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Apologia de fuga sua

The apology of the great Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, concerning those who slander his flight in the persecution.

1 I hear that Leontius who is now in Antioch and Narcissus from the city of Neronias and George who is now in Laodicea and the Arians with them are spreading many rumors and reviling me, and accusing me of cowardice because, when I was sought to be killed by them, I did not present myself to be handed over to them. In response, then, to their insults and their slanders, although I could write many things, which they themselves cannot deny but which all who hear them against them recognize, nevertheless I shall not be induced to say anything to them except only the word of the Lord and the saying of the Apostle that: “the lie is from the devil,” and that “revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God.” For it is sufficient from these things to show them to be neither thinking nor acting in anything according to the Gospel, but according to their own pleasures, thinking that whatever they themselves want is good.

2 But since they pretend to accuse me of cowardice, it is necessary to write a few things about this. For from this they will be shown to be both wicked in character and not to have read the divine Scriptures, or having read them, not to believe that the oracles in them are God-breathed. For if they believed, they would not have dared to act contrary to them, but would emulate the malice of the Christ-killing Jews. For even though God had given the commandment: “honor your father and your mother” and “he who speaks evil of father or mother shall surely die,” they legislated against it, turning honor into dishonor, and exchanging for money the duty of children toward their parents; and though reading the deeds of David, they acted contrary to them and accused the blameless for plucking and rubbing ears of corn on the Sabbath day. But they cared neither for the laws nor for the Sabbath, for on it they transgressed the law even more; but because they were wicked in character, they both envied the disciples for being saved, and only wanted the things of their own opinion to prevail. Those men, therefore, have the reward of their own lawlessness, having become unholy and for the future being called “rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah.” And these men seem to me to have no less of a penalty than those, namely, the ignorance of their own irrationality. For they neither understand what they say, but they also think they know what they are ignorant of; and the only knowledge in them is of doing evil, and of devising worse things daily after worse. For even our present flight, they slander, not wanting us to act courageously for virtue; for whence such a prayer from enemies on behalf of “those who do not run with them” in their evil-mindedness? But being malicious, they pretend to buzz about such things, thinking, being truly simple themselves, that out of fear of their reviling we will one day bring ourselves to them. For they want this and for this reason they run about everywhere; and they pretend to be friends, but they search as enemies, so that having been filled with blood they might get us out of the way too, because we have always thought and do think against their impiety, and refuting their heresy, we publicly denounce it.

3 For whom have they ever pursued and seized that they did not insult as they wished? whom have they sought and found that they did not treat in such a way, as to either die miserably or be maimed in every way? For what the judges seem to do, these are their actions; and rather these are servants of their will and wickedness. What place, then, does not have a memorial of their evil? Whom who thinks against them have they not

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Apologia de fuga sua

Τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀθανασίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας ἀπολογία περὶ τῶν διαβαλλόντων τὴν ἐν τῷ διωγμῷ φυγὴν αὐτοῦ.

1 Ἀκούω Λεόντιον τὸν νῦν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ καὶ Νάρκισσον τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως Νέρωνος καὶ Γεώργιον τὸν νῦν ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς Ἀρειανοὺς πολλὰ περὶ ἐμοῦ θρυλοῦντας καὶ λοιδοροῦντας, δειλίαν τε ἐγκαλοῦντας ὅτι δή, ζητούμενος ἀναιρεθῆναι παρ' αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἔκδοτον ἐμαυτὸν αὐτοῖς προσήγαγον. Πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὰς λοιδορίας καὶ τὰς συκοφαντίας αὐτῶν, καίτοι δυνάμενος πολλὰ γράφειν, ἃ μήτ' αὐτοὶ ἀρνεῖσθαι δύνανται ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες ἐπιγινώσκουσιν οἱ κατ' αὐτῶν ἀκούοντες, ὅμως οὐδὲν προαχθήσομαι λέγειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἢ μόνον τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ῥῆμα καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀποστόλου ῥητὸν ὅτι· «τὸ μὲν ψεῦδος ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν», οὔτε δὲ «λοίδοροι βασιλείαν Θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν». Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τούτων δειχθῆναι μηδὲν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον μήτε φρονοῦντας μήτε πράττοντας, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἰδίας ἡδονὰς οἰομένους εἶναι καλὸν ὅπερ αὐτοὶ βούλονται.

2 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ προσποιοῦνται δειλίαν ἐγκαλεῖν, ἀναγκαῖον ὀλίγα περὶ τούτου γράψαι. ∆ειχθήσονται γὰρ ἐκ τούτου πονηροί τε τὸν τρόπον καὶ μὴ ἐντετυχηκότες ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς, ἢ ἐντυχόντες μὲν μὴ πιστεύοντες δὲ εἶναι θεόπνευστα τὰ λόγια τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπίστευον, οὐκ ἂν παρὰ μὲν ταύτας ἐτόλμων, τὴν δὲ κακοήθειαν τῶν κυριοκτόνων Ἰουδαίων ἐζήλουν. Καὶ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεδωκότος ἐντολήν· «τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου» καὶ «ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα θανάτῳ τελευτάτω», ἀντενομοθέτουν κἀκεῖνοι, τὴν τιμὴν εἰς ἀτιμίαν μεταφέροντες, καὶ ἀργυρίου τὸ πρὸς τοὺς γονέας καθῆκον παρὰ τῶν τέκνων ἀντικαταλλάσσοντες· καὶ ἀναγινώσκοντες δὲ τὰς τοῦ ∆αυὶδ πράξεις, ἀντεμελέτων αὐταῖς καὶ ᾐτιῶντο τοὺς ἀναιτίους τίλλοντας στάχυας καὶ ψώχοντας ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου. Ἔμελε δὲ αὐτοῖς οὔτε τῶν νόμων οὔτε διὰ τὸ σάββατον, ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ μᾶλλον παρηνόμουν· ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸν τρόπον ὄντες πονηροί, τοῖς τε μαθηταῖς ἐφθόνουν σῳζομένοις, καὶ μόνον ἠβούλοντο τὰ τῆς ἰδίας γνώμης κρατεῖν. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν τῆς ἰδίας παρανομίας ἔχουσι τὰ ἐπίχειρα, ἀνίεροι γενόμενοι καὶ λοιπὸν «ἄρχοντες Σοδόμων καὶ λαὸς Γομόρρας» χρηματίζοντες. Καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐκείνων δοκοῦσίν μοι τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἔχειν, ἤδη τὴν τῆς ἰδίας ἀλογίας ἄγνοιαν. Οὔτε γὰρ νοοῦσιν ἃ λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ νομίζουσιν εἰδέναι ἅπερ ἀγνοοῦσι· μόνη δὲ γνῶσις ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐστι τοῦ κακοποιεῖν, καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν χείρονα χείροσιν ἐφευρίσκειν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν νῦν φυγὴν ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἐπ' ἀρετῇ θέλοντες ἡμᾶς ἀνδραγαθήσασθαι, διαβάλλουσι· πόθεν γὰρ εὐχὴ τοιαύτη παρ' ἐχθροῖς ὑπὲρ «τῶν μὴ συντρεχόντων αὐτοῖς» ἐν τῇ κακοφροσύνῃ; Ἀλλὰ κακοήθεις ὄντες, σχηματίζονται τοιαῦτα περιβομβεῖν, νομίζοντες εὐήθεις ὄντες ἀληθῶς αὐτοί, ὡς ἄρα δέει τῆς παρ' αὐτῶν λοιδορίας προσάξομεν ἑαυτούς ποτε αὐτοῖς. Θέλουσι γὰρ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντα περιτρέ χουσι· καὶ ὑποκρίνονται μὲν ὡς φίλοι, ἐρευνῶσι δὲ ὡς ἐχθροί, ἵνα αἱμάτων ἐμφορηθέντες ἐκποδὼν ποιήσωσι καὶ ἡμᾶς, ὅτι κατὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν ἐφρονήσαμεν ἀεὶ καὶ φρονοῦμεν, καὶ τὴν αἵρεσιν αὐτῶν ἐλέγχοντες στηλιτεύομεν.

3 Τίνα γάρ ποτε διώκοντες καὶ καταλαβόντες οὐχ ὕβρισαν ὡς ἠθέλησαν; τίνα ζητοῦντες καὶ εὑρόντες οὐχ οὕτω διέθηκαν, ὡς ἢ τελευτῆσαι κακῶς ἢ λωβηθῆναι πανταχόθεν; Ἃ γὰρ οἱ δικασταὶ δοκοῦσι ποιεῖν, ταῦτ' ἐκείνων ἐστὶν ἐνεργήματα· καὶ μᾶλλον οὗτοι τῆς ἐκείνων προαιρέσεως καὶ πονηρίας εἰσὶν ὑπηρέται. Ποῖος τοίνυν τόπος οὐκ ἔχει τῆς κακίας αὐτῶν ὑπόμνημα; Τίνα φρονοῦντα κατ' αὐτῶν οὐ