Theodoret of Cyrus, Ecclesiastical History

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has established by law concerning these things. And he continually reaps the fruits of these good seeds; for he has the Lord of all providing for him. For when Roilas, leader of the nomadic Scythians, crossed the Ister with a very large army and was devastating and plundering Thrace, and threatened to besiege the imperial city, and to take it by storm, and to leave it desolate, God, striking from above with thunderbolts and lightning, both burned him up and consumed his entire army. He did something of this kind also in the Persian war. For when they, having learned of the Romans' preoccupation, marched against their neighbors, having broken the treaty of peace, and no one was helping those who were attacked (for the emperor, trusting in the peace, had sent his generals and soldiers to other wars), by striking with a most violent rain and very great hail, he hindered their forward march and checked the course of their horses; and in twenty days they were not able to complete an equal number of stadia, until the generals arrived and gathered the soldiers. And in the former war, he made these same men ridiculous when they were besieging the city named after the emperor.

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For though Gororanes with all his forces had surrounded the aforesaid city for more than thirty days, and had brought up many siege-engines, and used countless devices, and raised high towers opposite, the divine high priest alone held out (his name was Eunomius) and broke the force of the engines that were brought against it. And when our generals had despaired of fighting the enemy and did not dare to help the besieged, this man, by drawing up in opposition, kept the city uncaptured. And when one of the kings who were under the barbarians dared the customary blasphemy and uttered the words of Rabshakeh and Sennacherib and madly threatened to burn the divine temple, that divine man, not bearing the fury, ordered the stone-throwing engine, which was named after the apostle Thomas, to be placed by the battlement, and having ordered a large stone to be placed on it, commanded it to be fired in the name of Him who was blasphemed. And it, being carried straight towards that impious king and striking his foul mouth, both disfigured his face and shattered his whole head and scattered his brain on the ground. The one who had gathered the army and hoped to take the city, seeing this, departed, confessing his defeat by his actions, and out of fear made a treaty of peace. Thus the universal king of all cares for the most faithful emperor. For indeed he himself confesses his servitude and offers fitting worship to the Master. This man restored the relics of the great luminary of the world to the city that longed for them; but these things happened later.

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Boniface succeeded that most excellent bishop of Rome, Innocent, and Zosimus succeeded Boniface, and Celestine succeeded Zosimus. In Jerusalem, after the wonderful John, Praulius was entrusted with the care of the church, a man who was true to his name. In Antioch, after the divine Alexander, Theodotus, the pearl of moderation, took over the presidency of the church, excelling in meekness and adorned by the exactness of his life. This man mixed the faction of Apollinarius with the other sheep, having been begged to unite them with the flock; but many of them remained, bearing the mark of their former disease. At this time Isdigerdes, king of the Persians, stirred up the war against the churches, taking his pretext from the following. There was a certain bishop, Abdas, adorned with many kinds of virtue; this man, using his zeal inappropriately, destroyed a pyreum. For they call the temples of fire "pyrea"; for they suppose fire to be a god. When the king learned this from the magi, he sent for Abdas. And at first he gently reproved what had been done and ordered him to rebuild the pyreum;

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περὶ τούτων ἐντέθεικε νόμῳ. Τούτων δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν σπερμάτων διηνεκῶς δρέπεται τοὺς καρπούς· τὸν γὰρ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότην προμηθούμενον ἔχει. καὶ γὰρ ἡνίκα Ῥωΐλας, Σκυθῶν τῶν νομάδων ἡγούμενος, τόν τε Ἴστρον διέβη μετὰ στρατιᾶς ὅτι μάλιστα πλείστης καὶ τήν τε Θρᾴκην ἐδῄου καὶ ἐληΐζετο καὶ τὴν βασιλίδα πόλιν πολιορκήσειν τε καὶ αὐτοβοεὶ αἱρήσειν καὶ ἀνάστατον ἠπείλει ποιήσειν, σκηπτοῖς ἄνωθεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ πρη στῆρσι βαλὼν καὶ αὐτὸν κατέφλεξε καὶ τὴν στρατιὰν κατανάλωσεν ἅπασαν. Τοιουτότροπόν τι κἀν τῷ Περσικῷ πολέμῳ πεποίηκεν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀσχολίαν μεμαθηκότες κατὰ τῶν ἀστυγειτό νων ἐστράτευσαν, τὰς περὶ τῆς εἰρήνης παραβεβηκότες σπονδάς, ἐπεκούρει δὲ τοῖς πολεμουμένοις οὐδείς (τῇ γὰρ εἰρήνῃ τεθαρρηκὼς ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς ἑτέρους πολέμους καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς καὶ τοὺς στρα τιώτας ἐξέπεμψεν), ὑετῷ λαβροτάτῳ καὶ χαλάζῃ βαλὼν μεγίστῃ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω πορείαν ἐκώλυσε καὶ τὸν τῶν ἵππων ἐπέδησε δρόμον· καὶ ἐν εἴκοσι ἡμέραις ἰσαρίθμους ἐξανύσαι σταδίους οὐκ ἴσχυσαν, ἕως οἱ στρατηγοί τε ἀφίκοντο καὶ τοὺς στρατιώτας συνήθροισαν. Καὶ ἐν τῷ προτέρῳ δὲ πολέμῳ τούτους αὐτοὺς τὴν ἐπώνυμον τοῦ βασιλέως πολιορκοῦντας πόλιν καταγελάστους ἀπέφηνε. πλείους 341 γὰρ ἢ τριάκοντα ἡμέρας πανσυδὶ Γοροράνου τὴν προειρημένην κυ κλώσαντος πόλιν, καὶ πολλὰς μὲν ἑλεπόλεις προσενεγκόντος, μηχαναῖς δὲ χρησαμένου μυρίαις, καὶ πύργους ἔξωθεν ὑψηλοὺς ἀντεγείραντος, μόνος ἀντέσχεν ὁ θεῖος ἀρχιερεὺς (Εὐνόμιος δὲ τούτῳ ὄνομα ἦν) καὶ τῶν προσφερομένων μηχανῶν τὴν ῥύμην διέλυσε. καὶ τῶν στρατηγῶν τῶν ἡμετέρων τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ἀπειρηκότων μάχην καὶ τοῖς πολιορκουμένοις ἐπαρκεῖν οὐ τολμώντων, οὗτος ἀντιπαραταττόμενος ἀπόρθητον τὴν πόλιν ἐφύλαξεν. ἑνὸς δὲ τῶν ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων τελούντων βασιλέων τὴν συνήθη βλασφημίαν τετολμηκότος καὶ τὰ Ῥαψάκου καὶ Σενναχηρεὶμ φθεγξαμένου καὶ μανικῶς ἀπειλήσαντος τὸν θεῖον πυρπολήσειν νεών, οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν τὴν λύτταν ὁ θεῖος ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ τὸ λιθοβόλον ὄργανον παρὰ τὴν ἔπαλξιν τεθῆναι κελεύσας, ὃ τοῦ ἀποστόλου Θωμᾶ ἐπώνυμον ἦν, καὶ λίθον μέγαν ἐπιτεθῆναι παρεγγυήσας, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ βλασφημηθέντος ἀφεῖναι προσέταξεν. ὁ δὲ κατευθὺ τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς βασιλέως ἐκείνου κατενεχθεὶς καὶ τῷ στόματι πελάσας τῷ μυσαρῷ, τό τε πρόσωπον διέφθειρε καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν συνέτριψεν ἅπασαν καὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον διέρανε τῇ γῇ. τοῦτο θεασάμενος ὁ τὴν στρατιὰν ἀγείρας καὶ τὴν πόλιν αἱρήσειν ἐλπίσας ᾤχετο, τὴν ἧτταν διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ὁμο λογήσας, καὶ δείσας τὴν εἰρήνην ἐσπείσατο. οὕτως ὁ τῶν ὅλων παμβασιλεὺς τοῦ πιστοτάτου κήδεται βασιλέως. καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ οὗτος τὴν δουλείαν ὁμολογεῖ καὶ τὴν ἁρμόττουσαν τῷ δεσπότῃ θεραπείαν προσφέρει. Οὗτος τοῦ μεγάλου φωστῆρος τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ λείψανα τῇ ποθούσῃ ἀποδέδωκε πόλει· ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὕστερον ἐγένετο. 342 Ἰννοκέντιον δὲ ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄριστον τῆς Ῥώμης ἐπίσκοπον Βονιφάτιος διεδέξατο, Ζώσιμος δὲ Βονιφάτιον, τὸν δὲ Ζώσιμον Κελεστῖνος. ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις δὲ μετὰ τὸν θαυμάσιον Ἰωάννην Πραΰλιος τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιστεύθη κηδεμονίαν, ἀνὴρ τῷ ὄντι φερώνυμος. ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ δὲ μετὰ τὸν θεῖον Ἀλέξανδρον Θεόδοτος, τῆς σωφροσύνης ὁ μαργαρίτης, τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας προεδρίαν παρέλαβε, πραότητι μὲν διαπρέπων, ἀκριβείᾳ δὲ βίου κοσμούμενος. οὗτος τὴν Ἀπολιναρίου φατρίαν τοῖς ἄλλοις προβάτοις ἀνέμιξε, λιπαρηθεὶς αὐτοὺς ἑνῶσαι τῇ ποίμνῃ· πολλοὶ δὲ τούτων διέμειναν τὴν προτέραν λώβην ἐπίση μον ἔχοντες. Κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Ἰσδιγέρδης ὁ Περσῶν βασιλεὺς τὸν κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ἐκίνησε πόλεμον, πρόφασιν ἐνθένδε λαβών. Ἄβδας τις ἐπίσκοπος ἦν, πολλοῖς κοσμούμενος εἴδεσιν ἀρετῆς· οὗτος οὐκ εἰς δέον τῷ ζήλῳ χρησάμενος πυρεῖον κατέλυσε. πυρεῖα δὲ κα λοῦσιν ἐκεῖνοι τοῦ πυρὸς τοὺς νεώς· θεὸν γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ὑπειλήφασι. τοῦτο μαθὼν παρὰ τῶν μάγων ὁ βασιλεὺς μετεστείλατο τὸν Ἄβδαν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἠπίως τὸ πραχθὲν ᾐτιάσατο καὶ τὸ πυρεῖον οἰκοδο μῆσαι προσέταξεν·