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for some were leading, others were in the middle, and others were completing it afterwards. And simply, there was much dissension at that time. But God awarded the success in these matters through the blessed Constantine for the sake of peace. Therefore, when Arius was anathematized and these things were so done, in the same year Alexander ceased from life and Achillas succeeded him. And there was also Theonas, who had been appointed by the Meletians. Then the blessed Athanasius succeeded Achillas, who had been bishop for three months, being at that time a deacon of Alexander and sent by him to the imperial court, to whom Alexander, when he was about to die, had instructed that the episcopacy be given. And it is the custom in Alexandria not to delay after the death of a bishop for those being appointed, but for it to happen at once * for the sake of peace, so that frictions might not arise among the people, with some wanting this man, and others that man. But they appointed Achillas out of necessity, since Athanasius was not present. But the throne and the priesthood were being prepared for the one called by God and designated by the blessed Alexander. Therefore, when Athanasius came and was appointed, being exceedingly zealous for the faith and a defender of the church, and with assemblies everywhere and a schism of the people being caused by those called Meletians, for the reason which I have previously indicated in the case of Meletius, and wishing to bring about the union of the church, he accused and threatened and admonished, and no one would tolerate it. Whence all things moved against him were done and contrived out of the exceeding zeal in him from God; so that he even endured exiles 3.162 through the most unjust excommunication of the Arians, with their power. But regarding the blessed Athanasius, let it be up to this point. For the things concerning him have been told in greatest detail above in the case of Meletius. 12. This Arius, then, was inspired by diabolical energy and, behaving shamelessly with unbridled speech, raised his tongue against his own master, supposedly wishing from the beginning to interpret the saying of Solomon in his proverbs, that is, “the Lord created me as the beginning of his ways. Before the age he founded me in the beginning, before he made the earth, and before he made the deeps, before the springs of the waters came forth, before the mountains were settled, and before all the hills he begets me,” from this the introduction of his error came, and he and his disciples were not ashamed to call a creature the one who created all things, the Word begotten of the Father without time and without beginning. Henceforth, from this one saying, driving his own evil-disposed opinion into many evil paths, he and his successors attempted to blaspheme countless things and beyond against the Son of God and against the Holy Spirit. And they dissolved, so to speak, the solid front and the concord of the holy and orthodox faith and church; not through their own power or wisdom; for few were those who inclined to them, having been deceived, but many were those who crept in with hypocrisy, and many also by force not having * so happen to be communicants with them. And no one * was the cause of these things, but first the testing of the faithful, and the support of emperors. a beginning from Constantius the emperor, in all other respects gentle and good, as the son of the great and perfect Constantine, the God-fearing, who had unswervingly guarded the orthodox faith, and Constantius himself also being God-fearing and good in many ways; but in this alone he erred, in not having walked according to the faith of his father, not from his own fault, but from those who are to give an account on the day of judgment, those called bishops in appearance, but who corrupted the 3.163 true faith of God; who have to give an account both for the faith and for the persecutions of the church and for so many evils and murders in the churches on account of

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μὲν γὰρ προελάμβανον, οἱ δὲ ἐμέσαζον, οἱ δὲ μετέπειτα ἐπετέλουν. καὶ ἁπλῶς πολλὴ στάσις ἦν κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ. τούτων δὲ ὁ θεὸς τὸ κατόρθωμα διὰ τοῦ μακαρίτου Κωνσταντίνου ἐβράβευσεν εἰρήνης χάριν. ὡς οὖν ἀνεθεματίσθη ὁ Ἄρειος καὶ ταῦτα οὕτως ἐπράχθη, ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἔτει παύεται Ἀλέξανδρος τοῦ βίου καὶ διαδέχεται αὐτὸν Ἀχιλλᾶς. ἦν δὲ καὶ Θεωνᾶς κατασταθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Μελιτιανῶν. τότε διαδέχεται Ἀχιλλᾶν τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ποιήσαντα μῆνας τρεῖς Ἀθανάσιος ὁ μακαρίτης, ὢν τότε διάκονος Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀπεσταλμένος ἐπὶ τὸ κομητάτον, ᾧ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος μέλλων τελευτᾶν παρήγγειλεν ἀποδοθῆναι τὴν ἐπισκοπήν. ἔθος δὲ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ μὴ χρονίζειν μετὰ τελευτὴν ἐπισκόπου τοὺς καθισταμένους, ἀλλ' ἅμα * γίνεσθαι εἰρήνης ἕνεκα, τοῦ μὴ παρατριβὰς γενέσθαι ἐν τοῖς λαοῖς, τῶν μὲν τόνδε θελόντων, τῶν δὲ τόνδε. κατέστησαν δὲ δι' ἀνάγκην μὴ παρόντος Ἀθανασίου Ἀχιλλᾶν. ὁ δὲ θρόνος ἦν καὶ ἡ ἱερωσύνη ἑτοιμαζομένη τῷ ἐκ θεοῦ κεκλημένῳ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ μακαρίτου Ἀλεξάνδρου ὡρισμένῳ. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐλθόντος Ἀθανασίου καὶ κατασταθέντος, ὄντος περὶ τὴν πίστιν ζηλωτοῦ σφόδρα καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὑπερασπίζοντος, ἤδη συνάξεων πάντῃ καὶ ἀποσπάσματος τῶν λαῶν γινομένων ὑπὸ τῶν Μελιτιανῶν καλουμένων, δι' ἣν ἐν τῇ περὶ Μελιτίου ὑποθέσει αἰτίαν προδεδήλωκα, καὶ βουλομένου τὴν συνένωσιν τῆς ἐκκλησίας ποιήσασθαι, ἐνεκάλει καὶ ἠπείλει ἐνουθέτει τε καὶ οὐδεὶς ἠνείχετο. ὅθεν πάντα τὰ κατ' αὐτοῦ κινηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ ὑπερβάλλοντος ἐν αὐτῷ θεόθεν ζήλου ἐπράχθη τε καὶ συνεσκευάσθη· ὥστε καὶ ἐξορίας αὐτὸν ὑπομεῖναι 3.162 διὰ τῆς τῶν Ἀρειανῶν μετὰ δυναστείας ἀδικωτάτης ἀκοινωνησίας. ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ μακαρίτου Ἀθανασίου ἕως ἐνταῦθα ἐχέτω. ἐρρήθη γὰρ τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν κατὰ λεπτότατον ἄνω ἐν τῇ Μελιτίου ὑποθέσει. 12. Ἄρειος τοίνυν οὗτος ἐνεπνεύσθη ὑπὸ διαβολικῆς ἐνεργείας καὶ ἀθυρογλώττως ἀναισχυντὶ φερόμενος ἐπῆρεν αὐτοῦ τὴν γλῶτταν κατὰ τοῦ ἰδίου δεσπότου, ἐξ ἀρχῆς δῆθεν τὴν παρὰ τῷ Σολομῶνι ἐν ταῖς αὐτοῦ παροιμίαις λέξιν ἑρμηνεῦσαι βουλόμενος, τό «ὁ κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ. πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέ με ἐν ἀρχῇ, πρὸ τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τὰς ἀβύσσους ποιῆσαι, πρὸ τοῦ προελθεῖν τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων, πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι, πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με», ἔνθεν αὐτῷ ἡ εἰσαγωγὴ τῆς πλάνης γεγένηται, καὶ οὐκ ᾐδέσθη αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ αὐτοῦ μαθηταὶ κτίσμα ἀποκαλεῖν τὸν τὰ πάντα κτίσαντα, τὸν ἐκ πατρὸς ἀχρόνως καὶ ἀνάρχως γεγεννημένον λόγον. λοιπὸν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑνὸς τούτου λόγου εἰς πολλὰς καὶ κακὰς τρίβους ἐλάσας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κακότροπον γνώμην, αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ διάδοχοι, μυρία καὶ ἐπέκεινα εἰς τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα βλασφημῆσαι ἐπεχείρησαν. παρέλυσαν δὲ ὡς εἰπεῖν τὸ στῖφος καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως καὶ ἐκκλησίας· οὐ διὰ τῆς αὐτῶν δυνάμεως ἢ σοφίας· ὀλίγοι γὰρ οἱ προσκλιθέντες ἠπατημένοι, πολλοὶ δὲ οἱ ὑποκρίσει ὑπεισδύνοντες, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ κατὰ βίαν μὴ ἔχοντες * οὕτως κοινωνοὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς τυγχάνουσιν. οὐδεὶς δὲ * τούτων πρόξενος, ἀλλὰ πρῶτον μὲν ἀδοκιμασία πιστῶν, βασιλέων δὲ ὑπερασπισμός. ἀρχὴ μὲν ἀπὸ Κωνσταντίου τοῦ βασιλέως, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα πρᾴου καὶ ἀγαθοῦ, ὡς υἱοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ τελείου Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ θεοσεβοῦς καὶ πίστιν ὀρθὴν ἀκλινῶς πεφυλαχότος, καὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ Κωνσταντίου θεοσεβοῦς ὄντος καὶ ἀγαθοῦ κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους· ἐν τούτῳ δὲ μόνον, ἐν τῷ μὴ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ὡδευκέναι ἐσφάλη, οὐκ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ αἰτίας, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ τῶν μελλόντων δοῦναι λόγον εἰς ἡμέραν κρίσεως, τῶν δοκήσει ἐπισκόπων λεγομένων, παραφθειράντων δὲ τὴν 3.163 θεοῦ ἀληθινὴν πίστιν· οἵτινες ἔχουσι δοῦναι λόγον καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν διωγμῶν τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τοσούτων κακῶν καὶ φόνων τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἕνεκεν