Defence against the Arians 83–90

Although this suffices for a complete defense, nevertheless, to show still more their wickedness and the freedom of the truth, it does no harm to remind you again and to show how they acted against themselves, and how, plotting in darkness, they stumbled against their own devices, and, wishing to destroy us, wounded themselves like madmen. For, investigating the mysteries, they questioned Jews and examined catechumens: “Where were you when Macarius came and overturned the table?” And they answered, “We were inside.” So there was no offering, if catechumens were inside. Next, having written everywhere that, while the presbyter was standing and celebrating, Macarius came in and overturned everything, they asked whom they pleased where Ischyras was when Macarius burst in. And they answered again that he was lying sick in a cell. So the man lying down was not standing, nor was he who lay sick in a cell offering. Moreover, when Ischyras said that books had been burned by Macarius, the suborned witnesses said that nothing of the kind had happened, but that Ischyras was lying. And, what is remarkable, having written again everywhere that those able to testify had been made away with by us, they questioned these very men, who appeared; and they were not ashamed, seeing themselves shown up as false accusers on every side—and that while doing these things by themselves as they wished. For they nodded to the witnesses, the prefect threatened, and the soldiers prodded them; but the Lord uncovered the truth and showed them to be false accusers. For this reason they hid the minutes, kept them themselves, and ordered those who wrote them to destroy them and give them to no one at all. But they failed in this too; for the man who wrote them is Rufus, who is now a speculator in the Augustalian office and can testify; and Eusebius and his party sent them to Rome by their own people, and Bishop Julius forwarded them to me. And they are furious now that we have obtained and read what they wished to hide.

Having arranged these and similar things, they immediately revealed the reason for which they had done them. For as they departed they took the Arians with them to Jerusalem, and there received them into communion, writing a letter about them, of which the beginning and a part is this: “The holy synod assembled at Jerusalem by the grace of God, to the church of God at Alexandria and to those throughout all Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, and Pentapolis, and to the bishops, presbyters, and deacons throughout the world, greeting in the Lord. To all of us who had come together from various provinces for the great festival which we celebrated at the dedication of the Martyrium of the Savior, built by the zeal of the most God-loving emperor Constantine for God the King of all and for his Christ, the grace of God has given more abundant gladness. The most God-loving emperor himself by his own letter urged what was needful, banishing all envy from the Church of God and driving far away all malice, by which the members of God had previously been divided, so that we should receive with a simple and peaceful soul Arius and his companions, whom envy, the hater of good, had caused for a time to be outside the Church. And the most God-loving emperor bore witness in his letter to the soundness of the men’s faith, which he had ascertained from them and accepted, having heard them himself in person; and he made it plain to us, subjoining to his own letter the written statement of the men’s orthodoxy.”

Who, hearing this, does not perceive the plot? For they did not hide what they did; or perhaps they confessed the truth even against their will. For if I was the one preventing Arius and his party from entering, and when I had been plotted against they were received, what else does this mean than that these things happened for their sake, that they did everything against us, and that the breaking of a cup and the murder of Arsenius were invented only so that they might bring impiety into the Church and not be condemned as heretics? For this was what the emperor had threatened when he wrote to me before. And they were not ashamed to write such things and to say that those men hold correct views whom a whole ecumenical synod anathematized; nor were they afraid to undo, as far as lay in them, so great a synod in a corner—these men who say and do everything lightly. And the wage of the false accusation shows their wickedness and impious purpose still more. The Mareotis, as I said before, is a country district of Alexandria; there has never been a bishop in the district, nor even a chorepiscopus, but the churches of the whole district are subject to the bishop of Alexandria. Each of the presbyters has his own villages, very large ones, about ten or more in number. But the village where Ischyras lives is very small and has few people, so that there has not even been a church there, but only in the neighboring village. And yet, contrary to the ancient tradition, they decided to name as bishop, forsooth, in such a village a man who was not even a presbyter. They knew the absurdity well themselves; but, compelled by the promise made for the false accusation, they submitted to this too, lest that utterly wicked man, if treated ungratefully, should give way to the truth and expose the wickedness of Eusebius and his party. Indeed, he has neither church nor people obeying him, but is driven away by all like a dog; and yet they caused even the emperor to write to the catholicus (for they can do anything) that a church should be built for him, so that, having it, he might appear credible when speaking about the cup and the table. And they immediately had him named a bishop too, since, having no church and not being a presbyter at all, he was shown to be a false accuser who invented everything. Indeed, having no people, and not even his own family obeying him, he holds the letter unused, like his empty title, displaying it as a proof of his utterly wicked purpose and that of Eusebius and his party. Letter of the catholicus: “Flavius Hemerius to the exactor of the Mareotis, greeting. Since Ischyras the presbyter has petitioned the piety of our lords the Augusti and Caesars that a church be built in the place called Irene of Secontarurus, their divinity has commanded that this be done as quickly as possible. Take care, then, having read the copy of the divine letter, which is placed before this with due reverence, and the minutes drawn up before my devotion, to make the summary quickly and report it to the office, so that what has been divinely commanded may be carried to completion.”

They, then, were concocting and fabricating plots in this way; but we went up and showed the emperor the injustices of Eusebius and his party, since it was he who had ordered the synod to be held, and his count who presided over it. On hearing this he was moved, and wrote as follows: “Constantine Victor Maximus Augustus to the bishops assembled at Tyre. I do not know what was decided by your synod amid tumult and storm; but it seems that the truth has been somehow perverted by a certain turbulent disorder, since you, through quarrelsomeness toward your neighbors, which you wish to be unconquerable, do not perceive what is pleasing to God. But it will be the work of divine providence to scatter the evils of this contentiousness, plainly convicted, and to show us clearly whether you who assembled there took any care for the truth, and whether you decided what you decided without favor or enmity. Therefore I wish all of you to come with haste to my piety, so that you may present in your own persons an exact account of what you have done. Why I have thought it right to write this to you and summon you to me by letter you will learn from what follows. As I was entering our eponymous and all-blessed homeland of Constantinople (I happened at that time to be riding on horseback), suddenly Athanasius the bishop, in the middle of the highway, with certain others whom he had with him, approached so unexpectedly as to give cause for astonishment. For God, the overseer of all, is my witness that at first sight I could not even recognize who he was, until some of our people, when we asked, as was natural, told us who he was and the injustice he had suffered. I did not converse with him at that time, nor share in any talk. But when he asked to be heard, and I refused and all but ordered him to be driven away, he asked with greater boldness for nothing else from us than that your arrival should be granted, so that in your presence he might lament what he had been compelled to suffer. Since this seemed to me reasonable and fitting to the times, I gladly ordered this to be written to you, so that all of you who made up the synod held at Tyre may hasten without delay to the camp of my clemency, to show by the facts themselves the purity and integrity of your judgment—before me, of course, whom not even you would deny to be a genuine servant of God. For through my worship of God everything everywhere is at peace, and the name of God is genuinely blessed even by the barbarians, who until now were ignorant of the truth; and it is plain that he who is ignorant of the truth does not know God either. Nevertheless, as was said, even the barbarians now, through me, the genuine servant of God, have come to know God and have learned to revere him, whom they have perceived by the very deeds to shield me everywhere and provide for me; and so they know God above all, whom they revere through fear of us. But we, who are supposed to set forth (for I would not say guard) the holy mysteries of his kindness—we, I say, do nothing but what tends to discord and hatred, and, in a word, what leads to the destruction of the human race. But hasten, as was said; all of you be quick to come to us as soon as possible, convinced that I will try with all my strength to set right, so that in the law of God … especially …”

When Eusebius and his party learned this, knowing what they had done, they prevented the other bishops from going up; and they alone—Eusebius, Theognius, Patrophilus, the other Eusebius, Ursacius, and Valens—went up, and no longer spoke about the cup and Arsenius, for they had no confidence; but inventing another accusation that touched the emperor, they said to the emperor himself that Athanasius had threatened to stop the grain sent from Alexandria to your native city. This the bishops Adamantius, Anubion, Agathammon, Arbethion, and Peter heard, being present; and the emperor’s anger showed it too. For he who had written such things and condemned their injustice, when he heard such a slander, was at once inflamed, and instead of a hearing sent us to the Gauls. But this too shows their wickedness all the more. For Constantine the younger, of blessed memory, sending us back to our homeland, and mindful of what his father had written, himself wrote as follows: “Constantine Caesar to the people of the catholic Church of the city of Alexandria. I think it has not escaped the knowledge of your holy mind that Athanasius, the interpreter of the venerable law, was sent to the Gauls for a time for this reason: since the savagery of his bloodthirsty and hostile enemies persisted to the danger of his sacred head, lest through the perversity of wicked men he should suffer irreparable harm. To frustrate this, then, he was snatched from the jaws of the men pressing upon him and ordered to live under my care, so that in this city where he stayed he has had abundance of all necessities—although his celebrated virtue, trusting in divine help, makes light even of the burdens of harsher fortune. Therefore, although our lord Constantine Augustus, my father, intended to restore this bishop to his own place for your most beloved piety, nevertheless, since he was overtaken by the lot of men and was laid to rest before fulfilling his wish, I thought it fitting, as his successor, to fulfill the intention of the emperor of divine memory. When he comes into your presence, you will know how much respect he has received. For it is no wonder if I have done anything for him; for both the image of your longing and the bearing of so great a man moved my soul to this and …

This being the reason for which we were sent to the Gauls, who again does not perceive both the emperor’s purpose and the murderous spirit of Eusebius and his party, and that the emperor did this so that they might not devise some greater plot? For he had simply listened to them. Such is the conduct of Eusebius and his party; such the machinery of their plot against us. Who, seeing this, would not say that nothing was done for us as a favor, but that so great a number of bishops, both individually and together, justly and consistently wrote such things on our behalf and condemned the false accusation of our enemies? Who, seeing such and so many things, would not say that Valens and Ursacius too rightly condemned themselves, and in repentance wrote such things against themselves, choosing rather to be ashamed for a short time than to suffer forever the punishment of false accusers?

For this reason our blessed fellow ministers too, acting justly and ecclesiastically, when some said that our case was doubtful and tried by force to annul what had been decided on our behalf, have now endured to suffer everything, and have chosen to be exiled rather than see the judgments of so many bishops undone. Now if the true bishops had opposed only in words those who plotted against us and wished to overturn what had been done for us, or if they were ordinary men and not of renowned cities and heads of so many churches, one might suspect that in this too they had contended in order to do us a favor. But they both persuaded by reasoning and endured exile; and Liberius, the bishop of Rome, is among them—for even though he did not endure the affliction of exile to the end, yet he remained two years in banishment, knowing the plot against us; and the great Hosius is among them, and the bishops of Italy and of the Gauls, and others from the Spains, from Egypt and Libya, and all those of Pentapolis—for even though he, fearing the threats of Constantius for a little while, seemed not to oppose them, yet the great violence and tyrannical power of Constantius, and the very many insults and blows, show that it was not because he condemned us, but because through the weakness of old age he could not bear the blows, that he yielded to them for a time. It is right, then, for all the more, as fully informed, to hate and turn away from the injustice and violence done against us, especially since it is evident that we suffered these things for no other reason than the Arian impiety.

If anyone, then, wishes to learn the facts about us and the false accusation of Eusebius and his party, let him read what was written on our behalf, and let him have as witnesses not one, or two, or three, but so great a multitude of bishops; and again let him take as witnesses of these Liberius and Hosius and those with them, who, seeing what was done against us, endured to suffer everything rather than betray the truth and the judgment given on our behalf. This they did with good and holy counsel; for what they suffered shows the constraint which the other bishops too have suffered. It is a record and a monument against the Arian heresy and the wickedness of the false accusers, and a pattern and model for those who come after: to contend for the truth unto death, to turn away from the Arian heresy, which fights against Christ and is the forerunner of Antichrist, and not to believe those who attempt to speak against us. For the defense and vote on our behalf of such and so many bishops is a trustworthy and sufficient testimony.