History of the Arians

 a wild beast has come forth upon the earth, this heresy. For not only does it harm the innocent with its words as with teeth, but it has also hired ex

 Nevertheless, since Eusebius was lusting after and wanting to seize the episcopate of the city (for thus also he had moved from Berytus to Nicomedia),

 seeing themselves, who happened to be suspected in all things, not prevailing in an ecclesiastical judgment, they approach Constantius alone and then

 you deemed them worthy to have communion from them, they were not worthy of blows but if you were beating them as wicked men, why were you summoning

 of the accusers, as they themselves had suborned everything and contrived such things. Seeing these things, although they had come with haste, thinkin

 deeds to be revealed. For since those in Adrianople did not wish to have communion with them, as men who had fled from the Synod and had become liable

 wonderful and daring in all things, as they have seen them in Antioch, they plotted together, but Stephen alone undertook the drama as being well-suit

 the people of Alexandria. Making our aim your good order in all things ... (This too was likewise written in the same 65th oration and because it vari

 having received letters from him. And having gone up also to Rome, they were repenting, confessing that everything whatsoever they had done and said a

 present, not with palace officials or notaries having been sent, such as they themselves now do, but not even when the emperor was present, nor having

 the emperor commanded.” How many were harassed by them in every city, so that they might not 31.6 condemn them as friends of the bishops. For letters

 Lucifer the bishop from the metropolis of Sardinia, and Eusebius from Vercelli in Italy, and Dionysius 33.7 from Milan, which is also a metropolis of

 Accept these things.” 36.1 But the bishop, persuading by speech, was teaching: “How is it possible for this to happen against Athanasius? For how can

 of the gates, so that no orthodox person, entering, might see Liberius? Rome also had experience of the Christ-fighters and knew at last what it had n

 with 40.3 Constantius’ soldiers. Truly, wickedness is blind for in that by which they thought to vex the confessors by separating them from one anoth

 he might write against us, but hold communion with the Arians. 43.2 But the old man, finding the hearing of it unpleasant and being grieved that he sh

 What courtier of his compelled him to subscribe against anyone, that Valens and his party should say such things? Cease, I beseech you, and remember t

 (for he was now a hundred years old) the heartless one was put to shame. For the new Ahab, another Belshazzar who had arisen among us, overlooked all

 he writes evil things again to the council and the people of Alexandria, inciting the younger men, so that they all might come together and either exp

 to Felicissimus, the then duke, and to Nestorius the prefect, so that if either Philip the prefect or anyone else should dare to plot against Athanasi

 ordered the church to be handed over.” And while all were marveling at this and nodding to one another and saying, “Has Constantius become a heretic?”

 the miracle had a more manifest proof. For a certain licentious young man, running in and daring to do so, sat upon the throne. And sitting down, the

 And to their women they have given authority to abuse whomever they wish. And the respectable and faithful women would turn aside and yield the way to

 And they, seeing the man blind from birth now seeing, and the man who had been a paralytic for a long time made well, they accused the Lord who had do

 the evils that have come to pass, after the persecution which occurred through Heraclius, they again do not cease slandering to the emperor. For they

 the antichrist himself? For he himself, because of his heresy, was the first to hasten to rival Saul in cruelty. For that one, when the priests had gi

 writing, he repents, and repenting, he is provoked, and again he laments and not having what he should do, he shows the desolation of his soul's mind.

 For they did not even pity them when they were sick, but even drove them on when they were bearing up with difficulty on account of their weakness, so

 he is, such as that one might become. For he speaks words against the most high, being the head of the impious heresy, and he makes war against the sa

 to the man. But if you speak having heard from these men, it is just for you to believe also the things said by him, but if you do not believe him, bu

 having caused the Arian heresy to be so much as 78.5 named in it. For still only in the whole of Egypt was there freedom of speech for orthodoxy, and

 It is good to be content with the divine scripture and for all to be persuaded by it as it commands, both because of the other heresies and especially

 as the soldiers were coming on, and men were being shot with arrows and killed. And some of the soldiers also turned to plundering and stood the virgi

of the accusers, as they themselves had suborned everything and contrived such things. Seeing these things, although they had come with haste, thinking that we would not even appear because we were afraid, when they saw 15.5 our eagerness, they shut themselves up in the palace; for there they were lodging. And so they conferred with one another: "We came for one thing and we see another; we arrived with counts and the trial is happening without counts; we will certainly be condemned. You all know the orders; Athanasius and his party have the records from the Mareotis, from which he himself is cleared, but we are put to shame. What then are we waiting for? Why do we delay? Let us invent pretexts and depart, lest we be condemned by staying. It is better to blush while fleeing than to be convicted as slanderers and condemned. If we flee, we can somehow still preside over the heresy; but if they condemn us even as we are fleeing, yet we have the emperor as a patron, who will not permit us to be cast out of the churches by the people." 16.1 So they were reasoning about such things; but Hosius and all the other bishops more frequently signified to them the eagerness of Athanasius and his party, and that "they are ready for their defense, promising to convict you as slanderers," and they said, "If you fear 16.2 the judgment, why did you come? For you should have either not come, or having come, not fled." Hearing these things and being even more dismayed, they used another pretext, more unseemly than the one in Antioch, that the emperor had written to them of his victories over the Persians, and they attempted to flee. And unashamed of this pretext, they sent it through Eustathius, a presbyter 16.3 of the church in Sardica. But not even so did their flight turn out according to their wishes; for immediately the holy synod, whose spokesman was the great Hosius, wrote to them openly: "Either appear to defend yourselves against the accusations brought against you and the slanders you have worked, or know that the synod condemns you as guilty, but declares Athanasius and his party free and clear from every charge." They, therefore, were driven more by the fear of their conscience than persuaded by the letters; for seeing those who had been wronged by them, they did not even turn to those who were speaking, but fled more swiftly. 17.1 Thus their flight was shameful and unseemly, but the holy synod, gathered from thirty-five and more provinces, recognizing the malevolence of the Arians, received Athanasius and his party for a defense concerning what they had suffered and what the others had alleged, 17.2 and having thus made their defense, which we have related in the preceding, it accepted and greatly admired it, so as to cherish both them and their communion and to write everywhere, to write also to the diocese of each and especially to Alexandria and Egypt and to the Libyas, that Athanasius and those with him were pure and beyond all blame, but that those who had become slanderers against them were malefactors and anything but 17.3 Christians. So they acquitted them with peace, and they deposed Stephen and Menophantus, Acacius and George of Laodicea, Ursacius and Valens and Theodore and Narcissus. For Gregory, who had been sent from the emperor to Alexandria, they repudiated as not having become a bishop at all, nor deserving to be called a Christian. They therefore also annulled what appointments he seemed to have made, ordering that these should not even be named at all in the churches on account of the novelty of the transgression. 18.1 Thus, then, Athanasius and those with him were acquitted with peace, and the letters are written at the end on account of the length of the epistle, and the synod was dissolved, but those who were deposed, though it was fitting that they should remain quiet even so, having returned after so shameful a flight, 18.2 did such things, that from these their former deeds

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κατηγόρων, ὡς αὐτοὶ πάντα ὑποβαλόντες καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μηχανησάμενοι. ταῦτα συνορῶντες, καίτοι μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐλθόντες, νομίσαντες μηδὲ ἡμᾶς ἀπαντᾶν ὡς φοβουμένους, ὡς ἑωράκασι 15.5 καὶ τὴν ἡμῶν προθυμίαν, ἀποκλείουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ᾤκουν. καὶ λοιπὸν ἀλλήλοις συνελάλουν· «ἤλθομεν ἐπ' ἄλλοις καὶ ἄλλα βλέπομεν· ἀπηντήσαμεν μετὰ κομήτων καὶ χωρὶς κομήτων ἡ κρίσις γίνεται· κατακρινόμεθα πάντως. οἴδατε πάντες τὰ προστάγματα· ἔχουσιν οἱ περὶ Ἀθανάσιον τὰ ἐν τῷ Μαρεώτῃ ὑπομνήματα, ἐξ ὧν αὐτὸς μὲν καθαρίζεται, ἡμεῖς δὲ καταισχυνόμεθα. τί δὴ οὖν μέλλομεν; τί βραδύ νομεν; πλασώμεθα προφάσεις καὶ ἀπέλθωμεν, μὴ μένοντες κατακριθῶμεν. βέλτιον φεύ γοντας ἐρυθριᾶν ἢ ἐλεγχθέντας συκοφάντας κατακρίνεσθαι. ἐὰν φύγωμεν, δυνάμεθά πως κἂν τῆς αἱρέσεως προίστασθαι· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ φεύγοντας ἡμᾶς κατακρίνωσιν, ἀλλ' ἔχομεν βασιλέα προστάτην τὸν μὴ ἀφιέντα ἡμᾶς ὑπὸ τῶν λαῶν ἐκβάλλεσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν». 16.1 Τοιαῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνοι διελογίζοντο· Ὅσιος δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες ἐπίσκοποι πυκνότερον αὐτοῖς ἐσήμαινον τὴν προθυμίαν τῶν περὶ Ἀθανάσιον καὶ ὡς «ἕτοιμοι πρὸς ἀπολογίαν εἰσὶν ἐπαγγελλόμενοι διελέγχειν ὑμᾶς συκοφάντας», ἔλεγόν τε «εἰ φοβεῖσθε 16.2 τὴν κρίσιν, τί ἀπηντᾶτε; ἔδει γὰρ ἢ μὴ ἐλθεῖν ἢ ἐλθόντας μὴ φεύγειν». ἐκεῖνοι ταῦτα ἀκούοντες καὶ μᾶλλον καταπλήξαντες ἀπρεπεστέρᾳ τῆς ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ προφάσεως ἄλλῃ προφάσει χρησάμενοι, ὡς βασιλέως αὐτοῖς ἐπινίκια κατὰ Περσῶν γράψαντος, ἐπεχείρησαν φεύγειν. καὶ ταύτην τὴν πρόφασιν οὐκ αἰδεσθέντες ἔπεμψαν δι' Εὐσταθίου πρεσβυτέρου 16.3 τῆς κατὰ Σαρδικὴν ἐκκλησίας. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οὕτως αὐτοῖς ἡ φυγὴ καταθυμίως ἀπέβη· εὐθὺς γὰρ ἡ ἁγία σύνοδος, ἧς προήγορος ἦν ὁ μέγας Ὅσιος, ἔγραψεν αὐτοῖς φανερῶς· «ἢ ἀπαντήσατε ἀπολογησόμενοι πρὸς τὰς ἐπιφερομένας καθ' ὑμῶν κατηγορίας καὶ ἃς εἰργάσασθε συκοφαντίας, ἢ γινώσκετε ὅτι ὑμᾶς μὲν ὡς ὑπευθύνους ἡ σύνοδος κατα κρίνει, τοὺς δὲ περὶ Ἀθανάσιον ἐλευθέρους καὶ καθαροὺς ἀπὸ πάσης αἰτίας ἀποφαίνεται». ἐκεῖνοι τοίνυν ὑπὸ φόβου τοῦ συνειδότος ἠλαύνοντο μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐπείθοντο· καὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἀδικηθέντας παρ' αὐτῶν ὁρῶντες οὐδὲ πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας ἐπεστρέφοντο, ἀλλ' ὀξύτερον ἔφευγον. 17.1 Ἐκείνων μὲν οὖν οὕτως αἰσχρῶς καὶ ἀπρεπῶς γέγονεν ἡ φυγή, ἡ δὲ ἁγία σύνοδος ἡ ἀπὸ λεʹ καὶ πλέον ἐπαρχιῶν συναχθεῖσα ἐπιγνοῦσα τὴν τῶν Ἀρειανῶν κακοήθειαν ἐδέξατο τοὺς περὶ Ἀθανάσιον εἰς ἀπολογίαν περὶ ὧν πεπόνθασι κἀκεῖνοι κατηγόρησαν, 17.2 καὶ οὕτως ἀπολογησαμένους, ἅπερ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἰρήκαμεν, ἀπεδέξατο καὶ ὑπερ εθαύμασεν, ὥστε αὐτούς τε καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν αὐτῶν ἀγαπῆσαι καὶ γράψαι πανταχοῦ γράψαι τε καὶ εἰς τὴν ἑκάστου παροικίαν καὶ μάλιστα εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον καὶ εἰς τὰς Λιβύας, Ἀθανάσιον μὲν καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ καθαροὺς καὶ πάσης μέμψεως ἐκτὸς εἶναι, τοὺς δὲ κατ' αὐτῶν γενομένους συκοφάντας κακούργους καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον 17.3 ἢ Χριστιανοὺς τυγχάνειν. ἀπέλυσαν γοῦν αὐτοὺς μετ' εἰρήνης, καθεῖλον δὲ Στέφανον καὶ Μηνόφαντον, Ἀκάκιον καὶ Γεώργιον τὸν ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ, Οὐρσάκιον καὶ Οὐάλεντα καὶ Θεόδωρον καὶ Νάρκισσον. Γρηγόριον γὰρ τὸν ἀπὸ βασιλέως εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἀποσταλέντα οὕτως ἀπεκήρυξαν ὡς μηδὲ ὅλως ἐπίσκοπον γενόμενον μηδὲ ὀφείλοντα Χριστιανὸν ὀνομάζεσθαι. ἠκύρωσαν γοῦν καὶ ἃς ἔδοξε καταστάσεις ποιεῖσθαι προσ τάξαντες μηδὲ αὐτὰς ὅλως ἐν ἐκκλησίαις ὀνομάζεσθαι διὰ τὸ καινὸν τῆς παρανομίας. 18.1 Οὕτω μὲν οὖν Ἀθανάσιος καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ ἀπελύθησαν μετ' εἰρήνης, τά τε γράμματα ἐν τῷ τέλει γέγραπται διὰ τὸ μῆκος τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, καὶ ἡ σύνοδος διαλέλυται, οἱ δὲ καθ αιρεθέντες δέον καὶ οὕτως ἠρεμεῖν, οἱ δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὴν οὕτως αἰσχρὰν φυγὴν κατελθόντες 18.2 τοιαῦτα ἔδρασαν, ὡς ἐκ τούτων μικρὰς αὐτῶν τὰς προτέρας

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