Defence against the Arians 27–38

As for our not having received our fellow bishops Athanasius and Marcellus into communion lightly or unjustly, although what has been said is sufficient, it is reasonable nevertheless to show it to you briefly. Eusebius and his party wrote formerly against Athanasius and those with him, and you too have written now; but very many bishops from Egypt and other provinces wrote in favor of Athanasius. First, then, your letters against him contradict each other: the later ones have no agreement with the earlier, but in many points the earlier are refuted by the later and the later are discredited by the earlier; and when letters disagree, what they say deserves no credit. Next, if you think your letters should be believed, it follows that those who wrote on his behalf should not be disbelieved either—especially since you write from afar, while they are on the spot, know the man and what happens there, testify to his life, and affirm that in everything he has been the victim of a plot. Again, a certain Arsenius … but we learned that he is alive, and moreover is on friendly terms with him. He affirmed that the minutes taken in the Mareotis were drawn up one-sidedly, for neither Macarius the presbyter, the accused, nor his bishop Athanasius himself was present there. And this we learned not only from his own words but also from the minutes which Martyrius and Hesychius brought us; for on reading them we found that the accuser Ischyras was present there, but neither Macarius nor Bishop Athanasius, and moreover that the presbyters of Athanasius asked to be present and were not allowed. Yet, beloved, if the trial was conducted honestly, not only the accuser but also the accused ought to have been present. For as at Tyre the accuser … and nothing was proved, so in the Mareotis not only the accuser but also the accused ought to have gone, so that being present he might either be convicted or, if not convicted, expose the false accusation. As it is, since this did not happen, but only the accuser went, together with those to whom Athanasius objected, the proceedings appear suspect.

He also complained that those who went to the Mareotis had gone against his wishes. For he said that they had sent Theognius, Maris, Theodore, Ursacius, Valens, and Macedonius, who were suspect. And he showed this not only from his own words but also from the letter of Alexander, the late bishop of Thessalonica; for he produced a letter of his written to Dionysius, the count at the synod, in which he makes plain that a manifest plot had been formed against Athanasius. He also produced an authentic autograph of the accuser Ischyras himself, in which, calling God Almighty to witness, he said that there had been neither breaking of a cup nor overturning of a table, but that he had been prompted by certain persons to invent this accusation. The presbyters of the Mareotis also came and affirmed that Ischyras was not a presbyter of the catholic Church and that Macarius had committed no such offense as he charged. And the presbyters and deacons who came here testified not a little but much on behalf of Bishop Athanasius, affirming that none of the charges against him was true, but that he had been the victim of a plot. All the bishops of Egypt and Libya also affirmed in writing that his appointment was lawful and ecclesiastical, and that all you say against him is false: no murder had taken place, no one had been put to death on his account, no cup had been broken, but everything was false. And from the minutes taken one-sidedly in the Mareotis Bishop Athanasius showed that a catechumen was examined and said he was inside with Ischyras when Macarius, Athanasius’s presbyter, as they say, burst in on the place; and that others were examined and said, some that Ischyras was lying in a small cell, others that he was lying behind the door, being sick at the time when they say Macarius came there. From this, as he said, we too naturally infer: how could a man lying sick behind the door have been standing at that time, ministering and offering? Or how could the offering have been set out while catechumens were inside? For if the catechumens were inside, it was not yet the time of the offering. These things, as has been said, Bishop Athanasius stated and showed from the minutes, while those with him affirmed that Ischyras had never at all been a presbyter in the catholic Church, nor had he ever attended services in the Church as a presbyter; for not even when Alexander, in accordance with the clemency of the great synod, received those from the schism of Meletius was he named by Meletius among his clergy, as they affirmed. This is the strongest proof that he was not even of Meletius’s party, for if he had been, he would certainly have been numbered with them. Besides, Athanasius showed from the minutes that Ischyras had lied in other things too; for when he charged that books had been burned when, as they say, Macarius burst in, he was proved a liar by the very witnesses he brought.

Since these things were said, and there were so many witnesses on his behalf and so many justifications produced by him, what ought we to have done? Or what does the canon of the Church require, except not to condemn the man but rather to receive him and hold him as bishop, as indeed we do? Besides all this, he remained here a year and six months, awaiting the arrival of you or of whoever wished to come; and by his presence he put everyone to shame, since he would not have been present had he not been confident. For he did not come of his own accord, but was summoned and received letters from us, just as we wrote to you. And yet after all this you have blamed us as having acted against the canons. Consider, then, who they are who have acted against the canons: we, who received the man on such strong proofs, or those who at Antioch, thirty-six stages away, named a stranger as bishop and sent him to Alexandria with military force? This was not done even when he was sent to the Gauls; it would have been done then, had he really been condemned. Indeed, when he returned he found the church vacant and awaiting him.

But now I do not know in what way what has happened came about. First, if the truth must be told, when we had written that a synod should be held, no one ought to have anticipated the synod’s judgment; and next, no such innovation should have been made against the Church. For what canon of the Church, or what apostolic tradition, is there of this kind: that while the Church was at peace and so many bishops were in concord with Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Gregory should be sent—a stranger to the city, neither baptized there nor known to the many, not asked for by presbyters, bishops, or people—appointed at Antioch and sent to Alexandria not with presbyters, not with deacons of the city, not with bishops of Egypt, but with soldiers? For this is what those who came here said and complained of. Even if, after the synod, Athanasius had been found guilty, the appointment ought not to have been made so lawlessly and against the canon of the Church; rather the bishops of the province ought to have appointed someone from that very church, from its own priesthood, from its own clergy, and the canons that come from the apostles ought not now to be set aside. If such a thing had been done against one of you, would you not have cried out and demanded redress for the violation of the canons? Beloved, we speak truly, as in the presence of God, and we say: this is not pious, nor lawful, nor ecclesiastical. For what is said to have been done by Gregory at his entry shows the character of his appointment. In such peaceful times, as those who came from Alexandria reported and as the bishops also wrote, the church suffered burning, virgins were stripped, monks were trampled underfoot, presbyters and many of the people were maltreated and suffered violence, bishops were imprisoned, many were dragged about, and the holy mysteries, on account of which they accused Macarius the presbyter, were plundered by pagans and thrown on the ground—so that certain people might accept Gregory’s appointment. Such things show who it is that set aside the canons. For if the appointment had been lawful, he would not have used lawlessness to compel the obedience of those who lawfully refused to obey him. And yet, though such things have happened, you write that great peace has come about in Alexandria and Egypt—unless the work of peace has been turned into its opposite, and you call such things peace.

I thought it necessary also to let you know this: Athanasius affirmed that Macarius was kept under guard of soldiers at Tyre, and that only the accuser went with those who went to the Mareotis; that the presbyters who asked to be present at the inquiry were not permitted, while the inquiry about the cup and the table took place in the presence of the prefect and his staff, with pagans and Jews present. At first this was incredible, had it not been shown from the minutes too; we marveled at it, and I think you too marvel, beloved. Presbyters, who are the ministers of the mysteries, are not permitted to be present, while before an outside judge, in the presence of catechumens and, worst of all, before pagans and Jews, who are ill-disposed toward Christianity, an inquiry is held about the blood of Christ and the body of Christ! For even if some offense had been committed at all, such things ought to have been examined lawfully in the Church by clergy, and not by pagans who abhor the Word and do not know the truth. How great and of what kind this sin is, I trust that both you and everyone perceive. So much about Athanasius.

As for Marcellus, since you wrote of him too as impious toward Christ, I am anxious to let you know that when he was here he affirmed that what you had written about him was not true; nevertheless, when asked by us to speak about the faith, he answered on his own account with such boldness that we recognized that he confesses nothing outside the truth. For he confessed that he holds as piously about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the catholic Church holds; and he affirmed that he had held these views not only now but long since, as indeed our presbyters, who were at the synod of Nicaea at that time, bore witness to his orthodoxy; for he maintained that both then and now he had held views opposed to the heresy of the Arians. On this point it is right to remind you too that no one should accept such a heresy, but should abhor it as foreign to sound teaching. Since, then, he holds correctly and is attested as orthodox, what again ought we to have done in his case, but hold him as bishop, as we did, and not cast him out of communion? I have written these things not to make a defense on their behalf, but so that you may believe that we received the men justly and canonically and that you contend in vain. But it is right for you to be zealous and to labor in every way so that what was done against the canon may be corrected and the churches have peace, so that the peace of the Lord which was given us may remain, the churches not be divided, and you not incur blame as the causes of schism. For I confess to you, what has been done gives occasion not for peace but for schism.

For not only have Bishops Athanasius and Marcellus come here, complaining that injustice had been done to them, but also very many other bishops from Thrace, from Coele-Syria, from Phoenicia and Palestine; and not a few presbyters, and others from Alexandria and others from other parts, came to the synod here; and in the presence of all the bishops assembled, besides the other things they said, they lamented the violence and injustice the churches had suffered, and they affirmed that things like those at Alexandria … had happened in their own churches and in other churches, not in word only but in deed. And presbyters have now come again with letters from Egypt and Alexandria, lamenting that many bishops and presbyters who wished to come to the synod were prevented. For they said that up to now, even after the departure of Bishop Athanasius, bishops who are confessors are being cut down with blows and others imprisoned; that even aged men, who have held the episcopate for a very long time, are being handed over to public duties; and that almost all the clergy and people of the catholic Church are being plotted against and persecuted. For they said that some bishops and some brothers had been banished for no other reason than to compel them, even against their will, to communicate with Gregory and the Arians with him. We heard from others too that not a few things had happened at Ancyra in Galatia, the same as had happened at Alexandria, and Bishop Marcellus bore witness to it. Besides this, those who came have brought such charges, and such grave ones, against some of you—I do not name them—as I have declined to put in writing; but perhaps you too have heard them from others. It was chiefly for this reason that I wrote inviting you to come, so that you might hear in person and everything might be set right and healed. In such matters those who were summoned ought to have attended the more readily and not declined, lest they be thought suspect with regard to what was said, if they did not attend, as though unable to prove what they had written.

Since, then, such things are said, and the churches are thus suffering and being plotted against, as those who reported them affirmed, who are they who have kindled the flame of discord? We, who are grieved at such things and suffer with our suffering brothers, or those who have done such things? For I wonder how, when there is such great disorder in every church there—the very reason why those who came here have come—you write that concord has come about in the churches. Such things are done not for the building up of the Church but for its tearing down; and those who rejoice in them are not sons of peace but of disorder; and our God is not a God of disorder but of peace. Therefore, as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ knows, caring for your good name and praying that the churches may not be in disorder but may remain as they were ordered by the apostles, I thought it necessary to write these things to you, so that you may at last put to shame those who through their enmity toward one another have brought the churches to this state. For I have heard that there are a few who are the cause of all this. As men who have hearts of compassion, be zealous to correct, as I said before, what was done against the canon, so that if anything has been done prematurely, it may be healed by your zeal. And do not write, “Choose communion with Marcellus and Athanasius, or with us”; for such things are marks not of peace but of contentiousness and hatred of brothers. It was for this reason that I wrote what precedes, so that, learning that we received them not unjustly, you may cease from such strife. For if they had come and been condemned, or had not appeared to have reasonable proofs on their own behalf, you would have been right to write such things; but since, as I said before, we held communion with them canonically and not unjustly, I beg you for Christ’s sake not to allow the members of Christ to be torn apart, nor to trust in prejudgments, but to prefer the peace of the Lord. For it is neither holy nor just, through the petty-mindedness of a few, to cast off those who have not been condemned and in this to grieve the Spirit. But if you think you can prove anything against them and convict them face to face, let those who wish come; for they too have promised to be ready both to prove and to refute what they reported to us.

Inform us, then, beloved, about this, so that we may write both to them and to the bishops who must assemble again, so that the guilty may be condemned in the presence of all and there may be no more disorder in the churches. What has happened is enough; it is enough that bishops were exiled in the presence of bishops. I need not speak at length about this, lest those who were present then should seem to be burdened. For if the truth must be told, things ought not to have gone so far, nor petty-mindedness to have reached such a pitch. Granted that Athanasius and Marcellus, as you write, were removed from their own places—what would one say about the others, the bishops and presbyters who, as I said before, have come here from various places? For they too said that they had been carried off and had suffered such things. O beloved! The judgments of the Church are no longer according to the Gospel, but now end in banishment and death. For even if, as you say, some offense had been committed by them, the trial ought to have been held according to the canon of the Church and not in this way. You ought to have written to all of us, so that justice might thus be determined by all. For those who suffered were bishops, and the churches that suffered were no ordinary ones, but those which the apostles themselves governed in person. And why were we not written to, above all, concerning the church of the Alexandrians? Or do you not know that this was the custom, that we be written to first, and that what is just be determined from here? If, then, any such suspicion had fallen on the bishop there, it should have been referred in writing to the church here. But now those who did not inform us, but acted as they themselves wished, want us too to join in their vote, though we did not condemn him. Not so are the ordinances of Paul, not so have the Fathers handed down; this is a different pattern and a new practice. I beg you, bear it willingly; what I write is for the common good. For what we have received from the blessed apostle Peter, this I make known to you also; and I would not have written, thinking these things plain to all, had not what happened troubled us. Bishops are carried off and removed from their places, others are put in their stead from elsewhere, and others are plotted against; so that the people mourn for those carried off and are coerced in the case of those sent, so that they may not seek those they want and may receive those they do not want. I ask you that such things happen no more; rather write against those who attempt such things, so that the churches may no longer suffer them, and no bishop or presbyter suffer outrage, or anyone be compelled, as they have shown us, to act against his judgment, lest we incur ridicule among the pagans, and above all lest we provoke God. For each of us will give an account on the day of judgment for what he has done here. May all think according to God, so that the churches too, having received their bishops back, may rejoice always in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom be glory to the Father for ever and ever. Amen. I pray for your health in the Lord, beloved and most longed-for brothers.”

So wrote the synod at Rome through Julius, bishop of Rome. But when Eusebius and his party again behaved shamelessly, troubling the churches and plotting against many, the most God-loving emperors Constantius and Constans, learning of it, ordered the bishops both of the West and of the East to assemble at the city of Sardica. Eusebius died in the meantime; but when very many had assembled from every side, we challenged the partners of Eusebius’s party to a trial. They, however, having before their eyes what they had done and seeing that their accusers had come up, were afraid of the trial; and while all others came in good faith, they again brought with them counts, Musonianus and Hesychius the castrensis, so that, as they were accustomed, they might do whatever they wished by their authority. But when the synod was held without counts and no soldier was present among them, they were thrown into confusion, stricken by their conscience; for they were no longer judged as they wished, but as the reason of truth required. So when we challenged them for a long time, and the synod of bishops challenged them, saying, “You came to be judged; why, having come, do you now withdraw? You ought either not to have come, or having come not to hide; for this brings the greatest condemnation on you. See, Athanasius and his companions are here, whom you slandered in their absence; if you think you have anything, refute them in their presence. But if you cannot, and pretend to be unwilling, you are plainly false accusers, and this is the judgment the synod will give you”—when they heard this, they condemned themselves (for they knew what they had done and invented against us) and were ashamed to appear, having exposed against themselves their great and unseemly false accusation. The holy synod, then, condemning their unseemly and suspicious flight, admitted us to make our defense. And when we related by witnesses and proofs what had been done against us, they marveled, and all recognized that it was with good reason that those men had feared the synod, lest they be refuted face to face. And they said, “Perhaps they came from the East thinking that Athanasius and his companions would not appear; for now that they see them speaking boldly and challenging a trial, they flee.” So they received us as men wronged and slandered without cause, and confirmed to us still more their communion and love; but they deposed those who were partners in Eusebius’s wickedness and had become even more shameless than he: Theodore of Heraclea, Narcissus of Neronias, Acacius of Caesarea, Stephen of Antioch, Ursacius and Valens of Pannonia, Menophantus of Ephesus, and George of Laodicea. And they wrote to the bishops throughout the whole world, and to the church of each of those who had been wronged, as follows. Letter of the synod assembled at Sardica. “The holy synod assembled by the grace of God at Sardica, from Rome, the Spains, the Gauls, Italy, Campania, Calabria, Apulia, Africa, Sardinia, the Pannonias, the Moesias, Dacia, Noricum, Siscia, Dardania, the other Dacia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Thrace, Rhodope, Palestine, Arabia, Crete, and Egypt, to the presbyters and deacons and all the holy church of God dwelling at Alexandria, beloved brothers in …

We were not unaware—indeed it was plain to us even before we received the letter of your piety—that the champions of the abominable heresy of the Arians were contriving many terrible things, to the destruction of their own souls rather than against the Church. For this has always been their craft and villainy, this their deadly purpose: to be zealous to drive out and persecute all who are anywhere of the right belief and hold the teaching of the catholic Church handed down by the Fathers. Some they subjected to false charges, others they sent into exile, others they wore down with punishments themselves. Indeed they were zealous to seize by violence and tyranny our brother and fellow bishop Athanasius in his innocence, and for this reason the judgment given by them was neither careful, nor in good faith, nor just at all. Therefore, having no confidence in what they had staged, but seeing that they could have no true proofs of these things, though they were present in the city of Sardica they would not come to the synod of all the holy bishops. From this the judgment of our brother and fellow bishop Julius has proved manifest and just; for he did not deliberate without examination, but decided with care, so that there should be no hesitation at all about communion with our brother Athanasius. For he had eighty bishops as true witnesses; and he had this just ground too, that through our beloved brothers his presbyters and by letters he outmaneuvered Eusebius and his party, who relied not on judgment but rather on force. Hence all the bishops everywhere confirmed their communion with him. And let your love consider this too: when he came to the holy synod assembled at Sardica, then, as we said before, the Easterners were reminded both by letters and by unwritten messages, and were summoned by us to be present. But they, condemned by their conscience, began to flee from trial, using unseemly pretexts. For they demanded that the innocent man be expelled from our communion as guilty, not seeing how unseemly, or rather impossible, this was. And the minutes taken in the Mareotis by certain utterly wicked and abandoned young men, whom no one would have trusted even with the lowest rank of the clergy, have been shown to have been drawn up one-sidedly. For neither our brother Athanasius the bishop nor Macarius the presbyter, whom they accused, was present. And yet the questioning conducted by them, or rather the prompting, was full of every shame: now pagans and now catechumens were questioned, not so that they might say what they knew, but so that they might lie as they had been taught by them. And when your presbyters, who were concerned in the absence of your bishop, wished to be present at the inquiry, to show the truth and refute the lies, no account was taken of them; for they did not permit you to be present, but even drove you out with insult. And although the false accusation is perfectly plain to all from this too, yet on reading the minutes we found the utterly wicked Ischyras himself, who received from them, as the wage of his false accusation, the supposed title of the episcopate, refuting his own false accusation. For Ischyras himself, in the very minutes, … that at that time he was lying [ill] …, whereas … that Ischyras was … offering when Macarius came.

That false accusation and slander, too, which they brought afterwards has become plain to all. For they said and cried out that Athanasius had committed murder and had killed one Arsenius, a Meletian bishop; over this they played their part with feigned groans and fabricated tears, and demanded that the body of the living man be given up as though he were dead. But their sophistries did not go unrecognized; for all knew that the man was alive and numbered among the living. And when these men, ready for anything, saw themselves refuted in these lies (for Arsenius himself, alive, showed that he had not been killed and was not dead), still they did not keep quiet, but sought other false accusations in addition to the former ones, so as to slander the man by fresh contrivances. What then, beloved? Our brother Athanasius was not troubled, but again with great boldness challenged them on these points too; and we too prayed and urged them to come to the trial and, if they could, to refute him. O great greed! O terrible arrogance! Or rather, if the truth must be told, O evil and guilty conscience! For this has been made plain to all. Therefore, beloved brothers, we remind and exhort you above all to hold the right faith of the catholic Church. You have suffered many terrible and grievous things, and the catholic Church has endured many insults and injustices; but he who endures to the end will be saved. Therefore, even if they dare to do still more against you, let affliction be joy to you; for such sufferings are a share in martyrdom, and such confessions and tortures of yours are not without reward, but you will receive the prizes from God. Wherefore strive above all for the sound faith and for the innocence of your bishop Athanasius, our fellow minister. For we have not kept silent nor neglected to secure your peace of mind; we have taken thought and have done what the law of love requires. For we suffer with your suffering brothers and count their sufferings our own.