History of the Council of Nicaea

History of the Council of Nicaea

Anonymous of Cyzicus

c. AD 475

A history of the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) in three books, written about AD 475 by an unknown cleric of Cyzicus. For centuries it was attributed to ‘Gelasius of Cyzicus’; that name is now thought to be wrong. The work is not a historian’s record: it gathers earlier sources and adds imagined speeches and debates. It is read today as a witness to how the fifth century remembered Nicaea. Authorship is unknown.

Book I

Preface

1 The proceedings of the holy, great and ecumenical council of bishops that gathered at Nicaea from practically all the provinces of the Roman world and from Persia. It met by the grace of God and by the decree of our God-loving and pious emperor Constantine, on behalf of the apostolic and orthodox faith and against the wicked and impious doctrines of Arius, that fighter against God. 2 I read everything that was said, done and defined in that virtuous and holy council, long ago and even earlier, while I was still living in my father’s house. I found it all written down, with nothing left out, in a very ancient book of parchment. That book had belonged to the divine and celebrated Dalmatius, who became archbishop of the holy catholic church of the Cyzicenes, the splendid metropolis. It had then passed to the master of what was once our household, I mean my father according to the flesh, who had been counted worthy of the presbyterate of that same most holy church.

3 When I came upon this sacred book and spent much leisure on it, I was not able to carry everything in memory. For no one could hold in memory, or [on the lips], the boundless sea of what is laid out in it. 4 But I marked a great many things. I marked the doctrines of our holy fathers and bishops, the teaching of sound speech. I marked their arguments against the Arius-maniacs and their written refutations of the blasphemy that the defiled Arius-maniacs uttered against the Son of God, and indeed also against the Holy Spirit. 5 I marked also the objections that Arius’ philosophers raised against the bishops, and our own side’s clear answers to those same sophisms, drawn from the teachings of Scripture. 6 I marked what was said about the one pre-eternal Godhead of his Son and of the Holy Spirit, a Godhead without beginning and always existing together with God the Father. I marked what was said about the ineffable incarnation of the Son of God, God the Word, from the virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in the last times for the sake of our salvation, and about the apostolic ordinances of the church. In short, the sacred book I have mentioned recorded the whole business transacted there.

7 Above all it recorded the divine and truly apostolic thoughts of the most faithful emperor Constantine, who sat in the council. I was so delighted with what that sacred book contained that I said to the Lord: “How sweet your words are to my throat, more than honey to my mouth.” 8 So greatly was I amazed at what was written there about the spotless and blameless, orthodox and apostolic faith. 9 Some time later, by God’s good pleasure, I came here, I mean to the province of Bithynia. There had been a great stir and much dispute over the revolt of the unholy Basiliscus against the apostolic and catholic church of God and against the apostolic faith that has its life in that church. 10 The party of those who shared the mind of the heretic Eutyches was especially fanning the flames and stirring up the imperial court. They deceitfully claimed to us that they held the faith [defined] at Nicaea, I mean by the fathers.

11 But we exposed them as its enemies, for they did not know what they were saying or what they were insisting on. When I brought forward what the Lord had proclaimed through them, in the Holy Spirit, in that holy company of God’s orthodox priests, they leapt away from us. The wretches uttered with their tongues things worse than the blasphemies of Arius against what was defined there, and hurled an anathema at those who think this way. 12 Because of this, and because of many other disturbances raised against our holy and orthodox faith, I made a very great search everywhere and in every place, and, as the saying goes, moved every rope. That faith has been lived out from the beginning in the church of God, our mother, and came from the holy apostles and from the holy fathers I mentioned, who gathered at Nicaea. 13 I wanted to search out what was done in that sacred council about the definition of that same holy and apostolic faith. The church of God received this faith “not from men nor through men,” but from the Savior of us all and God, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

14 After the dispensation of his coming in the flesh, which is truly the great mystery of godliness, as it is written, he was revealed in flesh and seen by angels. 15 (For the only-begotten could not be seen by angels in the essence of his divinity, unless he had become flesh.) He fulfilled everything that belonged to the plan of salvation: the suffering he took on willingly for us, the burial, and the resurrection. He yielded these to that holy and sinless flesh of his, through which he made our race immortal. Then, as he went up into the heavens, he himself fixed the divine and venerable definition of this holy and blameless faith. He thundered mightily, as it is written, “The Lord went up into the heavens and thundered,” and in another place, “The Lord thundered from heaven, 16 and the Most High gave his voice.” And what did he thunder? What voice did the Most High give? He speaks to the apostles and says, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

17 “For although, out of love for humanity, I have taken your flesh, living and rational, from the all-holy and holy virgin Mary, yet taking on flesh did not add anything to the Trinity of the Father, myself and the Holy Spirit. The Trinity remains a Trinity. So go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the [Holy] Spirit.” 18 The holy apostles received from the Lord this holy and venerable definition of the right and blameless faith, and they proclaimed it to the whole church of God under heaven. So the word of the prophet was fulfilled in it, which says: “Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” 19 This definition, and this venerable gift, given to us through the divine apostles by the Son of God, was attacked after a great many years. The persecution against the church of God had ceased, and the enemy of our salvation, eager to corrupt it, used Arius as his city, so to speak, and armed himself against that same holy and blameless faith. He brought in foreign, blasphemous words against the Savior, and with them he threw the church of the Lord throughout the whole world into confusion.

20 For this reason the most faithful emperor Constantine gathered that great multitude of bishops, the council at the city of Nicaea. I had already investigated all its proceedings, as I said above, and I could scarcely find clear accounts of what was examined and written down there. These were scattered among various men who loved learning. 21 One was a certain John, a presbyter, an old man and thoroughly versed in the Scriptures, who recorded them in very old notebooks, though not the whole account. 22 I also drew on various other writers: Eusebius Pamphili, bishop of Caesarea, and Rufinus, presbyter of Rome, both of whom had shared in that holy council, and very many others. 23 Yet I did not find a consistent, harmonious sequence in the holy book I first came upon, as I said above. Only the admirable Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, traveled the highway of truth without swerving, from the coming of the Lord down to the times of the great Constantine.

24 But I could not find the whole story either, except what I recognized as true in the book I read first. I gathered material from both sources and thought it necessary to write it down in this book, for the common benefit and encouragement of those who will read this writing. 25 My account will therefore begin, with the ever-living Word of God preparing the way and guiding my steps, from the times of the reign of the most devout, Christ-bearing emperor Constantine, who commanded the council of bishops to assemble in the city of Nicaea. 26 For in another work, if God is willing, I will set down his birth and the course of the reign of his father Constantius, the most God-loving emperor. On the beginning of the reign of Constantius.

Chapter 1

1 After the tyrants Diocletian and Maximian laid aside the imperial purple and returned to private life, as Eusebius says, a short time passed. Then the emperor Constantius, who had been gentle all his life and very kind to his subjects, and who had made himself very dear to the divine Word, left his legitimate son Constantine as emperor and Augustus in his place. He ended his life by the common law of nature, and after his death he was granted all the honor that is owed to an emperor. He had been a most good and mild emperor. 2 He alone among the emperors of our time ruled worthily of his office through the whole length of his reign. In every other respect he showed himself most gracious and generous to everyone. He reached a glorious and thrice-blessed end of life. Alone among them, during his own reign, he died peacefully and with honor, leaving a lawful son as his successor, a son who was wise and most devout in everything.

3 His son Constantine, from the very beginning of his rule, was proclaimed a perfect emperor and Augustus by the armies. Long before that, he had been proclaimed by God himself, the King of all. He made himself a zealous follower of his father’s devotion toward our faith. 4 And after other matters: So we have said that Constantine became an emperor son of an emperor, devout son of a most devout father, and wise in everything. He was honored with understanding and piety. God, the King of all and Savior, raised him up against the most impious men. When he drew up his forces in a lawful war, God fought at his side in the most astonishing way. Maxentius fell at Rome before Constantine. The other, who ruled in the East, did not outlive him by long. He too ended his life by a most shameful death. Licinius, who had not yet then gone mad, was sent against him by Constantine, the emperor most beloved of God.

5 Constantine, first in honor and rank among the emperors, first took pity on those who were being tyrannized at Rome. He called on the heavenly God and his Word, the Savior of all, Jesus Christ, as his ally through prayers, and advanced with his whole army to win back for the Romans the freedom of their ancestors. So says Eusebius. Concerning the emperors of the same period, Constantine, Maxentius and Maximin.

Chapter 2

1 Rufinus did not set his account in order, nor in the sequence and harmony of truth, alongside the history of Eusebius, the great Eusebius Pamphili. Nevertheless, whatever I find related to Eusebius’ work, gathered from Rufinus himself and from the other writers, I will insert into this book, as I said above. Rufinus also says this: 2 After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian and the death of Constantius, these emperors were left ruling the Roman realm at the same time. Constantine had received his father’s portion. It began from what is called Europe and extended to the Danube. It included both Scythias, all the Celts, the Illyrians and Sauromatians, the barbarian land reaching to the river Rhine, Macedonia and the sea beside it, Thessaly and Achaia, and all the land toward the setting sun that the Ionian Sea bounds as it turns back. 3 Maximin, Diocletian’s son [that is, his adopted son], governed all the nations of the East, as Eusebius says. Maxentius governed Rome and the lands from Italy as far as the Ocean itself. Concerning the tyranny of Maxentius.

Chapter 3

1 After the lawful burial of his father and the customary honors, Constantine therefore considered quiet inaction to be a loss, given the misfortune of the Romans. 2 For he heard that the city of Rome was suffering under the evils of Maxentius. His manner of ruling had turned into the cruelty of a tyrant. He handed many of the men in office over to death without trial. He imposed fines, banishments, redistributions of land, and promotions, all without examination. He also lusted after other men’s wives, and either corrupted them by wickedness or forced them by his orders. In the end it was unsafe to have a beautiful wife, and there was much murder in the city for those who kept faith with chastity. 3 Constantine, most beloved of God, heard these things and very many others that do not belong to the present work, and he was stirred to anger. For the injustice done to others causes real grief to men who love God’s people. Concerning the emperor Constantine, and how he took the field against the tyrant Maxentius.

Chapter 4

1 It seemed good to him at last to take up arms and come to the aid of the Romans who were suffering such things. To rescue them from their evils was the same as saving all mankind. 2 But first he resolved to call back the cities that had broken away from Roman rule. Some he won by words, some by arms, and some by the kindness of his generosity. He made their taxes lighter and gave them equal access to a hearing. Rebellions and arrogance he dissolved wisely, more by silence than by fear. He knew that the nations of the Saurians, the Franks and the Germans love novelty, and that they are quick to rush into uprisings against their kings and often make their own whim into law. 3 He also brought under his rule the Spaniards, the Britons, the islands there, and the remaining peoples, all who live as witnesses of the sunset. They are said to know whether the sun truly sinks into the ocean, or whether it passes around the water and turns back toward us by another road. He also conquered the barbarian tribes there by force of arms, treating the fighting as a side matter to the real task.

4 Some he subdued, some he paid, and some he made friends instead of enemies and familiar companions instead of old foes. He brought them all back as allies. He distressed no one and besieged no one, and he hurried on toward the rescue of others. 5 For where God fights alongside, everything is set right, and it goes beyond human reckoning. With this God-loving purpose, Constantine, most faithful in every respect, crossed the Rhine to the right. With a small army he passed over many mountains and many nameless rivers, and he subdued many barbarian tribes. He won over ten nations of the Gauls, the Franks and the Spaniards, and then led his army toward the mountains of Italy. 6 When Maxentius heard this, he fell into an unexpected panic. He had never expected anyone to cross so great a country, fenced in by mountains, rivers, assorted barbarians and the natural hardships of the wilderness. For the desolation of a region often becomes the greatest fortification of a kingdom.

7 So he decided to leave Rome with great speed, lead his army out against the enemy, and make the first move somewhere in Italy. When the two sides drew up facing each other and saw each other’s standards, the hopes of battle were unequal. Maxentius’ men had been brought out from Rome and were pouring out in ranks. They had enjoyed a long rest and respite, so they seemed fit for battle and appeared to bear a spirit worthy of a city that was their match. 8 But those drawn up with Constantine had covered a great deal of country, and out of desire they had been gathering much plunder and spoil of war. They had used up their strength in running toward victory rather than enjoying what they had taken, and by now they were giving out from weariness and giving way under the constant strain. Concerning the cross that appeared in heaven to the emperor Constantine.

Chapter 5

1 The battle was not yet decided and the lines were evenly matched, when God armed Constantine from heaven. He showed him in the sky, in a form of light, the saving sign of the cross. Letters revealed the meaning of the vision, saying: “By this, conquer.” 2 To unbelievers this account seems a myth, a fiction made up to please our doctrines. But to those used to believing the truth, the proof of the matter is plain. For God, who painted this sign, afterward showed by deed the truth of the inscription’s grace. 3 Perhaps what we write does not yet persuade. We are writing history first, because from the beginning we are gathering only a little of what is useful from the things he lived through. But we should not disbelieve in what follows. In our own generation, those who fought beside Constantius, the son of Constantine, saw it with their own eyes, and healed the old unbelief with fresh sights.

4 For if those who contradict these things are Hebrews, far less believable are the things believed in their own books. A sea crossed on foot, water made into a wall, a deep traveled as a road, God speaking in a bush, a flame giving law, a trumpet sounding without an instrument over the desert, angels drawn up in battle line, commanders of the Lord’s host fighting for the army, and hailstones and darts of fire hurled instead of the usual spears. Yet all of us who are sensible agree with these without examining them. 5 For when God wills, nothing is impossible. And if those who reject the marvel are Greeks, we have much to say that we would rather not say. How many things did the oracle-givers declare divinely to Alexander, when he was about to cross over to the war at the Granicus and the battle line against Darius? Yet their fictions have no visible proof. And how did a divine spirit announce by a voice to the philosopher Socrates the outcome of things he should not do? And what of the accounts about Pythagoras of Samos, put together by his disciples?

6 I will not even mention the inventions of the poets, or how some of their famous men recorded that certain beings counted as gods among them fought alongside them. I leave this out so that no one will think I am weighing myths against true things, or things that never happened against things that did. 7 For the many-sided power of Christ’s grace, from the time it blossomed among human beings, has been a remedy and a cure in heaven and on earth, in the sea, in plants, in wood, in clothing, in sickness and in health, in food and in drink. It has been so, it is so, and it will be so. Those who have tried it know this, and we ourselves will set it out at the proper time as the history goes on. Concerning the sign which Emperor Constantine made as a copy of the cross that appeared to him in heaven.

Chapter 6

1 So Constantine took the sight of the wonder and turned it into the form of a trophy. He fitted it together with gold-bonded stones and made it into the shape of a very tall spear, and he gave it to the cavalry officers at the head of his army to carry. From then on he looked for the promise of the writing to be fulfilled in actual deeds. 2 He was not disappointed in his hope. He believed what he had seen all the more quickly, and he received a victory that came faster than the vision itself. Concerning the victory of the godly Emperor Constantine over the impious Maxentius.

Chapter 7

1 Constantine, then, cut short the great toil of war by his faith, and he drew up his battle line bravely against the army from Rome, with no fear of it. Maxentius, however, was afraid of Constantine’s strength, and he was also wary of the Romans’ hatred of him, for most of them had turned against him because of his debauchery. So he decided to pursue his plot by treachery. The treachery was a bridge [put together] as a kind of contraption † by such men. 2 For what appeared on the surface was a crossing meant to receive Constantine, but what lay hidden was a snare of deception built under his steps. He had only to cross a little way, and the contraption would be released and the enemy caught, finding in that spot an unexpected grave of destruction. 3 That was how Maxentius prepared the traps for Constantine’s crossing. But divine grace wrapped the craftsman of evil in his own clever schemes. Before Constantine could be caught, the tyrant himself fell first into his own devices. There he became the killer of the tyrant, that is, of himself, and prepared a good plot against himself. Before Rome, near the bridge called the Milvian, the aforesaid Maxentius himself went down into the river and drowned. So the whole Roman people cried out, saying:

4 “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified,” as Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, says. “Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. He became my helper and protector for salvation. And who is like you among the gods, Lord? Who is like you? Glorified among the holy ones, wonderful in glory, working marvels.” 5 To this the same writer adds: These things, and whatever is akin and similar to them, were the words with which Constantine, by his very deeds, praised God, the ruler of all and the cause of his victory, and his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Then he rode into Rome with triumph. All the people together received him with bright eyes and with their whole souls, as a deliverer, savior and benefactor, with shouts of praise and insatiable joy. Even little children and women came, along with the members of the senate, the other most distinguished men, and the whole Roman people.

6 But he had an innate reverence for God. He was not shaken at all by the shouting, nor puffed up by the praises, and he was well aware that the help had come from God. At once he ordered the trophy of the Savior’s passion to be set up under the hand of his own statue. So they placed the statue in the most public spot in Rome, holding the sign of the cross in its right hand, and he commanded that this inscription be set up in these very words, in the Roman language: 7 “By this saving sign, the true proof of courage, I saved your city from the yoke of the tyrant and set it free. I also freed the senate and the Roman people and restored them to their ancient distinction and splendor.” So much from Eusebius. Concerning Licinius, who was sent by the godly Constantine against the tyrant in the East.

Chapter 8

1 Rufinus, or Gelasius, says this: After these events the Roman senate asked that Licinius, who was the brother-in-law of the God-beloved Constantine through Constantine’s sister Constantia, should rule jointly with Constantine. Constantine sent him out again to the East against the tyrant there, taking thought for the safety of the Christians in those parts. The pious Constantine had received such great benefits from God, and he was eager to offer thanksgiving to his benefactor. This meant ending the persecution of Christians, calling back those in exile, releasing those in prison, restoring their property to those whose goods had been confiscated, and rebuilding the churches. He did all of this with great eagerness, because his mind was set on the things of Christ. Being altogether a Christian, he acted in everything as a Christian: he raised up the churches of God and honored them with costly offerings, and he also ordered that the temples of the pagans be pulled down and destroyed by fire. Concerning the madness of Maximinus, the tyrant in the East.

Chapter 9

1 The tyrant in the East, however, was ravaging the churches of God. This is what brought him down. He was not able to bear the greatness of the rule that had been entrusted to him beyond his worth. Lacking any sound or kingly judgment, he set about his business in a crude and tasteless way. Above all, his soul was senselessly lifted up with boastful pride. Already he had begun to dare to act insolently even against his partners in the empire, and above all against Constantine, who surpassed him in everything: in birth, upbringing and education, in rank and understanding, and, the crowning thing of all, in self-control and in godliness toward the true God. Maximinus began by setting himself up for honors above them. 2 He carried this to the height of raving arrogance. He broke the agreements he had made with Licinius and took up a war with no truce. Then in a short time he threw everything into confusion, stirred up every city, gathered an army of countless thousands, and marched out to battle against Licinius, and so against Constantine, who had sent Licinius. But when he came to close fighting, he was left without the oversight of God, since the victory was granted by the one God of all to Constantine, who then held the power.

3 First the accursed man lost the multitude of armed men in whom he trusted. He was stripped of the guards around him, who left him wholly alone and fled to the victor. The wretch quickly took off the royal dress that did not suit him, stripping himself in a cowardly, base and unmanly way, and slipped into the crowd. Then he ran off, hiding in the fields and villages, and barely escaped the hands of the soldiers, seeking his own safety. 4 By these very deeds the divine oracles can be shown to be entirely trustworthy and true, where it is said: “A king is not saved by a great army, and a giant will not be saved by the greatness of his strength. A horse is a false hope for safety, and he will not be saved by the greatness of his power. Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy, to deliver their souls from death.” But the ungodly man was struck all at once by the scourge of God, and in a second clash of war he ended his life.

5 His end was not like that of generals and commanders, who often show courage in battle for the sake of virtue and their friends and bravely endure a glorious death. Being ungodly and a fighter against God, he stayed at home and hid, while the battle line stood drawn up in the field, and there he paid the penalty. He was struck all at once by the scourge of God, so that, driven by terrible pains and agonies, he fell on his face and wasted away with hunger, and his whole flesh was melted away by an unseen fire sent from God. As his flesh ran away, his whole former appearance vanished, and only a kind of ghost of dry bones was left, like a skeleton from long ago. Those present could think only that his body had become a tomb for his soul, buried in the shape of a corpse that had wholly wasted away.

6 The heat burned him still more fiercely from the depth of his marrow, and his eyes leapt out and fell from their sockets, leaving him blind. Even so, while he still drew breath, he confessed to the Lord and called on death. At the very last he admitted that he suffered these things justly because of his drunken violence against Christ, and he gave up his soul. Concerning the renewal of the churches.

Chapter 10

1 So Maximin was removed. He was the only one of the enemies of true religion still left, and he had proved the worst of them all. Then, by the grace of almighty God, the rebuilding of the churches began again from their foundations. And the word of Christ, shining out to the glory of the God of all, gained greater boldness than before. 2 Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, the best of men in every way, wrote this in the ninth volume of his Ecclesiastical History. As I said above, I am gathering material from his labors and from others for this little book, and I set down the account briefly. I am pressing on with great eagerness toward the high, shining, holy and divine mountain, the apostolic and virtuous council of God’s priests at Nicaea. For I see the prophet taking me by the hand and urging me on: 3 “Come,” he says, “let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.”

4 For in truth that divine gathering of God’s orthodox priests was Zion and Jerusalem, the loftiest mountain of the Lord and the house of the God of Jacob. By the Holy Spirit they examined the matter, and through the writings of the prophets, the Gospels and the apostles they set out very clearly the truth “about the word of life.” That is, the Son of God is truly uncreated in the nature of his deity and not a creature, as the God-fighting and utterly impious Arius blasphemed against him. He is also of the same substance as the Father who begot him before all ages, and of the same stuff. In the same way they showed that the Holy Spirit is of the same deity and substance as the Father and the Son. 5 And this is for us a high mountain of God from above, as the word declared beforehand. That word was given by the Lord himself through the apostles, and now, through his priests at Nicaea, it has been made plain by the witness of the Scriptures. This is the venerable and holy mountain of the faultless faith. As the account goes on, with the help of God’s grace, it will show this to us more clearly.

6 But let us return to the subject set before us in this church history. Let us take up again the account of how God the King came to the help of his people, and how the tyrants were brought down through his servant, the God-loving emperor Constantine. 7 Through him the one who alone is “the great Lord, who alone does great wonders, past finding out, of which there is no number,” gave peace to his churches throughout the world. He is the one “who changes times and seasons, who removes kings and sets them up, who raises the poor from the earth and lifts the needy from the dunghill. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. He has shattered the arms of the proud.” He is the wonder-worker and doer of great deeds, the master of all, the Creator of the whole world, the almighty, the all-good, the one and only God. To him we send up the new song, adding in our hearts: “To him who alone does great wonders, for his mercy endures forever; to him who struck down great kings and killed mighty kings, for his mercy endures forever; for in our lowliness the Lord remembered us.”

8 For all these things let us not cease to sing the praises of the God of all, and of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord. With the Father he is the cause of all good things for us. He is the one who led us into the knowledge of God, the teacher of true devotion to him, the destroyer of the ungodly, the slayer of tyrants, the reformer of our way of life, and the savior of those who had given up hope. Let us all glorify Jesus with one mouth and one heart, because he alone, 9 as the counsel of an all-good Father [text missing] and by the loving-kindness of the Father, of himself and of the Holy Spirit, looked out for our salvation, since we lay down here below in corruption. He put on our nature fully, like an excellent physician who takes up our weaknesses and bears our diseases. Then, and always, he worked salvation and life for the human race.

10 This King of kings, always caring for his own people, raised up Constantine, his friend and own servant, and armed him with godliness and faith in himself against the ungodly tyrants: Maxentius at Rome and Maximinus in the East. Through Constantine he destroyed them and gave his own people a bright and deep peace. Concerning the wickedness of Licinius.

Chapter 11

1 But, says Eusebius the son of Pamphilus, the sight of these things was unbearable to the envy that hates what is good and to the demon who loves evil. Nor was what had happened to the tyrants described above enough to bring Licinius, who had changed for the worse, to sober thinking. His rule was flourishing. He held second place in honor to the emperor, the great Constantine, and had been judged worthy of marriage connection and kinship with him. Yet he fell short of imitating what is good, and he envied the wickedness of the ungodly tyrants and copied their evil ways. He had seen with his own eyes how their lives ended, but he preferred to follow their way of thinking rather than the friendship and goodwill of the better man. 2 Being envious, then, of his great benefactor, he began a wicked and terrible war against him. He spared no law of nature, and he took no thought of

3 oaths, of blood-relationship, or of treaties. For Constantine, as a thoroughly good emperor, had given him tokens of true goodwill. He had not begrudged him kinship with himself, and had not refused him a share in a splendid marriage with his sister. 4 And after other matters: Licinius, however, did the opposite of all this. This hater of God devised all kinds of schemes every day against his better, and contrived every sort of plot, so as to repay his benefactor with evils. 5 To this he adds: But God was a friend, protector and guardian to Constantine, I mean, and brought into the light and exposed the plans that the tyrant was devising in secret and darkness. So great is the power of virtue, the mighty weapon of godliness, both to ward off enemies and to guard one’s own safety. Our most God-beloved emperor Constantine, protected by help from God, escaped the many tangled plots of that man of ill name.

6 When the tyrant saw that his secret scheming was by no means going as he wished, since God was exposing every trick and piece of villainy against the man he loved, he could no longer keep it hidden, and so chose open war. 7 Having decided to fight Constantine face to face, he now also set out to take the field against the God of all, as Constantine’s guardian, whom he knew Constantine worshiped. And then he began to drive out the godly people under his rule. 8 And after other matters: The manner of his envy against them was strange, such as had never been heard of. For the cities around Amaseia and the rest of the cities of Pontus, which he ordered to be crushed with evils, he outdid every extreme of cruelty. There some of the churches of God were thrown down from top to bottom, razed to the ground, and others he ordered to be shut up, so that none of the usual worshipers might gather, or offer to God the prayers and worship due to him.

9 For he did not suppose that these prayers were being offered for himself (how could this hater of God think of such a thing?), reasoning this from a bad conscience. He was convinced that we acted on behalf of Constantine, the God-beloved emperor, and that we were seeking to win God’s favor for him. Stirred up by this, he turned his anger against us. 10 And a little later: Many of the bishops were led away and punished without any excuse, like murderers, though they had done no wrong. They suffered a strange new kind of death: their bodies were hacked by the sword into many pieces, and after this cruel and most horrible spectacle they were thrown into the depths of the sea as food for the fish. 11 There were also flights of all the godly together, men and women with even the youngest infants. Once again fields, once again deserts, glens and mountains received the servants of Christ, because the ungodly man had stirred up war against everyone.

12 And a little later: If God, who is supremely good to souls, had not foreseen what was coming and very quickly made a great light and savior shine out for all at once, as in deep darkness and the blackest night, by leading his servant Constantine by the hand with a lofty arm and a most valiant hand. 13 To Constantine, then, from above, from heaven, God granted victories over the ungodly as trophies, a fitting fruit of his godliness. But the God of Constantine and of us all cast down the accursed Licinius, together with all his counselors and friends, under Constantine’s feet. 14 When Licinius’s affairs were driving on to the extreme of madness, the emperor Constantine, friend of God, judged it intolerable. He gathered up his own sober and pious judgment and mixed the firm trophy of justice with kindness. He decided to come to the help of those suffering under the tyrant. He set out to rescue the greater part of mankind by removing a few destroyers.

15 Up to that time the most humane emperor Constantine had shown the ungodly man nothing but kindness. He had even pitied a man who did not deserve sympathy. But it gained nothing. Licinius did not turn from his wickedness, and he only increased his rage against [his subjects]. The sufferers had no hope of safety, crushed as they were by a dreadful beast. 16 So the giver of good things mixed hatred of evil with kindness. The emperor set out against the tyrant from the western parts, from the great city of Rome, together with his most humane son, the emperor Crispus. He held out a hand of salvation to all. Father and son made the all-ruling God and his Son Christ, the Savior, their guide and ally. The emperor Constantine and the emperor Crispus both divided their forces and wheeled around the battle line against the God-haters, and they won an easy victory. Everything in the engagement went smoothly for them, according to the will of the all-ruling God. So says the truth-loving Eusebius, son of the much-praised Pamphilus.

17 Rufinus says the following. He did not mention any part of what happened under Licinius, but I will still pick out his very words and put them in my account. He says: Licinius, who reigned together with Constantine, the God-loved, held Greek beliefs and hated Christians. For fear of the emperor Constantine he held back from beginning an open persecution against them, but in secret he plotted against many. 18 As time went on he openly stirred up persecution against everyone in the regions of the east. As a result many martyrs of Christ appeared in various places. By this he stirred the emperor Constantine to the deepest hatred of him. The two were enemies of each other. So much for this writer. 19 The others, who defend the truthfulness of Eusebius Pamphili, say this. The father, the emperor Constantine, and the son, the emperor Crispus, divided their army between them and set out against the ungodly tyrant. The son Crispus marched with the army he had with him to the regions of Asia. The father Constantine went through Europe with the guards around him.

20 The God-hater, full of every impiety and murder, came from the east against them with a very large army, drawn up for battle and boasting loudly. He reached Nicomedia. He knew that the soul of the God-loved Constantine revered the priests of God and honored them in every way. So he paid Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, [a man who had long been attached to him and hostile] to the pious emperor Constantine. Licinius thought that through him and his circle he could destroy Constantine, who was fenced about with the unconquerable weapons of God. 21 So the admirable Eusebius came to terms with him, won over by the promises of Licinius, who shared his impiety. That this is how it was, one can be fully assured from the letter of the Christ-loving emperor himself, which he wrote to the people of Nicomedia. Near the end of the letter he says something like this:

22 “Who taught these things to so innocent a crowd? Eusebius, plainly, the fellow-initiate in the tyrant’s cruelty. That he became the tyrant’s guard can be seen from many things. The murders of bishops bear witness to it, and of bishops at that. And the very harsh persecution of Christians cries it out plainly. 23 I will not now speak of any of the things he did against me. At the very time when the conspiracies of the opposing side were being worked up against us, this man supplied the tyrant with spying eyes against me, and all but armed men, to serve his purposes. 24 Let no one think that I am unprepared to prove these things. The proof is exact: it is established that the [presbyters] and deacons who were being sent along with Eusebius were arrested by me. But I bring these things forward now not out of anger but to put those men to shame. This alone I fear, this I keep turning over: that I see you being called into a share of the charge. For through [his] conduct and his twisting of the truth, [you have taken on] a conscience separated from [what is right; the Greek here is corrupt].”

25 But the cure is not slow in coming, if you will now at last take a faithful and sound bishop and look to God. This is [now present] among you, and it ought to have depended on your judgment long ago. It would have, if the aforementioned Eusebius, with a terrible purpose [shared by those who then wished it for him], had not come here and shamelessly [corrupted] the right order of [the church]. 26 But since it is right for me to say a few things to your love about this same Eusebius, listen patiently. Your forbearance remembers that a council was held in the city of Nicaea. I myself was present at it, as my conscience required. I wanted nothing other than harmony for everyone, and above all I wanted to refute and shake off this affair. It had taken its beginning through Arius of Alexandria [ ], and it was strengthened at once through the absurd and [ ] zeal of Eusebius.

27 But consider, dearest and most honored brothers, this same Eusebius. Overcome by his own conscience, how much he bustles about! With what shame he is caught in his lying on every side! He secretly sends various people to me to plead for him. He begs me for help so that, convicted of so great a fault, he will not fall from the honor he now holds. God himself is my witness in these things. May he kindly stay with me and with you. This man led even me astray and improperly carried me off. 28 But divine providence brought me back to its own truest way. You also have recognized this, and you will go on to know it. For everything was done by him at that time, Eusebius the unholy I mean, just as he himself desired, while he hid every kind of evil in his mind. 29 But recently, to pass over the rest of his wickedness, listen, I beg you, to what he did with Theognis, whom he had as a partner in his unholy purpose. Certain Alexandrians who had withdrawn from our faith [I had ordered to be brought] here, because through their service a firebrand of discord was being raised up.

30 But these fine and good bishops, whom the truth of the council had once spared for repentance, not only received these men and kept them safe in their own houses. They also shared with them in their wickedness of character. For that reason I decided to deal with these ungrateful men as I did. I ordered them seized and [sent] into exile. 31 Now it is for you to look to God with that faith which you have always had and ought to have, and to act so that we may rejoice in having bishops who are pure, orthodox and kind to people. But if anyone, in remembrance of those corrupters or in praise of them, is carelessly fired up, his own boldness will immediately be checked through the work of the servant of God, that is, of me. [May] God [keep] you, beloved brothers. 32 This letter, and others like it, of the God-loving emperor Constantine showed most clearly what sort of man the impious Eusebius of Nicomedia was. He was not only a close attendant of the God-hated Licinius, but also a fellow initiate and servant of his tyranny and impiety. From here I will go on to the proper subject of this church history. Concerning the victory of the God-loving emperor Constantine over the impious Licinius.

Chapter 12

1 Licinius set out with the army that was with him from Nicomedia toward Byzantium, against the God-loving emperor Constantine, who was there at the time. But the other ranks of soldiers had the Christ-bearing emperor in a circle around them. When the wretch saw this, he also saw himself abandoned by his own armies, who had fled to the shield of the stronger side. At first he was eager to hide in Chrysopolis in Bithynia (this is the port of Chalcedon). When he could not, he saw himself already lying prone at the feet of the emperor Constantine, and he surrendered himself. 2 The most gentle and devout emperor took him alive and treated him kindly. He did not kill him at all, but ordered him to live quietly in Thessalonica. 3 For a short time Licinius seemed to keep quiet. But after this he summoned some barbarians, and plotting with them, he was eager to win back by war the defeat he had suffered.

4 When the most faithful emperor learned of this, he ordered the God-hated man put to death. And so he was killed, the [tyrant] of Christ and of Christ’s servant.