Church History 4.19–4.25
Greek text: GCS 19.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 3 (1892), trans. B. Jackson.
Chapter 4
4.19GCS 19:249–260
Ὁ τοῦ ἔθνους ἡγεμονεύων Παλλάδιος, ἐθνικὸς ὧν τὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀεὶ προκυλινδούμενος, κατὰ Χριστοῦ στρατεύεσθαι πολλάκις μελετήσας, τὰ,πθοειρημένα συναθροίσας πλήθη, ὁρμᾷ κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὡς ὑποτάξαι βαρβάρους ἐπειγόμενος. τότε δὴ τὰ Ζείρίστα γέγονεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ μόνον ὑπαγορεῦσαι θέλων, τῆς μνήμης ᾿ὀδύνην μοι παρασχούσης, ἐπαφῆκα δακρύων ἄμετρον φοράν" καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ ἔμεινα ἂν τοῦτο πάσχων, εἰ μὴ θείῳ λογισμῷ λωφῆσαι παρεσχεύασα. ἐν γὰρ τῇ καλουμένῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεωνᾶ ἐπεισελθόντα τὰ πλήθη ἀντὶ ῥημάτων σεμνῶν εἰδώλων εὐφημίας ἐπήφιον, ἀντὶ θείων γραφῶν ἀναγνώσεως κρότους χειρῶν ἀσέμνους καὶ κεκλασμένας μετ᾽ αἰσχρότητος φωνάς, κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρθένων ὕβρεις, ἃς ἡ γλῶττα προφέρειν οὐκ ἀνέχεται" αἰσχρὸν γάρ ἐστι καὶ λέγειν. "καὶ γὰρ μόνον τις τῶν εὖ φρονούντων ταῦτα ἀκούσας ἔβυσε τὰς ἀκοᾶς, καὶ μᾶλλον ηὔξατο ἂν γενέσθαι κωφὸς ἢ αὐτήκοος γενέσθαι τῆς αἰσχρολογίας αὐτῶν. 41λ᾽ εἴθε λόγοις ἀρκούμενοι μόνον ἐξημάρτανον καὶ μὴ πράξει τὴν τῶν λόγων ἐνίκων ἀσέλγειαν" εὐύποιστος γὰρ ἡ λοιδορία, κἂν οἵα δή ποτ᾽ οὖν τυγχάνῃ, παρ᾽ οἷς οἰκεῖ Χριστοῦ φρόνησις καὶ θεῖα διδάγματα. αὐτοὶ τοίνυν οὗτοι ὀργῆς σκεύης τυγχάνοντες χατ"ηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειανε, τὴν ὁῖνα σιμώσαντες, ψόφον ἀσελγῆ ἀπὸ τῶν μυκτήρων μακρόν, καὶ ἵν᾽ οὕτως εἴπω, ὡς ἀπὸ χρουνοῦ προχέοντες, τὴν μὲν ἐσθῆτα διέρρησσον τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ Χριστοῦ ᾿παρθένων, ὧν ἡ ἄσκησις τύπον ἁγίων (ἀγγέλων) ἐχαρακτήριζεν, ος δ᾽ ἡ φύσις ἔχει γυμνὰς πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν ἐθριάμβευον, διαπαίζοντες μετὰ ἀσελγείας ὃν τρόπον ἐβούλοντο, καὶ ὅλως ὠμὰ καὶ ξένα τὰ γενόμενα. εἰ γοῦν τις ἐπὶ τούτοις συμπαθὼν ἐκώλυεν παραινέσεως ἃ χρώμενος λόγοις, τραυματίας ἀπελύετο. ἀλλὰ φεῦ τῶν συμφορῶν, πολλαὶ βίαιον φθορὰν ὑπέστησαν σώματος, πολλαὶ τῶν παρθένων ὑοπάλοις κατὰ κεφαλῆς τυπτόμεναι ἔμενον ἀχανεῖς, οὐκ ἐπιτρεπο"μένων τῶν σωμάτων οὐδὲ τῇ ὁσίᾳ ᾿παραδίδοσθαι" πολλὰ οὖν μέχρι ᾽σήμερον τῶν γονέων ὀδυρομένων οὐχ εὑρίσκεται σώματα. λλὰ τί τὰ μικρὰ πρὸς τὰ μεγάλα διεξέρχομαι; τέ δὲ τούτοις ᾿ἐἐμβραδύνω καὶ μὴ σφοδρῶς ἐπὶ τὰ κατεπείγοντα βαίνω; ἐφ᾽ οἷς εὖ οἶδ᾽ ὅτε θαυμάσετε καὶ μενεῖτε ἐπὶ πολὺ σὺν ἡμῖν ἀχανεῖς, ἐξιστάμενοῖ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τὸν κύριον ὅτι μὴ ἄρδην τὸ ὅλον σονέστειλεν. ἃ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον μήτε γέγονε, μήτε ἠκούσθη ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν. ταῦτα ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἐπετέλουν οἵ δυσσεβεῖς. ος γὰρ ἐν κρηπίδι σκηνῆς ἀτάκτου, "παῖδα τὴν ἄρρενα φύσιν ἐξαρνησάμενον καὶ τὴν γυναικείαν ποθή"σαντα, στίβει τοὺς ὀφθαλ μοὺς κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον διαχρισάμενὸν καὶ φύκει τὰς ὄψεις ἐρυθήναντα, ὡς τὰ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς εἴδωλα, ᾽θηλυμόρφῳ τῷ σχήματι, ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἔνθα χάθοδον τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐπικαλούμεθα, εὐχύχλῳ τῇ στροφῇ ὧδε κἀκεῖσε τὼ χεῖρε σχηματιζόμενον, ὀρχεῖσθαι παρεσκεύασαν, πλατὺ μὲν γελῶντες, ἀθέσμους δὲ ἐπαφιέντες φωνάς. οἱ δὲ πάλεν καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς ἀταξίαν ἡγησάμενοι καὶ τὰ παρῳχηκότα εὐπρεπῆ μᾶλλον ἥπερ ἄθεσμα λογισάμενοι, ἐξ αὐτῶν ἕνα γνωριμώτατον ἐν αἰσχρότητι, ὁμοῦ τὴν ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὴν αἰδῶ γυμνωσάμενον ὡς ἡ φύσις ἔχει σχήματος, τῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιβιβάσαντες θρόνῳ δημηγόρον αἰσχρὸν κατὰ Χριστοῦ ᾽προσηγόρευσαν. ἀντὶ γὰρ θείων ᾿δημάτων αἰσχρότητα προὐβάλλετο, "ἀντὶ σεμνῶν λόγων ἀσέλγειαν, ἀντ᾽ εὐσεβείας ἀσέβειαν, ἀντὶ ἐγκρατείας πορνείαν, μοιχείαν, ἀρσενοκοιτίαν, κλοπήν, πόσιν καὶ βρῶσιν τῷ βίῳ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις εἰσηγούμενος εἶναι χρήσιμα. "Τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων κἀμοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὑπαναχωρήσαντος (πῶς γὰρ οὐχί, ὅπου στρατιωτῶν ἔφοδοι, ὅπου δῆμος πρὸς ἀτα"ξίαν ἀργυρώνητος, ὅπου φιλοτιμίαι χρημάτων καὶ ἐθνικῶν πλήθη μετὰ μεγίστων ὑποσχέσεων!) ἡμέτερος δῆθεν ἀποστέλλεται διάδοχος, χρυσίῳ τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν οἰςς ἀξίωμα κοσμικὸν ἡγησάμενος, ΛΔούκιός τίς, λύκου τὴν πονηρίαν καὶ τὰς πράξεις ἔχειν ἐσπουδακώς, οὐχ "ἐπισκόπων ὀρθοδόξων συνόδῳ, οὐ ψήφῳ κληρικῶν ἀληθινῶν, οὐχ αἰτήσει λαῶν, οὃς οἱ τῆς ἐκκλησίας διαγορεύουσι θεσμοί. τῷ δὴ τοιούτῳ συνῆσαν (ἁπλῇ γὰρ εἰσόδῳ τῆς πόλεως ἐπιβαίνειν οὐκ ἠδύὕ γατο) οὐχ ἐπισκοπῶν τινές, οὐ πρεσβυτέρων, οὐ διακονῶν, οὐ λαῶν πλήθη, οὐ προῆγον τοῦτον μονάζοντες ὕμνους ἐκ γραφῶν ἀναμέλἤποντες, ἀλλ᾽ Βὐζξώϊος ἦν, ὁ πρώην μὲν σὺν Ἀρείῳ καθαιρεθείς, διάσχορος ὧν τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς Ἀλεξανδρείας, ἐν τῇ κατὰ Νίκαιαν ἁγίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ συνόδῳ, ἄρτι δὲ προστασίᾳ τὴν Ἀντιοχέων λυμαινόμενος, καὶ ὃ τῶν κομητατησίων δὲ λαργιτιόνων κόμης, στρατιωτῶν ἐπαγόἘμενος ἄμετρον πληθύν, ὃ ἐν πάσῃ ἀσεβείᾳ ἀεὶ γνωριζόμενος Δάγνος "τοὔνομα" ὃς ἐν τοῖς Ἰουλιανοῦ καιροῖς τὴν Βηρυτίων ἐκκλησίαν "ἐμπρήσας (Φοινίκων δ᾽ αὕτη πόλις ἐπιφανής), ἐπὶ τοῖς τοῦ τῆς "μακαρίας μνήμης Ἰοβιανοῦ χρόνοις ἐξ οἰκείων ταύτην ἀνορθῶσαι χατηναγχάσθη, ὀλίγου καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τμηθείς, εἰ μὴ φιλανθρωπίας ἐἐκ πολλῆς περιδρομῆς ἔτυχε βασιλικῆς. Ἀναλογίσασθαι τοίνυν ἐκ τούτου τὸν ὑμέτερον ζῆλον προσήκει. Ὁ διεγερθῆναι πρὸς ἐκδικίαν τῶν γενομένων παρακαλῶ, οἷα καὶ "ἡλίκα τὰ πλημμεληθέντα κατὰ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας. τοιούτου τυράνγοῦ τοῦ προειρημένου καθ᾽ ἡμῶν ἐπαναστάντος. ἅμα γὰρ ὁ παρὰ τῆς ὑμετέρας θεοσεβείας καὶ τῶν ἁπανταχοῦ ὀρθοδόξων ἐπισκόπων πολλάκις ἀπαγορευθεὶς Λούκιος τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπεχθῶ: "διακειμένης ἐπ᾿ εὐλόγοις ταῖς προφάσεσιν ἐπέστη πόλεως. οὐ γὰρ "μόνον, ὡς ὁ δθύσφημος. ἐν Ῥαλμοῖς ἄφρων, λέγει" οὐχκ ἔστι θεὸς:ς ἀληθινὸς ὁ Χριστός, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι διεφθάρη καὶ δεέφθειρε, χαίρων ἐπὶ ταῖς κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος πεμπομέναις βλασφη"Μίαις παρὰ τῶν τῇ κτίσει λατρευόντων παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντας. πῶ: "γὰρ οὐχί; ὅπου γε παραπλήσιον “Ἕλλησιν ἔχων τὸ “φρόνημ α πρόσνφατον τολμᾷ ὁ ἀλιτήριος σέβειν θεόν. ἐπ᾿ ὄψεσι γὰρ αὐτῷ τούτους τοὺς ἐπαίνους ἔπεμπον" νκαλῶς ἤλθες, ἐπίσκοπε, υἱὸν μὴ λέγων" ὁ Σάραπίς σὲ φιλῶν εἰσήνεγκες, τὸ πάτριον εἴδολον ἑαυτῶν ὀνομέζοντες. "Αὐτίκα ῥοπῆς οὐδεμιᾶς παρελθούσης ὁ προειρημένος Μάγνος, ὁ τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτοῦ κοινωνὸς ἀδιαίρετος καὶ δορυφόρος πιχρὸς καὶ "σατράπης ὠμότατος, συναθροίσας καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φροντίδα ἐπανακείμενα πλήθη, πρεσβυτέρους καὶ διακόνους τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐννεακαίδεκα συλλαβόμενος, ὧν τινες τὸ ὀγδοηκοστὸν ὑπερβεβήκασι "ἔτος, ὡς ἁλόντας ἐπὶ μυσαρῷ τινε καὶ νόμῳ Ῥωμαίων ἐχθρῷ, δημόσιον ὁρίσας χριτήριον, χκατηνάγκαζεν, οὐχ εἰδὼς τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς "ἀρετῆς Χριστιανῶν νόμους, τὴν πατρῴαν παρὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων διὰ "τῶν πατέρων ἀποδοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν προδιδόναι πίστιν, ἡδόμενον ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ τὸν φιλανθρωπότατον Αὐγουστον Οὐάλεντα διισχυριζόμενος" πείσθητε, τάλανεςς, λέγων μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ, τῷ τῶν ᾿άρειανῶν φρονήματι πείσθητε" συγγνώμονήσει γὰρ ὑμῖν τὸ θεῖον, κἂν ᾿ἀληθῆ σ σέβητε θρησχείαν, οὐχ αὐθαιρέτως ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἀνάγκην τοῦτο ᾿πράξασι. τῇ μὲν γὰρ ἀνάγκῃ ἀπολογία περιλείπεται, τῷ δὲ αὐθαιρέτῳ ἀχολουθεῖ κατηγορία. διὸ τοιούτους λογισμοὺς πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν 1ὅ τὸ "τιθέμενοι ἥκετε πρόθυμοι, μελλησμὸν ἀποθέμενοι πάντα, τῷ “Αρείου "ὑπογράφοντες δόγματι, ὃ νῦν κηρύττει ὀνομαστὶ λέγων Λούκιος, εὖ εἰδότες ὡς πειθαρχοῦντες χρήματα καὶ πόρους καὶ γέρα παρὰ βασιλέως ἕξετε, ἀπαναινόμενοι δὲ εἱρκτῆς καὶ στρεβλῶν καὶ βασάνων καὶ μαστίγων καὶ δαμαστηρίων πεῖραν λήψεσθε, χρημάτων ὁμοῦ καὶ -κτημάτων στερηθέντες καὶ τῆς πατρίδος μεταναστάντες, εἰς χαλεποὺς οἰκῆσαι τόπους κατακχριθήσεσθεε. Ἀλλ᾽ οὗτος μὲν ὁ γενναῖος, ἀπάτῃ τὴν ἀπειλὴν κεράσας, μεταναστῆναι τῆς εὐσεβοῦς τοὺς πάντας καὶ προὐτρέπετο καὶ κατηνάγκαζε ᾿γνώμης. οἱ δὲ πικρότερον βασάνου πάσης τὴν εἰς εὐσέβειαν προδοσίαν "ἡγησάμενοι (ἔχει γὰρ οὕτω), τοιοῖσδε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναγκαζόμενοι "ἀπήντησαν ὁήμασιν, ἀρετῇ καὶ γενναίῳ φρονήματι ὁμοῦ τὴν ἀπάτην καὶ τὰς ἀπειλὰς ὑποτάξαντες" πέπαυσο λοιπόν, πέπαυσο τούτοις οἡμᾶς ἐκφοβῶν τοῖς δήμασιν᾽ ἔπεχε εἰκαῖα προφέρειν ῥδήματα᾽ ἡμεῖς νοῦτε γνέηλυν οὔτε πρόσφατον σέβοντες θεὸν, καν ἐπαφρίζῃς κυμαίνων εἰκῇ καὶ προσρήσσῃς ὡς βίαιος ἄνεμος, τοῖς εὐσεβείας ἄχρι θανάτου ἐμπολιτευόμεθα δόγμασιν, οὐχ ἀδύναμον, οὐχ ἄσοφον, οὐ ᾿χωρὶς ἀληθείας πώποτε φρονήσαντες θεόν, οὐ ποτὲ μὲν ὄντα πατέρα. ποτὲ δὲ μὴ ὄντα, κατὰ τὸν δυσσεβῆ ᾿ τοῦτον Ἀρειανόν, χρονικὸν. πρόσκαιρον δοξάζοντες τὸν υἱόν. εἰ γὰρ κτίσμα κατὰ τοὺς ᾽ἄρειομανίτας ὁ εἷός, οὐχ ὑπάρχων πατρί, εἰς τὸ εἶναι συστήσεται καὶ ὃ -πατήρ, οὐχ ὑφεστῶτος τοῦ υἱοῦ οὐκ ὧν ποτε κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς πατήρ. εἰ δὲ ἀεὶ πατήρ ἐστιν, ὑφεστῶτος δηλονότι τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀληθινοῦ "καὶ οὐ κατὰ ἀπόρροιαν γεννήματος (ἀπαθὴς γὰρ ὁ θεός), πῶς οὐκ ᾿ἄφρων καὶ μανιώδης ὁ ἣν ὅτε οὐκ ἢνε φρονῶν τὸ υἱόν, δὲ οὗ τὰ πάντα εἰς τὸ εἶναι κατὰ χάριν συνέστη; οἱ γοῦν ἡμέτεροι κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην πατέρες, ὧν ἐκπεσόντες οὗτοι εἰκότως ἀπάτορες γεγόνασιν, ἐν Δικαίᾳ συνελθόντες, ἀναθεματίσαντες τὴν Ἀρείου χαχοδοξίαν, ἧς ὁ νεώτερος οὗτος νῦν προΐσταται, οὐχ ἑτεροούσιον,.ὃ νῦν ἡμᾶς εἰπεῖν καταναγκάζεις, τὸν υἱὸν εἰρήκασι τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῆς αὐτοῦ οὐσίας" ὃ καλῶς μετ᾽ εὐσεβοῦς διανοίας νοήσαντες, ἐκ πολλῆς τῶν θείων ῥημάτων συλλογῆς ὁμοούσιον ὡμολόγησαν. Τὰ δὴ τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια λέγοντας χαθεῖρξεν νἡμερῶν πολλῶν, οἰόμενος τῆς εὐσεβοῦς μετακινήσειν γνώμης. οἱ δὲ μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ ἐν σταδίῳ τῶν ἀθλητῶν οἱ γενναιότατοι, δειλίαν πᾶσαν ἀποσβέσαντες, ἐπαλείφοντες ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς τῶν πατέρων διὰ θείων λογισμῶν ἀνδραγαθήμασι, γενναιότερον εἶχον περὶ τὴν εὐσέβειαν τὸ φρόνημα, γυμνάσιον ἀρετῆς τὰς στρέβλας ἡγούμενοι. οὕτω "τοίνυν ἀγωνιζομένων καὶ θέατρονε ὡς ὁ μακάριος ἀπόστολος ᾿γράφει.,γενομένων καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποιςε, ἐπέτρεχεν ἡ "πόλις ἅπασα, ἀθλητὰς ᾿θεασαμένη Χριστοῦ καρτερίᾳ τοῦ βασανίξοντος δικαστοῦ νικῶντας τὰς μάστιγας καὶ τρόπαια δ ὑπομονῆς κατὰ "ἀσεβείας ἐπαίροντας καὶ θριάμβους κατὰ Ἀρειανῶν ἐπιδεικνυμένους" οῦς ὑποτάξας ὁ πιχρὸς οὗτος πολέμιος δι᾿ ἀπειλῶν καὶ ἀπάτης τοῖς εἰς Χριστὸν ἀσεβοῦσιν ἐκδώσειν ἐνόμιζεν. Ἀποκακήσας τοιγαροῦν ταῖς τῶν βασάνων δι᾿ ἐπινοίας χαλεπῆς. προσβολαῖς, ἁπάντων τῶν λαῶν ὀδυρομένων ποικίλως διὰ πολλὰ τᾷ θρήνῳ, ὁ πικρὸς καὶ πάσης ἀποδέων φιλανθρωπίας, τὰ συνήθη πάλιν πρὸς ἀταξίαν συναθροίσας πλήθη, ἐπὶ κρίσιν αὐτούς, μᾶλλον δὲ ἕωλον κατάκρισιν, καλεῖ πρὸς τῷ τῆς θαλάσσης λιμένι, πολυωνήτων συνήθως κατ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐπαφιεμένων τῶν βοῶν παρὰ τῶν εἰδωλολατρῶν καὶ τῶν "Ἱουδαίων. καὶ μὴ θελησάντων εἶξαι τῇ προφανεῖ δυσσεβείᾳ τῶν ἈΑρειομανιτῶν, ἀποφαίνεται, τῶν λαῶν πρὸ τοῦ δικαστηρίου πάντων ὀδυρομένων, τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας μεταναστάντας τὴν Ἡλιούπολιν τῆς Φοινίκης οἰκῆσαι, ἔνθα τῶν ἐνοικούντων οὐδεὶς κἂν ἀκοῦσαι τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνέχεται ὄνομα" εἰδωλικοὶ γὰρ οἱ πάντες. παραυτὰ σκάφους ἐπιβῆναι προστάξας, αὐτὸς ἑστηκὼς ἐπὶ τοῦ λιμένος (πλησίον γὰρ ἐν ᾽δημοσίῳ. λουτρῷ τὴν κατάκρισιν κατ᾽ αὐτῶν ὥρισε) γυμνὸν ἐπιδεικνύμενος τὸ ξίφος, νομίσας ἐκ τούτου φοβεῖν τοὺς τῇ διστόμῳ μαχαίρᾳ τοὺς πολεμίους δαίμονας “πολλάκις κατατρώσαντας, οὕτω δὴ οὖν ὅ ἀποπλεῖν αὐτοὺς κελεύει, οὐχ ἐμβαλλομένους ἐπιτήδεια, οὐ ὁ παραμύθιόν τι τὸ σύνολον τῆς ἐξορίας ἔχοντας, καὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν καὶ ἄπιστον, τῆς θαλάττης ἐπαφριζούσης καὶ δυσχερῶς οἶμαι δί αὐτὸ τοῦτο φερούσης καὶ μὴ βουλομένης, ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω, δὲ ὑποδοχῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀδίκῳ κοιρωνῆσαι κελεύσματι" ἐνέφαινε γὰρ καὶ τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι καὶ τοῦ κρίναντος τὴν βάρβαρον προαίρεσιν. Ἔστι γοῦν ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν νἐξέστη ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐπὶ τούτῳε. ἐστέναξε γὰρ ἡ πόλις ἅπασα καὶ μέχρε δὲ νῦν θρηνεῖ. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀλλεπάλλῃ τῇ χειρὶ κτύπον ἐκ στηθῶν μακρὸν ἀπέπεμπον, οἱ δὲ τὰςξ χεῖρας ὁμοῦ καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνέτεινον τὴν βίαν "διαμαρτυρόμενοι, μόνον οὐχὶ λέγοντες" ἄκουε, οὐρανέ, καὶ ἐνω“τίζου, γῆς, ὅτι παράνομα τὰ γιγνόμενα. καὶ ὅλως οἰμωγῆς τὸ πᾶν ἐπεπλήρωτο, καὶ μέλη καὶ θρῆνος ἣν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ πόλει χορεύων, "καὶ ποταμὸς ἐκ δακρύων σχεδὸν καλύπτων πλημμύρᾳ τὴν θάλατταν τοῖς ἅπασιν ἄφνω προσεγίνετο. ὅτε τοίνυν ὃ προειρημένος ἐπὶ τοῦ λιμένος παρὼν τοῖς ἐρέσσουσιν ὑψοῦν τὰ ἱστία προσέταττε, τότε σύμμικτος οἰμωγὴ παρθένων καὶ γυναικῶν, πρεσβυτῶν καὶ νέων, καὶ θρῆνοι προσπεπλεγμένοι δάκρυσιν ὀξέσιν, αἱ τῶν ἁπάντων βοαὶ τῆς ἐπαφριζούσης θαλάσσης ἵ τὸν προσρησσόμενον σωρὸν τῷ κύματι κτύπον ἐκάλυπτον..41λ: οὕτω τῶν προειρημένων ἀποπλεόντων εἰς τὴν λιούπολιν, ἔνθα δεισιδαιμονῶν πᾶς, ἔνθα τοῦ διαβόλου τὰ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἐπιτηδεύματα, ἔνθα θηρίων ἐφέστια φοβερά (ὄρη γὰρ κύκλῳ πανταχόθεν οὐρανῷ προσπελάζονταὶ), οἱ πάντες λοιπὸν μέσῃ τῇ πόλει, κοινῇ καὶ ἕκαστος ἰδίᾳ ὀλοφυρόμενοι καὶ στεναγμῶν ἐπιπέμποντες ῥήματα, οὐδὲ δακρύειν ἐπετρέποντο κελεύσει τοῦ τῆς πόλεως ἐπάρχου Παλλασίου, ᾽δεισιδαιμονεστάτου καὶ αὐτοῦ τυγχάνοντος. πολλοὶ γὰρ τῶν κλαιόντων ἁρπαζόμενοι καὶ φυλακιζόμενοι πρότερον, εἶτ᾽ αἰχιξζόμενοι, ξεόμενοι, βασανιζόμενοι, τοῖς Φεννησίοις καὶ Προχονησίοις παρεδίόοντο μετάλλοις, ἄνθρωποι τῆς ἐκκλησίας δι ἔνθεον ζῆλον ὑπέρμαχοι. οἵ πλείους γὰρ ἤσαν μονάζοντες, “ἐρημίαν οἰκοῦντες δ ἄσκησιν" μεθ᾽ ὧν, εἴκοσι καὶ τριῶν τυγχανόντων, μικρὸν ὕστερον ὁ διἄχονος, ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ ἡμῶν Δαμάσου τοῦ τῆς Ῥώμης ἐπισκόπου κομίσας ἡμῖν ὁμοῦ παρακλητικὰ καὶ κοινωνικὰ γράμματα, ὀπίσω τὼ χεῖρε δεθεὶς ὑπὸ δημίων δημοσίᾳ ἤγετο, ὥσπερ τις τῶν κακούργων περιβόητος ὃς φονέων βασάνοις ἐπέκεινα κοινωνήσας, λίθοις καὶ μολιβδίσι κατ᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν αὐχένων ἐπὶ πολὺ μαστιζόμενος ἐπέβαινε σκάφους ἐπὶ θαλάττης παραπλησίως τοῖς ἄλλοις, τοῦ θείου σταυροῦ τὸ σημεῖον ἐπὶ μετώπου χαραχτηρίσας, οὐ τημελείας οὐ θεραπείας τυχών, τοῖς κατὰ Φέννησον παραδοθῆναι μετάλλοις" ἔστι δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ χαλχοῦ. Ἔτι γοῦν βασανίζοντος τοῦ δικαστοῦ ἁπαλὰ παιδαρίων σώματα, τινὲς παραυτὰ μεμενήκασιν, οὐδ᾽ ὁσίᾳ κοινωνήσαντες, γονέων καὶ ἀδελφῶν καὶ συγγενῶν καὶ πάσης ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν τῆς πόλεως μίαν "αὐτοῖς αἰτούντων δοθῆναι τὴν ὑστάτην ταύτην παράκλησιν. ἀλλ᾽ ὦ. πολλῆς ἀπανθρωπίας τοῦ ὀικάσαντος, μᾶλλον ὁὲ τοῦ καταχρίραντος, οἱ δ εὐσέβειαν ἀθλήσαντες φονεῦσιν οὐ συνεκρίνοντο, ἄταροι μένοντες τὰ σώματα᾽ οἱ καλῶς ἀγωνιξόμενοι θηρίοις καὶ πτηνοῖς πρὸς βορὰν ἐρρίπτοντο᾽ οἱ συμπαθῆσαι βεβουλημένοι πατράσι διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν τὴν κεφαλὴν οὃς παράνομα δράσαντες ἀπετέμνοντο. ποῖος νόμος Ῥωμαίων, ποία δὲ γνώμη βαρβάρων τοὺς πατράσι συμπαθοῦντας ἠμύνατο; ποῦ τις τῶν παλαιῶν ποτε ἔδρασέ τι τοιοῦτον παράνομον; ἐχέλευσέ ποτε Φαραὼ ἀναιρεῖσθαι τῶν Ἑβραίων τὰ ἄρρενα᾽ ἀλλὰ φθόνος καὶ δέος ὑπέβαλε τοῦτο τὸ πρόσταγμα. πόσῳ τὰ τότε τῶν νῦν φιλανθρωπότερα; πόσῳ ποθεινὰ πρὸς αἵρεσιν ἀδικήματος; πόσῳ βελτίονα πρὸς σύγκρισιν ἀνομήματος, κἂν ἀλλήλων αἱ κακίαι μὴ χωρίζωνται; ἄπιστα τὰ λεγόμενα, ἀπάνθρωπα καὶ δεινά, ὁμὰ καὶ βάρβαρα, ἀνελεῆ καὶ πικρά. ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τούτοις ἐγαυρίων οἱ τῆς Δρείου μανίας ὑπήκοοι χορεύοντες. Τῆς δὲ πόλεως πάσης ὀλοφυρομένης, οὐκ ἣν γὰρ οἰκία ἐν ἡ οὐκ ἦν τεθνηκώςς, ὡςἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ γέγραπται, οὐκ ἠρέμησαν πάλιν οἱ τὴν "ἕξιν ἀκόρεστον πρὸς παρανομίαν ἀσκήσαντες. ἐπὶ γὰρ τὰ χείρω τὴν προαἰρεσιν γυμνάζοντες, μέχρι τῶν τῆς ἐπαρχίας ἐπισκόπων τὸν ἴδιον τῆς χκακίας ἰὸν ἐπεκτείνοντες, δορυφόρῳ πρὸς ἀδικίας τῷ τῶν λαργιτιόνον χρώμενοι κόμητι τῷ προειρημένῳ Μάγνῳ, τοὺς μὲν βουλευτηρίῳ παρέὅοσαν, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ὃν ἐβούλοντο τρόπον ἐνήδρευον, πανταχόθεν πρὸς ἀσέβειαν τοὺς πάντας θηρεῦσαι βουλόμενοι, οὐδὲν ἀφέντες ἀτόλμητον" ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ πάντα περιερχόμενοι, κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον τῆς αἱρέσεως πατέρα διάβολον, ζητοῦντες τίνα καταπιεῖνε. καθόλου τοίνυν παρὰ πάντων ἀπορούμενοι, ἕνδεκα τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἐπισκόπων, ἄνδρας ἐκ παιδίου μέχρι γήρως τὴν ἔρημον ἀσκήσεως χάριν οἰκήσαντας καὶ λόγῳ καὶ πράξει τὰς ἡδονὰς ὑποτάξαντας, καὶ τὴν εὐσεβῆ πίστιν ἀνεπαισχύντως κηρύττοντας καὶ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας γαλουχὴθέντας δόγματα, καὶ νίκην πολλάκις κατὰ δαιμόνων ἐπάραντας ἀρετῇ δυσωποῦντας τὸν ἀντίπαλον, καὶ τὴν ᾿ἀρειανὴν σοφωτάτῳ λόγῳ ᾿στηλιτεύοντας αἵρεσιν, ὄργανον ὁμότητος τὸν προειρημένον ἔ ἔχοντες, ᾿ὑπερορίους πεποιήκασιν ἐν οἰκουμένῃ παρὰ τῶν κυριοκτόνων Ἴου"δαίον πόλει, τοὐνομα Διοκαισαρείᾳ. καὶ ὅμως, ὡς ὁ ἄδης ἐπὶ θαράτῳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν οὐκ ἐμπιπλάμενοι, ἁπανταχοῦ γῆς ἐτόλμησαν οἱ παράφρονες καὶ ἀβέλτεροι τῆς οἰκείας ὁμότητος καταλεῖψαι μνημόσυνα, ἐκ κακῶν ἔχειν τὸ γνώρισμα βουλόμενοι. ἰδοὺ γὰρ πάλιν κληρικοὺς τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ διατρίβοντας ἅμα σπουδαίοις μονάζουσι τὰ τῆς ὁραματουργίας αὐτῶν διαμαρτύρασθαι ᾿προθεμένους, βασιλικὰς ἠχήσαντες κατ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀκοᾶς, τὴν ΜΝεοχαισάρειαν τοῦ Πόντου οἰκεῖν παρεσκεύασαν, οἱ τάχα καὶ τοῦ ζῆν ἐστερήθησαν διὰ τὴν τῶν τόπων ἀγριότητα. Τοιαύτας ὁ καιρὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐδέξατο τραγῳδίας, σιγῆς μὲν καὶ λήθης ἀξίας, ἐν συγγράμμασι δὲ τιθεμένας εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν κατὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς κινησάντων τὰς γλώττας" οἱ τὴν τῆς βλασφημίας εἰσδεξάμενοι λύτταν, οὐ μόνον τὸν τῶν ὅλων δεσπότην τοξεύειν ἐπιχειροῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τῶν εὔνων αὐτοῦ θεραπόντων τὸν ἄσπονδον ἀνεδέξαντο πόλεμον.
Ho tou ethnous hēgemoneuōn Palladios, ethnikos hōn tēn hairesin kai tōn eidōlōn aei prokylindoumenos, kata Christou strateuesthai pollakis meletēsas, ta,pthoeirēmena synathroisas plēthē, hormą kata tēs ekklēsias hōs hypotaxai barbarous epeigomenos. tote dē ta Zeirista gegonen. alla kai monon hypagoreusai thelōn, tēs mnēmēs ᾿odynēn moi paraschousēs, epaphēka dakryōn ametron phoran" kai epi poly emeina an touto paschōn, ei mē theiǭ logismǭ lōphēsai parescheuasa. en gar tę̄ kaloumenę̄ ekklēsią Theōna epeiselthonta ta plēthē anti rhēmatōn semnōn eidōlōn euphēmias epēphion, anti theiōn graphōn anagnōseōs krotous cheirōn asemnous kai keklasmenas met᾽ aischrotētos phōnas, kata tōn tou Christou parthenōn hybreis, has hē glōtta propherein ouk anechetai" aischron gar esti kai legein. "kai gar monon tis tōn eu phronountōn tauta akousas ebyse tas akoas, kai mallon ēuxato an genesthai kōphos ē autēkoos genesthai tēs aischrologias autōn. 41l᾽ eithe logois arkoumenoi monon exēmartanon kai mē praxei tēn tōn logōn enikōn aselgeian" euypoistos gar hē loidoria, kan hoia dē pot᾽ oun tynchanę̄, par᾽ hois oikei Christou phronēsis kai theia didagmata. autoi toinyn houtoi orgēs skeuēs tynchanontes chat"ērtismena eis apōleiane, tēn hoina simōsantes, psophon aselgē apo tōn myktērōn makron, kai hin᾽ houtōs eipō, hōs apo chrounou procheontes, tēn men esthēta dierrēsson tōn hagiōn tou Christou ᾿parthenōn, hōn hē askēsis typon hagiōn (angelōn) echaraktērizen, os d᾽ hē physis echei gymnas pasan tēn polin ethriambeuon, diapaizontes meta aselgeias hon tropon eboulonto, kai holōs ōma kai xena ta genomena. ei goun tis epi toutois sympathōn ekōlyen paraineseōs ha chrōmenos logois, traumatias apelyeto. alla pheu tōn symphorōn, pollai biaion phthoran hypestēsan sōmatos, pollai tōn parthenōn hyopalois kata kephalēs typtomenai emenon achaneis, ouk epitrepo"menōn tōn sōmatōn oude tę̄ hosią ᾿paradidosthai" polla oun mechri ᾽sēmeron tōn goneōn odyromenōn ouch heurisketai sōmata. lla ti ta mikra pros ta megala diexerchomai? te de toutois ᾿eembradynō kai mē sphodrōs epi ta katepeigonta bainō? eph᾽ hois eu oid᾽ hote thaumasete kai meneite epi poly syn hēmin achaneis, existamenoi tēs philanthrōpias ton kyrion hoti mē ardēn to holon sonesteilen. ha gar kata to gegrammenon mēte gegone, mēte ēkousthē en tais hēmerais tōn paterōn hēmōn. tauta ep᾽ autou tou thysiastēriou epeteloun hoi dyssebeis. os gar en krēpidi skēnēs ataktou, "paida tēn arrena physin exarnēsamenon kai tēn gynaikeian pothē"santa, stibei tous ophthal mous kata to gegrammenon diachrisamenon kai phykei tas opseis erythēnanta, hōs ta par᾽ autois eidōla, ᾽thēlymorphǭ tǭ schēmati, ep᾽ autou tou thysiastēriou entha chathodon tou hagiou pneumatos epikaloumetha, euchychlǭ tę̄ strophę̄ hōde kakeise tō cheire schēmatizomenon, orcheisthai pareskeuasan, platy men gelōntes, athesmous de epaphientes phōnas. hoi de palen kai touto pros ataxian hēgēsamenoi kai ta parǭchēkota euprepē mallon hēper athesma logisamenoi, ex autōn hena gnōrimōtaton en aischrotēti, homou tēn esthēta kai tēn aidō gymnōsamenon hōs hē physis echei schēmatos, tǭ tēs ekklēsias epibibasantes thronǭ dēmēgoron aischron kata Christou ᾽prosēgoreusan. anti gar theiōn ᾿dēmatōn aischrotēta prouballeto, "anti semnōn logōn aselgeian, ant᾽ eusebeias asebeian, anti enkrateias porneian, moicheian, arsenokoitian, klopēn, posin kai brōsin tǭ biǭ pros tois allois eisēgoumenos einai chrēsima. "Toutōn de houtōs echontōn kamou tēs ekklēsias hypanachōrēsantos (pōs gar ouchi, hopou stratiōtōn ephodoi, hopou dēmos pros ata"xian argyrōnētos, hopou philotimiai chrēmatōn kai ethnikōn plēthē meta megistōn hyposcheseōn!) hēmeteros dēthen apostelletai diadochos, chrysiǭ tēn episkopēn oiss axiōma kosmikon hēgēsamenos, LDoukios tis, lykou tēn ponērian kai tas praxeis echein espoudakōs, ouch "episkopōn orthodoxōn synodǭ, ou psēphǭ klērikōn alēthinōn, ouch aitēsei laōn, hoos hoi tēs ekklēsias diagoreuousi thesmoi. tǭ dē toioutǭ synēsan (haplę̄ gar eisodǭ tēs poleōs epibainein ouk ēdyy gato) ouch episkopōn tines, ou presbyterōn, ou diakonōn, ou laōn plēthē, ou proēgon touton monazontes hymnous ek graphōn anamelēpontes, all᾽ Byzxōïos ēn, ho prōēn men syn Areiǭ kathairetheis, diaschoros hōn tēs kath᾽ hēmas Alexandreias, en tę̄ kata Nikaian hagią kai megalę̄ synodǭ, arti de prostasią tēn Antiocheōn lymainomenos, kai ho tōn komētatēsiōn de largitionōn komēs, stratiōtōn epagoEmenos ametron plēthyn, ho en pasę̄ asebeią aei gnōrizomenos Dagnos "tounoma" hos en tois Ioulianou kairois tēn Bērytiōn ekklēsian "emprēsas (Phoinikōn d᾽ hautē polis epiphanēs), epi tois tou tēs "makarias mnēmēs Iobianou chronois ex oikeiōn tautēn anorthōsai chatēnanchasthē, oligou kai tēn kephalēn tmētheis, ei mē philanthrōpias eek pollēs peridromēs etyche basilikēs. Analogisasthai toinyn ek toutou ton hymeteron zēlon prosēkei. Ho diegerthēnai pros ekdikian tōn genomenōn parakalō, hoia kai "hēlika ta plēmmelēthenta kata tēs tou theou ekklēsias. toioutou tyrangou tou proeirēmenou kath᾽ hēmōn epanastantos. hama gar ho para tēs hymeteras theosebeias kai tōn hapantachou orthodoxōn episkopōn pollakis apagoreutheis Loukios tēs pros auton apechthō: "diakeimenēs ep᾿ eulogois tais prophasesin epestē poleōs. ou gar "monon, hōs ho dthysphēmos. en Rhalmois aphrōn, legei" ouchk esti theos:s alēthinos ho Christos, alla kai tois epitēdeumasi diephtharē kai deephtheire, chairōn epi tais kata tou sōtēros pempomenais blasphē"Miais para tōn tę̄ ktisei latreuontōn para ton ktisantas. pō: "gar ouchi? hopou ge paraplēsion “Hellēsin echōn to “phronēm a prosnphaton tolmą ho alitērios sebein theon. ep᾿ opsesi gar autǭ toutous tous epainous epempon" nkalōs ēlthes, episkope, huion mē legōn" ho Sarapis se philōn eisēnenkes, to patrion eidolon heautōn onomezontes. "Autika rhopēs oudemias parelthousēs ho proeirēmenos Magnos, ho tēs asebeias autou koinōnos adiairetos kai doryphoros pichros kai "satrapēs ōmotatos, synathroisas kai ta hypo tēn heautou phrontida epanakeimena plēthē, presbyterous kai diakonous ton arithmon enneakaideka syllabomenos, hōn tines to ogdoēkoston hyperbebēkasi "etos, hōs halontas epi mysarǭ tine kai nomǭ Rhōmaiōn echthrǭ, dēmosion horisas chritērion, chkatēnankazen, ouch eidōs tous hyper tēs "aretēs Christianōn nomous, tēn patrǭan para tōn apostolōn dia "tōn paterōn apodotheisan hēmin prodidonai pistin, hēdomenon epi toutǭ kai ton philanthrōpotaton Augouston Oualenta diischyrizomenos" peisthēte, talaness, legōn megalę̄ tę̄ phōnę̄, tǭ tōn ᾿areianōn phronēmati peisthēte" syngnōmonēsei gar hymin to theion, kan ᾿alēthē s sebēte thrēscheian, ouch authairetōs alla pros anankēn touto ᾿praxasi. tę̄ men gar anankę̄ apologia perileipetai, tǭ de authairetǭ acholouthei katēgoria. dio toioutous logismous pro ophthalmōn 1ho to "tithemenoi hēkete prothymoi, mellēsmon apothemenoi panta, tǭ “Areiou "hypographontes dogmati, ho nyn kēryttei onomasti legōn Loukios, eu eidotes hōs peitharchountes chrēmata kai porous kai gera para basileōs hexete, apanainomenoi de heirktēs kai streblōn kai basanōn kai mastigōn kai damastēriōn peiran lēpsesthe, chrēmatōn homou kai -ktēmatōn sterēthentes kai tēs patridos metanastantes, eis chalepous oikēsai topous katakchrithēsesthee. All᾽ houtos men ho gennaios, apatę̄ tēn apeilēn kerasas, metanastēnai tēs eusebous tous pantas kai proutrepeto kai katēnankaze ᾿gnōmēs. hoi de pikroteron basanou pasēs tēn eis eusebeian prodosian "hēgēsamenoi (echei gar houtō), toioisde pros auton anankazomenoi "apēntēsan hoēmasin, aretę̄ kai gennaiǭ phronēmati homou tēn apatēn kai tas apeilas hypotaxantes" pepauso loipon, pepauso toutois hoēmas ekphobōn tois dēmasin᾽ epeche eikaia propherein rhdēmata᾽ hēmeis noute gneēlyn oute prosphaton sebontes theon, kan epaphrizę̄s kymainōn eikę̄ kai prosrēssę̄s hōs biaios anemos, tois eusebeias achri thanatou empoliteuometha dogmasin, ouch adynamon, ouch asophon, ou ᾿chōris alētheias pōpote phronēsantes theon, ou pote men onta patera. pote de mē onta, kata ton dyssebē ᾿ touton Areianon, chronikon. proskairon doxazontes ton huion. ei gar ktisma kata tous ᾽areiomanitas ho heios, ouch hyparchōn patri, eis to einai systēsetai kai ho -patēr, ouch hyphestōtos tou huiou ouk hōn pote kat᾽ autous patēr. ei de aei patēr estin, hyphestōtos dēlonoti tou ex autou alēthinou "kai ou kata aporroian gennēmatos (apathēs gar ho theos), pōs ouk ᾿aphrōn kai maniōdēs ho hēn hote ouk ēne phronōn to huion, de hou ta panta eis to einai kata charin synestē? hoi goun hēmeteroi kata pasan tēn oikoumenēn pateres, hōn ekpesontes houtoi eikotōs apatores gegonasin, en Dikaią synelthontes, anathematisantes tēn Areiou chachodoxian, hēs ho neōteros houtos nyn proïstatai, ouch heteroousion,.ho nyn hēmas eipein katanankazeis, ton huion eirēkasi tou patros, all᾽ ek tēs autou ousias" ho kalōs met᾽ eusebous dianoias noēsantes, ek pollēs tōn theiōn rhēmatōn syllogēs homoousion hōmologēsan. Ta dē toiauta kai ta toutois paraplēsia legontas chatheirxen nēmerōn pollōn, oiomenos tēs eusebous metakinēsein gnōmēs. hoi de mallon, hōsper en stadiǭ tōn athlētōn hoi gennaiotatoi, deilian pasan aposbesantes, epaleiphontes heautous tois tōn paterōn dia theiōn logismōn andragathēmasi, gennaioteron eichon peri tēn eusebeian to phronēma, gymnasion aretēs tas streblas hēgoumenoi. houtō "toinyn agōnizomenōn kai theatrone hōs ho makarios apostolos ᾿graphei.,genomenōn kai angelois kai anthrōpoise, epetrechen hē "polis hapasa, athlētas ᾿theasamenē Christou karterią tou basanixontos dikastou nikōntas tas mastigas kai tropaia d hypomonēs kata "asebeias epairontas kai thriambous kata Areianōn epideiknymenous" ous hypotaxas ho pichros houtos polemios di᾿ apeilōn kai apatēs tois eis Christon asebousin ekdōsein enomizen. Apokakēsas toigaroun tais tōn basanōn di᾿ epinoias chalepēs. prosbolais, hapantōn tōn laōn odyromenōn poikilōs dia polla tą thrēnǭ, ho pikros kai pasēs apodeōn philanthrōpias, ta synēthē palin pros ataxian synathroisas plēthē, epi krisin autous, mallon de heōlon katakrisin, kalei pros tǭ tēs thalassēs limeni, polyōnētōn synēthōs kat᾽ autōn epaphiemenōn tōn boōn para tōn eidōlolatrōn kai tōn "Hioudaiōn. kai mē thelēsantōn eixai tę̄ prophanei dyssebeią tōn AAreiomanitōn, apophainetai, tōn laōn pro tou dikastēriou pantōn odyromenōn, tēs Alexandreias metanastantas tēn Hēlioupolin tēs Phoinikēs oikēsai, entha tōn enoikountōn oudeis kan akousai to tou Christou anechetai onoma" eidōlikoi gar hoi pantes. parauta skaphous epibēnai prostaxas, autos hestēkōs epi tou limenos (plēsion gar en ᾽dēmosiǭ. loutrǭ tēn katakrisin kat᾽ autōn hōrise) gymnon epideiknymenos to xiphos, nomisas ek toutou phobein tous tę̄ distomǭ machairą tous polemious daimonas “pollakis katatrōsantas, houtō dē oun ho apoplein autous keleuei, ouch emballomenous epitēdeia, ou ho paramythion ti to synolon tēs exorias echontas, kai to thaumaston kai apiston, tēs thalattēs epaphrizousēs kai dyscherōs oimai di auto touto pherousēs kai mē boulomenēs, hin᾿ houtōs eipō, de hypodochēs tōn andrōn adikǭ koirōnēsai keleusmati" enephaine gar kai tois agnoousi kai tou krinantos tēn barbaron proairesin. Esti goun alēthōs eipein nexestē ho ouranos epi toutǭe. estenaxe gar hē polis hapasa kai mechre de nyn thrēnei. kai hoi men allepallę̄ tę̄ cheiri ktypon ek stēthōn makron apepempon, hoi de tasx cheiras homou kai tous ophthalmous eis ouranon aneteinon tēn bian "diamartyromenoi, monon ouchi legontes" akoue, ourane, kai enō“tizou, gēs, hoti paranoma ta gignomena. kai holōs oimōgēs to pan epeplērōto, kai melē kai thrēnos hēn en pasę̄ tę̄ polei choreuōn, "kai potamos ek dakryōn schedon kalyptōn plēmmyrą tēn thalattan tois hapasin aphnō prosegineto. hote toinyn ho proeirēmenos epi tou limenos parōn tois eressousin hypsoun ta histia prosetatte, tote symmiktos oimōgē parthenōn kai gynaikōn, presbytōn kai neōn, kai thrēnoi prospeplegmenoi dakrysin oxesin, hai tōn hapantōn boai tēs epaphrizousēs thalassēs hi ton prosrēssomenon sōron tǭ kymati ktypon ekalypton..41l: houtō tōn proeirēmenōn apopleontōn eis tēn lioupolin, entha deisidaimonōn pas, entha tou diabolou ta pros hēdonēn epitēdeumata, entha thēriōn ephestia phobera (orē gar kyklǭ pantachothen ouranǭ prospelazontai), hoi pantes loipon mesę̄ tę̄ polei, koinę̄ kai hekastos idią olophyromenoi kai stenagmōn epipempontes rhēmata, oude dakryein epetreponto keleusei tou tēs poleōs eparchou Pallasiou, ᾽deisidaimonestatou kai autou tynchanontos. polloi gar tōn klaiontōn harpazomenoi kai phylakizomenoi proteron, eit᾽ aichixzomenoi, xeomenoi, basanizomenoi, tois Phennēsiois kai Prochonēsiois paredioonto metallois, anthrōpoi tēs ekklēsias di entheon zēlon hypermachoi. hoi pleious gar ēsan monazontes, “erēmian oikountes d askēsin" meth᾽ hōn, eikosi kai triōn tynchanontōn, mikron hysteron ho diachonos, ho para tou agapētou hēmōn Damasou tou tēs Rhōmēs episkopou komisas hēmin homou paraklētika kai koinōnika grammata, opisō tō cheire detheis hypo dēmiōn dēmosią ēgeto, hōsper tis tōn kakourgōn periboētos hos phoneōn basanois epekeina koinōnēsas, lithois kai molibdisi kat᾽ autōn tōn auchenōn epi poly mastizomenos epebaine skaphous epi thalattēs paraplēsiōs tois allois, tou theiou staurou to sēmeion epi metōpou charachtērisas, ou tēmeleias ou therapeias tychōn, tois kata Phennēson paradothēnai metallois" esti de tauta tou chalchou. Eti goun basanizontos tou dikastou hapala paidariōn sōmata, tines parauta memenēkasin, oud᾽ hosią koinōnēsantes, goneōn kai adelphōn kai syngenōn kai pasēs hōs epos eipein tēs poleōs mian "autois aitountōn dothēnai tēn hystatēn tautēn paraklēsin. all᾽ ō. pollēs apanthrōpias tou oikasantos, mallon hoe tou katachrirantos, hoi d eusebeian athlēsantes phoneusin ou synekrinonto, ataroi menontes ta sōmata᾽ hoi kalōs agōnixomenoi thēriois kai ptēnois pros boran erriptonto᾽ hoi sympathēsai beboulēmenoi patrasi dia tēn syneidēsin tēn kephalēn hoos paranoma drasantes apetemnonto. poios nomos Rhōmaiōn, poia de gnōmē barbarōn tous patrasi sympathountas ēmynato? pou tis tōn palaiōn pote edrase ti toiouton paranomon? echeleuse pote Pharaō anaireisthai tōn Hebraiōn ta arrena᾽ alla phthonos kai deos hypebale touto to prostagma. posǭ ta tote tōn nyn philanthrōpotera? posǭ potheina pros hairesin adikēmatos? posǭ beltiona pros synkrisin anomēmatos, kan allēlōn hai kakiai mē chōrizōntai? apista ta legomena, apanthrōpa kai deina, homa kai barbara, aneleē kai pikra. all᾽ en toutois egauriōn hoi tēs Dreiou manias hypēkooi choreuontes. Tēs de poleōs pasēs olophyromenēs, ouk hēn gar oikia en hē ouk ēn tethnēkōss, hōsen tę̄ Exodǭ gegraptai, ouk ēremēsan palin hoi tēn "hexin akoreston pros paranomian askēsantes. epi gar ta cheirō tēn proairesin gymnazontes, mechri tōn tēs eparchias episkopōn ton idion tēs chkakias ion epekteinontes, doryphorǭ pros adikias tǭ tōn largitionon chrōmenoi komēti tǭ proeirēmenǭ Magnǭ, tous men bouleutēriǭ pareoosan, tous de allous hon eboulonto tropon enēdreuon, pantachothen pros asebeian tous pantas thēreusai boulomenoi, ouden aphentes atolmēton" alla gar kai panta perierchomenoi, kata ton idion tēs haireseōs patera diabolon, zētountes tina katapieine. katholou toinyn para pantōn aporoumenoi, hendeka tōn apo tēs Aigyptou ton arithmon episkopōn, andras ek paidiou mechri gērōs tēn erēmon askēseōs charin oikēsantas kai logǭ kai praxei tas hēdonas hypotaxantas, kai tēn eusebē pistin anepaischyntōs kēryttontas kai ta tēs eusebeias galouchēthentas dogmata, kai nikēn pollakis kata daimonōn eparantas aretę̄ dysōpountas ton antipalon, kai tēn ᾿areianēn sophōtatǭ logǭ ᾿stēliteuontas hairesin, organon homotētos ton proeirēmenon e echontes, ᾿hyperorious pepoiēkasin en oikoumenę̄ para tōn kyrioktonōn Iou"daion polei, tounoma Diokaisareią. kai homōs, hōs ho adēs epi tharatǭ tōn adelphōn ouk empiplamenoi, hapantachou gēs etolmēsan hoi paraphrones kai abelteroi tēs oikeias homotētos kataleipsai mnēmosyna, ek kakōn echein to gnōrisma boulomenoi. idou gar palin klērikous tēs katholikēs ekklēsias en Antiocheią diatribontas hama spoudaiois monazousi ta tēs horamatourgias autōn diamartyrasthai ᾿prothemenous, basilikas ēchēsantes kat᾽ autōn akoas, tēn MNeochaisareian tou Pontou oikein pareskeuasan, hoi tacha kai tou zēn esterēthēsan dia tēn tōn topōn agriotēta. Toiautas ho kairos ekeinos edexato tragǭdias, sigēs men kai lēthēs axias, en syngrammasi de tithemenas eis elenchon tōn kata tou monogenous kinēsantōn tas glōttas" hoi tēn tēs blasphēmias eisdexamenoi lyttan, ou monon ton tōn holōn despotēn toxeuein epicheirousin, alla kai kata tōn eunōn autou therapontōn ton aspondon anedexanto polemon.
“Palladius, the governor of the province, a pagan by persuasion who was always grovelling before idols, having often practised making war on Christ, gathered the multitudes mentioned before and rushed against the church as if hastening to subdue barbarians. Then the worst things happened. But merely wishing to dictate them, as the memory gave me pain, I let flow an unmeasured stream of tears; and I would have continued suffering this for a long time, had I not made myself calm down by divine reasoning. For the multitudes, bursting into the church called the church of Theonas, uttered the praises of idols instead of reverent words, and instead of the reading of the divine Scriptures, indecent clapping of hands and effeminate, shameful cries, and insults against the virgins of Christ which the tongue cannot bear to utter; for it is shameful even to speak of them. Anyone of right mind who heard these things stopped his ears, and would rather have prayed to become deaf than to be a hearer of their obscenity. Would that they had sinned only in words and had not surpassed the licentiousness of their words in deeds! For abuse, of whatever kind, is easily borne by those in whom the mind of Christ and divine teachings dwell. But these very men, being ‘vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,’ snorting and pouring out from their nostrils, as from a fountain, so to speak, a long, licentious noise, tore the clothing of the holy virgins of Christ, whose discipline bore the stamp of the holy angels, paraded them naked through the whole city, mocking them licentiously as they pleased; and altogether what was done was savage and strange. If anyone, pitying them, tried to stop it with words of exhortation, he was sent away wounded. Alas for the calamities! Many suffered violent corruption of the body; many of the virgins, struck on the head with clubs, remained speechless, and their bodies were not even allowed to be given holy burial; many bodies, whose parents lament them to this day, are not found.
But why do I go through small things in comparison with great? Why do I linger over these and not hasten to the urgent matters? At these, I know well, you will wonder and remain speechless with us for a long time, astonished at the Lord's love for mankind, that he did not destroy the whole utterly. For what, as it is written, ‘neither happened nor was heard of in the days of our fathers,’ this the impious did on the altar itself. For as on the platform of a disorderly stage, they made a boy who had denied his male nature and longed for the female, who had painted his eyes with antimony, as it is written, and reddened his face with rouge, like their idols, in womanish dress, dance on the very altar where we invoke the descent of the Holy Spirit, waving his hands this way and that with a circular turn, while they laughed broadly and uttered lawless cries. Others again, thinking even this too orderly and reckoning what had gone before decent rather than lawless, took one of themselves, the best known for obscenity, stripped him of clothing and shame alike, as nature has it, set him on the throne of the church and proclaimed him a shameful orator against Christ. For instead of divine words he put forward obscenity, instead of reverent speech licentiousness, instead of piety impiety, instead of self-control sexual immorality, adultery, sodomy, theft, drinking and eating, recommending them besides the other things as useful for life.
Things being so, and I having withdrawn from the church (how could I not, where there were attacks of soldiers, a populace bought for disorder, eagerness for money, and multitudes of pagans with the greatest promises?), there was sent, supposedly as my successor, one who had bought the episcopate with gold as though it were a worldly dignity, a certain Lucius, who had striven to have the wickedness and the deeds of a wolf; not by a synod of orthodox bishops, not by the vote of true clergy, not at the request of the people, as the ordinances of the church prescribe. With such a man there were (for he could not enter the city by a simple entrance) not some bishops, nor presbyters, nor deacons, nor multitudes of the people; no monks led him singing hymns from the Scriptures; but there was Euzoius, who had formerly been deposed with Arius, when he was a deacon of our Alexandria, at the holy and great synod of Nicaea, and who now ruins the Antiochenes by his presidency; and the count of the sacred largesses, bringing an immeasurable multitude of soldiers, Magnus by name, always known for every impiety, who in the times of Julian had burned the church of the Berytians (Berytus is a famous city of the Phoenicians), and in the times of Jovian of blessed memory had been compelled to rebuild it at his own cost, very nearly beheaded too, had he not obtained the imperial clemency after much running about.
From this, then, your zeal, which I urge to be roused to vengeance for what happened, ought to consider what and how great were the offences against the church of God, when such a tyrant as the one mentioned rose up against us. For no sooner had Lucius, who had often been rejected by your Reverence and by the orthodox bishops everywhere, come to a city that was hostile to him for good reasons. For not only does he say, like the foolish blasphemer in the Psalms, ‘There is no God,’ that Christ is not true God, but he was also corrupted in his practices and corrupted others, rejoicing at the blasphemies sent against the Saviour by those who serve the creature rather than the Creator. And why not, when the accursed man, holding views like the Greeks, dares to worship a recent God? For they sent these praises to his face: ‘Welcome, bishop, for not saying “Son”; Serapis loves you and has brought you in,’ naming their ancestral idol.
At once, without a moment's delay, the aforesaid Magnus, his inseparable partner in impiety, his bitter bodyguard and most cruel satrap, gathering the multitudes under his care, arrested presbyters and deacons, nineteen in number, some of whom had passed their eightieth year, and, as if they had been caught in some foul crime hostile to Roman law, set up a public tribunal and tried to compel them, not knowing the laws of virtue of the Christians, to betray the ancestral faith handed down to us from the apostles through the fathers, affirming that the most humane Augustus Valens too was pleased with this. ‘Be persuaded, wretches,’ he said in a loud voice, ‘be persuaded by the opinion of the Arians; for the divinity will pardon you, even if you worship the true religion, since you do this not by choice but under compulsion. For compulsion leaves a defence, but choice is followed by accusation. Therefore, setting such reasonings before your eyes, come eagerly, putting off all delay, and sign the doctrine of Arius, which Lucius now proclaims by name, knowing well that if you obey you will have money, revenues, and honours from the emperor, but if you refuse you will experience prison, racks, tortures, whips, and instruments of torment, and, deprived of money and property alike and removed from your homeland, you will be condemned to live in harsh places.’
This noble fellow, mixing threat with deceit, urged and tried to compel all to change from their pious mind. But they, considering betrayal of true religion more bitter than any torture (as indeed it is), when compelled answered him with such words, subduing both the deceit and the threats with virtue and a noble mind: ‘Stop now, stop frightening us with these words; cease uttering idle words. We, who worship neither a new nor a recent God, though you foam and surge idly and dash against us like a violent wind, live by the doctrines of true religion until death; we have never thought God to be powerless, or unwise, or without truth, or at one time Father and at another not, glorifying the Son as temporal and transient, according to this impious Arian. For if, according to the Ario-maniacs, the Son is a creature, not existing with the Father, the Father too will be brought into being; since the Son did not subsist, according to them he was once not Father. But if he is always Father, since what is begotten from him truly, and not by emanation (for God is impassible), clearly subsists, how is he not foolish and mad who thinks “there was once when he was not” of the Son, through whom all things were brought into being by grace? Our fathers throughout the world, falling away from whom these men have rightly become fatherless, came together at Nicaea and anathematized the heterodoxy of Arius, of which this new man is now the patron; and they did not say that the Son is of another essence from the Father, as you now compel us to say, but from his essence; and understanding this rightly with pious mind, from a great collection of the divine words they confessed him of the same essence.’
When they said such and similar things he shut them up for many days, thinking he would shift them from their pious mind. But they, rather, like the noblest athletes in the stadium, quenched all cowardice, anointed themselves through divine reasonings with the brave deeds of the fathers, and kept their mind about true religion nobler, considering the racks a training ground of virtue. While they were contending thus and became ‘a spectacle,’ as the blessed apostle writes, ‘both to angels and to men,’ the whole city ran to see, beholding athletes of Christ conquering the whips by their endurance of the torturing judge, raising trophies of patience against impiety and displaying triumphs over the Arians, whom this bitter enemy thought he would subdue by threats and deceit and hand over to those impious toward Christ.
Being worn out, then, by the attacks of the tortures, devised with harsh ingenuity, while all the people lamented in many ways with much mourning, the bitter man, lacking all humanity, gathered again the usual multitudes for disorder and called them to trial, or rather to a stale condemnation, at the harbour of the sea, while, as usual, the shouts bought at great price were let loose against them by the idolaters and the Jews. When they would not yield to the open impiety of the Ario-maniacs, he pronounced sentence, all the people lamenting before the court, that they should leave Alexandria and live in Heliopolis in Phoenicia, where none of the inhabitants will endure even to hear the name of Christ; for all are idolaters. At once ordering them to board a ship, he himself stood on the harbour (for he had pronounced the sentence against them nearby, in a public bath), displaying his naked sword, thinking to frighten by this those who had often wounded the hostile demons with the two-edged sword; and so he ordered them to sail away, without loading provisions and without any comfort at all for their exile. And what was marvellous and incredible, the sea foamed and, I think, for this very reason bore them with difficulty, unwilling, so to speak, to share by receiving the men in an unjust command; for it displayed even to the ignorant the barbarous purpose of the one who judged. One can truly say: ‘The heaven was astonished at this.’ For the whole city groaned and mourns to this day. Some sent forth a long sound from their breasts, beating them with hand after hand; others stretched both hands and eyes to heaven, protesting the violence, all but saying: ‘Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, that what is done is lawless.’ Everything was filled with wailing, and songs and lamentation danced through the whole city, and a river of tears, almost covering the sea with its flood, suddenly came to all. When the aforesaid, standing on the harbour, ordered the rowers to raise the sails, then the mingled wailing of virgins and women, old men and young, and laments interwoven with sharp tears, the cries of all, covered the noise of the foaming sea and the heap of waves dashing against it.
When they had thus sailed off to Heliopolis, where everyone is superstitious, where the devil's practices for pleasure are, where wild beasts have fearful lairs (for mountains all around everywhere approach the sky), all of them, lamenting in the middle of the city, together and each by himself, and sending up words of groaning, were not even allowed to weep, by order of the prefect of the city Palladius, who was himself most superstitious. For many of those who wept were seized and first imprisoned, then maltreated, scraped, tortured, and handed over to the mines of Phaeno and Proconnesus, men who were champions of the church through divine zeal. Most of them were monks living in the desert for asceticism. With them, twenty-three in number, a little later the deacon who had brought us letters both of comfort and of communion from our beloved Damasus, bishop of Rome, with his hands tied behind him by executioners, was led publicly like some notorious criminal who had shared in murders beyond tortures; and after being long beaten on the very neck with stones and leaden balls, he boarded a ship on the sea like the others, having marked the sign of the divine cross on his forehead, receiving neither care nor attention, to be handed over to the mines at Phaeno; these are copper mines.
While the judge was still torturing the tender bodies of boys, some died on the spot, not even receiving holy burial, though parents, brothers, relatives, and practically the whole city asked that this one last comfort be given them. But oh the great inhumanity of the one who judged, or rather condemned! Those who had contended for true religion were not even reckoned with murderers, their bodies remaining unburied; those who had contended well were thrown to beasts and birds for food; those who wished to show sympathy with fathers for conscience' sake were beheaded as having done lawless things. What law of the Romans, what judgment of barbarians, ever punished those who sympathized with fathers? Where did any of the ancients ever do such a lawless thing? Pharaoh once ordered the male children of the Hebrews to be killed; but envy and fear suggested that order. How much more humane were those things than these! How much more desirable in a choice of wrongs! How much better in comparison of lawlessness, even if the evils are not separated from one another! What is told is incredible, inhuman and terrible, savage and barbarous, merciless and bitter. Yet in these things the followers of the madness of Arius exulted, dancing.
When the whole city was lamenting, for ‘there was not a house where there was not one dead,’ as it is written in Exodus, those who had trained their habit to be insatiable for lawlessness did not rest again. Exercising their choice toward the worse and extending the venom of their wickedness even to the bishops of the province, using as their bodyguard for injustice the count of the largesses, the aforesaid Magnus, they handed some over to the town council, and ensnared the others in whatever way they wished, wishing to hunt all into impiety from every side, leaving nothing undared, going about everywhere, like the father of their heresy, the devil, ‘seeking whom to devour.’ Being utterly at a loss with all of them, they banished, using the aforesaid as the instrument of their cruelty, eleven bishops from Egypt, men who from childhood to old age had lived in the desert for the sake of asceticism and subdued pleasures in word and deed, who preached the pious faith without shame and had been nursed on the doctrines of true religion, who had often raised victory over demons and shamed the adversary by virtue, and pilloried the Arian heresy with most wise speech, to a city inhabited by the Jews, the murderers of the Lord, named Diocaesarea. And yet, like Hades insatiable at the death of the brothers, the senseless and foolish men dared to leave memorials of their own cruelty everywhere on earth, wishing to be known from their wickedness. For behold, again, when clergy of the catholic church living in Antioch, together with earnest monks, had resolved to protest against the drama they had staged, they filled the emperor's ears against them and made them live in Neocaesarea in Pontus, and they were probably deprived even of life because of the savagery of the places.”
Such tragedies that time received, worthy of silence and oblivion, but set down in writings to convict those who moved their tongues against the only-begotten; who, having received the madness of blasphemy, not only try to shoot at the Master of the universe, but have also taken up a truceless war against his loyal servants.
Rom 9:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Joel 1:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Kgs 9:30 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 14:1 (13:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 1:25 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 4:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · Jer 2:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 1:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 1:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 12:30 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 27:20 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret quotes the middle of Peter of Alexandria's letter describing the pagan governor Palladius's assault on the church of Theonas, the stripping and killing of virgins, obscene performances on the altar, the installation of Lucius with Euzoius and the count Magnus, the torture and deportation of nineteen clergy to Heliopolis, the punishment of mourners, the deacon of Damasus sent to the mines, and the exile of eleven Egyptian bishops to Diocaesarea.
- Document: Peter II of Alexandria, encyclical letter (about 373–374), middle part only; not otherwise published on this site.
- The letter's descriptions of pagans, Jews (“murderers of the Lord”), and the effeminate dancer are its own; translated exactly as written. “Sexual immorality, adultery, sodomy” render πορνεία, μοιχεία, ἀρσενοκοιτία.
- Scripture echoes: “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Rom 9:22); “neither happened nor was heard” (compare Joel 1:2); painted eyes (2 Kgs 9:30; Jer 4:30); “There is no God” (Ps 14:1); serving the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25); “a spectacle to angels and to men” (1 Cor 4:9); the two-edged sword (Heb 4:12); “The heaven was astonished” (Jer 2:12); “Hear, O heaven” (Isa 1:2); Pharaoh's order (Exod 1:16, 22); “not a house where there was not one dead” (Exod 12:30); “seeking whom to devour” (1 Pet 5:8); Hades insatiable (Prov 27:20).
- A line of the edition's apparatus that the OCR ran into the text has been removed (logged).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (apparatus line run into a divided word by the OCR removed): δηἰωβιαγτοῦ ἃ ἰονβιανοῦ δα κατηναγχάσθη ΒΕᾺΥ κατηνάγκασται Υ ὟΣ μόσιον → δημόσιον.
Topics: Persecution, Martyrdom, Heresy, Christology
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.19 (GCS 19:249–260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-19). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-19
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
4.20GCS 19:261–262
Κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον τῶν ᾿Ἰσμαηλιτῶν τὰ φῦλα τὰς πελαζούς τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας ἐληΐξετο χώρας. Μαβία δὲ τούτων ἡγεῖτο, οὐχ ὁρῶσα μὲν ἣν ἔλαχε φύσιν, ἀνδρείῳ δὲ φρονήματι χεχρημέγη. αὕτη μετὰ παμπόλλας συμπλοκὰς σπεισαμένη, εἶτα τῆς θεογνωσίας εἶσδεξαμένη τὸ φῶς, ἤτησεν ἀρχιερέα προβληθῆναι τῷ ἔθνει Μωϊσῆν τινα ἐν μεθορίῳ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ Παλαιστίνης ἐσκηνημένον. ταύτην δεξάμενος ὁ Βάλης τὴν αἴτησιν, εἰς τὴ ᾿ἅλεξ ξάνδρειαν ἀπαχθῆναι τὸν θεῖον ἄνδρα προσέταξε, κἀκεῖθεν αὐτὸν τὴν ἀρχιερατικὴν ὑποδέξασθαι χάριν" ἐκείνη γὰρ μᾶλλον ἐπέλαζεν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀπήχθη καὶ τὸν Λούκιον εἶδεν ἐπιθεῖναί οἱ τὴν χεῖρα πειρώμενον" μὴ γένοιτος, ἔφη, παρὰ τῆς σῆς με χειροτονηθῆναι χειρός" οὐκ ἐπιφοιτῷ γὰρ σοῦ καλοῦντος ἢ χάρις τοῦ πνεύματοςς. ὁ δὲ Λούκιος" πόθεν ταῦτας, ἔφη, τοπάξων λέγεις;ε ὁ δέ οὐ τοπάξωε, εἶπεν, νἀλλ᾽ οἶδα σαφῶς" τοῖς τε γὰρ ἀποστολικοῖς δόγμασι διαμάχῃ καὶ ἀντίπαλα φθέγγῃ, καὶ τοῖς βλασφήμοις λόγοις συμβαίνει τὰ παρανόμως γιγνόμενα. τίς γὰρ διὰ σὲ δυσσεβὴς τοῖς ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς συλλόγοις οὐκ ἐπεκώμασεν: τίς τῶν ἀξιεπαίνων ἀνδρῶν οὐκ ἐλήλαται; ποίαν θηριωδίαν βαρβαρικὴν οὐκ ἀπέχρυψε τὰ παρὰ σοῦ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τολμώμενα: ταῦτα ὃ μὲν θαρραλέως ἔλεγεν, ὁ δὲ φονῶν ἤκουε" καὶ σφαγῆς μὲν ἐφίετο, ἐδεδίει δὲ μὴ πάλιν ἐξάψῃ τὸν διαπαυσάμενον πόλεμον. οὗ δὴ χάριν ὅ ἑτέροις αὐτὸν ἐπισκόποις προσαχθῆναι προσέταξεν οὕς ἐκεῖνος ἐξητησε. μετὰ τῆσδε τῆς ἀξιαγάστου πίστεως τὴν ἀρχιερατικὴν εἶσδεξάμενος χάριν, πρὸς τοὺς αἰτήσαντας παρεγένετο καὶ ταῖς ἀποστολικαῖς διδασκαλίαις τε καὶ θαυματουργίαις πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐποδήγησεν. ἐν μὲν οὖν τῇ. Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ τοιαῦτα ὑπό τε Λουκίου ἐτολὃ μήθη καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς θείας προμηθείας φκονομήθη.
Kat᾽ ekeinon ton chronon tōn ᾿Ismaēlitōn ta phyla tas pelazous tēs Rhōmaiōn hēgemonias elēïxeto chōras. Mabia de toutōn hēgeito, ouch horōsa men hēn elache physin, andreiǭ de phronēmati chechrēmegē. hautē meta pampollas symplokas speisamenē, eita tēs theognōsias eisdexamenē to phōs, ētēsen archierea problēthēnai tǭ ethnei Mōïsēn tina en methoriǭ tēs Aigyptou kai Palaistinēs eskēnēmenon. tautēn dexamenos ho Balēs tēn aitēsin, eis tē ᾿halex xandreian apachthēnai ton theion andra prosetaxe, kakeithen auton tēn archieratikēn hypodexasthai charin" ekeinē gar mallon epelazen. epeidē de apēchthē kai ton Loukion eiden epitheinai hoi tēn cheira peirōmenon" mē genoitos, ephē, para tēs sēs me cheirotonēthēnai cheiros" ouk epiphoitǭ gar sou kalountos ē charis tou pneumatoss. ho de Loukios" pothen tautas, ephē, topaxōn legeis?e ho de ou topaxōe, eipen, nall᾽ oida saphōs" tois te gar apostolikois dogmasi diamachę̄ kai antipala phthengę̄, kai tois blasphēmois logois symbainei ta paranomōs gignomena. tis gar dia se dyssebēs tois ekklēsiastikois syllogois ouk epekōmasen: tis tōn axiepainōn andrōn ouk elēlatai? poian thēriōdian barbarikēn ouk apechrypse ta para sou kath᾽ hekastēn hēmeran tolmōmena: tauta ho men tharraleōs elegen, ho de phonōn ēkoue" kai sphagēs men ephieto, edediei de mē palin exapsę̄ ton diapausamenon polemon. hou dē charin ho heterois auton episkopois prosachthēnai prosetaxen hous ekeinos exētēse. meta tēsde tēs axiagastou pisteōs tēn archieratikēn eisdexamenos charin, pros tous aitēsantas paregeneto kai tais apostolikais didaskaliais te kai thaumatourgiais pros tēn alētheian epodēgēsen. en men oun tę̄. Alexandreią toiauta hypo te Loukiou etolo mēthē kai hypo tēs theias promētheias phkonomēthē.
At that time the tribes of the Ishmaelites were plundering the lands bordering on the Roman empire. Their leader was Mavia, who did not regard the nature she had been allotted but had a manly spirit. After very many engagements she made a treaty, then received the light of the knowledge of God, and asked that a certain Moses, who lived in a tent on the border of Egypt and Palestine, be appointed high priest for her nation. Valens, receiving this request, ordered the divine man to be taken to Alexandria and to receive the high-priestly grace there; for that city was nearer. When he was brought there and saw Lucius trying to lay his hand on him, he said: “God forbid that I should be ordained by your hand; for the grace of the Spirit does not come when you invoke it.” Lucius said: “From what guess do you say this?” He said: “I do not guess; I know it clearly. For you fight against the apostolic doctrines and speak against them, and what is done lawlessly agrees with your blasphemous words. For what impious man has not, because of you, burst in on the church assemblies? Which praiseworthy man has not been driven out? What barbarian savagery have not the deeds you dare every day eclipsed?” He said this boldly, and the other heard it with murderous rage; he longed to kill him, but feared to rekindle the war that had subsided. For this reason he ordered him to be brought to other bishops, whom he requested. With this admirable faith he received the high-priestly grace, came to those who had asked for him, and guided them to the truth by apostolic teaching and wonder-working. Such things, then, were dared by Lucius in Alexandria and arranged by divine providence.
Notes and citation
Summary: Mavia, queen of the Arab tribes, makes peace with Rome on condition that the hermit Moses be her people's bishop; Moses refuses ordination from the Arian Lucius, denouncing his persecutions, and is ordained by orthodox bishops of his choosing.
- “Ishmaelites”: Arab tribes (Saracens).
Topics: Church office, Heresy
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.20 (GCS 19:261–262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-20). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-20
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
4.21GCS 19:262–263
Ἔν δὲ Κωνσταντινουπόλει σκάφος εὐσεβῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἐμπλήσαντες οἵ τῆς ἀνοσίου συμμορίας ἀφῆκαν ἀνερμάτιστον εἰς τὸ πέλαγος: εἶτα, τινὰς τῶν ὁμογνωμόνων εἰς πορθμεῖον ἕτερον ἐμβιβάσαντες, πῦρ ἐπαφεῖναι τῷ ὁὀκάφει τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἐκέλευσαν. οὗ γενομέγου, πυρὶ καὶ θαλάττῃ μαχόμενοι τέλος τῷ βυθῷ παρεπέμφθησαν καὶ τοῦ “μαρτυρίου τὸν στέφανον ἀνεδήσαντο. Ἔν Ἀντιοχείᾳ δὲ ὁ Βάλης χρόνον διατρίψας ὅτε μάλιστα πλεῖστον, ἅπασι μὲν ἄδειαν ἐδεδώκει καὶ “Ἔλλησι καὶ Ιουδαίοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὅσοι τὸ Χριστιανῶν ὄνομα περικείμενοι τἀναντία ταῖς εὐαγγελικαῖς διδασκαλίαις κηρύττουσι. καὶ γὰρ τὰς λληνικὰς τελετὰς ἐπετέλουν οἱ τῇ πλάνῃ δεδουλωμένοι, καὶ τὴν μετὰ Ἰουλιανὸν ὑπὸ ᾿ἸΙοβιανοῦ σβεσθεῖσαν ἐξαπάτην ἀνθῆσαι πάλιν συνεχώρησεν οὗτος" καὶ τὰ Διάσια καὶ τὰ Διονύσια καὶ τὰ τῆς Δήμητρος ὀργια οὐκ ἐν παραβύστῳ ἐπλήρουν ὡς ἐν εὐσεβεῖ βασιλείᾳ, ἀλλὰ διὰ μέσης τῆς ἀγορᾶς βακχεύοντες ἔτρεχον. μόνοις δὲ πολέμιος ἦν τοῖς τὴν ἀποστολικὴν διδασκαλίαν πρεσβεύουσι. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῶν ἱερῶν ἐξήλασεν οἴκων" αὑτοῖς γὰρ Ἰοθβιανὸς ὁ ὁ πανεύφημος ἐδεδώκει καὶ τὴν νεόόμητον ἐκκλησίαν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ παρὰ τὴν τοῦ ὄρους συνιόντες κρηπίδα ὕμνοις τε τὸν δεσπότην ἐγέραιρον. καὶ τῶν θείων λογίων ἀπήλαυνον, τῶν ἐναντίων τοῦ ἀέρος ἀνεχόμενοι προσβολῶν καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ὑετοῦ “καὶ νιφετοῦ καὶ κρυμοῦ, ποτὲ δὲ σφοδροτάτου φλ ογμοῦ, οὐδὲ τῆς ἐπιπόνου ταύτης ὠφελείας αὐτοὺς μεταλαχεῖν συνεχώρησεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀποστείλας στρατιώτας ἐσκέδασεν.
En de Kōnstantinoupolei skaphos eusebōn presbyterōn emplēsantes hoi tēs anosiou symmorias aphēkan anermatiston eis to pelagos: eita, tinas tōn homognōmonōn eis porthmeion heteron embibasantes, pyr epapheinai tǭ hookaphei tōn presbyterōn ekeleusan. hou genomegou, pyri kai thalattę̄ machomenoi telos tǭ bythǭ parepemphthēsan kai tou “martyriou ton stephanon anedēsanto. En Antiocheią de ho Balēs chronon diatripsas hote malista pleiston, hapasi men adeian ededōkei kai “Ellēsi kai Ioudaiois kai tois allois hosoi to Christianōn onoma perikeimenoi tanantia tais euangelikais didaskaliais kēryttousi. kai gar tas llēnikas teletas epeteloun hoi tę̄ planę̄ dedoulōmenoi, kai tēn meta Ioulianon hypo ᾿IIobianou sbestheisan exapatēn anthēsai palin synechōrēsen houtos" kai ta Diasia kai ta Dionysia kai ta tēs Dēmētros orgia ouk en parabystǭ eplēroun hōs en eusebei basileią, alla dia mesēs tēs agoras bakcheuontes etrechon. monois de polemios ēn tois tēn apostolikēn didaskalian presbeuousi. prōton men gar autous tōn hierōn exēlasen oikōn" hautois gar Iothbianos ho ho paneuphēmos ededōkei kai tēn neoomēton ekklēsian. epeidē de para tēn tou orous syniontes krēpida hymnois te ton despotēn egerairon. kai tōn theiōn logiōn apēlaunon, tōn enantiōn tou aeros anechomenoi prosbolōn kai pote men hyetou “kai niphetou kai krymou, pote de sphodrotatou phl ogmou, oude tēs epiponou tautēs ōpheleias autous metalachein synechōrēsen, all᾽ aposteilas stratiōtas eskedasen.
In Constantinople those of the unholy gang filled a boat with pious presbyters and let it go out to sea without ballast; then, putting some of their own mind into another vessel, they ordered them to set fire to the presbyters' boat. When this was done, fighting with fire and sea, they were at last sent to the depths and bound on the crown of martyrdom.
Valens, spending a very long time in Antioch, had given licence to all, to Greeks, to Jews, and to the others who, though wearing the name of Christians, preach things contrary to the teachings of the gospel. Those enslaved to error performed the pagan rites, and he allowed the deceit extinguished by Jovian after Julian to flourish again; and they celebrated the festivals of Zeus and Dionysus and the orgies of Demeter, not in a corner, as under a pious reign, but ran in frenzy through the middle of the market-place. He was hostile only to those who championed the apostolic teaching. First he drove them out of the sacred houses (for the all-praiseworthy Jovian had given them the newly built church too). When they came together at the foot of the mountain and honoured the Master with hymns and enjoyed the divine oracles, enduring the contrary assaults of the weather, at times rain, snow, and frost, at times very fierce heat, he did not let them share even in this laborious benefit, but sent soldiers and scattered them.
Notes and citation
Summary: In Constantinople Arians set fire to a boat full of orthodox presbyters at sea; at Antioch Valens tolerates pagans, Jews, and heretics but drives the orthodox from the churches and even from their open-air assemblies.
- Socrates (4.16) and Sozomen (6.14) tell the story of eighty clergy burned at sea; Theodoret gives no number.
Topics: Persecution, Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.21 (GCS 19:262–263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-21). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-21
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
4.22GCS 19:263–264
Ἀλλὰ Φλαβιανὸς καὶ Διόδωρος, καθάπερ τινὲς πρόβολοι, τὰ προσβάλλοντα διέλυον κύματα. Μελετίου γὰρ τοῦ σφετέρου ποιμένος ἑκὰς διάγειν ἠναγκασμέν ου, οὗτοι τῆς ποίμνης ἐπεμελοῦντο, τοῖς μὲν λύκοις ἀντιτάττοντες τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνδρείαν τε καὶ σοφίαν. τοῖς δὲ προβάτοις προσφέροντες τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν θεραπείαν. ἐκ δὴ οὖν τῆς ὑπωρείας ἐξελαθέντες παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας τοῦ γείτονος ποταμοῦ τὰ πρόβατα ἔνεμον. οὐ γὰρ ἠνέσχοντο κατὰ τοὺς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι δορυαλώτους χρεμάσαι τὰ ὄργαναε, ἀλλ ὕμνουν τὸν ποιητήν τε καὶ εὐεργέτην νὲν παντὶ τόπῳ τῆς δεσποτείας αὐτοῦε. ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τὴν ἐν τῷδε τῷ χωρίῳ σύνοδον ἤνεγκε τῶν εὐσεβῶν ὃ μόνων τῶν τὸν δεσπότην Χριστὸν θεολογούντων πολέμιος. πάλιν δὴ οὖν τῶν θαυμασίων ἐκείνων ὑποποιμένων ἡ ξυνωρίς, εἰς τὸ πολεμικὸν γυμνάσιον τὰ θεῖα πρόβατα συναγείρουσα, τὴν πνευματικὴν ἐπεδείκνυ πόαν. καὶ Διόδωρος μὲν ὁ σοφώτατός τε καὶ ἀνδρειότατος, οἷά τις ποταμὸς διειδής τε καὶ μέγας, τοῖς μὲν οἰκείοις τὴν ἀρδείαν προσέφερε, τὰς δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων βλασφημίας ἐπέκλυζε. καὶ τὴν. μὲν τοῦ γένους οὐκ ἐλογίζετο περιφάνειαν, τὴν δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ταλαιπωρίαν ἀσπασίως ὑπέμενεν. Φλαβιανὸς δὲ ὁ ἄριστος ἐξ εὐπατριδῶν μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπεφύκει, εὐγένειαν δὲ τὴν εὐσέβειαν ὑπελάμβανε μόνην, καὶ οἷόν τις παιδοτρίβης τὸν μέγαν Διόδωρον καθάπερ τινὰ πένταθλον ἤλειφεν ἀθλητήν. κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς οὐκ ἐδημηγόρει συλλόγοις, τοῖς δὲ τοῦτο δρῶσι πολλὴν παρεῖχεν ἀφθονίαν ἐνθυμημάτων τε καὶ γραφικῶν νοημάτων. καὶ οἱ μὲν ἔτεινον κατὰ τῆς Ἀρείου βλασφημίας τὰ τόξα, οὗτος δὲ καθάπερ ἔχ τινὸς ὁπλοθήκης, ἐκ τῆς διανοίας τὰ βέλη προσέφερεν᾽ οἴκοι μέντοι καὶ δημοσίᾳ διαλεγόμενος, τῶν αἱρετικῶν τὰς ἄρκυς δαδίως διέσπα καὶ ἀράχνια ἐδείκνυ τὰ ἐκείνων προβλήματα. Συνηγωνίζετο δὲ τούτοις καὶ Ἀφραάτης ἐκεῖνος, οὗ τὴν πολιτείαν ἐν τῇ Φιλοθέῳ συνεγράψαμεν Ἱστορίᾳ. τὴν γὰρ τῶν προβάτων σωτηρίαν προτιμήσας τῆς ἡσυχίας, τὴν ἀσκητικὴν καταλιμπάνων. χαλύβην τῶν ποιμενικῶν ἱδρώτων ἠνείχετο. ὁπόσον μὲν οὖν οὗτος ἀρετῆς συνέλεξε πλοῦτον, περιττὸν ἡγοῦμαι νῦν λέγειν, ἐν ἑτέρᾳ πραγματείᾳ ταῦτα συγγεγραφώς" ἕν δὲ μόνον τῶν ἐκείνου διηγήσομαι μάλα προσῆκον τῇδε τῇ ἱστορίᾳ.
Alla Phlabianos kai Diodōros, kathaper tines proboloi, ta prosballonta dielyon kymata. Meletiou gar tou spheterou poimenos hekas diagein ēnankasmen ou, houtoi tēs poimnēs epemelounto, tois men lykois antitattontes tēn oikeian andreian te kai sophian. tois de probatois prospherontes tēn harmottousan therapeian. ek dē oun tēs hypōreias exelathentes para tas ochthas tou geitonos potamou ta probata enemon. ou gar ēneschonto kata tous en Babylōni doryalōtous chremasai ta organae, all hymnoun ton poiētēn te kai euergetēn nen panti topǭ tēs despoteias autoue. all᾽ oude tēn en tǭde tǭ chōriǭ synodon ēnenke tōn eusebōn ho monōn tōn ton despotēn Christon theologountōn polemios. palin dē oun tōn thaumasiōn ekeinōn hypopoimenōn hē xynōris, eis to polemikon gymnasion ta theia probata synageirousa, tēn pneumatikēn epedeikny poan. kai Diodōros men ho sophōtatos te kai andreiotatos, hoia tis potamos dieidēs te kai megas, tois men oikeiois tēn ardeian prosephere, tas de tōn enantiōn blasphēmias epeklyze. kai tēn. men tou genous ouk elogizeto periphaneian, tēn de hyper tēs pisteōs talaipōrian aspasiōs hypemenen. Phlabianos de ho aristos ex eupatridōn men kai autos epephykei, eugeneian de tēn eusebeian hypelambane monēn, kai hoion tis paidotribēs ton megan Diodōron kathaper tina pentathlon ēleiphen athlētēn. kat᾽ ekeinon gar ton kairon en men tois ekklēsiastikois ouk edēmēgorei syllogois, tois de touto drōsi pollēn pareichen aphthonian enthymēmatōn te kai graphikōn noēmatōn. kai hoi men eteinon kata tēs Areiou blasphēmias ta toxa, houtos de kathaper ech tinos hoplothēkēs, ek tēs dianoias ta belē prosepheren᾽ oikoi mentoi kai dēmosią dialegomenos, tōn hairetikōn tas arkys dadiōs diespa kai arachnia edeikny ta ekeinōn problēmata. Synēgōnizeto de toutois kai Aphraatēs ekeinos, hou tēn politeian en tę̄ Philotheǭ synegrapsamen Historią. tēn gar tōn probatōn sōtērian protimēsas tēs hēsychias, tēn askētikēn katalimpanōn. chalybēn tōn poimenikōn hidrōtōn ēneicheto. hoposon men oun houtos aretēs synelexe plouton, peritton hēgoumai nyn legein, en heterą pragmateią tauta syngegraphōs" hen de monon tōn ekeinou diēgēsomai mala prosēkon tę̄de tę̄ historią.
But Flavian and Diodore, like breakwaters, broke the waves that struck. For while Meletius, their shepherd, was compelled to live far away, they cared for the flock, setting their own courage and wisdom against the wolves and giving the sheep fitting care. Driven from the foot of the mountain, they pastured the sheep by the banks of the neighbouring river. For they would not, like the captives in Babylon, hang up their instruments, but praised the Maker and Benefactor “in every place of his dominion.” But the enemy of those alone who confess Christ the Master as God did not tolerate the assembly of the pious in this place either. So again that pair of admirable under-shepherds gathered the divine sheep into the military training ground and showed them the spiritual pasture. Diodore, most wise and most courageous, like a clear and great river, watered his own people and flooded the blasphemies of the opponents; he took no account of the distinction of his family, but gladly endured hardship for the faith. Flavian, the excellent, was himself of a noble family, but considered piety the only nobility, and like a trainer he anointed the great Diodore as if he were an all-round athlete. For at that time he did not preach in the church assemblies, but supplied those who did with an abundance of arguments and scriptural thoughts. They stretched their bows against the blasphemy of Arius, while he, as from an armoury, supplied the arrows from his mind; and disputing at home and in public he easily tore the heretics' nets and showed their arguments to be cobwebs.
That Aphrahat too, whose way of life we have written in the Religious History, fought alongside them. For preferring the salvation of the sheep to quiet, he left his ascetic hut and endured the sweat of shepherds. How great a wealth of virtue he gathered I think it superfluous to say now, having written of it in another work; I shall relate only one of his deeds, very fitting to this history.
Ps 137:2 (136:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 103:22 (102:22 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: At Antioch Flavian and Diodore lead the orthodox in exile from the churches, moving their assemblies from the mountainside to the riverbank to the parade ground, Diodore preaching and Flavian supplying arguments, and the ascetic Aphrahat leaves his cell to help them.
- The captives in Babylon: Ps 137:2 (LXX 136:2). “In every place of his dominion”: Ps 103:22 (LXX 102:22).
- Aphrahat (Aphraates) is the subject of Religious History 8.
Topics: Persecution, Church office
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.22 (GCS 19:263–264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-22). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-22
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
4.23GCS 19:264–266
Βορρᾶθεν μὲν Ὀρόντης ὁ ὁ ποταμὸς παραρρεῖ τὰ βασίλεια, ἐκ δὲ μεσημβρίας στοὰ μεγίστη διόροφος τῷ τῆς πόλεως ἐπῳκοδόμηται περιβόλῳ, πύργους ὑψηλοὺς ἑκατέρωθεν ἔχουσα. μεταξὺ δὲ τῶν τε βασιλείων καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ λεωφόρος ἐστὶν ὑποδεχομένη τοὺς ἐκ τῶν τῇδε πυλῶν ἐκ τοῦ ἄστεως ἐξιόντας καὶ εἰς τοὺς προαστείους ἀγροὺς παραπέμπουσα. διὰ ταύτης Ἀφραάτης παριὼν ὁ θεσπέσιος εἰς τὸ πολεμικὸν ἀπήει γυμνάσιον, τῶν θείων προβάτων τὴν προσήκουσαν ποιησόμενος θεραπείαν. τοῦτον ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῆς βασιλείου στοᾶς διακύπτων ὃ βασιλεὺς εἶδε σισύίραν τε ἀναβεβλημένο ν καὶ ἐν γήρᾳ βαθεῖ συντόνως βαδίζοντα" καί τινος εἰρηκότος οἧς Ἀφραάτης οὗτος, οὗ τὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐξήρτηται πλῆθος, ἔφη πρὸς αὐτόν ποῦ σὺ βαδίζεις, εἰπέε. ὁ δὲ σοφῶς ἅμα καὶ προσφόρος" οὑπὲρ τῆς σῆςε, ἔφη, προσεὺξ ξόμενος βασιλείας. νἀλλ᾽ οἴκοι σε μένειν ἐχρῆνε, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἔφη, καὶ ἔν δον κατὰ τὸν μοναχικὸν προσεύχεσθαι γόμονε. ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἐκεῖνος ἀνήρ᾽ εὖ μάλαε, ἔφη, λέγεις, ῶ βασιλεῦ" τοῦτό με δρᾶν ἔδει. καὶ τοῦτο δρῶν μέχρι καὶ νῦν διετέλεσα, ἕως εἰρήνης ἀπήλαυε τοῦ σωτῆρος τὰ πρόβατα. ἐπειδὴ δὲ πολὺν ὑπομεμένηκε θόρυβον καὶ πολὺς ἐπιχρέμαται κίνδυνος μὴ θηριάλωτα γένηται, πάντα κινεῖν πόρον ἀνάγχη καὶ διασώζειν τὰ θρέμματα. εἰπὲ γάρ μοιε, ἔφη, νὠὦ βασιλεῦ, εἰ κόρη τις ἐτύγχανον ἔνδον ἐν θαλάμῳ καθημένη καὶ ταλασίας ἐπιμελουμένη, εἶτα ἐθεασάμην ἐμπεσοῦσαν φλόγα καὶ τὴν πατρῴαν οἰκίαν νεμομένην, τί με δρᾶσαι προσῆκεν εἰπέ μοι; ἔνδον καθῆσθαι καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐμπιπραμένην περιορᾶν καὶ τῆς φλογὸς προσμένειν τὴν ἐμβολήν, ἢ τῷ θαλάμῳ χαίρειν εἰποῦσαν διαθέειν ἄνω καὶ κάτω καὶ ὑδροφορεῖν καὶ σβεννύναι τὴν φλόγα; δῆλον ὅτι τοῦτο ἐρεῖς᾽ τοῦτο γὰρ κόρης ἀγχίνου τε καὶ φρενήρους. τοῦτο δρῶ νῦν, ὦ βασιλεῦ. σοῦ γὰρ εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν "ἡμῶν οἰκίαν ἐμβαλόντος τὴν φλόγα, περιθέομεν κατασβέσαι ταύτην πειρώμενοιε. ταῦτα ὁ μὲν εἶπεν, ὁ δὲ σιγήσας ἠπείλησεν. εἷς δὲ τῶν περὶ τὸν βασιλικὸν κοιτῶνα, θρασύτερον ἀπειλήσας τῷ θείῳ ἀνδρί, τοιόνδε τι πέπονθε. Ἰοῦ βαλανείου πεπιστευμένος τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, εὐθὺς μετὰ τούσδε τοὺς λόγους κατῆλθε τοῦτο εὐτρεπίσω τῷ βασιλεῖ" εἴσω δὲ γενόμενος καὶ τὰς φρένας πληγεὶς εἰς τὸ θερμότατον ὕδωρ τὸ ἄκρατον κατεληλυθέ τε καὶ τετελεύτηκεν. χαθῆστο δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς προσμένων ἐκεῖνον ὥστε οἱ μηνῦσαι τὴν εἴσοδον. ἐπειδὴ δὲ πολὺς ἀνηλώθη καιρός, ἀπέστειλὲν ἑτέρους ὃ βασιλεὺς τῆς μελλήσεως τὴν αἰτίαν μηνύσοντας. οἵ δὲ εἴσω γενόμενοι καὶ πάντα περισκοπήσαντες εὗρον ἐκεῖνον ἐν τῷ ἀκράτῳ τεθνεῶτα καὶ διαλυθέντα θερμῷ. καὶ τούτου δήλου γενομένου τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἔγνωσαν μὲν τῆς ᾿ἀφραάτου προσευχῆς τὴν ἰσχύν, τῶν δογμάτων δὲ τῶν δυσσεβῶν οὐκ ἐξέστησαν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐσκλήρυναν κατὰ τὸν Φαραὼ τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν᾽ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἵππου δὲ θαυματουργίαν μεμαθηκώς, ὃ ἐμβρόντητος μεμένηκε κατὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας λυττῶν.
Borrathen men Orontēs ho ho potamos pararrei ta basileia, ek de mesēmbrias stoa megistē diorophos tǭ tēs poleōs epǭkodomētai peribolǭ, pyrgous hypsēlous hekaterōthen echousa. metaxy de tōn te basileiōn kai tou potamou leōphoros estin hypodechomenē tous ek tōn tę̄de pylōn ek tou asteōs exiontas kai eis tous proasteious agrous parapempousa. dia tautēs Aphraatēs pariōn ho thespesios eis to polemikon apēei gymnasion, tōn theiōn probatōn tēn prosēkousan poiēsomenos therapeian. touton anōthen ek tēs basileiou stoas diakyptōn ho basileus eide sisuiran te anabeblēmeno n kai en gērą bathei syntonōs badizonta" kai tinos eirēkotos hoēs Aphraatēs houtos, hou to tēs poleōs exērtētai plēthos, ephē pros auton pou sy badizeis, eipee. ho de sophōs hama kai prosphoros" houper tēs sēse, ephē, proseux xomenos basileias. nall᾽ oikoi se menein echrēne, ho basileus ephē, kai en don kata ton monachikon proseuchesthai gomone. ho de theios ekeinos anēr᾽ eu malae, ephē, legeis, ō basileu" touto me dran edei. kai touto drōn mechri kai nyn dietelesa, heōs eirēnēs apēlaue tou sōtēros ta probata. epeidē de polyn hypomemenēke thorybon kai polys epichrematai kindynos mē thērialōta genētai, panta kinein poron ananchē kai diasōzein ta thremmata. eipe gar moie, ephē, nōō basileu, ei korē tis etynchanon endon en thalamǭ kathēmenē kai talasias epimeloumenē, eita etheasamēn empesousan phloga kai tēn patrǭan oikian nemomenēn, ti me drasai prosēken eipe moi? endon kathēsthai kai tēn oikian empipramenēn perioran kai tēs phlogos prosmenein tēn embolēn, ē tǭ thalamǭ chairein eipousan diatheein anō kai katō kai hydrophorein kai sbennynai tēn phloga? dēlon hoti touto ereis᾽ touto gar korēs anchinou te kai phrenērous. touto drō nyn, ō basileu. sou gar eis tēn patrǭan "hēmōn oikian embalontos tēn phloga, peritheomen katasbesai tautēn peirōmenoie. tauta ho men eipen, ho de sigēsas ēpeilēsen. heis de tōn peri ton basilikon koitōna, thrasyteron apeilēsas tǭ theiǭ andri, toionde ti peponthe. Iou balaneiou pepisteumenos tēn epimeleian, euthys meta tousde tous logous katēlthe touto eutrepisō tǭ basilei" eisō de genomenos kai tas phrenas plēgeis eis to thermotaton hydōr to akraton katelēlythe te kai teteleutēken. chathēsto de ho basileus prosmenōn ekeinon hōste hoi mēnysai tēn eisodon. epeidē de polys anēlōthē kairos, apesteilen heterous ho basileus tēs mellēseōs tēn aitian mēnysontas. hoi de eisō genomenoi kai panta periskopēsantes heuron ekeinon en tǭ akratǭ tethneōta kai dialythenta thermǭ. kai toutou dēlou genomenou tǭ basilei, egnōsan men tēs ᾿aphraatou proseuchēs tēn ischyn, tōn dogmatōn de tōn dyssebōn ouk exestēsan, all᾿ esklērynan kata ton Pharaō tēn kardian autōn᾽ kai tēn tou hippou de thaumatourgian memathēkōs, ho embrontētos memenēke kata tēs eusebeias lyttōn.
On the north the river Orontes flows past the palace, and on the south a very large two-storeyed portico is built onto the city wall, with high towers on either side. Between the palace and the river is a highway that receives those going out of the city from the gates there and leads them to the suburban fields. Along this road the godly Aphrahat was passing to go to the military training ground, to give the divine sheep their proper care. The emperor, looking down from the portico of the palace, saw him wearing a goat-hair cloak and walking briskly in deep old age; and when someone said that this was Aphrahat, on whom the multitude of the city depended, he said to him: “Where are you going? Tell me.” He answered wisely and aptly: “To pray for your reign.” “But you ought to stay at home,” said the emperor, “and pray inside according to the monastic rule.” That divine man said: “You speak very well, emperor; I ought to do this, and I continued doing it until now, as long as the Saviour's sheep enjoyed peace. But since they have undergone great disturbance and great danger hangs over them of being caught by wild beasts, I must move every means and save the flock. For tell me, emperor,” he said, “if I were a girl sitting inside in my room and attending to spinning, and then saw a flame fall and burning my father's house, what ought I to do, tell me? Sit inside and look on while the house burns and wait for the flame to reach me, or say goodbye to my room and run up and down, carrying water and putting out the flame? Clearly you will say the latter; for this is what an intelligent and sensible girl would do. This is what I am doing now, emperor. For since you have thrown the flame into our father's house, we are running about trying to put it out.” He said this, and the emperor kept silent and threatened him.
One of the chamberlains, who had threatened the divine man more boldly, suffered the following. He was entrusted with the care of the bath, and immediately after these words he went down to prepare it for the emperor; going inside and being struck in his mind, he went down into the very hot unmixed water and died. The emperor sat waiting for him to announce that the bath was ready. When much time had been spent, the emperor sent others to report the reason for the delay. They went in, looked everywhere, and found him dead in the unmixed water and dissolved by the heat. When this was made known to the emperor, they recognized the power of Aphrahat's prayer, but did not depart from the impious doctrines, but hardened their hearts like Pharaoh; and the thunderstruck man, having learned also of the wonder of the horse, continued raging against true religion.
Exod 8:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Valens, seeing the old ascetic Aphrahat on his way to the orthodox assembly, tells him to pray at home; Aphrahat answers that a girl must leave her room when her father's house is on fire, and a chamberlain who threatened him dies scalded in the emperor's bath, but Valens does not change.
- “The wonder of the horse”: a healing of the emperor's horse by Aphrahat, told in Religious History 8.
- Hardening the heart like Pharaoh: Exod 8:15.
Topics: Persecution, Prayer
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.23 (GCS 19:264–266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-23). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-23
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
4.24GCS 19:267–268
Κατὰ τοῦτον δὲ τὸν καιρὸν καὶ Ἰουλιανὸς ἐκεῖνος ὃ πολυύμνητος, οὗ καὶ πρόσθεν ἐμνήσθην, καταλιπεῖν μὲν τὴν ἔρημον, εἰς δὲ τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν εἰσελθεῖν ἠναγκάσθη. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οἱ τῷ ψεύδει συντεθραμμένοι καὶ τὰς συκοφαντίας μάλα ῥᾳδίως ὑφαίνοντες, οἱ τὰ Ἀρείου λέγω φρονοῦντες, τὸν μέγαν ἄνδρα ἐκεῖνον ἰσχυρίζοντο τῆς σφετέρας εἶναι συμμορίας, ἀπέστειλαν οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας φωστῆρες, Φλαβιαν νὸς καὶ Διόδωρος καὶ ᾿ἀφραάτης, ἄνδρα ἀρετῆς ἀθλητήν, Ἀκάχιόν φήμι τὸν χρόνῳ ὕστερον μάλα σοφῶς τὴν Βεροιαίων ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύναντα. πρὸς τὸν πανεύφημον ἄνδρα ἐκεῖνον, ἀντιβολοῦντες πολλὰς ἀνθρώπων μεριάδας οἰκτεῖραι, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἐναντίων τὴν φευδολογίαν ἐλέγξαι, τὰ δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας βεβαιῶσαι κηρύγματα. καὶ ὅσα μὲν οὗτος καὶ ἀπιὼν καὶ ἐπανιὼν καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ μεγίστῃ πόλει τεθαυμα"τούργηκεν, ἐν τῇ Φιλοθέῳ ἡμῖν συγγέγραπται Ἱστορίᾳ, ἡ ῥάδιον ἐντυχεῖν τοὺς ταῦτα βουλομένους μαθεῖν. ὅτε δὲ ἅπαν τὸ τῆς πόλεως ῦ πλῆθος εἰς τὸν ἡμέτερον συνήθροισε σύλλογον, οὐδένα ἐνδοιάζειν οἶμαι τῶν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἐπεσκεμμένων" πέφυκε γὰρ τὰ παράδοξα ἕλκειν ἅπαντας οςς ἐπίπαν πρὸς ἑαυτά. ὅτι δὲ καὶ μεγάλα εἰργάσατο θαύματα, μαρτυροῦσι καὶ οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας πολέμιοι. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ πρὸ τοῦδε τοῦ χρόνου πεποίηκεν ἐν τοῖς Κωνσταντίου καιροῖς Δντώνιος ἐκεῖνος ὁ πάνυ. καταλιπὼν γὰρ τὴν ἔρημον ἅπαν ἐχεῖνο περιήει τὸ ἄστυ, διδάσκων ἅπαντας εὑς τῆς ἀποστολικῆς διδασκαλίας κήρυξ ἐστὶν Ἀθανάσιος καὶ ὡς ἀντίπαλοι τῆς ἀληθείας οἱ τῆς ᾿ἀρείου συμμορίας. οὕτως ἤδεσαν οἱ θεῖοι ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι τὰ πρόσφορα ἑκάστῳ προσαρμόττειν καιρῷ, καὶ πηνίχα μὲν χρὴ τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἀσπάζεσθαι, πηνίκα δὲ προτιμᾶν τὰς πόλεις τῆς ἐρημίας.
Kata touton de ton kairon kai Ioulianos ekeinos ho polyymnētos, hou kai prosthen emnēsthēn, katalipein men tēn erēmon, eis de tēn Antiocheian eiselthein ēnankasthē. epeidē gar hoi tǭ pseudei syntethrammenoi kai tas sykophantias mala rhądiōs hyphainontes, hoi ta Areiou legō phronountes, ton megan andra ekeinon ischyrizonto tēs spheteras einai symmorias, apesteilan hoi tēs alētheias phōstēres, Phlabian nos kai Diodōros kai ᾿aphraatēs, andra aretēs athlētēn, Akachion phēmi ton chronǭ hysteron mala sophōs tēn Beroiaiōn ekklēsian ithynanta. pros ton paneuphēmon andra ekeinon, antibolountes pollas anthrōpōn meriadas oikteirai, kai tōn men enantiōn tēn pheudologian elenxai, ta de tēs alētheias bebaiōsai kērygmata. kai hosa men houtos kai apiōn kai epaniōn kai en autę̄ de tę̄ megistę̄ polei tethauma"tourgēken, en tę̄ Philotheǭ hēmin syngegraptai Historią, hē rhadion entychein tous tauta boulomenous mathein. hote de hapan to tēs poleōs y plēthos eis ton hēmeteron synēthroise syllogon, oudena endoiazein oimai tōn tēn anthrōpeian physin epeskemmenōn" pephyke gar ta paradoxa helkein hapantas oss epipan pros heauta. hoti de kai megala eirgasato thaumata, martyrousi kai hoi tēs alētheias polemioi. Touto de kai en Alexandreią pro toude tou chronou pepoiēken en tois Kōnstantiou kairois Dntōnios ekeinos ho pany. katalipōn gar tēn erēmon hapan echeino periēei to asty, didaskōn hapantas heus tēs apostolikēs didaskalias kēryx estin Athanasios kai hōs antipaloi tēs alētheias hoi tēs ᾿areiou symmorias. houtōs ēdesan hoi theioi andres ekeinoi ta prosphora hekastǭ prosarmottein kairǭ, kai pēnicha men chrē tēn hēsychian aspazesthai, pēnika de protiman tas poleis tēs erēmias.
At this time that celebrated Julian, whom I mentioned before, was compelled to leave the desert and enter Antioch. For when those brought up in falsehood and very ready at weaving slanders, I mean those who hold the views of Arius, affirmed that that great man belonged to their gang, the luminaries of the truth, Flavian, Diodore, and Aphrahat, sent a man who was an athlete of virtue, I mean Acacius, who later governed the church of the Beroeans very wisely, to that all-praiseworthy man, begging him to pity many tens of thousands of people, to refute the falsehood of the opponents and to confirm the preaching of the truth. All the wonders he worked going and returning and in the great city itself have been written by us in the Religious History, where those who wish to learn them may easily read them. That he gathered the whole multitude of the city into our assembly I think no one who has considered human nature will doubt; for extraordinary things naturally draw everyone to themselves. That he worked great wonders even the enemies of the truth bear witness.
The great Antony too had done this in Alexandria before this time, in the times of Constantius. For leaving the desert he went about the whole city, teaching all that Athanasius was the herald of the apostolic teaching, and that those of Arius's gang were enemies of the truth. So well did those divine men know how to fit what was useful to each occasion, and when one must embrace quiet and when prefer the cities to the desert.
Notes and citation
Summary: At the request of Flavian, Diodore, and Aphrahat, sent through Acacius (later bishop of Beroea), the ascetic Julian Saba comes to Antioch to refute the Arians' claim that he was one of them, as Antony had once come to Alexandria to support Athanasius.
- Julian Saba: Religious History 2. Antony's visit to Alexandria: Athanasius, Life of Antony 69–70 (published on this site).
Extrabiblical texts: Athanasius, V. Ant. 69-70 (Life of Antony; allusion)
Topics: Heresy
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.24 (GCS 19:267–268; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-24). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-24
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
4.25GCS 19:268–269
Ἦσαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν τὰς τῆς μοναχικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀφιέντες μαρμαρυγάς" ἐν μὲν τῇ Χαλκιδέων ἐρήμῳ 'άβιτος καὶ Μαρκιανὸς καὶ ᾿βραάμης καὶ ἕτεροι πρὸς τούτοις οὐχ εὐαρίθμητοι, ἐν παθητοῖς σώμασι τὴν ἀπαθῆ βιοτὴν μελετῶντες" ἐν δὲ τῇ ᾿Δπαμέων χώρᾳ Ἀγαπητὸς καὶ Συμεώνης καὶ Παῦλος" ἐν δὲ τῇ Ζευγματέων, Πούπλιος καὶ Παῦλος καὶ ἄλλοι τὴν ἄκραν φιλοσοφίαν συλλέγοντες. ἐν δὲ τῇ Κυρεστῶν, ὁ μὲν πανεύφημος Ἀκεψεμᾶς ἐν οἰκίσκῳ' καθεῖρκτο, καὶ ἑξηκοντούτην χρόνον τοῦτον ἐβίω τὸν τρόπον, οὔτε ὁρώμενος οὔτε φθεγγόμενος" Ζευγμάτιος δὲ ὁ ἀξιάγαστος, καίτοι τὸ βλέπειν ἀφῃρημένος, περιήει στηρίζων τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τοῖς λύκοις μαχόμενος, οὗ δὴ χάριν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀσκητικὴν καλύβην ἐνέπρησαν. ἀλλὰ Τραϊανὸς ὁ πιστότατος στρατηγὸς ἑτέραν ἐδείματο καὶ τῆς ἄλλης θεραπείας μετέδωκεν. ἐν δὲ τῇ Αντιοχέων, διαριανὸς καὶ Εὐσέβιος καὶ ᾿Δμμιανός, Παλλάδιός τε καὶ Συμεώνης καὶ Ἀβραάμης καὶ ἄλλοι πρὸς τούτοις τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν θείαν ἀκήρατον διασώσαντες. γχαὶ τούτων δὲ κἀκείνων τὸν βίον ἀνάγραπτον πεποιήκαμεν. καὶ τὸ ὅρος δὲ τὸ τῇ μεγίστῃ παρακείμενον πόλει λειμῶσι παραπλησίοις ὡράϊστο" καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ Πέτρος ὁ Γαλάτης διέλαμπε, καὶ ὁ τούτου γε ὁμώνυμος ὃ “ἰγύπτιος. καὶ Ῥωμανὸς καὶ Σευῆρος καὶ Ζήνων, Μωῦσῆς τε καὶ Μάλχος καὶ ἄλλοι πλεῖστοι. παρὰ μὲν τῶν πολλῶν ἀγνοούμενοι, παρὰ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ γινωσκόμενοι.
Ēsan de kai alloi kat᾽ ekeinon ton kairon tas tēs monachikēs philosophias aphientes marmarygas" en men tę̄ Chalkideōn erēmǭ 'abitos kai Markianos kai ᾿braamēs kai heteroi pros toutois ouch euarithmētoi, en pathētois sōmasi tēn apathē biotēn meletōntes" en de tę̄ ᾿Dpameōn chōrą Agapētos kai Symeōnēs kai Paulos" en de tę̄ Zeugmateōn, Pouplios kai Paulos kai alloi tēn akran philosophian syllegontes. en de tę̄ Kyrestōn, ho men paneuphēmos Akepsemas en oikiskǭ' katheirkto, kai hexēkontoutēn chronon touton ebiō ton tropon, oute horōmenos oute phthengomenos" Zeugmatios de ho axiagastos, kaitoi to blepein aphę̄rēmenos, periēei stērizōn ta probata kai tois lykois machomenos, hou dē charin autou tēn askētikēn kalybēn eneprēsan. alla Traïanos ho pistotatos stratēgos heteran edeimato kai tēs allēs therapeias metedōken. en de tę̄ Antiocheōn, diarianos kai Eusebios kai ᾿Dmmianos, Palladios te kai Symeōnēs kai Abraamēs kai alloi pros toutois tēn eikona tēn theian akēraton diasōsantes. nchai toutōn de kakeinōn ton bion anagrapton pepoiēkamen. kai to horos de to tę̄ megistę̄ parakeimenon polei leimōsi paraplēsiois hōraïsto" kai gar en toutǭ Petros ho Galatēs dielampe, kai ho toutou ge homōnymos ho “igyptios. kai Rhōmanos kai Seuēros kai Zēnōn, Mōysēs te kai Malchos kai alloi pleistoi. para men tōn pollōn agnooumenoi, para de tou theou ginōskomenoi.
There were others too at that time who sent out the flashes of monastic philosophy. In the desert of the Chalcidians were Avitus, Marcianus, Abraham, and others not easy to count, practising the passionless life in passible bodies; in the territory of the Apameans, Agapetus, Symeones, and Paul; in that of the Zeugmatians, Publius, Paul, and others gathering the highest philosophy. In that of the Cyrrhestians the all-praiseworthy Acepsimas was shut up in a little house and lived in this way for sixty years, neither seen nor speaking; and the admirable Zeugmatius, though deprived of sight, went about strengthening the sheep and fighting the wolves, for which reason they burned his ascetic hut; but Trajan, a most faithful general, built another and gave him other care as well. In that of the Antiochenes were Marianus, Eusebius, Ammianus, Palladius, Symeones, Abraham, and others besides, who kept the divine image unstained. The lives of both these and those we have recorded. The mountain lying by the great city too was beautified with like meadows; for on it shone Peter the Galatian and his namesake the Egyptian, Romanus, Severus, Zeno, Moses, Malchus, and very many others, unknown to most but known to God.
Gen 1:27 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret lists the ascetics of the Syrian deserts and of the mountain near Antioch in Valens's time, whose lives he recorded in the Religious History.
- Most of these ascetics have chapters in Theodoret's Religious History.
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 4.25 (GCS 19:268–269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-25). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/4-25
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.