men, as I said; but the offenses they committed themselves—how do they not surpass all wickedness and outdo the malice of any executioner? What house did they not ravage? What dwelling did they not plunder on the pretext of searching? What garden did they not trample, and what tomb did they not open? Their pretext was that they were looking for Athanasius, but their whole aim was to plunder and despoil those they met. How many … were sealed up? How many people’s goods in their lodgings did they give over to the soldiers who served them? Who did not experience their malice? Who, meeting them, did not hide in the marketplace? Who did not, because of them, leave his house and spend the night in the desert? Who, eager to guard his own property from them, did not lose most of it? Who, inexperienced in the sea, did not rather choose to try it and its dangers than to see these men threatening? Many changed houses, moving from lane to lane and from the city to the suburbs. How many incurred how many fines, and, having nothing, borrowed from others, only to escape their plots!

For they showed themselves fearsome to all and boasted against all, naming the emperor to everyone and threatening them with fear of him, having as servants of their wickedness the duke Sebastian, a Manichee and a licentious young man, and the prefect, and the count, and the catholicus as their actor. Many virgins who condemned their impiety and recognized the truth they brought out of their houses; others they insulted as they walked, and caused their heads to be uncovered by the young men with them; and to their own women they gave license to insult whomever they wished. The modest and faithful women turned aside and gave way to them; but they, going about like maenads and furies, thought it a misfortune not to find someone to wrong, and passed in grief the day on which they could do no harm. In short, they were so savage and bitter toward all that all called them executioners, murderers, lawless, busybodies, evildoers—anything rather than Christians.

For imitating the Scythians, they seized Eutychius, a subdeacon who served the Church well, and having had him beaten on the back with oxhide whips nearly to death, they asked that he be sent to the mines—and not simply to the mines, but to those of Phaeno, where even a condemned murderer can scarcely live a few days. And what is strange, they did not allow him even a few hours to be treated for the blows, but had him sent off at once, saying, “If this happens, all will be afraid and will be with us from now on.” But not long after, unable to reach the mine because of the pain of the blows, he died on the … And he died rejoicing, having the glory of martyrdom; but the impious were not ashamed even so, but, as it is written, having merciless bowels, and having practiced this, they did something satanic again. For when the people pleaded for Eutychius and begged for him, they had four good and freeborn men seized—Hermias, who washed the feet of the poor, and …; and the duke, having beaten these severely with blows, threw them into prison. But the Arians, crueler even than Scythians, when they saw that these men had not died of the blows, complained and threatened: “We are writing to the eunuchs that he does not scourge as we wish.” Hearing this and afraid, he was compelled to beat the men a second time. And those who were beaten, knowing why they were beaten and by whom they had been slandered, said nothing else than this: “We are beaten for the truth, but we do not communicate with the heretics; beat us now as you wish; God will judge you for this.” The impious wished them to be endangered and die in the prison; but the people of God, knowing the time, pleaded, and after about seven days or more they were released.

But they, as if grieved, attempted again to do something else more cruel and unholy—cruel toward all, but fitting their Christ-fighting heresy. For the Lord commanded us to remember the poor, saying, “Sell your possessions and give alms,” and, “I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; for inasmuch as you did it to one of these least, you did it to me.” But these men, as truly minded against Christ, have dared to act contrary to his will in this too. For since the duke had handed over the churches to the Arians, and the needy and the widows could not stay in them, the widows sat in places appointed for them by the clergy entrusted with the widows; and when these men saw the brothers giving to them eagerly and feeding the widows, they beat them on the feet and drove them away, and slandered to the duke those who gave. This was done through one Dynamius, a soldier; and it pleased Sebastian, for among the Manichees there is no mercy, but even to pity a poor man is hateful to them. There was, then, a new charge, and a court now first invented by them: a man was tried for a kindness; the one who showed mercy was accused, and the one who received the kindness was beaten; and they preferred that the poor man go hungry rather than that the one who wished to show mercy should give. This too they learned from the Jews of old, being new Jews themselves; for those too, seeing the man blind from birth now seeing, and the man who had been paralyzed a long time made well, blamed the Lord who had done them good and judged those who had been benefited as transgressors.

Who then did not marvel at this? Who did not curse the heresy and those who championed it? Who did not recognize that the Arians are more savage even than beasts? For the abominable men did not even gain the ends for which they did these things, but rather increased the hatred against themselves among all. They thought that by plotting and fear they would force some into the heresy so as to assemble with them; but the opposite befell them. For those who suffered bore what was done by them as martyrdom, and neither betrayed nor denied their piety toward Christ; and those who looked on from outside, and even the pagans who saw it, cursed them as antichrists, as executioners; for the human race loves the poor and is compassionate. But these men had lost even human reasoning; and what they would have prayed to receive from others if they were suffering, they would not allow others to receive, having the support and power of the magistrates and especially of the duke.

What they did to the presbyters and deacons too, and how they drove them into flight before the duke and the magistrates, having their relatives brought out of their houses by the soldiers, and Gorgonius the general beating them with blows; and how (the cruelest thing of all) they plundered with such insolence the bread even of those already dead—this cannot even be told in words, their cruelty surpassing any narration. For what could one say and seem to have said enough? Or which first thing could one mention without finding the second more terrible, and what follows the second still more? For all their undertakings and impieties are full of murder and impiety; and they are so crafty in mind and so wily in character that they try to deceive even by promises of patronage and gifts of money, so that, since they have no standing from reason, they may at least by these means seem to make some show to the simple. [64] Who, then, would still call these men even simply pagans, let alone Christians? Who would regard their character as human, and not rather bestial, because of the cruelty and savagery of their deeds? For they are more wicked than executioners and more audacious than the other heresies; the pagans fall far behind them—or rather are very far from them. For I heard from our fathers, and I believe their word true, that formerly, when the persecution took place under Maximian, the grandfather of Constantius, pagans hid our brothers, the Christians who were being sought; and often they lost money themselves and experienced prisons, only that they might not become betrayers of the fugitives; for they guarded those who fled to them as they would themselves, and chose to run risks for them. But now these admirable men, the inventors of the new heresy, known by nothing else than their plotting, do the opposite in everything. For they themselves, becoming executioners on their own account, seek to hand everyone over, and cause those who hide others to be plotted against, regarding the one who hides and the one hidden as equally enemies. So murderous are they, and the evildoers have emulated the wickedness of Judas.

And it is impossible to speak worthily of the evils they do, except to say only this: that as I write and wish to enumerate the deeds of their wickedness, it occurs to me to wonder whether this heresy is not the fourth daughter of the horseleech in the Proverbs, which after so many injustices and so many murders has not said, “Enough.” For it still behaves insolently; those not yet discovered it goes about seeking, and those it has already wronged it is eager to wrong again. For see, after the night attack, after the evils that came of it, after the persecution through Heraclius, they still do not cease slandering us to the emperor—for they are confident that, being impious, they are listened to—so that something more than exile may happen, and in future those who do not yield to their impieties may be put to death. So now too, emboldened, Secundus the utterly wicked Pentapolitan and his confederate Stephen, knowing that even if they do wrong they have the heresy as their defense, when they saw a presbyter at Barca who would not obey them—he was called Secundus, of the same name as the heretic but not of the same faith—killed him by kicking. And as he was being killed he imitated the saint, saying, “Let no one avenge me before judges; I have the Lord to avenge me, for whose sake I suffer these things at their hands.” But they neither pitied him as he spoke nor respected the days; for in Lent itself they kicked the man to death.

O new heresy, that has put on the devil wholly, in impiety and in deeds! For this evil has only now been devised for the first time. Even if some formerly seemed to think along these lines, they hid it and concealed that they held such views. But Eusebius and Arius, like serpents coming out of a den, spewed out the venom of this impiety: Arius undertook the audacity of open blasphemy, and Eusebius its championship; but he was not able to champion the heresy until, as I said before, he found the emperor as its patron. Our fathers held an ecumenical synod, and three hundred, more or less, assembled and condemned the Arian heresy, and all declared it alien and foreign to the faith of the Church. But its champions, seeing themselves disgraced and having nothing reasonable to say, devised another way, and attempted to champion it by … At this one may marvel the more at their new and wicked practice, and at how they surpass the other heresies. For the inventions of the other heresies place their madness in the plausibility of words, to deceive the simple. The pagans, as the Apostle said, make their attempts with excellence and persuasiveness of speech and plausible sophisms; the Jews, abandoning the divine Scriptures, now, as the Apostle said, contend endlessly about fables and genealogies; the Manichees, and the Valentinians with them, and others, peddling the divine Scriptures, make a trade of their own fabricated words. But the Arians are more audacious than the other heresies, and have shown those to be their younger sisters, being more impious than they, as has been said, and emulating them all in wickedness, especially the Jews. For as those, unable to refute Paul on the matters they alleged as pretexts, at once brought him to the tribune and the governor, so these, devising still more than those, use only the power of the magistrates; and if anyone so much as contradicts them, he is dragged to the governor or the general.

The other heresies, when refuted by proofs from the truth itself, are silent, doing nothing more than being put to shame by the refutations; but this new and abominable heresy of theirs, when overthrown by arguments, when it has fallen, put to shame by the truth itself, then tries to drag by violence, blows, and prisons those whom it could not persuade by arguments, making itself known even so to be anything rather than godly. For it is the mark of godliness not to compel but to persuade, as we said. For the Lord himself, not forcing but leaving it to the will, said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me,” and to the disciples, “Do you also wish to go away?” This heresy is altogether foreign to godliness. What else would it do but the opposite of the Savior, since as a Christ-fighter it has enrolled Constantius as the leader of its impiety, as though he were the Antichrist himself? For he, for the heresy’s sake, was eager first to emulate Saul in cruelty. Saul, because the priests gave provisions to David, gave the order, and they were all killed, three hundred and five in number; but this man, because all flee the heresy and the sound faith in the Lord was confessed, destroys a synod of three hundred bishops: he exiles the bishops themselves, and hinders the people from practicing piety and praying to God, preventing their assemblies. And as Saul razed Nob, the city of the priests, so this man, increasing the evil still further, has handed over the churches to the impious; and as Saul honored Doeg the slanderer above the true priests and persecuted David, listening to the Ziphites, so this man prefers the heretics to the pious, and still persecutes those who flee him, listening to his eunuchs, who slander the orthodox—not perceiving that whatever he does and writes on behalf of the Arian heresy is an attack upon the Savior.

Ahab did not behave so against the priests of God as this man has dared to behave against the bishops. For Ahab, after Naboth had been murdered, was at least pricked in conscience, and was afraid when he saw Elijah; but this man was not ashamed before the great Hosius, nor, having exiled so many bishops, was he benumbed or pricked in conscience at all; but like another Pharaoh, the more he is afflicted, the more he is hardened, and he devised worse things every day. And this is the strange thing in his wickedness: while the bishops were being exiled, it happened that some others too received sentence for charges of murder, sedition, or theft, according to the nature of the charge; and these, when he was petitioned, he released after a few months, as Pilate released Barabbas; but the servants of Christ he not only did not release, but even condemned them … mercilessly in their exiles, becoming an undying evil to them. For to the others he was a friend because of their character, but to the orthodox an enemy because of their piety toward Christ. Did he not by this show plainly to all that the Jews of that time, who asked for Barabbas and crucified the Lord, were such as the Christ-fighters with Constantius are now? And perhaps he is more bitter than Pilate; for Pilate at least washed his hands, perceiving … [69] And what wonder is it if, having been led astray into impiety, he is so cruel against the bishops, when he did not spare even his own kin, as a man would? For he slaughtered his uncles and did away with his cousins; and he did not pity his father-in-law, though he was married to his daughter, nor his relatives when they suffered; and he has always been a breaker of oaths toward all. So too he has dared to act impiously toward his brother. He pretends to build him a tomb, yet he has given his betrothed, Olympias, to barbarians—she whom his brother guarded till his death and was bringing up as his own wife. And he has tried to set aside the judgment of the brother whose heir he boasts to be, writing such things as anyone with even a little perception would be ashamed of. And I, comparing his letters, find that he does not have his wits in their natural state, but is moved only by those who suggest things to him, and has no mind of his own at all. Solomon says, “When a king listens to an unjust word, all those under him are lawless.” But this man shows by what he does that he is himself that unjust one, and those around him lawless.

When, then, can this man, being such and delighting in such men, think anything just or reasonable—a man bound by the lawlessness of his companions, with these men enchanting him, who have their brains trodden down in their heels? For this reason he writes, and having written repents, and repenting is provoked again …, and, not knowing what to do, shows the emptiness of wits in his soul. So one might more justly pity him, being such, because, with the appearance and name of a free man, he is the slave of those who drag him to their own pleasure of impiety. Indeed, the senseless and witless one, as the Scripture says, wishing to oblige others, has given himself up to condemnation at the coming judgment, as fuel for the fire, already doing what they wish and pledging to them both the plot against the bishops and authority over the churches. For see, now again he has troubled the churches in Alexandria and in Egypt and all the Libyas, and has openly ordered that the bishops of the catholic Church and of piety be cast out of the churches, and that all of these be handed over to those who hold the views of Arius. The general began to do this; and then bishops were sent off in chains, and presbyters and monks in irons, beaten with blows nearly to death. Everything everywhere is in confusion, and all Egypt and Libya is in danger, the people being indignant at this lawless order and seeing these things. [71] When, then, was such lawlessness heard of? When did such an evil happen even in a persecution? It was pagans who persecuted formerly; but they did not bring their idols into the churches. Zenobia was a Jewess and patroness of Paul of Samosata; but she did not give the churches to the Jews as synagogues. This abomination is new; it is not simply persecution, but more than persecution: a prelude and preparation for Antichrist. For grant that they invented false pretexts against Athanasius and the other bishops they exiled—what is that compared with this new practice? What pretext can they allege against all Egypt and Libya and Pentapolis? For they did not begin plotting against each one individually, so that they might at least be able to lie, but attacked all at once, so that, even if they wished to invent something, they would be condemned. Their wickedness blinded their minds in this, and they demanded that all the bishops alike be cast out without any pretext, so that they showed that they had invented false pretexts against Athanasius and the other bishops they exiled for no other reason than the abominable heresy of the Christ-fighting Arians. For this is no longer hidden, but has now become plain to all. Athanasius he ordered to be cast out of the city, and to those men he handed over the churches. And the presbyters and deacons who were with him, appointed from the time of Peter and Alexander, are cast out and put to flight; while the real Arians—not those suspected from outside, but those who from the beginning were expelled for the heresy together with Arius himself by Bishop Alexander: in Upper Libya Secundus, and in Alexandria Euzoius the Canaanite, Julius, Ammon, Marcus, Irenaeus, Zosimus, and Sarapion surnamed Pelycon, …

And the general Sebastian wrote to the officers and military authorities in the various places; and the true bishops were persecuted, and those holding impious views were brought in in their place. They exiled bishops grown old in … and of many years in the episcopate, appointed from the time of Bishop Alexander: Ammonius, Hermes, Anagamphus, and Marcus to the Upper Oasis; Muis, Psenosiris, Nilammon, Plenes, Marcus, and Athenodorus to Ammoniaca—for no other reason than that they might die passing through the deserts. For they did not pity them even when sick, but drove them on, though they could barely travel because of their weakness, so that they were carried on litters, and because of their sickness their burial clothes followed them. One of them died, and they did not even allow the body to be given to his own people. For this reason too they exiled Bishop Dracontius to the deserts around Clysma, Philo to Babylon, Adelphius to Psinabla in the Thebaid, and the presbyters Hierax and Dioscorus to Syene; and Ammonius, Agathus, Agathodaemon, Apollonius, Eulogius, Apollos, Paphnutius, Gaius, and Flavius, aged bishops, and again the bishops Dioscorus, Ammonius, Heraclides, and Psais, they put to flight; some they handed over to the quarries, others they persecuted wishing to kill them, and many others they plundered. And forty laymen, and virgins, whom they had first set by a fire, they exiled, having beaten them with rods of palm so that after five days some of them died, and others had to undergo surgery because of the thorns embedded in their limbs, and endured pains worse than death. And what was more terrible, … to anyone of sound mind, but characteristic of the impious: since the women, as they were beaten, called on Christ, they gnashed their teeth against them all the more. Indeed they did not even give the bodies of those who died to their own people for burial, so that they might seem to conceal the murder; but they did not escape notice; for the whole city saw it, and all turned away from them as executioners, evildoers, and robbers. For they also overthrew monasteries and tried to throw monks into the fire; they plundered houses, and, breaking into the house of free persons, seized deposits placed there by the bishop; they beat the widows on the soles of their feet and hindered the alms. [73] Such, then, were the wicked deeds of the Arians. And their godless undertakings—who, hearing of them, will not shudder? For they caused such aged bishops of many years to be exiled, and in their place, licentious young men, pagans, not even catechumens, … and others accused of greater crimes, because of their wealth and their civic power, giving gold—as from a market they sent them off, naming them bishops. And thereafter the calamity became more terrible for the people. For, turning away from these hirelings of those men, strangers to themselves, … they were scourged, their property confiscated, and they were shut up in prisons by the general. For being a Manichee he did this eagerly, so that they might not seek their own and might receive those they turned away from—men who did such things as they used to act out in the idol-temples before this.

Who then, seeing or hearing these things, seeing the arrogance of the impious and such great injustice, if he is righteous, would not groan? For in the places of the impious the righteous groan. Who, when these things are being done and impiety has taken on such shamelessness, still dares to call this Costyllius a Christian, and not rather the image of Antichrist? For which of his marks has he omitted? Or how will this man not be thought in every respect to be that one, and that one be supposed to be such as this man is? Were not the sacrifices in the great church in the Caesareum and the blasphemies against Christ done by the Arians and pagans as at his command? Does not the vision of Daniel describe the Antichrist thus: that he will make war with the saints and prevail against them, and will surpass in evils all who were before him, and will humble three kings, and will speak words against the Most High, and will think to change times and law? Who else, then, has ever attempted to do such things but Constantius alone? For he is such as that one would be. He speaks words against the Most High, championing the impious heresy; and he makes war against the saints, exiling the bishops—though he has this power only for a little while, to his own destruction. For he has surpassed those before him in wickedness, having devised a new manner of persecution; and having overthrown three kings—Vetranio, Magnentius, and Gallus—he at once championed impiety, and like a giant has dared to exalt himself in arrogance against the Most High. He has thought to change law, setting aside the ordinance of the Lord given through the apostles, changing the customs of the Church, and himself devising a new manner of appointments. For he sends bishops from other places, even fifty stages away, with soldiers, to people who do not want them; and instead of making themselves known to the people, those men bring threats and letters to the magistrates. Thus he sent Gregory from Cappadocia to Alexandria, sent for Germinius from Cyzicus to Sirmium, and sent Cecropius from Laodicea to Nicomedia.

And one Auxentius, a busybody rather than a Christian, he transferred from Cappadocia to Milan, so that, since he had exiled the bishop there, Dionysius, a devout man, for his piety toward Christ, he might order this man to be there—a man who did not yet even know the Latin language, nor anything but impiety. And now again one George, a Cappadocian, who had been a receiver of the treasury at Constantinople and had appropriated everything and fled for that very reason, he ordered to enter Alexandria with military pomp and the authority of the general. Then, having found one Epictetus, a neophyte and a bold young man, he took a liking to him, seeing him ready for wickedness; and through him he now plots against whatever bishops he wishes; for that man is ready to do everything the emperor wishes. Using this man as his servant, he did a strange thing at Rome too, truly a likeness of the malice of Antichrist: having prepared the palace instead of the church, and having had about three of his own eunuchs present instead of the people, he then compelled three wicked spies (for one could not call them bishops) to appoint, forsooth, as bishop in the palace one Felix, worthy of them. For all the people, knowing the lawlessness of the heretics, did not allow them to enter the churches, but withdrew far from them.

What, then, of the Antichrist has this man omitted? Or what more will that one do than this man when he comes? Or how will that one, when he comes, not find the way to deceit made easy, prepared for him by this man? For again, instead of the churches, he summons the trials to himself in the palaces, and presides over them himself; and the astonishing thing is that, if he sees the accusers at a loss, he himself takes up the accusation, so that the wronged may no longer even be able to make a defense because of his violence. This he did in the case of Athanasius. For seeing the boldness of the bishops Paulinus, Lucifer, Eusebius, and Dionysius, and how from the repentance of Ursacius and Valens they refuted those who spoke against the bishop, and advised that Valens and his party, having changed their minds, should no longer be believed in what they now say, he at once stood up and said, “I am now the accuser of Athanasius; for my sake believe whatever these men say.” Then they said: “How can you be the accuser when the accused is not present? For even if you are the accuser, he, not being present, cannot be judged. For the trial is not a Roman one, that you should be believed as emperor; the judgment concerns a bishop, and the trial must be equal for the accuser and the accused. And how do you accuse? For you could not have been with one who lived far from you; but if you speak because you have heard it from these men, it is just that you should believe also what is said by him; and if you do not believe him but believe these, it appears rather that these men say these things for your sake and accuse Athanasius to please you.” Hearing this, and thinking what was rightly said an insult, he exiled them; and, enraged against Athanasius, he wrote more savagely that he should suffer what was done, that the churches should be handed over to the Arians, and that they should be free to do whatever they wished.

Such things are terrible, and beyond terrible; yet the conduct befits one who is playing the part of Antichrist. For who, seeing him leading the so-called bishops and presiding over the church trials, would not fittingly say that this is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel? For clothing himself with Christianity, and entering the holy places and standing in them, he makes the churches desolate, setting aside their canons and forcing his own to prevail. Does anyone still dare to say that this time is one of peace for Christians, and not rather of persecution—a persecution such as never happened before, and such as perhaps no one will ever carry out again, unless it be the son of lawlessness, whom the Christ-fighters display, already portraying him in themselves? Therefore it is especially fitting to be watchful, lest this heresy, which has great shamelessness and spreads like the venom of the horned serpent, as is written in the Proverbs, and teaches men to think against the Savior, be the apostasy after which that one will be revealed, having Constantius as his forerunner. For why else does he rage so against the pious? Why does he contend as for his own heresy, and call his own enemy whoever does not yield to the madness of Arius, while gladly receiving what is said by the Christ-fighters, and dishonoring such and so many synods? Why did he order the churches to be handed over to the Arians? Was it not so that that one, when he comes, may find a way to enter them, and may welcome this man who prepared the places for him? For the old bishops, appointed from the time of Alexander, and of Achillas before him, and again of Peter before him, were cast out; and those were brought in whom the followers of the soldiers named; and they named those who promised to hold their views.

This proposal was easy for the Meletians; for most of them, or rather all, are not of godly upbringing, nor do they know the sound faith in Christ, nor at all what Christianity is or what Scriptures we Christians have. For some of them came from the idols, others from the council chamber and the chief civic offices, for the sake of the wretched immunity from public duties and the patronage; and having persuaded with money the Meletians before them, they came to this office even before being catechized. And even if they seemed to have been, what catechizing is there among the Meletians? Yet without even seeming to be catechized they came, and at once, like children receiving a name, they were called bishops. And therefore, being such, they thought nothing of the matter, nor considered piety to differ from impiety. So eagerly and quickly they became Arians from Meletians; and if the emperor orders something else, they are ready to change to that too. For their ignorance of piety quickly carries them back to the folly they had from the beginning and learned. For it is nothing to them to be carried about by every wind and wave, so long as they are exempt from public duties and have human patronage; perhaps they would not even be changing, but be such as they were before, and as they were when they were pagans. Indeed, being of such pliable character, thinking the Church a civic council, and holding the views of idolaters, entering like gentiles into the beautiful name of the Savior, they have defiled all Egypt, causing the Arian heresy even to be named in it. For in Egypt alone was there still full freedom for orthodoxy; and for this reason the impious were eager to bring ill will upon it too—or rather not they, but the devil who moved them—so that, when his herald the Antichrist comes, he may find the churches in Egypt too become his, and the Meletians already catechized in his ways, and may recognize himself already formed in them.

Such, then, is the lawless order that went out from Constantius. Among the people there was eagerness for martyrdom and still greater hatred of the most impious heresy; yet there was mourning for the churches and groaning from all, crying to the Lord: “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your inheritance to reproach to your enemies; but make haste to deliver us from the hand of the lawless. For see, they have not spared your servants, and they are preparing the way for Antichrist.” For the Meletians will never resist him, nor care for the truth, nor think it a bad thing to deny Christ—men who have never genuinely come to the Word, taking every shape like the chameleon, and becoming the hirelings of those who serve their needs. For their aim is not the truth; they prefer to it the pleasure of the moment, and say only, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Such is the purpose of the hypocrites—“Epicritians” rather than Meletians—and such their faithless character. But the faithful servants of the Savior and true bishops, who believe genuinely and live not for themselves but for the Lord—these, faithfully pious toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and knowing, as I said before, that the pretexts against the truth are false and were plainly invented for the sake of the Arian heresy (for from the repentance of Ursacius and Valens they learned of the false accusation composed against Athanasius, in order to put him out of the way and bring the impiety of the Christ-fighters into the churches)—seeing this, as champions and heralds of the truth, chose rather to be insulted and exiled, and endured it, than to sign against him and communicate with the Ariomaniacs. For they did not forget what they had taught; but they know all the more that for traitors there is great dishonor, and for those who confess the truth the kingdom of heaven; and that for the careless and those who feared Constantius there will be nothing good, but for those who endured afflictions here, as a calm harbor for sailors after a storm, as a crown for athletes after the contest, so for them there will be great and eternal joy and gladness in heaven—such as Joseph had after those afflictions, such as the great Daniel had after his trials and the many plots of the courtiers, such as Paul now has, crowned by the Savior. Such joy the peoples of God everywhere also await; and seeing these things, they have not weakened in purpose, but rather been strengthened in faith and increased their zeal the more. For being fully assured of the false accusation and impiety of the heretics, they condemn the persecutor and run with the persecuted in mind and accord, so that they too may receive the crown of confession.

Many things one could say against this abominable and Christ-fighting heresy; and one could show that many of Constantius’s practices are preludes of Antichrist. But since, as the prophet said, from the feet to the head there is nothing sound in it, but it is full of all filth and all impiety, so that it is to be shunned even on hearsay alone, like a dog’s vomit and the venom of serpents; and since Costyllius openly bears the image of the adversary—so that the account may not be long, it is good to be content with the divine Scripture, and for all to obey it as it commands, both concerning the other heresies and especially concerning this one. Its command is this: “Depart, depart, go out from there, and touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of them and be separate, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.” This suffices for the instruction of all: so that, if anyone has been deceived by them, he may go out as from Sodom and no longer return to them, lest he suffer the fate of Lot’s wife; and if anyone has remained pure from this impious heresy from the beginning, he may have his boast in Christ, saying: “We have not stretched out our hands to a strange god, nor worshipped the works of our hands, nor served the creature rather than you, God, who created all things through your Word, the only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to you, the Father, and with … ” … [81] … him, as though there had been neither tumult nor anyone killed. This is no small proof that these things were not done according to the mind of the most humane Augustus Constantius; for he would not have been afraid over what had happened, if he had done it by command. Indeed, when we went to him and asked him to do violence to no one and not to deny what had happened, he ordered us, Christians as we are, to be beaten with clubs, showing by this too the war waged by night against the Church. For this reason we now make this protest, since some of us are already about to travel to the most pious Augustus. And we adjure, by God Almighty and for the safety of the most pious Augustus Constantius, Maximus the prefect of Egypt and the curiosi, to report everything to the piety of the Augustus and to the authority of the most illustrious prefects. We adjure also all the shipmasters to proclaim these things everywhere, and to bring them to the ears of the most pious Augustus, and to the prefects, and to the magistrates in every place, so that it may be known that a war was made against the Church, and that in the times of Augustus Constantius Syrianus caused virgins and many others to become martyrs. For as the day was dawning on the fifth before the Ides of February, that is, the fourteenth of the month Mechir, while we were keeping vigil in the Lord’s house and devoting ourselves to prayers (for a synaxis was to take place …), suddenly about midnight the most illustrious duke Syrianus came upon us and the church with many legions of soldiers, having arms and drawn swords and bows and other implements of war, and helmets on their heads. And while we were actually praying and the reading was going on, they broke down the doors; and when the doors had been forced open by the mass of men, he gave the order: some shot arrows, others raised the war cry, there was a clashing of arms, and the swords flashed in the light of the lamps. And then, as a result, virgins were killed, many were trampled underfoot and fell over one another as the soldiers came on, and men were shot with arrows and died. Some of the soldiers also turned to plunder and stripped the virgins, for whom even to be touched by some of them was a fear greater than death. And the bishop sat on his throne, urging all to pray; and the duke led the attack, having with him Hilary the notary, who was working such things as the outcome showed. For the bishop, being dragged, was nearly torn to pieces; and being greatly weakened, and become as one dead, he disappeared from them, we know not where; for they were eager to kill him. And when they saw that many had died, they ordered the soldiers to make the bodies of the dead disappear. But the most holy virgins who were left dead were buried in the tombs, having the boast that they became martyrs in the times of the most pious Constantius. And deacons were beaten with blows in the very Lord’s house and shut up there. Nor did the matter stop there; but after this had happened, whoever wished broke down and opened whatever door he could, searched, and seized what was inside; and they entered places that not even all Christians may enter. Gorgonius, the general of the city, knows this, for he was there. And no small proof of such a warlike attack is that the arms, arrows, and swords of those who entered were left in the Lord’s house; for to this day they have been hung up in the church, so that they cannot deny it. Indeed he has often sent Dynamius of the office and the general, wishing to remove them; and so far we have not allowed it, so that … it may be known. If, then, there is an order that we be persecuted, we are all ready to be martyred; but if it is not the order of the Augustus, we ask Maximus the prefect of Egypt and all the councillors to ask him not to attempt such things again. And we ask that this petition of ours too be reported, that they not attempt to bring in any other bishop here; for we stand firm unto death, desiring the most reverend Athanasius himself, whom God gave us from the beginning in succession to our fathers.