215

striking terror with such things, having prepared for himself a high platform and throne, not as a disciple of Christ, but as a forerunner and imitator of Antichrist, and having and naming a secretum just like the rulers of the world, and striking his thigh with his hand and stamping on the platform with his feet and to those who do not praise him nor wave their handkerchiefs as in the theaters nor shout out and leap up in the same way as the partisans around him, both men and women, who listen so disorderly, but rebuking and insulting those who listen with solemnity and order as in the house of God and insolently reviling in public the interpreters of the Word who have departed from this life and boasting about himself not like a bishop, but like a sophist and a charlatan; having stopped the psalms to our Lord Jesus Christ, as being recent and the compositions of recent men, but preparing women to sing psalms to himself in the midst of the church on the great day of Easter, which if anyone heard he would shudder, such things as he allows the bishops from neighboring districts and cities and presbyters who flatter him to speak of in their sermons to the people. For he is not willing to confess that the Son has come down from heaven (that we may anticipate something of what will be written, and this will not be said in mere words, but is shown in many ways from the records we have sent, and not least where he says that Jesus Christ is from below), but those who sing psalms to him and praise him among the people say that their impious teacher is an angel come down from heaven, and he does not forbid these things, but the arrogant man is even present when they are said. And as for the women introduced to live with him, as the Antiochenes call them, and with his presbyters and deacons, with whom he conceals this and their 477 other incurable sins, of which he is conscious and has convicted them, in order that he may have them in his power, so that they dare not, through fear for themselves, accuse him of the wrongs he commits in word and deed, but he has also made them rich, for which reason he is loved and admired by those who covet such things, why should we write these things? But we know, beloved, that the bishop and all the clergy ought to be an example to the flock of all good works, and we are not ignorant of how many have fallen, or have come under suspicion, by introducing women to live with them, so that even if one should grant that he does nothing licentious, yet he ought to have guarded against the suspicion arising from such a practice, lest he should scandalize someone, or encourage others to imitate him. For how can he rebuke or admonish another not to associate too much with a woman, guarding against a slip, as it is written, who has himself already sent one away, but keeps two with him who are in their bloom and comely in appearance, and takes them about with him wherever he goes, and this while living in luxury and surfeiting? On account of which things they groan and lament in private, but they are so afraid of his tyranny and power that they do not dare to accuse him. But these things, as we have said before, one might correct in a man who at least held the catholic faith and was numbered with us, but as for him who has danced away the mystery and paraded in the abominable heresy of Artemas (for why should one hesitate to declare his father?), we do not think it necessary to demand of him an account for these things. Then at the end of the letter they add this: We have been compelled, therefore, having excommunicated him as he set himself against God and would not yield, to appoint another bishop for the catholic church in his place, by the providence of God, as we are persuaded, Domnus, the son of the blessed Demetrianus, who illustriously presided over the same parish before this one, a man adorned with all the qualities proper to a bishop. We have therefore made this known to you, that you may write to him and receive from him letters of communion; but let this man write to Artemas, and let those who think with Artemas have communion with him. 478 Paul, therefore, having fallen from the episcopate along with the orthodoxy of the faith

215

τοιούτοις ἐκπλήττων, βῆμα μὲν καὶ θρόνον ὑψηλὸν ἑαυτῷ κατασκευασάμενος οὐχ ὡς Χριστοῦ μαθη τής, ἀλλ' ὡς Ἀντιχρίστου πρόδρομος καὶ μιμητής, σήκρητον δὲ ὥσπερ οἱ τοῦ κόσμου ἄρχοντες ἔχων τε καὶ ὀνομάζων, παίων τε τῇ χειρὶ τὸν μηρὸν καὶ τὸ βῆμα ἀράττων τοῖς ποσὶ καὶ τοῖς μὴ ἐπαινοῦσι μηδὲ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις κατασείουσι ταῖς ὀθόναις μηδὲ ἐκβοῶσί τε καὶ ἀναπηδῶσι κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν στασιώταις, ἀνδράσι τε καὶ γυναίοις, ἀκόσμως οὕτως ἀκροωμένοις, τοῖς δ' οὖν ὡς ἐν οἴκῳ θεοῦ σεμνοπρεπῶς καὶ εὐτά κτως ἀκούουσιν ἐπιτιμῶν καὶ ἐνυβρίζων καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀπελθόντας ἐκ τοῦ βίου τούτου παροινῶν ἐξηγητὰς τοῦ λόγου φορτικῶς ἐν τῷ κοινῷ καὶ μεγαλορημονῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ καθάπερ οὐκ ἐπίσκοπος, ἀλλὰ σοφιστὴς καὶ γόης· ψαλμοὺς μὲν τοὺς εἰς τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν παύσας, ὡς δὴ νεωτέρους καὶ νεωτέρων ἀνδρῶν συγγράμματα, εἰς ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ τοῦ πάσχα ἡμέρᾳ ψαλμῳδεῖν γυναῖκας παρα σκευάζων, ὧν καὶ ἀκούσας ἄν τις φρίξειεν, οἷα καὶ τοὺς θωπεύοντας αὐτὸν ἐπισκόπους τῶν ὁμόρων ἀγρῶν τε καὶ πόλεων καὶ πρεσβυτέρους ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὸν λαὸν ὁμιλίαις καθίησι διαλέγεσθαι. τὸν μὲν γὰρ υἱὸν οὐ βούλεται συνομολογεῖν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατεληλυθέναι (ἵνα τι προλαβόντες τῶν μελ λόντων γραφήσεσθαι θῶμεν, καὶ τοῦτο οὐ λόγῳ ψιλῷ ῥηθήσεται, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν ἐπέμψαμεν ὑπομνημάτων δείκνυται πολλαχόθεν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ ὅπου λέγει Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κάτωθεν), οἱ δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν ψάλλοντες καὶ ἐγκωμιά ζοντες ἐν τῷ λαῷ ἄγγελον τὸν ἀσεβῆ διδάσκαλον ἑαυτῶν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατ εληλυθέναι λέγουσι, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ κωλύει, ἀλλὰ καὶ λεγομένοις πάρεστιν ὁ ὑπερήφανος. τὰς δὲ συνεισάκτους αὐτῷ γυναῖκας, ὡς Ἀντιοχεῖς ὀνο μάζουσι, καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ διακόνων, οἷς καὶ τοῦτο καὶ 477 τὰ ἄλλα ἁμαρτήματα ἀνίατα ὄντα συγκρύπτει συνειδὼς καὶ ἐλέγξας, ὅπως αὐτοὺς ὑπόχρεως ἔχῃ, περὶ ὧν λόγοις καὶ ἔργοις ἀδικεῖ, μὴ τολμῶντας κατηγορεῖν τῷ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς φόβῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλουσίους ἀπέφηνεν, ἐφ' ᾧ πρὸς τῶν ταῦτα ζηλούντων φιλεῖται καὶ θαυμάζεται, τί ἂν ταῦτα γράφοι μεν; ἐπιστάμεθα δέ, ἀγαπητοί, ὅτι τὸν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ τὸ ἱερατεῖον ἅπαν παράδειγμα εἶναι δεῖ τῷ πλήθει πάντων καλῶν ἔργων, καὶ οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνο ἀγνοοῦμεν ὅσοι ὑπὸ τοῦ συνεισάγειν ἑαυτοῖς γυναῖκας ἐξέπεσον, οἱ δὲ ὑπωπτεύθησαν, ὥστε εἰ καὶ δοίη τις αὐτῷ τὸ μηδὲν ἀσελγὲς ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ τήν γε ὑπόνοιαν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου πράγματος φυομένην ἐχρῆν εὐλαβη θῆναι μή τινας σκανδαλίσῃ, τοὺς δὲ καὶ μιμεῖσθαι προτρέψῃ. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐπιπλήξειεν ἢ νουθετήσειεν ἕτερον μὴ συγκαταβαίνειν ἐπὶ πλέον εἰς ταὐτὸν γυναικί, μὴ ὀλίσθῃ φυλαττόμενον, ὡς γέγραπται, ὅστις μίαν μὲν ἀπέστησεν ἤδη, δύο δὲ ἀκμαζούσας καὶ εὐπρεπεῖς τὴν ὄψιν ἔχει μεθ' ἑαυ τοῦ, κἂν ἀπίῃ που, συμπεριφέρει, καὶ ταῦτα τρυφῶν καὶ ὑπερεμπιπλάμε νος; ὧν ἕνεκα στενάζουσι μὲν καὶ ὀδύρονται καθ' αὑτούς, οὕτω δὲ τὴν τυραννίδα καὶ δυναστείαν αὐτοῦ πεφόβηνται ὥστε κατηγορεῖν μὴ τολμᾶν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν, ὡς προειρήκαμεν, εὔθυνεν ἄν τις ἄνδρα τὸ γοῦν φρόνημα καθολικὸν ἔχοντα καὶ συγκαταριθμούμενον ἡμῖν, τὸν δὲ ἐξορχησάμενον τὸ μυστήριον καὶ ἐμπομπεύσαντα τῇ μιαρᾷ αἱρέσει τῇ Ἀρτεμᾶ (τί γὰρ οὐ χρὴ μόλις τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ δηλῶσαι;) οὐδὲ δεῖν ἡγούμεθα τούτων τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἀπαιτεῖν. Εἶτ' ἐπὶ τέλει τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ταῦτ' ἐπιλέγουσιν· ἠναγκάσθημεν οὖν ἀντιτασσόμενον αὐτὸν τῷ θεῷ καὶ μὴ εἴκοντα ἐκκηρύξαντες, ἕτερον ἀντ' αὐτοῦ τῇ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καταστῆσαι ἐπίσκοπον θεοῦ προνοίᾳ, ὡς πεπείσμεθα, τὸν τοῦ μακαρίου ∆ημητριανοῦ καὶ ἐπιφανῶς προστάντος πρὸ τούτου τῆς αὐτῆς παροικίας υἱὸν ∆όμνον, πᾶσι τοῖς πρέπουσιν ἐπισκόπῳ καλοῖς κεκοσμημένον. ἐδηλώσαμεν οὖν ὅπως τούτῳ γράφητε καὶ παρὰ τούτου τὰ κοινωνικὰ δέχησθε γράμματα, τῷ δὲ Ἀρτεμᾷ οὗτος ἐπιστελλέτω καὶ οἱ τὰ Ἀρτεμᾶ φρονοῦντες τούτῳ κοινωνείτωσαν. 478 Τοῦ δὴ οὖν Παύλου σὺν καὶ τῇ τῆς πίστεως ὀρθοδοξίᾳ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς