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Leaving these things aside, eight villages of Marcion and those lying around I gladly guided to the truth; another village filled with Eunomians, and another of Arians, I brought to the light of the knowledge of God, and through divine grace not even one weed of the heretics was left among us. And these things I have not done without danger, but having often shed my blood, having often been stoned by them, and having reached the very gates of Hades. But I have become a fool in boasting; but what I have said is from necessity, not from choice. The thrice-blessed Paul was also once forced to do this, stopping the mouth of his accusers. Yet I endure the apparent dishonor and consider it the highest honor; for I hear the apostolic voice crying out: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But I ask your Magnificence to take thought for ecclesiastical affairs, and to calm the rising storm; for in truth not even at the beginning of the division did such confusion seize the Church. No one teaches you the magnitude of the dangers, the laments of the Christians in Phoenicia, the wailings of the most holy monks among us. For this reason I have used more words, so that your Greatness, having learned of it, may calm this storm of the Churches and reap the benefit from it. 82 TO EUSEBIUS BISHOP OF ANCYRA. I had hoped often at the present time to receive letters from your Holiness. For having endured a most manifest slander, we needed brotherly comfort. For those who are now renewing the heresy of Marcion and Valentinus and Manes and the other docetists, being displeased that we openly denounce their heresy, have attempted to deceive the imperial ears, calling us heretics, and slandering that we divide into two sons the one Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God. But they did not persuade as they hoped by saying so. For which reason a memorandum was written to the most magnificent and most glorious general and consul, having no accusation of heresy, but certain other charges, and these false. For they said that I was frequently gathering synods in Antioch, and that this was troubling some, and for this reason I should keep quiet, and manage the Churches entrusted to me. Therefore, when this memorandum was shown to me, I seized the decree, as a source of good things. For first, I received the much-desired quiet. Then, I hope that many of the stains of my sins will be wiped away because of the injustice contrived against us by the enemies of the truth. And the Ruler of all showed very clearly even in the present life how much care he takes of the wronged. For while we were keeping quiet, and were confined within the borders of our own country, and while all in the East were distressed and bitterly lamenting, but were forced to be silent on account of the fear that had fallen upon them (for what had happened to us had instilled in all a fear of cowardice), the Lord himself looked down from heaven, and he refuted the slander of those who had woven the slander, and laid bare their impious mind. These men also armed Alexandria against us, and are buzzing in everyone's ears through their worthy ministers, that we preach two sons instead of one. But I am so far from this abominable opinion, that having found some of the holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea, who in their treatises opposed the madness of Arius, and who were forced by the struggle against them to use a greater division, I am displeased and do not accept such a division; for I know that necessity

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ταῦτα καταλίπω, κώμας ὀκτὼ τῆς Μαρκίωνος καὶ τὰς πέριξ κειμένας ἀσμένως πρὸς τὴν ἀλή θειαν ἐποδήγησα· ἄλλην κώμην Εὐνομιανῶν πεπληρωμένην, καὶ ἄλλην Ἀρειανῶν, τῷ φωτὶ τῆς θεογνωσίας προσήγαγον, καὶ διὰ τὴν θείαν χάριν οὐδὲ ἓν παρ' ἡμῖν αἱρετικῶν ὑπ ελείφθη ζιζάνιον. Καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἀκινδύνως πεποίηκα, ἀλλὰ τὸ αἷμά μου πολλάκις ἐκχύσας, πολλάκις καταλευσθεὶς ὑπ' αὐ τῶν, καὶ εἰς αὐτὰς φθάσας τοῦ ᾅδου τὰς πύλας. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἄφρων ἐγενόμην καυχώμενος· τῆς δὲ ἀνάγκης, οὐ τῆς γνώμης τὰ εἰρημένα. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ τρισμακάριος Παῦ λος ἠναγκάσθη δρᾶσαί ποτε, τῶν κατηγορούντων ἐμφράττων τὸ στόμα. Στέγω δὲ ὅμως τὴν δοκοῦσαν ἀτιμίαν καὶ τιμὴν ἄκραν ὑπολαμβάνω· ἀκούω γὰρ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς βοώσης φω νῆς· Πάντες οἱ θέλοντες ζῆν εὐσεβῶς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ διωχθήσονται . Τὴν δὲ ὑμετέραν μεγαλοπρέπειαν παρακαλῶ φροντίσαι τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ τὴν ἐπαναστᾶσαν κατευνάσαι ζάλην· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ οὐδὲ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς διαστάσεως τοιαύτη τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν κατέλαβε σύγχυσις. Οὐδεὶς ὑμᾶς διδάσκει τῶν κινδύνων τὸ μέγεθος, τῶν ἐν Φοι νίκῃ Χριστιανῶν τοὺς θρήνους, τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἁγιωτάτων μο ναζόντων τοὺς ὀδυρμούς. Οὗ δὴ χάριν καὶ πλείοσιν ἐχρησάμην λόγοις, ἵνα μαθοῦσα ὑμῶν ἡ μεγαλοφυΐα τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τὸν κλύδωνα καταπαύσῃ τοῦτον καὶ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ὠφέλειαν καρ πώσηται. 82 ΕΥΣΕΒΙΩ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ ΑΓΚΥΡΑΣ. Ἤλπισα συχνὰς ἐν τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ δέξασθαι τῆς σῆς ἁγιωσύνης ἐπιστολάς. Προδηλοτάτην γὰρ ὑπομεμενηκότες συκοφαντίαν, παραψυχῆς ἀδελφικῆς ἐδεόμεθα. Οἱ γὰρ τὴν Μαρκίωνος καὶ Βαλεντίνου καὶ Μάνητος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δοκητῶν αἵρεσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀνανεούμενοι, δυσχεραί νοντες ὅτι τὴν αἵρεσιν αὐτῶν ἄντικρυς στηλιτεύομεν, ἐξ απατῆσαι τὰς βασιλικὰς ἐπειράθησαν ἀκοάς, αἱρετικοὺς ἡμᾶς ἀποκαλοῦντες, καὶ εἰς δύο μερίζειν υἱοὺς συκοφαντοῦντες τὸν ἕνα Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν ἐνανθρωπήσαντα Θεὸν Λόγον. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔπεισαν ὥσπερ ἤλπισαν λέγοντες. Οὗ δὴ χάριν ὑπομνηστικὸν ἐγράφη τῷ μεγαλοπρεπεστάτῳ καὶ ἐνδο ξοτάτῳ στρατηγῷ καὶ ὑπάτῳ, αἱρέσεως μὲν κατηγορίαν οὐδε μίαν ἔχον, ἄλλας δέ τινας αἰτίας, καὶ ταύτας ψευδεῖς. Συνό δους γὰρ ἔλεγόν με συχνὰς εἰς τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν συναγείρειν, καὶ τοῦτό τινας λυπεῖν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο χρῆναί με ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, καὶ τὰς ἐγκεχειρισμένας οἰκονομεῖν Ἐκκλησίας. Τούτου μοι τοίνυν τοῦ ὑπομνηστικοῦ δειχθέντος, ἥρπασα τὴν ψῆφον, ὡς πρόξενον ἀγαθῶν. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τὴν τριπόθητον ἀπ έλαβον ἡσυχίαν. Εἶτα δὲ πολλὰς ἐλπίζω τῶν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ πλημ μεληθέντων ἐξαλειφθῆναι κηλίδας διὰ τὴν τυρευθεῖσαν καθ' ἡμῶν ἀδικιὰν ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθρῶν. Ἔδειξε δὲ καὶ λίαν ἐναργῶς κἀν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ τῶν ὅλων ὁ Πρύτανις, ὅσην τῶν ἀδικουμένων ποιεῖται κηδεμονίαν. Ἡμῶν γὰρ ἡσυχίαν ἀγόντων, καὶ εἴσω τῶν τῆς πατρίδος ὅρων εἰργομένων, καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀνατολὴν πάντων ἀνιωμένων μέν, καὶ πικρῶς ὀδυ ρομένων, σιγᾶν δὲ διὰ τὸ προσπεσὸν δέος ἠναγκασμένων (τὰ γὰρ καθ' ἡμῶν γεγενημένα τὸ τῆς δειλίας πᾶσιν ἐνέθηκε δέος), αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διέκυψε, καὶ τῶν τὴν συκοφαντίαν ὑφηνάντων τὴν συκοφαντίαν διήλεγξε, καὶ τὸ δυσσεβὲς αὐτῶν ἐγύμνωσε φρόνημα. Οὗτοι καὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάν δρειαν ἐξώπλισαν καθ' ἡμῶν, καὶ τὰς πάντων ἀκοὰς περιβομ βοῦσι διὰ τῶν ἀξίων αὐτῶν ὑπουργῶν, ὡς ἡμεῖς ἀνθ' ἑνὸς δύο κηρύττομεν υἱούς. Ἐγὼ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀπέχω τοῦ μυσαροῦ τού του φρονήματος, ὅτι καί τινας τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ συνεληλυθότων εὑρηκὼς πρὸς τὴν Ἀρείου μανίαν ἐν συντάγμασιν ἀποτεινομένους, καὶ ἀναγκαζομένους διὰ τὸν πρὸς ἐκείνους ἀγῶνα πλείονι διαιρέσει κεχρῆσθαι, δυσχεραίνω καὶ οὐ προσίεμαι τὴν τοιαύτην διαίρεσιν· οἶδα γὰρ ὡς ἡ ἀνάγκη