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

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 done the good deed, and judged those who had received the benefit as transgressors. 62.1 Who then was not amazed at these things? Who did not curse the heresy and those who avenged it? Who did not know that the Arians are fiercer than wild beasts? For not even did the polluted ones gain that for which they did these things, but rather they increased the hatred against themselves among all. They thought by plotting and fear to force some into their heresy, 62.2 so that they would even assemble with them. But the opposite resulted for them. For those who suffered endured what was done by them as a martyrdom and neither betrayed nor denied their piety towards Christ, while those who watched them from without, and now even the Greeks, seeing them, cursed them as antichrists, as executioners; for the human race is fond of the poor and compassionate. But these men have lost even human reasoning. And those who were suffering would have prayed to be well treated by others; they themselves did not permit others to be treated this way, having the charge and authority of the judges and especially from the duke. 63.1 For what things they have done also to the presbyters and deacons, and how they drove them into exile before the duke and the judges, dragging their household members from their homes by means of the soldiers and the general Gorgonius and cutting them with blows, and how from them (the most cruel thing of all) and from those already deceased they seized the loaves of bread with such insolence, it is not possible even to express in words, their cruelty overcoming the narration in words. 63.2 For what might one say and seem to have said it? Or having mentioned what first, does one not find the second things more terrible, and after the second things, those that follow? For all their undertakings and impieties are filled with murder and impiety. And so they are knavish in mind and varied in manner, as to attempt to deceive even by the promise of patronage and the gift of money, in order that, since they do not have their constitution from reasonable grounds, they might seem at least from these things to create some impression on the simple. 64.1 Who then would still call these men even Gentiles simply, let alone Christians? Who would suppose their manner to be human and not rather bestial, on account of both the cruelty and the savagery of their actions? For they are both more wicked than executioners and bolder than the other heresies. 64.2 For they are far inferior to the Greeks, or rather, they are far removed from them. For I have heard from the fathers and I consider their word trustworthy that at the first, when the persecution occurred also under Maximian, the grandfather of Constantius, Greeks would hide our brothers the Christians when they were sought. And often they themselves lost property and were tested with prisons, only so that they might not become betrayers of those who fled, for they guarded those who fled to them as themselves 64.3 and chose to be in danger on their behalf. But now these admirable men, the inventors of the new heresy, being recognized by nothing else than by their plotting, do all the opposite things. For they themselves, becoming executioners, seek to hand over everyone, and they cause those who hide them to be plotted against, considering the one who hides and the one who is hidden an equal enemy; thus they are murderers, and the evildoers have emulated the wickedness of Judas. 65.1 And it is not possible to speak worthily of the evil things they do, except only this, that as I am writing and wanting to list the deeds of their wickedness, it comes to mind to think, whether this heresy is perhaps the “fourth daughter of the horse-leech” in the Proverbs, which after so many injustices and so many murders did not say “It is enough.” For it still rages violently; and it goes about seeking those not yet known to it, but those whom it has already wronged, 65.2 it is eager to wrong again. For behold, after the nightly assault, after the things resulting from it

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κἀκεῖνοι βλέποντες τὸν ἐκ γενετῆς τυφλὸν λοιπὸν βλέποντα καὶ τὸν πολλῷ τῷ χρόνῳ παρα λυτικὸν γενόμενον ὑγιῆ, τὸν μὲν εὐεργετήσαντα κύριον ᾐτιῶντο, τοὺς δὲ εὖ παθόντας ὡς παραβάτας ἔκρινον. 62.1 Τίς οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐκ ἐθαύμαζε; τίς οὐ κατηρᾶτο τὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ τοὺς ἐκδικοῦντας αὐτήν; τίς οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν, ὅτι καὶ θηρίων ἀγριώτεροι τυγχάνουσιν οἱ Ἀρειανοί; οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ ὧν ἕνεκα ταῦτα ἐποίουν ἐκέρδαινον οἱ μιαροί, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον τὸ καθ' ἑαυτῶν μῖσος παρὰ πᾶσιν ηὔξανον. ἐνόμιζον ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ φόβου βιάζεσθαί τινας εἰς τὴν αἵρεσιν, 62.2 ὥστε καὶ συνάγεσθαι μετ' αὐτῶν. ἀπέβαινε δὲ αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐναντία. οἱ μὲν γὰρ πάσχοντες ὡς μαρτύριον ὑπέφερον τὰ παρ' ἐκείνων γιγνόμενα καὶ οὔτε προεδίδουν οὔτε ἠρνοῦντο τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσέβειαν, οἱ δὲ θεωροῦντες ἔξωθεν αὐτούς, λοιπὸν δὲ καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες βλέ ποντες ὡς ἀντιχρίστους ὡς δημίους κατηρῶντο· φιλόπτωχον γὰρ καὶ συμπαθὲς τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος. οὗτοι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀνθρώπων λογισμὸν ἀπώλεσαν. καὶ οἱ πάσχοντες ἂν ηὔξαντο παρ' ἑτέρων εὖ παθεῖν, αὐτοὶ τοῦτο παθεῖν τοὺς ἄλλους οὐκ ἐπέτρεπον ἔχοντες τὴν τῶν δικαστῶν καὶ μάλιστα τὴν παρὰ τοῦ δουκὸς ἐπιτριβὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν. 63.1 Ἃ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις καὶ διακόνοις πεποιήκασι, καὶ πῶς αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ δου κὸς καὶ τῶν δικαστῶν ἐφυγάδευσαν καταφέροντες ἐκ τῶν οἴκων τοὺς οἰκείους αὐτῶν διὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν καὶ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ Γοργονίου καὶ πληγαῖς κατακόπτοντος, καὶ πῶς αὐτῶν (τό γε πάντων ὠμότερον) καὶ τῶν ἤδη τετελευτηκότων τοὺς ἄρτους μεθ' ὅσης ὕβρεως διήρπασαν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ λόγῳ φράσαι νικώσης τῆς ὠμότητος αὐτῶν τὴν ἐκ τῶν λόγων 63.2 διήγησιν. τί γὰρ ἄν τις εἰπὼν εἰρηκέναι δόξειεν; ἢ ποίου πρώτου μνημονεύσας, οὐχ εὑρίσκει τὰ δεύτερα δεινότερα, τῶν δευτέρων τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα; πάντα γὰρ αὐτῶν τὰ ἐπιχει ρήματα καὶ τὰ ἀσεβήματα φόνου καὶ ἀσεβείας πεπλήρωται. καὶ οὕτως εἰσὶ πανοῦργοι τὴν γνώμην καὶ ποικίλοι τὸν τρόπον, ὡς καὶ ἐπαγγελίᾳ προστασίας καὶ δόσει χρημάτων ἐπι χειρεῖν ἀπατᾶν, ἵν', ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐξ εὐλόγων ἔχουσι τὴν σύστασιν, κἂν ἐκ τούτων δόξωσι φαν τασίαν τινὰ τοῖς ἀκεραίοις ἐμποιεῖν. 64.1 Τίς οὖν ἔτι τούτους κἂν ἐθνικοὺς καλέσειεν ἁπλῶς, μήτιγε Χριστιανούς; τίς τούτων τὸν τρόπον ἀνθρώπινον καὶ μὴ μᾶλλον τοῦτον θηριώδη ὑπολάβοι διά τε τὸ ὠμὸν καὶ τὸ ἄγριον τῆς πράξεως; καὶ γὰρ καὶ δημίων εἰσὶ πονηρότεροι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων αἱρέσεων τολμη 64.2 ρότεροι. Ἑλλήνων γὰρ πολὺ δεύτεροι, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ μακρὰν αὐτῶν τυγχάνουσιν. ἐγὼ γὰρ ἤκουσα τῶν πατέρων καὶ πιστὸν ἡγοῦμαι τὸν ἐκείνων λόγον ὅτι τὸ πρῶτον, ὅτε γέ γονε καὶ ἐπὶ Μαξιμιανῷ τῷ πάππῳ Κωνσταντίου διωγμός, Ἕλληνες ἔκρυπτον τοὺς ἀδελ φοὺς ἡμῶν τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς ζητουμένους. καὶ πολλάκις ἀπώλεσαν αὐτοὶ χρήματα δεσμω τηρίων τε ἐπειράθησαν, ἵνα μόνον τῶν φευγόντων μὴ γένωνται προδόται, ὡς γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς 64.3 ἐφύλαττον τοὺς προσφεύγοντας καὶ κινδυνεύειν πρὸ αὐτῶν ἐβουλεύοντο. ἀλλὰ νῦν οἱ θαυμαστοὶ οὗτοι, οἱ τῆς νέας αἱρέσεως ἐφευρεταί, ἐκ μηδενὸς ἑτέρου ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπιβουλεύειν ἐπιγινωσκόμενοι πάντα τἀναντία πράττουσιν. αὐτοί τε γὰρ δι' ἑαυτῶν δήμιοι γιγνό μενοι πάντας ζητοῦσι παραδιδόναι καὶ τοὺς κρύπτοντας ἐπιβουλεύεσθαι ποιοῦσιν ἴσον ἐχθρὸν ἡγούμενοι τόν τε κρύπτοντα καὶ τὸν κρυπτόμενον· οὕτως εἰσὶ φονευταὶ καὶ τὴν Ἰούδα πονηρίαν ἐξήλωσαν οἱ κακοῦργοι. 65.1 Καὶ οὐκ ἔστι κατ' ἀξίαν ὧν διαπράττονται κακῶν εἰπεῖν ἢ τοῦτο μόνον ὅτι γρά φοντά με καὶ θέλοντα καταλέγειν τῆς πονηρίας ἐκείνων τὰς πράξεις ὑπεισέρχεται νοεῖν, μὴ ἆρα τῆς ἐν ταῖς Παροιμίαις «βδέλλης ἡ τετάρτη θυγάτηρ» ἐστὶν ἡ αἵρεσις αὕτη, ἥτις μετὰ τὰς τοσαύτας ἀδικίας καὶ τοὺς τοσούτους φόνους οὐκ εἶπεν «ἀρκεῖ». ἔτι γὰρ νεανιεύεται· καὶ τοὺς μὲν μηδέπω γνωσθέντας αὐτῇ περιέρχεται ζητοῦσα, οὓς δὲ ἔφθασεν ἀδικῆσαι, 65.2 πάλιν ἐπαδικεῖν σπουδάζει. ἰδοὺ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν νυκτερινὴν ἔφοδον, μετὰ τὰ ἐξ αὐτῆς

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