28. The news of the intrusion of George.

The rest of their proceedings will perhaps be thought incredible, and will fill all men with astonishment, by reason of their extreme atrocity. It is necessary however to speak of them, in order that your Christian zeal and piety may perceive that their slanders and calumnies against us are framed for no other end, than that they may drive us out of the Churches, and introduce their own impiety in our place. For when the lawful Bishops, men of advanced age, had some of them been banished, and others forced to fly, heathens and catechumens, those who hold the first places in the senate and men who are notorious for their wealth, were straightway commissioned by the Arians to preach the holy faith instead of Christians84    Hist Ar. §73.. And enquiry was no longer made, as the Apostle enjoined, ‘if any be blameless85    Tit. i. 8.:’ but according to the practice of the impious Jeroboam, he who could give most money was named Bishop; and it made no difference to them, even if the man happened to be a heathen, so long as he furnished them with money. Those who had been Bishops from the time of Alexander, monks and ascetics, were banished: and men practised only in calumny corrupted, as far as in them lay, the Apostolic rule, and polluted the Churches. Truly their false accusations against us have gained them much, that they should be able to commit iniquity, and to do such things as these in your time; so that the words of Scripture may be applied to them, ‘Woe unto those through whom My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles86    Rom. ii. 24..’

28 Τὰ δὲ ἄλλα τὰ γενόμενα ἴσως μὲν ἄπιστα νομισθήσεται, καὶ πάντας ἐκπλήξει διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ μύσους. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ὅμως εἰπεῖν, ἵνα ἡ σὴ φιλόχριστος σπουδὴ καὶ θεοσέβεια μάθῃ, ὡς αἱ καθ' ἡμῶν διαβολαὶ καὶ συκοφαντίαι δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον γεγόνασιν ἢ ἵνα ἡμᾶς μὲν ἐκβάλωσι τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν, τὴν δὲ ἰδίαν ἀσέβειαν ἀντεισενεγκεῖν δυνηθῶσι. Τῶν γὰρ ἀληθινῶν καὶ πολυετῶν ἐπισκόπων τῶν μὲν ἐξορισθέντων, τῶν δὲ φυγαδευθέντων, ἐθνικοὶ λοιπόν, κατηχούμενοι, καὶ οἱ τὰ πρῶτα τῆς βουλῆς ἔχοντες, καὶ οἱ ἐν πλούτῳ διαβόητοι ἀντὶ Χριστιανῶν εὐσεβῆ πίστιν παραγγέλλονται παρὰ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν ὁμιλήσωσι. Καὶ οὐκέτι μέν, ὡς παρήγγειλεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, εἴ τίς ἐστιν ἀνεπίληπτος, ἐζητεῖτο· ὡς δὲ ὁ ἀσεβέστατος Ἱεροβοὰμ πεποίηκεν, ὁ πλεῖον διδοὺς χρυσίον ὠνομάσθη ἐπίσκοπος. Καὶ οὐ διέφερεν αὐτοῖς εἰ κἂν ἐθνικὸς ἐτύγχανε, μόνον εἰ χρυσίον παρεῖχε. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἐπίσκοποι, μονάζοντες καὶ ἀσκηταί, ἐξωρίσθησαν· οἱ δὲ σοφοὶ περὶ τὰς διαβολὰς διέφθειραν, τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, τὴν ἀποστολικὴν διάταξιν, καὶ τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἐμίαναν. Μεγάλα γε ἐκέρδησαν αὐτῶν αἱ συκοφαντίαι, ἵνα ἐξῇ αὐτοῖς παρανομεῖν καὶ τοιαῦτα πράττειν ἐν τοῖς σοῖς καιροῖς, ὥστε κατ' αὐτῶν εἶναι τὸ γεγραμμένον· «Οὐαὶ δι' οὓς τὸ ὄνομά μου βλασφημεῖται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν».