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slanders, and thus to be with Athanasius at the festival of the dedication. When they therefore gathered in Tyre, Maximus of Jerusalem was also found there, ignorant of the plots against Athanasius. But Athanasius, entering the council of the evil-minded, tore apart the slanders of his accusers like a spider's web, so that they, having been shown to be liars, became enraged, threw everything into confusion, and shouted: "Away with the one who has silenced everyone by sorcery." But Dalmatius the Caesar and nephew of the emperor, with a military force, barely saved Athanasius, who was about to be killed by them. At that time Arsenius also arrived in Tyre by the providence of God, and when the fabrication concerning him was refuted, his enemies turned to the slander concerning Ischyras. But Athanasius, because of the unbearable plots against him, withdrew from Tyre. The Arian-minded, having set up a unilateral action, depose the absent Athanasius, and having entered into communion with Arius and Euzoius, they sent them to Alexandria; and thus they went up to the dedication with blood-stained hands. The ringleader of all the evils was Eusebius of Nicomedia. But a true account prevails, that the great Athanasius, having fled from Tyre, went up to Jerusalem, and having offered prayers and anointed with holy myrrh and consecrated the oratories before the arrival of the impious32, he reached the emperor and explained everything concerning himself. And the all-praised Constantine, marveling at the wickedness of his opponents, deemed him worthy of the greatest honor and sent him away to Alexandria with letters. And after the return from the dedication, Eusebius of Nicomedia, a man alien to all piety, and Theognis and Ursacius and Patrophilus, having reached Byzantium and having kept silent about the first slanders against Athanasius, brought forward four false witnesses who had the ordinations of bishops, who dared to say under oath that they had heard Athanasius threatening to hinder the grain shipment coming from Egypt to Byzantium. Wherefore, having moved the Christ-loving emperor to anger, they arranged for the great Athanasius to be exiled to Trier in Gaul. And when Athanasius was exiled, Arius again troubled Egypt. But the emperor, learning of this, summoned him and asked if he agreed with the decrees of Nicaea concerning the homoousion; and when he said under oath that he did agree, working deceitfully now as always; (for he had composed two papers, one in favor of the homoousion, the other against it; which he also wrote himself, having had the first written by another;) he therefore persuades the emperor, having sworn that he believed thus, to command him to be received; in the catholic church. When the divine Alexander learned this, he wept before God in the church called Irene; and swifter than speech, the divine justice came upon Arius in places worthy of the offenses of his tongue, cutting him off from life in the present and in the future, his bowels having been expelled in a latrine, at the very hour when he was about to tread unworthily upon the sacred precincts. These things happened in the thirty-first year of the great Constantine, when the divine Alexander was bishop of Constantinople, and not as Eusebius alone says, that Eusebius of Nicomedia, when he was preparing for the dedication against Athanasius, held the throne of Constantinople. For this is also shown to be false from the sequence of years, since Constantine reigned for 32 years in total. He, after the first decade, in his thirteenth year, having taken Byzantium, found Metrophanes, the predecessor of Alexander, as bishop, then Alexander was bishop for twenty-three years; so that from the beginning of the reign33 of the great Constantine until the death of Alexander there are 37 years, which Constantine did not reach; and so from the chronological sequence it is shown that Eusebius did not rule the throne of Constantinople under Constantine. And it is also shown from what was said above concerning Arius and Athanasius. For Athanasius's

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διαβολάς, καὶ οὕτω σὺν Ἀθανασίῳ εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν τῶν ἐγκαινίων γενέσθαι. συνελθόντων οὖν αὐτῶν ἐν Τύρῳ, εὑρέθη καὶ Μάξιμος ὁ Ἱεροσολύμων ἀγνοῶν τὰς κατὰ Ἀθανασίου συσκευάς. εἰσελθὼν δὲ Ἀθανάσιος εἰς τὸ συνέδριον τῶν κακοφρόνων ἀράχνης δίκην τὰς συκοφαντίας τῶν κατηγόρων διέσπασεν, ὥστε αὐτούς, ἐφ' οἷς ὤφθησαν ψευδόμενοι, μανέντας συγχεῖν ἅπαντα καὶ βοᾷν· "ἄρατε τὸν γοητείᾳ πάντας φιμώσαντα." ∆αλμάτιος δὲ ὁ καῖσαρ καὶ ἀνεψιὸς τοῦ βασιλέως μετὰ στρατιωτικῆς χειρὸς μόλις Ἀθανάσιον περιέσωσεν ἀναιρεῖσθαι ὑπ' αὐτῶν μέλλοντα. τότε καὶ Ἀρσένιος κατὰ θεοῦ πρόνοιαν ἐν Τύρῳ παρεγένετο, καὶ τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν πλάσματος διελεγχθέντος, ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ Ἰσχύραν συκοφαντίαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἐτρέποντο. Ἀθανάσιος δὲ διὰ τὰς ἀφορήτους κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐπιβουλὰς ὑπεχώρησε τῆς Τύρου. πρᾶξιν δὲ κατὰ μονομέρειαν συστησάμενοι οἱ Ἀρειανόφρονες καθαιροῦσιν ἀπόντα τὸν Ἀθανάσιον, ἀρείῳ δὲ καὶ Εὐζωΐῳ συγκοινωνήσαντες εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν τούτους ἐξέπεμψαν· καὶ οὕτως ἀνῆλθον ᾑμαγμέναις χερσὶν εἰς τὰ ἐγκαίνια. πάντων δὲ τῶν κακῶν ἦν ἀρχηγὸς ὁ Νικομηδείας Εὐσέβιος. λόγος δὲ ἀληθὴς κρατεῖ, ὅτι ὁ μέγας Ἀθανάσιος φυγὼν ἐκ Τύρου ἀνῆλθεν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, καὶ ποιήσας εὐχὰς καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ χρίσας μύρῳ καὶ ἁγιάσας τοὺς εὐκτηρίους οἴκους πρὸ τῆς τῶν δυσσε32 βῶν παρουσίας οὗτος κατέλαβε τὸν βασιλέα καὶ πάντα καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐξηγήσατο. ὁ δὲ πανεύφημος Κωνσταντῖνος θαυμάσας τὴν τῶν ἀντιδίκων αὐτοῦ πονηρίαν, τιμῆς μεγίστης ἀξιώσας αὐτὸν μετὰ γραμμάτων ἀπέλυσεν εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῶν ἐγκαινίων ἐπάνοδον ὁ πάσης εὐσεβείας ἀλλότριος Νικομηδείας Εὐσέβιος καὶ Θεόγνις καὶ Οὐρσάκιος καὶ Πατρόφιλος καταλαβόντες τὸ Βυζάντιον καὶ τὰς πρώτας κατὰ Ἀθανασίου διαβολὰς σιωπήσαντες μάρτυρας ψευδεῖς προεβάλοντο τέσσαρας ἐπισκόπων χειροτονίας ἔχοντας, οἵ τινες μεθ' ὅρκου εἰπεῖν ἐτόλμησαν, ὅτι ἤκουσαν Ἀθανασίου ἀπειλοῦντος κωλύειν τὴν σιτοπομπίαν τὴν ἐρχομένην ἐξ Αἰγύπτου εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον. ὅθεν καὶ κινήσαντες εἰς ὀργὴν τὸν φιλόχριστον βασιλέα παρεσκεύασαν ἐξορίσαι τὸν μέγαν Ἀθανάσιον εἰς Τρίβεριν τῆς Γαλλίας. Ἀθανασίου δὲ ἐξορισθέντος, Ἄρειος πάλιν ἐτάραττε τὴν Αἴγυπτον. γνοὺς δὲ ὁ βασιλεύς, μεταπεμψάμενος αὐτὸν ἠρώτα, εἰ τοῖς ἐν Νικαίᾳ δόγμασι συντίθεται περὶ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου· τοῦ δὲ μεθ' ὅρκου εἰπόντος συντίθεσθαι, δόλον τε καὶ νῦν, ὡς ἀεί, ἐργασαμένου· (δύο γὰρ χάρτας συντέθεικεν, ἕνα μὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου, θάτερον δὲ κατ' αὐτοῦ· ὃν καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἔγραψεν, τὸν πρῶτον δι' ἑτέρου γράψας·) πείθει τοίνυν τὸν βασιλέα ὀμόσας οὕτω πιστεύειν κελεῦσαι δεχθῆναι αὐτοῦ· ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. ὅπερ μαθὼν ὁ θεῖος Ἀλέξανδρος τῷ θεῷ προσέκλαυσεν εἰς τὴν καλουμένην Εἰρήνην ἐκκλησίαν· καὶ λόγου θᾶττον ἡ θεία δίκη μετῆλθε τὸν Ἄρειον ἐν τόποις ἀξίοις τῶν τῆς γλώσσης ἀμαρευμάτων ἐκκόψασα τοῦ ζῇν ἐν τῷ νῦν καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι, τῶν σπλάγχνων αὐτῷ κατενεχθέντων ἐν ἀφόδοις, καθ' ἣν ὥραν ἔμελλε τῶν ἱερῶν ἀναξίως ἐπιβαίνειν περιβόλων. ταῦτα τῷ τριακοστῷ πρώτῳ ἔτει γέγονε τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου, τοῦ θείου Ἀλεξάνδρου ἐπισκοποῦντος τὴν Κωνσταντινούπολιν, καὶ οὐχ ὥς φησιν Εὐσέβιος μόνος, ὅτι ὁ Νικομηδείας Εὐσέβιος, ὅτε εἰς τὰ ἐγκαίνια τὰ κατὰ Ἀθανασίου ἐσκεύαζεν, τὸν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως θρόνον ἐπεῖχεν. τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν χρόνων ὁμάδος δείκνυται ψεῦδος, ἐπείπερ Κωνσταντῖνος τὰ ὅλα ἔτη λβʹ ἐβασίλευσεν. ὃς μετὰ τὴν πρώτην δεκαετηρίδα, τῷ δεκάτῳ τρίτῳ αὐτοῦ ἔτει, καταλαβὼν τὸ Βυζάντιον Μητροφάνην τὸν πρὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου εὗρεν ἐπισκοποῦντα, εἶτα Ἀλέξανδρος ἔτη τρία καὶ εἴκοσιν ἐπισκόπησεν· ὡς εἶναι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς βασι33 λείας τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου ἕως κοιμήσεως Ἀλεξάνδρου ἔτη λζʹ, ἅπερ Κωνσταντῖνος οὐκ ἔφθασεν· καὶ οὕτω μὲν ἐκ τῆς χρονικῆς ὁμάδος δείκνυται μὴ ἄρξαι τὸν Εὐσέβιον ἐπὶ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ θρόνου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. δείκνυται δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνωτέρω περὶ Ἀρείου καὶ Ἀθανασίου. ἥ τε γὰρ Ἀθανασίου