409

those present, and he undertook an investigation and interrogation of this man. But since he was not persuaded by the truth, he cast him out of the church and made him a public outcast in the city. And with him were separated the aforementioned virgins and the aforementioned clergy and another great crowd. 4. And while Arius was spending much time in the city, Meletius the confessor and martyr immediately died. Therefore, this same Arius, making schisms and secretly winning over each one, destroyed many. But later, when he was discovered and came under censure in the city and had been made a public outcast, he fled from Alexandria and set out on his journey to Palestine. Who, having arrived, approached each of the bishops with caresses and flattery, in order to make many collaborators for himself. And some indeed received him, but others rejected him. But afterwards it came to the ears of Bishop Alexander and he writes encyclical letters, which are still preserved by lovers of fine things, to the number of seventy, to each of the bishops, immediately to Eusebius in Caesarea—for he was nearby—and to Macarius of Jerusalem, Asclepius in Gaza, Longinus in Ascalon, Macrinus in Jamnia and others, and in Phoenicia to a certain Zeno, an elder in Tyre, and others, as well as to those in Coele-Syria. So when the letters were sent, blaming those who had received him, each wrote back to the blessed Alexander, defending himself. And some have written with irony, but others in truth, some saying they did not receive him, others that they received him through ignorance, and others asserting, as an apology, that through receiving him they might win him over. And the matter concerning these things is a lengthy one. 5. But afterwards when Arius knew that letters had been brought to the bishops everywhere and that for the rest he was being driven away from every side and no one was receiving him any more except his own collaborators—for Eusebius the old man of Nicomedia † the word was with him, having lived with Lucian in Nicomedia, but also Leontius the eunuch in Antioch, not yet entrusted with the episcopate, and certain others; since, therefore, all these were from the same poisonous fraternity, Eusebius received him for a considerable time—whence indeed this same Arius, having written letters filled with all nonsense, containing all his heretical faith, to Eusebius in Nicomedia, not yet having reached him in Nicomedia, inserting in them nothing more than the same things which he also thought, composed at that time, from which letters, one having come into our hands, I considered it necessary to set it down here, so that those who read may see that we have said or do say nothing slanderously against anyone. And it is this: 6. To my most desired lord, a faithful and orthodox man of God, Eusebius, Arius, who is being persecuted by Pope Alexander unjustly because of the all-conquering truth, which you also defend, greetings in the Lord. Since my father Ammonius has arrived in Nicomedia, it seemed to me reasonable and obligatory to greet you through him, and at the same time to remind you of your innate love and disposition, which you have towards the brothers for the sake of God and his Christ, that the bishop violently assails and persecutes us and stirs up every evil against us, so as to drive us out of the city as godless men, because we do not agree with him when he says publicly: always God, always Son; at the same time Father, at the same time Son; the Son co-exists unbegottenly with God; ever-begotten, unbegotten-begotten; neither in thought nor by any atom does God precede the Son; always God, always Son; the Son is from God himself. And because Eusebius your brother in Caesarea and Theodotus and Paulinus and Athanasius and Gregory and Aetius and all those throughout the East say that God pre-exists the Son without beginning, they were anathematized, except for Philogonius and Hellanicus and Macarius, heretical, uninstructed men, who say the Son is, some a "belch," others

409

παρόντας, καὶ ἀνέτασιν τούτου ποιεῖται καὶ ἀνάκρισιν. ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἐπείσθη τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἐξεοῖ αὐτὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ ἐκκήρυκτον ποιεῖ ἐν τῇ πόλει. σὺν αὐτῷ δὲ ἀπεσπάσθησαν αἱ προειρημέναι παρθενεύουσαι καὶ κληρικοὶ οἱ προειρημένοι καὶ ὄχλος ἄλλος πολύς. 4. ∆ιατρίβοντος δὲ Ἀρείου πολὺν χρόνον ἐν τῇ πόλει, εὐθὺς τελευτᾷ ὁ ὁμολογητὴς Μελίτιος καὶ μάρτυς. σχίσματα οὖν ποιῶν ὁ αὐτὸς Ἄρειος καὶ ἕκαστον ὑποκλέπτων πολλοὺς ἠφάνισεν. ἐς ὕστερον δέ, ἐπειδὴ ἐφωράθη καὶ εἰς ἔλεγχον ἦλθεν ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ ἐκκήρυκτος γεγένηται, ἀποδιδράσκει ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Παλαιστίνην στέλλεται τὴν πορείαν. ὃς ἐλθὼν προσεπέλαζεν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐπισκόπων μετὰ θωπείας τε καὶ κολακείας, ἵνα ἑαυτῷ πολλοὺς ποιήσῃ συνεργούς. καὶ δέχονται μὲν αὐτόν τινες, ἄλλοι δὲ αὐτὸν ἀπώσαντο. μετέπειτα δὲ εἰς ὦτα ἔρχεται τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ γράφει ἐπιστολὰς ἐγκυκλίους, αἵτινες παρὰ φιλοκάλοις ἔτι σῴζονται, ὡς τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἑβδομήκοντα, τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἑκάστῳ, Εὐσεβίῳ εὐθὺς τῷ ἐν Καισαρείᾳ περιῆν γάρ, καὶ Μακαρίῳ Ἱεροσολύμων, Ἀσκληπιῷ ἐν Γάζῃ, Λογγίνῳ ἐν Ἀσκάλωνι, Μακρίνῳ τῷ ἐν Ἰαμνίᾳ καὶ ἄλλοις, ἔν τε τῇ Φοινίκῃ Ζήνωνί τινι ἀρχαίῳ ἐν Τύρῳ καὶ ἄλλοις, ἅμα καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῇ Κοίλῃ Συρίᾳ. ὡς οὖν ἀπεστάλησαν αἱ ἐπιστολαί, μεμφόμεναι τοὺς αὐτὸν ὑποδεξαμένους, ἕκαστος ἀντέγραψε τῷ μακαρίῳ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ ἀπολογούμενος. καὶ οἱ μὲν εἰρωνείᾳ γεγράφασιν, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, οἱ μὲν λέγοντες μὴ ὑποδέχεσθαι τοῦτον, ἄλλοι δὲ κατὰ ἄγνοιαν ὑποδέχεσθαι, ἕτεροι δὲ φάσ3.156 κοντες, ὡς διὰ τῆς ὑποδοχῆς κερδῆσαι αὐτόν, ἀπολογούμενοι. καὶ πολλή τίς ἐστιν ἡ περὶ τούτων ὑπόθεσις. 5. Μετέπειτα δὲ ὡς ἔγνω ὁ Ἄρειος ὅτι ἐπιστολαὶ ἠνέχθησαν τοῖς ἐπισκόποις πάντη καὶ λοιπὸν πανταχόθεν ἀπηλαύνετο καὶ οὐκέτι τις αὐτὸν προσελαμβάνετο ἢ οἱ αὐτοῦ συνεργοί Εὐσέβιος γὰρ ὁ παλαιὸς γέρων Νικομηδεὺς † ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ ὑπῆρχεν, ἅμα Λουκιανῷ ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ συμβεβιωκώς, ἀλλὰ καὶ Λεόντιος ὁ ἀπόκοπος ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, οὔπω τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν πεπιστευμένος, καὶ ἄλλοι τινές· ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς τοῦ δηλητηρίου φρατρίας οὗτοι πάντες ἦσαν, ὑποδέχεται μὲν αὐτὸν Εὐσέβιος χρόνῳ ἱκανῷ-ὅθεν δὴ ἐπιστολὰς πάσης φλυαρίας ἐμπεπλησμένας, περιεχούσας πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν κακόδοξον πίστιν, γράψας ὁ αὐτὸς Ἄρειος Εὐσεβίῳ τῷ ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ, μηδέπω φθάσας πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ, οὐδὲν πλέον ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ αὐτὰ ὁποῖα καὶ ἐφρόνει ἐν αὐταῖς ἐντάξας, κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ἐπραγματεύσατο, ἐξ ὧν μίαν ἐλθοῦσαν εἰς τὰς ἡμετέρας χεῖρας ἐνταῦθα ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμην παραθέσθαι, ὅπως ἴδοιεν οἱ ἐντυγχάνοντες ὅτι οὔ τι κατά τινος σεσυκοφαντημένως εἰρήκαμεν ἢ λέγομεν. καὶ ἔστιν ἥδε· 6. Κυρίῳ ποθεινοτάτῳ ἀνθρώπῳ θεοῦ πιστῷ ὀρθοδόξῳ Εὐσεβίῳ, Ἄρειος ὁ διωκόμενος ὑπὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου πάπα ἀδίκως διὰ τὴν πάντα νικῶσαν ἀλήθειαν, ἧς καὶ σὺ ὑπερασπίζεις, ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Τοῦ πατρός μου Ἀμμωνίου εἰς τὴν Νικομήδειαν ἀφικομένου εὔλογον καὶ ὀφειλόμενον ἐφάνη μοι προσαγορεῦσαί σε δι' αὐτοῦ, ὁμοῦ τε καὶ ὑπομνῆσαι τὴν ἔμφυτόν σου ἀγάπην καὶ διάθεσιν, ἣν ἔχεις πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς διὰ τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτοῦ, ὅτι μεγάλως ἡμᾶς ἐκπορθεῖ καὶ διώκει καὶ πᾶν κακὸν κινεῖ καθ' ἡμῶν ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, ὥστε ἐκδιῶξαι ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ὡς ἀνθρώπους ἀθέους, ἐπειδὴ οὐ συμφωνοῦμεν αὐτῷ δημοσίᾳ λέγοντι· ἀεὶ θεὸς ἀεὶ υἱός, ἅμα πατὴρ ἅμα υἱός, συνυπάρχει ὁ υἱὸς ἀγεννήτως τῷ θεῷ, ἀειγενής, ἀγενη3.157 τογενής, οὔτ' ἐπινοίᾳ οὔτ' ἀτόμῳ τινὶ προάγει ὁ θεὸς τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἀεὶ θεός, ἀεὶ υἱός, ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ υἱός. καὶ ἐπειδὴ Εὐσέβιος ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἐν Καισαρείᾳ καὶ Θεόδοτος καὶ Παυλῖνος καὶ Ἀθανάσιος καὶ Γρηγόριος καὶ Ἀέτιος καὶ πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν ἀνατολὴν λέγουσιν ὅτι προϋπάρχει ὁ θεὸς τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀνάρχως, ἀνάθεμα ἐγένοντο, δίχα Φιλογονίου καὶ Ἑλλανικοῦ καὶ Μακαρίου, ἀνθρώπων αἱρετικῶν ἀκατηχήτων, τὸν υἱὸν λεγόντων οἱ μὲν ἐρυγήν, οἱ δὲ