47

to undergo capital punishment; and perhaps we would have died thus, if we had not then escaped against their will. For such were the letters given against the party of Olympius to the proconsul Donatus, and against us to Philagrius." These were the bold deeds of the impious faction against the saints. 131 This Hosius was bishop of Corduba, and he shone at the great council of Nicaea and was the leader of those who assembled at Sardica. But I wish to insert into this history the most praiseworthy Liberius's boldness in the cause of truth and the admirable words which he used to Constantius. For they were recorded by the lovers of God of that time, as being sufficient to incite and stir up to zeal for divine things those who love them. After Julius, who succeeded Silvester, he ruled the church of the Romans. Dialogue between the Emperor Constantius and Liberius, Bishop of Rome. The Emperor Constantius said: "We, both because you are a Christian and bishop of our city, have judged it right to summon you and to exhort you to renounce communion with the unspeakable folly of the impious Athanasius. For the whole world has approved this, and by the vote of a synod has judged him to be foreign to ecclesiastical communion." Bishop Liberius said: "O Emperor, ecclesiastical judgments ought to be made with great justice. Therefore, if it seems good to your piety, command a tribunal to be assembled; and if Athanasius should be seen to be worthy of condemnation, then the vote against him will be cast according to the form of ecclesiastical procedure. For it is not possible to condemn a man whom we have not judged." 132 The Emperor Constantius said: "The whole world has condemned his impiety, and as from the beginning he makes a mockery of the occasion." Bishop Liberius said: "Those who signed were not eyewitnesses of what happened, but did so for the sake of honor and through fear and disgrace from you." The Emperor: "What is honor and fear and disgrace?" Liberius: "Those who do not love the glory of God, but have preferred your gifts instead, have condemned without trial one whom they have not seen with their own eyes; which is alien to Christians." The Emperor: "And yet he was judged in person at the synod held in Tyre, and at that synod all the bishops of the world condemned him." Liberius: "The man has never been judged in person; for those who then assembled and condemned him, condemned him after Athanasius had withdrawn from the tribunal." Eusebius the eunuch said: "At the synod of Nicaea he was shown to be an alien to the catholic faith." Liberius: "Only five of those who sailed with him to the Mareotis judged, whom they sent to draw up reports against the accused. 133 Of these who were sent, therefore, two are dead, Theogonius and Theodorus; the remaining three are alive, that is Maris, Valens, and Ursacius. From among those sent, a vote was convened at Sardica on account of this matter; and at that synod they presented documents, asking for pardon for the reports against Athanasius which they had drawn up in the Mareotis slanderously and ex parte. We now have these documents of theirs in our hands. With which of these ought we to be persuaded to have communion, O Emperor: with those who first condemned and then asked for pardon, or with those who have now condemned them?" Bishop Epictetus said: "O Emperor, it is not for the sake of the faith or of ecclesiastical judgments that Liberius makes his speech today, but so that he may boast to the senators in Rome that he has reasoned with the emperor." The emperor said to Liberius: "What part of the world are you, that you alone take the side of an impious man and destroy the peace of the world and of the whole cosmos?" Liberius: "The cause of the faith is not diminished because I am alone; for in ancient times only three were found resisting a command." Eusebius the eunuch said: "The

47

κεφαλῆς ὑπο "στῆναι τιμωρίαν· καὶ τάχα ἂν ἀπεθάνομεν οὕτως, εἰ μὴ παρὰ "γνώμην αὐτῶν ἐφύγομεν καὶ τότε. τοιαῦτα γάρ ἐστι τὰ μὲν κατὰ "τῶν περὶ Ὀλύμπιον πρὸς τὸν ἀνθύπατον ∆ονάτον τὰ δὲ καθ' ἡμῶν "πρὸς Φιλάγριον δοθέντα γράμματα." Ταῦτα τῆς δυσσεβοῦς συμμορίας τὰ κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων τολμήματα. 131 Ὅσιος δὲ οὗτος Κορδούβης ἐπίσκοπος ἦν, καὶ ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ δια πρέψας κατὰ Νίκαιαν συνόδῳ καὶ τῶν ἐν Σαρδικῇ συνεληλυθότων πρωτεύσας. Ἐγὼ δέ γε Λιβερίου τοῦ πανευφήμου τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας παρρησίαν καὶ τοὺς ἀξιαγάστους λόγους οἷς ἐχρήσατο πρὸς Κων στάντιον ἐνθεῖναι βούλομαι τῇ συγγραφῇ. ἀνάγραπτοι γὰρ παρὰ τῶν τηνικαῦτα φιλοθέων γεγένηνται, ὡς ἱκανοὶ παραθῆξαι καὶ διε γεῖραι πρὸς ζῆλον τῶν θείων τοὺς ἐραστάς. οὗτος δὲ μετὰ Ἰούλιον, ὃς Σίλβεστρον διεδέξατο, τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἴθυνεν ἐκκλησίαν. ∆ιάλογος Κωνσταντίου βασιλέως καὶ Λιβερίου ἐπισκόπου Ῥώμης. Κωνστάντιος βασιλεὺς εἶπεν· "Ἡμεῖς, καὶ διὰ τὸ Χριστιανόν σε "εἶναι καὶ ἐπίσκοπον τῆς ἡμετέρας πόλεως, ἄξιον ἐκρίναμεν καὶ τοῦτο "μεταστειλάμενοι παραινοῦμέν σοι τῆς ἀπορρήτου ἀπονοίας τοῦ ἀνοσίου "Ἀθανασίου τὴν κοινωνίαν ἀρνήσασθαι. τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ οἰκουμένη εὖ "ἔχειν ἐδοκίμασε συνόδου τε ψηφίσματι ἀλλότριον τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς "κοινωνίας ἔκρινε." Λιβέριος ἐπίσκοπος εἶπεν· "Βασιλεῦ, τὰ ἐκκλησιαστικὰ κρίματα "μετὰ πολλῆς δικαιοκρισίας γίνεσθαι ὀφείλει. διόπερ εἰ δοκεῖ σου τῇ "εὐσεβείᾳ, κριτήριον συσταθῆναι κέλευσον· καὶ εἰ ὀφθείη Ἀθανάσιος "ἄξιος καταδίκης, τότε κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἀκολουθίας "τύπον ἐξενεχθήσεται ἡ κατ' αὐτοῦ ψῆφος. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἷόν τε κατα "ψηφίσασθαι ἀνδρὸς ὃν οὐκ ἐκρίναμεν." 132 Κωνστάντιος ὁ βασιλεὺς εἶπεν· "Πᾶσα ἡ οἰκουμένη κατεψηφί "σατο περὶ τῆς ἀνοσιότητος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὡς ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸν καιρὸν "διαπαίζει." Λιβέριος ἐπίσκοπος εἶπεν· "Ὅσοι ὑπέγραψαν, οὐκ αὐτόπται τῶν "γεγενημένων ἦσαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ δόξαν καὶ φόβον καὶ ἀτιμίαν τὴν "παρὰ σοῦ." Ὁ βασιλεύς· "Τί ἐστι δόξα καὶ φόβος καὶ ἀτιμία;" Λιβέριος· "Ὅσοι τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀγαπῶσι, τὰς παρὰ σοῦ "μᾶλλον δωρεὰς προτιμήσαντες, ὃν μὴ ταῖς ὄψεσιν εἶδον οὐ κρίναντες "κατέκριναν· ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀλλότριον Χριστιανῶν." Ὁ βασιλεύς· "Καίτοι κέκριται κατὰ πρόσωπον ἐν τῇ γενομένῃ "συνόδῳ ἐν Τύρῳ, καὶ ἐν τῇ συνόδῳ κατεψηφίσαντο πάντες οἱ ἐπί "σκοποι τῆς οἰκουμένης." Λιβέριος· "Οὐδέ ποτε κατὰ πρόσωπον κέκριται ὁ ἄνθρωπος· ὅσοι "γὰρ τότε συνελθόντες κατεψηφίσαντο αὐτοῦ, ἀναχωρήσαντος Ἀθα "νασίου ἐκ τοῦ κριτηρίου, κατεψηφίσαντο." Εὐσέβιος ὁ εὐνοῦχος εἶπεν· "Ἐν τῇ συνόδῳ τῇ κατὰ Νίκαιαν "ἀλλότριος τῆς καθολικῆς πίστεως ἀπεδείχθη." Λιβέριος· "Πέντε μόνοι ἐπέκριναν τῶν συμπλευσάντων αὐτῷ ἐν "τῷ Μαρεώτῃ, οὓς ἀπέστειλαν κατὰ τοῦ ἐγκαλουμένου συστήσασθαι 133 "κατ' αὐτοῦ ὑπομνήματα. ἀπὸ τούτων τοίνυν τῶν ἀποσταλέντων "οἱ δύο τεθνήκασι, Θεογόνιος καὶ Θεόδωρος, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τρεῖς ζῶσι, "τουτέστι Μάρις καὶ Οὐάλης καὶ Οὐρσάκιος· ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ἀπο "σταλέντων, κατὰ Σαρδικὴν τοῦ πράγματος τούτου ἕνεκα συνεκρο "τεῖτο ψῆφος· οἳ ἐν τῇ συνόδῳ βιβλία ἐπιδεδώκασι, συγγνώμην αἰ "τοῦντες ἐφ' οἷς ἐν τῷ Μαρεώτῃ κατὰ συκοφαντίαν ἐκ μονομεροῦς "συνεστήσαντο κατὰ Ἀθανασίου ὑπομνήματα· ἅτινα βιβλία αὐτῶν "νῦν ἔχομεν μετὰ χεῖρας. τίνι τούτων δεῖ πείθεσθαι ἡμᾶς, βασιλεῦ, "κοινωνεῖν, τοῖς πρότερον καταψηφισαμένοις καὶ ἐκ δευτέρου συγ "γνώμην αἰτήσασιν ἢ τοῖς νῦν τούτων καταψηφισαμένοις;" Ἐπίκτητος ἐπίσκοπος εἶπεν· "Βασιλεῦ, οὐ πίστεως ἕνεκεν σήμερον "οὐδὲ κριμάτων ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἀντιποιούμενος Λιβέριος τὸν λόγον "ποιεῖται, ἀλλ' ἵνα τοῖς ἐν Ῥώμῃ συγκλητικοῖς καυχήσηται, ὡς συλλο "γισάμενος τὸν βασιλέα." Ὁ βασιλεὺς εἶπε Λιβερίῳ· "Πόστον εἶ μέρος τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὅτι "σὺ μόνος συναίρῃ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀνοσίῳ καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης τὴν εἰρήνην "καὶ ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου λύεις;" Λιβέριος· "Οὐ διὰ τὸ ἐμὲ μόνον εἶναι ὁ τῆς πίστεως ἐλαττοῦται "λόγος· καὶ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ παλαιὸν τρεῖς μόνοι εὑρίσκονται ἀντιστάν "τες προστάξει." Εὐσέβιος εὐνοῦχος εἶπεν· "Τὸν