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before any of them were seized at all, rushing forward to the tribunal they ran up, saying they were Christians, so that the governor and his assessors were filled with fear, and those being judged appeared most courageous for what they were about to suffer, 452 while those judging grew cowardly. And these men paraded from the courts and rejoiced in their witness, God leading them in glorious triumph. But very many others throughout the country and villages were torn apart by the pagans, of whom I will mention one for the sake of an example. Ischyrion was a steward for one of the magistrates. His employer ordered him to sacrifice, and when he would not obey, he insulted him; when he persisted, he abused him, and taking a large stake, he drove it through his intestines and his vitals and killed him. What need is there to speak of the multitude of those who wandered in deserts and mountains and were destroyed by hunger and thirst and cold and robbers and diseases and wild beasts, of whom the survivors are witnesses of their election and victory? But I will also set forth one deed of these for a demonstration. Chaeremon was a very old man, bishop of the city called Nilopolis. He fled to the Arabian mountain together with his wife and has not returned, nor could the brethren see them any longer, although they searched extensively, neither them nor their bodies. And many on that same Arabian mountain were enslaved by barbarian Saracens; some were ransomed with difficulty for large sums of money, but others not yet even to this day. I have related these things not in vain, brother, but so that you might know how many and how great were the terrible things that happened among us, of which those who have experienced them more would know more. And a little later: These very divine martyrs among us, then, who are now assessors with Christ and sharers of his kingdom and partakers of his judgment and who judge with him, received some of the lapsed brethren who had become liable to the charges of sacrificing, and seeing their conversion and repentance, and judging that it could be acceptable to him who desires not the death of the sinner at all so much as his repentance, they received them and gathered them and shared with them in prayers and feasting. What then do you advise us, brethren, concerning these things? What should we do? Shall we be of one mind and one opinion with them and by grace guard their judgment and be kind to those 453 who were shown mercy by them, or shall we make their judgment unjust and appoint ourselves examiners of their opinion and grieve their kindness and overturn their order? Clearly through these words the holy Dionysius refutes the misanthropy of Novatus. This Novatus was a presbyter of the Roman church, and at that time, unworthily desiring the episcopate and having failed, and having been condemned for other outrageous acts, especially avarice and conceit and self-love, on the pretext, forsooth, of those who had sacrificed in the persecution under Decius and had been received back into the communion of the church through repentance, he separated from it, having appeared as the leader and heresiarch of those who called themselves Cathars out of an arrogant opinion, and along with them was cast out of the paradise of the church by the vote of 60 holy fathers who had assembled in Rome. Concerning the synod against Novatus held by Cornelius in Rome synodically, that with very many presbyters and deacons they excommunicated this man along with his like-minded inhumane followers, but received the lapsed brethren through repentance. Of such a synod Cornelius, bishop of Rome, was the head, who also writes to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, about the decisions of the synod and again privately concerning the evil-doing of Novatus, saying: But so that you may know that this wonderful fellow has long been desiring the episcopate and, hiding this rash desire within himself, remained unnoticed, using as a cloak for his folly the fact that he had the confessors with him at the beginning, I wish to speak. Maximus, a presbyter among us, and

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πρίν τινας αὐτῶν ὅλως λαβέσθαι, φθάσαντες ἐπὶ τὸ βάθρον ἀνέδραμον εἶναι Χρι στιανοὶ λέγοντες, ὥστε τὸν ἡγεμόνα καὶ τοὺς συνέδρους ἐν φόβῳ γενέσθαι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν κρινομένους εὐθαρσεστάτους ἐφ' οἷς πείσονται φαίνεσθαι, 452 τοὺς δὲ δικάζοντας ἀποδειλιᾶν. καὶ οὗτοι μὲν ἐκ δικαστηρίων ἐνεπόμ πευσαν καὶ ἠγαλλιάσαντο τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ, θριαμβεύοντος αὐτοὺς ἐνδόξως τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἄλλοι δὲ πλεῖστοι κατὰ χώρας καὶ κώμας ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν διεσπάσθη σαν, ὧν ἑνὸς παραδείγματος ἕνεκεν ἐπιμνησθήσομαι. Ἰσχυρίων ἐπετρό πευέ τινι τῶν ἀρχόντων. τοῦτον ὁ μισθοδότης ἐκέλευσε θῦσαι, μὴ πει θόμενον δὲ ὕβριζε, ἐμμένοντα προὐπηλάκιζε, βακτηρίαν μεγάλην λαβὼν διὰ τῶν ἐντέρων καὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων διώσας ἀπέκτεινε. τί δεῖ λέγειν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐν ἐρημίαις καὶ ὄρεσι πλανηθέντων ὑπὸ λιμοῦ καὶ δίψης καὶ κρύους καὶ λῃστῶν καὶ νόσων καὶ θηρίων διεφθαρμένων, ὧν οἱ περιγενό μενοι τῆς ἐκείνων εἰσὶν ἐκλογῆς καὶ νίκης μάρτυρες; ἓν δὲ καὶ τούτων εἰς δήλωσιν ἔργον παραθήσομαι. Χαιρήμων ἦν ὑπέργηρως τῆς Νείλου καλουμένης πόλεως ἐπίσκοπος. οὗτος εἰς τὸ Ἀράβιον ὄρος ἅμα τῇ συμβίῳ αὐτοῦ φυγὼν οὐκ ἐπανελήλυθεν, οὐδὲ ἠδυνήθησαν ἰδεῖν οὐκέτι, καίπερ πολλὰ διερευνησάμενοι, οἱ ἀδελφοὶ οὔτε αὐτοὺς οὔτε τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν. πολλοὶ δὲ οἱ κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ Ἀραβικὸν ὄρος ἐξανδραποδισθέντες ὑπὸ βαρ βάρων Σαρακηνῶν οἱ μὲν μόλις ἐπὶ πλείστοις χρήμασιν ἐλυτρώθησαν, οἱ δὲ μέχρι καὶ νῦν οὐδέπω. ταῦτα διεξῆλθον οὐ μάτην, ἀδελφέ, ἀλλ' ἵνα εἰδῇς ὅσα καὶ ἡλίκα δεινὰ παρ' ἡμῖν συνέβη, ὧν οἱ μᾶλλον πεπειραμένοι πλεῖον ἂν εἰδεῖεν. Καὶ μετὰ βραχύ· αὐτοὶ τοίνυν οἱ θεῖοι μάρτυρες παρ' ἡμῖν, οἱ νῦν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πάρεδροι καὶ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ κοινωνοὶ καὶ μέτοχοι τῆς κρί σεως αὐτοῦ καὶ συνδικάζοντες αὐτῷ, τῶν παραπεπτωκότων ἀδελφῶν τι νας ὑπευθύνους τοῖς τῶν θυσιῶν ἐγκλήμασι γενομένους προσελάβοντο, καὶ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν καὶ μετάνοιαν αὐτῶν ἰδόντες δεκτήν τε γενέσθαι δυ ναμένην τῷ μὴ βουλομένῳ καθόλου τὸν θανατὸν τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς τὴν μετάνοιαν δοκιμάσαντες προσεδέξαντο καὶ συνήγαγον καὶ προσευχῶν αὐτοῖς ἐκοινώνησαν καὶ ἑστιάσεως. τί οὖν ἡμῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τούτων συμβουλεύετε; τί ἡμῖν πρακτέον; σύμψυχοι καὶ ὁμογνώμονες αὐτοῖς καταστῶμεν καὶ τὴν κρίσιν αὐτῶν τῇ χάριτι φυλάξωμεν καὶ τοῖς ἐλεηθεῖ 453 σιν ὑπ' αὐτῶν χρηστευσώμεθα ἢ τὴν κρίσιν αὐτῶν ἄδικον ποιησώμεθα καὶ δοκιμαστὰς αὐτοὺς τῆς ἐκείνων γνώμης ἐπιστήσωμεν καὶ τὴν χρηστότητα λυπήσωμεν καὶ τὴν τάξιν ἀνασκευάσωμεν; σαφῶς διὰ τούτων ἐλέγχει τὴν Ναυάτου μισανθρωπίαν ὁ ἱερὸς ∆ιονύσιος. Ὃς Ναυᾶτος πρεσβύτερος τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκκλησίας ὤν, κατὰ τούτους δὲ τοὺς χρόνους τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἀναξίως ὀρεγόμενος καὶ ἀποτυχὼν ἐν ἄλλοις τε ἀτοπήμασι κατεγνωσμένος, μάλιστα φιλαργυρίᾳ καὶ οἰήσει καὶ φιλαυτίᾳ, προφάσει δῆθεν τῶν ἐπιθυσάντων ἐν τῷ κατὰ ∆έκιον διωγμῷ καὶ διὰ μετανοίας παραδεχθέντων εἰς κοινωνίαν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, ταύτης ἀπέσχισεν, ἀρχηγὸς καὶ αἱρεσιάρχης τῶν ἑαυτοὺς Καθαροὺς ὀνομαζόντων δι' ὑπερήφανον γνώμην ὀφθεὶς καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐξωσθεὶς τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς ἐκκλησίας ψήφῳ πατέρων ἁγίων ξʹ συνελθόντων ἐν Ῥώμῃ Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Ναυάτου συνόδου γενομένης ὑπὸ Κορνηλίου ἐν Ῥώμῃ συνοδικῶς ὅτι μετὰ πλείστων πρεσβυτέρων τε καὶ διακόνων καὶ τοῦτον ἐκκηρυξάντων σὺν τοῖς ὁμόφροσιν ἀπανθρώποις, τοὺς δὲ παραπεπτωκότας ἀδελφοὺς διὰ μετανοίας δεξαμένων. τῆς δὲ τοιαύτης συνόδου Κορνήλιος ἐπίσκοπος Ῥώμης ἐξῆρχεν, ὃς καὶ γράφει πρὸς Φάβιον ἐπίσκοπον Ἀντιοχείας τὰ παραστάντα τῇ συνόδῳ καὶ πάλιν ἰδίως περὶ τῆς Ναυάτου κακοπραγίας λέγων· Ἵνα δὲ γνῷς ὅτι πρόπαλαι ὀρεγόμενος τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ὁ θαυμάσιος καὶ κρύπτων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν προπετῆ ταύτην ἐπιθυμίαν ἐλάνθανεν, ἐπικαλύμματι τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀπονοίας τῷ κατ' ἀρχὰς σὺν αὐτῷ τοὺς ὁμολογοῦντας ἐσχηκέναι χρώμενος, εἰπεῖν βούλομαι. Μάξιμος πρεσβύτερος τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν καὶ