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  WRITINGS OF THEODORET OF CYRUS
  by Theodoret of Cyrus
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Writings of Theodoret of Cyrus (c. AD 458). Theodoret of Cyrus was an early
church father whose writings have been preserved for the edification of the
church.

  Chapters: 15

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. Writings of Theodoret of Cyrus
    1. Commentary on Romans - Part 1
    2. Commentary on Romans - Part 2
    3. Counter-Statements of Theodoret
    4. Demonstrations by Syllogisms
    5. Dialogues - Dialogue 1
    6. Dialogues - Dialogue 2
    7. Dialogues - Dialogue 3
    8. Letters of the Blessed Theodoret
    9. The Anathemas of Cyril in Opposition to Nestorius
   10. The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret - Book 1
   11. The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret - Book 2
   12. The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret - Book 3
   13. The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret - Book 4
   14. The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret - Book 5

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  CHAPTER 0: WRITINGS OF THEODORET OF CYRUS
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  CHAPTER 1: COMMENTARY ON ROMANS - PART 1
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Theodoret, Commentary on Romans (1839) Part 1 COMMENTARY OF THEODORET, BISHOP OF
CYRUS IN SYRIA, ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

|34Theodoret was born at Antioch, A.D. 386. His studies were pursued under
Theodore of Mopsuista and Chrysostom, from the works of the latter of whom the
present commentary is by many esteemed little more than an abridgement. This,
however, on comparing the writings of both those Fathers, can hardly perhaps be
admitted in its fullest sense, but rather in that in which Theodoret himself
represents it, when in his preface to St. Paul's Epistles, speaking not of
Chrysostom, or Theodore, who himself also had composed an exposition of those
Epistles, but generally, he says, Τὰς ἀφορμὰς ἐκ τῶν μακαρίων συλλέξω πατέρων,
συντομίας δὲ ὅτι μάλιστα φροντιῶ. At the death of his parents he distributed his
whole inheritance to the poor, reserving nothing for himself. About the year 420
he was, against his own will, appointed to the bishopric of Cyrus, to which
diocese he became a great benefactor, both spiritually and temporally;
extirpating heresy oftentimes at the risk of his life; in private charity and
public improvements expending almost all his church revenues; neither receiving
himself, nor permitting his domestics to receive any thing of any man to
conciliate favour; but throughout fulfilling the part of a good and active
shepherd in all his doings and conduct. Although in those troublous times of
mutual accusation and recrimination, suffering awhile under suspicions in the
matters of Nestorius, his innocence and orthodoxy were finally established at
the council of Chalcedon, under the emperor Marcian, A. D. 451, from whence
retiring to his diocese he passed the rest of his life in quiet, engaged in his
labours on the holy Scriptures, and at length died A. D. 457.

"Of all the Fathers, who have composed works of different kinds, Theodoret is
one of those," says Dupin (tom. iii. part 2,) "who has been very happy in every
one of them. There are some who have been excellent writers in matters of
controversy, but bad interpreters. Others have been good historians, but bad
divines. Some have good success in morality, who have no skill in doctrinal
points. And very rare is it for those who have addicted themselves to works of
piety to be good critics. Theodoret had all these qualities, and it may be said,
that he has equally deserved the name of a good interpreter, divine, historian,
|35 writer of controversies, apologist for religion, and author of works of
piety. But he has principally excelled in his compositions upon the holy
Scripture, in which, according to the judgment of the learned Photius, be has
outdone almost all other commentators. 'He passes over nothing,' says that
writer, 'which needs explication, nor can we find any who unfolds all manner of
difficulties better, and leaves fewer things obscure.'"

It may be remarked, in conclusion, that the points of divinity which he chiefly
urges, and of which indeed he seems never to lose sight, are those connected
with that leading mystery of our religion, the divinity and consubstantiality of
our Lord, both because this was the specific point on which the heretics of his
day chiefly erred, and against the denial of which consequently he directed his
arguments: and that he distinctly maintained the procession of the Holy Spirit
from the [Greek]. Rom. viii. 11. [Greek]. Answer to Cyril's Anathem. &c. Pearson
on the Creed. Art. VIII.

ARGUMENT.

Various and comprehensive is the doctrine which the holy apostle unfolds in the
present epistle. Its general scope is this:—worthy of all awe and adoration to
the sincere believer as is the mystery of the divine incarnation, clearly
manifesting, as it does, the loving mercy of God; they nevertheless who are
involved in the darkness of infidelity, and have not admitted the light of
intellectual illumination, scorn that which not even the company of angels can
worthily celebrate, as the inspired apostle distinctly says in his Epistle to
the Corinthians (I Cor. i. 18). "For the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but to them that are saved it is the power of God." In this
Epistle to the Romans, therefore, he exhibits the indispensable necessity of
this saving gospel, together with its utility and advantage to all mankind, Jews
or Greeks. In order to which, in the first place he convicts the Greeks of
having palpably corrupted the moral sense of good and evil, implanted in their
constitution by their Maker, and transgressed the natural law; and secondly, the
Jews of having, although in the enjoyment of the written instructions of the
divine laws, yet rejected the benefit arising from them, and rendered themselves
thereby obnoxious to the heavier retribution. After this, he shows that our God
and Saviour came not for the condemnation and punishment of sinners, but to
bring pardon for their offences, to promise victory over death, and proclaim
eternal life.

Again, perceiving that the Jews clung but too much to the law, and those who
savoured of the errors 1 of Marcion and Valentine, with the |36 Manichees, too
much altogether undervalued and condemned it, as an expert general surrounded on
all sides by his enemies strikes down first one, and then the other, so does the
holy apostle break in pieces, by divine grace, the band of the heretics, and all
the array of the Jews. For how does he conduct the argument? By neither
elevating the law too high, because of the extravagance of the Jews, nor giving
any occasion for reproach to the profane heretics, but demonstrating that it
taught all that was needful, and brought in the doctrine of justification,
although incompetent to convey justification itself by reason of the infirmity
of those under it; and showing that faith brings to effect the design of the
law, and what it fain would do, but cannot, it perfects through the grace of the
thrice holy Spirit. By all which we learn, how continually regardful of mankind
is God our Creator, in that not only did he implant in our nature the power of
discriminating between good and evil, but also by the very works of his creation
led such as were willing to piety and holiness, for although all were not thus
willing to see the truth, they who were had full enjoyment of it, as they
desired.

He next further instructs us, that the God of all turned not to this plan of our
salvation, as though in a change of council from any of his former designs, but
as having long ago foretold it in the ancient prophets; he sets forth the cause
of the rejection of the Jews; and admonishes the believing Gentiles not to boast
over them; exhorting them to lead the way in the gospel. With these doctrinal
lessons he joins recommendations to practical virtue, at once displaying the
truth, and reforming the morals. Such then is the general argument of the
epistle, all the particulars in which the interpretation of the separate
passages will now clearly make known to us.

Chapter I.

1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an Apostle. Governors and generals
superscribe their letters with the designations of their respective dignities,
priding themselves thereon, and puffed up in fancied greatness by each fresh
tide of honour; the holy apostle is content to call himself "one born out of due
time,"2 and "the chief of sinners," and to pronounce himself " unworthy the
apostleship;" while yet, for the benefit of such as should receive his epistles,
he prefixes to them the appellations which by grace he had obtained, that so, by
seeing the honours belonging to the writer, they might the more readily and
zealously welcome them. And he begins by Paul, not as having been so named of
old by his parents, but as preferred to it after his call, as was Simon to that
of Peter, and the sons of Zebedee to those of Sons of Thunder, Jacob to that of
Israel, and Abram to that of Abraham. Next, servant of Jesus Christ, whom
infidels reviled as dead and crucified, and a mere carpenter's son, and yet
whose service the apostle notwithstanding chose above any sovereignty.

Then he speaks of himself as called, alluding to his divine call, and |37 adds
the name an apostle, teaching us that this also he had gained. For since our
Lord gave this designation to the twelve, so the holy apostle here also places
it, not as in a presumptuous self-assumption thereof, but as having had it
bestowed upon him by his Master himself. "For depart," said he unto him,
"because I will send thee for hence unto the Gentiles," (Acts xxii. 21;) and
this be farther proves by what follows, namely; separated unto the gospel of
God. I am not self-elected, exclaims he, but have been entrusted with the
ministry of the word by God himself. Now it was the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, who thus set him apart; for that the Father did so, he himself
declares in his Epistle to the Galatians (i. 15, 16). " It pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his
Son in me; that I might preach him among the heathen and that, again, the only-
begotten Son did this likewise, is evident where the apostle tells us in the
Acts (xxiii. 21) how the Lord was seen of him in the temple, commanding him to
hasten and go out, because the Jews would not receive his preaching, adding,
"Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." And the very same
thing he said to Ananias, when he was hesitating and drawing back, (Acts ix.
15;) "Go thy way, for this man is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." And so St Luke also
tells us, (xiii. 2,) that "as the prophets were ministering unto the Lord, and
fasting, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them." Evident therefore from hence is the equality of
the Trinity. And so also the gospel he now speaks of as the gospel of God, and a
little onward as the gospel of the Son, saying, " for God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son." This I have not noted on idly,
or to no purpose, but in order to point out how indifferently the teachers of
the truth mention the same things, sometimes as those of the Father, and
sometimes as those of the Son. The doctrines also preached he designates as the
gospel, because they promise the supply of so many blessings, announcing
reconciliation with God, the overthrow of the devil, forgiveness of sins,
conquest over death, the resurrection of the deceased, eternal life, and the
kingdom of heaven. Having then thus stated that he had been separated to the
gospel of God, the holy apostle next proceeds immediately to prove in the first
place its antiquity, lest any should be foolish enough to except against it as a
novelty, and so reject it; and says, 2. Which he has promised afore by his
prophets in the holy Scriptures, for the Old Testament is full of predictions
concerning the Lord. Nor does he call them holy for no reason, but firstly to
show that he acknowledged their inspiration; secondly, as excluding all other
writings, for the inspired book alone contains all things we can need. And he
adds the nature of the promise,— 3: Concerning his Son, which was made of the
seed of David, according to the flesh. By all the prophets, says he, God has
prophesied of the things relating to his Son, who, in his nature begotten of him
before all eternity, yet made himself the son of David, inasmuch as he took his
human nature, of the seed of David. Having then thus mentioned David, it was
necessary that he should subjoin, according to the flesh, lest he should be
considered as by nature the son of David, and by grace only |38 the Son of God;
for the addition, according to the flesh, indicates that as to his divinity he
is in truth the Son of God the Father. For indeed this phrase we can never find
applied to those who simply are such as they appear; as St. Matthew the
evangelist witnesses, when saying, Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob,
and Jacob begat Judah, and so going through the whole genealogy in order, he
never yet uses this expression, according to the flesh, seeing that it suited
not them which were mere men; and so then the divine incarnate Word of God being
not only man, but God also from eternity, the apostle, having mentioned David,
necessarily adds according to the flesh, clearly to teach us how he was indeed
the Son of God, and how yet made to be of David; 4. And declared to be the Son
of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from
the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Before his cross and passion, not only to the other Jews, but even to the
apostles themselves, our Lord Christ did not seem to be God; for they were
misled by his perfect humanity, when they saw him eating and drinking, and
sleeping, and becoming fatigued; nor could even his miracles bring them to this
conviction; and thus, for instance, when they beheld the miracle at the sea of
Tiberias (Matt. viii. 27,) they cried out, "What manner of man is this, that
even the winds and the sea obey him!" In full accordance with which, our Lord
said unto them, (John xvi. 12,) "I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them yet. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will
guide you into all truth and again, (Luke xxiv. 49,) "Tarry ye here in this
city, until ye shall be endued with power from on high, the holy Ghost coming
upon you."

Before his passion, then, such were the ideas they entertained of him; but after
his resurrection and ascension to heaven, and the illumination of the thrice
holy Spirit, and the various miracles which by the invocation of his sacred name
they performed, all the faithful knew that be is God, and the only-begotten Son
of God. This then the holy apostle teaches here, that he, who according to the
flesh was designated as the son of David, was proved and set forth as the Son of
God, in the power exercised by the thrice holy Spirit, after the resurrection
from the dead of the same our Lord Jesus Christ; 5. By whom we have received
grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his
name. For he himself sent us forth as teachers, committing to us the salvation
of all nations, and giving grace suitable to that preaching, that they who hear
it may hearken unto us, and believe the word. 6. Among whom are ye also called
of Jesus Christ. Of which nations, whose husbandry is thus entrusted to me, ye
are part; for think not that I am appropriating what belongs to another, or
seizing on fields allotted to some one else, for the Lord hath constituted me
the minister of all the Gentiles; 7. To all that are beloved of God in Rome,
called saints.

He at the same time honours them with such high and divine appellations, and
represses every rising of arrogance. For, in the first place, instead of making
any distinction between them as the masters of the world, and the other nations,
he joins them with them; and, secondly, he writes to all, without respect of
persons, addressing together, servants, beggars, and working-people; the
wealthy, and the powerful; for that there were some of the latter who believed,
he shows in the Epistle to |39 the Philippians, (iv. 22,) saying, "They that are
of Caesar's household salute you." It is evident, indeed, that he writes not to
the unbelieving, but to those already converted, wherefore he calls them both
called, and saints, exalting them with such spiritual appellations, and
inflaming thereby their love towards their great Benefactor. Grace be unto you,
and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus then he completes the introduction to his letter, "Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, to all that in Rome are beloved of God, called saints; grace be unto
you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ;" the rest which
intervenes he threw in between, in order to mark whose messenger be had been
constituted, and what were the tidings wherewith he had been entrusted, and to
whom he had been commissioned to bring them. And he invokes on them first God's
grace, because by this it was that believers obtained salvation; and next peace,
by which he indicates the full establishment of virtue, since he alone has peace
with God who has embraced an evangelical course, seeking ever to serve him in
all things. And of these gifts he shows that not the Father only, but the Son
also is the giver, in saying, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; by
which expression he plainly teaches the equality of the Father and the Song of
Solomon. 8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your
faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. The apostle speaks not thus to
flatter them, but in strict truth. For it was impossible that what happened at
Rome should not be known throughout all the world; since there anciently the
Roman emperors had their palaces, and from thence the monarchs proceeded, and
the collectors of tribute throughout the different cities, and there resorted
all who sought the favour of royalty, by all of whom it was spread abroad, that
Rome bad received the doctrine of Christ; which was of the greatest benefit to
those who heard it, on which account the holy apostle returns thanks to God for
the same. |93 And now, since he had declared that he had been appointed the
teacher of all the gentiles, and yet during so long a time had neither come
himself unto them, nor instructed them in the truth by letters, he is
constrained to speak in his own defence, and calls God to witness his affection
towards them. 9. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the
gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my
prayers; 10. Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a
prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

There are many kinds of service; for he who prays to God is serving him, and he
who fasts; and he who applies himself to the diving oracles; and indeed even he
who busies himself in providing hospitality to strangers; and here then the holy
apostle speaks of serving God in bringing the gospel of his Son to the gentiles,
and serving in the spirit, that is, in the spiritual gift conferred on him;3 so
pleasing to God did |94 he feel was the glory of his Son. And, expressing
himself critically, he does not simply say that he begged for this entrance unto
them, but according to the will of God, that is, if it so please the Ruler of
all things. If then where the salvation of so many thousands was concerned, the
apostle yet asked not any thing absolutely, but to his petition joined the
Divine will, how inexcusable must ourselves be, if busied about, and praying
for, the mere objects of sense, we rest not at once all things concerning us on
the Divine good pleasure. 11. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you
some spiritual gift. What he says is full of humility; his words are not, that I
may "give," but that I may "impart;" that is, of what I myself have received I
may communicate unto you. Inasmuch, moreover, as the great Peter had already
conveyed to them the doctrines of the gospel, he necessarily adds, to the end ye
may be established; for I desire, says he, not to bring you some other doctrine,
but to confirm that already preached among you, and to water trees already
planted.4 And full of modesty again is what he adds, 12. That is, that I may be
comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me; for not
only do I wish to give, but to receive also from you, for the zeal of the
disciple comforts and invigorates the master. 13. Now I would not have you
ignorant, brethren, that often times I purposed to come unto you, but was
prevented hitherto.

He shows what he had intended, and how Providence had overruled that intention;
for Divine grace, says he, orders me even as he will; and having thus thrown in
the "I have hitherto been prevented," he shows the more clearly on what account
he had been anxious to come to them— that I might have some fruit among you
also, even as among other gentiles. 14. I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to
the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise; 15. So that as much as in me
lies, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. I have been
appointed the teacher of all nations, wherefore I owe the debt of an evangelist
not to the Greeks only, but to the Barbarians also. For this was it that the
grace of the Spirit conferred on us the gift of other tongues; and it behoves us
to discharge our debt both to those who boast in their wisdom, and to those who
are unlearned likewise. By wise he means those who prided themselves on their
eloquence; by unwise, those who for their ignorance were so denominated by such
as were called philosophers, or wise men. And, as not all would receive the
preaching of the gospel, fitly has he added, as much as in me lies; for it is
mine to preach, but the believing depends on the hearers. And as he frequently
calls this preaching by the name of the gospel, and the gospel contains an
account of our Lord's passion, cross, and death, all which to the unbeliever
seemed full of dishonour, he seasonably adds, 16. For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. I look not, says he, to the
apparent disgrace, but to the blessing arising therefrom, namely, that from it
believers obtain salvation. |95 And thus of mere outward objects many have their
own property bidden within them; as pepper, for instance, has a cold appearance,
and to those that are unacquainted with it shows no sign of heat, while he that
bites it with his teeth perceives its fiery nature; on which account physicians
rank it among hot things as to its quality, as though not looking so, and yet
capable of being proved to be such. And thus also corn may become the root, and
the stock, and the ear, which yet it could never seem, until it has been sown in
the furrows of the field. Justly then does the holy apostle call the saving
gospel the power of God, as exhibiting its power, and bestowing salvation, only
on believers. And this he says is offered to all, both Jews and Greeks; and the
Jews he puts first, before the Greeks, inasmuch as our Lord Christ sent the holy
apostles as preachers to them first; for thus God proclaims by the prophet (Is.
xlii. 6,) "I have appointed thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of
the gentiles calling the Jews the people, since of them he sprung according to
the flesh. 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith; not to all is it revealed, but to those who have the eyes of faith. The
holy apostle here teaches us how from of old God has thus provided for us, and
predicted the same by the prophets; and even before the prophets, had his own
determination concerning these things secretly within himself, for this also he
states in another place, (Eph. iii. 9,) saying, "The mystery which hath been
hidden in God, who created all things; "and again, (1 Cor. ii. 7,) "We speak the
wisdom hidden in a mystery, which God foreordained before the world, unto our
glory." And here therefore he says not that righteousness is given, but
revealed; for that which had been so long hidden is now made known to believers.
From faith to faith, says he; for we ought to believe the prophets, and by them
be brought to the faith of the gospel. But this may bear another sense also; for
he who believes in our Lord Christ, and has received the grace of the most holy
baptism, and enjoys the free gift of adoption, is led on to believe in yet
further coming blessings; the resurrection of the dead, I mean, eternal life,
and the kingdom of heaven. By the righteousness of God, revealed in the gospel,
he speaks not only of that which is hereby supplied to us, but that also which
is so plainly set forth in the mysterious scheme of this his dispensation. For
he effected not our salvation by mere power, nor destroyed the strength of death
by his mere voice and command, but by combining pity with justice. For the very
only-begotten Word of God, by putting on the nature of Adam, and keeping it free
from all sin, obtained this for us, and paying the debt of nature, discharged
the common forfeit of mankind. But all this the holy apostle teaches more
clearly below, and it were better for us to follow on our exposition passage by
passage. Having then said that this salvation was offered to both Jews and
Greeks, provided they were themselves duly disposed towards it, he confirms the
assertion by the testimony of Scripture, saying, Even as it is written, The just
shall live by faith. This he subjoins for the sake of the Jews, in order to
teach them not to cling still to the dispensation of the law, but listen rather
to their own prophets, who from of old set forth salvation |96 through faith.
And here, quitting his first point—the censure of the Jews, he commences his
charge against all the gentile nations, that they had recklessly violated the
law implanted in their nature by their Maker. And this blame of them includes a
vindication of the Creator; for when he formed them, he suffered them not to
live like the irrational creation, but dignified them with reason, and gave them
judgment, and established in them the power of discriminating between good and
evil; which position is evidenced by such as, before the coming of the Mosaic
law, were illustrious for holiness and virtue, as well as by such as followed
the opposite course. For so Adam, the instant he had transgressed the
commandment, and eaten the forbidden fruit, attempted to hide himself, under the
stings of conscience; and when called to account, neither denied what had been
done, nor pretended ignorance in his defence, but threw the blame of the
accusation on the woman; which plainly shows that our nature possessed the power
of discerning the true character of things. And thus again Cain, having privily
slain his brother, when examined, "Where is thy brother Abel?" denied it, and
attempted to conceal what had been done, but when convicted, confessed that his
punishment was just, and owned the equity of his judge, acknowledging that he
had sinned beyond pardon; and a thousand other similar instances are to be found
in the holy Scriptures: wherefore the holy apostle adds, 18. For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men,
who hold the truth in ungodliness. For nature taught them both that God was the
Maker of all things, and that they ought to avoid unrighteousness, and seek
righteousness; but they used not the instructions which it gave as they ought to
have done; wherefore he threatened them with future punishment.

He here puts the word revealed, in that disbelievers who hearkened not to those
threats were the very persons who should experience the truth of what he said.
And vengeance he calls the wrath of God; not that God punishes with any passion
of mind, but that by giving it so awful a name he might alarm the gainsayer. And
he says, is revealed from heaven, because our God and Saviour will appear from
thence, as the Lord himself declares, (Mark xiii. 26,) "Then shall ye see the
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." 19.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them: who then gave them
this knowledge? for God hath showed it unto them. 20. For the invisible things
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Creation, says he, and
all things made in that creation, the succession of time, the change of seasons,
the alternations of day and night, the labourings of the clouds, the blasts of
the winds, the fruitfulness of plants and seeds, and the various other similar
phenomena, plainly point out to us, that God is both the Maker of all things,
and that He wisely holds the keys of the creation; for He who framed all things
of His alone lovingkindness, can never leave neglected what He hath brought into
being; wherefore the holy Apostle says not the invisible thing, but invisible
things; that is, His creation, His providence, His just sentence on each person,
and all His various dispensations; most unpardonable then are they who, enjoying
such a multitude of teachers, yet have received no |97 improvement from so many
lessons, for this he adds, so that they are without excuse, for the works of
creation themselves almost cry out against them, that they have nothing to plead
in arrest of the threatened evils. 21. Because that when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. For that they were aware of the
existence of God, they themselves testify by their continual use of His adorable
name, while yet rejecting all suitable sentiments concerning him. But became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, for they
followed senseless notions, and welcomed in the darkness of infidelity. 22.
Professing themselves wise, they became fools. He increases their reprobation by
the very name they gave themselves, in that, while calling themselves wise, they
proved by their works that they were void of understanding. 23. And changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man. For
not choosing to perceive that the Maker of all things is superior to decay, and
far above all that is seen, they called the likenesses of their own bodies,
gods; for indeed it was not intelligences, which are invisible, (ch. i. 23-27,)
that their statuaries, sculptors, and painters, endeavoured to convey
representations of, but perishable mortal bodies; nor was this impiety enough,
but they must needs, moreover, worship the images of birds, beasts, and creeping
things; and while they should rather have considered that some of these men eat
as food, some loathe as unclean, and some avoid as noxious, in their excess of
madness and folly they made the likeness of these very things —which men thus
ate, loathed, or killed—into gods. 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves. He puts gave them up for permitted; and he means,
that, seeing them willing neither by the works of creation to be led up to the
Creator, nor by the judgment of reason to choose the better and avoid the worse
in practice, he deprived them of his special providence, and suffered them to be
carried about like an unsteady vessel, no longer enduring to direct those, who
had fallen into the grossest impiety, productive of a lawless life. 25. Who
changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. Impiety, he says, was the
foundation of their iniquities, and by both they became stripped of the Divine
grace. The name "God" is what he here means by the truth of God, an idol made
with hands by a lie; because that when they ought to have worshipped the true
God, they offered the adoration belonging to Him to the creature instead. And to
the same reproach do they lie open, who call the only-begotten Son of God a
creature, and yet worship Him as God; for they ought either, admitting His
divinity, to rank Him not with created things, but with God who begat Him; or
else, pronouncing Him a created being, not to pay adoration to Him as
divine.—But let us pursue the order of our exposition. 26. For this cause, God
gave them up to infamous passions, for even their women did change the natural
use into that which is against nature. 27. And likewise also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one towards another, men with
men working that which is unseemly. Iniquity walks hand in hand with impiety, so
that as they had changed the truth of God into a lie, so did they in like manner
exchange the proper object and exercise of the |98 passions for that which was
abominable. And receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was
meet. For infamy is the severest penalty of such affections. And thus, what not
even a victorious enemy had ever attempted to inflict on them, they themselves
willingly ran into; and punishment thereby, heavier than that which any judge
would impose, do they voluntarily bring on themselves. And what then was the
cause of all these evils? 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient. For if they had been willing to know Him, they would
have followed the Divine laws; but now, choosing to deny their Maker, they were
altogether stripped of his protecting care, whereby they wrecklessly ventured on
every kind of wickedness. 29. Being filled with all unrighteousness. By
unrighteousness he means that (disposition) which is diametrically opposed to
righteousness, for from this springs every kind of reprehensible conduct. And he
proceeds to detail its natural fruits. Fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30.
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents, 31. Without understanding, covenant- breakers,
without natural affection, faithless, unmerciful. By fornication he signifies
intercourse independent of marriage. By wickedness, a savage disposition. By
covetousness, the desire of getting more and more, and the carrying off of what
does not belong to oneself. By maliciousness, the bent of the mind to evil, and
the planning of injury to a neighbour. Full of envy. Bitter is the passion, and
unable to bear the prosperity of a neighbour. It is the parent of murder, and
conceives deceit. Wounded by envy, and calling in deceit as an helpmate, Cain
led his brother forth into the field, and feared not to slay him. By malignant,
he means such as exercise their thoughts in laying snares, and designing
mischief to those around them. By whisperers, such as privily murmur into the
ear abuse of others standing by. By backbiters, such as recklessly indulge in
the scandal of the absent. By haters of God, such as are inimically disposed
towards him. By despiteful, such as are given to petulance and insolence. By
proud, such as are overmuch elevated by every superiority they possess. By
boasters, such as are vainly puffed up, while haying no just cause for so
exalted self- complacency. By inventors of evil things, such as not only
fearlessly run through all existing ordinary evil, but devise yet further means
of ill-doing in addition. Disobedient to parents; and baseness indeed is this,
of the grossest kind, nature herself condemning it. Without understanding; for
they who have fallen upon so lawless a life have lost all marks of reason.
Covenant breakers; such as have embraced an unsocial and depraved state. Without
natural affection; such as will not learn the laws of friendship. Faithless;
such as fearlessly break through all engagements. Unmerciful; such as imitate
the ferocity of the brute creation. 32. Who, knowing the judgment of God, that
they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but
have pleasure in those that do them. We have shown how nature teaches us to
choose good, and avoid evil; but these, says he, nevertheless, think it not
enough to commit such things, unless they also commend such as do so likewise:
which is the last excess |99 of wickedness, seeing that they ought not only to
hate the transgressions of others, but with loathing to reprobate even their
own. |158

Chapter II.

He proceeds now in another way to prove our possession of the power of
discriminating between good and evil. 1. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another thou
condemnest thyself for thou that judgest doest the same things. But, although
thus situated, if you had received authority from any one to pass sentence, you
would punish the transgressors of the law as guilty, so perfect a
distinguishment have you between good and its |159 opposite. It becomes you then
to be aware, that in the very judgment you pronounce on others as sinners, you
involve yourselves in the same condemnation, for you have not hesitated to fall
into the same transgressions. 2. But we answer that the judgment of God is
according to truth against them which commit such things: but it is evident to
those who think rightly, that by the divine law all who transgress are obnoxious
to punishment. 3. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such
things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4. Or
despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering? We
know indeed that in His own due time the righteous Judge will inflict vengeance
on every sinner, but you, says he, who are so ready to punish others, and to
shut your eyes to your own transgressions, imagine that you will escape the
divine tribunal. Not so. God bears with you, and has long-suffering, because He
yet waits your repentance, as he subjoins, not knowing that the goodness of God
leadeth thee to repentance. 5. But after thine hardness and impenitent heart
treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the
righteous judgment of God; 6. Who will render to every man according to his
deeds. For since you have an obdurate spirit, and remain still in your iniquity,
you are passing against yourself the sentence of punishment, which God in mercy
indeed yet delays, but will in the last day set forth, allotting to each a
recompense correspondent to their own works.

Well does he adopt the expression, treasurest up unto thyself in order to show,
that nothing of ours, whether word or deed, is consigned to oblivion, but that
they who love virtue are laying up for themselves a store of good, and the
workers of evil-doing the same (of evil). 7. To them who by patient continuance
in well-doing seek for glory, and honour and immortality, eternal life. He
teaches the difficulties of virtue, and displays its crown, for the patient
continuance in welldoing is expressive of those difficulties, in that we must
persevere in and carry through our virtue, and so expect its crown: but the
labour is but for a time, the gain eternal; and this eternal he joins not to the
life only, but to the glory, the honour and the immortality also, being desirous
to illustrate the reward of our good deeds in as many ways as possible. 8. But
unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9. Tribulation and anguish, upon every
soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. As
with respect to the former party, it was not simply to any chance person, nor to
such as follow virtue sluggishly, that he promised those blessings, but to those
who are contented to undergo its difficulties and labours, in like manner does
he now threaten the heavy denunciations upon sin not to such as are betrayed
into it on some chance occasion, but such as determinately pursue it, as is
evident from the are contentious, the obey not the truth, and the work evil.
Jews and Gentiles equally, says he, he will punish if transgressors, and deem
worthy of the crown if zealous after holiness and righteousness. By the Gentiles
he means not such as had become converts to the divine preaching, but such as
had lived antecedently to our Lord's incarnation; nor to those among them who
were idol-worshippers; but those who, being beyond the Mosaic polity, yet had
embraced true piety, and sought after |160 righteousness, does he promise
eternal life. 10. But glory, honour, and peace to every man that doeth good, to
the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

He speaks thus, not without a distinct design, but with a view to what follows,
where he enters upon the accusation of the Jews. 11. For there is no respect of
persons with God. 12. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish
without law, and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law.
God, says he, is the Maker of all, and therefore the Judge of all; and the Jews
then will he take account of, and condemn, according to the Mosaic code, but
those that have never received it, whom he means by the without law, and their
sin, He will justly punish according to the knowledge of good and evil implanted
in their nature. 13. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified. For the law was not sent to us to gratify
our ears, but to lead us to the practice of what is right. 14. For when the
Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law,
these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves. For that the divine law
demands such a practical obedience they also testify, who, antecedently to the
Mosaic code, exercised themselves in holy thoughts, and adorned their lives with
virtuous deeds, and became their own lawgivers. 15. Which show the work of the
law written in their hearts, their conscience also being witness, and their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. 16. In the day
when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
He shows that the law of nature was written in their hearts, and that the
self-condemnation or self-vindication of conscience was according to truth. And
I think it worth while to illustrate this by some example. When then the
admirable Joseph was bringing his plot to bear concerning Benjamin, and
attempting to take him for a slave, as if he had stolen the cup, in order to
prove the temper of his brethren as it were in the fire, then was clearly
manifested the strength of the testimony of conscience. For then they were least
inclined to turn their minds to that tragedy, and yet could not but remember the
sin themselves had committed two and twenty years before, so that they cried one
to another, (Gen. xlii. 21, 22,) that the blood of our younger brother is
required at our hands, while Reuben reminded them of his entreaties among them.
Agreeably then to this instance may we describe the future judgment and
conscience of those who lived beyond the polity of the law, now as pleading
their defence, and alleging ignorance, and now again admitting the justice of
the accusation, and confessing the equity of the sentence passed upon them. And
thus, again, Abimelech, (Gen. xx. 4, 8,) having the testimony of his own
conscience, cried to God, "Lord, wilt thou slay an unconscious and righteous
nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister, and she, even she herself said,
He is my brother? with an innocent heart have I done this thing."

Having thus then laid down these matters, the holy apostle now turns his
discourse to the Jews, and says, 17. Behold, thou art entitled a Jew, for this
title was from of old a general and honourable one, wherefore he says not merely
named, but entitled; and restest in the law, for thou weariest not thyself, like
him who is a stranger to the law, in searching after what is right and fitting
in practice, but hast the law itself teaching thee all things plainly; and
makest thy boast of God, as of one, who has honoured thee above all the |161
nations on the earth, dignified thee with his especial providence, bestowed on
thee the law, and led thee by the prophets. 18. And knowest the will, that is,
the will of God: and discernest the differences, that is, between things which
are opposite to each other, righteousness and unrighteousness, justice and
injustice, temperance and excess, piety and impiety; Being instructed out of the
law, for this it is, which was thy teacher in these matters; 19. And art
confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them in
darkness, 20. An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes. He here points
out their arrogant self- opinion, and lays bare the superciliousness they
exhibited towards proselytes; which hast the form of knowledge, and of the truth
in the law, for the divine law has furnished thee with the characters of all
these things. 21. Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not
thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22. Thou
that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou
that abhorrest idolst dost thou commit sacrilege? 23. Thou that makest thy boast
of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? He shows that they
had drawn no benefit from the establishment of the law among them, but being
content to pride themselves on its mere letter, and endeavouring to teach
others, while by their deeds contradicting their words, so boasted in the law in
vain; and he adds a proof to confirm the accusation, 24. For the name of God is
blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written; not only art thou
not the cause of glory being given to God, but through thee many tongues are
excited to speak evil of his name, in that when they witness thy wicked life,
they openly reproach the God who hath chosen thee for his own.

Having, thus shown that they had taken no advantage from the Mosaic legislation,
he turns his discourse to circumcision, and proves that it also is deprived of
its object, when separated from the other works belonging, thereto; 25. For
circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a breaker of
the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. The holy apostle follows in
the train of the ancient prophecies, the God of all says by the prophet
Jeremiah, (ix. 26;iv, 4.) "All the Gentiles are uncircumcised in the flesh, but
the house of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts;" and again, "Circumcise
yourselves to God;" adding, in order to show what is the circumcision which he
speaks of as pleasing to God, "take away the hardened foreskin of your hearts."

Starting from this point, the holy apostle shows that circumcision is idle, if
the circumcision of the heart be wanting, for it was instituted in order to
that, which if absent the other is of no avail, since it bears but the part of a
sign. For where we put gold, or silver, or precious stones, or valuable raiment,
we are in the habit of affixing a mark, but, when none of these is within, the
inscription of such a mark is idle. 26. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the
righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for
circumcision? The law, says he, demands practice; when then thou who art
circumcised hast not this, but the uncircumcised has, oughtest not thou justly
to be, called a sinner, and he receive thine honourable name instead; no longer,
acceding to your reproaches, being named uncircumcised, but rather |162
circumcised, as having cut off the evil of his heart. 27. And shall not
uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee who by the
letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? Worthy of all admiration is the
exceeding greatness of the apostle's wisdom, in that it is not the natural,
which he opposes to the written, law, but the despised name to the honoured,
uncircumcision to circumcision. And this he says is free from blame, for no one
is born so of his own choice, but so the Creator formed his nature, wherefore
neither can any injury arise from thence to such as love virtue; while thou hast
received from thine ancestors the sign of circumcision, and hast the law
teaching thee what thou shouldest do, and yet in thy works actest contrary to
all that the law points at.

Having thus demonstrated that circumcision was given for a sign, and had
afterwards become idle, he then proves that neither has the name a Jew any
advantage, 28. For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh; 29. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. He falls back here upon the
testimony of the prophetic writings, which we have above quoted, for
"Circumcise" says he, "the hardened foreskin of your hearts." |231

Chapter III.

Having thus checked the pride of the Jew, and shown that he boasted in vain in
circumcision, and in the law, and in the name of a Jew; lest any one should
suppose that he spoke thus from an angry or hostile |232 feeling, he continues,
1. What more then had the Jew, or what profit was there in circumcision? If
then, says he, some among heathen and alien nations, who were adorned with piety
and virtue, share in the divine favour, to what good did God separate Israel
from the Gentiles, and give them the rite of circumcision? for by the more of
the Jew he means advantage above the Gentiles. 2. Much in every way. For He
chose their ancestors, He freed them from the dominion of the Egyptians, He made
them the wonder of nations by miracles of all kinds, He gave the law for their
assistance, and set over them His prophets; for this is what he means by much in
every way: while yet omitting the specific enumeration of all these, he is
content to mention the institution of the law alone—Chiefly that unto them were
committed the oracles of God. For this was the highest honour: while the other
nations possessed only that knowledge which nature gives, themselves to have
received the gift of the law in addition. 3. For what if some did not believe,
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Well knew
the God of all, says be, from of old, both who would keep His law, and who would
break it. They, therefore, who did not believe, by no means invalidated5 the
divine mercies; nay, for even though all mankind should prove ungrateful towards
Him, this their ingratitude could not diminish the glory of God; as he explains
in what follows, 4. Yea, let God be true, but every man false. For granting,
says he, for argument's sake, that no one soul of man offered to Him the praise
and honour due, but all were infected with ingratitude, which is what he means
by every man being false, what diminution would God's glory suffer from hence?
And the same thing has the blessed Apostle observed in another place, "For if we
believe not," says he, (2 Tim. ii. 13,) "yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny
Himself." And here he subjoins the testimony of scripture, as it is written,
that Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou
judgest. The word that here denotes not the reason, but the result; for we do
not therefore sin in order that we may set forth the loving-kindness of God, but
Himself supplies the streams of His mercies to bring salvation to all; while men
being free agents,6 some prefer the service of God, and some walk in the
contrary direction; and so each find their end correspondent with the path they
have chosen. But still God's mercies having been extended to them (the latter)
also, thus is He fully justified in afterwards judging them, by His previous
care bestowed on them. And thus He Himself speaks to Israel, (Micah vi. 3,) "O
My people, what have I done unto thee, or how have I grieved thee, or wherein
have I wearied thee, testify against Me?" and then enumerates His blessings one
by one in order. And thus again in Jeremiah (ii. 5,) does He cry out, "What
iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, |233 and
have walked after vanity, and are become vain?" and again subjoins a list of His
past kindnesses. And here the holy apostle introduces a conclusion in the person
of his adversary: 5. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of
God, what shall we say, is not God unrighteous, who taketh vengeance? I speak as
a man. 6. God forbid.

It was necessary that he should bring forward the objection raised by others,
and he shows its absurdity by his disavowal of it; for not I, says he, speak
thus, but have only stated the position of others, which is what he means by as
a man. For then how shall God judge the world? 7. For if the truth of God hath
more abounded through my falseness unto His glory, why yet am I also judged as a
sinner? It is one of the most absurd things thus to speak; for the sentence of
God is just. Nor can my own unworthiness advance at all the glory arising to God
for His kindness, for it were the extremest injustice that they who advanced His
glory should yet suffer vengeance from Him, and expect eternal punishment; this
indeed is what not even the most unjust of men would do, how far less then He,
from whom flow the very fountains of righteousness! 8. And not also, as we be
slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good
may come? whose damnation is just. None of these things, says he, we ourselves
maintain, but are calumniously reported so to speak by others, who will suffer
the due reward of their calumny. For we must know that, as the holy apostles had
declared that where sin abounded, grace did yet more abound, some who themselves
were zealous in piety, yet uttering false accusations against them, had
published, that they had said, Let us do evil that good may come. But not such
indeed was the object of the apostolic doctrine, for they laid down exactly
contrary rules, that all should abstain from every iniquity, while only
exhorting such as came to their thrice-holy instructions to be of good cheer, in
the pardon vouchsafed by God for past offences. And here, ceasing from our
exposition awhile, and resting our mind, let us laud and magnify Him, from whose
gift it cometh, that man hath a mouth to speak withal, or remaineth mute and
dumb; and pray to Him that we may fully comprehend the mind of the apostolic
doctrines. For He assuredly will grant it, who hath said, "Ask, and it shall be
given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
With whom, to the Father, together with the thrice-holy Spirit, belong glory and
majesty, now and for ever, unto endless ages. Amen.

Book II.

We have already said, that the holy apostle was desirous of showing the
necessity of the incarnation of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ; on which
account he began by speaking of those, who were strangers to, as well as those
also who were under, the law, and convicted the former of having transgressed
the natural, and the latter the Mosaic, law, and become worthy of the deepest
punishment. Herein does he imitate a skilful physician, who first points out to
his patients the virulent nature of their disorder, and then so offers the
assistance of his healing remedies. For this he also does; having exhibited the
sin of both parties, |234 and proved them deserving of, and obnoxious to,
punishment, he next produces his medicine of faith, and sets forth the
loving-kindness of the divine dispensation, and says, 9. In what then are we
better than they? for we have proved before both Jews and Gentiles, that they
are all under sin: 10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there
is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre;
with their tongues have they used deceit; the poison of asps is under their
lips: 14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15. Their feet are
swift to shed blood: 16. Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17. And the
way of peace have they not known: 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
In the part above explained, where he was comparing the case of the circumcision
with that of the uncircumcision, he subjoined, "What more then had the Jew?" and
here, wishing to show the pre-eminence of the grace of the gospel, he says, In
what then are we better than they? for we have demonstrated that those without
the law, and those within it, have both gone astray, and he adds the testimony
of David as exactly adapted to the matter in hand; and he does so, as being
particularly studious of brevity, since otherwise he might have called in all
the prophets to the condemnation of the Jews, who allege the same, and even
worse, things against them; whence he goes on, 19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. He words this with
the greatest accuracy of expression, in that he puts it not "concerning" those
who are under the law, but to those who are under the law; for it speaks much
concerning the Babylonians, and Persians, and Medes, and Egyptians, and many
other nations, but, nevertheless, even these predictions concerning them it
addresses to the Jews. That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. And again, he employs the word that according to his
favourite idiom, (or use of it,) for the God of all did not therefore bestow
laws, and send forth His exhortations among men, in order that He might render
them obnoxious to punishment, but consulting for their salvation has He done
this; themselves it is who, by pursuing an opposite course, have drawn this
vengeance on themselves. Being now about to enter on the privileges of faith, he
first demonstrates that all have need of it, and especially, above others, those
who boasted in the law: 20. Because that by the deeds of the law there shall no
flesh be justified in His sight. Some of the injunctions of the Mosaic law
agreed with the knowledge of nature, such as, "Thou shalt not commit adultery;"
"Thou shalt do no murder;" "Thou shalt not steal;" "Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbour;" "Honour thy father and mother and others of this
kind: for they who had never received that law, were yet fully aware that each
of these was deserving not only of condemnation, but of punishment likewise. And
some, again, the Lawgiver imposed on the Jews as suitable to them for that
present time only; such, I mean, as circumcision, and the sabbath, and
sacrifices, and sprinklings, and the rites respecting the leper, and the
seminally unclean, and such-like; which are the symbols of other things, and
when fulfilled, are not in themselves sufficient to make the doer just. |235
Wherefore the holy apostle says, therefore by the works of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in His sight; and then, lest any one should suppose that
he was passing a censure on the law, he adds, For by the law is the knowledge of
sin. The law, says he, has given to man a more accurate discrimination of sin,
and made the condemnation lying on it the heavier; but for the establishment of
virtue it is not competent to be sufficient for men.

Having thus shown that the law was only the teacher of good, he proceeds to
exhibit the power of grace: 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law
is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Who can sufficiently
admire the power of the apostle's wisdom, who shows at once that the law had
come to an end, and that it consented to (the covenant of 7) grace. And aptly
does he say manifested, for it has now laid clearly before all the hidden
mystery of the dispensation; while in this comparison between grace and the law,
by proving that both the law and the prophets were witnesses to the former, he
exhibits the greatness of its conquest over the latter: 22. Even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
that believe. What had been before put down is here repeated, that what was
wanting might be added; for having said the righteousness of God is manifested,
and then interrupted the sentence to speak of its character, it was necessary
that he should resume the phrase again, and show that it was by faith in the
Lord Christ that all who desired to do so enjoyed it, whether Jews or Greeks;
the unto all refers to the Jews, the upon all to the other nations; and this he
goes on to set forth more clearly—For there is no difference: 23. For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God. He briefly shows that all are
guilty, and need (the covenant of) grace: 24. Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. For by bringing faith
alone,8 we have received remission of our sins, in that the Lord Christ has
offered up His own body for us, to be, as it were, the price of redemption.

25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiatory, through faith in His blood.
The propitiatory was a golden plate, which lay over the ark, having at either
end the figure of a cherub, (Exod. xxv.) and from thence the mercy of God was
manifested to the high priest in his ministrations. The holy apostle here then
teaches, that the Lord Christ was the true propitiatory, for that ancient one
was but a type of this. This name, however, is applied to Him as man, and not as
God; for as God He Himself speaks from the propitiatory; while as man He
receives this appellation even as others, such as "sheep" and "lamb," and |236
"sin" and "curse," and the like. (See John i. 29, 36. Acts viii. 32. 2 Cor. v.
21. Gal. iii. 13.) And the ancient propitiatory was bloodless in itself,
inasmuch as it was also inanimate, and received only the sprinklings of the
blood of the victims; but the Lord is God, and propitiatory, and high priest,
and lamb, arid in His own blood hath worked out our salvation, demanding faith
only from us.—To declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past: 25. Through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time His
righteousness. God has both exhibited His own mercy in so long bearing with
sinners, and has made manifest His righteousness to all men; for that it was not
without any further view that He thus bore with sinners, but as preparing for
them this mean of salvation, the next sentence shows—that He might be just, and
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. For both these things should we
learn from hence, that the God of all has ordered His dispensations concerning
ourselves with justice equally as with mercy; and that whosoever believes in the
Lord Christ is made partaker of the righteousness which is by faith.

Thus briefly having stated the free gifts conferred by (the covenant of) grace,
he returns to his discourse respecting the law, and shows that it yielded the
victory to grace. 27. Where is boasting then? This must be read interrogatively,
and then comes the answer, It is excluded. He says not destroyed, but excluded;
that is, has no longer any place.9 By boasting he means the haughty self-esteem
of the Jews, who exalted themselves as the only possessors of God's favour;
while now, divine grace having appeared abroad, and been shed among all nations,
this arrogance had been put out of the question, in that God had given to man a
short and easy mean of salvation in faith; for this the apostle continues to
show forth in the following sentences also, By what law? of works? Nay, but by
the law of faith. He calls faith here a law, not from inconsideration, but as
recollecting the prophecy of Jeremiah (xxxi. 31, 32,) "For in those days, saith
the Lord, and at that time, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers."

If then the Mosaic law is thus styled a covenant, and the new covenant again
bears also the same name, and faith in Christ be the law it enacts, in strict
accordance with the phraseology of the prophet does the holy apostle here apply
the name of the law to faith. And then he subjoins the conclusion concerning
faith: 28. We conclude therefore that a man is justified by faith, without the
works of the law. By law here he means that of Moses; but at the same time he
says not, we conclude that by faith a Jew is justified, but a man, the common
name of the whole human race; as he goes on to reason, 29. Is He the God of the
Jews only; is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. And then,
as a position which cannot be disputed, he confirms it by the assertion, 30.
Seeing that it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the
uncircumcision through faith. It is one God, who is the God of all; one, who is
the Maker of all; nor is it possible that He should be careful for some, and
leave others uncared for; wherefore |237 He extends His salvation to all that
believe. By circumcision he means the Jews, by uncircumcision the Gentiles. And
he next resolves the objection which might be raised, 31. Do we then make void
the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law. For of old both
the law and the prophets prophesied of the things concerning the faith, and in
receiving therefore the faith we confirm the law. He then brings forward
evidences of all this, and, while having it in his power to adduce a vast
variety of testimonies from the prophets, prefers going at once to the very root
of the Jews, and demonstrates that the righteousness of the patriarch Abraham
himself was that which is of faith. |291

Chapter IV.

1. What shall we then say that Abraham our father hath found, as pertaining to
the flesh? What righteousness, says he, before he believed in God, have we heard
that Abraham our father had as his own by works? for as pertaining to the flesh
means that which is of works, inasmuch as it is by our fleshly bodies that works
are done. 2. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory,
but not before God.10 The full performance of good works crowns the doers with
the prize, but does not exhibit the loving-kindness of God; while faith sets
forth both the disposition of the believer towards God, and the loving-kindness
of God, who by accepting such faith proclaims him who has acquired it,
victorious. And this he confirms by the testimony of Scripture, 3. For what
saith Scripture? Abraham believed in God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness. For the blessed Abraham obtained not the divine attestation by
living according to the law, but enjoyed the riches of justification by
believing on Him that called him. 4. Now to him that earneth it by his works the
reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. For the doer of righteousness
demands his reward, while the righteousness which is of faith is the free gift
of the God of all, as is further exhibited in what follows, 5. But to him that
earneth it not by his works, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.11

Having thus, in the instance of the patriarch Abraham, demonstrated that faith
was older than the law, he now again calls in another trustworthy witness of
this,—David the prophet and king, to whom the God of all renewed the promises
made to Abraham. For as he had promised to Abraham, (Gen. xxii. 18,) that "in
his seed He would bless all nations," in like manner did He proclaim to the most
excellent David, (Ps. lxxxix. 35, 38,) "Once have I sworn in my holiness that I
will not fail David. His seed remaineth for ever, and His throne as the sun
before Me, and as the moon established for ever, and faithful is the witness in
heaven:" and again, (v. 25,) "I will set His hand also in the sea, and His right
hand in the rivers:" and again, (Ps. lxxii. 11,) "Yea all kings shall fall down
before Him, all nations shall serve Him:" and such like. And since then he had
shown that the blessed Abraham had obtained justification by faith, but then
Abraham lived before the establishment of the law, it was necessary that he
should now show that David, who |292 lived under the law, himself also bore
witness to (the covenant of) grace; and accordingly he says, 6. Even as David
also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, 7. Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and
whose sins are covered. 8. Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. The law, says he, brought punishment on such as sinned, but the prophet
speaks of the blessedness of those, who have received forgiveness of their sins.
It is evident, therefore, that he is speaking of the blessedness of our own
condition, and foretelling the free gifts of grace; and this grace be shows is
open to all, saying interrogatively, 9. Cometh this blessedness then upon the
circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? And then again he
establishes his position by the case of the patriarch Abraham, For we say that
faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 10. How was it then reckoned?
when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in
uncircumcision. He proves that faith is older not merely than the law, but than
circumcision itself, and that while circumcision was yet unestablished, the
patriarch received the testimony of his righteousness, the righteousness which
is of faith. How then could he need circumcision, while having already obtained
the righteousness which is of faith? This he clearly explains, 11. And he
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which he had yet being uncircumcised. Circumcision itself, says he, is not
righteousness, but a testimony of righteousness, and a seal and sign of that
faith, which he bad exhibited before he was circumcised. That he might be the
father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that
righteousness might be imputed unto them also. 12. And the father of
circumcision. Here we must make a full stop. For herein he shows that the
patriarch first was the father of such as believed, being uncircumcised,
inasmuch as he himself, while uncircumcised, offered to God the tribute of
faith; and then of the Jews also, as of those who were sharers with him in the
circumcision; and this he lays down again, yet more clearly, in what follows,
Not to them only who are of the circumcision, but to them also who walk in the
steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had while yet uncircumcised.
For if any one sprung from the Gentiles, and not having received circumcision,
should follow in the footsteps of that faith of the patriarch, which he had
before his own circumcision, he would not fail of relationship to him; in that
the God of all, foreseeing, as God, that He would hereafter gather together one
people of the Gentiles, and the Jews, and extend to them salvation through
faith, represented both of old in the patriarch Abraham. And thus then he calls
him the father of the Gentiles, in having shown that he had acquired, before his
circumcision, the righteousness which is of faith, and after his circumcision,
had not walked under the Mosaic law, but continued under the guidance of the
same faith; in order that both Jews and Greeks, looking to him, might in common
aim at his faith, neither the one anxious for his circumcision, nor the other
his uncircumcision, for it is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but faith
which the holy Scripture speaks of as (the mean of v. 3, 5, 9, &c.)
righteousness.

Having thus shown that faith was both older and more excellent than the law, he
now also shows that the law was subsequent to the promise |293 given to Abraham,
in order thereby to make it manifest that (the covenant of) grace was itself
also anterior to the law, seeing that of this it was, that the promises were
given to Abraham; for the promise was, that "in his seed all the nations should
be blessed," which promise received its accomplishment in Christ. 13. For the
promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his
seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith: for it was by
believing in God, and not by walking according to the Mosaic law, that he
received the promise of the blessing of the nations. 14. For if they which are
of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect;
for if they who live according to the law obtain the promised blessings, in vain
did Abraham believe in God, and false and not true were the promises made to him
by God. 15. Because the law worketh wrath; for it is the character of the law to
punish the transgressors thereof; by wrath he means punishment; for where no law
is there is no transgression, for the law punishes the violators of it, for with
the law are connected observance and violation; some through zeal for virtue
preferring to keep it, and some through love of ease carelessly suffering
themselves to violate it.

16. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that
also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. He puts down
the arrogance of the Jews by applying the name, seed of Abraham, to such as
imitated the faith of Abraham, however aliens in blood. But if then, while the
law punishes transgressors, (the covenant of) grace gives forgiveness of sins,
it confirms thereby the promise made by God, in bringing that blessing on the
nations. And as He had called Abraham, the father both of the nations, and of
the Jews, he supports the expression by testimony from Scripture, 17. As it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations, and then he strengthens this
testimony by an evidence, Before Him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. For as,
says he, God is the Maker of all, and the God, and carer for, all, so did He
constitute Abraham, the father of all, not of the Jews only, but of all who
believe. And he (next) exhibits the greatness of Abraham's faith, 18. Who
against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations,
according to that which was spoken, "So shall thy seed be." 19. And not being
weak in faith so as to consider his own body now dead, being about an hundred
years old, neither the deadness of Sarah's womb; for while he saw that his wife
was barren, that the impotency of old age lay upon both, and that there appeared
not, according to human calculation, the smallest hope of child-bearing, and was
unable to produce a single similar instance from earlier times for his
encouragement, he yet welcomed the divine promise with confidence; for against
hope means hope from nature; in hope, confidence in the divine promise. 20. But
he staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief; but was strong in
faith, giving glory to God: 21. And being fully persuaded that, what He had
promised, He was able also to perform. For he looked not to the impotence of
nature, but trusted, without doubting, in the Creator of that nature. 22.
Wherefore also it was imputed unto him for righteousness; that is, faith was.
|294

Having thus shown that faith flourished among those, who were under the law, and
those also who lived before it, he turns his discourse to the object proposed.
23. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that faith was reckoned unto him
for righteousness, 24. But for us also, to whom it shall be reckoned, if we
believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Thus then the
patriarch, while he saw the womb of his wife dead, yet believed that it was easy
for God to fulfil his promise; and thus then we, while we hear the Jews
declaring that our Lord Christ is dead, believe that He is risen again;
wherefore we, in our turn, gather the fruits of faith, and enjoy the
righteousness springing therefrom. For not for nothing were recorded the things
which the Lord God did regarding the patriarch Abraham, but that we, beholding
them, might exhibit the like faith ourselves. He that raised up our Lord Christ
is spoken of His humanity, for, in the nature in which He suffered, in that it
was that He arose, and the suffering was of the flesh, and not of the impassible
Godhead. 25. Who was delivered up for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification; for for our offences He underwent His passion, that He might pay
off our debt, and that His resurrection might work out the common resurrection
of all; for by it we both gain the means of our own justification, and, being
buried with Him in baptism, receive remission of sins.

Having thus shown the power of faith, and displayed the gifts of (the covenant
of) grace, he now turns his discourse to exhortation, bidding us also take heed
to the practice of virtue; for having said that, when (the covenant of) faith
was revealed, the law became superseded, and that the patriarch had attained the
righteousness which is of faith, it was necessary that he should add moral
counsels, lest such as lived at ease should take occasion from hence to neglect
practical virtue, under the plea that faith alone was sufficient12 for
justification. |349

Chapter V.

1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, 2. By whom now we have access, by faith, into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Faith then has given
us remission of sins, and made us blameless and just by the regeneration of the
baptismal font, and it is incumbent on you to preserve the peace thus effected.
For the only-begotten by His incarnation has reconciled you, while you were in
hostility with Him, and sin it was that produced this hostility, righteousness
therefore it must be which will maintain the peace commenced; and this then we
are in every way bound to pursue by the consideration of the hopes held out, and
the glory promised by God to be given to us. For the recompense of our labours
he calls not payment, but glory, to show the excess of our reward. And as they
had at that time to endure many troubles, being beaten, tortured, and subjected
to a thousand kinds of death, he most fitly brings forward the sources of
consolation connected with these things, 3. And not only so, but we even glory
in tribulations. He has displayed brightly his own insuperable magnanimity, for
it is not, we patiently endure afflictions, which he says, but we even rejoice
in afflictions; we are exalted, he exclaims, and take pride to ourselves, as
fellow-sharers with the Lord of sufferings; but this he says not openly, because
they alone could so feel, who with himself had arrived at completeness13 in the
faith; the rest he encourages by what should come hereafter. 4. Knowing that
tribulation worketh patience, and patience proof,14 and proof hope. 5. And hope
maketh not ashamed. When misfortunes surround a man, and he bears their attack
nobly, he is thereby shown to stand his proof, 15 and leans on the hope of the
future; and this is not a fallacious hope, but one based on truth; which is what
he means by maketh not ashamed, they who hope, and then are disappointed, being
confounded and ashamed. |350

Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us. For the grace of the thrice holy Spirit, which we received
through baptism, has kindled the love of God within us. And he then sets forth
the causes of this love. 6. For when we were yet without strength, in time
Christ died for the ungodly. 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die;
yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. For we reflect,
that when we were yet transgressors, and suffering under the infection of
impiety, the Lord Christ endured that death, which was inflicted on our behalf;
and hence we learn the depth of His loving-mercy, for for a just man it might
be, that some might face death, but He, through the excess of His love, welcomed
the death which was in behalf of sinners; as he also goes on to say, 8. But God
commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. God then makes manifest the greatness of His love towards us, in the
death of Christ having been undergone, not for such as had been just, but for
such as were yet transgressors. For we now have been justified by faith in Him,
but, when He undertook that death for us, we were still subject to every kind of
sin; the words, in time, mean, at the fit time, in due time, and this he says
also in his epistle to the Galatians, (iv. 4, 5.) "But when the fulness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons." 9. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, shall we be
saved from wrath through Him. Having encountered that accursed (see Gal. iii.
13) death for the ungodly and transgressors, it is evident that He will free
from the future punishment those, that believe in Him; for that future (eternal)
punishment is what he here calls wrath. 10. For if, when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God, by the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, shall we be saved in His life. If while we were antagonists, and
enemies, He thought fit to treat us with so great consideration, as to give up
His Son to die for us, how is it possible, now that reconciliation has been
effected, that we should not share in everlasting life? And here again he calls
the Lord Christ, the Son, who, the same, is both God and man; it must be evident
therefore, I apprehend, even to the most determined heretics, as to which nature
His passion took place.

11. And not only so, but we joy also in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the reconciliation. For not only do we expect immortal
life, but even as to the present existence, glory in having been brought near
unto God, while we reflect upon the things concerning the Lord Christ, who,
being our mediator, has effected peace. From hence he proceeds to explain the
mystery of the dispensation, and show the reasons of the incarnation, 12.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so
death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned. The Lord God having formed
Adam, and dignified him with reason, imposed on him one single law for the
exercise of those rational faculties; for indeed it was not meet that one who
had received reason, and possessed the power of discriminating between good and
its opposite, should live without any law at all. He, having been beguiled,
transgressed the command. But, from the first, the lawgiver had to the command
affixed the threat of retribution, and thus, |351 falling under the sentence of
death, he so begot Cain, Seth, and the rest. All therefore, as having sprung
from him, inherited a mortal nature. Now such a nature has need of many things,
food, and drink, and clothing, and houses, and various arts, and the use of
these oftentimes excites the passions into excess, and excess begets sin; and
therefore the holy apostle says, that Adam having sinned, and become mortal
through that sin, both descended to his race, for death came upon all men, in
that all have sinned, for not on account of our first father's transgression,
but for his own, each receives the sentence of death.16 13. For until the law
sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned (such) where there is no law. He
accuses not, as some suppose, those who lived before the law, but all alike; for
the until the law means, not until the commencement of, but until the end of,
the law; that is, while the law reigned sin had power, for where there is no
law, neither can there be transgression.

14. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the type of Him that would
come after. By Moses he means the law, as we also find in the Gospels (Luke xvi.
29,) "They have Moses and the prophets;" |352 and so also the holy apostle
speaks in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (iii. 15,) " But even unto this
day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their hearts," that is, the law. Death
then, says he, reigned from Adam until the manifestation of the Saviour, for
then the law received its end, "for the law," says he, "and the prophets,
prophesied until John; but from the days of John the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matt. xi. 12, 13.) And death,
moreover, reigned over those also, who had not sinned after the likeness of
Adam's transgression, for although they had not transgressed that particular
commandment, they had nevertheless ventured on other sins. And he calls Adam the
type of Christ, for the latter he designates as Him that would come after, on
this account, that as Adam first, by his sin, became subject to the sentence of
death, and thus the whole race followed their first parent, so the Lord Christ,
having fulfilled the most perfect righteousness, destroyed the power of death,
and first rising from the dead shall restore the whole race of man to life. And
as he had called Adam the type of Christ, he shows the pre-eminence (of the
latter.) 15. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. And how then is
this? For if through the offence of one, many be dead, much more the grace of
God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many. As regards punishment, says he, the Lord God preserved the strict law
of justice, and Adam, having sinned, and been given over to death, the whole
race followed him; how much more right then that, as regards God's loving-mercy,
justice should also be preserved, and all men share in the resurrection of our
Lord Christ! He here calls the Lord Christ a man, to show clearly the type in
Adam, that as there by one man (came) death, so here by one man the dissolution
of death. 16. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto
justification. The munificence of grace, says he, goes beyond the limits of
justice, for then, one having sinned, the whole race received punishment, but
now, all mankind having been unholy, and transgressors, it has brought, not
punishment but, the free gift of life.

17. For if by one man's offences death reigned by one; much more they which
receive the fulness of grace, and of the gift, and of righteousness, shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ. If the transgression of one man established the
dominion of death, it is evident that they, which enjoy the plenteous gifts of
God, shall be conquerors over death, and share with Christ in the imperishable
kingdom and life eternal.18. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift
came upon all men unto justification of life. Doubt not, says he, concerning
what I have said, while looking to Adam; for if those things be true, as indeed
they are true, and when he had sinned the whole race received the sentence of
death; it is plain, that the righteousness of the Saviour gains life to all men.
And again he puts the same thing in another form, varying his phrase, and again
and again re-stating it, in order the more clearly to open the mystery of the
dispensation. 19. For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. With great nicety does he
here, in the case of those under Adam, and that of those under grace, adopt the
word |353 many, for indeed among the former we find some, who were superior to
the grosser sins, as Abe1, and Enoch, and Noah, and Melchisedek, and the
patriarchs, and even those who became illustrious under the law; and after (the
covenant of) grace there are many who embrace a sinful life.

Having thus shewn us, from what took place through Adam, the reasons for the
divine incarnation, he brings forward the objection17 which might arise, and
offers a solution. The objection is with regard to the law, which was given in
the interim between Adam and the appearance of the Saviour; wherefore the holy
apostle says, 20. But the law came in between, that the offence might abound. He
means not, by that it might, that such was its object; but uses the words
according to his familiar mode of expression.18 But what he is shewing is, that
neither in time past did God leave men neglected, but gave the law to the Jews,
and by their means showed forth the light of religion on the rest of the nations
also. And aptly has he put intervened, in that Christ was the end of the promise
made to the patriarch; for "in thy seed," says He, "shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed," and the law intervened between Abraham and Christ. And it
taught the more clearly how evil a thing sin was, while yet it was incompetent
to put a stop thereto, but only the more increased it, seeing that, in
proportion as more commandments were given, so many the more became the
violations of them. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. It
invalidated not, says he, the mercy of God, but rather displayed the vastness of
His loving-kindness. 21. That as sin had reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Here he
finishes the argument, shewing that as sin, begetting death, had reigned in our
mortal bodies, exciting the passions to excess; so grace, conveying to believers
the justification which is of faith, has her dominion also, one not coeval with
that of sin, but eternal and endless; for the former reigns over our bodies, but
at their death ceases from her power, "for he who is dead," according to the
holy apostle, "is freed from sin;" while, after the resurrection, our bodies
having become imperishable, and immortal, grace will reign in them, sin having
no longer any place; for when the passions have ceased, there will be no room
for sin. And then again he proposes another objection arising from the subject,
and with ease resolves it. |407

Chapter VI.

1. What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God
forbid. By the reprobation of this, he shows its inconsistency, but the question
itself be put down, because of what had been just before said, "Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound." Nor is he contented with this bare
condemnatory disavowal, but proceeds to treat the subject in another way
also:—2. How shall we, that have died to sin, live any longer therein? And how
have we died thereto? 3. Know you not, brethren, that as many of us as have been
baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into His death? Thou hast
renounced sin, and hast become dead to it, and buried with Christ; how is it
possible then that thou shouldst admit this same sin? 4. Therefore we are buried
with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. The
very sacrament19 of baptism has taught thee to fly from sin, for baptism carries
in it the representation of our Lord's death, for in that thou hast communicated
both in the death and in the resurrection of Christ. It becomes thee therefore
to lead a new life, as it were, and one suited to Him in whose resurrection thou
hast partaken. The divinity of Christ is what he here calls the glory of the
Father, for thus also in another epistle he speaks, (Eph. i. 17,)20 "That the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory . . . . ." and the Lord in the
gospels (John ii. 19,) "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up again." Nay, and if heretics will not receive this interpretation, neither so
can they injure the glory of the Only-begotten, for, even granting that it was
the Father who raised Him up, as man it was that He raised Him, for as man it
was that He also endured the passion. 5. For if we have been planted together in
the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Since he had called baptism, which places us in a state of salvation, a type of
death, by this change of name He plainly points out the resurrection, for
whatever is distinctly planted springs up again. 6. Knowing this, that our old
man has been crucified with Him, that the body might be rendered inoperative as
regards sin, so as that we should no longer serve sin. Not our |408 nature, but
our evil inclination, is what He here calls the old man, and this he says has
been put to death in baptism, that the body may be idle as regards sin, for this
it is which He means by that the body might be made to cease from sin, so that
it should in no wise serve sin. And this He shows more plainly by another
similitude:—7. For he that is dead is freed from sin. For who ever yet saw one
that was dead either invading the marriage-bed of another, or imbruing his hands
in bloodshed, or committing any other of the catalogue of iniquities? 8. For if
we have died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him. It becomes us,
therefore, also, having been buried with Christ, to be dead indeed unto sin, but
to await the resurrection. 9. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the
dead, dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over him. 10. For in that he
died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Amply,
by these words, has he proved his wish to make believers abstain from sin. Once,
says he, Christ died; and that He should a second time die were impossible, for
He now possesses an immortal body. On this account, therefore, we all also enjoy
one baptism; expect not then any second forgiveness by (means of any second)
baptism. He has indeed well said that He died unto sin, for He was not subject
to death, inasmuch as He had done no sin, but received death for our sin. 11.
And thus indeed reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto
God, through Jesus Christ. And do you, therefore, display your bodies dead to
the inworking of sin, but embrace the life which is after Christ, by which you
shall obtain the life eternal. To this advice it behoves us all to take heed,
flying from the snares of sin, and calling to our aid Christ who has saved us;
for, if called, He will appear, and extend to us His own strength: in
conjunction with whom, to the Father, with the thrice-holy Spirit, belong glory
and majesty, now and for ever, unto endless ages. Amen.

Book III.

12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in
the lusts thereof. A reign differs from a tyranny in this, that a tyranny is
exercised over those who unwillingly submit to it; a reign, over subjects who
are consenting thereto. He exhorts us therefore no longer to agree to the
government of sin, for the Lord in His incarnation has overthrown its reign; and
as one legislating for mere mortals, and such as possess a body liable to
passions, he enjoins things consistent with their infirmities, and says, not Let
not sin tyrannize, but, let it not reign; for the former is its own property,
the latter rests on our will; the motions and tumult of the passions being
engendered in us by nature, while the performance of what are forbidden depends
on our own volition. And he shows, moreover, the short duration of the warfare
by denominating the body mortal, in that when it has undergone the termination
of death the attack of the passions ceases likewise. He exhorts us then, not to
put a stop to the tyranny of sin, but, not to obey it when intemperately
inflaming the desires of the body. 13. Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Having spoken of a reign, in strict
keeping herewith, he mentions its artillery also, and teaches us the way of
victory, for the weapons which |409 sin uses against us are our own members. But
yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead. And, indeed,
just before he had said the very same thing— "And so reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ;" that is,
ye have been buried with Christ, and have risen again with Him, wherefore ye are
dead to sin, and aspire to another life. And your members, as instruments of
righteousness, unto God. He shows that the body is not evil, but the work of a
God of goodness, for it is competent to serve God, if well and properly governed
by the soul; wherefore it is the inclination of our own free will to the worse
that offers the members for weapons, as it were, to sin; and again the love
arising from our knowledge of good, which prepares the members to obey the
divine laws. For thus the tongue of the musician, when he is in the right mind,
offers up fitting melody to the God of all, but when he is drunken and
disordered, madly sends forth the horrid sounds of impiety; and thus also it is
both adorned by the words of truth, and disgraced by falsehoods; and thus the
eye likewise can look abroad both modestly and lasciviously, both savagely and
benevolently; and thus also the hand both kills and pities; and, in short, all
the members of the body become the instruments of holiness when the Spirit is so
minded, and of sin, on the reverse, when it has embraced the governance of sin.
But in another way also does the holy apostle demonstrate the easiness of the
victory: 14. For sin shall no longer have dominion over you, says he. For nature
no longer fights singly, but has for her assistant the grace of the Spirit; for
this he adds, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. He shows that
before the coming of (the covenant of) grace, the law taught only what was to be
done, but afforded no help to those under it, while (the covenant of) grace, in
addition to the imposition of duties, extends assistance also, on which account
the legislative constitution of grace is also more complete than the law, as
removing the impediments by this succour. And here again he answers an objection
arising. 15. What then, shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under
grace? He notes this objection because of the gainsayers, and first reprobates
it, pointing out its absurdity, and says, God forbid, and then more at length
demonstrates the contrary. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death,
or of obedience unto righteousness? Whomsoever ye choose to submit yourselves
unto, his commands you are bound to comply with, for it is not possible at the
same time to obey two lords, but righteousness and sin are diametrically opposed
to each other; and this also the Lord says in the holy gospels, (Matt. vi. 24,)
"No man can serve two masters." 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants
of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. He both points out the change in themselves, and exhibits the joy
arising therefrom, giving praise to God; for ye were, says he, the servants of
sin, but by your own voluntary choice you have shaken off its sovereignty, and
embraced the divine polity.21 18. Having then been freed from sin, ye were made
servants of righteousness. Ye have cast away the slavery of sin, and taken upon
|410 you the yoke of righteousness; it is not possible therefore that bearing
the latter you should yield to the commands of the former. 19. I speak after the
manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh. I suit my exhortations to
your nature, for I am well aware of the passions which contend in a mortal body.
For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto
iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto
holiness. By this also be shows that it is not the (natural, see ver. 13,) body
that deserves reprobation, but the disposition that leads it astray. And he
demands indeed from us nothing impossible, but that what we did give to sin, the
same we should afford to righteousness; and to the former we subjected ourselves
while it enjoined iniquity, the latter, if we obey it, will bring us to
holiness. 20. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from
righteousness, for ye fulfilled its precepts only, while as to the laws of
righteousness ye received not them at all. And then again, in another way, he
exhibits the difference. 21. What fruit had ye then from those things? Tell me
yourselves the gains of sin; or rather it were idle to ask, for in silence you
confess its injury, for ye are covered with shame, as he adds, whereof ye are
now ashamed; for although any one be barefaced indeed, he yet cannot but
experience shame, when his enjoyment is over. And he subjoins, in addition to
this, the greater and more bitter fruit of sin —for the end of those things is
death. Death, he means not the present, which is merely temporal, but that which
is eternal. 22. But now having been freed from sin, and made servants of God, ye
have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. In these words he
opposes God to sin, holiness to shame, and life everlasting to everlasting
death. 23. For the wages of sin is death. As (according to the metaphor
throughout adopted, be had said that) it formerly reigned, and now tyrannizes,
and he had called its weapons our own badly-disposed members, consistently also
does he denominate the reward wages, for so he was in the habit of naming the
pay of soldiers; as in the epistle to the Corinthians, he says, (1 Cor. ix. 7,)
"Who goeth a warfare at any time on his own wages?" But the gift of God is
eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here he says, not reward, but free
gift, for eternal life is the gift of God; for though any one should carry
through the highest virtue, still those eternal blessings could not justly be
weighed as a requital for such present labours. Having said these things to them
that lived under (the covenant of) grace, respecting the obligation lying on
them to avoid sin, he again turns his discourse to the comparison between the
(covenant of) law and grace, and shows the strength of the latter and the
weakness of the former, and teaches that on the entrance of the one, the other
ceased. |480

Chapter VII.

1. Know you not brethren (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the
law hath dominion over a man, as long as he liveth? You well know, says he, you
I mean who have been brought up in the law, that the law has its authority over
those who are yet alive; and he adduces an example also in accordance with this
proposition. 2. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her
husband, so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is made to cease
from the law of her husband. And then he shows this yet more clearly: 3. So then
if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she is called an
adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from the law, so that she is
no adulteress, though she be married to another man. The law, says he, calls her
an adulteress, not who after the death of her husband is united to another, but,
who while her husband is yet alive, joins herself to any one else, for such an
one it orders to be punished as insolently rebelling against the law of
matrimony; it is evident, therefore, that when her husband has brought his life
to an end, the widow not illegally, but with the distinct permission of the law,
may marry another. Nor indeed was the holy apostle ignorant, that the law gave
permission to the living also to dissolve a marriage when it should be no longer
agreeable, but he was mindful of our Lord's assertion, which declared that Moses
gave them that law on account of the hardness of the heart of the Jews, but that
the law of nature had added no such terms, for one man, says he, and one woman
did God make, establishing the law concerning marriage in their very creation:
wherefore leaving this unnoticed, he passed on to the law as regarded the dead,
and subjoins, 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by
the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is
raised from the dead. It would have been indeed in strict consistency with the
example adduced, to have said, "the law is dead," that is, has ceased, but in
consideration of |481 the spiritual weakness of the Jews, for they greatly
exalted the law, and from a desire not to afford an opportunity of finding fault
with it to the heretics who denounced the Old Testament, he avoids saying that
the law had ceased, but declares that we have become dead to the law by baptism
which saveth us, and then rising again have been united, to Him who hath Himself
risen from the dead, that is Christ. And as he had called the faith which is in
the Lord a marriage and union, in strict keeping herewith does be show the
fruits also arising from marriage, that we should bring forth fruit unto God,
says he. What then is this fruit-bearing? That our members become the
instruments of righteousness. And most aptly does he show that the law itself
leads us to be joined to Christ, for it forbade not, says he, a woman to be
married to a second husband after the death of the first. And then he goes on to
point out the difference. 5. For when we were in the flesh, that is, under the
polity of the law, for the legislative ordinances concerning the flesh, as of
foods and drinks, of leprosy, and such like, are what he here calls the flesh;
the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members. He says not
"in" the law but by the law, for it does not itself bring about sin, but it
condemns sin, while that, which was good, sin uses for evil; neither indeed do
our members themselves bring about sin, but only by our members has the
inclination of the soul to the worse brought its operations to effect. And what
then springs from hence? To bring forth fruit unto death. In these words he has
taught us that before the coming of (the covenant of) grace, while we were
living under the polity of the law, the attacks of sin to which we were
subjected were the more powerful, in that the law showed indeed what ought to be
done, but offered no help to do it. 6. But now we are made to cease from the
law. He still continues in the same cautious mode of expression, and says not,
"the law is made to cease," but we are made to cease from the law, that is, it
is inoperative as regards ourselves, we are no longer under its polity. And how
are we made to cease from it? Being dead to that wherewith we had been held. For
when we were subjects of the law we came to baptism, and dying with Christ, and
with Him rising again, we were united to our Lawgiver, and no longer need the
polity of the law, for we have received the very grace itself of the Spirit, as
what follows proves, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the
oldness of the letter. He here puts the spirit in opposition to letter, and the
new against the old, that by the word letter he might point out the law, and by
the old its having come to a conclusion. For indeed by Jeremiah (xxxi. 31, 32)
God says, "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the
house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt so
that the difference was shown even by the prophet; and on the appearance of the
new covenant, the old must yield. Having thus spoken, and foreseeing as one
honoured with the gifts of the Spirit, that some of the heretics would
understand this in derogation of the old covenant, and conceive that the old law
came from some other than the one same God, the holy apostle necessarily states
the objections and subjoins the answers to them. 7. What shall we say then? Is
the law sin? |482

He had in the former parts of this epistle laid down many positions, which might
have given an opportunity of finding fault with the law, to such as were
desirous of speaking evil of it, unless he had offered the present solution of
such questions, (as) "the law entered in between that the offence might abound;"
and "the law worketh wrath;" and "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in His sight;" and the like; wherefore, for the resolution of these
very things he proposes the objection. And first he shows that the interrogation
is profane, and adds the expression of disavowal, God forbid, and then he
teaches the utility of the law. Nay but I should not have been aware of what was
sin, but by the law. Not only, says he, is the law not the teacher of sin, God
forbid, but on the contrary it is the condemner of sin, for I should not have
known what was evil, unless it had shown me. For I should not have known that
lust was, except the law had said Thou shall not lust. The words I should not
have been aware, and I should not have known, are not here indicative of a total
ignorance, but mean this, that I received from the law a knowledge more complete
than the mere discrimination of nature. 8. But sin taking occasion by the
commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. In every way he
endeavours to show that it was free from blame, for having said that by the
imposition of the law sins had been increased, lest any one should suppose that
the law had been the cause, he most seasonably sets forth its way, that sin
making use of the imposition of the law as a mean for battle, beat down the
weaker powers of judgment. For without the law sin were dead, for where there is
no law pointing out what should be done, and forbidding What should not be done,
sin has no place. And he makes this evident by an example; 9. For I was alive
without the law once, for Adam before his transgression had no fear of death,
but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. For when God had imposed
the commandment respecting the trees, immediately the devil came to the woman in
the serpent, and uttered those deceitful speeches, and she being enticed, and
beholding the beauty of the fruit, was overcome by desire and broke the
commandment. And with Adam she immediately received the sentence, for he also
had shared in that food.

10. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. In
every way he vindicates the law, and the commandment, but proves the evil of
sin; for the commandment, says he, was the minister of life, but the turning
aside to evil begot death, wherefore he most properly says, found, to show that
the intention of the law, and the end brought about by sin, were widely
different things. 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
and by it slew me. The same thing he had said before, only in different words.
12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. It
is the Mosaic which he here speaks of as the law, and that given to Adam as the
commandment. And the reason why he honours the latter with the greater praises,
is that it commonly meets with the greater censures. For they who live in idle
ease, and will not undergo the labours of virtue, cry out even against God
Himself, for imposing this commandment. For if He were ignorant, say they, of
what would happen, how can He be God who foreknows not the future? but if while
foreseeing the transgression, He yet imposed the commandment, Himself is the
cause of the |483 transgression! But such should be aware, that the power of
discriminating between good and its opposite is the property of those that are
gifted with reason, for the nature of the irrational creatures possesses no such
faculty of distinguishment of these things; for the wolf is ravenous, and the
lion feasts on its prey while scarce dead, and bears and leopards follow in the
same train; and they have no sense of sin,22 nor a conscience to be pricked at
what has been done; while men, though no one be present at their actions, are
ashamed and afraid on account of what they have dared to commit, for conscience
supplies the accusation. How then were it possible that they who possess such a
nature, should yet live without any law at all? Wherefore God enjoined the
commandment, that man might thereby learn to understand his own nature, and to
fear his Lawgiver. And well indeed may we perceive the loving-kindness of that
Lawgiver, for He enjoined, not some law which was difficult of observation, but
one which could have been easily kept. He allowed to him the enjoyment of all
the trees, of one alone He forbade him the use; not that He grudged him that
one, for how could He do so, who had already given him power over all? but in
order to teach him the terms of submission, and to render him well-affected
towards his Creator, and afford a mean for the exercise of his rational
faculties. And if then, by not keeping the commandment he came under sentence of
death, this can be no cause for blame to the Lawgiver, but to him who
transgressed the law. For so neither, when a physician orders his patient to
abstain from cold drinks, does he do this because he invidiously grudges them to
him, but in order to bring about his health; and if he not observing the
injunction will take water, he draws the injury on himself, but the physician is
free from blame altogether. But indeed the Lord God has treated with every
possible consideration and kindness, both Adam himself and all his race, and, to
pass by all other, and come at once to the noblest instance, for him, and his
race, the only-begotten Word became incarnate, and put an end to the power of
death, which from him had received its beginning, and promised the resurrection,
and prepared the kingdom of heaven: so that He both foreknew his transgression,
and made ready before-hand the mean of remedy to follow; wherefore the holy
apostle calls the commandment holy, just, and good; holy, as teaching what we
ought to do; just, as rightly pronouncing judgment on the transgressors; good,
as appointing life to such as observed it. And then again he states the
objection that might arise, 13. Did then that which is good become death unto
me? and again according to his wont he denies it, God forbid, and shows us the
cause of these evils, but sin, that it might appear to be (indeed) sin, in its
working death to me by that which is good. There is an obscurity here, arising
from the extreme brevity made use of; what he means is this, that by that which
is good, to wit the law and commandment, sin is made apparent to me, namely, as
being bad and evil; and how is it so made apparent? by its working unto death,
for from the fruit I know the tree, and seeing death I hate its parent; but of
all this is the law the teacher; it is not then the |484 law, which thus
instructs, that is evil, but sin, which brings death; and it is the inclination
of our own free will to the worse, that is the author of sin. That sin might by
the commandment become exceeding sinful. For though nature points out sin, its
excessive turpitude the law has more clearly manifested. The expression that it
might become is incomplete, the word "apparent" being understood, for so also we
explained it in the preceding sentence, "but sin, that it might be seen to be
sin indeed by its working out death to me by that which is good, that sin might
by the commandment become exceeding sinful," that is, that it might become by
the commandment " apparent" that sin is exceeding sinful, that is evil. And
then, like some skilful painter, he portrays the contest between nature and sin.
14. For we know that the law is spiritual. Again be crowns the law with praise,
for what can be more holy than this designation? for it was written, says he, by
divine inspiration, being a partaker of this grace the blessed Moses indited the
law. But I am carnal, sold under sin. He brings before us the man who lived
before the coming (of the covenant) of grace, beset by his passions, for by
carnal he means one who had not yet received the spiritual help (offered in that
new covenant, see verse 5 ad fin. and ch. vi. 14 ad fin. &c.); but the sold
under sin we shall understand by comparing it with that passage of the prophet,
(Isaiah 1. 1,) "For your iniquities have you sold yourselves." And the same
thing does he here say, I have delivered myself up to sin, and sold myself to
it. |608

15. For that which I do I know not: for he who is overcome by pleasure, and
indeed he also who is intoxicated by the passion of anger, has no clear
perception of sin, but after such passion has subsided receives a knowledge of
the evil. For what I would that I do not, but what I hate that I do. This is the
perfection of the law, to point out what is evil and implant a hatred of it in
the soul. The words what I would not and what I hate do not denote compulsion,
but weakness; for we sin not because driven thereto by some necessity or force,
but being beguiled by pleasure we fall into those things which yet we cannot but
hate and denounce as wicked. 16. If then I do that which I would not, I content
unto the law that it is good. For the very hatred I have for sin, I have
received from the law, wherefore I bear testimony to the law, and acknowledge
its excellence. 17. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. This needs elucidation somewhat more at length. The body then after the
transgression of the commandment becoming mortal received passions and
appetites, since by these it is that our present state of existence is carried
on. For thus it needs desire, not only for the provision thereby of food, but
for the procreation of children also, and for agriculture's sake, and the
various other arts, none of which could exist were desire altogether wanting.
Thus it also contributes to our perseverance in well-doing, for nothing but such
an affection for and desire of virtue could qualify us to bear its attendant
difficulties. And so also does it work within us the Divine love. The proper
measure of desire then is an auxiliary to good, but its disorder brings forth
intemperance, in that it leads us to lay snares against the marriage-bed of
others, and to covet what does not belong to us, and to steal, and to break open
tombs (in order to spoil the dead), and to commit manslaughter, and become
guilty of other the like crimes; wherefore has the God of all added side by side
to it (an uncalculating) impetuosity,23 that the latter might repress the
extravagance of the others, |609 while itself also needing a check on its own
excesses. As then we dilate with what is too cold, that which is hot, and again
correct what is too cold by what is hot, even so has God our Creator, by
implanting in us these two passions directly opposed to each other, taught us to
check each reciprocally by the other. For over them He has placed the mind, like
a charioteer over his horses, and imposed the yoke of submission on them,
enjoining both to bear it evenly together;24 if then it happen that desire
springs forward beyond the line, He bids her goad up impetuosity, that this
rushing onward may again bring the yoke straight; and, if that admit the
overworkings of its own temper, again in its turn He orders desire to be pressed
forward, that it may correct the excess of impetuosity. The mind then, if
watchful and prudent, thus keeps under and directs them, while if negligent, and
letting the reins go, she becomes the means of her horses breaking away, and is
herself dragged onward, and with them falls into pits and down precipices. This
then is what the holy apostle means by now it is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me, by sin intending the enslavement of the mind, and the
usurpation of the passions; and he then doeth it not, for he hates what is done,
but this usurpation of the passions is the author of the action.18. For I know
that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. He speaks of the
dominion of the passions, which the mortality of the body introduced, and the
indolence of the mind has strengthened. For to will is present with me, but how
to perform that which is good I find not, for, as regards a willingness towards
that which is good, this I have received from the teaching of the law, but at
the same time, as regards action I am impotent from want of further help. 19.
For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do.
20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me.

He makes the same assertion, only in a clearer manner. 21. I find then the law
with me in wishing to do what is right,—here we must put a stop,— (and yet) that
evil is present to me. Again he has stated this obscurely through brevity: what
he means is, that the law appears to me to be good, for I approve all that it
recommends, as being right and excellent; and in unison with it I also love all
good, and hate its opposite; but nevertheless evil is ever at hand with me, that
is, sin, by reason of my possessing a mortal body, one subject to passions and
appetites, as well as through the indolence and weakness of the soul. And thence
he proceeds to describe more clearly the conflict between the mind and the
passions. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. By the
inward man he means the mind. 23. But I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members. By the law of sin he means sin itself, and this works
within me by the passions of the body leaping about at pleasure, while the soul
is unable to restrain them, in consequence of the sluggishness fallen into at
first by her; she having cast off her own freedom, and allowed herself to be
subjected to them; |610 while yet not the less does she, even though thus
obeying them, hate that servitude, and approve that (the law) which condemns it.
Having thus laid down all this, in order to show us what we were before
receiving grace (through the new covenant), and what we have become since that
grace; and personating, as it were, the character of those besieged by sin
before grace appeared; he now, as one in the midst of his enemies, taken captive
and compelled to obey, while perceiving help from no other quarter, groans
bitterly, and cries out, proving that the law could not succour him, and says,
24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? I
thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He calls it a body of death, as
being bom subject to death; that is, mortal, for the soul is immortal. Christ
alone, says he, has freed us from this bitter bondage, by putting an end to
death, and promising us immortality, and that life which is without either
labour or pain, and apart from warfare and sin; the full enjoyment whereof we
shall receive in the existence to come; while in the present we are blessed with
the grace of the thrice holy Spirit, and thereby not only do we set ourselves
against the passions, but by the possession of such an Helper are enabled to
triumph over them. And then he brings forward the resolution of all that had
been said, So then I myself, the same person, with the mind serve the law of
God, but with the flesh the law of sin. 25

Chapter VIII.

1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: for our passions can no longer
get the mastery over us without our own consent, now that we have received the
grace of the Spirit of God. 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. As he had just before called
sin "the law of sin," so now does be call the life-giving Spirit, the law of the
spirit of life. His grace, says he, by faith in Christ has bestowed on you a
double freedom; for not only has it overthrown the power of sin, but put an end
also to the tyranny of death, and he shows how He has thus overthrown it 3. For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. The law then
was not evil, but good, though impotent; and that weakness arose from its
injunctions being given to those encumbered with a mortal nature, for now by the
thrice-holy baptism we have received the pledge of immortality. God sending His
own Son in the likeness of sinful fleshy and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. He says not in the likeness of flesh, but in the likeness of sinful
flesh, for He received actually the human nature, but human sin he received not;
wherefore that which He thus assumed, he calls not the likeness of flesh, but
the likeness of sinful flesh, because though He had the same nature with
ourselves, He yet had not the same character or disposition. He means, then,
that the law having been unable to bring to effect its own design, by reason of
the weakness of those beneath its covenant, possessing as they did a mortal
nature, and one obnoxious to infirmities and passions; the only-begotten |611
Word of God, becoming incarnate, by that human flesh overthrew sin, in having
fulfilled all righteousness, and admitted no taint of sin; and by enduring the
death of sinners, as though Himself a sinner, manifested the injustice of sin,
in that it delivered up to death a body over which death had no just claim. And
this then both overthrew it and put an end to death; for in thus submitting to
death through the unjust sentence of sin, while not at all obnoxious to it, in
that He never committed sin, did He become the price of redemption of those
justly subjected unto death, as one free among the dead: for so he also teaches
in what follows, 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For He has paid, says he,
our debt, and fulfilled that which the law aimed at: and what then was this? to
render them righteous that had received that law. If then the dispensation of
Christ Jesus has brought to effect the intention of the law, the law deserves
not blame, but praise. And having thus touched upon the subject of
righteousness, he goes on to an exhortation to it, and having said, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit, adds, 5. For they that are after the
flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit; and in like manner in another place, (Gal. v. 25,) "If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit," meaning here by the Spirit,
the grace of the Spirit, and teaching that he who follows it, both thinks and
does the things agreeable thereto, and he that is enslaved to the flesh, that
is, to the passions of the body, has deprived himself of his freedom. 6. For the
inclination of the flesh is death. He says not the flesh, but the inclination of
the flesh, that is, the breaking forth of the passions, for the recompense of
sinners is death; but the inclination of the Spirit is life and peace, for he
who lives after the Spirit gains peace with God; 7. Because the inclination of
the flesh is enmity against God. Again he condemns the inclination of the flesh,
that is, the tyranny of the passions which he declares are at variance with God.
For they are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; for how is it
possible that he who has admitted the tyranny of the passions, should embrace
the service of God, while yet choosing to serve sin? 8. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. He does not bid us go out of the body, but be freed
from the inclination of the flesh, as is shown by what follows: 9. But ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in
you. For it is evident that they who received these his instructions were not
devoid of the body itself, but what he means is, that they were conquerors over
the fleshly passions, and enjoyed the grace of the thrice-holy Spirit resident
within them; and so in a similar sense does our Lord say that His disciples are
"not of the world," (John xv. 19,) not that they came from elsewhere, but that
they were dead to the world. |671

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. As he had said
if so be that, which implies an alternative, he aptly subjoins that he who is
wanting in this grace, has no fellowship with Christ And as this was enough to
warn and alarm them that received this Epistle, he proceeds again to re-assure
them, 10. And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, with regard to sin,
but the spirit is life, as regards righteousness. He makes clear what had been
ambiguous, and shows that it was not the mere flesh itself that he is
condemning, but sin; for he bids the body be dead to sin, that is not to commit
sin; and the soul is what he here speaks of as the spirit, in its having become
already spiritual; here he enjoins to follow after righteousness, whose |672
exceedingly desirable fruit is life. 11. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. He
invigorates them by hope of the future, and inspires them with willing
readiness, sufficient for present contests; for ere long, says be, your bodies
will be immortal, and superior to the passions that now molest them; and this
will He do, the same, the (rod of all, who now so liberally bestows on us the
earnest of the Spirit. And He has given us also a pledge of this resurrection,
in the resurrection of Christ. And he teaches by all this, the unity of nature
in the Godhead, for he calls the thrice-holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father
and of the Son; not that, as the infamous heretics say, He was created of the
Father by the Son,26 but that He is of one substance with the Father and the
Son, and proceeds from the Father,27 according to the teaching of the gospels.
His grace it is, that is extended by Christ to such as are worthy. And he
continues showing how we ought to triumph over the fleshly passions. 12.
Therefore we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for having
received salvation of Christ Jesus, and been made partakers of the grace of the
Spirit, to Him we owe the debt of service. 13. For if ye live after the flesh ye
shall die; after the flesh, that is, following the passions of the flesh: the
death he means is that which is eternal; but if ye through the Spirit do put to
death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. This superiority has (the covenant
of) grace over (that of) the law, that the latter points out what is right; the
former has the grace of the Spirit in addition, as an helpmate. And here indeed
the holy apostle, foreseeing the corruptions of Marcion,28 Valentine, and Manes,
uses the greatest accuracy of expression in his instructions, saying not, put to
death the body, but the deeds of the body, that is, the desires of the flesh,
the burstings forth of the passions, for ye have for an assistant the grace of
the Spirit, and the fruit of victory is life. 14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, for they who live under the Spirit
obtain the privilege of adoption; and here he strikes at the Jews, teaching them
not to think too highly of themselves, forasmuch as that they also had been
called sons, for they are wanting in the glory of the thrice-holy Spirit, being
aliens from grace.

15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have
received the spirit of adoption. Again, he compares (the covenants of) grace and
the law, and calls the institutions of the latter, bondage, while at the same
time showing that it was written by the grace of the Spirit. Not, therefore, the
thrice-holy Spirit itself does he here call the spirit of bondage, but the
imposition of the law as effected by that holy Spirit; for had be by the spirit
of bondage meant the thrice- holy Spirit itself, then truly must there have been
another Spirit, of adoption; but not so is it, for the thrice-holy Spirit is
One, while different and varying are His gifts; "for to one is given by the
Spirit |673 the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same
Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit and so forth. And having shown that
in truth we have received the privilege of adoption, he subjoins, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. For when we offer up to the Lord the prayer of the
initiated,29 we are bidden to address Him as our Father, and we say, "Our Father
which art in heaven and he has added the word, Abba, to point out the confidence
wherewith we call upon Him, for so little children, using the greater boldness
towards their parents, in that they have not as yet a clear knowledge of the
difference between them and themselves, the oftener and oftener go on lisping
out the same word towards them; and so in like manner we, by reason of His
unspeakable kindness, and immeasurable goodness, call the Maker of all our
Father, as we are commanded, while yet we are unconscious how great is the
difference between Him and ourselves, not understanding our own selves clearly,
and of His nature being altogether ignorant.30 16. For the Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. By the Spirit he means
the Holy Ghost himself, by our spirit, the grace (or spirit of adoption) given
to us, for both are here expressed by the same common word, and what he means
is, that we put forth this prayer, (thus claiming sonship therein) as led by the
teaching of the Spirit, and in so doing then we cannot be blameworthy, in that
we do it according to the divine law. 17. And if children, then heirs. Nor was
it enough that we should have been freed from bondage and enjoyed the grace of
liberty, but moreover have we been blessed with the privilege of the adoption;
nay, and not only are we called sons, but heirs also of God, and joint heirs
with Christ, for so he subjoins, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.
Since not every son becomes the heir of his father, well has the holy apostle
joined the heirship with the sonship; and since frequently even a servant
receives some portion from his master, and yet is not left an equal partner with
the child itself, it was necessary, in order to point out the ineffable
magnitude of the divine love, that he should subjoin, joint heirs with
Christ,—if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified
together. For not all who have been blessed by baptism, which places us in a
state of salvation, will enjoy these good things, but they, who in addition
thereto, have undergone their share of suffering with their Saviour.31 And this
he subjoins not without a distinct object, but for the support of those to whom
his letters were addressed; for they were subjected to the attacks of
temptations of all sorts, being beaten, tortured, and |674 imprisoned, and
exposed to a thousand kinds of death; wherefore he sends them comforting words,
supporting them by the future, and exhorting them to bear the present with
fortitude. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to he compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The crowns
exceed the contests; the reward cannot be put in the same scale with the
afflictions; small is the affliction, but vast the looked for gain; wherefore he
calls the things thus hoped for, not payment, but glory. 19. For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Perceive ye not, says he, the heaven, the earth, the sea, the air, the sun, the
moon, the whole visible creation, and besides these, such as are
invisible—angels, archangels, powers, dominions, principalities? all these are
waiting for your full perfection. 20. For the creature was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope.
Corruption is what he here speaks of as vanity, for so he teaches presently,
"because that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption." And he declares that the whole visible creation had obtained a
mortal nature, because the Maker of all had foreseen Adam's transgression, and
the sentence of death, which would be passed on him. For neither was it fit nor
right, that what was created for him should possess an incorruption, and yet
himself, for whose sake all these were made, be mortal, and a prey to passions
and sufferings; but the rather, by the resurrection receiving immortality, they
in like manner inherit incorruption. Wherefore he says that the visible creation
waits for such a change of things, for it was made changeable not of its own
accord, but in submission to the decree of the Creator, and beholding the care
exhibited in our behalf has a hope of such change, that itself also, the
creation, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption; to which mutability of
the universe the holy David also witnesses, when, mentioning the heaven and the
earth he adds, (Ps. cii. 26,) "they shall perish, but Thou remain." 21. Because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. For when these latter appear such
as now they are called, and in their immortality are manifested to be the sons
of God, the former also will obtain a total release from corruption. And all
this he says, not meaning that the visible creation really was gifted with
reason, but by a prosopopoeia, as was common with the prophets, so that one
represents the pines as groaning, and another the woods as rejoicing, and the
mountains leaping, and the rivers exulting.

22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now. Here he includes the invisible creation also, for the whole creation,
says he. But for the clearer understanding of the passage, I must bring to
remembrance what the gospels state, for there the Lord declared, (Luke xv. 10.)
that "even the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner that repenteth;" if then
they joy over penitent sinners, then must they also of a truth be cast down on
beholding our transgressions. 23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the first- fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.
And what wonder if creation is so affected on our account? for even ourselves
who have already received many pledges of the future, and above all others |675
the grace of the Spirit, groan in our longings after freedom; as what follows
shows that he means, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body. He had said, indeed, that we have received the spirit of adoption; but
without infringement thereof, he here shows us more precisely that now we have
obtained the name, but then shall be made partakers of the full reality, when
our bodies shall have been released from corruption, and have put on
immortality; while by the word first- fruits, he points out that in the future
life, we shall receive a far larger measure of the grace of the Spirit; since if
what is now offered is called first-fruits, and earnest, manifest is it that
that shall far exceed it in greatness. 24. For we are saved by hope, for not yet
have we attained unto the resurrection, but having received the promise are
comforted by our hopes; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth,
how doth he yet hope for? 25. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we
with patience wait for it. Be not cast down, says he, while looking on (present)
distresses, for we have brought you no false promises, in that we said you must
yet awhile wait, ere you should enjoy these good things, but good things thus
expected are not seen with the bodily eyes, since if seen they would cease to be
expected, while if expected, we should be content in confidence to wait for
them, and never throw away the anchor of hope. And he shows that in addition to
all this, there is also another source of help given, 26. Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, we have a sufficient assistance in the grace of
the Spirit, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Ask
not, says he, to be delivered from affliction, for ye know not what is
profitable to you, as does God your Governor. Resign yourselves into His hands,
who holds the helm of all things; for He, though you should ask nothing, but
groan only as moved by the Spirit dwelling in you, wisely orders every thing
relating to you, and will grant that which shall prove to your advantage; as he
subjoins, 27. For He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because it maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God. By the Spirit here he means not the Holy Ghost himself, but the grace given
to the faithful: for stirred up by this we pray the more earnestly, and with
sighings inexpressible by words implore God our Saviour. And this the holy
apostle writes from what himself had experienced, for he himself not once only
or twice, but even thrice, had besought release from his own trials, and
beseeching had failed of obtaining his prayer; for he heard in reply, (2 Con
xii. 8, 9,) " My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness," and having learned this, he welcomed what he had before sought to
be delivered from, and says, " most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." |734

28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called in accordance with (their own) disposition.32 They work not
together with all, but with those that love Him, nor simply work with them, but
work with them for good, for if any ask for what would not be profitable to him,
he fails of his petition, because it is to his advantage not to gain it. And
with the fittest accuracy of expression does he join the disposition with the
call, for the call is not irrespective,33 but to those who possess this
disposition; wherefore He |735 said to the apostle in Corinth, (Acts xviii.
9,10,) "speak and hold not thy peace, for I have much people in this city and
forbade him to preach the word in Mysia (ch. xvi. 6, 7); and as to Asia, at
first restrained, and afterwards commanded him to do it; wherefore he also said
to him in Jerusalem, (ch. xxii. 18,) "make haste and get thee quickly out of
Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony;" and wherefore he here also
says, to those that are called in accordance with (their own) disposition,
agreeably to what follows. 39. For whom He had foreknown, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
first-born among many brethren; for He did not irrespectively34 predestine, but
predestined in his foreknowledge of them. And speaking with the strictest
accuracy of expression, he says not conformed to His Son, but to the image of
His Son; and this he has even more plainly put in the Epistle to the Philippians
(ch. iii. 20), where, having said that "our citizenship is in heaven, from
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ," he adds, "Who shall
change our vile body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body." For our
body will not be made to resemble His divinity, but His glorified body,—and so
here also he calls those who now obtained the privilege35 of the call conformed
to the image of His Son, that is, to the body of His Son; for the divine nature
being invisible, and the body visible, by the body as an image (or shadow) is He
adored; that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and this the truth
of the doctrine testifies, for it is as man that He is called the first-born, as
God being the Only-begotten, seeing that as God He has not brethren, but as man
designates as brethren them which believe. Of these He is the firstborn, being
yet no other than the Only-begotten; but He, the same, both Only-begotten and
firstborn. 30. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom
He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified. Those whose (suitable) disposition he had foreknown, those in the
beginning He predestinated; and predestinating, also called; and calling,
justified by baptism; and justifying, glorified by designating them sons, and
endowing them with the grace of the Holy Spirit. But let no one say that such
foreknowledge is the cause of these things; for foreknowledge made them not |736
such as they are, but God as God, foresaw from of old all that would be. For so
neither if seeing a violent horse seizing the bit in its teeth, and not heeding
its rider, I should predict that nearing a precipice it would fall over it, and
the event were to happen as I said, should I have cast the horse down that
precipice, but merely have foretold what was itself about to take place, while
using the evidence of the fierceness of the horse himself as my guide. But (and
so likewise) the God of all, from of old knows all things as God, not that He
imposes on any one a necessity for his establishment in virtue, or on another
for his performance of vice; for if He exercised force towards either, He could
not with justice praise and reward the former, or adjudge punishment to the
latter. If then God be just, as indeed He is just, He exhorts indeed to what is
right, and denounces its opposite; He approves the doers of good, and avenges
Himself on those who from their own will embrace wickedness. 31. What shall we
then say to these things? If God he for us, who can be against us? Having God as
our ally, shall we be afraid of men? He comprehends all things at once under the
word who; whether kings, or generals, or people, or their leaders; the whole
world at once. And then he brings forward the crowning blessing of blessings.
32. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? He has given us the greater, and
shall He not give also the less? His own Son has He bestowed, and will He
deprive us of what we have gained? But here we must remember, that the Person of
the Son is (but) one; for the human nature was delivered up in our behalf by the
divinity; for (so) "the bread," says He, (John vi. 31,) "that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world;" and (ch. x. 18,) "I have
power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again." 33. Who shall lay
any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34. Who is he
(then) that condemneth?36 Having said that while God helps, who can injure us?
he adds, that God, having rendered us justified, who can condemn? Christ it is
that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is ever at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. What more than all this seek ye? in our
behalf the Lord Christ died, and having risen again sits by the Father; nor even
thus has He ceased His care for us, but pointing to the first-fruits which He
took from us,37 and showing its immaculate purity to the Father, by it He asks
for salvation to ourselves. And this indeed he says as regards the humanity, for
as God He asks not, but (Himself) grants. Nay, and even if the heretics should
declare, that so the Son does as regards His divinity, neither so could they
prove His glory to be the less. For let us suppose two kings to be equal in
honour, and to have the same authority, and when some deputy or general has
offended against both, the one of these having earliest received the prayer of
the culprit to beg of the partner of his kingdom to admit him to reconciliation,
does this at all diminish the dignity, of him that makes this request? By no
means. But in the present case we cannot grant even so much as this, |737 for
whatsoever seems good to the Son, pleases the Father also, and the will of both
is the same. The passage therefore is figuratively expressed by the apostle,
through his desire to set forth the greatness of (Christ's) zeal and
watchfulness for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
the sword? 36. As it is written (Ps. xliv. 22,) For Thy sake we are killed all
the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. The witness adduced
is exactly correspondent to the subject in hand, for it was spoken in the
persons of those who had the same object,38 for the thrice-holy Spirit wrote
this psalm by the inspired David, concerning the admirable Maccabees. 37. Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
Opposing the love which God bears us to all these things, we rise superior to
afflictions; for we reckon that it were most absurd for our Lord Christ to have
undergone death for sinners, and yet ourselves not most readily to embrace
martyrdom for Him. 38. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other such creation, could be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Having
weighed the whole creation at once against the love of God, and added to such as
are visible, such as are perceptible only by the mind—angels, and powers, and
dominions; and to the present, hoped for, blessings; as well as threatened
punishments also; for by depth, as I apprehend, he signifies hell, and by height
the kingdom (of heaven); and moreover everlasting life and eternal death; and
seeing that even then this scale is lightest in the reckoning, he seeks for
somewhat else to be cast in; and finding nothing, he frames into his account
another such and as varied an universe; and neither so does he find all these
together fit to be weighed against the love of God. For it behoves us, says he,
not to love Him on account of His promises of blessings, but to desire them on
His. For (so) neither if a man be sincerely well affected towards one who is
rich, does he love him for the abundance of his wealth; but from his very
affection towards him, loves also the possessions belonging to him; and in like
manner the holy apostle declares, I would not choose to inherit the kingdom of
heaven, and all visible and invisible creation, and as many such again twice or
thrice multiplied, apart from the love of God; but rather were any one to lay
before me present and future distresses, present and eternal death, and the most
protracted punishment in hell, together with the love of Him, readily and
welcomely would I choose these in preference to the former splendid and glorious
and unspeakable objects, devoid of love to Him. Which therefore that ourselves
may also possess, let us both pray and strive, so that following in the
footsteps of the apostles, we may be made sharers thereby in the (eternal)
habitations of the apostles, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ; with whom, to the Father, together with the thrice-holy Spirit, belong
glory and majesty, now and ever, unto endless ages. Amen. |738

Book IV. That the incarnation of our God and Saviour both was necessary, and was
productive of unspeakable blessings to believers, the holy apostle has clearly
shown. For he has proved the Jews to be obnoxious to the greater condemnation by
reason of the imposition of the law, and all others to be transgressors of the
law of nature; and having set forth the threat of punishment, he has subjoined
the gifts of the grace in the gospel (covenant), and pointed out the salvation
offered through faith; while, at the same time, lest the Jews should be
offended, imagining the law censured; or the heretics, hostile to the ancient
covenant, gain an opportunity of accusation against the law by the comparison
thus instituted, he has necessarily exhibited the usefulness of the law, and
honoured it with many praises. And as, again, the Jews, bringing forward the
patriarch Abraham, and the promises made by God to him, endeavoured to prove
that the preaching of the apostles, being extended to the Gentiles beyond the
divine promise, was contrary to these, he is constrained to treat of these
objections also; and most wisely does he answer them, by adducing scripture
testimonies, and ancient examples, applicable to the case, and demonstrating
plainly the truth of the divine promises. Being about then to denounce the
infidelity of the Jews, he first displays the love he bore them, and says,

Chapter IX.

1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness
in the Holy Ghost. He proves that what he was about to say should be free from
all falsehood, and dignified with perfect truth, for be calls the grace of the
Holy Spirit to witness with his conscience; in every way persuading them not to
disbelieve his account. 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in
my heart. The composition of the sentence is incomplete, for it should have been
added that the continual sorrow was caused by the rejection, or infidelity of
the Jews; but through caution he omits these distinct words, and is content to
teach in the sequel that he so meant. For thus he speaks: 3. For I could pray to
be myself anathema from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh. The word anathema39 has two significations, for that which is consecrated
to God is called an anathema, and that which is separated from Him has the same
name, and this second meaning the holy apostle has taught us in the Epistle to
the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 22), "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema"—the first being explained even by common custom, for so we
designate whatever is offered to God an anathema—and the God of all things
Himself, in commanding the town of Jericho to be made an anathema (Joshua vi.
17). Here then the blessed apostle uses it in its second meaning, to manifest
the feelings he entertained towards his brother Jews, and he says not I could
desire, but I could pray to be separated from Christ, provided that they who are
my kindred in the flesh, being united to Him, should reap salvation; and most
aptly does he introduce the "even I myself" recalling to their recollection what
he |739 had just before stated of his love to Christ, and as it were saying,
that I, whom "neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor any other such creation, could separate from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus," would gladly be alienated from Him, for the sake of the salvation
of the Jews. But it is evident that he speaks not this as preferring them to the
Saviour, but as indicating his love and anxiety for them, being most desirous
that all should submit themselves, and joyfully receive the saving gospel. And
to persuade them of the truth of what he says, he points out both their former
high descent and eminence, and the riches of the divine gifts conferred on them,
and says, 4. Who are Israelites? For most celebrated was this name, imposed by
God Himself on their forefather, (Gen. xxxv. 10) and transmitted as an heirloom
to his descendants; To whom pertaineth the adoption. And this name also they had
obtained, for "Israel," says he, "is My son, my firstborn" (Exod iv. 22); And
the glory, for they had been illustrious through miracles; And the covenants,
not the old only, but the new also had He promised to bestow on them, "for I
will make," says He, "a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to
the covenant I made with their fathers" (Jer. xxxi. 31, 32), but this they
themselves were not willing to accept; And the giving of the law, for to them
had He given the Mosaic law; And the service of God, for, honouring them above
other nations, to them He had taught the ritual ministrations of the law; And
the promises, both those made by God to their fathers and those promulged by the
prophets.

(To be continued.)

1. * Resembled those heretics of later times in their denial of the authority
and inspiration of the Old Testament—E. B.

2. * An abortion. 1 Cor. xv. 8. " Wishing to call himself meaner than all men,
leaving those perfected in the womb of their mother, who afterwards are born
according to the common custom of nature, he likens himself to an abortive
embryo, which is not numbered in the list of men." Theod. in loco.

3. * The grace of or for the ministry ἐν τῷ διδομένῳ χαρίσματι. See Theod. in
ch. viii. 16; and compare 1 Cor. i. 7; xii. 4,9; 1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6; and
1 Pet. iv. 10.

4. * As I Cor. iii. 6.

5. * The argument, according to our author, seems to be, that the means and
opportunities of salvation offered in the oracles of God, (the Bible, which he
calls the eu0ergesi/aj; or mercies) and His glory arising therefrom, must remain
sure, whether men accept or reject them, being neither weakened, nor promoted,
by their conduct thereunder.

6. + Αὐτεξούσιος, masters of themselves, in their own power, free as to choice
and action, sui juris.

7. * Literally, "to grace." The word "grace," and sometimes "faith" also, being
used to express shortly "the new gospel covenant of grace through faith."

8. + See on chap. v. 1; and so on Eph. ii. 9, 10. "For we believed not of our
own power, but when called came, and he required not from such as came, purity
of life, but, accepting faith alone, gave remission of sins." Ver. 10, the
"created" he here means of our regeneration. "For He hath called us," says he,
"of His ineffable good-ness, and we obeyed, and believing, obtained salvation.
But He required not at our hands the practice of virtue before our baptism, but
after it commanded us to hold to it also." In other words, in order to be
admitted into the covenant of salvation, not past virtue, but present faith, was
demanded; as see the former verses of the same chapter to the Ephesians, and
Romans v. 8, &c. &c.

9. * For however out of place, and cut off by this new covenant, the Jews yet
had not relinquished it—E. B.

10. * The exposition would seem to interpret, "he indeed might boast, but it
would refer not at all to God." ἀλλ̕ οὐ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν.

11. + See note on chapter iii. v. 24. Our author of course is, with St. Paul,
reprobating works as a meritorious cause, but not as indispensable conditions;
Mosaic, and not evangelical. See exp. end of this chapter.

12. * Rather perhaps "as though faith alone were sufficient," &c.

13. * Τέλειος—who having been admitted by baptism, and communicated in Christ in
the Eucharist, or τὸ τέλειον, had fully imbibed the spirit, and known the depth
of the mysteries, of their holy calling; and so were perfect and consummate
Christians.— See Bingham, I, iv. 3; & conf. 1 Cor.iii. 1, 2. Heb. v. 13, 14.
Eph. iv. 13. Phil iii. 15, &c.

14. + Δοκιμὴ, as see 2 Cor. ii. 9. Phil. ii. 22.

15. ++ Δόκιμος ἀποδείκνυται, tried and proved by test to be not wanting.—See ch.
xvi. 10.

16. * "Ortho. And bow then does it appear just to you, that, when Adam had
transgressed the commandment, the race should follow the progenitor?

"Eran. Although the race shared not in that particular transgression, they
committed nevertheless other sins, and on that account have been made sharers in
the death.

"Ortho. But then, not sinners only, but the just also, and patriarchs, and
prophets, and apostles, and such as signalized themselves by various kinds of
virtue, have fallen under the bondage of death !

"Eran. For how was it possible, that they should remain immortal, who sprang
from mortal parents? For it was after his sin, and the divine sentence, when he
was under the power of death, that Adam knew his wife, and became a father.
Having become then, himself; mortal, it was of mortals that he was the parent;
justly then do all follow their progenitor in having received a mortal nature.

"Ortho. Excellently well have you pointed out the cause of our sharing in the
death; and the same must you grant of the resurrection; for the remedy must be
suitable to the disease; for as, the founder of the race having been condemned,
the whole race itself became condemned also, so, the Saviour having broken the
curse, the race thus enjoyed freedom. And as, Adam having descended to Hades,
all who partook of his nature followed him, so, Christ the Lord having risen,
the whole race of man shall share in that resurrection .... Behold then the case
of Christ, compared with that of Adam, the remedy with the disease, the antidote
with the wound, the riches of righteousness with sin, the blessing with the
curse, remission with condemnation, the observance with the transgression, life
with death, the Kingdom with Hades, Christ with Adam, Man with man." —Dialogues.
Ἀπαθὴς. vol. iv. p. 198, &c. And compare the ἥμρτον here with the ἁμαρτωλοὶ
κατεστάθησαν of v. 19, the ἀπέθανον of v. 15, the "condemned" above, and with 3
Kings i. 21. 2 Kings xii. 13. LXX.; and Matt. ix. 2, 6, sin for its punishment.
"How then did death enter in and reign? By the sin of one. And what means the
'in that all have sinned?' He having fallen, all, though they ate not of the
tree, in him became mortal."—Chrysostom. Hom. in loco. By comparison of these
passages, as well as of what is said in v. 21 respecting sin and excess, the
general view of our author would seem to be, "As on the one hand, by the
entrance through Adam of sin bringing death in its train, and as its
consequence, all men became subject to both these evils; though some in a
greater and some in a lesser degree to the former, which indeed act and react on
one another, so that not only by the primary fall have we become heirs of
mortality, but through our own individual sins justify that sentence; even so,
on the other, by our Lord have all been gifted with a renewed power and spirit
of righteousness, and life hereafter, though all do not duly or equally take
advantage thereof."—E. B.

17. * Namely, as it would seem, "if then we need the incarnation of Christ for
our justification, of what use was the law, was it not given for that very
purpose? Nay, it has its uses indeed, in affording instruction; but the end
therefrom resulting was, that your sins, as committed against it, were the
greater and more numerous."

18. + As see ch. iii. 4, 19.

19. * Μυστήριον. Exhort at celebration of Communion, Angl. Rit.

20. + See the exposition of this verse. "The expression, 'The God of our Lord
Jesus Christ,' he has here used with a distinction, calling Him on the one hand
the God, and on the other, the Father of the same Saviour; His God as regards
His manhood, His Father as regards His godhead; for it is His divine nature that
He here speaks of as glory. And thus also in the Epistle to the Hebrews (i. 3,)
who having the brightness of His glory ..... that is, of His divine nature. And
thus also the holy Ezekiel (i. 26) says, " This was the likeness of the glory of
the Lord.' For since it is altogether impossible for men to know the divine
nature, they represent it as glory, giving that name thereto, from the worship
and glory due to it."

21. * Τὴν πνευματικὴν διδασκαλίαν, the institutions or teaching of the Spirit.

22. * [Greek omitted].—Aristotle's Ethics, Book vii. ch. 6. ad fin.

23. * The contrast seems to be between desire or interest in its healthy state,
though liable to degenerate into over-worldliness, carnality, &c. that is,
unbridled love of the creature in any way: and the warm and sudden impulses of a
generous nature, whose vicious extreme is fierceness and rage. Ἐπιθυμία and
Θυμὸς. See on Psalm lxviiL 25, (lxix. 24, Engl. Trans.) "Pour out Thine anger
upon them, and let the θυμὸς of Thine anger lay hold on them." By θυμὸς he sets
forth that which is sudden, for of such a kind is θυμὸς: but by anger that which
is lasting, for this is the nature of anger: for θυμὸς is sharp and short-lived:
anger slower, but more enduring: by the θυμὸς of anger therefore he means, sharp
and abiding vengeance. "So" we call that bravery which is the due excitement τοῦ
θυμοειδοῦς, "and justice the proper government of the soul and order of the
subjected passions, the due agreement with reason τοῦ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ καὶ
θυμοειδοῦς and harmony between each other." Περὶ Πρόνοιας, 4th Book, vol. iv. p.
566,567. This same account is repeated in the Dissertation on the Philosophy of
the Greeks, vol. iv. pp. 827, 843, 844. Ed. Halae, 1769—1774.—E. B.

24. * The ancient yoke, be it remembered, went over the necks of both horses,
somewhat as the modern cross-bar of a curricle does over their backs, only that
it was curved for that purpose; to carry it even and straight, therefore, they
must move pari passu.—E. B.

25. * Either simply, as describing the state of man under the law; or in my mind
thus strengthened now am enabled to serve God, who formerly, by the domination
of passion, could only serve sin.—E. B.

26. * Arians, Macedonians, and Eunomians, Haeret. Fab. Comp. lib. v. ch. 3, p.
389, vol. iv. 7: ed. and Pearson on the Creed, Art. 8, notes 17, 19, 3 and 6.—E.
B.

27. + See Pearson on Creed, Article 8, text and notes, 29,32, 33, 34, m. p. g.
r. —E. B.

28. ++ To whose doctrines of condemnation of the body itself, as the formation
of the prince of darkness, allusion has been so often before made; and see Col.
ii. 20 to end.—E. B.

29. * Τὴν μυστικὴν εὐχὴν, alluding perhaps to the μυστηριον of baptism, wherein
we were constituted and adopted as God's children, as see on Gal. xxvi. 27.—E.
B.

30. + Abba. The term familiarly in the mouths of infants, see Is. viii. 4, but
not allowed to be used by servants, see Calmet. Showing that as infants,
ignorant of the real nature of the connexion with their parents, boldly call
them habitually by that name, even so we, as unacquainted with our Heavenly
Parent, address Him. The whole explanation is, however, differently given in
another MS. of our author's. "It belongs to little children to call their
parents by this same word, Abba, and they who had been blessed with the adoption
of sons in baptism, were little children in this present life, waiting for the
more complete and true sonship in the world to come; wherefore he subjoins,
Abba, Father, both as pointing out the expected perfection, and as indicating
their present state, in which, like infants, they had not yet received their
full enjoyment of all good things."—E. B.

31. ++ Literally, their share of the sufferings of the Lord, see Col. i. 24.—E.
B.

32. * Τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν. Compare Acts xiii. 46, 48. Τεταγμένοι,
disposed, while the Jews were not, as explained by the ἔταξαν ἑαυτούς of 1 Cor.
xvi. 15, and the διατεταγμένος of Acts xx. 13, Luke ix. 62, and Matt xiii. 3—17.
Verbally " disposition," as [Greek] . . . k. t. l. Hist Eccl. lib. i. ch. 3, ad
init; and again, [Greek] On Ps. ix. 17. Again, [Greek] Euther. Serm. ii.; and as
see the explanation below, and on ch. ix. ver, 11, and compare Acts xi. 23, and
2 Tim. iii. 10.—E. B.

33. + [Greek]

34. * Αξιωθέντας. Having heretofore so translated this word, it has so been
rendered here, however the more literal version of Luke xx. 35, received Engl.
Transl. would have been in stricter accordance with the κατὰ προθέσιν and the
ους προέγνω above, and so at end of ch. "we may be found worthy of the mansions
of the apostles;" i. e. the same that themselves are, &c.—E.B.

35. + All the verbs and participles being in the same tense, Aor. 1st, except
the "had foreknown," Aor. 2d, both here and in the original text of the Romans,
v. 29, 30, and therefore to be rendered rather synchronistically than
successively,— (and here by the way may be mentioned, once for all, a liberty
throughout taken in this translation, for greater plainness of sense sake, at
variance with the general attempt verbum reddere verbo, and that is the
substitution of the present, where our author frequently speaks in the past
tense, of what St. Paul is saying, e. g. as in next verse, literally, ''has
comprehended." 34. Literally, "having said" . . . "he has added," &c.; the
advantage, and almost necessity, of which alteration, will be seen plainly in
those passages, where, having already laid down such and such, the apostle is
represented still in the past tense as proceeding to enforce it, and yet as
meaning this or that in the present; while our author himself sanctions it by
frequently so expressing it himself.)—E.B.

36. * Who can rise up in judgment against those whom God has thus chosen, and
when He has justified, who condemn them for what He has pardoned!—E.B.

37. + The human body of our nature, now become the first-fruits from the dead. 1
Cor. xv. 20, 23, &c.—E.B.

38. * The preservation of their own fidelity to God's glory, in spite of
suffering.—E.B.

39. * Ἀνάθημα and ἀνάθεμα. The latter in the text of the Epistle.—E.B. This text
was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2013. This file and all material on this page
is in the public domain - copy freely. From: "The Christian Remembrancer, or,
The churchman's biblical, ecclesiastical & literary miscellany", 21 (1839) p.34
&c. The text appears in sections throughout the volume.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


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  CHAPTER 2: COMMENTARY ON ROMANS - PART 2
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Theodoret, Commentary on Romans (1840) Part 2

|30

5. Whose are the fathers, the renowned, the celebrated, of whom God was called
the God (Exod. iii. 15); and then in the last place he adduces the greatest of
the blessings, And of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen. And, indeed, the addition of the concerning the
flesh had been enough to evidence the divinity of the Lord Christ, yet, as in
the opening of the epistle having said, "who was of the seed of David according
to the flesh," he subjoined, "and was declared to be the Son of God with power,"
so here also after the concerning the flesh, he adds, who is over all, God
blessed for ever; both exhibiting thereby the difference of the natures, and
teaching how just reason he had for his lamentation, since while of them
according to the flesh was He who was God over all, they had fallen from their
height, and become aliens from that relationship. And herein he imitates the
female mourners, who introduce into their funeral songs the beauty of the
person, and the flower of the age, and the illustriousness of the ancestry, and
the wealth, and the power, of the deceased over whom they lament. Having then
thus displayed the love he bore the |31 Jews, he then begins his proposed
design; 6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. I indeed, says
he, not only could desire, but could also even pray, to he separated from
Christ, if it were possible that by this separation of mine the Jews should gain
the blessings held out, but nevertheless should they still prove gainsayers, and
refuse to receive salvation, the promises made to the fathers would still remain
true. How then? For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. For God seeks
not the relationship of nature, but of virtue; and then he teaches this yet more
plainly; 7. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children,
that is of God, as he shows just below, —But in Isaac shall thy seed be called;
and having thus stated the promise of God, he now explains it, and renders the
saying clear by his exposition thereof. 8. That is, not they which are the
children of the flesh are the children of God, but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. By the children of the flesh, he means those that were
horn after the ordinary course of nature, but of the promise, those that were
given by grace. 9. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come,
and Sarah shall have a son. For nature having failed, he was constituted a
father by the divine bounty; and this shows that Ishmael also was a son to
Abraham—aye, and his firstborn son; and wherefore then boastest thou, O Jew, of
being alone called the seed of Abraham? But if thou dost imagine that he was
rejected from the relationship, as being on one side a bondsman, then thinkest
thou not rightly, for Scripture is wont to calculate descent not from the
mother's, but the father's side. And so the holy Apostle might have brought
forward the children sprung from Keturah, and shown that they also, though born
of a free woman, yet were not reckoned as the seed of Abraham; and easy had it
been for him to have pointed out the twelve sons of Jacob, born of different
mothers, four of them being bondsmen on one side, and yet all called Israel, and
receiving no injury from the slavery of their mothers; but contenting himself
with fewer instances, all this he has omitted, and beats them down by the ample
evidence left. For having mentioned that which had been said by God to Abraham,
that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, he shows that neither were the whole of
his race partakers of this blessing, seeing that of his own sons the one
inherited the privilege, and the other failed of it; for so he subjoins, 10. And
not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father
Isaac: 11. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good, or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,
but of Him that calleth, 12. It was said unto her, that the elder shall serve
the younger. If thou thinkest, says he, that, on account of (his birth from)
Sarah, Isaac was preferred before Ishmael, and Abraham's other children whom he
had by Keturah, what wilt thou say to the case of Rebecca? For here were there
the same father and the same mother, and the same one single conception, the
children being twins; for this is what he means by having conceived by one, that
is conceived both at the same time; but the one nevertheless was beloved of God,
and the other unworthy the divine regard; and God waited not for the evidence of
events, but while yet they were in the womb predicted the difference between
them; and He predicted it from foreknowing their dispositions, for election is
not |32 arbitrary, but in accordance to the disposition of men;1 and then he
adduces the testimony of the prophet, (Mal. i. 3,) 13. As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. He heeds not, therefore, the (bare descent
of) nature, but virtue only is it that He requires; for this he confirms by many
instances.

14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. The
divine decision, says he, has nothing unjust in it, but is graced with perfect
equity. And this indeed, though having it in his power to point out and teach
clearly, that it is not the custom with God to pay attention to bare birth, but
that He looks for the best disposition, as well as to remind them that
oftentimes they had been delivered up to many enemies, without being at all
spared for the sake of their forefathers, seeing that they imitated not their
virtue; and that the whole nation had been allowed to be taken captive by the
Babylonians, while Abimelech, on the other hand, though a slave and an
Ethiopian, had been saved through his piety;2 he yet refrains from so doing, as
not wishing too much to cast them down; but shows instead that the divine
dispensations exceed the reckonings of man, and while many commit iniquity, yet
not all are made to suffer vengeance for it; for so in the wilderness the
greater part worshipped, for God, the image of the calf, yet not of all was
punishment exacted, but some being made to suffer, others by those sufferings of
their's were reformed; and so in avenging himself on Pharaoh, He brought by him
great benefit to many; and these instances, accordingly, the holy Apostle places
before them; and thus he speaks, 15. For he saith to Moses, (Exod. xxxiii. 10,)
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. These words God spake concerning the making of the calf.
And it was necessary that he should mention Moses's name here, in order to show
the trustworthiness of what he was alleging, by the testimony of Him who spoke,
and him who heard; and then he draws the conclusion, 16. So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And he
brings not yet the resolution of all this, but continues still the whole
question by the addition of what follows, 17. For the Scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, (Exod. ix. 10,) Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that
I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all
the earth. And then again he adds as a deduction, 18. Therefore hath he mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. Unquestionable, says he,
are these scriptures, for what I advance is collected from thence, and from
thence only. Thou hast heard God Himself declaring, "I will have mercy on whom I
will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion," and
His again are the things spoken concerning Pharaoh. He, passing by Ishmael and
the children by Keturah, chose Isaac; and He again preferred Jacob to Esau,
although both received their being |33 at the same time, in the same womb; why
wonderest thou then, if he hath exactly so done now also, and received those
among you who have believed, and rejected those that will not admit that light?
But this indeed he does not yet lay down, but continues still adding to the
difficulties of the subject, and says, 19. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth
he yet find fault? for who hath resisted his will? For, if "He hath mercy on
whom He will, and whom He will hardeneth," man's disposition must depend on His
will (say you): and, if so, He cannot with justice inflict punishment on the
offenders, for it is not possible for any to resist whatever he thinks fit.
Having thus increased the difficulties of the subject by the variety of doubts,
and proposed all the objections arising from it, he subjoins, 20. Nay but, O
man, who art thou, that repliest against God? Since thou hast asked, says he,
"who has resisted His will," tell me what thou art; art thou not a man? How then
dost thou reply against, and over-curiously inquirest into the divine
dispensations? for if thou wert not a free agent, nor couldest choose by thine
own free will what thou wouldest do, but wert enslaved to the compulsion of the
divine will, thou wouldest, like the inanimate creation, have been silent, and
acquiesced in His dispensations; but since thou art dignified by reason,
(therefore it is that) thou both sayest and doest what thou thyself pleasest,
and lovest not what has been done, but inquirest into the causes of the divine
dispensations. Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou
made me thus? 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? Look at the clay of the
potter, which is devoid of rational discrimination; it answers not against its
maker, but although set apart for the structure of some base vessel, it receives
in silence what is done; but thou opposest and findest fault; therefore art thou
not bound by physical necessity, nor transgressest against thine own
inclination, but voluntarily embracest vice, and of thine own free choice
undergoest the difficulties of virtue. Right, therefore, and just is the
sentence of the God of all things, since with equity does he punish sinners as
daring so to act of their own will. And in justice also is His loving-kindness,
in that when He receives from us an opportunity, He extends His mercy to us.
Some, however, interpret the Nay, but O man, who art thou that repliest against
God? as spoken in rebuke; for so, say they, having first chidden those who are
impertinently curious about divine matters, and shown their meanness, for man's
nature differs not from the clay, does he proceed to the reply; and the reply is
this—22. What then if? Here we must place a stop, for he means, if thou art
desirous to know this, namely, why, when the majority sin, some of them He
punishes, and some through their means He benefits; and when many pursue virtue,
some of them He renders illustrious, and to some by them sets forth the hopes of
the future; hear what follows: God willing to show His wrath, and to make His
power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction, 23. And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory; 24. Even us whom He
hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. God, says he, was
not the author of Pharaoh's wickedness, but exercised long-suffering towards him
as He is wont, but he conceived |34 that long-suffering weakness, and through it
increased his own obstinacy; while at the same time the Governor of all things,
in His wisdom both justly inflicted punishment on him, and from his very
wickedness drew a preventive medicine to the rest. And thus, as physicians do
not themselves make vipers, but from them prepare drugs profitable to men, so
God preferred that Pharaoh should not suffer punishment, but, inasmuch as he had
fallen into so great brutishness, brought on him retributions of every kind, and
manifested at the same time His own power to all men; wherefore He says, "even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee,
and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth the I have raised
thee up meaning, I have permitted thee to obtain the throne, and while able to
prevent, prevented thee not, foreseeing the advantage that would thence arise to
others. And those whom he calls vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, are
they, who, by their own free will, have become so, for the same thing also has
he written to Timothy, (2 Tim. ii. 20) "But in a great house there are not only
vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of wood, and of earth; and some to
honour, and some to dishonour;" and, teaching how every one becomes the one or
the other of his own free will, he subjoined, "if a man, therefore, purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for
the master's use, and prepared unto every good work;" and to the Corinthians, in
like manner, he writes (1 Cor. iii. 12), "Now if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble," —clearly teaching
the free agency of man. So here does he call those who are worthy of the divine
loving-kindness, vessels of mercy. And the hath before prepared unto glory
displays the divine foreknowledge, for so had he also said before, "for whom He
had foreknown He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son;"
for the object of the apostle is to prove, that the God of all things alone
knows who are worthy of salvation, while among men not a soul. And having stated
that He hath called us not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, he
confirms the representation by the testimony of scripture, and says, 25. As he
saith also in Osee (ch. ii. 23, and i. 10), I will call them My people, which
were not My people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. 26. And it shall
come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not My
people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. And this God
spake not of the Gentiles, but of the Jews themselves; for having commanded
Hosea to marry an harlot, and indeed even an adulteress, thus did He order the
children born from her to be called, the one not a people (Loammi), and the
other not beloved (Loruhamah) (ch. i. 9, 6), foretelling what should happen to
the Jews; while at the same time He promised them good things again, that the
not people should be called a people, and the not beloved, beloved. Observe
therefore, says he, that even you have not always enjoyed the same things, but
at one time have been reckoned a people, and then not a people, and then a
people again; and at one time beloved, and then not beloved, and then beloved
again. Nothing then improbable has taken place at present, for you have been
cast off in due consistency with all this; but and so if yet you again will it,
you shall be reckoned a people, and beloved; for so also the Gentiles who were
not a people, now are |35 reckoned a people. And he adduces another witness also
to this account: 27. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of
the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant (only) shall be
saved. 28. For a short word will the Lord make upon the earth (ch. x. 22, 23).
Most opportunely has he brought forward this evidence, to show that, of old, the
God of all foresaw both those who had attached themselves to the faith, and
those who had sunk beneath the disease of infidelity. For as the Jews alleged
that but few of them had accepted the gospel, and all the rest had turned away
from it as a deception, he proves that all this had long ago been predicted, and
that although they should exceed the power of numbers in multitude, and equal
the sand of the sea, not all, but such (only) as were furnished with faith,
should obtain salvation. For faith is what he calls the short word, because what
the law taught in many commandments, while yet unable to afford complete
salvation, that confession in Christ has accomplished, while engendering faith.
And this is short, and needs not multiplied periods, being evidenced by the
disposition of the heart,3 and published by the tongue. 29. And as Esaias had
said before (ch. i. 9), Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had
been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrah. Those whom above he spoke of
as a "remnant," the same he here calls a seed, through whom the prophet declares
that the Jews suffered not the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, for they had
undergone a total destruction. Having thus taught that the God of all things
looks not to the mere relationship of birth, but seeks for a community of faith,
he shows yet more clearly by what means the Jews had fallen from their ancestral
excellence, and the Gentiles on the other hand had obtained salvation. 30. What
shall we say then? We must read this interrogatively, putting a stop here: and
then what follows as the answer. That the Gentiles which followed not after
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is
of faith. 31. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained unto the law of righteousness. Know, says he, that faith is the
cause of these blessings to the Gentiles, for it has rendered them meet to
receive the righteousness which is of grace, them who formerly wandered about in
error, and neither possessed, nor even wished to seek after, righteousness;
while Israel, on the other hand, although possessing the law, and following
after the righteousness which is of the law, hath failed of the mark, and not
obtained righteousness. And then, again, interrogatively, 32. Wherefore? the
reason of this, says he, do you desire to know? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. They imagined that the living
under the law was sufficient to secure righteousness to them, and they despised
faith; wherefore they neither obtained the gifts of faith, nor gained the
righteousness arising from living under its covenant. And then he teaches
through what cause they enjoyed not the blessings of faith; For they stumbled at
that stumbling-stone. 33. As it is written (Isa. viii. 28), Behold I lay in Sion
a stumbling-stone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not
be ashamed. They are wont to stumble who turn their attention elsewhere, and do
not choose to look at their path. This had been |36 the case with the Jews. For,
being intent on the veriest minutiae4 of the law, they chose not to see the
stone foretold by the prophets, although they had distinctly predicted, that
whosoever trusted in Him should obtain the greatest blessings; for this is what
he means by shall not be ashamed, such as hope, and then fail in their
expectations being ashamed. Having thus gently touched them, again he exhibits
the feelings he entertained towards them, lost his arguments should assume the
appearance of arising from hostility, for he has kept the heavier censures for
the last. |151

Chapter X.

1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might
he saved. An ardent wish is what he here calls a desire, for I ardently wish,
says he, and pray, that they may obtain salvation. 2. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. He mingles his
censure with praise, hiding as it were the hook beneath a bait, that the benefit
of what he says might be |152 accepted by them. 3. For they being ignorant of
God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Their unreasonable
adherence to the law is what he here calls their own righteousness, for they are
zealous still to observe it, though it has now come to an end; and that which is
of grace, through faith, what he speaks of as the righteousness of God; for so
he goes on to say, 4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth. For faith in the Lord is not contrary to the law, but
most agreeable therewith, seeing that the law itself has directed us to the Lord
Christ. he, then, that trusts in Christ, fulfils the intention of the law. And
well again does he say, to every one that believeth, for the whole race of
mankind has been comprehended, so that whether it be Greek or barbarian, if he
believe, he shall obtain salvation. And then he again sets forth the difference
between the law and grace, and introduces Moses the lawgiver, as the teacher of
both; 5. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. Whosoever has observed all
things enjoined by the law, has life as the reward of such obedience, but any
one transgression entails punishment.

6. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise; (Deut. xxx.
12,) that is, but concerning the righteousness which is of faith, not Moses
himself, but the God of all, through Moses, speaks thus, Say not in thine heart,
Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring Christ down from above; 7. Or
who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the
dead. 8. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy
heart. These things the God of all spake indeed concerning the law, teaching the
Jews, that without labour on their own part they had received the knowledge of
what they ought to do, and needed neither an ascent into heaven, nor a descent
into Hades. The word is nigh thee, for the knowledge of what thou shouldest do
has been given unto thee; but the holy apostle has transferred them to this
account of faith, teaching us that we should not over- curiously inquire into
the dispensation in Christ Jesus, or question that the only-begotten Son of God
did become incarnate, and having endured the passion, brought in the
resurrection; but by faith reap the salvation (offered). For the word is nigh
thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart; and then he adds, that is, the word of
faith, which we preach. What Moses once said of the injunctions of the law, that
we now say of faith: 9. That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For both are necessary, a
sound and firm faith, and a confession uttered with boldness; that both the
heart may be adorned with a certain persuasion of faith, and the tongue
dignified with a fearless proclamation of the truth. And then again he adduces
the testimony of Scripture. 11. For the Scripture saith, (Isa. xxviii. 10,)
Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed: and he explains the whosoever,
12. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. 13. For (Joel iii. 5,) whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The salvation of men is
what he here |153 calls the riches of God, for he well knew the loving-kindness
of the Lord; and most aptly does he suit his testimonies to the heart, and to
the tongue; to the heart, the whosoever believeth on Him shall not he ashamed;
to the tongue, the whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. And then he shows that the Jews had voluntarily deprived themselves of
salvation, by not choosing to receive the gospel offered, while yet he puts not
forth this proof nakedly, but brings about the argument in a different way. 14.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without
a preacher? 15. And how shall they preach, except they be sent? First, says he,
must a person believe, and then call upon God; but it is impossible for any one
to believe who has not enjoyed instruction, and this no one can obtain without
there being teachers, and these again commission constitutes. Having laid down
these positions as it were in vindication of the Jews, by them he increases the
blame lying on them. And that which is first, (in order of time) namely, the
sending forth of preachers, he puts last, as being about to show, that of old
all this had been foretold; for it would have been in the common course to have
set forth this before saying the rest, it being necessary first that preachers
be appointed,5 then that they should preach, then that men should hear their
preaching, and lastly believe. Therefore he adduces the prophecy of Isaiah,
(lii. 7,) and says, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! for the Lord bade His apostles,
when entering into a house to say, "Peace be to this house" (Luke x. 5), for
they were proclaiming the divine reconciliation, and bringing glad tidings of
the enjoyment of good things. The feet of such then he calls beautiful, as
running a goodly course; as washed by the hands of the Lord Himself. And having
thus brought forward the evidence concerning the preachers, he says
interrogatively, 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel? and then again in
reply, Esaias saith, (liii. 1,) Lord, who hath believed our report? Nor has
Scripture been silent on this point either, but of old God predicted all this by
Isaiah; and then as drawing his conclusion, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God; wherefore, whosoever disbelieves, disbelieves
the divine oracles, and whosoever believes, receiving the divine words, brings
forth faith as the fruit of his hearing.

18. But, I say, have they not heard? And this again is to be read |154
interrogatively, and then as the answer, Yes, verily, their sound went into all
the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.6 For how was it possible
that the Jews should not have heard, when the nations spread over the whole
earth had heard? For to them first the preachers of the truth brought their
tidings, for so the Lord Himself enjoined them, (Matt. x. 6,) "But go rather to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel and in the Acts of the Apostles, (ch.
xiii. 40,) "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken
to you." And the holy apostle continues in the same form of argument, making his
positions clearer by question and answer, for so again we must read
interrogatively, 19. But, I say, did not Israel know? and then what follows as
the reply, First, Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are
no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you (Deut. xxxii. 21). We, it
is, whom he called foolish, pointing out the folly we laboured under before our
conversion to the faith, for so also the holy apostle speaks, (Tit. iii. .3,)
"for we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one
another." By this God grievously vexed the Jews, for neither the captivity, nor
the dispersion, nor the destruction of the temple, so much distresses them, as
do the religion and eminence7 of the Gentiles. 20. But Esaias is very bold, and
saith, I was found of them that sought Me not, I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after Me (lxv. 11). He shows at once the prophecy of the
revelation of divine knowledge to the Gentiles, and the bloodthirstings of the
Jews, as the expression is very bold testifies; he feared not, says he, the mad
and murdering Jews, but with great boldness predicted the salvation of the
Gentiles, and foretold the infidelity of the Jews: as what follows shows, 21.
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a
disobedient and gainsaying people. All day long means without ceasing, for so
Symmachus and Aquila interpret the every day. Having thus pointed out that the
inspired prophets both condemned the Jews, and foreshowed the faith of the
Gentiles, he seems indeed in what follows to bring comfort to them, while in
truth adding fresh censures on the disbelievers.

Chapter XI.

1. I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. And then while able to
adduce proof of this from many other quarters, and bring forward the three
thousand who believed in Jerusalem, (Acts ii. 41,) and the many myriads of whom
the great James spake, (Acts xxi. 20,) and those of the Jews spread over the
face of the land who had accepted the gospel, instead of all these he instances
himself; and says, For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the
tribe of Benjamin. 2. God hath not cast away His people, which he foreknew. For
if He had cast them off, I also had been one of the condemned, seeing that I
also have sprung from that root, and glory in Abraham as |155 my forefather, and
Benjamin as the head of my tribe, and boast myself in the name of Israel. And
well has he added the which he foreknew, that is, those that are worthy of the
divine knowledge, having welcomed the light of faith; for so he presently after
shows, Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession
to God against Israel (1 Kings xix. 14). 3. Lord, they have killed Thy prophets,
and digged down Thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life? 4. But
what saith the answer of God unto him? (v. 13,) I have reserved to Myself seven
thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. And at that time
also, says he, were there many of Israel, and all were called Israel, and yet
the God of all things designated Himself the God of seven thousand (only), and
all the rest He rejected; for I have left unto Myself, said He, seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal; and this indeed the
prophet knew not, but imagined that in himself alone was preserved what remained
of true piety. No new nor inconceivable thing then is it, if you also know not
those among you who have fixed their faith in the Saviour, whom the God of all
things acknowledges as His people. And most opportunely does he bring forward
the great Elias making this accusation against them, that not only had they
slain the prophets, but even overthrown the altars from their foundations; for
granting, says he, that they were evilly-disposed towards the prophets, as
denouncing bitter things against them, what had they to allege against the
divine altars? Rather then by such daring impieties did they manifest that their
hatred was against the God thereof. And here the holy apostle, leaving these
scripture testimonies, resumes the thread of his own discourse, and says, 5.
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace. 6. And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace,
otherwise work is no more work. As at that time, says he, among countless
myriads, seven thousand only were left who were free from impiety, even so now
also have the greater number disbelieved, and the smaller are they who have
believed and enjoyed the divine grace, for it is not the polity of the law that
has justified them, which is what is here meant by of works, but the grace of
God has saved them; wherefore also salvation itself is called grace, because it
proceeds from the divine loving-kindness; and this also he said in speaking
concerning the patriarch Abraham, (ch. iv. 4,) "but to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." 7. What then? Here we must place a
stop, for it is put interrogatively, that is, what shall we say to this? and
then the rest as the reply, Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for;
but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were hardened. By the election
he signifies those that had believed; and what he means is this, Israel by his
adherence to the law has failed of the mark, for now contrary to the (spirit of
the) law, he still observes the law, and reaps no righteousness, but such among
them as have believed have obtained it, but the rest were hardened, that is,
their infidelity has yet more hardened their heart; and he shows that this also
was foretold from of old; 8. As it is written, (Isa. vi. 10, xxix. 10,) "God
hath |156 given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and
ears that they should not hear unto this day." Gave them, as "gave them up," (i.
24,) that is, permitted them (to fall into), for God did not incline them to
disbelief, for how were it possible for Him to have inflicted infidelity on
them, and Himself demanded vengeance for the same? And this the prophet has yet
more clearly shown, (ch. vi. 10, LXX., as also so cited Matt. xiii. 15, Acts
xxviii. 27,) "for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes have they closed." Not another then has blinded them,
but themselves have closed their eyes, and have not chosen to see the light. And
by the spirit of slumber, he means a fixed and obdurate mind; that as he who
enjoys a sound and healthy sleep is open to no change for the worse, so he who
has surrendered himself up entirely to evil, admits no alteration for the
better. 9. And David saith, (Ps. lxviii. 22,) Let their table be made a snare,
and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them; 10. Let their
eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. By the
word table he speaks of their luxurious living, which he prophesied would be
exchanged for the reverse. 11. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should
fall? God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the
Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. For to them first, such as believed
among them brought the saving gospel, and when they set themselves against it,
and refused to receive their teaching, then to the Gentiles did they offer the
divine gospel; but they that believed obtained salvation. And this was suited to
prick in heart the gainsayers among the Jews, and excite them to emulation, and
so gain for them a participation in that salvation, for those that have been
last they see made first. |363

12. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of
them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? |364 For if, when
the greater number disbelieved, those that were converted among them brought the
riches of the divine knowledge to the Gentiles, most manifest is it, that if all
believed, they would become the means of yet greater blessings to all mankind,
for all would the more readily believe, when these no longer opposed, but joined
with us instead in preaching, the truth. Thence he turns his exhortations to
those among the Gentiles who had believed, and counsels them to entertain a
chastened view of themselves; aiming at once at a double point, on the one hand
to pull down all self-sufficiency on their part, and lead them to fear; and on
the other, to bring the Jews to a participation of their ancestral inheritance;
and thus he begins, 13. For I speak unto you, Gentiles; inasmuch indeed as I am
the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office, 14. If by any means I may
provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and may save some of them. Since
God sent me forth as the minister of the Gentiles, necessarily do I labour after
the salvation of the Gentiles, and direct my discourses in their behalf, and
point out the holy prophets of old predicting these things; and this, that so I
may excite the Jews to rivalry, and induce some of them to share in that
salvation; for by his flesh he means the Jews, as those that in spirit were
distant, and related to him only by the affinity of kindred, 15. For if the
casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving
of them be, but life from the dead? For if, says he, on their disbelief the
Gentiles were received in, and freed from their former ignorance, manifest is
it, that if all these were willing to believe, nothing else would then remain to
be accomplished, but the resurrection of the dead;8 for so the Lord also said,
"and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached unto all nations for a witness
unto them, and then shall the end come," (Matt. xxiv. 14). And all this we must
recollect the holy apostle says, from a desire to suit his matter exactly to the
subject in hand, and teach humility to those among the Gentiles that had
believed, hold out the offer yet to the disbelieving among the Jews, and point
out the salvation that would arise from their change of mind; as what follows
teaches yet more clearly, 16. For if the first- fruit be holy, the lump is also
holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17. And if some of the
branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among
them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18.
Boast not thyself against the branches. By the first-fruit he means the Lord
Christ in his human nature; by the root, the patriarch Abraham; by the branches
of the olive, the Jewish people as sprung from thence; and by the richness of
the olive, the doctrines of religion. He admonishes those among the Gentiles who
believed, not to be puffed up against the disbelieving Jews; for these are they
whom he speaks of as branches broken off. Observe rather, says he, that you,
born of another race, have been grafted into this, and have received of the
richness of the holy root. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the
root thee; and consider this also, that the root bears thee, not thou the root,
and thou |365 needest it, not it thee. 19. Thou wilt say then, The branches were
broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20. Well, because of unbelief they were
broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. Infidelity
has rendered them aliens from the root, and faith has connected thee with the
root, and made thee to share in its richness; it behoves thee therefore not to
become self-sufficient, but to fear and tremble.—Wherefore? 21. For if God
spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. For if
the connexion of nature profited them not at all, because they retained not the
same character and disposition, much more thou, if thou preservest not that
grace, shalt become an alien from the root. 22. Behold therefore the goodness
and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness,
if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Behold
now how God has cut them off, because they followed not the faith of their
forefathers, and how He has conferred on thee the blessing of his
loving-kindness, and made thee to share in a root not appertaining to thee, from
which thou wilt be altogether severed again, if thou keepest not the gift
bestowed on thee. 23. And they also, if they abide not in unbelief shall be
grafted in. For it becomes the righteousness of God, both to sever again from
the root thee, who contrary to hope wert blessed with the privilege of that
root, if thou thereafter preserve not the grace given; and to join them again to
it, if they renounce their infidelity. And aptly does he use the words grafted
in as regards them also, infidelity having altogether severed them from, and
faith exactly, as in the case of the Gentiles, connecting them with, the root.
For God is able to graft them in again. By mentioning the power of God, he shows
the ease with which this would be done; and gives an instance, not one removed
far from them, and of ancient times, but one which comes home, and was recent,
for he calls themselves as witnesses to this; and says, 24. For if thou wert cut
out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to
nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural
branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? If thou, being a wild olive—for
thou hadst not the law tending thee, nor the prophets, watering, and pruning,
and taking all needful care about thee,—hast been detached from unholy ancestors
and relations, and made a partaker in the faith of Abraham, and boastest in him
as thy father and ancestor, not by the natural course of the law, but by the
divine loving-kindness; much more probable and natural must it be, that they, on
believing, should be united again to their own root. And all this, as I before
remarked, he says in order to teach humility to the Gentile converts, and exhort
to salvation the disbelievers among the Jews; and with this agrees what follows,
25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest
ye should be wise in your own conceits.A mystery is a thing not known to all,
but to those only who are entrusted with it. What he means then is, that I wish
you to understand the mystery I am aware of as regards these things, that you
may |366 not over-estimate your own spiritual knowledge, and hence be puffed up
with self-sufficiency. And what is the mystery? That blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all
Israel shall be saved. He puts the in part, to show that not all had
disbelieved, for many even among them had believed; and he bids them not despair
of the salvation of the rest. For when the Gentile nation shall have received
the gospel, then they also shall believe, the great Elias having come9 and
brought instruction in the faith to them, for so the Lord also said in the holy
gospels (Matt. xvii. 1), "Elias cometh and shall restore all things and he adds
also the testimony of the prophet (Isa. lix. 20,) 26. As it is written, There
shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob; 27. For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
If the polity of the law gives forgiveness of sins, that it is, which the speech
of the prophet predicted; but if the law punishes those that transgress it, and
the Jews ever lay under the accusation of such transgression, it is plain that
the sentence points out the forgiveness which arises from baptism. And by all
Israel, he means such as believe, whether they were of the Jews, as having a
natural descent from Israel, or of the Gentiles, as connected with him by the
relationship of faith.28. As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your
sakes: but as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
When I look to you, with whose instruction I am entrusted, I consider them as
enemies and hateful, as doing all in their power to your injury; but when I turn
to their forefathers, and reflect how God chose them from among the whole earth,
on their account I love even these. 29. For the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. All this he says as an incitement to the Jews; for that the
blessings which God gives he again resumes, when He sees those that have
received them infected with ingratitude, Saul is a proof, who, having enjoyed
spiritual10 grace, was afterwards deprived thereof; and Solomon in like manner,
who, having obtained peace through the divine loving-kindness, after his
transgression was stripped of that grace;11 and indeed the Jews themselves, who,
ever having enjoyed the fostering care of the prophets, at that present time had
been bereaved of this guardianship. And the same he had also, just before
threatened to the believers among the Gentiles, "if thou continue," says he, "in
His goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." 30. For as ye in times past
have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, 31.
Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may
obtain mercy. Remember indeed how for so long a period all of you lived in sin,
and yet the merciful Lord looked not to that lengthened and bitter ungodliness,
but blessed with his unspeakable loving-kindness such as were willing to receive
it, and when these (the Jews) would not believe, called you in their room;
nothing inconsistent then were it, that these also, who now gainsay, should be
accepted of God whenever willing to believe, and so inherit the divine
loving-kindness. And the that he here again uses in |367 the idiom and sense
familiar to him,12 for they did not therefore disbelieve, in order that they
might find mercy, but they disbelieved because of the hardness of their hearts,
and will find mercy by turning to a change of mind. 32. For God hath concluded
all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. Concluded he puts for
convicted. For he convicted the Gentiles, as having both received natural
judgment, and had the creation teaching them the knowledge of God, and yet from
neither the one nor the other having derived benefit; and He convicted the Jews
likewise, as having enjoyed yet more instruction, in that in addition to nature
and the creation, they had received the prophets also teaching what was right,
and so become obnoxious to the heavier vengeance; while at the same time both
these and those, thus deserving total destruction, has He blessed with the
privilege of salvation, provided only they were willing to believe. Having thus
fully gone through these things, and contemplating the profundity of the divine
lovingkindness, and how incomprehensible is His wisdom, he cries out, 33. O the
depth of the riches, and of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! For of old,
and from the beginning, has He foreknown all these things, and foreknowing has
wisely disposed, and in that dispensation manifested the riches of His
loving-kindness. How unsearchable are his judgments, and His ways past finding
out! The scheme of the divine economy surpasses man's understanding; nor even by
the invisible powers is the providence of the God of all things fully reached
unto. 34. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His
counsellor? 35. Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again? These three he puts us answering to the former three, the "riches,"
and the "wisdom," and the "knowledge:'' the who hath known the mind of the Lord,
to the knowledge; the who hath been His counsellor, to the wisdom; and the who
hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again, to the
riches. For so immense are the riches of His goodness, that both to them that
were not, has He given existence, and on such as are, of His free grace bestowed
well- being.13 And not as really due to us for any thing we have first given,
but of His own free kindness does He confer His blessings, although in mercy
condescending to call each such free gift, the repayment of ourselves. 36. For
of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen. For He created all things, and He continues governing all that He thus
created. To Him we ought to look, confessing our gratitude for all we already
have enjoyed, and begging for His future providence; and to Him we ought to
offer up also the praise and honour due.— Now in the words above, the holy
apostle shows that he recognised not any difference between the expressions of
whom and through whom,14 as though the former, as indicating some |368
superiority, belonged to the Father; and the latter, as implying some
inferiority, were suited to the Son. For he applies both of them to the same
Person; whom if, on the one hand, the Arians and Eunomians say is the Father,
they will find the through whom joined to the of whom; and if, on the other,
they refer it to the Son, they will see then the of whom connected to the
through whom. If then the of whom implies any superiority, and the through whom
any inferiority, and yet both are spoken of the same Person, He must in all
reason be considered greater than Himself, on account of the of whom, and less
than Himself on account of the through whom. Let us then, leaving such (arguers)
for the present, magnify our Creator and Saviour, to whom belongs glory for ever
and ever. Amen. |617

Book V. The knowledge of the nature of God, and faith, and right affections
towards Him, are the sum and true foundation of all good; for what the eye is to
the body, that faith and the knowledge of divine matters are to the soul. But
then she needs also at the same time practical virtue, as the eye does hands and
feet, and the other members of the body.

Wherefore, the holy apostle adds moral instructions also to his doctrinal
course, in order to promote in us the most perfect virtue, for through the
Romans does he afford this advantage to all mankind: and thus he opens the
subject.

Chapter XII.

1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. He lays down laws,
and sinking authority puts forth his instructions with intreaties, reminding
them of the divine loving-kindness, of which he had before spoken so much at
length; and what then dost thou beseech? that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And
already before had he exhorted to make "their members instruments of
righteousness, and yield themselves to |618 God as those that are alive from the
dead," (ch. vi. 13;) and here he bids these become also a sacrifice, and calls
it a living sacrifice, for it is not to be slain that he commands the body,15
but to become dead to sin, and not be open to its action; and such sacrifice he
speaks of as holy, reasonable, and acceptable, as contrasting it with the
oblation of irrational animals, and showing that with this the Lord is pleased.
For by ail the prophets, as one may say, he finds fault with the sacrifices of
beasts, while he enjoins this; for "sacrifice," says he, "unto God the sacrifice
of praise," and "the sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me." Ps. 1. (LXX. li. 14,
23; and see also Isa. i. 11-18,) and a thousand other such passages are to be
found in the Holy Scriptures. 2. And follow not the fashions16 of this world. He
speaks of the things of this present world, such as wealth, and power, and other
like pomps, by fashions, future things being substances, as alone permanent and
satisfying; for so in another place also, (1 Cor. vii. 31,) "for the fashion of
this world passeth away." For many from the height of abundance have fallen into
the extremest poverty, and others sprung from the lowest parents become
entrusted with the noblest offices of authority; and some again who elevated an
haughty brow, and enlarged themselves in pride, conceiving themselves superior
to everybody, being suddenly carried off, have become ill-savoured dust. The
holy apostle therefore desires us not to gape after these things, nor to love
the fashion of this world, but to seek those things which advance the life
eternal. But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. He exhorts here
those also who were inclining to the worse to return again to the better, as the
word transformed shews. And he teaches how great is the difference between
virtue and mere present objects, by calling them fashions, but virtue a form,
for a form indicates actually existing objects, but a fashion that which quickly
melts away. And he points out the freedom of will which the soul possesses, by
commanding it both to renew the mind, and to discriminate the better from the
worse; for these things are what he says serve God; and he marks out what these
are; and first of all he denounces arrogance, and enjoins humility. 3. For I
say. through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think as accords
with sobriety. And not himself does he declare thus enjoins, but the grace of
the Spirit through him, for its instrument, says he, I am; and by the word
sobriety here, he designates the healthy state of the mind, to teach us that
arrogance is the sickness of the intellect; and herein, indeed, he imitates his
own Master; for so the Lord in the holy gospels (Matt. v. 3) pronounced the
first blessing on such as were given to humility. "Blessed," says he, "are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And these instructions he
lays on all, both rich and poor, both servants and masters, both men and women,
as the words to every one that is among you testify; and he gives the proper
measures of our self-opinion, according as God hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith. Grace it is which he here calls faith, because that |619 by
faith comes the gift of grace; and according to the proportion of a man's faith
are the gifts of grace supplied; and he commands each to regulate his own
self-estimate by the grace allotted to him. 4. For as we have many members in
out body, and all members have not the same office; 5. So we being many are one
body in Christ, and every one members one of another. The illustration is
exactly suited to such an exhortation concerning brotherly love; for as each of
the members is not useful to itself alone, but contributes its benefits to the
common whole, so, therefore, it becomes him who has been blessed with any grace
from above, clearly to understand that he has received that gift for the common
advantage; for believers are one body, and each of us fulfils the office of a
member; 6. Having gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us.
Thus are we to understand this, we are members of each other, having gifts
differing according to the grace given to us; and yet, although thus differing,
they are nevertheless bestowed by the divine grace for the common good. Whether
prophecy according to the proportion of faith; 7. Or ministry that he should
wait on ministering, or as a teacher on teaching; 8. Or as an exhorter, on
exhortation. According to the faith of each does the Giver of all good
proportion the grace. And by prophecy he means not only the foreknowledge of the
future, but the understanding hidden things also;17 and by ministry the office
of preaching the gospel; by teaching the instructing in the divine doctrines; by
exhortation the inciting to virtue. He that giveth, let him do it with
singleness of heart; not seeking after the good opinion of others, but supplying
the wants of him that needs; nor calculating with himself whether he has
sufficient by him or not, but trusting in God, and so affording assistance
liberally; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with
cheerfulness. 9. Let love be without simulation. He bids all things be done with
earnestness. And the oversight he orders to be exercised with zeal, that it he
not the name without the thing; and to shewing bounty he joins joy, in order to
point out the gain that arises from communicating to others; seeing that they
who gain are wont to rejoice; for so also he says in his epistle to the
Corinthians (2 Ep. ix. 7); "not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a
cheerful giver;" and love He commands to be genuine and sincere, and repudiates
the mask of pretence. Abhorring that which is evil, clinging to that which is
good. Again he says not simply to fly from the former, and follow after the
latter, but exhorts us exceedingly to hate sin, and to the performance of good
deeds bids us closely be connected, our affections serving thereto as it were a
cement. 10. Being kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love; in honour
preferring one another. Have your regard warm, and such as becomes brethren
towards each other; and let each yield the first places to his neighbour, for
this is a proof of true and perfect love. 11. Not slothful in ardour: shewing
forth a ready promptness towards what is good, and altogether casting away
indolence. Fervent in spirit. By spirit he means the spiritual grace given, and
to this, as fuel to the fire, he commands us to bring alacrity as its
subject-matter; as he says also in another place (1 Thess. v. 19); "Quench not
the Spirit;" for the Spirit is |620 quenched in such as are unworthy of such
grace: for, not having the eye of their understanding clear;18 they take not in
that beam; even as with the corporeally blind light itself becomes darkness, and
in mid-day they are bound by the blackness of night. Wherefore he bid us be
fervent in spirit, and possess a warm desire concerning heavenly things; as he
also subjoins, serving the Lord. 12. Rejoicing in hope, patient19 in
tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. For he who is fervent in spirit, both
readily obeys his Master, and waits for the enjoyment of the blessings looked
for, and rises superior to the temptations that befall him, arming himself with
steadfastness against their attacks, and ever calling the divine grace to his
assistance; as he also subjoins, continuing instant in prayer, that is,
incessantly doing so; 13. Communicating with the necessities of the saints.20
Having mentioned communication he exhorts to liberality; for who would not
choose to impart of his wealth, thereby to become a sharer in good deeds? 21 for
so also did he say in his Epistle to the Corinthians, "that your abundance may
be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your
want." Given to hospitality. The guests he means are not the saints only, but
such also as have come from any quarter whatsoever, and need entertainment, whom
he commands us to take care of. 14. Bless them which persecute you; bless and
curse not. This was a law of our Lord's, for the Lord enjoined it to the holy
Apostles, (Matt. v. 44.) 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with
them that weep; 16. Being of the same mind one toward another. Share with each
other both in afflictions and their opposite, for the former is the part of
sympathy, and the latter of friendship unsullied by envy. Minding not high
things, but condescending to men of low estate. Again he banishes the arrogance
of haughtiness, and bids the high come down to the low. Be not wise in your own
conceits; that is, be not satisfied with your own judgments, but take the
counsels also of others. 17. Recompensing to no man evil for evil; and this
indeed is an excellence belonging to virtue in its highest state of perfection,
and approaching near to a total emancipation from the passions. Providing things
honest in the sight of all men; and he says also elsewhere, "Give none offence,
neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God." (1 Cor. x.
32.) 18. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all
men. Most accurately does he express himself here, in making the addition of the
if it be possible, and the as far as lieth in you; let nothing, says he, be done
on your part, but try every means for peace. And this is in strict consequence
from what he had before said, for what feeling of hostility can he entertain,
who "blesses him that persecutes,'' and avenges not himself on him that injures
him? 19. Avenging not yourselves, dearly beloved, |621 but rather give ye place
unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
(Deut. xxxii. 3.).) 20. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink; for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head.
Having pointed out the Judge, and shown his just judgments, for so the Vengeance
is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord, signifies, he bids us generously bear all
the injuries offered to us, repaying with the reverse those that do evil to us,
and ministering to the wants of those that hate us. For these things weave a
crown to such as thus meekly and patiently endure,22 while they increase the
punishment of the injurers. Not indeed that we are to suppose (that he means)
that on this account we are to minister to our enemies, in order that they may
suffer the heavier retribution hereafter, for the holy Apostle thus speaks from
a wish to repress the anger of the injured party, not from a desire by (his)
good to increase (the other's) evil. For that it is such a patient endurance
which he inculcates, what follows shews; Be not overcome of evil, but overcome
evil with good. For to revenge oneself proves defeat, while the returning good
for evil is manifest victory. Having thus disciplined (their) morals, he exhorts
them also to render to those in authority the honour due; for he foresaw, as one
who had plenteously received of the grace of the thrice holy Spirit, how some,
led rather by self-arrogance than any holy zeal for religion, would despise
their earthly rulers, as conceiving themselves far superior to them by reason of
their (better spiritual) knowledge.23 And especially does he do this, that he
may blot out the opinion prevalent concerning them; for they were falsely
represented as destroyers of the common laws; and some said, (Acts xvii. 6,)
"These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;" and others
that they were introducing "new customs" (Acts x. 20); wherefore he thought it
worth while to lay down his injunctions on this point also. |684

Chapter XIII.

1. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Whether a man be a priest,
or a bishop, or profess a monastic life, let him be subject to those who are
invested with authority; evidently if it be consistent with duty to God, for any
opposition to the divine laws leaves us not the power of obeying our rulers. For
there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God. And these
come from the providence of God; for He, consulting the general well-being,
ordained some to govern, and some to be governed, imposing the fear of the
magistrate to serve as a bridle on evil doers. But we must observe, that it is
the ordinance of ruling and being ruled, which the holy Apostle derives from the
providence of God, and not (so much) the elevation of this or that specific
individual to power; for it is not (so much) the sway of the unjust, but the
constitution of the office itself which is of God's appointment. And yet, when
kindly-disposed towards any, He gives them rulers who respect and keep justice,
for "I will give them," says He, "pastors according to Mine heart, which shall
feed them with knowledge" (Jer. iii. 15); and again, "I will give your judges as
at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning" (Isa. i. 26); and when
again desirous to chastise transgressors, He suffers them to be governed by evil
governors also; for "I will place over them," says He, "children to be their
princes, and scoffers shall rule over them" (Isa. iii. 4); but it is time to
return to the rest of the exposition. 2. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the
power, resisteth the ordinance of God. He fitly deters them. And they that
resist shall receive to themselves judgment; that is, will become obnoxious to
punishment. And then he points out also the use of government. 3. For rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to the evil; for they chastise those that live
in wickedness. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good,
and thou shall have praise of the same; 4. For he is the minister of God to thee
for good. He shews that he is worthy of all respect in calling him the minister
of God; and he exhorts also to the performance of good deeds, in saying that
rulers are applauders of good. But if thou do that which is evil be afraid; for
he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to
execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. If thou lovest what is good, honour then
the government which enjoins these same things; but if thou pursuest the reverse
fear then its judgment, for it is appointed of God for the punishment of the
evil. 5. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for
conscience' sake. By wrath he means punishment; and on both grounds he |685 bids
us be obedient, both from fear of punishment, and that we may fulfil what is our
duty; for this is what he means by conscience' sake. 6. For, for this cause pay
ye tribute also; for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this
very thing. For while thou art asleep he is bearing about him the common care;
and while thou sittest at home, he is meeting the war which brings thee peace.
7. Render therefore to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to
whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. By tribute he means the
taxes arising from land, but by custom the excise or duty from merchandise; nor
are these only what he calls dues, but fear and honour also; for these are owing
from the ruled to the rulers. 8. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another.
Not that we are not to pay the debt of love, for this we ought to discharge
before any thing else, but that we should increase it by that payment; for such
discharge augments the debt, in that it makes love the warmer; for he that
loveth another hath fulfilled the law. How, and in what manner? 9. For this,
thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou
shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
For he who is kindly disposed towards any one, kills not him whom he thus loves,
commits not adultery with his wife, steals not any thing belonging to the object
of his affectionate regard, nor does any other thing which might give him pain;
for so he subjoins, 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; and then drawing
his conclusion, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And so also the
Lord, being asked which was the first commandment, mentioned the first, and
joined the second to it, (Mark xii. 30,) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all
thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself and shews that in the former is
established perfect theoretical, and in the second perfect practical virtue; and
so, in like manner, the holy Apostle, therefore love is the fulfilling of the
law; and then he goes on to say, 11. And that, knowing the time, that now it is
high time for us to awake out of sleep; that is, especially as this is not a
time for sleep, but for arousing ourselves from slumber; for now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed; for each day we draw nearer to the
coming of the Lord (in judgment.) 12. The night is far spent, the day is at
hand. By night he means the season of ignorance;24 by the day the time since the
appearance of the Lord among us. For the Sun of righteousness having arisen, has
enlightened the whole world with the rays of divine knowledge. Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. By
darkness he means ignorance; and by the works of darkness evil actions; and
knowledge is what he calls light; and the performance of good deeds the armour
of light. 13. Let us walk honestly, as in the day. By natural things he sets
forth spiritual, for so they that embrace a life of sin commit such sin in the
night, while in the day time they put on the appearance of orderly conduct. He
intends, then, that the night having as it were passed away, and ignorance
ceased, we should depart from evil deeds. And what these are he goes on to
specify. Not in lasciviousness, and drunkenness; not in chambering and
wantonness; not in strife and envying. For in their feasts some were |686 wont
to act lewdly, and defile their tongues with obscene songs, all of which
drunkenness provokes, as it is also the parent of wantonness, and the teacher of
strife and quarrelsomeness. 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not that
they should receive another baptism, but consider the garment wherewith they
were already clothed.25 And make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts thereof. Here he stops the mouths of those heretics who condemned the
flesh itself,26 for he denounces not care for the body, but forbids luxurious
indulgence and intemperance; saying not, make no provision for the body, but
make it not for the lusts; that is, prepare it not by luxurious living to play
the wanton. Having thus in its turn fully spoken of practical virtue, he now
returns again to doctrinal instruction. And here it is first necessary to
explain the scope of the Apostle's arguments, that the exposition of what he
says may be more clearly understood. The Gentile believers, then, embraced the
polity prescribed by the gospel; while many of the Jews who had become
proselytes to the gospel, persisted still in submission to the institutions of
the law, keeping still to the observation of particular days, and partaking of
such food (only) as the law directed. Hence a disunion arose, and indeed
positive quarrels, these latter condemning the Gentile believers for their
indiscriminate use of all foods, and the former despising them in their turn on
account of their extreme and superfluous adherence to the law. To correct all
this, therefore, the holy Apostle offers such admonitions as are suited to both
parties; and first he exhorts the Gentile believers to brotherly love. |729

Chapter XIV.

1. Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not into distinctions of
opinions.27 By weak he means him who was yet a slave to legal observances. 2.
For one believeth that he may eat all things; that is, the Gentile convert;
another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Some declare that the Jewish proselytes, in
order to cast shame on the Gentile converts, abstained not only from swine's
flesh, but even from all animal food, under the pretext of self-restraint and
temperance; whence the holy Apostle says, he who is weak eateth herbs; for not
having a perfect faith,28 he thought that he would be defiled by such kind of
food. 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. For the Gentile
converts despised the Jewish, as not possessing a sound faith, and as on this
account being unwilling to partake of such kind of food. And let not him that
eateth not judge him that eateth. And the Jewish indeed condemned the Gentile
converts, esteeming their indiscriminate use of every kind of food
transgression. For God hath received him; that is, the Gentile convert; and he
goes on in his rebuke of the Jew: 4. Who art thou that judgest another's
servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Every servant while living is
a source of profit to his own Master, and on death again brings him loss; and
this man then the Lord of all things has bought, having given His own blood as
the price of his purchase; and having said "to his own Master he standeth or
falleth," he necessarily adds, Yea, he shall be holden up; and establishes what
he says by the power of God, for God is able to make him stand. Having spoken
thus much concerning foods, he transfers his discourse to the matter of days. 5.
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike, (for
this purpose.) For some abstained from the meats forbidden by the law at all
times, and some on particular days (only). Let every man be fully persuaded in
his own mind. He lays not this down as a principle of universal application; for
neither does he so bid us reckon as regards the doctrines of religion, seeing
that he passes an anathema on those that permit themselves to preach contrary to
the truth, (Gal. i. 9:) "For if any one preach unto you," says he, "any other
gospel than that ye have received, let him he accursed." Concerning foods, then,
only is it that he allows this power to each man's own mind. For so indeed this
custom remains in the churches even to the present day, and one man embraces
abstinence, and another without scruple takes of all kinds of food, and neither
does the former condemn the latter, nor the latter find fault with the former,
but mutually glory in |730 the law of concord. 6. He that regardeth the day,
regardeth it unto the Lord; 29 and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he
doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God
thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God
thanks. He says this in condescension to us, 30 in order to produce peace and
harmony in the church. The God of all, says he, knows the intention, both of
those that eat, and of those that eat not, and he attends not to the bare deed,
but inquires into the design of what is done. 7. For none of us liveth to
himself, and none of us dieth to himself. 8. For whether we live, we live unto
the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore,
or die, we are the Lord's. We are not our own lords; we have been bought with a
price; and while living, therefore, we are the Lord's, and when dead we are the
Lord's; that is, neither art thou his master, nor is he thine; for One we all
have for our Lord. 9. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived,
that He might he Lord, both of the dead and the living. He is the Master of all,
who for our sakes gave Himself up to death, who destroyed the power of death,
and has promised salvation to us all. To Him, then, are we subject, as from Him
having received life. 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother? this he says to
the Jew; for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. And then he
also establishes what he says on the testimony of Scripture: 11. For it is
written, (see Isa. xliii. 10; xlv. 21, 23; xliv. 6, 8, &c.,) As I live, saith
the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. He
is our judge, He is our sentencer; at that tribunal of His we must stand. And
indeed this witness of the prophet proves the completeness of the divinity of
the Only-begotten. 31 For having said by the prophet, "I am God before all ages,
and I am first, and I am afterwards, and even unto eternity I am God, and before
Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me, and beside Me there
is none, and a just God and a Saviour there is none beside Me," then He adds,
"By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that unto Me every knee shall bow, and
every tongue confess to God." But let us proceed on to what remains of our
interpretation. 12. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to
God. Having pointed out the tribunal of the Lord, most consistently does he
exhort them not to judge one another, but to await that judgment; for so he
again subjoins, 13. Let us not therefore judge one another any more; but judge
this rather, that no man put a stumbling block, or an occasion to fall, in his
brother's way. Here he directs his rebukes to the Gentile converts, who
condescended not to the infirmities of the Jewish proselytes, but esteemed the
indifferent use of all kinds of food as the height of virtue and the warmth of
zeal. And first, then, he teaches that none of these things is really impure and
unclean; and thus he speaks: 14. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that
in Him there |731 is nothing unclean. It was necessary, by reason of the
infirmity of the Jews, that he should add the expression in the Lord Jesus; for
it was that they might not say, Who art thou that legislatest in contradiction
of Moses? that he brings forward the Lord of Moses; showing that He had put an
end to the observances of the law, and permitted us not to consider any food
unclean; for the in Him signifies in His institutions in the gospel; for Himself
also said to the blessed Peter, "What God hath cleansed that call not thou
unclean." (Acts x. 15.) But to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to
him it is unclean. But if a man conceiving such food to be unclean, yet partakes
therein, it becomes unclean; not by reason of its own nature, but on account of
the opinion of him that thus partakes of it. Having thus distinguished as to
these things, he again censures the Gentile converts, who bore32 not the
infirmities of the Jews. 15. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now
walkest thou not charitably. He increases the accusation (by that of want) of
charity, to expose him that thus acted; and then even more fully points out the
folly of such conduct. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. For
him the Lord Christ endured death, while thou art not willing by a mere
abstinence in food to gain life for him, but by indulgence contrivest death. 16.
Let not then your good be evil spoken of. Again, the accusation is made in
conjunction with praise, for faith he calls a good thing. I commend, says he,
thy faith, but I would not that it become the cause of injury and reproach. 17.
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. For imagine not that this is the perfection of
excellence, and what will procure the kingdom of heaven; for what procures that
is true righteousness, and concord, and zeal as to peace, and love, from which
springs joy, as to God. 18. For he that in these things serveth Christ is
acceptable to God, and approved of men. For these things the God of all both
requires of us, and they also bring advantage to men. Nor must we fail to
observe, that he declares the serving Christ is acceptable to the God of all.
If, then, the serving Christ be pleasing to God, so also truly to honour Christ
must be pleasing to Him; wherefore likewise to speak evil of Christ, and to
attempt to lower His dignity, must be offensive to the God of all. 19. Let us
therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one
may edify another. It behoves us therefore above all to value a profitable
concord, and to do all for the mutual advantage of each other. For meat destroy
not the work of God. The believing on Him is what our Lord called the work of
God; for "this," says He, "is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He
hath sent," (John vi. 29). Since then it was probable that some of the Jews
would fall away from the faith, not enduring the reproaches of the Gentile
believers, aptly does he say, for meat destroy not the work of God. And again,
that the Jewish proselytes might not hence gain a pretext for insisting on the
observance of the law, he provides against this also, and says, 20. All things
indeed are pure; none, says he, of these foods is unclean by its own nature, but
it is evil to that man who eateth with offence; but to thee, |732 nevertheless,
indulgence therein brings injury, because thou neglectest thy neighbour's
interests, and seest him suffer with contempt. 21. It is good neither to eat
flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is
offended, or is made weak. And not as regards flesh alone, but wine also, I bid
thee never to indulge in either, if this really work any harm to thy neighbour.
22. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. In the full exercise of
faith thou keepest the law (of Christian liberty in the gospel, v. 14, and Gal.
v. 1, &c.) Great is the possession, worthy of praise the excellence, but let it
not be to the detriment of thy neighbour. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself in that thing which he alloweth. The expression insinuates that the
Gentile converts were in the habit of compelling the Jews to partake of those
things they were averse to; he teaches therefore that the believer33 indeed
derives no injury from the use of them, but that he who eats, while yet making a
distinction, partakes in such as unclean, wherefore he pronounces him happy that
judges not himself; that is, who makes no such difference (in his own mind); and
so he subjoins, in explanation, 23. But he that maketh a distinction is
condemned if he eat; and he shews the reason, because he eateth not of faith;
but whatsoever is not of faith is sin. For he who believes harmlessly partakes,
but he who eats with any such distinction passes sentence on himself. And that
he may prove himself enjoining what is agreeable to God, he offers up a fervent
prayer in their behalf; 34 Now to Him that is of power to stablish you; and
after what manner to stablish? according to my gospel; and what is his gospel?
and the preaching of Jesus Christ; and pointing out the antiquity of that
preaching, he adds, according to the revelation of the mystery; for not now is
the mystery framed, but now is it made known, having been long concealed; for so
he goes on to say, which was kept secret since the world began; and then he
brings forward also the witnesses of this preaching, but now is made manifest
and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the
everlasting God; for what He had darkly foreshown in the prophets, these things
has the Maker of all ages now clearly displayed; and what is the fruit of this
preaching? for the obedience of faith, for it behoves them that hear to believe
what is preached; and who are they? made known to all nations. Thus it is to be
understood, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, made known
to all nations. To God only wise, through Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for
ever, Amen. Having set forth the mystery of the dispensation, of old indeed
fore-appointed, and then predicted in the prophets, and afterwards become
manifest indeed, he magnifies the wisdom of God, and utters forth a doxology
suitable thereto. But if the heretics should assert that God (the Father) is
here called the alone wise, let them know that the Lord Christ is not only so
called wise, but wisdom itself. (Prov. iii. 19, &c.) And if indeed they think it
right to deprive the Son of this name of wise, so neither let them call Him
immortal, for the same Apostle says of God, "who alone hath |733 immorlity." (1
Tim. vi. 16).35 But leaving such to their own folly, let us proceed onwards in
our course. Having then thus offered up these supplications for them, the holy
Apostle adds exhortations, giving praise to the Gentile converts, and
designating them as strong, by reason of their faith.

Chapter XV.

1. We then that are strong ought to hear the infirmities of the weak, and not to
please ourselves. 2. Let every one of us please his neighbour, for his good to
edification:—I know that thou art brought to completeness, and that faith has
made thee strong, but I exhort thee to extend a hand to him that is weak, and
not to seek thine own (comfort or convenience) alone, but to consult also the
advantage of thy neighbour; and he says not merely to please thy neighbour, but
for his good to edification, since it is very possible to please a neighbour
both to his and our own injury; and then the example, 3. For even Christ pleased
not himself, but as it is written (Ps. lxix. 9), "The reproaches of them that
reproached Thee fell on Me.'' For even the Lord Himself sought not his own
(convenience), but for our salvation gave Himself up to death. For we heard Him
in his passion praying, and saying (Matt. xxvi. 39), "O My Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou
wilt and he bore also the blasphemies of the Jews, and those which they had
formerly brought upon His Father by their wicked lives,36 the same they uttered
against Him; on which account it is that he here cites that testimony of the
prophet. 4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience, and comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope. God, providing for our advantage, has both afforded us a written rule of
doctrine, and also preserved in written history the accounts of the saints. 5.
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards
another according to Christ Jesus. Again by the addition of the according to
Christ Jesus he shews that he does not indiscriminately beg for a concord of any
kind for them, but the concord of godliness: and speaking of patience and
comfort, he joins therewith the mention of love; that adorned therewith they
might bear the imperfections of their neighbour, and by mutual counsel and
comfort lead him on to completeness. 6. That with one mind and one mouth ye may
glorify God. even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He calls God our God, but
our Lord Jesus Christ's Father, for He who is the God of us all, is His Father.
7. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of
God. And indeed the Lord Christ loved us not as being holy, but receiving us
while sinners so justified; we ought therefore ourselves also to bear the
weakness of our brethren, and do all to forward their salvation. And seeing that
the Jewish proselytes put forward the circumcision of our Lord, asserting that
even Himself also had embraced the polity of the law, the holy Apostle thought
it worth while to write what was fitting on this subject |734 also; and he says,
8. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God, to confirm the promises made unto the Father; 9. And that the Gentiles
might glorify God for His mercy. The God of all things promised to Abraham that
in his seed He would bless all nations; and the patriarch himself and all his
race received the sign of circumcision; it behoved therefore Him also, who is
called "his seed after the flesh," and who shed forth the blessing on the
Gentiles, to bear the sign of his kindred, that the truth of the divine promise
might be clearly manifested, and the Gentiles receiving that grace might magnify
Him, from whom the loving-kindness has flowed to them. And then he adduces
scriptural testimonies, shewing that the salvation of the Gentiles had been
predicted of old; As it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among
the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name (Ps. xviii. 49). 10. And again it saith,
Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people, (Deut. xxxii. 13). 11. And again, Praise
the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and laud Him, all ye people. (Ps. cxvii. 1). 12. And
again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to
reign over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles trust. Now these testimonies
he cites in order to teach the Jewish converts not to be offended at the
salvation of the Gentiles, but believe the prophecies concerning them. And again
he implores a blessing on them, exhibiting the fatherly affection he bore to
them. 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that
ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. He had already above
said, in the part of this Epistle which we have expounded, that "hope which is
seen is not hope"' (ch. viii. 24); wherefore also he calls God the God of hope,
as having of old given to the Gentiles the hope of the blessing, and now
established that promise by deeds; and this is a pledge of the blessings yet
hoped for; for He who promised those things, and then fulfilled them, will
altogether fulfil also what He has now promised to us. And he bids us not only
hope, but abound in hope, that is, hope sincerely, and expect to behold the
blessings that we hope for; and this (confidence) he says the grace of the
spirit affords. Having thus recommended these things, and invoked a blessing on
them, he goes on to accord praise to them, by this leading them onward to yet
greater goodness; 14. And I myself also am persuaded of you, brethren, that ye
also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish
others. I know, says he, that ye need not instruction; for ye both possess
sufficiently ample knowledge, and abound in good of every kind, so as even to
extend to others also every fitting exhortation. 15. Nevertheless, brethren, I
have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind,
because of the grace that is given to me of God. He displays at the same time
the modesty of his own mind in saying he made bold to teach them; and exhibits
this grace given to him, in teaching that he writes in subservience to it. And
what grace then is this given to thee? 16. That I should be the minister of
Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God. I have been
appointed the teacher of the Gentiles, this is the ministry I present to the
Lord Christ; and what is the gain arising from thence? That the offering of the
Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I readily
undergo any labour that the Gentiles may be established in the faith. I obtain
the grace of the Spirit, for by the |735 ministry he means preaching, and by the
acceptable offering a sincere and genuine faith. I have done nothing then out of
place,37 says he, if I have at all written somewhat more boldly, and rebuked
them that offend. 17. I have therefore whereof I may glory in Jesus Christ, in
those things which pertain to God. And then he points out the character of that
glorying; 18. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ
hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed. 19. By
the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God. My boasting
is not in mine own labours, but in the gift bestowed on me by the Lord Christ.
For he has given me the grace of the thrice-holy Spirit, to the working of signs
and wonders; so that by these means the Gentiles have been rescued unto life,
and received the light of divine knowledge. And he shews also to how large a
portion of the Gentiles he had preached; so that from Jerusalem and in a circle
unto Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. For I have tended not
those nations lying in the direct line only, but traversing also in a circle
have fully supplied with the doctrines of the gospel the eastern regions also,
and those about Pontus, together with portions of Asia and Thrace; for this is
what the words in a circle indicate. 20. Yea, so have I strived to preach the
gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's
foundation, 21. But as it is written, (Isa. lii. 15), To whom He was not spoken
of they shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand. This shews the
diligent earnestness of his zeal in labouring, in that taking in hand the fields
that as yet had been uncultivated, he ploughed them up, and sowed, and converted
them into fruitful corn fields, and brought its due fulfilment to the prophecy.
22. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. For my
engagement among these others has prevented my presence among yourselves. 23.
But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these
many years to come unto you, 24. Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will
come to you; for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way
thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. He gives
two reasons for his coming to them—that the rest had been preached unto, no
nation remaining among which the doctrines of the gospel had not been heard; and
his own love towards them. For the former hindrances having ceased, his longing
after them excited him to the journey; and he declares that this his affection
had been long antecedent to his actual coming, for for these many years, says
he, have I earnestly desired to see you; and he tells them before-hand that he
will not only see them, but take in Spain also; and that they may not hence
conceive that his visit to them was merely by the way,38 he adds, and by you to
be brought on my way thitherward, if first I be somewhat filled with your
company; for you are they whom I first wish to see, and after you them. 25. But
now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. By ministering he means the
distribution of a pecuniary collection; and he mentions also the senders
thereof; 26. For they of Macedonia and Achaia have been benevolently |736
inclined to make a communication to the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It
was indeed under a previously-arranged agreement to this effect with the blessed
Apostles, Peter I mean, and James, and John, that the divinely-appointed
Barnabas and Paul undertook the teaching of the Gentiles, promising to exhort
the converts among the Gentiles to minister to the wants of the faithful in
Judaea; and this he clearly teaches in his epistle to the Galatians (ii. 9, 10),
for "Peter,'' says he, "and James, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to
me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the
heathen, and they unto the circumcision, only they would that we should remember
the poor, the same which I also was forward to do." This it is he here also
speaks of, praising the zeal of Macedonia and Achaia; and this he calls both a
benevolence and a debt; 27. They are benevolently inclined verily, and their
debtors they are; and whence arose this debt? For if the Gentiles have been made
partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in
carnal things. To them, says he, appertained the Patriarchs as their
forefathers; to them the promises were made; their prophets it was who
prophesied the blessings now common to both; of them according to His human
nature was the Lord Christ; of them the Apostles the teachers of the whole
world; through them have the gifts of the Spirit been shed abroad; it is right
then that they who have imparted of the greater, should in return receive of the
lesser; wherefore also he above calls the contribution of money a communication,
and again afterwards a ministry; by the expression communication shewing it to
be a repayment, and by that of ministry a tribute due. 28. When therefore I have
performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into
Spain. Having sealed to them this fruit, to the Macedonians and Achaians he
means; for I offer the things sent, to the right hand of God through the hands
of the saints, and it will keep them sale and uninjured.39 29. But I know that,
when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel
of Christ. By the fulness of the blessing of the gospel he means, the dangers
for the gospel's sake which he underwent at Jerusalem;40 as what follows
evinces, 30. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's
sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your
prayers to God for me; 31. That I may be delivered from them which do not
believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be
accepted of the saints. With what praise worthy of it could any crown this
blessed, aye, thrice blessed, brow? For first he both knew what would happen,
and foretels it, for so he spoke to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, "that the
Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, that bonds and afflictions await me" (Acts
xx. 2:5); and when Agabus also predicted the same things, and all were weeping
and endeavouring to detain him, the holy man cried out, "What, mean ye to weep
and break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die for
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts xxi. 13); and here he predicted that he
would |737 see both the Romans and Spaniards; and he adds that he would even
come"in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." And then, as fully
contemplating the madness of the Jews, he begs also for their prayers not only
as respected the disbelievers, but the believers also; for neither were they
affectionately disposed towards him, because esteeming him a violator of the
law;41 on which account he added, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem
may be accepted of the saints. With a thousand labours had he collected these
offerings, using every argument of exhortation with the disciples thereto, and
yet he fears concerning those who should receive them, lest their dislike to
himself should have greater weight with them than their own wants. 32. That I
may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
Not even what is good does he wish to obtain, unless it be in accordance with
the will of God. 33. Now the God of peace be with you all, Amen. Not without
cause does he here speak of God, as the God of peace; but both as himself
needing it, by reason at once of those that openly opposed him and those that
regarded him with suspicion; and as imploring it for them, on account of the
differences they had between themselves, respecting legal observances.

Chapter XVI.

1. I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which
is at Cenchrea, 2. That ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that
ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you, for she hath been a
succourer of many, and of myself also. 3. Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers
in Christ Jesus. Cenchrea is a very large village of Corinth. Well then may we
admire the power of the gospel, in that in so short a time it had filled with
true godliness not the towns only but even the villages also; and so great was
the body of the church at Cenchrea, as to have a woman acting as deaconess; 42
and her a celebrated and illustrious person; for so largely did she abound in
good works as to have obtained praises like the above from the tongue of an
apostle; for she has been a succourer, says he, of many, and of myself also, by
succour meaning, as I conceive, hospitality and kind attention. And he repays
her with far greater honours in return; for she, it seems, received him into one
house, and for a short time; that, it is plain, which he spent at Corinth; while
he has opened the whole world to her, and in every land and sea is that woman
become celebrated, so that not the Romans only and the Greeks have known her,
but even every barbarian nation. And yet she next mentioned has surpassed even
her, for Priscilla, or Prisca, for both names are to be found in the Bible, and
Aquila, he calls fellow-helpers; and he adds the in Christ Jesus, lest any one
should imagine that he alluded to a community of employment, seeing that they
also were tent-makers; |738 and he mentions also another trial (undergone by
them on his account) of the greatest kind; 4. Who have for my life laid down
their own necks.43 And to his private he subjoins the public (debt to them) unto
whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; and he
commemorates also another praiseworthy virtue on their part, for he salutes, 5.
Likewise the church that is in their house. The expression shews the greatness
of their piety, for they instructed, it appears, all their household in the
highest virtue, and gladly performed within their walls all the sacred rites of
religion; 44 and of these the holy Luke also takes notice, and shews how they
led Apollos to the truth. (Acts xviii. 20). Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who
is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ. For he was the first, it seems, of
the whole nation that believed, on which account it was that he here receives
the appellation of the first fruits. Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
Another woman, again, crowned for her individual labours. 7. Salute Andronicus
and Junia my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the
Apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Many at once are the encomia here;
and first that they had been partakers in the dangers of the holy Paul, for he
calls them fellow-prisoners as having shared with him in his sufferings; and
next he says that they are of note, not among the disciples, but the teachers;
nor among ordinary teachers, but the Apostles;45 and he extols them also on
account of the date of their faith, for he says, who were in Christ before me,
for I myself was called subsequently to them; and I (Theodoret) am every where
amazed at the humble-mindedness of the divine Apostle (lit. head.) 8. Greet
Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. Nor is this slight praise, for it is in the
Lord that he calls him beloved; and this is demonstrative of his excellences. 9.
Salute Urbanus our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. With even yet
greater praises does he honour Urbanus, for he calls him a helper both in the
preaching, and in the labours and sufferings, for Christ's sake. 10. Salute
Apelles proved in Christ. A testimony of the highest virtue, for to have no
alloy of dross is the summit of excellences. 11. Salute them which are of
Arislobulus's household, and Herodion my kinsman, and those of the household of
Narcissus. It is evident that they were believing families; but of those of
Narcissus he says, who are in the Lord, as there being, forsooth, some who had
not yet become so. 12. Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord.
Again, from their labours come the crown; and that labour the words shew to have
been one either of hospitality or fasting, or other such virtue. Salute Persis
the beloved which laboured much in the Lord. Ampler is her praise, for her zeal
in labouring was ampler. 13. Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and
mine. And most enviable also is this encomium, for many are called but few
chosen; 46 and his mother he praises as adorned |739 with many noble acts of
virtue, for not otherwise could she have been deemed worthy of being called the
mother of Paul; for of Rufus indeed nature made her the mother, but of the holy
Paul respect for her virtue. 14. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Thermas, Patrobas,
Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. This was another society of the
faithful worthy of Paul's greeting. 15. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and
his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints which are with them. And these again
living together, on account of the virtue they possessed obtained the Apostle's
salutation. Having thus greeted these by name, he then bids them all salute each
other, for, 16. Salute one another, says he, with an holy kiss. For, as being
absent he could not himself salute47 them, he does it through them, enjoining
them to salute one another, and to salute with an holy kiss, chaste, modest,
sincere, and true, and void of all deceit. All the churches of Christ salute
you. From the whole world, so to speak, he salutes the Empress of the world. 17.
Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them which cause divisions and offences
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. He alludes in
these words to the evil advocates of the law, whose precepts he bids them to
avoid, while praising the teaching of the chief of the Apostles; for the
expression causing such contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned is that
of one who greatly admires the doctrine they had already obtained. 18. For they
that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And from
hence it is plain that it is of the Jews that he is thus speaking, for he is
perpetually condemning their gluttony, and so elsewhere he says, "whose God is
their belly."48 And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the
simple. By fair speeches he means praise (flattery); and he hints that some had
already been seduced by them, for they deceive, says he, the hearts of the
simple; not depravity of disposition indeed, but simplicity does he allege as
the cause. And then again he excites them with praises, 19. For your obedience
is come abroad unto all men, that you gladly received the apostolic doctrines.49

I am glad therefore, says he, on your behalf; and yet while praising he still
continues to instruct, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good,
and harmless concerning evil. And this rule also the Lord gave to the Apostles,
saying, "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." |740 And this saying of
our Lord signifies, that we are to put away from us the snares brought in by our
enemies, and least of all to revenge ourselves on those that injure us. 20. And
the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Since he had
commanded them to be on their guard against their enemies, most opportunely does
he beseech God to confound the teacher of all snares, and cast him beneath the
feet of the believers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Having
pointed out the enemy, he next points out the Helper, for they that have
obtained the divine grace possess that which is invincible. 21. Timotheus my
work-fellow, and Lucius and Jason, and Sosipater my kinsmen salute you. The
first has the glory of a participation in works, the others relationship; but
the fellow-worker is far more honourable than the relation; and this is the same
Timothy whom in Lystra he circumcised (Acts xvi. 3), and to whom he wrote those
two epistles. And of Jason also the history of the Acts makes mention (ch.
xvii.) 22. I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. And he
also was one of those who had been thought worthy to enjoy the instructions of
the Apostle, wherefore receiving the outpourings of his holy spirit through the
tongue he was commanded to commit them to paper. 23.Gaius mine host, and of the
whole church, saluteth you. And this also is the greatest testimony of praise,
to have opened one's house to the nurselings of the faith, and together with all
others to have ministered even to the very teachers of the whole world; for by
host he means entertainer.50 And he was a Corinthian, as the holy Apostle also
teaches us in his epistle to the Corinthians, "I thank my God," says he, "that I
baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius." (ch. i. 14). Erastus the
chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother. He calls him not
the treasurer of the church, but of the city, as one fully entrusted with some
charge; and he makes mention of him who in the epistle to Timothy, thus
speaking, (2 Ep. iv. 20), "Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left
at Miletum sick." 21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
Again he imparts to them the spiritual benediction, and surrounds them with the
grace of the Lord as with a wall of adamant, for this he made the beginning of
his epistle, and this he places as its end. In this grace let us also become
partakers, that we may rise superior to all snares; that by it enlightened we
may without turning aside tread the strait road, and following in the Apostolic
footsteps be deemed worthy to behold the teacher himself, and by his means 51
enjoy the favour of the Lord, and obtain the promised blessing, through the
grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ; with whom, to the Father,
together with the thrice-holy Spirit, belong glory and majesty, now and ever,
and unto endless ages. Amen.

1. * [Greek] 2. + Most probably Ebed-melech. See Jer. xxxviii. 7 9. and xxxix.
16, 17.—E.B.

3. * [Greek] 4. * [Greek] The external observances and ceremonies, its shadows
and types, &c. —E.B.

5. ++ .... The sentence then seems so arranged, as at first to appear
vindicatory of the Jews; for how indeed, may they say, could we call on one we
do not believe in? or believe, without having duly heard of by preachers
appointed of God, while yet we have none such in our church, and according to
our law? Thus would they be led on in apparent self-justification to the last
point, on which all depends; and then, by proof that they had had such, as much
altogether condemned, as before apparently justified.—E.B.

6. * In one MS. this is explained as adapted from Psalm xviii. 4. LXX.—E.B.

7. + Ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν εὐσέβιά τε καὶ περιφάνεια, their conversion and acceptance to
the privileges of the elect.—E.B.

8. * So the prayer in the Burial Service, " Beseeching Thee . . . shortly to
accomplish the number of Thine elect and to hasten Thy kingdom," &c. Eng.
Rit.—E. B.

9. * See on Dan. xii. 1, where this opinion, (one entertained by some both among
Jews and Christians, see Calmet "Elijah,") that in the times of Antichrist,
Elijah will come as his opponent, is more fully dilated on.—E. B.

10. + 1 Sam. x. 10, and xviii. 10,12.

11. ++ 1 Kings ii. 9; xv. 23-26.

12. * See ch. iii. v. 19.

13. + [Greek] created us from nothing in the first instance, and when created,
blessed with a state and means of well-being, both as regards present life and
eternity.—E. B.

14. ++ Which such difference was maintained by those heretics who denied our
Lord's consubstantiality and equality with the Father; the of whom indicating,
in their opinion, the superiority of the Father commanding; the through whom the
inferiority of the Son executing; which, if it were so, would, as our author
observes, make that Person in the ever blessed Trinity here spoken of, if it be
the Father, less than Himself, by the lower expression being equally here
applied to him with the higher; and if the Son, greater than Himself, by the
higher being predicated of Him together with the lower.— E. B.

15. * Ch. viii. 13.

16. + [Greek] figures, shadows, unrealities, appearances without substance.—E.
B.

17. * The gifts of interpretation and exposition. 1 Cor. xiv. 3, 6, 22, 39, &c.—
E.B.

18. * Καθαρὸν, pure, free from mist, in active, healthy, and unimpeded vigour.
Compare Matt. vi. 22 —E. B.

19. + Faithful and steadfast, as translated below, and as given, same word,
Matt. x. 22, Rom, ii. 7, &c.—E. B.

20. ++ Fellow Christians, ch. i. 7. ad fin. and so ch. xv. on ver. 26.— E. B.

21. § i. e. a partner in their wants, and of the praise due to his and their
conduct under such, as our author explains the sentence next quoted in its
proper place, 2 Cor. viii. 14 "Your repayment is the very highest, and by giving
the less you will receive the greater; for ye will become sharers with them in
their praiseworthy patience and constancy—E. B.

22. * [Greek] as our own phrase goes, "to hear a thing with philosophy," not
that "falsely so called," of the stoic, but of the Christian.—E. B.

23. + And compare 1 Tim vi. 1 — E. B.

24. * Compare Acts xvii. 30.—E. B.

25. * Compare on Ch. vi. 10; and Gal. iii. 27.—E. B.

26. + See on Ch. viii. 13.—E. B.

27. * μῆ εἶς διακρίσεις λογισμῶν. Not so as to make any difference between him
and others on account of his ideas respecting clean and unclean meats; as the
whole context of the chapter seems to demand.

28. + τελείαν, weaned from ancient prejudices to understand the full liberty of
the Gospel. Comp. Heb. v. 12, to end; 1 Cor. viii. 7,11; Gal. v. 1, &c. — E.B.

29. * For the Lords sake, as thinking this most agreeable to Him; the one to
make, and the other not to make, such a distinction of days and meats.— E.B.

30. + συγκαταβατικῶς. In kind consideration of the infirmities of those he
addressed, ch. vi. 19, &c.—E. B.

31. ++ Because to Him, Christ, spoken of in the last sentence as our Judge, (see
Acts xvii. 31.) are applied also the highest divine truths, which immediately
follow here, and in the prophet precede the "every knee," &c.—E. B.

32. * In the same sense as in ch. xv. 1, submitting and hearing them themselves
also, and so, as it were, lessening the weight mutually carried. See Gal. vi. 2:
Luke xi. 46: Acts xv. 28; 1 Cor. ix. 22.—E B.

33. * ὁ πιστεύων, the sound and strong in the faith, the believer in their
innocency.—E. B.

34. + Most of MSS. now extant, it appears, here with Theodoret place this
doxology, or prayer, though we are informed that in Origen's time some gave it
here, and some at the end of the Epistle. See Terrot, in loco.—E.B.

35. * i.e. As they allowed our blessed Lord the name of "Immortal," so must they
also of "wise," the argument being the same.—E. B.

36. + See on ch. ii. 21, and John xv. 23, 24 —E. B.

37. * περιττόν, superfluous, not becoming me, over-forwardly, officiously, out
of character.—E.B.

38. + πάρεργον τῆς ὁδοῦ, a mere second thought, and dependent on his journey to
Spain, to turn aside for a flying visit to them in his passage.—E.B.

39. * Comp. Prov. xix. 17, and the sentences at the "offertory'' and prayer for
"church militant." English Ritual.—E. B.

40. + Comp. Matt. v. 10, 11, 12; Mark x. 30. The persecution he met at Jerusalem
being the cause of his being carried to Rome. Comp. the prophecy here with Acts
xxviii. 16-21.—E. B.

41. * Acts xxi. 20, 21.— E. B.

42. + That is, it was already numerous enough to require the services of a
deaconess. Their offices, says Bingham, were to assist at the baptism of women;
to be a sort of private catechists to the women-catechumens; to visit and attend
women that were sick and in distress; to minister to the martyrs and confessors
in prison; to attend at the women's gate of the church; to preside over the
widows, &c.; but not to execute any part of the sacerdotal office, or do the
duties of the sacred function; for women, says he, were always forbidden to
perform any such offices as these. Orig. Eccl. Book ii. Ch. 22.—E. B.

43. * They exposed their lives to save his, probably at Corinth, Acts xviii. 19;
or at Ephesus, xix. 30-35.—E. B.

44. + Both Greeks and Romans reckon him a Bishop; the latter of the see of
Heraclea. See Calmet.

45. ++ Either as highly esteemed by the Apostles, or as being themselves of note
as apostles and teachers: on which latter comp. 2 Cor. viii. 23; Phil. ii. 25;
Acts xiv. 14—E.B.

46. § Matt. xx. 16. Comp. on Canticles, ii. 2. [Greek] "They are thus spoken of,
as daughters, from their having been blessed with the privilege of (or deemed
worthy of) the calling, while they have deprived themselves of being the elected
likewise, and again, by sons, as those by daughters, he speaks of those who had
been blessed with the privilege of the call, but had rendered themselves
unworthy of the election likewise." Comp. 2 Pet. i. 10, 11; 1 Cor. x. 1-7. "Take
heed, therefore, lest sitting still, now that we are called, we fall asleep in
our sins, and the wicked one, getting the dominion over us . . . shut us out of
the kingdom of the Lord ...lest it happen to us as it is written, There be many
called, but few chosen." Catholic Epistle of St. Barnabas, ch. iv. Wake's Apost.
Fathers.—E. B.

47. * Literally embrace. Comp. Acts xx. 37.—E. B.

48. + Phil. iii. 19, on which passage the comment informs us, that the Jews were
most particular and self-indulgent in their feastings, and conceived it the
height of virtue to have sumptuous entertainments on the sabbath, ...—E. B.

49. ++ Or the teaching of the Apostle, .... See on ch. i. 11.—E. B.

50. * The "ξένος" of the Greeks, like the "Hospes'' of the Latins, signifying
indifferently guest and host.—E. B.

51. + διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου πρεσβείας,if by following his footsteps,as above, and
giving heed to his doctrine comp. on xv. 16, pref. to ch. xii. ad fin., and end
of ch. viii.&c.:if with the editors and translators of the edition used per
illius intercessionem, comp. on Coloss. ii. 18, and iii.17, where our author
says, that it was the very advocates for the laws, whom he here so loudly
condemns, as those also, who erroneously taught that we were to address the
angels, and by their means conciliate the divine favour: while referring to the
Laodicean Canon prohibiting the worship of angels (Can. 35, Johnson's Clerg.
Vad. Mec). See also Bingham, Book 13, ch. iii. This text was transcribed by
Roger Pearse, 2013. This file and all material on this page is in the public
domain - copy freely. From: "The Christian Remembrancer, or, The churchman's
biblical, ecclesiastical & literary miscellany", 22 (1840) p.30 &c.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


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  CHAPTER 3: COUNTER-STATEMENTS OF THEODORET
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Counter-Statements of Theodoret.

Counter-Statements of Theodoret.

(Opp. Ed. Schulze. V. I. seq. Migne, Lat. 76. col. 391.)

Against I.-But all we who follow the words of the evangelists state that God the
Word was not made flesh by nature, nor yet was changed into flesh; for the
Divine is immutable and invariable. Wherefore also the prophet David says, "Thou
art the same, and thy years shall not fail."174 And this the great Paul, the
herald of the truth, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, states to have been spoken
of the Son.175 And in another place God says through the Prophet, "I am the
Lord: I change not."176 If then the Divine is immutable and invariable, it is
incapable of change or alteration. And if the immutable cannot be changed, then
God the Word was not made flesh by mutation, but took flesh and tabernacled in
us, according to the word of the evangelist. This the divine Paul expresses
clearly in his Epistle to the Philippians in the words, "Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation and took upon
Him the form of a servant."177 Now it is plain from these words that the form of
God was not changed into the form of a servant, but, remaining what it was, took
the form of the servant. So God the Word was not made flesh, but assumed living
and reasonable flesh. He Himself is not naturally conceived of the Virgin,
fashioned, formed, and deriving beginning of existence from her; He who is
before the ages, God, and with God, being with the Father and with the Father
both known and worshipped; but He fashioned for Himself a temple in the Virgin's
womb, and was with that which was formed and begotten. Wherefore also we style
that holy Virgin qeotokoj, not because she gave birth in natural manner to God,
but to man united to the God that had fashioned Him. Moreover if He that was
fashioned in the Virgin's womb was not man but God the Word Who is before the
ages, then God the Word is a creature of the Holy Ghost. For that which was
conceived in her, says Gabriel, is of the Holy Ghost.178 But if the only
begotten Word of God is uncreate and of one substance and co-eternal with the
Father it is no longer a formation or creation of the Spirit. And if the Holy
Ghost did not fashion God the Word in the Virgin's womb, it follows that we
understand the form of the servant to have been fashioned, formed, conceived,
and generated. But since the form was not stripped of the form of God, but was a
Temple containing God the Word dwelling in it, according to the words of Paul
"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell" "bodily,"179 we
call the Virgin not mother of man (anqrwpotokoj) but mother of God (qeotokoj),
applying the former title to the fashioning and conception, but the latter to
the union. For this cause the child who was born is called Emmanuel, neither God
separated from human nature nor man stripped of Godhead. For Emmanuel is
interpreted to mean "God with us", according to the words of the Gospels; and
the expression "God with us" at once manifests Him Who for our sakes was assumed
out of us, and proclaims God the Word Who assumed. Therefore the child is called
Emmanuel on account of God Who assumed, and the Virgin qeotokoj on account of
the union of the form of God with the conceived form of a servant. For God the
Word was not changed into flesh, but the form of God took the form of a servant.

Against II.-We, in obedience to the divine teaching of the apostles, confess one
Christ; and, on account of the union, we name the same both God and man. But we
are wholly ignorant of the union according to hypostasis180 as being strange and
foreign to the divine Scriptures and the Fathers who have interpreted them. And
if the author of these statements means by the union according to hypostasis
that there was a mixture of flesh and Godhead, we shall oppose his statement
with all our might, and shall confute his blasphemy, for the mixture is of
necessity followed by confusion; and the admission of confusion destroys the
individuality of each nature. Things that are undergoing mixture do not remain
what they were, and to assert this in the case of God the Word and of the seed
of David would be most absurd. We must obey the Lord when He exhibits the two
natures and says to the Jews, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will
raise it up."181 But if there had been mixture then God had not remained God,
neither was the temple recog-nised as a temple; then the temple was God and God
was temple. This is involved in the theory of the mixture. And it was quite
superfluous for the Lord to say to the Jews, "Destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up." He ought to have said, Destroy me and in three days I
shall be raised, if there had really been any mixture and confusion. As it is,
He exhibits the temple undergoing destruction and God raising it up. Therefore
the union according to hypostasis, which in my opinion they put before us
instead of mixture, is superfluous. It is quite sufficient to mention the union,
which both exhibits the properties of the natures and teaches us to worship the
one Christ.

Against III.-The sense of the terms used is misty and obscure. Who needs to be
told that there is no difference between conjunction and concurrence? The
concurrence is a concurrence of the separated parts; and the conjunction is a
conjunction of the distinguished parts. The very clever author of the phrases
has laid down things that agree as though they disagreed. It is wrong, he says,
to conjoin the hypostases by conjunction; they ought to be conjoined by
concurrence, and that a natural concurrence. Possibly he states this not knowing
what he says; if he knows, he blasphemes. Nature has a compulsory force and is
involuntary; as for instance, if I say we are naturally hungry, we do not feel
hunger of free-will but of necessity; and assuredly paupers would have left off
begging if the power of ceasing to be hungry had lain in their own will; we are
naturally thirsty; we naturally sleep; we naturally breathe; and all these
actions, I repeat, belong to the category of the involuntary, and he who is no
longer capable of them necessarily ceases to exist. If then the concurrence in
union of the form of God and the form of a servant was natural, then God the
Word was trotted to the form of the servant under the compulsion of necessity,
and not because He put in force His loving kindness, and the Lawgiver of the
Universe will be found to be a follower of the laws of necessity. Not thus have
we been taught by the blessed Paul; on the contrary, we have been taught that He
took the form of a servant and "emptied Himself;"182 and the expression "emptied
Himself" indicates the voluntary act. If then He was united by purpose and will
to the nature assumed from us, the addition of the term natural is superfluous.
It suffices to confess the union, and union is understood of things
distinguished, for if there were no division an union could never be
apprehended. The apprehension then of the union implies previous apprehension of
the division. How then can he say that the hypostases or natures ought not to be
divided? He knows all the while that the hypostasis of God the Word was perfect
before the ages; and that the form of the servant which was assumed by It was
perfect; and this is the reason why he said hypostases and not hypostasis. If
therefore either nature is perfect, and both came together, it is obvious that
after the form of God had taken the form of a servant, piety compels us to
confess one son and Christ; while to speak of the trotted hypos-tases or natures
as two, so far from being absurd, follows the necessity of the case. For if in
the case of the one man we divide the natures, and call the mortal nature body,
but the immortal nature soul, and both man, much more consonant is it with right
reason to re-cognise the properties alike of the God who took and of the man who
was taken. We find the blessed Paul dividing the one man into two where he says
in one passage, "Though our outward man perish yet the inward man is
renewed,"183 and in another "For I delight in the law of God after the inward
man."184 And again "that Christ may dwell in the inner man."185 Now if the
apostle divides the natural conjunction of the synchronous natures, with what
reason can the man who describes the mixture to us by means of other terms
indite us as impious when we divide the properties of the natures of the
everlasting God and of the man assumed at the end of days?

Against IV.-These statements, too, are akin to the preceding. On the assumption
that there has been a mixture, he means that there is a distinction of terms as
used both in the holy Gospels and in the apostolic writings. And he uses this
language while glorifying himself that he is at war at once with Arius and
Eunomius and the rest of the heresiarchs. Let then this exact professor of
theology tells us how he would confute the blasphemy of the heretics, while
applying to God the Word what is uttered humbly and appropriately by the form of
the servant. They indeed while thus doing lay down that the Son of God is
inferior, a creature, made, and a servant. To whom then are we, holding as we do
the opposite opinion to theirs, and confessing the Son to be of one substance
and co-eternal with God the Father, Creator of the Universe, Maker, Beautifier,
Ruler, and Governor, All-wise, Almighty, or rather Himself, Power, Life and
Wisdom, to refer the words "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me;"186 or
"Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me;"187 or "Father save me from
this hour;"188 or "That hour no man knoweth, not even the Son of Man;"189 and
all the other passages spoken and written in lowliness by Him and by the holy
apostles about Him? To whom shall we apply the weariness and the sleep? To whom
the ignorance and the fear? Who was it who stood in need of angelic succour? If
these belong to God the Word, how was wisdom ignorant? How could it be called
wisdom when affected by the sense of ignorance? How could He speak the truth in
saying that He had all that the Father hath,190 when not having the knowledge of
the Father? For He says, "The Father alone knoweth that day."191 How could He be
the unchanged image of Him that begat Him if He has not all that the Begetter
hath? If then He speaks the truth when saying that He is ignorant, any one might
suppose this of Him. But if He knoweth the day, but says that He is ignorant
with the wish to hide it, you see in what a blasphemy the conclusion issues. For
the truth lies and could not properly be called truth if it has any quality
opposed to truth. But if the truth does not lie, neither is God the Word
ignorant of the day which He Himself made, and which He Himself fixed, wherein
He purposes to judge the world, but has the knowledge of the Father as being
unchanged image. Not then to God the Word does the ignorance belong, but to the
form of the servant who at that time knew as much as the indwelling Godhead
revealed. The same position may be maintained about other similar cases. How for
instance could it be reasonable for God the Word to say to the Father, "Father
if it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will but as
Thou wilt"?192 The absurdities which necessarily thence follow are not a few.
First it follows that the Father and the Son are not of the same mind, and that
the Father wishes one thing and the Son another, for He said, "Nevertheless not
as I will but as Thou wilt." Secondly we shall have to contemplate great
ignorance in the Son, for He will be found ignorant whether the cup can or
cannot pass from Him; but to say this of God the Word is utter impiety and
blasphemy. For exactly did He know the end of the mystery of the oeconomy Who
for this very reason came among us, Who of His own accord took our nature, Who
emptied Himself. For this cause too He foretold to the Holy Apostles, "Behold we
go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed ...into the hands of
the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify Him, and the third day He
shall rise again."193 How then can He Who foretold these things, and, when Peter
deprecated their coming to pass, rebuked him, Himself deprecate their coming to
pass, when He clearly knows all that is to be? Is it not absurd that Abraham
many generations ago should have seen His day and have been glad,194 and that
Isaiah in like manner, and Jeremiah, and Daniel, and Zechariah, and all the
fellowship of the prophets, should have foretold His saving passion, and He
Himself be ignorant, and beg release from and deprecate it, though it was
destined to come to pass for the salvation of the world? Therefore these words
are not the words of God the Word, but of the form of the servant, afraid of
death because death was not yet destroyed.195 Surely God the Word permitted the
utterance of these expressions allowing room for fear, that the nature of Him
that had to be born may be plain, and to prevent our supposing the Son of
Abraham and David to be an unreality or appearance. The crew of the impious
heretics has given birth to this blasphemy through entertaining these
sentiments. We shall therefore apply what is divinely spoken and acted to God
the Word; on the other hand what is said and done in humility we shall connect
with the form of a servant, lest we be tainted with the blasphemy of Arius and
Eunomius.

Against V.-We assert that God the Word shared like ourselves in flesh and blood,
and in immortal soul, on account of the union relating to them; but that God the
Word was made flesh by any change we not only refuse to say, but accuse of
impiety those who do, and it may be seen that this is contrary to the very terms
laid down. For if the Word was changed into flesh He did not share with us in
flesh and blood: but if He shared in flesh and blood He shared as being another
besides them: and if the flesh is anything other besides Him, then He was not
changed into flesh. While therefore we use the term sharing196 we worship both
Him that took and that which was taken as one Son. But we reckon the distinction
of the natures. We do not object to the term man bearing God, as employed by
many of the holy Fathers, one of whom is the great Basil, who uses this term in
his argument to Amphilochius about the Holy Ghost, and in his interpretation of
the fifty-ninth psalm. But we call Him man bearing God, not because He received
some particular divine grace, but as possessing all the Godhead of the Son
united. For thus says the blessed Paul in his interpretation, "Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily."197

Against VI.-The blessed Paul calls that which was assumed by God the Word "form
of a servant,"198 but since the assumption was prior to the union, and the
blessed Paul was discoursing about the assumption when be called the nature
which was assumed "form of a servant," after the making of the union the name of
"servitude" has no longer place. For seeing that the Apostle when writing to
them that believed in Him said, "So thou art not a servant but a son"199 and the
Lord said to His disciples, "Henceforth I will not call you servants but
friends;"200 much more the first fruits of our nature, through whom even we were
guerdoned with the boon of adoption, would be released from the title of
servant. We therefore confess even "the form of the servant" to be God on
account of the form of God united to it; and we bow to the authority of the
prophet when he calls the babe also Emmanuel, and the child which was born,
"Angel of great counsel, wonderful Counsellor, mighty God, powerful, Prince of
peace, and Father of the age to come."201 Yet the same prophet, even after the
union, when proclaiming the nature of that which was assumed, calls him who is
of the seed of Abraham "servant" in the words "Thou art my servant O Israel and
in thee will I be glorified;"202 and again, "Thus says the Lord that formed me
from the womb to be his servant;"203 and a little further on, "Lo I have given
thee for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth."204 But what was formed from the womb
was not God the Word but the form of the servant. For God the Word was not made
flesh by being changed, but He assumed flesh with a rational soul.

Against VII.-If the nature of man is mortal, and God the Word is life and giver
of life, and raised up the temple which had been destroyed by the Jews, and
carried it into heaven, how is not the form of the servant glorified through the
form of God? For if being originally and by nature mortal it was made immortal
through its union with God the Word, it therefore received what it had not; and
after receiving what it had not, and being glorified, it is glorified by Him who
gave. Wherefore also the Apostle exclaims, "According to the working of His
mighty power which he wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead."205

Against VIII.-As I have often said, the doxology which we offer to the Lord
Christ is one, and we confess the same to be at once God and man, as the method
of the union has taught us; but we shall not shrink from speaking of the
properties of the natures. For God the Word did not undergo change into flesh,
nor yet again did the man lose what he was and undergo transmutation into the
nature of God. Therefore we worship the Lord Christ, while we maintain the
properties of either nature.

Against IX.-Here he has plainly had the hardihood to anathematize not only those
who at the present time hold pious opinions, but also those who were in former
days heralds of truth; aye even the writers of the divine gospels, the band of
the holy Apostles, and, in addition to these, Gabriel the archangel. For he
indeed it was who first, even before the conception, announced the birth of the
Christ according to the flesh; saying in reply to Mary when she asked, "How
shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy
thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."206 And to
Joseph he said, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."207 And the Evangelist says, "When as his
mother Mary was espoused to Joseph...she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost."208 And the Lord Himself when He had come into the synagogue of the Jews
and had taken the prophet Isaiah, after reading the passage in which he says,
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me" and so on,
added, "This day is this scripture ful-filled in your ears."209 And the blessed
Peter in his sermon to the Jews said, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the
Holy Ghost."210 And Isaiah many ages before had predicted, "There shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots;
and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord;"211 and again, "Behold my servant whom I uphold, my
beloved in whom my soul delighteth. I will put my spirit upon him: he shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles."212 This testimony the Evangelist too has
inserted in his own writings. And the Lord Himself in the Gospels says to the
Jews, "If I with the spirit of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God
is come ripen you."213 And John says, "He that sent me to baptize with water,
the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and
remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."214 So
this exact examiner of the divine decrees has not only anathematized prophets,
apostles, and even the archangel Gabriel, but has suffered his blasphemy to
reach even the Saviour of the world Himself. For we have shewn that the Lord
Himself after reading the passage "The spirit of the Lord is upon me because He
hath anointed me," said to the Jews, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears." And to those who said that He was casting out devils by Beelzebub He
replied that He was casting them out by the Spirit of God. But we maintain that
it was not God the Word, of one substance and co-eternal with the Father, that
was formed by the Holy Ghost and anointed, but the human nature which was
assumed by Him at the end of days. We shall confess that the Spirit of the Son
was His own if he spoke of it as of the same nature and proceeding from the
Father, and shall accept the expression as consistent with true piety. But if he
speaks of the Spirit as being of the Son, or as having its origin through the
Son we shall reject this statement as blasphemous and impious. For we believe
the Lord when He says, "The spirit which proceedeth from the Father;"215 and
likewise the very divine Paul saying, "We have received not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God."216

Against X.-The unchangeable nature was not changed into nature of flesh, but
assumed human nature and set it over the common high priests, as the blessed
Paul teaches in the words, "For every high priest taken from among men is
ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and
sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that
are out of the way; for that he himself also is encompassed with infirmity. And
by reason hereof he ought, as for the people so also for himself."217 And a
little further on interpreting this he says, "As was Aaron so also was the
Christ."218 , Then pointing out the infirmity of the assumed nature he says,
"Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplication
with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and
was heard for His godly fear, though He was a son yet learned obedience by the
things that He suffered: and having been made perfect He became unto all that
obey Him the author of eternal salvation; named of God a high priest of the
order of Melchisedec."219 Who then is He who was perfected by toils of virtue
and who was not perfect by nature? Who is He who learnt obedience by experience,
and before his experience was ignorant of it? Who is it that lived with godly
fear and offered supplication with strong crying and tears,not able to save
Himself but appealing to Him that is able to save Him and asking for release
from death? Not God the Word, the impassible, the immortal, the incorporeal,
whose memory is joy and release from tears, "For he has wiped away tears from
off all faces,"220 and again the prophet says, "I remembered God and was
glad,"221 Who crowneth them that live in godly fear, "Who knoweth all things
before they be,"222 "Who hath all things that the Father hath;"223 Who is the
unchangeable image of the Father,"224 "Who sheweth the Father in himself."225 It
is on the contrary that which was assumed by Him of the seed of David, mortal,
passible, and afraid of death; although this itself afterwards destroyed the
power of death throughunion with the God who had assumed it;226 which walked
through all righteousness and said to John, "Suffer it to be so now for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."227 This took the name of the
priesthood of Melchisedec, for it put on infirmity of nature;-not the Almighty
God the Word. Wherefore also, a little before, the blessed Paul said, "We have
not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin."228 It was the
nature taken from us for our sakes which experienced our feelings without sin,
not He that on account of our salvation assumed it. And in the beginning of this
part of his subject he teaches us in the words "Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Jesus, who was faithful to Him that appointed Him as
also Moses was faithful in all His house."229 But no one holding the right faith
would call the unmade the uncreate, God the Word coeternal with the Father, a
creature; but on the contrary, Him of David's seed Who being free from all sin
was made our high priest and victim, after Himself offering Himself on our
behalf to God having in Himself the Word, God of God, united to Himself and
inseparably conjoined.

Against XI.-In my opinion he appears to give heed to the truth, in order that,
by concealing his unsound views by it, he may not be detected in asserting the
same dogmas as the heretics. But nothing is stronger than truth, which by its
own rays uncovers the darkness of falsehood. By the aid of its illumination we
shall make his heterodox belief plain. In the first place he has nowhere made
mention of intelligent flesh, nor confessed that the assumed man was perfect,
but everywhere in accordance with the teaching of Apollinarius he speaks of
flesh. Secondly, after introducing the conception of the mixture under other
terms, he brings it into his arguments; for there he clearly states the flesh of
the Lord to be soulless. For, he says, if any one states that the flesh of the
Lord is not proper flesh of the very Word who is of God the Father, but that it
is of another beside Him, let him be anathema. Hence it is plain that he does
not confess God the Word to have assumed a soul, but only flesh, and that He
Himself stands to the flesh in place of soul. We on the contrary assert that the
flesh of the Lord having in it life230 was life-giving and reasonable, on
account of the life-giving Godhead united to it. And he himself unwillingly
confesses the difference between the two natures, speaking of flesh, and "God
the Word" and calling it "His own flesh." Therefore God the Word was not changed
into nature of flesh, but has His own flesh, the assumed nature, and has made it
life-giving by the union.

Against XII.-Passion is proper to the passible; the impassible is above
passions. It was then the form of the servant that suffered, the form of God of
course dwelling with it, and permitting it to suffer on account of the salvation
brought forth of the sufferings, and making the sufferings its own on account of
the union. Therefore it was not the Christ231 who suffered, but the man assumed
of us by God. Wherefore also the blessed Isaiah exclaims in his prophecy, "A man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief."232 And the Lord Christ Himself said to
the Jews, "Why seek ye to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth?"233 But
what is threatened with death is not the very life, but he that hath a mortal
nature. And giving this lesson in another place the Lord said to the Jews,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."234 Therefore what
was destroyed was the (temple descended) from David, and, after its destruction,
it was raised up by the only begotten Word of God impassibly begotten of the
Father before the ages.

------------

-------- 174: See the account in Rufinus' Apology I. 11.

175: The word may also mean On beginnings, or On Principalities and Powers:
these ideas being connected together in the speculation of the Alexandrian
theology.

176: Daniel x. 11, Daniel ix. 23. The name Macarius means Blessed.

177: Rom. x, 10.

178: Matt. xii, 37.

179: See the Epilogue, infra.

180: 1 Thess. v. 21, 22.

181: Gal. vi, 16.

182: Phil. ii. 7.

183: II. Cor. iv. 16.

184: Rom. vii. 22.

185: Ephes. iii. 17. Greek as in A.V. "in your hearts."

186: Matt. xxvii. 48.

187: Matt. xxvi. 39.

188: John xii. 27.

189: Matt. xxiv. 36 and Mk. xiii. 22. There is no manuscript authority for the
variation Son "of Man."

190: John xvi. 15.

191: Matt. xxiv. 36.

192: Matt. xxvi. 39.

193: Matt. xx. 18, Matt. xx. 19.

194: John viii. 26.

195: For the view that the cup deprecated by the Saviour was death there is no
direct Scriptural authority and to adopt the exegesis of Theodoret and of many
others would be to place the divine humanity of the Messiah on a lower; level
than that not merely of many a martyr and patriot but of many men unconscious of
martyr's or patriot's high calling, who have nevertheless faced death and pain
with calm and cheerful fortitude. The bitterness of the cup which the Saviour
prayed might if possible pass from Him seems rather to have lain in the
culmination of the sin of the race and nation with which His love for men had
identified Him; the greed, the treachery, the meanness, the cruelty, the
disloyalty, shewn by the Sons of Israel to the Son of David, by the sons of men
to the Son of Man.

196: koinwnia , in the sense of participation.

197: Coloss. ii. 8. Coloss. ii. 9.

198: Phil. ii. 7.

199: Gal. iv. 7.

200: John xv. 15.

201: Isaiah vii. 14 and ix. 6, lxx. Alex.

202: Isaiah xlix. 3.

203: Isaiah xlix. 5.

204: Isaiah xlix. 6 "covenant of the people" being imported from lxii. 6.

205: Ephes. i, 19, Ephes. i, 20.

206: Luke 1. 34, Luke 1. 35.

207: Matt. i. 20.

208: Matt. i. 18.

209: Luke iv. 17, Luke iv. 21.

210: Acts x. 38.

211: Isaiah xi. 1, Isaiah xi. 2.

212: Isaiah xlii. 1.

213: Matt. xii. 28.

214: John i. 33.

215: John x. 5, John x. 26.

216: I Cor. ii. 12.

217: Hebrews v. 1-3.

218: Hebrews v. 4 and Hebrews v. 5.

219: Hebrews v. 7, Hebrews v. 10.

220: Isaiah xxv. 8.

221: Psalms 77, 3, lxx.

222: Hist. Susann: 42.

223: John xvi. 15.

224: Col. i. 15.

225: John xiv. 7.

226: Heb. ii. 14.

227: Matt. iii. 15.

228: Heb. iv. 15 229: Heb. iii. 1-2.

230: emyuxon .

231: For "the Christ" we might expect here "the Word," for that the Christ
suffered is the plain statement of Scripture (1 Pet ii. 21). But Theodoret uses
the name Christ of the eternal word, e.g. de Providentia x. 661. "When you hear
Christ mentioned, understand the only begotten Son the Word, begotten of His
Father before the ages, clad in human nature."

232: Is. liii. 3.

233: John vii. 19. d. John viii. 40.

234: John ii. 9.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: DEMONSTRATIONS BY SYLLOGISMS
========================================================================

Demonstrations by Syllogisms That God the Word is Immutable Proofs that the
Union Was Without Confusion.

Proof that the Divinity of the Saviour is Impassible.

Demonstrations by Syllogisms That God the Word is Immutable

1. We have confessed one substance of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, and have agreed that it is immutable. If then there is one substance of
the Trinity, and it is immutable, then the only begotten Son, who is one person
of the Trinity, is immutable. And, if He is immutable, He was not made flesh by
mutation, but is said to have been made flesh after taking flesh.

2. If God the Word was made flesh by undergoing mutation into flesh, then He is
not immutable. For no one in his senses would call that which undergoes
alteration immutable. And if He is mutable He is not of one substance with Him
that begat Him. How indeed is it possible for one part of an uncompounded
substance to be mutable and the other immutable? If we grant this we shall fall
headlong into the blasphemy of Arius and Eunomius, who assert that the Son is of
another substance.

3. If the Lord is consubstantial with the Father, and the Son was made flesh by
undergoing change into flesh, then the substance is at once mutable and
immutable, which blasphemy if any one has the hardihood to maintain, he will no
doubt make it worse by his blasphemy against the Father, for inasmuch as the
Father shares the same substance, he will assuredly call Him mutable.

4. It is written in the divine Scriptures that God the Word took flesh, and also
a soul. And the most divine Evangelist says the Word was made flesh.1 We must
therefore perforce do one of two things: either we must admit the mutation of
the Word into flesh, and reject all divine Scripture, both Old and New, as
teaching lies, or in obedience to the divine Scripture, we must confess the
assumption of the flesh, banishing mutation from our thoughts, and piously
regarding the word of the Evangelist. This latter we must do inasmuch as we
confess the nature of God the Word to be immutable, and have countless
testimonies to the assumption of the flesh.

5. That which inhabits a tabernacle is distinct from the tabernacle which is
inhabited.2 The Evangelist calls the flesh a tabernacle, and says that God the
Word tabernacled therein. "The Word," he says, "was made flesh and dwelt among
us."3 Now if He was made flesh by mutation, He did not dwell in flesh. But we
have been taught that He dwelt in flesh; for the same Evangelist in another
place calls His body a temple.4 We must therefore believe the Evangelist's
explanation and interpretation of what to some seemed ambiguous.

6. If when the Evangelist wrote "the Word was made flesh" he had added nothing
which could remove the ambiguity, perhaps the controversy about the passage
might have had some reasonable excuse, from the obscurity of the terms used. But
since he immediately went on to say "and dwelt in us," the combatants contend to
no purpose. The former clause is explained by the latter.7. The immutability of
God the Word is plainly proclaimed by the most wise Evangelist, for after saying
"the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," he immediately adds, "And we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth."5 But if, according to the foolish, He had undergone mutation into
flesh, He would not have remained what He was, but if even when enveloped in the
flesh He emitted the rays of His Father's nobility, it follows that the nature
which He has is immutable, and it shines even in the body and sends abroad the
brightness of the nature which is unseen. For that light nothing can dim. "For
the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not,"6 as
saith the very divine John.

8. The illustrious Evangelist was desirous of explaining the glory of the
only-begotten, but was unable to carry out his purpose. He therefore shews it by
His fellowship with the Father. For he says He is of that nature; just as though
any one to persons beholding Joseph sunk in a slavery inconsistent with his
rank, and unaware of the splendour of his descent, were to point out that Jacob
was his father, and his forefather Abraham. So in this sense the Evangelist said
that when He dwelt among us He did not dim the glory of His nature, "For we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." So if even
when He was made flesh it was plain who He was, then He remained who he was, and
did not undergo the mutation into flesh.

9. We have confessed that God the Word took not a body only but also a soul. Why
then did the divine Evangelist omit in this place mention of the soul and
mention the flesh alone? Is it not plain that he exhibited the visible nature
and by its means signified the nature united to it? For the mention of the soul
is understood of course in that of the flesh. For when we hear the prophet
saying "Let all flesh bless His holy name,"7 we do not understand the prophet to
be exhorting bodies of flesh without souls, but believe the whole to be summoned
to give praise in the summoning of a part.

10. The words "the Word was made flesh" are plainly indicative not of mutation,
but of His unspeakable loving-kindness. For after the illustrious Evangelist had
said "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was
God," and had declared Him to be Creator of the visible and invisible, and had
called Him life and true light, adding other similar expressions, and had spoken
concerning the Godhead in such terms as human reason can take in and the
language at its command can express, he went on "And the Word was made flesh,"
as though smitten with amazement and astounded at the boundless loving-kindness.
His existence is eternal; He is God; He made all things; He is source of eternal
life and of true light; and on account of the salvation of men He put about Him
the tabernacle of flesh. And He was supposed to be only that which He appeared.
So for this reason he did not even mention a soul but only the perishable and
mortal flesh. Of the soul as being immortal he said nothing in order to exhibit
the boundlessness of the kindness.

11. The divine Apostle calls8 the Lord Christ seed of Abraham. But if this is
true, as true it is, then God the Word was not changed into flesh, but took on
Him the seed of Abraham, according to the teaching of the Apostle himself.

12. God swore to David that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
He would raise up the Christ, as the prophet9 said and as the great Peter
interpreted.10 But if God the Word was called Christ after mutation into flesh,
we shall nowhere find the truth in the oaths. Yet we have been taught that God
cannot lie; nay rather is Himself the truth. Therefore God the Word did not
undergo change into flesh, but in accordance with the promise, took firstfruits
of David's seed.

Proofs that the Union Was Without Confusion.

1. Those who believe that after the union there was one nature both of Godhead
and of manhood, destroy by this reasoning the peculiarities of the natures; and
their destruction involves denial of either nature. For the confusion of the
united natures prevents us from recognising either that flesh is flesh or that
God is God. But if even after the union the difference of the united natures is
clear, it follows that there is no confusion and that the union is without
confusion. And if this is confessed then the Master Christ is not one nature,
but one Son shewing either nature unimpaired.

2. We too assert the union, and ourselves confess that it took place at the
conception; if then by the union the natures were mixed and confounded, how was
the flesh after the birth not seen to possess any new quality, but exhibited the
human character, preserved the dimensions of the babe, was wrapped in swaddling
clothes, and sucked a mother's breast? And if all this did not come to pass in
mere phantasy and seeming, then they admit of neither phantasy nor seeming; then
what was seen was truly a body. And if this be granted then the natures were not
confounded by the union, but each remained unimpaired.

3. The authors of this patchwork and incongruous heresy at one time assert that
God the Word was made flesh, and at another declare that the flesh underwent a
change into nature of Godhead. Either statement is futile and vain and full of
falsehood, for if God the Word, as they argue, was made flesh, why then do they
call Him God, and this alone, and refuse to name Him man as well, and find great
fault with us who in addition to confessing Him as God also call Him man? But if
the flesh was changed into the nature of Godhead, wherefore do they substitute
the antitypes of the body? For the type is superfluous when the reality is
destroyed.

4. An incorporeal nature is not corporeally circumcised, but the word
corporeally is added on account of the spiritual circumcision of the heart; so
then the circumcision is of a body; but the Master Christ is circumcised after
the union. And if this is granted then the argument of the confusion is
confuted.

5. We have learnt that the Saviour Christ hungered and thirsted, and we have
believed that this was so really and not in seeming, but such conditions belong
not to a bodiless nature but to a body. The Master Christ then had a body which
before the resurrection was affected according to its nature. And to this the
divine Apostle bears testimony when he says "For we have not an High Priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all
points tempted like as we are yet without sin."11 For the sin is not of the
nature but of the evil will.12

6. Of the divine nature the prophet David says, "Behold He that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep."13 But the narrative of the Evangelist
describes the Master Christ as sleeping in the boat. Now not sleeping and being
asleep are two contrary ideas, so the prophet contradicts the Gospels if, as
they argue, the Master Christ was God alone. There is no contradiction, for both
prophecies and gospels flow from one and the same spirit. The Master Christ
therefore had a body, akin to all other bodies, affected by the need of sleep.
So the argument for the confusion is proved a fable.

7. Of the divine nature the prophet Isaiah said, "He shall neither be hungry nor
weary"14 and so on. But the Evangelist says "Jesus being weary with his journey
sat thus on the well;"15 and "shall not be weary" is contrary to "being weary."
Therefore the prophecy is contrary to the narrative of the gospels. But they are
not contrary, for both are of one God. Not being weary is of the uncircumscribed
nature which fills all things. But moving from place to place is of the
circumscribed nature; and when that which moves is constrained to travel it is
subject to the weariness of the wayfarer. Therefore what walked and was weary
was a body, for the union did not confound the natures.

8. To the divine Paul when shut up in prison the Master Christ said "Be not
afraid Paul"16 and so on. But the same Christ, who drove away Paul's fear,
Himself so feared, as testifies the blessed Luke that He sweated from all His
body drops of blood, and with them sprinkled all the ground about His body, and
was strengthened by angelic succour,17 and these statements are opposed to one
another, for how can fearing be other than contrary to driving away fear? Yet
they are not contrary. For the same Christ is by nature God and man; as God He
strengthens them that need consolation; as man He receives consolation through
an angel. And although the Godhead and the Spirit were present as an anointing,
the body and the soul were not then supported either by the Godhead united to
them or by the Holy Ghost, but this service was entrusted to an angel in order
to exhibit the infirmity both of the soul and of the body and that through the
infirmity might be seen the natures of the infirm. Now these things plainly
happened by the permission of the divine nature, that, among them that were to
live in future times, believers in the assumption of the soul and of the body
might be vindicated by these demonstrations, and their opponents by plain proof
convicted. If then the union was effected by the conception, and, as they argue,
made both natures one, how could the properties of the natures continue
unimpaired, the soul agonize, and the body sweat so as to sweat bloody drops
from excess of fear? But if the one is natural to the body and the other to the
soul, then the union did not effect one nature of flesh and Godhead, but one Son
appeared shewing forth in Himself both the human and the divine.

9. Should they say that after the resurrection the body underwent mutation into
Godhead they may properly be answered thus. Even after the resurrection the body
was seen circumscribed with hands and feet and all the body's parts; it was
tangible and visible; it had wounds and scars, as it had before the
resurrection. One then of two alternatives must be maintained. Either these
parts must be attributed to the divine nature, if the body when changed into the
divine nature had these parts; or on the other hand it must be confessed that
the body remained within the bounds of its own nature. Now the divine nature is
simple and incomposite, but the body is composite and divided into many parts;
therefore it was not changed into the nature of Godhead, but even after the
resurrection though immortal, incorruptible and full of divine glory, it remains
a body with its own circumscription.

10. To the unbelieving apostles the Lord after His resurrection shewed His
hands, His feet, and the prints of the nails; then further to teach them that
what they saw was not a vision He added "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye
see me have."18 Therefore the body was not changed into spirit it was flesh and
bones and hands and feet. Consequently even after the resurrection the body
remained a body.

11. The divine nature is invisible, but the thrice blessed Stephen said that he
saw the Lord,19 so even after the resurrection the Lord's body is a body, and it
was seen by the victorious Stephen, since the divine nature cannot be seen.

12. If all mankind shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven,
according to the Lord's own words,20 and He said to Moses "No man shall see me
and live,"21 and both are true, then He will come with the body with which He
ascended into heaven. For that body is visible, and of this the angel spoke to
the Apostles "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven."22 If this is true, as
true it is, then there is not one nature of flesh and Godhead, but the union is
without confusion.

Proof that the Divinity of the Saviour is Impassible.

1. Alike by the divine Scripture and by the holy Fathers assembled at Nicaae we
have been taught to confess that the Son is of one substance with God the
Father. The impassibility of the Father is also taught by the nature and
proclaimed by the divine Scripture. We shall then further confess the Son to be
impassible, for this definition is enforced by the identity of substance.
Whenever then we hear the divine Scripture proclaiming the cross and the death
of the Master Christ we attribute the passion to the flesh, for in no wise is
the Godhead, being by nature impassible, capable of suffering.

2. "All things that the Father hath are mine"23 says the Master Christ, and one
out of all is impassibility. If therefore as God He is impassible, He suffered
as man. For the divine nature does not undergo suffering.

3. The Lord said "the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for
the life of the world,"24 and again "I am the good shepherd and know my sheep
and am known of mine ...and I lay down my life for the sheep."25 So body and
soul are both given by the good shepherd for the sheep who have soul and body.

4. The nature of men is compounded of body and soul. But it sinned and stood in
need of a sacrifice free from every spot. So the Creator took a body and a soul,
and keeping them clean from the stains of sin for men's bodies gave His body and
for their souls His soul. If this is true, and true it is, for these are words
of truth itself, then wild and blasphemous are they who ascribe passion to the
divine nature.

5. The blessed Paul called the Christ "the first born of the dead;"26 and I
suppose the first born has the same nature as they of whom He is called first
born. As man then He is first born of the dead, for He first destroyed the pangs
of death and gave to all the sweet hope of another life. As He rose so He
suffered. As man then He suffered but as awful God He remained impassible.

6. The divine Apostle calls our Saviour Christ "the firstfruits of them that
slept,"27 but the firstfruits are related to the whole whereof they are
firstfruits. He is not therefore called firstfruits as God, for what
relationship is there between Godhead and manhood? The former is an immortal
nature, the latter mortal. Such is the nature of them that sleep, of whom Christ
is called firstfruits. To this nature belong death and resurrection, and in its
resurrection we have a proof of the general resurrection.

7. When the Master Christ wished to persuade the doubting Apostles that He had
destroyed death and risen, He shewed them parts of His body, His side, His
hands, His feet and the marks of the passion preserved therein. This body then
rose, and this, I ween, was shown to the disbelievers. What rose is what was
buried, and what was buried is what had died, and what had died is of course
what was nailed to the cross. So the divine nature united to the body remained
impassible.

8. They who describe the flesh of the Lord as giver of life make life itself
mortal by their words. They ought to have seen that it was giver of life through
the life united to it. But if according to their argument the life is mortal,
how could the flesh being itself by nature mortal, and made life-giving through
the life, remain life-giving?

9. God the Word is by nature immortal, and the flesh by nature mortal, but after
the passion by union with the Word the flesh itself became immortal. How then is
it not absurd to say that the giver of such immortality shared death?

10. They who maintain that God the Word suffered in the flesh should be asked
the meaning of what they say, and should they have the hardihood to reply that
when the body was pierced with nails the divine nature was sensible of pain, let
them learn that the divine nature did not fill the part of a soul. God the Word
had assumed a soul with the body. Should they reject this argument as
blasphemous, and should they assert that the flesh suffered by nature, and that
God the Word made the passion His own as of His own flesh, let them not propound
puzzling and murky phrases, but let them clearly propound the meaning of the ill
sounding phrase. They will have all those who wish to follow the divine
Scripture as their supporters in this interpretation.

11. The divine Peter in his Catholic Epistle says that Christ suffered in the
flesh.28 But he who hears that Christ suffered does not understand God the Word
incorporeal, but incarnate. The name of Christ indicates both natures; but the
word "flesh" connected with the passion signifies not that both, but that one of
the two, suffered. For he that hears that Christ suffered in the flesh thinks of
Him as impassible in that He was God, and attributes the passion to the flesh
alone. For just as when we hear him saying that God had sworn to David of the
fruit of his loins according to the flesh to raise up the Christ, we do not say
that God the Word derived His origin from David, but that the flesh which God
the Word took was akin to David, so must he who hears that Christ suffered in
the flesh, recognise that the passion belongs to the flesh, and confess the
impassibility of the Godhead.

12. When on the cross the Lord Christ said, "Father into Thy hands I commend my
spirit,"29 this spirit is said by the Arians and the Eunomians to be the Godhead
of the only-begotten, for they hold that the body which He took was without a
soul, but the heralds of the truth say that the soul was so called and they base
their opinion on the following passages. The right wise Evangelist immediately
adds "And having said thus He gave up the ghost."30 So says Luke, and the
blessed Mark similarly adds "He gave up the ghost."31 The divine Matthew writes,
"yielded up the Ghost,"32 and the divine John, "gave up the Ghost."33 All speak
according to the usage of men, for we are accustomed to use all these
expressions about those who die; none of them conveys any meaning of Godhead,
but they all signify the soul, and if any one were to receive the Arian sense of
the passage none the less even thus will it shew the immortality of the divine
nature. For Christ commended it to the Father. He did not yield it to death. If
then they that deny the assumption of the soul, and maintain God the Word to be
a creature, and assert that He was in the body in place of a soul, deny that He
was delivered to death, how can they obtain pardon who while they confess one
substance of the Trinity, and leave the soul in its own immortality, impudently
dare to say that God the Word of one substance with the Father tasted death?

13. If Christ is both God and man, as the divine Scripture teaches, and the
illustrious Fathers persistently preached, then He suffered as man, but as God
remained impassible.

14. If they acknowledge the assumption of the flesh, and declare it to be
passible before the resurrection, and preach that the nature of the Godhead is
impassible, why, leaving the passible nature, do they attribute the passion to
the impassible?

15. If our Lord and Saviour nailed the handwriting to the cross, as says the
divine Apostle,34 He then nailed the body, for on his body every man like
letters marks the prints of his sins, wherefore on behalf of sinners He gave up
the body that was free from all sin.

16. When we say that the body or the flesh or the manhood suffered, we do not
separate the divine nature, for as it was united to one hungering, thirsting,
aweary, even asleep, and undergoing the passion, itself affected by none of
these but permitting the human nature to be affected in its own way, so it was
conjoined to it even when crucified, and permitted the completion of the
passion, that by the passion it might destroy death; not indeed receiving pain
from the passion, but making the passion its own, as of its own temple, and of
the flesh united to it, on account of which flesh also the faithful are called
members of Christ, and He Himself is styled the head of them that believed.

1: John i. 14.

2: skhnoun and skhnoumenon .

3: John i. 14. The argument rather requires the rendering "dwelt in us," which
is that of the Rheims Version. "In nobis qui caro sumus." Bengel. But see Alford
in loc.

4: John ii. 19.

5: John i. 14.

6: John i. 5.

7: Ps. cxlv. 21.

8: Hebrews ii. 16.

9: Psalm cxxxii. 11.

10: Acts ii. 30.

11: Hebrews iv. 15.

12: cf. note on page 164.

13: Psalm cxxi. 4.

14: Isaiah xl. 28, lxx.

15: John iv. 6.

16: When Paul was brought into the castle the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of
good cheer Paul" (Acts xxiii. 11.) "Fear not Paul" was said when he was being
exceedingly tossed in the tempest (Acts xxvii. 24).

17: Luke xxii. 44.

18: Luke xxiv. 39.

19: Acts vii. 55.

20: Matt. xxvi. 64.

21: Exodus xxxiii. 20.

22: Acts i. 11.

23: John xvi. 15.

24: John vi. 51.

25: John x. 14. John x. 15.

26: Coloss. i. 18.

27: I. Cor. xv. 20.

28: I. Pet. i. 1.

29: Luke xxiii. 46.

30: Luke xxiii. 46.

31: Mark xv. 39.

32: Matt. xxvii. 50.

33: John xix. 30.

34: Col. ii. 14.


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  CHAPTER 5: DIALOGUES - DIALOGUE 1
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Dialogue I.-The Immutable.

Dialogue I.-The Immutable.

Orthodoxos and Eranistes.

Orth.-Better were it for us to agree and abide by the apostolic doctrine in its
parity. But since, I know not how, you have broken the harmony, and are now
offering us new doctrines, let us, if you please, with no kind of quarrel,
investigate the truth.

Eran.-We need no investigation, for we exactly hold the truth.

Orth.-This is what every heretic supposes. Aye, even Jews and Pagans reckon that
they are defending the doctrines of the truth; and so also do not only the
followers of Plato and Pythagoras, but Epicureans too, and they that are wholly
without God or belief. It becomes us, however, not to be the slaves of a priori
assumption, but to search for the knowledge of the truth.

Eran.-I admit the force of what you say and am ready to act on your suggestion.

Orth.-Since then you have made no difficulty in yielding to this my preliminary
exhortation, I ask you in the next place not to suffer the investigation of the
truth to depend on the reasonings of men, but to track the footprints of the
apostles and prophets, and saints who followed them. For so way-farers when they
wander from the high-road are wont to consider well the pathways, if haply they
shew any prints of men or horses or asses or mules going this way or that, and
when they find any such they trace the tracks as dogs do and leave them not till
once more they are in the rightroad.

Eran.-So let us do. Lead on yourself, as you began the discussion.

Orth-Let us, therefore, first make careful and thorough investigation into the
divine names,-I mean substance, and essences, and persons and proprieties, and
let us learn and define how they differ the one from the other. Then let us thus
handle afterwards what follows.

Eran.-You give us a very admirable and proper introduction to our argument. When
these points are clear, our discussion will go forward without let or obstacle.

Orth.-Since we have decided then that this must be our course of procedure, tell
me, my friend, do we acknowledge one substance of God, alike of Father and of
the only begotten Son and of the Holy Ghost, as we have been taught by Holy
Scripture, both Old and New, and by the Fathers in Council in Nicaea, or do we
follow the blasphemy of Arius?

Eran.-We confess one substance of the Holy Trinity.

Orth.-And do we reckon hypostasis to signify anything else than substance, or do
we take it for another name of substance?

Eran.-Is there any difference between substance and hypostasis?1

Orth-In extra Christian philosophy there is not, for ousia signifies to on, that
which is, and upostasij that which subsists. But according to the doctrine of
the Fathers there is the same difference between ousia and upostasij as between
the common and the particular, and the species and the individual.

Eran.-Tell me more clearly what is meant by race or kind, and species and
individual.

Orth.-We speak of race or kind with regard to the animal, for it means many
things at once. It indicates both the rational and the irrational; and again
there are many species of irrational, creatures that fly, creatures that are
amphibious, creatures that go on foot, and creatures that swim. And of these
species each is marked by many subdivisions; of creatures that go on foot there
is the lion, the leopard, the bull, and countless others. So, too, of flying
creatures and the rest there are many species; yet all of them, though the
species are the aforesaid, belong to one and the same animal race. Similarly the
name man is the common name of mankind; for it means the Roman, the Athenian,
the Persian, the Sauromatian,2 the Egyptian, and, in a word, all who are human,
but the name Paulus or Petrus does not signify what is common to the kind but
some particular man; for no one on hearing of Paul turns in thought to Adam or
Abraham or Jacob, but thinks of him alone whose name he has heard. But if he
hears the word man simply, he does not fix his mind on the individual, but
bethinks him of the Indian, the Scythian, and the Massagete, and of all the race
of men together, and we learn this not only from nature, but also from Holy
Scripture, for God said, we read, "I will destroy man from the face of the
earth,"3 and this he spake of countless multitudes, and when more than two
thousand and two hundred years had gone by after Adam, he brought universal
destruction on men through the flood, and so the blessed David says: "Man that
is in honour and understandeth not,"4 accusing not one here nor one there, but
all men in common. A thousand similar examples might be found, but we must not
be tedious.

Eran.-The difference between the common and the proper is shewed clearly. Now
let us return to discussion about ousia and upostasij.

Orth.-As then the name man is common to human nature, so we understand the
divine substance to indicate the Holy Trinity; but the hypostasis denotes any
person, as the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; for, following the
definitions of the Holy Fathers, we say that hypostasis and individuality mean
the same thing.

Eran.-We agree that this is so.

Orth.-Whatever then is predicated of the divine nature is common both to the
Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as for instance "God," "Lord,"
"Creator," "Almighty," and so forth.

Eran.-Without question these words are common to the Trinity.

Orth.-But all that naturally denotes the hypostasis ceases to be common to the
Holy Trinity, and denotes the hypostasis to which it is proper, as, for
instance, the names "Father," "Unbegotten," are peculiar to the Father; while
again the names "Son," "Only Begotten," "God the Word," do not denote the
Father, nor yet the Holy Ghost, but the Son, and the words "Holy Ghost,"
"Paraclete," naturally denote the hypostasis of the Spirit.

Eran.-But does not Holy Scripture call both the Father and the Son "Spirit"?

Orth.-Yes, it calls both the Father and the Son "Spirit," signifying by this
term the incorporeal illimitable character of the divine nature. The Holy
Scripture only calls the hypostasis of the Spirit "Holy Ghost."

Eran.-This is indisputable.

Orth.-Since then we assert that some terms are common to the Holy Trinity, and
some peculiar to each hypostasis, do we assert the term "immutable" to be common
to the substance or peculiar to any hypostasis?

Eran.-The term "immutable" is common to the Trinity, for it is impossible for
part of the substance to be mutable and part immutable.

Orth.-You have well said, for as the term mortal is common to mankind, so are
"immutable" and "invariable" to the Holy Trinity. So the only-begotten Son is
immutable, as are both the Father that begat Him and the Holy Ghost.

Eran.-Immutable.

Orth.-How then do you advance the statement in the gospel "the word became
flesh."5 and predicate mutation of the immutable nature?

Eran.-We assert Him to have been made flesh not by mutation, but as He Him self
knows.

Orth.-If He is not said to have become flesh by taking flesh, one of two things
must be asserted, either that he underwent the mutation into flesh, or was only
so seen in appearance, and in reality was God without flesh.

Eran.-This is the doctrine of the disciples of Valentinus, Marcion, and of the
Manichees, but we have been taught without dispute that the divine Word was made
flesh.

Orth.-But in what sense do you mean "was made flesh"? "Took flesh," or "was
changed into flesh"?

Eran.-As we have heard the evangelist say, "the word was made flesh."

Orth.-In what sense do you understand "was made"?

Eran.-He who underwent mutation into flesh was made flesh, and, as I said just
now, as He knows. But we know that with Him all things are possible,6 for He
changed the water of the Nile into blood, and day into night, and made the sea
dry land, and filled the dry wilderness with water, and we hear the prophet
saying "Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did He in heaven, and in earth, in the
seas and all deep places."7

Orth.-The creature is transformed by the Creator as He will, for it is mutable
and obeys the nod of Him that fashioned it. But His nature is immutable and
invariable, wherefore of the creature the prophet saith "He that maketh and
transformeth all things."8 But of the divine Word the great David says "Thou art
the same and thy years shall not fail."9 And again the same God says of Himself
"For I am the Lord and I change not."10 Eran.-What is hidden ought not to "be
enquired into."

Orth.-Nor yet what is plain to be altogether ignored.

Eran.-I am not aware of the manner of the incarnation. I have heard that the
Word was made flesh.

Orth.-If He was made flesh by mutation He did not remain what He was before, and
this is easily intelligible from several analogies. Sand, for instance, when it
is subjected to heat, first becomes fluid, then is changed and congealed into
glass, and at the time of the change alters its name, for it is no longer called
sand but glass.

Eran.-So it is.

Orth.-And while we call the fruit of the vine grape, when once we have pressed
it, we speak of it no longer as grape, but as wine.

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-And the wine itself, after it has undergone a change, it is our custom to
name no longer wine, but vinegar.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And similarly stone when burnt and in solution is no longer called stone,
but lime. And innumerable other similar instances might be found where mutation
involves a change of name.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-If therefore you assert that the Divine Word underwent the change in the
flesh, why do you call Him God and not flesh? for change of name fits in with
the alteration of nature. For if where the things which undergo change have some
relation to their former condition (for there is a certain approximation of
vinegar to wine and of wine to the fruit of the vine, and of glass to sand) they
receive another name after their alteration, how, where the difference between
them is infinite and as wide as that which divides a gnat from the whole visible
and invisible creation (for so wide, nay much wider, is the difference between
the nature of flesh and of Godhead) is it possible for the same name to obtain
after the change?

Eran.-I have said more than once that He was made flesh not by mutation, but
continuing still to be what He was, He was made what He was not.

Orth.-But unless this word "was made" becomes quite clear it suggests mutation
and alteration, for unless He was made flesh by taking flesh He was made flesh
by undergoing mutation.

Eran.-But the word "take" is your own invention. The Evangelist says the Word
was made flesh.11

Orth.-You seem either to be ignorant of the sacred Scripture, or to do it wrong
knowingly. Now if you are ignorant, I will teach you; if you are doing wrong, I
will convict you. Answer then; do you acknowledge the teaching of the divine
Paul to be of the Spirit?

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-And do you allow that the same Spirit wrought through both Evangelists and
Apostles?

Eran.-Yes, for so have I learnt from the Apostolic Scripture "There are
diversities of gifts but the same spirit,"12 and again "All these things worketh
that one and the selfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will," a
and again "Having the same Spirit of the Faith."13

Orth.-Your introduction of the apostolic testimony is in season. If we assert
that the instruction alike of the evangelists and of the apostles is of the same
spirit, listen how the apostle interprets the words of the Gospel, for in the
Epistle to the Hebrews he says, "Verily he took not on him the nature of angels,
but be took on him the seed of Abraham."14 Now tell me what you mean by the seed
of Abraham. Was not that which was naturally proper to Abraham proper also to
the seed of Abraham?

Eran.-No; not without exception, for Christ did no sin.

Orth.-Sin is not of nature, but of corrupt will.15 On this very account,
therefore, I did not say indefinitely what Abraham had, but what he had
according to nature, that is to say, body and reasonable soul.Now tell me
plainly; will you acknowledge that the seed of Abraham was endowed with body and
reasonable soul? If not, in this point you agree with the ravings of
Apollinarius. But I will compel you to confess this by other means. Tell me now;
had the Jews a body and a reasonable soul?

Eran.-Of course they had.

Orth.-So when we hear the prophet saying, "But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,"16 are we to understand
the Jews to be bodies only? Are we not to understand them to be men consisting
of bodies and souls?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And the seed of Abraham not without soul nor yet intelligence, but with
everything which characterizes the seed of Abraham?

Eran.-He who so says puts forward two sons.

Orth.-But he who says that the Divine Word is changed into the flesh does not
even acknowledge one Son, for mere flesh by itself is not a son; but we confess
one Son who took upon Him the seed of Abraham,according to the divine apostle,
and wrought the salvation of mankind. But if you do not accept the apostolic
preaching, say so openly.

Eran.-But we maintain that the utterances of the apostles are inconsistent, for
there appears to be a certain inconsistency between "the Word was made flesh"
and "took upon Him the seed of Abraham."

Orth.-It is because you lack intelligence, or because you are arguing for
arguing's sake, that the consistent seems inconsistent. It does not so appear to
men who use sound reasoning; for the divine apostle teaches that the Divine Word
was made Flesh, not by mutation, but by taking on Him the seed of Abraham. At
the same time, too, he recalls the promise given to Abraham. Or do you not
remember the promises given to the Patriarch by the God of the Universe?

Eran.-What promises?

Orth.-When He brought him out of his father's house, and ordered him to come
into Palestine, did He not say to him "I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee, and in thy seed17 shall all families of the earth
be blessed"?

Eran.-I remember these promises.

Orth.-Remember, too, the covenants made by God with Isaac and Jacob, for He gave
them, too, the same promises, confirming the former by the second and the third.

Eran.-I remember them too.

Orth.-It is in relation to these covenants that the divine apostle writes in his
Epistle to the Galatians "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made."
He saith not "seeds" as of many, but as of one ...which is Christ,18 very
plainly showing that the manhood of Christ sprang from the seed of Abraham, and
fulfilled the promise made to Abraham.

Eran.-So the apostle says.

Orth.-Enough has been said to remove all the controversy raised on this point.
But I will nevertheless remind you of another prediction. The blessing given to
the Patriarch Jacob and to his father and his grand father was given by him to
his son Judah alone. He said "A Prince shall not fail Judah, no a leader from
his loins, until he shall have come to whom it is in store, and he is the
expectation of the Gentiles."19 Or do you not accept this prediction as spoken
of the Saviour Christ?

Eran.-Jews give erroneous interpretations of prophecies of this kind, but I am a
Christian; I trust in the Divine word; and I receive the prophecies without
doubt.

Orth.-Since then you confess that you believe the prophecies and acknowledge the
predictions have been divinely uttered about our Saviour, consider what follows
as to the intention of the words of the apostle, for while pointing out that the
promises made to the patriarchs have reached their fulfilment, he uttered those
remarkable words20 "He took not on Him the nature of angels," all but saying the
promise is true; the Lord has fulfilled His pledges; the fount of blessing is
open to the gentiles; God had taken on Him the seed of Abraham; through it He
brings about the promised salvation; through it He confirms the promise of the
gentiles.

Eran.-The words of the Prophet fit in admirably with those of the apostle.

Orth.-So again the divine apostle, reminding us of the blessing of Judah, and
pointing out how it received its fulfilment exclaims21 "For it is evident that
our Lord sprang out of Judah." So too the Prophet22 Micah and the evangelist23
Matthew. For the former spoke his prediction, and the latter connects the
prophecy with his narrative. What is extraordinary is that he says that the open
enemies of the truth plainly told Herod that the Christ is born in Bethlehem,
for it is written, he says, "And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the
least among the Princes of Judah for out of thee shall come a Governor who shall
rule my people Israel."24 Now let us subjoin what the Jews in their malignity
omitted and so made the witness imperfect. For the prophet, after saying "Out of
thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel" adds "Whose
goings forth have been of old, from everlasting."25

Eran.-You have done well in adducing the whole evidence of the Prophet, for he
points out that He who was born in Bethlehem was God.

Orth.-Not God only but also Man; Man as sprung from Judah after the flesh and
born in Bethlehem; and God as existing before the ages. For the words "Out of
thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler," shew his birth after the
flesh which has taken place in the last days; while the words "Whose goings
forth have been of old, from everlasting" plainly proclaim His existence before
the ages. In like manner also the divine apostle in his Epistle to the Romans
bewailing the change to the worse of the ancient felicity of the Jews, and
calling to mind their divine promises and legislation, goes on to say "Whose are
the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God
blessed for ever Amen."26 and in this same passage he exhibits Him both as
Creator of all things and Lord and Ruler as God and as sprung from the Jews as
man.

Eran.-Well; you have explained these passages, what should you say to the
prophecy of Jeremiah? For this proclaims him to be God only.

Orth.-Of what prophecy do you speak?

Eran.-"This is our God and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison
to him-he hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob
his servant and to lsrael his beloved. Afterward did he shew himself upon earth
and conversed with men."27 In these words the Prophet speaks neither of the
flesh, nor of manhood, nor of man,but of God alone.

Orth.-What then is the good of reasoning? Do we say that the Divine nature is
invisible? or do we dissent from the Apostle when he says28 "Immortal,
invisible, the only God."

Eran.-Indubitably the Divine nature is invisible.

Orth.-How then was it possible for the invisible nature to be seen without a
body? Or do you not remember those words of the apostle in which he distinctly
teaches the invisibility of the divine nature? He says "Whom no man hath seen
nor can see."29 If therefore the Divine Nature is invisible to men, and I will
add too to Angels, tell me how he who cannot be seen or beheld was seen upon
earth?

Eran.-The Prophet says30 he was seen on the earth, Orth.-And the apostle says31
"Immortal, invisible, the only God" and32 "Whom no man hath seen and can see."

Eran.-What then? is the Prophet lying?

Orth.-God forbid. Both utterances are the words of the Holy Ghost.

Eran.-Let us inquire then how the invisible was seen.

Orth.-Do not, I beg you, bring in human reason. I shall yield to scripture
alone.

Eran.-You shall receive no argument unconfirmed by Holy Scripture, and if you
bring me any solution of the question deduced from Holy Scripture I will receive
it, and will in no wise gainsay it.

Orth.-You know how a moment ago we made the word of the evangelist clear by
means of the testimony of the apostle; and that the divine apostle showed us how
the Word became Flesh, saying plainly "for verily He took not on Him the nature
of angels but He took on Him the seed of Abraham."33 The same teacher will teach
us how the divine Word was seen upon the earth and dwelt among men.

Eran.-I submit to the words both of apostles and of prophets. Shew me then in
accordance with your promise the interpretation of the prophecy.

Orth.-The divine apostle, writing to Timothy, also says "without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in
the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world,
received up into glory."34

It is therefore plain that the divine nature is invisible, but the flesh
visible, and that through the visible the invisible was seen, by its means
working wonders and unveiling its own power, for with the hand He fashioned the
sense of seeing and healed him that was blind from birth. Again He gave the
power of hearing to the deaf, and loosed the fettered tongue, using his fingers
for a tool and applying his spittle like some healing medicine. So again when He
walked upon the sea He displayed the almighty power of the Godhead. Fitly,
therefore, did the apostle say "God was manifest in the flesh." For through it
appeared the invisible nature beheld by its means by the angel hosts, for "He
was seen," he says, "of angels." The nature then of bodiless beings has shared
with us the enjoyment of this boon.

Eran.-Then did not the angels see God before the manifestation of the Saviour?

Orth.-The apostle says that He "was made manifest in the flesh and seen of
angels."

Eran.-But the Lord said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little
ones, for I say unto you that their angels do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven."35

Orth.-But the Lord said again, "Not that any man hath seen the Father save he
which is of God, he hath seen the Father."36 Wherefore the evangelist plainly
exclaims, "No man hath seen God at any time,"37 and confirms the word of the
Lord, for he says, "The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He
hath declared Him," and the great Moses, when he desired to see the invisible
nature, heard the Lord God saying, "There shall no man see me and live."38

Eran.-How then are we to understand the words, "Their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven"?

Orth.-Just as we commonly understand what is said about men who have been
supposed to see God.

Eran.-Pray make this plainer, for I do not understand. Can God be seen of men
also?

Orth.-Certainly not.

Eran.-Yet we hear the divine scripture saying God appeared unto Abraham at the
oak of Mamre;39 and Isaiah says "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and
lifted up,"40 and the same thing is said by Micah, by Daniel and Ezekiel. And of
the lawgiver Moses it is related that "The Lord spake to Moses face to face as a
man speaketh unto his friend,"41 and the God of the universe Himself said, "With
him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches."42
What then shall we say; did they behold the divine nature?

Orth.-By no means, for God Himself said, "There shall no man see me and live."

Eran.-Then they who say that they have seen God are liars?

Orth.-God forbid-they saw what it was possible for them to see.

Eran.-Then the loving Lord accommodates his revelation to the capacity of them
that see Him?

Orth.-Yes; and this He has shewn through the Prophet, "for I," He says, "have
multiplied visions and by the hands of the Prophets was made like."43

He does not say "was seen" but "was made like." And making like does not shew
the very nature of the thing seen. For even the image of the emperor does not
exhibit the emperor's nature, though it distinctly preserves his features.

Eran.-This is obscure and not sufficiently plain. Was not then the substance of
God seen by them who beheld those revelations?

Orth.-No; for who is mad enough to dare to say so?

Eran.-But yet it is said that they saw.

Orth.-Yes; it is said; but we both in the exercise of reverent reason, and in
reliance on the Divine utterances, which exclaim distinctly, "No man hath seen
God at any time," affirm that they did not see the Divine Nature, but certain
visions adapted to their capacity.

Eran.-So we say.

Orth.-So also then let us understand of the angels when we hear that they daily
see the face of your Father.44 For what they see is not the divine substance
which cannot be circumscribed, comprehended, or apprehended, which embraces the
universe, but some glory made commensurate with their nature.

Eran.-This is acknowledged.

Orth.-After the incarnation, however, He was seen also of angels, as the divine
apostle says, not however by similitude of glory, but using the true and living
covering of the flesh as a kind of screen. "God," he says, "was made manifest in
the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels."45 Eran.-I accept this as
Scripture, but I am not prepared to accept the novelties of phrase.

Orth.-What novelties of phrase have we introduced?

Eran.-That of the "screen." What Scripture calls the flesh of the Lord a screen?

Orth.-You do not seem to be a very diligent reader of your Bible; if you had
been you would not have found fault with what we have said as in a figure. For
first of all the fact that the divine apostle says that the invisible nature was
made manifest through the flesh allows us to understand the flesh as a screen of
the Godhead. Secondly, the divine apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrews,
distinctly uses the phrase, for he says, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say his flesh; and
having an High Priest over the House of God. Coming with truth drawing near with
a true heart in fulness of faith."46 Eran.-Your demonstration is unanswerable,
for it is based on apostolic authority.

Orth.-Do not then charge us with innovation. We will adduce for you yet another
prophetic authority, distinctly calling the Lord's flesh a robe and mantle.

Eran.-Should it not appear obscure and ambiguous we will say nothing against it,
and be thankful for it.

Orth.-I will make you yourself testify to the truth of the promise. You know how
the Patriarch Jacob, when he was addressing Judah, limited the sovereignty of
Judah by the birth of the Lord.47 "A prince shall not fail Judah, nor a leader
from his loins until he shall have come to whom it is in store and he is the
expectation of the Gentiles." You have already confessed that this prophecy was
uttered about the saviour.

Eran.-I have.

Orth.-Remember then what follows; for he says "And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be ...he shall wash his robe in wine and his mantle in the blood
of the grape."48 Eran.-The Patriarch spoke of garments, not of a body.

Orth.-Tell me, then, when or where be washed his cloak in the blood of the
grape?

Eran.-Nay; tell me you when he reddened his body in it?

Orth.-Answer I beseech you more reverently.49 Perhaps some of the uninitiated
are within hearing.

Eran.-I will both hear and answer in mystic language.

Orth.-You know that the Lord called himself a vine?

Eran.-Yes I know that he said "I am the true vine."50 Orth.-Now what is the
fruit of a vine called after it is pressed?

Eran.-It is called wine.

Orth.-When the soldiers wounded the Saviour's side with the spear, what did the
evangelist say was poured out from it?

Eran.-Blood and water.51

Orth.-Well, then; he called the Saviour's blood blood of the grape, for if the
Lord is called a vine, and the fruit of the vine wine, and from the Lord's side
streams of blood and water flowed downwards over the rest of his body, fitly and
appropriately the Patriarch foretells "He shall wash his robe in wine and his
mantle in blood of the grape." For as we after the consecration call the mystic
fruit of the vine the Lord's blood, so be called the blood of the true vine
blood of the grape.

Eran.-The point before us has been set forth in language at once mystical and
clear.

Orth.-Although what has been said is enough for your faith, I will, for
confirmation of the faith, give you yet another proof.

Eran.-I shall be grateful to you for so doing, for you will increase the favour
done me.

Orth.-You know how God called His own body bread?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And how in another place he called His flesh corn?

Eran.-Yes, I know. For I have heard Him saying "The hour is come that the Son of
man should be glorified,"52 and "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit."53 Orth.-Yes;
and in the giving of the mysteries He called the bread, body, and what had been
mixed, blood.

Eran.-He so did.

Orth.-Yet naturally the body would properly be called body, and the blood,
blood.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-But our Saviour changed the names, and to His body gave the name of the
symbol and to the symbol that of his body. So, after calling himself a vine, he
spoke of the symbol as blood.

Eran.-True. But I am desirous of knowing the reason of the change of names.

Orth.-To them that are initiated in divine things the intention is plain. For he
wished the partakers in the divine mysteries not to give heed to the nature of
the visible objects, but, by means of the variation of the names, to believe the
change wrought of grace. For He, we know, who spoke of his natural body as corn
and bread, and, again, called Himself a vine, dignified the visible symbols by
the appellation of the body and blood, not because He had changed their nature,
but because to their nature He had added grace?54

Eran.-The mysteries are spoken of in mystic language, and there is a clear
declaration of that which is not known to all.

Orth.-Since then it is agreed that the body of the Lord is called by the
patriarch "robe" and "mantle"55 and we have reached the discussion of the divine
mysteries, tell me truly, of what do you understand the Holy Food to be a symbol
and type? Of the godhead of the Lord Christ, or of His body and His blood?

Eran.-Plainly of those things of which they received the names.

Orth.-You mean of the body and of the blood?

Eran.-I do.

Orth.-You have spoken as a lover of truth should speak, for when the Lord had
taken the symbol, He did not say "this is my godhead," but "this is my body;"
and again "this is my blood"56 and in another place "the bread that I will give
is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world."57 Eran.-These words
are true, for they are the divine oracles.

Orth.-If then they are true, I suppose the Lord had a body.

Eran.-No; for I maintain him to be bodiless.

Orth.-But you confess that He had a body?

Eran.-I say that the Word was made flesh, for so I have been taught.

Orth.-It seems, as the proverb has it, as if we are drawing water in a pail with
a hole in it.58 For after all our demonstrations and solutions of difficulties,
you are bringing the same arguments round again.

Eran.-I am not giving you my arguments, but those of the gospels.

Orth.-And have I not given you the interpretation of the words of the gospels
from those of prophets and apostles?

Eran.-They do not serve to clear up the point at issue.

Orth.-And yet we shewed how, being invisible, He was made manifest through
flesh, and the relationship of this very flesh we have been taught by the sacred
writers-"He took on Him the seed of Abraham."59 And the Lord God said to the
patriarch, "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,"60 and
the apostle, "It is evident our Lord sprang out of Judah."61 We adduced further
several similar testimonies; but, since you are desirous of hearing yet others,
listen to the apostle when he says, "For every high priest taken from among men
is ordained that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of
necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer."62 Eran.-Point out, then,
how He offered after taking a body.

Orth.-The divine apostle himself clearly teaches in the very passage, for after
a few words he says: "Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith,
sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me."63 He
does not say "into a body hast thou changed," but "a body hast thou prepared,"
and he shows plainly that the formation of the body was wrought by the Spirit in
accordance with the utterance of the gospel, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary
thy wife; for that which is generated in her is of the Holy Ghost."64 Eran.-The
virgin then gave birth only to a body?

Orth.-It appears that you do not even understand the composition of words, much
less their meaning, for he is teaching Joseph the manner, not of the generation,
but of the conception. For he does not say that which is generated of her, i.e.
made, or formed, is of the Holy Ghost. Joseph, ignorant of the mystery, was
suspicions of adultery; he was therefore plainly taught the formation by the
Spirit. It is this which He signified through the prophet when He said "A body
hast thou prepared me"65 for the divine Apostle being full of the Spirit
interpreted the prediction. If then the offering of gifts is the special
function of priests and Christ in His humanity was called priest and offered no
other sacrifice save66 His own body, then the Lord Christ had a body.

Eran.-This even I have repeatedly affirmed, and I do not say that the divine
Word appeared without a body. What I maintain is not that He took a body but
that He was made flesh.

Orth.-So far as I see our contest lies with the supporters of Valentinus, of
Marcion, and of Manes; but even they never had the hardihood to say that the
immutable nature underwent mutation into flesh.

Eran.-Reviling is unchristian.

Orth.-We do not revile, but we are fighting for truth, and we are vexed at your
arguing about the indisputable as though it could be disputed. However, I will
endeavour to put an end to your ungracious contention. Answer now; do you
remember the promises which God made to David?

Eran.-Which?

Orth.-Those which the prophet inserted in the 88th Psalm.

Eran.-I know that many promises were made to David. Which are yon enquiring
about now?

Orth.-Those which refer to the Lord Christ.

Eran.-Recall the utterances yourself, for you promised to adduce your proofs.

Orth.-Listen now how the prophet praises God at the very beginning of the Psalm.
He saw with his prophetic eyes the future iniquity of his people, and the
captivity that was in consequence foredoomed; yet he praised his own Lord for
unfailing promises. "I will sing," he says, "of the mercies of the Lord forever,
with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations, for thou
hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever, Thy faithfulness shalt Thou
establish in the very heavens."67

Through all this the prophet teaches that the promise was made by God on account
of lovingkindness, and that the promise is faithful. Then he goes on to say what
He promised, and to whom, introducing God Himself as the speaker. ("I have made
a covenant with my chosen."68 ) It is the Patriarchs that He called chosen; then
He goes on "I have sworn unto David my servant,"69 and He states concerning what
He swore, "Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all
generations."70 Now whom do you suppose to be called the seed of David?

Eran.-The promise was made about Solomon.

Orth.-Then he made his covenant with the Patriarchs about Solomon, for before
what was said about David he mentioned the promises made to the Patriarchs "I
have made a covenant with my chosen," and He promised the Patriarchs that in
their seed He would bless all nations. Kindly point out how the nations were
blessed through Solomon Eran.-Then God fulfilled this promise, not by means of
Solomon, but of our Saviour.

Orth.-So then our Lord Christ gave the fulfilment to the promises made to David.

Eran.-I hold that these promises were made by God, either about Solomon, or
about Zerubbabel.

Orth.-Just now you used the arguments of Marcion and Valentinus and of Manes.
Now you have gone over to the directly opposite faction, and are advocating the
impudence of the Jews. This is just like all those who turn out of a straight
road; they err and stray first one way and then another, wandering in a
wilderness.

Eran.-Revilers are excluded by the Apostle from the kingdom.71

Orth.-Yes, if their revilings are vain. Sometimes the divine Apostle himself
opportunely uses this mode of speech. He calls the Galatians "foolish,"72 and of
others he says "men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith,"73 and
again of another set, "Whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their
shame,"74 and so forth.

Eran.-What occasion did I give you for reviling?

Orth.-Do you really not think that the willing advocacy of the declared enemies
of the truth furnishes the pious with very reasonable ground of indignation?

Eran.-And what enemies of the truth have I patronized?

Orth.-Now, Jews.

Eran.-How so?

Orth.-Jews connect prophecies of this kind with Solomon and Zerubbabel, in order
to exhibit the groundlessness of the Christian position; but the mere words are
quite enough to convict them of their iniquity, for it is written "I will
establish my throne for ever."75 Now not only Solomon and Zerubbabel, to whom
such prophecies are applied by the Jews, have lived out their appointed time,
and reached the end of life, but the whole race of David has become extinct; for
who ever heard of any one at the present day descended from the root of David?

Eran.-But are not, then, those who are called Patriarchs of the Jews of the
family of David?

Orth.-Certainly not.

Eran.-Whence, then, are they sprung?

Orth.-From the foreigner Herod, who, on his father's side, was an Ascalonite,
and on his mother's an Idumaean;76 but they, too, have all disappeared, and many
years have gone by since their sovereignty came to an end. But our Lord God
promised not only to maintain the seed of David for ever, but to establish his
kingdom undestroyed; for He said, "I will build up my throne to all
generations." But we see that his race is gone, and his kingdom come to an end.
Yet though we see this, we know that the God of the Universe is true.

Eran.-That God is true is plain.

Orth.-If, then, God is true, as in truth He is, and promised David that He would
establish His race for ever, and keep his kingdom through all time, and if
neither race nor kingdom are to be seen, for both have come to an end, how can
we convince our opponents that God is true?

Eran.-I suppose, then, the prophecy really points to the Lord Christ.

Orth.-If, then, you confess this, let us investigate together a passage in the
middle of the Psalm; we shall then more clearly see what the prophecy means.

Eran.-Lead on; I will religiously follow in your footsteps.

Orth.-After making many promises about this seed that it should be Lord both by
sea and land77 and higher than the kings of the earth and be called the first
begotten of God,78 and should boldly call God, Father79 God also added this, "My
mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my covenant shall stand fast with
him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever and his throne as the days of
heaven."80

Eran.-The promise goes beyond the bounds of human nature, for both the life and
the honour are indestructible and eternal. But men endure but for a season;
their nature is short lived and their kingdom even during its lifetime undergoes
many and various vicissitudes, so that truly the greatness of the prophecy
befits none but the Saviour Christ.

Orth.-Go on then to what follows and your opinion upon this point will be in
every way confirmed, for again saith the God of the universe, "Once have I sworn
by my holiness, if I lie unto David, his seed shall endure for ever and his
throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon."81
Then, pointing out the truth of the promise He adds, "And the witness is
faithful in heaven."

Eran.-We must believe without doubt in the promises given by the faithful
witness, for, if we are wont to believe men who have promised to speak the truth
even if they do not confirm their words with an oath, who can be so mad as to
disbelieve the Creator of the Universe, when He adds an oath to his words? For
He who forbids others to swear confirmed the immutability of his counsel by an
oath,82 "that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie
we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us."83

Orth.-If then the promise is irrefragable, and among the Jews there is now
neither family nor kingdom of the prophet David to be seen, let us believe that
our Lord Jesus Christ is plainly called seed of David in His humanity, for of
Him the life and the kingdom are both alike eternal.

Eran.-We have no doubt; and this I own to be the truth.

Orth.-These proofs then are sufficient to show clearly the manhood which our
Lord and Saviour took of David's seed. But to remove all possibility of doubt by
the witness of the majority, let us hear how God makes mention of the promises
given to David through the voice of the prophet Isaiah. "I will make," he says,
"an everlasting covenant with you," and, signifying the law-giver, he adds,
"even the sure mercies of David."84

Since He made this promise to David, and spoke through Esaias, He will assuredly
bring the promise to pass. And what follows after the prophecy is in harmony
with what I say, for he saith "Behold I have given him for a witness to the
people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold nations that know thee not
shall call upon thee, and peoples that understand thee not shall run unto
thee."85 Now this fits in with none that are sprung from David, for who of
David's descendants, as Esaias says, was made a ruler of nations? And what
nations in their prayers ever called on David's descendants as God?

Eran.-About what is perfectly clear it is unbecoming to dispute, and this
plainly refers to the Lord Christ.

Orth.-Then let us pass on to another prophetic testimony and let us hear the
same prophet saying "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a
branch shall grow out of his roots."86 Eran.-I think this prophecy was delivered
about Zerubbabel.

Orth.-If yon hear what follows, you will not remain in your opinion. The Jews
have never so understood this prediction, for the prophet goes on, "and the
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord."87 This would never be attributed by any one to a mere man, for even to
the very holy the gifts of the Spirit are given by division, as the divine
apostle witnesses when he says, "To one is given by the Spirit the word of
wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit,"88 and so on. The
prophet describes Him who sprang from the root of Jesse as possessing all the
powers of the spirit.

Eran.-To gainsay this were sheer folly.

Orth.-Now hear what follows. You will see some things that transcend human
nature, he goes on. "He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither
reprove after the hearing of His ears, but with righteousness shall He judge the
poor, and reprove with equity the mighty89 of the earth, and He shall smite the
earth with the word of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall he slay
the wicked."90 Now of these predictions some are human and some divine. Justice,
truth, equity, and rectitude in giving judgment exhibit virtue in human nature.

Eran.-We have so far clearly learned that the prophet predicts the coming of our
Saviour Christ.

Orth.-The sequel will shew you yet more plainly the truth of the interpretation.
For he goes on, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,"91 and so on, whereby he
teaches at once the distinction of modes of life and the harmony of faith; and
experience furnishes a proof of the prediction, for they that abound in wealth,
they that live in poverty, servants and masters, rulers and ruled, soldiers and
citizens and they that wield the sceptre of the world are received in one font,
are all taught one doctrine, are all admitted to one mystic table, and each of
the believers enjoys an equal share.

Eran.-It is thus shewn that God is spoken of.

Orth.-Not only God but man. So at the very beginning of this prediction he says
that a rod shall grow out of the root of Jesse. Then at the conclusion of the
prediction he takes up once more the strain with which he began, for he says
"There shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people,
to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious."92 Now Jesse was
the father of David, and the promise with an oath was made to David. The prophet
would not have spoken of the Lord Christ as a rod growing out of Jesse if he had
only known Him as God. The prediction also foretold the change of the world, for
"the earth" he says "shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters
cover the sea."93

Eran.-I have heard the prophetic utterances. But I was anxious to know clearly
if the divine company of the apostles also says that the Lord Christ sprang from
the seed of David according to the flesh.

Orth.-You have asked for information which so far from being hard is exceedingly
easy to give you. Only listen to the first of the apostles exclaiming "David
being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit upon His
throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul
was not left in hell neither His flesh did see corruption."94

Hence you may perceive that of the seed of David according to the flesh sprang
the Lord Christ, and had not flesh only but also a soul.

Eran.-What other apostle preached this?

Orth.-The great Peter alone was sufficient to testify to the truth, for the Lord
after receiving the confession of the truth given by Peter alone confirmed it by
a memorable approval. But since you are anxious to hear others proclaiming this
same thing, hear Paul and Barnabas preaching in Antioch in Pisidia; for they,
when they had made mention of David, continued "Of this man's seed hath God
according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus."95 and so on. And
in a letter to Timothy the divine Paul says "Remember that Jesus Christ of the
seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel."96 And, when
writing to the Romans, at the very outset he calls attention to the Davidic kin,
for he says "Paul a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God which He had promised before by his prophets in the holy
scriptures concerning His Son which was made of the seed of David according to
the flesh,"97 and so on.

Eran.-Your proofs are numerous and convincing; but tell me why you have omitted
what follows?

Orth.-Because it is not about the Godhead, but about the manhood, that you are
in difficulties. Had you been in doubt about the Godhead, I would have given you
proof of it. It is enough to say "according to the Flesh" to declare the Godhead
which is not expressed in terms. When speaking of a relationship of man in
general I do not say the son of such an one "according to the flesh," but simply
"son," so the divine Evangelist writing his genealogy says "Abraham begat
Isaac"98 and does not add according to the flesh, for Isaac was merely man, and
he mentions the rest in like manner, for they were men and had no qualities
transcending their nature. But when the heralds of the truth are discoursing of
our Lord Christ, and are pointing out to the ignorant His lower relation, they
add the words "according to the flesh," thus indicating His Godhead and teaching
that the Lord Christ was not only man but also Eternal God.

Eran.-You have adduced many proofs from the apostles and prophets, but I follow
the words of the Evangelist "The Word was made Flesh."99

Orth.-I also follow this divine teaching, but I understand it in a pious sense,
as meaning that He was made Flesh by taking flesh and a reasonable soul. But if
the divine Word took nothing of our nature, then the covenants made with the
patriarchs by the God of all with oaths were not true, and the blessing of Judah
was vain, and the promise to David was false, and the Virgin was superfluous,
because she did not contribute anything of our nature to the Incarnate God. Then
the predictions of the prophets have no fulfilment. Then vain is our preaching,
vain our faith and vain the hope of the resurrection100 for the Apostle, it
appears, lies when he says "and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."101 For if the Lord Christ had
nothing of our nature then He is falsely described as our first fruits, and His
bodily nature has not risen from the dead and has not taken the seat in Heaven
on the right hand; and if He has obtained none of these things, how hath God
raised us up together and made us sit together with Christ, when we in no wise
belong to Him in Nature? But it is impious to say this, for the divine apostle,
though the general resurrection has not yet taken place, though the kingdom of
heaven has not yet been bestowed upon the faithful, exclaims, "He hath raised us
up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," in
order to teach that since the resurrection of our first fruits, and His sitting
on the right hand has come to pass, we too in general shall attain the
resurrection, and that all they who share in His nature and have adopted His
faith, share too in the first fruits of His glory.

Eran.-We have gone through many and sound arguments, but I was anxious to know
the force of the Gospel saying.

Orth.-You stand in need of no interpretation from without. The evangelist
himself interprets himself. For after saying "the Word was made flesh," he goes
on "and dwelt among us."102 That is to say by dwelling in us, and using the
flesh taken from us as a kind of temple, He is said to have been made flesh,
and, teaching that He remained unchanged, the evangelist adds "and we beheld His
glory-the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth."103 For though clad with flesh He exhibited His Father's nobility, shot
forth the beams of the Godhead, and emitted the radiance of the power of the
Lord, revealing by His works of wonder His hidden nature. A similar illustration
is afforded by the words of the divine apostle to the Philippians: "Let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation
and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, and
being found in fashion as a man he humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death even the death of the cross."104

Look at the relation of the utterances. The evangelist says "the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us," the apostle, "took upon him the form of a servant;"
the evangelist "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father"-the apostle, "who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be
equal with God." To put the matter briefly, both teach that being God and son of
God, and clad with His Father's glory, and having the same nature and power with
Him that begat Him, He that was in the beginning and was with God, and was God,
and was Creator of the world, took upon Him the form of a servant, and it seemed
that this was all which was seen; but it was God clad in human nature, and
working out the salvation of men. This is what was meant by "The word was made
flesh" and "was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a
man." This is all that was looked at by the Jews, and therefore they said to him
"For a good work we stone Thee not but for blasphemy and because that Thou being
a man makest Thyself God,"105 and again "This man is not of God because He
keepeth not the Sabbath Day."106 Eran.-The Jews were blind on account of their
unbelief, and therefore used these words.

Orth.-If you find even the apostles before the resurrection thus saying, will
you receive the interpretation? I hear them in the boat, after the mighty
miracle of the calm, saying "what manner of man is this, that even the winds and
the sea obey Him?"107 Eran.-This is made plain. But now tell me this;-the divine
apostle says that He "was made in the likeness of man."

Orth.-What was taken of him was not man's likeness, but man's nature. For
"formof a servant" is understood just as "the form of God" is understood to mean
God's nature. He took this, and so was made in the likeness of man, and was
found in fashion as a man. For, being God, He seemed to be man, on account of
the nature which He took. The evangelist, however, speaks of His being made in
the likeness of man as His being made flesh. But that you may know that they who
deny the flesh of the Saviour are of the opposite spirit, hear the great John in
his Catholic Epistle saying "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of
Anti-Christ."108

Eran.-You have given a plausible interpretation, but I was anxious to know how
the old teachers of the Church have understood the passage "the word was made
flesh."

Orth.-You ought to have been persuaded by the apostolic and prophetic proofs;
but since you require further the interpretations of the holy Fathers I will
also furnish you, God helping me, this medicine.

Eran.-Do not bring me men of obscure position or doubtful doctrine. I shall not
receive the interpretation of such as these.

Orth.-Does the far famed Athanasius, brightest light of the church of
Alexandria, seem to you to be worthy of credit?

Eran.-Certainly, for he ratified his teaching by the suffering he underwent for
the Truth's sake.

Orth.-Hear then how he wrote to Epictetus.109 "The expression of John `the Word
was made flesh' has this interpretation, so far as can be discovered from the
similar passage which we find in St. Paul `Christ was made a curse for us.'110
It is not because He was made a curse but because He received the curse on our
behalf that He is said to have been made a curse, and so it is not because He
was turned into flesh, but because He took flesh on our behalf, that He is said
to have been made flesh." So far the divine Athanasius. Gregory, too, whose
glory among all men is great, who formerly ruled the Imperial city at the mouth
of the Bosphorus and afterwards dwelt at Nazianzus, thus wrote to Cledonius
against the specious fallacies of Apollinarius.

Eran.-He was an illustrious man and a foremost fighter in the cause of piety.

Orth.-Hear him then. He says111 "the expression `He was made Flesh' seems to be
parallel to His being said to have been made sin and a curse,112 not because the
Lord was transmuted into these,-for how could He?-but because He accepted these
when He took on Him our iniquities and bore our infirmities."113 Eran.-The two
interpretations agree.

Orth.-We have shown you the pastors of the south and north in harmony; now then
let us introduce too the illustrious teachers of the west, who have written
their interpretation, if with another tongue, yet with one and the same mind.

Eran.-I am told that Ambrosius, who adorned the episcopal throne at Milan,
fought in the first ranks against all heresy, and wrote works of great beauty
and in agreement with the teaching of the apostles.

Orth.-I will give you his interpretation. Ambrosius says in his work concerning
the faith "It is written that the Word was made flesh. I do not deny that it is
written, but look at the terms used; for there follows `and dwelt among us,'
that is to say dwelt in human flesh. You are therefore astonished at the terms
in which it is written that the Word was made flesh, on the assumption of flesh,
by the divine Word, when also concerning sin which He had not, it is said that
He was made sin, that is to say not that He was made the nature and operation of
sin, but that he might crucify our sin in the flesh; let them then give over
asserting that the nature of the Word has undergone change and alteration, for
He who took is one and that which was taken other."114

It is now fitting that you should hear the teachers of the east, this being the
only quarter of the east, this being the only quarter of the world which we have
hitherto left unnoticed, though they indeed might well have first witnessed to
the truth, for to them was first imparted the teaching of the apostles. But
since you have sharpened your tongues against the first-born sons of piety by
whetting them on the hone of falsehood, we have reserved for them the last
place, that after first hearing the rest, you might lay witness by the side of
witness, and so at once admire their harmony, and cease from your own
interminable talk. Listen then to Flavianus who for a long time right wisely
moved the tiller of the church of Antioch, and made the churches which he guided
ride safe over the Arian storm, by expounding to them the word of the gospel.
"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; He is not turned into flesh, nor
yet did he cease from being God, for this he was from all eternity and became
flesh in the dispensation of the incarnation115 after himself building his own
temple, and taking up his abode in the passible creature." And if you desire to
hear the ancients of Palestine, lend your ears to the admirable Gelasius, who
did diligent husbandry in the church of Caesarea. Now these are his words in his
homily on the festival of the Lord's epiphany.116 "Learn the truth from the
words of John the Fisherman, `And the word was made flesh,' not having himself
undergone change, but having taken up his abode with us. The dwelling is one
thing; the Word is another; the temple is one thing, and God who dwells in it,
another."

Eran.-I am much struck by the agreement.

Orth.-Now do you not suppose that the rule of the apostolic faith was kept by
John, who first nobly watered the field of the church of the Antiochenes, and
then was a wise husbandman of that of the imperial city?

Eran.-I hold this teacher to be in all respects an admirable one.

Orth.-Well, this most excellent man has interpreted this passage of the Gospel.
He writes,117 "When you hear that the Word was made flesh, be not startled or
cast down, for the substance did not deteriorate into flesh-an idea of the
uttermost impiety-but continuing to be just what it is, so took the form of a
servant. For just as when the apostle says `Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us,'118 he does not say that the
substance of Christ departed from His own glory, and took the substance of a
curse, a position which not even devils would imagine, nor the utterly
senseless, and the naturally idiotic-so remarkable being the connection between
impiety and insanity. But what he does assert is that after receiving the curse
due to us, He does not suffer us to be cursed for the future. It is in this
sense that He is stated to have been made flesh, not because he had changed the
substance into flesh, but because he had assumed the flesh, the substance
remaining all the while unimpaired."119

You may like to bear also Severianus, Bishop of Gabala.120 If so, I will adduce
his testimony and do you lend your ears.

"The text `the Word was made flesh' does not indicate a deterioration of nature
but the assumption of our nature. Suppose you take the word `was made' to
indicate a change; then when you hear Paul saying `Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us,' do you understand him to mean a
change into the nature of a curse? Just as being made a curse had no other
meaning than that He took our curse upon Himself, so the words was made flesh
and dwelt among us mean nothing other than the assumption of flesh."

Eran.-I admire the exact agreement121 of these men. For they are as unanimous in
giving the same interpretations of evangelical writings as if they had met in
the same place and written down their opinion together.

Orth.-Mountains and seas separate them very far from one another, yet distance
does not damage their harmony, for they were all inspired by the same gift of
the spirit. I would also have offered you the interpretations of the victorious
champions of piety Diodorus and Theodorus, had I not seen that you were ill
disposed towards them, and had inherited the hostility of Apollinarius; you
would have seen that they have expressed similar experiences, drawing water from
the divine Fount, and becoming themselves too, streams of the spirit. But I will
pass them by, for you have declared a truceless war against them. I will,
however, shew you the famous teacher of the Church, and his mind about the
divine incarnation, that you may know what opinion he held concerning the
assumed nature. You have no doubt heard of the illustrious Ignatius, who
received episcopal grace by the hand of the great Peter,122 and after ruling the
church of Antioch, wore the crown of martyrdom. You have heard too of Irenaeus,
who enjoyed the teaching of Polycarp, and became a light of the western
Gauls;-of Hippolytus and Methodius, bishops and martyrs, and the rest, whose
names I will append to their expressions of opinion.

Eran.-I am exceedingly desirous of hearing their testimony too.

Orth.-Hear them now bringing forward the apostolic teaching. Testimony of Saint
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, and martyr. From the letter to the Smyrnaeans
(I.):-

"Having a full conviction with respect to our Lord as being truly descended from
David according to the flesh, son of God according to Godhead123 and power, born
really of a virgin, baptized by John that all righteousness might be
fulfilled124 by Him, really in the time of Pontius Pilate and of Herod the
tetrarch crucified for our sake in the flesh."125 Of the same in the same
epistle:-

"For what advantageth it me if a man praises me but blasphemes my Lord, in not
confessing him to be a bearer of flesh? but he who does not make this confession
really denies Him and is himself bearer of a corpse."126 Of the saint from the
same epistle:-

"For if these things were done by our Lord in appearance only, then it is in
appearance only that I am a prisoner in chains; and why have I delivered myself
to death, to fire, to sword, to the beasts? But he who is near to the sword is
near to God.127 Only in the name of Jesus Christ that I may share his sufferings
I endure all things while He, Perfect Man whom some in their ignorance deny,
gives me strength."128 From the same in the letter to the Ephesians:-

"For our God Jesus Christ was born in Mary's womb by dispensation of God of the
seed of David129 and of the Holy Ghost who was born and was baptized that our
mortality might be purified."130 From the same epistle:-

"If ye all individually come together by grace name by name in one faith, and in
one Jesus Christ according to the flesh of David's race Son of God and Son of
man.131 Of the same from the same epistle:-

"There is one Physician of flesh and of spirit generate and ingenerate, God in
man, true life in death, Son of Mary and of God, first passible and then
impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord."132 Lastly of the same in his epistle to the
Trallians:-

"Be ye made deaf therefore when any man speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ,
who was of David's race and of Mary, who was really born and really ate and
drank and was persecuted in the time of Pontius Pilate, was crucified and died,
while beings on earth and beings in heaven and beings under the earth were
looking on."133 Testimony of Irenaeus bishop of Lyons, from his third book
Against the heresies:-

"Why then did they add the words 'In the city of David,134 save to proclaim the
good news that the promise made by God to David, that of the fruit of his loins
should come an everlasting king, was fulfilled; a promise which indeed the
Creator of the world had made."135 Of the same from the same book:-

"And when he says `Hear ye now, Oh House of David'136 he means that the
everlasting King whom God promised to David that he would raise up from his body
is He who was born of David's Virgin." Of the same from the same book:-

"If then the first Adam had had a human father and had been begotten of seed, it
would have been reasonable to say that the second Adam had been begotten of
Joseph. But if the former was taken from earth, and his creator was God, it was
necessary also that He who renews in himself the man created by God should have
the same likeness of generation with that former. Why then did not God again
take dust? Why did he on the other hand ordain that the formation should be made
of Mary? That there might be no other creation; that that which was being saved
might be no other thing; but that the former might himself be renewed without
loss of the likeness. For then do they too fall away who allege that He took
nothing from the Virgin, that they may repudiate the inheritance of the flesh
and cast off the likeness."137 Of the same from the same book:-

"Since his going down into Mary is useless; for why went He down into her if He
was designed to take nothing from her? And further, if He had taken nothing from
Mary He would not have accepted the food taken from earth whereby is nourished
the body taken from earth, nor would He like Moses and Elias, after fasting
forty days, have hungered, on account of His body demanding its own food, nor
yet would John his disciple when writing about him have said-`Jesus being
wearied from his journey sat,'138 nor would David have uttered the prediction
about him `And they added to the pain of my wounds,'139 nor would he have wept
over Lazarus,140 nor would He have sweated drops of blood,141 nor would He have
said, `my soul is exceedingly sorrowful,'142 nor yet when He was pierced would
blood and water have issued from His side.143 For all these things are proofs of
the flesh taken from earth, which He had renewed in Himself in the salvation of
his own creature."144 Of the same from the same book:-

"For as by the disobedience of the one man who was first formed from rude earth
the many were made sinners145 and lost their life, so also was it fitting that
through obedience of one man, the firstborn of a virgin, many should be made
righteous and receive their salvation."146 Of the same from the same work:-

"`I have said ye are gods and all of you children of the Most High but ye shall
die like man.'147 This He says to them that did not accept the gift of adoption,
but dishonour the incarnation of the pure generation of the word of God, deprive
man of his ascent to God, and are ungrateful to the Word of God who for their
sakes was made flesh. For this cause was the word made man that man receiving
the word and accepting the adoption should be made God's son.148 " Of the same
from the same book:-

"Since then on account of the fore-ordained dispensation149 the spirit came
down, and the only begotten Son of God, who also is Word of the Father, when the
fulness of time was come, was made flesh in man and our Lord Jesus Christ-being
one and the same-fulfilled all the human dispensation as the Lord himself
testifies, and the apostles confess, all the teachings of men who invented the
ogdoads and tetrads and similitudes are proved plainly false."150 Testimony of
the Holy Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr, from his discourse on "The Lord is my
shepherd":-

"And an ark of incorruptible wood was the Saviour Himself, for the
incorruptibility and indestructibility of His Tabernacle signified its producing
no corruption of sin. For the sinner who confesses his sin says `My wounds stink
and are corrupt because of my foolishness.'151 But the Lord was without sin,
made in His human nature of incorruptible wood, that is to say, of the Virgin
and the Holy Ghost, overlaid within and without, as it were, by purest gold of
the word of God." Of the same from his discourse on Elkanah and Hannah:-

"Bring me then, O Samuel, the Heifer drawn to Bethlehem, that you may shew the
King begotten of David, and anointed King and Priest by the Father." From the
same discourse:-

"Tell me, O Blessed Mary, what it was that was conceived by thee in the womb;
what it was that was borne by thee in a Virgin's womb. It was the Word of God,
firstborn from Heaven, on thee descending, and man firstborn being formed in a
womb, that the first born Word of God might be shewn united to a firstborn man."
From the same discourse:-

"The second, which was through the prophets as through Samuel, he revokes, and
turns his people from the slavery of strangers. The third, in which He took the
manhood of the Virgin and was present in the flesh; who, when He saw the city
wept over it." Of the same from his discourse on the beginning of Isaiah:152 -

"He likens the world to Egypt; its idolatry, to images; its removal and
destruction to an earthquake. The Word he calls the `Lord' and by a `swift
cloud' he means the right pure tabernacle enthroned on which our Lord Jesus
Christ entered into life to undo the fall."

Testimony of the Holy Methodius,153 bishop and martyr, from his discourse on the
martyrs:-

"So wonderful and precious is martyrdom that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the
Son of God, testified in its honour that He thought it not robbery to be equal
with God, that He might crown with this grace the Manhood into whom He had come
down."

Testimony of the holy Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, confessor. From his
interpretation of the xvith Psalm:-

"The soul of Jesus experienced both. For it was in the place of the souls of men
and being made without the flesh, lives and survives. So it is reasonable and of
the same substance as the souls of men, just as the flesh is of the same
substance as the flesh of men, coming forth from Mary." Of the same from his
work about the soul:-

"On looking at the education of the child, or at the increase of his stature, or
at the extension of time, or at the growth of the body, what would they say?
But, to omit the miracles wrought upon earth, let them behold the raisings of
the dead to life, the signs of the Passion, the marks of the scourges, the
bruises and the blows, the wounded side, the prints of the nails, the shedding
of the blood, the evidences of the death, and in a word the actual resurrection
of the very body." From the same work:-

"Indeed if any one looks to the generation of the body, he would clearly
discover that after being born at Bethlehem He was wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and was brought up for some time in Egypt, because of the evil counsel of the
cruel Herod, and grew to man's estate at Nazareth." From the same work:- "For
the tabernacle of the Word and of God is not the same, whereby the blessed
Stephen beheld the divine glory."154 Of the same from his sermon on "the Lord
created me in the beginning of His way":155 -

"If the Word received a beginning of His generation from the time when passing
through His mother's womb He wore the human frame, it is clear that He was made
of a woman; but if He was from the first Word and God with the Father, and if we
assert that the universe was made by Him, then He who is and is the cause of all
created things was not made of a woman, but is by nature God, self existent,
infinite, incomprehensible; and of a woman was made man, formed in the Virgin's
womb by the Holy Ghost." From the same work:-

"For a temple absolutely holy and undefiled is the tabernacle of the word
according to the flesh, wherein God visibly made his habitation and dwelt, and
we assert this not of conjecture, for He who is by nature the Son of this God
when predicting the destruction and resurrection of the temple distinctly
instructs us by His teaching when He says to the murderous Jews, `Destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up.'"156 From the same work:-

"When then the Word built a temple and carried the manhood, companying in a body
with men, He invisibly displayed various miracles, and sent forth the apostles
as heralds of His everlasting kingdom." Of the same from his intrepretation of
Psalm xcii:-

"It is plain then if `He that anointeth' means God whose throne He calls
`everlasting,' the anointer is plainly by nature God, begotten of God. But the
anointed took an acquired virtue, being adorned with a chosen temple of the
Godhead dwelling in it." The testimony of the holy Athanasius, Bishop of
Alexandria and Confessor. From the defence of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria:-

"`I am the vine, ye are the branches My Father is the husbandman.'157 For we
according to the body are of kin to the Lord, and for this reason He himself
said `I will declare thy name unto my brethren.'158 And just as the branches are
of one substance with the vine, and of it, so too we, since we have bodies akin
to the body of the Lord, receive them of His fulness, and have it as a root for
our resurrection and salvation. And the Father is called a husbandman, for He
Himself through the Word tilled the vine which is the Lord's body." Of the same
from the same treatise:- "The Lord was called a vine on account of His bodily
relationship to the branches which are ourselves." Of the same from his greater
oration concerning the faith:-

"The scripture `in the beginning was the Word'159 clearly indicates the Godhead.
The passage `the Word was made flesh'160 shews the human nature of the Lord."
From the same discourse:- "`He shall wash His garments in wine'161 that is His
body, which is the vestment of the Godhead in His own blood." Of the same from
the same discourse:-

"The Word `was'162 is referred to His divinity, the words `was made flesh'163 to
His body, the Word was made flesh not by being reduced to flesh, but by bearing
flesh, just as any one might say such an one became or was made an old man,
though not so born from the beginning, or the soldier became a veteran, not
being previously such as he became. John says, `I became,' or `was in the island
of Patmos on the Lord's day.'164 Not that he was made or born there, but he says
`I became or was in Patmos' instead of saying `I arrived;' so the Word `arrived'
at flesh, as it is said `the Word was made flesh.' Hear the words `I became like
a broken vessel,'165 and `I became like a man that hath no strength, free among
the dead.'"166 Of the same from his letter to Epictetus:-

"Whoever heard such things? Who taught them? Who learnt them? `Out of Zion shall
go forth the law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.'167 But whence did
these things come forth? What hell vomited them out? To say that the body taken
of Mary was of the same substance as the Godhead of the Word, or that the Word
was changed into flesh and bones and hairs and a whole body; whoever heard in a
church or at all among Christians that God bore a body by adoption and not by
birth?"168 Of the same from the same Epistle:-

"But who, hearing that the Word made for Himself a passible body, not of Mary,
but of His own substance, would call the sayer of these things a Christian? Who
has invented so unfounded an impiety, as even to think and to say that they who
affirm the Lord's body to be of Mary, conceive no longer of a Trinity, but of a
quaternity in the godhead? As though they that are of this opinion described the
flesh which the Saviour clothed himself with of Mary as of the substance of the
Trinity.

"Whence further have some men vomited forth an impiety as bad as the foregoing,
and alleged that the body is not of later time than the godhead of the Word, but
has always been co-eternal with it, since it is formed of the substance of
wisdom." Of the same from the same letter:-

"So the body taken of Mary was human according to the scriptures, and real in
that it was the same as our own. For Mary was our sister, since we are all of
Adam, a fact which no one could doubt who remembers the words of Luke."169
Testimony of the holy Basil, bishop of Caesarea:- From the interpretation of
Psalm LX.

"All strangers have stooped and been put under the yoke of Christ, wherefore
also `over Edom' does he `cast out' his `shoe.'170 Now the shoe of the Godhead
is the flesh which bore God whereby he came among men." Of the same from his
writings about the Holy Ghost to Amphilochius:-

"He uses the phrase `of whom' instead of `through whom;' as when Paul says `made
of a woman.'171 He clearly made this distinction for us in another place where
he says that the being made of the man is proper to a woman, but to a man the
being made by the woman, in the words `For as the woman is of the man so is the
man by the woman.'172 But with the object at once of pointing out the different
use of these expressions, and of correcting obiter an error of certain men who
supposed the body of the Lord to be spiritual, that he may shew how the
God-bearing flesh was composed of human matter, he gives prominence to the more
emphatic expression, for the expression `by a woman' was in danger of suggesting
that the sense of the word generation was merely in passing through, while the
phrase `of the woman' makes the common nature of the child and of the mother
plain enough."

Testimony of the holy Gregory bishop of Nazianus. From the former exposition to
Cledonius:-

"If any one says that the flesh came down from heaven, and not from this earth,
and from us, let him be Anathema. For the words `The second man is from
heaven,'173 and `as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly'174 and
`no man hath ascended up to heaven but the son of man that came down from
heaven,'175 and any other similar passage, must be understood to be spoken on
account of the union with man, as also the statement that `all things were made
by Christ,'176 and that `Christ dwells in our hearts,'177 must be understood not
according to the sensible, but according to the intellectual conception of the
Godhead, the terms being commingled together just as are the natures." Of the
same from the same work:-

"Let us see from their own words what reason they give for the being made man,
that is for the incarnation. If indeed it was that God otherwise not contained
in space, might be contained in space and, as it were under a veil, might
converse with men in the flesh, then their mask and their stage play are
exquisite: not to say that it was possible for Him otherwise to converse with
us, as of yore, in a burning bush and in human form, but if that He might undo
the damnation of sin by taking like to like178 then just as He required flesh on
account of the condemned flesh, and a soul on account of the soul, so too he
required a mind on account of the mind, which in Adam not only fell but,-to
employ a term which physicians are accustomed to use about diseases-was affected
with original malady.179 For that which did not keep the commandment was what
had received the commandment; and that which dared transgression was what had
not kept the commandment; and that which specially needed salvation was what had
transgressed, and that which was assumed was what needed salvation; so the mind
was assumed. Now this point has been demonstrated, whether they will or no, by
proofs which are so to say mathematical and necessary. But you are doing just as
though, if a man were to have a diseased eye and a limping foot you were to cure
the foot but leave the eye uncured; or, if a painter had painted a picture
badly, were to alter the picture, but leave the painter alone, as though he were
doing his work well. But if they are so constrained by these arguments as to
take refuge in the statement that it is possible for God to save man, even
without a mind, why then clearly He might have done so even without flesh, by
the mere expression of His will, just as He works and has worked in the universe
without a body. Away then with the flesh as well as with the mind! Let there be
no inconsistency in your absurdity."

Testimony of the Holy Gregory, bishop of Nyssa. From his sermon on Abraham:-

"So the Word came down not naked, but after having been made flesh, not in the
form of God, but in the form of a servant.180 This then is He who said that He
could do nothing of Himself.181 For the not being able is the part of
powerlessness. For as darkness is opposed to light, and death to life, so is
weakness to power. But yet Christ is Power of God. Power is wholly inconsistent
with not being able. For if power were powerless what is powerful? When then the
Word declares that He can do nothing it is plain that He does not attribute his
powerlessness to the Godhead of the Only-begotten, but connects his not being
able with the powerlessness of our nature. The flesh is weak, as it is written,
`The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"182 Of the same from his Book
"on the Perfection of Life":-

"Again the true lawgiver, of whom Moses was a type, hewed for Himself out of our
earth the slabs of nature. No wedlock fashioned for Him the flesh that was to
receive the godhead, but He Himself is made the hewer of His own flesh, graven
as it is by the finger of God. For the Holy Ghost came upon the Virgin, and the
power of the Highest overshadowed her.183 And when this had come to pass, nature
once again took its indestructible character, being made immortal by the marks
of the divine finger." Of the same from his Book against Eunomius:-

"We assert therefore that when He said above that wisdom built for herself a
house,184 he intimates by the phrase the formation of the flesh of the Lord, for
the very wisdom made its home in no strange dwelling, but built itself its
dwelling of the Virgin's body." Of the same from the same treatise:-

"The Word was before the ages, but the flesh was made in the last times, and no
one would say on the contrary either that the flesh was before the ages, or the
Word made in the last times." Of the same from the same treatise:-

"The expression `created me'185 is not to be understood of the divine and the
undefiled, but, as has been said, of our created nature, according to the
dispensation of the incarnation."186 Of the same from the first discourse on the
Beatitudes:-

"`Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but
emptied himself, and took the form of a servant.'187 What poorer, in respect of
God, than the form of a servant? What more lowly, in respect of the King of all,
than approach to fellowship in our poor nature? The King of Kings and Lord of
Lords188 voluntarily dons the form of servitude."

Testimony of the Holy Flavianus, bishop of Antioch. From his sermon on John the
Baptist:-

"Do not think of connexion in any physical sense, nor entertain the idea of
conjugal intercourse. For thy Creator is creating His own bodily temple now
being born of thee." Of the same from his book on "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me":- "Hear Him saying, `The Spirit is upon me because He hath anointed
me.'189 You do not know, He says, what you read, for I, the anointed with the
Spirit, am come to you. Now what is akin to us, and not the invisible nature, is
anointed with the Spirit."190 Testimony of Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. From
his Discourse on "My Father is greater than I:"191 -

"Distinguish me now the natures, the Divine and the human. For man was not made
from God by failing away, nor was God made of man by advancement. I am speaking
of God and man. When, however, you attribute the passions to the flesh and the
miracles to God, you of necessity and involuntarily assign the lowly titles to
the man born of Mary, and the exalted and divine to the Word Who in the
beginning was God. Wherefore in some cases I utter exalted words, in others
lowly, to the end that by means of the lofty I may shew the nature of the
indwelling Word, and by the lowly, own the weakness of the lowly flesh. Whence
sometimes I call myself equal to the Father and sometimes greater than the
Father, not contradicting myself, but shewing that I am God and than, for God is
of the lofty, man of the lowly; but if you wish to know how my Father is greater
than I, I spoke of the flesh and not of the person of the Godhead." Of the same
from his discourse on "The Son, can do nothing of Himself:"192 -

"How was Adam disobedient in Heaven, and how of heavenly body was he formed
first-formed beside the first formation? But it was the Adam of the earth who
was formed at the beginning; the Adam of the earth disobeyed; the Adam of the
earth was assumed. Wherefore also the Adam of the earth was saved that thus the
reason of the incarnation193 may be proved necessary and true."194

Testimony of the Holy John Bishop of Constantinople. From the speech which he
made when the Gothic envoy had spoken before him:-

"See from the beginning what He does. He clothes Himself in our nature,
powerless and vanquished, that by its means He may fight and struggle and from
the beginning He uproots the nature of rebellion." Of the same from his
discourse on195 The Festival of the Nativity:-

"For is it not of the very last stupidity for them to bring down their own gods
into stones and cheap wooden images, shutting them up as it were in a kind of
prison, and to fancy that there is nothing disgraceful in what they either say
or do, and then to find fault with us for saying that God made a living temple
for Himself of the Holy Ghost, by means of which he brought succour to the
world? For if it is disgraceful for God to dwell in a human body, then in
proportion as the stone and the wood are more worthless than man is it much more
disgraceful for him to dwell in stone and wood. But perhaps mankind seems to
them to be of less value than these senseless objects. They bring down the
substance of God into stones and into dogs;196 but many heretics into fouler
things than these. But we could never endure even to hear of these things.197
But what we say is that of a virgin's womb the Christ took pure flesh, holy and
without spot, and made impervious to all sin, and restored the body198 that was
His own." A little further on: "And we assert that when the divine Word had
fashioned for Himself a holy temple by its means he brought the heavenly state
into our life." Of the same from the oration: That the lowly words and deeds of
Christ were not spoken and done through lack of power, but through distinctions
of dispensation.

"What then are the causes of many humble things having been said about Him both
by Himself and by His apostles? The first and greatest cause is the fact of His
having clothed Himself with flesh, and wishing all his contemporaries and all
who have lived since, to believe that He was not a shadow, nor what was seen
merely a form, but reality of nature. For if when He Himself and His apostles
had spoken about Him so often in humble and in human sense, the devil yet had
power to persuade some wretched and miserable men to deny the reason of the
incarnation, and dare to say that He did not take flesh and so to destroy all
the ground of His love for man, how many would not have fallen into this abyss
if He had never said anything of the kind?"

I have now produced for you a few out of many authorities of the heralds of the
truth, not to stun you with too many. They are quite enough to show the bent of
the mind of the excellent writers. It is now for you to say what force their
writings seem to have.

Eran.-They have all spoken in harmony with one another, and the workers in the
vineyard of the West agree with them whose husbandry is done in the region of
the rising sun. Yet I perceived a considerable difference in their sayings.

Orth.-They are successors of the divine apostles; some even of those apostles
were privileged to hear the holy voice and see the goodly sight. The majority of
them too were adorned with the crown of martyrdom. Does it seem right for you to
wag the tongue of blasphemy against them?

Eran.-I shrink from doing this; at the same time I do not approve of their great
divergence.

Orth.-But now I will bring you an unexpected remedy. I will adduce one of your
own beautiful heresy-your teacher Apollinarius,199 and I will shew you that he
understood the text "The Word was made flesh" just as the holy Fathers did. Hear
now what he wrote about it in his "Summary." The testimony of Apollinarius from
his "Summary":- "If no one is turned into that which he assumes, and Christ
assumed flesh, then He was not turned into flesh." And immediately afterward he
continues:-

"For also He gave himself to us in relationship by means of the body to save us.
Now that which saves is far more excellent than that which is being saved. Far
more excellent then than we are, is He in the assumption of a body! But He would
not have been more excellent had He been turned into flesh." A little further on
he says:-

"The simple is one, but the complex cannot be one; he then that alleges that He
was made flesh affirms the mutation of the one Word. But if the complex is also
one, as man, then he who on account of the union with the flesh says the Word
was made flesh means the one in complexity." And again a little further on he
says-"To be made flesh is to be made empty,200 but the being made empty declares
not man, but the Son of man, who `emptied Himself' not by undergoing change, but
by investiture."

There; you see the teacher of your own doctrines has introduced the word
`investiture' and indeed in his little work upon the faith he says-"We then
believe that he was made flesh, while His Godhead remained unchanged for the
renewal of the manhood. For in the holy power of God there has been neither
alteration nor change of place, nor inclusion"-and then shortly again-"We
worship God who took flesh of the blessed virgin, and on this account in the
flesh is man, but in the spirit God." And in another exposition he says-"We
confess the Son of God to have been made the Son of man, not nominally but
verily, on taking flesh of the Virgin Mary."

Eran.-I did not suppose that Apollinarius held these sentiments. I had other
ideas about him.

Orth.-Well; now you have learnt that not only the prophets and apostles, and
they who after them were ordained teachers of the world, but even Apollinarius,
the writer of heretical babbling, confesses the divine Word to be immutable,
states that He was not turned into flesh but assumed flesh, and this over and
over again, as you have heard. Do not then struggle to throw your master's
blasphemy into the shade by your own, For, says the Lord "the disciple is
notabove his master."201

Eran.-Yes, I confess that the divine Word of God is immutable and took flesh. It
were the uttermost foolishness to withstand authorities so many and so great.

Orth.-Do you wish to have a solution of the rest of the difficulties?

Eran.-Let us put off their investigation until to-morrow.

Orth.-Very well; our synod is dismissed. Let us depart, and bear in mind what we
have agreed upon.

1: Cf. note p. 36, History.

2: "Sauromatas gentes Scytharum Groeci vocant, quos Sarmatas Romani." Pliny iii.

3: Gen. vi. 7.

4: Ps. xlix. 20.

5: John i. 14.

6: Matt. xix. 26.

7: Ps. cxxxv. 6.

8: The reference in Schulze's edition is to Jeremiah x. 16, but here the
Septuagint o plasaj ta panta does not bear out the point. The quotation is no
doubt of Amos v. 8, where the LXX is o poiwn panta kai metaskeuazwn .

9: Ps. iii. 27.

10: Mal. iii. 6.

11: John i. 14.

12: I. Cor. xii. 4.

13: II. Cor. iv. 13.

14: Heb. ii. 16.

15: cf. Article ix. of the English Church. Sin is not part of man's nature, but
the fault or corruption of it. If an one sense the fallen Adam is the natural
man, in a higher sense Christ, the Son of man, is the natural man; i.e. in Him
the manhood is seen incorrupt. cf. p. 183 and note.

16: Isaiah xli. 8.

17: Gen. xii. 3. The lxx. has eneuloghqhsontai en soi . In Acts iii. 25, it is
tw spermati sou : in Gal. iii. 8, en soi .

18: Gal. iii. 16. There is here an omission of the four words " kai tw spermati
sou

19: Gen. xlix. 10. Here the text follows the Alexandrine Septuagint substituting
ewj an elqh w apokeitai for ewj an elqh ta apokeimena autw .

20: Hebrews ii. 16.

21: Hebrews vii. 14.

22: Micah v. 2.

23: Matthew ii. 5, Matthew ii. 6.

24: Matthew ii. 6

25: Micah v. 2.

26: Romans ix. 5.

27: Baruch, iii, 35, 37.

28: I. Tim. i. 17.

29: I. Tim. vi. 16.

30: Baruch iii. 38.

31: I. Tim. i. 17.

32: I. Tim. vi. 16.

33: Heb. ii. 16.

34: I. Tim. iii. 16. Theodoretus shews no knowledge of the reading for in this
famous passage accepted by our revisers with the marginal comment "The word God
in place of He who rests on no sufficient ancient evidence." Macedonius II,
patriarch of Constantinople, is said to have been accused by his enemy the
Emperor Anastasius of falsifying this particular passage. But if Theodoretus,
who died c. 458, really wrote copies of the Epistles containing this reading
must have existed some half century before the dispute between Macedonius and
Anastasius. Gregory of Nyssa also uses the passage as does Theodoretus; Greg.
Nyss. cont. Eun. iv. i. The accepted opinion now regards the Codex of
Alexandrianus as reading oj .

35: Matt. xviii. 10. Observe the omission of the words "In heaven," which A. V.
inserts with ) 36: John vi. 46.

37: John i. 18.

38: Exodus xxxiii. 20.

39: Genesis xviii. i. Sept.

40: Isaiah vi. i.

41: Exodus xxxiii. 11.

42: Numbers xii. 8.

43: Hosea xii. 10. Sept. A. V. has "used similitudes."

44: Matthew xviii. 10.

45: I. Tim. iii. 16.

46: Hebrews x. 19-22. In iii. 607. ed. Migne this passage is quoted by Theodoret
as in A. V.

47: Gen. xlix. 10. Compare note on p. 6.

48: Gen. xlix. 11.

49: mustikwteron .

50: John xv. 1.

51: John xix. 34.

52: John xii. 23.

53: John xii. 24.

54: This passage and a parallel passage from Dial. II. were quoted with force in
the discussions of the English Reformation. Bp. Ridley on the foregoing writes (
A Brief Declaration of the Lord's Supper, Parker Soc. Ed. p. 35.) "What can be
more plainly said than this that this old writer saith? That although the
Sacraments bear the name of the body and blood of Christ, yet is not their
nature changed, but abideth still. And where is then the Papists'
transubstantiation?"

55: Gen. xlix. 2.

56: Matt. xxvi. 28.

57: John vi. 51.

58: Aristotle (Oec: 1. 6. 1.) uses the proverb as we say in English "to draw
water in a sieve."

59: Heb. ii. 16.

60: Gen. ii. 18.

61: Heb. vii. 14.

62: Heb. v. 1. Heb. viii. 3.

63: Heb. x. 5.

64: Matt. i. 20. The rendering of gennhqen by "conceived" in the A. V. somewhat
obscures the argument of Theodoret. The R. V. has "begotten" in the margin.

65: Ps. xl. 7. Septuagint. The difficulty how to account for the rendering of
wlhyrb Mmk)

66: I have no hesitation in translating alla here by "save," in spite of the
purist prejudice which has led even the revisers of 1881 to retain something of
the awkward periphrasis by which the meaning of Matt. xx. 23 and Mark x. 40. is
confused in A. V., and an Arian sense given to our Lord's declaration, "To sit
on my right hand and my left is not mine to give save to them for whom it is
prepared." i.e. It is His to give, but not to give arbitrarily or of caprice.
Liddell and Scott, Ed. 1883, recognise and illustrate this use of alla (Vide s.
v. I. 3.) which in classical Greek is vindicated by such a passage as Soph. O.
T. 1331. epaise d' autoxeir nin outij all' egw , and in N. T. Greek, as well as
by the crucial passage in question, in Mark ix. 8. ouketi oudena eidon alla ton
Ihsoun monon 67: Ps. lxxxix. 1, 2.

68: Ps. lxxxix. 3.

69: Ps. lxxxix. 3.

70: Ps. lxxxix. 4.

71: I. Cor. vi. 10.

72: Gal. iii. 1.

73: 2. Tim. iii. 8.

74: Phil. iii. 19.

75: Ps. lxxxix. 4.

76:

77: Ps. lxxxix. 25.

78: Ps. lxxxix. 27.

79: Ps. lxxxix. 26.

80: Ps. lxxxix. 28, 29.

81: Ps. lxxxix. 35, 36, 37.

82: Heb. vi. 17.

83: Heb. vi. 18.

84: Is. lv. 3.

85: Is. lv. 4. Is. lv. 5, lxx.

86: Isaiah xi. 1.

87: Isaiah xi. 2.

88: I. Cor. xii. 8.

89: A. V. "reprove with equity for the meek of the earth;" Sept. elegcei touj
tapeinouj thj ghj .

90: Isaiah xi. 4.

91: Is. xi. 6.

92: Isaiah xi. 10.

93: Isaiah xi. 9.

94: Acts ii. 30-31.

95: Acts xiii. 23.

96: 2 Tim. ii. 8.

97: Romans i. 1-3.

98: Matt. i. 2.

99: John i. 14.

100: A kenh elpiso pistij would be a faith which could not possibly be realized;
and mataia elpij a hope of not impossible but very improbable fulfilment. But
the distinction between kenoj and mataioj is hardly borne out by their use in
the text.

101: Ephes. ii. 6.

102: John i. 14.

103: John i. 14.

104: Phil. ii. 5. Phil. ii. 8.

105: John x. 33.

106: John ix. 16.

107: Matt. viii. 27.

108: I. John iv. 2, I. John iv. 3.

109: Ed. Ben. I. 2. 207.

110: Gal. iii. 13.

111: I Ep. ad Cled. i. Ed. Paris. p. 744.

112: II. Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13.

113: Isaiah liii. 4.

114: de Incar. Dom. Sac. vi. II. Ed. Ben. p. 716. The Latin of Ambrose, which is
not exactly rendered by Theodoret, is as follows:- "Sic scriptum est, inquiunt,
quia Verbum caro factum est (Ioan 1, 14). Scriptum est, non negro: sed considera
quid sequatur; sequitur enim: Et habitavit in nobis, hoc est, illud Verbum quod
carnem suscepit, hoc habitavit in nobis, hoc est, in carue habitavit humana.

115: Compare note on page 72.

116: "In the Eastern church till nearly the end of the fourth century we find,
as has been said, the divine celebration of Christ's nativity and baptism on
January 6th. The date of the severance of the two can be approximately fixed,
for Chrysostom refers to it as a matter of merely a few years' standing, in a
sermon probably delivered on the Christmas day of 386 a.d. How far back we are
to refer the origin of this two-fold festival it is not easy to determine, the
earliest mention of any kind being the allusion by Clement of Alexandria to the
annual commemoration of Christ's baptism by the Basilidians (Stromata, lib. i.
c. 21). At any rate by the latter part of the fourth century the Epiphany had
become one of the most important and venerable festivals in the Eastern church."

117: Chrys. Ed. Sav. II. p. 598.

118: Gal. iii. 13.

119: The modern reader will not omit to note the bearing of these patristic
interpretations of the scriptural statements that the word was "made" flesh and
that Christ was "made" a curse on later controversies concerning
Transubstantiation.

120: On the northern seaboard of Syria. Severianus was at one time Chrysostom's
commissary and afterwards his determined opponent.

121: The value of Chrysostom and Severianus as independent witnesses is somewhat
weakened by the fact, pointed out by Schulze, that among the writings of the
former some are attributed to the latter.

122: The Apost. Const. vii. 46. represent Ignatius as ordained by St. Paul.
Malalas describes St. Peter as ordaining Ignatius on the death of Euodius. Vide
article "Euodius" in Dict. Christ. Biog.

123: Bp. Lightfoot ( Ap. Fathers pt. II. ii. 290 .) adopts the reacting kata
qelhma kai dunamin for kata qeothta , and notes "Theodoret strangely substitutes
qeothta for qelhma . This reading ...may be due to ...ignorance of the absolute
use of qelhma . The Armenian translator likewise has substituted another word.

124: Matt. iii. 15.

125: Ig. ad Smyrn. I.

126: There is a play here on the sapkoforoj, nekroforoj , and, possibly,
qeoforoj . Vide Pearson and Lightfoot ad loc. (Ignat. ad Smyrn. V.)

127: "A saying to this effect is attributed to Our Lord by Didymus on Ps:
lxxxviii 8. It is mentioned also by Origen Hom. XX. In Jerem: Sec. III." Bp.
Lightfoot l. c.

128: Ignat. ad Smyrn. IV.

129: Compare note on page 72.

130: Bp. Lightfoot adopts the reading of Cod. Med. "that by his passion he might
cleanse the water." Ig. ad Eph. XVIII.

131: Ig. ad Eph. XX.

132: Ignat. ad Eph. VII.

133: Ig. ad Trall. ix.

134: Luke ii. 4.

135: Ps. cxxxii. 11.

136: Is. vii. 13.

137: Cont. Haer. iii. 31.

138: John iv. 6.

139: Ps. lxix. 26. A. V. They talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
lxx. R. V. They tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded.

140: John xi. 35.

141: Luke xxii. 44.

142: Mat. xxvi. 28.

143: John xix. 34.

144: Cont. Haer. iii. 32.

145: Rom. v. 19.

146: Cont. Haer. iii. 20.

147: Ps. lxxxii. 67.

148: Cont. Haer. iii. 21.

149: Vide note on page 72.

150: Adv. Haer. iii. 26. The allusion is to the gnostics and mainly to
Valentinus and his school who imagined seven heavens, and a supercelestial space
termed "Ogdoad." "The doctrine of an Ogdoad of the commencement of finite
existence having been established by Valentinus, those of his followers who had
been imbued with the Pythagorean philosophy introduced a modification. In that
phiiosophy the tetrad was regarded with peculiar veneration, and held to be the
foundation of the sensible world." Cf. Hippolytus Ref. vi. 23, p. 179 "We read
there (Iren. i. xi.) of Secundus as a Valentinian who divided the Ogdoad into a
right hand and a left hand tetrad, and in the case of Marcus who largely uses
Pythagorean speculations about numbers the tetrad holds the highest place in the
system." Dr. Salmon, Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 72. Irenaeus wrote a work, no
longer extant, "on the Ogdoad." Euseb. H. E. v. 20.

151: Ps. xxxviii. 5.

152: Vide Isaiah xix. 1.

153: Bishop first of Olympus and then of Patara at the beginning of the 4th c.
This is the only fragment preserved by Theodoret.

154: Acts vii. 57.

155: Prov. viii. 22. Sept.

156: John ii. 19.

157: John xv. 5and John xv. 1.

158: Ps. xii. 22.

159: John i. 1.

160: John i. 14.

161: Gen. xlix. 11, lxx.

162: John i. 1.

163: John i. 14.

164: Rev. 1. 9.

165: Ps. xxi. 12.

166: Ps. lxxxviii. 4. Ps. lxxxviii. 5.

167: Isaiah ii. 13.

168: The antithesis is between the Greek words qesij and fusij . cf. "
Krinotelhn Pindarou, qesei de Filocenou ." Corp. Ins. (add.) 2480. d.

169: Luke iii. 38.

170: Ps. lx. 8.

171: Gal. iv. 4.

172: I. Cor. xi. 12.

173: I. Cor. xv. 47.

174: I. Cor. xv. 48.

175: John iii. 13.

176: John i. 3.

177: Ephes. iii. 17.

178: The original for arpasaj , "seizing" has agiasaj i.e. hallowing.

179: The word used is prwtopaqein , a late and rare one. Galen uses the
correlative prwtopaqeia to express a condition distinguished from sumpaqeia .

180: Phil. ii. 7.

181: John v. 19.

182: Matt. xxvi. 41.

183: Luke i. 35.

184: Prov. ix. 1.

185: Prov. viii. 22; lxx. " ektioe ."

186: oikonmia . cf. note on p. 72.

187: Phil. ii. 6. Phil. ii. 7.

188: Deut. x. 17; Rev. xvii. 14. and Rev. xix. 16.

189: Is. lxi. 1.

190: Of these two works no fragments exist but these two preserved by
Theodoretus.

191: John xiv. 28.

192: John v. 19.

193: oikonouia . cf. note on p. 72.

194: cf. I. Cor. xv. 47.

195: Migne II. 356.

196: e.g. Anubis, the barket Anubis - cf. Virg. Aen. viii. 698, and the common
oath "by the dog," unless indeed the common adjuration of Socrates nh ton kuna
may have been only a vernacular substitute for nh ton Dia , like the vulgar
"law" for "Lord." The Benedictine Ed. adds "cats."

197: cf. Ephes. v. 12.

198: skeuoj . cf. 2 Cor. iv. 7. 1 Thess. iv. 4. 1 Peter iii. 7. Cicero. Tusc. 1.
22 calls the body "vas animi."

199: cf. p. 132.

200: sarkwsij kenwsij . cf. Phil. ii. 7.

201: Matt. x. 24.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 6: DIALOGUES - DIALOGUE 2
========================================================================

Dialogue II.-The Unconfounded.

Dialogue II.-The Unconfounded.

Eranistes and Orthodoxus.

Eran.-I am come as I promised. 'Tis yours to adopt one of two alternatives, and
either furnish a solution of my difficulties, or assent to what I and my friends
lay down.

Orth.-I accept your challenge, for I think it right and fair. But we must first
recall to mind at what point we left off our discourse yesterday, and what was
the conclusion of our argument.

Eran.-I will remind you of the end. I remember our agreeing that the divine Word
remained immutable, and took flesh, and was not himself changed into flesh.

Orth.-You seem to be content with the points agreed on, for you have faithfully
called them to mind.

Eran.-Yes, and I have already said that the man that withstands teachers so many
and so great is indubitably out of his mind. I was moreover put to not a little
shame to find that Apollinarius used the same terms as the orthodox, although in
his books about the incarnation his drift has distinctly been in another
direction.

Orth.-Then we affirm that the Divine Word took flesh?

Eran.-We do.

Orth.-And what do we mean by the flesh? A body only, as is the view of Arius and
Eunomius, or body and soul?

Eran.-Body and soul.

Orth.-What kind of soul? The reasonable soul, or that which is by some termed
the phytic, vegetable,1 that is, vital? for the fable-mongering quackery of the
Apollinarians compels us to ask unseemly questions.

Eran.-Does then Apollinarius make a distinction of souls?2

Orth.-He says that man is composed of three parts, of a body, a vital soul, and
further of a reasonable soul, which he terms mind. Holy Scripture on the
contrary knows only one, not two souls; and this is plainly taught us by the
formation of the first man. For it is written God took dust from the earth and
"formed man," and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became
a living soul."3 And in the gospels the Lord said to the holy disciples "Fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."4 And the very divine
Moses when he told the tale of them that came down into Egypt and stated with
whom each tribal chief had come in, added, "All the souls that came out of Egypt
were seventy-five,"5 reckoning one soul for each immigrant. And the divine
apostle at Troas, when all supposed Eutychus to be dead, said "Trouble not
yourselves for his soul is in him."6 Eran.-It is shewn clearly that each man has
one soul.

Orth.-But Apollinarius says two; and that the Divine Word took the unreasonable,
and that instead of the reasonable, he was made in the flesh. It was on this
account that I asked what kind of soul you assert to have been assumed with the
body.

Eran.-I say the reasonable. For I follow the Divine Scripture.

Orth.-We agree then that the "form of a servant" assumed by the Divine Word was
complete.

Eran.-Yes; complete.

Orth.-And rightly; for since the whole first man became subject to sin, and lost
the impression of the Divine Image,7 and the race followed, it results that the
Creator, with the intention of renewing the blurred image, assumed the nature in
its entirety, and stamped an imprint far better than the first.

Eran.-True. But now I beg you in the first place that the meaning of the terms
employed may be made quite clear, that thus our discussion may advance without
hindrance, and no investigation of doubtful points intervene to interrupt our
conversation.

Orth.-What you say is admirable. Ask now concerning whatever point yon like.

Eran.-What must we call Jesus the Christ? Man?

Orth.-By neither name alone, but by both. For the Divine Man after being made
man was named Jesus Christ. "For," it is written, "Thou shalt call His name
Jesus for he shall save His people from their sins,"8 and unto you is born this
day in the city of David Christ the Lord.9 Now these are angels' voices. But
before the Incarnation he was named God, son of God, only begotten, Lord, Divine
Word, and Creator. For it is written "In the beginning was the Word, and the
word was with God, and the word was God,"10 and "all things were made by Him,"11
and "He was life,"12 and "He was the true light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world." There are also other similar passages, declaring the
divine nature. But after the Incarnation He was named Jesus and Christ.

Eran.-Therefore the Lord Jesus is God only.

Orth.-You hear that the divine Word was made man, and do you call him God only?

Eran.-Since He became mall without being changed, but remained just what He was
before, we must call Him just what He was.

Orth.-The divine Word was and is and will be immutable. But when He had taken
man's nature He became man. It behoves us therefore to confess both natures,
both that which took, and that which was taken.

Eran.-We must name Him by the nobler.

Orth-Man,-I mean man the animal,-is he a simple or a composite being?

Eran.-Composite.

Orth.-Composed of what component parts?

Eran.-Of a body and a soul.

Orth.-And of these natures whether is nobler?

Eran.-Clearly the soul, for it is reasonable and immortal, and has been
entrusted with the sovereignty of the animal. But the body is mortal and
perishable, and without the soul is unreasonable, and a corpse.

Orth.-Then the divine Scripture ought to have called the animal after its more
excellent part.

Eran.-It does so call it, for it calls them that came out of Egypt souls. For
with seventy-five souls, it says, Israel came down into Egypt.

Orth.-But does the divine Scripture never call any one after the body?

Eran.-It calls them that are the slaves of flesh, flesh. For "God," it is
written, "said my spirit shall not always remain in these men, for they are
flesh."13 Orth.-But without blameno one is called flesh?

Eran.-I do not remember.

Orth.-Then I will remind you, and point out to you that even the very saints are
called "flesh." Answer now. What would you call the apostles? Spiritual, or
fleshly?

Eran.-Spiritual;-and leaders and teachers of the spiritual.

Orth.-Hear now the holy Paul when he says "But when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me
that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood neither went I up to them that were apostles before me."14 Does
he so style the apostles because he blames them?

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-Is it not that he names them after their visible nature, and comparing the
calling which is of men with that which is of heaven?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Then hear too the psalmist David-"Unto thee shall all flesh come."15 Hear
too, the prophet Isaiah foretelling "All flesh shall see the salvation of our
God."16 Eran.-It is made perfectly plain that Holy Scripture names human nature
fromthe flesh without the least blame.

Orth.-I will proceed to give you the yet further proof.

Eran.-What further?

Orth.-The fact that sometimes when giving blame the divine Scripture uses only
the name of soul.

Eran.-And where will you find this in holy Scripture?

Orth.-Hear the Lord God speaking through the prophet Ezekiel "The sold that
sinneth it shall die."17 Moreover through the great Moses He saith "If a soul
sin-"18 And again "It shall come to pass that every soul that will not hear that
prophet shall be cut off."19 And many other passages of the same kind may be
found.

Eran.-This is plainly proved.

Orth.-In cases, then, where there is a certain natural union, and a combination
of created things, and of beings connected by service and by time, it is not the
custom of holy Scripture to use a name for this being derived only from the
nobler nature; it names it indiscriminately both by the meaner and by the
nobler. If so, how can you find fault with us for calling Christ the Lord,man,
after confessing Him to be God, when many things combine to compel us to do so?

Eran.-What is there to compel us to call the Saviour Christ, "man"?

Orth.-The diverse and mutually inconsistent opinions of the heretics.

Eran.-What opinions, and contrary to what?

Orth.-That of Arius to that of Sabellius. The one divides the substances: the
other confounds the hypostases. Arius introduces three substances, and Sabellius
makes one hypostasis instead of three.20 Tell me now, how ought we to heal both
maladies? Must we apply the same drug for both ailments, or for each the proper
one?

Eran.-For each the proper one.

Orth.-We shall therefore endeavour to persuade Arius to acknowledge the
substance of the Holy Trinity, and we shall adduce proofs of this position from
Holy Scripture.

Eran.-Yes: this ought to be done.

Orth.-But in arguing with Sabellius we shall adopt the opposite course.
Concerning the substance we shall advance no argument, for even he acknowledges
but one.

Eran.-Plainly.

Orth.-But we shall do our best to cure the unsound part of his doctrine.

Eran.-We say that where he halts is about the hypostases.

Orth.-Since then he asserts there to be one hypostasis of the Trinity, we shall
point out to him that the divine Scripture proclaims three hypostases.

Eran.-This is the course to take. But we have wandered from the subject.

Orth.-Not at all. We are collecting proofs of it, as you will learn in a moment.
But tell me, do you understand that all the heresies which derive their name
from Christ, acknowledge both the Godhead of Christ and His manhood?

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-Do not some acknowledge the godhead alone, and somethemanhood alone?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And some but a part of the manhood?

Eran.-I think so. But it will be well for us to lay down the names of the
holders of these different opinions, that the point under discussion may be made
plainer.

Orth.-I will tell you the names. Simon, Menander, Marcion, Valentinus,
Basilides, Bardesanes, Cerdo, and Manes, openly denied the humanity of Christ.
On the other hand Artemon, Theodotus, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Marcellus,
and Photinus, fell into the diametrically opposite blasphemy; for they preach
Christ to be man only, and deny the Godhead which existed before the ages. Arius
and Eunomius make the Godhead of the only begotten a created Godhead, and
maintain that He assumed only a body. Apollinarius confesses that the assumed
body was a living21 body, but in his work deprives the reasonable soul alike of
its honour and of its salvation. This is the contrariety of these corrupt
opinions. But do you, with all due love of truth, tell us, must we institute a
discussion with these men, or shall we let them go dashed down headlong and
howling to their doom?

Eran.-It is inhuman to neglect the sick.

Orth.-Very well; then we must compassionate them, and do our best to heal them.

Eran.-By all means.

Orth.-If then you had scientifically learned how to cure the body, and round you
stood many men asking you to cure them, and shewing their various ailments, such
as arise from running at tile eyes, injury to the ears, tooth-ache, contraction
of tile joints, palsy, bile, or phlegm, what would you have done? Tell me; would
you have applied the same treatment to all, or to each that which was
appropriate?

Eran.-I should certainly have given to each the appropriate remedy.

Orth.-So by applying cold treatment to the hot, and heating the cold, and
loosing the strained, and giving tension to tim loose, and drying the moist, and
moistening the dry, you would have driven out the diseases and restored the
health which they had expelled.

Eran.-This is the treatment prescribed by medical science, for contraries, it is
said, are the remedies of contraries.

Orth.-If you were a gardener, would yon give the same treatment to all plants?
or their own to the mulberry and the fig, and so to the pear, to the apple, and
to the vine what is fitting to each, and in a word to each plant its own proper
culture?

Eran.-It is obvious that each plant requires its own treatment.

Orth.-And if you undertook to be a ship builder, and saw that the mast wanted
repair, would you try to mend it in the same way as you would the tiller? or
would you give it the proper treatment of a mast?

Eran.-There is no question about these things: everything demands its own
treatment, be it plant or limb or gear or tackle.

Orth.-Then is it not monstrous to apply to the body and to things without life
to each its own appropriate treatment, and not to keep this rule of treatment in
the case of the soul?

Eran.-Most unjust; nay, rather stupid than unrighteous. They who adopt any other
method are quite unskilled in the healing art.

Orth.-Then in disputing against each heresy we shall use the appropriate remedy?

Eran.-By all means.

Orth.-And it is fitting treatment to add what is wanting and to remove what
issuperfluous?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-In endeavouring then to cure Photinus and Marcellus and their adherents,
in order to carry out the rule of treatment, what should we add?

Eran.-The acknowledgment of the Godhead of Christ, for it is this that they
lack.

Orth.-But about the manhood we will say nothing to them, for they acknowledge
the Lord Christ to be man.

Eran.-You are right.

Orth.-And in arguing with Arius and Eunomius about the incarnation of the only
begotten, what should we persuade them to add to their own confession?

Eran.-The assumption of the soul; for they say that the divine Word took only a
body.

Orth.-And what does Apollinarius lack to make his teaching accurate about the
incarnation?

Eran.-Not to separate the mind from the soul, but to confess that, with the
body, was assumed a reasonable soul.

Orth.-Then shall we dispute with him on this point?

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-But under this head what did we assert to be confessed, and what
altogether denied, by Marcion, Valentinus, Manes and their adherents?

Eran.-That they admitted their belief in the Godhead of Christ, but do not
accept the doctrine of His manhood.

Orth.-We shall therefore do our best to persuade them to accept also the
doctrine of the manhood, and not to call the divine incarnation22 a mere
appearance.

Eran.-It will be well so to do.

Orth.-We will therefore tell them that it is right to style the Christ not only
God, but also man.

Eran.-By all means.

Orth.-And how is it possible for us to induce others to style the Christ `man'
while we excuse ourselves from doing so? They will not yield to our persuasion,
but on the contrary will convict us of agreeing with them.

Eran.-And how can we, confessing as we do that the divine Word took flesh and a
reasonable soul, agree with them?

Orth.-If we confess the fact, why then shun the word?

Eran.-It is right to name the Christ from His nobler qualities.

Orth.-Keep this rule then. Do not speak of Him as crucified, nor yet as risen
from the dead, and so on.

Eran.-But these are the names of the sufferings of salvation. Denial of the
sufferings implies denial of the salvation.

Orth.-And the name Man is the name of a nature. Not to pronounce the name is to
deny the nature: denial of the nature is denial of the sufferings, and denial of
the sufferings does away with the salvation.

Eran.-I hold it profitable to acknowledge the assumed nature; but to style the
Saviour of the world man is to belittle the glory of the Lord.

Orth.-Do you then deem yourself wiser than Peter and Paul; aye, and than the
Saviour Himself? For the Lord said to the Jews "Why do ye seek to kill me, a man
that hath told you the truth, which I heard of my Father?"23 And He frequently
called Himself Son of Man. And the meritorious Peter, in his sermon to the
Jewish people, says,-"Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a
man approved of God among you."24 And the blessed Paul, when bringing the
message of salvation to the chiefs of the Areopagus, among many other things
said this,-

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men
everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."25 He
then who excuses himself from using the name appointed and preached by the Lord
and his Apostles deems himself wiser than even these great instructors, aye,
even than the very well-spring of the wisest.

Eran.-They gave this instruction to the unbelievers. Now the greater part of the
world26 has professed the faith.

Orth.-But we have still among us Jews and pagans and of heretics systems
innumerable, and to each of these we must give fit and appropriate teaching.
But, supposing we were all of one mind, tell me now, what harm is there in
calling the Christ both God and man? Do we not behold in Him perfect Godhead,
and manhood likewise lacking in nothing?

Eran.-This we have owned again and again.

Orth.-Why then deny what we have again and again owned?

Eran.-I hold it unnecessary to call the Christ `man,'-especially when believer
is conversing with believer.

Orth.-Do you consider the divine Apostle a believer?

Eran.-Yes: a teacher of all believers.

Orth.-And do youdeem Timothy worthy of being so styled?

Eran.-Yes: both as a disciple of the Apostle, and as a teacher of the rest.

Orth.-Very well: then hear the teacher of teachers writing to his very perfect
disciple. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all."27 Do stop your idle prating,
and laying down the law about divine names. Moreover in this passage that very
name `mediator' stands indicative both of Godhead and of manhood. He is called a
mediator because He does not exist as God alone; for how, if He had had nothing
of our nature could He have mediated between us and God? But since as God He is
joined with God as having the same substance, and as man with us, because from
us He took the form of a servant, He is properly termed a mediator, uniting in
Himself distinct qualities by the unity of natures of Godhead, I mean, and of
manhood.28 Eran.-But was not Moses called a mediator, though only a man?29

Orth.-He was a type of the reality: but the type has not all the qualities of
the reality. Wherefore though Moses was not by nature God, yet, to fulfil the
type, he was called a god. For He says "See, I have made thee a god to
Pharaoh."30 And then directly afterwards he assigns him also a Prophet as though
to God, for "Aaron thy brother," He says, "shall be thy Prophet."31 But the
reality is by nature God, and by nature man.

Eran.-But who would call one not having the distinct characteristics of the
archetype, a type?

Orth.-The imperial images, it seems, you do not call images of the emperor
Eran.-Yes, I do.

Orth.-Yet they have not all the characteristics which their archetype has. For
in the first place they have neither life nor reason: secondly they have no
inner organs, heart, I mean, and belly and liver and the adjacent parts. Further
they present the appearance of the organs of sense, but perform none of their
functions, for they neither hear, nor speak, nor see; they cannot write; they
cannot walk, nor perform any other human action; and yet they are called
imperial statues. In this sense Moses was a mediator and Christ was a mediator;
but the former as an image and type and the latter as reality. But that I may
make this point clearer to you from yet another authority, call to mind the
words used of Melchisedec in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Eran.-What words?

Orth.-Those in which the divine Apostle comparing the Levitical priesthood with
that of the Christ likens Melchisedec in other respects to the Lord Christ, and
says that the Lord had the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec.32

Eran.-I think the words of the divine Apostle are as follows;-"For this
Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God who met Abraham
returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; to whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation king of righteousness,
and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace; without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of
life; but made like unto the son of God; abideth a priest continually."33 I
presume you spoke of this passage.

Orth.-Yes, I spoke of this; and I must praise you for not mutilating it, but for
quoting the whole. Tell me now, does each one of these points fit Melchisedec in
nature and reality?

Eran.-Who has the audacity to deny a fitness where the divine apostle has
asserted it?

Orth.-Then you say that all this fits Melchisedec by nature?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-Do you say that he was a man, or assumed some other nature?

Eran.-A man.

Orth.-Begotten or unbegotten?

Eran.-You are asking very absurd questions.

Orth.-The fault lies with you for openly opposing the truth. Answer then.

Eran.-There is one only unbegotten, who is God and Father.

Orth.-Then we assert that Melchisedec was begotten?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-But the passage about him teaches the opposite. Remember the words which
you quoted a moment ago, "Without father without mother, without descent, having
neither beginning of days nor end of life." How then do the words "Without
father and without mother" fit him; and how the statement that he neither
received beginning of existence nor end, since all this transcends humanity?

Eran.-These things do in fact overstep the limits of human nature.

Orth.-Then shall we say that the Apostle told lies?

Eran.-God forbid.

Orth.-How then is it possible both to testify to the truth of the Apostle, and
apply the supernatural to Melchisedec?

Eran.-The passage is a very difficult one, and requires much explanation.

Orth.-For any one willing to consider it with attention it will not be hard to
attain perception of the meaning of the words. After saying "without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life," the divine Apostle adds "made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest
continually."34 Here he plainly teaches us that the Lord Christ is archetype of
Melchisedec in things concerningthe human nature. And he speaks of Melchisedec
as "made like unto the Son of God." Now let us examine the point in this
manner;-do you say that the Lord had a father according to the flesh?

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-Why?

Eran.-He was born of the holy Virgin alone.

Orth.-He is therefore properly styled "without father"?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Do you say that according to the divine Nature He had a mother?35
Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-For He was begotten of the Father alone before the ages?

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-And yet, as the generation He has of the Father is ineffable, He is spoken
of as "without descent." "Who" says the prophet "shall declare His
generation?"36 Eran.-You are right.

Orth.-Thus it becomes Him to have neither beginning of days nor end of life; for
He is without beginning, indestructible, and, in a word, eternal, and coeternal
with the Father.

Eran.-This is my view too. But we must now consider how this fits the admirable
Melchisedec.

Orth.-As an image and type. The image, as we have just observed, has not all the
properties of the archetype. Thus to the Saviour these qualities are proper both
by nature and in reality; but the story of the origin of the race has attributed
them to Melchisedec. For after telling us of the father of the patriarch
Abraham, and of the father and mother of Isaac, and in like manner of Jacob and
of his sons, and exhibiting the pedigree of our first forefathers, of
Melchisedec it records neither the father nor the mother, nor does it teach that
he traced his descent from any one of Noah's sons, to the end that he may be a
type of Him who is in reality without father, and without mother. And this is
what the divine Apostle would have us understand, for in this very passage he
says further, "But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of
Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises."37 Eran.-Then, since Holy
Scripture has not mentioned his parents, can he be called without father and
without mother?

Orth.-If he had really been without father and without mother, he would not have
been an image, but a reality. But since these are his qualities not by nature,
but according to the dispensation of the Divine Scripture, he exhibits the type
of the reality.

Eran.-The type must have the character of the archetype.

Orth.-Is man called an image of God?

Eran.-Man is not an image of God, but was made in the image of God.38

Orth.-Listen then to the Apostle. He says: "For a man indeed ought not to cover
his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God."39 Eran.-Granted, then,
that he is an image of God.

Orth.-According to your argument then he must needs have plainly preserved the
characters of the archetype, and have been uncreate, uncompounded, and infinite.
He ought in like manner to have been able to create out of the non existent, he
ought to have fashioned all things by his word and without labour, in addition
to this to have been free from sickness, sorrow, anger, and sin, to have been
immortal and incorruptible and to possess all the qualities of the archetype.

Eran.-Man is not an image of God in every respect.

Orth.-Though truly an image in the qualities in which you would grant him to be
so, you will find that he is separated by awide interval from the reality.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Consider now too this point. The divine Apostle calls the Son the image of
the Father; for he says "Who is the image of the invisible God?"40 Eran.-What
then; has not the Son all the qualities of the Father?

Orth.-He is not Father. He is not uncaused. He is not unbegotten.

Eran.-If He were He would not be Son.

Orth.-Then does not what I said hold good; the image has not all the qualities
of the archetype?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Thus too the divine Apostle said that Melchisedec is made like unto the
Son of God.41

Eran.-Suppose we grant that he is without Father and without Mother and without
descent, as you have said. But how are we to understand his having neither
beginning of days nor end of life?

Orth.-The holy Moses when writing the ancient genealogy tells us how Adam being
so many years old begat Seth,42 and when he had lived so many years he ended his
life.43 So too he writes of Seth, of Enoch, and of the rest, but of Melchisedec
he mentions neither beginning of existence nor end of life. Thus as far as the
story goes he has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but in truth and
reality the only begotten Son of God never began to exist and shall never have
an end.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Then, so far as what belongs to God and is really divine is concerned,
Melchisedec is a type of the Lord Christ; but as far as the priesthood is
concerned, which belongs rather to man than to God, the Lord Christ was made a
priest after the order of Melchisedec.44 For Melchisedec was a high priest of
the people, and the Lord Christ for all men has made the right holy offering of
salvation.

Eran.-We have spent many words on this matter.

Orth.-Yet more were needed, as you know, for you said the point was a difficult
one.

Eran.-Let us return to the question before us.

Orth.-What was the question?

Eran.-On my remarking that Christ must not be called man, but only God, you
yourself besides many other testimonies adduced also the well known words of the
Apostle which he has used in his epistle Timothy-"One God, one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be
testified in due time."45

Orth.-I remember from what point we diverged into this digression. It was when I
had said that the name of mediator exhibits the two natures of the Saviour, and
you said that Moses was called a mediator though he was only a man and not God
and man. was therefore under the necessity of following up these points to show
that the type has not all the qualities of the archetype. Tell me, then, whether
you allow that the Saviour ought also to be called man.

Eran.-I call Him God, for He is God's Son.

Orth.-If you call him God, because you have learnt that he is God's Son, call
him also man, for he often called Himself "Son of Man."

Eran.-The name man does not apply to Him in the same way as the name God.

Orth.-As not really belonging to Him or for some other reason?

Eran.-God is his name by nature; man is the designation of the Incarnation.46
Orth.-But are we to look on the Incarnation as real, or as something imaginary
and false?

Eran.-As real.

Orth.-If then the grace of the Incarnation is real, and what we call Incarnation
is the divine Word's being made man, then the name man is real; for after taking
man's nature He is called man.

Eran.-Before His passion He was styled man, but afterward He was no longer so
styled.

Orth.-But it was after the Passion and the Resurrection that the divine Apostle
wrote the Epistle to Timothy wherein he speaks of the Saviour Christ as man,47
and writing after the Passion and the Resurrection to the Corinthians he
exclaims "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead."48 And in order to make his meaning clear he adds, "For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."49 And after the Passion and the
Resurrection the divine Peter, in his address to the Jews, called Him man.50 And
after His being taken up into heaven, Stephen the victorious, amid the storm of
stones, said to the Jews, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God."51 Are we to suppose ourselves wiser than the
illustrious heralds of the truth?

Eran.-I do not suppose thyself wiser than the holy doctors, but I fail to find
the use of the name.

Orth.-How then could you persuade them that deny the incarnation of the Lord,
Marcionists, I mean, and Manichees, and all the rest who are thus unsound, to
accept the teaching of the truth, unless you adduce these and similar proofs
with the object of shewing that the Lord Christ is not God only but also man?

Eran.-Perhaps it is necessary to adduce them.

Orth.-Why not then teach the faithful the reality of the doctrine? Are you
forgetful of the apostolic precept enjoining us to be "ready to give an
answer."52 Now let us look at the matter in this light. Does the best general
engage the enemy, attack with arrows and javelins, and endeavour to break their
column all alone, or does he also arm his men, and marshal them, and rouse their
hearts to play the man?

Eran.-He ought rather to do this latter.

Orth.-Yes; for it is not the part of a general to expose his own life, and take
his place in the ranks, and let his men go fast asleep, but rather to keep them
awake for their work at their post.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-This is what the divine Paul did, for in writing to them who had made
profession of their faith he said, "Take unto you the whole armour of God that
ye be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.53 And again, "Stand
therefore with your loins girt about with truth,"54 and so on. Bear in mind too
what we have already said, that a physician supplies what nature lacks. Does he
find the cold redundant? He supplies the hot, and so on with the rest; and this
is what the Lord does.

Eran.-And where will you show that the Lord has done this?

Orth.-In the holy gospels.

Eran.-Show me then and fulfil your promise.

Orth.-What did the Jews consider our Saviour Christ?

Eran.-A man.

Orth.-And that He was also God they were wholly ignorant.

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-Was it not then necessary for the ignorant to learn?

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Listen to Him then saying to them: "Many good works have I shewed you from
my Father; for which of these works do ye stone me?"55 And when they replied:
"For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou
being a man makest thyself God,"56 He added "It is written in your law I said ye
are gods. If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came and the
scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and
sent into the world thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God? If I
do not the works of my father believe me not ...that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me."57 Eran.-In the passages you have just read you bare shewn that
the Lord shewed Himself to the Jews to be God and not man.

Orth.-Yes, for they did not need to learn what they knew; that He was a man they
knew, but they did not know that He was from the beginning God. He adopted this
same course in the case of the Pharisees; for when He saw them accosting Him as
a mere man He asked them "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?"58 And when
they said "Of David" He went on "How then doth David calling him Lord say `The
Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand.'"59 Then He goes on to argue,
"If then He is His Lord how is He His Son?"

Eran.-You have brought testimony against yourself, for the Lord plainly taught
the Pharisees to call Him not "Son of David" but "Lord of David." Wherefore He
is distinctly shown wishing to be called God and not man.

Orth.-I am afraid you have not attended to the divine teaching. He did not
repudiate the name of "Son of David," but He added that He ought also to be
believed to be Lord of David. This He clearly shews in the words "If He is his
Lord how is He then his Son?" He did not say "if He is Lord He is not Son," but
"how is He his Son?" instead of saying in one respect He is Lord and in another
Son. These passages both distinctly show the Godhead and the manhood.

Eran.-There is no need of argument. The Lord distinctly teaches that He does not
wish to be called Son of David.

Orth.-Then He ought to have told the blind men and the woman of Canaan and the
multitude not to call Him Son of David, and yet the blind men cried out "Thou
Son of David have mercy on us."60 And the woman of Canaan "Have mercy on me O
Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a Devil."61 And the
multitude: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name
of the Lord."62 And not only did He not take it ill, but even praised their
faith; for the blind He freed from their long weary night and granted them the
power of sight; the maddened and distraught daughter of the woman of Canaan He
healed and drove out the wicked demon; and when the chief priests and Pharisees
were offended at them that shouted "Hosanna to the Son of David" He did not
merely not prevent them from shouting, but even sanctioned their acclamation,
for, said He, "I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would
immediately cry out."63

Eran.-He put up with this style of address before the resurrection in
condescension to the weakness of them that had not yet properly believed. But
after the resurrection these names are needless.

Orth.-Where shall we rank the blessed Paul? among the perfect or the imperfect?

Eran.-It is wrong to joke about serious things.

Orth.-It is wrong to make light of the reading of the divine oracles.

Eran.-And who is such a wretch as to despise his own salvation?

Orth.-Answer my question, and thenyou will learn your ignorance.

Eran.-What question?

Orth.-Where are we to rank the divine Apostle?

Eran.-Plainly among the most perfect, and one of the perfect teachers.

Orth.-And when did he begin his teaching?

Eran.-After the ascension of the Saviour, the coming of the Spirit, and the
stoning of the victorious Stephen.

Orth.-Paul, at the very end of his life, when writing his last letter to his
disciple Timothy, and in giving him, as it were, his paternal inheritance by
will, added "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the
dead according to my gospel."64 Then he went on to mention his sufferings on
behalf of the gospel, and thus showed its truth saying, "Wherein I suffer
trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds."65 It were easy for me to adduce many
similar testimonies, but I have judged it needless to do so.

Eran.-You promised to prove that the Lord supplied the lacking instruction to
them that needed, and you have shown that He discoursed about His own Godhead to
the Pharisees, and to the rest of the Jews. But that He gave also His
instruction about the flesh you have not shewn.

Orth.-It would have been quite superfluous to have discoursed about the flesh
which was before their eyes, for He was plainly seen eating and drinking and
toiling and sleeping. Furthermore, to omit the many and various events before
the passion, after His resurrection He proved to His disbelieving disciples not
His Godhead but His manhood; for He said, "Behold my hands and my feet that it
is I myself. Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see
me have."66

Now I have fulfilled my promise, for we have proved the giving of instruction
about the Godhead to them that were ignorant of the Godhead, and about the
resurrection of the flesh to them that denied this latter. Cease therefore from
contending, and confess the two natures of the Saviour.

Eran.-There were two before the union, but, after combining, they made one
nature.

Orth.-When do you say that the union was effected?

Eran.-I say at the exact moment of the conception.

Orth.-And do you deny that the divine Word existed before the conception?

Eran.-I say that He was before the ages.

Orth.-And that the flesh was co-existent with Him?

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-But was formed, after the salutation of the angel, of the Holy Ghost?

Eran.-So I say.

Orth.-Therefore before the union there were not two natures but only one. For if
the Godhead pre-existed, but the manhood was not coexistent, being formed after
the angelic salutation, and the union being coincident with the formation, then
before the union there was one nature, that which exists always and existed
before the ages. Now let us again consider this point. Do you understand the
making of flesh or becoming man to be anything other than the union?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-For when He took flesh He was made flesh.

Eran.-Plainly.

Orth.-And the union coincides with the taking flesh.

Eran.-So I say.

Orth.-So before the making man there was one nature. For if both union and
making man are identical, and He was made man by taking man's nature, and the
form of God took the form of a servant, then before the union the divine nature
was one.

Eran.-And how are the union and the making man identical?

Orth.-A moment ago you confessed that there is no distinction between these
terms.

Eran.-You led me astray by your arguments.

Orth.-Then, if you like, let us go over the same ground again.

Eran.-We had better so do.

Orth.-Is there a distinction between the incarnation and the union, according to
the nature of the transaction?

Eran.-Certainly; a very great distinction.

Orth.-Explain fully the character of this distinction.

Eran.-Even the sense of the terms shows the distinction, for the word
"incarnation" shows the taking of the flesh, while the word "union" indicates
the combination of distinct things.

Orth.-Do yon represent the incarnation to be anterior to the union?

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-You say that the union took place in the conception?

Eran.-I do.

Orth.-Therefore if not even the least moment of time intervened between the
taking of flesh and the union, and the assumed nature did not precede the
assumption and the union, then incarnation and union signify one and the same
thing, and so before the union and incarnation there was one nature, while after
the incarnation we speak properly of two, of that which took and of that which
was taken.

Eran.-I say that Christ was of two natures, but I deny two natures.

Orth.-Explain to us then in what sense you understand the expression "of two
natures;" like gilded silver? like the composition of electron?67 like the
solder made of lead and tin?

Eran.-I deny that the union is like any of these; it is ineffable, and passes
all understanding.

Orth.-I too confess that the manner of the union cannot be comprehended. But I
have at all events been instructed by the divine Scripture that each nature
remains unimpaired after the union.

Eran.-And where is this taught in the divine Scripture?

Orth.-It is all full of this teaching.

Eran.-Give proof of what you assert.

Orth.-Do you not acknowledge the properties of each nature?

Eran.-No: not, that is, after the union.

Orth.-Let us then learn this very point from the divine Scripture.

Eran.-I am ready to obey the divine Scripture.

Orth.-When, then, yon hear the divine John exclaiming "In the beginning was the
word, and the word was with God, and the word was God"68 and "By Him all things
were made"69 and the rest of the parallel passages, do you affirm that the
flesh, or the divine Word, begotten before the ages of the Father, was in the
beginning with God, and was by nature God, and made all things?

Eran.-I say that these things belong to God the Word. But I do not separate Him
from the flesh made one with Him.

Orth.-Neither do we separate the flesh from God the Word, nor do we make the
union a confusion.

Eran.-I recognise one nature after the union.

Orth.-When did the Evangelists write the gospel? Was it before the union, or a
very long time after the union?

Eran.-Plainly after the union, the nativity, the miracles, the passion, the
resurrection, the taking up into heaven, and the coming of the Holy Ghost.

Orth.-Hear then John saying "In the beginning was the word, and the word was
with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made"70 and so on. Hear too
Matthew, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David,-Son of
Abraham,"-and so on.71 Luke too traced His genealogy to Abraham and David.72 Now
make the former and the latter quotation fit one nature. You will find it
impossible, for existence in the beginning, and descent from Abraham,-the making
of all things, and derivation from a created forefather, are inconsistent.

Eran.-By thus arguing you divide the only begotten son into two Persons.

Orth.-One Son of God I both know and adore, the Lord Jesus Christ; but I have
been taught the difference between His Godhead and his manhood. You, however,
who say that there is only one nature after the union, do you make this agree
with tIle introductions of the Evangelists.

Eran.-You appear to assume the proposition to be hard, nay impossible. Be it, I
beg, short and easy;-only solve our question.

Orth.-Both qualities are proper to the Lord Christ,-existence from the
beginning, and generation, according to the flesh, from Abraham and David.

Eran.-You laid down the law that after the union it is not right to speak of one
nature. Take heed lest in mentioning the flesh you transgress your own law.

Orth.-Even without mentioning the flesh it is quite easy to explain the point in
question, for 12 am applying both to the Saviour Christ.

Eran.-I too assert that both these qualities belong to the Lord Christ.

Orth.-Yes; but you do so in contemplation of two natures in Him, and applying to
each its own properties. But if the Christ is one nature, how is it possible to
attribute to it properties which are inconsistent with one another? For to have
derived origin from Abraham and David, and still more to have been born many
generations after David, is inconsistent with existence in the beginning. Again
to have sprung from created beings is inconsistent with being Creator of all
things; to have had human fathers with existence derived from God. In short the
new is inconsistent with the eternal.

Let us also look at the matter in this way. Do we say that the divine Word is
Creator of the Universe?

Eran.-So we have learnt to believe from the divine Scriptures.

Orth.-And how many days after the creation of heaven and earth are we told that
Adam was formed?

Eran.-On the sixth day.

Orth.-And from Adam to Abrahamhow many generations went by?

Eran.-I think twenty.

Orth.-And from Abraham to Christ our Saviour how many generations are reckoned
by the Evangelist Matthew.

Eran.-Forty-two.73

Orth.-If then the Lord Christ is one nature bow can He be Creator of all things
visible and invisible and, at the same time, after so many generations, have
been formed by the Holy Ghost in a virgin's womb? And how could He be at one and
the same time Creator of Adam and Son of Adam's descendants?

Eran.-I have already said that both these properties are appropriate to Him as
God made flesh, for I recognise one nature made flesh of the Word.

Orth.-Nor yet, my good sir, do we say that two natures of the divine Word were
made flesh, for we know that the nature of the divine Word is one, but we have
been taught that the flesh of which He availed Himself when He was incarnate is
of another nature, and here I think that you too agree with me. Tell me now;
after what manner do you say that the making flesh took place?

Eran.-I know not the manner, but I believe that He was made flesh.

Orth.-You make a pretext of your ignorance unfairly, and after the fashion of
the Pharisees. For they when they beheld the force of the Lord's enquiry, and
suspecting that they were on the point of conviction, uttered their reply "We do
not know."74 But I proclaim quite openly that the divine incarnation is without
change. For if by any variation or change He was made flesh, then after the
change all that is divine in His names and in His deeds is quite inappropriate
to Him.

Eran.-We have agreed again and again that God the Word is immutable.

Orth.-He was made flesh by taking flesh.

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-The nature of God the Word made flesh is different from that of the flesh,
by assumption of which the nature of the divine Word was made flesh and became
man.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Was He then changed into flesh?

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-If then He was made flesh, not by mutation, but by taking flesh, and both
the former and the latter qualities are appropriate to Him as to God made flesh,
as you said a moment ago, then the natures were not confounded, but remained
unimpaired. And as long as we hold thus we shall perceive too the harmony of the
Evangelists, for while the one proclaims the divine attributes of the one only
begotten-the Lord Christ-the other sets forth His human qualities. So too Christ
our Lord Himself teaches us, at one time calling Himself Son of God and at
another Son of man: at one time He gives honour to His Mother as to her that
gave Him birth;75 at another He rebukes her as her Lord.76 At one time He finds
no fault with them that style Him Son of David; at another He teaches the
ignorant that He is not only David's Son but also David's Lord.77 He calls
Nazareth and Capernaum His country,78 and again He exclaims "Before Abraham was
I am."79 You will find the divine Scripture full of similar passages, and they
all point not to one nature but to two.

Eran.-He who contemplates two natures in the Christ divides the one only
begotten into two sons.

Orth.-Yes; and he who says Paul is made up of soul and body makes two Pauls out
of one.

Eran.-The analogy does not hold good.

Orth.-I know it does not,80 for here the union is a natural union of parts that
are coaeval, created, and fellow slaves, but in the case of the Lord Christ all
is of good will, of love to man, and of grace. Here too, though the union is
natural, the proper qualities of the natures remain unimpaired.

Eran.-If the proper qualities of the natures remain distinct, how does the soul
together with the body crave for food?

Orth.-The soul does not crave for food. How could it when it is immortal? But
the body, which derives its vital force from the soul, feels its need, and
desires to receive what is lacking. So after toil it long, for rest, after
waking for sleep, and so with the rest of its desires. So forthwith after its
dissolution, since it has no longer its vital energy, it does not even crave for
what is lacking, and, ceasing to receive it, it undergoes corruption.

Eran.-You see that to thirst and to hunger and similar appetites belong to the
soul.

Orth.-Did these belong to the soul it would suffer hunger and thirst, and the
similar wants, even after its release from the body.

Eran.-What then do you say to be proper to the soul?81 Orth.-The reasonable, the
absolute, the immortal, the invisible.

Eran.-And what of the body?

Orth.-The complex, the visible, the mortal.

Eran.-And we say that man is composed of these?

Orth.-Yes.

Eran.-Then we define82 man as a mortal reasonable being.

Orth.-Agreed.

Eran.-And we give names to him from both these attributes.

Orth.-Yes.

Eran.-As then in this case we make no distinction, but call the same man both
reasonable and mortal, so also should we do in the case of the Christ, and apply
to Him both the divine and the human.

Orth.-This is our argument, although you do not accurately express it. For look
you. When we are pursuing the argument about the human soul, do we only mention
what is appropriate to its energy and nature?

Eran.-This only.

Orth.-And when our discussion is about the body, do we not only recall what is
appropriate to it?

Eran.-Quite so.

Orth.-But, when our discourse touches the whole being, then we have no
difficulty in adducing both sets of qualities, for the properties both of the
body and of the soul are applicable to man.

Eran.-Unquestionably.

Orth.-Well; just in this way should we speak of the Christ, and, when arguing
about His natures, give to each its own, and recognise some as belonging to the
Godhead, and some as to the manhood. But when we are discussing the Person we
must then make what is proper to the natures common, and apply both sets of
qualities to the Saviour, and call the same Being both God and Man, both Son of
God and Son of Man-both David's Son and David's Lord, both Seed of Abraham and
Creator of Abraham, and so on.

Eran.-That the person of the Christ is one, and that both the divine and the
human are attributable to Him, you have quite rightly said, and I accept this
definition of the Faith; but your real position, that in discussing the natures
we must give to each its own properties, seems to me to dissolve the union. It
is for this reason that I object to accept these and similar arguments.

Orth.-Yet when we were enquiring about soul and body you thought the distinction
of these terms admirable, and forthwith gave it your approbation. Why then do
you refuse to receive the same rule in the case of the Godhead and manhood of
the Lord Christ? Do you go so far as to object to comparing the Godhead and the
manhood of the Christ to soul and body? So, while you grant an unconfounded
union to soul and body, do you venture to say that the Godhead and manhood of
the Christ have undergone commixture and confusion?

Eran.-I hold the Godhead of the Christ aye, and His flesh too, to be infinitely
higher in honour than soul and body; but after the union I do assert one nature.

Orth.-But now is it not impious and shocking, while maintaining that a soul
united to a body is in no way subject to confusion, to deny to the Godhead of
the Lord of the universe the power to maintain its own nature unconfounded or to
keep within its proper bounds the humanity which He assumed? Is it not, I say,
impious to mix the distinct, and to commingle the separate? The idea of one
nature gives ground for suspicion of this confusion.

Eran.-I am equally anxious to avoid the term confusion, but I shrink from
asserting two natures lest I fall into a dualism of sons.

Orth.-I am equally anxious to escape either horn of the dilemma, both the
impious confusion and the impious distinction; for to me it is alike an
unhallowed thought to split the one Son in two and to gainsay the duality of the
natures. But now in truth's name tell me. Were one of the faction of Arius or
Eunomius to endeavour, while disputing with you, to belittle the Son, and to
describe Him as less than and inferior to the Father, by the help of all their
familiar arguments and citations from the divine Scripture of the text "Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me"83 and that other, "Now is my soul
troubled"84 and other like passages, how would you dispose of his objections?
How could you show that the Son is in no way diminished in dignity by these
expressions and is not of another substance, but begotten of the substance of
the Father?

Eran.-I should say that the divine Scripture uses some terms according to the
theology and some according to the oeconomy, and that it is wrong to apply what
belongs to the economy to what belongs to the theology.85

Orth.-But your opponent would retort that even in the Old Testament the divine
Scripture says many things economically, as for instance, "Adam heard the voice
of the Lord God walking,"86 and "I will go down now and see whether they have
done altogether according to the cry of it which has come to me; and if not I
will know,"87 and again, "Now I know that thou fearest God"88 and the like.

Eran.-I might answer to this that there is a great distinction between the
oeconomies. In the Old Testament there is an economy of words; in the New
Testament of deeds.

Orth.-Then your opponent would ask of what deeds?

Eran.-He shall straightway hear of the deeds of the making flesh. For the Son of
God on being made man both in word and deed at one time exhibits the flesh, at
another the Godhead: as of course, in the passage quoted, He shews the weakness
of the flesh and of the soul, the sense namely of fear.

Orth.-But if he were to go on to say, "But he did not take a soul but only a
body; for the Godhead instead of a soul being united to the body performed all
the functions of the soul," with what arguments could you meet his objections?

Eran.-I could bring proofs from the divine Scripture shewing how God the Word
took not only flesh but also soul.

Orth.-And what proofs of this shall we find in Sripture?

Eran.-Have you not heard the Lord saying "I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again. ...I lay it down of myself that I might take it a
again."89 And again, "Now is my soul troubled."90 And again, "My soul is
exceeding sorrowful even unto deaths"91 and again David's words as interpreted
by Peter "His soul was not left in hell neither did His flesh see corruption."92
These and similar passages clearly point out that God the Word assumed not only
a body but also a soul.

Orth.-You have quoted this testimony most appositely and properly, but your
opponent might reply that even before the incarnation God said to the Jews,
"Fasting and holy day and feasts my soul hateth."93 Then he might go on to argue
that as in the Old Testament He mentioned a soul, though He had not a soul, so
He does in the New.

Eran.-But he shall be told again how the divine Scripture, when speaking of God,
mentions even parts of the body as "Incline thine ear and hear"94 and "Open
thine eyes and see"95 and "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it"96 and "Thy
hands have made me and fashioned me"97 and countless other passages.

If then after the incarnation we are forbidden to understand soul to mean sold,
it is equally forbidden to hold body to mean body. Thus the great mystery of the
oeconomy will be found to be mere imagination; and we shall in no way differ
from Marcion, Valentinus and Manes, the inventors of all these figments.

Orth.-But if a follower of Apollinarius were suddenly to intervene in our
discussion and were to ask "Most excellent Sir; what kind of soul do you say
that Christ assumed?" what would you answer?

Eran.-should first of all say that I know only one soul of man; then I should
answer, "But if you reckon two souls, the one reasonable and the other without
reason, I say that the soul assumed was the reasonable. Yours it seems is the
unreasonable, inasmuch as you think that our salvation was incomplete."

Orth.-But suppose he were to ask for proof of what you say?

Eran.-I could very easily give it. I shall quote the oracles of the Evangelists
"The Child Jesus grew anti waxed strong in spirit and the grace of God was upon
him"98 and again "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with
God and men."99 I should say that these have nothing to do with Godhead for the
body increased in stature, and in wisdom the soul-not that which is without
reason, but the reasonable. God the Word then took on Him a reasonable soul.

Orth.-Good Sir, you have bravely broken through the three fold phalanx of your
foes; but that union, and the famous commixture and confusion, not in two ways
only but in three, you have scattered and undone; and not only have you pointed
out the distinction between Godhead and manhood, but you have in two ways
distinguished the manhood by pointing out that the soul is one thing and the
body another, so that no longer two, according to our argument, but three
natures of our Saviour Jesus Christ may be understood.

Eran.-Yes; for did not you say that there is another substance of the soul
besides the nature of the body?

Orth.-Yes.

Eran.-How then does the argument seem absurd to you?

Orth.-Because while you object to two, yon have admitted three natures.

Eran.-The contest with our antagonists compels us to this, for how could any one
in any other way argue against those who deny the assumption of the flesh, or of
the soul, or of the mind, but by adducing proofs on these points from the divine
Scripture? And how could any one confute them who in their readiness strive to
belittle the Godhead of the only Begotten but by pointing out that the divine
Scripture speaks sometimes theologically and sometimes oeconomically.

Orth.-What you now say is true. It is what I, nay what all say, who keep whole
the apostolic rule. You yourself bare become a supporter of our doctrines.

Eran.-How do I support yours, while I refuse to acknowledge two sons?

Orth.-When did you ever hear of our affirming two sons?

Eran.-He who asserts two natures asserts two sons.

Orth.-Then you assert three sons, for you have spoken of three natures.

Eran.-In no other way was it possible to meet the argument of my opponents.

Orth.-Hear this same thing from us too; for both you and I confront the same
antagonists.

Eran.-But I do not assert two natures after the union.

Orth.-And yet after many generations of the union a moment ago you used the same
words. Explain to us however in what sense you assert one nature after the
union. Do you mean one nature derived from both or that one nature remains after
the destruction of the other?

Eran.-I maintain that the Godhead remains and that the manhood was swallowed up
by it.100

Orth.-Fables of the Gentiles, all this, and follies of the Manichees. I am
ashamed so much as to mention such things. The Greeks had their gods'
swallowings101 and the Manichees wrote of the daughter of light. But we reject
such teaching as being as absurd as it is impious, for how could a nature
absolute and uncompounded, comprehending the universe, unapproachable and
infinite, have absorbed the nature which it assumed?

Eran.-Like the sea receiving a drop of honey, for straightway the drop, as it
mingles with the ocean's water, disappears.

Orth.-The sea and the drop are different in quantity, though alike in quality;
the one is greatest, the other is least; the one is sweet and the other is
bitter; but in all other respects you will find a very close relationship. The
nature of both is moist, liquid, and fluid. Both are created. Both are lifeless
yet each alike is called a body. There is nothing then absurd in these cognate
natures undergoing commixture, and in the one being made to disappear by the
other. In the case before us on the contrary the difference is infinite, and so
great that no figure of the reality can be found. I will however endeavour to
point out to you several instances of substances which are mixed without being
confounded, and remain unimpaired.

Eran.-Who in the world ever heard of an unmixed mixture?

Orth.-I shall endeavour to make you admit this.

Eran.-Should what you are about to advance prove true we will not oppose the
truth.

Orth.-Answer then, dissenting or assenting as the argument may seem good to you.

Eran.-I will answer.

Orth.-Does the light at its rising seem to you to fill all the atmosphere except
where men shut up in caverns might remain bereft of it?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And does all the light seem to you to be diffused through all the
atmosphere?

Eran.-I am with you so far.

Orth.-And is not the mixture diffused through all that is subject to it?

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-But, now, this illuminated atmosphere, do we not see it as light and call
it light?

Eran.-Quite so.

Orth.-And yet when the light is present we sometimes are aware of moisture and
aridity; frequently of heat and cold.

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And after the departure of the light the atmosphere afterwards remains
alone by itself.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Consider this example too. When iron is brought in contact with fire it is
fired.

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-And the fire is diffused through its whole substance?

Eran.-Well?

Orth.-How, then, does not the complete union, and the mixture universally
diffused, change the iron's nature?

Eran.-But it changes it altogether. It is now reckoned no longer as iron, but as
fire, and indeed it has the active properties of fire.

Orth.-But does not the smith call it iron, and put it on the anvil and smite it
with his hammer?

Eran.-Unquestionably.

Orth.-Then the nature of the iron was not damaged by contact with the fire. If
then, in natural bodies, instances may be found of an unconfounded mixture, it
is sheer folly in the case of the nature which knows neither corruption nor
change to entertain the idea of confusion and destruction of the assumed nature,
and all the more so when this nature was assumed to bring blessing on the race.

Eran.-What I assert is not the destruction of the assumed nature, but its change
into the substance of Godhead.

Orth.-Then the human race is no longer limited as heretofore?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-When did it undergo this change?

Eran.-After the complete union.

Orth.-And what date do you assign to this?

Eran.-I have said again and again, that of the conception.

Orth.-Yet after the conception He was an unborn babe in the womb; after His
birth. He was a babe102 and was called a babe, and was worshipped by shepherds,
and in like manner became a boy, and was so called by the angel.103 Do you
acknowledge all this? or do you think I am inventing fables?

Eran.-This is taught in the history of the divine gospels, and cannot be
gainsaid.

Orth.-Now let us investigate what follows. We acknowledge, do we not, that the
Lord was circumcised?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-Of what was there a circumcision? Of flesh or Godhead?

Eran.-Of the flesh.

Orth.-Of what was then the growth and increase in wisdom and stature?

Eran.-This, of course, is not applicable to Godhead.

Orth.-Nor hunger and thirst?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-Nor walking about, and being weary, and failing asleep?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-If then the union took place at the conception, and all these things came
to pass after the conception and the birth, then, after the union, the manhood
did not lose its own nature.

Eran.-I have not stated my meaning exactly. It was after the resurrection from
the dead that the flesh underwent the change into Godhead.

Orth.-Then, after the resurrection, nothing of all that indicates its nature
remained in it?

Eran.-If it remained, the divine change did not take place.

Orth.-How then was it that He shewed His hands and His feet to the disciples who
disbelieved?

Eran.-Just as He came in when the doors were shut.

Orth.-But He came in when the doors were shut just as He came out from the womb,
though the virgin's bolts and bars were undrawn, and just as He walked upon the
sea. Then according to your argument not even yet had the change of nature taken
place?

Eran.-The Lord shewed His hands to the Apostles in the same way as He wrestled
with Jacob.

Orth.-No; the Lord does not allow us to understand it in this sense. The
disciples thought they saw a spirit, but the Lord dispelled this idea, and
shewed the nature of the flesh, for He said "Why are ye troubled? and why do
thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me
have."104 And observe the exactness of the language. He does not say "is not
flesh and bones," but "has not flesh and bones," in order to point out that the
nature of the possessor and the nature of that which is possessed are distinct
and separate. Just in the same way that which took and that which was taken are
separate and distinct, and the Christ is beheld made one of both. Thus the part
possessing is entirely different from the part possessed; and yet does not
divide into two persons Him who is an object of thought in them. The Lord,
indeed, while the disciples were still in doubt, asked for food and took and ate
it, not consuming the food only in appearance, nor satisfyingto the need of the
body.

Eran.-But one of these alternatives must be accepted; either He partook because
He needed, or else, needing not, He seemed to eat, and did not really partake of
food.

Orth.-His body now become immortal required no food. Of them that rise the Lord
says: "they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as Angels."105 The
apostles however bear witness that He partook of the food, for the blessed Luke
in the preface to the Acts says "being assembled together with the apostles the
Lord commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem"106 and the very
divine Peter says more distinctly: "Who did eat and drink with Him after He rose
from the dead."107 For since eating is proper to them that live this present
life, of necessity the Lord by means of eating and drinking proved the
resurrection of the flesh to them that did not acknowledge it to be real. This
same course He pursued in the case of Lazarus and of Jairus' daughter. For when
He had raised up the latter He ordered that something should be given her to
eat108 and He made Lazarus sit with Him at the table109 and so shewed the
reality of the rising again.

Eran.-If we grant that the Lord really ate, let us grant that after the
resurrection all men partake of food.

Orth.-What was done by the Saviour through a certain oeconomy is not a rule and
law of nature. This follows from the fact that He did other things by oeconomy
which shall by no means be the lot of them that live again.

Eran.-What do you mean?

Orth.-Will not the bodies of them that rise become incorruptible and immortal?

Eran.-So the divine Paul has taught us. "It is sown" he says "in corruption; it
is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory; it is
sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised
a spiritual body."110

Orth.-But the Lord, who raises the bodies of all men, unmaimed and unmarred (for
lameness of limb and blindness of eye are unknown among them that are risen),111
left in His own body the prints of the nails, and the wound in His side, whereof
are witnesses both the Lord Himself and the hand of Thomas.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-If then after the resurrection the Lord both partook of food, and shewed
His hands and His feet to His disciples, and in them the prints of the nails,
and His side with the mark of the wound in it, and said to them, "Handle me and
see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have"112 it follows that
after His resurrection the nature of His body was preserved and was not changed
into another substance.

Eran.-Then after the resurrection it is mortal and subject to suffering?

Orth.-By no means; it is incorruptible, impassible, and immortal.

Eran.-If it is incorruptible, impassible, and immortal, it has been changed into
another nature.

Orth.-Therefore the bodies of all men will be changed into another substance,
for all will be incorruptible and immortal. Or have you not heard the words of
the Apostle, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality"?113 Eran.-I have heard.

Orth.-Therefore the nature remains, but its corruption is changed into
incorruption, and its mortal into immortality. But let us look at the matter in
this way; we call a body that is sick and a body that is whole, in the same way,
a body.

Eran.-Unquestionably.

Orth.-Wherefore?

Eran.-Since both partake of the same substance.

Orth.-Yet we see in them a very great difference, for the one is whole, perfect,
and unhurt; the other has either lost an eye, or has a broken leg, or has
undergone some other suffering.

Eran.-But to the same nature belong both health and sickness.

Orth.-So the body is called substance; disease and health are called accident.

Eran.-Of course. For these things are accidents of the body, and again cease to
be so.

Orth.-In the same way corruption and death must be called accidents, and not
substances, for they too are accidents and ceaseto be so.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-So the body of the Lord rose incorruptible, impassible, and immortal, and
is worshipped by the powers of heaven, and is yet a body having its former
limitation.

Eran.-In these points you seem to say sooth, but after its assumption into
heaven I do not think that you will deny that it was changed into the nature of
Godhead.

Orth.-I would not so say persuaded only by human arguments, for I am not so rash
as to say anything concerning which divine Scripture is silent. But I have heard
the divine Paul exclaiming "God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained whereof He hath
given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead,"114 and I
have learnt from the holy Angels that He will come in like manner as the
disciples saw Him going into heaven.115 Now they saw His nature not unlimited.
For I have heard the words of the Lord, "Ye shall see the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven,"116 and I acknowledge that what is seen of men is limited,
for the unlimited nature is invisible. Furthermore to sit upon a throne of glory
and to set the lambs upon the right and the kids upon the left117 indicates
limitation.

Eran.-Then He was not unlimited even before the incarnation, for the prophet saw
Him surrounded by the Seraphim.118

Orth.-The prophet did not see the substance of God, but a certain appearance
accommodated to his capacity. After the resurrection, however, all the world
will see the very visible nature of the judge.

Eran.-You promised that you would adduce no argument without evidence, but you
are introducing arguments adapted to us.

Orth.-I have learnt these things from he divine Scripture. I have heard the
words of the prophet Zechariah "They shall look on Him whom they pierced,"119
and how shall the event follow the prophecy unless the crucifiers recognise the
nature which they crucified? And I have heard the cry of the victorious martyr
Stephen, "Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the
right hand of God,"120 and he saw the visible, not the invisible nature.

Eran.-These things are thus written, but I do not think that you will be able to
show that the body, after the ascension into heaven, is called body by the
inspired writers.

Orth.-What has been already said indicates the body perfectly plainly; for what
is seen is a body; but I will nevertheless point out to you that even after the
assumption the body of the Lord is called a body. Hear the teaching of the
Apostle, "For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body."121 It was not changed into another nature, but
remained a body, full however of divine glory, and sending forth beams of light.
The bodies of the saints shall be fashioned like unto it. But if it was changed
into another nature, their bodies will be likewise changed, for they shall be
fashioned like unto it. But if the bodies of the saints preserve the character
of their nature, then also the body of the Lord in like manner keeps its own
nature unchanged.

Eran.-Then will the bodies of the saints be equal with the body of the Lord?

Orth.-In its incorruption and its immortality they too will share. Moreover in
its glory they will participate, as says the Apostle, "If so be that we suffer
with Him, that we may be also glorified together."122 It is in quantity that the
vast difference may be found, a difference as great as between sun and stars, or
rather between master and slaves, and that which gives and that which receives
light. Yet has He given a share of His own name to His servants and as He is
Light, calls His saints light, for "Ye," He says, "are the Light of the
world,"123 and being named servants and being named "Sun of Righteousness"124 He
says of his servants "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun."125 It is
therefore according to quality, not according to quantity, that the bodies of
the saints shall be fashioned like unto the body of the Lord. Now I have shewn
you plainly what you bade me. Further, if you please, let us look at the matter
in yet another way.

Eran.-One ought "to stir every stone," as the proverb says,126 to get at the
truth; above all when it is a question of divine doctrines.

Orth.-Tell me now; the mystic symbols which are offered to God by them who
perform priestly rites, of what are they symbols?

Eran.-Of the body and blood of the Lord.

Orth.-Of the real body or not?

Eran.-The real.

Orth.-Good. For there must be the archetype of the image. So painters imitate
nature and paint the images of visible objects.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-If, then, the divine mysteries are antitypes of the real body,127
therefore even now the body of the Lord is a body, not changed into nature of
Godhead, but filled with divine glory.

Eran.-You have opportunely introduced the subject of the divine mysteries for
from it I shall be able to show you the change of the Lord's body into another
nature. Answer now to my questions.

Orth.-I will answer.

Eran.-What do you call the gift which is offered before the priestly invocation?

Orth.-It were wrong to say openly; perhaps some uninitiated are present.

Eran.-Let your answer be put enigmatically.

Orth.-Food of grain of such a sort.

Eran.-And how name we the other symbol?

Orth.-This name too is common, signifying species of drink.

Eran.-And after the consecration how do you name these?

Orth.-Christ's body and Christ's blood.

Eran.-And do yon believe that you partake of Christ's body and blood?

Orth.-I do.

Eran.-As, then, the symbols of the Lord's body and blood are one thing before
the priestly invocation, and after the invocation are changed and become another
thing; so the Lord's body after the assumption is changed into the divine
substance.

Orth.-You are caught in the net you have woven yourself. For even after the
consecration the mystic symbols are not deprived of their own nature; they
remain in their former substance figure and form; they are visible and tangible
as they were before. But they are regarded as what they are become, and believed
so to be, and are worshipped128 as being what they are believed to be. Compare
then the image with the archetype, and you will see the likeness, for the type
must be like the reality. For that body preserves its former form, figure, and
limitation and in a word the substance of the body; but after the resurrection
it has become immortal and superior to corruption; it has become worthy of a
seat on the righthand; it is adored by every creature as being called the
natural body of the Lord.

Eran.-Yes; and the mystic symbol changes its former appellation; it is no longer
called by the name it went by before, but is styled body. So must the reality be
called God, and not body.

Orth.-You seem to me to be ignorant-for He is called not only body but even
bread of life. So the Lord Himself used this name' and that very body we call
divine body, and giver of life, and of the Master and of the Lord, teaching that
it is not common to every man but belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ Who is God
and Man. "For Jesus Christ" is "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."129

Eran.-You have said a great deal about this, but I follow the saints who have
shone of old in the Church; show me then, if you can, these in their writings
dividing the natures after the union.

Orth.-I will read you their works, and I am sure you will be astonished at the
countless mentions of the distinction which in their struggle against impious
heretics they have inserted in their writings. Hear now those whose testimony I
have already adduced speaking openly and distinctly on these points.

Testimony of the holy Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, and martyr:- From the Epistle
to the Smyrnaeans:130 "I acknowledge and believe Him after His resurrection to
be existent in the flesh: and when He came to hem that were with Peter He said
to them `Take; handle me and see, for I am not a bodiless daemon.'131 And
straightway they took hold of him and believed." Of the same from the same
epistle:-

"And after His Resurrection He ate with them, and drank with them, as being of
the flesh, although He was spiritually one with the Father."

Testimony of Irenoeus, the ancient bishop of Lyons;- From the third Book of his
work "Against Heresies." (Chap. XX.)

"As we have said before, He united man to God. For had not a man vanquished
man's adversary, the enemy would not have been vanquished aright; and again, had
not God granted the boon of salvation we should not have possessed it in
security. And had not man been united to God, he could not have shared in the
incorruption. For it behoved the mediator of God and men, by means of His close
kinship to either, to bring them both into friendship and unanimity, and to set
man close to God and to make God known to men." Of the same from the third book
of the same treatise (Chapter XVIII):-

"So again in his Epistle he says `Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God,'132 recognising one and the same Jesus Christ to whom the gates
of heaven were opened, on account of His assumption in the flesh. Who in the
same flesh in which He also suffered shall come revealing the glory of the
Father." Of the same from the fourth book (Chapter VII):-

"As Isaiah saith `He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root. Israel
shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.'133 So his
fruit being scattered through the whole world, they who erst brought forth good
fruit (for of them was produced the Christ in the flesh and the apostles) were
abandoned and removed. And now they are no longer fit for bringing forth fruit."
Of the same from the same book (Chapter LIX):-

"And he judges also them of Ebion.134 How can they be saved unless it was God
who wrought their salvation on earth, or how shall man come to God unless God
came to man?" Of the same from the same book (Chapter LXIV):- "They who preach
that Emmanuel was of the Virgin set forth the union of God the Word with His
creature." Of the same from the same treatise (Book V. Chap. I.):-

"Now these things came to pass not in seeming but in essential truth, for if He
appeared to be man though He was not man then the Spirit of God did not continue
to be what in truth It is; for the Spirit is invisible; nor was there any truth
in Him, for He was not what He appeared to be. And we have said before that
Abraham and the rest of the prophets beheld Him in prophecy prophesying what was
destined to come to pass in actual sight. If then now too He appeared to be of
such a character, though in reality He was not what He appeared, then a kind of
prophetic vision would have been given to men, and we must still look for yet
another advent in which He will really be what He is now seen to be in prophecy.
Now we have demonstrated that there is no difference between the statements that
He only appeared in seeming and that He took nothing from Mary, for He did not
really even possess flesh and blood whereby He redeemed us, unless He renewed in
Himself the old creation of Adam. The sect of Valentinus are therefore vain in
teaching thus that they may cast out the life of the flesh."

Testimony of the holy Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, from his work on the
distribution of the talents:135 -

"Any one might say that these and those who uphold otherwise are neighbours,
erring as they do in the same manner, for even they either confess that the
Christ appeared in life as mere man, denying the talent of His Godhead, or else
acknowledging Him as God, on the other hand they deny the man, representing that
He deluded the sight of them that beheld Him by unreal appearances; and that He
wore manhood not as a Man but was rather a mere imaginary semblance, as Marcion
and Valentinus and the Gnostics teach, wrenching away the Word from the flesh,
and rejecting the one talent, the incarnation." Of the same from his letter to a
certain Queen:136 -

"He calls Him `the first fruits of them that sleep,' as being `the first born
from the dead,'137 and He, after His resurrection, wishing to show that that
which was risen was the same as that which had undergone death, when the
disciples were doubting, called Thomas to Him, and said, `Come hither handle me
and see for a spirit hath not flesh and blood as ye see me have.'"138 Of the
same from his discourse on Elkanah and Hannah:-

"Wherefore three seasons of the year typified the Saviour Himself that He might
fulfil the mysteries predicted about Him. In the Passover, that He might shew
Himself as the sheep doomed to be sacrificed and shew a true Passover as says
the Apostle. `Christ, God,139 our Passover was sacrificed for us.' At Pentecost
that He might announce the kingdom of heaven ascending Himself first into heaven
and offering to God man as a gift." Of the same from his work on the great
Psalm:140 -

"He who drew from the nethermost hell man first formed of the earth When lost
and held fast in bonds of death; He who came down from above and lifted up him
that was down; He who became Evangelist of the dead, ransomer of souls and
resurrection of them that were entombed; this was He who became succourer of
vanquished man in Himself, like man firstborn Word; visiting the first formed
Adam in the Virgin; the spiritual seeking the earthy in the womb; the
ever-living him who by disobedience died; the heavenly calling the earthly to
the world above, the highborn meaning to make the slave free by His own
obedience; He who turned to adamant man crumbled into dust anti and serpents'
meat; He who made man hanging on a tree of wood Lord over him who had conquered
Him and so by a tree of wood is proved victorious." Of the same from the same
book:-

"They who do not now recognise the Son of God in the flesh will one day
recognise Him when He comes as judge in glory, though now in an inglorious body
suffering wrong." Of the same from the same book:-

"Moreover the apostles when they had come to the sepulchre on the third day did
not find the body of Jesus, just as the children of Israel went up on the
mountain, and could not find the tomb of Moses." Of the same from his
interpretation of Psalm II.:-

"When He had come into the world He was manifested as God and Man. His manhood
is easy of perception because He is ahungered and aweary, in toil He is athirst,
in fear He flees,141 in prayer He grieves; He falls asleep upon a pillow, He
prays that the cup of suffering may pass from Him, being in an agony He sweats,
He is strengthened by an angel, betrayed by Judas, dishonoured by Caiaphas, set
at nought by Herod, scourged by Pilate, mocked by soldiers, nailed to a cross by
Jews, He commends His spirit to the Father with a cry, He leans His head as He
breathes His last, He is pierced in the side with a spear and rolled in fine
linen, is laid in a tomb, and on the third day He is raised by the Father. No
less plainly may His divinity be seen when He is worshipped by angels, gazed on
by shepherds, waited for by Simeon, testified to by Anna, sought out by Magi,
pointed out by a Star, at the wedding feast makes water wine, rebukes the sea
astir by force of winds, and on the same sea walks, makes a man blind from birth
see, raises Lazarus who had been four days dead, works many and various wonders,
remits sins and gives power to His disciples." Of the same from his work on
Psalm XXIV.:-

"He comes to the heavenly gates, angels travel with Him and the gates of the
heavens are shut. For He hath not yet ascended into heaven. Now first to the
heavenly powers flesh appears ascending. The Word then goes forth to the powers
from the angels that speed before the Lord and Saviour, `Lift the Gates ye
princes and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come
in.'"142 Testimony of the holy Eustathius, bishop of Antioch and confessor. From
his work on The Titles of the Psalms:-

"He predicted that He would sit upon a holy throne, shewing that He has been set
forth on the same throne as the divine Spirit on account of the God that dwells
in Him continually." Of the same from his work upon the Soul:-

"Before His passion in each case He predicted His bodily death, saying that He
would be betrayed to the father of the High Priest, and announcing the trophy of
the Cross. And after the passion, when He had risen on the third day from the
dead, His disciples being in doubt as to His resurrection, He appeared to them
in His very body and confessed that He had complete flesh and bones, submitting
to their sight His wounded side and shewing them the prints of the nails." Of
the same from his discourse on "The Lord formed me in the beginning of His
ways":143 -

"Paul did not say `conformed to the Son of God' but `conformed to the image of
His Son'144 in order to point out a distinction between the Son and His image,
for the Son, wearing the divine tokens of His Father's Excellence, is an image
of His Father; for since like are generated of like, offspring appear as very
images of their parents, but the manhood which He wore is an image of the Son,
as images even of different colours are painted on wax,145 some being wrought by
hand and some by nature and likeness. Moreover the very law of truth announces
this, for the bodiless spirit of wisdom is not conformed to bodily men, but the
express image146 made man by the spirit bearing the same number of members with
all the rest, and clad in similar form." Of the same from the same work:-

"That he speaks of the body as conformed to those of men he teaches more clearly
in his Epistle to the Philippians, `our conversation' he says `is in Heaven from
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our
vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.'147 And if by
changing the form of the vile body of men He fashions it like unto His own body,
then the false teaching of our opponents is shewn to be in every way worthless."
Of the same from the same work:-

"But as being born of the Virgin He is said to have been made man of the
woman,148 so He is described as being made under the law because of His
sometimes walking by the precepts of the law, as for instance when His parents
zealously urged His circumcision, when He was a child eight days old, as relates
the evangelist Luke, afterwards `they brought Him to present Him to the Lord,'
`bringing the offerings of purification' `to offer a sacrifice according to that
which is said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle doves or two young
pigeons.'149 As then the gifts of purification were offered on His behalf
according to the law, and He underwent circumcision on the eighth day, the
Apostle very properly writes that He was thus brought under the law. Not indeed
that the Word was subject to the law, (as our calumnious opponents suppose)
being Himself the law, nor did God, who by one breath can cleanse and hallow all
things, need sacrifices of purification. But He took from the Virgin the members
of a man and became subject to the law and was purified according to the rite of
the firstborn, not because He submitted to this treatment from any need on His
part of such observance, but in order that He might redeem from the slavery of
the law them that were sold to the doom of the curse."

Testimony of the holy Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. From his Second
Discourse against heresies:150 -

"We should not have been redeemed from sin and the curse had not the flesh which
the Word wore been by nature that of man, for we should have had nothing in
common with that which was not our own; just so man would not have been made
God, had not the Word which was made flesh been by nature of the Father and
verily and properly His. And the combination is of this character that to the
natural God may be joined the natural man, and so his salvation and deification
be secure. Therefore let them that deny Him to be naturally of the Father, and
own Son of His substance, deny too that He took very flesh of man from the
Virgin Mary." Of the same from his Epistle to Epictetus:-

"If on account of the Saviour's Body being, and being described in the
Scriptures as being, derived from Mary, and a human Body, they fancy that a
quaternity is substituted for a Trinity, as though some addition were made by
the body, they are quite wrong; they put the creature on a par with the Creator,
and suppose that the Godhead is capable of being added to. They fail to see that
the Word was not made flesh on account of any addition to Godhead, but that the
flesh may rise. Not for the aggrandisement of the Word did He come forth from
Mary, but that the human race may be redeemed. How can they think that the body
ransomed and quickened by the Word can add anything in the way of Godhead to the
Word that quickened it?" Of the same from the same Epistle:-

"Let them be told that if the Word had been a creature, the creature would not
have assumed a body to quicken it. For what help can creatures get from a
creature standing itself in need of salvation? But the Word, Himself Creator,
was made maker of created things, and therefore in the fulness of the ages He
attached the creature to Himself, that once more as a Creator He might renew it,
and might be able to create it afresh." From the longer Discourse "De Fide":-

"This also we add concerning the words `Sit thou on my right hand,'151 that they
are said of the Lord's body. For if `the Lord saith, do not I fill heaven and
earth,'152 as says Jeremiah, and God contains all things, and is contained of
none, on what kind of throne does He sit? It is therefore the body to which He
says `Sit thou on my right hand,' of which too the devil with his wicked powers
was foe, and Jews and Gentiles too. Through this body too He was made and was
called High Priest and Apostle through the mystery whereof He gave to us, saying
`This is my Body for you'153 and `my Blood of the New Testament' (not of the
Old), shed for you."154 Now Godhead hath neither body nor blood; but the manhood
which He bore of Mary was the cause of them, of whom the Apostles said `Jesus of
Nazareth, a man approved of God among you.'"155 Of the same from his book
against the Arians:-

"And when he says `Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him and given Him a
name which is above every name'156 he speaks of the temple of the body, not of
the Godhead, for the Most High is not exalted, but the flesh of the Most High is
exalted, and to the flesh of the Most High He gave a name which is above every
name. Nor did the Word of God receive the designation of God as a favour, but
His flesh was held divine as well as Himself." Of the same from the same work:-

"And when he says `the Holy Ghost was not yet because that Jesus was not yet
glorified,'157 he says that His flesh was not yet glorified, for the Lord of
glory is not glorified, but the flesh itself receives glory of the glory of the
Lord as it mounts with Him into Heaven; whence he says the spirit of adoption
was not yet among men, because the first fruits taken from men had not yet
ascended into heaven. Wherever then the Scripture says that the Son received and
was glorified, it speaks because of His manhood, not His Godhead." Of the same
from the same work:-

"So that He is very God both before His being made man and after His being made
mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ united to the Father in spirit, and to us
in flesh, who mediated between God and men, and who is not only man but also
God."

Testimony of the Holy Ambrosius, bishop of Milan. In his Exposition of the
Faith:-

"We confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, was
begotten before all ages, without beginning, of the Father, and that in these
last days the same was made flesh of the holy Virgin Mary, assumed the manhood,
in its perfection, of a reasonable soul and body, of one substance with the
Father as touching His Godhead and of one substance with us as touching His
manhood. For union of two perfect natures hath been after an ineffable manner.
Wherefore we acknowledge one Christ, one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; knowing
that being coeternal with His own Father as touching His Godhead, by virtue of
which also He is creator of all, He deigned, after the assent of the Holy
Virgin, when she said to the angel `Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto
me according to thy word'158 to build after an ineffable fashion a temple out of
her for Himself, and to unite this temple to Himself by her conception, not
taking and uniting with Himself a body coeternal with His own substance, and
brought from heaven, but of the matter of our substance, that is of the Virgin.
God the Word was not turned into flesh; His appearance was not unreal; keeping
ever His own substance immutably and invariably He took the first fruits of our
nature, and united them to Himself. God the Word did not take His beginning from
the Virgin, but being coeternal with His own Father He of infinite kindness
deigned to unite to Himself the first fruits of our nature, undergoing no
mixture but in either substance appearing one and the same, as it is written
`Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.'159 For the divine
Christ, as touching my substance which he took is destroyed, and the same Christ
raises the destroyed temple as touching the divine substance in which also He is
Creator of all things. Never at any time after the Union which He deigned to
make with Himself from the moment of the conception did He depart from His own
temple, nor indeed through His ineffable love for mankind could depart.

"The same Christ is both passible and impassible; as touching His manhood
passible and as touching His Godhead impassible. `Behold behold me, it is I, I
have undergone no change'-and when God the Word had raised His own temple and in
it had wrought out the resurrection and renewal of our nature, He shewed this
nature to His disciples and said `Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones as ye see me,' not `be' but `have.'160 So He says, referring to both
the possessor and the possessed in order that you may perceive that what had
taken place was not mixture, not change, not variation, but union. On this
account too He shewed the prints of the nails and the wound of the spear and ate
before His disciples to convince them by every means that the resurrection of
our nature had been renewed in Him; and further because in accordance with the
blessed substance of His Godhead unchanged, impassible, immortal, He lived in
need of nought, He by concession permitted all that can be felt to be brought to
His own temple, and by His own power raised it up, and by means of His own
temple made perfect the renewal of our nature.

"Them therefore that assert that the Christ was mere man, that God the Word was
passible, or changed into flesh, or that the body which He had was
consubstantial, or that He brought it from Heaven, or that it was an unreality;
or assert that God the Word being mortal needed to receive His resurrection from
the Father, or that the body which He assumed was without a soul, or manhood
without a mind, or that the two natures of the Christ became one nature by
confusion and commixture; them that deny that our Lord Jesus Christ was two
natures unconfounded, but one person, as He is one Christ and one Son, all these
the catholic and apostolic Church condemns." Of the same:161 -

"If then the flesh of all was in Christ or hath been in Christ snbject to
wrongs, how can it be held to be of one essence with the Godhead? For if the
Word and the flesh which derives its nature from earth are of one essence, then
the Word and the soul which He took in its perfection are of one essence, for
the Word is of one nature with God both according to the Word of the Father, and
the confession of the Son Himself in the words, `I and my Father are one.'162
Thus the Father must be held to be of the same substance with the body. Why any
longer are ye wroth with the Arians, who say that the Son is a creature of God,
while you assert yourselves that the Father is of one substance with His
creatures?" Of the same from his letter to the Emperor Gratianus:163 -

"Let us preserve a distinction between Godhead and flesh. One Son of God speaks
in both, since in Him both natures exist. The same Christ speaks, yet not always
in the same but sometimes in a different manner. Observe how at one time He
expresses divine glory and at another human feeling. As God He utters the things
of God, since He is the Word; as man He speaks with humility because He
converses in my essence." On the same from the same book:164 -

"As to the passage where we read that the Lord of glory was crucified,165 let us
not suppose that He was crucified in His own glory. But since He is both God and
man, as touching His Godhead God, and as touching the assumption of the flesh, a
man, Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, is said to have been crucified. For He
partakes of either nature-that is the human and the divine. In the nature of
manhood He underwent the passion in order that He who suffered might be said to
be without distinction both Lord of Glory and Son of Man. As it is written `He
that came down from Heaven.'"166 Similarly of the same:167 -

"Let then vain questions about words be silent, as it is written, the kingdom of
God is not in `enticing words' but in `demonstration of the spirit.'168 For
there is one Son of God who speaks in both ways, since both natures exist in
Him; but although He Himself speaks He does not speak always in the same way;
for you see in Him at one time God's glory, at another time man's feeling. As
God He utters divine things, being the Word; as man He utters human things,
since in this nature He spoke." Of the same from his work on the Incarnation of
the Lord against the Apollinarians:169 -

"But while we are confuting these, another set spring up who assert the body of
the Christ and His godhead to be of one nature. What hell hath vomited forth so
terrible a blasphemy? Really Arians are more tolerable, whose infidelity, on
account of these men, is strengthened, so that with greater opposition they deny
Father, Son and Holy Ghost to be of one substance, for they did at least
endeavour to maintain the Godhead of the Lord and His flesh to be of one
nature." Of the same (from the same chapter):-

"He has frequently told me that he maintains the exposition of the Nicene
Council, but in that examination our Fathers laid down that the Word of God, not
the flesh, was of one substance with the Father, and they confessed that the
Word came from the substance of the Father but that the flesh is of the Virgin.
Why then do they hold out to us the name of the Nicene Council, while in reality
they are introducing innovations of which our forefathers never entertained the
thought?" Of the same against Apollinarius:170 -

"Refuse thou to allow that the body is by nature on a par with the Godhead. Even
though thou believe the body of the Christ to be real and bring it to the altar
for transformation,171 and fail to distinguish the nature of the body and of the
Godhead we shall say to thee, `If thou offer rightly and fail to distinguish
rightly, thou sinnest; hold thy peace.'172 Distinguish what belongs naturally to
us, and what is peculiar to the Word. For I had not what was naturally His, and
He had not what was naturally mine, but He took what was naturally mine in order
to make us partakers of what was His. And He received this not for confusion but
for completion." Of the same, a little further on:173 -

"Let them who say that the nature of the Word has been changed into nature of
the body say so no more, lest by the same interpretation the nature of the Word
seem to have been changed into the corruption of sin. For there is a distinction
between what took, and what was taken. Power came over the Virgin, as in the
words of the angel to her, `The power of the highest shall overshadow thee.'174
But what was born was of the body of the Virgin, and on this account the descent
was divine but the conception human. Therefore the nature of the flesh and of
the godhead could not be the same."175 The testimony of St. Basil, Bishop of
Coesarea. From his homily on Thanksgiving:-

"Wherefore when He wept over His friend He shewed His participation in human
nature and set us free from two extremes, suffering us neither to grow over soft
in suffering nor to be insensible to pain. As then the Lord suffered hunger
after solid food had been digested, and thirst when the moisture in His body was
exhausted; and was aweary when His nerves and sinews were strained by His
journeying, it was not that His divinity was weighed down with toil, but that
His body showed the wonted symptoms of its nature. Thus too when He allowed
Himself to weep He permitted the flesh to take is natural course." From the same
against Eunomius:-

"I say that being in the form of God has the same force as being in God's
substance for as to have taken the form of a servant shews our Lord to have been
of the substance of the manhood, so the statement that He was in the form of God
attributes to Him the peculiar qualities of the divine substance."176 The
testimony of the holy Gregorius, bishop of Nazianzus. From his discourse De nova
dominica:177 -

"Believe that He will come again at His glorious advent judging quick and
dead,178 no longer flesh but not without a body."

"In order that He may be seen by them that pierced Him179 and remain God without
grossness." Of the same from his Epistle to Cledonius:-

"God and man are two natures, as soul and body are two; but there are not two
sons, nor yet are there here two men although Paul thus speaks of the outward
man and the inward man.180 In a word the sources of the Saviour's being are of
two kinds, since the visible is distinct from the invisible and the timeless
from that which is of time, but He is not two beings. God forbid." Of the same
from the same Exposition to Cledonius:-

"If any one says that the flesh has now been laid aside, and that the Godhead is
bare of body, and that it is not and will not come with that which was assumed,
let him be deprived of the vision of the glory of the advent! For where is the
body now, save with Him that assumed it? For it assuredly has not been, as the
Manichees fable, swallowed up by the Son, that it may be honoured through
dishonour; it has not been poured out and dissolved in the air like a voice and
stream of perfume or flash of unsubstantial lightning. And where is the capacity
of being handled after the resurrection, wherein one day it shall be seen by
them that pierced Him? For Godhead of itself is in visible." Of the same from
the second discourse about the Son:-

"As the Word He was neither obedient nor disobedient, for these qualities belong
to them that are in subjection and to inferiors; the former of the more
tractable and the latter of them that deserve condemnation. But in the form of a
servant He accommodates Himself to his fellowservants and puts on a form that
was not His own, bearing in Himself all of me with all that is mine, that in
Himself He may waste and destroy the baser parts as wax is wasted by fire or the
mist of the earth by the sun." Of the same from his discourse on the Theophany:-

"Since He came forth from the Virgin with the assumption of two things mutually
opposed to one another, flesh and spirit, whereof the one was taken into God and
the other exhibited the grace of the Godhead." Of the same a little further on:-

"He was sent, but as Man. For His nature was twofold, for without doubt He
thenceforth was aweary and hungered and thirsted and suffered agony and shed
tears after the custom of a human body." Of the same from his second discourse
about the Son:-

"He would be called God not of the Word, but of the visible creation, for how
could He be God of Him that is absolutely God? Just so He is called Father, not
of the visible creation, but of the Word. For He was of two-fold nature.
Wherefore the one belongs absolutely to both, but the other not absolutely.181
For He is absolutely our God, but not absolutely our Father. And it is this
conjunction of names which gives rise to the error of heretics. A proof of this
lies in the fact that when natures are distinguished in thought, there is a
distinction in names. Listen to the words of Paul. `The God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, The Father of Glory,'182 -of Christ He is God, of glory Father, and if
both are one this is so not by nature but by conjunction. What can be plainer
than this? Fifthly let it be said that He receives life, authority, inheritance
of nations, power over all flesh, glory, disciples or what you will; all these
belong to the manhood." Of the same from the same work:-

"`For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the man Christ
Jesus.'183 As man He still pleads for my salvation, because He keeps with Him
the body which He took, till he made me God by the power of the
incarnation-though He be no longer known according to the flesh that is by
affections of the flesh and though He be without sin." Of the same from the same
work:-

"Is it not plain to all that as God He knows, and is ignorant, He says, as man?
If that is, any one distinguish the apparent from that which is an object of
intellectual perception. For what gives rise to this opinion is the fact that
the appellation of the Son is absolute without relation, it not being added of
whom He is the Son; so to give the most pious sense to this ignorance we hold it
to belong to the human, and not to the divine."

Testimony of the Holy Gregorius, bishop of Nyssa. From his catechetical
discourse:- "And who says this that the infinity of the Godhead is comprehended
by the limitation of the flesh, as by some vessel?" Of the same from the same
work:-

"But if man's soul by necessity of its nature commingled with the body, is
everywhere in authority, what need is there of asserting that the Godhead is
limited by the nature of the flesh?" Of the same from the same work:-

"What hinders us then, while recognising a certain unity and approximation of a
divine nature in relation to the human, from retaining the divine intelligence
even in this approximation, believing that the divine even when it exists in men
is beyond all limitation?" Of the same from his work against Eunomius:-

"The Son of Mary converses with brothers, but the only begotten has no brothers,
for how could the name of only begotten be preserved among brothers? And the
same Christ that said `God is a spirit'184 says to His disciples `Handle me,'185
to shew that the human nature only can be handled and that the divine is
intangible; and He that said `I go'186 indicates removal from place to place,
while He that comprehends all things and `by Whom,' as says the Apostle, `all
things were created and by Whom all things consist,'187 had among all existing
things nothing without and beyond Himself which can stand to Him in the relation
of motion or removal." Of the same from the same work:-

"`Being by the right hand of God exalted.'188 Who then was exalted? The lowly or
the most high? And what is the lowly if it be not the human? And what is the
most high save the divine? But God being most high needs no exaltation, and so
the Apostle says that the human is exalted, exalted that is in being `made both
Lord and Christ.'189 Therefore the Apostle does not mean by this term `He made'
the everlasting existence of the Lord, but the change of the lowly to the
exalted which took place on the right hand of God. By this word he declares the
mystery of piety, for when he says `by the right hand of God exalted' he plainly
reveals the ineffable oeconomy of the mystery that the right hand of God which
created all things, which is the Lord by whom all things were made and without
whom nothing consists of things that were made,190 through the union lifted up
to Its own exaltation the manhood united to It."

Testimony of St. Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. From his discourse on "My
Father is greater than I":191 -

"Henceforth distinguish the natures; that of God and that of man. For He was not
made man by falling away from God, nor God by increase and advance from man." Of
the same from his discourse on "the Son can do nothing of Himself":192 -

"For after the resurrection the Lord shews both-both that the body is not of
this nature, and that the body rises, for remember the history. After the
passion and the resurrection the disciples were gathered together, and when the
doors were shut the Lord stood in the midst of them. Never at any time before
the passion did He do this. Could not then the Christ have done this even long
before? For all things are possible to God.193 But before the passion He did not
do so lest you should suppose the incarnation an unreality or appearance, and
think of the flesh of the Christ as spiritual, or that it came down from heaven
and is of another substance than our flesh. Some have invented all these
theories with the idea that thereby they reverence the Lord, forgetful that
through their thanksgiving they blaspheme themselves, and accuse the truth of a
lie: for I say nothing of the lie being altogether absurd. For if He took
another body how does that affect mine, which stands in need of salvation? If He
brought down flesh from heaven, how does this affect my flesh which was derived
from earth?" Of the same from the same work:-

"Wherefore not before the passion, but after the passion, the Lord stood in the
midst of the disciples when the doors were shut, that thou mayest know that thy
natural body after being sown is `raised a spiritual body,'194 and that thou
mayest not suppose the body that is raised to be a different body. When Thomas
after the resurrection doubted, He shews him the prints of the nails, He shews
him the marks of the spears. But had He not power to heal Himself after the
resurrection too, when even before the resurrection He had healed all men? But
by shewing the prints of the nails He shews that it is this very body; by coming
in when the doors were shut He shews that it has not the same qualities; the
same body to fulfil the work of the incarnation by raising that which had become
a corpse, but a changed body that it fall not again under corruption nor be
subject again to death."

Testimony of the blessed Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria. From his work against
Origen:-

"Our likeness which He assumed is not changed into the nature of Godhead nor is
His Godhead turned into our likeness. For He remains what He was from the
beginning God, and He so remains preserving our subsistence in Himself." Of the
same from the same treatise:-

"But you persist continually in your blasphemies attacking the Son of God, and
using these words `as the Son and the Father are one, so also are the soul which
the Son took and the Son Himself one.' You are ignorant that the Son and the
Father are one on account of their one substance and the same Godhead; but the
soul and the Son are each of a different substance and different nature. For if
the soul of the Son and the Son Himself are one in the same sense in which the
Father and the Son are one, then the Father and the Soul will be one and the
soul of the Son shall one day say `He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father;'195 but this is not so; God forbid. For the Son and the Father are one
because there is no distinction between their qualities, but the soul and the
Son are distinguished alike in nature and substance, in that the soul which is
naturally of one substance with us was made by Him. For if the soul and the Son
are one in the same manner in which the Father anti the Son are one, as Origen
would have it, then the soul equally with the Son will be `the brightness of
God's glory and express image of His person.'196 But this is impossible;
impossible that the Son and the soul should be one as He and the Father are one.
And what will Origen do when again he attacks himself? For he writes, never
could the soul distressed and `exceeding sorrowful'197 be the `firstborn of
every creature.'198 For God the Word, as being stronger than the soul, the Son
Himself, says `I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it
again.'199 If then the Son is stronger than His own soul, as is agreed, how can
His soul be equal to God and in the form of God? For we say that `He emptied
Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant.'200 In the extravagance of his
impieties Origen surpasses all other heretics, as we have shewn, for if the Word
exists in the form of God and is equal to God and if he supposes thus daring to
write the soul of the Saviour to be in the form of God and equal with God, how
can the equal be greater, when the inferior in nature testifies to the
superiority of what is beyond it?"

Testimony of the Holy John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople. From the
Discourse held in the Great Church:-

"Thy Lord exalted man to heaven, and thou wilt not even give him a share of the
agora. But why do I say `to heaven'? He seated man on a kingly throne. Thou
expellest him from the city." Of the same, on the beginning of Ps. xlii.:-

"Up to this day Paul does not cease to say `We are ambassadors for Christ as
though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God.'201 Nor did He stand here, but taking the first fruits of thy
nature He sat down `above all principality and power and might, and every name
that is named not only in this world but in the world to come.'202 What could be
equal to this honour? The first fruits of our race which has so much offended
and is so dishonoured sits so high and enjoys honour so vast." Of the same about
the division of tongues:-

"For bethink thee what it is to see our nature riding on the Cherubim and all
the power of heaven mustered round about it. Consider too Paul's wisdom and how
many terms he searches for that he may set forth the love of Christ to men, for
he does not say simply the grace, nor yet simply the riches, but the `exceeding
great riches of His grace in His kindness.'"203 Of the same from his Dogmatic
Oration, on the theme that the word spoken and deeds done in humility by Christ
were not so spoken and done on account of infirmity, but on account of
differences of dispensation:-

"And after His resurrection, when He saw His disciple disbelieving, He did not
shrink from shewing him both wound and print of nails, and letting him lay his
hand upon the scars, and said `Examine and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and
bones.'204 The reason of His not assuming the manhood of full age from the
beginning, and of His deigning to be conceived, to be born, to be suckled, and
to live so long upon the earth, was that by the long period of the time and all
the other circumstances, He might give a warranty for this very thing." Of the
same against those who assert that demons rule human affairs:-

"Nothing was more worthless than man and than man nothing has become more
precious. He was the last part of the reasonable creation, but the feet have
been made the head, and through the firstfruits have been borne up to the kingly
throne. Just as some man noble and bountiful, on seeing a wretch escaped from
shipwreck who has saved nothing but his bare body from the waves, welcomes him
with open hands, clothes him in a radiant robe, and exalts him to the highest
honour, so too hath God done towards our nature. Man had lost all that he had,
his freedom, his intercourse with God, his abode in Paradise, his painless life,
whence he came forth like a man all naked from a wreck, but God received him and
straightway clothed him, and, taking him by the hand, led him onward step by
step and brought him up to heaven." Of the same from the same work:-

"But God made the gain greater than the loss, and exalted our nature to the
royal throne. So Paul exclaims `And have raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places'205 at His right hand." Of the same from his IIIrd
oration against the Jews:-

"He opened the heavens; of foes he made friends; He introduced them into heaven;
He seated our nature on the right hand of the throne; He gave us countless other
good things." Of the same from his discourse on the Ascension:-

"To this distance and height did He exalt our nature. Look where low it lay, and
where it mounted up. Lower it was impossible to descend than where man
descended; higher it was impossible to rise than where He exalted him." Of the
same from his interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians:-

"According to His good pleasure, which He had proposed in himself, that is which
He earnestly desired, He was as it were in labour to tell us the mystery. And
what is this mystery? That He wishes to seat man on high; as in truth came to
pass." Of the same from the same interpretation:- "God of our Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of this and not of God the Word." Of the same from the same
interpretation:-

"`And when we were dead in sins He quickened us together in Christ;'206 again
Christ stands in the midst, and the work is wonderful. If the first fruits live
we live also. He quickened both Him and us. Seest thou that all these things are
spoken according to the flesh?" Of the same from the gospel according to St.
John:-

"Why does he add `and dwelt among us'?207 It is as though he said: Imagine
nothing absurd from the phrase `was made.' For I have not mentioned any change
in that unchangeable nature, but of tabernacling208 and of inhabiting. Now that
which tabernacles is not identical with the tabernacle, but one thing
tabernacles in another; otherwise there would be no tabernacling. Nothing
inhabits itself. I spoke of a distinction of substance. For by the union and the
conjunction God the Word and the flesh are one without confusion or destruction
of the substances, but by ineffable and indescribable union." Of the same from
the gospel according to St. Matthew:-

"Just as one standing in the space between two that are separated from one
another, stretches out both his hands and joins them, so too did He, joining the
old and the new, the divine nature and the human, His own with ours." Of the
same from the Ascension of Christ:-

"For so when two champions stand ready for the fight, some other intervening
between them, at once stops the struggle, and puts an end to their ill will, so
too did Christ. As God He was wroth, but we made light of His wrath, and turned
away our faces from our loving Lord. Then Christ flung Himself in the midst, and
restored both natures to mutual love, and Himself took on Him the weight of the
punishment laid by the Father on us." Of the same froth the same work:-

"Lo He brought the first fruits of our nature to the Father and the Father
Himself approved the gift, alike on account of the high dignity of Him that
bought it and of the faultlessness of the offering. He received it in His own
hands, He made a chair of His own throne; nay more He seated it on His own right
hand, let us then recognise who it was to whom it was said `Sit thou on my right
hand'209 and what was that nature to which God said `Dust thou art and to dust
thou shalt return.'"210 Of the same a little further on:-

"What arguments to use, what words to utter I cannot tell; the nature which was
rotten, worthless, declared lowest of all, vanquished everything and overcame
the world. To-day it hath been thought worthy to be made higher than all, to-day
it hath received what from old time angels havedesired; to-day it is possible
for archangels to be made spectators of what has been for ages longed for, and
they contemplate our nature, shining on the throne of the King in the glory of
His immortality."

Testimony of St. Flavianus, bishop of Antioch. From the Gospel according to St.
Luke:-

"In all of us the Lord writes the express image of His holiness, and in various
ways shows our nature the way of salvation. Many and clear proofs does He give
us both of His bodily advent and of His Godhead working by a body's means. For
He wished to give us assurance of both His natures." Of the same on the
Theophany:-

"`Who can express the noble acts of the Lord, or shew forth all His praise?'211
who could express in words the greatness of His goodness toward us? Human nature
is joined to Godhead, while both natures remain independent."

Testimony of Cyril, bishop Jerusalem. From his fourth catechetical oration
concerning the ten dogmas. Of the birth from a virgin:-

"Believe thou that this only begotten Son of God, on account of our sins, came
down from heaven to earth, having taken on Him this manhood of like passions
with us, and being born of holy Virgin and of Holy Ghost. This incarnation was
effected, not in seeming and unreality, but in reality. He did not only pass
through the Virgin, as through a channel, but was verily made flesh of her. Like
us He really ate, and of the Virgin was really suckled. For if the incarnation
was an unreality, then our salvation is a delusion. The Christ was twofold-the
visible man, the invisible God. He ate as man, verily like ourselves, for the
flesh that He wore was of like passions with us; He fed the five thousand with
five loaves212 as God. As man He really died. As God He raised the dead on the
fourth day.213 As man He slept in the boat. As God He walked upon the
waters."214 Testimony of Antiochus, bishop of Ptolemais:215 - "Do not confound
the natures and you will have a lively apprehension of the incarnation."

Testimony of the holy Hilarius, bishop and confessor,216 in his ninth book, "de
Fide":

"He who knoweth not Jesus the Christ as very God and as very man, knoweth not in
reality his own life, for we incur the same peril if we deny Christ Jesus or God
the spirit, or the flesh of our own body. `Whosoever therefore shall confess me
before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven, but
whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which
is in Heaven.'217 These things spoke the Word made flesh; these things the man
Christ Jesus, Lord of Glory, taught, being made Mediator for the salvation of
the Church in the very mystery whereby He mediated between God and men. Both
being made one out of the natures united for this very purpose, He was one and
the same through either nature, but so that in both He fell short in neither,
lest haply by being born as man He should cease to be God, or by remaining God
should not be man. Therefore this is the blessedness of the true faith among men
to preach both God and man, to confess both word and flesh, to recognise that
God was also man, and not to be ignorant that the flesh is also Word." Of the
same from the same book:218 -

"So the only begotten God being born man of a Virgin and in the fulness of the
time, being Himself ordained to work out the advance of man to God, observed
this order of things, through all the words of the gospels, that He might teach
belief in Himself, as Son of God, and keep us in mind to preach Him as Son of
Man. As being man He always spoke and acted as is proper to man, but in such a
manner as never to speak in this same mode of speech as touching both save with
the intention of signifying both God and Man. But hence the heretics derive a
pretext for catching in their traps simple and ignorant men: what was spoken by
our Lord in accordance with His manhood they falsely assert to have been uttered
in the weakness of His divine nature, and since one and the same person spake
all the words He used they urged that all He uttered He uttered about Himself.
Now even we do not deny that all His extant words are of His own nature. But
granted that the one Christ is man and God; granted that when man He was not
then first God; granted that when man He was then also God, granted that after
the assumption of the manhood in the Lord, the Word was man and the Word was
God, it follows of necessity that there is one and the same mystery of His words
as there is of His generation. Whenever in Him, as occasion may require, you
distinguish the manhood from the Godhead, then also endeavour to separate the
words of God from the words of man. And whenever you confess God and man, then
discern the words of God and man. And when the words are spoken of God and man,
and again of man wholly and wholly of God, consider carefully the occasion. If
anything was spoken to signify what was appropriate to a particular occasion,
apply the words to the occasion. A distinction must be observed between God
before the manhood, man and God, man wholly and God wholly after the union of
the manhood and Godhead. Take heed therefore not to confuse the mystery of the
incarnation in the words and acts. For it must needs be that according to the
quality of the kinds of natures a distinction lies in the manner of speech,
before the manhood was born, in accordance with the mystery when it was still
approaching death, and again when it was everlasting. `For if in His birth and
in His passion and in His death He acted in accordance with our nature He
nevertheless effected all this by the power of His own nature.'" Of the same in
the same book:-

"Do you then see that thus God and man are confessed, so that death is
predicated of man, and the resurrection of the flesh, of God; for consider the
nature of God and the power of the resurrections, and recognise in the death the
oeconomy as touching man. And since both death and resurrection have been
brought about in their own natures, bear in mind, I beg you, the one Christ
Jesus, who was of both. I have shortly demonstrated these points to you to the
end that we may remember both natures to have been in our Lord Jesus Christ `for
being in the form of God He took the form of a servant.'"219 Testimony of the
very holy bishop Augustinus. From his letter to Volusianus. Epistle III:

"But now He appeared as Mediator between God and man, so as in the unity of His
person to conjoin both natures, by combining the wonted with the unwonted, and
the unwonted with the wonted." Of the same from his exposition of the Gospel
according to John:220 -

"What then, O heretic? Since Christ is also man, He speaks as man; and dost thou
slander God? He in Himself lifts man's nature on high, and thou hast the
hardihood to cheapen His divine nature." Of the same from his book on the
Exposition at the Faith:-

"It is ours to believe, but His to know, and so let God the Word Himself, after
receiving all that is proper to man, be man, and let man after His assumption
and reception of all that is God, be no other than God. It must not be supposed
because He is said to have been incarnate and mixed that therefore His substance
was diminished. God knows that He mixes Himself without the natural corruption,
and He is mixed in reality. He knows also that He so received in Himself as that
no addition of increment accrues to Himself, as also He knows He infused His
whole self so as to incur no diminution. Let us not then, in accordance with our
weak intelligence, and forming conjectures on the teaching of experience and the
senses, suppose that God and man are mixed after the manner of things created
and equal mixed together, and that from such a confusion as this of the Word and
of the flesh a body as it were was made. God forbid thatthis should be our
belief, test we should suppose that after the manner of things which are
confounded together two natures were brought into one hypostasis.221 For a
mention of this kind implies destruction of both parts; but Christ Himself,
containing butnot contained, who examines us but is Himself beyond examination,
making full but not made full, everywhere at one and the same time being Himself
whole and pervading the universe, through His pouring out His own power, as
being moved with mercy, was mingled with the nature of man, though the nature of
man was not mingled with the divine."

Testimony of Severianus, bishop of Gabala.222 From "the Nativity of Christ":-

"O mystery truly heavenly and yet on earth-mystery seen and not apparent for so
was the Christ after His birth; heavenly and yet on earth; holding and not held;
seen and invisible; of Heaven as touching the nature of the Godhead, on earth as
touching the nature of the manhood; seen in the flesh, invisible in the spirit;
held as to the body not to be holden as to the Word."

Testimony of Atticus,223 bishop of Constantinople. From his letter to
Eupsychius:-

"How then did it behave the Most Wise to act? By mediation of the flesh assumed,
and by union of God the Word with man born of Mary, He is made of either nature,
so that the Christ made one of both, as constituted in Godhead, abides in the
proper dignity of His impassible nature, but in flesh. being brought near to
death, at one and the same time shews the kindred nature of the flesh how
through death to despise death, and by His death confirms the righteousness of
the new covenant."

Testimony of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria. From his letter to Nestorius:224 -

"The natures which have been brought together in the true unity are distinct,
and of both there is one God and Son, but the difference of the natures has not
been removed in consequence of the union." Of the same from his letter against
the Orientals:225 -

"There is an union of two natures, wherefore we acknowledge one Christ, one Son,
one Lord. In accordance with this perception of the unconfounded union we
acknowledge the Holy Virgin as Mother of God226 because the Word of God was made
flesh and was made man, and from the very conception united to Himself the
temper taken from her."227 Of the same:-

"There is one Lord Jesus Christ, even if the difference be recognised of the
natures of which we assert the ineffable union to have been made." Of the same:-

"Therefore, as I said, while praising the manner of the incarnation, we see that
two natures came together in inseparable union without confusion and without
division,228 for the flesh is flesh and no kind of Godhead, although it was made
flesh of God; in like manner the Word is God, and not flesh, although He made
the flesh His own according to the oeconomy." Of the same from his
interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews:-

"For although the natures which came together in unity are regarded as different
and unequal with one another, I mean of flesh and of God, nevertheless the Son,
Who was made of both, is one." Of the same from his interpretation of the same
Epistle:-

"Yet though the only begotten Word of God is said to be united in hypostasis to
flesh, we deny there was any confusion of the natures with one another, and
declare each to remain what it is." Of the same from his commentaries:-

"The Father's Word, born of the Virgin, is named man, though being by nature God
as partaking of flesh and blood like us229 for thus He was seen by men upon
earth, without getting rid of His own nature, but assuming our Manhood perfect
according to its own reason." Of the same concerning the Incarnation (Schol. c.
13):-

"Then before the incarnation there is one Very God, and in manhood He remains
what He was and is and will be; the one Lord Jesus Christ then must not be
separated into man apart and into God apart, but recognising the difference of
the natures and preserving them unconfounded with one another, we assert that
there is one and the same Christ Jesus." Of the same after other commentaries:-

"There is plain perception of one thing dwelling in another, namely the divine
nature in manhood, without undergoing commixture or any confusion, or any change
into what it was not. For what is said to dwell in another does not become the
same as that in which it dwells, but is rather regarded as one thing in another.
But in the nature of the Word and of the manhood the difference points out to us
a difference of natures alone, for of both is perceived one Christ. Therefore he
says that the Word `Tabernacled among us,'230 carefully observing the freedom
from confusion, for he recognises one only begotten Son who was made flesh and
became man."

Now, my dear sir, you have heard the great lights of the world; you have seen
the beams of their teaching, and you have received exact instruction how, not
only after the nativity, but after the passion which wrought salvation, and the
resurrection, and the ascension, they have shewn the union of the Godhead and of
the manhood to be without confusion.

Eran.-I did not suppose that they distinguished the natures after the union, but
Ihave found an infinite amount of distinction.

Orth.-It is mad and rash against those noble champions of the faith so much as
to wag your tongue. But I will adduce for you the words of Apollinarius, in
order that you may know that he too asserts the union to be without confusion.
Now hear his words.

Testimony of Apollinarius. From his summary:-

"There is an union between what is of God and what is of the body. On the one
side is the adorable Creator Who is wisdom and power eternal; these are of the
Godhead. On the other hand is the Son of Mary, born at the last time,
worshipping God, advancing in wisdom, strengthened in power; these are of the
body. The suffering on behalf of sin and the curse came and will not pass away
nor yet be changed into the incorporeal." And again a little further on:-

"Men are consubstantial with the unreasoning animals as far as the unreasoning
body is concerned; they are of another substance in so far forth as they are
reasonable. Just so God who is consubstantial with men according to the flesh is
of another substance in so far forth as He is Word and Man." And in another
place he says:-

"Of things which are mingled together the qualities are mixed and not destroyed.
Thus it comes to pass that some are separate from the mixed parts as wine from
water, nor yet is there mingling with a body, nor yet as of bodies with bodies,
but the mingling preserves also the unmixed, so that, as each occasion may
require, the energy of the Godhead either acts independently or in conjunction,
as was the case when the Lord fasted, for the Godhead being in conjunction in
proportion to its being above need, hunger was hindered, but when it no longer
opposed to the craving its superiority to need, then hunger arose, to the
undoing of the devil. But if the mixture of the bodies suffered no change, how
much more that of the Godhead?" And in another place he says:-

"If the mixture with iron which makes the iron itself fire does not change its
nature, so too the union of God with the body implies no change of the body,
even though the body extend its divine energies to what is within its reach." To
this he immediately adds:-

"If a man has both soul and body, and these remain in unity, much more does the
Christ, who has Godhead and body, keep both secure and unconfounded." And again
a little further on:-

"For human nature is partaker of the divine energy, as far as it is capable, but
it is as distinct as the least from the greatest. Man is a servant of God, but
God is not servant of man, nor even of Himself. Man is a creature of God, but
God is not a creature of man, nor even of Himself." And again:-

"If any one takes in reference to Godhead and not in reference to flesh the
passage the `Son doeth what He seeth the Father do,'231 wherein He Who was made
flesh is distinct from the Father Who was not made flesh, divides two divine
energies. But there is no division. So He does not speak in reference to
Godhead."

Again he says:-

"As man is not an unreasoning being, on account of the contact of the reasoning
and the unreasoning, just so the Saviour is not a creature on account of the
contact of the creature with God uncreate." To this he also adds:-

"The invisible which is united to a visible body and thereby is beheld, remains
invisible, and it remains without composition because it is not circumscribed
with the body, and the body, remaining in its own measure, accepts the union
with God in accordance with its being quickened, nor is it that which is
quickened which quickens." And a little further on he says:-

"If the mixture with soul and body, although from the beginning they coalesce,
does not make the soul visible on account of the body, nor change it into the
other properties of the body, so as to allow of its being cut or lessened, how
much rather God, who is not of the same nature as the body, is united to the
body without undergoing change, if the body of man remains in its own nature,
and this when it is animated by a soul, then in the case of Christ the
commingling does not so change the body as that it is not a body." And further
on he says again:-

"He who confesses that soul and body are constituted one by the Scripture, is
inconsistent with himself when he asserts that this union of the Word with the
body is a change, such change being not even beheld in the case of a soul."

Listen to him again exclaiming clearly:-

"If they are impious who deny that the flesh of the Lord abides, much more are
they who refuse wholly to accept His incarnation." And in his little book about
the Incarnation he has written:-

"The words `Sit thou on my right hand'232 He speaks as to man, for they are not
spoken to Him that sits ever on the throne of glory, as God the Word after His
ascension from earth, but they are said to Him who hath now been exalted to the
heavenly glory as man, as the Apostles say `for David is not ascended into the
heavens, but he saith himself the Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right
hand.'233 The order is human, giving a beginning to the sitting; but it is a
divine dignity to sit together with God `to whom thousand thousands minister and
before whom ten thousand times ten thousand stand.'"234 And again a little
further on:-

"He does not put His enemies under Himas God but as man, but so that the God who
is seen and man are the same. Paul too teaches us that the words `until I make
thy foes thy footstool'235 are spoken to men, describing the success as His own
of course in accordance with His divinity `According to the working whereby He
is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.'236 Behold Godhead and manhood
existing inseparably in One Person." And again:-

"`Glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the
world was.'237 The word `glorify' He uses as man, but His having this glory
before the ages He reveals as God." And again:-

"But let us not be humiliated as thinking the worship of the Son of God
humiliation, even in His human likeness, but as though honouring some king
appearing in poor raiment with his royal glory, and above all seeing that the
very garb in which He is clad is glorified, as became the body of God and of the
world's Saviour which is seed of eternal life, instrument of divine deeds
destroyer of all wickedness, slayer of death and prince of resurrection; for
though it had its nature from man it derived its life from God, and its power
and divine virtue from heaven." And again:- "Whence we worship the body as the
Word; we partake of the body as of the spirit."

Now it has been plainly shewn you that the author who was first to introduce the
mixture of the natures openly uses the argument of a distinction between them;
thus he has called the body garb, creature and instrument; he even went so far
as to call it slave, which none of us has ever ventured to do. He also says that
it was deemed worthy of the seat on the right hand, and uses many other
expressions which are rejected by your vain heresy.

Eran.-But why then did he who was the first to introduce the mixture insert so
great a distinction in his arguments?

Orth.-The power of truth forces even them that vehemently fight against her to
agree with what she says, but, if you will, let us now begin a discussion about
the impassibility of the Lord.

Eran.-You know that musicians are accustomed to give their strings rest, and
they slacken them by turning the pegs; if then things altogether void of reason
and soul stand in need of some recreation, we who partake of both shall do
nothing absurd if we mete out our labour in proportion to our power. Let us then
put it off till tomorrow.

Orth.-The divine David charges us to give heed to the divine oracles by night
and by day; but let it be as you say, and let us keep the investigation of the
remainder of our subject till to-morrow.

1: futikoj , of or belonging to futon , or plant; but though futon is opposed to
cwon , it is also used of any creature, and here seems to mean no more than the
soul of physical life, and nothing beyond.

2: cf. p. 132.

3: Gen. ii. 7.

4: Matt. x. 28. of. Luke xii. 4. Luke xii. 5.

5: Gen. xlvi. 20, lxx. In the Hebrew the number is but seventy, including Jacob
himself. St. Stephen, as was natural in a Hellonized Jew follows the lxx. (Acts
vii. 14.) For the number 75 there were doubtless important traditional
authorities known to the lxx.

6: Acts xx. 10.

7: This "lost" must be qualified. The Scriptural doctrine is that the "image of
God" though defaced and marred, is not lost or destroyed. After the flood the
"image of God" is still quoted as against murder Gen. ix. 6. St. James urges it
as a reason against cursing (iv. 9). cf. I. Cor. xi. 7. So the IXth Article
declares original sin to be, not the nature, which is good, but the "fault and
corruption of the nature of every man;" in short the "image of God," like the
figts of God, as David in Browning's "Saul" has it, "a man may waste, desecrate,
never quite lose. " cf. p. 164 and note.

8: Matt. i. 21.

9: Luke ii. 11. tiktetai is substitued for etexqh , in addition to the omission
of "a Saviour which is." In this verse the mss. do not vary.

10: John i. 1.

11: John i. 3.

12: John i. 4.

13: Gen. vi. 3, lxx. and Marg. in R. V.

14: Gal. i. 15-17.

15: Ps. lxv. 2.

16: Is. xl. 5.

17: Ez. xviii. 4 and Ez. xviii. 20.

18: Lev. v. 1.

19: The reference seeing to be a loose combination of Numbers ix. 13. with Deut.
xviii. 19.

20: Vide note on page 36.

21: emyuxon .

22: oikonouian . cf. p. 72, note.

23: John viii. 40. Note looseness of citation.

24: Acts ii. 22.

25: Acts xvii. 30, Acts xvii. 31.

26: h oikoumenh 27: I. Tim. ii. 5, I. Tim. ii. 6.

28: cf. Job ix. 33. "daysman betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both."

29: Gal. iii. 19. cf. Deut. v. 5.

30: Exodus vii. 1.

31: Ex. vii. 1.

32: Hebrews vi. 20.

33: Hebrews vii. 1, Hebrews vii. 2, Hebrews vii. 3.

34: Heb. vii. 3.

35: The bearing of this on Theodoret's relation to Nestorianism will be
observed.

36: Is. liii. 8.

37: Heb. vii. 6.

38: Gen. i. 27.

39: I. Cor. xi. 7.

40: Coloss. 1. 15.

41: Hebrews vii. 3.

42: Gen. iv. 25.

43: Gen. v. 5.

44: Heb. vi. 20.

45: Tim. ii. 5, Tim. ii. 6.

46: oikonomia . Vide p. 72 n.

47: 1 Tim ii. 5.

48: 1 Cor. xv. 21.

49: 1 Cor. xv. 22.

50: Acts ii. 22.

51: Acts vii. 56 52: 1 Peter iii. 15.

53: Eph. vi. 11 and Eph. vi. 13, and observe looseness of quotation.

54: Eph. vi. 14.

55: John x. 32.

56: John x. 33.

57: John x. 34, John x. 35, John x. 36, John x. 37, John x. 38. Observe the
variation in 34, and the omission in 38.

58: Matt. xxii. 42.

59: Matt. xxii. 43 and Matt. xxii. 44.

60: Matt. xx. 31.

61: Matt. xv. 22.

62: Matt. xxi. 9.

63: Luke xix. 40.

64: II. Tim. ii. 8.

65: II. Tim. ii. 9.

66: Luke xxiv. 39.

67: The metallic compound called electron is described by Strabo p. 146 as the
mixed residuum, or scouring, ( kaqarma ) left after the first smelting of gold
ore. Pliny (H. N. xxxiii. 23) describes it as containing 1 part silver to 4
gold. cf. Soph. Antig. 1038, and Herod. i. 50.

68: John i. 1.

69: John i. 3.

70: John 1. 1-3.

71: Matt i. 1.

72: Luke iii. 23.

73: Matt. i. 17.

74: Matt. xxi. 27. A. V. "We cannot tell."

75: Luke ii. 51.

76: John ii. 4.

77: Matt. xxii. 42.

78: Mark vi. 1.

79: John viii. 58.

80: This, it will be remembered is the analogy employed in the "Quicunque vult."

81: All through the argument there seems to be some confusion between the two
senses of yuxh as denoting the immortal and the animal part of man, and so
between the yuxikon and the pneumatikon . According to the Pauline psychology,
(cf. in I. Cor. 15) the immortal and invisible could not be said to be proper to
the swma yuxikon . This "natural body" is a body of death (Rom. vii. 24) and
requires to be redeemed (Rom. viii. 23) and changed into the "house which is
from heaven." (II. Cor. v. 2.) Something of the same confusion attaches to the
common use of the word "soul" to which we find the language of Holy Scripture
frequently accommodated. On the popular language of the dichotomy and the more
exact trichotomy of I. Thess. v. 23 a note of Bp. Ellicott on that passage may
well be consulted.

82: " zwon logikon qnhton ." The definition may be compared with those of- 83:
Matt. xxvi. 39.

84: John xii. 27.

85: Consult note on page 72.

86: Gen. iii. 8.

87: Gen. xviii. 21.

88: Gen. xxii. 12.

89: John x. 18, John x. 17.

90: John xii. 27.

91: Matt. xxvi. 38.

92: Psalm xvi. 10 and Acts ii. 31.

93: Isaiah i. 13, Isaiah i. 14. Sept.

94: Daniel ix. 18.

95: Ibid. Daniel ix. 18.

96: Isaiah lviii. 14.

97: Ps. cxix. 73.

98: Luke ii. 40.

99: Luke ii. 52.

100: katapoqhnai 101: The allusion is to the fable of Saturn devouring his
children at their birth.

102: Luke ii. 12 and Luke ii. 16.

103: Matt. ii. 13.

104: Luke xxiv. 38, Luke xxiv. 39.

105: Mark xii. 25.

106: Acts i. 4.

107: Acts x. 41.

108: Mark v. 43.

109: John xii. 21.

110: I. Cor. xv. 42, I. Cor. xv. 43, I. Cor. xv. 44.

111: Contrast Plato Gorgias §169 kateagota te ei tou hn melh h diestrammena
zwntoj kai teqnewtoj tauta endhla , and Virgil Aen. vi. 494.

112: Luke xxiv. 39.

113: I. Cor. xv. 53.

114: Acts xvii. 31.

115: Acts i. 11.

116: Matt. xxvi. 64.

117: Matt. xxv. 31-33.

118: Isaiah vi. 2.

119: Zech. xii. 10.

120: Acts vii. 56.

121: Phil. iii. 20, Phil. iii. 21. Observe omission of "Christ."

122: Rom. viii. 17.

123: Matt. v. 14.

124: Malachi iv. 2.

125: Matt. xiii. 43.

126: Probably the liqoj in the stone on the Draught Board. So panta kinein liqon
is to make every effort in the game.

127: tou ontwj swmatwj antitupa esti ta qeia musthria . The view of Orthodoxus,
it will be seen, is not that of the Roman confession. cf. note on p. 206.

128: proskuneitai .

129: Heb. xiii. 8.

130: Ad Smyr. III.

131: The quotation is not from the canonical gospels. Eusebius (iii. 36) says he
does not know from what source it comes. Jerome states it to be derived from the
gospel lately translated by hm, the gospel according to the Hebrews (Vir. Ill.
2) Origen ascribes the words to the "Doctrina Petri." (de Princ. Praef. 8) Bp.
Lightfoot, by whom the matter is fully discussed, (Ap. Fath. pt. II. Vol. ii. p.
295) thinks that either Jerome, more suo, was forgetful, or had a different
recension of the gospel to the Hebrews from that used by Origen and Eusebius,
Ignatius may be quoting a verbal tradition. Bp. Lightfoot further points out
that Origen (l. c.) supposes the author of the Doctrina Petri to use this
epithet aswaaton not in its philosophical sense (= incorporeal) but as meaning
composed of some subtle substance and without a gross body like man. Further
Origen (c. Cels. V. 5) warns us that to Christians the word daemon has a special
connotation, in reference to the powers that deceive and distract men.

132: I. John v. 1.

133: Isaiah xxvii. 6.

134: Vide note on page 38.

135: The only fragment of this work.

136: Several fragments of this letter will be found in Dialogue III.

137: Coloss. i. 18.

138: Vide John xx. 27 and Luke xxiv. 39. The quotation confuses the words of the
resurrection day and of the week after.

139: I. Cor. v. 7. The addition of o Qeoj has no authority.

140: Probably the cxixth Ps. It is doubtful whether the work forms part of a
Commentary on the Pss. or is quoted from a homily on this special Psalm.

141: The word feugein is not used of the Saviour in the Gospel. Joseph was
bidden feuge eij Aigupton . When our Lord was brought to the cliff overhanging
Nazareth dielqwn dia mesou autwn eporeueto .

142: Ps. xxiv. Sept.

143: Proverbs viii. 22. Sept.

144: Romans viii. 29.

145: The original here is corrupt.

146: xarakthr cf. Heb. i. 3. I have used the equivalent given in A. V. for the
Greek word of the text meaning literally stamp or impression, as on coin or
seal, and to xact representation.

147: Phil. iii. 20, Phil. iii. 21.

148: Gal. iv. 4.

149: Luke ii. 22, Luke ii. 24.

150: Oratio Secunda contra Arianos. Ben. Ed. I. 1. 538.

151: Ps. cx. 1.

152: Jerem. xxiii. 24.

153: I. Cor. xi. 24.

154: Matt. xxvi. 28; Mark xiv. 24.

155: Acts ii. 22.

156: Phil. ii. 9.

157: John vii. 39.

158: Luke i. 38.

159: John ii. 19.

160: Luke xxiv. 39.

161: De incarnat. sacram. Chap. 6.

162: John x. 30.

163: De Fide ii. Chap. 9.

164: Chap. 7.

165: I. Cor. ii. 8.

166: John iii. 13.

167: Id. Chap. 9.

168: I. Cor. ii. 4.

169: De Incarn. Sac. 6.

170: De incarn. sacram. Chap. 4.

171: "Offeras transfigurandum altaribus." The Benedictine Editors, by a curious
anachronism, see here a reference to transubstantiation. But metapoihsij , the
word translated "transformation" implies no more than the being made to undergo
a change, which may be a change in dignity without involving a change of
substance. cf. pp. 200 and 201, where Orthodoxus distinctly asserts that the
substance remains un changed. Transubstantiation, definitely declared an article
of faith in 1215, seems to have been first taught early in the 9th c. Vide Bp.
Harold Browne on Art. xxviii.

172: Gen. iv. 7. Sept.

173: Id. Chap. 6.

174: Luke 1. 35. The Latin of the Benedictine edition of Ambrose is:-

175: In the Greek text the last sentence is unintelligible and apparently
corrupt. The translation follows the Latin text from which the version in the
citation of Theodoret varies in important particulars. The Greek text of the
quotation runs:- 176: Cf. Phil. ii. 16.

177: The passage quoted is not in the 43rd discourse de nova dominica but in the
40th on Holy Baptism.

178: Acts i. 11.

179: Zechariah xii. 10.

180: II. Cor. iv. 16.

181: Here the text is corrupt.

182: Ephes. i 17.

183: I. Tim. ii. 5.

184: John iv. 24.

185: Luke xxiv. 39.

186: John xiv. 28.

187: Coloss. i. 16, Coloss. i. 17.

188: Acts ii. 33.

189: Acts ii. 36.

190: Cf. John i. 2.

191: John xiv. 28.

192: John v. 19.

193: Matt. xix 26. Mark x. 27.

194: I. Cor. xv.

195: John xiv. 9.

196: Hebrews i. 3.

197: Matt. xxvi. 38.

198: Coloss. i. 15.

199: John x. 18.

200: Phil. ii. 7.

201: II. Cor. v. 20.

202: Ephes. i. 21.

203: Ephes. ii. 7.

204: Cf. Luke xxiv. 39. and John xx. 27. and cf. note on page 235.

205: Ephes. ii. 6.

206: Ephes. ii. 5.

207: John 1. 14. eskhnwsen .

208: skhnwsij .

209: Psalm cx. 1.

210: Gen. iii. 19.

211: Ps. cvi. 2.

212: Matt. xiv. 15, etc., Mark vi. 35, etc., Luke ix. 9, etc., John vi. 5, etc.

213: John xi. 43.

214: Matt. vii. 24; John vi. 19.

215: This and another fragment in the Catena on St. John xix. 443, is all that
survives of the works of Antiochus of Ptolemais, an eloquent opponent of
Chrysostom at Constantinople, and like him, said to have a "mouth of gold."

216: Hilary of Poictiers, _a.d. 368. The treatise quoted is known as "de
Trinitate," and "contra Arianos," as well as "de Fide." The Greek of Theodoret
differs considerably from the Latin. Of the first extract the original is nescit
plane vitam suam nescit qui Christum Jesum ut verum Deum ita et verum hominem
ignorat. Et ejusdem periculi res est, Christum Fesum vel Spiritum Deum, vel
carnem nostri corporis denegare. Omnis ergo qui confitebitur me coram hominibus,
confitebor et ego eum coram patre meo qui est in coelis. Qui autem negaverit me
coram hominibus, negabo et ego eum coram patre meo, qui est in coelis. Haec
Verbum caro factum loquebatur, et homo Jesus Christus dominus majestatis
docebat; Mediator ipse in se ad salutem Ecclesiae constitutus et illo ipso inter
Deum et homines mediatoris sacramento utrumque unus existeus, dum ipse ex unitis
in idipsum naturis naturae utriusque res eadem est; ita tamen, ut neutro careret
in utroque, ne forte Deus esse homo nascendo desineret, et homo rursus Deus
manendo non esset. Haec itaque humanae beatitudinis fides vera est, Deum et
hominem praedicare, Verbum et carnem confiteri: neque Deum nescire quod homo
sit, neque carnem ignorare quod Verbum sit.

217: Matt. x. 32, Matt. x. 33.

218: Natus igitur unigenitus Deus ex Virgine homo, el secundum plenitudinem
temporum in semetipso provecturus in Deum hominem hunc per omnia evangelici
sermonis modum tenuit, ut se filium Dei credi doceret, et hominis filium
praedicari admoneret: locutus et gerens homo universa quae Dei sunt, loquens
deinde et gerens Deus universa quae hominis sunit; ita tamen, ut ipso illo
utriusque generis sermone numquam nisi cum significatione et hominis locutus et
Dei sit; uno tamen Deo patre semper ostenso, et se in natura unius Dei per
nativitatis veritatem professo: nec tamen se Deo patri non et filii honore et
hominis conditione subdente: cum et nativitas omnis se referat ad auctorem, et
caro se universa secundum Deum profiteatur infirmam. Hinc itaque fallendi
simplices atque ignorantes haereticis occasio est, ut quae ab eo secundum
hominem dicta sunt, dicta esse secundum naturae divinae infirmitatem mentiantur:
et quia unus atque idem est loquens omnia quae loquitur de se ipso omnia eum
locutum esse contendant.

219: Phil. ii. 7.

220: Tract 78.

221: cf. p. 36. Here upostasij = person.

222: Severianus, like Antiochus of Ptolemais, was moved to leave his remote
diocese (Gabala is now Gibili, not far south of Latakia) to try his fortunes as
a popular preacher at Constantinople: There he met with success, and was kindly
treated by Chrysostom, but he turned against his friend, and was a prime agent
in the plots against him. The date of his death is unknown.

223: Cf. p. 154, note. Atticus was a determined opponent of heresy as well as of
Chrysostom.

224: Ep. iv. Ed. Aub. V. ii. 23.

225: id. vi. 157.

226: The word in the text is the famous qeotokoj Qeotokoj when rightly
understood. The explanation of the symbolum drawn up by Theodoret himself at
Ephesus for presentation to the Emperor is " 'Ena xriston, ena uion, ena kurion
omologoumen. kata tauthn: thj asugxutou enwsewj ennoian omologoumen thn agian,
parqenon qeotokon, dia to ton qeon logon sapkwqhnai kai enanqrwphsai kai ec
authj thj sullhyewj enwsai eautw ton ec authj lhfqenta /aon ." The great point
sought to be asserted was, the union of the two Natures. Gregory of Nazianzus
(li. 738) says #Ei tij ou qeotokon thn Marian upolambanei xwrij esti thj
Qeothtoj .

227: Here Cyril adopts the terms of the document given in the preceding note.

228: asugxutwj kai adiairetwj . These adverbs recall the famous words of Hooker.
Ecc. Pol. v. 54. 10.

229: Hebrews ii. 14.

230: John i. 14.

231: John v. 19.

232: Ps. cx. 1.

233: Acts ii. 34.

234: Dan. vii. 10.

235: Acts ii. 35.

236: Phil. iii. 21.

237: John xvii. 5.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 7: DIALOGUES - DIALOGUE 3
========================================================================

Dialogue III.-The Impassible.

Dialogue III.-The Impassible.

Orthodoxus and Eranistes.

Orth.-In our former discussions we have proved that God the Word is immutable,
and became incarnate not by being changed into flesh, but by taking perfect
human nature. The divine Scripture, and the teachers of the churches and
luminaries of the world have clearly taught us that, after the union, He
remained as He was, unmixed, impassible, unchanged, uncircumscribed; and that He
preserved unimpaired the nature which He had taken. For the future then the
subject before us is that of His passion, and it will be a very profitable one,
for thence have been brought to us the waters of salvation.

Eran.-I am also of opinion that this discourse will be beneficial. I shall not
however consent to our former method, but I propose myself to ask questions.

Orth.-And I will answer, without making any objection to the change of method.
He who has truth on his side, not only when he questions but also when he is
questioned, is supported by the might of the truth. Ask then what you will.

Eran.-Who, according to your view, suffered the passion?

Orth.-Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eran.-Then a than gave us our salvation.

Orth.-No; for have we confessed that our Lord Jesus Christ was only man?

Eran.-Now define what you believe Christ to be.

Orth.-Incarnate Son of the living God.

Eran.-And is the Son of God God?

Orth.-God, having the same substance as the God Who begat Him.

Eran.-Then God underwent the passion.

Orth.-If He was nailed to the cross without a body, apply the passion to the
Godhead; but if he was made man by taking flesh, why then do you exempt the
passible from the passion and subject the impassible to it?

Eran.-But the reason why He took flesh was that the impassible might undergo the
passion by means of the passible.

Orth.-You say impassible and apply passion to Him.

Eran.-I said that He took flesh to suffer.

Orth.-If He had had a nature capable or the Passion He would have suffered
without flesh; so the flesh becomes superfluous.

Eran.-The divine nature is immortal, and the nature of the flesh mortal, so the
immortal was united with the mortal, that through it He might taste of death.

Orth.-That which is by nature immortal does not undergo death, even when
conjoined with the mortal; this is easy to see.

Eran.-Prove it; and remove the difficulty.

Orth.-Do you assert that the humansoul was immortal, or mortal?

Eran.-Immortal.

Orth.-And is the body mortal or immortal?

Eran.-Indubitably mortal.

Orth.-And do we say that man consists of these natures?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-So the immortalis conjoinedwith the mortal?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-But when the connexion or union is at an end, the mortal submits to the
law of death, while the soul remains immortal though sin has introduced death,
or do you not hold death to be a penalty?

Eran.-So divine Scripture teaches. For we learn that when God forbade Adam to
partake of the tree of knowledge He added "on the day that ye eat thereof ye
shall surely die."1 Orth.-Then death is the punishment of them that have sinned?

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Why then, when soul and body have both sinned together, does the body
alone undergo the punishment of death?

Eran.-It was the body that cast its evil eye upon the tree, and stretched forth
its hands, and plucked the forbidden fruit. It was the mouth that bit it with
the teeth, and ground it small, and then the gullet committed it to the belly,
and the belly digested it, and delivered it to the liver; and the liver turned
what it had received into blood and passed it on to the hollow vein2 and the
vein to the adjacent parts and they through the rest, and so the theft of the
forbidden food pervaded the whole body. Very properly then the body alone
underwent the punishment of sin.

Orth.-You have given us a physiological disquisition on the nature of food, on
all the parts that it goes through and on the modifications to which it is
subject before it is assimilated with the body. But there is one point that you
have refused to observe, and that is that the body goes through none of these
processes which you have mentioned without the soul. When bereft of the soul
which is its yoke mate the body lies breathless, voiceless, motionless; the eye
sees neither wrong nor aright; no sound of voices reaches the ears, the hands
cannot stir; the feet cannot walk; the body is like an instrument without music.
How then can you say that only the body sinned when the body without the soul
cannot even take a breath?

Eran.-The body does indeed receive life from the soul, and it furnishes the soul
with the penal possession of sin.

Orth.-How, and in what manner?

Eran.-Through the eyes it makes it see amiss; through the ears it makes it hear
unprofitable sounds; and through the tongue utter injurious words, and through
all the other parts act ill.

Orth.-Then I suppose we may say Blessed are the deaf; blessed are they that have
lost their sight and have been deprived of their other faculties, for the souls
of men so incapacitated have neither part nor lot in the wickedness of the body.
And why, O most sagacious sir, have you mentioned those functions of the body
which are culpable, and said nothing about the laudable? It is possible to look
with eyes of love and of kindliness; it is possible to wipe away a tear of
compunction, to hear oracles of God, to bend the ear to the poor, to praise the
Creator with the tongue, to give good lessons to our neighbour, to move the hand
in mercy, and in a word to use the parts of the body for complete acquisition of
goodness.

Eran.-This is all true.

Orth.-Therefore the observance and transgression of law is common to both soul
and body.

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-It seems to me that the soul takes the leading part in both, since it uses
reasoning before the body acts.

Eran.-In what sense do you say this?

Orth.-First of all the mind makes, as it were, a sketch of virtue or of vice,
and then gives to one or the other form with appropriate material and colour,
using for its instruments the parts of the body.

Eran.-So it seems.

Orth.-If then the soul sins with the body; nay rather takes the lead in the sin,
for to it is entrusted the bridling and direction of the animal part, why, as it
shares the sin, does it not also share the punishment?

Eran.-But how were it possible for the immortal soul to share death?

Orth.-Yet it were just that after sharing the transgression, it should share the
chastisement.

Eran.-Yes, just.

Orth.-But it did not do so.

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-At least in the life to come it will be sent with the body to Gehenna.

Eran.-So He said "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell."3

Orth.-Therefore in this life it escapes death, as being immortal; in the life to
come; it will be punished, not by undergoing death, but by suffering
chastisement in life.

Eran.-That is what the divine Scripture says.

Orth.-It is then impossible for the immortal nature to undergo death.

Eran.-So it appears.

Orth.-How then do you say, God the Word tasted death? For if that which was
created immortal is seen to be incapable of becoming mortal, how is it possible
for him that is without creation and eternally immortal, Creator of mortal and
immortal natures alike, to partake of death?

Eran.-We too know that His nature is immortal, but we say that He shared death
in the flesh.

Orth.-But we have plainly shewn that it is in no wise possible for that which is
by nature immortal to share death, for even the soul created together with, and
conjoined with, the body and sharing in its sin, does not share death with it,
on account of the immortality of its nature alone. But let us look at this same
position from another point of view.

Eran.-There is every reason why we should leave no means untried to arrive at
the truth.

Orth.-Let us then examine the matter thus. Do we assert that of virtue and vice
some are teachers and some are followers?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And do we say that the teacher of virtue deserves greater recompense?

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-And similarly the teacher of vice deserves twofold and threefold
punishment?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And what part shall we assign to the devil, that of teacher or disciple?

Eran.-Teacher of teachers, for he himself is father and teacher of all iniquity.

Orth.-And who of men became his first disciples?

Eran.-Adam and Eve.

Orth.-And who received the sentence of death?

Eran.-Adam and all his race.

Orth.-Then the disciples were punished for the bad lessons they had learnt, but
the teacher, whom we have just declared to deserve two-fold and three-fold
chastisement, got off the punishment?

Eran.-Apparently.

Orth.-And though this so came about we both acknowledge and declare that the
Judge is just.

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-But, being just, why did He not exact an account from him of his evil
teaching?

Eran.-He prepared for him the unquenchable flame of Gehenna, for, He says,
"Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels."4 And the reason why he did not here share death with his disciples is
because he has an immortal nature.

Orth.-Then even the greatest transgressors cannot incur death if they have an
immortal nature.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-If then even the very inventor and teacher of iniquity did not incur death
on account of the immortality of his nature, do you not shudder at the thought
of saying that the fount of immortality and righteousness shared death?

Eran.-Had we said that he underwent the passion involuntarily, there would have
been some just ground for the accusation which yon bring against us. But if the
passion which is preached by us was spontaneous and the death voluntary, it
becomes you, instead of accusing us, to praise the immensity of His love to man.
For He suffered because He willed to suffer, and shared death because He wished
it.

Orth.-You seem to me to be quite ignorant of the divine nature, for the Lord God
wishes nothing inconsistent with His nature, and is able to do all that He
wishes, and what He wishes is appropriate and agreeable to His own nature.

Eran.-We have learnt that all things are possible with God.5

Orth.-In expressing yourself thus indefinitely you include even what belongs to
the Devil, for to say absolutely all things is to name together not only good,
but its opposite.

Eran.-But did not the noble Job speak absolutely when he said "I know that thou
canst do all things and with thee nothing is impossible"?6

Orth.-If you read what the justman said before, you will see the meaning of the
one passage from the other, for he says "Remember, I beseech thee, that thou
hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not
poured me out as milk and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin
and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinews, thou hast granted me life
and favour."7 And then he adds:-

"Having this in myself I know that thou canst do all things and that with thee
nothing is impossible."8 Is it not therefore all that belongs to these things
that he alleges to belong to the incorruptible nature, to the God of the
universe?

Eran.-Nothing is impossible to Almighty God.

Orth.-Then according to your definition sin is possible to Almighty God?

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-Wherefore?

Eran.-Because He does not wish it.

Orth.-Wherefore does He not wish it?

Eran.-Because sin is foreign to His nature.

Orth.-Then there are many things which He cannot do, for there are many kinds of
transgression.

Eran.-Nothing of this kind can be wished or done by God.

Orth.-Nor can those things which are contrary to the divine nature.

Eran.-What are they?

Orth.-As, for instance, we have learnt that God is intelligent and true Light.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And we could not call Him darkness or say that He wished to become, or
could become, darkness.

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-Again, the Divine Scripture calls His nature invisible.

Eran.-It does.

Orth.-And we could never say that It is capable of being made visible.

Eran.-No, surely.

Orth.-Nor comprehensible.

Eran.-No; for He is not so.

Orth.-No; for He is incomprehensible, and altogether unapproachable.

Eran.-You are right.

Orth.-And He that is could never become non-existent.

Eran.-Away with the thought!

Orth.-Nor yet could the Father become Son.

Eran.-Impossible.

Orth.-Nor yet could the unbegotten become begotten.

Eran.-How could He.

Orth.-And the Father could never become Son?

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-Nor could the Holy Ghost ever become Son or Father.

Eran.-All this is impossible.

Orth.-And we shall find many other things of the same kind, which are similarly
impossible, for the Eternal will not become of time, nor the Uncreate created
and made, nor the infinite finite, and the like.

Eran.-None of these is possible.

Orth.-So we have found many things which are impossible to Almighty God.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-But not to be able in any of these respects is proof not of weakness, but
of infinite power, and to be able would certainly be proof not of power but of
impotence.

Eran.-How do you say this?

Orth.-Because each one of these proclaims the unchangeable and invariable
character of God. For the impossibility of good becoming evil signifies the
immensity of the goodness; and that He that is just should never become unjust,
nor He that is true a liar, exhibits the stability and the strength that there
is in truth and righteousness. Thus the true light could never become darkness;
He that is could never become nonexistent, for the existence is perpetual and
the light is naturally invariable. And so, after examining all other examples,
you will find that the not being able is declaratory of the highest power. That
things of this kind are impossible in the case of God, the divine Apostle also
both perceived and laid down, for in his Epistle to the Hebrews9 he says, "that
by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have
a strong consolation."10 He shews that this incapacity is not weakness, but very
power, for he asserts Him to be so true that it is impossible for there to be
even a lie in Him. So the power of truth is signified through its want of power.
And writing to the blessed Timothy, the Apostle adds "It is a faithful saying,
for if we be dead with Him we shall also live with Him, if we suffer we shall
also reign with Him; if we deny Him He will also deny us, if we believe not yet
He abideth faithful, He cannot deny Himself."11 Again then the phrase "He
cannot" is indicative of infinite power, for even though all men deny Him He
says God is Himself, and cannot exist otherwise than in His own nature, for His
being is indestructible. This is what is meant by the words "He cannot deny
Himself." Therefore the impossibility of change for the worse proves infinity of
power.

Eran.-This is quite true and in harmony with the divine words.

Orth.-Granted then that with God many things are impossible,-everything, that
is, which is repugnant to the divine nature,-how comes it that while you omit
all the other qualities which belong to the divine nature, goodness,
righteousness, truth, invisibility, incomprehensibility, infinity, and eternity,
and the rest of the attributes which we assert to be proper to God, you maintain
that His immortality and impassibility alone are subject to change, and in them
concede the possibility of variation and give to God a capacity indicative of
weakness?

Eran.-We have learnt this from the divine Scripture. The divine John exclaims
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,"12 and the divine
Paul,"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His
Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life."13 Orth.-Of
course all this is true, for these are divine oracles,14 but remember what we
have often confessed.

Eran.-What?

Orth.-We have confessed that God the Word the Son of God did not appear without
a body, but assumed perfect human nature.

Eran.-Yes; this we have confessed.

Orth.-And He was called Son of Man because He took a body and human soul.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is verily our God; for of these two
natures the one was His from everlasting and the other He assumed.

Eran.-Indubitably.

Orth.-While, then, as man He underwent the passion, as God He remained incapable
of suffering.

Eran.-How then does the divine Scripture say that the Son of God suffered?

Orth.-Because the body which suffered was His body. But let us look at the
matter thus; when we hear the divine Scripture saying "And it came to pass when
Isaac was old his eyes were dim so that he could not see,"15 whither is our mind
carried and on what does it rest, on Isaac's soul or on his body?

Eran.-Of course on his body.

Orth.-Do we then conjecture that his soul also shared in the affection of
blindness?

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-We assert that only his body was deprived of the sense of sight?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And again when we hear Amaziah saying to the prophet Amos, "Oh thou seer
go flee away into the land of Judah,"16 and Saul enquiring: "Tell me I pray thee
where the seer's house is,"17 we understand nothing bodily.

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-And vet the words used are significant of the health of the organ of
sight.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Yet we know that the power of the Spirit when given to purer souls
inspires prophetic grace and causes them to see even hidden things, and, in
consequence of their thus seeing, they are called seers and beholders.

Eran.-What you say is true.

Orth.-And let us consider this too.

Eran.-What?

Orth.-When we hear the story of the divine evangelists narrating how they
brought to God a man sick of the palsy, laid upon a bed, do we say that this was
paralysis of the parts of the soul or of the body?

Eran.-Plainly of the body.

Orth.-And when while reading the Epistle to the Hebrews we light upon the
passage where the Apostle says "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and
the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed,"18 do we say that the
divine Apostle said these things about the parts of the body?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-Shall we say that he was for removing the feebleness and infirmity of the
soul and stimulating the disciples to manliness?

Eran.-Obviously.

Orth.-But we do not find these things distinguished in the divine Scripture, for
in describing the blindness of Isaac he made no reference to the body, but spoke
of Isaac as absolutely blind, nor in describing the prophets as seers and
beholders did he say that their souls saw and beheld what was hidden, but
mentioned the persons themselves.

Eran.-Yes; this is so.

Orth.-And he did not point out that the body of the paralytic was palsied, but
called the man a paralytic.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And even the divine Apostle made no special mention of the souls, though
it was these that he purposed to strengthen and to rouse.

Eran.-No; he did not.

Orth.-But when we examine the meaning of the words, we understand which belongs
to the soul and which to the body.

Eran.-And very naturally; for God made us reasonable beings.

Orth.-Then let us make use of this reasoning faculty in the case of our Maker
and Saviour, and let us recognise what belongs to His Godhead and what to His
manhood.

Eran.-But by doing this we shall destroy the supreme union.

Orth.-In the case of Isaac, of the prophets, of the man sick of the palsy, and
of the rest, we did so without destroying the natural union of the soul and of
the body; we did not even separate the souls from their proper bodies, but by
reason alone distinguished what belonged to the soul and what to the body. Is it
not then monstrous that while we take this course in the case of souls and
bodies, we should refuse to do so in the caseof our Saviour, and confound
natures which differ not in the same proportion as soul from body, but in as
vast a degree as the temporal from the eternal and the Creator from the created?

Eran.-The divine Scripture says that the Son of God underwent the passion.

Orth.-We deny that it was suffered by any other, but none the less, taught by
the divine Scripture, we know that the nature of the Godhead is impassible. We
are told of impassibility and of passion, of manhood and of Godhead, and we
therefore attribute the passion to the passible body, and confess that no
passion was undergone by the nature that was impassible.

Eran.-Then a body won our salvation for us.

Orth.-Yes; but not a mere man's body, but that of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
only begotten Son of God. If you regard this body as insignificant and of small
account, how can you hold its type to be an object of worship and a means of
salvation? and how can the archetype be contemptible and insignificant of that
of which the type is adorable and honourable?

Eran.-I do not look on the body as of small account, but I object to dividing it
from the Godhead.

Orth.-We, my good sir, do not divide the union but we regard the peculiar
properties of the natures, and I am sure that in a moment you will take the same
view.

Eran.-You talk like a prophet.

Orth.-No; not like a prophet, but as knowing the power of truth. But now answer
me this. When you hear the Lord saying "I and my Father are one," and "He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father,"19 do you say that this refers to the flesh
or to the Godhead?

Eran.-How can the flesh and the Father possibly be of one substance?

Orth.-Then these passages indicate the Godhead?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And so with the text, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was
God,"20 and the like.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Again when the divine Scripture says. "Jesus therefore being wearied with
his journey sat thus on the well,"21 of what is the weariness to be understood,
of the Godhead or of the body?

Eran.-I cannot bear to divide what is united.

Orth.-Then it seems you attribute the weariness to the divine nature?

Eran.-I think so.

Orth.-But then yon directly contradict the exclamation of the prophet "He
fainteth not neither is weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He
giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength."22 And a little further on "But they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run
and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint."23 Now how can He who
bestows upon others the boon of freedom from weariness and want, possibly be
himself subject to hunger and thirst?

Eran.-I have said over and over again that God is impassible, and free from all
want, but after the incarnation He became capable of suffering.

Orth.-But did He do this by admitting the sufferings in His Godhead, or by
permitting the passible nature to undergo its natural sufferings and by
suffering proclaim that what was seen was no unreality, but was really assumed
of human nature? But now let us look at the matter thus: we say that the divine
nature was uncircumscribed.

Eran.-Aye.

Orth.-And uncircumscribed nature is circumscribed by none.

Eran.-Of course not.

Orth.-It therefore needs no transition for it is everywhere.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And that which needs no transition needs not to travel.

Eran.-That is clear.

Orth.-And that which does not travel does not grow weary.

Eran.-No.

Orth.-It follows then that the divine nature, which is uncircumscribed, and
needs not to travel, was not weary.

Eran.-But the divine Scripture says that Jesus was weary, and Jesus is God; "And
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things."24

Orth.-But the exact expression of the divine Scripture is that Jesus "was
wearied" not "is wearied."25 We must consider how one and the other can be
applied to the sameperson.

Eran.-Well; try to point this out, for you are always for forcing on us the
distinctionof terms.

Orth.-I think that even a barbarian might easily make this distinction. The
union of unlike natures being conceded, the person of Christ on account of the
union receives both; to each nature its own properties are attributed; to the
uncircumscribed immunity from weariness, to that which is capable of transition
and travel weariness. For travelling is the function of the feet; of the muscles
to be strained by over exercise.

Eran.-There is no controversy about these being bodily affections.

Orth.-Well then; the prediction which I made, and you scoffed at, has come true;
for look; you have shewn us what belongs to manhood, and what belongs to
Godhead.

Eran.-But I have not divided one son into two.

Orth.-Nor do we, my friend; but giving heed to the difference of the natures, we
consider what befits godhead, and what is proper to a body.

Eran.-This distinction is not the teaching of the divine Scripture; it says that
the Son of God died. So the Apostle;-"For if when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son."26 And he says that the Lord was
raised from the dead for "God" he says "raised the Lord from the dead."27

Orth.-And when the divine Scripture says "And devout men carried Stephen to his
burial and made great lamentation over him"28 would any one say that his soul
was committed to the grave as well as his body?

Eran.-Of course not.

Orth.-And when you hear the Patriarch Jacob saying "Bury me with my Fathers."29
do you suppose this refers to the body or to the soul?

Eran.-To the body; without question.

Orth.-Now read what follows.

Eran.-"There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and
Rebekah his wife and there I buried Leah."30

Orth.-Now, in the passages which you have just read, the divine Scripture makes
no mention of the body, but as far as the words used go, signifies soul as well
as body. We however make the proper distinction and say that the souls of the
patriarchs were immortal, and that only their bodies were buried in the double
cave.31

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And when we read in the Acts how Herod slew James the brother of John with
a sword,32 we are not likely to hold that his soul died.

Eran.-No; how could we? We remember the Lord's warning "Fear not them which kill
the body but are not able to kill the soul."33

Orth.-But does it not seem to you impious and monstrous in the case of mere men
to avoid the invariable connexion of soul and body, and in the case of
scriptural references to death and burial, to distinguish in thought the soul
from the body and connect them only with the body, while in trust in the
teaching of the Lord you hold the soul to be immortal, and then when you hear of
the passion of the Son of God to follow quite a different course? Are you
justified in making no mention of the body to which the passion belongs, and in
representing the divine nature which is impassible, immutable and immortal as
mortal and passible? While all the while you know that if the nature of God the
Word is capable of suffering, the assumption of the body was superfluous.

Eran.-We have learnt from the Divine Scriptures that the Son of God suffered.

Orth.-But the divine apostle interprets the Passion, and shews what nature
suffered.

Eran.-Show me this at once and clear the matter up.

Orth.-Are you not acquainted with the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews in
which the divine Paul34 says "For which cause He is not ashamed to call them
brethren saying `I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the
Church will I sing praise unto Thee.' And again, `Behold I and the children
which God hath given me.'"35 Eran.-Yes, I know this, but this does not give us
what you promised.

Orth.-Yes: even these suggest what I promised to shew. The word brotherhood
signifies kinship, and the kinship is due to the assumption of the nature, and
the assumption openly proclaims the impassibility of the Godhead. But to
understand this the more plainly read what follows.

Eran.-"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same that through death He might destroy him
that hath the power of death ...and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their life subject to bondage."36 Orth.-This, I think, needs no explanation;
it teaches clearly the mystery of the oeconomy.

Eran.-I see nothing here of what you promised to prove.

Orth.-Yet the divine Apostle teaches plainly that the Creator, pitying this
nature not only seized cruelly by death, but throughout all life made death's
slave, effected the resurrection through a body for our bodies, and, by means of
a mortal body, undid the dominion of death; for since His own nature was
immortal He righteously wished to stay the sovereignty of death by taking the
first fruits of them that were subject to death, and while He kept these first
fruits (i.e. the body) blameless and free from sin, on the one hand He gave
death license to lay hands on it and so satisfy its insatiability, while on the
other, for the sake of the wrong done to this body, he put a stop to the
unrighteous sovereignty usurped over all the rest of men. These firstfruits
unrighteously engulfed He raised again and will make the race to follow them.

Set this explanation side by side with the words of the Apostle, and you will
understand the impassibility of the Godhead.

Eran.-In what has been read there is no proof of the divine impassibility.

Orth.-Nay: does not the statement of the divine Apostle, that the reason of His
making the children partakers of the flesh and blood was that through death He
might destroy him that hath the power of death, distinctly signify the
impassibility of the Godhead, and the passibility of the flesh, and that because
the divine nature could not suffer He assumed the nature that could and through
it destroyed the power of the devil?

Eran.-How did He destroy the power of the devil and the dominion of death
through the flesh?

Orth.-What arms did the devil use at the beginning when he enslaved the nature
of men?

Eran.-The means by which he took captive him who had been constituted citizen of
Paradise, was sin.

Orth.-And what punishment did God assign for the transgression of the
commandment?

Eran.-Death.

Orth.-Then sin is the mother of death, and the devil its father.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-War then was waged against human nature by sin. Sin seduced them that
obeyed it to slavery, brought them to its vile father, and delivered them to its
very bitter offspring.

Eran.-That is plain.

Orth.-So with reason the Creator, with the intention of destroying either power,
assumed the nature against which war was being waged, and, by keeping it clear
of all sin, both set it free from the sovereignty of the devil, and, by its
means, destroyed the devil's dominion. For since death is the punishment of
sinners, and death unrighteously and against the divine law seized the sinless
body of the Lord, He first raised up that which was unlawfully detained, and
then promised release to them that were with justice imprisoned.

Eran.-But how do you think it just that the resurrection of Him who was
unlawfully detained should be shared by the bodies which had been righteously
delivered to death?

Orth.-And how do you think it just that, when it was Adam who transgressed the
commandment, his race should follow their forefather?

Eran.-Although the race had not participated in the famous transgression, yet it
committed other sins, and for this cause incurred death.

Orth.-Yet not sinners only but just men, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and men
who have shone bright in many kinds of virtue have come into death's meshes.

Eran.-Yes; for how could a family sprung of mortal parents remain immortal? Adam
after the transgression and the divine sentence, and after coming under the
power of death, knew his wife, and was called father; having himself become
mortal he was made father of mortals; reasonably then all who have received
mortal nature follow their forefather.

Orth.-You have shewn very well the reason of our being partakers of death. The
same however must be granted about the resurrection, for the remedy must be meet
for the disease. When the head of the race was doomed, all the race was doomed
with him, and so when the Saviour destroyed the curse, human nature won freedom;
and just as they that shared Adam's nature followed him in his going down into
Hades, so all the nature of men will share in newness of life with the Lord
Christ in His resurrection.

Eran.-The decrees of the Church must be given not only declaratorily but
demonstratively. Tell me then how these doctrines are taught in the divine
Scripture.

Orth.-Listen to the Apostle writing to the Romans, and through them teaching all
mankind: "For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of
God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto
justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in
life by one, Jesus Christ"37 and again: "Therefore as by the offence of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous."38 And when introducing to the Corinthians his argument about
the resurrection he shortly reveals to them the mystery of the oeconomy, and
says: "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them
which slept. For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."39
So I have brought you proofs from the divine oracles. Now look at what belongs
to Adam compared with what belongs to Christ, the disease with the remedy, the
wound with the salve, the sin with the wealth of righteousness, the ban with the
blessing, the doom with the delivery, the transgression with the observance, the
death with the life, hell with the kingdom, Adam with Christ, the man with the
Man. And yet the Lord Christ is not only man but eternal God, but the divine
Apostle names Him from the nature which He assumed, because it is in this nature
that he compares Him with Adam. The justification, the struggle, the victory,
the death, the resurrection are all of this human nature; it is this nature
which we share with Him; in this nature they who have exercised themselves
beforehand in the citizenship of the kingdom shall reign with Him. Of this
nature I spoke, not dividing the Godhead, but referring to what is proper to the
manhood.

Eran.-You have gone through long discussions on this point, and have
strengthened your argument by scriptural testimony, but if the passion was
really of the flesh, how is it that when he praises the divine love to men, the
Apostle exclaims, "He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us
all,"40 what son does he say was delivered up?

Orth.-Watch well your words. There is one Son of God, wherefore He is called
only begotten.

Eran.-If then there is one Son of God, the divine Apostle called him own Son.

Orth.-True.

Eran.-Then he says that He was delivered up.

Orth.-Yes, but not without a body, as we have agreed again and again.

Eran.-It has been agreed again and again that He took body and soul.

Orth.-Therefore the Apostle spoke of what relates to the body.

Eran.-The divide Apostle says distinctly "Who spared not his own Son."

Orth.-When then you hear God saying to Abraham "Because thou hast not withheld
thy son thy only son,"41 do you allege that Isaac was slain?

Eran.-Of course not.

Orth.-And yet God said "Thou hast not withheld," and the God of all is true.

Eran.-The expression "thou hast not withheld" refers to the readiness of
Abraham, for he was ready to sacrifice the lad, but God prevented it.

Orth.-Well; in the story of Abraham you were not content with the letter, but
unfolded it and made the meaning clear. In precisely the same manner examine the
meaning of the words of the Apostle. Your will then see that it was by no means
the divine nature which was not withheld, but the flesh nailed to the Cross. And
it is easy to perceive the truth even in the type. Do you regard Abraham's
sacrifice as a type of the oblation offered on behalf of the world?

Eran.-Not at all, nor yet can I make words spoken rhetorically in the churches a
rule of faith.

Orth.-You ought by all means to follow teachers of the Church, but, since you
improperly oppose yourself to these, hear the Saviour Himself when addressing
the Jews; "Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was
glad."42 Note that the Lord calls His passion "a day."

Eran.-I accept the Lord's testimony and do not doubt the type.

Orth.-Now compare the type with the reality and you will see the impassibility
of the Godhead even in the type. Both in the former and in the latter there is a
Father; both in the former and the latter a well beloved Son, each bearing the
material for the sacrifice. The one bore the wood, the other the cross upon his
shoulders. It is said that the top of the hill was dignified by the sacrifice of
both. There is a correspondence moreover between the number of days and nights
and the resurrection which followed, for after Isaac had been slain by his
father's willing heart, on the third day after the bountiful God had ordered the
deed to be done, he rose to new life at the voice of Him who loves mankind.43 A
lamb was seen caught in a thicket, furnishing an image of the cross, and slain
instead of the lad. Now if this is a type of the reality, and in the type the
only begotten Son did not undergo sacrifice, but a lamb was substituted and laid
upon the altar and completed the mystery of the oblation, why then in the
reality do you hesitate to assign the passion to the flesh, and to proclaim the
impassibility of the Godhead?

Eran.-In your observations upon this type you represent Isaac as living again at
the divine command. There is nothing therefore unseemly if, fitting the reality
to the type, we declare that God the Word suffered and came to life again.

Orth.-I have said again and again that it is quite impossible for the type to
match the archetypal reality in every respect, and this may also be easily
understood in the present instance. Isaac and the lamb, as touching the
difference of their natures, suit the image, but as touching the separation of
their divided persons44 they do so no longer. We preach so close an union of
Godhead and of manhood as to understand one person45 undivided, and to
acknowledge the same to be both God and man, visible and invisible,
circumscribed and uncircumcscribed, and we apply to one of the persons all the
attributes which are indicative alike of Godhead and of manhood. Now since the
lamb, an unreasoning being, and not gifted with the divine image,46 could not
possibly prefigure the restoration to life, the two divide between them the type
of the mystery of the oeconomy, and while one furnishes the image of death, the
other supplies that of the resurrection. We find precisely the same thing in the
Mosaic sacrifices, for in them too may. be seen a type outlined in anticipation
of the passion of salvation.

Eran.-What Mosaic sacrifice foreshadows the reality?

Orth.-All the Old Testament, so to say, is a type of the New. It is for this
reason that the divine Apostle plainly says-"the Law having a shadow of good
things to come"47 and again "now all these things happened unto them for
ensamples."48 The image of the archetype is very distinctly exhibited by the
lamb slain in Egypt, and by the red heifer burned without the camp, and moreover
referred to by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he writes
"Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate."49 But of this no more for the present. I will
however mention the sacrifice in which two goats were offered, the one being
slain, and the other let go.50 In these two goats there is an anticipative image
of the two natures of the Saviour;-in the one let go, of the impassible Godhead,
in the one slain, of the passible manhood.

Eran.-Do you not think it irreverent to liken the Lord to goats?

Orth.-Which do you think is a fitter object of avoidance and hate, a serpent or
a goat?

Eran.-A serpent is plainly hateful, for it injuries those who come within its
reach, and often hurts people who do it no harm. A goat on the other hand comes,
according to the Law, in the list of animals that are clean and may be eaten.

Orth.-Now hear the Lord likening the passion of salvation to the brazen serpent.
He says: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son
of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life."51 If a brazen serpent was a type of the crucified Saviour, of
what impropriety are we guilty in comparing the passion of salvation with the
sacrifice of the goats?

Eran.-Because John called the Lord "a lamb,"52 and Isaiah called Him "lamb" and
"sheep."53

Orth.-But the blessed Paul calls Him "sin"54 and "curse."55 As curse therefore
He satisfies the type of the accursed serpent; as sin He explains the figure of
the sacrifice of the goats, for on behalf of sin, in the Law, a goat, and not a
lamb, was offered. So the Lord in the Gospels likened the just to lambs, but
sinners to kids;56 and since He was ordained to undergo the passion not only on
behalf of just men, but also of sinners, He appropriately foreshadows His own
offering through lambs and goats.

Eran.-But the type of the two goats leads us to think of two persons.

Orth.-The passibility of the manhood and the impassibility of the Godhead could
not possibly be prefigured both at once by one goat. The one which was slain
could not have shewn the living nature. So two were taken in order to explain
the two natures. The same lesson may well be learnt from another sacrifice.

Eran.-From which?

Orth.-From that in which the lawgiver bids two pure birds be offered-one to be
slain, and the other, after having been dipped in the blood of the slain, to be
let go. Here also we see a type of the Godhead and of the manhood-of the manhood
slain and of the godhead appropriating the passion.

Eran.-You have given us many types, but I object to enigmas.

Orth.-Yet the divine Apostle says that the narratives are types.57 Hagar is
called a type of the old covenant; Sarah is likened to the heavenly Jerusalem;
Ishmael is a type of Israel, and Isaac of the new people. So you must accuse the
loud trumpet of the Spirit for giving its enigmas for us all.

Eran.-Though you urge any number of arguments, you will never induce me to
divide the passion. I have heard the voice of the angel saying to Mary and her
companions, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay."58

Orth.-This is quite in accordance with our common customs; we speak of the part
by the name which belongs to all the parts. When we go into the churches where
are buried the holy apostles or prophets or martyrs, we ask from time to time,
"Who is it who lies in the shrine?" and those who are able to give us
information say in reply, Thomas, it may be, the Apostle,59 or John the
Baptist,60 or Stephen the protomartyr,61 or any other of the saints, mentioning
them by name, though perhaps only a few scanty relics of them lie here. But no
one who hears these names which are common to both body and soul will imagine
that the souls also are shut up in the chests; everybody knows that the chests
contain only the bodies or even small portions of the bodies. The holy angel
spoke in precisely the same manner when he described the body by the name of the
person.

Eran.-But how can you prove that the angel spoke to the women about the Lord's
body?

Orth.-In the first place, the tomb itself suffices to settle the question, for
to a tomb is committed neither soul nor Godhead whose nature is uncircumscribed;
tombs are made for bodies. Furthermore this is plainly taught by the divine
Scripture, for so the holy Matthew narrates the event, "When the even was come
there came a rich man of Arimathaea named Joseph who also himself was Jesus'
disciple: he went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded
the body to be delivered, and when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a
clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the
rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed."62
See how often he mentions the body in order to stop the mouths of them who
blaspheme the Godhead. The same course is pursued by the thrice blessed Mark,
whose narrative I will also quote. "And now when the even was come, because it
was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea,
an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and
went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled
if He were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him
whether He had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he
gave the body to Joseph, and he brought fine linen, and took him down, and
wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre,"63 and so on. Observe
with admiration, the harmony of terms, and how consistently and continuously the
word body is introduced. The illustrious Luke, too, relates just in the same way
how Joseph begged the body and after he had received it treated it with due
rites.64 By the divine John we are told yet more, "Joseph of Arimathaea being a
disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he
might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore
and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first
came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred
pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes
with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He
was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was
never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews'
preparation day, for the sepulchre was nigh at band."65 Observe how often
mention is made of the body; how the Evangelist shows that it was the body which
was nailed to the cross, the body begged by Joseph of Pilate, the body taken
down from the tree, the body wrapped in linen clothes with the myrrh and aloes,
and then the name of the person given to it; and Jesus said to have been laid in
a tomb. Thus the angel said, "Come see the place where the Lord lay,"66 naming
the part by the name of the whole; and we constantly do just the same. In this
place, we say, such an one was buried; not the body of such an one. Every one in
his senses knows that we are speaking of the body, and such a mode of speech is
customary in divine Scripture. Aaron, we read, died and they buried him on Mount
Hor.67 Samuel died and they buried him at Ramah,68 and there are many similar
instances. The same use is followed by the divine Apostle when speaking of the
death of the Lord. "I delivered unto you first of all," he writes, "that which I
also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and
that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures,"69 and so on.

Eran.-In the passages we have just now read the Apostle does not mention a body,
but Christ the Saviour of us all. You have brought evidence against your own
side, and wounded yourself with your own weapon.

Orth.-You seem to have very quickly forgotten the long discourse in which I
proved to you over and over again that the body is spoken of by the name of the
person. This is what is now done by the divine Apostle, and it can easily be
proved from this very passage. Now let us look at it. Why did the divine writer
write thus to the Corinthians?

Eran.-They had been deceived by some into believing that there is no
resurrection. When the teacher of the world learnt this he furnished them with
his arguments about the resurrection of the bodies.

Orth.-Why then does he introduce the resurrection of the Lord, when he wishes to
prove the resurrection of the bodies?

Eran.-As sufficient to prove the resurrection of us all.

Orth.-In what is His death like the death of the rest; that by His resurrection
may be proved the resurrection of all?

Eran.-The reason of the incarnation, suffering, and death of the only begotten
Son of God, was that He might destroy death. Thus, after rising, by His own
resurrection He preaches the resurrection of all.

Orth.-But who, hearing of a resurrection of God, would ever believe that the
resurrection of all men would be exactly like it? The difference of the natures
does not allow of our believing in the argument of the resurrection. He is God
and they are men, and the difference between God and men is incalculable. They
are mortal, and subject to death, like to the grass and to the flower. He is
almighty.

Eran.-But after His incarnation God the Word had a body, and through this He
proved His likeness to men.

Orth.-Yes; and for this reason the suffering and the death and the resurrection
are all of the body, and in proof of this the divine Apostle in another place
promises renewal of life to all, and to them that believe in the resurrection of
their Saviour, yet look upon the general resurrection of all as fable, he
exclaims, "Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen, and if Christ he not risen
...your faith is vain, you are yet ill your sins."70 And from the past he
confirms the future, and from what is disbelieved he disproves what is believed,
for he says, If the one seems impossible to you, then the other will be false;
if the one seems real and true, then let the other in like manner seem true, for
here too a resurrection of the body is preached, and this body is called the
first fruits of those. The resurrection of this body after many arguments he
affirms directly, "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the
firstfruits of them that slept, for since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive,"71 and he does not only confirm the argument of the
resurrection, but also reveals the mystery of the oeconomy. He calls Christ man
that he may prove the remedy to be appropriate to the disease.

Eran.-Then the Christ is only a man.

Orth.-God forbid. On the contrary, we have again and again confessed that He is
not only man but eternal God. But He suffered as man, not as God. And this the
divine Apostle clearly teaches us when he says "For since by man came death, by
man came also the resurrection of the dead."72 And in his letter to the
Thessalonians, he strengthens his argument concerning the general resurrection
by that of our Saviour in the passage "For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."73

Eran.-The Apostle proves the general resurrection by means of the Lord's
resurrection, and it is clear that in this case also what died and rose was a
body. For he would never have attempted to prove the general resurrection by its
means unless there had been some relation between the substance of the one and
the other. I shall never consent to apply the passion to the human nature alone.
It seems agreeable to my view to say that God the Word died in the flesh.

Orth.-We have frequently shewn that what is naturally immortal can in no way
die. If then He died He was not immortal; and what perils lie in the blasphemy
of the words.

Eran.-He is by nature immortal, but He became man and suffered.

Orth.-Therefore He underwent change, for how otherwise could He being immortal
submit to death? But we have agreed that the substance of the Trinity is
immutable. Having therefore a nature superior to change, He by no means shared
death.

Eran.-The divine Peter says "Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh."74
Orth.-This agrees with what we have said, for we have learnt the rule of dogmas
from the divine Scripture.

Eran.-How then can you deny that God the Word suffered in the flesh?

Orth.-Because we have not found this expression in the divine Scripture.

Eran.-But I have just quoted you the utterance of the great Peter.

Orth.-You seem to ignore the distinction of the terms.

Eran.-What terms? Do you not regard the Lord Christ as God the Word?

Orth.-The term Christ in the case of our Lord and Saviour signifies the
incarnate Word the Immanuel, God with us,75 both God and man, but the term "God
the Word" so said signifies the simple nature before the world, superior to
time, and incorporeal. Wherefore the Holy Ghost that spake through the holy
Apostles nowhere attributes passion or death to this name.

Eran.-If the passion is attributed to the Christ, and God the Word after being
made man was called Christ, I hold that he who states God the Word to have
suffered in the flesh is in no way unreasonable.

Orth.-Hazardous and rash in the extreme is such an attempt. But let us look at
the question in this way. Does the divine Scripture state God the Word to be of
God and of the Father?

Eran.-True.

Orth.-And it describes the Holy Ghost as being in like manner of God?

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-But it calls God the Word only begotten Son.

Eran.-It does.

Orth.-It nowhere so names the Holy Ghost.

Eran.-No.

Orth.-Yet the Holy Ghost also has Its subsistence of the Father and God.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-We grant then that both the Son and the Holy Ghost are both of God the
Father; but would you dare to call the Holy Ghost Son?

Eran.-Certainly not.

Orth.-Why?

Eran.-Because I do not find this term in the divine Scripture.

Orth.-Or begotten?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-Wherefore?

Eran.-Because I no more learn this in the divine Scripture.

Orth.-But what name can properly be given to that which is neither begotten nor
created?

Eran.-We style it uncreated and unbegotten.

Orth.-And we say that the Holy Ghost is neither created nor begotten.

Eran.-By no means.

Orth.-Would you then dare to call the Holy Ghost unbegotten?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-But why refuse to call that which is naturally uncreate, but not begotten,
unbegotten?

Eran.-Because I have not learnt so from the divine Scripture, and I am greatly
afraid of saying, or using language which Scripture does not use.

Orth.-Then, my good sir, I maintain the same caution in the case of the passion
of salvation; do you too avoid all the divine names which Scripture has avoided
in the case of the passion, and do not attribute the passion to them.

Eran.-What names?

Orth.-The passion is never connected with the name "God."

Eran.-But even I do not affirm that God the Word suffered apart from a body, but
say that He suffered in flesh.

Orth.-You affirm then a mode of passion, not impassibility. No one would ever
say this even in the case of a human body. For who not altogether out of his
senses would say that the soul of Paul died in flesh? This could never be said
even in the case of a great villain; for the souls even of the wicked are
immortal. We say that such or such a murderer has been slain, but no one would
ever say that his soul had been killed in the flesh. But if we describe the
souls of murderers and violators of sepulchres as free from death, far more
right is it to acknowledge as immortal the soul of our Saviour, in that it never
tasted sin. If the souls of them who have most greatly erred have escaped death
on account of their nature, how could that soul, whose nature was immortal and
who never received the least taint of sin, have taken death's hook?

Eran.-It is quite useless for you to give me all these long arguments. We are
agreed that the soul of the Saviour is immortal.

Orth.-But of what punishment are you not deserving, you who say that the soul,
which is by nature created, is immortal, and are for making the divine substance
mortal for the Word; you who deny that the soul of the Saviour tasted death in
the flesh, and dare to maintain that God the Word, Creator of all things,
underwent the passion?

Eran.-We say that lie underwent the passion impassibly.

Orth.-And what man in his senses would ever put up with such ridiculous riddles?
Who ever heard of an impassible passion, or of an immortal mortality? The
impassible has never undergone passion, and what has undergone passion could not
possibly be impassible. But we hear the exclamation of the divine Paul: "Who
only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no than can approach unto."76
Eran.-Why then do we say that the invisible powers too and the souls of men, aye
and the very devils, are immortal?

Orth.-We do say so; that God is absolutely immortal. He is immortal not by
partaking of substance, but in substance; He does not possess an immortality
which He has received of another. It is He Himself who has bestowed their
immortality on the angels and on them that thou hast just now mentioned. How,
moreover, when the divine Paul styles Him immortal and says that He only hath
immortality, can you attribute to Him the passion of death?

Eran.-We say that He tasted death after the incarnation.

Orth.-But over and over again we have confessed Him immutable. If being
previously immortal He afterwards underwent death through the flesh, a change
having preceded His undergoing death; if His life left Him for three days and
three nights, how do such statements fall short of the most extreme impiety? For
I think that not even they that are struggling against impiety can venture to
let such words fall from their lips without peril.

Eran.-Cease from charging us with impiety. Even we say that not the divine
nature suffered but the human; but we do say that the divine shared with the
body in suffering.

Orth.-What can you mean by sharing in suffering? Do you mean that when the nails
were driven into the body the divine nature felt the sense of pain?

Eran.-I do.

Orth.-Both now and in our former investigations we have shewn that the soul does
not share all the faculties of the body but that the body while it receives
vital force has the sense of suffering through the soul. And even supposing us
to grant that the soul shares in pain with the body we shall none the less find
the divine nature to be impassible, for it was not united to the body instead of
a soul. Or do you not acknowledge that He assumed a soul?

Eran.-I have often acknowledged it.

Orth.-And that He assumed a reasonable Soul?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-If then together with the body He assumed the soul, and we grant that the
soul shared in suffering with the body, then the soul, not the Godhead, shared
the passion with the body; it shared the passion, receiving pangs by means of
the body. But possibly somebody might agree to the soul sharing suffering with
the body, but might deny its sharing death, because of its having an immortal
nature. On this account the Lord said "Fear not them which kill the body but are
not able to kill the soul."77 If then we deny that the soul of the Saviour
shared death with the body, how could any one accept the blasphemy you and your
friends presumptuously promulgate when you dare to say that the divine nature
participated in death? This is the more inexcusable when the Lord points out at
one time that the body78 was being offered, at another that the soul was being
troubled.79

Eran.-And where doth the Lord shew that the body was being offered? Or are you
going to bring me once more that well worn passage "Destroy this temple and in
three days I will raise it up"?80 Or with your conceited self-sufficiency are
you going to quote me the words of the Evangelist? "But He spake of the temple
of his body. When therefore He was risen from the dead His disciples remembered
that He had said this unto them and they believed the Scripture and the words
which He had said."81

Orth.-If you have such a detestation of the divine words which preach the
mystery of the incarnation, why, like Marcion and Valentinus and Manes, do you
not destroy texts of this kind? For this is what they have done. But if this
seems to you rash and impious, do not turn the Lord's words into ridicule, but
rather follow the Apostles in their belief after the resurrection that the
Godhead raised again the temple which the Jews had destroyed.

Eran.-If you have any good evidence to adduce, give over gibing and fulfil your
promise.

Orth.-Remember specially those words of the gospels in which the Lord made a
comparison between manna and the true bread.

Eran.-I remember.

Orth.-In that passage after speaking at some length about the bread of life, he
added, "The bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of
the world."82 In these words may be understood alike the bounty of the Godhead
and the boon of the flesh.

Eran.-One quotation is not enough to settle the question.

Orth.-The Ethiopian eunuch had not read much of the Bible, but when he had found
one witness from the prophets he was guided by it to salvation. But not all
Apostles and prophets and all the preachers of the truth who have lived since
then are enough to convince you. Nevertheless I will bring you some further
testimony about the Lord's body. You cannot but know that passage in the Gospel
history where, after eating the passover with His disciples, our Lord pointed to
the death of the typical lamb and taught what body corresponded with that
shadow.83 Eran.-Yes I know it.

Orth.-Remember then what it was which our Lord took and broke, and what He
called it when He had taken it.

Eran.-I will answer in mystic language for the sake of the uninitiated. After
taking and breaking it and giving it to His disciples He said, "This is my body
which was given for you"84 or according to the apostle "broken"85 and again,
"This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many."86 Orth.-Then
when exhibiting the type of the passion He did not mention the Godhead?

Eran.-No.

Orth.-But He did mention the body and blood.

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-And the body was nailed to the Cross?

Eran.-Even so.

Orth.-Come, then; look at this. When after the resurrection the doors were shut
and the Lord came to the holy disciples and beheld them affrighted, what means
did He use to destroy their fear and instead of fear to infuse faith?

Eran.-He said to them "Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself; handle
me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have."87 Orth.-So
when they disbelieved He shewed them the body?

Eran.-He did.

Orth.-Therefore the body rose?

Eran.-Clearly.

Orth.-And I suppose what rose was what had died?

Eran.-Even so.

Orth.-And what had died was what was nailed to the cross?

Eran.-Of necessity.

Orth.-Then according to your own argument the body suffered?

Eran.-Your series of arguments forces us to this conclusion.

Orth.-Consider this too. Now I will be questioner, and do you answer as becomes
a lover of the truth.

Eran.-I will answer.

Orth.-When the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles, and that wonderful sight
and sound collected thousands to the house, what did the chief of the apostles
in the speech he then made say concerning the Lord's resurrection?

Eran.-He quoted the divine David, and said that he had received promises from
God that the Lord Christ should be born of the fruit of his loins and that in
trust in these promises he prophetically foresaw His resurrection, and plainly
said that His soul was not left in Hades and that His flesh did not see
corruption.88 Orth.-His resurrection therefore is of these.

Eran.-How can any one in his senses say that there is a resurrection of the soul
which never died?

Orth.-How comes it that you who attribute the passion, the death and the
resurrection to the immutable and uncircumscribed Godhead have suddenly appeared
before us in your right mind and now object to connecting the word resurrection
with the soul?

Eran.-Because the word resurrection is applicable to what has fallen.

Orth.-But the body does not obtain resurrection apart from a soul, but being
renewed by the divine will, and conjoined with its yokefellow, it receives life.
Was it not thus that the Lord raised Lazarus?

Eran.-It is plain that not the body alone rises.

Orth.-This is more distinctly taught by the divine Ezekiel,89 for he points out
how the Lord commanded the bones to come together, and how all of them were duly
fitted together, and how He made sinews and veins and arteries grow with all the
flesh pertaining to them and the skin that clothes them all, and then ordered
the souls to come back to their own bodies.

Eran.-This is true.

Orth.-But the Lord's body did not undergo this corruption, but remained
unimpaired, and on the third day recovered its own soul.

Eran.-Agreed.

Orth.-Then the death was of what had suffered?

Eran.-Without question.

Orth.-And when the great Peter mentioned the resurrection, and the divine David
too, they said that His soul was not left in Hell, but that His body did not
undergo corruption?

Eran.-They did.

Orth.-Then it was not the Godhead which underwent death, but the body by
severance from the soul?

Eran.-I cannot brook these absurdities.

Orth.-But you are fighting against your own arguments; it is your own words
which you are calling absurd.

Eran.-You slander me; not one of these words is mine.

Orth.-Suppose any one to ask what is the animal which is at once reasonable and
mortal, and suppose some one else to answer-man; which of the two would you call
interpreter of the saying? The questioner or the answerer?

Eran.-The answerer.

Orth.-Then I was quite right in calling the arguments yours? For you, I ween, in
your answers, by rejecting some points and accepting others, confirmed them.

Eran.-Then I will not answer any longer; do you answer.

Orth.-I will answer.

Eran.-What do you say to those words of the Apostle "Had they known it they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory"?90 in this passage he mentions
neither body nor soul.

Orth.-Therefore you must not put the words "in the flesh" in it,-for this is
your ingenious invention for decrying the Godhead of the Word-but must attribute
the passion to the bare Godhead of the Word.

Eran.-No; no. He suffered in the flesh, but His incorporeal nature was not
capable of suffering by itself.

Orth.-Ah! but nothing must be added to the Apostle's words.

Eran.-When we know the Apostle's meaning there is nothing absurd in adding what
is left out.

Orth.-But to add anything to the divine words is wild and rash. To explain what
is written and reveal the hidden meaning is holy and pious.

Eran.-Quite right.

Orth.-We two then shall do nothing unreasonable and unholy in examining the mind
of the Scriptures.

Eran.-No.

Orth.-Let us then look together into what seems to be hidden.

Eran.-By all means.

Orth.-Did the great Paul call the divine James the Lord's brother?91

Eran.-He did.

Orth.-But in what sense are we to regard him as brother? By relationship of His
godhead or of His manhood?

Eran.-I will not consent to divide the united natures.

Orth.-But you have often divided them in our previous investigations, and yon
shall do the same thing now. Tell me; do you say that God the Word was only
begotten Son?

Eran.-I do.

Orth.-And only begotten means only Son.

Eran.-Certainly.

Orth.-And the only begotten cannot have a brother?

Eran.-Of course not, for if He had had a brother He would not be called the only
begotten.

Orth.-Then they were wrong in calling James the brother of the Lord. For the
Lord was only begotten, and the only begotten cannot have a brother.

Eran.-No, but the Lord is not incorporeal and the proclaimers of the truth are
referring only to what touches the godhead.

Orth.-How then would you prove the word of the apostle true?

Eran.-By saying that James was of kin with the Lord according to the flesh.

Orth.-See how you have brought in again that division which you object to.

Eran.-It was not possible to explain the kinship in any other way.

Orth.-Then do not find fault with those who cannot explain similar difficulties
in any other way.

Eran.-Now you are getting the argument off the track because you want to shirk
the question.

Orth.-Not at all, my friend. That will be settled too by the points we have
investigated. Now look; when you were reminded of James the brother of the Lord,
you said that the relationship referred not to the Godhead but to the flesh.

Eran.-I did.

Orth.-Well, now that you are told of the passion of the cross, refer this too to
the flesh.

Eran.-The Apostle called the crucified "Lord of Glory,"92 and the same Apostle
called the Lord "brother of James."

Orth.-And it is the same Lord in both cases. If then you are right in referring
the relationship to the flesh you must also refer the passion to the flesh, for
it is perfectly ridiculous to regard the relationship without distinction and to
refer the passion to Christ without distinction.

Eran.-I follow the Apostle who calls the crucified "Lord of glory."

Orth.-I follow too, and believe that He was "Lord of glory." For the body which
was nailed to the wood was not that of any common man but of the Lord of glory.
But we must acknowledge that the union makes the names common. Once more: do you
say that the flesh of the Lord came down from heaven?

Eran.-Of course not.

Orth.-But was formed in the Virgin's womb?

Eran.-Yes.

Orth.-How, then, does the Lord say "If ye shall see the Son of man ascend up
where He was before,"93 and again "No man hath ascended up to heaven but He that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven?"94 Eran.-He is
speaking not of the flesh, but of the Godhead.

Orth.-Yes; but the Godhead is of the God and Father. How then does He call him
Son of man?

Eran.-The peculiar properties of the natures are shared by the person, for on
account of the union the same being is both Son of man and Son of God,
everlasting and of time, Son of David and Lord of David, and so on with the
rest.

Orth.-Very right. But it is also important to recognise the fact that no
confusion of natures results froth both having one name. Wherefore we are
endeavouring to distinguish how the same being is Son of God and also Son of
man, and how He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,"95 and by the
reverent distinction of terms we find that the contradictions are in agreement.

Eran.-You are right.

Orth.-You say that the divine nature came down from heaven and that in
consequence of the union it was called the Son of man. Thus it behoves us to say
that the flesh was nailed to the tree, but to hold that the divine nature even
on the cross and in the tomb was inseparable from this flesh, though from it it
derived no sense of suffering, since the divine nature is naturally incapable of
undergoing both suffering and death and its substance is immortal and
impassible. It is in this sense that the crucified is styled Lord of Glory, by
attribution of the title of the impassible nature to the passible, since, as we
know, a body is described as belonging to this latter.

Now let us examine the matter thus. The words of the divine Apostle are "Had
they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory."96 They crucified
the nature which they knew, not that of which they were wholly ignorant: had
they known that of which they were ignorant they would not have crucified that
which they knew: they crucified the human because they were ignorant of the
divine. Have you forgotten their own words. "For a good work we stone thee not
but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."97
These words are a plain proof that they recognised the nature they saw, while of
the invisible they were wholly ignorant: had they known that nature they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Eran.-That is very probable, but the exposition of the faith laid down by the
Fathers in council at Nicae says that the only begotten Himself, very God, of
one substance with the Father, suffered and was crucified.

Orth.-You seem to forget what we have agreed on again and again.

Eran.-What do you mean?

Orth.-I mean that after the union the holy Scripture applies to one person terms
both of exaltation and of humiliation. But possibly you are also ignorant that
the illustrious Fathers first mentioned His taking flesh and being made man, and
then afterwards added that He suffered and was crucified, and thus spoke of the
passion after they had set forth the nature capable of passion.

Eran.-The Fathers said that the Son of God, Light of Light, of the substance of
the Father, suffered and was crucified.

Orth.-I have observed more than once that both the Divine and the human are
ascribed to the one Person. It is in accordance with this position that the
thrice blessed Fathers, after teaching how we should believe in the Father, and
then passing on to the person of the Son, did not immediately add "and in the
Son of God," although it would have very naturally followed that after defining
what touches God the Father they should straightway bare introduced the name of
Son. But their object was to give us at one and the same time instruction on the
theology and on the oeconomy,98 lest there should be supposed to be any
distinction between the Person of the Godhead and the Person of the Manhood. On
this account they added to their statement concerning the Father that we must
believe also in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now after the incarnation
God the Word is called Christ, for this name includes alike all that is proper
to the Godhead and to the manhood. We recognise nevertheless that some
properties belong to the one nature and some to the others, and this may at once
be understood from the actual terms of the Creed. For tell me: to what do you
apply the phrase "of the substance of the Father"? to the Godhead, or to the
nature that was fashioned of the seed of David?

Eran.-To the Godhead, as is plain.

Orth.-And the clause "Very God of very God"; to which do you hold this belongs,
to the Godhead or to the manhood?

Eran.-To the Godhead.

Orth.-Therefore neither the flesh nor the soul is of one substance with the
Father, for they are created, but the Godhead which formed all things.

Eran.-True.

Orth.-Very well, then. And when we are told of passion and of the cross we must
recognise the nature which submitted to the passion; we must avoid attributing
it to the impassible, and must attribute it to that nature which was assumed for
the distinct purpose of suffering. The acknowledgment on the part of the most
excellent Fathers that the divine nature was impassible; and their attribution
of the passion to the flesh is proved by the conclusion of the creed, which runs
"But they who state there was a time when He was not, and before He was begotten
He was not, and He was made out of the non-existent, or who allege that the Son
of God was of another essence or substance mutable or variable, these the holy
catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes." See then what penalties are
denounced against them that attribute the passion to the divine nature.99
Eran.-They are speaking in this place of mutation and variation.

Orth.-But what is the passion but mutation and variation? For if, being
impassible before His incarnation, He suffered after His incarnation, He
assuredly suffered by undergoing mutation; and if being immortal before He
became man, He tasted death, as you say, after being made man, He underwent a
complete alteration by being made mortal after being immortal. But expressions
of this kind, and their authors with them, have all been expelled by the
illustrious Fathers from the bounds of the Church, and cut off like rotten limbs
from the sound body. We therefore exhort you to fear the punishment and abhor
the blasphemy.

Now I will show you that in their own writings the holy Fathers have held the
opinions we have expressed. Of the witnesses I shall bring forward some took
part in that great Council; some flourished in the Church after their time; some
illuminated the world long before. But their harmony is broken neither by
difference of periods nor by diversity of language; like the harp their strings
are several and separate but like the harp they make one harmonious music.

Eran.-I was anxious for and shall be delighted at such citations. Instruction of
this kind cannot be gainsaid, and is most useful.

Orth.-Now; open your ears and receive the streams that flow from the spiritual
springs.

Testimony of the holy Ignatius, bishop ofAntioch, and martyr. From his Epistle
to the Smyrnaeans:-

"They do not admit Eucharists and oblations, because they do not confess the
Eucharist to be flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins
and which of His goodness the Father raised."100 Testimony of lrenaeus, bishop
of Lyons. From his third book against heresies (Chap. XX.):-

"It is clear then that Paul knew no other Christ save Him that suffered and was
buried and rose and was born, whom he calls man, for after saying, `If Christ be
preached that He rose from the dead,'101 he adds, giving the reason of His
incarnation, `For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of
the dead,'102 and on all occasions in reference to the passion, the manhood and
the dissolution of the Lord, he uses the name of Christ as in the text, `Destroy
not him with thy meat for whom Christ died,'103 and again, `But now in Christ ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ,'104 and again,
`Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'"105 Of the same
from the same work. (Chapter xxi.):-

"For as He was Man that He might be tempted, so was He Word that He might be
glorified. In His temptation, His crucifixion and His dying, the Word was
inoperative; but in His victory, His patience, His goodness, His resurrection
and His assumption it was co-operative with the manhood." Of the same from the
fifth book of the same work:-

"When with His own blood the Lord had ransomed us, and given His soul on behalf
of our souls, and His flesh instead of our flesh." The testimony of the holy
Hippolytus, bishop and martyr. From his letter to a certain Queen:-

"So he calls Him `The firstfruits of them that slept,'106 and `The first born of
the dead.'107 When He had risen and was wishful to show that what had risen was
the same body which died, when the Apostles doubted, He called to Him Thomas and
said `Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me
have.'"108 Of the same from the same letter:-

"By calling Him firstfruits He bore witness to what we have said, that the
Saviour, after taking the flesh of the same material, raised it, making it
firstfruits of the flesh of the just, in order that all we that believe might
have expectation of our resurrection through trust in Him that is risen." Of the
same from his discourse on the two thieves:- "The body of the Lord gave both to
the world,-the holy blood and the sacred water." Of the same from the same
discourse:-

"And the body being, humanly speaking, a corpse, has in itself great power of
life, for there flowed from it what does not flow from dead bodies-blood and
water,-that we might know what vital force lies in the indwelling power in the
body, so that it is a corpse evidently unlike others, and is able to pour forth
for us causes of life."109 Of the same from the same discourse:-

"Not a bone of the holy Lamb is broken. The type shews that the passion cannot
touch the power, for the bones are the power of the body."

Testimony of the holy Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, and confessor. From his
book on the soul:-

"Their impious calumny can be refuted in a few words; they may be right, unless
He voluntarily gave up His own body to the destruction of death for the sake of
the salvation of men. First of all they attribute to Him extraordinary infirmity
in not being able to repel His enemies assault." Of the same from the same
book:-

"Why do they, in the concoction of their earth-born deceits, make much of
proving that the Christ assumed a body without a soul? In order that if they
could seduce any to lay down that this is the case, then, by attributing to the
divine Spirit variations of affection, they might easily persuade them that the
mutable is not begotten of the immutable nature." Of the same from his discourse
on "the Lord created me in the beginning of His ways":110 -

"The man Who died rose on the third day, and, when Mary was eager to lay hold of
His holy limbs, He objected and cried `Touch me not.111 For I am not yet
ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my
Father and your Father and to my God and your God.'112 Now the words `I am not
yet ascended to my Father,' were not spoken by the Word and God, who came down
from heaven, and was in the bosom of the Father, nor by the Wisdom which
contains all created things, but were uttered by the man who was compacted of
various limbs, who had risen from the dead, who had not yet after His death gone
back to the Father, and was reserving for Himself the first fruits of His
progress." Of the same from the same work:-

"As he writes he expressly describes the man who was crucified as Lord of Glory,
declaring Him to be Lord and Christ, just as the Apostles with one voice when
speaking to Israel in the flesh say `Therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ.'113 He so made Jesus Christ who suffered. He did not so make the
Wisdom nor yet the Word who has the might of dominion from the beginning, but
Him who was lifted up on high and stretched out His hands upon the Cross." Of
the same from the same work:-

"For if He is incorporeal and not subject to manual contact, nor apprehended by
eyes of flesh, He undergoes no wound, He is not nailed by nails, He has no part
in death, He is not hidden in the ground, He is not shut in a grave, He does not
rise from a tomb." Of the same from the same book:-

"`No man taketh it from me. ...I have power to lay it down and I have power to
take it again.'114 If as God He had the double power, He yet yielded to them who
were striving of evil counsel to destroy the temple, but by His resurrection He
restored it in greater splendour. It is proved by incontrovertible evidence that
He of Himself rose and renewed His own house, and the great work of the Son is
to be ascribed to the divine Father; for the Son does not work without the
Father, as is declared in the unimpeachable utterances of the holy Scriptures.
Wherefore at one time the divine Parent is described as having raised the Christ
from the dead, at another time the Son promises to raise His own temple. If then
from what has previously been laid down the divine spirit of the Christ is
proved to be impassible, in vain do the accursed assail the apostolic
definitions. If Paul says that the Lord of Glory was crucified, clearly
referring to the manhood, we must not on this account refer suffering to the
divine. Why then do they put these two things together, saying that the Christ
was crucified from infirmity?" Of the same from the same work:-

"But had it been becoming to attribute to Him any kind of infirmity, any one
might have said that it was natural to attach these qualities to the manhood,
though not to the fulness of the Godhead, or to the dignity of the highest
wisdom, or to Him who according to Paul is described as God over all."115 Of the
same from the same book:-

"This then is the manner of the infirmity according to which He is described by
Paul as coming to death, for the man lives by God's power when plainly
associated with God's spirit, since from the preceding statements He who is
believed to be in Him is proved to be also the power of the Most High." Of the
same from the same:-

"As by entering the Virgin's womb He did not lessen His power, so neither by the
fastening of His body to the wood of the cross is His spirit defiled. For when
the body was crucified on high the divine Spirit of wisdom dwelt even within the
body, trod in heavenly places, filled all the earth, reigned over the depths,
visited and judged the soul of every man, and continued to do all that God
continually does, for the wisdom that is on high is not prisoned and contained
within bodily matter, just as moist and dry material are contained within their
vessels and are contained by but do not contain them. But this wisdom, being a
divine and ineffable power, embraces and confirms alike all that is within and
all that is without the temple, and thence proceeding beyond comprehends and
sways at once all matter." Of the same from the same work:-

"But if the sun being a visible body, apprehended by the senses, endures
everywhere such adverse influences without changing its order, or feeling any
blow, be it small or great; can we suppose the incorporeal Wisdom to be defiled
and to change its nature because its temple is nailed to the cross or destroyed
or wounded or corrupted? The temple suffers, but the substance abides without
spot, and preserves its entire dignity without defilement." Of the same from his
work on the titles of the Psalms of Degrees:-

"The Father who is perfect, infinite, incomprehensible. and is incapable alike
of adornment or disfigurement, receives no acquired glory; nor yet does His
Word, who is God begotten of Him, through whom are angels and heaven and earth's
boundless bulk and all the form and matter of created things; but the man Christ
raised from the dead is exalted and glorified to the open discomfiture of His
foes." Of the same from the same work:-

"They however who have lifted up hatred against Him, though they be fenced round
with the forces of His foes, are scattered abroad, while the God and Word
gloriously raised His own temple." Of the same from his interpretation of the
92nd Psalm:-

"Moreover the prophet Isaiah following the tracks of His sufferings, among other
utterances exclaims with a mighty voice `And we saw Him and He had no form nor
beauty. His form was dishonoured and rejected among the sons of men,'116 thus
distinctly showing that the marks of indignity and the sufferings must be
applied to the human but not to the divine. And immediately afterwards be adds
`Being a man under stroke, and able to bear infirmity.'117 He it is who after
suffering outrage was seen to have no form or comeliness, then again was changed
and clothed with beauty, for the God dwelling in Him was not led like a lamb to
death and slaughtered like a sheep, for His nature is invisible."

Testimony of the Holy Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and confessor. From his
letter to Epictetus:-

"Whoever reached such a pitch of impiety as to think and say that the Godhead
itself of one substance with the Father was circumcised, and from perfect became
imperfect; and to deny that what was crucified on the tree was the body,
asserting it on the contrary to be the very creative substance of wisdom?" Of
the same from the same treatise:-

"The Word associated with Himself and brought upon Himself what the humanity of
the Word suffered, that we might be able to share in the Godhead of the Word.
And marvellous it was that the sufferer and He who did not suffer were the same;
sufferer in that His own body suffered and He was in it while suffering, but not
suffering because the Word, being by nature God, was impassible. And He Himself
the incorporeal was in the passible body, and the body contained in itself the
impassible Word, destroying the infirmities of His body." Of the same from the
same letter:-

"For being God and Lord of Glory, He was in the body ingloriously crucified; but
the body suffered when smitten on the tree, and water and blood flowed from its
side; but being temple of the Word, it was full of the Godhead. Wherefore when
the sun saw its Creator suffering in His outraged body, it drew in its rays, and
darkened the earth. And that very body with a mortal nature rose superior to its
own nature, on account of the Word within it, and is no longer touched by its
natural corruption, but clothed with the superhuman Word, became incorruptible."
Of the same from his greater discourse on the Faith:-

"Was what rose from the dead, man or God? Peter, the Apostle, who knows better
than we, interprets and say, `and when they had fulfilled all that was written
of Him they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre, but God
raised Him from the dead.'118 Now the dead body of Jesus which was taken down
from the tree, which had been laid in a sepulchre, and entombed by Joseph of
Arimathaea, is the very body which the Word raised, saying, `Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'119 It is He who quickens all the
dead, and quickened the man Christ Jesus, born of Mary, whom He assumed. For if
while on the cross120 He raised corpses of the saints that had previously
undergone dissolution, much more can God the everliving Word raise the body,
which He wore, as says Paul, `For the word of God is quick and powerful.'"121 Of
the same from the same work:-

"Life then does not die, but quickens the dead; for as the light is not injured
in a dark place, so life cannot suffer when it has visited a mortal nature, for
the Godhead of the Word is immutable and invariable as the Lord says in the
prophecy about Himself `I am the Lord I change not.'"122 Of the same from the
same work:-

"Living He cannot die but on the contrary quickens the dead. He is therefore, by
the Godhead derived from the Father, a fount of light; but He that died, or
rather rose from the dead, our intercessor, who was born of the Virgin Mary,
whom the Godhead of the Word assumed for our sake, is man." Of the same from the
same work:-

"It came to pass that Lazarus fell sick and died; but the divine Man did not
fall sick nor against His own will did He die, but of His own accord came to the
dispensation of death, being strengthened by God the Word who dwelt within Him,
and who said `No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again.'123 The Godhead then which
lays down and takes the life of man which He wore is of the Son, for in its
completeness He assumed the manhood, in order that in its completeness He might
quicken it, and, with it, the dead." Of the same from his discourse against the
Arians:-

"When therefore the blessed Paul says the Father `raised' the Son `from the
dead'124 John tells us that Jesus said `Destroy this temple and in three days I
will raise it up ...but He spake' of His own `body.'125 So it is clear to them
that take heed that at the raising of the body the Son is said by Paul to have
been raised from the dead, for he refers what concerns the body to the Son's
person, and just so when he says `the Father gave life to the Son'126 it must be
understood that the life was given to the Flesh. For if He Himself is life bow
can the life receive life?" Of the same from his work on the incarnation:-

"For when the Word was conscious that in no other way could tile ruin of men be
undone save by death to the uttermost, and it was impossible that the Word who
is immortal and Son of the Father should die, to effect His end He assumes a
body capable of death, that this body, being united to the Word, who is over
all, might, in the stead of all, become subject to death, and because of the
indwelling Word might remain incorruptible, and so by the grace of the
resurrection corruption for the future might lose its power over men. Thus
offering to death, as a sacrifice and victim free from every spot, the body
which He had assumed, by His corresponding offering He straightway destroyed
death's power over all His kind; for being the Word of God above and beyond all
men, He rightly offered and paid His own temple and bodily instrument, as a
ransom for all souls due to death. And thus by means of the like (body) being
associated with all men, the incorruptible Son of God rightly clothed all men
with incorruption by the promise of the resurrection, for the corruption
inherent in death no longer has any place with men, for the sake of the Word who
dwelt in them by the means of the one body." Of the same from the same work:-

"Wherefore, after His divine manifestations in His works, now also on behalf of
all He offered sacrifice, yielding to death His own temple instead of all, that
He might make all men irresponsible and free from the ancient transgression,
and, exhibiting His own body as incorruptible firstfruits of the resurrection of
mankind, might shew Himself stronger than death. For the body, as having a
common substance-for it was a human body, although by a new miracle its
constitution was of the Virgin alone-being mortal, died after the example of its
like; but by the descent of the Word into it no longer suffered corruption,
according to its own nature, but, on account of God the Word who dwelt within
it, was delivered fromcorruption." Of the same from the same work:-

"Whence, as I have said, since it was not possible for the Word being immortal
to die, He took upon Himself a body capable of death, in order that He might
offer this same body for all, and He Himself in His suffering on behalf of all
through His descent into this body might `destroy Him that hath the power of
death.'"127 Ofthe same from the same work:128 -

"For the body in its passion, as is the nature of bodies, died, but it had the
promise of incorruption through the Word that dwelt within it. For when the body
died the Word was not injured; but He was Himself impassible, incorruptible, and
immortal, as being God's Word, and being associated with the body He kept from
it the natural corruption of bodies, as says the Spirit to Him `thou wilt not
suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.'"129 The testimony of the holy Damasus,
bishop of Rome:130 -

"If any one say that, in the passion of the Cross, God the Son of God suffered
pain, and not the flesh with the soul, which the form of the servant put on and
assumed, as the Scripture saith, Let him be anathema."

Testimony of the holy Ambrosius, bishop of Milan. From his book on the Catholic
faith:-

"There are some men who have reached such a pitch of impiety as to think that
the Godhead of the Lord was circumcised, and from perfect was made imperfect;
and that the divine substance, Creator of all things, and not the flesh, was on
the tree." Of the same from the same work:-

"The flesh suffered; but the Godhead is free from death. He yielded His body to
suffer according to the law of human nature. For how can God die, when the soul
cannot die? `Fear not,' He says, `them which kill the body but are not able to
kill the soul.'131 If then the soul cannot be slain how can the Godhead be made
subject to death?"

Testimony of the holy Basilius, bishop of Caearea:-

"It is perfectly well known to every one who has the least acquaintance with the
meaning of the words of the Apostle that he is not delivering to us a mode of
theology but is explaining the reasons of the oeconomy,132 for he says `God hath
made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord aim Christ.'133 Thus he is
plainly directing his argument to His human and visible nature."

Testimony of the holy Gregorius, bishop of Nazianzus. From his letter to the
blessed Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople:-

"The saddest thing in what has befallen the churches is the boldness of the
utterances of Apollinarius and his party. I cannot understand how your Holiness
has allowed them to arrogate to themselves the power of assembling on the same
terms with us." And a little further on:-

"I will no longer call this serious; it is indeed saddest of all that the only
begotten God Himself, Judge of all who exist, the Prince of Life, the Destroyer
of Death, is made by him mortal and alleged to receive suffering in His own
Godhead. He represents the Godhead to have shared with the body in the
dissolution of that three days death of the body, and so after the death to have
been again raised by the Father." Of the same from his former exposition to
Cledonius:-

"It is the contention of the Arians that the manhood was without a soul, that
they may refer the passion to the Godhead and represent the same power as both
moving the body and suffering." Of the same from his discourse about the Son:-

"It remained for us to treat of what was commanded Him and of His keeping the
commandments and doing all things pleasing to Him; and further of His
perfection, exaltation, and learning obedience by all that He suffered,134 His
priesthood, His offering, His betrayal, His entreaty to Him that hath power to
save Him from death, His agony, His bloody sweat, His prayer and similar
manifestations, were it not clear to all that all these expressions in connexion
with His Passion in no way signify the nature which was immutable and above
suffering." Of the same from his Easter Discourse (Or. ii.):-

"`Who is this that cometh from Edom?'135 and from the earth, and how can the
garments of the bloodless and bodiless be red as of one that treadeth in the
wine-fat? Urge in reply the beauty of the garment of the body which suffered and
was made beautiful in suffering, and was made splendid by the Godhead, than
which nothing is lovelier nor more fair."

Testimony of Gregory, bishop of Nyssa. From his catechetical oration:-

"And this is the mystery of the dispensation of God concerning the manhood and
of the resurrection from the dead, not to prevent the soul from being separated
from the body by death according to the necessary law ofhuman nature, and to
bring them together again through the resurrection." Of the same from the same
work:-

"The flesh which received the Godhead, and which through the resurrection was
exalted with the Godhead, is not formed of another material, but of ours; so,
just as in the case of our own body, the operation of one of the senses moves to
general sensation the whole man united to that part, in like manner just as
though all nature were one single animal, the resurrection of the part pervades
the whole, being conveyed from the part to the whole by what is continuous and
united in nature. What then do we find extraordinary in the mystery that the
upright stoops to the fallen to raise up him that lies low?" Of the same from
the same work:-

"It would be natural also in this part not to heed the one and neglect the
other; but in the immortal to behold the human, and to be curiously exact about
the diviner quality in the manhood." Of the same from his work against
Eunomius:-

"'Tis not the human nature which raises Lazarus to life. 'Tis not the impassible
power which sheds tears over the dead. The tear belongs to the man; the life
comes from the very life. The thousands are not fed by human poverty;
omnipotence does not hasten to the fig tree. Who was weary in the way, and who
by His word sustains all the world without being weary? What is the brightness
of His glory, what was pierced by the nails? What form is smitten in the
passion, what is glorified for everlasting? The answer is plain and needs no
interpretation." Of the same from the same treatise:-

"He blames them that refer the passion to the human nature. He wishes himself
wholly to subject the Godhead itself to the passion, for the proposition being
twofold and doubtful, whether the divinity or the humanity was concerned in the
passion, the denial of the one becomes the positive condemnation of the other.
While therefore they blame them who see the passion in the humanity, they will
bestow unqualified praise on them that maintain the Divinity of the Son of God
to be passible. But the point established by these means becomes a confirmation
of their own absurdity of doctrine; for if, as they allege, the Godhead of the
Son suffers while that of the Father in accordance with its substance is
conserved in complete impassibility, it follows that the impassible nature is at
variance with the nature which sustains suffering." The testimony of the holy
Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium. From his discourse on the text "Verily, verily
I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me hath
everlasting life":136 -

"Whose then are the sufferings? Of the flesh. Therefore if you give to the flesh
the suffering, give it also the lowly words; and ascribe the exalted words to
Him to Whom you assign the miracles. For the God when He is in the act of
working wonders naturally speaks in high and lofty language worthy of His works
and the man when He is suffering fitly utters lowly words corresponding with His
sufferings." Of the same from his discourse on "My Father is greater than I":137
-

"But when you give the sufferings to the flesh and the miracles to God, you must
of necessity, though unwillingly, give the lowly words to the man born of Mary,
and the high and lofty words becoming God, to the Word who existed in the
beginning. The reason why I utter sometimes lofty words and sometimes lowly is
that by the lofty I may show the nobility of the indwelling Word, and by the
lowly make known the infirmity of the lowly flesh. So at one time I call myself
equal to the Father and at another I call the Father greater; and in this I am
not inconsistent with myself, but I shew that I am God and man; God by the lofty
and man by the lowly. And if you wish to know in what sense my Father is greater
than I, I spoke in the flesh and not in the person of the Godhead." Of the same
from his discourse on "If it be possible let this cup pass from me":138 -

"Ascribe not then the sufferings of the flesh to the impassible God, for I, O
heretic, am God, and man; God, as the miracles prove man as is shewn by the
sufferings. Since then I am God and man, tell me, who was it who suffered? If
God suffered, you have spoken blasphemy; but if the flesh suffered, why do you
not attribute the passion to Him to whom you ascribe the dread? For while one is
suffering another feels on dread; while man is being crucified God is not
troubled." Of the same from his discourse against the Arians:-

"And not to prolong what I am saying, I will shortly ask you, O heretic, did He
who was begotten of God before the ages suffer, or Jesus who was born of David
in the last days? If the Godhead suffered, thou hast spoken blasphemy; if, as
the truth is, the manhood suffered, for what reason do you hesitate to attribute
the passion to man?" Of the same from his discourse concerning the Son:-

"Peter said, `God hath made this Jesus both Lord and Christ'139 and said too,
`this Jesus whom ye crucified God hath raised up.'140 Now it was the manhood,
not the Godhead, which became a corpse, and He who raised it was the Word, the
power of God, who said in the Gospel, `Destroy this temple and in three days I
will raise it up.'141 So when it is said that God hath made Him who became a
corpse and rose from the dead both Lord and Christ, what is meant is the flesh,
and not the Godhead of the Son." Of the same from his discourse on "The Son can
do nothing of Himself":142 -

"For He had not such a nature as that His life could be held by corruption,
since His Godhead was not forcibly reduced to suffering. For how could it? But
the manhood was renewed in incorruption. So he says `For this mortal must put on
immortality and this corruptible must put on incorruption.'143 You observe the
accuracy; he points distinctly to `this mortal' that you may not entertain the
idea of the resurrection of any other flesh."

Testimony of the holy Flavianus, bishop of Antioch. On Easter Day:-

"Wherefore also the cross is boldly preached by us, and the Lord's death
confessed among us, though in nothing did the Godhead suffer, for the divine is
impassible, but the dispensation was fulfilled by the body." Of the same on
Judas the traitor:-

"When therefore you hear of the Lord being betrayed, do not degrade the divine
dignity to insignificance, nor attribute to divine power the sufferings of the
body. For the divine is impassible and invariable. For if through His love to
mankind He took on Him the form of a servant, He underwent no change in nature.
But being what He ever was, he yielded the divine144 body to experience death."

Testimony of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria. From his Heortastic Volume:-

"Of unreasoning beings the souls are not taken and replaced: they share in the
corruption of the bodies, and are dissolved into dust. But after the Saviour at
the time of the cross had taken the soul from His own body, He restored it to
the body again when He rose from the dead. To assure us of this He uttered the
words of the psalmist, the predictive exclamation, `Thou wilt not leave my soul
in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.'"145 Testimony of the
blessed Gelasius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine:-

"He was bound, He was wounded, He was crucified, He was handled, He was marked
with scars, He received a lance's wound, and all these indignities were
undergone by the body born of Mary, while that which was begotten from the
Father before the ages none was able to harm, for the Word had no such nature.
For how can any one constrain Godhead? How wound it? How make red with blood the
incorporeal nature? How surround it with grave bands? Grant now what you cannot
contravene and, constrained by invincible reason, honour Godhead."

Testimony of the holy John, bishop of Constantinople. From his discourse on the
words "My Father worketh hitherto and I work":146 -

"`What sign shewest Thou unto us seeing that Thou doest these things?'147 What
then does He reply Himself? `Destroy this temple,' He says, `and in three days I
will raise it up,'148 speaking of His own body, but they did not understand
Him." And a little further on:-

"Why does not the evangelist pass this by? Why did he add the correction, `But
He spake of the temple of his body'?149 for He did not say destroy this `body,'
but `temple' that He might shew the indwelling God. Destroy this temple which is
far more excellent than that of the Jews. The Jewish temple contained the Law;
this temple contains the Lawgiver; the former the letter that killeth; the
latter the spirit that giveth life."150 Of the same from the discourse "That
what was spoken and done in humility was not so done and spoken on account of
infirmity of power but different dispensations":-

"How then does He say `If it be possible'?151 He is pointing out to us the
infirmity of the human nature, which did not choose to be torn away from this
present life, but stepped back and shrank on account of the love implanted in it
by God in the beginning for the present life. If then when the Lord Himself so
often spoke in such terms, some have dared to say that He did not take flesh,
what would they have said if none of these words had been spoken by Him?" Of the
same from the same work:-

"Observe how they spoke of His former age. Ask the heretic the question Does God
dread? Does He draw back? Does He shrink? Does He sorrow? and if he says yes,
stand off from him for the future, rank him down below with the devil, aye lower
even than the devil, for even the devil will not dare to say this. But, should
he say that each of these things is unworthy of God, reply-neither does God
pray; for apart from these it will be yet another absurdity should the words be
the words of God, for the words indicate not only an agony, but also two wills;
one of the Son and another of the Father, opposed to one another. For the words
`Not as I will, but as Thou wilt,' are the words of one indicating this." Of the
same from the same work:-

"For if this be spoken of the Godhead there arises a certain contradiction, and
many absurdities are thereby produced. If on the contrary it be spoken of the
flesh, the expressions are reasonable, and no fault can be found with them. For
the unwillingness of the flesh to die incurs no condemnation; such is the nature
of the flesh and He exhibits all the properties of the flesh except sin, and
indeed in full abundance, so as to stop the mouths of the heretics. When
therefore He says `If it be possible let this cup pass from me' and `not as I
will but as Thou wilt,' He only shews that He is really clothed with the flesh
which fears death, for it is the nature of the flesh to fear death, to draw back
and to suffer agony. Now He leaves it abandoned and stripped of its own
activity, that by shewing its weakness He may convince us also of its nature.
Sometimes however He conceals it, because He was not mere man."

Testimony of Severianus, bishop of Gabala. From his discourse on the seals:-

"The Jews withstand the apparent, ignorant of the non-apparent; they crucify the
flesh; they do not destroy the Godhead. For if my words are not destroyed
together with the letter which is the clothing of speech, how could God the
Word, the fount of life, die together with the flesh? The passion belongs to the
body, but impassibility to the dignity."

See then how they whose husbandry is in the East and in the West, as well as in
the South and in the North, have all been shewn by us to condemn your vain
heresy, and all openly to proclaim the impassibility of the divine Nature. See
how both tongues, I mean both Greek and Latin, make one harmonious confession
about the things of God.

Eran.-I am myself astonished at their harmony, but I observe a considerable
difference in the terms they use.

Orth.-Do not be angry. The very force of their fight against their adversaries
is the cause of their seeming immoderate. The same thing is to be observed in
the case of planters; when they see a plant bent one way or another, they are
not satisfied with bringing it to a straight line, but bend it still further in
the opposite direction, that by its being bent still further from the straight
it may attain its upright stature. But that you may know that the very promoters
and supporters of this manifold heresy strive to surpass even the heretics of
old by the greatness of their blasphemies, listen once more to the writings of
Apollinarius which proclaim the impassibility of the divine nature, and confess
the passion to be of the body.

Testimony of Apollinarius. From his summary:-

"John spoke of the temple which was destroyed, namely the body of Him that
raised it, and the body is entirely united to Him and He is not another among
them. And if the body of the Lord was one with the Lord, the properties of the
body were constituted His properties on account of the body." And again:-

"And the truth is that His conjunction with the body does not take place by
circumscription of the Word, so that He has nothing beyond His incorporation.
Wherefore even in death immortality abides with Him; for if He transcends this
composition, so does He also the dissolution. Now death is dissolution. But He
was not comprehended in the composition; had He been so, the universe would have
been made void; nor in the dissolution did He, like the soul, suffer the
deprivation which succeeds dissolution." And again:-

"As the Saviour says that the dead bodies go forth from their tombs, though
their souls do not go forth thence, just so He says that He Himself will rise
from the dead, although it is only His body that rises." In another similar work
he writes:-

"Of man is the rising from the dead; of God is the raising. Now Christ both rose
and raised, for He was God and man. Had the Christ been only man He would not
have quickened the dead, and if He had been only God, He would not on His own
account apart from the Father have quickened any of the dead. But Christ did
both; the same being is both God and man. If the Christ had been only man He
would not have saved the world; if He had been only God He would not have saved
it through suffering, but Christ did both, so He is God and man. If the Christ
had been only man or if only God He could not have been a Mediator between men
and God." And a little further on:-

"Now flesh is an instrument of life fitted to the capacity for suffering in
accordance with the divine will. Words are not proper to the Flesh, nor are
deeds. Being made subject to the capacity for suffering, as is natural to the
flesh, it prevails over the suffering because it is the flesh of God." And again
a little further on:-

"The Son took flesh of the Virgin and travelled to the world. This flesh He
filled with the Holy Ghost to the sanctification of us all. So He delivered
death to death and destroyed death through the resurrection to the raising of us
all." From his tract concerning the faith:-

"Since the passions are concerned with the flesh His power possessed its own
impassibility, so to refer the passion to the power is an impious error." And in
his tract about the incarnation he further writes:- "Here then He shews that it
was the same man who rose from the dead and God who reigns over all creation."

You see now that one of the professors of vain heresy plainly preaches the
impassibility of the Godhead, calls the body a temple, and persists in
maintaining that this body was raised by God the Word.

Eran.-I have heard and I am astonished; and I am really ashamed that our
doctrines should appear less tenable than the innovation of Apollinarius.

Orth.-But I will bring you a witness from yet another heretical herd distinctly
preaching the impassibility of the Godhead of the only begotten.

Eran.-Whom do you mean?

Orth.-You have probably heard of Eusebius the Phoenician, who was bishop of
Emesa by Lebanon.152 Eran.-I have met with some of his writings, and found him
to be a supporter of the doctrines of Arius.

Orth.-Yes; he did belong to that sect, but in his endeavour to prove that the
Father was greater than the only begotten he declares the Godhead of the
depreciated Son to be im- passible and for this opinion he contended with long
and extraordinary perseverance.

Eran.-I should be very much obliged if you would quote his words too.

Orth.-To comply with your wish I will adduce somewhat longer evidence. Now
listen to what he says, and fancy that the man himself is addressing us.

Testimony of Eusebius of Emesa:-

"Wherefore does he fear death? Lest he suffer anything from death? For what was
death to Him? Was it not the severance of the power from the flesh? Did the
power receive a nail that it should fear? If our soul suffers not the body's
infirmities when united with it, but the eye grows blind and yet the mind
retains its force; and a foot is cut off and yet the reasoning power does not
halt-and this nature evidences, and the Lord sets His seal on, in the words
`Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul' (and if
they cannot kill the soul, it is not because they do not wish, but because they
are not able, though they would like to make the soul share the suffering of the
body yoked with it)-shall He who created the soul and formed the body suffer as
the body suffers, although He does take upon Himself the body's sufferings? But
Christ suffered for us, and we lie not. `And the bread that I will give is my
flesh.'153 This He gave for us.

"That which can be mastered was mastered; that which can be crucified was
crucified, but He that had power alike to dwell in it and to leave it said
`Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit,'154 not into the hands of them who
were trying to hasten His death. I am not fond of controversy; I rather avoid
it; with all gentleness I wish to enquire into the points at issue between us as
between brothers. Do not I say truly that the power could not be subject to the
sufferings of the flesh? I say nothing; let him who will say what the power
suffered. Did it fail? See the danger. Was it extinct? See the blasphemy. Did it
no longer exist? This is the death of power. Tell me what can so master it that
it suffered and I withdraw. But, if you cannot tell me, why do you object to my
not telling you? What you cannot tell me, that it did not receive. Drive a nail
into a soul and I will admit that it can be driven into power. But it was in
sympathy. Tell me what you mean by `in sympathy.' As a nail went into the flesh,
so pain into the power. Let us understand `was in sympathy' in this sense. Then
pain was felt by the power which was not smitten. For pain always follows on
suffering. But if a body often despises pain while the mind is sound, on account
of the vigour of its thought, then in this case let some one explain impartially
what suffered and what suffered with or was in sympathy. What then? Did not
Christ die for us? How did He die? `Father, into thy hands I commend my
Spirit.'155 The Spirit departed; the body remained; the body remained without
breath. Did He not die then? He died for us. The Shepherd offered the sheep, the
Priest offered the sacrifice, He gave Himself for us. `He that spared not His
own Son but delivered Him up for us all.'156 I do not reject the words, but I
want the meaning of the words. The Lord says that the bread of God came down
from Heaven,157 and though I cannot express it more clearly on account of the
mysteries, He says in explanation `It is my flesh.' Did the flesh of the Son
come down from heaven? No. How then does He say, and that in explanation, the
bread of God lives and came down from Heaven? He refers the properties of the
power to the flesh, because the power which assumed the flesh came down from
heaven. Change the terms then; He refers to the power what the flesh suffers.
How did Christ suffer for us? He was spat upon, He was smitten on the cheek,
they put a crown about His brow, His hands and feet were pierced. All these
sufferings were of the body, but they are referred to Him that dwelt therein.
Throw a stone at the Emperor's statue. What is the cry? `You have insulted the
Emperor.' Tear the Emperor's robe. What is the cry? `You have rebelled against
the Emperor.' Crucify Christ's body. What is the cry? `Christ died for us.' But
what need of me and thee? Let us go to the Evangelists. How have you received
from the Lord how the Lord died? They read `Father into thy hands I commend my
Spirit.'158 The Spirit on high, the body on the Cross for us. So far as His body
is attributed to Himself He offered the sheep." Of the same from the same book:-

"He came to save our nature; not to destroy His own. If I consent to say that a
camel flies, you directly count it strange, because it does not fit in with its
nature; and you are quite right. And if I say that men live in the sea you will
not accept it; you are quite right. It is contrary to nature. As then if I say
strange things about these natures you count it strange; if I say that the Power
which was before the ages, by nature incorporeal, in dignity impassible, which
exists with the Father and by the Father's side, on His right hand and in glory,
if I say that this incorporeal nature suffers, will you not stop your ears? If
you will not stop your ears when you hear this, I shall stop my heart. Can we do
anything to an angel? Smite him with a sword? Or cut him in pieces? Why do I say
to an angel? Can we to a soul? Does a soul receive a nail? A soul is neither cut
nor burnt. Do you ask why? Because it was so created. Are His works impassible
and He Himself passible? I do not reject the oeconomy; on the contrary, I
welcome the ill-treatment. Christ died for us and was crucified. So it is
written; so the nature admitted. I do not blot out the words nor do I blaspheme
the nature. But this is not true. Very well, then let something truer be said.
The teacher is a benefactor, never harsh, never an enemy, unless the pupil be
headstrong. Have you anything good to say? My ears are gratefully open. Does any
one want to quarrel? Let him quarrel at his leisure. Could the Jews crucify the
Son of God and make the power itself a dead body? Can the living die? The death
of this power is its failure. Even when we die, our body is left. But if we make
that power a dead body we reduce it to non-existence. I am afraid you cannot
hear. If the body die, the soul is separated from it and remains; but if the
soul die, since it has no body, it altogether ceases to exist. A soul by dying
altogether ceases to be. For the death of the immortals is a contradiction of
their existence. Consider the alternative; for I do not dare even to mention it.
We say these things as we understand them, but if any one is contentions, we lay
down no law. But I know one thing, that every man must reap the fruit of his
opinions. Each man comes to God and brings before Him what he has said and
thought about Him. Do not suppose that God reads books, or is troubled by having
to recollect what you said or who heard you: all is made manifest. The judge is
on the throne. Paulus159 is brought before Him. `Thou saidst I was a man; thou
hast no life with Me. Thou knewest not Me; I know not thee.' Up comes another.
`Thou saidst I was one of the things that are created.160 Thou knewest not My
dignity; I know not thee.' Up comes another. `Thou saidst that I did not assume
a body. Thou madest light of My grace. Thou shalt not share My immortality.' Up
comes another. `Thou saidst that I was not born of a Virgin to save the body of
the Virgin; thou shalt not be saved.' Each one reaps the fruit of his opinions
about the faith."

You see the other sect of your teachers, in which you supposed that you had
learnt the suffering of the Godhead of the only Begotten, abhors this blasphemy,
preaches the impassibility of the Godhead, and quits the ranks of them who dare
to attribute the passion to it.

Eran.-Yes;I am astonished at the conflict, and I admire the man's sense and
opinions.

Orth.-Then, my good Sir, imitate the bees. As you flit in mental flight about
the meads of the divine Scripture, among the fair flowers of these illustrious
Fathers, build us in your heart the honey-comb of the faith. If haply you find
anywhere herbage bitter and not fit to eat, like these fellows Apollinarius and
Eusebius, but still not quite without something that may be meet for making
honey, it is reasonable that you should sip the sweet and leave the poisonous
behind, like bees who lighting often on baneful bushes leave all the deadly bane
behind and gather all the good. We give you this advice, dear friend, in
brotherly kindness. Receive it and you will do well. And if you hearken not we
will say to you in the word of the apostle "We are pure."161 We have spoken, as
the prophet says, what we have been commanded.

1: Gen. ii. 17.

2: The vena cava, by which the blood returns to the heart. The physiology of
Eranistes would be held in the matn "orthodox" even now, and shews that
Theodoret was well abreast of the science accepted before the discovery of the
circulation of the blood.

3: Matt. x. 28.

4: Matt. xxv. 41.

5: Matt. xix. 26; Mark x. 27.

6: Job x. 13, lxx.

7: Job x. 9-12.

8: Job x. 13, lxx.

9: C. f. note on Page 37. From the middle of the IIIrd century onward we find
acceptation of the Pauline authorship Among writers who quote the Ep. as St.
Paul's are Cyril of Jerusalem, the two Gregories, Basil, and Chrysostom, as well
as Theodoret.

10: Heb. vi. 18.

11: II. Tim. ii. 11-13 I. Tim. ii. 11-13.

12: John iii. 16.

13: Romans v. 10.

14: cf. note on page 155.

15: Gen. xxvii. 1.

16: Amos vii. 12.

17: I. Sam. ix. 18.

18: Heb. xii. 12. Heb. xii. 13.

19: John xiv. 9.

20: John i. 1.

21: John iv. 6.

22: Isaiah xl. 28, Isaiah xl. 29. cf. Sept.

23: Isaiah xl. 31.

24: I. Cor. viii. 6.

25: The text of John iv. 6 is kekopiakwj ekaqezeto , i.e., after being weary
sate down. kopiwn ekafezeto would = "while being weary sate down." The force of
the passage seems to be that Scripture states our Lord to have been wearied
once, - not to be wearied now; though of course in classical Greek legei
(historicè) auton kopian might mean "said that he was in a state of weariness."

26: Rom. v. 10.

27: Acts xiii. 30.

28: Acts viii. 2.

29: Gen. xlix. 29.

30: Gen. xlix. 31.

31: "The Machpelah," always in Hebrew with the article hl/p'b;+axa 32: Acts xii.
2.

33: Matt. x. 28.

34: Vide note on Pages 37 and 220.

35: Heb. ii. 11, Heb. ii. 12, Heb. ii. 13.

36: Heb. ii. 14, Heb. ii. 15.

37: Rom. v. 15, Rom. v. 16, Rom. v. 17.

38: Rom. v. 18, Rom. v. 19.

39: I. Cor. xv. 20, I. Cor. xv. 21, I. Cor. xv. 22.

40: Rom. xiii. 32.

41: Gen. xxii. 16.

42: John viii. 56.

43: The sacrifice of Isaac so far as his father's part in it is concerned is
regarded as having actually taken place at the moment of his felt willingness to
obey. In the interval of the journey to Mount Moriah Isaac is dead to his
father.

44: upostasij .

45: proswpon .

46: It is to be noted that Theodoret thus apparently regards the divine image as
consisting in the intelligence or logoj . And in the implication that Isaac had
the divine image he expresses the Scriptural view that this was marred, not
lost, by the fall.

47: Heb. x. 1.

48: I Cor. x. 11.

49: Heb. xiii. 12.

50: 4 Lev. xvi.

51: John iii. 14, John iii. 15.

52: John i. 29, John i. 36.

53: Is. liii. 7.

54: II. Cor. v. 21.

55: Gal. iii. 13.

56: Matt. xxv. 32.

57: Gal. iv. 24 et seqq.

58: Matt. xxviii. 6.

59: St. Thomas was buried at Edessa. Soc. iv. 18, Chrys. Hom. in Heb. 26.

60: Vide p. 96.

61: St. Stephen's remains were said to have been found at Jerusalem, and widely
dispersed. cf. Dict. Christ. Ant. II. 1929.

62: Matt. xxvii. 57-60.

63: Mark xv. 42-46.

64: Luke xxiii. 50 et Seqq.

65: John xix. 38-42.

66: Matt. xxviii. 6.

67: Deut. x. 6.

68: I. Sam. xxv. 1.

69: I. Cor. xv. 3, I. Cor. xv. 4.

70: I. Cor. xv. 12, I. Cor. xv. 13, I. Cor. xv. 17.

71: I. Cor. xv. 21, I. Cor. xv. 22.

72: I. Cor. xv. 21.

73: I. Thess. iv. 14.

74: I. Peter iv. 1.

75: Matt. i. 23.

76: I. Tim. vi. 16.

77: Matt. x. 28.

78: Heb. x. 10.

79: John xii. 27.

80: John ii. 19.

81: John ii. 21, John ii. 22.

82: John vi. 21.

83: Matt. xvii. 26. Mark xiv. 22. Luke xxii. 19. I. Cor. xi. 24.

84: Luke xxii. 19.

85: I. Cor. xi. 24.

86: Matt. xxvi. 28 and Mark xiv. 24.

87: Luke xxiv. 39.

88: Acts ii. 29 et seqq. and Ps. xvi. 10.

89: Ez. xxxvii. 7 et seqq.

90: I. Cor. ii. 8.

91: Gal. i. 19.

92: I. Cor. ii. 8.

93: John vi. 62.

94: John iii. 13.

95: Heb. xiii. 8.

96: I. Cor. ii. 8.

97: John x. 33.

98: Vide note on page 72.

99: See the Creed as published by the Council. p. 50.

100: The quotation is not quite exact, " 'Euxaristiaj kai prosforaj ouk
apodexontai " being substituted for euxaristiaj kai proseuxhj apexontai 101: I.
Cor. xv. 12.

102: I. Cor. xv. 21.

103: Rom. xiv. 15.

104: Ephes. ii. 13. Observe slight differences.

105: Gal. iii. 13 and Deut. xxi. 23.

106: I. Cor. xv. 20.

107: Coloss. i. 18.

108: cf. Luke xxiv. 39. And for the application of these words to St. Thomas cf.
page 210.

109: The effusion of water and blood is now well known to have been a natural
consequence of the "broken heart." On the rupture of the heart the blood fills
the pericardium, and then coagulates. The wound of the lance gave passage to the
collected blood and serum. cf. Dr. Stroud's "Physical Cause of the Death of
Christ," first published in 1847.

110: Prov. viii. 22, lxx.

111: i.e. literally, try not to lay hold of me.

112: John xx. 17.

113: Acts ii. 36.

114: John x. 18.

115: Rom. ix. 5.

116: Isaiah liii. 2, Isaiah liii. 3. Sept.

117: Isaiah liii. 3. Sept.

118: The quotation seems to be a confusion between Acts ii. 24, and Acts xiii.
29. Sic in Athan. Ed. Migne. II. 1030.

119: John iii. 19.

120: But "after his resurrection" appears to qualify the statement "arose" as
well as "appeared" in Matt. xxviii. 53.

121: Hebrews iv. 12.

122: Malachi iii. 6.

123: John x. 18.

124: Acts xiii. 30.

125: John ii. 19 and John ii. 21.

126: John v. 26.

127: Heb. ii. 14.

128: This passage is not found in the discourse on the Incarnation, but a
similar passage occurs in the third oration against the Arians. Ed. Ben. p. 606.

129: Ps. xvi. 10.

130: Epist. iii. Ad Paulinum.

131: Matt. x. 28.

132: cf. note on p. 72.

133: Acts ii. 36.

134: cf. Heb. v. 8.

135: Isaiah lxiii. 1.

136: John v. 24.

137: John xiv. 28.

138: Matt. xxvi. 39.

139: Acts ii. 36.

140: Acts ii. 24. The citation is loose.

141: John ii. 19.

142: John v. 19.

143: I. Cor xv. 53. Observe the inaccuracy of the quotation.

144: The Latin translator, as though observing the apparent impropriety of the
epithet, here renders qeion 145: Ps. xvi. 10.

146: John v. 17 147: John ii. 18.

148: John ii. 19.

149: John ii. 21.

150: cf. II. Cor. iii. 6.

151: Matt. xxvi. 39.

152: Eusebius, bishop of Emesa (now Hems, where Heliogabalus received the
purple, and Aurelian defeated Zenobia) c. 341-359 is called by Jerome "Signifer
Arianoe factionis." Chron. sub ann. x Constantii. Theodoret also mentions
writings of his against Apelles (Haer. fab. i. 25.) 153: John vi. 51.

154: Luke xxiii. 46.

155: Luke xxiii. 46.

156: Romans viii. 32.

157: John vi. 51.

158: Luke xxiii. 46.

159: i.e. Paul of Samosata.

160: twn ontwn in the original; lit: of the things that are, which might have an
orthodox interpretation, tho' strictly speaking there is no such thing as " to
on&Eaxute\ " there is only " own ," i.e. God. But Schulze is no doubt right in
explaining twn ontwn here to refer to created things.

161: Acts xx. 26.


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  CHAPTER 8: LETTERS OF THE BLESSED THEODORET
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Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus CXVI.283 To the Presbyter
Renatus.

Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus I. To an Unknown
Correspondent. In the words of the prophet we find the wise hearer mentioned
with the excellent councillor.1 I, however, send the book I have written on the
divine Apostle, not as much to a wise hearer as to a just and clever judge. When
goldsmiths wish to find out if their gold is refined and unalloyed, they apply
it to the touchstone; and just so I sent my book to your reverence, for I wish
to know whether it is what it should be, or needs some fining down. You have
read it and returned it, but have said nothing to me on this point. Your silence
leads me to conjecture that the judge has given sentence of condemnation, but is
unwilling to hurt my feelings by telling me so. Pray dismiss any such idea, and
do not hesitate to tell me your opinion about the book.

II. To the Same. When men love warmly, I doubt whether in the case of the
children of those whom they love, they can be impartial judges. Justice is
carried away by affection. Fathers fancy that their ugly boys are beautiful, and
sons do not see the uncomeliness of their fathers. Brother looks at brother in
the light of affection rather than of nature. It is thus that I am afraid your
holiness has judged what I have written, and that the sentence has been
delivered by warmth of feeling. For truly the power of love is very great, and
not seldom it keeps out of sight considerable errors in our friends. It is
because you have so much of it, my dear friend, that you have wreathed what I
have written with your kindly praises. All I can do is to ask your piety to
beseech the good Lord to ratify your eulogy, and make the man you have praised
something like the picture painted in the words of his admirers.

III. To Bishop Irenaeus.2

Comparisons of this kind are forbidden by the divine Apostle. In his Epistle to
the Romans he writes "Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord
come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make
manifest the counsels of the heart: and then shall every man have praise of
God."3 And he is quite right; for we can see only outward deeds, but the God of
all knows also the intention of the doers, and when He delivers his sentence
judges not so much the work as the will. So He will crown the divine Apostle who
became to the Jews as a Jew, to them that were under the law as under the law,
and to them that were without law as without law4 for his object in thus
assuming an actor's mask was that he might do good to mankind. His was no
time-server's career. The gain he got was loss, but he secured the good of them
whom he taught. As I said, then, the divine Paul bids us wait for the judgment
of God. But we are venturing on high themes; we are handling a theology passing
understanding and words; not, like the unholy heretics, seeking blasphemous
positions, but endeavouring to confute their impiety, and as far as in us lies
to give praise to the Creator; we shall therefore do nothing unreasonable in
attempting to reply to your enquiry.

You have suggested the case of an impious judge giving to two athletes of piety
the alternative of sacrificing to demons, or flinging themselves into the sea.
You describe the one as choosing the latter and plunging without hesitation into
the deep, while the other, refusing both, shews quite as much abhorrence of the
worship of idols as his companion, but declines to commit himself to the waves,
and waits for this fate to be violently forced upon him. You have suggested
these circumstances, and you ask which of these two took the better course. I
think that you will agree with me that the latter was the more praiseworthy. No
one ought to withdraw himself from life unbidden, but should await either a
natural or a violent death. Our Lord gave us this lesson when He bade those that
are persecuted in one city flee to another and again commanded them to quit even
this and depart to another.5 In obedience to this teaching the divine Apostle
escaped the violence of the governor of the city, and had no hesitation in
speaking of the manner of his flight, but spoke of the basket, the wall, and the
window, and boasted and glorified in the act.6 For what looks discreditable is
made honourable by the divine command. In the same manner the Apostle called
himself at one time a Pharisee7 and at another a Roman,8 not because he was
afraid of death, but acting quite fairly in fight.9 In the same way when he had
learnt the Jews' plot against him he appealed to Caesar10 and sent his sister's
son to the chief captain to report the designs hatched against him, not because
he clung to this present life, but in obedience to the divine law. For assuredly
our Lord does not wish us to throw ourselves into obvious peril; and this is
taught us by deed as well as by word, for more than once He avoided the
murderous violence of the Jews. And the great Peter, first of the Apostles, when
he was loosed from his chains and had escaped from the hands of Herod, came to
the house of John, who was surnamed Mark, and after removing the anxiety of his
friends by his visit and bidding them maintain silence, betook himself to
another house in the endeavour to conceal himself more effectually by the
removal.11 And we shall find just the same kind of wisdom in the old Testament,
for the famous Moses, after playing the man in his struggle with the Egyptian
and finding out the next day that the homicide had become known, ran away,
travelled a long journey, and arrived at the land of Midian.12 In like manner
the great Elias when he had learnt Jezebel's threats did not give himself up to
them which wished to kill him, but left the world and hurried to the desert.13
And if it is right and agreeable to God to escape the violence of our enemies,
surely it is much more right to refuse to obey them when they order a man to
become his own murderer. Our Lord did not give in to the devil when he bade Him
throw Himself down,14 and when he had armed against Him the hands of the Jews by
means of the scourge and the thorns and the nails, and the creature was urging
Him to bring wholesale destruction on His wicked foes, the Lord Himself forbade,
because He knew that His Passion was bringing salvation to the world, and it was
for this reason that just before His Passion He said to His Apostles "Pray that
ye enter not into temptation,"15 and taught us to pray "Lead us not into
temptation."16 Now let us shift our ground a little, and we shall see our way
more clearly. Let us eliminate the sea from the argument, and suppose the judge
to have given each of the martyrs a sword, and ordered the one who refused to
sacrifice to cut off his own head; who in his senses would have endured to
redden his hand with his own blood, become his own headsman, lift his hand
against himself, in obedience to the judge's order?

Clearly your second martyr deserves the higher praise. The former indeed
deserves credit for his zeal, bat the latter is adorned by right judgment as
well.

I have answered you according to the measure of the wisdom given me; He who
knows thoughts as well as acts, will shew which of the two was right in the day
of His appearing.

IV. Festal. The Creator of our souls and bodies has given His bounty to both,
and at one and the same time has overwhelmed us with good things that both heart
and senses can feel. At the time of the sacred feast He has given us the rain we
so much longed for, that our celebration might be clear of sadness. We have
praised our bountiful Lord, and now as we are wont write a festal letter and
address your piety with the request that you will aid us with your prayers.

V. Festal. The God who made us gives us care and sorrow after our sin. But He
has furnished us with divine occasions of consolation by appointing divine
feasts. The thoughts they suggest both remind us of God's gifts to us, and
promise complete freedom from all our troubles. Enjoying these good things and
filled with cheerfulness, we address your magnificence, and, according to the
custom of the festival, pay friendship's debt.

VI. Festal. Our loving Lord has allowed us, with the zeal of folks who love the
Christ, to celebrate the divine feast of salvation and enjoy the fruit of the
spiritual blessing that flows from it. Since we know the disposition of your
Piety toward us, we write to tell yon this. For they who have friendly thoughts
to others are always pleased to hear cheering intelligence of them.

VII. To Theonilla. Had I heard of the death of your dignity's most honourable
husband I should have written long ago, and now my object in writing is not to
lull your great sorrow to sleep by consolatory words. They are unnecessary. They
who have learnt the wisdom of philosophers and consider what this life is, find
reason strong enough to meet and break grief's rising surge. And even while you
are remembering your long companionship, reason recognises the divine decrees,
and to meet the forces of the tears of sorrow marshals at once the course of
nature, the law of God, and the hope of the resurrection. Knowing this as I do,
there is no necessity to use many words. I only beseech you to avail yourself of
good sense in the hour of need. Think of the death of him who is gone as no more
than a long journey, and wait for the promise of our God and Saviour. For He who
promised the resurrection cannot lie, and is the fount of truth.

VIII. To Eugraphia.

It is needless for me to bring once more to bear upon your grief the spells of
the spirit. The mere mention of the sufferings that wrought our salvation is
enough to quench distress, even at its worst. Those sufferings were all
undergone for humanity. Our Lord did not destroy death to make one body
victorious over death, hut through that one body to effect our common
resurrection, and make our hope of it a sure and certain hope. And if even while
our holy celebrations are bringing you manifold refreshment of soul, you cannot
overcome your sense of sorrow, let me beg you, my honoured friend, to read the
very words of the marriage contract which follow on the mention of the dowry,
and to see how the wedding is preceded by the reminder of death. Knowing as we
do that men are mortal, and bethinking us of the peace of survivors, it is
customary to lay down what are called conditions, and for no hesitation to be
shewn at the mention of death before the joining together in marriage. These are
the plain words "If the husband should die first it is agreed that so and so be
done; if this lot should first fall to the wife, so and so." We knew all this
before the wedding; we are waiting for it so to say everyday. Why then take it
amiss? The union must needs be broken either by the death of the husband or the
departure of the wife. Such is the course of life. You know, my excellent
friend, alike God's will and human nature; dispel then your despondency and wait
for the fulfilment of the common hope of the just.

IX. To an Anonymous Correspondent. Your piety is annoyed and distressed at the
sentence passed on me unjustly and without a trial. I am comforted that you are
so feeling. Had I been justly condemned I should have been sorry at having given
my judges reasonable grounds for what they have done, but, as it is, my
conscience is quite clear, and I feel joyful and exultant and look forward to
the remission of other sins on account of this injustice. Naboth lives in men's
memories only because he suffered that unjust death. Only pray that we be not
abandoned of God and let the enemy continue to do his worst. God's good will is
enough to make me very cheerful and if He is on my side I despise all my
troubles as trifles.17 X. To the Learned Elias.

Legislators have made laws in aid of the oppressed, and advocates have practised
the orator's arts to help them that stand in need of fair defence. You, my
friend, have studied eloquence and the law. Now put your art in practice, and by
it put down the oppressors, help them that are put down by them, and defend them
with the law as with a shield. Let no guilty client enjoy the benefit of your
advocacy, even though he be your friend.

Now one of these guilty men is that villain Abraham. After being settled for a
considerable time on an estate belonging to the church, he then took several
partners in his rascality, and has had no hesitation in owning his proceedings.
I have sent him to you with an account of his doings, the parties he has
wronged, and the reverend sub-deacon Gerontius. I do not want you to deliver the
guilty man to the authorities, but in the hope that when his victims have told
you all they have had to put up with, and have made you, my learned friend, feel
sympathy for their case, you may be induced to compel the wicked fellow to
restore what he has stolen.

XI. To Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople. The Creator and Guide of the Universe
has made you a luminary of the world, and changed the deep moonless night into
clear noon. Just as by the haven's side, the beacon light shews sailors in the
night time the harbour mouth, so shines the bright ray of your holiness to give
great comfort to all that are attacked for true religion's sake, and shews them
the safe port of the Apostles' faith. They that know it already are filled with
comfort, and they that knew it not are saved from being dashed upon the rocks. I
indeed am especially bound to praise the giver of all good, because I have found
a noble champion who drives away fear of men by the power of the fear of God,
fights heartily in the front rank for the doctrines of the Gospel, and gladly
bears the brunt of the apostolic war. So to-day every tongue is moved in eulogy
of your holiness, for it is not only the nurslings of true religion who admire
the purity of your faith, but the praises of your courage are sung even by the
enemies of the truth. Falsehood vanishes at truth's lightning flash.

I write thus knowing that the very reverend and pious Hypatius the reader, both
readily obeys the bidding of your holiness, and constantly, my Lord, mentions
your laudable deeds. I salute you as holy and right dear to God. I exhort you to
support us with your prayers that we may lead the rest of our lives according to
God's laws.

XII. To the Bishop Irenaeus.18

Job, that famous tower of adamant and noble champion of goodness, was not shaken
even by blows of continuous troubles of every sort and kind, but stood
impregnable and firm. At the end however of all his trials the righteous
Law-giver explained the reason of them in the words, "Dost thou think that I
answered thee for any other reason than that thou mightest appear just?"19 I
think that these words are known to your piety which is able to support the many
and various attacks of troubles and anxieties, and so far from shrinking from
them, exhibits the strength and stability of your administration. So the
bountiful Lord, seeing the bravery and holiness of your soul, has refused to
keep a worthy champion in concealment, and has brought him forth to the contest
to adorn your venerable head with a crown of victory, and give your struggles as
a high example of good service to the rest. So, my dear friend, conquer in this
battle too, and bear bravely the death of your son-in-law, my own dear friend.
Conquer in your wisdom the claims of kinsmanship and the memory of a noble and
generous character, a memory which must always recall something beyond painter's
art or rhetorician's skill. Repel the assault of sorrow by the thought of Him
who wisely administers all the affairs of men, with perfect knowledge of the
future and right guidance of it for our good. Let us join in the joy of him who
has been delivered from this life's storms. Let us rather give thanks because,
wafted by kindly winds, he has cast anchor in the windless haven and has escaped
the grievous shipwrecks whereof this life is full. But need I say all this to
one who is a tried gladiator of goodness? Need I, as it were, anoint for
endurance one who is a trainer of other athletes? Still I write. It is a comfort
to myself to write as I do. I am really and truly grieved when I remember an
intimacy that I esteemed so highly. Once more I praise the great Guide of all,
Who both knows what would be good for us and guides our life accordingly. I have
dictated this after writing my former communication, on one of my friends in
Antioch telling me that the end had come.

XIII. To Cyrus.

I had heard of the island of Lesbos, and its cities Mitylene, Methymna, and the
rest; but I was ignorant of the fruit of the vine cultivated in it.20 Now,
thanks to your diligence, I have become acquainted with it, and I admire both
its whiteness and the delicacy of its flavour. Perhaps time may even improve it,
unless it turns it sour; for wine, like the body, and plants, and buildings, and
other things made by hand, is damaged by time. If, as you say, it makes the
drinker longlived, I am afraid it will be of little use to me, for I have no
desire to live a long life, when life's storms are so many and so hard.

I was however much pleased to hear of the health of the monk. Really my anxiety
about him was quite distressing, and I wrongly blamed the doctors, for his
complaint required the treatment they gave. I have sent you a little pot of
honey which the Cilician bees make from storax flowers.

XIV. To Alexandra. Had I only considered the character of the loss which you
have sustained, I should have wanted consolation myself, not only because I
count that what concerns you concerns me, be it agreeable or otherwise, but
because I did so dearly love that admirable and truly excellent man. But the
divine decree has removed him from us and translated him to the better life. I
therefore scatter the cloud of sorrow from my soul, and urge you, my worthy
friend, to vanquish the pain of your sorrow by the power of reason, and to bring
your soul in this hour of need under the spell of God's word. Why from our very
cradles do we suck the instruction of the divine Scriptures, like milk from the
breast, but that, when trouble falls upon us, we may be able to apply the
teaching of the Spirit as a salve for our pain? I know how sad, how very
grievous it is, when one has experienced the worth of some loved object,
suddenly to be deprived of it, and to fall in a moment from happiness to misery.
But to them that are gifted with good sense, and use their powers of right
reason, no human contingency comes quite unforeseen; nothing human is stable;
nothing lasting; nor beauty, nor wealth, nor health, nor dignity; nor any of all
those things that most men rank so high. Some men fall from a summit of opulence
to lowest poverty; some lose their health and struggle with various forms of
disease; some who are proud of the splendour of their lineage drag the crushing
yoke of slavery. Beauty is spoilt by sickness and marred by old age, and very
wisely has the supreme Ruler suffered none of these things to continue nor
abide, with the intent that their possessors, in fear of change, may lower their
proud looks, and, knowing how all such possessions ebb and flow, may cease to
put their confidence in what is short lived and fleeting, and may fix their
hopes upon the Giver of all good. I am aware, my excellent friend, that you know
all this, and I beg you to reflect on human nature; you will find that it is
mortal, and received the doom of death from the beginning. It was to Adam that
God said "Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return."21 The giver of the law
is He that never lies, and experience witnesses to His truth. Divine Scripture
tells us "all men have one entrance into life and the like going out,"22 and
every one that is born awaits the grave. And all do not live a like length of
time; some men come to an end all too soon; some in the vigour of manhood, and
some after they have experienced the trials of old age. Thus, too, they who have
taken on them the marriage yoke are loosed from it, and it must needs be that
either husband first depart or wife reach this life's end before him. Some have
but just entered the bridal chamber when their lot is weeping and lamentation;
some live together a little while. Enough to remember that the grief is common
to give reason ground for overcoming grief. Besides all this, even they who are
mastered by bitterest sorrow may be comforted by the thought that the departed
was the father of sons; that he left them grown up; that he had attained a very
high position, and in it, so far from giving any cause for envy, made men love
him the more, and left behind him a reputation for liberality, for hatred of all
that is bad, for gentleness and indeed for every kind of moral virtue.23 But
what excuse for despondency will be left us if we take to heart God's own
promises and the hopes of Christians; the resurrection, I mean, eternal life,
continuance in the kingdom, and all that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared
for them that love Him"?24 Does not the Apostle say emphatically, "I would not
have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye
sorrow not even as others which have no hope"?25 I have known many men who even
without hope have got the better of their grief by the force of reason alone,
and it would indeed be extraordinary if they who are supported by such a hope
should prove weaker than they who have no hope at all. Let us then, I implore
you, look at the end as a long journey. When he went on a journey we used indeed
to be sorry, but we waited his return. Now let the separation sadden us indeed
in some degree, for I am not exhorting what is contrary to human nature, but do
not let us wail as over a corpse; let us rather congratulate him on his setting
forth and his departure hence, because he is now free from a world of
uncertainties, and fears no further change of soul or body or of corporeal
conditions. The strife now ended, he waits for his reward. Grieve not overmuch
for orphanhood and widowhood. We have a greater Guardian whose law it is that
all should take good care of orphans and widows and about whom the divine David
says "The Lord relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked He
turneth upside down.26 Only let us put the rudders of our lives in His hands,
and we shall meet with an unfailing Providence. His guardianship will be surer
than can be that of any man, for His are the words "Can a woman forget her
sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yet
will I not forget thee."27 He is nearer to us than father and mother for He is
our Maker and Creator. It is not marriage that makes fathers, but fathers are
made fathers at His will.

I am now compelled thus to write because my bonds28 do not suffer me to hasten
to you, but your most God-loving and most holy bishop is able unaided to give
all consolation to your very faithful soul by word and by deed, by sight and by
communication of thought and by that spiritual and God-given wisdom of his
whereby I trust the tempest of your grief will be lulled to sleep.

XV. To Silvanus the Primate29

I know that in my words of consolation I am somewhat late, but it is not without
reason that I have delayed to send them, for I have thought it worth while to
let the violence of your grief take its course. The cleverest physicians will
never apply their remedies when a fever is at its height, but wait for a
favourable opportunity for using the appliances of their skill. So after
reckoning how sharp your anguish must be, I have let these few days go by, for
if I myself was so distressed and filled with such sorrow by the news, what must
not have been the sufferings of a husband and yoke-fellow, made, as the
Scripture says, one flesh,30 at the violent sundering of the union cemented both
by time and love? Such pangs are only natural; but let reason devise consolation
by reminding you that humanity is frail and sorrow universal, and also of the
hope of the resurrection and the will of Him who orders our lives wisely. We
must needs accept the decrees of inestimable wisdom, and own them to be for our
good; for they who reflect thus piously shall reap piety's rewards, and so
delivered from immoderate lamentations shall pass their lives in peace. On the
other hand they whom sorrow makes its slaves will gain nothing by their wailing,
but will at once live weary lives and grieve the Guardian of us all. Receive
then, my most honoured friend, a fatherly exhortation "The Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away. He hath done whatsoever pleased Him. Blessed be the name
of the Lord."31 XVI. To Bishop Irenaeus.32

There is nothing good, it seems, in prospect for us, so, far from calming down,
the tempest troubling the Church seems to rise higher every day. The conveners
of the Council have arrived and delivered the letters of summons to several of
the Metropolitans including our own, and I have sent a copy of the letter to
your Holiness to acquaint you how, as the poet has it, "Woe has been welded by
woe."33 And we need only the Lord's goodness to stay the storm. Easy it is for
Him to stay it, but we are unworthy of the calm, yet the grace of His patience
is enough for us, so that haply by it we may get the better of our foes. So the
divine apostle has taught us to pray "for He will with the temptation also make
a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it."34 But I beseech your godliness
to stop the mouths of the objectors and make them understand that it is not for
them who stand, as the phrase goes, out of range, to scoff at men fighting in
the ranks and giving and receiving blows; for what matters it what weapon the
soldier uses to strike down his antagonists? Even the great David did not use a
panoply when he slew the aliens' champion,35 and Samson slew thousands on one
day with the jawbone of an ass.36 Nobody grumbles at the victory, nor accuses
the conqueror of cowardice, because he wins it without brandishing a spear or
covering himself with his shield or throwing darts or shooting arrows. The
defenders of true religion must be criticized in the same way, nor must we try
to find language which will stir strife, but rather arguments which plainly
proclaim the truth and make those who venture to oppose it ashamed of
themselves.

What does it matter whether we style the holy Virgin at the same time mother of
Man and mother of God, or call her mother and servant of her offspring, with the
addition that she is mother of our Lord Jesus Christ as man, but His servant as
God, and so at once avoid the term which is the pretext of calumny, and express
the same opinion by another phrase? And besides this it must also be borne in
mind that the former of these titles is of general use, and the latter peculiar
to the Virgin; and that it is about this that all the controversy has arisen,
which would God had never been. The majority of the old Fathers have applied the
more honourable title to the Virgin, as your Holiness yourself has done in two
or three discourses; several of these, which your godliness sent to me, I have
in my own possession, and in these you have not coupled the title mother of Man
with mother of God, but have explained its meaning by the use of other words.
But since you find fault with me for having left out the holy and blessed
Fathers Diodorus and Theodorus in my list of authorities, I have thought it
necessary to add a few words on this point. In the first place, my dear friend,
I have omitted many others both famous and illustrious. Secondly this fact must
be borne in mind, that the accused party is bound to produce unimpeachable
witnesses, whose testimony even his accusers cannot impugn. But if the defendant
were to call into court authorities accused by the prosecutors, even the judge
himself would not consent to receive them. If I had omitted these holy men in
compiling an eulogy of the Fathers, I should, I own, have been wrong, and should
have proved myself ungrateful to my teachers. But if when under accusation I
have brought forward a defence, and have produced unimpeachable witnesses, why
do men who are unwilling to see any of these testimonies lay me under
unreasonable blame? How I reverence these writers is sufficiently shewn by my
own book in their behalf, in which I have refuted the indictment laid against
them, without fear of the influence of their accusers or even of the secret
attack made upon myself. These people who are so fond of foolish talk had better
get some other excuse for their sleight of words. My object is not to make my
words and deeds fit the pleasure of this man or that man, but to edify the
church of God, and please her bridegroom and Lord. I call my conscience to
witness that I am not acting as I do through care of material things, nor
because I cling to the honour with all its cares, which I shrink from calling an
unhappy one. I would long ago have withdrawn of my own accord, did I not fear
the judgment of God. And now know well that I await my fate. And I think that it
is drawing near, for so the plots against me indicate.37 XVII. To the Deaconess
Casiana. Had I only considered the greatness of your sorrow, I should have put
off writing a little while, that I might make time my ally in my attempt to cure
it, but I know the good sense of your piety, and so I make bold to offer you
some words of consolation suggested partly by human nature, and partly by divine
Scripture. For our nature is frail, and all life is full of such calamities, and
the universal Governor and Ruler of the World,-the Lord who wisely orders our
concerns,-gives us by means of His divine oracles consolation of various kinds,
of which the writings of the holy Evangelists and the divine utterances of the
blessed prophets are full. But I am sure it is needless to cull these passages,
and suggest them to your piety, nurtured as you have been from the beginning in
the inspired word, ruling your life in accordance with them, and needing no
other teaching. But I do implore you to remember those words that charge us to
master our feelings, and promise us eternal life, proclaim the destruction of
death, and announce the common resurrection of us all. Besides all this, nay,
before all this, I ask you to reflect that He who has bidden these things so be
is the Lord, that He, is a Lord all wise and all good, Who knows exactly what is
best for us, and to this end guides all our life. Sometimes death is better than
life, and what seems distressing is really pleasanter than fancied joys. I beg
your piety to accept the consolation offered by my humility, that you may serve
the Lord of all by nobly bearing your pain, and affording to men as well as
women an example of true wisdom. For all will admire the strength of mind which
has bravely borne the attack of grief and broken the force of its violent
assault by the magnanimity of its resolution. And we are not without great
comfort in the living likenesses of your departed son; for he has left behind
him offspring worthy of deep affection, who may be able to stay the excess of
our sorrow.

Lastly I implore you to remember in your grief what your bodily infirmity can
endure, and to avoid increasing your sufferings by mourning overmuch; and I
implore our Lord of His infinite resources to give you ground of consolation.

XVIII. To Neoptolemus.

Whenever I cast my eyes on the divine law which calls those who are joined
together in marriage "one flesh,"38 I am at a loss how to comfort the limb that
has been sundered, because I take account of the greatness of the pang. But when
I consider the course of nature, and the law which the Creator has laid down in
the words "Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return,"39 and all that goes on
daily in all the world on land and sea-for either husbands first approach the
end of life or this lot first befalls the wives-I find from these reflections
many grounds of consolation; and above all the hopes that have been given us by
our Lord and Saviour. For the reason of the accomplishment of the mystery of the
incarnation was that we, being taught the defeat of death, should no more grieve
beyond measure at the loss by death of those we love, but await the longed-for
fulfilment of the hope of the resurrection. I entreat your Excellency to reflect
on these things, and to overcome the pain of your grief; and all the more
because the children of your common love are with you, and give you every ground
of comfort. Let us then praise Him who governs our lives wisely, nor rouse His
anger by immoderate lamentation, for in His wisdom He knows what is good for us,
and in His mercy He gives it.

XIX. To the Presbyter Basilius.

I have found the right eloquent orator Athanasius to be just what your letter
described him. His tongue is adorned by his speech, and his speech by his
character, and all about him is brightened by his abundant faith. Ever, most
God-beloved friend, send us such gifts. You have given me, be assured, very
great pleasure through my intercourse with him.

XX. To the Presbyter Martyrius.

Natural disposition appears in us before resolution of character, and, in this
sense, takes the lead; but disposition is overcome by resolution, as is plainly
proved by the right eloquent orator Athanasius. Though an Egyptian by birth, he
has none of the Egyptian want of selfcontrol, but shews a character tempered by
gentleness.40 He is moreover a warm lover of divine things. On this account he
has spent many days with me, expecting to reap some benefit from his stay. But
I, as you know, most God-beloved friend, shrink from trying so to derive good
from others, and am far from being able to impart it to those who seek it, and
this not because I grudge, but because I have not the wherewithal, to give.
Wherefore let your holiness pray that what is said of me may be confirmed by
fact, and that not only may good things be reported of me by word, but proved in
deed.

XXI. To the Learned Eusebius. The disseminators of this great news, with the
idea that it would be very distasteful to me, fancied that they might in this
way annoy me. But I by God's grace welcomed the news, and await the event with
pleasure. Indeed very grateful to me is any kind of trouble which is brought on
me for the sake of the divine doctrines. For, if we really trust in the Lord's
promises, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us."41 And why do I speak of the
enjoyment of the good things which are hoped for? For even if no prize had been
offered to them that struggle for the sake of true religion, Truth alone by her
own unaided force would herself have been sufficient to persuade them that love
her to welcome gladly all perils in her cause. And the divine Apostle is witness
of what I say, exclaiming as he does, "Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril or sword? As it is written, `For thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'"42 And then to teach us that
he looks for no reward, but only loves his Saviour, he adds straightway "Nay in
all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."43 And
he goes on further to exhibit his own love more clearly. "For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord."44 Behold, my friend, the flame of apostolic affection; see the
torch of love.45

I covet not, he says, what is His. I only long for Him; and this love of mine is
an unquenchable love and I would gladly forego all present and future felicity,
aye, suffer and endure again all kinds of pain so as to keep with me this flame
in all its force. This was exemplified by the divine writer in deed as well as
in word and everywhere by land and sea he has left behind him memorials of his
sufferings. So when I turn my eyes on him and on the rest of the patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, martyrs, priests, what is commonly reckoned miserable I
cannot but hold to be delightful. I confess to a feeling of shame when I
remember how even they who never learnt the lessons we have learnt, but followed
no other guide but human nature alone, have won conspicuous places in the race
of virtue. The famous Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, when under the calumnious
indictment, not only treated the lies of his accusers with contempt, but
expressed his cheerfulness in the midst of his troubles in the words, "Anytus
and Meletus46 can kill me, but they cannot harm me." And the orator of
Paeania,47 who was as wise as he was eloquent, enriched both the men of his own
day and them that should come after him with the saying: "to all the race of men
the end of life is death, even though one shut himself up for safety in a cell;
so good men are bound ever to put their hand to every honourable work, ever
defending themselves with good hope as with a shield, and bravely to bear
whatever lot may be given them by God."48

Moreover a writer of earlier date than Demosthenes, I mean the son of Olorus,
wrote many noble sentiments, and among them this "We must bear what the gods
send us of necessity and the fortune of war with courage."49 Why need I quote
philosophers, historians, and orators? For even the men who gave higher honour
to their mythology than to the truth have inserted many useful exhortations in
their stories; as Homer in his poems introduces the wisest of the Hellenes
preparing himself for deeds of valour, where he says

"He chid his angry spirit and beat his breast, And said `Forbear my mind, and
think on this: There hath been time when bitterer agonies Have tried thy
patience.'"50

Similar passages might easily be collected from poets, orators, and
philosophers, but for us the divine writings are sufficient.

I have quoted what I have to prove how disgraceful it were for the mere
disciples of nature to get the better of us who have had the teaching of the
prophets and the apostles, trusting in the Saviour's sufferings and looking for
the resurrection of the body, freedom from corruption, the gift of immortality
and the kingdom of heaven.

So, my dear friend, comfort those who are discouraged at the stories bruited
abroad, and if anybody is pleased at them, tell them that we are happy too, that
we are exulting and dancing with joy, and that what they call punishment we are
looking for as the kingdom of heaven itself. To inform those who do not know in
what mind we are, be assured, most excellent friend, that we believe, as we have
been taught, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There is no truth in
the slander of some that we have been taught to believe, or have been baptized,
or do believe, or teach others to believe, in two Sons. As we know one Father
and one Holy Ghost so we know one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten
Son of God, God the Word who was made man. We do not however deny the properties
of the natures. We hold them to be in error who divide the one Lord Jesus Christ
into two Sons, and we also call them enemies of the truth who endeavour to
confound the natures. We believe an union to have been made without confusion,
and we reckon some qualities to be proper to the manhood and others to the
Godhead; for just as the man-I mean man in general-reasonable and mortal being,
has a soul and has a body, and is reckoned to be one being, just so the
distinction between the two natures does not divide the one man into two
persons, but we recognise in the one man both the immortality of the soul and
the mortality of the body, and acknowledge the invisible soul and the visible
body, but, as I said, one being at once reasonable and mortal; so do we
recognise our Lord and God, I mean the Son of God our Lord Christ, even after
His incarnation, to be one Son; for the union is indivisible, as we know it is
without confusion. We acknowledge too that the Godhead is without beginning, and
that the manhood is of recent origin; for the one nature is of the seed of
Abraham and David, from whom descended the holy Virgin, but the divine nature
was begotten of the God and Father before the ages without time, without
passions, without severance. But suppose the distinction between flesh and
Godhead to be destroyed, what weapons shall we use in our war with Arius and
Eunomius? How shall we undo their blasphemy against the only begotten? As it is,
we apply the words of humiliation as to man, the words of exaltation and
divinity as to God, and the setting forth of the truth is very easy to us. But
this disquisition on the faith is exceeding the limits of a letter. Still even
these few words are enough to show the character of the apostolic faith.51 XXII.
To Count Ulpianus.

It is said that what is faulty in men's ways may be brought to order and
improved by words. But I think that characters made beautiful by nature,
themselves make words fair, though they stand in need of none, just as bodies
naturally beautiful need no artificial colouring. These qualities are
conspicuous in the right eloquent orator Athanasius, and I have been the more
pleased with him because he is an ardent lover of your Excellency, and is
constantly sounding your praises. Here, however, I have striven with him, and in
enumerating your high qualities, have outdone him, for I know more about good
deeds of yours than he. I am however vexed at not being able to praise them all,
and to see that my summary of your virtues falls short of what might be said in
your praise, but if God grant it even to approach the truth you will hold the
pre-eminence in every kind of virtue among all your contemporaries.52 XXIII. To
the Patrician Areobindas.53 In distributing wealth and poverty among men the
Creator and Governor of all gives no unjust judgment, but gives the poverty of
the poor to the rich as a means of usefulness. So He brings chastisement upon
men not merely in the infliction of punishment for their faults, but to provide
the wealthy with opportunities for shewing kindness to mankind. This year the
Lord has sent us scourges, far less than our sins, but enough to distress the
husbandmen, of whose sufferings I lately made your magnificence acquainted
through your own hinds. Pity, I beseech you, the tillers of the ground, who have
spent their toil with but very little result. Be this bad year a suggestion of
spiritual abundance, and do ye through the exercise of compassion gather in the
harvest of the compassion of God. On this account the excellent Dionysius has
hurried to your greatness to tell you of the trouble, that he may receive the
remedy. He carries this letter, like a suppliant's branch of olive, in the hope
that by its means he may receive greater kindness.

XXIV. To Andreas Bishop of Samosata. Your piety, nursling of God's love, longs,
I am sure, for my society. But I am all the more eager for yours in proportion
as I know that from it more advantage will accrue to me. Want somehow naturally
makes our wishes the stronger, but the Lord of all is able to give us what we
long for. He rules all things Himself; knows what is sure to do us good, and
never ceases to give every man this boon. I really cannot tell you how much
delighted I was with your letter, and the very honourable and devout deacon
Thalassius increased my pleasure by telling me what I was very anxious to know,
for what can be more welcome to me than news that all goes well with you? And
what is it that so increases your welfare as the moderation of the great men
among us? You have acted like a wise and active physician who does not wait to
be sent for, but comes of his own accord to them that need his care. This has
given me great pleasure, and I have learnt by my own experience what the poet
means when he says "laughing through her tears."54 May the bountiful Giver of
all good things grant your holiness to excel in them, and to make us emulous of
what is praiseworthy in all good men. Help us then my dear friend, and persuade
him who can to grant our petition.55

XXV. Festal. When the only begotten God had been made Man, and had wrought out
our salvation, they who in those days saw Him from whom these bounties flowed
kept no feast. But in our time, land and sea, town and hamlet, though they
cannot see their benefactor with eyes of sense, keep a feast in memory of all He
has done for them; and so great is the joy flowing from these celebrations that
the streams of spiritual gladness run in all directions. Wherefore we now salute
your piety, at once to signify the cheerfulness which the feast has caused in
us, and to ask your prayers that we may keep it to the end.

XXVI. Festal. The fountains of the Lord's kindness are ever gushing forth with
good things for them that believe; but some further good is conveyed by the
celebrations which preserve the memory of the greatest of benefits to them that
keep the feasts with more good will. We have just now celebrated the rites and
enjoyed their blessing, and thus salute your piety, for so the custom of the
feast and law of love enjoins.

XXVII. To Aquilinus, Deacon and Archimandrite. No one who has won the divine
adoption weeps for orphanhood, for what guardian care can be more powerful than
that of our Father which is on high, because of Him fathers of earth are
fathers. By His will some are made fathers by nature, some by grace. To Him then
let us hold fast and keep alive the memory of them that are dead. For we shall
be the better for the recollection of them that have lived well, rousing us to
imitation of them.

XXVIII. To Jacobus, Presbyter and Monk.

They who have made the vigour of their manhood bright by virtuous industry
hasten happily towards old age, gladdened by the recollection of their former
victories, and for old age's sake rid of further struggle. This joy I think your
own piety possesses, and that you bear your old age the more easily for the
recollection of the labours of your youth.

XXIX. To Apellion. The sufferings of the Carthaginians would demand, and, in
their greatness, perhaps out-task, the power of the tragic language of an
Aeschylus or a Sophocles. Carthage of old was with difficulty taken by the
Romans. Again and again she contended with Rome for the mastery of the world,
and brought Rome within danger of destruction. Now the ruin has been the mere
byplay of barbarians. Now dignified members of her far-famed senate wander all
over the world, getting means of existence from the bounty of kindly strangers,
moving the tears of beholders, and teaching the uncertainty and instability of
the lot of man.

I have seen many who have come thence, and I have felt afraid, for I know not,
as the Scripture says, "what the morrow will bring forth."56 Not least do I
admire the admirable and most honourable Celestinianus, so bravely does he bear
his misfortune, and makes the loss of his happiness an occasion for philosophy,
praising the governor of all, and holding that to be good which God either
ordains or suffers to be. For the wisdom of divine Providence is unspeakable. He
is travelling with his wife and children, and I beg your excellency to treat him
with an hospitality like that of Abraham. With perfect confidence in your
benevolence I have undertaken to introduce him to you, and I am telling him how
generous is your right hand.57 XXX. To Aerius the Sophist.58

Now is the time for your Academy to prove the use of your discussions. I am told
that a brilliant assemblage collects at your house, of which the members are
both illustrious by birth and polished of speech, and that you debate about
virtue and the immortality of the soul, and other kindred subjects. Show now
opportunely your nobility of soul and wealth of virtue, and receive the most
admirable and honourable Celestinianus in the spirit of men who have learnt the
rapid changes of human prosperity. He was formerly an ornament of the city of
Carthage, where he flung open the doors of his house to many priests, and never
thought to need a stranger's kindness. Be his spokesman, my friend, and aid him
in his need of your voice, for he cannot suffer the advice of the poet which
bids him that needeth speak though he be ashamed.59

Persuade I beg you any of your society who are capable of so doing to emulate
the hospitality of Alcinous,60 to remove the poverty which has unexpectedly
befallen him, and to change his evil fortune into good. Let them praise our
kindly Lord for making us wise by other men's calamities, not having sent us to
strangers' houses and having brought strangers to our doors. To men that shew
kindness He promises to give what words cannot express and no intelligence can
understand.

XXXI. To Domnus Bishop of Antioch.61 The most admirable and honourable
Celestinianus is a native of the famous Carthage, and of an illustrious family
in that city. Now he has been exiled from it. He is wandering in foreign parts,
and has to look to the benevolence of them that love God. He carries with him a
burden from which he cannot escape and which increases his care-I mean his wife,
his children and his servants, for whom he is at great expense. I wonder at his
spirit. For he praises the great Pilot as though he were being borne by
favourable breezes, and cares nothing for the terrible storm. From his calamity
he has reaped the fruit of piety, and this thrice blessed gain has been brought
him by his misfortune; for while he was in prosperity he never accepted this
teaching, but when the evil day left him bare, among the rest of his losses he
lost his impiety too, and now possesses the wealth of the faith, and for its
sake thinks little of his ruin.

I therefore beseech your holiness to let him find a fatherland in these foreign
parts, and to charge them that abound in riches to comfort one who once was
endowed like themselves, and to scatter the dark cloud of his calamity. It is
only right and proper that among men of like nature, where all have erred, they
that have escaped chastisement should bring comfort to them that have fallen on
evil days, and by their sympathy for these latter propitiate the mercy of God.

XXXII. To the Bishop Theoctistus.62

If the God of all had forthwith inflicted punishment on all that err he would
utterly have destroyed all men. But He spares; He is a merciful Judge; and
therefore some He chastises, and to others He gives the lesson of the punishment
of the chastised. An instance of this merciful dealing has been shewn in our
times. Exiles from what was once known as Libya, but is now called Africa, have
been brought by Him to our doors, and by shewing us their sufferings He moves us
to fear, and by fear rouses us to sympathy; thus He accomplishes two ends at
once, for He both benefits us by their chastisement, and to them by our means
brings comfort. This comfort I now beg you to give to the very admirable and
honourable Celestinianus, a man who once was an ornament of the Africans' chief
city, but now has neither city nor home, nor any of the necessaries of life. Now
it is proper that those who in the jurisdiction of your holiness have been
entrusted with the pastoral care of souls should bring before their fellow
citizens what is for their good, for indeed they need such teaching. For this
reason, as we know, the divine Apostle in his Epistle to Titus writes "Let ours
also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses,"63 for if our city,
solitary as it is, and with only a small population, and that a poor one,
succours the strangers, much rather may Beroea,64 which has been nurtured in
true religion, be expected to do so, especially under the leadership of your
holiness.

XXXIII. To Stasimus, Count and Primate.65 To narrate the sufferings of the most
honourable and dignified Celestinianus would require tragic eloquence. Tragic
writers set forth fully the ills of humanity, but I can only in a word inform
your excellency that his country is Libya, so long on all men's tongues, his
city the far famed Carthage, his hereditary rank a seat in her famous council,
his circumstances affluent. But all this is now a tale, mere words stripped bare
of realities. The barbarian war has deprived him of all this. But such is
fortune; she refuses to remain always with the same men and hastens to change
her abode to dwell with others.66 I beg to introduce this guest to your
excellency, and beseech you that he may enjoy your far famed beneficence. I beg
also that through your excellency he may become known to all those who are in
office and opulence, in order that you may both become a means of advantage to
them and win the higher reward from our merciful God.

XXXIV. To the Count Patricius.

All kinds of goodness are praiseworthy, but all are made more beautiful by
loving kindness. For it we earnestly pray the God of all; through it alone we
obtain forgiveness when we err; it makes wealth stoop to the poor, and because I
know that your Excellency is richly endowed with it I confidently commend to you
the admirable and excellent Celestinianus, once lord of vast wealth and
possessions and suddenly stripped of all, but bearing his poverty as easily as
few men bear their riches. The subject of the tragedy involving the fall of his
fortunes is the barbarian invasion of Libya and Carthage. I have introduced him
to your greatness; pray suggest his case to others, and move them to pity. You
will win greater gain by giving many a lesson in loving kindness:

XXXV. To the Bishop Irenaeus.67

You are conspicuous, my Lord, for many forms of goodness, and your holiness is
beautified in an especial degree by loving-kindness, by contempt of riches, and
by a generosity that gushes forth for the help of them that need. I know too
that you deem worthy of more than ordinary attention those who have been brought
up in prosperity and have fallen from it into trouble. Knowing this as well as I
do I venture to make known to you the very admirable and excellent
Celestinianus. He was once well known in Carthage for wealth and position, now
stripped of these he is favourably known by his piety and philosophy, for he
bears what men call misfortune with resignation because it has brought him to
the salvation of his soul. He came to me with a letter which described his
former prosperity, and after he had passed several days with me I proved the
truth of what was said of him by experience. I have therefore no hesitation in
commending him to your Holiness, and begging you to make him known to the
well-to-do men of the city. It is probable that when they have learnt what has
befallen him, in fear of a like fate befalling themselves, they will endeavour
to escape judgment by shewing mercy. He has no resource but to go about begging,
as he is put to the greater expense because he has with him his wife and
children, and the domestics who with him escaped the violence of the barbarians.

XXXVI. To Pompianus, Bishop of Emesa.

I know very well that your means are small and your heart is great, and that in
your case generosity is not prevented by limited resources. I therefore
introduce to your holiness the admirable and excellent Celestinianus, once
enjoying much wealth and prosperity, but now escaped from the hands of the
barbarians with nothing but freedom, and having no means of livelihood except
the mercy of men like your piety. And cares crowd round him, for travelling with
him are his wife, children and servants, whom he has brought with him from no
motives but those of humanity, for he cannot think it right to dismiss them when
they refuse to abandon him. I beg you of your goodness to make him known to our
wealthy citizens, for I think that, after being informed by your holiness and
seeing how soon prosperity may fall away, they will bethink them of our common
humanity, and, in imitation of your magnanimity, will give him such help as they
can.

XXXVII. To Salustius the Governor.68 When rulers keep the scales of justice
true, and let them hang in even balance, they confer all kinds of benefits upon
their subjects; if they are also gifted with prudence and further show
loving-kindness to him that needs it, manifold advantages accrue from their rule
to them that live under it. Having enjoyed these good things through your
excellency, and having experienced them in your former administration, they have
now been moved with joy at the information that to your munificence the helm of
government has been entrusted. I pray that they may gain yet greater good, that
your excellency may win still higher praise, and that the encomiums of your
eulogists may be vindicated by the addition to all your other honourable titles
to fame of that colophon69 of good things-true religion. As I was compelled to
pass several days in Hierapolis I hoped to have the pleasure of meeting your
excellency, and persistently enquired of new comers if the insignia of office
had been conveyed to you. But I was compelled by the divine feast of salvation
to return in haste to the city entrusted to me. Now however that I have received
your excellency's letter, with very great pleasure I return your salutation, and
without delay have sent, as you requested, the honourable and pious deacon who
is by God's grace a water-finder. May the Lord in His loving kindness grant him
both to do good service to the city and increase your excellency's glory.

XXXVIII. Festal. The divine feast of salvation has brought us the founts of
God's good gifts, the blessing of the Cross, and the immortality which sprang
from our Lord's death, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ which gives
promise of the resurrection of us all. These being the gifts of the feast, such
its exhibition of the bounty of divine grace, it has filled us with spiritual
gladness. But encompassed as we are on every side by many and great calamities,
the brightness of the feast is dimmed, and lamentation and wailing are mingled
with our psalmody. Such sorrows does sin bring forth. It is sin which has filled
our life with pangs; it is on account of sin that death is lovelier to us than
life; it is on account of sin that when we think in imagination of that
incorruptible tribunal we shudder even at the life to come. So may your piety
pray that God's loving-kindness may light on us, and that this gloomy and
terrible cloud may be dispersed and sunshine again quickly give us joy.

XXXIX. Festal. My wish was to write in cheerful terms and sound the note of the
spiritual joy of the feast, but I am prevented by the multitude of our sins,
which are bringing on us the judgment of God. For who indeed can be so
insensible as not to perceive the divine wrath? May your piety then pray that
affairs may undergo a change for the better; that so we too may change the style
of our letter, and write words of cheerfulness instead of those of wailing.

XL. To Theodorus the Vicar.70 The custom of the feast bids me write a festal
letter, but the cloud of our calamities suffers me not to gather the usual happy
fruit from it. Who is so stony-hearted as not to be shocked and affrighted at
the anger and grief of the Lord? Who is not stirred to the memory of faults? Who
does not look for the righteous sentence? All this dims the brightness of the
feast, but the Lord is full of loving-kindness, and we trust He will not
actually fulfil His threats, but will look mercifully on us, scatter our
sadness, open the springs of mercy, and shew His wonted long suffering. I salute
your greatness, and beseech you to send me news of the health I sincerely trust
you are enjoying.

XLI. To Claudianus.71 The divine Celebration has as usual conferred on us its
spiritual boons; but the sour fruits of sin have not suffered us to enjoy them
with gladness. They have had their usual results; in the beginning they caused
thorns, caltrops, sweats, toil and pain to sprout; at the present moment sin
sets the earth quaking against us, and makes nations rise against us on every
side. And we lament because we force the good Lord, who is wishful to do us
good, to do us ill, and compel Him to inflict punishment.

Yet when we bethink us of the unfathomable depths of His pity we are comforted,
and trust that the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake
His inheritance.72 While saluting your magnificence I beseech you to give me
news of your much-wished for health.

XLII. To Constantius the Perfect.73 Did no necessity compel me to address a
letter to your greatness, I might haply be found guilty of presumption, for
neither taking due measure of myself nor recognising the greatness of your
power. But now that all that is left of the city and district which God has
committed to my charge is in peril of utterly perishing, and certain men have
dared to bring calumnious charges against the recent visitation, I am sure your
magnificence will pardon the boldness of my letter when you enquire into the
necessity of the case, my own object in writing. I groan and lament at being
compelled to write against a man over whose errors one ought to throw a veil,
because he is of the clerical order. Nevertheless I write to defend the cause of
the poor whom he is wronging. After being charged with many crimes and excluded
from the Communion, pending the assembly of the sacred Synod, in alarm at the
decision of the episcopal council he has made his escape from this place,
thereby trampling, as he supposed, on the laws of the Church, and, by his
contempt of the sentence of excommunication has laid bare his motive. He has
undertaken an accusation not even fit for men of mean crafts, and in consequence
of his ill-feeling towards the illustrious Philip has proceeded against the
wretched tax-payers. I feel that it is quite needless for me to mention his
character, his course of life from the beginning and the greatness of his
wrong-doings, but this one thing I do beseech your Excellency, not to believe
his lies, but to ratify the visitation, and spare the wretched tax-payers. Aye,
spare the thrice wretched decurions who cannot exact the moneys demanded of
them. Who indeed is ignorant of the severity of the taxation of the acres among
us? On this account most of our landowners have fled, our hinds have run away,
and the greater part of our lands are deserted. In discussing the land there
will be no impropriety in our using geometrical terms. Of our country the length
is forty milestones, and the breadth the same. It includes many high mountains,
some wholly bare, and some covered with unproductive vegetation. Within this
district there are fifty thousand free jugers,74 and besides that ten thousand
which belong to the imperial treasury. Now only let your wisdom consider how
great is the wrong. For if none of the country had been uncultivated, and it had
all furnished easy husbandry for the hinds, they would nevertheless have sunk
under the tribute, unable to endure the severity of the taxation. And here is a
proof of what I say. In the time of Isidorus75 of glorious memory, fifteen
thousand acres were taxed in gold, but the exactors of the Comitian assessment,
unable to bear the loss, frequently complained, and by offerings besought your
high dignity to let them off two thousand five hundred for the unproductive
acres, and your excellency's predecessors in this office ordered the
unproductive acreage to be taken off the unfortunate decurions, and an
equivalent number to be substituted for the Comitian; and not even thus are they
able to complete the tale. So with many words I ask your favour, and beseech
your magnificence to put aside the false accusations that are made against the
wretched tax-payers, to stem the tide of distress in this unhappy district, and
let it once more lift its head. Thus you will leave an imperishable memory of
honour to future generations. I am joined in my supplication to you by all the
saints of our district, and especially by that right holy and pious man of God,
the Lord Jacobus,76 who holds silence in such great esteem that he cannot be
induced to write, but he prays that our city, which is made illustrious by
having him as neighbour and is protected by his prayers, may receive the boon
which I ask.

XLIII. To the Augusta Pulcheria.77

Since you adorn the empire by your piety and render the purple brighter by your
faith, we make bold to write to you, no longer conscious of our insignificance
in that you always pay all due honour to the clergy. With these sentiments I
beseech your majesty to deign to show clemency to our unhappy country, to order
the ratification of the visitation which has been several times made, and not to
accept the false accusations which some men have brought against it. I beseech
you to give no credit to him who bears indeed the name of bishop, but whose mode
of action is unworthy even of respectable slaves.78 He has been himself under
serious charges and subject to the bann of excommunication under the most holy
and God-beloved archbishop of Antioch, the Lord Domnus, pending the summoning of
the episcopal council for the investigation of the charges against him. He has
now made his escape, and betaken himself to the imperial city, where he plies
the trade of an informer, attacking the country which is his mother country with
its thousands of poor, and, for the sake of his hatred to one, wags his tongue
against all. Out of regard to what is becoming to me I will say nothing as to
his character and education, and indeed he shows only too plainly what he has at
present in hand. But of the district I will say this, that when the whole
province had its burdens lightened, this portion, although it bore a very heavy
share of the burden, never enjoyed the benefit of relaxation. The result is that
many estates are deprived of husbandmen; nay, many are altogether abandoned by
their owners, while the wretched decurions have demands made on them for these
very properties, and, being quite unable to bear the exaction, betake themselves
some to begging, and some to flight. The city seems to be reduced to one man,
and he will not be able to hold out unless your piety supplies a remedy. But I
am in hopes that your serenity will heal the wounds in the city and add yet this
one more to your many good deeds.

XLIV. To the Patrician79 Senator.

Thanks be to the Saviour of the world because to your greatness He is ever
adding dignity and honour. The reason of my not writing up to this time to
exhibit the delight which I have felt at the colophon80 of your honour, has been
my wish not to trouble your magnificence. At the moment of my now thus writing,
the district which Providence has committed to my care stands as the proverb has
it on a razor's edge.81 You will remember the visitation which was made at the
time when we first were benefited by your presence among us; how it was with
difficulty established in the time of the most excellent prefect the Lord
Florentius;82 and how it was confirmed by the present holder of the office. An
individual who bears the name of bishop, but of ways unworthy even of stage
players, has fled from the episcopal synod at a time when he was lying under
sentence of excommunication and is endeavouring to calumniate and discredit the
visitation, while through his hatred to the illustrious Philip be assails the
truth. I therefore beseech your excellency to make his lies of none effect, and
that the visitation lawfully confirmed may remain undisturbed. It is indeed
becoming to your greatness to reap the fruit of this good deed among the rest,
to receive the acclamations of those whom you are benefiting, and so to do
honour at once to the God of all and to his true servant the very man of God the
Lord Jacob,83 who joins with me in sending you this supplication. Had it been
his wont to write he would have written himself.

XLV. To the Patrician Anatolius.84 Your greatness knows full well how all the
inhabitants of the East feel towards your magnificence, as sons feel towards an
affectionate father. Why then have you shewn hate to them that love you,
deprived them of your kindly care, and driven them all to weeping and
lamentation by putting your own advantage before the service of others? In truth
I think there is not one of them that fear the Lord who is not much grieved at
losing your official sway, and I think that even all the rest, although they
have not right knowledge about divine things, when they reflect on the
kindnesses you have conferred, share in these sentiments of distress. I for my
part am specially sorry when I bethink me of your dignity and your unaffected
character, and I pray the God of all ever to bestow on you the bulwark of His
invincible right hand, and supply you with abundance of all kinds of blessings.
We beseech your excellency no less when absent than when present to extend to us
your accustomed protection, and to undo the rage of that unworthy bishop of ours
whose purposes are perfectly well known to your greatness. He is endeavouring,
as I am informed, to work the entire ruin of our district, and has accepted the
part of an informer to culumniate the recent visitation, and this when all in a
word know that the taxation of our district is very heavy, and that in
consequence many estates have been abandoned by the husbandmen. But this man, in
contempt of his excommunication, and in flight from the holy synod, has thrust
out his tongue against the unhappy poor. May your magnificence then consent to
look to it that the truth be not vanquished by a lie. And I bring the same
supplication about the Cilicians. For we cease not to wail till the iniquity be
undone. The Lord, who promises to reward even a drop of water, will requite you
for this trouble.

XLVI. To the Learned Petrus.

Nothing is able to stay the praiseworthy purpose of them that highly esteem what
is right. That this is the case is confirmed by the grief shown by your
magnificence at the news you have lately received, and your re-refusal to
overlook the attack that right has suffered. You have opportunely put away your
distress, and righteously stopped the mouth of the enemy of the truth. No sooner
did we hear of this, and found true philosophy so coupled with rhetorical skill,
than we felt the more warmly disposed towards your excellence. Now we beseech
you the more earnestly to counteract this fine fellow's lies and confirm the
comfort given to the unhappy poor.

XLVII. To Proclus,85 Bishop of Constantinople. A year ago, thanks to your
holiness, the illustrious Philip governor of our city was delivered from serious
danger. After entering into the enjoyment of the security which he owed to your
kindness, he filled our ears with your praises. But all your labour a certain
most pious personage was endeavouring to make null and void. The visitation made
several times twelve years ago he calumniates, and has adopted a style of
slander which would be unbecoming even in a respectable slave. Now I beseech
your sanctity to put a stop to his lies, and to induce the illustrious praefects
to ratify the decision which they duly and mercifully gave. As a matter of fact
our city was taxed more severely than all the cities of the provinces, and after
every city had been relieved ours continued to this day assessed at over
sixty-two thousand acres. At last the occupants of that seat of honour were with
difficulty in- duced to send inspectors of the district; their report was first
received by Isidorus of famous memory and confirmed by the glorious and
Christ-loving lord Florentius, and the whole matter was very carefully enquired
into by our present ruler, whose equity adorns the throne, and he confirmed the
assessment by an imperial decree. But this truth-loving person, all for his
hatred of one single individual, the excellent Philip, has declared war against
the poor. Under these circumstances I implore your holiness to array the forces
of your righteous eloquence against his eloquence of wrong, to throw your shield
over the truth which is attacked and at once prove her strength and the futility
of lies.

XLVIII. To Eustathius, Bishop of Berytus.86

I have gladly received the accusation, although I have no difficulty in
disproving the indictment. I have written not three letters only but four; and I
suspect one of two things; either those who promised to convey the letters did
me wrong in the matter of their delivery, or else your piety, though in receipt
of them, is yet anxious for more, and so gets up a charge of idleness against
me. I, as I said before, am not distressed at the accusation, for it is plain
proof to me of the warmth of your affection. Continue then to ply your craft,
cease not to prefer your complaint and so to cause pleasure to myself.

XLIX. To Damianus,87 Bishop of Sidon.

It is the nature of mirrors to reflect the faces of them that gaze into them,
and so whoever looks at them sees his own form. This is the same too with the
pupils of the eyes, for they shew in them the likeness of other people's
features. Of this your holiness furnishes an instance, for you have not seen my
ugliness, but have beheld with admiration your own beauty. I really have none of
the qualities which you have mentioned. It is nevertheless my prayer that your
words may be vindicated by actual fact, and I beseech your piety by your prayers
to cause it to come to pass that your praises may not fall to the ground through
having no reality to correspond with them.

L. To the Archimandrite Gerontius.88 The characters of souls are often depicted
in words and their unseen forms revealed; so now your reverence's letter
exhibits the piety of your holy soul. Your waiting for that sentence, your
anxiety, your search for advocates and preparation for a defence, clearly
indicate your soul's zeal about divine things. We on the contrary are in a
manner inactive and sleepy; we are nurtured in idleness, and stand in need of
much assistance from prayers. Give them to us, O man beloved of God, that now at
all events we may wake up and give some care to the soul.

LI. To the Presbyter Agapius.89 The works of virtue are admirable in themselves,
but yet more admirable do they appear if they find an eloquence able to report
them well. Neither of these advantages has been lacking in the case of the
bishop beloved of God, the lord Thomas, for he himself has contributed his own
labours on behalf of piety, and has found in your holiness a tongue to bestow
meet praise on those labours. Coming as he did with such testimony in his favour
we have been all the more delighted to see him, and, after enjoying his society
for a short space, have dismissed him to his charge.

LII. To Ibas, Bishop of Edessa.90

It is, I think, of His providential care for our common salvation that the God
of all brings on some men certain calamities, that chastisement may prove to be
to them that have erred a healing remedy; to virtue's athletes an encouragement
to constancy; and to all who look on a beneficial exemplar. For it is natural
that when we see others punished we should be filled with fear ourselves. In
view of these considerations I look on the trouble of Africa as a general
advantage. In the first place when I bear in mind their former prosperity and
now look on their sudden overthrow, I see how variable are all human affairs,
and learn a twofold lesson;-not to rejoice in felicity as though it would never
come to an end, nor be distressed at calamities as hard to bear. Then I recall
the memory of past errors, and tremble lest I fall into like sufferings. My main
motive in now writing to you is to introduce to your holiness the very
God-beloved bishop Cyprianus,91 who starting from the famous Africa is now
compelled, by the savagery of the barbarians, to travel in foreign lands.

He has brought a letter to us from the very holy bishop the lord Eusebius,92 who
wisely rules the Galatians. When your piety has received him with your wonted
kindness I beg you to send him with a letter to whatever pious bishops you may
think fit so that while he enjoys their kindly consolation he may be the means
of their receiving heavenly and lasting benefits.

LIII. To Sophronius, Bishop of Constantina.93

Since I know, O God-beloved, how generous and bountiful is your right hand, I
put a coveted boon within your reach; for just as men hungry for this world's
gain are annoyed at the sight of them that stand in need of pecuniary aid, so
the liberal are delighted, because the riches they reach after are heavenly. A
man who furnishes this excellent opportunity is the God-beloved bishop
Cyprianus, formerly known among them that minister to others, but now, while he
gives a deplorable account of the African calamities, he has to look to the
benevolence of others, and depends on the bounty of pious souls. I hope that he
too will enjoy your brotherly kindness, and will be forwarded with letters to
other havens of refuge.

LIV. Festal. By our divine and saving celebrations both the down-hearted are
cheered, and the joyous made yet more joyful. This I have learnt by experience,
for, when whelmed in the waves of despair, I have risen superior to the surge at
sight of the haven of the feast. May your piety pray that I may be wholly
rescued from this storm, and that our loving Lord may grant me forgetfulness of
my sorrow.

LV. Festal.

We are much distressed, for we are gifted with the nature not of rocks but of
men, but the recollection of the Lord's Epiphany has been to me a very potent
medicine; so at once I write, according to the custom of the feast, and salute
your magnificence with a prayer that you may live in prosperity and repute.

LVI. Festal. My grief is now at its height and my mind is seriously affected by
it, but I have thought it right to fulfil the custom of the feast, so now I take
my pen to salute your reverence and pay the debt of affection.

LVII. To the Praefect Eutrechius.94

Besides other boons the Ruler of the universe has granted to us that of hearing
of your excellency's honour, and of congratulating at once yourself on your
elevation and your subjects on so gentle a rule. I have thought it wrong to give
no expression to my satisfaction and to refrain from manifesting it by letter.
Your magnificence knows quite well how warm is our affection towards you-an
affection most warmly reciprocated. And being so filled with love we beseech the
Giver of all good things ever to pour on you His manifold gifts.

LVIII. To the Consul Nomus.95

I am divided in mind at the idea of sending a letter to your greatness. On the
one hand I know how everything depends on your judgment; I see you under the
weight of public anxieties, and so think it better to be silent. On the other
hand, being well aware of the breadth and capacity of your intelligence, I
cannot bear to say nothing, and am afraid of being charged with negligence. I am
moreover stimulated by the longing regret left with me by the short taste I had
of your society. My full enjoyment of it was prevented by the disease and death
of that most blessed man, so now I think writing will be a comfort. I pray the
Master of all to guide your life that it be ever borne on favourable breezes and
so we may reap the benefit of your kindly care.

LIX. To Claudianus.96

Sincere friendships are neither dissolved by distance of place nor weakened by
time. Time indeed inflicts indignities on our bodies, spoils them of the bloom
of their beauty, and brings on old age; but of friendship he makes the beauty
yet more blooming, ever kindling its fire to greater warmth and brightness. So
separated as I am from your magnificence by many a day's march, pricked by the
goad of friendship I indite you this letter of salutation. It is conveyed by the
standard-bearer Patroinus, a man who on account of his high character is worthy
of all respect, for he endeavours with much zeal to observe the laws of God.
Deign, most excellent sir, to give us by him information of your excellency's
precious health, and of the desired fulfilment of your promise.

LX. To Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria.97

Among many forms of virtue by which we hear that your holiness is adorned (for
all men's ears are filled by the flying fame of your glory, which speeds in all
directions) special praise is unanimously given to your modesty, a
characteristic of which our Lord in His law has given Himself as an ensample,
saying, "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart;"98 for though God is
high, or rather most high He honoured at His incarnation the meek and lowly
spirit. Looking then to Him, sir, you do not behold the multitude of your
subjects nor the exaltation of your throne, but you see rather human nature, and
life's rapid changes, and follow the divine laws whose observance gives us the
kingdom of heaven. Hearing of this modesty on the part of your holiness, I take
courage in a letter to salute a person sacred and dear to God, and I offer
prayers whereof the fruit is salvation. Occasion is given me to write by the
very pious presbyter Eusebius, for when I heard of his journey thither I
immediately indited this letter to call upon your holiness to support us by your
prayers, and by your reply to give us a spiritual feast, sending to us who are
hungry the blessed banquet of your words.

LXI. To the Presbyter Archibius.

I did not let the two letters which I had just received from you go unheeded,
but wrote without delay, and gave my letter to the very devout presbyter
Eusebius.99 In consequence of some delay, it was for the time postponed, for the
weather kept the vessels within the harbour, inasmuch as it indicated a coming
storm at sea and bade sailors and pilots wait awhile. So I discharged this debt
for the time, not that I may cease to be a debtor but that I may increase the
debt. For this obligation becomes many times greater by being discharged,
inasmuch as they who try to observe the laws of friendship increase the potency
of its love, and, blowing sparks into a flame, kindle a greater warmth of
affection, while all who are fired thereby strive to surpass one another in
love. Receive then my defence, my venerable friend; forgive me; and send me a
letter to tell me how you are.

LXII. To the Presbyter John. A saying of one of the men who used to be called
wise was, "Live unseen." I applaud the sentiment, and have determined to confirm
the word by deed, for I see no impropriety in gathering what is good from
others, just as bees, it is said, gather their honey and draw forth the sweet
dew from bitter herbs as well as from them that are good to eat, and I myself
have seen them settling on a barren rock and sucking up its scanty moisture. Far
more reasonable is it for them that are credited with reason to harvest what is
good from every source; so, as I said, I try to live unseen, and above all men
am I a lover of peace and quiet. On his recent return from your part of the
world the very pious presbyter Eusebius announced that you had held a certain
meeting, and that in the course of conversation mention had been made of me, and
that your piety spoke with praise of my insignificant self. I have therefore
deemed it ungrateful, and indeed unfair, that he who spoke thus well and kindly
of me should fail to be paid in like coin; for although we have done nothing
worthy of praise still we admire the intention of them that thus praise us, for
such praise is the off-spring of affection. Wherefore I salute your reverence,
using as a means of conveyance of my letter him who has brought to me the
unwritten words which you have spoken about me. When, most pious sir, you have
received my letter, write in reply. You were first in speech; I in writing; and
I answer speech by letter. It remains now to you to answer letter for letter.

LXIII. Festal.100

We have enjoyed the wonted blessings of the Feast. We have kept the memorial
Feast of the Passion of Salvation; by means of the resurrection of the Lord we
have received the glad tidings of the resurrection of all, and have hymned the
ineffable loving kindness of our God and Saviour. But the storm tossing the
churches has not suffered us to take our share of unalloyed gladness. If, when
one member is in pain the whole body is partaker of the pang,101 how can we
forbear from lamentation when all the body is distressed? And it intensifies our
dis- couragement to think that these things are the prelude of the general
apostasy. May your piety pray that since we are in this plight we may get the
divine succour, that, as the divine Apostle phrases it, we may "be able to
withstand the evil day."102 But if any time remain for this life's business,
pray that the tempest may pass away, and the churches recover their former calm,
that the enemies of the truth may no more exult at our misfortunes.

LXIV. Festal. When the Master underwent the Passion of salvation for the sake of
mankind, the company of the sacred Apostles was much disheartened, for they knew
not clearly what was to be the Passion's fruit. But when they knew the salvation
that grew therefrom, they called the proclamation of the Passion glad tidings,
and eagerly offered it to all mankind. And they that believed, as being
enlightened in mind, cheerfully received it, and keep the Feast in memory of the
Passion, and make the moment of death an opportunity for entertainment and
festivity. For the close connexion with it of the resurrection does away with
the sadness of death, and becomes a pledge for the resurrection of all. After
just now taking part in this celebration, we send you these tidings of the feast
as though they were some fragrant perfume, and salute your piety.

LXV. To the General Zeno.103 To be smitten by human ills is the common lot of
all men; to endure them bravely and rise superior to their attack is no longer
common. The former is of human nature; the latter depends upon resolution. It is
on this account that we wonder how the philosophers resolved on the noblest
course of life and conquered their calamities by wisdom. And philosophy is
produced by our reason's power, which rules our passions and is not led to and
fro by them. Now one of human ills is grief, and it is this which we exhort your
excellency to overcome, and it will not be difficult for you to rise victorious
over this feeling, if you consider human nature, and take to heart the
uselessness of sorrow. For what gain will it be to the departed that we should
wail and lament? When, however, we reflect upon the common birth, the long years
of intercourse, the splendid service in the field, and the far-famed
achievements, let us reflect that he who was adorned by them was a man subject
to the law of death; that moreover all things are ordained by God, who guides
the affairs of men in accordance with His sacred knowledge of what will be for
their good. Thus have I written so far as the limits of a letter would allow me,
beseeching your eminence for all our sakes to preserve your health, which is
wont to be maintained by cheerfulness and ruined by despondency. Wherefore in my
care for the advantage of us all I have penned this letter.

LXVI. To Aerius the Sophist.104

She that gave you birth and nurtured you invites you to the longed-for feast.
The holy shrine is crowned by a roof; it is fitly adorned; it is eager for the
inhabitants for whom it was erected. These are Apostles and Prophets,
loud-voiced heralds of the old and new covenant. Adorn, therefore, the feast
with your presence; receive the blessing which swells forth from it, and make
the feast more joyous to us.

LXVII. To Maranas.

It was thy work, my good Sir, to call the rest also to the feast of the
dedication. Through thy zeal and energy the holy temple has been built, and the
loud-voiced heralds of the truth have come to dwell therein, and guard them that
approach thither in faith. Nevertheless I write and signify the season of the
feast.

LXVIII. To Epiphanius.

It was my wish to summon you to the feast of holy Apostles and Prophets, not
only as a citizen, but as one who shares both my faith and my home. But I am
prevented by the state of your opinions. Therefore I put forward no other claims
than those of our country, and I invite you to participate in the precious
blessing of the holy Apostles and Prophets. This participation no difference of
sentiment hinders.

LXIX. To Eugraphia.105 Had I not been unavoidably prevented, I should no sooner
have heard that your great and glorious husband had fallen asleep than I should
straightway have hurried to your side. I have enjoyed at your hands many and
various kinds of honour, and I owe you full many thanks. When hindered, much
against my will, from paying my debt, I deemed it ill-advised to send you a
letter at the very moment, when your grief was at its height; when it was
impossible for my messenger to approach your excellency, and when grief
prevented you from reading what I wrote. But now that your reason has had time
to wake from the intoxication of grief, to repress your emotion, and to
discipline the license of sorrow, I have made bold to write and to beseech your
excellency to bethink you of human nature, to reflect how common is the loss you
deplore, and, above all, to accept the divine teaching, and not let your
distress go beyond the bounds of your faith. For your most excellent husband, as
the Lord Himself said, "is not dead but sleepeth"106 -a sleep a little longer
than he was wont. This hope has been given us by the Lord; this promise we have
received from the divine oracles. I know indeed how distressing is the
separation, how most distressing; and especially so when affection is made
stronger by sympathy of character and length of time. But let your grief be for
a journey into a far country, not for a life ended. This kind of philosophy is
particularly becoming to them that be brought up in piety, and it is of this
philosophy that I beseech you, my respected friend, to seek the adornment. And I
do not offer you this advice as a man labouring himself under insensibility; in
truth my heart was grieved when I learnt of the departure of one I loved so
well. But I call to mind the Ruler of the world and His unspeakable wisdom,
which ordains everything for our good. I implore your holiness to take these
reflections to heart, to rise superior to your sorrow, and praise God who is the
Master of us all. It is with ineffable providence that He guides the lives of
men.

LXX. To Eustathius, Bishop of Aegooe.107 The story of the noble Mary is one fit
for a tragic play. As she says herself, and as is attested by several others,
she is a daughter of the right honourable Eudaemon. In the catastrophe which has
overtaken Libya she has fallen from her father's free estate, and has become a
slave. Some merchants bought her from the barbarians, and have sold her to some
of our countrymen. With her was sold a maiden who was once one of her own
domestic servants; so at one and the same time the galling yoke of slavery fell
on the servant and the mistress. But the servant refused to ignore the
difference between them, nor could she forget the old superiority: in their
calamity she preserved her kindly feeling, and, after waiting upon their common
masters, waited upon her who was reckoned her fellow slave, washed her feet,
made her bed, and was mindful of other like offices. This became known to the
purchasers. Then through all the town was noised abroad the free estate of the
mistress and the servant's goodness. On these circumstances becoming known to
the faithful soldiers who are quartered in our city (I was absent at the time)
they paid the purchasers their price, and rescued the woman from slavery. After
my return, on being informed of the deplorable circumstances, and the admirable
intention of the soldiers, I invoked blessings on their heads, committed the
noble damsel to the care of one of the respectable deacons, and ordered a
sufficient provision to be made for her. Ten months had gone by when she heard
that her father was still alive, and holding high office in the West, and she
very naturally expressed a desire to return to him. It was reported that many
messengers from the West are on the way to the fair which is now being held in
your parts. She requested to be allowed to set out with a letter from me. Under
these circumstances I have written this letter, begging your piety to take care
of a noble girl, and charge some respectable person to communicate with
mariners, pilots, and merchants, and commit her to the care of trusty men who
may be able to restore her to her father. There is no doubt that those who, when
all hope of recovery has been lost, bring the daughter to the father, will be
abundantly rewarded.

LXXI. To Zeno,108 General and Consul. Your fortitude rouses universal
admiration, tempered as it is by gentleness and meekness, and exhibited to your
household in kindliness, to your foes in boldness. These qualities indicate an
admirable general. In a soldier's character the main ornament is bravery, but in
a commander prudence takes precedence of bravery; after these come self-control
and fairness, whereby a wealth of virtue is gathered. Such wealth is the reward
of the soul which reaches after good, and with its eyes fixed on the sweetness
of the fruit, deems the toil right pleasant. For to virtue's athletes the God of
all, like some great giver of games, has offered prizes, some in this life, and
some in that life beyond which has no end. Those in this present life your
excellency has already enjoyed, and you have achieved the highest honour. Be it
also the lot of your greatness to obtain too those abiding and perpetual
blessings, and to re- not only the consul's robe, but also the garment that is
indescribable and divine. Of all them that understand the greatness of that gift
this is the common petition.

LXXII. To Hermesigenes the Assessor.109 At the time when men were whelmed in the
darkness of ignorance, all did not keep the same feasts, but celebrated distinct
ceremonies in different cities. In Aelis were the Olympian games, at Delphi the
Pythian, at Sparta the Hyacinthian, at Athens the Panathenaic, the Thesmophoria,
and the Dionysian. These were the most remarkable, and further some men
celebrated the revel feast of some daemons and some of others. But now that
those mists have been scattered by intellectual light, in every land and sea
mainlanders and islanders together keep the feast of our God and Saviour, and
whithersoever any one may wish to travel abroad, journey he either towards
rising or towards setting sun, everywhere he will find the same celebration
observed at the same time. There is no longer necessity, in obedience to the law
of Moses which was adapted to the infirmity of the Jews, to come together into
one city and keep the feast in memory of our blessings, but every town, every
village, the country and the farthest frontiers, are filled with the grace of
God, and in every spot divine shrines and precincts are consecrated to the God
of all. So through every town we observe our several festivals and communicate
with one another in the feast. It is the same God and Lord who is honoured in
our hymns and to whom our mystic sacrifices are offered. On this account, as is
well known, we neighbours address one another by letter and signify the joy that
comes to us in the feast. So now do I to you and offer the festal salutation to
your excellency. You will without doubt reply and honour the custom of the
feast.

LXXIII. To Apollonius.110

Themistocles the son of Neocles, the far-famed and admirable general, is
described by the admiring historian as endowed with natural virtue alone. Of
Pericles, however, the son of Xanthippus, it is said that he also derived
ability from his education to charm his hearers by his persuasive eloquence, and
was gifted with the power alike of knowing what measures should be taken and of
enforcing them by word of mouth. In writing about him there is no impropriety in
my using his own words. These things illustrate your magnificence, for God, our
Creator, hath given you natural capacity, and your education makes its
brilliance the more conspicuous. Nothing then is wanting to the full complement
of your high qualities save only knowledge of their Author; be but this added,
and the tale of virtues which we shall have will be complete. Thus I write to
you on receiving news of your arrival, beseeching the Giver of all good to grant
a beam of light to your soul's eye, to show you the greatness of His boon, to
kindle your love of that possession, and to grant the longed for favour to him
that longs for it.111 LXXIV. To Urbanus.

It has been granted to us by our generous Lord once again to enjoy the feast and
to send to your excellency the festal salutation. We pray that you may be well
and prosperous, and share the ineffable and divine boon which to them that
approach supplies the seeds of the blessings hoped for, and gives the symbols of
the life and kingdom that have no end. These things we beseech the loving Lord
to impart to you, for it is natural for friends to ask that their friends may be
blessed.

LXXV. To the Clergy of Beroea.

I perceive that it is with reason that I am well disposed to your reverences,
for I have been assured by your kindly letter that my affection was returned.
For this affection of mine towards you I have many reasons. First of all there
is the fact that your father, that great and apostolic man, was my father too.
Secondly I look upon that truly religious bishop,112 who now rules your church,
as I might on a brother both in blood and in sympathy. Thirdly there is the near
neighbourhood of our cities, and fourthly our frequent intercourse with one
another, which naturally begets friendship and increases it when it is begotten.
If you like, I will name yet a fifth, and that is that we have the same close
connexion with you as the tongue has with the ears, the former uttering speech,
and the latter receiving it; for you most gladly listen to my words, and I am
delighted to let fall my little drop upon you. But the colophon113 of our union
is our harmony in faith; our refusal to accept any spurious doctrines; our
preservation of the ancient and apostolic teaching, which has been brought to
you by hoary wisdom and nurtured by virtue's hardy toil. I beseech yon therefore
to take greater care of the flock, to preserve it unharmed for the Shepherd, and
boldly to utter the famous words of the patriarch "that which was born of beasts
I offered not unto Thee."114 LXXVI. To Uranius, Governor of Cyprus.

True friendship is strengthened by intercourse, but separation cannot sunder it,
for its bonds are strong. This truth might easily be shewn by many other
examples, but it is enough for us to verify what I say by our own case. Between
me and you are indeed many things, mountains, cities, and the sea, yet nothing
has destroyed my recollection of your excellency. No sooner do we behold any one
arriving from those towns which lie on the coast, than the conversation is
turned on Cyprus and on its right worthy governor, and we are delighted to have
tidings of your high repute. And lately we have been gratified to an unusual
degree at learning the most delightful news of all: for what, most excellent
sir, can be more pleasing to us than to see your noble soul illuminated by the
light of knowledge? For we think it right that he who is adorned with many kinds
of virtue should add to them also its colophon, and we believe that we shall
behold what we desire. For your nobility will doubtless eagerly seize the
God-given boon, moved thereto by true friends who clearly understand its value,
and guided to the bountiful God "Who wills all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truths"115 netting men by men's means to salvation, and
bringing them that He captures to the ageless life. The fisherman indeed
deprives his prey of life, but oar Fisher frees all that He takes alive from
death's painful bonds, and therefore "did he shew himself upon earth, and
conversed with men,"116 bringing men His life, conveying teaching by means of
the visible manhood, and giving to reasonable beings the law of a suitable life
and conversation. This law He has confirmed by miracles, and by the death of the
flesh has destroyed death. By raising the flesh He has given the promise of
resurrection to us all, after giving the resurrection of His own precious body
as a worthy pledge of ours. So loved He men even when they hated Him that the
mystery of the aeconomy fails to obtain credence with some on account of the
very bitterness of His sufferings, and it is enough to show the depths of His
loving kindness that He is even yet day by day calling to men who do not
believe. And He does so not as though He were in need of the service of men,-for
of what is the Creator of the universe in want?-but because He thirsts for the
salvation of every man. Grasp then, my excellent friend, His gift; sing praises
to the Giver, and procure for us a very great and right goodly feast.

LXXVII. To Eulalius, Bishop of Persian Armenia.117

I know that Satan has sought to sift you as wheat,118 and that the Lord has
allowed him so to do that He may shew the wheat, and prove the gold, crown the
athletes, and proclaim the victors` names. Nevertheless I fear and tremble, not
indeed distressed for the sake of you who are noble champions of the truth, but
because I know that it comes to pass that some men are of feebler heart. If
among twelve apostles one was found a traitor, there is no doubt that among a
number many times as great any one might easily discover many falling short of
perfection. Thus reflecting I have been confounded and filled with much
discouragement, for, as says the divine Apostle, "whether one member suffer all
the members suffer with it."119 "We are members one of another,"120 and form one
body, having the Lord Christ for head.121 Yet one consolation I have in my
anxiety, when I bethink me of your holiness. For brought up as you have been in
the divine oracles, and taught by the arch-shepherd what are the good shepherd's
marks, there is no doubt that you will lay down your life for the sheep. For, as
the Lord says, "he that is an hireling" when he sees "the wolf coming," "fleeth
because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep," but "the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep."122 Just so it is not in peace that the best
general shews his inborn valour, but in time of war, by at once stimulating
others and himself exposing himself to peril for his men. For it would be
preposterous that he should enjoy the dignity of his command, and, in the hour
of need, run out of danger's way. Thus the thrice blessed prophets ever acted,
making light of the safety of their bodies, and, for the sake of the Jews who
hated and rejected them, underwent all kinds of peril and toil. Of them the
divine apostle says "they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain by the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered
in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."123 Thus the
divine apostles travelled preaching over all the world, without home, bed,
bedding, board, or any of the necessaries of life, but scourged, racked,
imprisoned, and undergoing countless kinds of death. And all this they
underwent, not for the sake of their friends, but voluntarily facing these
perils for the sake of the men who were persecuting them. A far stronger claim
is made on you now to accept the peril at present assailing you, for the sake of
fellow-believers and brothers and children. This affection is shown even by
unreasoning animals, for sparrows may be seen fighting with all their force in
behalf of their brood, and putting out in their defence all the strength they
have; other kinds of birds moreover undergo danger for their young. But why do I
speak of birds? Bears too, and leopards, wolves, and lions, voluntarily suffer
any pain for the safety of their offspring, for instead of fleeing from the
hunter they will await his attack and do battle for their young.

I have adduced these instances not as though anointing your piety for endurance
and courage by the example of brute beasts, but to console myself in my
despondency, and to be assured that you will not leave Christ's flock without a
shepherd when wolves make their attack, but will invoke the Lord of the flock to
help you and will heartily do battle in its behalf. A crisis like this proves
who is a shepherd and who a hireling; who diligently feeds the flock and who on
the other hand feeds on the milk and thinks little of the safety of the sheep.
"But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able
to bear it."124 But one thing I do beseech your reverence, and that is to have
greater heed of the unsound; and not only to strengthen the unstable but also to
raise the fallen, for shepherds by no means neglect those of their flock who
have fallen sick, but keep them apart from the rest, and try in every possible
way to restorethem, and so must we do. We must make them that are slipping stand
up, and givethem a helping hand and a word of encouragement. When they are
bitten we mustheal them; we must not give up the attempt to save them nor leave
them in the devil's maw. Thus ever acted the divine Apostle Paul; and when the
Galatians, after receiving the baptism of salvation, and the gift of the divine
Spirit, fell away into the sickness of Judaism, and received circumcision, he
wailed and lamented more exceedingly than the most affectionate mother, and
tended them and freed them from that infirmity. We can hear him exclaiming, "My
little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in
you."125 So too the teacher of the Corinthians, who had committed that
abominable fornication, he both chastised as might a father, and very skilfully
treated, and after cutting him off in the first Epistle, readmitted him in the
second and says, "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him and
comfort him lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch
sorrow."126 And again, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not
ignorant of his devices."127 In the same manner too those who partook of things
offered to idols he properly rebuked, suitably exhorted, and freed from their
grievous error.

Wherefore our Lord Jesus Christ permitted the first of the apostles, whose
confession He had fixed as a kind of groundwork and foundation of the Church, to
waver to and fro, and to deny Him, and then raised Him up again. And thus He
gave us two lessons: not to be confident in our own strength, and to strengthen
the unstable. Reach out, therefore, I beseech you, a hand to them that are
fallen, "draw them out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set their
feet upon a rock," and "put a new song into their mouth, even praise unto our
God,"128 that their example of life may become an example of salvation, that
"many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord."129 Let them be
prevented from participating in the holy mysteries, but let them not be kept
from the prayer of the catechumens, nor from hearing the divine Scriptures and
the exhortation of teachers,130 and let them be prohibited from partaking of the
sacred mysteries, not till death, but during a given time, till they recognise
their ailment, covet health, and are properly contrite for having abandoned
their true Prince and deserted to a tyrant, and for having left their benefactor
and gone over to their foe. The same lessons are given us by the precepts of the
holy and blessed Fathers. I write as I do, not to teach you piety, but to remind
you as a brother might, knowing well that even the best of pilots in the moment
of the storm needs monition even from his men. So the great and famous Moses,
renowned throughout the world, who did those mighty works of wonder, did not
refuse the counsel of Jethro, a man still sunk in idolatrous error; for he did
not regard his impiety, but acknowledged the soundness of his advice. Moreover I
implore your piety to offer earnest prayer to God in my behalf that for the
remaining days of my life I may live in accordance with His laws.

Thus have I written by the most honourable and religious presbyter Stephanus,
whom on account of the goodness of his character I have seen with great
pleasure.

LXXVIII. To Eusebius, Bishop of Persian Armenia.

Whenever anything happens to the helmsman, either the officer in command at the
bows, or the seaman of highest rank, takes his place, not because he becomes a
self-appointed helmsman, but because he looks out for the safety of the ship. So
again in war, when the commander falls, the chief tribune assumes the command,
not in the attempt to lay violent hands on the place of power, but because he
cares for his men. So too the thrice blessed Timothy when sent by the divine
Paul took his place.131 It is therefore becoming to your piety to accept the
responsibilities of helmsman, of captain, of shepherd, gladly to run all risk
for the sake of the sheep of Christ, and not to leave His creatures abandoned
and alone. It is rather yours to bind up the broken, to raise up the fallen, to
turn the wanderer from his error, and keep the whole in health, and to follow
the good shepherds who stand before the folds and wage war against the wolves.
Let us remember too the words of the patriarch Jacob; "In the day the drought
consumed me and the frost by night and my sleep departed from my eyes. The rams
of thy flock I have not eaten. That which was born of beasts I brought not unto
thee. I bare the loss of it. Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by
day or stolen by night."132 These are the marks of the shepherd; these are the
laws of the tending of the sheep. And if of brute cattle the illustrious
patriarch had such care, and offered this defence to him who trusted them to his
charge, what ought not we to do who are entrusted with the charge of reasonable
sheep, and who have received this trust from the God of all, when we remember
that the Lord for them gave up His life? Who does not fear and tremble when he
hears the word of God spoken through Ezekiel? "I judge between shepherd and
sheep because ye eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool and ye feed not
the flocks."133 And again, "I have made thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel; when thou speakest not to warn the wicked from his wicked way, the same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood shall I require at thine
hand."134 With this agree the words spoken in parables by the Lord. "Thou wicked
and slothful servant...Thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers, and
then at my coming I should have received the same with usury."135 Up then, I
beseech you, let us fight for the Lord's sheep. Their Lord is near. He will
certainly appear and scatter the wolves and glorify the shepherds. "The Lord is
good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him."136 Let us not
murmur at the storm that has arisen for the Lord of all knoweth what is good for
us. Wherefore also when the Apostle asked for release from his trials He would
not grant his supplication but said, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness."137 Let us then bravely bear the evils
that befall us; it is in war that heroes are discerned; in conflicts that
athletes are crowned; in the surge of the sea that the art of the helmsman is
shewn; in the fire that the gold is tried. And let us not, I beseech you, heed
only ourselves, let us rather have forethought for the rest, and that much more
for the sick than for the whole, for it is an apostolic precept which exclaims
"Comfort the feeble minded, support the weak."138 Let us then stretch out our
hands to them that lie low, let us tend their wounds and set them at their post
to fight the devil. Nothing will so vex him as to see them fighting and smiting
again. Our Lord is full of loving-kindness. He receives the repentance of
sinners. Let us hear His own words: "As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live."139
So He prefaced His words with an oath, and He who forbids oaths to others swore
Himself to convince us how He desires our repentance and salvation. Of this
teaching the divine books, both the old and the new, are full, and the precepts
of the holy Fathers teach the same. But not as though you were ignorant have I
written to you; rather have I reminded you of what you know, like those who
standing safe upon the shore succour them that are tossed by the storm, and shew
them a rock, or give warning of a hidden shallow, or catch and haul in a rope
that has been thrown. "And the God of peace shall bring Satan under your feet
shortly"140 and shall gladden our ears with news that you have passed from storm
to calm, at His word to the waves "Peace be still."141 And do you too offer
prayers for us, for you who have undergone peril for His sake can speak with
greater boldness.142 LXXIX. To Anatolius the Patrician.143 The Lord God has
given your excellency to us to be at the present time a source of very great
comfort, and has afforded us a meet haven for the storm. We have therefore
confidence in informing your lordship of our distress. Not long ago we
acquainted your excellency that the right honourable Count Rufus had shewn us an
order written in the imperial handwriting commanding the gallant general to
provide with prudence and diligence for our residence at Cyrus, and not to
suffer us to depart to another city, on the ground that we are endeavouring to
summon synods to Antioch, and are disturbing the orthodox.144 Now I make known
to you that in obedience to the imperial letter I have come to Cyrus. After an
interval of six or seven days they sent the devoted Euphronius, the commander,
with a letter begging me to acknowledge in writing that the imperial order had
been shown me. I therefore promised to remain in Cyrus and its adjacent
district, and to tend the sheep entrusted to my care. I therefore beseech your
excellency to make exact enquiry, both whether these orders had really been
issued, and for what reason. I am indeed conscious of many other sins, but I do
not know that I have erred either against the Church of God, or against public
order. And I write as I do, not because I take it ill to have to live at Cyrus,
for in truth she is dearer to me than any of the most famous cities, because my
office in her has been given me by God. But the fact of my being bound to her
not by preference but by compulsion does seem somewhat grievous, and besides it
does give a handle to the wicked to grow bold and to refuse to obey our
exhortations.

Under these circumstances I beseech your lordship, if no order of the kind has
really been issued, to let me know; but if the letter really comes from the
victorious emperor, tell his pious majesty not readily to believe calumnies, nor
give ear to accusers alone, but to demand an account from the accused. Though
really the evidence of the facts alone was quite enough to persuade his piety
that the charges against me were false. For when did I ever make myself
offensive about anything to his serene majesty or his chief officers? Or when
was I ever obnoxious to the many and illustrious owners here? It is on the
contrary well known to your excellency that I have spent a considerable portion
of my ecclesiastical revenues in erecting porticoes and baths, building bridges,
and making further provision for public objects. But if any persons take it ill
that I mourn over the ruin of the churches of Phoenicia, be it known to your
lordship that it is impossible for me not to grieve when I see the horn of the
Jews exalted on high and the Christians in tears and sorrow, though they send
them to the very ends of the earth.145 We cannot fight against the apostolic
decrees, for we remember the word of the Apostle which says, "We ought to obey
God rather than men,"146 and more terrible to us than any of the pains of this
life is the "judgment seat of Christ"147 the Lord, before whom we shall all
stand to render an account of our words and of our deeds. On account of that
judgment seat the hardships of this present life must be endured. For them that
suffer wrong the hope of what is to come is consolation enough, but to us the
loving Lord has given further comfort in you, most excellent sir, whose life is
brightwith piety and faith.

LXXX. To the Prefect Eutrechius.148

I have been much astonished that no information has been sent me by your
lordship of the plots against me. To counteract them would very likely have been
a difficult matter to any one not having the means of convicting their promoters
of lies; but to give information of what was going on needed not so much power
as friendliness. and we had hoped that when your excellency had been summoned to
the imperial city, and had been chosen to adorn the prefect's exalted seat,
every tempest of the Church would be calmed down. But we suffer from such
disturbances as we did not see even in the beginning of the dispute. The
churches of Phoenicia are in trouble; in trouble are those of Palestine, as all
unanimously report; and the distress is proved by the letters of the most pious
bishops. All the saints among us groan and every pious congregation is
lamenting. While looking for a cessation of our former troubles we have been
afflicted with new ones. I myself have been forbidden to quit the coasts of
Cyrus, if the dispatch is true which has been shewn me, and which is said to be
an autograph of our victorious emperor. It runs as follows "Since so and so the
bishop of this city is continually assembling synods and this is a cause of
trouble to the orthodox, take heed with proper diligence and wisdom that he
resides at Cyrus, and does not depart from it to another city." I have accepted
the sentence, and remain still. Your lordship can bear witness to my sentiments,
for you know how on my arrival at Antioch I departed in a hurry, on account of
those who wished to detain me there. And those were unquestionably wrong who
gave both their ears to my calumniators and would not keep one for me. Even to
murderers, and to them that despoil other men's beds, an opportunity is given of
defending themselves, and they do not receive sentence till they have been
convicted in their own presence, or have made confession of the truth of the
charges on which they are indicted.But a high priest who has held the office of
bishop for five and twenty years149 after passing his previous life in a
monastery, who has never troubled a tribunal, nor yet on any single occasion
been prosecuted by any man, is treated as a mere plaything of calumny, without
being allowed even the common privilege of grave-robbers of being questioned as
to the truth of the accusations brought against them. Yet they have done wrong;
I have done no wrong. But I am ready for even more serious troubles. Though they
be ever so much annoyed at my bewailing the calamities of Phoenicia I shall not
cease so to do so long as I behold them. The only judgment that is awful to me
is the judgment of God. For them, nevertheless, I pray that from the God of all
they may obtain forgiveness; for your excellency, that you may ever live in
honour, excel in all good things, speak boldly against lies, and fight on the
side of the truth. And let the contrivers of this plot know that, though I
depart to the uttermost ends of the earth, God will not suffer the confirmation
of impious doctrines, but will nod His head and destroy them that bow down to
doctrines of abomination.

LXXXI. To the Consul Nomus.150 For but a brief portion of a day I enjoyed the
society of your lordship, for I was deprived by unavoidable circumstances of
what I so earnestly desired. I had hoped that our short interview would have
kindled good will and friendly intercourse, but I was disappointed. I have now
written you two letters, without receiving any reply; and by the imperial decree
I am forbidden to travel beyond the boundaries of Cyrus. For this apparent
punishment cause there is none, except the fact of my convening an episcopal
synod. No indictment was published; no prosecutor appeared; the defendant was
not convicted; but the sentence was given. We submit, for we know the reward of
the wronged. I am aware however that Festus the Procurator who was entrusted
with the government of the Jews when they demanded the death of the divine Paul,
publicly replied, "It is not lawful to us Romans to deliver any man before that
he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer
for himself concerning the crime laid against him."151 Now these words were
spoken by one who was no believer in our Master, Christ, but was a slave to the
errors of polytheism. I was never asked whether I was assembling synods or not,
or for what reason I was assembling them, or what umbrage this could give,
either to the Church or to the government; yet just as though I had been a very
guilty criminal I am prohibited from visiting other cities; while to every one
else every city lies open, and that not only to Arians and Eunomians, but to
Manichees and Marcionists, to them that are sick with the unsoundness of
Valentinus and Montanus, aye to pagans and Jews, while I, a foremost champion of
the teaching of the Gospels, am from every city excluded. Some however maintain
that I do not adhere to it. Then let there be a council: let there be assembled
there the godly bishops who are capable of judging: then let there be assembled
those in office and in rank who have been instructed in divine lore. Let me
state what I hold, and let the judges declare what opinion is agreeable to the
teaching of the Apostles. I have not thus written from any desire to see the
great city, nor from trying to travel to any other. In fact I rather love the
quiet of them whose wish is to administer the churches in a monastic state. I
should like your excellency to know that neither in the time of the blessed and
sainted Theodotus, nor in that of John of blessed memory, nor in that of the
very holy lord bishop Domnus, did I of my own accord enter Antioch; five or
sixtimes I was invited but I with difficulty assented, and when I did assent it
was in obedience to the canon of the Church which orders him who is summoned to
a synod and refuses to be present to be held guilty. And when I appeared, what
thing unpleasing to God did I do? Was it that I removed from the sacred lists
the names of such and such a man guilty of unspeakable wickedness? Was it that I
ordained to the priesthood men of character and of honourable life? Was it that
I preached the gospel to the people? If these things are worthy of indictment
and punishment, I gladly welcome yet severer punishments for their sake. My
accusers compel me to speak. Even before my conception my parents promised to
devote me to God; from my swaddling-band, they devoted the according to their
promise and educated me accordingly; the time before my episcopate I spent in a
monastery and then was unwillingly consecrated152 bishop. Five and twenty years
I so lived that I was never summoned to trial by any one nor ever brought
accusation against any. Not one of the pious clergy who were under me ever
frequented a court. In so many years I never took an obol nor a garment from any
one. Not one of my domestics ever received a loaf or an egg. I could not endure
the thought of possessing anything save the rags I wore. From therevenues of my
see I erected public porticoes; I built two large bridges; I looked after the
public baths. On finding that the city was not watered by the river running by
it, I built the conduit, and supplied the dry town with water. But not to
mention these matters I led eight villages of Marcionists with their
neighbourhood into the way of truth; another full of Eunomians and another of
Arians I brought to the light of divine knowledge, and, by God's grace, not a
tare of heresy was left among us. All this I did not effect with impunity; many
a time I shed my blood; many a time was I stoned by them and brought to the very
gates of death. But I am a fool in my boasting, yet my words are spoken of
necessity, not of consent. Once the thrice blessed Paul was compelled to act in
the same way to stop the mouths of his accusers. Yet I put up with seeming
ignominy and count it high honour, for I hear the voice of the Apostle crying,
"All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."153 But I
beseech your excellency to give heed to the affairs of the Church, and calm the
storm that has arisen, for in fact not even at the beginning of the dispute was
the Church beset by such confusion. No one informs you of the greatness of the
peril, of the lamentations of the Christians in Phoenicia and of the wails of
our holiest monks. Wherefore I have written to you at some length, that on
learning the agitation of the Church your excellency might stay it, and reap.
the fruits of the benefit which such action will produce.

LXXXII. To Eusebius, Bishop of Ancyra.154

I had hoped at this time to hear frequently from your holiness. Suffering as I
do under charges which are plain calumny I stand in need of brotherly
consolation. For they who are now renewing the heresy of Marcion, Valentinus,
Manes, and of the other Docetae, annoyed at my publicly pillorying their heresy,
have endeavoured to deceive the imperial ears, by calling me a heretic and
falsely accusing me of dividing into two sons our one Lord Jesus Christ, the
divine Word made man. Their utterances did not meet with the success that they
expected. A despatch was therefore written to the right honourable and glorious
commander and consul, containing indeed no accusation of heresy, but certain
other charges no less unfounded. They alleged that I was endeavouring to
assemble frequent synods at Antioch; that certain persons thereupon took
umbrage; that for this reason I ought to desist from these proceedings and
manage the churches entrusted to my charge. When this communication was shewn me
I caught at the sentence as an opportunity of good. For in the first place I
gained the rest I so much longed for; furthermore I trust in the wiping out of
the stains of the many errors I have committed, on account of the wrong devised
against me by the enemies of truth. Even in this present life our supreme Ruler
very plainly shews us what care He takes of them that suffer wrong. While I have
been remaining at rest, prisoned within the boundaries of my own country; while
throughout the East all men have been distressed and have been bitterly
lamenting though compelled to silence by the terror that has fallen on them (for
what has befallen me has stricken terror into the hearts of all) the Lord has
stooped from heaven, has convicted my calumniators of their falsehood, and laid
bare their impious intent. They armed even Alexandria against me and by means of
their worthy instruments are dinning into all men's ears that I am preaching two
sons instead of one.

I, on the contrary, am so far from holding this abominable opinion, that, on
finding some of the holy fathers of the Nicene Council opposing in their
treatises the madness of Arius and forced in their struggle against their
opponents to make too marked a distinction, I have objected, and refused to
admit such distinction, for I know how the exigencies of the distinction result
in exaggeration. And lest any one should suppose that I am speaking as I do
through fear, let any one who likes get hold of my ancient writings written
before the Council of Ephesus, and those written after it twelve years ago. For
by God's grace I interpreted all the Prophets and the Psalms and the Apostles: I
wrote long ago against the Arians, the Macedonians, the sophistry of
Apollinarius and the madness of Marcion: and in every one of my books by God's
grace the mind of the Church shines clear. Moreover I have written a book on the
Mysteries, another on Providence, another on the Questions of the Magi, a life
of the Saints, and besides these, not to name every one in detail, many more.155

I have enumerated them not for ambition's sake, but to challenge my accusers and
my judges to put any of my writings they may choose to the test. They will find
that by God's grace I hold no other opinion than just that which I have received
from holy Scripture.

When, then, your holiness has heard this from me, I beg you to inform the
ignorant and to persuade the unbridled tongues that revile me and all who are
deceived by them, not to believe what they have heard of me from my
calumniators. Beg them to believe rather the Lawgiver when he exclaims "Men
shall not receive a false report."156 Ask them to wait till the facts are
proved. My prayer is that the churches may enjoy a calm and that this long and
painful storm may vanish away. But if the multitude of our sins suffer not this
to come to pass; if for their sakes we are delivered to the sifter; we pray that
we may share the perils undergone for the faith, in order that since we have not
the confidence that comes from this life, at least for guarding the faith in its
integrity we may meet with pity and pardon in the day of the appearance of the
Lord. And for this we beseech your holiness to join us in our prayers.

LXXXIII. Of Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus, to Dioscorus, Archbishop of
Alexandria. To them that suffer under false accusation the greatest comfort is
given by the words of Scripture. When such a sufferer is wounded by the lying
words of an unbridled tongue, and feels the sharp stings of distress, he
remembers the story of the admirable Joseph, and as he beholds that model of
chastity, an exemplar of every kind of virtue, suffering, under a calumnious
charge, imprisoned and fettered for invading another man's bed, and spending a
long time in a dungeon, his pain is lightened by the remedy that the story
furnishes. So again when he finds the gentle David, hunted as a tyrant by Saul,
and then catching his enemy and letting him go unharmed, an anodyne is given him
in his distress. But when he sees the Lord Christ Himself, Maker of the ages,
Creator of all things, very God, and Son of the very God, called a gluttonous
man and a wine bibber by the wicked Jews, it is not only consolation but rather
great joy that is given him in that he is deemed worthy of sharing the
sufferings of the Lord.

Thus I was compelled to write when I read the letters of your holiness to the
most pious and sacred archbishop Domnus, for there was contained in them the
statement that certain men have come to the illustrious city administered by
your holiness, and have accused me of dividing the one Lord Jesus Christ into
two sons, and this when preaching at Antioch, where innumerable hearers swell
the congregation. I wept for the men who had the hardihood to contrive the vain
calumny against me. But I grieved, and, my Lord, forgive me, forced as I am by
pain to speak, that your pious excellency did not reserve one ear unbiassed for
me instead of believing the lies of my accusers. Yet they were but three or four
or about a dozen while I have countless hearers to testify to the orthodoxy of
my teaching. Six years I continued teaching in the time of Theodotus bishop of
Antioch, of blessed and sacred memory, who was famous alike for his
distinguished career and for his knowledge of the divine doctrines. Thirteen
years I taught in the time of bishop John of sacred and blessed memory, who was
so delighted at my discourses as to raise both his hands and again and again to
start up: your holiness in your own letters has borne witness how, brought up as
he was from boyhood with the divine oracles, the knowledge which he had of the
divine doctrines was most exact. Besides these this is the seventh year of the
most pious lord archbishop Domnus.157 Up to this present day, after the lapse of
so long a time, not one of the pious bishops, not one of thedevout clergy has
ever at any time found any fault with my utterances. And with how much
gratification Christian people hear our discourses your godly excellency can
easily learn, alike from those who have travelled thence hither, and from those
who reached your city from us.

All this I say not for the sake of boasting, but because I am forced to defend
myself. It is not the fame of my sermons to which I am calling attention; it is
their orthodoxy alone. Even the great teacher of the world who is wont to style
himself last of saints and first of sinners, that he might stop the mouths of
liars was compelled to set forth a list of his own labours; and in shewing that
this account of his sufferings was of necessity, not of free will, he added "I
am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me."158 I own myself
wretched-aye thrice wretched. I am guilty of many errors. Through faith alone I
look for finding some mercy in the day of the Lord's appearing. I wish and I
pray that I may follow the footprints of the holy Fathers, and I earnestly
desire to keep undefiled the evangelic teaching which was in sum delivered to us
by the holy Fathers assembled in council at the Bithynian Nicaea. I believe that
there is one God the Father and one Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father:159 so
also that there is one Lord Jesus Christ, only begotten Son of God, begotten of
the Father before all ages, brightness of His glory and express image of the
Father's person,160 on account of man's salvation, incarnate and made man and
born of Mary the Virgin in the flesh. For so are we taught by the wise Paul
"Whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is
over all, God blessed for ever. Amen,"161 and again "Concerning His Son Jesus
Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and
declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of
holiness."162 On this account we also call the holy Virgin "Theotokos,"163 and
deem those who object to this appellation to be alienated from true religion. In
the same manner we call those men corrupt and exclude them from the assembly of
the Christians, who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two persons or two
sons or two Lords, for we have heard the very divine Paul saying "One Lord, one
faith, one baptism"164 and again "One Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all
things"165 and again "Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to-day and for
ever"166 and in another place-"He that descended is the same also that ascended
up far above all heavens."167 And countless other passages of this kind may be
found in the Apostle's writings, proclaiming the one Lord. So too the divine
Evangelist exclaims, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth."168 And his namesake exclaimed, "After me cometh one who is preferred
before me for He was before me."169 And when he had shewn one person, he
expressed both the divine and the human. for the words "man" and "comes" are
human, but the phrase "He was before me" expresses the divine. But nevertheless
he did not recognise a distinction between Him who came after and Him who was
before, but owned the same being to be eternal as God, but born man, after
himself, of the Virgin.

Thus too, the thrice blessed Thomas, when he had put his hand on the flesh of
the Lord, called Him Lord and God, saying "My Lord and my God."170 For through
the visible nature he discerned the invisible. So do we know no difference
between the same flesh and the Godhead but we own God the Word made man to be
one Son.

These lessons we bare learnt alike from the holy Scripture and from the holy
Fathers who have expounded it, Alexander and Athanasius, loud voiced heralds of
the truth, who have been ornaments of your apostolic see; from Basil and from
Gregory and the rest of the lights of the world; and that, in our endeavour to
shut the mouths of them that dare to oppose the blessed Theophilus and Cyril, we
use their works, our own writings testify. For we are most anxious by the
medicines supplied by very holy men to heal them that deny the distinction
between the Lord's flesh and the Godhead, and who maintain at one moment that
the divine nature was changed into flesh, and at another that the flesh was
transmuted into nature of Godhead. For they clearly instruct us in the
distinction between the two natures, and proclaim the immutability of the divine
nature, calling the flesh of the Lord divine as being made flesh of God the
Word; but the doctrine that it was transmuted into nature of Godhead they
repudiate as impious.

I think that your excellency is well aware that Cyril of blessed memory often
wrote to me, and when he sent his books against Julian to Antioch, and in like
manner his book on the scapegoat, he asked the blessed John, bishop of Antioch,
to shew them to the great teachers of the East; and in compliance with this
request the blessed John sent us the books. I read them with admiration, and I
wrote to Cyril of blessed memory; and he wrote back to me praising my exactitude
and kindness. This letter I have preserved. That I twice subscribed the writings
of John of blessed memory concerning Nestorius my own hand bears witness, but
this is the kind of thing whispered about me by men who try to conceal their own
unsoundness by calumniating me.

Therefore I implore your holiness to turn your back on the liars; to give heed
to the Church's quiet and either to heal by salutary medicines them that are
trying to destroy the doctrines of the truth, or, if they refuse to accept your
treatment, to expel them from the fold, to the end that the sheep may be spared
from contagion. I beg you to give me your customary salutation. That I have
written you my true sentiments is proved by my works on the holy Scriptures and
against the Arians and Eunomians.

I will in addition write yet a brief word. If any one refuses to confess tile
holy Virgin to be "Theotokos," or calls our Lord Jesus Christ bare man, or
divides into two sons Him who is one only begotten and first born of every
creature, I pray that he may fall from hope in Christ, and let all the people
say amen, amen.

Now that I have thus spoken, deign, my lord, to give me your sacred prayers, and
to cheer me by a letter in reply telling me that your holiness has turned your
back on my accusers.

I and my household salute all thy brotherhood in piety in Christ.

LXXXIV. To the Bishops of Cilicia.171 Your piety has heard of the calumnies
directed against me. The opponents of the truth allege that I divide our one
Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, into two sons, and it is said
by some that a ground for their calumny is derived from a handful of men among
you who hold these opinions, and who divide God the Word made man into two sons.
They ought to listen to those words of the Apostle which openly declare "out
Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things,"172 and again "one Lord, one faith,
one baptism."173 They ought to have followed the Master's teaching, for the Lord
Himself says "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven."174 And again "If ye shall see
the Son of Man ascend up where He was before."175 And the tradition of holy
baptism teaches us that there is one Son, just as there is one Father and one
Holy Ghost. I hope then that your piety will deign, if there really are any,
though I cannot believe it, who disobey the apostolic doctrines to close their
mouths, to rebuke them as the laws of the Church require, and teach them to
follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers and preserve undefiled the faith laid
down at Nicaea in Bithynia by the holy and blessed Fathers, as summing up the
teaching of Evangelists and Apostles. For it becomes you who love God to give
heed both to God's glory and our common credit, and not to overlook the attacks
which are made upon us all through the ignorance or contentiousness of these few
men-if they really are guilty, and if they are not, like ourselves, suffering
from the whetted tongues of false accusers.

Deign to remember us in your prayers to God, for so the law of love ordains.

LXXXV. To the Bishop Basil.176 The chief good is said by the divine Paul to be
love,177 and by love he ordered the nurslings of the faith to be fed. Of this
love your piety possesses great wealth, and so has told me what was befitting
and given me pleasant news. For to them that fear the Lord what can be
pleasanter than the health and harmony of the doctrines of the truth? Be well
assured, most godly sir, that we were much delighted to hear the intelligence of
our common friend; and in proportion to our previous distress at hearing that he
described the nature of flesh and of Godhead as one, and openly attributed the
passion of salvation to the impossible Godhead, so were all rejoiced to read the
letters of your holiness, and to learn that he maintains in their integrity the
properties of the natures and denies both the change of God the Word into flesh,
and the mutation of the flesh into the nature of Godhead, maintaining on the
contrary that in the one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word made man, the
properties of either nature abide unconfounded. We praise the God of all for the
harmony of divine faith. We have however written to either Cilicia,178 although
our intelligence is imperfect, as to whether there are really any opponents of
the truth, and have charged the godly bishops to search and examine if there are
any who divide the one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons, and either to bring them
to their senses by admonition, or cut them off from the roll of the brethren.
For in fact we equally repudiate both those who dare to assert one nature of
flesh and Godhead, and those who divide the one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons
and strive to go beyond the definitions of the Apostles. But let your holiness
be well assured that we are disposed to peace. For if the prophet says, "With
them that hate peace I was peaceful."179 much more readily do we welcome the
peace of God.

Some of those men who have been fed on lies have hurried to Alexandria and
patched up calumnies against me, with the result that the godly bishop of that
city, led away by their statements, although he had been fully informed by my
letters, has sent a pious bishop to the imperial city. I beg you therefore to
shew your accustomed kindness to him, and to confront falsehood with the truth.

LXXXVI.180 To Flavianus, Bishop of Constantinople. At the present time, most
God-beloved lord, I have received many buffetings of billows, but I called upon
the great Pilot, and have been able to stand firm against the storm; the
attacks, however, now made upon me transcend every story in tragedy. In relation
to the attacks which are being plotted against the apostolic faith, I thought
that I should find an ally and fellow-worker in the most godly bishop of
Alexandria, the lord Dioscorus,181 and so sent him one of our pious presbyters,
a man of remarkable prudence, with a synodical letter informing his piety that
we abide in the agreement made in the time of Cyril of blessed memory, and
accept the letter written by him as well as that written by the very blessed and
sainted Athanasius to the blessed Epictetus, and, before these, the exposition
of the faith laid down at Nicaea in Bithynia by the holy and blessed Fathers. We
exhorted him to induce those who are unwilling to abide by these documents at
once to abide by them. But one of the opposite party, who keep up these
disturbances, by tricking some of those who are on the spot and contriving
countless calumnies against myself has stirred an iniquitous agitation against
me. But the very godly bishop Dioscorus has written us a letter such as never
ought to have been written by one who has learnt from the God of all not to
listen to vain words. He has believed the charges brought against me as though
he had made personal enquiry into every one of them, and had arrived at the
truth after questioning, and has thus condemned me. I however have bravely borne
the calumnious charge, and have written him back a courteous letter,
representing to his piety that the whole charge is false, and that not one of
the godly bishops of the East holds opinions contrary to the apostolic decrees.
Moreover the pious clergy whom he sent as messengers have been convinced by the
actual evidence of the facts. These however he has dismissed unheeded, and,
lending his ears to my calumniators, has acted in a manner quite incredible,
were it not that the whole church bears witness to if. He put up with them that
were crying Anathema against me; nay he stood up in his place and confirmed
their words by adding his voice to theirs. Besides all this he sent certain
godly bishops to the imperial city, as we learnt, in the hope of increasing the
agitation against me. I in the first place have for champion Him who seeth all
things, for it is on behalf of the divine decrees that I am wrestling-next after
Him I invoke your holiness to fight in defence of the faith that is attacked,
and do battle on behalf of the canons that are being trodden under foot. When
the blessed Fathers were assembled in that imperial city182 in harmony with them
that had sat in council at Nicaea, they distinguished the dioceses, and assigned
to each diocese the management of its own affairs, expressly enjoining that none
should intrude from one diocese into another. They ordered that the bishop of
Alexandria should administer the government of Egypt alone, and every diocese
its own affairs.183

Dioscorus, however, refuses to abide by these decisions; he is turning the see
of the blessed Mark upside down; and these things he does though he perfectly
well knows that the Antiochene metropolis possesses the throne of the great
Peter, who was teacher of the blessed Mark, and first and coryphaeus of the
chorus of the apostles.184 But I know the majesty of the see, and I know and
take measure of myself. I have learnt from the first the humility of the
Apostles. I beseech your holiness not to overlook the trampling underfoot of the
holy canons, and to stand forward zealously as champion of the divine faith, for
in that faith we have hope of our salvation and on its account are confident
that we shall meet with mercy. But that your holiness may not be ignorant of
this, know, my lord, that he shewed his ill-will towards me from the time of my
assenting, in obedience to the canons of the holy Fathers, to the synodical
letters issued in your see in the time of Proclus of blessed memory; on this
point he has chidden me once and again on the ground of my violating the rights
of the church of Antioch and, as he says, of that of Alexandria. Remembering
this, and finding, as he thinks, an opportunity, he has exhibited his hostility.
But nothing is stronger than the truth. Truth is wont to conquer even with few
words. I beseech your holiness to remember me in your prayers to the Lord that I
may have power to prevail against the waves that are beating me hither and
thither.

LXXXVII. To Domnus, Bishop of Apamea.185 The law of brotherly love demanded that
I should receive many letters from your godliness at this time. For the divine
Apostle charges us to weep with them that weep and rejoice with them that do
rejoice.186 I have not received a single one, although just lately I was visited
by some of the pious monks of your monastery with the pious presbyter Elias.
Nevertheless I have written, and I salute your holiness; and I make you
acquainted with the fact that the consolation of the Master has stood me in
stead of all other, for in truth not even had I as many mouths as I have hairs
on my head, could I worthily praise Him for my being deemed worthy of suffering
on account of my confession of Him, and for the apparent disgrace which I hold
more august than any honour. And if I be banished to the uttermost parts of the
earth all the more will I praise Him as being counted worthy of greater
blessings. Nevertheless I hope your holiness will put up prayers for the quiet
of the holy churches. It is because of the storm that is assailing them that I
wail and groan and lament. That quiet, as I know, was driven away by the
Osrhoene clergy,187 who poured out countless words against me, although I had no
share in their condemnation, nor in the sentence passed upon them; on the
contrary, as your holiness knows, I besought that the communion might be given
to them at Easter. But slanderers find no difficulty in saying what they like.
My consolation lies in the blessing of the Master who said, "Blessed are ye when
men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward
in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."188
LXXXVIII. To Taurus the Patrician.189

Slanderers have forced me to go beyond the bounds of moderation, and compel me
to write to you who have adorned the highest offices, and obtained the most
distinguished honours. I therefore implore you to pardon me, for I do not write
in self sufficiency, but because I am thrust forward by necessity. It is not
because I expect to fall unjustly into trouble and distress, for this is the
common fate of all who have sincerely served God, but because I desire to
persuade your excellency that those who accuse my opinions are producing false
charges against me. From my mother's breast I have been nurtured on apostolic
teaching, and the creed laid down at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers I
have both learnt and teach. All who bold any other opinion I charge with
impiety, and if any one persists in asserting that I teach the contrary, let him
not bring a charge which I cannot defend, but convict me to my face. For this is
agreeable to the laws alike of God and of man, but to whom is it so becoming to
champion the wronged as to you, O friend of Christ, to whom boldness of
utterance is given by the splendour of your lineage, the greatness of your rank
and your foremost place in the law?

LXXXIX. To Florentius the Patrician.190 In sending a letter to your greatness I
am daring what is beyond me, but the cause of my daring is not self-confidence,
but the slanders of my calumniators. I have thought it well worth while to
instruct your righteous ears how openly the impugners of my opinions are
calumniating me. I have been guilty, I own, of many errors, but up to now I have
ever kept the faith of the apostles undefiled, and on this account alone I have
cherished the hope that I shall meet with mercy on the day of the Lord's
appearing. On behalf of this faith I continue to contend against every kind of
heresy; this faith I am ever giving to the nurslings of piety; by means of this
faith I have metamorphosed countless wolves into sheep, and have brought them to
the Saviour who is the Arch-shepherd of us all. So have I learnt not only from
the apostles and prophets but also from the interpreters of their writings,
Ignatius,Eustathius, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, John, and the rest of the
lights of the world; and before these from the holy Fathers in council at
Nicaea, whose confession of the faith I preserve in its integrity, like an
ancestral inheritance, styling corrupt and enemies of the truth all who dare to
transgress its decrees. I invoke your greatness, now that you have heard from me
in these terms, to shut the mouths of my calumniators. It is in my opinion
wholly unreasonable to accept as true what is charged against men in their
absence; rather is it lawful and right that those who wish to appear as
prosecutors should accuse the defendants in their presence, and endeavour to
convict them face to face. Under these conditions the judges will without
difficulty be able to arrive at the truth.

XC. To Lupicinus the Master.191

I have passed through the contests of my prime. I see before me the confines of
old age, and have expected as an old man to have more honour given me. But I am
a mark for the shafts of slander, and am driven to meet by defence accusations
levelled against me. Under these circumstances, I beseech your excellency not to
believe the lies of my accusers. Had I been living a life of silence, there
might have been room for the suspicion of unorthodoxy. But I am continually
discoursing in the churches, and therefore have, by God's grace, innumerable
witnesses to the soundness of what I teach. I follow the laws and rules of the
apostles. I test my teaching by applying to it, like a rule and measure, the
faith laid down by the holy and blessed Fathers at Nicaea. If any one maintain
that I hold any contrary opinion, let him accuse me face to face; let him not
slander me in my absence. It is fair that even the defendant should have an
opportunity of speech, and meet with his defence the charges brought against
him, and that then and not till then should the judges lawfully pronounce their
sentence. This favour I beg through your excellency's assistance. If any men
wish to condemn me unheard, I accept with willingness even their unjust
sentence. For I wait for the judgment of the Master, where we need neither
witnesses nor accusers. Before Him, as says the divine Apostle, "all things are
naked and opened."192 XCI. To the Prefect Eutrechius.193

I well know, and need no words to tell me, how your excellency regards me.
Actions speak more clearly than words, but I have been anxious for you to know
the cause of the accusation that is brought against me. For I am suffering under
a most extraordinary charge, being at one and the same time attacked as
unmarried, and as having been married twice.194 If my present calumniators
assert that I am falsifying the apostolic doctrine, why in the world, instead of
accusing me in my absence, do they not attempt to convict me face to face? This
fact alone is enough to give utter refutation to their lies, for it is because
they know that I have innumerable witnesses to the apostolic character of my
doctrines that they have urged an undefended indictment against me. Lawful
judges must on the contrary keep one ear unbiassed for the accused. If they give
both to the pleadings of the opponents, and deliver a sentence acceptable to
them, I shall put up with the injustice as bringing me nearer to the kingdom of
heaven, and shall await that impartial tribunal, where there is neither
prosecutor, nor counsel, nor witness, nor distinction in rank, but judgment of
deeds and words and righteous retribution. "For," it is said, "we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things
done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad."195
XCII. To Anatolius the Patrician.196 The very holy lord archbishop Domnus has
arranged for the most pious bishops to repair to the imperial city, with a view
to the complete refutation of the false accusation made against us all. At this
time we stand in especial need of the aid of your magnificence, since the Lord
of all has endowed you with the gifts of pure faith, of warm zeal in its behalf,
of intelligence and capacity, and power withal to carry out your prudent
counsels. I beg you therefore to defend the cause of the wronged, to contend
against lies, and champion the apostolic teaching now assailed. Without doubt
the master and guide of the churches will bless your endeavour, will scatter the
lowering cloud, and bless the nurslings of the faith with clear sky. Even should
He permit the tempest to prevail, your greatness will reap your perfect reward,
and we shall bow our heads before the storm, ready to live with cheerfulness
wheresoever it may drive us, and waiting the judgment of God and his true and
righteous sentence.

XCIII. To Senator the Patrician.

I cherish an indelible memory of your magnificence, and now by very religious
and holy bishops I salute you. The very holy lord bishop Domnus has arranged for
them to journey to the imperial city in order to put an end to the false charges
raised against me. For certain men have contrived manifest calumnies against me,
and have grievously disturbed the churches for whose sake the Lord Christ
"endured the Cross despising the shame";197 in whose behalf the band of the
divine apostles and companies of victorious martyrs were delivered to many kinds
of death. On behalf of their peace I call on your magnificence to contend. It
had been easy for the God of all to have nodded His head and scattered the
lowering clouds; but He bides His time, and thereby at once shews the endurance
of them that are assailed, and gives us opportunities of doing good.

XCIV. To Protogenes198 The Praefect. The loving-kindness of the Lord has already
given you an opportunity of carrying out your good intentions. He has given you
a greater opportunity now, that your excellency may the more easily champion the
cause of the truth that is assailed, bring lies to nought, and give the churches
the calm for which they so intensely long. Your excellency has already learned
from many other sources bow great is the surge by which the churches in the East
are overwhelmed, but you will acquire more accurate information concerning it
from the very religious bishops who, on account of it, have undertaken their
long journey in the winter, relying, next after the Grace of God, on the
providence of your authority. Disperse for us, then, O Christian man, the storm,
change the moonless night into clear sunshine, and bridle the tongues set
wagging against us. We by God's grace are ever fighting for the apostolic
decrees, and we preserve undefiled the faith laid down at Nicaea, and style
impious all who dare to violate its dogmas. In evidence of the truth of what I
say may be cited my catechumens, those who are from time to time baptized by me,
and the hearers of my discourses in the churches. If they mean to accuse me in
accordance with the law, they must convict the in my presence, not slander me in
my absence. In this manner your excellency, when giving judgment in other cases,
is wont to deliver your sentences, perceiving on which side lies the right from
the pleadings both of the prosecution and of the defence.

XCV. To the Praefect Antiochus.199

You have laid aside the cares of your very important government, but your fame
flourishes among all; for they that have reaped the fruit of your benevolence,
and they are many and everywhere, persistently extol it, proclaiming your good
report in all directions, and stirring their hearers' tongues to join in the
chorus of acclamation. When I behold the worthy fruit which adorns with its
beauty its far-famed stem, I am delighted. For this reason I call your
excellency to greater and higher deeds, and beseech you to give heed to the
tranquillity of the churches. They have been overwhelmed with a great storm by
the contrivers of calumnies against me, and under these circumstances the very
religious bishops, making light of a long journey, of infirmity, and of old age,
have left their own flocks unshepherded, and undertaken to travel this great
distance, in their eagerness to confute the lies told against us all. I beseech
your greatness to give them your protection, to shew care for the calumniated
East, and your forethought for the welfare of the apostolic faith. It is only
fitting that you should add this further glory to the rest of your good deeds.

XCVI. To Nomus the Patrician.200

I have written to you two letters, indeed I think three, but without getting any
answer. I had wished to say no more, but to know my own place and the greatness
of dignities, and to beg you to inform me of the cause of your silence. Really I
do not know what offence I can have given to your excellency. We err unwillingly
as well as willingly, and sometimes are quite ignorant in what way we are
transgressing. I therefore beg your greatness, remembering the divine laws which
plainly charge us "If thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him
his fault between him and thee alone"201 to deign to make plain to me the origin
of the annoyance, that I may either prove myself innocent, or, made aware of
where I was wrong, may beg your pardon. In my confidence in the evidence of my
conscience I hope for the former. All men are adorned by magnanimity, and not
least those who, following the example of your excellency, trained in outside
education as well as instructed in divine principles, both hear the apostolic
laws loudly exclaiming "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath"202 and remember
the words of Homer203 "In fit bounds contain thy mighty mind;

Benignity is best."

I have thus written not as though giving you information, but to remind one who
is much occupied, and I do so in remembrance of the law of the Lord, who says
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go
thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy
gift."204 In obedience to these words I have thought it right to salute your
excellency by the most pious bishops, and to exhort you to give heed to the
tranquillity of the churches. They are indeed overwhelmed by a great storm.

XCVII. To the Count Sporacius.205

I am delighted with your excellency's letter. My pleasure has been increased by
the very religious presbyter and monk Iamblichus, who has told me of your warm
zeal, your earnestness in religion, and your real goodwill to me. On hearing of
this as well as of the efforts of the glorious and pious lord Patricius206 on my
behalf I give you the apostolic blessing which the blessed Onesiphorus obtained
from that holy tongue; "The Lord give mercy to your house, for he oft refreshed.
me and was not ashamed of my chain;" "The Lord grant unto him that he may find
mercy of the Lord in that day."207 This I pray for you, even though the enemies
of the truth inflict on me yet greater miseries as they suppose; for we have
been taught to regard men's purpose; but be sure of this, that with true
religion death to me is very pleasant, and exile to the ends of the earth. Still
we are distressed at the storm of the churches, which the Lord of all is mighty
to disperse.

XCVIII. To Pancharius.

WE are distressed to see the tempest of the churches, but their Master and Ruler
ever through mighty billows shows to men His own wisdom and power. He rebukes
the winds and brings about a calm as He did when He was in the apostles boat.208
So though I am distressed, nevertheless because I know this power of our Saviour
and am aware of what He arranges for us, even though adversity befall me. I give
thanks and accept it as a gift of God. I have learned the lesson to care little
for the present, and to wait for the expected blessings. But it behoves your
excellency zealously to defend the apostolic faith, that you may receive from
the God of all the recompense of such conduct.

XCIX. To Claudianus the Antigrapharius.209

Although you have not yet met me, I think that your excellency is aware of the
open calumnies that have been published against me, for you have often heard me
preaching in church, when I have proclaimed the Lord Jesus, and have pointed out
the properties alike of the Godhead and of the manhood; for we do not divide one
Son into two, but, worshipping the Only-begotten, point out the distinction
between flesh and Godhead. This, indeed, is I think confessed even by the
Arians, who do not call the flesh Godhead, nor address the Godhead as flesh.
Holy Scripture clearly teaches us both natures. Nevertheless, though I have ever
thus spoken, certain men are uttering lying words against me. But I rely on my
conscience and have as witness to my teaching Him who looks into the hearts. So,
as the prophet says, I regard the contrivances of calumny as "a spider's
web."210 I await the great judgment which needs no words, but makes manifest
what in the meanwhile is unknown.

I send this by the very religious bishops, thinking it worth while to salute
your excellency by them and to remind you of your promise. For attacked as I am
I do not cease to go a-hunting, for I know that even the sacred apostles in the
midst of the assaults made upon them did not cease to ply the net of the spirit.

C. To Alexandra.211

I have recently received your excellency's letter. For the zeal you have shewn
on my behalf I thank you, and pray the God of all to guard the goods you have,
to increase them with further boons, and to grant you the enjoyment of future
and everlasting blessings. I think that He hears the prayer even of them that
are sentenced to relegation, and all the more when it is for the sake of His
divine doctrine that they are undergoing apparent disgrace. I am writing by the
very religious bishops, and I beg that they may meet with your kindly care. It
is for the sake of the faith of the gospel and the peace of the churches that
they have undertaken this long journey.

CI. To the Deaconess Celarina. The flames of the war against us have been lit up
again. After yielding awhile, the enemy of men has once more armed against us
men nurtured in lies, who utter open slander against me, and say that I divide
our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons. I however know the distinction between
Godhead and manhood, and confess one Son, God the Word made man. I assert that
He is God eternal, who was made man at the end of days, not by the change of the
Godhead, but by the assumption of the manhood. It is however needless for me to
inform your piety of my sentiments, for you have exact knowledge of what I
preach, and how I instruct the ignorant. I beseech you therefore since the
workers of lies have poured their insults upon all the godly bishops of the East
at once, and overwhelmed the churches with a storm, that your piety will show
all possible zeal on behalf of the doctrines of the gospel anti the peace of the
churches. On this account the very godly bishops have left the churches
shepherded by them, have disregarded the inclemency of winter, and endured the
labours of their long journey, that they may calm the tempest which has arisen.
I am sure that your godly excellency will regard them as champions of piety and
governors of the churches.

CII. To Bishop Basilius.212

There is nothing remarkable in the reproaches that are directed against me being
heard in silence by men who do not know me; but that your holiness should not
refute the lies of my revilers, or at least should do so only to a certain
extent, and with no great heartiness, passes the belief of any one who knows
your character and conduct. And I say this not because friendship ought to be
preferred to truth, but because the witness of truth is on the side of
friendship. Your reverence has very often heard me preaching in church, and, in
other assemblies where I have spoken on doctrinal questions; you have listened
to what I have said, and I do not know of any occasion on which you have found
fault with me for expressing unorthodox opinions. But what is the case at the
present moment? Why in the world, my dear friend, do you not utter a word
against falsehood, while you allow a friend to be calumniated and the truth to
be assailed? If this is because you disregard the helpless and insignificant,
remember the plain proclamation of the commandment of the Lord "Take heed that
ye despise not one of these little ones which believe in me, for I say unto you
that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in
heaven."213 If however it is the influence of my calumniators which imposes
silence upon you, you must listen to the other law which says "Thou shalt not
honour the person of the mighty"214 and "Judge righteous judgment"215 and "Thou
shalt not follow a multitude to do evil"216 and "He that shutteth his eyes from
seeing evil and stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood."217 You may find
innumerable similar passages in holy Scripture, which I have thought it needless
to collect when writing to a man brought up in the divine oracles, and watering
Christian people with his teaching. But this I will say, that we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall give account of our words and
deeds. I, who for every other reason dread this tribunal, now that Iam
encompassed with calumny, find my chief consolation in the thought of it.

CIII. To the Count Apollonius.218 The very godly bishops have been led to travel
to the imperial city by the calumnies uttered against me, and I by their
holinesses send your excellency my salutation, and pay the debt of friendship,
not indeed to wipe out the cherished obligation, but to make it greater. For in
truth the obligations of friendship are increased by their discharge. That I
should now be reaping the fruits of calumny is not extraordinary, for, in that I
am human, there is nothing that I must not expect. All troubles of this kind
must be borne by them that have learned wisdom; one thing only is
distressing-that harm should accrue to the soul.

CIV. To Flavianus,219 Bishop of Constantnople.

I have already in another letter informed your holiness how openly the
calumniators of our teaching are slandering us.220 Now in like manner by means
of the very godly bishops I do the same, having not only these as witnesses of
the orthodoxy of my teaching but also countless other men who are my hearers in
the churches of the East. Above and beyond all these I have my conscience, and
Him who sees my conscience. And I know too how the divine Apostle often appealed
to the testimony of his conscience, for "our rejoicing is this, the testimony of
our conscience"221 and again "I say the truth in Christ I lie not, my conscience
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost."222 Know then, O holy and godly sir,
that no one has ever at any time heard us preaching two sons; in fact this
doctrine seems to the abominable and impious, for there is one Lord Jesus Christ
through whom are all things. Him I acknowledge both as everlasting God and as
man in the end of days, and I give Him one worship as only begotten. I have
learned however the distinction between flesh and Godhead, for the union is
unconfounded. Thus drawn up as it were in battle array to oppose the madness of
Arius and Eunomius, we very easily refute the blasphemy hazarded by them against
the only begotten, by applying what was spoken in humility about the Lord, and
suitably to His assumed nature, to man, and, on the other hand, what becomes the
divine and signifies the divine nature, to God; not dividing Him into two
persons, but teaching that both the former and latter attributes belong to the
only begotten, the latter to Him as God the Creator and Lord of all, and the
former as made man on our account. For divine Scripture says that He was made
man, not by mutation of the Godhead, but by assumption of human nature, of the
seed of Abraham. This the divine Apostle openly says in the words "For verily He
took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham,
wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren."223
And again "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made: he saith not and
to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ."224

These and similar passages have been cut out of divine Scripture by Simon,
Basilides, Valentinus, Bardesanes, Marcion, and the man who is named after his
maniacal heres.225 So they style the Master Christ God only, and describe Him as
having nothing human about Him, but appearing in imagination and appearance as
man to men. On the other hand the Arians and Eunomians say that God the Word
assumed only a body, and that He Himself supplied the place of a soul in the
body. And Apollinarius describes the Master's body as endued with a soul;226
but, deriving, I know not whence. the idea of a distinction between soul and
intelligence,227 deprives intelligence of its share in the achieved
salvation.228 The teaching of the divine Apostles lays down on the contrary that
a soul both reasonable and intelligent was assumed together with flesh, and the
salvation of which the hope is held out to them that believe is complete.

There is yet another gang of heretics who hold differently.Photinus,229
Marcellus,230 and Paul of Samosata,231 assert that our Lord and God was only
man. When arguing with these we are tinder the necessity of advancing proofs of
the Godhead, and of shewing that the Master Christ is everlasting God. When, on
the other band, we are contending with the former faction, which calls our Lord
Jesus Christ God only, we are obliged to marshal against them the forces of the
divine Scripture, and collect from it evidence of the assumption of the manhood.
For a physician must use remedies appropriate to the disease, and suit the
medicine to the case.

Now, therefore, I beseech your holiness to scatter the slander raised against
me, and bridle the tongues now vainly reviling me. For, after the incarnation, I
worship one Son of God, one Lord Jesus Christ, and denounce as impious all who
hold otherwise. Deign, sir, to give me too your holy prayers, that, by God's
grace, I may reach the other side of the ocean of danger, and drop my anchor in
the windless haven of the Lord.

CV. To Eulogius the Oeconomus.232

We have heard from many sources of your piety's efforts on behalf of true
religion. It is therefore right that you should readily succour one who is
calumniated for the same cause, and should refute the reviler's lies. You, O
godly Sir, know what I hold, and what I teach, and that no one has ever heard of
my preaching two sons. Exert, I implore you, in this case too your divine
energy, and stop the months of the evil speakers. In conflicts of this kind one
must help not only one's friends but even those who have caused us pain.

CVI. To Abraham the Oeconomus. By the godly bishops I salute you. I beseech you
to give heed to the churches' calm, and to disperse the waves of calumny.
"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap,"233 as says the divine
Apostle. Without doubt then he who fights for the apostolic doctrines shall reap
the fruit of the apostolic blessing and enjoy the Apostles' devotion.

CVII. To the Presbyter Theodotus. The struggles which your piety has undergone
on behalf of the apostolic doctrines are not unknown, but are frequently
mentioned alike by those who have known them by experience, and by others who
have heard of them from these. Continue, my dear sir, your efforts, and fight
for the doctrines of the Fathers. For these I too am buffeted in all directions
and, while I receive the shock of the great waves, I beseech our Governor either
to nod his head and scatter the tempest, or enable the victims of the storm by
His grace to play the man.

CVIII. To Acacius the Presbyter.

True indeed is the promise of David's Psalm, for through him the Spirit of truth
gave this promise to them that believe, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust
also to him; and he shall bring it to pass; and he shall bring forth thy
righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday."234 This we find too
has come to pass in the case of your piety. For the great care you bestow upon
them that are weeping for their orphanhood, and your struggles on behalf of the
apostolic doctrines, are in every one's mouth, and so, as the prophets say,
"Hidden things are made manifest." Since I too have beard of your piety's
admirable exertions I write to salute you, most godly sir, and beseech you to
increase your glory by adding to your labours, and to fight on behalf of the
doctrine of the Gospels, that we may both keep the inheritance of our fathers
unimpaired, and bring our Master His talent with good usury.235 CIX. To
Eusebius, Bishop of Ancyra.236

Many are the devices secretly plotted against me, and through me patched up
against the faith of apostles. I am however comforted by the sufferings of the
Saints, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and men famous in the churches in the word
of Grace; and besides these by the promises of our God and Saviour, for in this
present life He has promised us nothing pleasant or delightful, but rather
trouble, toil, and peril, and attacks of enemies. "In the world," He says, "ye
shall have tribulation,"237 and "if they have persecuted me they will also
persecute you,"238 and "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub
how much more shall they call them of his household,"239 and "The time cometh
when whosoever killeth you will think he doeth God service,"240 and "Straight is
the gate and narrow the way which leadeth unto life,"241 and "When they
persecute you in this city flee you into another,"242 and I might quote all
similar passages. The divine Apostle too speaks in the same strain. "Yea and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."243 These
words give me the greatest comfort in this distress. As the calumnies uttered
against me have probably reached your holiness's ears, I beseech your holiness
to give no credence to the lies of my slanderers. I am not aware of ever having
taught anyone up to the present time to believe in two sons. I have been taught
to believe in one only begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word made man.
But I know the distinction between flesh and Godhead, and regard as impious all
who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons, as well as those who,
travelling in an opposite direction, call the Godhead and manhood of the master
Christ one nature. For these exaggerations stand opposed to one another, while
between them lies the way of the doctrines of the Gospel, beautified by the
footprints of prophets and apostles, and of all who after them have been
conspicuous for the gift of teaching. I was anxious to adduce their opinions,
and to point out how they bear witness in favour of my own, but I want more
words than a letter allows room for, wherefore I have written summarily what I
have been taught about the incarnation of the only begotten; I send my statement
to your godly excellency.244 I bare written not with the object of teaching
others, but of making my defence against the accusations brought against me, and
of explaining my sentiments to those who are ignorant of them. After your
holiness has read what I have written, if you find it in conformity with the
apostolic doctrines, I hope you trill confirm my opinion by what you reply-if,
on the contrary, anything that I have said jars with the divine teaching, I
request to be told of it by your holiness. For, though I have spent much time in
teaching, I still need one to teach me. "We know," says the divine Apostle "in
part,"245 and again he says, "If any man think that he knoweth anything he
knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."246 So I hope that I may hear the truth
from your holiness, and that you may also give heed to the calm of the Church,
and fight for the divine doctrines. It is for their sakes that the very godly
bishops, making light of the difficulties of the journey, and of the winter,
have set out for the imperial city, in the endeavour to bring about some end to
the storm. Send them I pray you, on their way with your prayers and with your
prayers too strengthen me.247 CX. To Domnus, Bishop of Antioch.248 When I read
your letter I remembered the very blessed Susannah, who when she saw the famous
villains, and believed that the God of all was present, uttered that remarkable
cry, "I am straitened on every side;"249 but nevertheless preferred to fall into
the snares of slander rather than to despise the just God. And I, sir, have two
alternatives as I have often said, to offend God and wound my conscience, or to
fall by man's unjust sentence. The most pious emperor, I think, knows nothing of
this. For what hindered him from writing, and ordering the ordination to take
place, if in truth it so pleased him? Why in the world do they utter threats
without and cause alarm, and yet do not send letters openly ordering it? One of
two things must be true; either the very pious emperor is not induced to write,
or they are trying to make us break the law and afterwards be indicted by them
for illegality. I have before me the example of the blessed Principius,250 for
in that case, when they had given orders by writing, they punished him for
obedience. Moreover the letters which I read on the very day of the
letter-bearer's arrival are of a contrary tenour. For one of the holy monks has
written to some one that he fins received letters both from the very illustrious
guardsman and the very glorious ex-magister stating that the case of the very
godly lord bishop Irenaeus will stand more favourably, and in return for this
good will they ask prayers on their behalf. I think therefore that a reply ought
to be written to the clergy who have written from the imperial city to the
effect that251 "in obedience to the sentence of the very godly bishops of
Phoenicia, and knowing both the zeal and the magnanimity and love for the poor
and all the other virtues of the very godly bishop Irenaeus, and in addition to
this the orthodoxy of his opinions, I have ordained him. I am not aware that he
has ever objected to apply to the holy Virgin the title `Theotokos,' or has ever
held any other opinions contrary to the doctrines of the Gospel. As to the
question of digamy, I have followed my predecessors; for Alexander of blessed
and sacred memory, the ornament of this apostolic see, as well as the very
blessed Acacius, bishop of Beroea, ordained Diogenes of blessed memory who was a
`digamus;'252 and similarly the blessed Praylius ordained Domninus of Caesarea
who was a `digamus.'253 We have therefore followed precedent, and the example of
men well known and illustrious both for learning and character. Proclus, bishop
of Constantinople, of blessed memory well aware of this and many other
instances, both himself accepted the ordination, and wrote in praise and
admiration of it. So too did the leading godly bishops of the Pontic Diocese,254
and all the Palestinians.

"No doubt has been raised about the matter, and we hold it wrong to condemn a
man illustrious for many and various noble actions." In my opinion it is
becoming to write in these terms. If your holiness holds any other view, let
what seems good to you be done. I, as they suppose, have undergone one
punishment, and am ready by God's help to undergo yet another. Even a third and
fourth, if they like, by the stay of God's grace I will endure, praising the
Lord. If your holiness thinks right, let us see what answer comes from
Palestine, and, after considering more exactly what course is to be taken, let
us so write to Constantinople.

CXI. To Anatolius the Patrician.255 Your excellency will be recompensed for the
kindness you have shewn me by the God of all, for all that is done for His sake
has its reward. I laugh at all my slanderers. The bodies of them who are most
severely scourged do not feel the pain, because the scourged flesh is deadened.
Still I lament over them whose unrestrained mouths utter such lies. In what way
have the accusers of the godly bishop Ibas256 been wronged by me that they
should utter such calumnies against me? To begin with, I was not even one of the
judges, for in obedience to the imperial decree I was living at Cyrus. Moreover,
as I have heard from many, they all along treated my absence as a grievance, for
I had arranged for their partaking of the Holy Communion at the Easter feast of
salvation,257 and as they often expressed a wish to meet me, I received them
with kindness and advised them as to the proper course to take. But that I may
also speak in the defence of the very godly bishop the lord Domnus, what was the
proper course for him to take? He was openly attacked; he saw men deposed by a
synodical sentence sent into another diocese, and resuming their priestly
functions in violation of the laws of the Church; he saw things holy and divine
laughed at and turned into ridicule by the enemies of the Church; what was he to
do? When he knew this he handed over the case to others, and not only to the
very godly lord Ibas, but also to the holy lord bishop Symeon of Amida, that the
metropolitans of the two provinces might hear the charges. What fairness is
there in charging the same persons with cruelty and kindness? If we
ex-communicate, we run into danger; if we do not excommunicate, we do not escape
it. We alone of all the world are objects of attack. Other dioceses are at
peace. We alone are exposed to calumniators,-specially I myself, though I took
no part in the trial, and am absolutely without responsibility in the matter.

Thus have I been forced to write on reading your lordship's letter, and on
learning from it how for these reasons a great commotion has been made against
me, a man confined to my diocese; a man of peace; one not evendeliberating with
the godly bishops of the province. As a matter of fact, although there have been
already two episcopal ordinations in our province, I took part in neither. Were
I not restrained by the imperial decree I would have gone away, and spent the
remainder of my days in some remote spot. I am faint for the plots hatched
against me. I am sure those Edessenes never put together their slander against
me of their own accord. They were prompted to these attacks on me by their truly
truthful neighbours. I thank our Saviour that he has deemed me worthy of the
beatitudes of the Gospel, all unworthy though I be. For this reason I have
gladly accepted the sentence of relegation. I am ready for exile, and, for the
sake of the "hope laid up for me,"258 welcome whatever fate they may inflict. I
pray without ceasing for your excellency, and beseech all the saints to share in
my petitions.

CXII. To Domnus, Bishop of Antioch.259 When news was brought to me that the
pettiness of the victorious emperor had been put an end to, a reconciliation
effected between him and the very godly bishop,260 the summons to the council
cancelled, and the peace of the churches restored, I hoped that our troubles
were a thing of the past. But I am deeply distressed at what I hear from your
holiness. It is impossible to hope for any good from this notorious council,
unless the merciful Master with His wonted providence shall undo the riotous
demons' devices. Even in the great synod, I mean that of Nicaea, the Arian party
voted with the orthodox and set their hands to the apostolic exposition. But
they did not cease to war against the truth till they had torn asunder the body
of the Church. For thirty years the supporters of the apostolic doctrines and
they who were infected with the Arian blasphemy continued in communion with one
another. But at Antioch,261 when the latest council was finished, when they had
seated the man of God, the great Meletius, on the apostolic throne, and then
after a few days ejected him by the imperial authority, Euzoius who was affected
with the undoubted plague of Arius was put forward, and straightway the
champions of apostolic doctrines seceded and thereafter the division continued.
As I look back on what happened then, and look forward to similar events in the
future, my wretched spirit sighs and wails, for I see no prospect of good. The
men of the other dioceses do not know the poison which lies in the Twelve
Chapters;262 having regard to the celebrity of the writer of them, they suspect
no mischief, and his successor in the see263 is I think adopting every means to
confirm them in a second synod. For supposing he who lately wrote them at
command, and anathematized all who did not wish to abide by them, were presiding
over an oecumenical council, what could he not effect? And be well assured, my
lord, that no one who knows the heresy they contain will brook to accept them,
though twice as many men of this sort decree them. Before now, though a larger
number have rashly confirmed them, I resisted at Ephesus, and refused to
communicate with the writer of them till he had agreed to the points laid down
by me, and had harmonized his teaching with them, without making any mention of
the Chapters. This your holiness can ascertain without any difficulty if you
order the acts of the synod to be investigated; for they are preserved as is
customary with the synodical signatures, and there are extant more than fifty
synodic acts shewing the accusation of the Twelve Chapters. For before the
journey to Ephesus the blessed John264 had written to the very godly bishops
Eutherius of Tyana, Firmus of Caesarea, and Theodotus of Ancyra, denouncing
these Chapters as Apollinarian,265 And at Ephesus the exposition and
confirmation of these Chapters was the cause of our deposition of the
Alexandrian and of the Ephesian.266 Moreover at Ephesus many synodic letters
were written both to the victorious emperor, and to the great officers, about
these Chapters; and in like manner to the laity at Constantinople and to the
reverend clergy. Moreover when we were summoned to Constantinople we had five
discussions in the imperial presence, and afterwards sent the emperor three
protestations. And to the very godly bishops of the West, of Milan I mean, of
Aquileia, and of Ravenna, we wrote on the same subject, protesting that the
Chapters were full of the Apollinarian novelty. Furthermore their writer
received a letter from the blessed John by the hands of the blessed Paul,267
openly blaming them; and in like manner from Acacius of blessed memory. And to
give your holiness concise information on the subject I have sent you both the
letter of the blessed Acacius, as well as that of the blessed John to the
blessed Cyril, in order that you may perceive that though they were writing to
him on the subject of agreement they blamed these Chapters. And the blessed
Cyril himself, in his letter to the blessed Acacius plainly indicated the drift
of these Chapters in the words "I have written this against his innovations and
when peace is made they will be made manifest." The very defence proves the
accusation. I have sent you the copy of what he wrote at the time of the
agreement, that you may see, my lord, that he made no mention of them, and that
those who attend the Council are under an obligation to bring forward what was
written at the time of the agreement, and to state plainly what had caused the
difference and on what terms the sundered parts were atoned. For they who are
summoned to fight for the truth must flinch from no toil, and must invoke the
divine aid, that we may preserve unimpaired the heritage bequeathed us by our
forefathers. Your holiness must look out for men of like mind among the godly
bishops and make them companions of your journey; and likewise of the reverend
clergy those who are zealous for the truth, lest betrayed even by them of our
own side we are either driven to do something displeasing to the God of all, or,
in our abandonment, fall an easy prey to our foes.

It is faith in which we have our hopes of salvation, and we must leave no means
untried to prevent aught spurious being brought into it, and the apostolic
teaching from being corrupted.

I write you these words from far away, with sighs and with groans, and I beseech
our common Master to scatter this dark cloud and bestow on us once more the boon
of the bright sunshine.

CXIII. To Leo, Bishop of Rome.

If Paul, the herald of the truth, the trumpet of the Holy Ghost, hastened to the
great Peter268 in order that he might carry from him the desired solution of
difficulties to those at Antioch who were in doubt about living in conformity
with the law, much more do we, men insignificant and small, hasten to your
apostolic see269 in order to receive from you a cure for the wounds of the
churches. For every reason it is fitting for you to hold the first place,
inasmuch as your see is adorned with many privileges. Other cities are indeed
adorned by their size, their beauty, and their population; and some which in
these respects are lacking are made bright by certain spiritual boons. But on
your city the great Provider has bestowed an abundance of good gifts. She is the
largest, the most splendid, the most illustrious of the world, and overflows
with the multitude of her inhabitants. Besides all this, she has achieved her
present sovereignty, and has given her name to her subjects. She is moreover
specially adorned by her faith, in due testimony whereof the divine Apostle
exclaims "your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world."270 And if even
after receiving the seeds of the message of salvation her boughs were
straightway heavy with these admirable fruits, what words can fitly praise the
piety now practised in her? In her keeping too are the tombs that give light to
the souls of the faithful, those of our common fathers and teachers of the
truth, Peter and Paul.271 This thrice blessed and divine pair arose in the
region of sunrise, and spread their rays in all directions. Now from the region
of sunset, where they willingly welcomed the setting of this life, they
illuminate the world. They have rendered your see most glorious; this is the
crown and completion272 of your good things; but in these days their God has
adorned their throne273 by setting on it your holiness, emitting, as you do, the
rays of orthodoxy. Of this I might give many proofs, but it is enough to mention
the zeal which your holiness lately shewed against the ill-famed Manichees,
proving thereby your piety's earnest regard for divine things. Your recent
writings, too, are enough to indicate your apostolic character. For we have met
with what your holiness has written concerning the incarnation274 of our God and
Saviour, and we have marvelled at the exactness of your expressions. For both
writings agreed in setting forth both the everlasting Godhead of the
Only-begotten derived from the everlasting Father, and the manhood derived from
the seed of Abraham and David; and that the nature assumed was in all things
like unto us, being unlike to us in this respect alone, that it remained free
from all sin; since it springs not of nature but of free will. The letters
moreover contain this, that the Only-begotten Son of God is one, and his God
head impassible, immutable, and invariable, like the Father who begat Him and
the Holy Spirit; and that on this account He took the passible nature, divine
nature being incapable of suffering, that by the suffering of His own flesh He
might bestow freedom from suffering on them that have believed in Him. These
statements and others of like nature were contained in your letters. We, in
admiration of your spiritual wisdom, have lauded the grace of the Holy Ghost
uttered through you, and we invoke and beseech and beg and implore your highness
to protect the churches of God that are now assailed by the storm.

We had expected that through the instrumentality of the representatives275 sent
by your holiness to Ephesus, the tempest would have been done away, but we have
fallen under severer attacks of the storm. For the very righteous bishop of
Alexandria was not content with the illegal and very unrighteous deposition of
the most holy and godly bishop of Constantinople, the lord Flavianus, nor was
his soul satisfied with a similar slaughter of the rest of the bishops, but me
too in my absence he stabbed with a pen, without summoning me to the bar,
without trying me in my presence, without questioning me as to my opinions about
the incarnation of our God and Saviour. Even murderers, tomb-breakers, and
adulterers, are not condemned by their judges until they have themselves
confirmed by confession the charges brought against them, or have been clearly
convicted by the testimony of others. Yet I, nurtured as I have been in the
divine laws, have been condemned by him at his pleasure, when all the while I
was five and thirty days' march away. Nor is this all that he has done. Only
last year when two fellows tainted with the unsoundness of Apollinarius had gone
thither and patched up slanders against me, he stood up in church and
anathematized me, and that after I had written to him and explained my opinions
to him.

I lament the disturbance of the church, and long for peace. Six and twenty years
have I ruled the church entrusted to me by the God of all, aided by your
prayers. Never in the time of the blessed Theodotus,276 the chief bishop of the
East; never in the time of his successors in the see of Antioch, did I incur the
slightest blame. By the help of God's grace working with me more than a thousand
souls did I rescue from the plague of Marcion; many others from the Arian and
Eunomian factions did I bring over to our Master Christ. I have done pastoral
duty in eight hundred churches, for so many parishes does Cyrus contain; and in
them, through your prayers, not even one tare is left, and our flock is
delivered from all heresy and error. He who sees all things knows how many
stones have been cast at me by evil heretics, how many conflicts in most of the
cities of the East I have waged against pagans, against Jews, against every
heresy. After all this trial and all this danger I have been condemned without a
trial. But I await the sentence of your apostolic see. I beseech and implore
your holiness to succour me in my appeal to your fair and righteous tribunal.
Bid me hasten to you, and prove to you that my teaching follows the footprints
of the apostles. I have in my possession what I wrote twenty years ago; what I
wrote eighteen, fifteen, twelve, years ago; against Arians and Eunomians,
against Jews and pagans; against the magi in Persia; on divine Providence; on
theology; and on the divine incarnation. By God's grace I have interpreted the
writings of the apostles and the oracles of the prophets. From these it is not
difficult to ascertain whether I have adhered to the right rule of faith, or
have swerved from its straight course. Do not, I implore you, spurn my prayer;
regard, I implore you, the insults piled after all my labours on my poor grey
head.

Above all, I implore you to tell me whether I ought to put up with this
unrighteous deposition or not; for I await your decision. If you bid me abide by
the sentence of condemnation, I abide; and henceforth I will trouble no man, and
will wait for the righteous tribunal of our God and Saviour. God is my witness,
my lord, that I care not for honour and glory. I care only for the scandal that
has been caused, in that many of the simpler folk, and especially those whom I
have rescued from various heresies, cleaving to the authority of my judges and
quite unable to understand the exact truth of the doctrine, will perhaps suppose
me guilty of heresy.

All the people of the East know that during all the time of my episcopate I have
not acquired a house, not a piece of ground, not an obol, not a tomb, but of my
own accord have embraced poverty, after distributing, at the death of my
parents, the whole of the property which I inherited from them.

Above all I implore you, O holy sir, beloved of God, to grant me the help of
your prayers. I have told you this by the reverend and godly presbyters Hypatius
and Abramius chorepiscopi277 and by Alypius exarch278 of our monks. I would
hasten to you myself were I not kept back by the chains of the imperial order,
which imprison me as they do others. Treat my messengers, I beseech you, as a
father might his sons; give them kindly and unbiassed audience; deign to grant
your protection to my old age,279 slandered as it is and attacked in vain. Above
all, regard, to the utmost of your power, the faith conspired against; preserve
for the churches the inheritance of their fathers unimpaired. So will your
holiness receive the recompense due for such deeds from the great Giver of all
good gifts.280 CXIII. (A).281 From Pope Leo to Theodoret. To our much beloved
brother Theodoretus, bishop, Leo, bishop.

CXIV.282 To Andiberis. The reverend presbyter Peter is distinguished not only by
his priestly rank, but also by his wise practice in medicine. During his long
residence with us he has won all hearts by his conciliatory manners. On learning
of my departure he has now determined to leave Cyrus; I therefore commend him to
your excellency, and hope that,, fully capable as he is of doing good service to
the city,-for when he lived at Alexandria he practised the same profession,-he
will meet with kindness at your hands.

CXV. To Apella. When I undertook the direction of the see of Cyrus, I procured
for it from all directions men who practised necessary arts, and besides this
induced skilful physicians to live there. Of these one is the reverend presbyter
Peter, who practises his profession with wisdom, and adorns it by his character.
On my departure, several have left the city and Peter also has determined to
leave. Under these circumstances I beseech your excellency to give him your kind
care. He is well able to attend the sick and to wage war against their ailments.

CXVI.283 To the Presbyter Renatus.

We have heard of the warm and righteous zeal of your holiness, and the just and
lawful boldness of speech which you employed in condemning the audacious
proceedings at Ephesus. Nor is this known to us alone, but the fame of your
orthodoxy has gone out into all lands, and all men are celebrating your
righteousness, your zeal, your boldness, and your denunciation of my unfair
treatment. And your holiness took this course after seeing one massacre. If you
had seen the others which took place after your departure you would perhaps have
emulated the fervour of the famous Phinehas.284 I am one of those who was
subsequently condemned, being forbidden by the imperial order to attend the
council, and sentenced in my absence.285

Six and twenty years have I been a bishop; innumerable labours have I undergone;
I have struggled hard for the truth; I have freed tens of thousands of heretics
from their errors and brought them to the Saviour; and now they have stripped me
of my priesthood; they are exiling me from the city. For my old age, for my
hairs grown gray in the truth, they have no respect. Wherefore, I beseech your
sanctity, persuade the very sacred and holy archbishop286 to bid me hasten to
your council. For that holy see has precedence over all churches in the world,
for many reasons; and above all for this, that it is free from all taint of
heresy, and that no bishop of heterodox opinion has ever sat upon its throne,
but it has kept the grace of the apostles undefiled.287 Confident in your
justice I shall accept your decisions, whatever they may be, and shall claim to
be judged by my writings. More than thirty books have I written against Arius
and Eunomius, against Marcion, against Macedonius, against the heathen and
against Jews; I have interpreted the holy Scriptures, and any one who likes may
easily learn that I have followed in the steps of the apostles, proclaiming the
one Son, one Father, and one Holy Ghost; one Godhead of the Trinity, one
sovereignty, one power, eternity, immutability, impassibility, one will;288 that
the Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect, perfect the manhood taken for
our salvation and for our sakes delivered unto death. I do not know one Son of
man and another Son of God, but one and the same, Son of God and Godbegotten of
God, and Son of man, through the form of the servant, of the seed of Abraham and
David. These and like doctrines I continue to teach; these also I have found in
the writings of the most holy and sacred lord archbishop Leo, and I praise the
Lord of all that I agree with his apostolic doctrines. Receive, I beseech you,
my supplication, and do not overlook the wrongs under which I suffer. On this
account I have sent to your holiness the godly presbyters Hypatius and Abramius,
chorepiscopi, and Alypius exarch of our monks, adorned as they are by good
lives, and able by word of mouth to give you exact information as to the affairs
of my insignificant self.

CXVII. To the Bishop Florentius.289

Truly the grace of our God and Saviour has not yet abandoned the human race, but
has left us a seed in your holiness "lest we should become as Sodom, and be made
like unto Gomorrah."290 This seed suffers us not altogether to faint, but
charges us to wait for the passing away of the dire storm; this renders us
hopeful.

We have therefore sent to your holiness. the very godly presbyters Hypatius and
Abramius, chorepiscopi, and Alypius, exarch of our monks, that you may put an
end to the disaster which has befallen the churches of the East; that in the
first place you may confirm the faith handed down to us from the first by the
holy Apostles, may proscribe the heresy that has started up, and openly convict
the men who have the hardihood to debase the preaching of the Oeconomy;291 and
secondly may fight as champion of them who are being attacked for the truth's
sake. For it is in the cause of the apostolic Faith, most holy, that we have
undergone that unrighteous massacre, because we refused to abandon the truth of
the Gospel doctrines. Now it behoves your holiness not to overlook the unjust
persecution of men of like mind with yourself, but by your just help to put a
stop to injustice, and teach the assailants of the truth that men who strive to
act unscrupulously at their own good pleasure cannot be allowed to work out
their ends.

CXVIII. To the Archdeacon of Rome.292 A terrible storm has attacked our
churches, but the adherents of the apostolic faith have in your holiness a safe
and quiet haven. Not only do you champion the cause of the doctrines of the
Gospel, but you utterly detest the wrong done to me. I was living far away at a
distance of thirty-five days' journey, when I was condemned at their good
pleasure by those most righteous judges. Teaching which has obtained in the
churches from the coming of God our Saviour till this day they have abandoned.
They have introduced a novel and bastard doctrine, diametrically contrary to the
tradition of the apostles, and are openly at war with them that hold to the
ancient instruction. Deign, then, most godly sir, to kindle the zeal of the very
sacred and holy archbishop, that the churches of the East too may enjoy your
kindly care. Above all fight in behalf of the faith delivered from the beginning
by the holy apostles; preserve the heritage of our fathers unimpaired, and
scatter the mist that oppresses us. Give us instead of moonless night clear
sunshine, and condemn the wickedness of the massacre unrighteously wrought
against us. It is becoming to your holiness to add yet this act of zeal to your
other good deeds.

CXIX. To Anatolius the Patrician.293 Your excellency has been fully informed as
to the acts of the most righteous judges at Ephesus, for their sound has gone
out into all lands and their most just judgment to the ends of the world.294
What church has not felt the storm that has been raised by it? The one side
wronged, the other were wronged, but they who neither suffered nor did the wrong
share the distress of the wronged, and lament over them that so savagely and
against all laws human and divine massacred their own members. Even house
breakers caught in the very act are first tried and then punished by their
judges; even murderers, violators of sepulchres, and adulterers, are first haled
before the bench, and their accusers ordered to make their indictment, and the
motive of the witnesses is tested to see that they are not giving evidence to
curry favour with the prosecutors, or are prejudiced against the defendants; and
after this they are bidden to make their defence to the charges brought against
them. This is done twice, thrice; sometimes even four times; and then, and not
till then, after the truth has been sought in the words of both accuser and
accused, the sentence is given. As to how these men judged in the case of the
rest I will say nothing, lest I may seem a meddler in what does not concern me.
I am forced to speak on behalf of myself alone, for the unrighteous deed of
violence compels me. The imperial order kept me at home, and prevented me from
travelling beyond the bounds of the city placed under my pastoral care. The
decision of the synod went against me, and a man was condemned who was five and
thirty days' journey away.

Now the God of all said to the patriarch Abraham about Sodom and Gomorrah:
"Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is very great and because their sin is
very grievous; I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether
according to the cry of it which is come unto me; and if not, I will know."295
He knew quite well the wickedness of those men, and nevertheless He said, "I
will go down and see," so teaching us to wait for the proof of facts. But these
men never summoned me to trial, they never heard the sound of my voice, they
refused to hear from me a statement of my opinions, and handed me over, as a
victim to be slaughtered, to the rage of the enemies of the truth.

I, however, welcome my rest, and especially so at the present time, when the
apostolic decrees have been by many destroyed, and the new heresy strengthened.
But lest any one who does not know me should believe that the slanders uttered
against me are true, and should be scandalized at the idea of my holding
opinions other than those of the gospel, I implore your excellency to ask as a
favour from the victorious sovereign that I may go to the West, and there plead
my cause before the very godly and holy bishops; and if I be found transgressing
in the least degree the rule of the faith, that I may be plunged into the midst
of the deep sea. If he will not grant you this request, let him at least command
me to inhabit my monastery,296 which is a hundred and twenty miles away from
Cyrus, seventy-five from Antioch. and lies three miles away from Apamea. Of
these petitions, if possible, I ask the former; if not at least I implore that,
through your excellency's interposition, the second may be granted me. I shall
ever carry the memory of your kindness in my heart and on my lips, supplicating
the Lord of hosts to requite your excellency as well with present as with future
blessings. I am compelled to write to you in these terms because I have heard
that certain persons are endeavouring to compass my removal from this place.

CXX. To Lupicius.297

Even the enemies of the truth must, I think, be indignant at the injustice and
illegality of the violence done us. It is only reasonable that the nurslings of
the truth, at whose head stands your excellency, should be still more distressed
at this new and surprising tragedy. It is only right that those who are the more
grieved should show the more earnestness and zeal to counteract the deeds
impiously and illegally done; and restore to its previous concord the Church's
body now in peril of being torn asunder. Wherefore I beseech your excellency to
reckon the present crisis an opportunity for spiritual reciprocity; to give on
your side earnestness on behalf of the truth, and to receive from our generous
Master alike His kindly care in this present life and in the life to come the
kingdom of heaven.

CXXI. To Anatolius the Patrician.298 The Lord who overlooks and governs all
things has shewn both the apostolic truth of my doctrines, and the falsehood of
the slander laid at my door. For the writings sent from the right godly and holy
lord Leo, archbishop of Great Rome, to Flavianus of holy memory and to the rest
assembled at Ephesus, are entirely in harmony with what I myself have written
and have always preached in church. So soon therefore as I had read them, I
praised the loving-kindness of the Lord, in that He had not wholly forsaken the
churches, but had protected the spark of orthodoxy; or-shall I not rather
say?-not a spark, but a very great torch, such as might enkindle and enlighten
the world; for he has truly, in his writings, observed the apostolic stamp, and
in them we have found at once what has been delivered by the holy and blessed
prophets and apostles, and their successors in the preaching of the Gospel, and
moreover the holy Fathers assembled at Nicaea. By these I confess that I abide,
and indict all who hold other doctrines as guilty of impiety. Side by side with
these writings of mine I have set one of the letters sent by him to Ephesus, to
the end that when your excellency reads them you may remember the words which I
have often spoken in church, may recognise the harmony of the doctrines, and may
bate the utterers of the lie as well as those who have set up their new heresy
in opposition to the doctrines of the Apostle.

CXXII.299 To Uranius300 Bishop of Emesa.

I have been greatly delighted that we who correspond in character should have
corresponded by letter. But I do not quite see what you mean by saying "Are not
these my words?" If it were said only for the sake of salutation, I am not
annoyed at it; but if it is intended to remind me of the advice which
recommended silence, and of the so-called oeconomy,301 I am very much obliged,
but I do not accept the suggestion. For the divine Apostle charges us to take
quite the opposite course. "Be instant in season and out of season."302 And the
Lord says to this very spokesman, "Be not afraid, but speak"303 and to Isaiah,
"Cry aloud, spare not"304 and to Moses "Go down, charge the people"305 and to
Ezekiel "I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel," and it shall be
"if thou warn not the wicked,"306 and the like: for I think it needless to write
at length to one who knows. Not only therefore are we not distressed at having
spoken freely, but we even rejoice and are glad, and laud Him who has thought us
worthy of these sufferings; aye and call on my friends to encounter the same
perils.

If they know that we do not keep the apostolic rule of the faith, but swerve to
the right hand or the left, let them hate us; let them join the opposite side;
let them be ranked with them that are at war with us.But if they bear witness to
our holding the right teaching of the gospel message, we hail them with the cry,
"Do you too `stand having your loins girt about with truth,...and your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace,'"307 and so on, for it is said that
virtue comprises not only temperance, righteousness, and prudence, but also
courage, and that by means of courage the rest of its component parts are
preserved. For righteousness needs the alliance of courage in its war against
wrong; temperance vanquishes intemperance by the aid of courage. And for this
reason the God of all said to the prophet "The just shall live by his faith, and
if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."308 Shrinking he
calls cowardice. Hold fast then, my dear friend, to the apostolic doctrines, for
"He that shall come will come, and will not tarry,"309 and "He shall render to
every man according to his deeds,"310 for "the fashion of this world passeth
away,"311 and the truth shall be made manifest.

CXXIII. To the Same. Your letter was a long one, and a pleasant one, and it
shews how warm and genuine is your affection. So delighted am I with it that I
am not at all sorry for having erroneously conjectured the meaning of the
beginning of your former one. For my misapprehension of the intention of your
letter has disclosed your brotherly love, made plain the sincerity of your
faith, and shewn your zeal for the true religion. We have indeed shared between
us the words and the trials of the prophet; your holiness has used the words; I
am buffeted by the hurricane and billows, and against the towers of the ship I
exclaim in his words "They that observe lying vanities forsake their own
mercy."312 Perhaps He who is Jonah's Lord and mine will grant that I too may
rise and be released from the monster. But if the surge continue to boil I trust
that even thus I shall enjoy the divine protection, and learn by my own
experience how His strength is "made perfect in weakness,"313 for He has
measured the peril by my infirmity. The divine prophet whom I have mentioned was
flung into the sea by his shipmates one and all, but I am granted the
consolation of your holiness, and of other godly men. For them and for your
godliness I pray that the blessing bestowed upon the excellent Onesiphorus may
be yours, for you have not blushed at my gibes; nay rather you have shared in my
afflictions for the faith's sake. And one thing which I wish you to know is
that, though other godly bishops have sent me their bounty, I have declined to
receive it;-not from any want of respect to the senders, God forbid;-but because
hitherto food convenient for me has been provided by Him Who gives it even to
the ravens without stint. In the case of your reverence I have acted
differently, for really the warmth of your affection has overcome what has
hitherto been my fixed principle. For be well assured, thy godly friend, that
ever since friendship grew up between us the fire of our love has been kindled
to greater heat.

CXXIV. To the Learned Maranas.314

I too am distressed at the calamities of the Church, and wail over the storm
that is raging; for myself I am glad to be quit of agitation, and to be enjoying
a calm which is delightful to me. As to the men whom your learning states to be
still carrying on their iniquities, the day is not far distant when they will
pay the penalty of their present rash lawlessness. All things are governed by
the Lord of all with weight and rule, and whenever any fall away into unbounded
iniquity His long suffering comes to an end, and He then acts as Judge and
appoints punishment. Foreseeing this I pray that they may cease from their
license that I may not be compelled to weep once more for them as I behold them
undergoing chastisement. Your excellency I can never forget, and I beg our
common Master to fill your house with blessing.

CXXV. To Aphthonius, Theodoritus, Nonnus, Scylacius, Apthonius, Joannes,
Magistrates of the Zeugmatensis.

I know the strength and stability of your faith, and have been filled with the
greatest possible delight, for, since we worshippers of the eternal Trinity
constitute one body, it is only natural that together with the members that are
sound the rest of the members should rejoice. So says the divine Apostle;
"Whether one member be honoured all the members rejoice with it."315 I therefore
rejoice with you in your struggles on behalf of the apostolic doctrines and your
following of the famous Naboth in more excellent things. Naboth for his
vineyard's sake suffered most unrighteous slaughter, because he would not give
up the heritage of his fathers. You are fighting not for vineyards, but for
divine doctrines, and reject this new-fangled and spurious heresy as blackening
the brightness of the teaching of the gospel; you do not suffer the number of
the blessed Trinity to be diminished or increased. For it is diminished by those
who ascribe the passion of the only begotten to the Godhead; it is increased by
those who have the audacity to introduce a second son. You believe in one only
begotten, as you do in one Father and in one Holy Ghost. In the only begotten
made flesh you behold the assumed nature which He took from us and offered on
our behalf. The denial of this nature puts our salvation far from us; for if the
Godhead of the only begotten is impassible, as the nature of the Trinity is
impassible, and we refuse to acknowledge that which is by nature adapted to
suffer, then the preaching of a passion which never happened is idle and vain.
For if that which suffers has no existence how could there be a passion? We
declare that the divine nature is impassible;-a doctrine confessed by our
opponents as well as by ourselves. How then could there be a passion when there
is no subject capable of suffering? The great mystery of the oeconomy will
appear an appearance, a mere seeming instead of the reality. This is the fable
started by Valentinus, Bardesanes, Marcion and Manes. But the teaching handed
down to the churches from the beginning recognises, even after the incarnation,
one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and confesses the same to be everlasting God,
and man made at the end of days; made man not by the mutation of the Godhead but
by the assumption of the manhood. For suppose the divine nature to have
undergone mutation into the human nature, then it did not remain what it was;
and if it is not what it was, they who have these objects of worship are false
in calling Him God. We, on the contrary, recognise the only begotten Son of God
to be immutable as God, and Son of the very God. For we have learnt from the
divine Scripture that being in the form of God He took the form of the
servant;316 and took on Him the seed of Abraham, not was changed into Abraham's
seed; and shared just as we do both in flesh and blood and in a soul immortal
and immaculate. Preserving these for our sinful bodies He offered His sinless
body and for our souls His soul free from all stain. It is for this reason that
we have the hope of the common resurrection for the race will assuredly share
with its first fruits, and as we have shared with Adam in his death, so too with
Christ our Saviour shall we be sharers in His life. This the divine Apostle has
plainly taught us, for "now" he says "is Christ risen from the dead and become
the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive."317

I write thus not to inform you but to remind you. I have tried to be brief, but
I fear I have transgressed the limits of a letter. I was however urged to write
by the very reverend and godly presbyter and archimandrite Mecimas, who, in
obedience to the law of love, has undertaken so long a journey, told us of your
excellency's zeal, and begged us to inflame it by a letter. I have therefore
granted his supplication, and written my letter, and I implore the Lord of all
to keep you safe in the faith and make stronger than him who sifts us.318 CXXVI.
To the Bishop Sabinianus.319

I praised your holiness on your quitting the envied see. Once it was venerable;
now it is ridiculous, for we have made it a thing to be bought and sold. I was
astounded to hear of your having appealed to the men who ejected you. You ought
to have done just the contrary, and, on being invited to grasp the tiller, to
have declined to do so, on the ground that your shipmates had become your foes.
Are you not aware, most godly sir, what our Saviour, through His sacred
apostles, taught us to preach? Do you not know what the heirs of the apostolic
doctrines have just now laid down as objects of worship? For who of the old
teachers from the time when the message was first preached down to the period of
the darkness that now obtains, ever listened to any one preaching one nature of
flesh and Godhead or dared at any time to call the nature of the only begotten
passible? These doctrines in our day are by some men openly and boldly uttered,
while among others their utterance is overlooked, and by silence men become
participators in the blasphemy. What then, may well be asked, is the proper
course to be taken by, those who abominate such doctrines? They have, I should
reply, two alternatives before them; they may either come to close quarters, and
prove the spuriousness of the doctrines, or they may decline communion with
their opponents as openly impious.

I, indeed, have received the wrong done me as a divine blessing. I do not mean
that I have thanked them that have wronged me; how could I thank fratricides,
and men who have become followers of Cain? But I praise my Master for thinking
me worthy of the lot of them that suffer wrong, for separating me from
wrong-doers and blasphemers, and for giving me my most delightful rest.

CXXVII. To Jobius, Presbyter and Archimandrite.320 The patriarch Abraham won a
victory in his old age.321 The great Moses was now an old man when, so long as
he stretched out his hands in prayer, he vanquished Amalek.322 The divine
Samuel323 was an old man when he put the aliens to flight. These are emulated by
your venerable old age. In our wars for true religion's sake you are playing the
man, and championing the cause of the gospel doctrines, and putting young men in
the shade by the vigour of your spirit.

I rejoice to hear it, and am glad, and long to embrace your right venerable gray
hairs. This I cannot do, for your reverence is kept at home by your years, and I
am kept in durance here by the imperial decree. But I cheat my love by this
letter, and give your piety this most loving embrace. I call upon you in your
prayers to help the churches now whelmed in the storm, and to win for me the
divine support, assailed as I am for the sake of the doctrines of the gospel,
and standing sorely in need of help from above.

CXXVIII. To Candidus, Presbyter and Archimandrite.324

I am afraid that the vigour of your godly soul has been overcome by old age, and
that you do not keep your hands stretched out as usual. So Amalek is trying to
win. May there be some to succour your weakness, as once of old Ur and Aaron
supported the hands of the law-giver, that you may overthrow Amalek and save
Israel. These are days when we specially need more earnest prayers, when
Gentiles and Jews and every heresy are at peace, and the Church alone is beaten
by the storm and surrounded by the boisterous billows.

We indeed specially need the aid of your prayers, for those whom we reckoned to
be fighting on our side are fighting on that of our foes.

CXXIX. To Magnus Antoninus the Presbyter.325

Sailors at night are cheered by the sight of the harbour lights, and so are they
who are in peril for the sake of the apostolic faith by the zeal of them that
share the faith. We have great comfort in what we hear of your godliness's
efforts on behalf of the divine doctrines, for this mind has been given you by
the Giver of all good gifts and for the safe keeping of these doctrines you
undergo every toil. Now I, comforted by your zeal, make an insignificant return,
calling on you to persevere in your divine labours, to despise your adversaries
as an easy prey, (for what is weaker than they who are destitute of the truth?)
and to trust in Him who said "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee,"326 and "Lo
I am with you alway even unto the end of the world."327 Help me too with your
prayers that I may confidently say "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear:
what can man do unto me?"328 CXXX. To Bishop Timotheus.329 Not without purpose
does the supreme Ruler allow the spirits that are against us to agitate the
waves of impiety. He does so that He may try the courage of the sailors, and,
while He exhibits some men's manliness, convicts others of cowardice, stripping
the mask from the faces of some who put on an appearance of piety, and
proclaiming others as foremost fighters in the ranks of the truth. We have seen
an instance of this in the present time. The storm rose high; some shewed their
secret impiety; some abandoned the truth which they were holding, went over to
the phalanx of our foes, and now, with them, are smiting the very men whom they
used to call their chiefs. The witnesses of these things detest the enemy and
pity the deserters, but are afraid to give aid to the victims of the attack upon
the apostolic doctrines. Nay, suppose the traitors to urge them with greater
insistency, they will perhaps themselves pass over to the side of the
assailants, will give no quarter to their fellow-believers, but will drive
against them their barbs side by side with the very men whom they accuse. They
will act thus though they have been taught by the divine Scripture that a wrong
done to one's neighbour incurs punishment, while the suffering of injustice
entails great and lasting rewards. Your own piety, your zeal for the faith, and
your good will to myself, have been proved by this agitation. Twice you have
written me a letter in contempt of all that might deter you, and have thus shewn
your brotherly affection. You have also indicated the conflict you are
sustaining on behalf of the apostolic doctrines. You ask me to tell you by
letter what we ought to think and preach concerning the passion of salvation. I
have received your request with delight, and, not indeed to give you information
but only to remind one who is beloved of God, will proceed to tell you what I
have learnt from the divine Scripture and from the Fathers who have interpreted
it.

Know then, most godly sir, that before all things it is necessary to observe the
distinction of terms, and, in addition to this, the cause of the divine
incarnation. Once let these be made clear, and there will be no ambiguity left
about the passion. We will therefore first, to those who endeavour to contradict
us, put this enquiry. Which of the names given to the only begotten Son of God
are anterior to the incarnation, and which posterior, or rather, connected with
the operation of the oeconomy? They will reply that the terms anterior are, "God
the Word," "only begotten Son," "Almighty," and "Lord of all creation"; and that
the names "Jesus Christ" belong to the incarnation. For, after the incarnation,
God the Word, the only begotten Son of God is called Jesus Christ; for "Behold"
He says "unto you is born this day Christ the Lord"330 and because others had
been called christs, priests, kings, and prophets, lest any one should suppose
Him to be like unto them, the angels conjoined the title Lord with that of
Christ, in order to prove the supreme dignity of Him that was born. And, again,
Gabriel says to the blessed Virgin, "Behold thou shall conceive in thy womb, and
bring forth a son and shalt call His name Jesus"331 "for He shall save His
people from their sins."332 Before the incarnation, however, He was never called
either Christ or Jesus. For truly the divine Prophets, in their predictions of
things to come, used the words, just as they prophesied about the birth, the
cross, and the passion, when the events had not yet come to pass. Nevertheless,
even after the incarnation He is called God the Word, Lord, Almighty, only
begotten Son,Maker, and Creator. For He was not made man by mutation, but,
remaining just what He was, assumed what we are, for "Being in the form of God,"
to use the words of the divine Apostle "He took the form of a servant."333 On
this account, therefore, even after the incarnation, He is called also by the
titles which are anterior to the incarnation, since His nature is invariable and
immutable. But when relating the passion the divine Scripture nowhere uses the
term God, since that is the name of the absolute nature. No one on hearing the
words "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God"334 and similar expressions, would suppose that the flesh existed before the
ages, or is of one substance with the God of the universe, or was Creator of the
world. Every one knows that these terms are proper to the Godhead. Nor would any
one on reading the genealogy of St. Matthew suppose that David and Abraham
according to nature were forefathers of God, for it is the assumed nature which
is derived from them.

Since then these points are plain and indubitable even among extreme heretics,
and we acknowledge both the nature which is before the ages, and that which is
of recent time, so are we bound to recognise at once the passibility of the
flesh, and the impassibility of the Godhead, not dividing the union nor
separating the only begotten into two persons, but contemplating the properties
of the natures in the one Son. In the case of soul and body, which are of
natures contemporary and naturally united, we are accustomed to make this
distinction, describing the soul as simple, reasonable, and immortal, but the
body as complex, passible, and mortal. We do not divide the union, nor cut one
man in two. Far rather, then, in the case of the Godhead, begotten of the Father
before the ages, and of the manhood assumed of David's seed, is it becoming to
adopt a similar course, and distinctly to recognise the everlasting, eternal,
simple, uncircumscribed, immortal, and invariable character of the one nature,
and the recent, complex, circumscribed, and fluctuating nature of the other. We
acknowledge the flesh to be now immortal and incorruptible, although before the
resurrection it was susceptible of death and of passion; for how otherwise was
it nailed to the tree, and committed to the tomb? And though we recognise the
distinction of the natures, we are bound to worship one Son, and to acknowledge
the same as Son of God and Son of man, form of God, and form of a servant, Son
of David, and Lord of David, seed of Abraham, and creator of Abraham. The union
causes the names to be common, but the community of names does not confound the
natures. With them that are right-minded some names are plainly appropriate as
to God, and others as to man; and in this way both the passible and the
impassible are properly used of the Lord Christ, for in His humanity He
suffered, while as God He remained impassible. If, according to the argument of
the impious, it was in the Godhead that He suffered, then, I apprehend, the
assumption of the flesh, was supererogatory; for suppose the divine nature to
have been capable of undergoing passion, then He did not need the passible
manhood. But grant that, as even their own argument contends, the Godhead was
impassible, and the passion was real, let them beware of denying that which
suffered, lest they deny with it the reality of the passion; for if that which
suffers does not exist, then the passion is unreal. Now for any one who likes to
open the quaternion335 of the sacred evangelists, it is easy to perceive that
the divine Scripture distinctly proclaims the passion of the body, and to learn
from them how Joseph of Arimathaea came to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus;
how Pilate ordered the body of Jesus to be delivered, how Joseph took down the
body of Jesus from the tree and wrapped the body of Jesus in the linen cloth,
and laid it in the new tomb. All this is described by the four evangelists with
frequent mention of the body. But if our opponents adduce the words of the angel
to Mary and her companions, "Come where the Lord lay,"336 let them be referred
to the passage in the Acts which states that devout men "carried Stephen to his
burial"337 and observe that it was not the soul, but the body, of the victorious
Stephen, to which the customary rites were paid. And to this very day, when we
approach the shrines of the victorious martyrs, we commonly enquire what is the
name of him who is buried in the grave, and those who are acquainted with the
facts reply peradventure"Julian the martyr," or "Romanus," or, "Timotheus."338

Very often it is not entire bodies that are buried, but only very small remains,
yet nevertheless we speak of the body by the name that belongs to the whole man.
It was in this sense that the angel called the body of the Lord,"Lord," because
it was the body of the Lord of the universe. Moreover the Lord Himself promised
to give on behalf of the life of the world, not His invisible nature, but His
body. "For," He says, "the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give
for the life of the world,"339 and when He took the symbol of divine mysteries,
He said,"This is my body which is given for you."340 Or according to the version
of the Apostle, "broken."341 In no place where He spoke of the passion did He
mention the impossible Godhead.

It is therefore before all things necessary that the question should be put to
those who are endeavouring to contradict us whether they confess that the
perfect manhood was assumed by God the Word, and assert the union to have been
made without confusion. Once let these points be admitted, and the rest will
follow in due course, and the passion will be attributed to the passible nature.
I have now summed up these heads and have exceeded the limits of my letter. I
have sent also what I lately wrote at the suggestion of a very godly and holy
man of God, the lord-342 in the form of a concise instruction designed to teach
the truth of the apostolic doctrines. Should I find a good copyist, I will also
send your holiness what I have written in the form of a dialogue,343 extending
the argument, and strengthening my positions, by the teaching of the Fathers. I
have moreover now sent a few statements of the ancient teachers, sufficient to
shew the drift of their instruction. Give me in return, most godly sir, the
succour of your prayers, that I may pass through the terrible tempest and reach
the quiet haven of the Saviour.

CXXXI. To Longinus, Archimandrite of Doliche.344

You have shewn alike your zeal for the true religion, and your love for your
neighbour,both of which are at the present time clearly connected, for it is for
the sake of the apostolic decrees that I am being attacked, because I refuse to
give up the heritage of my fathers, and prefer to undergo any suffering to
looking lightly on the robbery of one tittle from the faith of the Gospel. You
have accepted fellowship in my sufferings, not only by comforting me by means of
your letter, but further by sending to me the very honourable and pious Matthew
and Isaac. You shall hear, I am well assured. from the lips of the righteous
Lord, "I was in prison, and ye visited me."345 We are small and of no account,
and burdened by a great load of sins, but the Lord is bountiful and generous. He
remembers the small rather than the great, and says, "Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these"346 "which believe in me"347 "ye have done it
unto me."348 I pray you in that yon are conspicuous for right doctrine, and
shine by worthiness of life, and therefore have great boldness before God, help
me in your prayers, that I may be able "to stand," to use the words of the
Apostle,349 "against the wiles of error," escape the sins of the destroyer, and
stand, though with little boldness, in the day of the appearing before the
righteous Judge.

CXXXII. To Ibas, Bishop of Edessa.350 The Lord has taught them that suffer wrong
not to be east down, but to rejoice, and to derive consolation from the examples
of old. For from the period of the first men down to our own days we find
instances of men who have been zealous in the worship of the God of all, and yet
have been wronged by those with whom their lot was cast, and have fallen into
many and grievous troubles. Of these I would have gone through the entire list,
had I not been writing to one of accurate knowledge of the divine Scriptures.
But since you, O beloved of God, have been nurtured from your boyhood in tim
divine oracles, I have thought it needless so to do. I only ask you to cast your
eyes on them, and to look on all the kind-hearted clergy that have done wrong,
with sorrow; on all that look lightly on wrong doing, with pity; and to be
sorrowful for the disquiet of the Church. I ask you to rejoice and be glad that
I am a sharer in suffering for the sake of true religion, and to praise without
ceasing Him who has imposed this lot on me. As for honour and comfort and the
dignity of sees and wretched reputation, let us yield them to the murderers.351

Let us cleave only to the doctrines of the gospel, and with them, if need be,
endure any extremity of pain, and choose honourable penury rather than wealth
with its many cares.

I am not writing ill these terms in order to give you exhortation, for I know
the courage of your holiness in trouble. My object is to make my own mind known
to your piety, and to inform you that you have on your side comrades who are
gladly incurring peril for the truth's sake. I have been anxious for some time
to write thus to you, but I have been unable to find anyone to convey my letter.
Now I have met with the very honourable and pious presbyter Ozeas, a man who is
at once engaged in the battle for truth and attached to your piety. So I write
and salute your holiness, and beg you to give me both the prop of your prayers
and the comfort of a letter from you.

CXXXIII. To John, Bishop of Germanicia.352

I have always known, sir, that you are not unmindful of our friendship. And it
has ever been my wish and prayer that your piety should give heed to exact
truth, and shun the communion of traitors to true religion, ascribing to the
Supreme Ruler His care on our behalf. For indeed, while I have been silent and
inactive, He has put an end to our very keen and terrible sufferings, and has
replaced the dire tempest by this bright calm. And now that the loving-kindness
of the Lord has granted us this blessing, I find the quiet of my retreat indeed
delightful, for I feel the necessity of persuading those who have been led away
by the slanders launched against me, and of both convincing them of the truth of
the teaching of the gospels, and refuting the attack of falsehood. When once
this refutation is finished, and the victory of the truth is secured, it is my
purpose to quit public life, and withdraw to the rest that I so greatly long
for. As to the foes of the truth I cry with the prophet, "Their memorial is
perished with a noise, but the Lord shall endure for ever."353 As to ourselves,
I sing with the Psalmist, "He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of
many waters, He delivered me from my strong enemy."354 This letter is in reply
to two received from your holiness, one conveyed by Anastasius, the presbyter of
Beroea, and one by the standard-bearer Theodotus. In your last letter you
mention another, but this has not been delivered. As to my journey thither I can
say nothing till I know what orders are given concerning me by the most pious
emperor. His letter has not yet arrived.

CXXXIV. To Theoctistus, Bishop of Beroea.355 Our Saviour, Lawgiver, and Lord,
was once asked, "What is the first commandment?" His reply was "Thou shall love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind." And He added "This is the first commandment: and the second is like unto
it, Thou shall love the neighbour as thyself." Then He said further "On these
two commandments bang all the law and the prophets."356

He then who keeps these, according to the definition of the Lord, plainly
fulfils the Law; and he who transgresses them is guilty of transgressing the
whole Law. Let us then examine, before the exact and righteous tribunal of our
conscience, whether we have fulfilled the divine commandments. Now the first is
kept by him who guards the faith given by God in its integrity, who abominates
its assailants as enemies of the truth and hates heartily all those who hate the
beloved; and the second by him who most highly esteems the care of his neighbour
and who, not only in prosperity but also in apparent misfortunes, observes the
laws of friendship. They, on the other hand, who look after their own safety, as
they suppose, who on its account make little of the laws of friendship and take
no heed of their friends when assaulted and attacked, are reckoned to belong to
the number of the wicked and of them that are without. The Lord of all requires
better things at the hands of His disciples."Love" He says "your enemies, for if
ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? for the sinners and the
publicans do this"357 I, however, have not received even such kindness as
publicans receive. Publicans, do I say? I have not even received the consolation
given to murderers and wizards in their dungeons. If every one had imitated this
cruelty, nothing else would have been left then for me in my life time but to be
wasted by want, and, at my death, instead of being committed to a tomb, to be
made meat358 for dogs and wild beasts. But I have found support in those who
care nought for this present life, but await the enjoyment of everlasting
blessings, and these furnish me with manifold consolation. But the loving Lord
"caused judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared and was still, when
God arose to judgment."359 But the wicked shall perish.360 The falsehood of the
new heresy has been proscribed, and the truth of the divine Gospels is publicly
proclaimed. I for my part exclaim with the blessed David, "Blessed be the Lord
God whet only doeth wondrous things, and blessed be His glorious name: and let
the whole earth be filled with His glory; amen and amen."361 CXXXV. To Bishop
Romulus.362

You have reminded me of the ancient story, and remarked how the King of the
Syrians, bethinking him of the loving kindness of the kings of lsrael, assumed
the form of a suppliant and failed not to obtain his petition. Remember
therefore, sir, the divine wrath. God delivered Ahab to utter destruction for
using mercy, and delivered his sentence through the mouth of the prophet, saying
"Thy life shall go for his life and thy people for his people."363 We are thus
commanded to temper mercy with justice, since not every kind of mercy is
pleasing to the God of all. The present state of affairs specially requires
prudent council; for we are contending on behalf of the divine doctrines,
wherein we have the hope of our salvation. But herein, too, may be seen the
great difference between man and man. Some men are verily infected with the
common impiety; while others, without distinction, advance at one time one
doctrine, and at another its opposite. Some who know the truth conceal it in the
secret chambers of their soul, while they preach impiety with the rest; others
again who are filled with envy have made their private ill-will an occasion of
waging war against the truth, and wreak all kinds of mischief against the
prophets of the truth. Again, there are who embrace the truth of the apostolic
doctrines, and yet because they are afraid of the power of the dominant party
are too cowed to proclaim it, and though they lament at the abundance of our
misfortunes, nevertheless side with them that set the mighty surge a-rolling. It
is in this last category that we place your reverence. We have believed you to
be sound in the divine doctrines, and think that you keep your affection for me,
and are borne along with the time for no other reason than your cowardice. Under
these circumstances though I am not writing to any of the rest, I write to year
holiness, and receive your reply. I see your drift and to some extent I pardon
your pusillanimity. But the loving Lord has now removed all occasions of
cowardice, by exhibiting the new-fangled impiety, and shewing the plain truth of
the gospels. I, even though my mouths were as many as my hairs, cannot praise as
I ought the loving-kindness of the Lord for compelling my strongest opponents
openly to preach what has been preached by me. For I have heard that he who
shares your holiness's roof, when he heard that anathemas had been published in
the great cities, ceased to imitate the crooked gait of crabs, and, after
disputing in a certain assembly about doctrines, walked in the straight road.
Never must we suit our words to the season, but ever preserve the unbending rule
of truth.

CXXXVI. To Cyrus Magistrianus.364

I was very much distressed to hear of the trouble which had befallen you. How
indeed could I fail to suffer, making as I do your interest mine, and
remembering the apostolic law which bids us not only "rejoice with them that do
rejoice, but also weep with them that weep"?365 Suffering itself is able to draw
even those that are at enmity with one another into sympathy.

What is so grievous as to lose a wife; one who bore blamelessly the yoke of
wedlock. one who made her husband's life pleasant, one who shared the care of
the family; one who managed the household and shared in the direction of
everything; one who was ready to suggest whatever might be likely to be of
service, and to comply with the wishes of her husband? But what sorrow could
surpass the committal to the tomb of the mother at the same moment as the son
whom she bore; a son who had been carefully trained and had received a learned
education; one who, you hoped, would be the stay of your old age; buried in the
very spring of his manhood, when the down was just beginning to grow upon his
cheeks? Did we only look at the character of the calamity, it admits of no
consolation. But when we bethink us how our race is doomed to die; that against
that race the divine fiat has gone forth; that suffering is common, for life is
full of such woes; we shall bravely bear what has happened, shall repel the
assaults of despair, and shall raise that wonderful song of praise "The Lord
gave and the Lord hath taken away; the Lord hath done what seemed to him good;
blessed be the name of the Lord."366 But we have many more reasons for
consolation. We have been distinctly taught the hopes of the resurrection, and
we look for the time when the dead shall live again. We know how the Lord many
times called death sleep. If we trust, as in truth we do, the Saviour's words we
are bound not to mourn those that have fallen asleep, even though their sleep
lasts somewhat longer than it is wont. We must await the resurrection. We must
remember that the Ruler of the world in His wisdom, and clearly knowing as He
does not the present only but the future also, guides events for our good. A
wise man who knew all this full well reasons about deaths of this kind and says,
"Yea; speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his
understanding."367

Let us submit I beg you to the wise Ruler of all; let us submit to His decrees.
Whether they be pleasant or whether they be grievous, they are good and
profitable, they make men wise; for them that endure they ordain crowns.

CXXXVII. To the Archimandrite John.368 The blessed David fell into several
errors, which God, who wisely orders all things, has caused to be recorded for
the good of them that were to come after. But it was not on their account that
Absalom, parricide, murderer, impious, and altogether vile, started his wild war
against his father. The reason of his beginning that most unrighteous struggle
was because he coveted the sovereignty. The divine David, however, when these
events were coming to pass, began to remember the wrong that he had done. I too
am conscious within myself of the guilt of many errors, but I have kept
undefiled the dogmatic teaching of the Apostles. And they who have trampled upon
all laws human and divine, and condemned me in my absence, have not sentenced me
for what I have done wrong, for my secret deeds are not made manifest to them;
but they have contrived false witness and calumny against me, or rather in their
open attack upon the doctrines of the Apostles have proscribed me for my
obedience to them. "So the Lord awaked as one out of sleep; He smote His enemies
in the hinderparts and put them to a perpetual shame."369 Counterfeit and
spurious doctrines tie has scattered to the winds, and has provided for the free
preaching of those which He has handed down to us in the holy Gospels. To me
this suffices for complete delight. I do not even long for a city in which I
have passed all my time in hard work; all I long for is to see the establishment
of the truth of the Gospels. And now the Lord has satisfied this longing. I am
therefore very glad and happy, and I sing praises to our generous Lord, and I
invite your reverence to rejoice with the, and, with our praises, to put up the
earnest prayer that the men who say now one thing and now another and change
about to suit the hour, like the chameleons who assume the colour of the leaves,
may be strengthened by the loving-kindness of the Lord, established upon the
rocks and, of His mercy, made to pay the highest honour to the truth.

CXXXVIII. To Anatolius the Patrician.370

I have cordially welcomed the rest which has fallen to my lot, and am harvesting
its beneficial and pleasant results. Our Christ-loving Emperor,371 after reaping
the empire as fruit of his true piety, has offered as first-fruits of his
sovereignty to Him that bestowed it, the calm of the storm-tossed churches, the
triumph of the invaded faith, the victory of the doctrines of the Gospel. To
these he has added the righting of the wrong done to me. Of a wrong so great and
of such a kind who ever heard? What murderer was ever doomed in his absence?
What violator of wedlock was ever condemned without a hearing? What burglar,
grave-breaker. wizard, church-robber, or doer of any other unlawful deed, was
ever prevented, when eager to appeal to the law, and slain when far away by the
sentence of his judge? In their cases nothing of the kind was ever known. For,
by our law, plaintiff and defendant are bidden to stand face to face before the
judge, while the judge has to wait for the production of plain truth, and then
and not till then, either dismiss the accused as innocent, or punish him as
being reached by the indictment. In my case the course pursued has been just the
opposite. The emperor's letter forbade me to approach the far-famed synod, and
the most righteous judges condemned me in my absence, not after fair trial. but
after extravagant laudation of the documents which were produced to incriminate
me. Neither the law of God nor shame of man staved the deed of blood. Orders
were given by the president,372 flinging the truth to the winds, and courting
the power of the hour. He was obeyed by men who think as I do, whose doctrines
are my doctrines, and who had expressed admiration of me and mine. None the less
did that day convict some men of treachery;some of cowardice; while to me a
ground of confidence was given by my sufferings for the truth's sake. And to me
our master Christ hath granted the boon "not only of believing on Him but also
of suffering for His sake."373 For the greatest of all gifts of grace are
sufferings for the Master's sake, and the divine Apostle puts them even before
great marvels. In these boons I too glory, humble and insignificant as I am, and
having no other ground of boasting. And I beseech your excellency to offer on
behalf of my poor self expressions of thanksgiving to the emperor, lover of
Christ, and to the most pious Augusta,374 dear to God, instructress of the good,
for that she has requited our generous Lord with such gifts, and has made her
zeal for true religion the Connotation and groundwork of bet sway. Besides this,
beg their godly majesties to complete the work that has been so well marked out,
and to summon a council, not, like the last, composed of a turbulent rabble,
but-kept quite clear of all of these-of men who decide on and highly value
divine things, and esteem all human affairs as of less account than the truth.
If their majesties wish to bring about the ancient peace for the churches, and I
am sure that they do, beg their pious graces to take part in the proceedings,
that their presence may overawe those of a contrary mind and the truth may have
none to gainsay her, but may herself by her own unaided powers examine into the
position of affairs, and the character of the apostolic doctrines.

I make this request to your excellency, not because I long to see Cyrus again,
for your lordship knows what a solitary town it is, and how I have somehow or
other managed to conceal its ugliness by my great expenditure on all kinds of
buildings, but to the end that what I preach may be shewn to be in agreement
with apostolic doctrines while the inventions of my opponents are counterfeit
and base. Once let this come to pass, by God's help be it spoken, and I shall
pass the remainder of my days in cheerful contentment, wherever the Master may
bid me dwell. To you who have been brought up in the true religion, and are
dowered with the wealth of goodness it is becoming to make this effort, and by
your urgent counsel to render yet more zealous our most pious emperor and the
Christ-loving Augusta, zealous already as they are to strengthen their glorious
empire by laudable and rightful energy.

CXXXIX. To Aspar, Consular and Patrician.375 To the other good deeds of your
excellency must be added your having acquainted our pious and most christian
emperor, whom God's grace has appointed for the blessing of his subjects, of the
enormous wrong done against me, and your having by a righteous edict annulled an
edict which was nothing of the kind. Supported by divine Providence I have made
what they reckoned a punishment a means of good, and I have welcomed my rest
with delight; but none the less I have been wrongly and illegally treated,
though in no single point guilty of the errors which the enemies of the truth
slanderously laid at my door, but yet made to suffer the penalty of the greatest
criminals. Nay, my fate has been yet harder than theirs. I was judged without a
trial; I was doomed in my absence; when forbidden by the emperor's orders to go
to Ephesus I received the most righteous sentence of my holy judges. All this
has now been undone by his most serene majesty, through the active interposition
of your excellency. I, for my part, feeling that I should be wrong to keep
silent and not offer yon my thanks, have availed myself of this letter, whereby
I beseech your excellency to speak in warm terms in my behalf both tothe
victorious and Christian emperor and to the very godly and pious Augusta. On
their behalf I implore our good Lord as earnestly as lies in my power to guard
their empire in security, and to grant that it may be at once a source of loving
protection for their subjects, and of terror to their foes, and establish
honourable peace for all. May your excellency be induced to petition them
completely to put an end to the agitation of the Church, and order the
assembling of the council; not, like the last, of men who from their habits of
unruliness throw the synod into confusion, but, in peace and quiet, of members
instructed in divine things, and in the habit of confirming the apostolic
decrees and rejecting what is spurious and at variance with the truth. And I
express this hope to the end that your excellency may reap the good which such a
course of conduct is likely to produce.

CXL. To the Master Vincomalus.376

I have been much astonished to learn that your magnificence, though quite
unacquainted with me and mine, and knowing only the wrong that had been done me,
stood up as my advocate, and left no means untried to undo the results of the
conspiracy against me. But your excellency will assuredly receive recompense
from our bountiful Lord, for He who promised to give a reward for a little water
will doubtless give greater recompense to the givers of greater gifts.

I have indeed endured such sufferings as none, or at least very few, of the
ancients have undergone, and this not only from my open foes, but, as I
apprehend, from my real friends. The former attacked me, the latter betrayed me.
Who in the world ever heard of such a trial? Who ever commanded a criminal to be
tried in his absence after chaining him up at a distance of more than five and
thirty stages? What judge has ever been so savage and inhuman as not only to try
men, aye but to condemn men the sound of whose voice he has never heard, and
this in most savage and inhuman fashion? The Lord has ordered the erring
brother, who spurns advice, after a first, second and third admonition, to be
treated as "an heathen man and a publican"377 Now these most equitable and
righteous judges have not even given to them of the same faith with themselves
the treatment which they give to heathen men and publicans. These indeed they do
see and occasionally converse with, and that with all honour and deference where
they appear to be of rank and dignity. But they have ordered me to be cut off
from home, from water, from everything. This is the way in which they have
wished to become imitators of our Father in heaven "Who maketh His sun to rise
on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."378
But of these men I will say no more. The tribunal of the Lord is at hand where
is required not stage pretence but the reality of life. Now I beseech your
excellency to express my thanks to the emperor, the lover of Christ and
victorious, and to the very pious and godly Augusta, for having made true
religion the firm root of their pious empire, and to implore their majesties to
make the peace of the churches firm by commanding the assembling of a council,
not · of men of violence who throw the discussion into confusion, but of the
lovers of the truth who confirm the apostolic teaching, and repudiate this new
fangled and spurious heresy. And I pray that of these honourable endeavours you
may reap the fruit at the hands of our loving Lord.

CXLI. To Marcellus, Archimandrite of the Acoemetoe.379

Bright is made your holiness by your goodly life, exhibiting on earth the image
of the conversation of the angels, but it is made still brighter by your zeal
for the apostolic faith. As keel to boat, as corner-stone to house, so to them
that choose to live in piety is the truth of the doctrines of the Gospel. For
this truth when assailed you have bravely fought, not striving to protect it as
though it were weak, but shewing your godly disposition; for the teaching of our
Master Christ is gifted with stability and strength, in accordance with the
promise of the same Saviour, "that the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it."380 It is the loving and bountiful Lord who has thought right that I too
should be dishonoured and slain on behalf of this doctrine. For truly we have
reckoned dishonour honour, and death life. We have heard the words of the
apostle "For unto us it is given by God not only to believe on Him, but also to
suffer for His sake."381 But the Lord arose like the sleeper, and stopped the
mouths of them that uttered blasphemy against God and injustice against me. But
He has made the tongues of the pious pour forth their fountains in their wonted
message. I, however, am gathering the delightful fruits of rest; as I look at
the agitation of the churches I am grieved, but I rejoice and am glad at being
freed from cares. I have ever been gratified at your admirable piety, but
heretofore I have not written, not from any lack of regard for the dictates of
charity, but because I have waited for some suitable occasion. Just now, having
fallen in with the most pious and prudent monks who have been sent by your
holiness on other business, I have lost no time in carrying out my wish. I
salute your godliness. I beg you in the first place to support me with your
prayers, and further to cheer me by a letter, for by God's grace I have been
attacked for the Gospel's sake.

CXLII. To the Same.

I have already addressed your reverence in another letter, and have delivered it
to your much respected brethren. Now again I address your holiness. I am induced
to do so both by your admirable life, and by the praiseworthy zeal which you
have shewn on behalf of the apostolic faith, fearless alike of imperial power
and of episcopal combination. For granted that the majority of the council
consented under coercion, still they did confirm the new fangled heresy by their
signatures. Your holiness, however, was shaken by none of these things, but
abided by the ancient doctrines which the Lord, by means of both the prophets
and the apostles, has taught the churches to hold. These decrees I pray that I
may preserve, and keep to the end my faith and confession in one Father, one Son
and one Holy Ghost. For the incarnation of the only begotten made no addition to
the number of the Trinity.Even after the incarnation the Trinity is still a
Trinity. This is the teaching I have received from the beginning; this has been
my faith; in this was I baptized; this have I preached; in this have I baptized,
this I continue to hold. Of them that utter a lie about the Father the Lord has
said "When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own,"382 for what is said of the
teacher is appropriate to the disciples. So these men who employ lies against me
speak of their own, and do not describe what is mine. I am comforted by my
Master's words "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be
exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven."383

I entreat your piety to pray that I may not have my part among the wrong doers,
but among them that suffer wrong on account of the truth of the Gospels.

CXLIII. To Andrew, Monk of Constantinople.384

I have never seen your piety nor have we ever communicated by letter, but I have
become warmly attached to you. What has wrought the charm and continues to
inflame it is the report unanimously brought by the tasters of your honey. All
express admiration of the orthodoxy of your faith, the brightness of your life,
the constancy of your soul, the harmoniousness of your character, the
attractiveness and sweetness of your society and all the other characteristics
of the true foster child of philosophy. For all these reasons I am attached to
your godliness, and my longing has made me even begin a correspondence; but, my
dear sir, grant me as soon as possible what I desire and let me have written
communication from you. For when friends are at a distance considerable comfort
is given them by epistolary communication. You will write to no man of heterodox
opinions, but to one nurtured in the teaching of the apostles and preacher not
of a quaternity but of a Trinity, for in reality I see little difference in the
impiety of those who have the hardihood to endeavour to contract into one the
two natures of the Only-begotten and those who endeavour to divide our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, God the Word made man, into two sons;
if such indeed there be; I cannot think so; but Arians, Eunomians, and
Apollinarians too have ever shamelessly fabricated this slander against the
Church, and indeed laborious students may easily perceive that our far famed
Fathers,385 lights of the churches, laboured at the hands of the foes of the
truth under this accusation which is now levelled against me by the most
excellent champions of the new fangled heresy. Our wise Lord has laid bare their
impiety, for He could not endure to confirm the unholy heresy by His long
suffering. Be sure then, sir, that you will be writing to one of like sentiments
with your own; and of this you can easily assure yourself from my copious
writings.

Write then to me in return, and again your letter, by God's leave, shall serve
to kindle affection. And before you write, give me the help of your prayers, and
beseech our good Lord to guide my feet into the right road, that I may travel
the rest of my journey in accordance with His laws. You who have won right of
access from your unstained life will easily persuade Him Who is eager to give us
His good gifts.

CXLIV. To the Soldiers.386

Human nature is everywhere the same, but pursuits in life are many and various.
Some men prefer a sailor's career, some a soldier's; some men become athletes,
some husbandmen; some ply one craft trod some another. To pass by all other
differences, some men are zealous and diligent about divine things, and get
themselves instructed in the exact teaching of the apostolic doctrines; while
others, on the contrary, become slaves of the belly, and suppose that the
enjoyment of base pleasures is happiness. Others again are there, lying in a
mean between these two extremes, who do not exhibit this praiseworthy
enthusiasm, nor embrace a life of incontinence, but still honour the simplicity
of the faith. Men who attack the statement that some things are altogether
impossible with God must not, I apprehend, be classed with the zealous and the
well instructed in divine things, but rather either with those who have no exact
knowledge of the apostolic doctrines, or those who have been enslaved by
pleasures and shift hither and thither at the caprice of a moment, setting forth
now one thing and now another.

You have asked me to write on these points. I should prefer at the present time
to keep silence. But in obedience to the commandment of the Lord, "Give to every
man that asketh of time,"387 I am constrained briefly to reply.

I say then that the God of the universe can do all things, but that in the word
"all" is comprehended only what is right and good, for He who is naturally both
wise and good admits of nothing that is of a contrary nature, but only what
becomes his nature. If any objectors gainsay this statement, ask them if the God
of the universe, the lawgiver of truth, can lie. If they say that lying is
possible to God, expel them from your company as impious and blasphemous. Should
they agree that lying is not possible to the God of the universe, ask them in
the second place, if He who is the fount of justice can become unjust. Should
they allow that this too is impossible to the God of all, you must yet again
enquire if the unfathomable depth of wisdom can become unwise, God cease to be
God, the Lord cease to be the Lord, the Creator be no Creator, the Good not good
but evil and the true Light not light but its opposite. If they admit that all
these things and the like are impossible to God, you must say to them therefore
many things are impossible with God; and that their being impossible so far from
being a proof of want of power, indicates on the contrary the greatest power.

Even in the case of our own soul, when we say that it cannot die, we do not
predicate weakness of it, but we proclaim its capacity of immortality. And
similarly when we confess the immutability, impassibility, and immortality of
God, we cannot attribute to the divine nature change, passion, or death. Suppose
them to urge that God can do whatever He will, you must reply to them that He
wishes to do nothing which it is not His nature to do; He is by nature good,
therefore He does not wish anything evil; He is by nature just, therefore He
does not wish anything unjust He is by nature true, therefore He abominates
falsehood; He is by nature immutable, therefore He does not admit of change; and
if He does not admit of change He is always in the same state and condition.
This He Himself asserts through the prophet. "I am the Lord I change not."388
And the blessed David says "Thou art the same and Thy years shall have no
end."389 If He is the same He undergoes no change. If He is naturally superior
to change and mutation He has not become from immortal, mortal nor from
impassible, passible, for had this been possible He would not have taken on Him
our nature. But since He has an immortal nature, He took a body capable of
suffering, and with the body a human soul. Both of these He kept unstained from
the defilements of sin, and gave His soul for the sake of the souls that had
sinned, and His body for the sake of the bodies that had died. And since the
body that was assumed is described as body of the very only begotten Son of God,
He refers the passion of the body to Himself. But the four evangelists testify
that it was not the divine nature but the body which was nailed to the cross,
all teaching with one voice that Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate and begged
the body of Jesus; that he took down the body of Jesus from the tree and wrapped
in fine linen, and laid in his own new tomb the body of Jesus; that Mary the
Magdalene came to the tomb seeking the body of Jesus and ran to His disciples,
and reported these things when she could not find the body of Jesus. This is the
unanimous teaching of the evangelists. But if your opponents urge that the
angels said "Come see the place where the Lord lay"390 let the foolish folk
learn that the divine Scripture says also about the victorious Stephen "And
devout men carried Stephen to his burial."391 And yet it was the body only which
was deemed proper for burial, while the soul was not buried together with the
body; nevertheless the body alone was spoken of by the common name. Similarly
the blessed Jacob said to his sons "Bury me with my fathers."392 He did not say
"Bury my body." Then he went on "There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife;
there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah."393 He
did not say "their bodies." The names are common to bodies or souls, but
nevertheless it is only the bodies which he called by the common names. In this
manner too we constantly describe the shrines of the holy apostles, prophets and
martyrs, one it may be of Dionysius, another of Julianus another of Cosmas.394
And yet we know that only fragmentary remains of bodies lie there, while the
souls in diviner regions are at rest. Precisely the same custom is to be found
in common use, for such an one, We say, died; and such all one lies in this
place; although we know that the soul is immortal and does not share the tomb
with the body. In this sense the angel said "Come see the place where the Lord
lay"395 not because he shut the Godhead in the tomb, but because he spoke of the
Lord's body by the Lord's name. In proof of this being the view of the holy
Fathers let them mark the words of Athanasius, illustrious archbishop of
Alexandria, who adorned his episcopate with confession. He exclaims "Life cannot
die, but rather quickens the dead."

Let them hear too the words of the farfamed Damasus bishop of Rome, "If anyone
allege that on the cross pain was undergone by the Godhead and not by the body
with the soul, the form of the servant which He had taken in its completeness,
let him be anathema."396

Let them hear too the very sacred and holy bishop of the Church of the Romans,
the lord Leo, who has now written "The Son of God suffered as He was capable of
suffering, not according to the nature which assumed but that which was assumed.
For the impassible nature assumed the passible body, and gave it for us, to the
end that He might work out our salvation and at the same time preserve His own
nature impassible." And again "For He did not come to destroy His own nature but
to save ours."397

If therefore they accuse us for saying that God can do what He wishes, but that
He wishes what is becoming to His own nature, and what is unbecoming He neither
wishes nor is capable of; let them accuse too these saints and all the rest who
maintain this position. Let them accuse even the Apostle who say's "That by two
immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie."398 And again "If we
believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself."399

Repeat these passages to your opponents, and if they are convinced, praise the
good Lord for that, by means of your zeal, He has benefited them. If they remain
unconvinced, enter into no discussion with them about doctrines, for it is
forbidden by the divine apostle to "strive about words to no profit but to the
subverting of the hearers."400 But do you keep inviolate the teaching of the
Gospels, that in the day of His appearing you may bring to the righteous Judge
what has been entrusted to you with its due interest, and may hear the longed
for words "Well done good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a
few things I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord."401 CXLV. To the Monks of Constantinople.402

There is nothing new or surprising in the fact that the men who have made their
tongues weapons against our God and Saviour should also aim their shahs of
falsehood against His right minded servants. It must needs be that the servants
who grieve sorely at the outrage inflicted on their Master should share it. That
so it should be they have been forwarned by their Lord Himself, Who consoles His
holy disciples with the words "If they have persecuted me they will also
persecute you."403 "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how
much more shall they call them of His household."404 Then He cheered them by
pointing out that calumny is easily detected, for He went on "There is nothing
covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known."405 I have
often seen the truth of the divine prediction, but I see it with special
clearness now. The authors of the calumny against me, who have bought my
destruction for large sums of money, have been distinctly seen to be involved in
the unsoundness of Valentinus and Bardesanes. They had hoped to cloke their own
iniquity if only they could whet their tongues on the hone of falsehood in order
to wound me. For ever since I saw that the heresy long ago extinguished had been
renewed by these men I never ceased to cry aloud, hearing my testimony in
private and in public, as well in social gatherings as in the temples of God,
and strive to confute their conspiracy against the faith. They have consequently
poured out their insults on my head, and allege that I preach two sons. But they
ought to have convicted me to my face, not slandered me behind my back. They
have done just the contrary. They tied me band and foot at Cyrus by the imperial
decree; they compelled the very righteous judges to condemn me without a trial,
and delivered their most equitable sentence against a man who was five and
thirty stages away. Such treatment was never suffered by any criminal charged
with witchcraft or robbery of the dead, by murderer or by adulterer. But for the
present I will leave the judges alone, for the Lord is at hand "Who judges the
world with righteousness and the people with his truth;"406 Who exacts an
account not only of words and deeds, but even of evil thoughts. But think it
right to refute the false charge which has been made. What proof have they of my
asserting two sons? Had I been one of the silent kind there might have been some
ground for the suspicion, but my task has been to contend on behalf of the
apostolic decrees, to bring the pasture of instruction to the Lord's flocks, and
to this end I have written five and thirty books interpreting the divine
Scripture, and proving the falsehood of the heresies. The falsehoods these men
have concocted are therefore easy of refutation. Tens on tens of thousands of
hearers testify that I have taught the truth of the doctrines of the Gospel, and
for any one who likes to bring them to the test my writings lie before the
world. Not on behalf of a duality of sons, but of the only begotten Son of God,
against the heathen, against Jews, against the recipients of the plague of Arius
and Eunomius, against the supporters of the madness of Apollinarius, against the
victims of the corruption of Marcion, I have never ceased to struggle; trying to
convince the heathen that the Eternal Son of the ever living God is Himself
Creator of the Universe; the Jews that about Him the prophets: uttered their
predictions, the Arians and Eunomians that He is of one substance, of one
dignity and of equal power with the Father; Marcion's mad adherents that He is
not only good but just; and Saviour not, as they fable, of another's works, but
of His own. Once for all, fighting against each heresy, I charge men to fall
clown and worship the one Son. And what need is there of many words, when it is
possible to refute falsehood in few? We provide that those who year by year come
up for holy baptism should carefully learn the faith set forth at Nicaea by the
holy and blessed Fathers; and initiating them as we have been bidden,407 we
baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
pronouncing each name singly. Furthermore when performing divine service in the
churches, both at the beginning and the decline of day and when dividing the day
itself into three parts, we glorify the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.408
If, as our slanderers allege, we preach two sons, which do we glorify and which
do we leave unworshipped? It were the wildest folly to believe that there are
two sons, and to give the doxology to one alone. And who is so distraught as,
while hearing the words of the divine Paul "one Lord, one faith, one
baptism,"409 and again "there is one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all
things,"410 to lay down the law at variance with the teaching of the Spirit, and
cut the one in two. But I am prating unnecessarily, for these men, nurtured in
falsehood as they are, do not even dare to assert that they have ever heard me
say anything of the kind; but they affirm that I preach two sons because I
confess the two natures of our Master Christ.And they refuse to perceive that
every human being has both an immortal soul and a mortal body; yet no one has
hitherto been found to call Paul two Pauls because he has both soul and body,
any more than Peter two Peters or Abraham or Adam. Everyone recognises the
distinction of the natures, and does not call one man two Pauls. Precisely in
the same way, when styling our Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God,
God the Word incarnate, both Son of God and Son of Man, as we have been taught
by the divine Scripture, we do not assert two sons, but we do confess the
peculiar properties of the Godhead and of the manhood. The party however who
deny the nature assumed of us men cannot hear these arguments without
irritation.

It is only right that I should point out from what sources they have derived
this impiety. Simon, Menander, Cerdo, and Marcion absolutely deny the
incarnation, and call the birth from a Virgin fable. Valentinus, however,
Basilides, Bardesanes, and Harmonius and their following, accept the conception
of the Virgin and the birth; but they deny that God the Word took anything from
the Virgin, but made as it were a transit through her as through a conduit, and
appeared to mankind in semblance only, and seeming to be a man, in like manner
as He was seen by Abraham and certain others of the ancients: Arius and Eunomius
on the contrary held that He assumed a body, but that the Godhead played the
part of the soul, in order that they may attribute to it what was lowly in His
words and deeds. Apollinarius did indeed assert that He assumed a soul with the
body, not the reasonable soul, but the soul which is called animal or phytic.411
Their contention is that the Godhead took the part of the mind. He had learnt
the distinction of soul and of mind from the philosophers that are without while
divine Scripture says that man consists of soul and body. For we read "And the
Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life and man became a living soul."412 And the Lord in the sacred
Gospels said to His apostles "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able
to kill the soul."413 So great is the divergence between the doctrines. These
men have now done their best to outdo Apollinarius, Arius and Eunomius, in their
impiety and have now endeavoured to plant anew the heresy sown of old by
Valentinus and Bardesanes, and afterwards uprooted by most excellent husbandmen.
Like Valentinus and Bardesanes they have denied that the body of our Lord was
assumed of our nature. But the Church, following the footprints of the Apostles,
contemplates in the Lord Christ both perfect Godhead and perfect manhood. For
just as He took a body, not that He needed a body, but by its means to give
immortality to all bodies; so too He took a soul, the guide of the body, that
every soul by its means might share His immutability. For even if souls are
immortal, they are not however immutable; for they undergo many and frequent
changes, as they experience pleasure, now from one object, and now from another.
Whence it cometh about that we err when we are changed and are inclined to what
is worse. But after the resurrection our bodies enjoy immortality and
incorruptibility, and our souls impassibility and immutability. For this reason
the only begotten Son of God took both a body and a soul, preserved them free
from all blame, and offered the sacrifice for the race. And this is why He is
called our high priest; and He is named high priest not as God but as man. He
makes the offering as man, and accepts the sacrifice with the Father and the
Holy Spirit as God. If only Adam's body had sinned, it alone should have
benefited by the cure. But since the soul not only shared in the sin but was
first in the sin, for first the thought forms an image of the sin and then
carries it out by means of the body, it was just, I ween, that the soul too
should be healed. But it is perhaps superfluous to demonstrate these points by
reasoning, when the divine Scripture clearly proclaims them. This doctrine is
distinctly taught by the holy David and the very divine Peter, the one
foretelling from distant ages, and the other interpreting his prediction. The
words of the first of the apostles are "David therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing
this before spake of the resurrection of Christ that His soul was not left in
hell neither His flesh did see corruption."414

Now he has given us much instruction on the same point in these few words. First
he states that the assumed nature derives its descent from the loins of David;
secondly that He took not a body only, but also an immortal soul, and thirdly
that He delivered body and soul to death, and, after taking them again, raised
them as He would. His own words are "Destroy this temple and in three days I
will raise it up."415 But we have learnt that the divine nature is immortal.
What suffered was the passible, and the impassible remained impassible. For God
the Word was made math not to render the impassible nature passible, but on the
passible nature, by means of the Passion, to bestow the boon of impassibility.
And the Lord Himself in the holy Gospels at one time says "I have power to lay
down my life and I have power to take it again, no man taketh it from me but I
lay it down of myself;" "That I may take it again."416 And again "Therefore doth
my Father love me because I lay down my life for the sheep,"417 and again "Now
is my soul troubled"418 "my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death."419 and
of His body He says "The bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give
for the life of the world,"420 and when He delivered the divine mysteries and
broke the symbol and distributed it, He added "This is my body which is being
broken for you for the remission of sins,"421 and again "This is my blood which
is shed for many for the remission of sins,"422 and again "Except ye eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood ye have no life in you"423 and
"Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life" "in himself"
he adds.424 Innumerable passages of the same character may be quoted, both in
the old Testament find the new, pointing out the assumption both of the body and
of the soul, and that they are descended from Abraham and David. Joseph of
Arimathea when he came to Pilate begged the body of Jesus, and the fourfold
authority425 of the holy Gospels tells us how he received the body, wrapped it
in the linen cloth, and committed it to the tomb. I do, indeed, sorrow and
lament that I am compelled by the attacks of error to adduce against men
supposed to be of one and the same faith with myself the arguments which I have
already urged against the victims of the plague of Marcion,-of whom, by God's
grace, I have converted more than ten thousand, and brought them to Holy
Baptism. What child of the church ever had any doubts on these points? Who has
not cited this teaching of the holy Fathers? The works of the great Basil are
full of it; as well, as those of his fellow soldiers Gregory and Amphilochius,
and of those who in the West have been illustrious teachers of grace, Damasus,
bishop of great Rome, and Ambrose of Milan; and Cyprian of Carthage who for the
sake of these doctrines won the martyr's crown. Five times was the famous
Athanasius driven from his flock and compelled to dwell in exile; and in the
cause of these doctrines strove too his master Alexander. Eustathius, Meletius,
and Flavianus, luminaries of the East, and Ephraim, harp of the Spirit, who
daily waters the people of Syria with the streams of grace; John and Atticus,
lend heralds of the truth; and men of an earlier age than they, Ignatius,
Polycarp, Irenaeus, Justin, and Hippolytus, of whom the more part not only shine
at the head of the company of bishops, but also adorn the martyr's band.

He, too, who now rules great Rome and diffuses in all directions from the West
the rays of right teaching, the most holy Leo, has expressed to me this
distinctive mark of the faith in his own letters. All these have clearly taught
that the only begotten Son of God and everlasting God, ineffably begotten of the
Father, is one Son; and that after the incarnation He was called both Son of man
and man, not because He was changed into manhood, for His nature is immutable,
but because He took what was ours. They teach too that He was both impassible
and immortal as God, and mortal and passible as man; but after the resurrection
even in relation to His humanity He received impassibility and immortality, for,
though the body remained a body, still it is impassible and immortal, verily a
divine body and glorified with divine glory. This is distinctly told us by the
blessed Paul in the words "For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we
look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that
it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory."426 He does not say to "His
glory" but to"the body of His glory," and the Lord Himself, when He had said to
His apostles "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till
they see the Son of man coming in His Father's glory,"427 took them after six
days into an exceeding high mountain, and was transfigured before them, and His
face became as the sun, and His raiment was bright like the light.428 By these
means He shewed the manner of the second advent. He taught that the assumed
nature is not uncircumscribed (for this is characteristic of the Godhead alone)
but that it shall send forth flashes of the divine glory, and emit rays of light
transcending the powers of the sense of sight. With this glory He was taken up;
with this the angels said that He should come; for their words were "He who was
taken from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven."429 When moreover He was seen by the divine apostles after the
resurrection, He shewed them both hands and feet; and to Thomas He shewed also
His side and the wounds of the nails and of the spear. For on account of those
men who positively deny the assumption of the flesh, and further of those others
who assert that after the resurrection the nature of the body was changed into
the nature of Godhead, He preserved unaltered the prints of the nails and of the
spear. And while raising all other bodies free from every disfigurement,430 in
His own body He left the marks of His sufferings. to the end that deniers of the
assumption of the body may be convicted of their error by means of His
sufferings; and holders of the notion that His body was changed into another
nature may be taught by the print of the nails that it abides in its own proper
qualities. Suppose any one to imagine that he has a proof that the body of the
Lord did not remain a body after the resurrection in the fact that He came in to
the disciples when the doors were shut, let such an one remember how He walked
upon the sea while His body was still mortal, how He was born after keeping the
seals of virginity intact, and how again when encircled by them that were
plotting against Him He frequently escaped from their hands. But why need I
mention the Lord, who was not only man, but God before the ages, and to whom it
was easy to do whatsoever He would? Let them tell how Habakkuk was translated
from Judaea into Babylon in a moment of time and passed through the covering of
the den, and brought the food to Daniel, and returned again. without destroying
the seals of the den.431 It is sheer foolishness to enquire into the manner of
the miracles of the Lord, but in addition to what has been said it ought also to
be known that after the resurrection our bodies also will be incorruptible and
immortal, and being released from what is earthly will become light and
aethereal. This moreover is distinctly taught us by the divine Paul in the words
"It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in weakness
it is raised in power; it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory; it is sown
a natural body it is raised a spiritual body"432 and in another place "We shall
be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."433 If then the bodies
of the saints become light and aethereal and easily travel through the air, we
cannot wonder that the Lord's body united to the Godhead of the only begotten,
when, after the resurrection, it had become immortal, entered in when the doors
were shut.

Countless other proofs might be quoted without difficulty from apostles and
prophets. But what has been already said is enough to show the drift of my
teaching. I believe in one Father, one Son and one Holy Ghost; and I confess one
Godhead, one Lordship, one substance and three hypostases. For the incarnation
of the only begotten did not add to the number of the Trinity, and make the
Trinity a quaternity, but, even after the incarnation the Trinity was still a
Trinity. And while confessing that the only begotten Son of God was made man I
do not deny the nature which He took, but confess, as I have said, both the
nature which took and the nature which was taken. The union did not confound the
properties of the natures. For if the air by receiving the light through all its
parts does not cease to be air, nor yet at the same time destroy the nature of
the light, for with our eves we behold the light and by our feeling we recognise
the air, as it meets us cold or hot, or moist or dry, so it were sheer folly to
call the union of the Godhead and the manhood confusion. If created natures
which share at once subordinate anti temporal existence, when united and in some
sense mingled, yet remain unimpaired, and, when the light withdraws, the nature
of the air is left alone, much more proper is it, I apprehend, for the nature
which fashioned all things, when conjoined with and united to the nature which
it assumed from us, to be acknowledged to continue itself in its purity, and in
like manner to preserve unimpaired that which it had assumed. Gold, too, when
brought in contact with the fire, participates both in the colour and power of
fire, but it does not lose its own nature, but at the same time remains gold and
has the active qualities of fire. In this manner also the Lord's body is a body,
but impassible, incorruptible, immortal, of the Lord, divine and glorified with
the divine glory. It is not separated from the Godhead, nor yet is of any one
else, save of the only begotten Son of God Himself. For it does not show to us
another person, but the only-begotten Himself clad in our nature. This is the
doctrine which I am continually preaching. They on the other hand who deny the
incarnation wrought on our behalf have called me a heretic, adopting a course
something like that of unchaste females, who, while they sell their own charms,
assail honest women with the insults of their profession, and apply language
proper to their own wantonness to women who hold such wantonness in abhorrence.
This is how Egypt has acted. She has herself fallen willingly into the thraldom
of base desire. She has lavished her servile adulation on a man of chaste
character. Then, failing to entice him by her wiles, or to trap him in the
snares of her voluptuous passion, she describes one who is faithful to purity as
an adulterer. But these men will be called to account by God, as well for their
devices against the faith as for the snares they have laid against me. I only
charge those who have been influenced by the false accusations uttered against
me to keep one ear for the accused, and not to give both to the accusers. In
this manner they will fulfil the divine law which lays down "Thou shall not
raise a false report,"434 and "Judge righteously between every man and his
brother."435 In these words the divine law charges us not to believe the
calumnies uttered against the absent but to judge the accused face to face.

CXLVI. To John the Oeconomus.436

Rest and a life free from care are very grateful to me. I have therefore blocked
the door of the monastery, and decline intercourse with my friends. But I have
received information that fresh attacks are being made against the Faith of the
Gospels, and therefore conclude that there may be danger in my silence. When
wrong has been done some mortal prince, not only the guilty authors of the
outrage but they also who have been standing by and made no effort to drive off
the assailants, are in peril of punishment: What penalty then ought not to be
undergone by men who can venture to look lightly on the utterance of blasphemy
against our God and Saviour? This is the fear which has impelled me now to write
and expose the innovations of which I have been informed.

It is said that a common report in the city represents that after certain
presbyters had offered prayer, and concluded it in the wonted manner, while some
said "For to Thee belongs glory and to thy Christ and to the Holy Ghost;" and
others "Through grace and loving kindness of thy Christ, with whom belongs glory
to Thee with thy holy Spirit," the very wise archdeacon prohibited the use of
the expression, "the Christ" and said that the "only begotten" ought to be
glorified. If this is true it were impossible to exceed the impiety. For he
either divides the one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons and regards the only
begotten Son as lawful and natural, but the Christ as adopted and spurious, and
consequently unmeet for being honoured in doxology; or else he is endeavouring
to support the heresy which has now burst in on us with the riot of wild
revelry. Had a grievous tempest been now oppressing us, any one might have
supposed that the blasphemer suited his blasphemy to the necessity of the
moment. through fear of the power of the originators of the heresy. But now that
He who is blasphemed has rebuked the winds and the sea, and blessed the
storm-tossed churches with a calm, while everywhere by land and sea the
proclamation of the apostles is preached, what room is there for the blasphemy?
While not even they who have lately basely inserted among the doctrines of the
Church that flesh and godhead are of one and the same nature have ever forbidden
the offering of praise to the Lord Christ. This fact may be easily ascertained
from those who have returned thence. A man holding the foremost place in the
ecclesiastical rank ought to have known the divine Scripture, and to have learnt
from it that just as the heralds of the truth rank the only begotten Son with
the Father, so accordingly using the title of "the Christ" instead of that of
"Son" they number Him sometimes with the Father and sometimes with the Holy
Ghost; for the Christ is none other than the only begotten Son of God. So we may
quote the divine Paul writing to the Corinthians, but teaching the world, that
"There is one God the Father of whom are all things... and one Lord Jesus Christ
by whom are all things."437 Thus he calls the same person, Christ, Jesus, Lord,
and Creator of all things. And writing to the Thessalonians he says "Now God
Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you."438
And in his second epistle to the same he puts the Christ before the Father, not
to invert the order, but to teach that the order of the haines does not indicate
a distinction of dignity and nature. His words are "Now our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us
everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and
stablish you in every good word and work."439 And at the end of his Epistle to
the Romans after certain exhortations he adds "I beseech you brethren for the
Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the spirit."440 Now if he had known
the Christ as being any other than the Son he would not have put Him before the
Holy Ghost. Writing to the Corinthians, at the very beginning of his letter, he
mentions the name of Christ as alone sufficient to influence the faithful. "Now
I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak
the same thing"441 and when writing to them a second time he thus concludes "The
peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the communion
of the Holy Ghost be with you all."442 Here he puts the name of Christ not only
before the Spirit, but also before the Father and this in all the churches is
the beginning of the Liturgy of the Mystery.

According, then, to this extraordinary regulation the august name of our God and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, ought to be omitted from the mystic writings. But it is
unnecessary to say more on this point. The opening of every one of his letters
is distinguished by the divine Apostle with this address. At one time it is
"Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle."443 At another "Paul
called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ."444 At another "Paul a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ."445 And suiting his benediction to his exordium
he deduces it from the same source and links the title of the Son with God the
Father, saying "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ."446 And he graces the conclusion of his letters with the blessing "The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen."447

Copious additional evidence may be found whereby it may be learnt without
difficulty that our Lord Jesus Christ is no other person than the Son which
completes the Trinity. For the same before the ages was only begotten Son and
God the Word, and after the resurrection He was called Jesus and Christ.
receiving the names from the facts. Jesus means Saviour; "Thou shall call His
name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins."448

He is named Christ from being as man anointed with the Holy Ghost, and called
our High Priest, Apostle, Prophet and King. Long ago the divine Moses exclaimed
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, from the midst of thee, of
thy brethren, like unto me."449 And the divine David cries "The Lord hath sworn
and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of
Melchisedek."450 This prophecy is confirmed by the divine Apostle.451 And again
"seeing then that we have a great High Priest that has passed into the heavens.
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."452 That as God, He is
king before the ages that prophetic minstrelsy teaches us in the words "Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right
sceptre."453 His majesty as man is also shown us. For having the sovereignty of
all things as God and Creator, He assumes this majesty as man, wherefore it is
added "Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness, therefore God thy God
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."454 And in the
second psalm the anointed one himself says "Yet was I set as king by Him upon
the holy hill of Sion, I will declare the decree of the Lord. The Lord hath said
unto me `Thou art my Son this day have I begotten Thee; ask of me and I shall
give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession.'"455 This He said as man, for as man He receives what as God
He possesses. And at the very beginning of the psalm the gift of prophecy ranks
Him with God the Father in the words "Why do the heathen rage and the people
imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take
counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed."456

Let no one then foolishly suppose that the Christ is any other than the only
begotten Son. Let us not imagine ourselves wiser than the gift of the Spirit.
Let us hear the words of the great Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God."457 Let us hear the Lord Christ confirming this confession, for "On
this rock," He says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not
prevail against it."458 Wherefore too the wise Paul, most excellent master
builder of the churches, fixed no other foundation than this. "I," he says, "as
a wise master builder have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.
But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."459 How then can they think of
any other foundation, when they are bidden not to fix a foundation, but to build
on that which is laid? The divine writer recognises Christ as the foundation,
and glories in this title, as when he says, "I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me."460 And again "To me to
live is Christ and to die is gain,"461 and again "For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."462 And a little before
he says, "But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block and to
the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."463 And in his Epistle to the
Galatians be writes, "But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him
among the heathen."464 But when writing to the Corinthians he does not say we
preach "the Son" but "Christ crucified," herein doing no violence to his
commission, but recognising the same to be Jesus, Christ, Lord, only begotten,
and God the Word. For the same reason too at the beginning of his letter to the
Romans he calls himself "servant of Jesus Christ" and describes himself as
"separated unto the gospel of God, which He had promised afore by His prophets
in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God
with power"465 and so on. He calls the same both Jesus Christ, and Son of David,
and Son of God, as God and Lord of all, and yet in the middle of his epistle,
after making mention of the Jews, he adds, "whose are the fathers, and of whom
as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed for ever,
amen."466 Here he says that He who according to the flesh derived His descent
froth the Jews is eternal God and is praised by the right minded as Lord of all
created things. The same teaching is given us in the Apostle's words to the
excellent Titus "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."467 Here he calls the same both
Saviour, and great God, and Jesus Christ. And in another place he writes, "In
the kingdom of Christ and of God."468 Moreover the chorus of the angels
announced to the shepherds "Unto you is born this day in the city of David
...Christ the Lord."469 But to men who meditate on God's law day and night, it
is indeed needless to write all the proofs of this kind; the above are
sufficient to persuade even the most obstinate opponents not to divide the
divine titles. One point, however, I cannot endure to omit. He is alleged to
have said that there are many Christs but one Son. Into this error I suppose he
fell through ignorance. For if he had read the divine Scripture, he would have
known that the title of the Son has also been bestowed by our bountiful Lord on
many. The lawgiver Moses, the writer of the ancient history, says "And the sons
of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of
them,"470 and the God of all Himself said to this Prophet "Thou shalt say unto
Pharaoh, Israel is my son even my first-born."471 In the great song he says
"Rejoice O ye nations with His people and let all the sons of God be strong in
Him;"472 and by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah He says "I have nourished and
brought up sons (children) and they have rebelled against me;"473 and through
the thrice blessed David "I have said ye are gods and all of you are children of
the Most High,"474 and to the Romans the wise Paul wrote in this manner, "For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the I spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. For the Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him that
we may be also glorified together;"475 and to the Galatians he writes "And
because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son; and if a
son then an heir of God through Jesus Christ."476 The lesson he gives to the
Ephesians is "in love having predestinated us into the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to Himself."477

If then, because the name of the Christ is common, we ought not to glorify the
Christ as God, we shall equally shrink from worshipping Him as Son, since this
also is a name which has been bestowed upon many. And why do I say the Son? The
very name of God itself has been given by God to many. "The Lord the God of gods
hath spoken and called the earth."478 And "I have said Ye are gods,"479 and
"Thou shalt not revile the gods."480 Many too have appropriated tiffs name to
themselves. The daemons who have deceived mankind have given this title to
idols; whence Jeremiah exclaims, "The gods that have not made the heavens and
the earth even they shall perish from the earth and from under these
heavens;"481 and again "They made to themselves gods of silver and gods of
gold;"482 and the prophet Isaiah when he had mocked the making of the idols, and
said "He burneth part thereof in the fire with part thereof he eateth flesh he
warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warm I have seen the fire,"483 went on "and
the residue thereof he maketh a god and falleth down unto it and saith `Deliver
me for thou art my god'"484 and so the prophet laments over them and says "Know
that their heart is ashes."485 And the Psalmist David has taught us to sing "For
all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens."486 But
this common use of titles gives no offence to men who are instructed in true
religion. We are aware that the daemons have falsely bestowed upon themselves
and on idols the divine name, while the saints have received this honour of free
grace. In reality and by nature it is the God of all, and His only-begotten Son
and the Holy Spirit which are God. This is distinctly taught us by the admirable
Paul in the words "For though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or
in earth, as there are gods many and lords many, but to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord by whom are all
things and we by Him."487 And the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of God and so
also is the soul of man, for, it is written, "His breath goeth forth,"488 and "O
ye spirits and souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord,"489 and the Psalmist
David called the angels spirits. "Who maketh His angels spirits and His
ministers a flame of fire."490 Why indeed do I mention the angels and the souls
of men? Even the daemons are so called by the Lord "He shall take unto him seven
other spirits more wicked than himself and they shall enter in, and the last
state of that man shall be worse than the first."491 But even this application
of the name does not offend the pious reader, for the Father and His only
begotten Son and His Holy Spirit are one God by nature; and the divine Word made
man, our Lord Jesus Christ, is by nature one Son, only begotten of the Father;
and the Comforter who completes the number of the Trinity is one Holy Ghost.
Thus though many are named fathers, we worship one Father, the Father before the
ages, who Himself gave this title to men, as the Apostle says, "For this cause I
bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every fatherhood
in heaven and earth is named."492 Let us not then, because others are called
christs, rob ourselves of the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. For just as
though many are called gods and fathers, there is one God and Father over all
and before the ages;and though many are called sons, there is one real and
natural Son; and though many are styled spirits there is one Holy Ghost; just so
though many are called christs there is one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all
things. And very properly does the Church cling to this name; for she has heard
Paul, escorter of the Bride, exclaiming "I have espoused you to one husband that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,"493 and again "Husbands love
your wives as Christ also loved the Church,"494 and again "For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they
two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ
and the Church."495 Listen to him as he says "Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us,"496 and elsewhere "Know ye not that
so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ were baptized into His
death,"497 and in another place, "For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ,"498 and again "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof."499

They who are blessed by the boons of God and have learnt to know these passages
and others like them, kindled with warm love for their bountiful Master,
constantly carry on their lips this His dearest name and cry in the words of the
Song of Songs "My beloved is mine and I am his;" "I sat down under his shadow
with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."500 And besides all
this that name of ours which we love so well we have derived from the name of
Christ. We are called Christians.501 Of this name the Lord of all says, "The
Lord God shall call His servants by another name which shall be blessed on the
earth"502 and the following is the reason why the Church specially clings to
this name. When the only-begotten Son of God was made man, then He was named
Christ, then human nature received the beams of intellectual light; then the
heralds of the truth shed their beams upon the world. Teachers of the Church,
however, constantly used the names of the only begotten without distinction; at
one time they glorify the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost; at another the
Father with Christ and the Holy Ghost; yet as far as the sense is concerned
there is here no difference. Wherefore after the Lord had commanded to baptize
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost the blessed Peter
said to them who received his preaching and asked what they must do, "Believe
and be baptized every one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"503 as
though this name contained in itself all the potency of the divine command. The
same teaching is clearly given us by the great Basil, luminary of the
Cappadocians,504 or rather of the world. His words are "the ham e of Christ is
the confession of the whole." It indicates at once the Father, who anointed, the
Son, who was anointed, and the Holy Ghost whereby He was anointed. Furthermore
the thrice blessed Fathers assembled in council at Nicaea, after saying that we
must believe in one God, the Father, added "and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the
only begotten Son of God." Thereby they teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is
Himself the only begotten Son of God. To what has been said it must also be
added that we must not affirm that after the ascension the Lord Christ is not
Christ but only begotten Son. The divine Gospels and the history of the Acts and
the Epistles of the Apostle himself were, as we know, written after the
ascension. It is after the ascension that the divine Paul exclaims "Seeing then
that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son
of God, let us hold fast our profession."505 And again, "For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true;
but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."506 And
again after speaking of our hope in God he adds "which hope we have as an anchor
both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedec."507 And when, writing to the blessed Titus about the
second advent he says, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."508 And to the
Thessalonians he wrote in similar terms "For they themselves show of us what
manner of entering in we had unto you, and how we turned to God from idols to
serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."509
And again "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward
another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may
stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints."510 And again when writing
to the same a second time he says, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him."511 And a
little further on when predicting the destruction of antichrist he adds, "Whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming."512 And when exhorting the Romans to concord he says,
"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy
brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is
written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God."513 And the Lord Himself when announcing His second advent
besides other things says too this "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here
is Christ, or there; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the
east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be."514 And after the immortality and incorruptibility of His body He called
Himself Son of Man, naming Himself from the nature which was seen, inasmuch as
the divine nature is indeed invisible to angels, as the Lord Himself had said
"No one hath seen God at any time."515 And to the great Moses He said "There
shall no man see me and live."516 The words "Henceforth know we no man after the
flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh; yet now henceforth know
we Him no more,"517 were not written by the divine Apostle in order to annul the
assumed nature, but for the confirmation of our own future incorruption,
immortality, and spiritual life. The Apostle therefore continues "Therefore if
any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold
all things are become new."518 He speaks of what is to be in the future as
though it had already come to pass. We have not yet been gifted with
immortality, but we shall be; and when so gifted we shall not become bodiless,
but we shall put on immortality. "For" says the divine Apostle, "we would not be
unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life."519
And again "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality."520 Thus he did not speak of the Lord as bodiless, but
taught us to believe that even the visible nature is incorruptible, and
glorified with the divine glory. This instruction he has given us yet more
clearly in the Epistle to the Philippians; "For our conversation" he writes "is
in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body."521 By these words he teaches us distinctly that the body of the Lord is a
body, but a divine body, and glorified with the divine glory.

Let us, then, not shun the name whereby we enjoy salvation, and whereby all
things are made new, as says our teacher himself in his Epistle to the
Ephesians,-"According to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself;
that in the dispensation of the fulness of time He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in
Him."522 Let us rather learn from this blessed language how we are bound to
glorify our benefactor, by connecting the name of Christ with our God and
Father. In his Epistle to the Romans the Apostle says "my gospel, and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was
kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the
scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God,
made known to all nations for the obedience of faith; to God only will be glory
through Jesus Christ forever. Amen."523 Writing to the Ephesians he thus gives
praise-"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in
the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."524 And
a little before he says, "For this cause I bow my knee unto the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."525 And
considerably farther on he says "Giving thanks always for all things unto God
and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."526 And when he requites
with benediction the liberality of the Philippians he says "But my God shall
supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."527 And
for the Hebrews he prayed, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the
dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do His
will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus
Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."528 And not only when
glorifying, but also when exhorting and protesting, the Apostle conjoins the
Christ with God the Father. To the blessed Timothy he exclaims "I charge thee
therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ."529 And again "I give thee
charge in the sight of God who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ,
who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this
commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ; which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the
light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to
whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen."530

These are the lessons we have learnt from the divine Apostles; this is the
teaching given us by John and Matthew, those mighty rivers of the gospel
message. The latter says "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of
David, the son of Abraham;"531 and the former when he shewed the things which
were before the ages wrote, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by Him."

CXLVII.532 To John, Bishop of Germanicia.

Immediately on receipt of your holiness's former letter I replied. About the
present state of affairs, it is impossible to entertain any good hope. I
apprehend that this is the beginning of the general apostasy. For when we see
that those who lament what was done as they say, by violence, at Ephesus, show
no signs of repentance, but abide by their unlawful deeds and are building up a
superstructure at once of injustice and of impiety; when we see that the rest
take no concerted action to deny their deeds and do not refuse to hold communion
with men who abide by their unlawful action, what hope of good is it possible
for us to entertain? Had they been expressing their admiration of what has
happened as though all had been well and rightly done, it would only have been
proper for them to abide by what they themselves commend. But if, as they say,
they are lamenting what has been done and stating it to have been done by force
and violence, why in the world do they not repudiate what has been unlawfully
done? Why is the present, which lasts for such a little time, preferred before
what is sure to come to pass? Why in the world do they openly lie and deny that
any innovation has been introduced into doctrine? On account of what murders and
witchcrafts have I been expelled? What adulteries did the man commit? What tombs
did the man violate? It is perfectly clear even to outsiders that it was for
doctrine that I and the rest were expelled. Why the Lord Domnus too, because he
would not accept "the Chapters"533 was deposed by these excellent persons who
called them admirable and confessed that they abided by them. I had read their
propositions, and they rejected me as the head and front of the heresy and
expelled others for the same reason.534

What has happened proves plainly enough that they supposed the Saviour to have
laid down the law of practical virtue rather for Hamaxobians535 than for them.
When some men had given in charges against Candidianus, the Pisidian,536
accusing him of several acts of adultery and other iniquities, it is said that
the president of the council remarked, "If you are bringing accusation on points
of doctrine, we receive your charges; we have not come here to decide about
adulteries." Accordingly Athenius and Athanasius537 who had been expelled by the
Eastern Synod were bidden to return to their own churches; just as though our
Saviour had laid down no laws about conduct, and had only ordered us to observe
doctrines-which those most sapient persons have been foremost in corrupting. Let
them then cease to mock; let them no longer attempt to conceal the impiety which
they have confirmed by blows as well as by words. If this is not the case, let
them tell us the reasons of the massacres; let them own in writing the
distinction between the natures of our Saviour, and that the union is without
confusion; let them declare that after the union both Godhead and manhood
remained unimpaired. "God is not mocked."538 Let the chapters be denied which
they have often repudiated, and now at Ephesus have sanctioned. Do not let them
trick your holiness by their lies. They used to praise my utterances at Antioch,
being brethren, and when made readers, and ordained deacons, presbyters and
bishops; and at the end of my discourse they used to embrace me and kiss me, on
head, on breast, on hands; and some of them would cling to my knees, calling my
doctrine apostolic,-the very doctrine that they have now condemned, and
anathematized. They used to call me luminary, not only of the East, but of the
whole world, and now I forsooth have been proscribed and, so far as lies in
their power, I have not even bread to eat. They have anathematized even all who
converse with me. But the man whom but a little while ago they deposed and
called Valentinian and Apollinarian they have honoured as a martyr of the faith,
rolling at his feet, asking his pardon and calling him spiritual father. Do even
woodlice change their colour to match the stones or chameleons their skin to
suit the leaves, as these men do their mind to match the times? I give up to
them see, dignity, rank, and all the luxury of this life. On the side of the
apostolic doctrines I await the evils which they deem terrible, finding
sufficient consolation in the thought of the judgment of the Lord. For I hope
that for the sake of this injustice the Lord will remit me many of my sins.

Now I implore your holiness to beware of the fellowship of iniquity and to
insist on their repudiation of what has been done. If they refuse shun them as
traitors to the faith. That your reverence should wait awhile to see if the
tempest will pass, we have not thought subject for blame. But after the
ordination of the primate of the East539 every man's mind will be made manifest.
Deign, Sir, to pray for me. At this time I am sorely in want of that help that I
may hold out against all that is being devised against me.

CXLVIII in the Edition of Garnerius Is "the minute of the most holy bishop
Cyril, delivered to Posidonius, when sent by him to Rome, in the matter of
Nestorius." (Cyrill.Ep. XI.tom. lxxvii. 85.) CXLIX "Copy of the Letter Written
by John, Bishop of Antioch, to Nestorius." This letter has sometimes been
supposed to have been really composed by Theodoret.540 CL. Letter of
Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus, to Joannes, Bishop of Antioch.541

I have been much distressed at reading the anathematisms which you have sent to
request me to refute in writing, and to make plain to all their heretical sense.
I have been distressed at the thought that one appointed to the shepherd's
office, entrusted with the charge of so great a flock and appointed to heal the
sick among his sheep, is both himself unsound, and that to a terrible degree,
and is endeavouring to infect his lambs with his disease and treats the sheep of
his folds with greater cruelty than that of wild beasts. They, indeed, tear and
rend the sheep that are dispersed and separated from the flock; but be in its
very midst, and while thought to be its saviour and its guardian introduces
secret error among the victims of their confidence in him. Against an open
assault it is possible to take precautions, but when an attack is made in the
guise of friendship, its victim is found off his guard and hurt is easily done
him. Hence foes who make war from within are far more dangerous than those who
attack from without.

I am yet more grieved that it should be in the name of true religion and with
the dignity of a shepherd that he should give utterance to his heretical and
blasphemous words, and renew that vain and impious teaching of Apollinarius
which was long ago stamped out. Besides all this there is the fact that he not
only supports these views but even dares to anathematize those who decline to
participate in his blasphemies;-if he is really the author of these productions
and they have not proceeded from some enemy of the truth who has composed them
in his name and, as the old story has it, flung the apple of discord542 in the
midst, and so fanned the flame on high. But whether this composition comes from
himself or from some other in his name, I, for my part, by the aid of the light
of the Holy Ghost, in the investigation of this heretical and corrupt opinion,
according to the measure of the power given me, have refuted them as best I
could. I have confronted them with the teaching of evangelists and apostles. I
have exposed the monstrosity of the doctrine, and proved how vast is its
divergence from divine truth. This I have done by comparing it with the words of
the Holy Spirit, and pointing out what strange and jarring discord there is
between it and the divine.

Against the hardihood of this anathematizing, thus much I will say, that Paul,
the clear-voiced herald of truth, anathematized those who had corrupted the
evangelic and apostolic teaching and boldly did so against the angels, not
against those who abided by the laws laid down by theologians; these he
strengthened with blessings, saying, "And as many as walk according to this
rule, peace be on them and mercy and on the Israel of God."543 Let then the
author of these writings reap from the Apostle's curse the due rewards of his
labours and the harvest of his seeds of heresy. We will abide in the teaching of
the holy Fathers. To this letter I bare appended my counter arguments, that on
reading them you may judge whether I have effectively destroyed the heretical
propositions. Setting down each of the anathematisms by itself, I have annexed
the counter statement that readers may easily understand, and that the
refutation of the dogmas may he clear.544 CLI. Letter or Address of Theodoret to
the Monks of the Euphratensian, the Osrhoene, Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia.545
When I contemplate the condition of the Church at the present crisis of
affairs,-the tempest which has recently beset the holy ship, the furious blasts,
the beating of the waves, the deep darkness of the night, and, besides all this,
the strife of the mariners, the struggle going on between oarsmen the
drunkenness of the pilots, and, lastly, the untimely action of the bad.-I
bethink me of the laments of Jeremiah anti cry with him, "my bowels, my bowels!
I am pained at my very heart, my heart maketh a noise in me,"546 and to put away
despondency's great cloud by the drops from my eyes, I have recourse to founts
of tears. Amid a storm so wild it is fitting that the pilots be awake, to battle
wills the tempest, and take heed for the safety of the ship: the sailors ought
to cease from their strife, and strive to undo the danger alike by prayer and
skill: the mariners ought to keep the peace, and quarrel neither with one
another nor with the pilots, but implore the Lord of the sea to banish the
darkness by His rod. No one now is willing to do anything of the kind; and, just
as happens in a night-engagement, we cannot recognise one another, we leave our
enemies alone, and waste our weapons against our own side; we wound our comrades
for foes, while all the while the bystanders laugh at our drunken folly, enjoy
our disasters, and are delighted to see us engaged in mutual destruction. The
responsibility for all this lies with those who have striven to corrupt the
apostolic faith, and have dared to add a monstrous doctrine to the teaching of
the Gospels; with them that have accepted the impious "Chapters" which they have
sent forth with anathematisms to the imperial city, and have confirmed them, as
they have imagined, by their own signatures. But these "Chapters" have sprouted
without doubt from the sour root of Apollinarius; they are tainted with Arian
and Eunomian error; look into them carefully, and you will find that they are
not clear of the impiety of Manes and Valentinus.547 In his very first chapter
he rejects the dispensation548 which has been made on our behalf, teaching that
God the Word did not assume human nature, but was Himself changed into flesh,
thus laying down that the incarnation took place not in reality but in semblance
and seeming. This is the outcome of the impiety of Marcion, Manes, and
Valentinus. In his second and third chapters, as though quite oblivious of what
he had stated in his preface, he brings in the hypostatic union, and a meeting
by natural union, and by these terms he represents that a kind of mixture and
confusion was effected of the divine nature and of the form of the servant. This
comes of the innovation of the Apollinarian heresy. In his fourth chapter he
denies the distinction of the terms of evangelists and apostles, and refuses to
allow, as the teaching of the orthodox Father's has allowed, the terms of divine
dignity to be understood of the divine nature, while the terms of humility,
spoken in human sense, are applied to the nature assumed; whence the rightminded
can easily detect the kinship with impiety. For Arius and Eunomius, asserting
the only begotten Son of God to be a creature, and made out of the non-existent,
and a servant, have ventured to apply to His godhead what is said in lowly and
human sense; establishing by such means the difference of substance and the
unlikeness. Besides this, to be brief, he argues that the very impassible and
immutable Godhead of the Christ suffered, and was crucified, dead, and buried.
This goes beyond even the madness of Arius and Eunomius, for this pitch of
impiety has not been reached even by them that dare to call the maker and
creator of the universe a creature. Furthermore he blasphemes against the Holy
Ghost, denying that It proceeds from the Father, in accordance with the word of
the Lord, but maintaining that It has Its origin of the Son. Here we have the
fruit of the Apollinarian seed; here we come near the evil husbandry of
Macedonius. Such are the offspring of the Egyptian, viler children of a vile
father. This growth, which men, entrusted with the healing of souls, ought to
make abortive while yet in the womb, or destroy as soon as it is born, as
dangerous and deadly to mankind, is cherished by these excellent persons, and
promoted with great energy, alike to their own ruin and to that of all who will
listen to them.We, on the contrary, earnestly desire to keep our heritage
untouched; and the faith which we have received, and in which we have been
ourselves baptized, and baptize others, we strive to preserve uninjured and
undefiled. We confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, perfect God and perfect man,
of a reasonable soul and body, was begotten of the Father before the ages, as
touching the Godhead; and in the last days for us men and our salvation (was
born) of the Virgin Mary; that the same Lord is of one substance with the Father
as touching the Godhead, and of one substance with us as touching the manhood.
For there was an union of two natures. Wherefore we acknowledge one Christ, one
Son, one Lord; but we do not destroy the union; we believe it to have been made
without confusion, in obedience to the word of the Lord to the Jews, "Destroy
this temple and in three days I will raise it up."549 If on the contrary there
had been mixture and confusion, and one nature was made out of both, He ought to
have said "Destroy me and in three days I shall be raised." But now, to show
that there is a distinction between God according to His nature, and the temple,
and that both are one Christ, His words are "Destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up," clearly teaching that it was not God who was
undergoing destruction, but the temple. The nature of this latter was
susceptible of destructions while the power of the former raised what was being
destroyed. Furthermore it is in obedience to the divine Scriptures that we
acknowledge the Christ to be God and man. That our Lord Jesus Christ is God is
asserted by the blessed evangelist John "In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God and the Word was. God. He was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made."550
And again, "That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world."551 And the Lord Himself distinctly teaches us, "He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father."552 And "I and my Father are one"553 and "I am in the
Father and the Father in me,"554 and the blessed Paul in his epistle to the
Hebrews says "Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power"555 and in the epistle
to the Philippians "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who
being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made
Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant."556 And in the
Epistle to the Romans, "Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the
flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever. Amen."557 And in the
epistle to Titus "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."558 And Isaiah exclaims "Unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His
shoulder; and His name shall be called, Angel of great counsel, Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, powerful, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the Age
to come."559 And again "In chains they shall come over and they shall fall unto
thee. They shall make supplication unto thee shying, surely God is in thee anti
there is none else, there is no God. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour."560 The name Emmanuel, however, indicates both God
and man, for it is interpreted in the Gospel to mean "God with us,"561 that is
to say "God in man," God in our nature. And the divine Jeremiah too utters the
prediction "This is our God and there shall none other be accounted of in
comparison with him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge and hath given
it unto Jacob His servant and to Israel His beloved and afterward did He show
Himself upon earth and conversed with men."562 And countless other passages
might be found as well in the holy gospels and in the writings of the apostles
as in the predictions of the prophets, setting forth that our Lord Jesus Christ
is very God. That after the Incarnation He is spoken of as Man our Lord Himself
teaches in His words to the Jews "Why go ye about to kill me?" "A man that hath
told you the truth."563 And in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the blessed
Paul writes "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead,"564 and to show of whom he is speaking he explains his words and says,
"For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive."565 And
writing to Timothy he says, "For there is l one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus."566 In the Acts in his speech at Athens "The
times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to
repent; because He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in
righteousness by that than whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given
assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised him from the dead."567 And the
blessed Peter preaching to the Jews says, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs which God did by Him in the midst of you,"568 and the prophet Isaiah when
predicting the sufferings of the Lord Christ, whom but just before he had called
God, calls man in the passage "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."
"Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."569 I might have
collected other consentient passages of holy Scripture and inserted them in my
letter had I not known yon to be practised in the divine oracles as befits the
man called blessed in the Psalms.570 I now leave the collection of evidence to
your own diligence and proceed with my subject.

We confess then that our Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man. We do not
divide the one Christ into two persons, but we believe two natures to be united
without confusion. We shall thus be able without difficulty to refute even the
manifold blasphemy of the heretics: for many and various are the errors of those
who have rebelled against the truth, as we shall proceed to point out. Marcion
and Manes deny that God the Word assumed human nature and do not believe that
our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin. They say that God the Word Himself
was fashioned in human form and appeared as man rather in semblance than in
reality.

Valentinus and Bardesanes admit the birth, but they deny the assumption of our
nature and affirm that the Son of God employed the Virgin as it were as a mere
conduit.

Sabellius the Libyan, Photinus, Marcellus the Galatian, and Paul of Samosata say
that a mere man was born of the Virgin, but openly deny that the eternal Christ
was God.

Arius and Eunomius maintain that God the Word assumed only a body of the Virgin.

Apollinarius adds to the body an unreasonable soul, as though the incarnation of
God the Word had taken place not for the sake of reasonable beings but of
unreasonable, while the teaching of the Apostles is that perfect man was assumed
by perfect God, as is proved by the words "Who being in the form of God took the
form of a servant;"571 for "form" is put instead of "nature" and "substance" and
indicates that having the nature of God He took the nature of a servant. When
therefore we are disputing with Marcion, Manes and Valentinus, the earliest
inventors of impiety, we endeavour to prove from the divine Scriptures that the
Lord Christ is not only God but also man.

When, however, we are proving to the ignorant that the doctrine of Arius,
Eunomius and Apollinarius about the oeconomy is incomplete, we show from the
divine oracles of the Spirit that the assumed nature was perfect. The impiety of
Sabellius, Photinus, Marcellus, and Paulus, we refute by proving by the evidence
of divine Scripture that the Lord Christ was not only man but also eternal God,
of one substance with the Father. That He assumed a reasonable soul is stated by
our Lord Himself in the words "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?
Father save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour."572 And
again "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death."573 And in another place
"I have power to lay down my soul (life A. V.) and I have power to take it
again. No man taketh it from me."574 And the angel said to Joseph, "Take the
young child and His mother and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead
which sought the young child's soul (life A. V.)"575 And the Evangelist says
"Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man." Now what
increases in stature and wisdom is not the Godhead which is ever perfect, but
the human nature which comes into being in time, grows, and is made perfect.

Wherefore all the human qualities of the Lord Christ, hunger, I mean, and thirst
and weariness, sleep, fear, sweat, prayer, and ignorance, and the like, we
affirm to belong to our nature which God the Word assumed and united to Himself
in effecting our salvation. But the restitution of motion to the maimed, the
resurrection of the dead, the supply of loaves, and all the other miracles we
believe to be works of the divine power. In this sense I say that the same Lord
Christ both suffers and destroys suffering; suffers, that is, as touching the
visible, and destroys suffering as touching the ineffably indwelling Godhead.
This is proved beyond question by the narrative of the holy evangelists, from
whom we learn that when lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes, He
was announced by a star, worshipped by magi and hymned by angels. Thus we
reverent discern that the swaddling bands and the want of a bed and all the
poverty belonged to the manhood; while the journey of the magi and the guiding
of the star and the company of the angels proclaim the Godhead of the unseen. In
like manner He makes His escape into Egypt and avoids the fury of Herod by
flight,576 for He was man; but as the Prophet says "He shakes the idols of
Egypt,"577 for He was by nature God. He is circumcised; He keeps the law; and
offers offerings of purification, because He sprang from the root of Jesse. And,
as man, He was under the law; and afterwards did away with the law and gave the
new covenant, because He was a lawgiver and had promised by the prophets that He
Himself would give it. He was baptized by John; and this shews His sharing what
is ours. He is testified to by the Father from on high and is pointed out by the
Spirit; this proclaims Him eternal. He hungered; but He fed many thousands with
five loaves; the latter is divine, the former human. He thirsted and He asked
for water; but He was the well of life; the former of His human weakness, the
latter of His divine power. He fell asleep in the boat, but he put the tempest
of the sea to sleep; the former of His human nature, the latter of His efficient
and creative power which has gifted all things with their being. He was weary as
he walked; but He healed the halt and raised dead men from their tombs; the
former of human weakness, the latter of a power passing that of this world. He
feared death and He destroyed death; the former shows that He was mortal, the
latter that He was immortal or rather giver of life. "He was crucified," as the
blessed Paul says "through weakness."578 But as the same Paul says "Yet He
liveth by the power of God."579 Let that word "weakness" teach us that He was
not nailed to the tree as the Almighty, the Uncircumscribed, the Immutable and
Invariable, but that the nature quickened by the power of God, was according to
the Apostle's teaching dead and buried, both death and burial being proper to
the form of the servant. "He broke the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron
in sunder"580 and destroyed the power of death and in three days raised His own
temple. These are proofs of the form of God in accordance with the Lord's words
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."581 Thus in the one
Christ through the sufferings we contemplate the manhood and through the
miracles we apprehend the Godhead. We do not divide the two natures into two
Christs, and we know that of the Father God the Word was begotten and that of
the seed of Abraham and David our nature was assumed. Wherefore also the blessed
Paul says when discoursing of Abraham "He saith not and to seeds as of many; but
as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ,"582 and writing to Timothy he says
"Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead
according to my gospel."583 And to the Romans he writes "Concerning His son
Jesus Christ ...which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."584
And again "Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ
came."585 And the Evangelist writes "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the Son of David, the Son of Abraham,"586 and the blessed Peter in the Acts says
David "being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that
of the fruit of his loins, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he
seeing this before spake of his resurrection,"587 and God says to Abraham "In
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,"588 and Isaiah "There
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of
His roots; and there shall rest upon Him589 the spirit of wisdom and
understanding the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
piety and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill Him."590 And a little
further on "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for
an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and His rest shall be
glorious."591 From these quotations it is made plain that according to the
flesh, the Christ was descended from Abraham and David and was of the same
nature as theirs; while according to the Godhead He is Everlasting Son and Word
of God, ineffably and in superhuman manner begotten of the Father, and
co-eternal with Him as brightness and express image and Word. For as the word in
relation to intelligence and brightness in relation to light are inseparably
connected, so is the only begotten Son in relation to His own Father. We assert
therefore that our Lord Jesus Christ is only begotten, and first born Son of
God; only begotten both before the incarnation arid after the incarnation, but
firstborn after being born of the Virgin. For the name first-born seems to be in
a sense contrary to that of only begotten, because the only Son begotten of any
one is called only begotten, while the eldest of several brothers is called
first-born. The divine Scriptures state God the Word alone to have been begotten
of tile Father; but the only begotten becomes also first-born, by taking our
nature of the Virgin, and deigning to call brothers those who have trusted in
Him; so that the same is only begotten in that He is God, first born in that He
is Man. Thus acknowledging the two natures we adore the one Christ and offer Him
one adoration, for we believe that the union took place from the moment of the
conception in the Virgin's holy womb. Wherefore also we call tile holy Virgin
both Mother of God592 and Mother of man, since the Lord Christ Himself is called
God and man in the divine Scripture. The name Emmanuel proclaims the union of
the two natures. If we acknowledge the Christ to be both God and Man and so call
Him, who is so insensate as to shrink from using the term "Mother of man" with
that of "Mother of God"? For we use both terms of the Lord Christ. For this
reason the Virgin is honoured and called "full of grace."593 What sensible man
then would object to name the Virgin in accordance with the titles of the
Saviour, when on His account she is honoured by the faithful? For He who was
born of her is not worshipped on her account, but she is honoured with the
highest titles on account of Him Who was born from her.

Suppose the Christ to be God only, and to have taken the origin of His existence
froth the Virgin, then let the Virgin be styled and named only "Mother of God"
as having given birth to a being divine by nature. Bat if the Christ is both God
and man and was God from everlasting (inasmuch as He did not begin to exist,
being co-eternal with the Father that begat Him) and in these last days was born
man of His human nature, then let him who wishes to define doctrine in both
directions devise appellations for the Virgin with the explanation which of them
befits the nature and which the union. But if any one should wish to deliver a
panegyric and to compose hymns, and to repeat praises, and is naturally anxious
to use the most august names; then, not laying down doctrine as in the former
case, but with rhetorical laudation, and expressing all possible admiration at
the mightiness of the mystery, let him gratify his heart's desire, let him
employ high names, let him praise and let him wonder. Many instances of this
kind are found in the writings of orthodox teachers. But on all occasions let
moderation be respected. All praise to him who said that "moderation is best,"
although he is not of our herd.594 This is the confession of the faith of the
Church; this is the doctrine taught by evangelists and apostles. For this faith,
by God's grace I will not refuse to undergo many deaths. This faith we have
striven to convey to them that now err and stray, again and again challenging
them to discussion, and eager to show them the truth, but without success. With
a suspicion of their probably plain confutation, they have shirked the
encounter; for verily falsehood is rotten and yokefellow of obscurity. "Every
one," it is written "that doeth evil cometh not to the light lest his deeds
should be reproved"595 by the light.

Since, therefore, after many efforts, I have failed in persuading them to
recognise the truth, I have returned to my own churches, filled at once with
sorrow and with joy; with joy on account of my own freedom from error; and with
sorrow at the unsoundness of my members. I therefore implore you to pray with
all your might to our loving Lord, and to cry unto Him, "`Spare Thy people, O
Lord and give not Thy heritage to reproach.'596 Feed us O Lord that we become
not as we were in the beginning when Thou didst not rule over us nor was Thy
name invoked to help us. `We are become a reproach to our neighhours, a scorn
and derision to them that are round about us,'597 because wicked doctrines have
come into Thy inheritance. They have polluted Thy holy temple in that the
daughters of stranger's have rejoiced over our troubles. A little while ago we
were of one mind and one tongue and now are divided into many tongues. But, O
Lord our God, give us Thy peace which we have lost by setting Thy commandments
at naught. O Lord we know none other than Thee. We call Thee by Thy name. `Make
both one and break down tile middle wall of the partition,'598 namely the
iniquity that has sprung up. Gather us one by one, Thy new Israel, building up
Jerusalem and gathering together the outcasts of Israel.599 Let us be made once
more one flock600 and all be fed by Thee; for Thou art the good Shepherd `Who
giveth His life for the sheep '601 `Awake,why sleepest Thou O Lord, arise cast
us not off forever'602 Rebuke the winds and the sea; give Thy Church calm and
safety from the waves."

These words and words like these I implore yon to utter to the God of all; for
He is good anti full of loving-kindness anti ever fulfils the will of them that
fear Him. He will therefore listen to your prayer, and will scatter this
darkness deeper than the plague of Egypt. He will give you His own calm of love,
and will gather them that are scattered abroad and welcome them that have been
cast out. Then shall be heard "the voice of rejoicing and salvation in the
tabernacles of the righteous."603 Then shall we cry unto Him we have been "glad
according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we
have seen evil,"604 and you when you have been granted your prayer shall praise
Him in the words "Blessed be God which not turned away my prayer nor His mercy
from me."605 Proof that after the Incarnation our Lord Jesus Christ, was one
Son. The authors of slanders against me allege that I divide the one Lord Jesus
Christ into two sons. But so far am I from holding this opinion that I charge
with impiety all who dare to say so. For I have been taught. by the divine
Scripture to worship one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of
God, God the Word incarnate. For we confess the same to be both God eternal, and
made man in the last days for the sake of man's salvation; but made man not by
the change of the Godhead but by the assumption of the manhood. For the nature
of this godhead is immutable and invariable, as is that of the Father who begat
Him before the ages. And whatever would be understood of the substance of the
Father will also be wholly found in the substance of the only begotten; for of
that substance He is begotten. This our Lord taught when the said to Philip "He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father"606 and again in another place "All
things that the Father hath are mine,"607 and elsewhere "I and the Father are
one,"608 and very many other passages may be quoted setting forth the identity
of substance.

It follows that He did not become God: He was God. "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God."609 He was not man: He
became man, and the so became by taking on Him our nature: So says the blessed
Paul-"Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
hut made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant."610
And again: "For verily He took not on Him the nature of angel's; but He took on
Him the seed of Abraham."611 And again; Forasmuch then as the children are
partaker's of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the
same."612 Thus He was both passible and impassible; mortal and immortal;
passible, on the one hand, and mortal, as man; impassible, on the other, and
immortal, as God. As God He raised His own flesh, which was dead;-as His own
words declare: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."613
And as man, He was passible and mortal up to the time of the passion. For, after
the resurrection, even as man He is impassible, immortal, and incorruptible; and
He discharges divine lightnings; not that according to the flesh tie has been
changed into the nature of Godhead, but still preserving the distinctive marks
of humanity. Nor yet is His body uncircumscribed, for this is peculiar to the
divine nature alone, but it abides in its former circumscription. This He
teaches in the words He spake to the disciples even after His resurrection
"Behold my hands and feet that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have."614 While He was thus beheld He went
up into heaven; thus has He promised to come again, thus shall He be seen both
by them that have believed and them that have crucified, for it is written "They
shall look on Him whom they pierced."615 We therefore worship the Son, but we
contemplate in Him either nature in its perfection, both that which took, and
that which was taken; the one of God and the other of David. For this reason
also He is styled both Son of the living God and Son of David; either nature
receiving its proper title. Accordingly the divine scripture calls him both God
and man, and the blessed Paul exclaims "There is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for
all."616 But Him whom here he calls man in another place he describes as God for
he says "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."617 And yet in another place he uses both
names at once saying "Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over
all God blessed for ever. Amen."618

Thus he has stated the same Christ to be of the Jews according to the flesh, and
God over all as God. Similarly the prophet Isaiah writes "A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. ...Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows,"619 and shortly afterwards he says "Who shall declare His
generation?"620 This is spoken not of man but of God. Thus through Micah God
says "Thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes of
Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel,
whose goings forth have been as of old from everlasting."621 Now by saying "From
thee shall come forth a ruler" he exhibits the oeconomy of the incarnation; and
by adding "whose goings forth have been as of old from everlasting" he declares
the Godhead begotten of the Father before the ages.

Since we have been thus taught by the divine scripture, and have further found
that the teachers who have been at different periods illustrious in the Church,
are of the same opinion, we do our best to keep our heritage inviolate;
worshipping one Son of God, one God the Father, and one Holy Ghost; but at the
same time recognising the distinction between flesh and Godhead. And as we
assert them that divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons to trangress
flora the road trodden by the holy apostles, so do we declare the maintainers of
the doctrine that the Godhead of the only begotten and the manhood have been
made one nature to fall headlong into the opposite ravine. These doctrines we
hold; these we preach; for these we do battle. The slander of the libellers that
represent me as worshipping two sons is refuted by the plain facts of the case.
I teach all persons who come to holy Baptism the faith put forth at Nicaea; and,
when I celebrate the sacrament of regeneration I baptize them that make
profession of their faith in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, pronouncing each name by itself. And when I am performing divine
service in the churches it is my wont to give glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost; not sons, but Son. If then I uphold two sons, whether of
the two is glorified by me, and whether remains unhonoured? For I have not quite
come to such a pitch of stupidity as to acknowledge two sons and leave one of
them without any tribute of respect. It follows then even from this fact that
the slander is proved slander,-for I worship one only begotten Son, God the Word
incarnate. And I call the holy Virgin "Mother of God"622 because she has given
birth to the Emmanuel, which means "God with us."623 But the prophet who
predicted the Emmanuel a little further on has written of him that "Unto us a
child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his
shoulders; and his name is called Angel of great counsel, wonderful, counsellor,
mighty God, powerful, Prince of peace, Father of the age to come."624 Now if the
babe born of the Virgin is styled "Mighty God," then it is only with reason that
the mother is called "Mother of God." For the mother shares the honour of her
offspring, and the Virgin is both mother of the Lord Christ as man, and again is
His servant as Lord and Creator and God. On account of this difference of term
He is said by the divine Paul to be "without father, without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life."625 He is without
father as touching His humanity; for as man He was born of a mother alone. And
He is without mother as God, for He was begotten from everlasting of the Father
alone. And again He is without descent as God while as man He has descent. For
it is written "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David, the
son of Abraham."626 His descent is also given by the divine Luke.627 So again,
as God, He has no beginning of days for He was begotten before the ages; neither
has He an end of life, for His nature is immortal and impassible. But as man He
had both a beginning of days, for He was born in the reign of Augustus Caesar,
and an end of life, for He was crucified in the reign of Tiberius Caesar. But
now, as I have already said, even His human nature is immortal; and, as He
ascended, so again shall He come according to the words of the Angel-"This same
Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen Him go into Heaven."628 This is the doctrine delivered to us by the
divine prophets; this is the doctrine of the company of the holy apostles; this
is the doctrine of the great saints of the East and of the West; of the
far-famed Ignatius, who received his archpriesthood by the right hand of the
great Peter, and for the sake of his confession of Christ was devoured by savage
beasts;629 and of the great Eustathius, who presided over the assembled council,
and on account of his fiery zeal for true religion was driven into exile.630
This doctrine was preached by the illustrious Meletius, at the cost of no less
pains, for thrice was he driven from his flock in the cause of the apostles`
doctrines;631 by Flavianus,632 glory of the imperial see; and by the admirable
Ephraim, instrument of divine grace, who has left us in the Syriac tongue a
written heritage of good things;633 by Cyprian, the illustrious ruler of
Carthage and of all Libya, who for Christ's sake found a death in the fire;634
by Damasus, bishop of great Rome,635 and by Ambrose, glory of Milan, who
preached and wrote it in the language of Rome.636 The same was taught by the
great luminaries of Alexandria, Alexander and Athanasius, men of one mind, who
underwent sufferings celebrated throughout the world. This was the pasture given
to their flocks by the great teachers of the imperial city, by Gregory, shining
friend and supporter of the truth; by John, teacher of the world, by Atticus,
their successor alike in see and in sentiment.637 By these doctrines Basil,
great light of the truth, and Gregory sprung from the same parents,638 and
Amphilochius,639 who from him received the gift of the high-priesthood, taught
their contemporaries, and have left the same to us in their writings for a
goodly heritage. Time would fail me to tell of Polycarp,640 and Irenaeus,641 of
Methodius642 and Hippolytus,643 and the rest of the teachers of the Church. In a
word I assert that I follow the divine oracles and at the same time all these
saints. By the grace of the spirit they dived into the depths of God-inspired
scripture and both themselves perceived its mind, and made it plain to all that
are willing to learn. Difference in tongue has wrought no difference in
doctrine, for they were channels of the grace of the divine spirit, using the
stream from one and the same fount.

CLII. Report of The(Bishops) of the East to the Emperor, Giving Information of
Their Proceedings, and Explaining the Cause of the Delay in the Arrival of the
Bishop of Antioch.644 In obedience to the order of your pious letter we have
journeyed to the Ephesian metropolis. There we have found the affairs of the
Church in confusion, and disturbed by internecine war. The cause of this is that
Cyril of Alexandria and Memnon of Ephesus have handed together and mustered a
great mob of rustics, and have forbidden both the celebration of the great feast
of Pentecost, and the evening and morning offices.645

They have shut the sacred churches and martyrs' shrines; they have assembled
apart with the victims of their deceit; they have wrought innumerable
iniquities, trampling under foot alike the canons of the holy Fathers, and your
own decrees. And the action has been taken in face of the order given both in
writing and by word of mouth by the most excellent count Candidianus,646 envoy
of your Christ-loving majesty, that the council must await the arrival of the
very holy bishops, coming from all quarters of the Empire, and then and not till
then formally assemble in obedience to your piety's commands. Moreover Cyril of
Alexandria had written to me, the bishop of Antioch, two days before the meeting
of their synod, that the whole council was awaiting my arrival. We have
therefore deposed both the aforenamed, Cyril and Memnon, and have excluded them
from all the services of the church. The rest, who have participated in their
iniquity, we have excommunicated, until they shall reject and anathematize the
Chapters647 issued by Cyril, which are full of the Eunomian and Arian heresies,
and shall, in obedience to your piety's command, assemble together with us, and
shall in an orderly manner and with all exactitude, together with ourselves,
examine into the questions at issue, and confirm the pious doctrine of the holy
Fathers. As to the delay in my own arrival be it known to your piety that, in
consideration of the distance of the way by land,-and this was our route,-I have
come very quickly, I have travelled forty stages without pausing to rest on the
way; so your Christian majesty may learn from the inhabitants of the towns on
the route. Besides this I was detained many days in Antioch by the famine there;
by the daily tumults of the people; and by the unusual severity of the rainy
season, which caused the torrents to swell, and threatened danger to the town.

CLIII. Report of the Same to the Empresses Pulcheria and Eudoxia.

We had expected to be able to report to your pious majesties in different terms,
but we are now compelled to make known to you the following facts, forced as we
are by the irregular exercise of despotic power by Cyril of Alexandria and
Memnon of Ephesus. The proper course to have been pursued, in accordance with
the laws of the Church, and the command of your pious majesties, would have been
to wait for the arrival of the godly bishops on the road, and in common with
them to examine into the questions at issue concerning the true faith, and
investigate the point offered for discussion, and, after exact enquiry, to
confirm the doctrines of the apostles. They had written to me that they would
wait for our arrival. They heard that we were only three stages off. Then they
assembled an unconstitutional council by themselves, and have ventured on
proceedings iniquitous, irregular, and bristling with absurdities. And this they
have done though the most honourable count Candidianus, sent by your pious and
Christian majesties for good order's sake, expressly charged them, alike in
writing and by word of mouth, to wait for the arrival of the godly bishops who
had been convened, and to attempt no innovation on the true faith, but to take
their stand on the directions of our godly-minded sovereigns. Now in spite of
their having heard the imperial letter and the advice of the most honourable
count Candidianus, they have nevertheless made naught of due order. As the
prophet says "They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web; and he
that would eat of their eggs when he breaks them findeth rottenness, and therein
is a viper,"648 Wherefore we confidently cry "Their webs shall not become
garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works."649

They have shut the churches and the martyrs' shrines; they have forbidden the
celebration of the holy feast of Pentecost; besides this they have sent the
minions of their disorderly despotism into bishops' private houses, uttering
shocking threats, and forcing them to affix their signatures to illegal acts. We
therefore considering all their preposterous conduct, have deposed the
aforenamed Cyril and Memnon, and deprived them of their episcopate. Their
associates in irregularity, whether influenced by sycophancy or by fear, we have
excommunicated, until, coming to a knowledge of their own wounds, they shall
heartily repent, shall anathematize the heretical Chapters of Cyril, which are
tainted with the heresy of Apollinarius, Arius, and Eunomius, shall recover the
faith of the Fathers in Council at Nicaea, and, in obedience to the pious
commands of our Christian sovereigns, shall, peacefully and without any tumult,
assemble in synod, be willing to examine with care the questions submitted to
them, and honestly protect the purity of the faith of the Gospel.

CLIV. Report of the Same to the Senate of Constantinople.650 CLV. Letter of
John, Bishop of Antioch and His Supporters, to the Clergy of Constantinople.651
CLVI. Letter of the Same to the People of Constantinople.652

CLVII. Report of the Council of (the Bishops Of) the East to the Victorious
Emperor, Announcing a Second Time the Deposition of Cyril and of Memnon.653 Your
piety, which shines forth for the good of the empire and of the churches of God,
has commanded us to assemble at Ephesus, in order to bring about peace and gain
for the Church, rather than to confuse and disturb it. And the commands of your
majesty plainly and distinctly indicate your pious and peaceful intentions for
the churches of Christ. But Cyril of Alexandria, a man, it would seem, born and
bred for the bane of the churches, after taking into partnership the audacity of
Memnon of Ephesus, has first of all transgressed against your quieting and pious
decree, and has so shewed his general depravity. Your majesty had ordered an
investigation and careful testing to be made concerning the faith, and that with
the consent and concord of all. Cyril, challenged, or rather himself convicting
himself, on the count of the Apollinarian doctrines, by means of the letter
which he lately sent to the imperial city, with anathematisms, whereby he is
convicted of sharing the views of the impious and heretic Apollinarius, pays no
heed to this condition of things, and, as though we were living with no emperor
to govern us, is proceeding to every kind of lawlessness. He ought himself to be
called to account for his unsound opinion about our Lord Jesus Christ; but,
usurping an authority given him neither by the canons, nor by your edicts, he is
hurrying headlong into every kind of disorder and illegality.

Moved by these things the holy Synod, which has refused to accept his devices
for the damage of the faith, for the aforesaid reasons deposes him. It deposes
Memnon also, who has been his counsellor and abettor through all, who has kept
up constant agitation against the very holy bishops for refusing to assent to
his pernicious heterodoxy; who has shut the churches and every place of prayer,
as if we were living among the heathen and the enemies of God; who has brought
in the Ephesian mob, so that every day we are in supreme danger, while we look
not to defence, but heed the right doctrines of true religion. For the
destruction of these men is identical with the establishment of orthodoxy. From
his own Chapters your majesty can have no difficulty in perceiving his impious
mind. He is convicted of trying, so to say, to raise from Hades the impious
Apollinarius, who died in his heresy, and of attacking the churches and the
orthodox faith. He is shewn in his publications to anathematize at once
evangelists and apostles and them that succeeded them as forefathers of the
Church, who, moved not by their own imaginations, but by the holy Spirit, have
preached the true faith, and proclaimed the gospel; a faith and gospel indeed
opposed to what this man holds and teaches and by inculcating which he wishes to
give his own private iniquity the mastery of the world. Since this is
intolerable to us we have followed the proper course, relying at once on the
divine grace and on your majesty's good will.

We know that you give to nothing higher honour than to the sacred faith in which
both you and your thrice blessed forefathers have been brought up. From them you
have received the perpetual sceptre of empire, ever putting down the opponents
of the apostolic doctrines. Such an opponent is the aforesaid Cyril, who, with
the aid of Memnon, has captured Ephesus as he might some fortress, and justly
shares with his ally the sentence of deposition. Justly: for, besides all that
has been said, they have boldly tried every means of assault and every violence
against us, who, to come together in council in ratification of your edict, have
disregarded every claim of home and country and self.

We are now the prey of tyranny, unless your piety intervene and order us to
assemble in some other place, near at hand, where we shall be able, from the
scriptures, and from the writings of the Fathers, to refute beyond contradiction
both Cyril and the victims of his ingenuity. We have mercifully expelled these
men from communion with the suggested hope of salvation in case they should
repent; although, as if on some campaign of uncivilized soldiery, they have up
to this moment furnished him with the means of his illegality. Some were deposed
long ago, and have been restored by Cyril. Some have been excommunicated by
their own metropolitans, and admitted by him again into communion. Others have
been impaled on various accusations, and have been promoted by him to honour.
All through, the main motive of his action has been the endeavour to achieve his
heretical purpose by the force of numbers, for he does not reckon as he ought
that in what relates to true religion, it is not numbers that are required, but
rather correctness of doctrine and the truth of the doctrine of the apostles.
Men are needed who are competent to establish these points not by audacity and
masterful self-assertion but by pious use of apostolic testimony and example.
For all these reasons we beseech and implore your majesty to bear prompt aid to
assaulted truth, and to remedy without delay these men's masterful readiness;
for, like a hurricane, it is sweeping the less moderate among us into pernicious
heresy. Your piety has had care for the churches in Persia and among the
barbarians; it is only right that you should not neglect those which are tossed
by the storm within the boundaries of the Roman empire.

CLVIII. Report of (the Bishops Of) the East to the Very Pious Emperor, Which
Delivered with the Preceding. Report to the Right Honourable Count Irenaeus. On
receiving the letter of your piety we entertained hopes that the Egyptian storm
which has lately struck the churches of God would be driven away. But we have
been disappointed. Those men have been made even yet more daring by their
madness; they have given no heed to the sentence of deposition justly and in due
forth passed upon them, nor have become any more moderate in consequence of the
rebuke of your majesty. They have trampled down alike the laws of your piety,
and the canons of the holy Fathers, and, some of them being deposed and some
excommunicated, keep festivals, and celebrate communion, in Houses of Prayer.
And we, as we have already informed your Christ-loving majesty, on the receipt
of your clemency's kindly letter, though our only desire was to pray in the
church of the Apostles, have not only been prevented, but actually stoned, and
chased for a considerable distance, so that we were compelled to effect our
safety by flight at full speed. Our opponents on the contrary think that they
may act just as they please. They have declined to make investigation of the
questions at issue, and to undertake the defence of Cyril's heretical Chapters,
rejecting the plain proofs of the impiety which they contain. They are impudent
from mere impudence, while the examination of the questions before us requires
not impudence, but calmness, knowledge, and skill in matters of doctrine.

Under these circumstances we have been under the necessity of sending forward
the most honourable Count Irenaeus, to approach your piety, and to explain the
position of affairs. He has accurate information concerning all that has
occurred, and has learned from us many modes of cure, whereby it may be possible
to bring about the restoration of tranquillity to the holy churches of God. We
beseech your clemency to grant him patient audience, and to give orders for the
prompt carrying out of whatever measures may seem good to your piety, that we be
not here crushed beyond all endurance.

CLIX. Letter of the Same to the Praefect and to the Master.654 CLX. Letter of
the Same to the Governor and Scholasticus.655

CLXI. Report Presented to the Emperor by John, Archbishop of Antioch and His
Supporters Through Palladius Magistrianus.656 CLXII. Letter of Theodoretus to
Andreas, Bishop of Samosata, Written from Ephesus.657

Writing from Ephesus I salute your holiness, I congratulate you on your
infirmity, and deem you dear to God, in that you have known what evil deeds have
been going on here by report, and not by personal experience. Evil indeed! They
transcend all imagination and all incidents of history; they compel a continual
downpour of tears. The body of the Church is in peril of dismemberment;-nay,
rather I may say it has received the first incision;-unless the wise Healer
restore and re-connect the unsoundand severed limbs. Once again the Egyptian is
raging against God, and warring with Moses and Aaron His servants, and the more
part of Israel are on the side of the foe; for all too few are the sound who
willingly suffer for true religion's sake. Ancient principles are trodden under
foot. Deposed men perform priestly functions, and they who have deposed them sit
sighing at home. Men excommunicated by the same sentence as the deposed have
relieved the deposed of their deposition of their own free will. Such is the
mockery of a synod held by Egyptians, by Palestinians, by men from the Pontic
and Asian dioceses, and by the West in their company.658

What players in a pantomime, in the days of paganism, even in any farce so held
up religion to ridicule? Indeed what farce-writer ever performed such a play?
What dramatist ever wrote so sad a tragedy? Such and so great are the troubles
that have beset God's Church, whereof I have narrated but a very small part.

CLXIII. First Letter of the Commissioners of the East, Sent to Chalcedon, Among
Whom Was Theodoretus.659 On our arrival at Chalcedon, for neither we ourselves
nor our opponents were permitted to enter Constantinople, on account of the
seditions of the excellent monks, we heard that eight days before we had
appeared (behold the glory of the most pious prince) the lord Nestorius was
dismissed from Ephesus, free to go where he would; whereat we are much
distressed, since verily deeds done illegally and informally now seem to have
some force. Let your holiness however be assured that we shall eagerly join the
battle for the Faith, and are willing to fight even unto death. To-day, the 11th
of the month Gorpiaeum,660 we are expecting our very pious Emperor to cross over
to the Rufinianum,661 and there to hear the trial.

We therefore beg your holiness to pray the Lord Christ to help us to be able to
con firm the faith of the holy Fathers, and to pluck up by the roots these
Chapters which have sprouted to the damage of the Church. We implore your
holiness to think and act with us, and to abide in your ready devotion to the
orthodox faith. When this letter was written the lord Himerius662 had not yet
met us, being peradventure hindered on the road. But do not let this trouble
you. Only let your piety strenuously support us, and we trust that gloom will
disappear, and the truth shine forth.

CLXIV. Second Epistle of the Same to the Same, Expressing Premature Triumph in
Victory.663

Through the prayers of your holiness our most pious prince has granted us an
audience, anti by God's grace we have got the better of our opponents, as all
our views have beenaccepted by the most Christ-loving emperor. The reports of
others were read, and what seemed unfit to be received, and had no further
importance, he rejected. They were full of Cyril, and petitioned that he might
be summoned to give an account of himself. So far they have not prevailed, but
have heard discourses on true religion, that is on the system of the Faith, and
that the faith of the blessed Fathers was confirmed. We further refuted
Acacius664 who had laid down in his Commentaries that the Godhead is possible.
At this our pious emperor was so shocked at the enormity of the blasphemy that
he flung off his mantle, and stepped back. We know that the whole assembly
welcomed us as champions of true religion.

It has seemed good to our most pious emperor that anyone should explain his own
views, and report them to his piety. We have replied that it is impossible for
us to make any other exposition than that made by the blessed Fathers at Nicaea,
and so it has pleased his majesty. We therefore offered the form subscribed by
your holiness. Moreover, the whole population of Constantinople is continually
coming out to us to implore us to fight manfully for the Faith. We do our best
to restrain them, to avoid giving offence to our opponents. We have sent a copy
of the expositing, that two copies may be made, and you may subscribe them both.

CLXV. Letter of the Same to the Same.665 To the very pious bishops now in
Ephesus: Johannes, Himerius, Paulus, Apringius, Theodoretus, greeting. For the
fifth time an audience has been granted us. We entered largely into the question
of the heretical Chapters, and swore again and again to the very pious emperor
that it was, impossible for us to hold communion with our opponents unless they
rejected the Chapters. We pointed out moreover that even if Cyril did abjure his
Chapters he could not be received by us, because he had become the heresiarch of
so impious a heresy. Nevertheless we gained no ground, because our adversaries
were urgent, and their hearers could neither restrain them in their insolent
endeavour, nor compel them to come to enquiry and argument. They thus evade the
investigation of the Chapters, and allow no discussion concerning them. We,
however, as you entreat, are ready to insist to the death. We refuse to receive
Cyril and his Chapters; we will not admit these men to Communion till the
improper additions to the Faith be rejected. We therefore implore your holiness
to continue to show at once our mind and our efforts. The battle is for true
religion; for the only hope we have,-on account of which we look forward to
enjoying, in the world to come, the loving-kindness of our Saviour. As to the
very pious and holy bishop Nestorius, be it known to your piety that we have
tried to introduce a word about him, but have hitherto failed, because all are
ill-affected toward him. We will notwithstanding do our best, though this is so,
to take advantage of any opportunity that may offer, and of the goodwill of the
audience, to carry out this purpose, God helping us. But that your holiness may
not be ignorant of this too, know that we, seeing that the partisans of Cyril
have deceived everyone by domineering, cheating, flattering, and bribing, have
more than once besought the very pious emperor and most noble princes both to
send us back to the East, and let your holiness go home. For we are beginning to
learn that we are wasting time in vain, without nearing our end, because Cyril
everywhere shirks discussion, in his conviction that the blasphemies published
in his Twelve Chapters can be openly refuted. The very pious emperor has
determined, after many exhortations, that we all go every one to his own home,
and that, further, both the Egyptian and Memnon of Ephesus are to remain in
their own places. So the Egyptian will be able to go on blindfolding by bribery.
The one, after crimes too many to tell, is to return to his diocese. The other,
an innocent man, is barely permitted to go home. We and all here salute you and
all the brotherhood with you.

CLXVI. First Petition of the Commissioners, Addressed from Chalcedon, to the
Emperor.

It had been much to be desired that the word of true religion should not be
adulterated by ridiculous explanations, and least of all by men who have
obtained the priesthood and high office in the churches, and who have been
induced, we know not how, by ambition, by lust of authority, and by certain poor
promises, to despise all the commandments of Christ. Their only motive has been
the desire to pay court to a man who has the presumption to hope that he and his
abettors will be able to manage the whole business with success; I mean Cyril of
Alexandria. Of his own frivolity he has intruded into the holy churches of God
heretical doctrines which he believes himself able to support by argument. He
expects to escape the chastisement of sinners by the sole help of Memnon and the
bishops of the aforesaid conspiracy.

We are lovers of silence; in general we advise a philosophic course of action.
Now, however, sensible that to be silent and to cultivate philosophy would be to
throw away the Faith, we turn in supplication to you who, next to the Goodness
on high, are the sole preserver of the world. We know that it specially belongs
to you to be anxious for true religion, as having, up to this present day,
continually protected it, and being in turn protected by it.

We beg you therefore to receive this treatise, as though our defence were to be
pleaded in the presence of the most holy God; not because we are less active in
the sacred cause, but because we are devoted to true religion, and are speaking
in its behalf. For in Christian times the clergy have no more bounden duty than
to bear testimony before so faithful a prince, however ready we might have been
to yield our bodies and to lay down our lives a thousand times in the battle for
the faith. We therefore beseech you by God who seeth all things, by our Lord
Jesus Christ who will judge all men in righteousness, by the Holy Ghost by whose
grace you hold your empire, and by the elect angels who are your guardians and
whom one day you shall see standing by the awful throne, and ceaselessly
offering unto God that dread doxology which it is now sought to corrupt; we
beseech your piety, besieged as you now are by the craftiness of certain men who
are forbidding access to you, and are supporting the introduction into the faith
of heretical Chapters, utterly at variance with sound doctrine, and tainted with
heresy, to order all who subscribe them, or assent to them, and wish, after your
promised pardon, to dispute further, to come forth and submit to the discipline
of the Church. Nothing, sir, is more worthy of an emperor than to fight for the
truth, for which you hurried to join battle with Persians and other barbarians,
when Christ granted you to win fair victories in acknowledgment of your zeal
towards Him. We beseech you that the questions at issue may be put before your
piety in writing, for thus their purport will be more easily perceived, and the
transgressors will be convicted for all future time. If however anyone, heedless
of the utterances for which he shall be at fault, shall wish by his teaching to
prevail over the right faith, it will be the part of your justice and judgment
to consider whether the very name of teachers has not been thrown away by men
who are reluctant to run any risks concerning the doctrines which they
introduce, refusing to be obedient to your orders, that they may escape
conviction for having done wrong; nor reckoning them worth refutation, that
their mutual conspiracy be not proved fruitless. For now it is clear, from those
that have been ordained by them that some of them, in return for this impiety,
have bethought them of obliging certain persons by the concession of dignities
and have devised certain other means. This will become still more clear; and
your piety will soon see that they will distribute the rewards of their
treachery, as though they were the spoils of the faith of Christ. But we, of
whom some were long ago ordained by the very pious Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem,
have kept silence, although it was our duty to contend for the canon, that we
might not seem to be troubled for our own reputation's sake. We are now
perfectly well aware of his active trickery through Phoenicia Secunda and
Arabia. We really have not time to attend to such things. We are men who have
preferred rather to be deprived of the very places of which the ministry has
been entrusted to us, and so of our life, than of our ready zeal for the faith.
To the attempts of those men we will oppose the sentence of God and of your
piety.

Now also we beg that true religion may be your one and primary care, and that
the brightness of orthodoxy, which at length with difficulty blazed forth in the
days of Constantine of holy name, was maintained by your blessed grandfather and
father, and was extended by your majesty among the Persians and other
barbarians, be not allowed to grow dim in the very innermost courts of your
imperial palace, or, in your serenity's days, to be dispersed.

You will not send, sir, a divided Christianity into Persia; nor here at home
will there be anything great, while we are distressed by disputes, and while
there is no one existing on their side to settle them; no one will take part in
a divided Word and Sacraments; no one without loss of faith will cut himself off
from such famous fathers and saints who have never been condemned. No imperial
successes will be permitted to a people at variance among themselves; a burst of
derision will be roused from the enemies of true religion; and all the other
noxious consequences of their malignant controversy are too numerous to reckon.

If there is anyone who thinks little of the science of theology, let that one be
any one in the world rather than he to whom the Lord has given the supreme
government of the world. Our petition is that your piety will give judgment, for
God will guide your intelligence into exact comprehension. Finally, should this
be impracticable (and all the engagements of your piety we cannot know) we
beseech your serenity to give us leave to travel safely home. We are aware that
to the dioceses entrusted to us cause of offence is given by so protracted a
delay, on account of those men who even in sacred matters look out for
opportunities of dissension whence no advantage can be derived.

CLXVII. Second Petition of the Same, Sent from Chalcedon to Theodosius Augustus.
Your piety has been informed on several occasions, both by ourselves in person
and by our emissaries, that the doctrine of the true faith seems to stand in
danger of being corrupted, and that the body of the Church is apparently being
rent asunder by men who are turning everything upside down, trampling upon all
church order, and all imperial law, and throwing everything into confusion that
they may confirm the heresy propounded by Cyril of Alexandria. For when we were
first summoned by your piety to Ephesus, to enquire into the question which had
arisen and to confirm the evangelic and apostolic faith laid down by the holy
Fathers, before the arrival of all the bishops who had been convened, the
holders of their own private Council confirmed in writing the heretical
Chapters, which are at one with the impiety of Arius, Eunomius and Apollinarius.
Some they deceived; some they terrified; others already charged with heresy,
they received into communion; and others who had not communicated with them were
bribed into so doing; others again were fired with the hope of dignities for
which they were unfit; so these men gathered round them a great crowd of
adherents, as though they had no idea that true religion is shewn not by
numbers, but by truth. The dispatch of your piety was read a second time by the
most honourable Count Candidianus, ordering that the questions recently raised
be examined in a quiet and brotherly manner. When however all the pious bishops
were assembling, the reading had no effect.

Then came the noble Palladius Magistrianus, bringing another dispatch froth your
majesty, to the effect that all enactments passed privately and apart must be
rescinded that the Council must be assembled afresh and the true doctrine
ratified; but, as usual this your pious mandate was treated with contempt by
these unscrupulous persons.

Then again arrived the right honourable Master John, at that time "Comes
Largitionum," bringing another pious letter to the effect that the depositions
of the three had been decreed, that the offences which had sprung up were to be
removed, and the faith laid down at Nicaea by the holy and blessed Fathers was
to be ratified by all. As usual these universal mockers transgressed this law
too. For after hearing the letter they did not change their mode of action; they
held communion with the deposed; spoke of them as bishops, and refused to allow
the Chapters, which had been propounded to the loss and corruption of the pious
faith to be rejected; notwithstanding their having been frequently summoned by
us to discussion. For we had ready to hand a plain refutation of the heretical
Chapters. In evidence of these statements we have the right honourable Master,
who when both sides had been summoned a third and a fourth time, not venturing
to make this conduct an excuse on account of their disobedience, thought it
worth while to summon us hither.

We came at once; on our arrival we allowed ourselves no rest making our
petition, both before your piety and before the illustrious assembly, that they
would take up the quarrel for the Chapters and enter into discussion concerning
them, or on the other hand reject them as contrary to the right faith, abiding
by the faith as laid clown by the blessed fathers in council at Nicaea.

They refused to do anything of the kind; they persisted in their heretical
procedure; yet they were allowed to attend the churches, and to perform their
priestly functions. We, however, alike at Ephesus and here, have been for a long
time deprived of communion; alike there and here we have undergone innumerable
perils; and while we were being stoned and all but slain by slaves dressed up as
monks, we took it all for the best, as willingly enduring such treatment in the
cause of the truth.

Afterwards it seemed good to your majesty that we and the opposite party should
assemble once again, that the recalcitrant might be compelled to examine the
doctrines. While we were waiting for this to come to pass your piety set out for
the city, and ordered the very men who were being accused of heresy and had been
therefore some of them deposed by us, and others excommunicated and thereafter
to be subjected to the discipline of the Church, to come to the city and perform
priestly functions, and ordain.666 We however who in the cause of true religion
have undertaken a struggle so tremendous; we who have shrunk from no peril in
our battle for right doctrine, have neither been bidden to enter the city to
serve the cause of the imperilled Faith and strive for orthodoxy; nor have we
been permitted to return home;667 but here we are in Chalcedon distressed and
groaning for the Church oppressed by schism.

Wherefore since we are in receipt of no reply we have thought it necessary to
inform your piety by this present letter, before God and Christ and the Holy
Ghost, that if any one shall have been ordained (before the settlement of right
doctrines) by these men of heretical opinions, he must necessarily be cut off
from the whole church, as well from the clergy as the dissentient laity. For
none of the pious will endure that communion be granted to heretics, and their
own salvation be nullified. And when this shall have come to pass, then your
piety shall be compelled to act against your will. For the schism will grow
beyond all expectation, and thereby the champions of true religion will be
saddened, unable to endure the loss of their own souls, and the establishment of
those impious doctrines of Cyril which the contentious are desirous of
defending.

Many indeed of the supporters of true religion will never allow the acceptance
of Cyril's doctrines; we shall never allow it, who all are of the diocese of the
East of your province, of the diocese of Pontus, of Asia, of Thrace, of
Illyricum and of the Italies, and who also sent to your piety the treatise of
the most blessed Ambrose, written against this nascent superstition. To avoid
all this, and the further troubling of your piety, we beg, beseech, and implore
you to issue an edict that no ordination take place before the settlement of the
orthodox faith, on account of which we have been convened by your Christ-loving
highness.

CLXVIII. Third Demand of the Same, Addressed from Chalcedon to the Sovereigns.

We never expected the summons of your piety to meet with this result. We were
honourably convoked, as priests by prince; we were convoked to ratify the faith
of the holy Fathers; and therefore, in due obedience to a pious prince, we came.
On our arrival we were no less faithful to the Church, not less respectful to
your edict. From the day of our arrival at Ephesus till the present moment we
have without intermission followed your behests. As it seems, however, our
moderation, in these times, has not been of the slightest use to us; nay,
rather, so far as we can see, it has stood very much in our way. We indeed who
have thus behaved have been up to the present time detained in Chalcedon; and
now we are told that we may go home. They however who have thrown everything
into confusion, who have filled the world with tumult, who are striving to rend
churches in twain, and who are the open assailants of true religion, perform
priestly functions, crowd the churches, and as they imagine have authority to
ordain, though in truth it is illegally claimed by them, stir up seditions in
the church, and what ought to be spent upon the poor they throw away upon their
bullies. But you are not only their emperor; you are ours too. For no small
portion of your empire is the East, wherein the right faith has ever shone, and,
besides, the other provinces and dioceses from which we have been convened.

Let not your majesty despise the faith which is being corrupted, in which you
and your forefathers have been baptized; on which the Church's foundations are
laid; for which most holy martyrs have rejoiced to suffer countless kinds of
death; by aid of which you have vanquished barbarians and destroyed tyrants;
which you are needing now in your war for the subjugation of Africa. For on your
side will fight the God of all if you struggle on behalf of His holy doctrines
and forbid the dismemberment of the body of the church: for dismembered it will
be if the opinion prevail which Cyril has introduced into the Church and other
heretics have confirmed. To these truths we have often already borne testimony
before God both in Ephesus and in this place. I have furnished information to
your holiness, giving an account as before the God of all. For this is required
of us, as is taught in the divine Scripture both by prophets and apostles; as
says the blessed Paul "I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth
the dead, and of Lord Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good
confession;"668 and as God charged Ezekiel to announce to the people, adding
threats and saying, "when thou givest him not warning, ...his blood will I
require at thine hand."669 In awe of this sentence, once again we inform your
majesty that they who have been permitted to hold churches, and who teach the
doctrines of Apollinarius, Arius, and Eunomius, perform all sacred functions
irregularly and in violation of the canons, and destroy the souls of all who
approach them; if, indeed, any shall be found willing to listen to them. For by
the grace of God whose Providence is over all, and who wishes all men to be
saved, the more part of the people is sound, and warmly attached topious
doctrines. It is on their account that we grieve. And in our anguish and alarm
lest the plague creeping on by little and little should attack more, and the
evil become general, we thus instruct your serenity, and continue to give you
exhortation; we implore your majesty to yield to our prayers and to prohibit any
addition to be made to the Faith of the holy Fathers assembled in council at
Nicaea. And if after this our entreaty your piety reject this doctrine, which
was given in the presence of God, we will shake off the dust of our feet against
you, and cry with the blessed Paul, "We are pure from your blood."670 For we
cease not night and day from the moment of our arrival at this distinguished
council to bear witness to prince, nobles, soldiers, priests and people, that we
hold fast the Faith delivered to us by the Fathers.

CLXIX. Letter Written by Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus, from Chalcedon to
Alexander of Hierapolis.671

We have left no means untried, of courtesy, of sternness, of entreaty, of
eloquence before the most pious emperor, and the illustrious assembly,
testifying before God who sees all things and our Lord Jesus Christ who shall
judge the world in justice,672 and the Holy Spirit and his elect angels, lest
the Faith be despised which is now being corrupted by the maintainers and bold
subscribers of heretical doctrines: and that charge be given for it to be laid
down in the same terms as at Nicaea and for the rejection of the heresy
introduced to the loss and ruin of true religion. Up to this time however we
have produced not the slightest effect, our hearers being carried now in one
direction and now in another.

Nevertheless all these difficulties have not been able to deter me from urging
my point, but by God's grace I have pressed on. I have even stated to our pious
emperor with an oath that it is perfectly impossible for Cyril and Memnon to be
reconciled with me, find that we can never communicate with any one who has not
previously repudiated the heretical Chapters. This then is our mind. The object
of men who "seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's"673 is to be
reconciled with them against our will. But this is no business of mine, for God
weighs our motives and tries our character, nor does He inflict chastisement for
what is done against our will. Be it known to your holiness that if ever I said
a word about our friend674 either before the very pious emperor or the
illustrious assembly, I was at once branded as a rebel. So intensely is he hated
by the court party. This is most annoying. The most pious emperor, especially,
cannot bear to hear his name mentioned and says publicly "Let no one speak to me
of this man." On one occasion he gave an instance of this to me. Nevertheless as
long as I am here I shall not cease to serve the interests of this our father,
knowing that the impious have done him wrong. My desire is that both your piety
and I myself get quit of this. No good is to be hoped from it, in as much as all
the judges trust in gold, and contend that the nature of the Godhead and manhood
is one.

All the people however by God's grace are in good case, and constantly come out
to us. I have begun to discourse to them and have celebrated very large
communions. On the fourth occasion I spoke at length about the faith and they
listened with such delight that they did not go away till the seventh hour but
held out even till the midday heat. An enormous crowd was gathered in a great
court, with four verandahs, and I preached from above from a platform near the
roof.

All the clergy with the excellent monks are on the contrary utterly opposed to
me, so that when we came back from the Rufinianum, after the visit of the very
pious emperor, stone throwing began and many of my companions were wounded, by
the people and false monks. The very pious emperor knew that the mob was
gathered against me and coining up to me alone he said, "I know that you are
assembling improperly." Then, said I, "As you have allowed me to speak hear me
with favour. Is it fair for excommunicated heretics to be doing duty in
churches, while I. who am fighting for the Faith and am therefore excluded by
others from communion, am not allowed to enter a church?" He replied "What am I
to do?" I said, "What your comes largitionum did at Ephesus. When he found that
some were assembling, but that we were not assembling, he stopped them saying,
`If you are not peaceful I will allow neither party to assemble.' It would have
become your piety also to have given directions to the bishop here to forbid
both the opposite party and ourselves to assemble before our meeting together to
make known your righteous sentence to all." To this he replied "It is not for me
to order the bishop;" and I answered "Neither shall you command us, and we will
take a church, and assemble. Your piety will find that there are many more on
our side than on theirs." In addition to this I pointed out that we had neither
reading of the holy Scripture, nor oblation; but only "prayer for the Faith and
for your majesty, and pious conversation." So he approved, and made no further
prohibition. The result is that increased crowds flock to us, and gladly listen
to our teaching. I therefore beg your piety to pray that our case may have an
issue pleasing to God. I am in daily danger, suspecting the wiles of both monks
and clergy, as I witness alike their influence and their negligence.

CLXX. Letter of Certain Easterns, Who Had Been Sent to Constantinople, to Bishop
Rufus. To our most godly and holy fellow-minister Rufus, Joannes, Himerius,
Theodoretus, and the rest, send greeting in the Lord.675

True religion and the peace of the Church suffer, we think, in no small degree,
from the absence of your holiness. Had you beenon the spot you might have put a
stop to the disturbances which have arisen, and the violence that has been
ventured on, and might have fought on our side for the subjection of the
heresies introduced into the orthodox Faith, and that doctrine of apostles and
evangelists which, handed down from time to time from father to son, has at
length been transmitted to ourselves. And we do not assert this without ground,
for we have learnt the mind of your holiness from the letter written to the very
godly and holy Julianus, bishop of Sardica, for that letter as is right charged
the above named very godly bishop to fight for the Faith laid down by the
blessed fathers assembled in council at Nicaea, and not to allow any corruption
to be introduced into those invincible definitions which are sufficient at once
to exhibit the truth and to refute falsehood. So your holiness rightly, justly,
and piously advised, and the recipient of the letter followed your counsel. But
many of the members of the council, to use the word of the prophet, "have gone
aside," and have "altogether become filthy,"676 for they have abandoned the
Faith which they received from the holy Fathers, and have subscribed the twelve
Chapters of Cyril of Alexandria, which teem with Apollinarian error, are in
agreement with the impiety of Arius and Eunomius, and anathematize all who do
not accept their unconcealed unorthodoxy. To this plague smiting the Church
vigorous resistance has been offered by us who have assembled from the East, and
others from different dioceses, with the object of securing the ratification of
the Faith delivered by the blessed Fathers at Nicaea. For in it, as your
holiness knows, there is nothing lacking whether for the teaching of evangelic
doctrines, or for the refutation of every heresy. For the sake of this Faith we
continue to struggle, despising alike all the joys and sorrows of mortal life,
if only we may preserve untouched this heritage of our fathers. For this reason
we have deposed Cyril and Memnon; the former as prime mover in the heresy, and
the latter as his aider and abettor in all that has been done to ratify and
uphold the Chapters published to the destruction of the Church. We have also
excommunicated all that have dared to subscribe and support these impious
doctrines till they shall have anathematized them, and returned to the Faith of
the Fathers at Nicaea. But our long-suffering has done them no good. To this day
they continue to do battle for those pernicious doctrines and have impaled
themselves on the law of the canon which distinctly enacts "If any bishop
deposed by a synod, or presbyter or deacon deposed by his own bishop, shall
perform his sacred office, without waiting for the judgment of a synod, he is to
have no opportunity for defending himself, not even in another synod: but also
all who communicate with him are to be expelled from the church." Now this law
has been broken both by the deposed and the excommunicate. For immediately after
the deposition and the excommunication becoming known to them, they performed
sacred functions, and they continue to do so, in plain disbelief of Him who said
"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."677 With this we
have thought well to acquaint your holiness at once, but in expectation of some
favourable change, we have waited up to the present time. But we have been
disappointed. They have continued to fight for this impious heresy, and pay no
attention to the counsels of the very pious emperor. On five separate occasions
he has met us, and ordered them either to reject the Chapters of Cyril as
contrary to the Faith, or to be willing to do battle in their behalf, and to
shew in what way they are in agreement with the confession of the Fathers. We
have our proofs at hand, whereby we should have shewn that they are totally
opposed to the teaching of orthodoxy, and for the most part in agreement with
heresy. For in these very Chapters the author of the noxious productions teaches
that the Godhead of the only begotten Son suffered, instead of the manhood which
He assumed for the sake of our salvation, the indwelling Godhead manifestly
appropriating the sufferings as of Its own body, though suffering nothing in Its
own nature; and further that there is made one nature of both Godhead and
manhood,-for so he explains "The Word was made flesh,"678 as though the Godhead
bad undergone some change, and been turned into flesh.

And, further, he anathematizes those who make a distinction between the terms
used by apostles and evangelists about the Lord Christ, referring those of
humiliation to the manhood, and those of divine glory to the Godhead, of the
Lord Christ. It is with these views that Arians and Eunomians, attributing the
terms of humiliation to the Godhead, have not shrunk from declaring God the Word
to be made and created, of another substance, and unlike the Father.

What blasphemy follows on these statements it is not difficult to perceive.
There is introduced a confusion of the natures, and to God the Word are applied
the words "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me;"679 and "Father, if it be
possible let this cup pass from me,"680 the hunger, the thirst, and the
strengthening by an angel; His saying "Now is my soul troubled,"681 and "my soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,"682 and all similar passages belonging
to the manhood of the Christ. Any one may perceive how these statements
correspond with the impiety of Arius and Eunomius; for they, finding themselves
unable to establish the difference of substance, connect, as has been said, the
sufferings, and the terms of humiliation, with the Godhead of the Christ. And be
your reverence well assured that now in their churches the Arian teachers preach
no other doctrine than that the supporters of the "homousion" at present hold
the same views as Arius, and that, after long time, the truth has now at last
been brought to light.

We on the contrary abide in the teaching, and follow in the pious footprints, of
the blessed Fathers assembled at Nicaea, and of their illustrious successors,
Eustathius of Antioch, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory, John, Athanasius, Theophilus,
Damasus of Rome, and Ambrose of Milan. For all these, following the words of the
apostles, have left us an exact rule of orthodoxy, which all we of the East
earnestly desire to preserve unmoved. The same is the wish of the Bithynians,
the Paphlagonians, of Cappadocia Secunda, Pisidia, Mysia, Thessaly, and Rhodope,
and very many more of the different provinces. The Italians too, it is evident,
will not endure this new-fangled doctrine; for the very godly and holy
Martinus,683 bishop of Milan, has written a letter to us, and has sent to the
very pious emperor a work by the blessed Ambrose on the incarnation of the Lord,
of which the teaching is opposed to these heretical Chapters. And be it known to
your holiness that Cyril and Memnon have not been satisfied with corrupting the
orthodox Faith, but have trampled all the canons underfoot. For they have
received into communion men excommunicated in various provinces and dioceses.
Others lying under charges of heresy, and of the same mind as Celestius and
Pelagius, (for they are Euchitae, or Enthusiasts684 ) and therefore
excommunicated by their diocesans and metropolitans, they have, in defiance of
all ecclesiastical discipline received into communion, so swelling their
following from all possible quarters, and shewing their eagerness to enforce
their teaching less by piety than by violence. For when they had been stripped
bare of piety they devised, in their extremity, another sort of force,-walls of
flesh, with the idea that by their showers of bribery they might vanquish the
faith of the Fathers. But so long as your holiness puts forth your strength, and
you continue to fight, as you are wont, in defence of true religion, none of
these devices will be of the least avail. We exhort you therefore, most holy
sir, to beware of the communion of the unscrupulous introducers of this heresy;
and to make known to all, both far and near, that these are the points for which
the thrice blessed Damasus deposed the heretics Apollinarius, Vitalius, and
Timotheus; and that the Epistle in which the writer has concealed his heresy and
coloured it with a coating of truth, must not in simplicity be received. For in
the Chapters he has boldly laid bare his impiety, and dared to anathematize all
who disagree with him, while in the letter he has vilely endeavoured to harm the
simpler readers. Your holiness must therefore beware of neglecting this matter,
lest when, too late, you see this heresy confirmed, you grieve in vain, and
suffer affliction at being no longer able to defend the cause of truth.

We have also sent you a copy of the memorial which we have given to the most
pious and Christ-loving emperor, containing the faith of the holy Fathers at
Nicaea. wherein we have rejected the newlyaeinvented heresies of Cyril, and
adjudged them to be opposed to the orthodox faith.

Since in accordance with the orders of the very pious emperor only eight of us
travelled to Constantinople, we have subjoined the copy of the order given us by
the holy synod, that you may be acquainted with the provinces contained in it.
Your holiness will learn them from the signatures of the metropolitans. We
salute the brotherhood which is with you.

CLXXI. Letter of Theodoret to John, Bishop of Antioch, After the
Reconciliation.685

God, who governs all things in wisdom, who provides for our unanimity, and cares
for the salvation of His people, has caused us to be assembled together, and has
shewn us that the views of all of us are in agreement with one another. We have
assembled together, and read the Egyptian Letter;686 we have carefully examined
its purport, and we have discovered that its contents are quite in accordance
with our own statements, and entirely opposed to the Twelve Chapters, against
which up to the present time we have continued to wage war, as being contrary to
true religion. Their teaching was that God the Word was carnally made flesh;
that there was an union of hypostasis, and that the combination in union was of
nature, and that God the Word was the first-born flora the dead. They forbade
all distinction in the terms used of our Lord, and further contained other
doctrines at variance with the seeds sown by the apostles, and outcome of
heretical tares. The present script, however, is beautified by apostolic
nobility of origin. For in it our Lord Jesus Christ is exhibited as perfect God
and perfect man; it shews two natures, and the distinction between them; an
unconfounded union, made not by mixture and compounding, but in a manner
ineffable and divine, and distinctly preserving the properties of the natures;
the impassibility and immortality of God the Word; the possibility and temporary
surrender to death of the temple, and its resurrection by the power of the
united God; that the holy Spirit is not of the Son, nor derives existence from
the Son, but proceeds from the Father, and is properly stated to be of the Son,
as being of one substance.687 Beholding this orthodoxy in the letter, we have
hymned Him who heals our stammering tongues, and changes our discordant noises
into the harmony of sweet music.688 CLXXII. Letter of Theodoretus to
Nestorius.689 To the very reverend and religions lord and very holy Father,
Nestorius, the bishop Theodoretus sends greeting in the Lord. Your holiness is,
I think, well aware that I take no pleasure in cultivated society, nor in the
interests of this life, nor in reputation, nor am I attracted by other sees. Had
I learn, this lesson from no other source, the very solitude of the city690 over
which I am called to preside would suffice to teach me this philosophy. It is
not indeed distinguished only for solitude, but also by very many disturbances
which may check the activity even of those who most delight in them.

Let no one therefore persuade your holiness that I have accepted the Egyptian
writings as orthodox, with my eyes shut, because I covet any see. For really, to
speak the truth, after frequently reading and carefully examining them, I have
discovered that they are free from all heretical taint, and I have hesitated to
put any stress upon them, though I certainly have no love for their author, who
was the originator of the disturbances which have agitated the world. For this I
hope to escape punishment in the day of Judgment, since the just Judge examines
motives. But to what has been done unjustly and illegally against your holiness,
not even if one were to cut off both my hands would I ever assent, God's grace
helping me and supporting my infirmity. This I have stated in writing to those
who require it. I have sent to your holiness my reply to what you wrote to me,
that you may know that, by God's grace, no time has changed me like the
centipedes and chameleons who imitate by their colour the stones and leaves
among which they live. I and all with me salute all the Brotherhood who are with
you in the Lord.

CLXXIII. Letter to Andreas, Monk of Constantinople.691

"God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to
bear it,"692 and convicts falsehood,-although now refuted assertion of the
falsehood is approved,-and the power of truth has been shewn. For, lo, they, who
by their impious reasoning had confused the natures of our Saviour Christ, and
dared to preach one nature, and therefore insulted the most holy and venerable
Nestorius, high priest of God, their mouths held, as the prophet says, with bit
and bridle693 and turned from wrong to right, have once again learnt the truth,
adopting the statement of him who in the cause of truth has borne the brunt of
the battle. For instead of one nature they now confess two, anathematizing all
who preach mixture and confusion. They adore the impossible Godhead of Christ;
they attribute passion to the flesh; they distinguish between the terms of the
Gospels, ascribing the lofty and divineto the Godhead, and the lowly to the
manhood. Such are the writings now brought from Egypt.

CLXXIV. To Himerius, Bishop of Nicomedia.694

We wish to acquaint your holiness that on reading and frequently discussing the
letter brought from Egypt we find it in harmony with the doctrine of the Church.
Of the twelve Chapters we have proved the contrary, and up to the present time
we continue to oppose them. We have therefore determined, if your holiness has
recovered the churches divinely entrusted to you, that you ought to communicate
with the Egyptians and Constantinopolitans and others who have fought with them
against us, because they have professed to hold our faith, or I should rather
say the faith of the apostles; but not to give your consent to the alleged
condemnation of the very holy and venerable Nestorius. For we hold it impious
and unjust in the case of charges in which both appeared as defendants to lavish
favour on the one and shut the door of repentance on the other. Far more unjust
and impious is it to condemn an innocent man to death. Your holiness should be
assured that you ought not to communicate with them before you have recovered
your churches. For this not only I but all the holy bishops of our district
decreed in the recent Council.

CLXXV. To Alexander of Hierapolis.695

I have already informed your holiness that if the doctrine of the very holy and
venerable bishop, my lord Nestorius, is condemned, I will not communicate with
those who do so. If it shall please your holiness to insert this in the letter
which is being sent to Antioch so be it. Let there then, I beseech you, be no
delay!

CLXXVI. Letter to the Same Alexander After He Had Learnt that John, Bishop of
Antioch, Had Anathematized the Doctrine of Nestorius.696 Be it known to your
holiness that when read the letter addressed to the emperor I was much
distressed, because I know perfectly well that the writer of the letter, being
of the same opinions, has unwisely and impiously condemned one who has never
held or taught anything contrary to sound doctrine. But the form of anathema,
though it be more likely than his assent to the condemnation, to grieve a
reader, nevertheless has given me some ground of comfort, in that it is laid
down not in wide general terms, but with some qualification. For he has not said
"We anathematize his doctrine" but "whatever he has either said or held other
than is warranted by the doctrine of the apostles."

CLXXVII. Letter to Andreas, Bishop of Samosata.697 The illustrious Aristolaus
has sent Magisterianus from Egypt with a letter of Cyril in which he
anathematizes Arius, Eunomius Apollinarius and all who assert Christ's Godhead
to be passible and maintain the confusion and commixture of the two natures.
Hereat we rejoice, although he did withhold his consent from our statement. He
requires further subscription to the condemnation which has been passed, and
that the doctrine of the holy bishop Nestorius be anathematized. Your holiness
well knows that if any one anathematizes, without distinction, the doctrine of
that most holy and venerable bishop, it is just the same as though he seemed to
anathematize true religion.

We must then if we are compelled anathematize those who call Christ mere man, or
who divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons and deny His divinity, etc.

CLXXVIII. Letter to Alexander of Hierapolis.698

I think that more than all the very holy and venerable bishop, my lord John,
must have been gratified at my refusing either to give my consent to the
condemnation of the very holy and venerable bishop Nestorius or to violate the
pledges made at Tarsus, Chalcedon and Ephesus.699 He remembers also what was
frequently received from us at Antioch after our departure.

Let no one therefore deceive your holiness into the belief that I should ever do
this, for God is without doubt on my side and strengthening me.

CLXXIX. Letter of Cyril to John, Bishop of Antioch, Against Theodoret.700

CLXXX. Letter of Theodoretus, as Some Suppose, to Domnus, Bishop of Antioch,
Written on the Death of Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria.701 At last and with
difficulty the villain has gone. The good and the gentle pass away all too soon;
the bad prolong their life for years. The Giver of all good, methinks, removes
the former before their time from the troubles of humanity; He frees them like
victors from their contests and transports them to the better life, that life
which, free from death, sorrow and care, is the prize of them that contend for
virtue. They, on the other hand, who love and practise wickedness are allowed a
little longer to enjoy this present life, either that sated with evil they may
afterwards learn virtue's lessons, or else even in this life may pay the penalty
for the wickedness of their own ways by being tossed to and fro through many
years of this life's sad and wicked waves. This wretch, however, has not been
dismissed by the ruler of our souls like other men, that he may possess for
longer time the things which seem to be full of joy. Knowing that the fellow's
malice has been daily growing and doing harm to the body of the Church, the Lord
has lopped him off like a plague and "taken away the reproach from Israel."702
His survivors are indeed delighted at his departure. The dead, maybe, are sorry.
There is some ground of alarm lest they should be so much annoyed at his company
as to send him back to us, or that he should run away from his conductors like
the tyrant of Cyniscus in Lucian.703

Great care must then be taken, and it is especially your holiness's business to
undertake this duty, to tell the guild of undertakers to lay a very big and
heavy stone upon his grave, for fear he should come back again, and show his
changeable mind once more. Let him take his new doctrines to the shades below,
and preach to them all day and all night. We are not at all afraid of his
dividing them by making public addresses against true religion and by investing
an immortal nature with death. He will be stoned not only by ghosts learned in
divine law, but also by Nimrod, Pharaoh and Sennacherib, or any other of God's
enemies. But I am wasting words. The poor fellow is silent whether he will or
no, "his breathgoeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his
thoughts perish."704 He is doomed too tosilence of another kind. His deeds,
detected, tie his tongue, gag his mouth, curb his passion, strike him dumb and
make him bow down to the ground.

I really am sorry for the poor fellow. Truly the news of his death has not
caused me unmixed delight, but it is tempered by sadness. On seeing the Church
freed from a plague of this kind I am glad and rejoice; but I am sorry and do
mourn when I think that the wretch knew no rest from his crimes, but went on
attempting greater and more grievous ones till he died. His idea was, so it is
said, to throw the imperial city into confusion by attacking true doctrines a
second time, and to charge your holiness with supporting them. But God saw and
did not overlook it. "He put his hook into his nose and his bridle into his
lips,"705 and turned him to the earth whence he was taken. Be it then granted to
your holiness's prayers that he may obtain mercy and pity and that God's
boundless clemency may surpass his wickedness. I beg your holiness to drive away
the agitations of my soul. Many different reports are being bruited abroad to my
alarm announcing general misfortunes. It is even said by some that your
reverence is setting out against your will for the court, but so far I have
despised these reports as untrue. But finding every one repeating one and the
same story I have thought it right to try and learn the truth from your holiness
that I may laugh at these tales if false, or sorrow not without reason if they
are true.

CLXXXI. Letter to Abundius, Bishop of Como.706 To my dear lord and very holy
brother Abundius Theodoretus sends greeting in the Lord. I have discovered that
your piety religiously preserves the true and apostolic faith; and I have
thanked Almighty God that the truth which was in peril has been renewed and
brought to light by your holiness. Of old, after the flood, it came to pass that
Noah and his sons were left for seed of the human race. Just so in our own day
are reserved the fathers of the West, that by them the holy churches of the East
may be able to preserve that true religion which has been threatened with
devastation and destruction by a new and impious heresy. Well may we quote those
words of the prophet "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small
remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto
Gomorrah."707 So upon us from this impious heresy the wrath of God has fallen
like a flood and invasion.

Now we acknowledge the presence of our Saviour in a human body, and one Son of
God, His perfect Godhead and His perfect manhood. We do not divide our one Lord
Jesus Christ into two sons for He is one; but we recognise the distinction
between God and man; we know that one is of the Father, the other of the seed of
David and Abraham, according to the divine Scriptures, and that the divine
nature is free from passion, the body which was before subject to passion being
now itself too free from passion; for after the resurrection it is plainly
delivered from all passion. This we have learnt from the letter of the very holy
and religious Archbishop our lord Leo. For we have read what he wrote to
Flavianus, of holy and blessed memory, and have thanked the loving-kindness of
the Lord because we have found an advocate and defender of the truth. To this
letter I have given my adhesion, and have subjoined a copy of it to my present
epistle, which I have also subscribed and have thereby proved that I obey the
apostolic rules, that is true doctrines; that I abide in them to this day, and
am suffering in their cause.

Assent has also been given by my lord Ibas and my lord Aquilinus against whom
the inventors of the new heresy have armed the imperial power.

It remains for you with your very holy colleagues to bring aid to the sacred
Church, and to drive away the war that threatens it. Banish the impious party
which has been roused against the truth; give back the churches their ancient
peace; so will you receive from the Lord, Who s promised to grant this boon, the
fruits of your apostolic labours.

All the very religious and godly presbyters and reverend deacons and brethren by
your holiness I greet; and I and all who are with me salute your reverence.708
1: Isaiah iii. 3. Sept.

2: Irenaeus, Count of the Empire and afterwards bishop of Tyre, was a friend and
frequent correspondent of Theodoret. He was deposed at the Latrocinium in 449.
cf. Epp. XII, XVI, XXXV.

3: I. Cor. iv. 5.

4: I. Cor. ix. 20, I. Cor. ix. 21.

5: Matt. x. 23.

6: The word in the text for basket is sarganh , a basket of twisted work ( gr#$
7: Acts xxiii. 6.

8: Acts xxii. 25.

9: "Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat?" Virg Aen. ii. 390.

10: Acts xxv. 11.

11: Acts xii. 12, etc.

12: Exod. ii. 11 etc.

13: I. Kings xix. 1 etc.

14: Matt. iv. 6.

15: Matt. xxvi. 41.

16: Luke xi. 4.

17: Probably the condemnation referred to is the imperial Edict of March 449
relegating Theodoret to the limits of his own diocese. cf. Epp. 79. 80.

18: Vide note on Letter III.

19: Job xl. 3, lxx.

20: On the wine of Lesbos cf. Hor. Car. i. 17, "innocentis pocula Lesbii_" Aulus
Gellius tells the story how Aristotle, when asked to nominate his successor, and
wishing to point out the superiority of Theophrastus to Menedemus, called first
for a cup of Rhodian, and then of Lesbian, and after sipping both, exclaimed
huiwn o Lesbioj . Nact. Att. xiii. 5.

21: Gen. iii. 19.

22: Wisdom vii. 6.

23: The virtues specified are (i) eleuqeria ; (ii) misoponhria ; and (iii)
praothj .

24: I. Cor. ii. 9.

25: I. Thess. iv. 13.

26: Ps. cxlvi. 9.

27: Isaiah xlix. 15.

28: i.e. confinement to the limits of his own diocese by the decree of March,
440.

29: cf. note on p. 261. Nothing is known of this Silvanus.

30: Gen. ii. 24.

31: Job i. 21.

32: cf. Epp. iii, xii, and xxxv.

33: Homer II. xvi. iii. kakon kakw esthrikto . For Theodoret's knowledge of
Homer cf. pp. 104 and 258.

34: I. Cor. x. 13.

35: I. Sam. xvii.

36: Judges xv. 16.

37: This letter appears to be written shortly before the meeting of the Robber
Synod in 449.

38: Gen. ii. 24.

39: Gen. iii. 19.

40: On praothj vide note on p. 254.

41: Rom. viii. 18.

42: Rom. viii. 35. Rom. viii. 36.

43: Rom. viii. 37.

44: Rom. viii. 38. Rom. viii. 39.

45: erwtoj . The use of this word in this connexion is in contrast with the
spirit of the writers of the N. T., in which erwj and its correlatives never
appear.

46: Apol. Soc. xviii. eme men gar ouden an blayeien oute Melhtoj oute !Anutoj,
oude gar an dunaito .

47: I.e. Demosthenes who belonged to Paeania a demus of Attica on the eastern
slope of Hymettus, and so was called o IIaianeuj .

48: Demosth. de Cor. 258.

49: Thucydides II. lxiv. 3. ferein te xrh ta te daimonia anagkaiwj, ta te apo
twn polemiwn andreiwj .

50: Homer Od. xx. 17. (Chapman's Translation.) cf. notes on pp. 104, 255, 258,
259, and 260.

51: Garnerius dates this letter in Sept. or Oct., 449.

52: Nothing more seems to be known either of Ulpianus or of this Athanasius.

53: Areobindas was consul in 434, and died, according to Marcellinus, in 449.

54: Hom. II. VI. 484, cf. quotations from Homer pp. 104, 255, 258, 259, 260.

55: It is to Andreas of Samosata that Theodoret addressed the famous letter on
the errors of Cyril numbered 162. He is mentioned by Athanasius Sinaita.

56: Prov. xxvii. 1.

57: The name Celestinianus varies in the mss. with Celestiacus. Theodoret's
letter in his behalf may be placed shortly after the sack of Carthage by
Genseric in 439.

58: Christian Sophist of Cyrus. cf. Letter LXVI.

59: This passage is corrupt, and I cannot discover the quotation. There may not
impossibly be a reference to Hom. Od. xvii. 345.

60: Hom. Od. vii.

61: cf Epp. 80 - 110 - 112.

62: Bp. of the Syrian Beroea. He succeeded Acacius in 437. cf. Ep. 134.

63: Titus 3. 14.

64: i.e. The Syrian Beroea, Aleppo or Haleb.

65: The title Primas was applied in civil Law to (a) the Decuriones of a
municipality, and (b) to the chiefs of provincial governments Cod. Theod. vii.
18. 13, ix. 40. 16 etc.

66: cf. Horace I. xxxiv. 14 and III xxix 52 "nunc mihi nunc alii benigna."

67: i.e. of Tyre.

68: i.e. of the Euphratensis.

69: Colophon was one of the twelve Ionian cities founded by Mopsus on the coast
of Asia Minor and was one of the claimants for being the birthplace of Homer. To
put a colophon to anything became a proverbial expression for to put the
crowning touch. to complete - from the fact according to Strabo (C. 643) that
the Colophonian cavalry was so excellent as at once to decide and finish a
battle in which it appeaed. So the place and date of the edition of a book, with
the device of the printer, appended to old editions is called a colophoa.

70: topothrhthj , vicarius, or lieutenant, is used of "Vicars" both civil and
ecclesiastical.

71: In Vatican ms. to Salustianus. The mention of the earthquake fixes the date
of this letter in 447, a year when the Huns were ravaging the eastern empire.

72: Psalm xciv. 14.

73:

74: i.e., 28,800 sq. ft. "jugum vocant quod juncti bores uno die exarare
possint." Varro R. R. i. 10.

75: For many years Prefect of the East.

76: Presumably the Jacobus of Relig. Hist. XXI, an ascetic disciple of Maro.

77: Vide p. 155 n.

78: The delator referred to in these letters is presumably Athanasius of Perrha,
who was deposed by Domnus II bishop of Antioch, in the middle of the fifth
century. As Titlemont points out (Vol. XV. pp. 261-3 ed. 1740) we cannot make
the identification with certainty, but the circumstances correspond with what is
known of this Athanasius. There was a Perrha, now Perrin, about twenty miles
north of Samosata (Samisat).

79: From the time of the Emperor Constantine the title patrician designated a
high court functionary.

80: Cf. note on page 262.

81: Cf. note page 107.

82: To the same Florentius is addressed the important letter LXXXIX wherein
Theodoret defends himself from charges of heterodoxy. Before 449 he had six
times attained the high position of Prefect of the East.

83: i.e. the ascetic mentioned in letter XLI.

84: Anatolius, consul in 440, was Magister militum in the East. He was a true
friend to Theodoret. This letter may be placed in 444.

85: Proclus was enthroned at Constantinople in 434, on the death of Maximianus.

86: Eustathius of Berytus (Beyrout) was a bad specimen of the time-serving
ecclesiastic. Fierce in his attacks on Ibas, and a prominent member of the
Latrocinium in 449 he narrowly escaped deposition himself at Chalcedon in 451.

87: At Chalcedon Damianus of Sidon voted for the deposition of Dioscorus. (Labbe
Conc. IV. 443.) In this and in the preceding letter we find Theodoret in
friendly communication with representatives of the two antagonistic parties. The
date of the correspondence can only be conjectured.

88: All that is known of Gerontius is his being the recipient of the letter.
"Archimandrite" = arxwn thj mandraj , i.e. ruler of the fold or byre.

89: Neither Agapius nor the bishop mentioned in this letter can be identified.

90: C. 435-457.

91: Nothing seems known of this Cyprian beyond this mention of his expulsion by
the Vandals. The letter is thus dated after 439.

92: Eusebius of Ancyra. The name also appears as Eulalius. Baron. Ann. 440.

93: Tella or (Constantina in Osrhoene. Sophronius was cousin of Ibas of Edessa.

94: Prefect of the East in 447. Theodoret writes to him again when in 448 or 449
Theodosius II had been induced to relegate him to his own diocese. Vide Letters
LXXX and LXXXI.

95: Nomus was consul in 445.

96: cf. Epp. XLI and XCIX, but there are no notes of identity.

97: Dioscorus succeeded Cyril in 444, and this letter is probably dated soon
after.

98: Matt. xi. 29.

99: This name suggests correspondence of date with the preceding.

100: Garnerius gives the conjectural date 447.

101: Cf. I. Cor. xii. 26.

102: Eph. vi. 13.

103: cf. Ep. LXXI. Zeno was consul in 448. Nothing is known of his brother.

104: cf. Ep. XXX. This letter, conveying an invitation to a church which Aerius
had built at Cyrus, his native city, was probably written early in the
episcopate of Theodoret.

105: cf. Ep. VIII.

106: Luke viii. 52.

107: On the seaboard of Cilicia, now Ayas. The date may be 443 or 444.

108: Zeno was Consul in 448. cf. Ep. LXV.

109:

110: cf. Ep. CIII. Apollonius was Comes Sacrarum Largitio. num in 436.

111: Thucydides, (I. 138,) writes of Themistocles that "to a greater degree than
any other man he was to be admired for the natural ability which he displayed;
for by his inborn capacity, he was an unrivalled judge of what the emergency of
the moment required, and unsurpassed in his forecast of he future, and this
without the aid of previous or additional instruction."

112: Theoctistus; who, we learn from Letter CXXXIV, did not prove himself a
friend in need, succeeded Acacius in 438. Garnerius, apparently on insufficient
grounds, would therefore date the letter before this year.

113: cf. p. 262 n.

114: Gen. xxxi. 39.

115: 1 Tim. ii. 4.

116: Baruch iii. 38.

117: On the persecution in Persia see page 157.

118: Luke xxii. 31.

119: I. Cor. xii. 26.

120: Eph. iv. 25.

121: Col. i. 18.

122: John x, 12, John x, 13, John x, 11.

123: Heb. xi. 37, Heb. xi. 38.

124: I. Cor. x. 13.

125: Gal. iv. 19.

126: II. Cor. ii. 7.

127: II. Cor. ii. 11.

128: Psalm xl. 2 and Psalm xl. 3.

129: Ps. xl. 3.

130: "It is noticeable that with systematic discipline as to the persons taught,
there was no order of teachers. It was part of the pastoral office to watch over
the souls of those who were seeking admission to the Church, as well as those
who were in it, and thus bishops, priests, deacons, or readers might all of them
be found, when occasion required, doing the work of a Catechist. The Doctor
Audientium of whom Cyprian speaks, was a Lector in the Church of Carthage.
Augustine's Treatise de Catechizandis Rudibus, was addressed to Deogratias as a
deacon; the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem were delivered by him partly as a
deacon, partly asa presbyter. The word catechist implies accordingly a function,
not a class." Dean Plumptre in Dict. Christ. Ant. i. 319.

131: Cf. I. Cor. iv. 17 and I. Thess. iii. 2.

132: Gen. xxxi. 40. Gen. xxxi. 38. Gen. xxxi. 39.

133: Ezekiel xxxiv. 2, and cf. Ezekiel xxxiv. 17.

134: Cf. Ezekiel iii. 17, Ezekiel iii. 18. Quotations are apparently from
memory.

135: Matt. xxv. 26, Matt. xxv. 27.

136: Lamentations iii. 25.

137: II. Cor. xii. 9.

138: I. Thess. v. 14.

139: Ezekiel 33. 1.

140: Rom. xvi. 20.

141: Mark iv. 39.

142: These letters on the Persian persecution might be placed anywhere while it
lasted c. 420-450. Garnerius suggests 443. Eulalius and Eusebius are unknown.

143: cf. Epp. XLV. XCII. CXI. CXIX. CXXI. CXXXVIII.

144: This edict of Theodosius is dated by Tillemont March 30, 449. Theodoret
received the order for his relegation to Cyrus while he was at Antioch, and at
once submitted.

145: The allusion appears to be to the edict of Feb. 448, ordering the
deposition of Theodoret's friend Irenaeus bishop of Tyre, on the ground of his
being a digamus and a heretic. Irenaeus was degraded from the priesthood and
forbidden to appear in Tyre. cf. Epp. III. XII. XVI. XXXV.

146: Acts v. 29.

147: Romans xiv. 10.

148: Vide Letter LVII.

149: This brings us to about the year 423, when Theodoret was consecrated bishop
at the approximate age of 30, after passing seven years in the monastery of
Nicerte, three miles from Apamea, and one hundred and twenty from Cyrus. Cf. Ep.
CXIX.

150:

151: Acts xxv, 16. Observe the variations in the citation.

152: Cf. note on page 276.

153: II. Tim. iii. 12.

154: Eusebius was present at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 Mansi vi. 565 c.
See also Letter CIX. A Latin translation of this letter is in Baronius ann. 443.

155: The works mentioned are ( a ) those on the Octateuch, the Books of Samuel,
Kings, and Chronicles, the Psalms, Can-ticles, and the Prophets; ( b g ) XII
Books on the mysteries of the Faith; ( e z h g ) and ( z ) are lost.

156: Ex. xxiii. 1, lxx. and marg.

157: Domnus succeeded his Uncle John at Antioch in 441.

158: II. Cor. xii. 11.

159: The first formal insertion of the addition filloque is said to be in a
Creed put forth at a council of Toledo about a.d. 400. At the third council of
Toledo a.d. 589, the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed was promulgated with the
addition - "ex Ppatre et Filio procedentem."

160: Heb. i. 3.

161: Rom. ix. 5.

162: Rom. i. 3, Rom. i. 4.

163: cf. note on page 213.

164: Eph. iv. 5.

165: I. Cor. viii. 6.

166: Heb. xiii. 8.

167: Ephes. iv. 10.

168: John i. 14.

169: John i. 15.

170: John xx. 28.

171: This encyclical is probably of the same date as the preceding.

172: I. Cor. viii. 6.

173: Ephes. iv. 5.

174: John iii. 13.

175: John vi. 62.

176: There appears to be nothing in this letter or in Letter CII. also addressed
to bishop Basil to identify the recipient. Basil bishop of Seleucia in Isauria
was at the Latrocinium and at Chalcedon. Basil, bishop of Trajanopolis was also
present at the same councils.Garnerius is in favour of the former, and notes the
date as 448.

177: I. Cor. xiii. 13.

178: Vide note on p. 44.

179: Ps. cxx. 6 and Ps. cxx. 7. Ps. Ixx.

180: This important letter may be placed between the sentence of deposition
issued by Dioscorus in Feb. 448 and the imperial edict of March 449; probably
before November 448, when Eutyches was arraigned before the Synod of
Constantinople presided over by Flavian.

181: cf. Letter LX, written probably not long after the consecration of
Dioscorus in 444.

182: i.e. in Constantinople in 381. The second Canon of the Council is referred
to, - confining each bishop to his own "diocese," i.e. a tract comprising more
than one province. So the bishop of Alexandria was restricted to Egypt.

183: The immediate cause of this enactment by the Constantinopolitan Fathers was
the interference of Peter of Alexandria in the appointment to the see of
Constantinople, when the orthodox party nominated Gregory of Nazianzus. cf. p.
136.

184: The third Canon of Constantinople had enacted that henceforth the see of
the new capital should rank next after Rome. In the text the precedence of
Antioch before Alexandria is based on association with St. Peter. "The so-called
Cathedra Petri, which is kept in a repository of the wall of the apse of the
Vatican Basilica," and was "exhibited in 1866" "is probably a throne made for or
presented to Charles the Bold in 875." Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1960. For the
connexion of St. Peter with Antioch see Routh Rell. Sac. i. 179.

185: Domnus of Apamea is to be distinguished from Domnus II, bishop of Antioch
the recipient of Letters XXXI, CX, CXII and CLXXX. He was present at Chalcedon
in 451. This letter may be placed in 448-9.

186: Romans xii. 15. Observe the inversion.

187: The action of the Osrhoene clergy here referred to is their accusation of
Theodoret's friend Ibas of Edessa. The "sentence" was that of excommunication
delivered by Ibas. The leaders of the cabal against him were instigated by
Uranius, bishop of Himeria, one of Ibas's suffragans. cf. note on p. 291.

188: Matt. v. 11, Matt. v. 12.

189: Garnerius dates Letters LXXXVIII-CIX in 447. They belong rather to 448-449.

190: Florentius, Praefect of the Imperial Guard, and already six times Praefect
of the East, was present as a lay commissioner at the trial of Eutyches in 449
and at Chalcedon in 451.

191:

192: Heb. iv. 13.

193: vide p. 267.

194: This appears to be merely a figurative description of the inconsistency of
the charges, for there was no question of Theodoret's being a "digamos."

195: II. Cor. v. 10.

196: Seven Letters are addressed to Anatolius; viz., XLV, LXXIX, XCII, CXI,
CXIX, CXXI, and CXXXVIII.

197: Heb. xii. 2.

198: Protogenes was Praefect of the East and Consul in 449 and was present at
the Council of Chalcedon.

199: Antiochus was Consul in 431.

200: cf. Letters LVIII and LXXXI. Nomus the consul and Nomus the patrician are
distinguished in Schulze's Index to the Letters, but there seems no reason to
doubt their identity. Nomus the powerful minister of Theodosius II. was consul
in 445 and patrician in 449, to which year this third letter may be referred.

201: Matt. xviii. 15.

202: Ephes. iv. 26.

203: Il. ix. 256. cf. pp. 104 and 255.

204: Matt. v. 23, Matt. v. 24.

205:

206: Cf. Letter XXXIV.

207: II. Tim. i. 16 and II. Tim. i. 18.

208: Matt. viii. 26.

209: "Fuit vero antigrafeuj 210: Isaiah lix. 5.

211: cf. Letter XIV.

212: Cf. Letter LXXXV. There seems nothing to indicate whether this Basil is
Basil of Seleucia or Basil of Trajanopolis, both of whom were present at the
Latrocinium and took part against Theodoret. Garnerius refers it to the former,
a time-server of the court.

213: Matt. xviii. 10 and Matt. xviii. 6.

214: Leviticus xix. 15.

215: John vii. 24.

216: Ex. xxiii. 2.

217: Isaiah xxxiii. 15. Observe the inversion.

218:

219:

220: Compare Letter LXXXVI.

221: II. Cor. i. 12.

222: Rom. ix. 1.

223: Heb. ii. 16. Heb. ii. 17.

224: Gal. iii. 16.

225: i.e. Manes.

226: emyuxon .

227: yuxh and nouj .

228: cf. pp. 132 and 140.

229: Disciple of Marcellus. cf. Soc. ii. 30. Theodoret, in his interpretation of
the Ep. to the Hebrews, links him with Sabellius. (Ed. Migne. iii. 547.) 230:
cf. p. 139.

231: Patriarch of Antioch 260-270. Bp. Wordsworth calls him "the Socinus of the
3rd c." Samosata (Samsat) was capital of the Commagene in Syria.

232: In an ecclesiastical sense the title (economus was used of 233: Gal. vi. 7.

234: Psalm xxxvii. 5. Psalm xxxvii. 6.

235: On the care of orphans in the early church vide Ig. Ep. Smyrn. VI. and Bp.
Lightfoot's note. At Constantinople the Orphanotrophus was a priest of high
rank.

236: Cf. Letter LXXXII.

237: John xv. 33.

238: John xv. 20.

239: Matt. 25.

240: John xvi. 2.

241: Math. vii. 14.

242: Math. x. 23.

243: II. Tim. iii. 12. II. Tim. iii. 13.

244: Garnerius supposes this to refer to Dial. II.

245: I. Cor. xiii. 9.

246: I. Cor. viii. 2.

247: The route of the bishops would be by land, in consequence of the dangers of
the sea voyage in winter time. From Ancyra (Angora) they would follow the course
of the Sangarius into Bithynia, and would cross thence via Chalcedon to
Constantinople.

248: This letter is placed by Garnerius in the end of 447 on account of its
allusion to Proclus, who died in October 447, and to the deposition of Iren`us
of Tyre, for which the formal edict was issued in Feb. 448, but which was
perhaps rumoured earlier. But by some the death of Proclus is placed a year
earlier.

249: Hist. of Susannah 22.

250: Of the blessed Principius nothing is known. cf. Tillemont, XV. 267.

251: "The phraseology of this letter has given rise to much misapprehension. The
use of the first person has led some to suppose that Theodoret, who belonged to
another province, was the consecrator of Irenaeus, or that he took part in his
consecration, or even with the Abbé Martin (le Pseudo-Synode d'Éphèse, pp. 84,
85) that it is erroneously ascribed to Theodoret, and was really written by
Domnus. It is clear from the tenor of the epistle that it was written by
Theodoret, and that the first person is employed by him as writing in Domnus'
name. (Tillemont xv. pp. 871, 872.)" Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 281 n.

252: It is uncertain who this Diogenes was; he cannot have been Diogenes of
Cyzicus, for he was alive and present at Chalcedon in 451.

253: No more is known of Domninus or Praylius. cf. p. 157. "It is clear from the
Philosophumena of Hippolytus (ix, 12.) that by the beginning of the third
century the rule of monogamy for the clergy was well established, since he
complains that in the days of Callistus `digamist and trigamist bishops,
priests, and deacons began to be admitted. 0'" Dict. Christ. Ant. i. 552.

254: The Pontic Diocese is one of the twelve civil divisions of the
Constantinian empire.

255: This letter is in reply to that written by Anatolius on the receipt of
Letter XCII. Garnerius, who places the decree of relegation earlier than
Tillemont, dates it at about the end of April 448.

256: The leaders of the attack on Ibas, (bishop of Edessa and metropolitan, in
436) were four presbyters, Samuel, Cyrus, Eulogius, and Maras. The cabal chose
the moment for action when Domnus visited Hierapolis for the enthrontzation of
Stephen, and in 445 Ibas was summoned by Domnus to Antioch, but did not come. In
448 the eighteen charges - some frivolous, some of gross heresy - were formally
heard, and Domnus decided in favor of Ibas. cf. p. 283, note.

257: i.e. recommended Ibas not to excommunicate his accusers.

258: Col. i. 5.

259: Garnerius points out that the indications of the date of this letter are
clear. It mentions the imperial summons to the Latrocinium, and contains
Theodoret's advice to Domnus as to what companions he should take with him. It
must therefore be placed between the arrival of the summons at Antioch and the
departure of Domnus for Ephesus. The summons is dated the 30th of March, and
appointed the 1st of August for themeeting. Antioch is a clear thirty days'
journey from Ephesusand Domnus had not yet chosen his companions. We may
therefore date the letter in the May of 449.

260: Presumably Irenaeus of Tyre.

261: i.e., in 361. For Theodoret's account of the circumstances vide pp. 92, 93.

262: Cyril wrote his IIIrd letter to Nestorius probably on Nov. 3, 430. "To the
end of the letter were appended twelve `articles 0' or `chapters, 0' couched in
the form of anathematisms against the various points of the Nestorian theory."
"These propositions were not well calculated to reclaim Nestorius; nor were they
indeed so worded throughout as to approve themselves to all who essentially
agreed with Cyril as to the personal Deity of Christ. On the contrary the
abruptness of their tone, and a certain one-sidedness ...made some of them open,
prima facie, to serious criticism from persons who, without being Nestorians,
felt that in the attack on Nestorianism the truth of Christ's real and permanent
manhood might be in danger of losing its due prominence." Canon Bright, Dict.
Christ. Biog. i. 766.

263: Dioscorus succeeded Cyril at Midsummer, 444.

264: i.e. John of Antioch. He reached Ephesus June 27, 431.

265: Eutherius of Tyana (Kiliss Hissar in Karamania) was a strong Nestorian, and
signed the appeal of Nestorius after his deposition in 431. On July 17th John
and his adherents were deposed. Firmus of the Cappadocian C`sarea (still
"Kasaria") himself a graceful letter writer, was an anti-Nestorian. Theodotus of
Ancyra also sided with Cyril.

266: i.e. Cyril and Memnon. "No sooner had John reached Ephesus, than before the
had washed and dressed after his journey, in the inn itself, late at night, in
secret session, by the connivance of the Count Candidianus, a sentence was
passed on Cyril and Memnon - on Cyril on the accusation of Theodoret." Cf.
Garnerius Hist. Theod., and Cyril. Ep. ad Caelest. Labbe iii. 663.

267: John of Antioch sent Paul of Emesa to confer with Cyril on terms of peace
in 432.

268: Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem, not to Peter, but "unto the
Apostles and elders." Acts xv. 2. Peter took a leading part in the discussion,
but the "sentence" was pronounced not by Peter, but by James, and the decree was
that of "the Apostles and elders with the whole Church." The slight "wresting"
of the scriptures of which Theodoret is guilty is due rather to a desire to
compliment an important personage than in anticipation of later controversies.

269: Rome was the only apostolic see in the West.

270: Rom. i. 8.

271: The traditional places of sepulture are, of half of each of the holy
bodies, the shrine of SS. Peter and Paul in the crypt of St. Peter's; of the
remaining moiety of St. Peter the Lateran; of St. Paul, St. Paolo fuori le Mura.

272: Kolofwn . cf. note on page 262.

273: St. Paul is treated as in a sense bishop of Rome. The idea may have some
bearing on the hypothesis sometimes adopted, to avoid the difficulties in the
early Roman succession, that there was a Gentile line derived from St. Paul, who
ordained Linus, and after him Cletus; and that for the Jewish brethren St. Peter
ordained Clement.

274: His dogmatic epistles and his sermons. He is not known to have written any
large treatise.

275: Dioscorus presided, and next him sat Julius of Puteoli, who in company with
the presbyter Renatus, and the deacon Hilarius (successor to Leo in the papacy)
had carried to Flavian the famous "tome" of Leo in June 449. Leo (Epp. XXXII.
and XXXIV.) describes his legates as sent "delatere meo." According to one
version of the story Renatus died at Delos on the way out. Labbe IV: 1079.

276: Patriarch at Antioch 420-429.

277: No word exactly renders the title of these ministers, discharging functions
of an episcopal kind, though without high responsibility. They are first
mentioned in the Councils of Ancyra and of Neo-Caesarea and fifteen of them
subscribed the decrees of Nicaea.

278: Exarch, in .its most ordinary eccleslastical sense nearly equivalent to
patriarch, came also to be used of officers charged with the visitation of
monasteries.

279: If born in 386 (Garnerius), Theodoret would now be 63. Tillemont says 393.

280: The tone of this letter, it need hardly be said, is quite inconsistent with
the later idea of an "appeal to Rome." It is "an appeal," but the appeal of a
wronged man for the sup port, succour, and advice, of a brother bishop of the
highest position and character. It does not on the face of it suggest that Leo
has any authority to review or alter the sentence of the council. Tillemont
(Mém. Ecc. xv. 294) observes that though addressed to Leo in person the appeal
is really made to the bishops of the West in council. Leo remonstrated, but
Theodosius and his court maintained that the decrees of the Latrocinium must
stand.

281: In Migne's edition here follows the reply of Leo to Theodoret, which
appears as Letter CXX. in the works of Leo.

282: Written after the deposition at Ephesus, and when Theodoret is either on
the point of departing, or has departed, from Cyrus to the Apamean monastery.
The simultaneous exercise of the clerical and medical professions points perhaps
to the continuance of the class of "Silverless martyrs," i.e. physicians who
took no fee but healed on condition that their patients should turn to Christ.
The legendary Saints of the un-feed faculty are Cosmo and Damian, the brothers
whose church occupies the site of the Temple of Remus, or of the Penates, in the
Roman Forum.

283: This letter will be of the same date as CXIII. Theodoret was aware that Leo
was to be represented at the Latrocinium by Renatus as well as by Julius of
Puteoli and the archdeacon Hilarius, but had not heard that he had never reached
Ephesus. We are told on the authority of Felix, the author of the "Breviarium
Hoeresis Eutychianoe" that Renatus died at Delos on the way out, This death is
however discredited by Quesnel and some other authorities.

284: Numbers xxv. 7.

285: Hilarius did leave Ephesus before the second session of the council (Cf.
Leo Ep. XLVI) and before the deposition of Theodoret. The "massacre" may refer
to the brutal treatment of Flavian by the adherents and bullies of Dioscorus.

286: i.e. Leo.

287: This is more or less true up to the time of Leo the great, but Leo the
great was the first pope who was an eminent theologian. Liberius is a doubtful
case. Cf. page 76.

288: The Monothelite Controversy dates from two centuries after Theodoret, when
Heraclius was trying to bring about religious union in his empire. Pope Honorius
asserted two energies, but one will. Monothelitism was definitely condemned at
Constantinople in 681, and Honorius anathematized.

289: There were at this time two well known personages of the name of Florentius
to whom this letter may possibly have been addressed. Florentius the patrician,
recipient of Letter LXXXIX., and Florentius bishop of Sardis. Against the former
hypothesis are the terms of the letter; against the latter the character and
sympathies of the metropolitan of Lydia, it as Garuerius thinks, he was an
Eutychian. Canon Venables (Dict. Christ Bios. II. 540) supposes a Florentius
bishop of a nameless western see. Garnerius and others think the letter was
probably really addressed to the clergy or bishops assembled in synod at Rome.

290: Romans ix. 25.

291: Vide page 72.

292: Cf. note on page 293. Garnerius however is doubtful whether the archdeacon
is Hilarius or another. The evidence seems in favour of the identity.

293: This letter is of the same date as the rest of the present series.
Theodoret has heard of his deposition and is expecting the sentence of
banishment.

294: Cf. Psalm xix. 4.

295: Gen. xviii. 20. Gen. xviii. 21.

296: i.e. Nicerte.

297: Garnerius reads Lupicinus and identifies him with the recipient of Letter
XC. Letter CXX is of the same date as the preceding.

298: This letter may be dated shortly after Letter CXIX. Garnerius points out
that it contains it short summary of the orthodox tradition, but makes no
mention of the council of Ephesus in 431.

299: The two following letters are written from the monaster at Nicerte where
Theodoret found a retreat after his banishment from Cyrus. Garnerius would place
the former late in 449, and the latter early in 450.

300: Uranius, bishop of Emesa in Ph`nicia, was present at the two trials of
Ibas, at Tyre in February and at Berytus in September 448. At the Latrocinium he
was accused of immorality and of episcopal usurpation. It was during his
episcopate that the head of the Baptist was supposed to be found at Emesa. Cf.
notes on pp. 96 and 242.

301: Cf. note on p. 72. Here oikonomia erwneia 302: II. Tim. iv. 2.

303: Acts xviii. 9.

304: Isaiah lviii. 1.

305: Exodus xix. 21.

306: Ezekiel iii. 17. Ezekiel iii. 19. inexact quotation.

307: Ephes. vi. 14.

308: Heb. x. 38. Cf. Hab. ii. 4. Sept. Note inverted quotation of Habakkuk.

309: Heb. x. 37.

310: Rom. ii. 6.

311: I. Cor. vii. 31.

312: Jonah ii. 8.

313: II. Cor. xii. 9.

314: Cf. Letter LXVII. This letter may be dated during Theodoret's banishment to
Nicerte in 449, and is evidently in reply to a letter of condolence from the
advocate.

315: I. Cor. xii. 26.

316: Phil. ii. 6 and Phil. ii. 7.

317: I. Cor. xv. 20. I. Cor. xv. 21. I. Cor. xv. 22.

318: cf. Luke xxii. 31.

319: Sabinianus succeeded Athanasius bishop of Perrha on the deposition of the
latter at Antioch in 445. He was deposed at the Latrocinium and Athanasius
restored. Both bishops signed at Chalcedon as bishops of Perrha (Labbe iv, 602,
590. Dict: Christ: Biog: iv, 574. The letter may be dated 450. Theodoret chides
Sabinianus for appealing to the dominant wrong doers against his expulsion.

320: Johius was an orthodox archimandrite of Constantinople, and subscribed the
deposition of Eutyches by the hand of his deacon Andreas at Constantinople in
448. (Labbe iv, 232) In 450 Leo addresses him with other archimandrites (Ep.
LXXI page 1012). This letter seems to have been written about the time of the
Latrocinium.

321: Gen. xiii. 15.

322: Ex. xvii. 13.

323: I. Sam. vii. 12.

324: Garnerius would date this letter at the time of the council of Chalcedon.

325: Garnerius supposes that this Antoninus is the same as the Antoninus
mentioned as living in Theodoret's Religious History and thinks that the
Solitary may have become an Archimandrite after 445 when the Religious History
was written, but the mss. vary as to the superscription of the letter, which may
be addressed to Magnus, Antonius and others.

326: Joshua i. 5.

327: Matthew xxviii. 20.

328: Psalm cxviii. 6.

329: Timotheus was Bishop of Doliche, a town of the Euphratensis. He was present
at Antioch when Athanasius of Perrha was deposed, and also at Chalcedon. The
letter may be dated from Nicerte in 450.

330: Luke ii. 11.

331: Luke i. 31.

332: Matt. i. 21. Observe the confusion of quotation.

333: Phil. ii. 6.

334: John i. 1.

335: The word tetraktuj commonly expresses the sum of the first four numbers in
the Pythagorean system, i.e. 10, the root of creation; (1+2+3+4=10.) Cf. the
Pythagorean oath " Nai ma ton ametera yuxa paradonta tetraktun ." Its use for
tetradeion or tetradion (cf. Acts xii. 4) may indicate acceptance of the theory
of the mystic and necessary number of the gospels of which early and remarkable
expression is found in Irenaeus (cont. Haer. iii. 11.) 336: Matt. xxviii. 6.

337: Acts viii. 2.

338: There were many martyrs of the name of Julianus. Theodoret might have
visited a shrine of Julianus martyred at Emesa in the reign of Numerian. A
Romanus was one of the seven martyrs at Samosata in the persecution of
Diocletian. Among martyred Timothei was one who suffered at Gaza in 304.

339: John vi. 51.

340: Luke xxii. 19.

341: I. Cor. xi. 24.

342: The name is omitted.

343: Garnerius identifies the "short instruction" with the composition mentioned
in letter CIX. and sent to Eusebius of Ancyra; and the bishop whose name is
omitted with the same Eusebius. But in his note on CIX, he thinks this
composition is a part of Dial. II. It would seem from this letter that the
composition in question was distinct from the Dialogues.

344: Sent presumably at the same time as the preceding. Nothing is recorded of
Longinus. It will be remembered that the name, recorded also in the Acts of
Linus as that of an officer commanding the executioners of St. Paul, is assigned
by tradition to the soldier who wounded the Saviour's side.

345: Matt. xxv. 36.

346: Matt. xxv. 40.

347: Matt. xviii. 6.

348: Matt. xxv. 40.

349: Eph. iv. 14, and Eph. vi. 11. As in the case of the former citation
Theodoret seems to be quoting from memory, and coupling the two passages in
which the word meqodeia occurs. "Wiles" fits in better with the evident allusion
to Eph. vi. 11, than the periphrasis by which A. V. renders iv. 14, and for
which the revisers substitute "the wiles of error." " meqodeia " may be exactly
described as " h apostolikh fwnh ," for it occurs nowhere but in these two
passages.

350: To console him under the unjust sentence of the Latrocinium.

351: It will be remembered that Flavianus had actually died from the brutal
treatment he had received at the hands-and the feet-of Dioscorus with his
partisans and bullies, and "migravit ad Dominum dolore plagarum," Aug. 11, 449,
three days after he was carried from St. Mary's at Ephesus to his dungeon.
(Liberatus Brev. xix. Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 858.)

352: John of Germanicia (vide p. 86 n.) was on the Nestorian side at Ephesus in
431, and so naturally associated with Theodoret. At Chalcedon he was compelled
to pronounce a special anathema against Nestorius. (Mansi vii. 193, Dict.
Christ. Biog. iii. 374.) The letter is written after the deposition and before
the banishment to Nicerte. Cf. Ep. 147.

353: Ps. ix. 6, 7, lxx.

354: Ps. xviii. 16, 17.

355: This letter marks the change in the condition of affairs which followed on
the death of Theodosius on July 29, 450, and the accession of Pulcheria and
Marcian. Eutyches was exiled, the eunuch Chrysaphius banished and executed, and
Theodoret recalled. It may be placed in the autumn of 450 or early in 451. The
earlier letter (xxxii) to Theoctistus claims on behalf of Celestinianus a
kindness which Theodoret in his then hour of need had failed to receive.

356: Matt. xxii. 36-40.

357: cf. Matt. v. 44. Matt. v. 46 instead of tina misqon exete&Eaxute\ the text
has ti pleon poieite .

358: The use of the somewhat rare and poetical word Bora suggests a possible
allusion to several well known passages in the dramatists; e.g. Aesch. Pr. 583,
Soph. Ant. 30 and Eur. Phoen. 1603.

359: Psalm lxxv. 8 and 9.

360: Psalm xxxvii. 20.

361: Psalm lxxii. 18, 19.

362: Romulus, bishop of Chalcis in Coele Syria, sided with the dominant
haeretical party through pusillanimity. He was at Chalcedon in 451. Who may have
been his crab.gaited friend can only be conjectured.

363: I. Kings xx. 42.

364: There is here neither note of time, nor certainty whether this Cyrus is the
Cyrus who is thanked in Ep. XIII. for the Lesbian wine. The superscriptions of
both letters are unfavourable to theories identifying him with any possible
bishop of the name.

365: Romans xii. 15.

366: Job i. 21, lxx.

367: Wisdom iv. Wisdom ii.

368: A Johannes was an Archimandrite of Constantinople and was present at
Chalcedon in 451, (Labbe iv. 512 d) but there is no evidence to identify the
recipient of the present letter, which may be dated from Nicerte not long after
the death of Theodosius.

369: Psalm lxxviii. 65 and 66.

370: This is the last of the series of Theodoret's letters to his illustrious
friend. It expresses his gratitude for his restitution by Marcian and begs
Anatolius to use his best endeavours to get a council called to settle the
difficulties of the Church. The letter thus dates itself in the year 451 and
indicates that the calling of the council of Chalcedon was to some extent due to
Theodoret's initiative. At the earlier sessions at Chalcedon Marcian was
represented by Anatolious, and it was partly the authority of Anatolius which
overbore the protests of Dioscorus and his party against the admission of
Theodoret.

371: Marcian was crowned Emperor on August the 24th 450. Theodosius II. had died
on the preceding 28th of July.

372: "Dioscorus presided, and next to him Julian, or Julius, the representative
of the `most holy bishop of the Roman Church 0' then Juvenal of Jerusalem,
Domnus of Antioch, and, his lowered position indicating what was to come,
Flavian of Constantinople." Canon Bright in Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 856; Mansi.
vi. 607.

373: Phil. i. 29.

374: cf. p. 155 n. "A sudden and total revolution at once took place. The change
was wrought, - not by the commanding voice of ecclesiastical authority, - not by
the argumentative eloquence of any great writer, who by his surpassing abilities
awed the world into peace, - not by the reaction of pure Christian charity,
drawing the conflicting parties together by evangelic love. It was a new dynasty
on the throne of Constantinople. The feeble Theodosius dies; the masculine
Pulcheria, the champion and the pride of orthodoxy, the friend of Flavianus and
Leo ascends the throne, and gives her hand, with a share of the empire, to a
brave soldier Marcianus." Milman, Lat. Christ. 1. 264.

375:

376:

377: Matt. xviii. 17.

378: Matt. v. 45.

379: The Acoemetae, "sleepless," or "unresting," were an order of monks
established in the 5th century by Alexander, an officer of the imperial
household. Marcellus, the third Abbot, was a second founder, and was warmly
supported by the patriarch Gennadius of Constantinople. (458-71.) Before
Chalcedon he joined with other orthodox abbots to petition Marcian against
Eutyches. (Labbe iv. 531 Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 813). Alexander's foundation
was of 300 monks of various nations, divided into six choirs, and so arranged
that the work of praise and prayer should "never rest." This has been copied
elsewhere and since, 380: Matt. xvi. 18.

381: Phil. i. 29.

382: John viii. 44.

383: Matt. v. 11, Matt. v. 12.

384: Garnerius identifies this Andrew with an archimandrite who was in favour of
the deposition of Eutyches at Flavian's Constantinopolitan Council in 448.

385: "No one," says Garnerius "will have any doubt as to the reference being to
Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodorus of Mopsuestia who compares the words used with
Letter XVI, with the end of Dialogue I, and with expressions in both the
ecclesiastical and religious history." Cf. pp. 256, 175, 133, and 136.

386: From the mention at the end of the letter of the epistle of Leo to
Flavianus, Garnerius argues that it must be dated at the end of 449 or somewhat
later. The epistle of Leo is dated on the 13th of June and could not have
reached Theodoret in his detention at Cyrus till the autumn.

387: Luke vi. 30.

388: Malachi iii. 6.

389: Ps. cii. 27.

390: Matt. xxviii. 6.

391: Acts viii. 2.

392: Gen. xlix. 29.

393: Gen. xlix. 31.

394: Cf. note onp. 30 3. Among martyred Dionysii were (i) one of the Seven
Sleepers of Ephesus, (ii) one at Tripoli (iii) another at Corinth, (iv and v)
and two at Caesarea, in the persecution of Diocletian. Cosmas and Damianus are
the famous semi-mythical physicians, the Silverless Martyrs. Vide p. 295.

395: Matthew xxviii. 6.

396: Damas. Epist. ad Paulinum.

397: Leo Epist. ad Flavianum.

398: Hebrews vi. 18.

399: II. Tim. ii. 13.

400: II. Tim. ii. 14.

401: Matt. xxv. 23.

402: This, remarks Garnerius, is less a letter than a prolix exposition of
Theodoret's view of the Incarnation. Theodoret mentions his condemnation at the
Latrocinium and the exile of Eutyches, but says nothing of the favourable action
towards himself of Marcianus. Theodosius died on the 29th of July, and Marcian
began his reign on the 25th of August, 450. Theodoret could not possibly hear of
the exile of Eutyches before the end of September. The document may therefore be
dated in the late autumn of 450 before Theodoret had received the imperial
permission to return to Cyrus.

403: John xv. 20.

404: Matt. x. 25.

405: Matt. x. 26.

406: Ps. xcvi. 13.

407: mustagwgountej. mustagwgew came ultimately to equal "baptize." The word and
its correlatives had long passed out of special mystic use. In Cicero a
mustagwgoj is a "Cicerone" (Verr. iv. 59) and Strabo uses mustagwgein for to be
a guide. (812.)

408: Reference appears to be made here to offices at the 3d, 6th, and 9th hours,
and to morning and evening services, without specification of their number.

409: Ephes. iv. 5.

410: I. Cor. viii. 6.

411: i.e. the life common to man with animals and plants. cf. p. 194 n.

412: Gen. ii. 7.

413: Matt. x. 28.

414: Acts ii. 30 and Acts ii. 31. Ps. xvi. 10.

415: John ii. 19.

416: John x. 18. John x. 17. Observe the inversion and inexactitude.

417: John x. 17 and John x. 15.

418: John xii. 27.

419: Matt. xxvi. 38.

420: John vi. 51.

421: I. Cor. xi. 24. Matt. xxvi. 28. But it is to be noticed that for St. Paul's
word klwmenon , i.e. "being broken," Theodoret substitutes qruptomenon , i.e.
"being crushed," or "broken small," a verb not used by the evangelists. And the
clause "for the remission of sins" is misplaced.

422: Matt xxvi 28.

423: John vi. 53.

424: John vi. 54.

425: Cf. note on page 302.

426: Phil. iii. 20 and Phil. iii. 21.

427: Matt. xvi. 28. Observe variation. The mss. agree.

428: Cf. Matt. xxxvii. 1, 2.

429: Acts i. 11.

430: Cf. p. 199. n.

431: Bel and the Dragon. 36.

432: I. Cor. xv. 42. I. Cor. xv. 43.

433: I. Thess. iv. 17.

434: Ex. xxiii. 1.

435: Deut. i. 16.

436: Cf. note on page 288. This letter, or rather doctrinal statement is
incomplete. Garnerius supposes it to have been written during Theodoret's
retirement after the Council of Chalcedon. There he cut himself off from society
and wished to devote himself to study and contemplation.

437: I. Cor. viii. 6.

438: I. Thess. iii. 11.

439: II. Thess. ii. 16, II. Thess. ii. 17.

440: Romans xv. 30.

441: I. Cor. i. 10.

442: II. Cor. 13. 14.

443: Romans i. 1.

444: I. Cor. i. 1.

445: Titus i. 1.

446: Romans i. 7.

447: Romans xvi. 4.

448: Matt. i. 21.

449: Deut. viii. 15.

450: Psalm cxii. 4.

451: Hebrews vii. 21.

452: Hebrews iv. 14.

453: Psalm xlv. 6.

454: Psalm xlv. 7.

455: Psalm ii. 6, 7, 8, LXX.

456: Psalm ii. 1, Psalm ii. 2.

457: Matt. xvi. 16.

458: It will be observed that our author omits the verse containing the famous
paronomasia, and that what he regards the Saviour as confirming is not any
supposed authority on the part of the speaker but the identification of Himself
with the Christ and of the Christ with the Son of the living God.

459: I. Cor. iii. 10, I. Cor. iii. 11.

460: Gal. ii. 19.

461: Phil. i. 21.

462: I. Cor. ii. 2.

463: I. Cor. i. 23, I. Cor. i. 24.

464: Gal. i. 15, Gal. i. 16.

465: Romans i. 1-4.

466: Romans ix. 5.

467: Titus ii. 13.

468: Ephes. v. 5. Here the A. V. rather obscures the force of the original. The
R. V. alters to "in the kingdom of Christ and God," but even this hardly brings
out Theodoret's views of en th basileia tou Xristou kai Qeou , "in the kingdom
of the Christ and God." The mss. do not vary. At the same time it will be borne
in mind that the anarthrous use of " Qeoj ) 469: Luke ii. 11.

470: Gen. vi. 2.

471: Exodus iv. 22.

472: Deut. xxxii. 43, lxx.

473: Is. i. 2.

474: Psalm lxxxii. 6.

475: Romans viii. 14-17.

476: Gal. iv. 6. Gal iv. 7.

477: Ephes. i. 4. Ephes i. 5. Observe the position of "in love" which agrees
with the margin of R. V.

478: Psalm l. 1, lxx.

479: Psalm lxxxii. 6.

480: Exodus ii. 28.

481: Jeremiah x. 11.

482: This seems to be an inaccurate quotation of Baruch vi. 11. cf. p. 165 n.

483: Isaiah xliv. 16.

484: Isaiah xliv. 17.

485: Isaiah xliv. 20, lxx.

486: Psalm xcvi. 5.

487: I. Cor. viii. 5. I. Cor. viii. 6.

488: Psalm cxlvi. 4.

489: Song of the three holy children 63.

490: Psalm civ. 4.

491: Matt. xii. 43. Luke xi. 26. Observe difference of tense and variation.

492: Ephes. iii. 14. R. V. marg. It will be seen that the argument of Theodnret
does not admit of the translation "whole family" as in A. V.

493: II. Cor. xi. 2.

494: Ephes. v. 25.

495: Ephes. v. 31. Ephes v. 32.

496: Gal. iii. 13.

497: Rom. vi. 3.

498: Rom. iii. 27.

499: Rom. xiii. 14.

500: Canticles ii. 16. Canticles ii. 3.

501: Acts xi. 26. "The word seems to have been in the first instance a nickname
fastened by the heathen populace of Antioch on the followers of Christ, who
still continued to style themselves the `disciples 0' or the `saints 0' or the
`brethren 0' or the `believers, 0' and the like. The biting gibes of the
Antiochene populace which stung to the quick successive emperors - Hadrian, M.
Aurelius, Severus, Julian - would be little disposed to spare the helpless
adherents of this new `superstition. 0' Objection indeed has been taken to the
Antiochene origin of the name on the ground that the termination is Roman, like
Pompeianus, Caesarianus, and the like. But this termination, if it was Latin,
was certainly Asiatic likewise, as appears from such words as 'Asianoj,
baktria/oj, Sardianoj, Trallianoj, 'Areianoj, Menandrta/oj, Sabellianoj 502:
Isaiah lxv. 15, 16, lxx.

503: Acts ii. 38. "Believe" substituted for "repent."

504: i.e. of Caesarea. The Cappadocian Caesarea originally called Mazaca is
still Kasaria.

505: Heb. iv. 14. On the opinion of the Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the
Hebrews cf. note on page 37. The Alexandrian view is shewn to have affected the
Eastern Church. For the reading "Jesus Christ" instead of Jesus the Son of God
on which Theodoret's argument depends there is no manuscript authority.

506: Heb. ix, 24.

507: Heb. vi, 19, Heb. vi, 20.

508: Titus ii, 13. Cf. note on page 319 on the passage Ephes. v, 5. Here,
however, the position of the article is in favour of the interpretation "Jesus
Christ, the great God and our Saviour" which was generally adopted by the Greek
orthodox Fathers in their controversy with the Arians and by the majority of
ancient and modern commentators. But see Afford ad loc. for such arguments as
may be adduced in favour of taking swthr as anarthrous like Qeoj .

509: I Thess. 1. 9, I Thess 1. 10.

510: I Thess. iii. 12, I Thess iii. 13.

511: II Thess. ii. 1.

512: II Thess. ii. 8.

513: Romans xiv. 10. Romans xiv. 16.

514: Matt. xxiv. 23 and Matt. xxiv. 27.

515: John i. 18. The "no man" of A. V. does not admit of Theodoret's argument.

516: Ex. xxxiii 20, lxx. oudeij oyetai .

517: II. Cor. v. 16.

518: I. Cor. v. 17.

519: II. Cor. v. 4.

520: I. Cor. xv. 53.

521: Phil iii. 20, Phil iii. 21.

522: Eph. i. 9, Eph i. 10.

523: Rom. xvi. 25, Rom xvi. 26, Rom xvi. 27.

524: Eph. iii. 20, Eph iii. 21.

525: Eph. iii. 14. A. V.

526: Eph. v. 20.

527: Phil. iv. 19.

528: Heb. xiii. 20, Heb. xiii. 21.

529: II. Tim. iv. 1.

530: I. Tim. vi. 13. I Tim. vi. 14. Tim. vi. 15. I Tim vi. 16.

531: Matt. i. 1.

532: The following letters omitted in the volume of Sirmondus have been
published in the Auctarium of Garnerius and elsewhere. The following letter
number CXLVII is the CXXVth in all the manuscripts. Schulze remarks that he
would have replaced it in its own rank but for the confusion which would thus
have been introduced in quotation. John, bishop of Germanicia is also the
recipient of Letter CXXXIII. This is written a few days after the former, late
in 449 or at the beginning of 450.

533: i.e. the twelve articles or chapters couched in the form of anathema
against the heads of Nestorian doctrine, appended to Cyril's third letter to
Nestorius.

534: It has been pointed out before (Page 293) that at the Latrocinium Domnus
was compelled to yield his presidential seat as Patriarch of Antioch, Dioscorus
presiding, the Roman legate sitting second, and Juvenal of Jerusalem third.
"Cowed by the dictatorial spirit of Dioscorus and unnerved by the outrageous
violence of Barsumas and his band of brutal monks he consented to revoke his
former condemnation of Eutyches." "This cowardly act of submission was followed
by a still baser proof of weakness, the condemnation of the venerable Flavian.
Dioscorus having thus by sheer intimidation obtained his ends revenged himself
for their former opposition to his wishes upon those whose cowardice had made
them the instruments of his nefarious designs, and proceeded to mete out to them
the same measure they had dealt to Flavian. Domnus was the last to be deposed.
The charges alleged against him were his reported approval of a Nestorian sermon
preached before him at Antioch by Theodoret, on the death of Cyril, and some
expressions in letters written by him to Dioscorus condemning the obscure
character of Cyril's anathematisms."

535: Canon Venables in Dic. Chris. biog. vol 1. p. 879. i.e. wild nomad tribes
who live in waggons ( amacobioi ). These Horace (Car. iii. 24, 10) takes as a
better type of character than wealthy villa-builders;-

536: Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia. He was of the orthodox party and stated
himself to have been bred from childhood in the Catholic faith. (Conc. iv. 304.)
His name is also written Calendio (Tillem. xv. 579, Dic. Chris. Biog. 1, 395).

537: Athanasius of Perrha, the delator of earlier letters (vide note on page
264) had been deposed from his bishopric at a synod of uncertain date held
between 444 and 449 at Antioch under Domnus, and replaced by Sabinianus.

538: Gal. vi. 7.

539: i.e. Maximus, who was appointed by the Latrocinium to succeed Domnus in the
see of Antioch, and consecrated by Anatolius in defiance of right and usage. Or
possibly the irregularity of the nomination of Maximus may lead Theodoret to
regard the see as vacant. Garnerius understands the reference to be to an
interval between the appointment and consecration of Maximus.

540: Vide Might Pat. lxxvii. 1449.

541: This letter may be dated in February 431. Celestine and Cyril bad written
to John of Antioch in relation to the condemnation of Nestorius by the western
bishops at Rome in August 430. Theodoret was at Antioch on the arrival of these
letters and hence additional probability is given to the theory that he wrote
the reply referred to in the preceding note. Then came the publication of
Cyril's chapter or anathemas which Theodoret undertook to refute. Letter CL. is
prefixed to his remarks on them.

542: The "old story" is a comparatively late addition to the myth of the
marriage of Peleus.

543: Gal. vi. 16.

544: The Refutation of the anathematisrns of Cyril is to be found in Migne Pat.
lxxvi. Col 393. Vide also the prolegomena.

545: This document did not appear in the original edition of the Letters. A
fragment in Latin was published in the Auctarium of Garnerius. The complete
composition is given by Schulze from a ms. in the Imperial Library at Vienna.
The date may be assigned as early in 431. As Cyril had weaned the monks of Egypt
and even of Constantinople from the cause of Nestorius, so Theodoret attempts to
win over the solitaries of the East from Cyril.

546: Jer. iv. 19.

547: "Nihil contumeliosius," remarks Garnerius, "in Cyrilli personam et
doctrinam dici potest." Some have even thought the expressions too bitter for
Theodoret. But the mild man could hit hard sometimes. He felt warmly for
Nestorius and against Cyril, and (accepting Tillemont's date) he was now about
38.

548: oikonomia . Vide p. 72.

549: John ii. 19.

550: John i. 1.

551: John i. 9.

552: John xiv. 9.

553: John x. 30.

554: John x. 38 transposed.

555: Hebrews i. 3.

556: Phil. ii. 5, Phil. ii. 6, Phil. ii. 7.

557: Romans ix. 5.

558: Tit. ii. 13.

559: Is. ix. 6. (LXX. Alex.) 560: Isaiah xlv. 14, Isaiah xlv. 15.

561: Matt. i. 23.

562: Baruch iii. 35, Baruch iii. 36, Baruch iii. 37. From the time of Irenaeus
the book of Baruch, friend and companion of Jeremiah, was commonly quoted as the
work of the great prophet. e.g. Iren. adv. Haer. v. 35, 1. cf. note on p. 165.

563: John vii. 19 and John viii. 40.

564: I. Cor. xv. 21.

565: I. Cor. xv. 22.

566: 1. Tim. ii. v.

567: Acts xvii. 30, Acts xvii. 31.

568: Acts ii. 22.

569: Isaiah liii. 3 and Isaiah liii. 4.

570: Psalm i. 2.

571: Phil. ii. 6 and Phil. ii. 7.

572: John xii. 27.

573: Matt. xxvi. 38.

574: John x. 18 varied.

575: Matt. ii. 20.

576: Vide note on Page 203.

577: Isaiah xix. 1.

578: II. Cor. xiii. 4.

579: II. Cor. xiii. 4.

580: Psalm cvii. 16.

581: John ii. 19.

582: Gal. iii. 16.

583: II. Tim. ii. 8.

584: Romans i. 3.

585: Romans ix. 5.

586: Matt. i. 1.

587: Acts. ii. 30.

588: Gen. xxii. 18.

589: Here in the LXX comes in "The spirit of God." It is unlikely that Theodoret
should have intended to omit this, and the omission is probably due as in
similar cases to the carelessness of a copyist in the case of a repetition of a
word.

590: Isaiah xi. 1. Isaiah xi. 2. Isaiah xi. 3. Isaiah xi. 7.

591: Isaiah xi. 10.

592: On the word Qeotokoj cf. note on Page 213.

593: Luke i. 28.

594: Cleobulus of Lindos is credited with the maxim ariston metron . Theognis,
(335) transmits the famous mhden agan 595: John iii. 20.

596: Joel ii. 17.

597: Psalm lxxix. 4.

598: Cf. Ephes. ii. 14.

599: Psalm cxlvii. 2.

600: John x. 10.

601: John x. 11.

602: Psalm xliv. 23.

603: Psalm cxviii. 15.

604: Psalm xc. 15.

605: Psalm lxvi. 20.

606: John xiv. 9.

607: John xvi. 15.

608: John x. 30.

609: John i. 1.

610: Phil. ii. 6. Phil. ii. 7.

611: Heb. ii. 16.

612: Heb. ii. 14.

613: John ii. 29.

614: Luke xxiv. 39.

615: John xix. 37. Cf. Zec. xii. 10.

616: I. Tim. ii. 5. I. Tim. ii. 6.

617: Tit. ii. 13.

618: Rom. ix. 5. The first implicit denial of the sense here given by Theodoret
to this remarkable passage is said to be found in an assertion of the Emperor
Julian that neither Paul nor Matthew nor Mark ever ventured to call Jesus God.
In the early church it was commonly rendered in its plain and grammatical sense,
as by Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Chrysostom. Cf. Alford in loc.

619: Is. liii. 3. Is. liii. 4.

620: Isaiah liii. 8.

621: Matt. ii. 6 and Mic. v. 2.

622: Qeotokoj . cf. p. 213.

623: Matt. i. 23.

624: Is. ix. 6. LXX. Alex.

625: Heb. vii. 3.

626: Matt. i. 1.

627: Luke iii. 23.

628: Acts i. 11.

629: The martyrdom of Ignatius may be placed within a few years of 110, - before
or after. In the 4th c. Oct. 17 was named as the day both of his birth and
death. Bp. Lightfoot. Ap. Fathers II. i. 30 and 46.

630: i.e. Eustathius of Beroea and Antioch, who, according to Theodoret (H. E.
i. 6, p. 43.), sat at Nicaea on Constantine's right hand. (Contra. I. Soz. i.
19.) He was exiled on account of the accusation got up against him by Eusebius
of Nicomedia.

631: Meletius of Antioch. cf. pp. 92, 93. He presided at Constantinople in 381,
and died while the Council was sitting.

632: Of Constantinople, murdered at the Latrocinium.

633: Vide p. 129.

634: cf. Ep. LII. St. Cyprian was beheaded at Carthage, Aug. 13, 258, his last
recorded utterance being his reply to the reading of the sentence "That Thascius
Cvprianus be beheaded with the sword," "Thanks be to God." Theodoret's "fire" is
either an errors or means the fiery trial of martyrdom.

635: Vide p. 82.

636: cf. pp. 110, 174.

637: i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus, put in possession of St. Sophia by Theodosius I.
Nov. 24, 380, Chrysostom, consecrated by The. ophilus of Alexandria, Feb. 26,
398; and Atticus, who succeed Arsacius the usurper in 406.

638: Gregory of Nyssa. cf. p. 129.

639: Of Iconium. cf. p. 114.

640: _ 155.

641: _ c. 202.

642: Commonly known as bishop of Patara, though Jerome speaks of him as of Tyre.
The place and time of his death are doubtful. Eusebius calls him a contemporary.
(cf. Jer. Cat. 83, and Socr. vi. 13.) 643: According to Döllinger the first
anti-pope. cf. reff. p. 177.

644: Cyril's party met on June 22, 431, - numbering 198, in the Church of the
Virgin. John of Antioch with his fourteen sup. porters did not arrive till the
27th. Unable to start from their diocese before April 26, the octave of Easter,
they did not assemble at Antioch till May 10, and then were delayed by a famine.
Immediately on their arrival the "Conciliabulum" of the 43 anti-Cyrillians met
with indecent precipitancy.

645: Both parties, regarding their opponents as excommunicate, forbade them to
perform their sacred functions.

646: "Comes domesticorum" commander of the guards, was representative of
Theodosius II. and Valentinian III. at Ephesus. Candidianus was at first
disposed to demur to the condemnation of Nestorius as disorderly and irregular,
and to side with the Orientals.

647: cf. p. 292.

648: Is. lix. 5, lxx.

649: Is. lix. 6.

650: This Report, couched in almost identical terms with the preceding, I omit,
although commonly accepted as the composition of Theodoret.

651: This is also merely a short summary of CLII. and CLIII.

652: Omitted as being a repetition of the preceding.

653:

654: Written at the same time and under the same circumstances as the former, of
which it is an abbreviation, and is consequently omitted.

655: Omitted as merely repeating the representation of CLVII.

656: This document defends the action of the conciliabulum, speaking of Cyril,
in consequence of their depositions as "lately" bishop of Alexandria, and
demanding the exile of Memnon.

657: This letter may be dated "towards the end of July or in the beginning of
August 431, after the restitution of Cyril and Memnon on July 16, and before the
departure of Theodoret from Ephesus on August 20." Garnerius. Andrew of Samosata
wrote objections to Cyril's Chapters in the name of the bishops of the East. He
was prevented by illness from being present at Ephesus in 431, as he was also
from the synod assembled at Antioch in 444 to hear the cause of Athanasius of
Perrha. He was a warm supporter of Nestorius.

658: In Ep. CLXI, the numbers are specified;-"Of Egyptians fifty; of Asiani
under Memnon, leader of the tyranny, forty; of the heretics in Pamphylia called
Messalianitae, twelve; besides those attached to the same metropolitan" (i.e.
Amphilochius of Side) "and others deposed and excommunicated in divers places by
synods or bishops, who constitute nothing but a mere turbulent and disorderly
mob, entirely ignorant of the divine decrees."

659: Another version of the title runs "To the very holy and wise synod
assembled at Ephesus, Joannes, Paulus, Apringius, Theodoretus, greeting." The
letter may be dated in Sept. 431. Paul, bishop of Emesa, was ultimately an
active peacemaker in the dispute. Apringius was bishop of Chalcis.

660: The Macedonian name for September.

661: A villa in the vicinity of Chalcedon.

662: Metropolitan of Nicomedia; one of the "Conciliabulum."

663: Also only in Latin.

664: Bishop of Melitene in Armenia Secunda, an ardent anti-Nestorian, who
remonstrated with Cyril for consenting to make peace with the Orientals.

665: Only in Latin.

666: i.e. Maximianus, in succession to Nestorius, Oct. 25, 431.

667: Nestorius was permitted to return to his old monastery at Antioch.

668: I. Tim. vi. 13.

669: Ez. iii. 18.

670: Acts. xx. 26.

671: Dated by Garnerius at the end of September or beginning of October 431,
before the order had been given for the withdrawal of the Easterns and the entry
of the other party to consecrate a bishop.

672: cf. II. Tim. iv. 1.

673: Phil. ii. 21.

674: i.e. Nestorius.

675: After pointing out that superscription, style, expression, sentiments, and
circumstances all indicate Theodoret as the writer of this letter, Garnerius
proceeds "The objection of Baronius that mention is made of Martinus, bishop of
Milan, when there never was a Martinus bishop of Milan, is not of great
importance. Theodoret at a distance might easily write Martinus for Martinianus,
or a copyist might abbreviate the name to this form." The date of the letter is
marked as after the order to the bishops to remain at Constantinople, and before
permission was given them to return home. The Letters were also written to
Martinianus of Milan, to John Ravenna, and to John of Aquileia, but only that to
Rufus is extant. Rufus is probably the bishop of Thessalonica.

676: Ps. xiv. 3.

677: Matt. xviii. 18.

678: John i. 14.

679: Ps. xxii. 1.

680: Matt. xxvi. 39.

681: John xii. 27.

682: Matt. xxvi. 38.

683: Vide note on superscription.

684: cf. note on p. 114. Celestius, an Irishman of good family, was associated
with Pelagius at Rome. Both were condemned at Ephesus in 431. The connexion of
Pelagius with the Euchitae may be suggested by the denial of the former of
original sin anti the depreciation by the latter of baptism as producing no
results.

685: en koinw

686: Presumably the letter written by Cyril to Acacius, setting forth his own
view, and representing that peace might be attained if the Orientals would give
up Nestorius. It exists in Latin. Synod. Mansi, V. 831.

687: Vide p. 279. Note.

688: The following paragraph, found only in the Vatican ms., and described by
Schulze as "inept," is omitted. It has no significance.

689: Of this letter the Greek copies have perished. Three Latin versions exist.

690: cf. p. 307.

691: cf. Epp. CXLIII and CLXXVII.

692: I Cor. x. 13.

693: Ps. xxxi. 9.

694: Himerius was of the "Conciliabulum," and a staunch Nestorian. LeQuien
points out that he, as well as Theodoret, became ultimately reconciled to the
victorious party.

695: This according to Marius Mercator is the conclusion of a letter to
Alexander of Hierapolis. Garnerius had edited it as the conclusion of the
preceding letter to Himerius. Vide Mans. V. 880.

696: This letter was also edited by Garnerius as addressed to Himerius but is
inscribed by Schulze to Alexander of Hierapoils. It is to be found complete in
Mans. 927.

697: This letter is to be found complete in Latin in Mans. Synod. 840, Schulze's
Index inscribing it to Andreas the Constantinopolitan monk. cf. Ep. CLXII. and
note.

698: The complete letter is given in another Latin version Baluz. Synod. LXVI.
Garnerius makes it the conclusion of the letter to Andrew of Samosata.

699: The order of events is reversed. John and his friends went from Ephesus to
Chalcedon, from Chalcedon via Ancyra to Tarsus, where he was in his own
patriarchate, and held a council, confirming Cyril's deposition, and pledging
its members never to abandon Nestorius. Again at Antioch the same course was
repeated.

700: Vide Migne LXXVII. 327. Cyril. Ep. lxiii.

701: This letter is inserted in the Act. Synod. (vide Mans. ix. 295) as
addressed to John, but Garnerius, with general acceptance, has substituted
Domnus. Its genuineness was contested by Baronius (an. vi. 23) not only on the
ground of its ascription to John who predeceased Cyril four years; but also
because its expressions are at once too Nestorian in doctrine and too extreme in
bitterness to have been penned by Theodoret. Garnerius is of opinion that the
extreme Nestorianism and bitterness of feeling are no arguments against the
authorship of Theodoret; and, as we have already had occasion to notice, our
author can on occasion use very strong language, as for instance in Letter CL.
p. 324, where he alludes to Cyril as a shepherd not only plague smitten himself
but doing his best to inflict more damage on his flock than that caused by beast
of prey, by infecting his charge with his disease.

702: I. Sam. xvii. 26.

703: Lucian. "Cataplus sive Tyrannus."Cyniscus and Megapenthes come to the shore
of Styx in the same batch of ghosts.

704: Ps. cxlvi. 4.

705: Isaiah xxxvii. 29.

706: This letter may be dated from Nicerte in the autumn of 450 when Abundius
was at Constantinople on a mission from Leo, after the failure to get Theodosius
to agree to the summary of the Council in the West. Theodosius died a few days
after the arrival of the envoys at Constantinople. Theodoret is anxious to
encourage the Roman Legates to support the orthodox cause in the Imperial city,
to repair the mischief caused by the Latrocinium, and to show the court that he
and his friends Ibas and Aquilinus had the support of Leo. Abundius, fourth
bishop of Como (450-469) represented Leo at Chalcedon. Manzoni, in the Promessi
Sposi, reminds us of the local survival of the name.

707: Isaiah i. 9.

708: After all the storms of controversy and quarrel which we have followed in
the course of the dialogues and letters of the Blessed Bishop of Cyrus; after
the lurid leap of grim pleasantry which, if not actually penned by Theodoret,
indicates a temper that must have often shown itself in these troubled times;
there is something pathetic and encouraging in the concilatory conclusion of
this last letter. Cyril has been dead for years, and his weaknesses are
forgotten in a confession which his more moderate opponents could accept. The
subscription of Theodoret to the tome of Leo is an earnest of harmony and
concord. The calmer wisdom of the West asserts the truth which underlay the
furious disputes of the subtler East. The last word of the drama is Peace.


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  CHAPTER 9: THE ANATHEMAS OF CYRIL IN OPPOSITION TO NESTORIUS
========================================================================

The Anathemas of Cyril in Opposition to Nestorius. The Anathemas of Cyril in
Opposition to Nestorius.

(Mansi T. IV. p. 1067-1082, Migne Cat. 76, col. 391. The anathemas of Nestorius
against Cyril are to be found in Hardouin i. 1297.) i. If any one refuses to
confess that the Emmanuel is in truth God, and therefore that the holy Virgin is
Mother of God (qeotokoj), for she gave birth after a fleshly manner to the Word
of God made flesh; let him be anathema. ii. If any one refuses to confess that
the Word of God the Father is united in hypostasis to flesh, and is one Christ
with His own flesh, the same being at once both God and man, let him be
anathema. iii. If any one in the case of the one Christ divides the hypostases
after the union, conjoining them by the conjunction alone which is according to
dignity, independence, or prerogative, and not rather by the concurrence which
is according to natural union, let him be anathema. iv. If any one divides
between two persons or hypostases the expressions used in the writings of
evangelists and apostles, whether spoken by the saints of Christ or by Him about
Himself, and applies the one as to a man considered properly apart from the Word
of God, and the others as appropriate to the divine and the Word of God the
Father alone, let him be anathema. v. If any one dares to maintain that the
Christ is man bearing God, and not rather that He is God in truth, and one Son,
and by nature, according as the Word was made flesh, and shared blood and flesh
in like manner with ourselves, let him be anathema. vi. If any one dares to
maintain that the Word of God the Father was God or Lord of the Christ, and does
not rather confess that the same was at once both God and man, the Word being
made flesh according to the Scriptures, let him be anathema. vii. If any one
says that Jesus was energized as man by God the Word, and that He was invested
with the glory of the only begotten as being another beside Him, let him be
anathema. viii. If any one dares to maintain that the ascended man ought to be
worshipped together with the divine Word, and be glorified with Him, and with
Him be called God as one with another (in that the continual rise of the
preposition "with" in composition makes this sense compulsory), and does not
rather in one act of worship honour the Emmanuel and praise Him in one doxology,
in that He is the Word made flesh, let him be anathema. ix. If any one says that
the one Lord Jesus Christ is glorified by the Spirit, using the power that works
through Him as a foreign power, and receiving from Him the ability to operate
against unclean spirits, and to complete His miracles among men; and does not
rather say that the Spirit is His own, whereby also He wrought His miracles, let
him be anathema. x. Holy Scripture states that Christ is High Priest and Apostle
of our confession,171 and offered Himself on our behalf for a sweet-smelling
savour to God and our Father.172 If, then, any one says that He, the Word of
God, was not made our High Priest and Apostle when He was made flesh and man
after our manner; but as being another, other than Himself, properly man made of
a woman; or if any one says that He offered the offering on His own behalf, and
not rather on our behaIf alone; for He that knew no sin would not have needed an
offering, let him be anathema. xi. If any one confesses not that the Lord's
flesh is giver of life,173 and proper to the Word of God Himself, but (states)
that it is of another than Him, united indeed to Him in dignity, yet as only
possessing a divine indwelling; and not rather, as we said, giver of life,
because it is proper to the Word of Him who hath might to engender all things
alive, let him be anathema. xii. If any one confesses not that the Word of God
suffered in flesh, and was crucified in flesh, and tasted death in flesh, and
was made firstborn of the dead, in so far as He is life and giver of life, as
God; let him be anathema.

171: That is to Rome.

172: cf. Eph. v. 2.

173: zwopoin . cf. to kurion to zwopoion of the Creed of Constantinople.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 10: THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THEODORET - BOOK 1
========================================================================

Book I.

Prologue.-Design of the History.

Chapter I.-Origin of the Arian Heresy.

Chapter II.-List of the Principal Bishops.

Chapter III.-The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop
of Constantinople.

Chapter IV.-The Letter of Arius to Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia.

Chapter V.-The Letter of Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, to Paulinus, Bishop of
Tyre.

Chapter VI.-General Council of Nicaea.

Chapter VII.-Confutation of Arianism Deduced from the Writings of Eustathius and
Athanasius.

Chapter VIII.-Facts Relating to Meletius the Egyptian, from Whom Originated the
Meletian Schism, Which Remains to This Day.-Synodical Epistle Respecting Him.

Chapter IX.-The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, Concerning the Matters
Transacted at the Council, Addressed to Those Bishops Who Were Not Present.

Chapter X.-The Daily Wants of the Church Supplied by the Emperor, and an Account
of His Other Virtues.

Chapter XI.

Chapter XII.-Confutation of the Blasphemies of the Arians of Our Time, from the
Writings of Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea.

Chapter XIII.-Extract from the Letter of Athanasius on the Death of Arius141 .

Chapter XIV.-Letter Written by the Emperor Constantine Respecting the Building
of Churches149 .

Chapter XV.-The Epistle of Constantine Concerning the Preparation of Copies of
the Holy Scriptures.

Chapter XVI.-Letter from the Emperor to Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem,
Concerning the Building of the Holy Church.

Chapter XVII.-Helena161 , Mother of the Emperor Constantine.-Her Zeal in the
Erection of the Holy Church.

Chapter XIII.-The Unlawful Translation of Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia.

Chapter XIX.-Epistle of the Emperor Constantine Against Eusebius and Theognis,
Addressed to the Nicomedians.

Chapter XX.-The Artful Machinations of Eusebius and His Followers Against the
Holy Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch.

Chapter XXI.-Bishops of Heretical Opinions Ordained in Antioch After the
Banishment of St. Eustathius177 .

Chapter XXII.-Conversion of the Indians179 .

Chapter XXIII.-Conversion of the Iberians183 .

Chapter XXIV.-Letter Written by the Emperor Constantine to Sapor185 , the King
of Persia, Respecting the Christians.

Chapter XXV.-An Account of the Plot Formed Against the Holy Athanasius.

Chapter XXVII.-Another Plot Against Athanasius.

Chapter XXVIII.-Epistle of the Emperor Constantine to the Council of Tyre200 .

Chapter XXIX.-The Council of Tyre.

Chapter XXX.-Consecration of the Church of Jerusalem.-Banishment of St.
Athanasius.

Chapter XXXI.-Will of the Blessed Emperor Constantine.

Chapter XXXII.-Apology for Constantine.

Chapter XXXIII.-The End of the Holy Emperor Constantine.

Book I.

Prologue.-Design of the History. When artists paint on panels and on walls the
events of ancient history, they alike delight the eye, and keep bright for many
a year the memory of the past. Historians substitute books for panels, bright
description for pigments, and thus render the memory of past events both
stronger and more permanent, for the painter's art is ruined by time. For this
reason I too shall attempt to record in writing events in ecclesiastical history
hitherto omitted, deeming it indeed not right to look on without an effort while
oblivion robs1 noble deeds and useful stories of their due fame. For this cause
too I have been frequently urged by friends to undertake this work. But when I
compare my own powers with the magnitude of the undertaking, I shrink from
attempting it. Trusting, however, in the bounty of the Giver of all good, I
enter upon a task beyond my own strength.

Eusebius of Palestine2 has written a history of the Church from the time of the
holy Apostles to the reign of Constantine, the prince beloved of God. I shall
begin my history from the period at which his terminates3 .

Chapter I.-Origin of the Arian Heresy.

After the overthrow of the wicked and impious tyrants, Maxentius, Maximinus, and
Licinius, the surge which those destroyers, like hurricanes, had roused was
hushed to sleep; the whirlwinds were checked, and the Church henceforward began
to enjoy a settled calm. This was established for her by Constantine, a prince
deserving of all praise, whose calling, like that of the divine Apostle, was not
of men, nor by man, but from heaven. He enacted laws prohibiting sacrifices to
idols, and commanding churches4 to be erected. He appointed Christians to be
governors of the provinces, ordering honour to be shown to the priests, and
threatening with death those who dared to insult them. By some the churches
which had been destroyed were rebuilt; others erected new ones still more
spacious and magnificent. Hence, for us, all was joy and gladness, while our
enemies were overwhelmed with gloom and despair. The temples of the idols were
closed; but frequent assemblies were held, and festivals celebrated, in the
churches, But the devil, full of all envy and wickedness, the destroyer of
mankind, unable to bear the sight of the Church sailing on with favourable
winds, stirred up plans of evil counsel, eager to sink the vessel steered by the
Creator and Lord of the Universe. When he began to perceive that the error of
the Greeks had been made manifest, that the various tricks of the demons had
been detected, and that the greater number of men worshipped the Creator,
instead of adoring, as heretofore, the creature, he did not dare to declare open
war against our God and Saviour; but having found some who, though dignified
with the name of Christians, were yet slaves to ambition and vainglory, he made
them fit instruments for the execution of his designs, and by their means drew
others back into their old error, not indeed by the former method of setting up
the worship of the creature, but by bringing it about that the Creator and Maker
of all should be reduced to a level with the creature. I shall now proceed to
relate where and by what means he sowed these tares.

Alexandria is an immense and populous city, charged with the leadership not only
of Egypt, but also of the adjacent countries, the Thebaid and Libya. After
Peter5 , the victorious champion of the faith, had, during the sway of the
aforesaid impious tyrants, obtained the crown of martyrdom, the Church in
Alexandria was ruled for a short time by Achillas6 . He was succeeded by
Alexander7 , who proved himself a noble defender of the doctrines of the gospel.
At that time, Arius, who had been enrolled in the list of the presbytery, and
entrusted with the exposition of the Holy Scriptures, fell a prey to the
assaults of jealousy, when he saw that the helm of the high priesihood was
committed to Alexander. Stung by this passion, he sought opportunities for
dispute and contention; and, although he perceived that Alexander's
irreproachable conduct forbade his bringing any charges against him, envy would
not allow him to rest. In him the enemy of the truth found an instrument whereby
to stir and agitate the angry waters of the Church, and persuaded him to oppose
the apostolical doctrine of Alexander. While the Patriarch, in obedience to the
Holy Scriptures, taught that the Son is of equal dignity with the Father, and of
the same substance with God who begat Him, Arius, in direct opposition to the
truth, affirmed that the Son of God is merely a creature or created being,
adding the famous dictum, "There once was a time when He was not8 ;" with other
opinions which may be learned from his own writings. He taught these false
doctrines perseveringly, not only in the church, but also in general meetings
and assemblies; and he even went from house to house, endeavouring to make men
the slaves of his error. Alexander, who was strongly attached to the doctrines
of the Apostles, at first tried by exhortations and counsels to convince him of
his error; but when he saw him playing the madman9 and making public declaration
of his impiety, he deposed him from the order of the presbytery, for he heard
the law of God loudly declaring, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,
and cast it from thee10 ."

Chapter II.-List of the Principal Bishops. Of the church of Rome at this period
Silvester11 held the reins. His predecessor in the see was Miltiades12 , the
successor of that Marcellinus13 who had so nobly distinguished himself during
the persecution. In Antioch, after the death of Tyrannus14 , when peace began to
be restored to the churches, Vitalis15 received the chief authority, and
restored the church in the "Palaea16 " which had been destroyed by the tyrants.
He was succeeded by Philogonius17 , who completed all that was wanting in the
work of restoration: he had, during the time of Licinius, signalised himself by
his zeal for religion.

After the administration of Hermon18 , the government of the church in Jerusalem
was committed to Macarius19 , a man whose character was equal to his name, and
whose mind was adorned by every kind of virtue. At this same period also,
Alexander, illustrious for his apostolical gifts, governed the church of
Constantinople20 .

It was at this time that Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, perceiving that Arius,
enslaved by the lust of power, was assembling those who had been taken captive
by his blasphemous doctrines, and was holding private meetings, communicated an
account of his heresy by letter to the rulers of the principal churches. That
the authenticity of my history may not be suspected, I shall now insert in my
narrative the letter which he wrote to his namesake, containing, as it does, a
clear account of all the facts I have mentioned. I shall also subjoin the letter
of Arius, together with the other letters which are necessary to the
completeness of this narrative, that they may at once testify to the truth of my
work, and make the course of events more clear. The following letter was written
by Alexander of Alexandria, to the bishop of the same name as himself.

Chapter III.-The Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria to Alexander, Bishop
of Constantinople.

"To his most revered and likeminded brother Alexander, Alexander sendeth
greeting in the Lord.

"Impelled by avarice and ambition, evil-minded persons have ever plotted against
the wellbeing of the most important dioceses. Under various pretexts, they
attack the religion of the Church; and, being maddened by the devil, who works
in them, they start aside from all piety according to their own pleasure, and
trample under foot the fear of the judgment of God. Suffering as I do from them
myself, I deem it necessary to inform your piety, that you may be on your guard
against them, lest they or any of their party should presume to enter your
diocese (for these cheats are skilful in deception), or should circulate false
and specious letters, calculated to delude one who has devoted himself to the
simple and undefiled faith.

"Arius and Achillas have lately formed a conspiracy, and, emulating the ambition
of Colluthus, have gone far beyond him21 . He indeed sought to find a pretext
for his own pernicious line of action in the charges he brought against them.
But they, beholding his making a trade of Christ for lucre22 , refused to remain
any longer in subjection to the Church; but built for themselves caves, like
robbers, and now constantly assemble in them, and day and night ply slanders
there against Christ and against us. They revile every godly apostolical
doctrine, and in Jewish fashion have organized a gang to fight against Christ,
denying His divinity, and declaring Him to be on a level with other men. They
pick out every passage which refers to the dispensation of salvation, and to His
humiliation for our sake; they endeavour to collect from them their own impious
assertion, while they evade all those which declare His eternal divinity, and
the unceasing23 glory which He possesses with the Father. They maintain the
ungodly doctrine entertained by the Greeks and the Jews concerning Jesus Christ;
and thus, by every means in their power, hunt for their applause. Everything
which outsiders ridicule in us they officiously practise. They daily excite
persecutions and seditions against us. On the one hand they bring accusations
against us before the courts, suborning as witnesses certain unprincipled women
whom they have seduced into error. On the other they dishonour Christianity by
permitting their young women to ramble about the streets. Nay, they have had the
audacity to rend the seamless garment of Christ, which the soldiers dared not
divide.

"When these actions, in keeping with their course of life, and the impious
enterprise which had been long concealed, became tardily known to us, we
unanimously ejected them from the Church which worships the divinity of Christ.
They then ran hither and thither to form cabals against us, even addressing
themselves to our fellow-ministers who were of one mind with us, under the
pretence of seeking peace and unity with them, but in truth endeavouring by
means of fair words, to sweep some among them away into their own disease. They
ask them to write a wordy letter, and then read the contents to those whom they
have deceived, in order that they may not retract, but be confirmed in their
impiety, by finding that bishops agree with and support their views. They make
no acknowledgment of the evil doctrines and practices for which they have been
expelled by us, but they either impart them without comment, or carry on the
deception by fallacies and forgeries. Thus concealing their destructive doctrine
by persuasive and meanly truckling language, they catch the unwary, and lose no
opportunity of calumniating our religion. Hence it arises that several have been
led to sign their letter, and to receive them into communion, a proceeding on
the part of our fellow-ministers which I consider highly reprehensible; for they
thus not only disobey the apostolical rule, but even help to inflame their
diabolical action against Christ. It is on this account, beloved brethren, that
without delay I have stirred myself up to inform you of the unbelief of certain
persons who say that "There was a time when the Son of God was not24 ;" and "He
who previously had no existence subsequently came into existence; and when at
some time He came into existence He became such as every other man is." God,
they say, created all things out of that which was non-existent, and they
include in the number of creatures, both rational and irrational, even the Son
of God. Consistently with this doctrine they, as a necessary consequence, affirm
that He is by nature liable to change, and capable both of virtue and of vice,
and thus, by their hypothesis of his having been created out of that which was
non-existent, they overthrow the testimony of the Divine Scriptures, which
declare the immutability of the Word and the Divinity of the Wisdom of the Word,
which Word and Wisdom is Christ. `We are also able,' say these accursed
wretches, `to become like Him, the sons of God; for it is written,-I have
nourished and brought up children25 .' When the continuation of this text is
brought before them, which is, `and they have rebelled against Me,' and it is
objected that these words are inconsistent with the Saviour's nature, which is
immutable, they throw aside all reverence, and affirm that God foreknew and
foresaw that His Son would not rebel against Him, and that He therefore chose
Him in preference to all others. They likewise assert that He was not chosen
because. He had by nature any thing superior to the other sons of God; for no
man, say they, is son of God by nature, nor has any peculiar relation to Him. He
was chosen, they allege, because, though mutable by nature, His painstaking
character suffered no deterioration. As though, forsooth, even if a Paul and a
Peter made like endeavours, their sonship would in no respects differ from His.

"To establish this insane doctrine they insult the Scriptures, and bring forward
what is said in the Psalms of Christ, `Thou hast loved righteousness and hated
iniquity, therefore thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows33 , all things having been endowed with such an origin of existence
by the Father through the Son. John, the most pious apostle, perceiving that the
word `was' applied to the Word of God34 was far beyond and above the
intelligence of created beings, did not presume to speak of His generation or
creation, nor yet dared to name the Maker and the creature in equivalent
syllables. Not that the Son of God is unbegotten, for the Father alone is
unbegotten; but that the ineffable personality of the only-begotten God is
beyond the keenest conception of the evangelists and perhaps even of angels.
Therefore, I do not think men ought to be considered pious who presume to
investigate this subject, in disobedience to the injunction, `Seek not what is
too difficult for thee, neither enquire into what is too high for thee35 .' For
if the knowledge of many other things incomparably inferior is beyond the
capacity of the human mind, and cannot therefore be attained, as has been said
by Paul, `Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him36 ,' and as
God also said to Abraham, that the stars could not be numbered by him37 ; and it
is likewise said, `Who shall number the grains of sand by the sea-shore, or the
drops of rain38 ?' how then can any one but a madman presume to enquire into the
nature of the Word of God? It is said by the Spirit of prophecy, `Who shall
declare His generation39 ?' And, therefore, our Saviour in His kindness to those
men who were the pillars of the whole world, desiring to relieve them of the
burden of striving after this knowledge, told them that it was beyond their
natural comprehension, and that the Father alone could discern this most divine
mystery; `No man,' said He, `knoweth the Son but the Father, and no man knoweth
the Father save the Son40 .' It was, I think, concerning this same subject that
the Father said, `My secret is for Me and for Mine41 .'

"But the insane folly of imagining that the Son of God came into being out of
that which had no being, and that His sending forth took place in time, is plain
from the words `which l had no being,' although the foolish are incapable of
perceiving the folly of their own utterances. For the phrase `He was not' must
either have reference to time, or to some interval in the ages. If then it be
true that all things were made by Him, it is evident that every age, time, all
intervals of time, and that `when' in which `was not' has its place, were made
by Him. And is it not absurd to say that there was a time when He who created
all time, and ages, and seasons, with which the `was not' is confused, was not?
For it would be the height of ignorance, and contrary indeed to all reason, to
affirm that the cause of any created thing can be posterior to that caused by
it. The interval during which they say the Son was still unbegotten of the
Father was, according to their opinion, prior to the wisdom of God, by whom all
things were created. They thus contradict the Scripture which declares Him to be
`the firstborn of every creature42 .' In consonance with this doctrine, Paul
with his usual mighty voice cries concerning Him; `whom He hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also He made the worlds43 . `For by Him were all things
created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things
were created by Him and for Him: and He is before all things'44 .' Since the
hypothesis implied in the phrase `out of the non-existent' is manifestly
impious, it follows that the Father is always Father. And He is Father from the
continual presence of the Son, on account of whom He is called45 Father. And the
Son being ever present with Him, the Father is ever perfect, wanting in no good
thing, for He did not beget His only Son in time, or in any interval of time,
nor out of that which had no previous existence.

"Is it not then impious to say that there was a time when the wisdom of God was
not? Who saith, `I was by Him as one brought up with Him: I was daily His
delight46 ?' Or that once the power of God was not, or His Word, or anything
else by which the Son is known, or the Father designated, defective? To assert
that the brightness of the Father's glory `once did not exist,' destroys also
the original light of which it is the brightness47 ; and if there ever was a
time in which the image of God was not, it is plain that He Whose image He is,
is not always: nay, by the non-existence of the express image of God's Person,
He also is taken away of whom this is ever the express image. Hence it may be
seen, that the Sonship of our Saviour has not even anything in common with the
sonship of men. For just as it has been shown that the nature of His existence
cannot be expressed by language, and infinitely surpasses in excellence all
things to which He has given being, so His Sonship, naturally partaking in His
paternal Divinity, is unspeakably different from the sonship of those who, by
His appointment, have been adopted as sons. He is by nature immutable, perfect,
and all-sufficient, whereas men are liable to change, and need His help. What
further advance can be made by the wisdom of God48 ? What can the Very Truth, or
God the Word, add to itself? How can the Life or the True Light in any way be
bettered? And is it not still more contrary to nature to suppose that wisdom can
be susceptible of folly? that the power of God can be united with weakness? that
reason itself can be dimmed by unreasonableness, or that darkness can be mixed
with the true light? Does not the Apostle say, `What communion hath light with
darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial49 ?' and Solomon, that `the
way of a serpent upon a rock50 ' was `too wonderful' for the human mind to
comprehend, which `rock,' according to St. Paul, is Christ51 . Men and angels,
however, who are His creatures, have received His blessing, enabling them to
exercise themselves in virtue and in obedience to His commands, that thus they
may avoid sin. And it is on this account that our Lord being by nature the Son
of the Father, is worshipped by all; and they who have put off the spirit of
bondage, and by brave deeds and advance in virtue have received the spirit of
adoption through the kindness of Him Who is the Son of God by nature, by
adoption also become sons.

"His true, peculiar, natural, and special Sonship was declared by Paul, who,
speaking of God, says, that `He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us52 ,' who are not by nature His sons. It was to distinguish Him from those who
are not `His own,' that he called Him `His own son.' It is also written in the
Gospel, `This is My beloved San in whom I am well pleased53 ;' and in the Psalms
the Saviour says, `The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son54 .' By proclaiming
natural sonship He shows that there are no other natural sons besides Himself.

"And do not these words, I begot thee `from the womb before the morning55 ,'
plainly show the natural sonship of the paternal birth56 of One whose lot it is,
not from diligence of conduct, or exercise in moral progress, but by
individuality of nature? Hence it ensues that the filiation of the only-begotten
Son of the Father is incapable of fall; while the adoption of reasonable beings
who are not His sons by nature, but merely on account of fitness of character,
and by the bounty of God, may fall away, as it is written in the word, `The sons
of God saw the daughters of men, and took them as wives,' and so forth57 . And
God, speaking by Isaiah, said, `I have nourished and brought up children, and
they have rebelled against Me58 .'

"I have many things to say, beloved, but because I fear that I shall cause
weariness by further admonishing teachers who are of one mind with myself, I
pass them by. You, having been taught of God, are not ignorant that the teaching
at variance with the religion of the Church which has just arisen, is the same
as that propagated by Ebion59 and Artemas60 , and rivals that of Paul of
Samosata, bishop of Antioch, who was excommunicated by a council of all the
bishops. Lucianus61 , his successor, withdrew himself from communion with these
bishops during a period of many years.

"And now amongst us there have sprung up, `out of the non-existent' men who have
greedily sucked down the dregs of this impiety, offsets of the same stock: I
mean Arius and Achillas,. and all their gang of rogues. Three bishops62 of
Syria, appointed no one knows how, by consenting to them, fire them to more
fatal heat. I refer their sentence to your decision. Retaining in their memory
all that they can collect concerning the suffering, humiliation, emptying of
Himself63 , and so-called poverty, and everything of which the Saviour for our
sake accepted the acquired name, they bring forward those passages to disprove
His eternal existence and divinity, while they forget all those which declare
His glory and nobility and abiding with the Father; as for instance, `I and My
father are one64 .' In these words the Lord does not proclaim Himself to be the
Father, neither does He represent two natures as one; but that the essence of
the Son of the Father preserves accurately the likeness of the Father, His
nature taking off the impress of likeness to Him in all things, being the exact
image of the Father and the express stamp of the prototype. When, therefore,
Philip, desirous of seeing the Father, said to Him, `Lord, show us the Father,'
the Lord with abundant plainness said to him, `He that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father65 ,' as though the Father were beheld in the spotless and living
mirror of His image. The same idea is conveyed in the Psalms, where the saints
say, `In Thy light we shall see light66 .' It is on this account that `he who
honoureth the Son, honoureth the Father67 .' And rightly, for every impious word
which men dare to utter against the Son is spoken also against the Father.

"After this no one can wonder at the false calumnies which I am about to detail,
my beloved brethren, propagated by them against me, and against our most
religious people. They not only set their battle in array against the divinity
of Christ, but ungratefully insult us. They think it beneath them to be compared
with any of those of old time, nor do they endure to be put on a par with the
teachers we have been conversant with from childhood. They will not admit that
any of our fellow-ministers anywhere possess even mediocrity of intelligence.
They say that they themselves alone are the wise and the poor, and discoverers
of doctrines, and to them alone have been revealed those truths which, say they,
have never entered the mind of any other individuals under the sun. O what
wicked arrogance! O what excessive folly! What false boasting, joined with
madness and Satanic pride, has hardened their impious hearts! They are not
ashamed to oppose the godly clearness of the ancient scriptures, nor yet does
the unanimous piety of all our fellow-ministers concerning Christ blunt their
audacity. Even devils will not suffer impiety like this; for even they refrain
from speaking blasphemy against the Son of God.

"These then are the questions I have to raise, according to the ability I
possess, with those who from their rude resources throw dust on the Christ, and
try to slander our reverence for Him. These inventors of silly tales assert that
we, who reject their impious and unscriptural blasphemy concerning the creation
of Christ from the non-existent, teach that there are two unbegotten Beings. For
these ill-instructed men contend that one of these alternatives must hold;
either He must be believed to have come out of the non-existent, or there are
two unbegotten Beings. In their ignorance and want of practice in theology they
do not realize how vast must be the distance between the Father who is uncreate,
and the creatures, whether rational or irrational, which He created out of the
non-existent; and that the only-begotten nature of Him Who is the Word of God,
by Whom the Father created the universe out of the non-existent, standing, as it
were, in the middle between the two, was begotten of the self-existent Father,
as the Lord Himself testified when He said, `Every one that loveth the Father,
loveth also the Son that is begotten of Him68 .'

"We believe, as is taught by the apostolical Church, in an only unbegotten
Father, Who of His being hath no cause, immutable and invariable, and Who
subsists always in one state of being, admitting neither of progression nor of
diminution; Who gave the law, and the prophets, and the gospel; of patriarchs
and apostles, and of all saints, Lord: and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son of God, begotten not out of that which is not, but of the
Father, Who is; yet not after the manner of material bodies, by severance or
emanation, as Sabellius69 and Valentinus70 taught; but in an inexpressible and
inexplicable manner, according to the saying which we quoted above, `Who shall
declare His generations71 ?' since no mortal intellect can comprehend the nature
of His Person, as the Father Himself cannot be comprehended, because the nature
of reasonable beings is unable to grasp the manner in which He was begotten of
the Father72 .

"But those who are led by the Spirit of truth have no need to learn these things
of me, for the words long since spoken by the Saviour yet sound in our ears, `No
one knoweth who the Father is but the Son, and no one knoweth who the Son is but
the Father73 .' We have learnt that the Son is immutable and unchangeable,
all-sufficient and perfect, like the Father, lacking only His "unbegotten." He
is the exact and precisely similar image of His Father. For it is clear that the
image fully contains everything by which the greater likeness exists, as the
Lord taught us when He said, `My Father is greater than I74 .' And in accordance
with this we believe that the Son always existed of the Father; for he is the
brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Fathers Person75 ." But
let no one be led by the word `always' to imagine that the Son is unbegotten, as
is thought by some who have their intellects blinded: for to say that He was,
that He has always been, and that before all ages, is not to say that He is
unbegotten.

"The mind of man could not possibly invent a term expressive of what is meant by
being unbegotten. I believe that you are of this opinion; and, indeed, I feel
confident in your orthodox view that none of these terms in any way signify the
unbegotten. For all the terms appear to signify merely the extension of time,
and are not adequate to express the divinity and, as it were, the primaeval
being of the only-begotten Son. They were used by the holy men who earnestly
endeavoured to clear up the mystery, and who asked pardon from those who heard
them, with a reasonable excuse for their failure, by saying `as far as our
comprehension has reached.' But if those who allege that what was `known in
part' has been `done away76 ' for them, expect from human lips anything beyond
human powers, it is plain that the terms `was,' and `ever,' and `before all
ages,' fall far short of this expectation. But whatever they may mean, it is not
the same as `the unbegotten.' Therefore His own individual dignity must be
reserved to the Father as the Unbegotten One, no one being called the cause of
His existence: to the Son likewise must be given the honour which befits Him,
there being to Him a generation from the Father which has no beginning; we must
render Him worship, as we have already said, only piously and religiously
ascribing to Him the `was' and the `ever,' and the `before all ages;' not
however rejecting His divinity, but ascribing to Him a perfect likeness in all
things to His Father, while at the same time we ascribe to the Father alone His
own proper glory of `the unbegotten,' even as the Saviour Himself says, `My
Father is greater than I77 .'

"And in addition to this pious belief respecting the Father and the Son, we
confess as the Sacred Scriptures teach us, one Holy Ghost, who moved the saints
of the Old Testament, and the divine teachers of that which is called the New.
We believe in one only Catholic Church, the apostolical, which cannot be
destroyed even though all the world were to take counsel to fight against it,
and which gains the victory over all the impious attacks of the heterodox; for
we are emboldened by the words of its Master, `Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world78 .' After this, we receive the doctrine of the resurrection from the
dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the first-fruits; Who bore a Body,
in truth, not in semblance, derived from Mary the mother of God79 ; in the
fulness of time sojourning among the race, for the remission of sins: who was
crucified and died, yet for all this suffered no diminution of His Godhead. He
rose from the dead, was taken into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high.

"In this epistle I have only mentioned these things in part, deeming it, as I
have said, wearisome to dwell minutely on each article, since they are well
known to your pious diligence. These things we teach, these things we preach;
these are the dogmas of the apostolic Church, for which we are ready to die,
caring little for those who would force us to forswear them; for we will never
relinquish our hope in them, though they should try to compel us by tortures.

"Arius and Achillas, together with their fellow foes, have been expelled from
the Church, because they have become aliens from our pious doctrine: according
to the blessed Paul, who said, 'If any of you preach any other gospel than that
which you have received, let him be accursed, even though he should pretend to
be an angel from heaven80 , and `But if any man teach otherwise, and consent not
to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine
which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing81 ,' and so forth.
Since, then, they have been condemned by the brotherhood, let none of you
receive them, nor attend to what they say or write. They are deceivers, and
propagate lies, and they never adhere to the truth. They go about to different
cities with no other intent than to deliver letters under the pretext of
friendship and in the name of peace, and by hypocrisy and flattery to obtain
other letters in return, in order to deceive a few `silly women who are laden
with sins82 .' I beseech you, beloved brethren, to avoid those who have thus
dared to act against Christ, who have publicly held up the Christian religion to
ridicule, and have eagerly sought to make a display before judicial tribunals,
who have endeavoured to excite a persecution against us at a period of the most
entire peace, and who have enervated the unspeakable mystery of the generation
of Christ. Unite unanimousl"y in opposition to them, as some of our
fellow-ministers have already done, who, being filled with indignation, wrote to
me against them, and signed our formulary83 .

"I have sent you these letters by my son Apion, the deacon; being those of (the
ministers in) all Egypt and the Thebaid, also of those of Libya, and the
Pentapolis, of Syria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Asia, Cappadocia, and in the other
adjoining countries. Whose example you likewise, I trust, will follow. Many
kindly attempts have been made by me to gain back those who have been led
astray, but no remedy has proved more efficacious in restoring the laity who
have been deceived by them and leading them to repentance, than the
manifestation of the union of our fellow-ministers. Salute one another, with the
brotherhood that is with you. I pray that you may be strong in the Lord, my
beloved, and that I may receive the fruit of your love to Christ.

"The following are the name of those who have been anathematized as heretics:
among the presbyters, Arius; among the deacons, Achillas, Euzoius, Aïthales,
Lucius, Sarmates, Julius, Menas, another Arius, and Helladius."

Alexander wrote in the same strain to Philogonius84 , bishop of Antioch, to
Eustathius85 , who then ruled the church of the Beroeans, and to all those who
defended the doctrines of the Apostles. But Arius could not endure to keep
quiet, but wrote to all those whom he believed to agree with him in opinion. His
letter to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, is a clear proof that the divine
Alexander wrote nothing that was false concerning him. I shall here insert his
letter, in order that the names of those who were implicated in his impiety may
become generally known.

Chapter IV.-The Letter of Arius to Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia.

"To his very dear lord, the man of God, the faithful and orthodox Eusebius,
Arius, unjustly persecuted by Alexander the Pope86 , on account of that
all-conquering truth of which you also are a champion, sendeth greeting in the
Lord.

"Ammonius, my father, being about to depart for Nicomedia, I considered myself
bound to salute you by him, and withal to inform that natural affection which
you bear towards the brethren for the sake of God and His Christ, that the
bishop greatly wastes and persecutes us, and leaves no stone unturned87 against
us. He has driven us out of the city as atheists, because we do not concur in
what he publicly preaches, namely, God always, the Son always; as the Father so
the Son; the Son Co-exists unbegotten with God; He is everlasting; neither by
thought nor by any interval does God precede the Son; always God, always Son; he
is begotten of the unbegotten; the Son is of God Himself. Eusebius, your brother
bishop of Caesarea, Theodotus, Paulinus, Athanasius, Gregorius, Aetius, and all
the bishops of the East, have been condemned because they say that God had an
existence prior to that of His Son; except Philogonius, Hellanicus, and
Macarius, who are unlearned men, and who have embraced heretical opinions. Some
of them say that the Son is an eructation, others that He is a production,
others that He is also unbegotten. These are impieties to which we cannot
listen, even though the heretics threaten us with a thousand deaths. But we say
and believe, and have taught, and do teach, that the Son is not unbegotten, nor
in any way part of the unbegotten; and that He does not derive His subsistence
from any matter; but that by His own will and counsel He has subsisted before
time, and before ages, as perfect God, only begotten and unchangeable, and that
before He was begotten, or created, or purposed, or established, He was not. For
He was not unbegotten. We are persecuted, because we say that the Son has a
beginning, but that God is without beginning. This is the cause of our
persecution, and likewise, because we say that He is of the non-existent88 . And
this we say, because He is neither part of God, nor of any essential being89 .
For this are we persecuted; the rest you know. I bid thee farewell in the Lord,
remembering our afflictions, my fellow-Lucianist90 , and true Eusebius91 ." Of
those whose names are mentioned in this letter, Eusebius was bishop of
Caesarea92 , Theodotus of Laodicea, Paulinus of Tyre, Athanasius of Anazarbus,
Gregorius of Berytus, and Aetius of Lydda. Lydda is now called Diospolis. Arius
prided himself on having these men of one mind with himself. He names as his
adversaries, Philogonius, bishop of Antioch, Hellanicus, of Tripolis, and
Macarius, of Jerusalem. He spread calumnies against them because they said that
the Son is eternal, existing before all ages, of equal honour and of the same
substance with the Father. When Eusebius received the epistle, he too vomited
forth his own impiety, and wrote to Paulinus, chief93 of the Tyrians, in the
following words.

Chapter V.-The Letter of Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, to Paulinus, Bishop of
Tyre.

"To my lord Paulinus, Eusebius sendeth greeting in the Lord.

"The zeal of my lord Eusebius in the cause of the truth, and likewise your
silence concerning it, have not failed to reach our ears. Accordingly, if, on
the one hand, we rejoiced on account of the zeal of my lord Eusebius; on the
other we are grieved at you, because even the silence of such a man appears like
a defeat of our cause. Hence, as it behoves not a wise man to be of a different
opinion from others, and to be silent concerning the truth, stir up, I exhort
you, within yourself the spirit of wisdom to write, and at length begin what may
be profitable to yourself and to others, specially if you consent to write in
accordance with Scripture, and tread in the tracks of its words and will.

"We have never heard that there are two unbegotten beings, nor that one has been
divided into two, nor have we learned or believed that it has ever undergone any
change of a corporeal nature; but we affirm that the unbegotten is one and one
also that which exists in truth by Him, yet was not made out of His substance,
and does not at all participate in the nature or substance of the unbegotten,
entirely distinct in nature and in power, and made after perfect likeness both
of character and power to the maker. We believe that the mode of His beginning
not only cannot be expressed by words but even in thought, and is
incomprehensible not only to man, but also to all beings superior to man. These
opinions we advance not as having derived them from our own imagination, but as
having deduced them from Scripture, whence we learn that the Son was created,
established, and begotten in the same substance and in the same immutable and
inexpressible nature as the Maker; and so the Lord says, `God created me in the
beginning of His way; I was set up from everlasting; before the hills was I
brought forth94 .'

"If He had been from Him or of Him, as a portion of Him, or by an emanation of
His substance, it could not be said that He was created or established; and of
this you, my lord, are certainly not ignorant. For that which is of the
unbegotten could not be said to have been created or founded, either by Him or
by another, since it is unbegotten from the beginning. But if the fact of His
being called the begotten gives any ground for the belief that, having come into
being of the Father's substance, He also has from the Father likeness of nature,
we reply that it is not of Him alone that the Scriptures have spoken as
begotten, but that they also thus speak of those who are entirely dissimilar to
Him by nature. For of men it is said, `I have begotten and brought up sons, and
they have rebelled against me95 ;' and in another place, `Thou hast forsaken God
who begat thee96 ;' and again it is said, `Who begat the drops of dew97 ?' This
expression does not imply that the dew partakes of the nature of God, but simply
that all things were formed according to His will. There is, indeed, nothing
which is of His substance, yet every thing which exists has been called into
being by His will. He is God; and all things were made in His likeness. and in
the future likeness of His Word, being created of His free will. All things were
made by His means by God. All things are of God.

"When you have received my letter, and have revised it according to the
knowledge and grace given you by God, I beg you will write as soon as possible
to my lord Alexander. I feel confident that if you would write to him, you would
succeed in bringing him over to your opinion. Salute all the brethren in the
Lord. May you, my lord, be preserved by the grace of God, and be led to pray for
us."

It is thus that they wrote to each other, in order to furnish one another with
weapons against the truths98 . And so when the blasphemous doctrine had been
disseminated in the churches of Egypt and of the East, disputes and contentions
arose in every city, and in every village, concerning theological dogmas. The
common people looked on, and became judges of what was said on either side, and
some applauded one party, and some the other. These were, indeed, scenes fit for
the tragic stage, over which tears might have been shed. For it was not, as in
bygone days, when the church was attacked by strangers and by enemies, but now
natives of the same country, who dwelt under one roof, and sat down at one
table, fought against each other not with spears, but with their tongues. And
what was still more sad, they who thus took up arms against one another were
members of one another, and belonged to one body.

Chapter VI.-General Council of Nicaea. The emperor, who possessed the most
profound wisdom, having heard of these things, endeavoured, as a first step, to
stop up their fountain-head. He therefore despatched a messenger renowned for
his ready wit to Alexandria with letters, in the endeavour to extinguish the
dispute, and expecting to reconcile the disputants. But his hopes having been
frustrated, he proceeded to summon the celebrated council of Nicaea99 ; and
pledged his word that the bishops and their officials should be furnished with
asses, mules, and horses for their journey at the public expense. When all those
who were capable of enduring the fatigue of the journey had arrived at Nicaea,
he went thither himself, with both the wish of seeing the multitude of bishops,
and the yearning desire of maintaining unanimity amongst them. He at once
arranged that all their wants should be liberally supplied. Three hundred and
eighteen bishops were assembled. The bishop of Rome100 , on account of his very
advanced age, was absent, but he sent two presbyters101 to the council, with
authority to agree to what was done. At this period many individuals were richly
endowed with apostolical gifts; and many, like the holy apostle, bore in their
bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ102 . James, bishop of Antioch, a city
of Mygdonia, which is called Nisibis by the Syrians and Assyrians, raised the
dead and restored them to life, and performed many other wonders which it would
be superfluous to mention again in detail in this history, as I have already
given an account of them in my work, entitled "Philotheus103 ." Paul, bishop of
Neo-Caesarea, a fortress situated on the banks of the Euphrates, had suffered
from the frantic rage of Licinius. He had been deprived of the use of both hands
by the application of a red-hot iron, by which the nerves which give motion to
the muscles had been contracted and rendered dead. Some had had the right eye
dug out, others had lost the right arm. Among these was Paphnutius of Egypt. In
short, the Council looked like an assembled army of martyrs. Yet this holy and
celebrated gathering was not entirely free from the element of opposition; for
there were some, though so few as easily to be reckoned, of fair surface, like
dangerous shallows, who really, though not openly, supported the blasphemy of
Arius. When they were all assembled104 , the emperor ordered a great hall to be
prepared for their accommodation in the palace, in which a sufficient number of
benches and seats were placed; and having thus arranged that they should be
treated with becoming dignity, he desired the bishops to enter in, and discuss
the subjects proposed. The emperor, with a few attendants, was the last to enter
the room; remarkable for his lofty stature, and worthy of admiration for
personal beauty, and for the still more marvellous modesty which dwelt on his
countenance. A low stool was placed for him in the middle of the assembly, upon
which, however, he did not seat himself until he had asked the permission of the
bishops. Then all the sacred assembly sat down around him. Then forthwith rose
first the great Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, who, upon the translation of
Philogonius, already referred to, to a better life, had been compelled
reluctantly to become his successor by the unanimous suffrages of the bishops,
priests, and of the Christ-loving laity. He crowned the emperor's head with the
flowers of panegyric, and commended the diligent attention he had manifested in
the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs. The excellent emperor next exhorted
the Bishops to unanimity and concord; he recalled to their remembrance the
cruelty of the late tyrants, and reminded them of the honourable peace which God
had, in his reign and by his means, accorded them. He pointed out how dreadful
it was, aye, very dreadful, that at the very time when their enemies were
destroyed, and when no one dared to oppose them, they should fall upon one
another, and make their amused adversaries laugh, especially as they were
debating about holy things, concerning which they had the written teaching of
the Holy Spirit. "For the gospels" (continued he), "the apostolical writings,
and the oracles of the ancient prophets, clearly teach us what we ought to
believe concerning the divine nature. Let, then, all contentious disputation be
discarded; and let us seek in the divinely-inspired word the solution of the
questions at issue." These and similar exhortations he, like an affectionate
son, addressed to the bishops as to fathers, labouring to bring about their
unanimity in the apostolical doctrines. Most members of the synod, won over by
his arguments, established concord among themselves, and embraced sound
doctrine. There were, however, a few, of whom mention has been already made, who
opposed these doctrines, and sided with Arius; and amongst them were
Menophantus, bishop of Ephesus, Patrophilus, bishop of Scythopolis, Theognis,
bishop of Nicaea, and Narcissus, bishop of Neronias, which is a town of the
second Cilicia, and is now called Irenopolis; also Theonas, bishop of Marmarica,
and Secundus, bishop of Ptolemais in Egypt105 . They drew up a formulary of
their faith, and presented it to the council. As soon as it was read it was torn
to pieces, and was declared to be spurious and false. So great was the uproar
raised against them, and so many were the reproaches cast on them for having
betrayed religion, that they all, with the exception of Secundus and Theonas,
stood up and took the lead in publicly renouncing Arius. This impious man,
having thus been expelled from the Church, a confession of faith which is
received to this day was drawn up by unanimous consent; and, as soon as it was
signed, the council was dissolved.

Chapter VII.-Confutation of Arianism Deduced from the Writings of Eustathius and
Athanasius. The above-named bishops, however, did not consent to it in
sincerity, but only in appearance. This was afterwards shewn by their plotting
against those who were foremost in zeal for religion, as well as by what these
latter have written about them. For instance, Eustathius, the famous bishop of
Antioch, who has been already mentioned, when explaining the text in the
Proverbs, `The Lord created me in the beginning of His way, before His works of
old106 ,' wrote against them, and refuted their blasphemy.

107 "I Will now proceed to relate how these different events occurred. A general
council was summoned at Nicaea, and about two hundred and seventy bishops were
convened. There were, however, so many assembled that I cannot state their exact
number, neither, indeed, have I taken any great trouble to ascertain this point.
When they began to inquire into the nature of the faith, the formulary of
Eusebius was brought forward, which contained undisguised evidence of his
blasphemy. The reading of it before all occasioned great grief to the audience,
on account of its departure from the faith, while it inflicted irremediable
shame on the writer. After the Eusebian gang had been clearly convicted, and the
impious writing had been torn up in the sight of all, some amongst them by
concert, under the pretence of preserving peace, imposed silence on all the
ablest speakers. The Ariomaniacs, fearing lest they should be ejected from the
Church by so numerous a council of bishops, sprang forward to anathematize and
condemn the doctrines condemned, and unanimously signed the confession of faith.
Thus having retained possession of their episcopal seats through the most
shameful deception, although they ought rather to have been degraded, they
continue, sometimes secretly, and sometimes openly, to patronize the condemned
doctrines, plotting against the truth by various arguments. Wholly bent upon
establishing these plantations of tares, they shrink from the scrutiny of the
intelligent, avoid the observant, and attack the preachers of godliness. But we
do not believe that these atheists can ever thus overcome the Deity. For though
they `gird themselves' they `shall be broken in pieces,' according to the solemn
prophecy of Isaiah108 ."

These are the words of the great Eustathius. Athanasius, his fellow combatant,
the champion of the truth, who succeeded the celebrated Alexander in the
episcopate, added the following, in a letter addressed to the Africans.

"The bishops convened in council being desirous of refuting the impious
assertions invented by the Arians, that the Son was created out of that which
was non-existent109 , that He is a creature and created being110 , that there
was a period in which He was not111 , and that He is mutable by nature, and
being all agreed in propounding the following declarations, which are in
accordance with the holy Scriptures; namely, that the Son is by nature
only-begotten of God, Word, Power, and sole Wisdom of the Father; that He is, as
John said, `the true God112 ,' and, as Paul has written, `the brightness of the
glory, and the express image of the person of the Father113 ,' the followers of
Eusebius, drawn aside by their own vile doctrine, then began to say one to
another, Let us agree, for we are also of God; `There is but one God, by whom
are all things114 ; `Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new, and all things are of God'115 .' They also dwelt particularly upon what is
contained in `The Shepherd116 :' `Believe above all that there is one God, who
created and fashioned all things, and making them to be out of that which is
not.'

"But the bishops saw through their evil design and impious artifice, and gave a
clearer elucidation of the words `of God,' and wrote, that the Son is of the
substance of God; in order that while the creatures, which do not in any way
derive their existence of or from themselves, are said to be of God, the Son
alone is said to be of the substance of the Father; this being peculiar to the
only-begotten Son, the true Word of the Father. This is the reason why the
bishops wrote, that He is of the substance of the Father.

"But when the Arians, who seemed few in number, were again interrogated by the
Bishops as to whether they admitted `that the Son is not a creature, but Power,
and sole Wisdom, and eternal unchangeable117 Image of the Father; and that He is
very God,' the Eusebians were noticed making signs to one another to shew that
these declarations were equally applicable to us. For it is said, that we are
`the image and glory of God118 ;' and `for always we who live119 :' there are,
also, they said, many powers; for it is written-`All the power of God went out
of the land of Egypt120 .' The canker-worm and the locust are said to be `a
great power121 .' And elsewhere it is written,The God of powers is with us, the
God of Jacob helper122 .' To which may be added that we are God's own not
simply, but because the Son called us `brethren123 .' The declaration that
Christ is `the true God' does not distress us, for, having come into being, He
is true.

"Such was the corrupt opinion of the Arians; but on this the bishops, having
detected their deceitfulness in this matter, collected from Scripture those
passages which say of Christ that He is the glory, the fountain, the stream, and
the express image of the person; and they quoted the following words: `In thy
light we shall see light124 ;' and likewise, `I and the Father are one125 .'
They then, with still greater clearness, briefly declared that the Son is of one
substance with the Father; for this, indeed, is the signification of the
passages which have been quoted. The complaint of the Arians, that these precise
words are not to be found in Scripture, is proved groundless by their own
practice, for their own impious assertions are not taken from Scripture; for it
is not written that the Son is of the non-existent, and that there was a time
when He was not: and yet they complain of having been condemned by expressions
which, though not actually in Scripture, are in accordance with true religion.
They themselves, on the other hand, as though they had found their words on a
dunghill, uttered things verily of earth. The bishops, on the contrary, did not
find their expressions for themselves; but, received their testimony from the
fathers, and wrote accordingly. Indeed, there were bishops of old time, nearly
one hundred and thirty years ago, both of the great city of Rome and of our own
city126 , who condemned those who asserted that the Son is a creature, and that
He is not of one substance with the Father. Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea,
was acquainted with these facts; he, at one time, favoured the Arian heresy, but
he afterwards signed the confession of faith of the Council of Nicaea. He wrote
to the people of his diocese, maintaining that the word `consubstantial' was
`used by illustrious bishops and learned writers as a term for expressing the
divinity of the Father and of the Son127 .'" So these men concealed their
unsoundness through fear of the majority, and gave their assent to the decisions
of the council, thus drawing upon themselves the condemnation of the prophet,
for the God of all cries unto them, "This people honour Me with their lips, but
in their hearts they are far from Me128 ." Theonas and Secundus, however, did
not like to take this course, and were excommunicated by common consent as men
who esteemed the Arian blasphemy above evangelical doctrine. The bishops then
returned to the council, and drew up twenty laws to regulate the discipline of
the Church.

Chapter VIII.-Facts Relating to Meletius the Egyptian, from Whom Originated the
Meletian Schism, Which Remains to This Day.-Synodical Epistle Respecting Him.

After Meletius129 had been ordained bishop, which was not long before the Arian
controversy, he was convicted of certain crimes by the most holy Peter, bishop
of Alexandria, who also received the crown of martyrdom. After being deposed by
Peter he did not acquiesce in his deposition, but filled the Thebaid and the
adjacent part of Egypt with tumult and disturbance, and rebelled against the
primacy of Alexandria. A letter was written by the council to the Church of
Alexandria, stating what had been decreed against his revolutionary practices.
It was as follows:- Synodical Epistle.

"To the Church of Alexandria which, by the grace of God, is great and holy, and
to the beloved brethren in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, the bishops who have
been convened to the great and holy council of Nicaea, send greeting in the
Lord.

"The great and holy council of Nicaea having been convened by the grace of God,
and by the most religious emperor, Constantine, who summoned us from different
provinces and cities, we judge it requisite that a letter be sent from the whole
Holy Synod to inform you also what questions have been mooted and debated, and
what has been decreed and established.

"In the first place, the impious doctrines of Arius were investigated before our
most religious emperor Constantine; and his impiety was unanimously
anathematized, as well as the blasphemous language and views which he had
propounded, alleging that the Son of God was out of what was not, that before He
was begotten He was not, that there was a period in which He was not, and that
He can, according to His own freewill, be capable either of virtue or of vice.
The holy council anathematized all these assertions, and even refused so much as
to listen to such impious and foolish opinions, and such blasphemous
expressions. The final decision concerning him you already know, or will soon
hear; but we will not mention it now, lest we should appear to trample upon a
man who has already received the recompense due to his sins. Such influence has
his impiety obtained as to involve Theonas, bishop of Marmarica, and Secundus,
bishop of Ptolemais, in his ruin, and they have shared his punishment.

"But after Egypt had, by the grace of God, been delivered from these false and
blasphemous opinions, and from persons who dared to raise discord and division
among a hitherto peaceable people, there yet remained the question of the
temerity of Meletius, and of those ordained by him. We now inform you, beloved
brethren, of the decrees of the council on this subject. It was decided by the
holy council, that Meletius should be treated with clemency, though, strictly
speaking, he was not worthy of even the least concession. He was permitted to
remain in his own city, but was divested of all power, whether of nomination or
of ordination, neither was he to shew himself in any province or city for these
purposes: but only to retain the bare name of his office. Those who had received
ordination at his hands were to submit to a more religious re-ordination; and
were to be admitted to communion on the terms of retaining their ministry, but
of ranking in every diocese and church below those who had been ordained before
them by Alexander, our much-honoured fellow-minister Thus they would have no
power of choosing or nominating others to the ministry, according to their
pleasure, or indeed of doing anything with out the consent of the bishops of the
Catholic and Apostolic Church, who are under Alexander. But they who, by the
grace of God, and in answer to your prayers, have been detected in no schism,
and have continued spotless in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, are to have
the power of electing, and of nominating men worthy of the clerical office, and
are permitted to do whatsoever is in accordance with law and the authority of
the Church. If it should happen, that any of those now holding an office in the
Church should die, then let these recently admitted be advanced to the honours
of the deceased, provided only that they appear worthy, and that the people
choose them, and that the election be confirmed and ratified by the catholic
bishop of Alexandria. The same privilege has been conceded to all the others.
With respect to Meletius, however, an exception has been made, both on account
of his former insubordination, and of the rashness and impetuosity of his
disposition; for if the least authority were accorded to him, he might abuse it
by again exciting confusion. These are the chief points which relate to Egypt,
and to the holy Church of Alexandria. Whatever other canons were made, or dogmas
decreed, you will hear of them from Alexander, our most-honoured fellow-minister
and brother, who will give you still more accurate information, because he
himself directed, as well as participated in, every thing that took place.

"We also give you the good news that, according to your prayers, the celebration
of the most holy paschal feast was unanimously rectified, so that our brethren
of the East, who did not previously keep the festival at the same time as those
of Rome, and as yourselves, and, indeed, all have done from the beginning, will
henceforth celebrate it with you. Rejoice, then, in the success of our
undertakings, and in the general peace and concord, and in the extirpation of
every heresy, and receive with still greater honour and more fervent love,
Alexander, our fellow-minister and your bishop, who imparted joy to as by his
presence, and who, at a very advanced age, has undergone so much fatigue for the
purpose of restoring peace among you. Pray for us all, that what has been
rightly decreed may remain steadfast, through our Lord Jesus Christ, being done,
as we trust, according to the good pleasure of God and the Father in the Holy
Ghost, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Notwithstanding the endeavours of that divine assembly of bishops to apply this
medicine to the Meletian disease, vestiges of his infatuation remain even to
this day; for there are in some districts bodies of monks who refuse to follow
sound doctrine, and observe certain vain points of discipline, agreeing with the
infatuated views of the Jews and the Samaritans.

Chapter IX.-The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, Concerning the Matters
Transacted at the Council, Addressed to Those Bishops Who Were Not Present. The
great emperor also wrote an account of the transactions of the council to those
bishops who were unable to attend. And I consider it worth while to insert this
epistle in my work, as it clearly evidences the piety of the writer.

"Constantinus Augustus to the Churches.

"Viewing the common public prosperity enjoyed at this moment, as the result of
the great power of divine grace, I am desirous above all things that the blessed
members of the Catholic Church should be preserved in one faith, in sincere
love, and in one form of religion, towards Almighty God. But, since no firmer or
more effective measure could be adopted to secure this end, than that of
submitting everything relating to our most holy religion to the examination of
all, or most of all, the bishops, I convened as many of them as possible, and
took my seat among them as one of yourselves; for I would not deny that truth
which is the source of my greatest joy, namely, that I am your fellow-servant.
Every point obtained its due investigation, until the doctrine pleasing to the
all-seeing God, and conducive to unity, was made clear, so that no room should
remain for division or controversy concerning the faith.

"The commemoration of the most sacred paschal feast being then debated, it was
unanimously decided, that it would be well that it should be everywhere
celebrated upon the same day. What can be more fair, or more seemly, than that
that festival by which we have received the hope of immortality should be
carefully celebrated by all, on plain grounds, with the same order and
exactitude? It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom
of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands
having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily
blinded. By rejecting their custom, we establish and hand down to succeeding
ages one which is more reasonable, and which has been observed ever since the
day of our Lord's sufferings. Let us, then, have nothing in common with the
Jews, who are our adversaries. For we have received from our Saviour another
way. A better and more lawful line of conduct is inculcated by our holy
religion. Let us with one accord walk therein, my much-honoured brethren,
studiously avoiding all contact with that evil way. They boast that without
their instructions we should be unable to commemorate the festival properly.
This is the highest pitch of absurdity. For how can they entertain right views
on any point who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of
their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion,
wherever their innate madness carries them. Hence it follows that they have so
far lost sight of truth, wandering as far as possible from the correct revisal,
that they celebrate a second Passover in the same year. What motive can we have
for following those who are thus confessedly unsound and in dire error? For we
could never tolerate celebrating the Passover twice in one year. But even if all
these facts did not exist, your own sagacity would prompt you to watch with
diligence and with prayer, lest your pure minds should appear to share in the
customs of a people so utterly depraved. It must also be borne in mind, that
upon so important a point as the celebration of a feast of such sanctity,
discord is wrong. One day has our Saviour set apart for a commemoration of our
deliverance, namely, of His most holy Passion. One hath He wished His Catholic
Church to be, whereof the members, though dispersed throughout the most various
parts of the world, are yet nourished by one spirit, that is, by the divine
will. Let your pious sagacity reflect how evil and improper it is, that days
devoted by some to fasting, should be spent by others in convivial feasting; and
that after the paschal feast, some are rejoicing in festivals and relaxations,
while others give themselves up to the appointed fasts. That this impropriety
should be rectified, and that all these diversities of commemoration should be
resolved into one form, is the will of divine Providence, as I am convinced you
will all perceive. Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that
we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers
of our Lord. An orderly and excellent form of commemoration is observed in all
the churches of the western, of the southern, and of the northern parts of the
world, and by some of the eastern; this form being universally commended, I
engaged that you would be ready to adopt it likewise, and thus gladly accept the
rule unanimously adopted in the city of Rome, throughout Italy, in all Africa,
in Egypt, the Spains, the Gauls, the Britains, Libya, Greece, in the dioceses of
Asia, and of Pontus, and in Cilicia, taking into your consideration not only
that the churches of the places above-mentioned are greater in point of number,
but also that it is most pious that all should unanimously agree in that course
which accurate reasoning seems to demand, and which has no single point in
common with the perjury of the Jews.

"Briefly to summarize the whole of the preceding, the judgment of all is, that
the holy Paschal feast should be held on one and the same day; for, in so holy a
matter, it is not becoming that any difference of custom should exist, and it is
better to follow the opinion which has not the least association with error and
sin. This being the case, receive with gladness the heavenly gift and the
plainly divine command; for all that is transacted in the holy councils of the
bishops is to be referred to the Divine will. Therefore, when you have made
known to all our beloved brethren the subject of this epistle, regard yourselves
bound to accept what has gone before, and to arrange for the regular observance
of this holy day, so that when, according to my long-cherished desire, I shall
see you face to face, I may be able to celebrate with you this holy festival
upon one and the same day; and may rejoice with you all in witnessing the
cruelty of the devil destroyed by our efforts, through Divine grace, while our
faith and peace and concord flourish throughout the world. May God preserve you,
beloved brethren."

Chapter X.-The Daily Wants of the Church Supplied by the Emperor, and an Account
of His Other Virtues.

Thus did the emperor write to the absent. To those who attended the council,
three hundred and eighteen in number he manifested great kindness, addressing
them with much gentleness, and presenting them with gifts. He ordered numerous
couches to be prepared for their accommodation and entertained them all at one
banquet. Those who were most worthy he received at his own table, distributing
the rest at the others. Observing that some among them bad had the right eye
torn out, and learning that this mutilation had been undergone for the sake of
religion, he placed his lips upon the wounds, believing that he would extract a
blessing from the kiss. After the conclusion of the feast, he again presented
other gifts to them. He then wrote to the governors of the provinces, directing
that provision-money should be given in every city to virgins and widows, and to
those who were consecrated to the divine service; and he measured the amount of
their annual allowance more by the impulse of his own generosity than by their
need. The third part of the sum is distributed to this day. Julian impiously
withheld the whole. His successor130 conferred the sum which is now dispensed,
the famine which then prevailed having lessened the resources of the state. If
the pensions were formerly triple in amount to what they are at present, the
generosity of the emperor can by this fact be easily seen.

I do not account it right to pass over the following circumstance in silence.
Some quarrelsome individuals wrote accusations against certain bishops, and
presented their indictments to the emperor. This occurring before the
establishment of concord, he received the lists, formed them into a packet which
he sealed with his ring, and ordered them to be kept safely. After the
reconciliation had been effected, he brought out these writings, and burnt them
in their presence, at the same time declaring upon oath that he had not read a
word of them. He said that the crimes of priests ought not to be made known to
the multitude, lest they should become an occasion of offence, and lead them to
sin without fear. It is reported also that he added that if he were to detect a
bishop in the very act of committing adultery, he would throw his imperial robe
over the unlawful deed, lest any should witness the scene, and be thereby
injured. Thus did he admonish all the priests, as well as confer honours upon
them, and then exhorted them to return each to his own flock.

Chapter XI.

I shall here insert the letter respecting the faith, written by Eusebius, bishop
of Caesarea, as it describes the effrontery of the Arians, who not only despise
our fathers, but reject their own: it contains a convincing proof of their
madness. They certainly honour Eusebius, because he adopted their sentiments,
but yet they openly contradict his writings. He wrote this epistle to some of
the Arians, who were accusing him, it seems, of treachery. The letter itself
explains the writer's object.

Epistle of Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, which he wrote from Nicaea when the
great Council was assembled.

"You will have probably learnt from other sources what was decided respecting
the faith of the church at the general council of Nicaea, for the fame of great
transactions generally outruns the accurate account of them: but lest rumours
not in strict accordance with the truth should reach you, I think it necessary
to send to you, first, the formulary of faith originally proposed by us, and,
next, the second, published with additions made to our terms. The following is
our formulary, which was read in the presence of our most pious emperor, and
declared to be couched in right and proper language. The Faith put forth by us.

"`As in our first catechetical instruction, and at the time of our baptism, we
received from the bishops who were before us and as we have learnt from the Holy
Scriptures, and, alike as presbyters, and as bishops, were wont to believe and
teach; so we now believe and thus declare our faith. It is as follows:-

"`We believe in one God, Father Almighty, the Maker of all things, visible and
invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, God of God, Light of
Light, Life of Life, Only-begotten Son, First-born of every creature, begotten
of the Father before all worlds; by Whom all things were made; Who for our
salvation was incarnate, and lived among men131 . He suffered and rose again the
third day, and ascended to the Father; and He will come again in glory to judge
the quick and the dead. We also believe in one Holy Ghost.

"`We believe in the being and continual existence of each of these; that the
Father is in truth the Father; the Son in truth the Son; the Holy Ghost in truth
the Holy Ghost; as our Lord, when sending out His disciples to preach the
Gospel, said, `Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost132 .' We positively affirm
that we hold this faith, that we have always held it, and that we adhere to it
even unto death, condemning all ungodly heresy. We testify, as before God the
Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we have thought thus from the heart,
and from the soul, ever since we have known ourselves; and we have the means of
showing, and, indeed, of convincing you, that we have always during the past
thus believed and preached.'

"When this formulary had been set forth by us, there was no room to gainsay it;
but our beloved emperor himself was the first to testify that it was most
orthodox, and that he coincided in opinion with it; and he exhorted the others
to sign it, and to receive all the doctrine it contained, with the single
addition of the one word-`consubstantial.' He explained that this term implied
no bodily condition or change133 , for that the Son did not derive His existence
from the Father either by means of division or of abscission, since an
immaterial, intellectual, and incorporeal nature could not be subject to any
bodily condition or change134 . These things must be understood as bearing a
divine and mysterious signification. Thus reasoned our wisest and most religious
emperor. The addition of the word consubstantial has given occasion for the
composition of the following formulary:- The Creed published by the Council.

"`We believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and
invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father;
only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of
Light, Very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the
Father: by Whom all things were made both in heaven and on earth: Who for us
men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate, and was
made man; He suffered, and rose gain the third day; He ascended into heaven, and
is coming to judge both quick and dead. And we believe in the Holy Ghost. The
holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes all who say that there was a
time when the Son of God was not; that before He was begotten He was not; that
He was made out of the non-existent; or that He is of a different essence and of
a different substance135 from the Father; and that He is susceptible of
variation or change.'

"When they had set forth this formulary, we did not leave without examination
that passage in which it is said that the Son is of the substance of the Father,
and consubstantial with the Father. Questions and arguments thence arose, and
the meaning of the terms was exactly tested. Accordingly they were led to
confess that the word consubstantial signifies that the Son is of the Father,
but not as being a part of the Father. We deemed it right to receive this
opinion; for that is sound doctrine which teaches that the Son is of the Father,
but not part of His substance. From the love of peace, and lest we should fall
from the true belief, we also accept this view, neither do we reject the term
`consubstantial.' For the same reason we admitted the expression, `begotten, but
not made;' for they alleged that the word `made' applies generally to all things
which were created by the Son, to which the Son is in no respect similar; and
that consequently He is not a created thing, like the things made by Him, but is
of a substance superior to all created objects. The Holy Scriptures teach Him to
be begotten of the Father, by a mode of generation which is incomprehensible and
inexplicable to all created beings. So also the term `of one substance with the
Father,' when investigated, was accepted not in accordance with bodily relations
or similarity to mortal beings. For it was also shown that it does not either
imply division of substance, nor abscission, nor any modification or change or
diminution in the power of the Father, all of which are alien from the nature of
the unbegotten Father. It was concluded that the expression `being of one
substance with the Father,' implies that the Son of God does not resemble, in
any one respect, the creatures which He has made; but that to the Father alone,
who begat Him, He is in all points perfectly like: for He is of the essence and
of the substance136 of none save of the Father. This interpretation having been
given of the doctrine, it appeared right to us to assent to it, especially as we
were aware that of the ancients some learned and celebrated bishops and writers
have used the term `consubstantial' with respect to the divinity of the Father
and of the Son.

"These are the circumstances which I had to communicate respecting the published
formulary of the faith. To it we all agreed, not without investigation, but,
after having subjected the views submitted to us to thorough examination in the
presence of our most beloved emperor, for the above reasons we all acquiesced in
it. We also allowed that the anathema appended by them to their formulary of
faith should be accepted, because it prohibits the use of words which are not
scriptural; through which almost all the disorder and troubles of the Church
have arisen. And since no passage of the inspired Scripture uses the terms `out
of the non-existent,' or that `there was a time when He was not,' nor indeed any
of the other phrases of the same class, it did not appear reasonable to assert
or to teach such things. In this opinion, therefore, we judged it right to
agree; since, indeed, we had never, at any former period, been accustomed to use
such terms137 . Moreover, the condemnation of the assertion that before He was
begotten He was not, did not appear to involve any incongruity, because all
assent to the fact that He was the Son of God before He was begotten according
to the flesh. And here our emperor, most beloved by God, began to reason
concerning His divine origin, and His existence before all ages. He was
virtually in the Father without generation138 , even before He was actually
begotten, the Father having always been the Father, just as He has always been a
King and a Saviour, and, virtually, all things, and has never known any change
of being or action.

"We have thought it requisite, beloved brethren, to transmit you an account of
these circumstances, in order to show you what examination and investigation we
bestowed on all the questions which we had to decide; and also to prove how at
one time we resisted firmly, even to the last hour, when doctrines improperly
expressed offended us, and, at another time, we, without contention, accepted
the articles which contained nothing objectionable, when after a thorough and
candid investigation of their signification, they appeared perfectly comformable
with what had been confessed by us in the formulary of faith which we had
published."

Chapter XII.-Confutation of the Blasphemies of the Arians of Our Time, from the
Writings of Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea.

Eusebius clearly testifies that the aforesaid term "consubstantial" is not a new
one, nor the invention of the fathers assembled at the council; but that, from
the very first139 it has been handed down from father to son. He states that all
those then assembled unanimously received the creed then published; and he again
bears testimony to the same fact in another work, in which he highly extols the
conduct of the great Constantine. He writes as follows140 :-

"The emperor having delivered this discourse in Latin, it was translated into
Greek by an interpreter, and then he gave liberty of speech to the leaders of
the council. Some at once began to bring forward complaints against their
neighbours, while others had recourse to recriminations and reproaches. Each
party had much to urge, and at the beginning the debate waxed very violent. The
emperor patiently and attentively listened to all that was advanced, and gave
furl attention to what was urged by each party in turn. He calmly endeavoured to
reconcile the conflicting parties; addressing them mildly in Greek, of which
language he was not ignorant, in a sweet and gentle manner. Some he convinced by
argument, others he put to the blush; he commended those who had spoken well,
and excited all to unanimity; until, at length, he reduced them all to oneness
of mind and opinion on all the disputed points, so that they all agreed to hold
the same faith, and to celebrate the festival of Salvation upon the same day.
What had been decided was committed to writing, and was signed by all the
bishops."

Soon after the author thus continues the narrative:-

"When matters had been thus arranged, the emperor gave them permission to return
to their own dioceses. They returned with great joy, and have ever since
continued to be of the one opinion, agreed upon in the presence of the emperor,
and, though once widely separated, now united together, as it were, in one body.
Constantine, rejoicing in the success of his efforts, made known these happy
results by letter to those who were at a distance. He ordered large sums of
money to be liberally distributed both among the inhabitants of the country and
of the cities, in order that the twentieth anniversary of his reign might be
celebrated with public festivities."

Although the Arians impiously gainsay the statements of the other fathers, yet
they ought to believe what has been written by this father, whom they have been
accustomed to admire. They ought, therefore, to receive his testimony to the
unanimity with which the confession of faith was signed by all. But, since they
impugn the opinions of their own leaders, they ought to become acquainted with
the most foul and terrible manner of the death of Arius and with all their
powers to flee from the impious doctrine of which he was the parent. As it is
likely that the mode of his death is not known by all, I shall here relate it.

Chapter XIII.-Extract from the Letter of Athanasius on the Death of Arius141 .

After Arius had remained a long time in Alexandria, he endeavoured riotously to
obtrude himself again into the assemblies of the Church, professing to renounce
his impiety, and promising to receive the confession of faith drawn up by the
fathers. But not succeeding in obtaining the confidence of the divine Alexander,
nor of Athanasius, who followed142 Alexander alike in the patriarchate and in
piety, he, helped and encouraged by Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, betook
himself to Constantinople. The intrigues upon which he then entered, and their
punishment by the righteous Judge are all best narrated by the excellent
Athanasius, in his letter to Apion143 . I shall therefore now insert this
passage in my work. He writes:-

"I was not at Constantinople when he died; but Macarius, the presbyter, was
there, and from him I learnt all the circumstances. The emperor Constantine was
induced by Eusebius and his party to send for Arius. Upon his arrival, the
emperor asked him whether he held the faith of the Catholic church. Arius then
swore that his faith was orthodox, and presented a written summary of his
belief; concealing, however, the reasons of his ejection from the Church by the
bishop Alexander, and making a dishonest use of the language of Holy Scripture.
When, therefore, he had declared upon oath that he did not hold the errors for
which he had been expelled from the Church by Alexander, Constantine dismissed
him, saying, `If thy faith is orthodox, thou hast well sworn; but if thy faith
is impious and yet thou hast sworn, let God from heaven judge thee.' When he
quitted the emperor, the partizans of Eusebius, with their usual violence,
desired to conduct him into the church; but Alexander, of blessed memory, bishop
of Constantinople, refused his permission, alleging that the inventor of the
heresy ought not to be admitted into communion. Then at last the partizans of
Eusebius pronounced the threat: `As, against your will, we succeeded in
prevailing on the emperor to send for Arius, so now, even if you forbid it,
shall Arius join in communion144 with us in this church to-morrow.' It was on
Saturday that they said this. The bishop Alexander, deeply grieved at what he
had heard, went into the church and poured forth his lamentations, raising his
hands in supplication to God, and throwing himself on his face on the pavement
in the sanctuary145 , prayed. Macarius went in with him, prayed with him, and
heard his prayers. He asked one of two things. `If Arius,' said he, `is to be
joined to the Church to-morrow, let me Thy servant departs and do not destroy
the pious with the impious. If Thou wilt spare Thy Church, and I know that Thou
dost spare her, look upon the words of the followers of Eusebius, and give not
over Thy heritage to destruction and to shame. Remove Arius, lest if he come
into the Church, heresy seem to come in with him, and impiety be hereafter
deemed piety.' Having thus prayed, the bishop left the church deeply anxious,
and then a horrible and extraordinary catastrophe ensued. The followers of
Eusebius had launched out into threats, while the bishop had recourse to prayer.
Arius, emboldened by the protection of his party, delivered many trifling and
foolish speeches, when he was suddenly compelled by a call of nature to retire,
and immediately, as it is written, `falling headlong, he burst asunder in the
midst146 ,' and gave up the ghost, being deprived at once both of communion and
of life. This, then, was the end of Arius147 . The followers of Eusebius were
covered with shame, and buried him whose belief they shared. The blessed
Alexander completed the celebration, rejoicing with the Church in piety and
orthodoxy, praying with all the brethren and greatly glorifying God. This was
not because he rejoiced at the death of Arius-God forbid; for `it is appointed
unto all men once to die148 ;' but because the event plainly transcended any
human condemnation. For the Lord Himself passing judgment upon the menaces of
the followers of Eusebius, and the prayer of Alexander, condemned the Arian
heresy, and shewed that it was unworthy of being received into the communion of
the Church; thus manifesting to all that, even if it received the countenance
and support of the emperor, and of all men, yet by truth itself it stood
condemned."

These were the first fruits, reaped by Arius, of those pernicious seeds which he
had himself sown, and formed the prelude to the punishments that awaited him
hereafter. His impiety was condemned by his punishment.

I shall now turn my narrative to the piety of the emperor. He addressed a letter
to all the subjects of the Roman empire, exhorting them to renounce their former
errors, and to embrace the doctrines of our Saviour, and trying to guide them to
this truth. He stirred up the bishops in every city to build churches, and
encouraged them not only by his letter, but also by presenting them with large
sums of money, and defraying all the expenses of building. This his own letter
sets forth, which was after this manner:- Chapter XIV.-Letter Written by the
Emperor Constantine Respecting the Building of Churches149 .

"Constantinus Augustus, the great and the victorious, to Eusebius.

"I am well aware, and am thoroughly convinced, my beloved brother, that as the
servants of our Saviour Christ have been suffering up to the present time from
nefarious machinations and tyrannical persecutions, the fabrics of all the
churches must have either fallen into utter ruin from neglect, or, through
apprehension of the impending iniquity, have been reduced below their proper
dignity. But now that freedom is restored, and that dragon150 , through the
providence of God, and by our instrumentality, thrust out from the government of
the Empire, I think that the divine power has become known to all, and that
those who hitherto, from fear or from incredulity or from depravity, have lived
in error, will now, upon becoming acquainted with Him who truly is, be led into
the true and correct manner of life. Exert yourself, therefore, diligently in
the reparation of the churches under your own jurisdiction, and admonish the
principal bishops, priests, and deacons of other places to engage zealously in
the same work; in order that all the churches which still exist may be repaired
or enlarged, and that new ones may be built wherever they are required. You, and
others through your intervention, can apply to magistrates151 and to provincial
governments152 , for all that may be necessary for this purpose; for they have
received written injunctions to render zealous obedience to whatever your
holiness may command. May God preserve you, beloved brother."

Thus the emperor wrote to the bishops in each province respecting the building
of churches. From his letter to Eusebius of Palestine, it is easily learnt what
measures he adopted to obtain copies of the Holy Bible153 .

Chapter XV.-The Epistle of Constantine Concerning the Preparation of Copies of
the Holy Scriptures.

"Constantinus Augustus, the great and the victorious, to Eusebius.

"In the city154 which bears our name, a great number of persons have, through
the providential care of God the Saviour, united themselves to the holy Church.
As all things there are in a state of rapid improvement, we deemed it most
important that an additional number of churches should be built. Adopt joyfully
the mode of procedure determined upon by us, which we have thought expedient to
make known to your prudence, namely, that you should get written, on fine
parchment, fifty volumes155 , easily legible and handy for use; these you must
have transcribed by skilled calligraphers, accurately acquainted with their art.
I mean, of course, copies of the Holy Scriptures, which, as you know, it is most
necessary that the congregation of the Church should both have and use. A letter
has been sent from our clemency to the catholicus156 of the diocese, in order
that he may be careful that everything necessary for the undertaking is
supplied. The duty devolving upon you is to take measures to ensure the
completion of these manuscripts within a short space of time. When they are
finished, you are authorised by this letter to order two public carriages for
the purpose of transmitting them to us; and thus the fair manuscripts will be
easily submitted to our inspection. Appoint one of the deacons of your church to
take charge of this part of the business; when he comes to us, he shall receive
proofs of our benevolence. May God preserve you, beloved brother."

What has been already said is enough to shew, nay to clearly prove, how great
zeal the emperor manifested on the matters of religion. I will, however, add his
noble acts with regard to the Sepulchre of our Saviour. For having learnt that
the idolaters, in their frantic rage, had heaped earth over the Lord's tomb,
eager thus to destroy all remembrance of His Salvation, and had built over it a
temple to the goddess of unbridled lust, in mockery of the Virgin's birth, the
emperor ordered the foul shrine to be demolished, and the soil polluted with
abominable sacrifices to be carried away and thrown out far from the city, and a
new temple of great size and beauty to be erected on the site. All this is
clearly set forth in the letter which he wrote to the president157 of the church
of Jerusalem, Macarius, whom we have already mentioned as a member of the great
Nicene Council, and united with his brethren in withstanding the blasphemies of
Arius. The following is the letter.

Chapter XVI.-Letter from the Emperor to Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem,
Concerning the Building of the Holy Church.

"Constantinus, the victorious and the great, to Macarius.

"The grace of our Saviour is so wonderful, that no words are adequate to express
the present marvel. The fact that the monument of His most holy sufferings
should have remained concealed beneath the earth, during so long a course of
years, until the time when, on the death of the common enemy of all, it was
destined to shine forth on His liberated servants, surpasses every other subject
of admiration. If all the wise men throughout the world were collected into one
place, and were to endeavour to express themselves worthily of it, they could
not approach within an infinite distance of it; for this miracle is as much
beyond all human power of belief, as heavenly things by their nature are
mightier than human. Hence it is my first and only object that, as by new
miracles the faith in the truth is daily confirmed, so the minds of us all may
be more earnestly devoted to the holy law, wisely, zealously, and with one
accord. As my design is, I think, now generally known, I desire that you, above
all, should be assured that my most intense anxiety is to decorate with
beautiful edifices that consecrated spot, which by God's command I have relieved
from the burden of the foul idol which encumbered it. For from the beginning He
declared it holy, and has rendered it still more holy from the time that He
brought to light the proof and memorial of the sufferings of our Lord.

I trust, then, to your sagacity to take every necessary care, not only that the
basilica itself surpass all others; but that all its arrangements be such that
this braiding may be incomparably superior to the most beautiful structures in
every city throughout the world. We have entrusted our friend Dracilianus158 ,
who discharges the functions of the most illustrious praefect of the province,
with the superintendence of the work of the erection and decoration of the
walls. He has received our orders to engage workmen and artisans, and to provide
all that you may deem requisite for the building. Let us know, by letter, when
you have inspected the work, what columns or marbles you consider would be most
ornamental, in order that whatever you may inform us is necessary for the work
may be conveyed thither from all quarters of the world. For that which is of all
places the most wonderful, ought to be decorated in accordance with its dignity.
I wish to learn from you whether you think that the vaulted roof of the basilica
ought to be panelled159 , or to be adorned in some other way; for if it is to be
panelled it may also be gilt. Your holiness must signify to the aforesaid
officers, as soon as possible, what workmen and artificers, and what sums of
money, are requisite; and let me know promptly not only about the marbles and
columns, but also about the panelled ceiling, if you decide that this will be
the most beautiful mode of construction. May God preserve you, beloved
brother160 ."

Chapter XVII.-Helena161 , Mother of the Emperor Constantine.-Her Zeal in the
Erection of the Holy Church. The bearer of these letters was no less illustrious
a personage than the mother of the emperor, even she who was glorious in her
offspring, whose piety was celebrated by all; she who brought forth that great
luminary and nurtured him in piety. She did not shrink from the fatigue of the
journey on account of her extreme old age, but undertook it a little before her
death, which occurred in her eightieth year162 . When the empress beheld the
place where the Saviour suffered, she immediately ordered the idolatrous temple,
which had been there erected163 , to be destroyed, and the very earth on which
it stood to be removed. When the tomb, which had been so long concealed, was
discovered, three crosses were seen buried near the Lord's sepulchre. All held
it as certain that one of these crosses was that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
that the other two were those of the thieves who were crucified with Him. Yet
they could not discern to which of the three the Body of the Lord had been
brought nigh, and which had received the outpouring of His precious Blood. But
the wise and holy Macarius, the president of the city, resolved this question in
the following manner. He caused a lady of rank, who had been long suffering from
disease, to be touched by each of the crosses, with earnest prayer, and thus
discerned the virtue residing in that of the Saviour. For the instant this cross
was brought near the lady, it expelled the sore disease, and made her whole. The
mother of the emperor, on learning the accomplishment of her desire, gave orders
that a portion of the nails should be inserted in the royal helmet, in order
that the head of her son might be preserved from the darts of his enemies164 .
The other portion of the nails she ordered to be formed into the bridle of his
horse, not only to ensure the safety of the emperor, but also to fulfil an
ancient prophecy; for long before Zechariah, the prophet, had predicted that
"There shall be upon the bridles of the horses Holiness unto the Lord
Almighty165 ."

She had part of the cross of our Saviour conveyed to the palace166 . The rest
was enclosed in a covering of silver, and committed to the care of the bishop of
the city, whom she exhorted to preserve it carefully, in order that it might be
transmitted uninjured to posterity167 . She then sent everywhere for workmen and
for materials, and caused the most spacious and most magnificent churches to be
erected. It is unnecessary to describe their beauty and grandeur; for all the
pious, if I may so speak, hasten thither and behold the magnificence of the
buildings168 . This celebrated and admirable empress performed another action
worthy of being remembered. She assembled all the women who had vowed perpetual
virginity, and placing them on couches, she herself fulfilled the duties of a
handmaid, serving them with food and handing them cups and pouring out wine, and
bringing a basin and pitcher, and pouring out water to wash their hands.

After performing these and other laudable actions, the empress returned to her
son, and not long after, she joyfully entered upon the other and a better life,
after having given her son much pious advice and her fervent parting blessing.
Alter her death, those honours were rendered to her memory which her stedfast
and zealous service to God deserved169 .

Chapter XIII.-The Unlawful Translation of Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia. The
Arian party did not desist from their evil machinations. They had only signed
the confession of faith for the purpose of disguising themselves in
sheeps'-skins, while they were acting the part of wolves. The holy Alexander, of
Byzantium, for the city was not yet called Constantinople, who by his prayer had
pierced Arius to the heart, had, at the period to which we are referring, been
translated to a better life. Eusebius, the propagator of impiety, little
regarding the definition which, only a short time previously, he with the other
bishops had agreed upon, without delay quitted Nicomedia and seized upon the see
of Constantinople, in direct violation of that canon170 which prohibits bishops
and presbyters from being translated from one city to another. But that those
who carry their infatuation so far as to deny the divinity of the only-begotten
Son of God, should likewise violate the other laws, cannot excite surprise. Nor
was this the first occasion that he made this innovation; for, having been
originally entrusted with the see of Berytus, he leapt from thence to Nicomedia.
Whence he was expelled by the synod, on account of his manifest impiety, as was
likewise Theognis, bishop of Nicaea. This is related a second time in the
letters of the emperor Constantine; and I shall here insert the close of the
letter which he wrote to the Nicomedians.

Chapter XIX.-Epistle of the Emperor Constantine Against Eusebius and Theognis,
Addressed to the Nicomedians.

"Who has taught these doctrines to the innocent multitude? It is manifestly
Eusebius, the co-operator in the cruelty of the tyrants. For that he was the
creature171 of the tyrant has been clearly shown; and, indeed, is proved by the
slaughter of the bishops, and by the fact that these victims were true bishops.
The relentless persecution of the Christians proclaims this fact aloud.

"I shall not here say anything of the insults directed against me, by which the
conspiracies of the opposite faction were mainly carried out. But he went so far
as to send spies to watch me, and scarcely refrained from raising troops in aid
of the tyrant. Let not any one imagine that I allege what I am not prepared to
prove. I am in possession of clear evidence; for I have caused the bishops and
presbyters belonging to his following to be seized. But I pass over all these
facts. I only mention them for the purpose of making these persons ashamed of
their conduct, and not from any feeling of resentment.

"There is one thing I fear, one thing which causes me anxiety, and that is to
see you charged as accomplices; for you are influenced by the doctrines of
Eusebius, and have thus been led away from the truth. But your cure will be
speedy, if, after obtaining a bishop who holds pure and faithful doctrines, you
will but look unto God. This depends upon you alone; and you would, no doubt,
have thus acted long ago, had not the aforesaid Eusebius come here, strongly
supported by those then in power, and overturned all discipline.

"As it is necessary to say something more about Eusebius, your patience will
remember that a council was held in the city of Nicaea, at which, in obedience
to my conscience, I was present, being actuated by no other motive than the
desire of producing unanimity among all, and before all else of proving and
dispelling the mischief which originated from the infatuation of Arius of
Alexandria, and was straightway strengthened by the absurd and pernicious
machinations of Eusebius. But, beloved and much-honoured brethren, you know not
how earnestly and how disgracefully Eusebius, although convicted by the
testimony of his own conscience, persevered in the support of the false
doctrines which had been universally condemned. He secretly sent persons to me
to petition on his behalf, and personally intreated my assistance in preventing
his being ejected from his bishopric, although his crimes had been fully
detected. God, who, I trust, will continue His goodness towards you and towards
me, is witness to the truth of what I say. I was then myself deluded and
deceived by Eusebius, as you shall well know. In everything he acted according
to his own desire, his mind being full of every kind of secret evil.

"Omitting the relation of the rest of his misdeeds, it is well that you should
be informed of the crime which he lately perpetrated in concert with Theognis,
the accomplice of his folly. I had sent orders for the apprehension of certain
individuals in Alexandria who had deserted our faith, and by whose means the
firebrand of dissension was kindled. But these good gentlemen, forsooth,
bishops, whom, by the clemency of the council, I had reserved for penitence, not
only received them under their protection, but also participated in their evil
deeds. Hence I came to the determination to punish these ungrateful men, by
apprehending and banishing them to some far-distant region.

"It is now your duty to look unto God with that same faith which it is clear
that you have ever held, and in which it is fitting you should abide. So let us
have cause of rejoicing in the appointment of pure, orthodox, and beneficent
bishops. If any one should make mention of those destroyers, or presume to speak
in their praise, let him know that his audacity will be repressed by the
authority which has been committed to me as the servant of God. May God preserve
you, beloved brethren!" The above-mentioned bishops were then deposed and
banished. Amphion172 was entrusted with the church of Nicomedia, and Chrestus173
with that of Nicaea. But the exiled bishops, employing their customary
artifices, abused the benevolence of the emperor, renewed the previous contests,
and regained their former power.

Chapter XX.-The Artful Machinations of Eusebius and His Followers Against the
Holy Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch.

Eusebius, as I have already stated, seized the diocese of Constantinople by
force. And thus having acquired great power in that city, frequently visiting
and holding familiar intercourse with the emperor, he gained confidence and
formed plots against those who were foremost in the support of the truth. He at
first feigned a desire of going to Jerusalem, to see the celebrated edifices
there erected: and the emperor, who was deceived by his flattery, allowed him to
set out with the utmost honour, providing him with carriages, and the rest of
his equipage and retinue. Theognis, bishop of Nicaea, who, as we have before
said, was his accomplice in his evil designs, travelled with him. When they
arrived at Antioch, they put on the mask of friendship, and were received with
the utmost deference. Eustathius, the great champion of the faith, treated them
with fraternal kindness. When they arrived at the holy places, they had an
interview with those who were of the same opinions as themselves, namely,
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, Patrophilus, bishop of Scythopolis, Aetius, bishop
of Lydda, Theodotus, bishop of Laodicea, and others who had imbibed the Arian
sentiments; they made known the plot they had hatched to them, and went with
them to Antioch. The pretext for their journey was, that due honour might be
rendered to Eusebius; but their real motive was their war against religion. They
bribed a low woman, who made a traffic of her beauty, to sell them her tongue,
and then repaired to the council, and when all the spectators had been ordered
to retire, they introduced the wretched woman. She held a babe in her arms, of
which she loudly and impudently affirmed that Eustathius was the father.
Eustathius, conscious of his innocence, asked her whether she could bring
forward any witness to prove what she had advanced. She replied that she could
not: yet these equitable judges admitted her to oath, although it is said in the
law, that "at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be
established174 ;" and the apostle says, "against an elder receive not any
accusation but before two or three witnesses175 ." But they despised these
divine laws, and admitted the accusation against this great man without any
witnesses. When the woman had again declared upon oath that Eustathius was the
father of the babe, these truth-loving judges condemned him as an adulterer.
When the other bishops, who upheld the apostolical doctrines, being ignorant of
all these intrigues, openly opposed the sentence, and advised Eustathius not to
submit to it, the originators of the plot promptly repaired to the emperor, and
endeavoured to persuade him that the accusation was true, and the sentence of
deposition just; and they succeeded in obtaining the banishment of this champion
of piety and chastity, as an adulterer and a tyrant. He was conducted across
Thrace to a city of Illyricum176 .

Chapter XXI.-Bishops of Heretical Opinions Ordained in Antioch After the
Banishment of St. Eustathius177 .

Eulalius was first consecrated in place of Eustathius. But Eulalius surviving
his elevation only a short period, it was intended that Eusebius of Palestine
should be translated to this bishopric. Eusebius, however, refused the
appointment, and the emperor forbade its being conferred on him. Next Euphronius
was put forward, who also dying, after a lapse of only one year and a few
months, the see was conferred on Flaccillus178 . All these bishops secretly
clung to the Arian heresy. Hence it was that most of those individuals, whether
of the clergy or of the laity, who valued the true religion, left the churches
and formed assemblies among themselves. They were called Eustathians, since it
was after the banishment of Eustathius that they began to hold their meetings.
The wretched woman above-mentioned was soon after attacked by a severe and
protracted illness, and then avowed the imposture in which she had been engaged,
and made known the whole plot, not only to two or three, but to a very large
number of priests. She confessed that she had been bribed to bring this false
and impudent charge, but yet that her oath was not altogether false, as a
certain Eustathius, a coppersmith, was the father of the babe. Such were some of
the crimes perpetrated in Antioch by this most excellent faction.

Chapter XXII.-Conversion of the Indians179 . At this period, the light of the
knowledge of God was for the first time shed upon India. The courage and the
piety of the emperor had become celebrated throughout the world; and the
barbarians, having learnt by experience to choose peace rather than war, were
able to enjoy intercourse with one another without fear. Many persons,
therefore, set out on long journeys; some for the desire of making discoveries,
others from a spirit of commercial enterprise. About this period a native of
Tyre180 , acquainted with Greek philosophy, desiring to penetrate into the
interior of India, set off for this purpose with his two young nephews. When he
had accomplished the object of his wishes, he embarked for his own country. The
ship being compelled to put in to land in order to obtain a fresh supply of
water, the barbarians fell upon her, drowned some of the crew, and took the
others prisoners. The uncle was among the number of those who were killed, and
the lads were conducted to the king. The name of the one was Aedesius, and of
the other Frumentius. The king of the country, in course of time, perceiving
their intelligence, promoted them to the superintendence of his household. If
any one should doubt the truth of this account, let him recal to mind the
history of Joseph in the kingdom of Egypt, and also the history of Daniel, and
of the three champions of the truth, who, from being captives, became princes of
Babylon. The king died; but these young men remained with his son, and were
advanced to still greater power. As they had been brought up in the true
religion, they exhorted the merchants who visited the country to assemble,
according to the custom of Romans181 , to take part in the divine liturgy. After
a considerable time they solicited the king to reward their services by
permitting them to return to their own country. They obtained his permission,
and safely reached Roman territory. Aedesius directed his course towards Tyre,
but Frumentius, whose religious zeal was greater than the natural feeling of
affection for his relatives, proceeded to Alexandria, and informed the bishop of
that city that the Indians were deeply anxious to obtain spiritual light.
Athanasius then held the rudder of that church; he heard the story, and then
"Who," said he, "better than you yourself can scatter the mists of ignorance,
and introduce among this people the light of Divine preaching?" After having
said this, he conferred upon him the episcopal dignity, and sent him to the
spiritual culture of that nation. The newly-ordained bishop left this country,
caring nothing for the mighty ocean, and returned to the untilled ground of his
work. There, having the grace of God to labour with him, he cheerfully and
successfully played the husbandman, catching those who sought to gainsay his
words by works of apostolic wonder, and thus, by these marvels, confirming his
teaching, he continued each day to take many souls alive182 .

Chapter XXIII.-Conversion of the Iberians183 .

Frumentius thus led the Indians to the knowledge of God. Iberia, about the same
time, was guided into the way of truth by a captive woman184 . She continued
instant in prayer, allowing herself no softer bed than a sack spread upon the
ground, and accounted fasting her highest luxury. This austerity was rewarded by
gifts similar to those of the Apostles. The barbarians, who were ignorant of
medicine, were accustomed, when attacked by disease, to go to one another's
houses, in order to ask those who had suffered in a similar way, and had got
well, by what means they had been cured. In accordance with this custom, a
mother who had a sick child, repaired to this admirable woman, to enquire if she
knew of any cure for the disease. The latter took the child, placed it upon her
bed, and prayed to the Creator of the world to be propitious to it, and cure the
disease. He heard her prayer, and made it whole. This extraordinary woman hence
obtained great celebrity; and the queen, who was suffering from a severe
disease, hearing of her by report, sent for her. The captive held herself in
very low estimation, and would not accept the invitation of the queen. But the
queen, forced by her sore need, and careless of her royal dignity, herself ran
to the captive. The latter made the queen lie down upon her mean bed, and once
again applied to her disease the efficacious remedy of prayer. The queen was
healed, and offered as rewards for her cure, gold, silver, tunics, and mantles,
and such gifts as she thought worthy of possession, and such as royal
munificence should bestow. The holy woman told her that she did not want any of
these, but that she would deem her greatest reward to be the queen's knowledge
of true religion. She then, as far as in her lay, explained the Divine
doctrines, and exhorted her to erect a church in honour of Christ who had made
her whole. The queen then returned to the palace, and excited the admiration of
her consort, by the suddenness of her cure; she then made known to him the power
of that God whom the captive adored, and besought him to acknowledge the one
only God, and to erect a church to Him, and to lead all the nation to worship
Him. The king was greatly delighted with the miracle which had been performed
upon the queen, but he would not consent to erect a church. A short time after
he went out hunting, and the loving Lord made a prey of him as He did of Paul;
for a sudden darkness enveloped him and forbade him to move from the spot; while
those who were hunting with him enjoyed the customary sunlight, and he alone was
bound with the fetters of blindness. In his perplexity he found a way of escape,
for calling to mind his former unbelief, he implored the help of the God of the
captive woman, and immediately the darkness was dispelled. He then went to the
marvellous captive, and asked her to shew him how a church ought to be built. He
who once filled Bezaleel with architectural skill, graciously enabled this woman
to devise the plan of a church. The woman set about the plan, and men began to
dig and build. When the edifice was completed, the roof put on, and every thing
supplied except the priests, this admirable woman found means to obtain these
also. For she persuaded the king to send an embassy to the Roman emperor asking
for teachers of religion. The king accordingly despatched an embassy for the
purpose. The emperor Constantine, who was warmly attached to the cause of
religion, when informed of the purport of the embassy, gladly welcomed the
ambassadors, and selected a bishop endowed with great faith, wisdom, and virtue,
and presenting him with many gifts, sent him to the Iberians, that he might make
known to them the true God. Not content with having granted the requests of the
Iberians, he of his own accord undertook the protection of the Christians in
Persia; for, learning that they were persecuted by the heathens, and that their
king himself, a slave to error, was contriving various cunning plots for their
destruction, he wrote to him, entreating him to embrace the Christian religion
himself, as well as to honour its professors. His own letter will render his
earnestness in the cause the plainer.

Chapter XXIV.-Letter Written by the Emperor Constantine to Sapor185 , the King
of Persia, Respecting the Christians.

"In protecting the holy faith I enjoy the light of truth, and by following the
light of truth I attain to fuller knowlege of the faith. Therefore, as facts
prove, I recognize that most holy worship as teaching the knowledge of the most
holy God. This service I profess. With the Power of this God for my ally,
beginning at the furthest boundaries of the ocean, I have, one after another,
quickened every part of the world with hope. Now all the peoples once enslaved
by many tyrants, worn by their daily miseries, and almost extinct, have been
kindled to fresh life by receiving the protection of the State.

"The God I reverence is He whose emblem my dedicated troops bear on their
shoulders, marching whithersoever the cause of justice leads them, and rewarding
me by their splendid victories. I confess that I reverence this God with eternal
remembrance. Him, who dwelleth in the highest heavens, I contemplate with pure
and unpolluted mind. On Him I call on bended knees, shunning all abominable
blood, all unseemly and illomened odours, all fire of incantation186 , and all
pollution by which unlawful and shameful error has destroyed whole nations and
hurled them down to hell.

"God does not permit those gifts which, in His beneficent Providence, He has
bestowed upon men for the supply of their wants to be perverted according to
every man's desire. He only requires of men a pure mind and a spotless soul, and
by these He weighs their deeds of virtue and piety. He is pleased with
gentleness187 and modesty; He loves the meek188 , and hates those who excite
contentions; He loves faith, chastises unbelief; He breaks all power of
boasting189 , and punishes the insolence of the proud190 . Men exalted with
pride He utterly overthrows, and rewards the humble191 and the patient192
according to their deserts. Of a just sovereignty He maketh much, strengthens it
by His aid, and guards the counsels of Princes with the blessing of peace.

"I know that I am not in error, my brother, when I confess that this God is the
Ruler and the Father of all men, a truth which many who preceded me upon the
imperial throne were so deluded by error as to attempt to deny. But their end
was so dreadful that they have become a fearful warning to all mankind, to deter
others from similar iniquity193 . Of these I count that man one whom the wrath
of God, like a thunderbolt, drove hence into your country, and who made
notorious the memorial of his shame which exists in your own land194 . Indeed it
appears to have been well ordered that the age in which we live should be
distinguished by the open and manifest punishments inflicted on such persons. I
myself have witnessed the end of those who have persecuted the people of God by
unlawful edicts. Hence it is that I more especially thank God for having now, by
His special Providence, restored peace to those who observe His law, in which
they exalt and rejoice.

"I am led to expect future happiness and security whenever God in His goodness
unites all men in the exercise of the one pure and true religion. You may
therefore well understand how exceedingly I rejoice to hear that the finest
provinces of Persia are adorned abundantly with men of this class; I mean
Christians; for it is of them I am speaking. All then is well with you and with
them, for you will have the Lord of all merciful and beneficent to you. Since
then you are so mighty and so pious, I commend the Christians to your care, and
leave them in your protection. Treat them, I beseech you, with the affection
that befits your goodness. Your fidelity in this respect will confer on yourself
and on us inexpressible benefits." This excellent emperor felt so much
solicitude for all who had embraced the true religion, that he not only watched
over those who were his own subjects, but also over the subjects of other
sovereigns. For this reason he was blessed with the special protection of God,
so that although he held the reins of the whole of Europe and of Africa, and the
greater part of Asia, his subjects were all well disposed to his rule, and
obedient to his government. Foreign nations submitted to his sway, some by
voluntary submission, others overcome in war. Trophies were everywhere erected,
and the emperor was styled Victorious. The praises of Constantine have, however,
been proclaimed by many other writers. We must resume the thread of our history.
This emperor, who deserves the highest fame, devoted his whole mind to matters
worthy of the apostles, while men who had been admitted to the sacerdotal
dignity not only neglected to edify the church, but endeavoured to uproot it
from the very foundations. They invented all manner of false accusations against
those who governed the church in accordance with the doctrines taught by the
apostles, and did their best to depose and banish them. Their envy was not
satisfied by the infamous falsehood which they had invented against Eustathius,
but they had recourse to every artifice to effect the overthrow of another great
bulwark of religion. These tragic occurrences I shall now relate as concisely as
possible.

Chapter XXV.-An Account of the Plot Formed Against the Holy Athanasius.

Alexander, that admirable bishop, who had successfully withstood the blasphemies
of Arius, died five months after the council of Nicaea, and was succeeded in the
episcopate of the church of Alexandria by Athanasius. Trained from his youth in
sacred studies, Athanasius had attracted general admiration in each
ecclesiastical office that he filled. He had, at the general council, so
defended the doctrines of the apostles, that while he won the approbation of all
the champions of the truth, its opponents learned to look on their antagonist as
a personal foe and public enemy. He had attended the council as one of the
retinue of Alexander, then a very young man, although he was the principal
deacon195 . When those who had denied the only-begotten Son of God heard that
the helm of the Church of Alexandria had been entrusted to his hands knowing as
they did by experience his zeal for the truth, they thought that his rule would
prove the destruction of their authority. They, therefore, resorted to the
following machinations against him. In order to avert suspicion, they bribed
some of the adherents of Meletius, who, although deposed by the council of
Nicaea, had persevered in exciting commotions in the Thebaid and in the adjacent
part of Egypt, and persuaded them to go to the emperor, and to accuse Athanasius
of levying a tax upon Egypt196 , and giving the gold collected to a certain man
who was preparing to usurp the imperial power197 . The emperor being deceived by
this story, Athanasius was brought to Constantinople. Upon his arrival he proved
that the accusation was false, and had the charge given him by God restored to
him. This is shown by a letter from the emperor to the Church of Alexandria of
which I shall transcribe only the concluding paragraph. A Portion of the Letter
from the Emperor Constantine to the Alexandrians.

"Believe me, my brethren, the wicked men were unable to effect anything against
your bishop. They surely could have had no other design than to waste our time,
and to leave themselves no place for repentance in this life. Do you, therefore,
help yourselves, and love that which wins your love198 ; and exert all your
power in the expulsion of those who wish to destroy your concord. Look unto God,
and love one another. I joyfully welcomed Athanasius your bishop; and I have
conversed with him as with one whom I know to be a man of God."

Chapter XXVII.-Another Plot Against Athanasius. The calumniators of Athanasius,
however, did not desist from their attempts. On the contrary, they devised so
bold a fiction against him, that it surpassed every invention of the ancient
writers of the tragic or comic stage. They again bribed individuals of the same
party, and brought them before the emperor, vociferously accusing that champion
of virtue of many abominable crimes. The leaders of the party were Eusebius,
Theognis, and Theodorus, bishop of Perinthus, a city now called Heraclea199 .
After having accused Athanasius of crimes which they described as too shocking
to be tolerated, or even listened to, they persuaded the emperor to convene a
council at Caesarea in Palestine, where Athanasius had many enemies, and to
command that his cause should be there tried. The emperor, utterly ignorant of
the plot that had been devised, was persuaded by them to give the required
order. But the holy Athanasius, well aware of the malevolence of those who were
to try him, refused to appear at the council. This served as a pretext to those
who opposed the truth to criminate him still further; and they accused him
before the emperor of contumacy and arrogance. Nor were their hopes altogether
frustrated; for the emperor, although exceedingly forbearing, became exasperated
by their representations, and wrote to him in an angry manner, commanding him to
repair to Tyre. Here the council was ordered to assemble, from the suspicion, as
I think, that Athanasius had an apprehension of Caesarea on account of its
bishop. The emperor wrote also to the council in a style consistent with his
devoted piety. His letter is as follows.

Chapter XXVIII.-Epistle of the Emperor Constantine to the Council of Tyre200 .

"Constantinus Augustus to the holy council assembled in Tyre.

"In the general prosperity which distinguishes the present time, it seems right
that the Catholic Church should likewise be exempt from trouble, and that the
servants of Christ should be freed from every reproach.

"But certain individuals instigated by the mad desire of contention, not to say
leading a life unworthy of their profession, are endeavoring to throw all into
disorder. This appears to me to be the greatest of all possible calamities. I
beseech you, therefore, in post haste, as the phrase goes, to assemble together,
without any delay, in formal synod; so that you may support those who require
your assistance, heal the brethren who are in danger, restore unanimity to the
divided members, and rectify the disorders of the Church while time permits; and
thus restore to those great provinces the harmony which, alas! the arrogance of
a few men has destroyed. I believe every one would admit that you could not
perform anything so pleasing in the sight of God, so surpassing all my prayers
as well as your own, or so conducive to your own reputation, as to restore
peace.

"Do not ye therefore delay, but when you have come together with all that
sincerity and fidelity which our Saviour demands of all His servants, almost in
words that we can hear, endeavour with redoubled eagerness to put a fitting end
to these dissensions.

"Nothing shall be omitted on my part to further the interests of our religion. I
have done all that you recommended in your letters. I have sent to those bishops
whom you specified, directing them to repair to the council for the purpose of
deliberating with you upon ecclesiastical matters. I have also sent Dionysius201
, a man of consular rank, to counsel those who are to sit in synod with you, and
to be himself an eye witness of your proceedings, and particularly of the order
and regularity that is maintained. If any one should dare on the present
occasion also to disobey our command, and refuse to come to the council, which,
however, I do not anticipate, an officer will be despatched immediately to send
him into banishment by imperial order, that he may learn not to oppose the
decrees enacted by the emperor for the support of truth.

"All that now devolves upon your holinesses is to decide with unanimous
judgment, without partiality or prejudice, in accordance with the ecclesiastical
and apostolical rule, and to devise suitable remedies for the offences which may
have resulted from error; in order that the Church may be freed from all
reproach, that my anxiety may be diminished, that peace may be restored to those
now at variance, and that your renown may be increased. May God preserve you,
beloved brethren." The bishops accordingly repaired to the council of Tyre.
Amongst them were those who were accused of holding heterodox doctrines; of whom
Asclepas, bishop of Gaza, was one. The admirable Athanasius also attended. I
shall first dwell on the tragedy of the accusation, and shall then relate the
proceedings of this celebrated tribunal.

Chapter XXIX.-The Council of Tyre.

Arsenius was a bishop of the Meletian faction. The men of his party put him in a
place of concealment, and charged him to remain there as long as possible. They
then cut off the right hand of a corpse, embalmed it, placed it in a wooden
case, and carried it about everywhere, declaring that it was the hand of
Arsenius, who had been murdered by Athanasius. But the all-seeing eye did not
permit Arsenius to remain long in Concealment. He was first seen alive in Egypt;
then in the Thebaid; afterwards he was led by Divine Providence to Tyre, where
the hand of tragic fame was brought before the council. The friends of
Athanasius hunted him up, and brought him to an inn, where they compelled him to
lie hid for a time. Early in the morning the great Athanasius came to the
council.

First of all a woman of lewd life was brought in, who deposed in a loud and
impudent manner that she had vowed perpetual virginity, but that Athanasius, who
had lodged in her house, had violated her chastity. After she had made her
charge, the accused came forward, and with him a presbyter worthy of all praise,
by name Timotheus. The court ordered Athanasius to reply to the indictment; but
he was silent, as if he had not been Athanasius. Timotheus, however, addressed
her thus: "Have I, O woman, ever conversed with you, or have I entered your
house?" She replied with still greater effrontery, screaming aloud in her
dispute with Timotheus, and, pointing at him with her finger, exclaimed, "It was
you who robbed me of my virginity; it was you who stripped me of my chastity;"
adding other indelicate expressions which are used by shameless women. The
devisers of this calumny were put to shame, and all the bishops who were privy
to it, blushed. The woman was now being led out of the Court, but the great
Athanasius protested that instead of sending her away they ought to examine her,
and learn the name of the hatcher of the plot. Hereupon his accusers yelled and
shouted that he had perpetrated other viler crimes, of which it was utterly
impossible that he could by any art or ingenuity be cleared; and that eyes, not
ears, would decide on the evidence. Having said this, they exhibited the famous
box and exposed the embalmed hand to view. At this sight all the spectators
uttered a loud cry. Some believed the accusation to be true; the others had no
doubt of the falsehood, and thought that Arsenius was lurking somewhere or other
in concealment. When at length, after some difficulty, a little silence was
obtained, the accused asked his judges whether any of them knew Arsenius.
Several of them replying that they knew him well, Athanasius gave orders that he
should be brought before them. Then he again asked them, "Is this the right
Arsenius? Is this the man I murdered? Is this the man those people mutilated
after his murder by cutting off his right hand?" When they had confessed that it
was the same individual, Athanasius pulled off his cloak, and exhibited two
hands, both the right and the left, and said, "Let no one seek for a third hand,
for man has received two hands from the Creator and no more."

Even after this plain proof the calumniators and the judges who were privy to
the crime, instead of hiding themselves, or praying that the earth might open
and swallow them up, raised an uproar and commotion in the assembly, and
declared that Athanasius was a sorcerer, and that he had by his magical
incantations bewitched the eyes of men. The very men who a moment before had
accused him of murder now strove to tear him in pieces and to murder him. But
those whom the emperor had entrusted with the preservation of order saved the
life of Athanasius by dragging him away, and hurrying him on board a ship202 .
When he appeared before the emperor, he described all the dramatic plot which
had been got up to ruin him. The calumniators sent bishops attached to their
faction into Mareotis, viz., Theognis, bishop of Nicaea, Theodorus, bishop of
Perinthus, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon, Narcissus of Cilicia203 , with others of
the same sentiments. Mareotis is a district near Alexandria, and derives its
name from the lake Maria204 . Here they invented other falsehoods, and, forging
the reports of the trial, mixed up the charges which had been shown to be false
with fresh accusations, as if they had been true, and despatched them to the
emperor.

Chapter XXX.-Consecration of the Church of Jerusalem.-Banishment of St.
Athanasius.

All the bishops who were present at the council of Tyre, with all others from
every quarter, were commanded by the emperor to proceed to Aelia205 to
consecrate the churches which he had there erected. The emperor despatched also
a number of officials of the most kindly disposition, remarkable for piety and
fidelity, whom he ordered to furnish abundant supplies of provisions, not only
to the bishops and their followers, but to the vast multitudes who flocked from
all parts to Jerusalem. The holy altar was decorated with imperial hangings and
with golden vessels set with gems. When the splendid festival was concluded,
each bishop returned to his own diocese. The emperor was highly gratified when
informed of the splendour and magnificence of the function, and blessed the
Author of all good for having thus granted his petition.

Athanasius having complained of his unjust condemnation, the emperor commanded
the bishops against whom this complaint was directed to present themselves at
court. Upon their arrival, they desisted from urging any of their former
calumnies, because they knew how clearly they could be refuted; but they made it
appear that Athanasius had threatened to prevent the exportation of corn. The
emperor believed what they said, and banished him to a city of Gaul called
Treves206 . This occurred in the thirtieth year of the emperor's reign207 .

Chapter XXXI.-Will of the Blessed Emperor Constantine. A Year and a few months
afterwards208 the emperor was taken ill at Nicomedia, a city of Bithynia, and,
knowing the uncertainty of human life, he received the holy rite of baptism209 ,
which he had intended to have deferred until he could be baptized in the river
Jordan.

He left as heirs of the imperial throne his three sons, Constantine,
Constantius, and Constans210 , the youngest.

He ordered that the great Athanasius should return to Alexandria, and expressed
this decision in the presence of Eusebius, who did all he could to dissuade him.

Chapter XXXII.-Apology for Constantine.

It ought not to excite astonishment that Constantine was so far deceived as to
send so many great men into exile: for he believed the assertions of bishops of
high fame and reputation, who skilfully concealed their malice. Those who are
acquainted with the Sacred Scriptures know that the holy David, although he was
a prophet, was deceived; and that too not by a priest, but by one who was a
menial, a slave, and a rascal. I mean Ziba, who deluded the king by lies against
Mephibosheth, and thus obtained his land211 . It is not to condemn the prophet
that I thus speak; but that I may defend the emperor, by showing the weakness of
human nature, and to teach that credit should not be given only to those who
advance accusations, even though they may appear worthy of credit; but that the
other party ought also to be heard, and that one ear should be left open to the
accused.

Chapter XXXIII.-The End of the Holy Emperor Constantine. The emperor was now
translated from his earthly dominions to a better kingdom212 . The body of the
emperor was enclosed in a golden coffin, and was carried to Constantinople by
the governors of the provinces, the military commanders, and the other officers
of state, preceded and followed by the whole army, all bitterly deploring their
loss; for Constantine had been as an affectionate father to them all. The body
of the emperor was allowed to remain in the palace until the arrival of his
sons, and high honours were rendered to it. But these details require no
description here, as a full account has been given by other writers. From their
works, which are easy of access, may be learnt how greatly the Ruler of all
honours His faithful servants. If any one should be tempted to unbelief, let him
look at what occurs now near the tomb and the statue of Constantine213 , and
then he must admit the truth of what God has said in the Scriptures, "Them that
honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed214
."

1: sulaw . Cf. Cor. xi. 8.

2: Ct. Basil de Spir. sanct., 29. " o palaistinoj " means "of Caesarea," his
see, to distinguish him from his namesake, Bishop of Nicomedia.

3: The last event mentioned by Eusebius is the defeat of Licinius, who was put
to death a.d. 324.

4: ekklhsia oi progonoi taj ekklhsiaj wkodomhsan .

5: Succeeded Theonas as Archbishop of Alexandria, a.d. 300. Beheaded by order of
Maximinus, a.d. 311. Euseb. vii. 32.

6: Patriarch of Alexandria, a.d. 311-312. Promoted Arius to the priesthood. Soz.
i. 15.

7: Patriarch, a.d. 312-326.

8: hn pote ote ouk hn .

9: korubantiwnta .

10: ean 11: Bp. of Rome, from Jan. 31, a.d. 314, to Dec. 31, a.d. 335.

12: Otherwise Melchiades. July 2, a.d. 310, to Jan. 10, a.d. 314.

13: Jan. 30, a.d. 296, to Oct. 25, a.d. 304. Accused of apostasy, under
Diocletian.

14: Bishop of Antioch during the persecution of Diocletian, kaq' on hkmasen h
twn ekklhsiwn poliorkia . Eus. H.E. vii. 32.

15: 21st Bp. of Antioch, a.d. 312-a.d. 318.

16: The ancient part of the city of Antioch.

17: a.d. 319-323.

18: a.d. 302-311.

19: Macarius = Blessed. a.d. 311-? 334. Vide Chapters iv. and xvii.

20: Circa ? a.d. 313 or 317-340.

21: Alexander's words seem to imply that Colluthus began his schismatical
proceedings in assuming to exercise episcopal functions before the separation of
Arius from the Church, and that one cause of his wrung action was impatience at
the mild course at first adopted by Alexander towards Arius. The Council of
Alexandria held in a.d. 324 under Hosius, decided that he was only a Presbyter.

22: xriostemporia . The word xristemporoj is applied in the "Didache" to lazy
consmers of alms. Cf. Ps. Ignat. ad Trall.: ou xristianoi alla xristemporoi ,
Ps. Ignat. ad Mag. ix., and Bp. Lightfoot's note.

23: Readings vary between alektoj = indescribable, and alhktoj = ceaseless. Cf.
'Alhktw , the Fury.

24: Hn pote ote ouk hn o uioj tou qeou. kai Gegonen usteron o proteron mh
uparxwn toioutoj genomenoj ote kai pote gegonen oioj kai paj pefuken anqrwpoj .

25: Isai. i. 2 uiouj egennhsa kai uywsa

33: The history of the word upostasij ufisthmi , I make to stand under, [from
upo = sub. under, and isthmi ousia for the noetic substratum "underlying" the
phaenomena. (ii) Scriptural. In the N.T. it is found five times, twice in 2 Cor.
and thrice in Heb. ( a ) 2 Cor. ix 4, and ( b ) 2 Cor. xi. 17. "Confidence" of
boasting. ( g ) Heb. i. 3, o xarakthr thj upostasewj , A.V. the express image of
His "person." R.V., the very image of His "substance." ( d ) Heb. iii. 14,
"Confidence". (e) Heb. xi. 1, A.V. "substance" of things hoped for. R.V.
Assurance of things hoped for. (iii) Ecclesiastical. The earlier ecclesiastical
use, like the later philosophical, identified it with ousia , and so the Nicene
Confession anathematized those who maintained the Son to be of a different
substance or essence from the Father ( upostasewj h ousiaj ousia is translated
by "substantia," the etymological equivalent of upostasij , except in the phrase
quoted, when "substantia aut essentia" represents ousia by its own etymological
equivalent "essentia." Thus in a.d. 325 to have contended for treij upostaseij
would have been heretical. But as the subtilty of controversy required greater
nicety of phrase, it was laid down (Basil the Great, Ep. 38) that while ousia is
an universal denoting that which is common to the individuals of a species,
upostasij makes an individual that which it is, and constitutes personal
existence. Hence mia upostasij became Sabellian, and treij ousiai Arian, while
treij upostaseij was orthodox. cf Theod. Dial. i. 7. Eranistes loq. "Is there
any distinction between ousia and upostasij ?"

34: "In the beginning was the word." John i. 1.

35: Ecclus. iii. 21.

36: 1 Cor. ii. 9.

37: Gen. xv. 5.

38: Ecclus. i. 2.

39: Isai. liii. 8.

40: Matt. xi. 27.

41: Is. xxiv. 16: "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me." A.V. "Secretum meum
mihi." Vulg.

42: Col.i. 15.

43: Heb. i. 2. Vide Alford. proleg. to Ep. to Heb., "Nowhere except in the
Alexandrian Church does there seem to have existed any idea that the Epistle was
St. Paul's." "At Alexandria the conventional habit of quoting the Epistle as St.
Paul's gradually prevailed over critical suspicion and early tradition."

44: Col. i. 16, Col. i. 17.

45: xrhmatizw 46: Prov. viii. 30.

47: Heb. i. 3. wn apaugasma thj Dochj kai xarakthr thj upostasewj autou .

48: Contrast the advance of the manhood. Luke ii. 52, " proukopte ," the word
used in the text.

49: 2 Cor. vi. 14, 2 Cor. vi. 15.

50: Prov. xxx. 19.

51: 1 Cor. x. 4.

52: Rom. viii. 32.

53: Matt. iii. 17.

54: Ps. ii. 7.

55: Ps. cx. 3. Sept. ek gastroj pro 'Ewsforou egennhsa se .

56: The readings vary between gennhsewj, genesewj , and maieusewj (cf. Plat.
Theaet. 150 B), which is adopted by Valesius.

57: Gen. vi. 2.

58: Isa. i. 2.

59: The imaginary name for the founder of Ebionism, first started.

60: Artemas, or Artemon, a philosophizing denier of Christ' divinity,
excommunicated by Pope Zephyrinus (a.d. 202-21).

61: Lucianus, the presbyter of Antioch, who became the head of the theological
school of that city in which the leaders of the Arian heresy were trained, after
the deposition of Paulus refused to hold communion with his tree successors in
the patriarchate, Domnus, Timaeus, and Cyril. During the episcopate of the last
named he once more entered into communion with the church of Antioch. On the
impotance of Lucianus as founder of the Arians, Vide Newman's Arians of the
Fourth Century, Chap. I. Sec. i. and cf. the letter of Arius post. Chap. iv.

62: Eusebius of Caesarea, Theodotus of Laodicea, and Paulinus of Tyre. See
Arius' letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia, ch. iv.

63: kenwsij , cf. Phil. ii, 7

64: John x. 30.

65: John xiv. 9.

66: Ps. xxxvi. 9.

67: John v. 23.

68: 1 John v. 1.

69: Condemned a.d. 261 by Council held at Alexandria.

70: Taught in Rome in a.d. 140, and died in Cyprus in a.d. 160.

71: Isa. liii. 8.

72: h patrikh qeogonia .

73: Matt. xi. 27: observe the slight variation.

74: John xiv. 28.

75: Heb. i. 3 76: 1 Cor. xiii. 10.

77: John xiv. 28.

78: John xvi. 33.

79: ek thj Qeotokou Mariaj .

80: Gal. i. 9.

81: 1 Tim. vi. 3, 1 Tim. vi. 4.

82: 2 Tim. iii. 6.

83: Tomoj . (i) a cut or slice; (ii) a portion of a roll, volume, or "tome."

84: Vide supra.

85: Bp. first Beroea in Syria and then of Antioch, c. 324-331. Beroea, the
Helbon of Ezekiel (xxvii. 19) is now Aleppo or Haleb.

86: On the name "Pope," vide Dict. Christ. Ant., s.v. 1st, it was applied to the
teachers of convers, 2ndly, to Bishops and Abbots, and was, 3rdly, confined to
the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople, and to the Bp.
of Rome; 4thly, it was claimed by the Bp. of Rome exclusively.

87: panta kalwn kinei . Cf. Luc. Scyth. ii. The common proverb was panta ecienai
kalwn , to let out every reef. Ar. Eq. 756 Eur. Med. 278, &c.

88: ec ouk ontwn estin .

89: ec upokeimenou tinoj . Aristotle, Metaph. vi. 3, 1, defines to upokeimenon
as that kaq' ou ta alla legetai . ... maliota de dokei einai ousia to
upokeimenon prwton .

90: Arius and Eusebius had been fellow disciples of Lucianus the Priest of
Antioch martyred under Maximinus in a.d. 311 or 312. Vide note on page 38.

91: Arius plays on the name Eusebius, eusebhj , pious.

92: From the phrase " o adelfoj sou o en Kaisareia ," it has been inferred by
some that the two Eusebii were actually brothers. Eusebius of Nicomedia, in the
letter of Chapter V., calls the Palestinian despothj

93: hgoumenoj .

94: Prov. viii. 22-26 Sept.

95: Isa. i 2.

96: Deut. xxxii. 18.

97: Job xxxviii. 28.

98: Arius first published his heresy, a.d. 319.

99: Originally named Antigonea, after its founder; then Nicaea after the Queen
of Lysimachus; now Isnik.

100: Sylvester.

101: Vitus and Vincentius.

102: Cf. Gal. vi. 17. The "stigmata" here meant are the marks of persecution.

103: i.e. The Filoqeoj istoria 104: On the circumstances and scene of the
opening of the Council consult Stanley's Eastern Church, Lecture IV.

105: Menophantus was one of the disciples of Lucianus ( Philos. H.E. ii. 14). He
accepted the Nicene decision, but was excommunicated by the Sardican Fathers.
Cf. Book II. Chap. 6.

106: Prov. viii. 22, lxx. Kurioj ektise me arxhn odwn autou eij erga autou .

107: At this point, according to Valesius, a quotation from the homily of
Eustathius on the above text from Proverbs viii. 22, begins. On Eustathius, see
notes on Chapters III, and XX.

108: Is. viii. 9, lxx. ean gar palin isxushte palin htthqhsesqe .

109: 'Ec ouk ontwn .

110: Ktisma kai poihma .

111: Pote ote ouk hn .

112: 1 Joh. v. 20.

113: Heb. i. 3. Cf. p. 37, note xxvii.

114: 2 Cor. viii. 6.

115: 2 Cor. v. 17, 2 Cor. v. 18.

116: Herm. Pastor. Vis. v. Mand. i.

117: aparallaktoj cf. James i. 17, Par' w ouk eni parallagh .

118: Cor. xi. 7.

119: 2 Cor. iv. 11. aei gar hmeij oi zwntej . The aei of St. Paul qualifies not
" oi zwntej " but the paradidomeqa which follows, "For we who live are ever
being delivered to death."

120: Exod. xii. 41, "The Hosts of the Lord," A.V. echlqe pasa h dunamij Kurion ,
Sept.

121: Joel ii. 25, "My great army," A.V.

122: "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge," Ps. xlvi.
7.

123: Heb. ii. 11.

124: Ps. xxvi. 9.

125: Joh. x. 30.

126: Alexandria. The allusion, according to Valesius, is to Dionysius, Bishop
Rome, 259-269, and to Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria. The Letter of Athanasius
to the Africans was written, according to Baronius, in 369. So triwn may suit
the chronology better than triakonta .

127: Ath. Ep. ad Afros 5 and 6.

128: Isai. xxix. 13.

129: Meletius ( Meletioj ), Bishop of Lycopolis, in Upper Egypt, was accused of
apostasy. During the Patriarch Peter's withdrawal under persecution he intruded
into the see of Alexandria. He was deposed in 306.

130: Jovian.

131: " politeusamenon ." Cf. Phil. i. 27, and Phil. iii. 20, and Acts xxiii. 1.

132: Matt. xxviii. 19.

133: paqh, paqoj .

134: paqh, paqoj .

135: upostasewj and ousiaj .

136: upostasewj and ousiaj .

137: The genuineness of the following sentence is doubted. It is not found in
Socrates or in Epiphanius. But it is not unreasonably held by Valesius that
Socrates, who seems to have undertaken to clear the character of Eusebius of all
heretical taint, purposely suppressed the passage as inconsistent with
orthodoxy. Soc. i. 8. Dr. Newman writes of this passage, "It is remarkable as
shewing his (Constantine's) utter ignorance of doctrines which were never
intended for discussion among the unbaptized heathen, or the secularized
Christian, that, in spite of bold avowal of the orthodox faith in detail" (i.e.
in his letter to Arius), "yet shortly after he explained to Eusebius one of the
Nicene declarations in a sense which even Arius would scarcely have allowed,
expressed as it is almost after the manner of Paulus. "Arians," 3rd ed., p. 256.

138: Here it has been proposed to read for agennhtwj , without generation, which
does not admit of an orthodox interpretation, aeigennhtwj , i.e. by eternal
generation.

139: anwqen . Cf. St. Luke i. 3. Plat. Phil. 44 D. &c.

140: Euseb. Vit. Constant. lib. iii. c. 13.

141:

142: Athanasius, chosen alik by the designation of the dying Alexander, by
popular acclamation, and by the election of the Bishop of the Province, was, in
spite of his reluctance and retirement, consecrated, a.d. 326.

143: The name does not vary in the mss. of Theodoretus, but Schulze would alter
it to Serapion on the authority of the mss. of Athanasius.

144: sunaxqhsetai . The word sunacij , originally equivalent to sunagwgh , and
little used before the Christian era, means sometimes the gathering of the
congregation, sometimes the Holy Communion. Vide Suicer s.v. Here the meaning is
determifned by parallel authority. (Cf. Soc. I. 38.)

145: ierateion . The sacrarium or chancel, also to agion . Cf. Book V. cap. 17,
where Ambrosius rebukes Theodosius for entering within the rails.

146: Acts i. 18.

147: We are not necessarily impaled on Gibbon's dilemma of poison or miracle.
There are curious instances of sudden death under similar circumstances, e.g.
that of George Valla of Piacenza, at Venice circa 1500. Vide Bayle's Dict. s.v.

148: Heb. ix. 27.

149: This letter, according to Du Pin, was written a.d. 324 of 325.

150: Either Maxentius or Licinius.

151: hgemoneuw , used in Luke ii. 2, of Quirinus, and iii. 1, of Pontius Pilate,
but Theodoretus employs it and its correlatives of both civil and eclesiastical
authorities.

152: eparxikh tacij\ eparxia occurs Ac xxiii. 34, of Cilicia, and in xxv. 1, of
Judaea, the province of the Procurator Festus, but in the time of Constantine
the eparxoi were civil praefects, without any military command, governing four
great eparxiai , viz. (i) Thrace, Egypt, and the East, (ii) Illyricum,
Macedonia, and Greece, (iii) Italy and Africa, and (iv) Gaul, Spain, and
Britain. (Zos. ii. 33.) On the accurate use of titles in the N.T. vide Bp.
Lightfoot in Appendix to Essays on Supernatural Religion.

153: ta iera biblia , or, "the holy books:" The Books, par excellence, were
about this time become The book, whence Biblia Sacra as a singular.

154: Constantinople was dedicated a.d. 330 on the site of the ancient Byzantium.

155: swmatia . The Codex Sinaiticus has been thought to be one of these.

156: i.e. the "Comes fisci," or officer managing the revenues of the Province.
Dioecesis is used in civil sense by Cicero, Ep. Fam. 3, 8, 4, and Ammianus (17,
7, 6), mentions the compliment paid by Constantius II. to his empress Eusebia,
by naming a "Diocese" of the Empire after her.

157: proedroj . Cf. Thuc. iii. 25. The prutaneij in office in the Athenian
ekklhsia were so called. In our author a common synonym for Bishop. proeoria =
sedes = see.

158: Vide note 4 on chap. xiv.

159: lakwnaria , fr. Lat lacunar, (lacuna lacus LAK) = fretted ceiling. Cf. Hor.
Old. II. xviii. 2.

160: On the traditional site of the Holy Sepulchre, and the buildings on it,
vide Stanley's "Sinai and Palestine," pp. 457 and seqq., and Canon Bright in
Dict. Christ. Ant., article "Holy Sepulchre."

161: Flavia Julia Helena, the first wife of Constantius Chlorus, born of obscure
parents in Bithynia _a.d. 328. "Stabulariam hanc primo fuisse adserunt, sic
cognitam Constantio seniori." (Ambr. de obitu Theod. §42, p. 295.) The story of
her being the daughter of a British Prince, and born at York or Colchester, is
part of the belief current since William of Malmesbury concerning Constantine's
British Origin, which is probably due to two passages of uncertain
interpretation in the Panegyrici: (a) Max. et Const. iv., "liberavit
(Constantius) Britannias servitute, tu etiam nobiles, illic oriendo, fecisti."
(b) Eum. Pan. Const. ix., "O fortunata et nunc omnibus beatior terris Britannia,
quae Constantinum Caesarem prima vidisti." But is this said of birth or
accession? Cf. Gibbon, chap. xiv.

162: Crispus and Fausta were put to death in 326. "If it was not in order to
seek expiation for her son's crimes, and consolation for her own sorrows, that
Helen made her tamous journey to the Holy Land, it was immediately consequent
upon them." Stanley, Eastern Church, p. 211.

163: i.e. of Venus, said to have been erected by Hadrian to pollute a spot
hallowed by Christians.

164: The traditional which identifies the nail in Constantine's helmet with the
iron band in the famous crown of Queen Theodolinda at Monza dates from the
sixteenth century.

165: Zech. xiv. 20. estai to epi ton xalinon tou ippou =Lgion tw Kuriw tw
pantokratori . lxx.

166: This portion Socrates says (i. 17) was enclosed by Constantine in a statue
placed on a column of porphyry in his forum at Constantinople.

167: Carried away from Jerusalem by Chosroes II. in 614, it was recovered, says
the legend, by Heracliuns in 628. The feast of the "Exaltation of the Cross" on
Sept. 14th, combines the Commemoration of the Vision of Constantine, the
exaltation of the relic at Jerusalem, and its triumphal entry after its exile
under Chosroes. In later years it was, as is well known, supposed to have a
miraculous power of self-multiplication, and such names as St. Cross at
Winchester, Santa Croce at Florence, and Vera Cruz in Mexico illustrate its
cultus. Paulinus of Nola, at the beginning of the fifth century, sending a piece
to Sulpicius Severus, says that though bit were frequently taken from it, it
grew no smaller (Ep. xxxi.).

168: May 3rd has been kept since the end of the eighth century in honour of the
"Invention of the Cross" and the Commemoration of the ancient "Ellinmas" was
retained in the reformed Anglican Calendar.

169: Tillemont puts her death in 328. Eusebius (V. Const. viii. 47), says she
was carried epi thn basileuousan polin , by which he generally means Rome, but
Socrates (i. 17) writes eij thn basileuousan nean Pwmhn , i.e. Constantinople.
There is a chapel in her honour in the church of the Ara Coeli at Rome, but her
traditional burial-place is a mile and a halt beyond the Porta Maggiore, on the
Via Labicana, and thence came the porphyry sarcophagus called St. Helena's,
which was placed by Pius VI. in the Hall of the Greek Cross in the Vatican.

170: i.e. Apost. Can. xiv., which forbids translation without an " eulogoj aitia
, or prospect or more spiritual gain in saving souls; and guards the application
of the rule by the proviso that neither the bishop himself, nor the paroikia
desiring him, but many bishops, shall decide the point." Dict. Christ. Ant. i.
226.

171: prosfuc , originally a protected "runaway," then protégé or client.

172: Athanasius, Disp Prima Cont. Ar., mentions an Amphion, orthodox bishop of
Epiphania in Cilicia Secunda. That he is the same as the Amphion of the text is
asserted by Baronius and doubted by Tillemont. Dict. Christ. Biog. s.v.

173: In 328, Chrestus and Amphion retired on the recantation of Theognis and
Eusebius, whos biblion metanoiaj , or act of retractation, is given in Soc. i.
xiv.

174: Deut. xix. 15.

175: Tim. v. 19.

176: Jerome says Trajanopolis, but Eustathius died at Philippi, circa 337.
Athanasius, who calls Enstathius "a confessor and sound in the faith" (Hist. Ar.
§4), says the false charge which had most weight with Constantine was that the
bishop of Antioch had slandered the Empress Helena. Sozomen (II. 19) records the
patience with which Eustathius suffered, and sums up his character as that of "a
good and true man, specially remarkable for eloquence, to which his extant
writings testify, admirable as they are alike for the dignity ot their style of
ancient cast, the sound wisdom of their sentiments, the beauty of their
language, and grace of expression." The sole survivor of his works is an attack
on Origen's interpretation of Scripture.

177: Socrates, H E. i. 24, says that on the deposition of Eustathius " efechj
epi eth oktw legetai ton en 'Antioxeia qronon thj ekklhsiaj sxolasai oye de ...
xeirotoneitai Eufronioj ." Cf. Soz. H.E. ii. 19. There is much confusion about
this succession of bishops. Jerome (Chron. ii. p. 92) gives the names of the
Arian bishops thrust in succession into the place of Eustathius, as Eulalius,
Eusebius, Eufronius, Placillus. "Perhaps Eulalius was put forward for the vacant
see, like Eusebius, but never actually appointed". Bp. Lightfoot, Dict. Christ.
Biog. ii. 315.

178: This name is variously given as Placillus (Jerome), Placitusd (Soz.)
Flacillus (Ath. and Eus.), and in different versions of Theodoret are found
Flakitoj, Plakentioj , Falkioj .

179: IIeri thj 'Indwn pistewj . The term "India" is used vaguely, partly from
the old belief that Asia and Africa joined somewhere south of the Indian. Here
the Indians are Abyssinians.

180: The version adopted by Rufinus, the earliest extant authority for this
story, is followed, in the main, by Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret. The Tyrian
traveller is named Meropius.

181: The words of Sozomen (ii. 24) corresponding with the passage in which
Rufinus (i. 9) speaks of meeting "romano ritu orationis caussa," are h rwmaioij
eqoj ekklhsiazein , i.e. to assemble to worship after the manner civilized
citizens of the Empire, and not like savages. The expression has nothing to do
with the customs of the Church of Rome, in the later sense of the word, as has
sometimes been represented. Cf. Soc. I. 19, taj xristianikaj ektelein euxaj .

182: "The king, if we identify the narrative with the Ethiopian version of the
story, must have been the father of the Abreha and Atzbeha of the Ethiopian
annals." "Frumenfius received the title of Abbana, or Abba Salama" (cf.
Absalom), "the Father of Peace." "The bishopric of Auxume" (Axum, about 100
miles S.W. of Massowah) "assumed a metropolitan character." (Dict. of Christ.
Biog., Art. Ethiopian Church). Constantius afterwards wrote to the Ethiopian
Prince to ask him to replace Frumentius by Theophilus, an Arian, but without
success (Ath. Ap. ad Const. 31).

183: This story, like the preceding, is copied or varied by Sozomen, Socrates,
and our author, from the version found also in Rufinus. Iberia, the modern
Georgia, was conquered by Pompey, and ceded by Jovian.

184: The Evangelizer of Georgia is honoured on Dec. 15th (Guerin Pet. Bolland,
xiv. 306) as "Sainte Chrétienne," and it is doubtful whether the name Nina, in
which she appears in the Armenogregorian Calendar for June 11 (Neale, Eastern
Church, ii. 799), may not be a title. "Nina" is probably a name of rank, and
perhaps is connected with our nun (Neale, i. 61). Moses of Chorene (ii. 83)
gives the name "Nunia." Rufinus (i. 10) states that he gives the story as he
heard it from King Bacurius at Jerusalem. On the various legends of St. Nina and
her work, vie S. C. Malan, Hist. of Georgian Church pp. 17-33.

185: Sapor II. (Shapur) Postumus, the son of Hormisdas II., was one of the
greatest of the Sassanidae. He reigned from a.d. 310 to 381, and fought with
success against Constantius II. and Julian, "augendi regni cupiditate supra
homines flagrans." Amm. Marc xviii. 4.

186: The reading of Basil. Cr. and Lat., and Pini Codex, epwdh for gewdh , is
approved by Schulze, and may indicate a side-hit at the Magian fire-worship. But
the adjectival form epwdhj for epwdoj is doubtful.

187: Cf. 2 Cor. x. i.

188: Cf. Matt xi. 29.

189: Cf. Jas. iv. 16.

190: Cf. Luke i. 51.

191: Cf. Luke i. 52.

192: Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 24.

193: The imperial writer may have had in his mid Tiberius, whose miserable old
age was probably ended by murder; Caius, stabbed by his own guard; Claudius,
poisoned by his wife; Nero driven to shameful suicide; Vitellius, beaten to
death by a brutal mob; Domitian, assassinated by his wife and freedmen; Commodus
murdered by his courtiers, and Pertinax by his guards; Caracalla, murdered;
Heliogabalus, murdered; Alexander Severus, Maximinus, Gordianus, murdered;
Decius, killed in war; Gallus, Aemilianus, Gallienus, all murdered; Aurelianus,
Probus, Carus, murdered. On the other hand Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and
Diocletian, who persecuted the Church with less or more severity, died peaceful
deaths.

194: Valerianus, proclaimed Emperor in Rhoetia, a.d. 254, was defeated in his
campaign against the Persians, and treated with indignity alive and dead. After
being made to crouch as a footstool for his conqueror to tread on when mounting
ou homeback, he was flayed alive, a.d. 260, and his tanned skin nailed in a
Persian temple as a "memorial of his shame." Cf. Const. Orat. xxiv. Gibbon's
catholic scepticism includes the humiliation of Valerianus. "The tale," he says,
"is moral and pathetic, but the truth of it may very fairly be called in
question." (Decline and Fall, Chap. X.). But the passage in the text, in which
the allusion has not always been perceived, and the parallel reference in the
Emperor's oration, indicate the belief of a time little more than half a century
after the event. Lactantius (de Monte Persecutorum V.), was probably about ten
years old when Valerianus was defeated, and, if so, gives the testimony of a
contemporary. Orosius (vii. 22) and Agathias (iv. p. 133) would only copy
earlier writers, but the latter states that for the fact of Sapor's thus
treating Valerianus there is "abundant historical testimony." Cf. Tilemont,
Hist. Emp. iii. pp. 314, 315.

195: " tou xorou twn diakonwn hgoumenoj ." The youth of Athanasius indicates a
variety in the qualifications for the archidiaconate, for he can hardly have
been the senior deacon. Cf. Dict. Christian Ant., Art. "Archdeacon.'

196: In order to provide stixaria or variegated vestments. Ath. Apol. cont. Ar.
V. §60. The possibility of such charges indicates the importance of the
Patriarchate.

197: Philumenus. Ath. Ap. cont. Ar. V. §60.

198: to filtron to umeteron . Athanasius (Apol. cont. Ar. V. §62) quotes the
phrase as hmeteron , "our love."

199: Perinthus, on the Propontis also known as Heraclea, and now Erekli, was
once a flourishing town. Theodorus was deposed at Sardica. On his genuine
writings, vide Fer. de Vir. Ill. c. 90, and on a Commentary on the Psalter,
published in 1643, and attributed to him, vide Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 934.

200: The Council of Tyre met a.d. 335, on the date, vide Bp. Lightfoot in Dict.
Christ. Biog. iii. 316, note. "The scenes at the Council of Tyre form the most
picturesque and the most shameful chapter in the Arian controversy." Id.

201: Athanasius (Apol. cont. Ar. VI. §72) describes him as acting with gross
partiality.

202: Here comes in the famous scene of the sudden apparition of Athanasius
before Constantine. "The Emperor is entering Constantinople in state. A small
figure darts across his path in the middle of the square, and stops his horse.
The Emperor, thunderstruck, tries to pass on; he cannot guess who the petitioner
can be. It is Athanasius, who comes to resist on justice, when thought to be
leagues away at the Council of Tyre." Stanley, Eastern Church, Lect. VII.

203: Bishop of Neronias, or Irenopolis. Cf. p. 44, note.

204: Mar e a or Maria, a town and lake of Lower Egypt, giving its name to the
district: now lake Marrout.

205: Aelia Capitolina, the name given to Jerusalem on its restoration by
(Aelius) Hadrianus.

206: Augusta Treverorum, Treveri, Trier, or Treves, on the Moselle, was now the
official Capital of Gaul.

207: i.e. a.d. 336.

208: a.d. 337.

209: At the hand of Eusebius of Nicomedia.

210: Vide Pedigree, in the Prolegomena. Constantine II. received Gaul, Britain,
Spain, and a part of Africa: Constantius the East, and Constaus Illyricum,
Italy, and the rest of Africa. In 340 Constans defeated his brother, who was
slain near Aquileia, and became master of the West.

211: Our Author is of the same opinion as Sir George Grove, as against Professor
Blunt, on the character of Mephibosheth. Dict. Bib. ii. 326.

212: Whitsunday, a.d. 337.

213: Valesius explains this allusion by quoting the Arian Philostorgius (ii.
17), who says that "the statue of Constantine, standing on its porphyry column,
was honoured with sacrifices, illuminations, and incense." The accusation of
idolatrous worship may be disregarded. Cf. Chron. Alex. 665, 667.

214: 1 Sam. ii. 30.


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  CHAPTER 11: THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THEODORET - BOOK 2
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Book II.

Chapter I.-Return of St. Athanasius.

Chapter II.-Declension of the Emperor Constantius from the True Faith.

Chapter III.-Second Exile of St. Athanasius.-Ordination and Death of Gregorius.

Chapter IV.-Paulus, Bishop of Constantinople.

Chapter V.-The Heresy of Macedonius.

Chapter VI.-Council Held at Sardica.

Chapter VII.-Account of the Bishops Euphratas and Vincentius, and of the Plot
Formed in Antioch Against Them.

Chapter VIII.-Stephanus Deposed.

Chapter IX.-The Second Return of Saint Athanasius.

Chapter X.-Third Exile and Flight of Athanasius.

Chapter XI.

Chapter XII.-Council of Milan.

Chapter XIII.-Conference Between Liberius, Pope of Rome, and the Emperor
Constantius89 .

Chapter XIV.-Concerning the Banishment and Return of the Holy Liberius.

Chapter XV.-Council of Ariminum97 .

Chapter XVI.-Concerning the Synod Held at Nica106 In Thrace, and the Confession
of Faith Drawn Up There.

Chapter XVII.-Synodical Act of Damasus, Bishop of Rome, and of the Western
Bishops, About the Council at Ariminum.

Chapter XVIII.-The Letter of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Concerning the
Same Council.

Chapter XIX.-Concerning the Cunning of Leontius, Bishop of Antioch, and the
Boldness of Flavianus and Diadorus.

Chapter XX.-Concerning the Innovations of Eudoxius, of Germanicia, and the Zeal
of Basilius124 Of Ancyra, and of Eustathius125 Of Sebasteia Against Him.

Chapter XXI.-Of the Second Council of Nicaea.

Chapter XXII.-Of the Council Held at Seleucia in Isauria.

Chapter XXIII.-Of What Befell the Orthodox Bishops at Constantinople.

Chapter XXIV.-Synodical Epistle Written Against Aetius.

Chapter XXV.-Of the Causes Which Separated the Eunomians from the Arians.

Chapter XXVI.-Of the Siege of the City of Nisibis,133 And the Apostolic
Conversation of Bishop Jacobus.

Chapter XXVII.-Of the Council of Antioch and What Was Done There Against the
Holy Meletius.

Chapter XXVIII.-About Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata.

Book II.

Chapter I.-Return of St. Athanasius. The divine Athanasius returned to
Alexandria, after having remained two years and four months at Treves1 .
Constantine, the eldest son of Constantine the Great, whose imperial sway
extended over Western Gaul, wrote the following letter to the church of
Alexandria.

Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, the son of Constantine the Great, to the
Alexandrians.

"Constantinus Caesar to the people of the Catholic Church of Alexandria.

"I think that it cannot have escaped your pious intelligence that Athanasius,
the interpreter of the venerated law, was opportunely sent into Gaul, in order
that, so long as the savagery of these bloodthirsty opponents was threatening
peril to his sacred head, he might be saved from suffering irremediable wrongs.
To avoid this imminent peril, he was snatched from the jaws of his foes, to
remain in a city under my jurisdiction, where he might be abundantly supplied
with every necessary. Yet the greatness of his virtue, relying on the grace of
God, led him to despise all the calamities of adverse fortune. Constantine, my
lord and my father, of blessed memory, intended to have reinstated him in his
former bishopric, and to have restored him to your piety; but as the emperor was
arrested by the hand of death before his desires were accomplished, I, being his
heir, have deemed it fitting to carry into execution the purpose of this
sovereign of divine memory. You will learn from your bishop himself, when you
see him, with how much respect I have treated him. Nor indeed is it surprising
that he should have been thus treated by me. I was moved to this line of conduct
by his own great virtue, and the thought of your affectionate longing for his
return. May Divine Providence watch over you, beloved brethren!"

Furnished with this letter, St. Athanasius returned2 from exile, and was most
gladly welcomed both by the rich and by the poor, by the inhabitants of cities,
and by those of the provinces. The followers of the madness of Arius were the
only persons who felt any vexation at his return. Eusebius, Theognis, and those
of their faction resorted to their former machinations, and endeavoured to
prejudice the ears of the young emperor against him.

I shall now proceed to relate in what manner Constantius swerved from the
doctrines of the Apostles.

Chapter II.-Declension of the Emperor Constantius from the True Faith.

Constantia, the widow of Licinius, was the half-sister of Constantine3 . She was
intimately acquainted with a certain priest who had imbibed the doctrines of
Arius. He did not openly acknowledge his unsoundness; but, in the frequent
conversations which he had with her, he did not refrain from declaring that
Arius had been unjustly calumniated. After the death of her impious husband, the
renowned Constantine did everything in his power to solace her, and strove to
prevent her from experiencing the saddest trials of widowhood. He attended her
also in her last illness4 , and rendered her every proper attention. She then
presented the priest whom I mentioned to the emperor, and entreated him to
receive him under his protection. Constantine acceded to her request, and soon
after fulfilled his promise. But though the priest was permitted the utmost
freedom of speech, and was most honourably treated, he did not venture to reveal
his corrupt principles, for he observed the firmness with which the emperor
adhered to the truth. When Constantine was on the point of being translated to
an eternal kingdom, he drew up a will, in which he directed that his temporal
dominions should be divided among his sons. None of them was with him when he
was dying, so he entrusted the will to this priest alone, and desired him to
give it to Constantius, who, being at a shorter distance from the spot than his
brothers, was expected to arrive the first. These directions the priest
executed, and thus by putting the will into his hands, became known to
Constantius, who accepted him as an intimate friend, and commanded him to visit
him frequently. Perceiving the weakness of Constantius, whose mind was like
reeds driven to and fro by the wind, he became emboldened to declare war against
the doctrines of the gospel. He loudly deplored the stormy state of the
churches, and asserted it to be due to those who had introduced the unscriptural
word "consubstantial" into the confession of faith, and that all the disputes
among the clergy and the laity had been occasioned by it. He calumniated
Athanasius and all who coincided in his opinions, and formed designs for their
destruction, being used as their fellow-worker by Eusebius5 , Theognis, and
Theodorus, bishop of Perinthus. The last-named, whose see is generally known by
the name of Heraclea, was a man of great erudition, and had written an
exposition of the Holy Scriptures6 .

These bishops resided near the emperor, and frequently visited him; they assured
him that the return of Athanasius from banishment had occasioned many evils, and
had excited a tempest which had shaken not only Egypt, but also Palestine,
Phoenicia, and the adjacent countries7 .

Chapter III.-Second Exile of St. Athanasius.-Ordination and Death of Gregorius.
With these and similar arguments, the bishops assailed the weak-minded emperor,
and persuaded him to expel Athanasius from his church. But Athanasius obtained
timely intimation of their design, and departed to the west8 The friends of
Eusebius had sent false accusations against him to Julius, who was then bishop
of Rome9 . In obedience to the laws of the church, Julius summoned the accusers
and the accused to Rome, that the cause might be tried10 . Athanasius,
accordingly, set out for Rome, but the calumniators refused to go because they
saw that their falsehood would easily be detected11 . But perceiving that the
flock of Athanasius was left without a pastor, they appointed over it a wolf
instead of a shepherd. Gregorius, for this was his name, surpassed the wild
beasts in his deeds of cruelty towards the flock: but at the expiration of six
years he was destroyed by the sheep themselves. Athanasius went to Constans
(Constantine, the eldest brother, having fallen in battle), and complained of
the plots laid against him by the Arians, and of their opposition to the
apostolical faith12 . He reminded him of his father, and how he attended in
person the great and famous council which he had summoned; how he was present at
its debates, took part in framing its decrees, and confirmed them by law. The
emperor was moved to emulation by his father's zeal, and promptly wrote to his
brother, exhorting him to preserve inviolate the religion of their father, which
they had inherited; "for," he urged, "by piety he made his empire great,
destroyed the tyrants of Rome, and subjugated the foreign nations on every
side." Constantius was led by this letter to summon the bishops from the east
and from the west to Sardica13 , a city of Illyricum, and the metropolis of
Dacia, that they might deliberate on the means of removing the other troubles of
the church, which were many and pressing.

Chapter IV.-Paulus, Bishop of Constantinople.

Paulus14 , bishop of Constantinople, who faithfully maintained orthodox
doctrines, was accused by the unsound Arians of exciting seditions, and of such
other crimes as they usually laid to the charge of all those who preached true
piety. The people, who feared the machinations of his enemies, would not permit
him to go to Sardica. The Arians, taking advantage of the weakness of the
emperor, procured from him an edict of banishment against Paulus, who was,
accordingly, sent to Cucusus, a little town formerly included in Cappadocia, but
now in Lesser Armenia. But these disturbers of the public peace were not
satisfied with having driven the admirable Paulus into a desert. They sent the
agents of their cruelty to despatch him by a violent death. St. Athanasius
testifies to this fact in the defence which he wrote of his own flight. He uses
the following words15 : "They pursued Paulus, bishop of Constantinople, and
having seized him at Cucusus, a city of Cappadocia, they had him strangled,
using as their executioner Philippus the prefect, who was the protector of their
heresy, and the active agent of their most atrocious projects16 ."

Such were the murders to which the blasphemy of Arius gave rise. Their mad rage
against the Only-begotten was matched by cruel deeds against His servants.

Chapter V.-The Heresy of Macedonius. The Arians, having effected the death of
Paulus, or rather having despatched him to the kingdom of heaven, promoted
Macedonius17 in his place, who, they imagined, held the same sentiments, and
belonged to the same faction as themselves, because he, like them, blasphemed
the Holy Ghost. But, shortly after, they deposed him also, because he refused to
call Him a creature Whom the Holy Scriptures affirm to be the Son of God. After
his separation from them, he became the leader of a sect of his own. He taught
that the Son of God is not of the same substance as the Father, but that He is
like Him in every particular. He also openly affirmed that the Holy Ghost is a
creature. These circumstances occurred not long afterwards as we have narrated
them.

Chapter VI.-Council Held at Sardica.

Two hundred and fifty bishops assembled at Sardica18 , as is proved by ancient
records. The great Athanasius, Asclepas, bishop of Gaza, already mentioned19 ,
and Marcellus20 , bishop of Ancyra, the metropolis of Galatia, who also held
this bishopric at the time of the council of Nicaea, all repaired thither. The
calumniators, and the chiefs of the Arian faction, who had previously judged the
cause of Athanasius, also attended. But when they found that the members of the
synod were staunch in their adherence to sound doctrine, they would not even
enter the council, although they had been summoned to it, but fled away, both
accusers and judges. All these circumstances are far more clearly explained in a
letter drawn up by the council; and I shall therefore now insert it.

Synodical Letter from the Bishops assembled at Sardica, addressed to the other
Bishops.

"The holy council assembled at Sardica, from Rome, Spain, Gaul, Italy, Campania,
Calabria, Africa, Sardinia, Pannonia, Moesia, Dacia, Dardania, Lesser Dacia,
Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Thrace, Rhodope, Asia, Caria, Bithynia, the
Hellespont, Phrygia, Pisidia, Cappadocia, Pontus, the lesser Phrygia, Cilicia,
Pamphylia, Lydia, the Cyclades, Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, Galatia, Palestine
and Arabia, to the bishops throughout the world, our fellow-ministers in the
catholic and apostolic Church, and our beloved brethren in the Lord. Peace be
unto you.

"The madness of the Arians has often led them to the perpetration of violent
atrocities against the servants of God who keep the true faith; they introduce
false doctrines themselves, and persecute those who uphold orthodox principles.
So violent were their attacks on the faith, that they reached the ears of our
most pious emperors. Through the co-operation of the grace of God, the emperors
have summoned us from different provinces and cities to the holy council which
they have appointed to be held in the city of Sardica, in order that all
dissensions may be terminated, all evil doctrines expelled, and the religion of
Christ alone maintained amongst all people. Some bishops from the east have
attended the council at the solicitation of our most religious emperors,
principally on account of the reports circulated against our beloved brethren
and fellow-ministers, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Marcellus, bishop of
Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas, bishop of Gaza. Perhaps the calumnies of the
Arians have already reached you, and they have endeavoured thus to forestall the
council, and make you believe their groundless accusations of the innocent, and
prevent any suspicion being raised of the depraved heresy which they uphold. But
they have not long been permitted so to act. The Lord is the Protector of the
churches; for them and for us all He suffered death, and opened for us the way
to heaven.

"The adherents of Eusebius Maris, Theodorus, Theognis, Ursacius, Valens,
Menophantus, and Stephanus, had already written to Julius, the bishop of Rome,
and our fellow-minister, against our aforesaid fellow-ministers, Athanasius,
bishop of Alexandria, Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas,
bishop of Gaza. Some bishops of the opposite party wrote also to Julius,
testifying to the innocence of Athanasius, and proving that all that had been
asserted by the followers of Eusebius was nothing more than lies and slander.
The refusal of the Arians to obey the summons of our beloved brother and
fellow-ruler, Julius, and also the letter written by that bishop, clearly prove
the falseness of their accusation. For, had they believed that what they had
done and represented against our fellow-minister admitted of justification, they
would have gone to Rome. But their mode of procedure in this great and holy
council is a manifest proof of their fraud. Upon their arrival at Sardica, they
perceived that our brethren, Athanasius, Marcellus, Asclepas, and others, were
there also; they were therefore afraid to come to the test, although they had
been summoned, not once or twice only, but repeatedly. There were they waited
for by the assembled bishops, particularly by the venerable Hosius, one worthy
of all honour and respect, on account of his advanced age, his adherence to the
faith, and his labours for the church. All urged them to join the assembly and
avail themselves of the opportunity of proving, in the presence of their
fellow-ministers, the truth of the charges they had brought against them in
their absence, both by word and by letter. But they refused to obey the summons,
as we have already stated, and so by their excesses proved the falsity of their
statements, and all but proclaimed aloud the plot and schemes they had formed.
Men confident of the truth of their assertions are always ready to stand to them
openly. But as these accusers would not appear to substantiate what they had
advanced, any future allegations which they may by their usual artifices bring
against our fellow-ministers, will only be regarded as proceeding from a desire
of slandering them in their absence, without the courage to confront them
openly.

"They fled, beloved brethren, not only because their charges were slander, but
also because they saw men arrive with serious and manifold accusations against
themselves. Chains and fetters were produced. Some were present whom they had
exiled: others came forward as representatives of those still kept in exile.
There stood relations and friends of men whom they had put to death. Most
serious of all, bishops also appeared, one of whom21 exhibited the irons and the
chains with which they had laden him. Others testified that death followed their
false charges. For their infatuation had led them so far as even to attempt the
life of a bishop; and he would have been killed had he not escaped from their
hands. Theodulus22 , our fellow-minister, of blessed memory, passed hence with
their calumny on his name; for, through it, he had been condemned to death. Some
showed the wounds which had been inflicted on them by the sword; others deposed
that they had been exposed to the miseries of famine.

"All these depositions were made, not by a few obscure individuals, but by whole
churches; the presbyters of these churches giving evidence that the persecutors
had armed the military against them with swords, and the common people with
clubs; had employed judicial threats, and produced spurious documents. The
letters written by Theognis, for the purpose of prejudicing the emperor against
our fellow-ministers, Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas, were read and
attested by those who had formerly been the deacons of Theognis. It was also
proved that they had stripped virgins naked, had burnt churches, and imprisoned
our fellow-ministers, and all because of the infamous heresy of the Ariomaniacs.
For thus all who refused to make common cause with them were treated.

"The consciousness of having committed all these crimes placed them in great
straits. Ashamed of their deeds, which could no longer be concealed, they
repaired to Sardica, thinking that their boldness in venturing thither would
remove all suspicion of their guilt. But when they perceived the presence of
those whom they had falsely accused, and of those who had suffered from their
cruelty; and that likewise several had come with irrefragable accusations
against them, they would not enter the council. Our fellow-ministers, on the
other hand, Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas, took every means to induce them
to attend, by tears, by urgency, by challenge, promising not only to prove the
falsity of their accusations, but also to show how deeply they had injured their
own churches. But they were so overwhelmed by the consciousness of their own
evil deeds, that they took to flight, and by this flight clearly proved the
falsity of their accusations as well as their own guilt.

"But though their calumny and perfidy, which had indeed been apparent from the
beginning, were now clearly perceived, yet we determined to examine the
circumstances of the case according to the laws of truth, lest they should, from
their very flight, derive pretexts for renewed acts of deceitfulness.

"Upon carrying this resolution into effect, we proved by their actions that they
were false accusers, and that they had formed plots against our
fellow-ministers. Arsenius, whom they declared had been put to death by
Athanasius, is still alive, and takes his place among the living. This fact
alone is sufficient to show that their other allegations are false.

"Although they spread a report everywhere that a chalice had been broken by
Macarius, one of the presbyters of Athanasius, yet those who came from
Alexandria, from Mareotis, and from other places, testified that this was not
the fact; and the bishops in Egypt wrote to Julius, our fellow-minister,
declaring that there was not the least suspicion that such a deed had been done.
The judicial facts which the Arians assert they possess against Macarius have
been all drawn up by one party; and in these documents the depositions of pagans
and of catechumens were included. One of these catechumens, when interrogated,
replied that he was in the church on the entry of Macarius. Another deposed that
Ischyras, whom they had talked about so much, was then lying ill in his cell.
Hence it appears that the mysteries could not have been celebrated at that time,
as the catechumens were present, and as Ischyras was absent; for he was at that
very time confined by illness. Ischyras, that wicked man who had falsely
affirmed that Athanasius had burnt some of the sacred books, and had been
convicted of the crime, now confessed that he was ill in bed when Macarius
arrived; hence the falsehood of his accusation was clearly demonstrated. His
calumny was, however, rewarded by his party; they gave him the title of a
bishop, although he was not yet even a presbyter. For two presbyters came to the
synod, who some time back had been attached to Meletius, and were afterwards
received back by the blessed Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and are now with
Athanasius, protesting that he had never been ordained a presbyter, and that
Meletius had never had any church, or employed any minister in Mareotis. Yet,
although he had never been ordained a presbyter, they promote him to a
bishopric, in order that his title may impose upon those who hear his false
accusations23 .

"The writings of our fellow-minister, Marcellus, were also read, and plainly
evinced the duplicity of the adherents of Eusebius; for what Marcellus had
simply suggested as a point of inquiry, they accused him of professing as a
point of faith. The statements which he had made, both before and after the
inquiry, were read, and his faith was proved to be orthodox. He did not affirm,
as they represented, that the beginning of the Word of God was dated from His
conception by the holy Mary, or that His kingdom would have an end. On the
contrary, he wrote that His kingdom had had no beginning, and would have no end.
Asclepas, our fellow-minister, produced the reports drawn up at Antioch in the
presence of the accusers, and of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and proved his
innocence by the sentence of the bishops who had presided as judges.

"It was not then without cause, beloved brethren, that, although so frequently
summoned, they would not attend the council; it was not without cause that they
took to flight. The reproaches of conscience constrained them to make their
escape, and thus, at the same time, to demonstrate the groundlessness of their
calumnies, and the truth of those accusations which were advanced and proved
against them. Besides all the other grounds of complaint, it may be added that
all those who had been accused of holding the Arian heresy, and had been ejected
in consequence, were not only received, but advanced to the highest dignities by
them. They raised deacons to the presbyterate, and thence to the episcopate; and
in all this they were actuated by no other motive than the desire of propagating
and diffusing their heresy, and of corrupting the true faith.

"Next to Eusebius, the following are their principal leaders; Theodorus, bishop
of Heraclea, Narcissus, bishop of Neronias in Cilicia, Stephanus, bishop of
Antioch, Georgius24 , bishop of Laodicea, Acacius25 , bishop of Caesarea in
Palestine, Menophantus, bishop of Ephesus in Asia, Ursacius, bishop of
Singidunum26 in Moesia, and Valens, bishop of Mursa27 in Pannonia. These bishops
forbade those who came with them from the east to attend the holy council, or to
unite with the Church of God. On their road to Sardica they held private
assemblies at different places, and formed a compact cemented by threats, that,
when they arrived in Sardica, they would not join the holy council, nor assist
at its deliberations; arranging that, as soon as they had arrived they should
present themselves for form's sake, and forthwith betake themselves to flight.
These facts were made known to us by our fellow-ministers, Macarius of
Palestine28 , and Asterius of Arabia29 , who came with them to Sardica, but
refused to share their unorthodoxy. These bishops complained before the holy
council of the violent treatment they had received from them, and of the want of
right principles evinced in all their transactions. They added that there were
many amongst them who still held orthodox opinions, but that these were
prevented from going to the council; and that sometimes threats, sometimes
promises, were resorted to, in order to retain them in that party. For this
reason they were compelled to reside together in one house; and never allowed,
even for the shortest space of time, to be alone.

"It is not right to pass over in silence and without rebuke the calumnies, the
imprisonments, the murders, the stripes, the forged letters, the indignities,
the stripping naked of virgins, the banishments, the destruction of churches,
the acts of incendiarism, the translation of bishops from small towns to large
dioceses, and above all, the ill-starred Arian heresy, raised by their means
against the true faith. For these causes, therefore, we declare the innocence
and purity of our beloved brethren and fellow-ministers, Athanasius, bishop of
Alexandria, Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas, bishop of
Gaza, and of all the other servants of God who are with them; and we have
written to each of their dioceses, in order that the people of each church may
be made acquainted with the innocence of their respective bishops, and that they
may recognise them alone and wait for their return. Men who have come down on
their churches like wolves30 , such as Gregorius in Alexandria, Basilius in
Ancyra, and Quintianus31 in Gaza, we charge them not even to call bishops, nor
yet Christians, nor to have any communion with them, nor to receive any letters
from them, nor to write to them.

"Theodorus, bishop of Heraclea in Europe, Narcissus, bishop of Neronias in
Cilicia, Acacius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, Stephanus, bishop of Antioch,
Ursacius, bishop of Singidunum in Moesia, Valens, bishop of Mursa in Pannonia,
Menophantus, bishop of Ephesus, and Georgius, bishop of Laodicea (for though
fear kept him from leaving the East, he has been deposed by the blessed
Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and has imbibed the infatuation of the Arians),
have on account of their various crimes been cast forth from their bishoprics by
the unanimous decision of the holy council. We have decreed that they are not
only not to be regarded as bishops, but to be refused communion with us. For
those who separate the Son from the substance and divinity of the Father, and
alienate the Word from the Father, ought to be separated from the Catholic
Church, and alienated from all who bear the name of Christians. Let them then be
anathema to you, and to all the faithful, because they have corrupted the word
of truth. For the apostle's precept enjoins, if any one should bring to you
another gospel than that which ye have received, let him be accursed32 . Command
that no one hold communion with them; for light can have no fellowship with
darkness. Keep far off from them; for what concord has Christ with Belial? Be
careful, beloved brethren, that you neither write to them nor receive their
letters. Endeavour, beloved brethren and fellow-ministers, as though present
with us in spirit at the council, to give your hearty consent to what is
enacted, and affix to it your written signature, for the sake of preserving
unanimity of opinion among all our fellow-ministers throughout the world33 .

"We declare those men excommunicate from the Catholic Church who say that Christ
is God, but not the true God; that He is the Son, but not the true Son; and that
He is both begotten and made; for such persons acknowledge that they understand
by the term `begotten,' that which has been made; and because, although the Son
of God existed before all ages, they attribute to Him, who exists not in time
but before all time, a beginning and an end34 .

"Valens and Ursacius have, like two vipers brought forth by an asp, proceeded
from the Arian heresy. For they boastingly declare themselves to be undoubted
Christians, and yet affirm that the Word and the Holy Ghost were both crucified
and slain, and that they died and rose again; and they pertinaciously maintain,
like the heretics, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are of diverse
and distinct essences35 . We have been taught, and we hold the catholic and
apostolic tradition and faith and confession which teach, that the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost have one essence, which is termed substance36 by the
heretics. If it is asked, `What is the essence of the Son?' we confess, that it
is that which is acknowledged to be that of the Father alone; for the Father has
never been, nor could ever be, without the Son, nor the Son without the Father.
It is most absurd to affirm that the Father ever existed without the Son, for
that this could never be so has been testified by the Son Himself, who said, `I
am in the Father, and the Father in Me37 ;' and `I and My Father are one38 .'
None of us denies that He was begotten; but we say that He was begotten before
all things, whether visible or invisible; anti that He is the Creator of
archangels and angels, and of the world, and of the human race. It is written,
`Wisdom which is the worker of all things taught me39 ,' and again, `All things
were made by Him40 .'

"He could not have existed always if He had had a beginning, for the everlasting
Word has no beginning, and God will never have an end. We do not say that the
Father is Son, nor that the Son is Father; but that the Father is Father, and
the Son of the Father Son. We confess that the Son is Power of the Father. We
confess that the Word is Word of God the Father, and that beside Him there is no
other. We believe the Word to be the true God, and Wisdom and Power. We affirm
that He is truly the Son, yet not in the way in which others are said to be
sons: for they are either gods by reason of their regeneration, or are called
sons of God on account of their merit, and not on account of their being of one
essence41 , as is the case with the Father and the Son. We confess an
Only-begotten and a Firstborn; but that the Word is only-begotten, who ever was
and is in the Father. We use the word firstborn with respect to His human
nature. But He is superior (to man) in the new creation42 (of the Resurrection),
inasmuch as He is the Firstborn from the dead.

"We confess that God is; we confess the divinity of the Father and of the Son to
be one. No one denies that the Father is greater than the Son: not on account of
another essence43 , nor yet on account of their difference, but simply from the
very name of the Father being greater than that of the Son. The words uttered by
our Lord, `I and My Father are one44 ,' are by those men explained as referring
to the concord and harmony which prevail between the Father and the Son; but
this is a blasphemous and perverse interpretation. We, as Catholics, unanimously
condemned this foolish and lamentable opinion: for just as mortal men on a
difference having arisen between them quarrel and afterwards are reconciled, so
do such interpreters say that disputes and dissension are liable to arise
between God the Father Almighty and His Son; a supposition which is altogether
absurd and untenable. But we believe and maintain that those holy words, `I and
My Father are one,' point out the oneness of essence45 which is one and the same
in the Father and in the Son.

"We also believe that the Son reigns with the Father, that His reign has neither
beginning nor end, and that it is not bounded by time, nor can ever cease: for
that which always exists never begins to be, and can never cease.

"We believe in and we receive the Holy Ghost the Comforter, whom the Lord both
promised and sent. We believe in It as sent.

"It was not the Holy Ghost who suffered, but the manhood with which He clothed
Himself; which He took from the Virgin Mary, which being man was capable of
suffering; for man is mortal, whereas God is immortal. We believe that on the
third day He rose, the man in God, not God in the man; and that He brought as a
gift to His Father the manhood which He had delivered from sin and corruption.

"We believe that, at a meet and fixed time, He Himself will judge all men and
all their deeds.

"So great is the ignorance and mental darkness of those whom we have mentioned,
that they are unable to see the light of truth. They cannot comprehend the
meaning of the words: `that they may be one in us46 .' It is obvious why the
word `one' was used; it was because the apostles received the Holy Spirit of
God, and yet there were none amongst them who were the Spirit, neither was there
any one of them who was Word, Wisdom, Power, or Only-begotten. `As Thou,' He
said, `and I are one, that they, may be one in us.' These holy words, `that they
may be one in us,' are strictly accurate: for the Lord did not say, `one in the
same way that I and the Father are one,' but He said, `that the disciples, being
knit together and united, may be one in faith and in confession, and so in the
grace and piety of God the Father, and by the indulgence and love of our Lord
Jesus Christ, may be able to become one.'" From this letter may be learnt the
duplicity of the calumniators, and the injustice of the former judges, as well
as the soundness of the decrees. These holy fathers have taught us not only
truths respecting the Divine nature, but also the doctrine of the Incarnation47
.

Constans was much concerned on hearing of the easy temper of his brother, and
was highly incensed against those who had contrived this plot and artfully taken
advantage of it. He chose two of the bishops who had attended the council of
Sardica, and sent them with letters to his brother; he also despatched Salianus,
a military commander who was celebrated for his piety and integrity, on the same
embassy. The letters which he forwarded by them, and which were worthy of
himself, contained not only entreaties and counsels, but also menaces. In the
first place, he charged his brother to attend to all that the bishops might say,
and to take cognizance of the crimes of Stephanus and of his accomplices. He
also required him to restore Athanasius to his flock; the calumny of the
accusers and the injustice and ill-will of his former judges having become
evident. He added, that if he would not accede to his request, and perform this
act of justice, he would himself go to Alexandria, restore Athanasius to his
flock which earnestly longed for him, and expel all opponents.

Constantius was at Antioch when he received this letter; and he agreed to carry
out all that his brother commanded.

Chapter VII.-Account of the Bishops Euphratas and Vincentius, and of the Plot
Formed in Antioch Against Them. The wonted opponents of the truth were so much
displeased at these proceedings, that they planned a notoriously execrable and
impious crime. The two bishops resided near the foot of the mountain, while the
military commander had settled in a lodging in another quarter. At this period
Stephanus held the rudder of the church of Antioch, and had well nigh sunk the
ship, for he employed several tools in his despotic doings, and by their aid
involved all who maintained orthodox doctrines in manifold calamities. The
leader of these instruments was a young man of a rash and reckless character,
who led a very infamous life. He not only dragged away men from the
market-place, and treated them with blows and insult, but had the audacity to
enter private houses, whence he carried off men and women of irreproachable
character. But, not to be too prolix in relating his crimes, I will merely
narrate his daring conduct towards the bishops; for this alone is sufficient to
give an idea of the unlawful deeds of violence which he perpetrated against the
citizens. He went to one of the lowest women of the town, and told her that some
strangers had just arrived, who desired to pass the night with her. He took
fifteen of his band, placed them in hiding among the stone walls at the bottom
of the hill, and then went for the prostitute. After giving the preconcerted
signal, and learning that the folk privy to the plot were on the spot, he went
to the gate of the courtyard belonging to the inn where the bishops were
lodging. The doors were opened by one of the household servants, who had been
bribed by him. He then conducted the woman into the house, pointed out to her
the door of the room where one of the bishops slept, and desired her to enter.
Then he went out to call his accomplices. The door which he had pointed out
happened to be that of Euphratas, the elder bishop, whose room was the outer of
the two. Vincentius, the other bishop, occupied the inner room. When the woman
entered the room of Euphratas, he heard the sound of her footsteps, and, as it
was then dark, asked who was there. She spoke, and Euphratas was full of alarm,
for he thought that it was a devil imitating the voice of a woman, and he called
upon Christ the Saviour for aid. Onager, for this was the name of the leader of
this wicked band (a name48 peculiarly appropriate to him, as he not only used
his hands but also his feet as weapons against the pious), had in the meantime
returned with his lawless crew, denouncing as criminals those who were expecting
to be judges of crime themselves. At the noise which was made all the servants
came running in, and up got Vincentius. They closed the gate of the courtyards,
and captured seven of the gang; but Onager and the rest made off. The woman was
committed to custody with those who had been seized. At the break of day the
bishops awoke the officer who had come with them, and they all three proceeded
together to the palace, to complain of the audacious acts of Stephanus, whose
evil deeds, they said, were too evident to need either trial or torture to prove
them. The general loudly demanded of the emperor that the audacious act should
not be dealt with synodically, but by ordinary legal process, and offered to
give up the clergy attached to the bishops to be first examined, and declared
that the agents of Stephanus must undergo the torture too. To this Stephanus
insolently objected, alleging that the clergy ought not to be scourged. The
emperor and the principal authorities then decided that it would be better to
judge the cause in the palace. The woman was first of all questioned, and was
asked by whom she was conducted to the inn where the bishops were lodging. She
replied, that a young man came to her, and told her that some strangers had
arrived who were desirous of her company; that in the evening he conducted her
to the inn; that he went to look for his band, and when he had found it, brought
her in through the door of the court, and desired her to go into the chamber
adjoining the vestibule. She added, that the bishop asked who was there; that he
was alarmed; and that he began to pray; and that then others ran to the spot.

Chapter VIII.-Stephanus Deposed.

After the judges had heard these replies, they ordered the youngest of those who
had been arrested to be brought before them. Before he was subjected to the
examination by scourging, he confessed the whole plot, and stated that it was
planned and carried into execution by Onager. On this latter being brought in he
affirmed that he had only acted according to the commands of Stephanus. The
guilt of Stephanus being thus demonstrated, the bishops then present were
charged to depose him, and expel him from the Church. By his expulsion the
Church was not, however, wholly freed from the plague of Arianism. Leontius, who
succeeded him in his presidency, was a Phrygian of so subtle and artful a
disposition, that he might be said to resemble the sunken rocks of the sea49 .
We shall presently narrate more concerning him50 .

Chapter IX.-The Second Return of Saint Athanasius. The emperor Constantius,
having become acquainted with the plots formed against the bishops, wrote to the
great Athanasius once, and twice, aye and thrice, exhorting him to return from
the West51 . I shall here insert the second letter, because it is the shortest
of the three.

Constantius Augustus the Conqueror to Athanasius.

"Although I have already apprised you by previous letters, that you can, without
fear of molestation, return to our court, in order that you may, according to my
ardent desire, be reinstated in your own bishopric, yet I now again despatch
another letter to your gravity to exhort you to take immediately, without fear
or suspicion, a public vehicle and return to us, in order that you may receive
all that you desire." When Athanasius returned, Constantius received him with
kindness, and bade him go back to the Church of Alexandria52 . But there were
some attached to the court, infected with the errors of Arianism, who maintained
that Athanasius ought to cede one church to those who were unwilling to hold
communion with him. On this being mentioned to the emperor, and by the emperor
to Athanasius, he remarked, that the imperial command appeared to be just; but
that he also wished to make a request. The emperor readily promising to grant
him whatever he might ask, he said that those in Antioch53 who objected to hold
communion with the party now in possession of the churches wanted temples to
pray in, and that it was only fair that one House of God also be assigned to
them. This request was deemed just and reasonable by the emperor; but the
leaders of the Arian faction resisted its being carried into execution,
maintaining that neither party ought to have the churches assigned to them.
Constantius on this was struck with high admiration for Athanasius, and sent him
back to Alexandria54 . Gregorius was dead, having met his end at the hands of
the Alexandrians themselves55 . The people kept high holiday in honour of their
pastor; feasting marked their joy at seeing him again, and praise was given to
God56 .Not long after Constans departed this life57 .

Chapter X.-Third Exile and Flight of Athanasius.

Those who had obtained entire ascendency over the mind of Constantius, and
influenced him as they pleased, reminded him that Athanasius had been the cause
of the differences between his brother and himself, which had nearly led to the
rupture of the bonds of nature, and the kindling of a civil war. Constantius was
induced by these representations not only to banish, but also to condemn the
holy Athanasius to death; and he accordingly despatched Sebastianus58 , a
military commander, with a very large body of soldiery to slay him, as if he had
been a criminal. How the one led the attack and the other escaped will be best
told in the words of him who so suffered and was so wonderfully saved.

Thus Athanasius writes in his Apology for his Flight:-"Let the circumstances of
my retreat be investigated, and the testimony of the opposite faction be
collected; for Arians accompanied the soldiers, as well for the purpose of
spurring them on, as of pointing me out to those who did not know me. If they
are not touched with sympathy at the tale I tell, at least let them listen in
the silence of shame. It was night, and some of the people were keeping vigil,
for a communion59 was expected. A body of soldiers suddenly advanced upon them,
consisting of a general60 and five thousand armed men with naked swords, bows
and arrows, and clubs, as I have already stated. The general surrounded the
church, posting his men in close order, that those within might be prevented
from going out. I deemed that I ought not in such a time of confusion to leave
the people, but that I ought rather to be the first to meet the danger; so I sat
down on my throne and desired the deacon to read a psalm, and the people to
respond, `For His mercy endureth for ever.' Then I bade them all return to their
own houses. But now the general with the soldiery forced his way into the
church, and surrounded the sanctuary in order to arrest me. The clergy and the
laity who had remained clamorously besought me to withdraw. This I firmly
refused to do until all the others had retreated. I rose, had a prayer offered,
and directed all the people to retire. `It is better,' said I, `for me to meet
the danger alone, than for any of you to be hurt.' When the greater number of
the people had left the church, and just as the rest were following, the monks
and some of the clergy who had remained came up and drew me out. And so, may the
truth be my witness, the Lord leading and protecting me, we passed through the
midst of the soldiers, some of whom were stationed around the sanctuary, and
others marching about the church. Thus I went out unperceived, and fervently
thanked God that I had not abandoned the people, but that after they had been
sent away in safety, I had been enabled to escape from the hands of those who
sought my life61 ."

Chapter XI. The evil and daring deeds done by Georgius62 in Alexandria.

Athanasius having thus escaped the bloodstained hands of his adversaries,
Georgius, who was truly another wolf, was entrusted with authority over the
flock. He treated the sheep with more cruelty than wolf, or bear, or leopard
could have shewn. He compelled young women who had vowed perpetual virginity,
not only to disown the communion of Athanasius, but also to anathematize the
faith of the fathers. The agent in his cruelty was Sebastianus, an officer in
command of troops. He ordered a fire to be kindled in the centre of the city,
and placed the virgins, who were stripped naked, close to it, commanding them to
deny the faith. Although they formed a most sorrowful and pitiable spectacle for
believers as well as for unbelievers, they considered that all these dishonours
conferred the highest honour on them; and they joyfully received the blows
inflicted on them on account of their faith. All these facts shall be more
clearly narrated by their own pastor.

"About Lent, Georgius returned from Cappadocia, and added to the evils which he
had been taught by our enemies. After the Easter week virgins were cast into
prison, bishops were bound and dragged away by the soldiers, the homes of widows
and of orphans were pillaged, robbery and violence went on from house to house,
and the Christians during the darkness of night were seized and torn away from
their dwellings. Seals were fixed on many houses. The brothers of the clergy
were in peril for their brothers' sake. These cruelties were very atrocious, but
still more so were those which were subsequently perpetrated. In the week
following the holy festival of Pentecost, the people who were keeping a fast
came out to the cemetery63 to pray, because they all renounced any communion
with Georgius. This vilest of men was informed of this circumstance, and he
incited Sebastianus the military commander, a Manichean64 , to attack the
people; and, accordingly, on the Lord's day itself he rushed upon them with a
large body of armed soldiers wielding naked swords, and bows, and arrows. He
found but few Christians in the act of praying, for most of them had retired on
account of the lateness of the hour. Then he did such deeds as might be expected
from one who had lent his ears to such teachers. He ordered a large fire to be
lighted, and the virgins to be brought close to it, and then tried to compel
them to declare themselves of the Arian creed. When he perceived that they were
conquering, and giving no heed to the fire, he ordered them to be stripped
naked, and to be beaten until their faces for a long while were scarcely
recognisable. He then seized forty men, and inflicted on them a new kind of
torture. He ordered them to be scourged with branches of palm-trees, retaining
their thorns; and by these their flesh was so lacerated that some because of the
thorns fixed fast in them had again and again to put themselves under the
surgeon's hand; others were not able to bear the agony and died. All who
survived, and also the virgins, were then banished to the Greater Oasis. They
even refused to give up the bodies of the dead to their kinsfolk for burial, but
flung them away unburied, and hid them just as they pleased, in order that it
might appear that they had nothing to do with these cruel transactions, and were
ignorant of them. But they were deceived in this foolish expectation: for the
friends of the slain, while they rejoiced at the faithfulness of the deceased,
deeply lamented the loss of the corpses, and spread abroad a full account of the
cruelty that had been perpetrated.

"The following bishops were banished from Egypt and from Libya:-Ammonius, Muïus,
Caius, Philo, Hermes, Plenius, Psinosiris, Nilammon, Agapius, Anagamphus,
Marcus, Dracontius, Adelphius, another Ammonius, another Marcus, and
Athenodorus; and also the presbyters Hierax and Dioscorus65 . These were all
driven into exile in so cruel a manner that many died on the road, and others at
the place of their banishment. The persecutors caused the death66 of more than
thirty bishops. For, like Ahab, their mind was set on rooting out the truth, had
it been possible67 ."

Athanasius also, in a letter addressed to the virgins68 who were treated with so
much barbarity, uses the following words: "Let none of you be grieved although
these impious heretics grudge you burial and prevent your corpses being carried
forth. The impiety of the Arians has reached such a height, that they block up
the gates, and sit like so many demons around the tombs, in order to hinder the
dead from being interred."

These and many other similar atrocities were perpetrated by Georgius in
Alexandria. The holy Athanasius was well aware that there was no spot which
could be considered a place of safety for him; for the emperor had promised a
very large reward to whoever should bring him alive, or his head as a proof of
his death.

Chapter XII.-Council of Milan.

After the death of Constans, Magnentius assumed the chief authority over the
Western empire; and, to repress his usurpation, Constantius repaired to Europe.
But this war, severe as it was, did not put an end to the war against the
Church. Constantius, who had embraced Arian tenets and readily yielded to the
influence of others, was persuaded to convoke a council at Milan69 , a city of
Italy, and first to compel all the assembled bishops to sign the deposition
enacted by the iniquitous judges at Tyre; and then, since Athanasius had been
expelled from the Church, to draw up another confession of faith. The bishops
assembled in council on the receipt of the imperial letter, but they were far
from acting according to its directions. On the contrary, they told the emperor
to his face that what he had commanded was unjust and impious. For this act of
courage they were expelled from the Church, and relegated to the furthest
boundaries of the empire. The admirable Athanasius thus mentions this
circumstance in his Apology70 :-"Who," he writes, "can narrate such atrocities
as they have perpetrated? A short time ago when the Churches were in the
enjoyment of peace, and when the people were assembled for prayer, Liberius71 ,
bishop of Rome, Paulinus, bishop of the metropolis of Gaul72 , Dionysius, bishop
of the metropolis of Italy73 , Luciferus, bishop of the metropolis of the Isles
of Sardinia74 , and Eusebius, bishop of one of the cities of Italy75 , who were
all exemplary bishops and preachers of the truth, were seized and driven into
exile, for no other cause than because they could not assent to the Arian
heresy, nor sign the false accusation which had been framed against us. It is
unnecessary that I should speak of the great Hosius, that aged76 and faithful
confessor of the faith, for every one knows that he also was sent into
banishment. Of all the bishops he is the most illustrious. What council can be
mentioned in which he did not preside, and convince all present by the power of
his reasoning? What Church does not still retain the glorious memorials of his
protection? Did any one ever go to him sorrowing, and not leave him rejoicing?
Who ever asked his aid, and did not obtain all that he desired? Yet they had the
boldness to attack this great man, simply because, from his knowledge of the
impiety of their calumnies, he refused to affix his signature to their artful
accusations against us." From the above narrative will be seen the violence of
the Arians against these holy men. Athanasius also gives in the same book an
account of the numerous plots formed by the chiefs of the Arian faction against
many others:-"Did any one," said he, "whom they persecuted and got into their
power ever escape from them without suffering what injuries they pleased to
inflict? Was any one who was an object of their search found by them whom they
did not subject to the most agonizing death, or else to the mutilation of all
his limbs? The sentences inflicted by the judges are all attributable to these
heretics; for the judges are but the agents of their will, and of their malice.
Where is there a place which contains no memorial of their atrocities? If any
one ever differed from them in opinion, did they not, like Jezebel, falsely
accuse and oppress him? Where is there a church which has not been plunged in
sorrow by their plots against its bishop? Antioch has to mourn the loss of
Eustathius, the faithful and the orthodox77 . Balaneae weeps for Euphration78 ;
Paltus79 and Antaradus80 for Cymatius and Carterius. Adrianople has been called
to deplore the loss of the well-beloved Eutropius81 , and of Lucius his
successor, who was repeatedly loaded with chains, and expired beneath their
weight82 . Ancyra, Beroea, and Gaza had to mourn the absence of Marcellus83 ,
Cyrus84 and Asclepas85 , who, after having suffered much ill-treatment from this
deceitful sect, were driven into exile. Messengers were sent in quest of
Theodulus86 and Olympius87 , bishops of Thrace, as well as of me and of the
presbyters of my diocese; and had they found us, we should no doubt have been
put to death. But at the very time that they were planning our destruction we
effected our escape, although they had sent letters to Donatus, the proconsul,
against Olympius, and to Philagrius88 , against me."

Such were the audacious acts of this impious faction against the most holy
Christians. Hosius was the bishop of Cordova, and was the most highly
distinguished of all those who assembled at the council of Nicaea; he also
obtained the first place among those convened at Sardica.

I now desire to insert in my history an account of the admirable arguments
addressed by the far-famed Liberius, in defence of the truth, to the emperor
Constantius. They are recorded by some of the pious men of that period in order
to stimulate others to the exercise of similar zeal in divine things. Liberius
had succeeded Julius, the successor of Silvester, in the government of the
church of Rome.

Chapter XIII.-Conference Between Liberius, Pope of Rome, and the Emperor
Constantius89 .

Constantius.-"We have judged it right, as you are a Christian and the bishop of
our city, to send for you in order to admonish you to abjure all connexion with
the folly of the impious Athanasius. For when he was separated from the
communion of the Church by the synod the whole world approved of the decision."

Liberius.-"O Emperor, ecclesiastical sentences ought to be enacted with
strictest justice: therefore, if it be pleasing to your piety, order the court
to be assembled, and if it be seen that Athanasius deserves condemnation, then
let sentence be passed upon him according to ecclesiasticaI forms. For it is not
possible for us to condemn a man unheard and untried."

Constantius.-"The whole world has condemned his impiety; but he, as he has done
from the first, laughs at the danger."

Liberius.-"Those who signed the condemnation were not eye-witnesses of anything
that occurred; but were actuated by the desire of glory, and by the fear of
disgrace at thy hands." The Emperor.-"What do you mean by glory and fear and
disgrace?"

Liberius.-"Those who love not the glory of God, but who attach greater value to
thy gifts, have condemned a man whom they have neither seen nor judged; this is
very contrary to the principles of Christians." The Emperor.-"Athanasius was
tried in person at the council of Tyre, and all the bishops of the world at that
synod condemned him."

Liberius.-"No judgment has ever been passed on him in his presence. Those who
there assembled condemned him after he had retired."

Eusebius the Eunuch90 foolishly interposed.-"It was demonstrated at the council
of Nicaea that he held opinions entirely at variance with the catholic faith."

Liberius.-"Of all those who sailed to Mareotis, and who were sent for the
purpose of drawing up memorials against the accused, five only delivered the
sentence against him. Of the five who were thus sent, two are now dead, namely,
Theognis and Theodorus. The three others, Maris, Valens, and Ursacius, are still
living. Sentence was passed at Sardica against all those who were sent for this
purpose to Mareotis. They presented a petition to the council soliciting pardon
for having drawn up at Mareotis memorials against Athanasius, consisting of
false accusations and depositions of only one party. Their petition is still in
our hands. Whose cause are we to espouse, O Emperor? With whom are we to agree
and hold communion? With those who first condemned Athanasius, and then
solicited pardon for having condemned him, or with those who have condemned
these latter?"

Epictetus91 the Bishop.-"O Emperor, it is not on behalf of the faith, nor in
defence of ecclesiastical judgments that Liberius is pleading; but merely in
order that he may boast before the Roman senators of having conquered the
emperor in argument." The Emperor (addressing Liberius).-"What portion do you
constitute of the universe, that you alone by yourself take part with an impious
man, and are destroying the peace of the empire and of the whole world?"

Liberius.-"My standing alone does not make the truth a whit the weaker.
According to the ancient story, there are found but three men resisting a
decree."

Eusebius the Eunuch.-"You make our emperor a Nebuchadnezzar."

Liberius.-"By no means. But you rashly condemn a man without any trial. What I
desire is, in the first place, that a general confession of faith be signed,
confirming that drawn up at the council of Nicaea. And secondly, that all our
brethren be recalled from exile, and reinstated in their own bishoprics. If,
when all this has been carried into execution, it can be shown that the
doctrines of all those who now fill the churches with trouble are conformable to
the apostolic faith, then we will all assemble at Alexandria to meet the
accused, the accusers, and their defender, and after having examined the cause,
we will pass judgment upon it."

Epictitus the Bishop.-"There will not be sufficient post-carriages to convey so
many bishops."

Liberius.-"Ecclesiastical affairs can be transacted without post-carriages. The
churches are able to provide means for the conveyance of their respective
bishops to the sea coast92 ." The Emperor.-"The sentence which has once been
passed ought not to be revoked. The decision of the greater number of bishops
ought to prevail. You alone retain friendship towards that impious man."

Liberius.-"O Emperor, it is a thing hitherto unheard of, that a judge should
accuse the absent of impiety, as if he were his personal enemy." The
Emperor.-"All without exception have been injured by him, but none so deeply as
I have been. Not content with the death of my eldest brother93 , he never ceased
to excite Constans, of blessed memory, to enmity against me; but I, with much
moderation, put up alike with the vehemence of both the instigator and his
victim. Not one of the victories which I have gained, not even excepting those
over Magnentius and Silvanus, equals the ejection of this vile man from the
government of the Church."

Liberius.-"Do not vindicate your own hatred and revenge, O Emperor, by the
instrumentality of bishops; for their hands ought only to be raised for purposes
of blessing and of sanctification. If it be consonant with your will, command
the bishops to return to their own residences; and if it appear that they are of
one mind with him who to-day maintains the true doctrines of the confession of
faith signed at Nicaea, then let them come together and see to the peace of the
world, in order that an innocent man may not serve as a mark for reproach." The
Emperor.-"One question only requires to be made. I wish you to enter into
communion with the churches, and to send you back to Rome. Consent therefore to
peace, and sign your assent, and then you shall return to Rome."

Liberius.-"I have already taken leave of the brethren who are in that city. The
decrees of the Church are of greater importance than a residence in Rome." The
Emperor.-"You have three days to consider whether you will sign the document and
return to Rome; if not, you must choose the place of your banishment."

Liberius.-"Neither three days nor three months can change my sentiments. Send me
wherever you please."

After the lapse of two days the emperor sent for Liberius, and finding his
opinions unchanged, he commanded him to be banished to Beroea, a city of Thrace.
Upon the departure of Liberius, the emperor sent him five hundred pieces of gold
to defray his expenses. Liberius said to the messenger who brought them, "Go,
and give them back to the emperor; he has need of them to pay his troops." The
empress94 also sent him a sum of the same amount; he said, "Take it to the
emperor, for he may want it to pay his troops; but if not, let it be given to
Auxentius and Epictetus, for they stand in need of it." Eusebius the eunuch
brought him other sums of money, and he thus addressed him: "You have turned all
the churches of the world into a desert, and do you bring alms to me, as to a
criminal? Begone, and become first a Christian95 ." He was sent into exile three
days afterwards, without having accepted anything that was offered him.

Chapter XIV.-Concerning the Banishment and Return of the Holy Liberius. This
victorious champion of the truth was sent into Thrace, according to the imperial
order. Two years after this event Constantius went to Rome. The ladies of rank
urged their husbands to petition the emperor for the restoration of the shepherd
to his flock: they added, that if this were not granted, they would desert them,
and go themselves after their great pastor. Their husbands replied, that they
were afraid of incurring the resentment of the emperor. "If we were to ask him,"
they continued, "being men, he would deem it an unpardonable offence; but if you
were yourselves to present the petition, he would at any rate spare you, and
would either accede to your request, or else dismiss you without injury." These
noble ladies adopted this suggestion, and presented themselves before the
emperor in all their customary splendour of array, that so the sovereign,
judging their rank from their dress, might count them worthy of being treated
with courtesy and kindness. Thus entering the presence, they besought him to
take pity on the condition of so large a city, deprived of its shepherd, and
made an easy prey to the attacks of wolves. The emperor replied, that the flock
possessed a shepherd capable of tending it, and that no other was needed in the
city. For after the banishment of the great Liberius, one of his deacons, named
Felix, had been appointed bishop. He preserved inviolate the doctrines set forth
in the Nicene confession of faith, yet he held communion with those who had
corrupted that faith. For this reason none of the citizens of Rome would enter
the House of Prayer while he was in it. The ladies mentioned these facts to the
emperor. Their persuasions were successful; and he commanded that the great
Liberius should be recalled from exile, and that the two bishops should
conjointly rule the Church. The edict of the emperor was read in the circus, and
the multitude shouted that the imperial ordinance was just; that the spectators
were divided into two factions, each deriving its name from its own colours96 ,
and that each faction would now have its own bishop. After having thus ridiculed
the edict of the emperor, they all exclaimed with one voice, "One God, one
Christ, one bishop." I have deemed it right to set down their precise words.
Some time after this Christian people had uttered these pious and righteous
acclamations, the holy Liberius returned, and Felix retired to another city.

I have, for the sake of preserving order, appended this narrative to what
relates to the proceedings of the bishops at Milan. I shall now return to the
relation of events in their due course.

Chapter XV.-Council of Ariminum97 . When all who defended the faith had been
removed, those who moulded the mind of the emperor according to their own will,
flattering themselves that the faith which they opposed might be easily
subverted, and Arianism established in its stead, persuaded Constantius to
convene the Bishops of both East and West at Ariminum98 , in order to remove
from the Creed the terms which had been devised by the Fathers to counteract the
corrupt craft of Arius,-"substance99 ," and "of one substance100 ." For they
would have it that these terms had caused dissension between church and church.
On their assembling in synod the partizans of the Arian faction strove to trick
the majority of the bishops, especially those of cities of the Western Empire,
who were men of simple and unsophisticated ways. The body of the Church, they
argued again and again, must not be torn asunder for the sake of two terms which
are not to be found in the Bible; and, while they confessed the propriety of
describing the Son as in all things "like" the Father, pressed the omission of
the word "substance" as unscriptural. The motives, however, of the propounders
of these views were seen through by the Council, and they were consequently
repudiated. The orthodox bishops declared their mind to the emperor in a letter;
for, said they, we are sons and heirs of the Fathers of the Council of Nicaea,
and if we were to have the hardihood to take away anything from what was by them
subscribed, or to add anything to what they so excellently settled, we should
declare ourselves no true sons, but accusers of them that begat us. But the
exact terms of their confession of faith will be more accurately given in the
words of their letter to Constantius.

Letter101 written to the Emperor Constantius by the Synod assembled at Ariminum.

"Summoned, we believe, at the bidding of God, and in obedience to your piety, we
bishops of the Western Church assembled in synod at Ariminum in order that the
faith of the Church Catholic might be set forth, and its opponents exposed.
After long consideration we have found it to be plainly best for us to hold fast
and guard, and by guarding keep safe unto the end, the faith established from
the first, preached by Prophets, and Evangelists, and Apostles, through our Lord
Jesus Christ, warden of thy empire, and champion of thy salvation. For it is
plainly absurd and unlawful to make any change in the doctrines rightly and
justly defined, and in matters examined at Nicaea with the cognisance of the
right glorious Constantine, thy Father and Emperor, whereof the teaching and
spirit was published and preached that mankind might hear and understand. This
faith was destined to be the one rival and destroyer of the Arian heresy, and by
it not only the Arian itself, but likewise all other heresies were undone. To
this faith to add aught is verily perilous; from it to subtract aught is to run
great risk. If it have either addition or loss, our foes will feel free to act
as they please. Accordingly Ursacius and Valens, declared adherents and friends
of the Arian dogma, were pronounced separate from our communion. To keep their
place in it, they asked to be granted a locus penitentiae and pardon for all the
points wherein they had owned themselves in error; as is testified by the
documents written by themselves, by means of which they obtained favour and
forgiveness. These events were going on at the very time when the synod was
meeting at Milan, the presbyters of the church of Rome being also present. It
was known that Constantine, who, though dead, is worthy of remembrance, had,
with all exactitude and care, set forth the creed drawn up: and now that, after
receiving Baptism, he was dead, and had passed away to the peace which he
deserved. We judged it absurd for us after him to indulge in any innovation, and
throw a slur on all the holy confessors and martyrs who had devised and
formulated this doctrine, in that their minds have ever remained bound by the
old bond of the Church. Their faith God has handed down even to the times of thy
own reign, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whose grace such empire is thine
that thou rulest over all the world. Yet again those pitiable and wretched men,
with lawless daring, have proclaimed themselves preachers of their unholy
opinion, and are taking in hand the overthrow of all the force of the truth. For
when at thy command the synod assembled, then they laid bare their own
disingenuous desires. For they set about trying through villany and confusion to
make innovation. They got hold of certain of their own following-one
Germanius102 , and Auxentius103 , and Caius104 , promoters of heresy and
discord, whose doctrine, though but one, transcends a very host of blasphemies.
When, however, they became aware that we were not of their way of thinking, nor
in sympathy with their vicious projects, they made their way into our meeting as
though to make some other proposal, but a very short time was enough to convict
them of their real intentions. Therefore in order to save the management of the
Church from falling from time to time into the same difficulties, and to prevent
them from being confounded in whirlpools of disturbance and disorder, it has
seemed the safe course to keep what has been defined aforetime fixed and
unchanged, and to separate the above-named from our communion. Wherefore we have
sent envoys to your clemency to signify and explain the mind of the synod as
expressed in this letter. These envoys before all things we have charged to
guard the truth in accordance with the old and right definitions. They are to
inform your holiness, not as did Ursacius and Valens, that there will be peace
if the truth be upset; for how can the destroyers of peace be agents of peace?
but rather that these changes will bring strife and disturbance, as well on the
rest of the cities, as on the Roman church. Wherefore we beseech your clemency
to receive our envoys with kindly ears and gentle mien, and not to suffer any
new thing to flout the dead. Suffer us to abide in the definition and settlement
of our Fathers, whom we would unhesitatingly declare to have done all they did
with intelligence and wisdom, and with the Holy Ghost. The innovation now sought
to be introduced is filling the faithful with unbelief, and unbelievers with
credulity105 .

"We beg you to order bishops in distant parts, who are afflicted alike by
advanced age and poverty, to be provided with facilities for travelling home,
that the churches be not left long deprived of their bishops.

"And yet again this one thing we supplicate, that nothing be taken from or added
to the established doctrines, but that all remain unbroken, as they have been
preserved by your father's piety, and to our own day. Let us toil no longer nor
be kept away from our own dioceses, but let the bishops with their own people
spend their days in peace, in prayer, and in worship, offering supplication for
thy empire, and health, and peace, which God shall grant thee for ever and ever.
Our envoys, who will also instruct your holiness out of the sacred Scriptures,
convey the signatures and salutations of the bishops." The letter was written,
and the envoys sent, but the high officers of the Imperial Court, though they
took the despatch and delivered it to their master, refused to introduce the
envoys, on the ground that the sovereign was occupied with state affairs. They
took this course in the hope that the bishops, annoyed at delay, and eager to
return to the cities entrusted to their care, would at length be compelled
themselves to break up and disperse the bulwark erected against heresy. But
their ingenuity was frustrated, for the noble champions of the Faith despatched
a second letter to the emperor, exhorting him to admit the envoys to audience
and dissolve the synod. This letter I subjoin. The Second Letter of the Synod to
Constantius.

"To Constantius the Victorious, the pious emperor, the bishops assembled at
Ariminum send greeting.

"Most illustrious lord and autocrat, we have received the letter of your
clemency, informing us that, in consequence of occupations of state, you have
hitherto been unable to see our envoys. You bid us await their return, that your
piety may come to a decision on the object we have in view, and on the decrees
of our predecessors. But we venture in this letter to repeat to your clemency
the point which we urged before, for we have in no way withdrawn from our
position. We entreat you to receive with benign countenance the letter of our
humility, wherein now we make answer to your piety, and the points which we have
ordered to be submitted to your benignity by our envoys. Your clemency is no
less aware than we are ourselves how serious and unfitting a state of things it
is, that in the time of your most happy reign so many churches should seem to be
without bishops. Wherefore once again, most glorious autocrat, we beseech you
that, if it be pleasing to your humanity, you will command us to return to our
churches before the rigour of winter, that we may be able, with our people, as
we have done and ever do, to offer most earnest prayers for the health and
wealth of your empire to Almighty God, and to Christ His Son, our Lord and
Saviour."

Chapter XVI.-Concerning the Synod Held at Nica106 In Thrace, and the Confession
of Faith Drawn Up There.

After this letter they107 irritated the emperor, and got the majority of the
bishops, against their will, to a certain town of Thrace, of the name of Nica.
Some simple men they deluded, and others they terrified, into carrying out their
old contrivance for injuring the true religion, by erasing the words "Substance"
and "of one Substance" from the Creed, and inserting instead of them the word
"like." I insert their formula in this history, not as being couched in proper
terms, but because it convicts the faction of Arius, for it is not even accepted
by the disaffected of the present time. Now, instead of "the like" they preach
"the unlike108 ."

Unsound Creed put forth at Nica in Thrace.

"We believe in one only true God, Father Almighty, of Whom are all things. And
in the only-begotten Son of God, Who before all ages and before every beginning
was begotten of God, through Whom all things were made, both visible and
invisible: alone begotten, only-begotten of the Father alone, God of God: like
the Father that begat Him, according to the Scriptures, Whose generation no one
knoweth except only the Father that begat Him. This Only-begotten Son of God,
sent by His Father, we know to have come down from heaven, as it is written, for
the destruction of sin and death; begotten of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin
Mary, as it is written, according to the flesh. Who companied with His
disciples, and when the dispensation was fulfilled, according to the Father's
will, was crucified, dead, and buried, and descended to the world below, at Whom
Hell himself trembled. On the third day He rose from the dead and companied with
His disciples forty days. He was taken up into Heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of His Father, and is coming at the last day of the Resurrection, in His
Father's Glory, to render to every one according to his works. And we believe in
the Holy Ghost, which the Only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, both God and
Lord, promised to send to man, the Comforter, as it is written, the Spirit of
Truth. This Spirit He Himself sent after He had ascended into Heaven and sat at
the right hand of the Father, from thence to come to judge both quick and dead.
But the word `the Substance,' which was too simply inserted by the Fathers, and,
not being understood by the people, was a cause of scandal through its not being
found in the Scriptures, it hath seemed good to us to remove, and that for the
future no mention whatever be permitted of `Substance,' on account of the sacred
Scriptures nowhere making any mention of the `Substance' of the Father and the
Son. Nor must one `essence109 ' be named in relation to the person110 of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. And we call the Son like the Father, as the Holy Scriptures
call Him and teach; but all the heresies, both those already condemned, and any,
if such there be, which have risen against the document thus put forth, let them
be Anathema." This Creed was subscribed by the bishops, some being frightened
and some cajoled, but those who refused to give in their adhesion were banished
to the most remote regions of the world.

Chapter XVII.-Synodical Act of Damasus, Bishop of Rome, and of the Western
Bishops, About the Council at Ariminum. The condemnation of this formula by all
the champions of the truth, and specially those of the West, is shewn by the
letter which they wrote to the Illyrians111 . First of the signatories was
Damasus, who obtained the presidency of the church of Rome after Liberius, and
was adorned with many virtues112 . With him signed ninety bishops of Italy and
Galatia113 , now called Gaul, who met together at Rome. I would have inserted
their names but that I thought it superfluous.

--------

"The bishops assembled at Rome in sacred synod Damasus and Valerianus114 and the
rest, to their beloved brethren the bishops of Illyria, send greeting in God.

"We believe that we, priests of God, by whom it is fight for the rest to be
instructed, are holding and teaching our people the Holy Creed which was founded
on the teaching of the Apostles, and in no way departs from the definitions of
the Fathers. But through a report of the brethren in Gaul and Venetia we have
learnt that certain men are fallen into heresy.

"It is the duty of the bishops not only to take precautions against this
mischief, but also to make a stand against whatever divergent teaching has
arisen, either from incomplete instruction, or the simplicity of readers of
unsound commentators. They should be minded not to slide into slippery paths,
but rather whensoever divergent counsels are carried to their ears, to hold fast
the doctrine of our fathers. It has, therefore, been decided that Auxentius of
Milan is in this matter specially condemned. So it is right that all the
teachers of the law in the Roman Empire should be well instructed in the law,
and not befoul the faith with divergent doctrines.

"When first the wickedness of the heretics began to flourish, and when, as now,
the blasphemy of the Arians was crawling to the front, our fathers, three
hundred and eighteen bishops, the holiest prelates in the Roman Empire,
deliberated at Nicaea. The wall which they set up against the weapons of the
devil, and the antidote wherewith they repelled his deadly poisons, was their
confession that the Father and the Son are of one substance, one godhead, one
virtue, one power, one likeness115 , and that the Holy Ghost is of the same
essence116 and substance. Whoever did not thus think was judged separate from
our communion. Their deliberation was worthy of all respect, and their
definition sound. But certain men have intended by other later discussions to
corrupt and befoul it. Yet, at the very outset, error was so far set right by
the bishops on whom the attempt was made at Ariminum to compel them to
manipulate or innovate on the faith, that they confessed themselves seduced by
opposite arguments, or owned that they had not perceived any contradiction to
the opinion of the Fathers livered at Nicaea. No prejudice could arise from the
number of bishops gathered at Ariminum, since it is well known that neither the
bishop of the Romans, whose opinion ought before all others to have been waited
for, nor Vincentius, whose stainless episcopate had lasted so many years, nor
the rest, gave in their adhesion to such doctrines. And this is the more
significant, since, as has been already said, the very men who seemed to be
tricked into surrender, themselves, in their wiser moments, testified their
disapproval.

"Your sincerity then perceives that this one faith, which was founder at Nicaea
on the authority of the Apostles, ought to be kept secure for ever. You perceive
that with us, the bishops of the East, who confess themselves Catholic, and the
western bishops, together glory in it. We believe that before long those who
think otherwise ought without delay to be put out from our communion, and
deprived of the name of bishop, that their flocks may be freed from error and
breathe freely. For they cannot be expected to correct the errors of their
people when they themselves are the victims of error. May the opinion of your
reverence be in harmony with that of all the priests of God. We believe you to
be fixed and firm in it, and thus ought we rightly to believe with you. May your
charity make us glad by your reply.

"Beloved brethren, farewell."

Chapter XVIII.-The Letter of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Concerning the
Same Council. The great Athanasius also, in his letter to the Africans, writes
thus about the council at Ariminum. "Under these circumstances who will tolerate
any mention of the council of Ariminum or any other beside the Nicene? Who would
not express detestation of the setting aside of the words of the Fathers, and
the preference for those introduced at Ariminum by violence and party strife?
Who would wish to be associated with these men-fellows who do not, forsooth,
accept their own words? In their own ten or a dozen synods they have laid down,
as has been narrated already, now one thing now another; and at the present time
these synods, one after another, they are themselves openly denouncing. They are
now suffering the fate undergone of old by the traitors of the Jews. For as is
written in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah "they have forsaken me the fountain
of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no
water,"117 so these men, in their opposition to the Oecumenical synod, have
hewed for themselves many synods which have all proved vain and like "buds that
yield no meal,"118 let us not therefore admit those who cite the council of
Ariminum or any other but that of Nicaea, for indeed the very citers of Ariminum
do not seem to know what was done there; if they had they would have held their
tongues. For you, beloved, have learnt from your own representatives at that
Council, and are consequently very well aware, that Ursacius, Valens, Eudoxius,
and Auxentius, and with them Demophilus were asked to anathematize the Arian
heresy, and made excuse, choosing rather to be its champions, and so were all
deposed for making propositions contrary to the Nicene decrees. The bishops, on
the contrary, who were the true servants of the Lord, and of the right
faith,-about two hundred in number,-declared their adherence to the Nicene
Council alone, and their refusal to entertain the thought of either subtraction
from, or addition to, its decrees. This conclusion they have communicated to
Constantius, by whose order the council assembled. On the other hand the bishops
who were deposed at Ariminum have been received by Constantius, and have
succeeded in getting the two hundred who sentenced them grossly insulted, and
threatened with not being allowed to return to their dioceses, and with having
to undergo rigorous treatment in Thrace, and that in the winter, in order to
force them to accept the innovators' measures.

If, then, we hear any one appealing to Ariminum, show us, let us rejoin, first
the sentence of deposition, and then the document drawn up by the bishops, in
which they declare that they do not seek to go beyond the terms drawn up by the
Nicene Fathers, nor appeal to any other council than that of Nicaea. In reality,
these are just the facts they conceal, while they put prominently forward the
forced confession of Thrace. They do but shew themselves friends of the Arian
heresy, and strangers to the sound faith. Only let any one be willing to put
side by side that great synod, and those others to which these men appeal, and
he will perceive, on the one side, true religion, on the other, folly and
disorder. The fathers of Nicaea met together not after being deposed, but after
confessing that the Son was of the Substance of the Father. These men were
deposed once, a second time, and again a third time at Ariminum, and then dared
to lay down that it is wrong to attribute Substance or Essence to God. So
strange and so many were the tricks and machinations concocted by the mad gang
of Arius in the West against the dogmas of the Truth.

Chapter XIX.-Concerning the Cunning of Leontius, Bishop of Antioch, and the
Boldness of Flavianus and Diadorus. At Antioch Placidus was succeeded by
Stephanus, who was expelled from the Church. Leontius then accepted the Primacy,
but in violation of the decrees of the Nicene Council, for he had mutilated
himself, and was an eunuch. The cause of his rash deed is thus narrated by the
blessed Athanasius. Leontius, it seems, was the victim of slanderous statements
on account of a certain young woman of the name of Eustolia.119 Finding himself
prevented from dwelling with her he mutilated himself for her sake, in order
that he might feel free to live with her. But he did not clear himself of
suspicion, and all the more for this reason was deposed from the presbyterate.
So much Athanasius has written about the rest of his earlier life. I shall now
give a summary exposure of his evil conduct. Now though he shared the Arian
error, he always endeavoured to conceal his unsoundness. He observed that the
clergy and the rest of the people were divided into two parts, the one, in
giving glory to the Son, using the conjunction "and," the other using the
preposition "through" of the Son, and applying "in" to the Holy Ghost. He
himself offered all the doxology in silence, and all that those standing near
him could hear was the "For ever and ever." And had not the exceeding wickedness
of his sold been betrayed by other means, it might have been said that he
adopted this contrivance from a wish to promote concord among the people. But
when he had wrought much mischief to the champions of the truth, and continued
to give every support to the promoters of impiety, he was convicted of
concealing his own unsoundness. He was influenced both by his fear of the
people, and by the grievous threats which Constantius had uttered against any
who had dared to say that the Son was unlike the Father. His real sentiments
were however proved by his conduct. Followers of the Apostolic doctrines never
received from him either ordination or indeed the least encouragement. Men, on
the other hand, who sided with the Arian superstition, were both allowed perfect
liberty in expressing their opinions, and were from time to time admitted to
priestly office. At this juncture Aetius, the master of Eunomius, who promoted
the Arian error by his speculations, was admitted to the diaconate. Flavianus
and Diodorus, however, who had embraced an ascetic career, and were open
champions of the Apostolic decrees, publicly protested against the attacks of
Leontius against true religion. That a man nurtured in iniquity and scheming to
win notoriety by ungodliness should be counted worthy of the diaconate, was,
they urged, a disgrace to the Church. They further threatened that they would
withdraw from his communion, travel to the western empire, and publish his plots
to the world. Leontius was now alarmed, and suspended Aetius from his sacred
office, but continued to show him marked favour. That excellent pair Flavianus
and Diodorus,120 though not vet admitted to the priesthood and still ranked with
the laity, worked night and day to stimulate men's zeal for truth. They were the
first to divide choirs into two parts, and to teach them to sing the psalms of
David antiphonally. Introduced first at Antioch, the practice spread in all
directions, and penetrated to the ends of the earth. Its originators now
collected the lovers of the Divine word and work into the Churches of the
Martyrs, and with them spent the night in singing psalms to God. When Leontius
perceived this, he did not think it safe to try to prevent them, for he saw that
the people were exceedingly well-disposed towards these excellent men. However,
putting a colour of courtesy on his speech, he requested that they would perform
this act of worship in the churches. They were perfectly well aware of his evil
intent. Nevertheless they set about obeying his behest and readily summoned
their choir121 to the Church, exhorting them to sing praises to the good Lord.
Nothing, however, could induce Leontius to correct his wickedness, but be put on
the mask of equity,122 and concealed the iniquity of Stephanus and Placidus. Men
who had accepted the corruption of the faith of priests and deacons, although
they had embraced a life of vile irregularity, he added to the roll; while
others adorned with every kind of virtue and firm adherents of apostolic
doctrines, he left unrecognised. Thus it came to pass that among the clergy were
numbered a majority of men tainted with heresy, while the mass of the laity were
champions of the Faith, and even professional teachers lacked courage to lay
bare their blasphemy. In truth the deeds of impiety and iniquity done by
Placidus, Stephanus, and Leontius, in Antioch are so many as to want a special
history of their own, and so terrible as to be worthy of the lament of David;
for of them too it must be said "For lo thy enemies make a murmuring and they
that hate thee lift up their head. They have imagined craftily against the
people and taken counsel against thy secret ones. They have said come and let us
root them out that they be no more a people: and that the name of Israel may be
no more in remembrance."123 Let us now continue the course of our narrative.

Chapter XX.-Concerning the Innovations of Eudoxius, of Germanicia, and the Zeal
of Basilius124 Of Ancyra, and of Eustathius125 Of Sebasteia Against Him.

Germanicia is a city on the coasts of Cilicia, Syria, and Cappadocia, and
belongs to the province called Euphratisia. Eudoxius, the head of its church,
directly, he heard of the death of Leontius, betook himself to Antioch and
clutched the see, where he ravaged the vineyard of the Lord like a wild boar. He
did not even attempt to hide his evil ways, like Leontius, but raged in direct
attack upon the apostolic decrees, and involved in various troubles all who had
the hardihood to gainsay him. Now at this time Basilius had succeeded Marcellus,
and held the helm of the church of Ancyra, the capital of Galatia, and Sebastia,
the chief city of Armenia, was under the guidance of Eustathius. No sooner had
these bishops heard of the iniquity and madness of Eudoxius, than they wrote to
inform the Emperor Constantius of his audacity. Constantius was now still
tarrying in the west, and, after the death of the tyrants, was endeavouring to
heal the harm they had caused. Both bishops were well known to the Emperor and
had great influence with him on account of the high character they bore.

Chapter XXI.-Of the Second Council of Nicaea. On receipt of these despatches
Constantius wrote to the Antiochenes denying that he had committed the see of
Antioch to Eudoxius, as Eudoxius had publicly announced. He ordered that
Eudoxius be banished, and be punished for the course he had taken at the
Bithynian Nicaea, where he bad ordered the synod to assemble. Eudoxius himself
had persuaded the officers entrusted with authority in the imperial household to
fix Nicaea for the Council. But the Supreme Ruler and Governor, who knows the
future like the past, stopped the assembly by a mighty earthquake, whereby the
greater part of the city was overthrown, and most of the inhabitants destroyed.
On learning this the assembled bishops were seized with panic, and returned to
their own churches. But I regard this as a contrivance of the divine wisdom, for
in that city the doctrine of the faith of the apostles had been defined by the
holy Fathers. In that same city the bishops who were assembling on this later
occasion were intending to lay down the contrary. The sameness of name would
have been sure to furnish a means of deception to the Arian crew, and trick
unsophisticated souls. They meant to call the council "the Nicene," and identify
it with the famous council of old. But He who has care for the churches
disbanded the synod.

Chapter XXII.-Of the Council Held at Seleucia in Isauria.

After a time, at the suggestion of the accusers of Eudoxius, Constantius ordered
the synod to be held at Seleucia. This town of Isauria lies on the seashore and
is the chief town of the district. Hither the bishops of the East, and with them
those of Pontus in Asia, were ordered to assemble.126 The see of Caesarea, the
capital of Palestine, was now held by Acacius, who had succeeded Eusebius. He
had been condemned by the council of Sardica, but had expressed contempt for so
large an assembly of bishops, and had refused to accept their adverse decision.
At Jerusalem Macarius, whom I have often mentioned, was succeeded by Maximus, a
man conspicuous in his struggles on behalf of religion, for he had been deprived
of his right eye and maimed in his right arm.127 On his translation to the life
which knows no old age, Cyrillus, an earnest champion of the apostolic
decrees,128 was dignified with the Episcopal office. These men in their
contentions with one another for the first place brought great calamities on the
state. Acacius seized some small occasion, deposed Cyrillus, and drove him from
Jerusalem. But Cyrillus passed by Antioch, which he had found without a pastor,
and came to Tarsus, where he dwelt with the excellent Silvanus, then bishop of
that see. No sooner did Acacius become aware of this than he wrote to Silvanus
and informed him of the deposition of Cyrillus. Silvanus however, both out of
regard for Cyrillus, and not without suspicion of his people, who greatly
enjoyed the stranger's teaching, refused to prohibit him from taking a part in
the ministrations of the church. When however they had arrived at Seleucia,
Cyrillus joined with the party of Basilius and Eustathius and Silvanus and the
rest in the council. But when Acacius joined the assembled bishops, who numbered
one hundred and fifty, he refused to be associated in their counsels before
Cyrillus, as one stripped of his bishopric, had been put out from among them.
There were some who, eager for peace, besought Cyrillus to withdraw, with a
pledge that after the decision of the decrees they would enquire into his case.
He would not give way, and Acacius left them and went out. Then meeting Eudoxius
he removed his alarm, and encouraged him with a promise that he would stand his
friend and supporter. Thus he hindered him from taking part in the council, and
set out with him for Constantinople.

Chapter XXIII.-Of What Befell the Orthodox Bishops at Constantinople.

Constantius, on his return from the West, passed some time at Constantinople.
There Acacius urged many accusations against the assembled bishops presence of
the emperor, called them a set of vile characters convoked for the ruin and
destruction of the churches, and so fired the imperial wrath. And not least was
Constantius moved by what was alleged against Cyrillus, "for," said Acachius,
"the holy robe, which the illustrious Constantine the emperor, in his desire to
honour the church of Jerusalem, gave to Macarius, the bishop of that city, to be
worn when he performed the rite of divine baptism, all fashioned with golden
threads as it was, has been sold by Cyrillus. It has been bought," he continued,
"by a certain stage dancer; dancing about when he was wearing it, he fell down
and perished. With a man like this Cyrillus," he went on, "they set themselves
up to judge and decide for the rest of the world." The influential party at the
court made this an occasion for persuading the emperor not to summon the whole
synod, for they were alarmed at the concord of the majority, but only ten
leading men. Of these were Eustathius of Armenia, Basilius of Galatia, Silvanus
of Tarsus, and Eleusius of Cyzicus.129 On their arrival they urged the emperor
that Eudoxius should be convicted of blasphemy and lawlessness. Constantius,
however, schooled by the opposite party, replied that a decision must first be
come to on matters concerning the faith, and that afterwards the case of
Eudoxius should be enquired into. Basilius, relying on his former intimacy,
ventured boldly to object to the emperor that he was attacking the apostolic
decrees; but Constantius took this ill, and told Basilius to hold his tongue,
"for to you," said he, "the disturbance of the churches is due." When Basilius
was silenced, Eustathius intervened and said, "since, sir, you wish a decision
to be come to on what concerns the faith, consider the blasphemies rashly
uttered against the Only Begotten by Eudoxius," and as he spoke he produced the
exposition of faith wherein, besides many other impieties, were found the
following expressions: "Things that are spoken of in unlike terms are unlike in
substance:" "There is one God the Father of whom are all things, and one Lord
Jesus Christ through whom are all things." Now the term "of whom" is unlike the
term "through whom;" so the Son is unlike God the Father. Constantius ordered
this exposition of the faith to be read, and was displeased with the blasphemy
which it involved. He therefore asked Eudoxius if he had drawn it up. Eudoxius
instantly repudiated the authorship, and said that it was written by Aetius. Now
Aetius was he whom Leontius, in dread of the accusations of Flavianus and
Diodorus, had formerly degraded from the diaconate. He had also been the
supporter of Georgius, the treacherous foe of the Alexandrians, alike in his
impious words and his unholy deeds. At the present time he was associated with
Eunomius and Eudoxius; for, on the death of Leontius, when Eudoxius had laid
violent hands on the episcopal throne of the church at Antioch, he returned from
Egypt with Eunomius, and, as he found Eudoxius to be of the same way of thinking
as himself, a sybarite in luxury as well as a heretic in faith, he chose Antioch
as the most congenial place of abode, and both he and Eunomius were fast
fixtures at the couches of Eudoxius. His highest ambition was to be a successful
parasite, and he spent his whole time in going to gorge himself at one man's
table or another's. The emperor had been told all this, and now ordered Aetius
to be brought before him. On his appearance Constantius showed him the document
in question and proceeded to enquire if he was the author of its language.
Aetius, totally ignorant of what had taken place, and unaware of the drift of
the enquiry, expected that he should win praise by confession, and owned that he
was the author of the phrases in question. Then the emperor perceived the
greatness of his iniquity, and forthwith condemned him to exile and to be
deported to a place in Phrygia. So Aetius reaped disgrace as the fruit of
blasphemy, and was cast out of the palace. Eustathius then alleged that Eudoxius
too held the same views, for that Aetius had shared his roof and his table, and
had drawn up this blasphemous formula in submission to his judgement. In proof
of his contention that Eudoxius was concerned in drawing up the document he
urged the fact that no one had attributed it to Aetius except Eudoxius himself.
To this the emperor enjoined that judges must not decide on conjecture, but are
bound to make exact examination of the facts. Eustathius assented, and urged
that Eudoxius should give proof of his dissent from the sentiments attributed to
him by anathematizing the composition of Aetius. This suggestion the emperor
very readily accepted, and gave his orders accordingly; but Eudoxius drew back,
and employed many shifts to evade compliance. But when the emperor waxed wroth
and threatened to send him off to share the exile of Aetius, on the ground that
he was a partner in the blasphemy so punished, he repudiated his own doctrine,
though both then and afterwards he persistently maintained it. However, he in
his turn protested against the Eustathians that it was their duty to condemn the
word "Homoüsion" as unscriptural.

Silvanus on the contrary pointed out that it was their duty to reject and expel
from their holy assemblies the phrases "out of the non-existent" and "creature"
and "of another substance," these terms being also unscriptural and found in the
writings of neither prophets nor apostles. Constantius decided that this was
right, and bade the Arians pronounce the condemnation. At first they persisted
in refusing; but in the end, when they saw the emperor's wrath, they consented,
though much against the grain, to condemn the terms Silvanus had put before
them. But all the more earnestly they insisted on their demand for the
condemnation of the "Homoüsion." But then with unanswerable logic Silvanus put
both before the Arians and the emperor the truth that if God the Word is not of
the non-Existent, He is not a Creature, and is not of another Substance. He is
then of one Substance with God Who begat Him, as God of God and Light of Light,
and has the same nature as the Begetter. This contention he urged with power and
with truth, but not one of his hearers was convinced. The party of Acacius and
Eudoxius raised a mighty uproar; the emperor was angered, and threatened
expulsion from their churches. Thereupon Eleusius and Silvanus and the rest said
that while authority to punish lay with the emperor, it was their province to
decide on points of piety or impiety, and "we will not," they protested, "betray
the doctrine of the Fathers."

Constantius ought to have admired both their wisdom and their courage, and their
bold defence of the apostolic decrees, but he exiled them from their churches,
and ordered others to be appointed in their place. Thereupon Eudoxius laid
violent hands on the Church of Constantinople; and on the expulsion of Eleusius
from Cyzicus, Eunomius was appointed in his place.

Chapter XXIV.-Synodical Epistle Written Against Aetius.

After these transactions the emperor ordered Aetius to be condemned by a formal
Letter, and, in obedience to the command, his companions in iniquity condemned
their own associate. Accordingly they wrote to Georgius, bishop of Alexandria,
the letter about him to which I shall give a place in my history, in order to
expose their wickedness, for they treated their friends and their foes precisely
in the same way.

Copy of the Letter written by the whole council to Georgius against Aetius his
deacon, on account of his iniquitous blasphemy. To the right honourable Lord
Georgius, Bishop of Alexandria, the holy Synod in Constantinople assembled,
Greeting. In consequence of the condemnation of Aetius by the Synod, on account
of his unlawful and most offensive writings, he has been dealt with by the
bishops in accordance with the canons of the church. He has been degraded from
the diaconate and expelled from the Church, and our admonitions have gone forth
that none are to read his unlawful epistles, but that on account of their
unprofitable and worthless character they are to be cast aside. We have further
appended an anathema on him, if he abides in his opinion, and on his supporters.

It would naturally have followed that all the bishops met together in the Synod
should have felt detestation of, and approved the sentence delivered against, a
man who is the author of offences, disturbances and schisms, of agitation over
all the world, and of rising of church against church. But in spite of our
prayers, and against all our expectation, Seras, Stephanus, Heliodorus and
Theophilus and their party130 have not voted with us, and have not even
consented to subscribe the sentence delivered against him, although Seras
charged the aforenamed Aetius with another instance of insane arrogance,
alleging that he, with still bolder impudence, had sprung forward to declare
that what God had concealed from the Apostles had been now revealed to him. Even
after these wild and boastful words, reported by Seras about Aetius, the
aforenamed bishops were not put out of countenance, nor could they be induced to
vote with us on his condemnation. We however with much long suffering bore with
them131 for a great length of time, now indignant, now beseeching, now
importuning them to join with us and make the decision of the Synod unanimous;
and we persevered long in the hope that they might hear and agree and give in.
But when in spite of all this patience we could not shame them into acceptance
of our declarations against the aforesaid offender, we counted the rule of the
church more precious than the friendship of men, and pronounced against them a
decree of excommunication, allowing them a period of six mouths for conversion,
repentance, and the expression of a desire for union and harmony with the synod.
If within the given time they should turn and accept agreement with their
brethren and assent to the decrees about Aetius, we decided that they should be
received into the church, to the recovery of their own authority in synods, and
our affection. If however they obstinately persisted, and preferred human
friendship to the canons of the church and our affection, then we judged them
deposed from the rank of the bishops. If they suffer degradation it is necessary
to appoint other bishops in their place, that the lawful church may be duly
ordered and at unity with herself, while all the bishops of every nation by
uttering the same doctrine with one mind and one counsel preserve the bond of
love. To acquaint you with the decree of the Synod we have sent these present to
your reverence, and pray that you may abide by them, and by the grace of Christ
rule the churches under you aright and in peace.

Chapter XXV.-Of the Causes Which Separated the Eunomians from the Arians.

Eunomius in his writings praises Aetius, styles him a man of God, and honours
him with many compliments. Yet he was at that time closely associated with the
party by whom Aetius had been repudiated, and to them he owed his election to
his bishopric.

Now the followers of Eudoxius and Acacius, who had assented to the decrees put
forth at Nice in Thrace, already mentioned in this history, appointed other
bishops in the churches of the adherents of Basilius and Eleusius in their
stead. On other points I think it superfluous to write in detail. I purpose only
to relate what concerns Eunomius. For when Eunomius had seized on the see of
Cyzicus in the lifetime of Eleusius, Eudoxius urged him to hide his opinions and
not make them known to the party who were seeking a pretext to persecute him.
Eudoxius was moved to offer this advice both by his knowledge that the diocese
was sound in the faith and his experience of the anger manifested by Constantius
against the party who asserted the only begotten Son of God to be a created
being. "Let us" said he to Eunomius "bide our time; when it comes we will preach
what now we are keeping dark; educate the ignorant; and win over or compel or
punish our opponents." Eunomius, yielding to these suggestions, propounded his
impious doctrine under the shadow of obscurity. Those of his hearers who had
been nurtured on the divine oracles saw clearly that his utterances concealed
under their surface a foul fester of error.132 But however distressed they were
they considered it less the part of prudence than of rashness to make any open
protest, so they assumed a mask of heretical heterodoxy, and paid a visit to the
bishop at his private residence with the earnest request that he would have
regard to the distress of men borne hither and thither by different doctrines,
and would plainly expound the truth. Eunomius thus emboldened declared the
sentiments which he secretly held. The deputation then went on to remark that it
was unfair and indeed quite wrong for the whole of his diocese to be prevented
from having their share of the truth. By these and similar arguments he was
induced to lay bare his blasphemy in the public assemblies of the church. Then
his opponents hurried with angry fervour to Constantinople; first they indicted
him before Eudoxius, and when Eudoxius refused to see them, sought an audience
of the emperor and made lamentation over the ruin their bishop was wreaking
among them. "The sermons of Eunomius," they said, "are more impious than the
blasphemies of Arius." The wrath of Constantius was roused, and he commanded
Eudoxius to send for Eunomius, and, on his conviction, to strip him of his
bishopric. Eudoxius, of course, though again and again importuned by the
accusers, continued to delay taking action. Then once more they approached the
emperor with vociferous complaints that Eudoxius had not obeyed the imperial
commands in any single particular, and was perfectly indifferent to the delivery
of an important city to the blasphemies of Eunomius. Then said Constantius to
Eudoxius, if you do not fetch Eunomius and try him, and on conviction of the
charges brought against him, punish him, I shall exile you. This threat
frightened Eudoxius, so he wrote to Eunomius to escape from Cyzicus, and told
him he had only himself to blame because he had not followed the hints given
him. Eunomius accordingly withdrew in alarm, but he could not endure the
disgrace, and endeavoured to fix the guilt of his betrayal on Eudoxius,
maintaining that both he and Aetius had been cruelly treated. And from that time
he set up a sect of his own for all the men who were of his way of thinking and
condemned his betrayal, separated from Eudoxius and joined with Eunomius, whose
name they bear up to this day. So Eunomius became the founder of a heresy, and
added to the blasphemy of Arius by his own peculiar guilt. He set up a sect of
his own because he was a slave to his ambition, as the facts distinctly prove.
For when Aetius was condemned and exiled, Eunomius refused to accompany him,
though he called him his master and a man of God, but remained closely
associated with Eudoxius. But when his turn came he paid the penalty of his
iniquity; he did not submit to the vote of the synod, but began to ordain
bishops and presbyters, though himself deprived of his episcopal rank. These
then were the deeds done at Constantinople.

Chapter XXVI.-Of the Siege of the City of Nisibis,133 And the Apostolic
Conversation of Bishop Jacobus. On war being waged against the Romans by Sapor
King of Persia, Constantius mustered his forces and marched to Antioch. But the
enemy were driven forth, not by the Roman army, but by Him whom the pious in the
Roman host worshipped as their God. How the victory was won I shall now proceed
to relate.

Nisibis, sometimes called Antiochia Mygdonia, lies on the confines of the realms
of Persia and of Rome. In Nisibis Jacobus whom I named just now was at once
bishop, guardian,134 and commander in chief. He was a man who shone with the
grace of a truly apostolic character. His extraordinary and memorable miracles,
which I have fully related in my religious history, I think it superfluous and
irrelevant to enumerate again.135

One however I will record because of the subject before us. The city which
Jacobus ruled was now in possession of the Romans, and besieged by the Persian
Army. The blockade was prolonged for seventy days. "Helepoles"136 and many other
engines were advanced to the walls. The town was begirt with a palisade and
entrenchment, but still held out. The river Mygdonius flowing through the middle
of the town, at last the Persians dammed its stream a considerable distance up,
and increased the height of its bank on both sides so as to shut the waters in.
When they saw that a great mass of water was collected and already beginning to
overflow the dam, they suddenly launched it like an engine against the wall. The
impact was tremendous; the bulwarks could not sustain it, but gave way and fell
down. Just the same fate befell the other side of the circuit, through which the
Mygdonius made its exit; it could not withstand the shock, and was carried away.
No sooner did Sapor see this than he expected to capture the rest of the city,
and for all that day be rested for the mud to dry and the river to become
passable. Next day he attacked in full force, and looked to enter the city
through the breaches that had been made. But he found the wall built up on both
sides, and all his labour vain. For that holy man, through prayer, filled with
valour both the troops and the rest of the townsfolk, and both built the walls,
withstood the engines, and beat off the advancing foe. And all this he did
without approaching the walls, but by beseeching the Lord of all within the
church. Sapor, moreover, was not only astounded at the speed of the building of
the walls but awed by another spectacle. For he saw standing on the battlements
one of kingly mien and all ablaze with purple robe and crown. He supposed that
this was the Roman emperor. and threatened his attendants with death for not
having announced the imperial presence; but on their stoutly maintaining that
their report had been a true one and that Constantius was at Antioch, he
perceived the meaning of the vision and exclaimed "their God is fighting for the
Romans." Then the wretched man in a rage flung a javelin into the air, though he
knew that be could not hit a bodiless being, but unable to curb his passion.
Therefore the excellent Ephraim (he is the best writer among the Syrians)
besought the divine Jacobus to mount the wall to see the barbarians and to let
fly at them the darts of his curse. So the divine man consented and climbed up
into a tower but when he saw the innumerable host he discharged no other curse
than to that mosquitoes and gnats might be sent forth upon them, so that by
means of these tiny animals they might learn the might of the Protector of the
Romans. On his prayer followed clouds of mosquitoes and gnats; they filled the
hollow trunks of the elephants, and the ears and nostrils of horses and other
animals. Finding the attack of these little creatures past endurance they broke
their bridles, unseated their riders and threw the ranks into confusion. The
Persians abandoned their camp and fled head-long. So the wretched prince learned
by a slight and kindly chastisement the power of the God who protects the pious,
and marched his army home again, reaping for all the harvest of the siege not
triumph but disgrace.

Chapter XXVII.-Of the Council of Antioch and What Was Done There Against the
Holy Meletius. At this time.137 Constantius was residing at Antioch. The Persian
war was over; there had been a time of peace, and he once again gathered bishops
together with the object of making them all deny both the formula "of one
substance" and also the formula "of different substance." On the death of
Leontius, Eudoxius had seized the see of Antioch, but on his expulsion and
illegal establishment, after many synods, at Constantinople, the church of
Antioch had been left without a shepherd. Accordingly the assembled bishops,
gathered in considerable numbers from every quarter, asserted that their primary
obligation was to provide a pastor for the flock and that then with him they
would deliberate on matters of faith. It fell out opportunely that the divine
Meletius who was ruling a certain city of Armenia138 had been grieved with the
insubordination of the people under his rule and was now living without
occupation elsewhere. The Arian faction imagined that Meletius was of the same
way of thinking as themselves, and an upholder of their doctrines. They
therefore petitioned Constantius to commit to his hands the reins of the
Antiochene church. Indeed in the hope of establishing their impiety there was no
law that they did not fearlessly transgress; illegality was becoming the very
foundation of their blasphemy; nor was this an isolated specimen of their
irregular proceedings. On the other hand the maintainers of apostolic doctrine,
who were perfectly well aware of the soundness of the great Meletius, and had
clear knowledge of his stainless character and wealth of virtue, came to a
common vote. and took measures to have their resolution written out and
subscribed by all without delay. This document both parties as a bond of
compromise entrusted to the safe keeping of a bishop who was a noble champion of
the truth, Eusebius of Samosata. And when the great Meletius had received the
imperial summons and arrived, forth to meet him came all the higher ranks of the
priesthood, forth came all the other orders of the church, and the whole
population of the city. There, too, were Jews and Gentiles all eager to see the
great Meletius. Now the emperor bad charged both Meletius and the rest who were
able to speak to expound to the multitude the text "The Lord formed me in the
beginning of his way, before his works of old" (Prov. viii. 22. lxx), and he
ordered skilled writers to take down on the spot what each man said, with the
idea that in this manner their instruction would be more exact. First of all
Georgius of Laodicea gave vent to his foul heresy. After him Acacius139 of
Caesarea propounded a doctrine of compromise far removed indeed from the
blasphemy of the enemy, but not preserving the apostolic doctrine pure and
undefiled. Then up rose the great Meletius and exhibited the unbending line of
the canon of the faith, for using the truth as a carpenter does his rule he
avoided excess and defect. Then the multitude broke into loud applause and
besought him to give them a short summary of his teaching. Accordingly after
showing three fingers, he withdrew two, left one, and uttered the memorable
sentence, "In thought they are three but we speak as to one."140

Against this teaching the men who had the plague of Arius in their hearts
whetted their tongues, and started an ingenious slander, declaring that the
divine Meletius was a Sabellian. Thus they persuaded the fickle sovereign who,
like the well known Euripus,141 easily shifted his current now this way and now
that, and induced him to relegate Meletius to his own home.

Euzoius, an open defender of Arian tenets, was promptly promoted to his place;
the very than whom, then a deacon, the great Alexander had degraded at the same
time as Arius. Now the part of the people who remained sound separated from the
unsound and assembled in the apostolic church which is situated in the part of
the city called the Palaea.142 For thirty years indeed after the attack made
upon the illustrious Eustathius they had gone on enduring the abomination of
Arianism, in the expectation of some favourable change. But when they saw
impiety on the increase, and men faithful to the apostolic doctrines both openly
attacked and menaced by secret conspiracy, the divine Meletius in exile, and
Euzoius the champion of heresy established as bishop in his place, they
remembered the words spoken to Lot, "Escape for thy life";143 and further the
law of the gospel which plainly ordains "if thy right eye offend thee pluck it
out and cast it from thee."144 The Lord laid down the same law about both hand
and foot, and added, "It is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."

Thus came about the division of the Church.

Chapter XXVIII.-About Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata. The admirable Eusebius
mentioned above, who was entrusted with the common resolution, when he beheld
the violation of the covenant, returned to his own see. Then certain men who
were uneasy about the written document, persuaded Constantius to dispatch a
messenger to recover it. Accordingly the emperor sent one of the officers who
ride post with relays of horses, and bring communications with great speed. On
his arrival he reported the imperial message, but, "I cannot," said the
admirable Eusebius, "surrender the deed deposited with me till I am directed so
to do by the whole assembly who gave it me." This reply was reported to the
emperor. Boiling with rage he sent to Eusebius again and ordered him to give it
up, with the further message that he had ordered his right hand to be cut off if
he refused. But he only wrote this to terrify the bishop, for the courier who
conveyed the dispatch bad orders not to carry out the threat. But when the
divine Eusebius opened the letter and saw tire punishment which the emperor had
threatened, lie stretched out his right hand and his left, bidding the man cut
off both. "The decree," said he, "which is a clear proof of Arian wickedness, I
will not give up." When Constantius had been informed of this courageous
resolution he was struck with astonishment, and did not cease to admire it; for
even foes are constrained by the greatness of bold deeds to admire their
adversaries success. At this time Constantius learned that Julian, whom he had
declared Caesar of Europe, was aiming at sovereignty, and mustering an army
against his master. Therefore he set out from Syria, and died in Cilicia.145 Nor
had he the helper whom his Father had left him; for he had not kept intact the
inheritance of his Father's piety, and so bitterly bewailed his change of faith.

1: From Feb. 336 to June 338. The "Porta Nigra" and the ruins of the Baths still
shew relics of the splendour of the imperial city. The exile was generously
treated. Maximinus, the bishop of Treves, was orthodox and friendly. (Ath. ad
Episc. Aegypt. §8.) On the conclusion of the term of his relegation to Treves
Constantine II. took him in the imperial suite to Viminacium, a town on the
Danube, not far from the modern Passarovitz. Here the three emperors met.
Athanasius continued his journey to Alexandria via Constantinople and the
Cappadocian Caesarea. (Ath. Hist. Ar. §8 and Apol. ad Const. §5.) 2: In Nov.
338. His clergy thought it the happiest day of their lives. Ath. Ap. Cont. Ar.
§7.

3: Vide Pedigree. Philostorgius (ii. 16) said the will was given to Eusebius of
Nicomedia. Valesius (on Soc. i. 25) thinks that if the story had been true
Athanasius would have recorded it, with the name of the Presbyter.

4: a.d. 327-328.

5: Of Nicomedia, now tranferred to the see of Constantinople.

6: Vide note on p. 61.

7: The ground of objection to the return was (i) that Athanasius had been
condemned by a Council-that of Tyre, and (ii) that he was restored by the
authority of the state alone. The first intention was to get the Arian Pistus
advanced to the patriarchate.

8: Easter, a.d. 340. The condemnation was confirmed at the Council of Antioch,
a.d. 341.

9: They were met by a deputation of Athanasians, bringing the encyclical of the
Egyptian Bishops in favour of the accused. Apol. Cont. Ar. §3.

10: On the bearing of these communications with Rome on the question of Papal
jurisdiction, vide Salmon, Infallibility of the Church, p. 405. Cf. Wladimir
Guettee, Histoire de l'Eglise, III. p. 112.

11: The innocence of Athanasius was vindicated at the Council held at Rome in
Nov. a.d. 341.

12: For the violent resentment of the Alexandrian Church at the obtrusion of
Gregorius, an Ultra-Arian, and apparently an illustration of the old proverb of
the three bad Kappas, " Kappadokej, Krhtej, Kilikej, tria kappa kakista

13: Now Sophia, in Bulgaria. The centre of Moesia was called Dacia
Cis-Danubiana, when the tract conquered by Trajan was abandoned.

14: A native of Thessalonica; he had been secretary to his predecessor
Alexander.

15: Ath. de fug. §3. Cf. Hist. Ar. ad Mon. 7.

16: Flavius Philippus, praetorian praefect of the East, is described by Socrates
(II. 16), as deutepoj meta basilea

17: On the vicissitudes of the see of Constantinople, after the death of
Alexander, in a.d. 336, vide Soc. ii. 6 and Soz. iii. 3. Paulus was murdered in
350 or 351, and the "shortly after" of the text means nine years, Macedonius
being replaced by Eudoxius of Antioch, in 360. On how far the heresy of the
"Pneumatomachi," called Macedonianism, was really due to the teaching of
Macedonius, vide Robertson's Church Hist. II. iv. for reff.

18: The Council met in 343, according to Hefele; 344, according to Mansi, on the
authority of the Festal Letters of Athanasius. Summoned by both Emperors, it was
presided over by Hosius. The accounts of the numbers present vary. Some
authorities adhere to the traditional date, 347. Soc. ii. 20; Soz. iii. 11.

19: Vide I. xxvii.

20: Perhaps present at the Synod of Ancyra (Angora), in a.d. 315. Died, a.d.
374. Marcellus played the man at Nicaea, and was accused by the Arians of
Sabellianism, and deposed. He was distrusted as a trimmer, but could boast "se
communione Julii et Athanasii, Romanae et Alexandrinae urbis pontifficum, esse
munitum" ( Fer. de vir. ill. c. 86). Cardinal Newman thinks Athanasius attacked
him in the IVth Oration against the Arians. Vide Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 808.

21: Probably Lucius, Bishop of Hadrianople, who had been deposed by the Arians,
and appealed to Julius, who wished to right him. Still kept out by the Arians,
he appealed to the Council of Sardica, and, in accordance with its decree,
Constantius ordered his restoration (Soc. ii. 26). Cf. Chap. XII.

22: Bishop of Trajanopolis (Ath. Hist. Ar. 19).

23: The strange story of Ischyras is gathered from notices in the Apol. c.
Arian. Without ordination, he started a small conventicle of some half-dozen
people, and the Alexandrian Synod of 324 condemned his pretensions. The incident
of the text may be assigned to 329. He afterwards faced both ways, to Athanasius
and the Eusebians, and was recognised by them as a bishop. Dict. Christ. biog.
iii. 302.

24: Georgius succeeded the Arian Theodotus, of whom mention has already been
made (p. 42), in the see of the Syrian Laodicea (Latakia). Athanasius ( de fug.
§26), speaks of his "dissolute life, condemned even by his own friends."

25: Known as o monofqalmoj , "The one-eyed." He succeeded the Historian Eusebius
in the see of Caesarea in 340, and the Nicomedian Eusebius as a leader of the
Arian Court party in 342.

26: Now Belgrade.

27: Now Esseg on the Drave. Here Constantius defeated Magnentius, a.d. 351.

28: Bishop of Petra in Palestine. ( Tomus ad Antioch. 10 .) There is some
confusion in the names of the sees, and a doubt whether there were really two
Petras. Cf. Reland, Palestine, p. 298, Le Quien, East. Christ. iii. 665, 666.

29: Bishop of Petra in Arabia, (Ath. Hist. Ar. 18, Apol. cont. Ar. 48).

30: Cf. Acts xx. 29.

31: Thrust on the see of Gaza by the Arians on the deposition of Asclepas (Soz.
iii. 8, 12).

32: Gal. i. 8.

33: Here, according to the Version of Athanasius ( Ap. cont. Ar. 49), the
Synodical Epistle ends. An argument against the genuineness of the addition is
the introduction of a new formula of faith, while from the letter of Athanasius
"ex synodo Alexandrinâ ad legatos apostolicae sedis,"" it is plain that nothing
was added to the Nicene Creed. (Labbe iii. 84.)

34: This passage is very corrupt: the translation follows the Greek of Valesius,
gennhtoj estin ama kai genhtoj . It is not certain that the distinction between
agennhoj "unbegotten," and agenhtoj , "uncreate," was in use quite so early as
344. If the passage is spurious and of later date, the distinction might be more
naturally found.

35: upostaseij .

36: ousia .

37: John xiv. 10.

38: John x. 30.

39: Wisdom vii. 22.

40: John i. 3.

41: utostasij .

42: This translation follows the reading of the Allatian Codex, adopted by
Valesius, th kainh ktisei . If we read koinh for kainh , we must render "excels
or differs in relation to the common creation" which He shares with man.

43: utostasij .

44: John x. 30.

45: utostasij .

46: John xvii. 21.

47: oikonomia . In classical Greek oikonomia is simply the management ( a ) of a
household, ( b ) of the state. In the N.T. we have it in Luke xvi. for
"stewardship," and in five other places; (i) 1 Cor. ix. 17, A.V. "dispensation,"
R.V. "stewardship;" (ii)Eph. i. 10 A.V. and R.V. "dispensation;" (iii) Eph. iii.
2, A.V. and R.V. "dispensation;" (iv) Col. i. 25, A.V. and R.V. "dispensation;"
(v) Tim. i. 4, where A.V. adopts the inferior reading oikodomhn , and R.V.
renders the oikonomian of )

48: Onagroj 49: fasi de kai nhessin aliplaneessi xereiouj taj ufalouj petraj twn
fanerwn spiladwn .-Anth. Pal. xi. 390.

50: Leontius, Bishop of Antioch from a.d. 348 to 357, was one of the School of
Lucianus. (Philost. iii. 15), cf. pp. 38 and 41, notes. Athanasius says hard
things of him ( de fug. §26), but Dr. Salmon ( Dict. Christ. Biog. s.v.) is of
opinion that "we may charitably think that the gentleness and love of peace
which all attest were not mere hypocrisy, and may impute his toleration of
heretics to no worse cause than insufficient appreciation of the importance of
the issues involved." Vide infra. chap. xix.

51: Athanasius had gone from Sardica to Naissus (in upper Dacia), and thence to
Aquileia, where he was received by Constans. Ap. ad Const. §4, §3 .

52: Athanasius went from Aquileia to Rome, where he saw Julius again, thence to
Treves to the Court of Constans, and back to the East to Antioch, where the
conversation about the "one church" took place. Soc. ii. 23; Soz. iii. 20.

53: i.e. the friends of Eustathius.

54: The more significant from the fact that Constantius affected a more than
human impassibility. Cf. the graphic account of his entry into Rome "velut collo
munito rectam aciem luminum tendens, nec dextra vulture nec laeva flectebat,
tanquam figmentum hominis: non cum rota concuteret nutans nec spuens aut os aut
nasum tergens vel fricans manumve agitans visus est unquam." Amm. Marc. xvi. 10.

55: About Feb. a.d. 345.

56: Oct. a.d. 346. Fest. Ind. The return is described by Gregory of Nazianzus
(Orat. 21). Authorities, however, differ as to which return he paints.

57: i.e. was murdered by the troops of the usurper Magnentius at Illiberis
(re-named Helena by Constantine, and now Elne, in Roussillon), a.d. 350.

58: Probably Syrianus, who is described by Athanasius himself as sent to get him
removed from Alexandria, but as denying that he had the written authority of
Constantius. This was in Jan. a.d. 356.

59: sunacij . Cf. p. 52 note.

60: Syrianus. Ath. Ap. ad Const. §25.

61: Ath. Ap. de fug. §24.

62: Georgius, a fraudulent contractor of Constantinople (Ath. Hist. Ar. 75),
made Arian Bishop of ALexandria on the expulsion of Athanasius, in a.d. 356, was
born in a fuller's shop at Epiphania in Cilicia. (Amm. Marc. xxii. 11, 3.) He
was known as "the Cappadocian," and further illustrates the old saying of "
Kappadokej Krhtej Kilikej, tria kappa kakiosta ," and the kindred epigram 63:
koimhthrion , or sleeping-place. Cf. Chrysost. ed. Migne. ii. 394.

64: The earliest account of the system of Manes or Mani is to be found in Euseb.
H.E. vii. 31. From the end of the *century it made rapid progress.

65: One Ammonius had been consecrated by Alexander, and was bishop ot Pacnemunis
(Ath. ad Drac. 210, and Hist. Ar. §72). Another was apparently consecrated by
Athanasius ( Hist. Ar. §72). An Ammonius was banished to the Upper Oasis (id.).
Caius was the orthodox bishop of Thmuis. Philo was banished to Babylon ( Hist.
Ar. §72, cf. Jer. Vita Hilarionis 30). Muïus, Psinosiris, Nilammon, Plenius,
Marcus the sees of these two Marci were Zygra and Philae), and Athenodorus, were
relegated to the parts about the Libyan Ammon, nine days' journey from
Alexandria, only that they might perish on the road. One did die. ( Hist Ar.
§72.) Adelphius was bishop of Onuphis in the Delta, and was sent to the Thebaid
(Tom. ad Ant. 615.) Dracontius, to whom Athanasius addressed a letter, went to
the deserts about Clysma (25 m. s.w. of Suez), and Hierax and Dioscorus to Syene
(Assouan ( Hist. Ar. §72), whither Trajan had banished Juvenal.

66: Some authorities read more mildly, "drove into exile."

67: Ap. de fug. §7. Cf. Hist. Ar. §72.

68: "Haec Athanasii Epistola hodie quod sciam non extat." Valesius.

69: Athanasius was condemned at Arles (353) as well as at Milan in 355. At the
latter place Constantius affected more than his father's infallibility, and
exclaimed, "What I will, be that a Canon." Ath. Hist. Ar. §33.

70: Apol. de fug. §4 and §5.

71: For the persecution and vacillation of Liberius, "one of the few Popes that
can be charged with heresy" (Principal Barmby in Dict. Christ. Biog. s.v.), see
also Ath. Hist. Ar. §35 et seqq.

72: Treves. Dionysius was the successor of St. Maximinus and a firm champion of
orthodoxy. Cf. Sulp. Sev. II. 52.

73: Milan. Paulinus was banished to Cappadocia.

74: Calaris (Cagliari). Luciferus, a vehement defender of Athanasius, was
banished to Eleutheropolis in Palestine. Mr. Ll. Davies ( Dict. Christ. Biog.
s.v.), thinks the traditional story of the imprisonment of Luciferus at Milan,
to prevent his outspoken advocacy of Athanasius, shews internal evidence of
probability.

75: Eusebius, bishop of Vercellae (Vercelli), was a staunch Athanasian. He was
banished to Scythopolis, where the bishop Patrophilus (cf. Book I. chapter VI.
and XX.), a leading Arian, was, he says, his "jailer." (Vide his letters.) 76:
The epithet eughrotatoj 77: Cf. Book I. Chap. 20.

78: Euphration is mentioned also in Hist. Ar. §5. Balaneae is now Banias on the
coast of Syria.

79: Now Boldo, a little to the N. of Bahias.

80: In Phoenicia, now Tortosa.

81: "A good and excellent man," Ath. Hist. Ar. §5.

82: Vide p. 68, note.

83: On the question of the orthodoxy of Marcellus of Ancyra (Angora), vide the
conflicting opinions of Bp Lightfoot ( Dict. Christ. Biog. ii. 342), and Mr.
Ffoulkes (id. iii. 810). Ath. ( Apol. contra Ar. §47) says of the Council of
Sardica. "The book of our brother Marcellus was also read, by which the frauds
of the Eusebians were plainly discovered ...his faith was found to be correct,"
cf. p. 67, note.

84: The successor of Eustathius at Beroea, cf. p. 41, note 65. Socrates says the
statement that Cyrus accused Eustathius of Sabellianism is an Arian calumny
(Soc. i. 24; ii. 9).

85: Asclepas or Aesculapius was at Tyre (p. 62), and was deposed on the charge
of overturning an altar, wj qusiasthrion anatreyaj (Soz. iii. 8).

86: Vide p. 68.

87: Bishop of Aenos in Thrace, now Enos. ( Hist. Ar. §19.) Here was shown the
tomb of Polydorus. Plin. 4, 11, 18. Virgil (Aen. iii. 18) makes Aeneas call it
Aeneadae, but see Conington's note.

88: Philagrius was praefect of Egypt a.d. 335-340. Ath. ( Ep. Encyc. ) calls him
"a persecutor of the Church and her virgins, an apostate of bad character."

89:

90: I adopt the suggestion of Valesius, that alogwj

91: Bishop of Centumcellae (Civita Vecchia); "a bold young fellow, ready for any
mischief." A protégé of the Cappadocian Georgius, he was an Arian of the worst
type, and had effected the substitution of Felix for Liberius in the Roman see
by irregular and scandalous means. (Ath. Hist. Ar. §75.)

92: A passage of Ammianus Marcellinus (xxi. 16) on the "cursus publicus" has
been made famous by Gibbon. "The Christian religion, which in itself is plain
and simple, Constantius confounded by the dotage of superstition. Instead of
reconciling the parties by the weight of his authority, he cherished and
propagated, by verbal disputes, the differences which his vain curiosity had
excited. The highways were covered with troops of bishops gallop. ing from every
side to the assemblies which they call synods; and while they laboured to reduce
the whole sect to their own particular opinions, the public establishment of the
posts was almost ruined by their hasty and repeated journeys." Gibbon, chap. xx.

93: Constantine II. had befriended Athanasius, but the patriarch was neither
directly nor indirectly responsible for his attack on Constans and his death.

94: Eusebia. Constantius II. was thrice married; (i) a.d. 336 (Eus. Vit. Const.
iv. 49), to his cousin Constantia, sister of Julian (vid. Pedigree in proleg.);
(ii) a.d. 352, to Aurelia Eusebia, an Arian "of exceptional beauty of body and
mind" (Amm. Marc. xxi. 6), and (iii) a.d. 360 or 361, to Faustina.

95: Liberius does not reckon the Arian eunuch as a Christian.

96: There were originally four factions in the Circus; blue, green, white, and
red. Domitian added two more, golden and purple. But the blue and the green
absorbed the rest, and divided the multitude at the games. Cf. Juv. XI. 197.

97: a.d. 359.

98: The eastern bishops were summoned to Seleucia, in Cilicia; the western to
Ariminum, (Rimini). "A previous Conference was held at Sirmium, in order to
determine on the creed to be presented to the bipartite Council. ...The
Eusebians struggled for the adoption of the Acacian Homoeon, which the Emperor
had already both received and abandoned, and they actually effected the adoption
of the `like in all things according to the Scriptures, 0' a phrase in which the
semi-Arians, indeed, included their `like in substance 0' or Homoeiision, but
which did not necessarily refer to substance or nature at all. Under these
circumstances the two Councils met in the autumn of a.d. 359, under the nominal
superintendence of the semi-Arians; but, on the Eusebian side, the sharp-witted
Acacius undertaking to deal with the disputatious Greeks, the overbearing and
cruel Valens with the plainer Latins." (Newman, Arians, iv. §4.) At Seleucia
there were 150 bishops; at Ariminum 400.

99: ousia .

100: omoousion .

101: This letter exists in Ath. de Syn. Arim. et Seleu., Soc. ii. 39, Soz. iv.
10, and the Latin of Hilarius (Fr. viii.), which frequently differs considerably
from the Greek.

102: Germanus (Ath. and Soz.), Germinius (according to Hilarius), bishop of
Cyzicus, was translated to Sirmium, a.d. 356. The creed composed by Marcus of
Arethusa with the aid of Germinius, Valens and others, is known as "the dated
creed," from the minuteness, satirized by Athanasius, with which it specifies
the day (May 22, a.d. XI. Kal. Jun.), in the consulate of Eusebius and Hypatius
(Ath. de Syn. §8).

103: Auxentius, the elder, bishop of Milan, succeeded Dionysius in 355, and
occupied the see till his death in 374, when Ambrose was chosen to fill his
place. Auxentius, the younger, known also as Mercurinus, was afterwards set up
by the Arian Court party as a rival bishop to Ambrose. A third Auxentius, a
supporter of the heretic Jovinianus, is mentioned in the Epistle of Siricius.
Vide reff. in Baronius and Tillemont. An Auxentius, Arian bishop of Mopsuestia,
is mentioned by Philostorgius, v. 1. 2.

104: A Pannonian bishop. Ath. ad Epict.

105: The word in the text is wmothta 106: At or near the modern Hafsa, not far
to the S. of Adrianople.

107: i.e. the Arians.

108: "The Eusebians, little pleased with the growing dogmatism of members of
their own body, fell upon the expedient of confining their confession to
Scripture terms; which, when separated from their context, were of course
inadequate to concentrate and ascertain the true doctrine. Hence the formula of
the Homoeon, which was introduced by Acacius with the express purpose of
deceiving or baffling the semi-Arian members of his party. This measure was the
more necessary for Eusebian interests, inasmuch as a new variety of the heresy
arose in the East at the same time, advocated by Aetius and Eunomius; who, by
professing boldly the pure Arian text, alarmed Constantius, and threw him back
upon Basil, and the other semi-Arians. This new doctrine, called Anomoean,
because it maintained that the usia or substance of the Son was unlike (
anomoioj 109: upostasij .

110: proswpon .

111: The letter is given in Soz. vi. 23. The Latin text (Coll. Rom. ed. Holsten.
p. 163) differs materially from the Greek.

112: These were displayed after his establishment in his see. He was the nominee
of the Arian party, and bloody scenes marked the struggle with his rival
Ursinus. "Damasus et Ursinus, supra humanum modum ad rapiendam episcopatus sedem
ardentes, scissis studiis asperrime conflictabantur, adusque morris vulnerumque
discrimina progressis. ...Constat in basilica ubi ritus christiani conventiculum
uno die centum triginta septem reperta cadavera peremptorum." Amm. Marc. xxvii.
3, 13. "But we can say that he used his success well, and that the chair of St.
Peter was never more respected nor more vigorous than during his bishopric." Mr.
Moberly in Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 782. Jerome calls him (Ep. Hier. xlviii. 230)
"an illustrious man, virgin doctor of the virgin church."

113: Galatai = Keltoi , the older name, which exists in Herodotus II. 33 and IV.
49. Pausanias (I. iii. 5) says oye de pote autouj kaleisqai Galataj ecenikhse,
Keltoi gar kata te sfaj to arxaion kai para toij alloij wnomazonto . Galatia
occurs on the Monumentum Ancyranum. Bp. Lightfoot (Galat. p. 3) says the first
instance of Gallia (Galli) which he has found in any Greek writer is in
Epictetus II. 20, 17.

114: In Sozomen, Valerius, Bishop of Aquileia. "But little is known of his life,
but under his rule there grew up at Aquileia the society of remarkable persons
of whom Hieronymus became the most famous." Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 1102.

115: xarakthr : contrast the statement in Heb. i. 3, that the Son is the
xarakthr of the person of the Father. xarakthr in the letter of Damasus
approaches more nearly our use of "character" as meaning distinctive qualities.
cf. Plato Phaed. 26 B.

116: upostasij .

117: Jer. ii. 13.

118: Hosea viii. 7. The text " dragmata mh exonta isxun " recalls the septuagint
dragma ouk exon isxun .

119: Ath. Ap. de fug. §26 and Hist. Ar. §28. The question of suneisaktai was one
of the great scandals and difficulties of the early Church. Some suppose that
the case of Leontius was the cause of the first Canon of the Nicene Council peri
twn tolmwntwn eautauj ektemnein .

120: Flavianus was a noble native of Antioch, and was afterwards (381-404)
bishop of that see. Diodorus in later times (c. 379) became bishop of Tarsus,
"one of the most deservedly venerated names in the Eastern church for learning,
sanctity, courage in withstanding heresy, and zeal in the defence of the truth.
Diodorus has a still greater claim on the grateful remembrances of the whole
church, as, if not the founder, the chief promoter of the rational school of
scriptural interpretation, of which his disciples, Chrysostom and Theodorus of
Mopsuestia, and Theodoret, were such distinguished representatives." Dict.
Christ. Biog. i. 836. On the renewed championship of the Antiochene church by
Flavianus and Diodorus under the persecution of Valens vide iv. 22.

121: I prefer the reading of Basil Gr. and Steph. I. ergataj to the erastaj of
Steph. 2 and Pin.

122: epieikeiaj . "The mere existence of such a word as epieikeia is itself a
signal evidence of the high development of ethics among the Greeks. It expresses
exactly that moderation which recognizes the impossibility, cleaving to formal
law, of anticipating or providing for all cases that will emerge, and present
themselves to it for decision ...It is thus more truly just than strict justice
will have been; being dikaion kai beltion tinoj dikaiou , as Aristotle expresses
it. Eth. Nic. V. 10. 6." Archbp. Trench's synonyms of the N.T. p. 151. The
"clemency" on which Tertullus reckons in Felix is epieikeia ; and in 2 Cor. x.
St. Paul beseeehes by the "gentleness" or epieikeia of Christ.

123: Ps. 83. - 2-3-4.

124: Basilius, a learned physician, a Semiarian of Ancyra, was made bishop of
that see on the deposition of Marcellus, in 336, and excommunicated at Sardica
in 347. In 350 he was reinstated at the command of Constantius. He was again
exiled under Acacian influence failed to get restitution from Jovian, and
probably died in exile. (Soc. ii, 20, 26, iv, 24.) Vide also Theod. ii, 23. His
works are lost. Athanasius praises him as among those who were (de Synod. 603
ed. Migne) "not far from accepting the Homousion."

125: Eustathius was bishop of Sebasteia or Sebaste (Siwas) on the Halys, from
357 to 380.

126: "Now that the Semiarians were forced to treat with their late victims on
equal terms, they agreed to hold a general Council. Both parties might hope for
success. If the Homoean influence was strong at Court, the Semiarians were
strong in the East, and could count on some help from the Western Nicenes. But
the Court was resolved to secure a decision to its own mind. As a Council of the
whole Empire might have been too independent, it was divided. The Westerns were
to meet at Ariminum in Italy, the Easterns at Seleucia in Isauria." "It was a
fairly central spot, and easy of access from Egypt and Syria by sea, but
otherwise most unsuitable. It was a mere fortress, lying in a rugged country,
where the spurs of Mount Taurus reach the sea. Around it were the ever-restless
marauders of Isauria." "The choice of such a place is as significant as ira
Pan-Anglican synod were called to meet at the central and convenient port of
Souakim."

127: He appears to have been less conspicuous for consistency in the Arian
Controversy. At Tyre he is described by Sozomen and Socrates as assenting to the
deposition of Athanasius but Rufinus (H. E. i. 17) tells the dramatic story of
the success ful interposition of the aged and mutilated Paphnutius of the
Thebaid, who took his vacillating brother by the hand, and led him to the little
knot of Athanasians. Sozomen (iv. 203) represents him as deposed by Acacius for
too zealous orthodoxy, and replaced by Cyril, then a Semiarian. Jerome agrees
with Theodoret, and makes Cyril succeed on the death of Maximus in 350 or 351.
(Chron. ann. 349.)

128: Sozomen and Socrates are less favourable to his orthodoxy. In his favour
see the synodical letter written by the bishops assembled at Constantinople
after the Council in 381, and addressed to Pope Damasus, which is given in the
Vth book of our author, Chapter 9. He was engaged in a petty controversy with
Acacius on the precedence of the sees of Caesarea and Aelia (Jerusalem), and in
357 deposed. On appeal to the Council of Seleucia he was reinstated, but again
deposed by Constantius, partly on the pretended charge of dealing improperly
with a robe given by Constantine to Macarius, which Theodoret records later
(Chap. xiii.) Restored by Julian he was left in peace under Jovian and
Valentinian, exiled by Valens, and restored by Theodosius. He died in 386, and
left Catechetical lectures, a Homily, and an Epistle, of which the authenticity
has been successfully defended, and which vindicate rather his orthodoxy than
his ability. cf. Canon Venables. Dict. Ch. Biog. s. v.

129: i.e. , Eustathius of Sebasteia, and Basilius of Ancyra (vide note on p.
86). Silvanus of Tarsus was one of the Semiarians of high character. For his
kindly entertainment of Cyril of Jerusalem vide page 87. Tillemont places his
death in 363.

130: Seras, or Serras, had been an Arian leader in Libya. In 356 Serras,
together with Secundus, deposed bishop of Ptole mais, proposed to consecrate
Aetius; he refused on the ground that they were tainted with Orthodoxy. Phil.
iii. 19. In 359 he subscribed the decrees of Seleucia as bishop of Paraetonium
(Al Bareton W. of Alexandria) (Epiph. Haer. lxxiii. 20). Now he is deposed (360)
by the Constantinopolitan Synod. Vide Dict. Christ. Biog. s. v.

131: sumperihnexqhmen is the suggestion of Valesius for sumperieyhqisqhmen , a
word of no authority.

132: On the picturesque word upouloj cf. Hipp: XXI, 32; Plat: Gorg. 518 E. and
the well-known passage in the Oed: Tyrannus (1396) where Oedipus speaks of the
promise of his youth as "a fair outside all fraught with ills below."

133: Now Nisibin, an important city of Mesopotamia on the Mygdonius (Hulai). Its
name was changed under the Macedonian dynasty to Antiochia Mygdonica. Frequently
taken and retaken it was ultimately ceded by Jovian to Sapor a.d. 363.

134: " poliouxoj " is an epithet of the protecting delty of a city, as of Athens
" IIallaj poliouxoj&Eaxute\ " Ar. Eq. 581.

135: Born in the city of which he was afterwards bishop, Jacobus early acquired
fame by his ascetic austerity. While on a journey into Persia with the object at
once of confirming his own faith and that of the Christian sufferers under the
persecution of Sapor II, he was supposed to work wonders, of which the
following, related by Theodoretus, is a specimen. Once upon a time he saw a
Persian judge delivering an unjust sentence. Now a huge stone happening to be
lying close by, he ordered it to be crushed and broken into pieces, and so
proved the injustice of the sentence. The stone was instantly divided into
innumerable fragments, the spectators were panic-stricken, and the judge in
terror revoked his sentence and delivered a righteous judgment. On the see of
his native city falling vacant Jacobus was made bishop. The "Religious History"
describes him as signalling his episcopate by the miracle attributed by Gregory
of Nyssa in Gregory the Wonder-Worker, and by Sozomen (vii. 27) to Epiphanius.
As in the "Nuremberg Chronicle," the same woodcut serves for Thales, Nehemiah,
and Dante, so a popular miracle was indiscriminately assigned to saint after
saint. "Once upon a time he came to a certain village, - the spot I cannot name,
- and up come some beggars putting down one of their number before him as though
dead, and begging him to supply some necessaries for the funeral. Jacobus
granted their petition, and on behalf of the apparently dead man began to pray
to God to forgive him the sins of his lifetime and grant him a place in the
company of the just. Even while he was speaking, away flew the soul of the man
who had up to this moment shammed death, and coverings were provided for the
corpse. The holy man proceeded on his journey. and the inventors of this play
told their recumbent companion to get up. But now they saw that he did not hear,
that the pretence had become a reality, and that what a moment ago was a live
man's mask was now a dead man's face. So they overtake the great Jacobus, bow
down before him, roll at his feet and declare that they would not have played
their impudent trick but for their poverty, and implored him to forgive them and
restore the dead man's soul. So Jacobus in imitation of the philanthropy of the
Lord granted their prayer, exhibited his wonder working power, and through his
prayer restored the lite which his power hail taken away."

136: Ammianus Marcellinus 23. 4. 10. thus describes the " 9Elepolij mhxanh ."
"An enormous testudo is strengthened by long planks and fitted with iron bolts.
This is covered with hides and fresh wicker-work. Its upper parts are smeared
with mud as a protection against fire and missiles. To its front are fastened
three-pronged spear points made exceedingly sharp, and steadied by iron weights,
like the thunderbolts of painters anti potters. Thus whenever it was directed
against anything these stings were shot out to destroy. The huge mass was moved
on wheels and ropes from within by a considerable body of troops, and advanced
with a mighty impulse against the weaker part of a town wall. Then unless the
defenders prevailed against it the walls were beaten in and a wide breach made."

137: a.d. 361.

138: According to Sozomen, Sebaste; but Socrates (II. 44) makes him bishop of
the Syrian Beroea Gregory of Nyssa (Orat: In Fun Mag: Meletii) puts on record
"the sweet calm look the radiant smile, the kind hand seconding the kind voice"

139: On Acacius ot Caesarea vide note on page 70. At the Synod of Seleucia in
359 he started the party of the Homoeans, and was deposed. In the reign of
Jovian they inclined to Orthodoxy; in that of Valens to Arianism (cf. Soc. iv.
2). Acacius was a benefactor to the Public Library of Caesarea (Hieron. Ep. ad
Marcellam (141). Baronius places his death in 366.

140: Tria ta nooumena,wseni de dialegomeqa "Tria sunt quae intelliguntur, sed
tanquam unum alloquimur." The narrative of Sozomen (iv. 28) enables us to supply
what Theodoret infelicitously omits. It was when an Arian archdeacon rudely put
his hand over the bishop's mouth that Meletius indicated the orthodox doctrine
by his fingers. When the archdeacon at his wits' end uncovered the mouth and
seized the hand of the confessor, "with a loud voice he the more clearly
proclaimed his doctrine."

141: The Euripus, the narrow channel between Euboea and the mainland, changes
its current during eleven days in each month, eleven to fourteen times a day cf.
Arist. Eth. N. ix. 6.3. " metarrei wsper Euripoj ."

142: cf. p. 34.

143: Gen. xix. 17.

144: Matt. v. 29.

145: Constantius died at Mopsucrene, on the Cydnus, according to Socrates and
the Chron. Alex., on Nov. 3, 361. Socrates (ii. 47) ascribes his illness to
chagrin at the successes of Julian, and says that he died in the 46th year of
his age and 39th of his reign, having for thirteen years been associated iu he
empire with his Father. Ammianus (xxi. 15, 2) writes, "Venit Tarsum, ubi leviore
febri contactus, ratusque itinerario motu imminutae valetudinis excuti posse
discrimen, petiit per vias difficiles Mopsucrenas, Cillciae ultimam hinc
pergentibus stationem, sub Tauri montis radicibus positam: egredique sequuto die
conatus, invalenti morbi gravitate detentus est: paulatimque urente calore nimio
venas, ut ne tangi quidem corpus eius posset in modum foculi fervens, cum usus
deficeret medelarum, ultimum spirans deflebat exitium; mentisque sensu tum etiam
integro, successorem suae potestatis statuisse dicitur Julianum. Deinde anhelitu
iam pulsatus letali conticuit diuque cum anima colluctatus iam discessura, abiit
e vita III. Non. Octobrium, (i.e. Oct. 5 - a different date from that given by
others) imperii vitaeque anno quadragesimo et mensibus paucis." His Father
having died in 337, Constantius really reigned 24 years alone, and if we include
the 13 years which Socrates reckons in the lifetime of Constantine, we only
reach 37. He was born on Aug. 6, 317, and was therefore a little over 44 at his
death.


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  CHAPTER 12: THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THEODORET - BOOK 3
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Book III.

Chapter I.-Of the Reign of Julianus; How from a Child He Was Brought Up in Piety
and Lapsed into Impiety; And in What Manner, Though at First He Kept His Impiety
Secret, He Afterwards Laid It Bare.

Chapter II.-Of the Return of the Bishops and the Consecration of Paulinus.

Chapter III.-Of the Number and Character of the Deeds Done by Pagans Against the
Christians When They Got the Power from Julian.

Chapter IV.-Of the Laws Made by Julian Against the Christians.

Chapter V.-Of the Fourth Exile and Flight of the Athanasius.

Chapter VI.-Of Apollo and Daphne, and of the Holy Babylas.

Chapter VII.-Of Theodorus the Confessor.

Chapter VIII.-Of the Confiscation of the Sacred Treasures and Taking Away of the
Allowances.33 Chapter IX.-Of What Befell Julianus, the Emperor's Uncle, and
Felix.

Chapter X.-Of the Son of the Priest.

Chapter XI.-Of the Holy Martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus.

Chapter XII.-Of Valentinianus the Great Emperor.

Chapter XIII.-Of Other Confessors.

Chapter XIV.-Of Artemius the Duke.45 Of Publia the Deaconess and Her Divine
Boldness.

Chapter XV.-Of the Jews; Of Their Attempt at Building, and of the Heaven-Sent
Plagues that Befel Them.

Chapter XVI.-Of the Expedition Against the Persians.

Chapter XVII.-Of the Boldness of Speech of the Decurion of Beroea.58 Chapter
XVIII.-Of the Prediction of the Pedagogue.

Chapter XIX.-Of the Prophecy of St. Julianus the Monk.

Chapter XX.-Of the Death of the Emperor Julian in Persia.

Chapter XXI.-Of the Sorcery at Carroe Which Was Detected After His Death. After
He Was Slain the Jugglery of His Sorcery Was Detected. For Carroe is a City
Which Still Retains the Relics of His False Religion.

Chapter XXII.-Of the Heads Discovered in the Palace at Antioch and the Public
Rejoicings There.

Book III.

Chapter I.-Of the Reign of Julianus; How from a Child He Was Brought Up in Piety
and Lapsed into Impiety; And in What Manner, Though at First He Kept His Impiety
Secret, He Afterwards Laid It Bare.

Constantius, as has been narrated, departed this life groaning and grieving that
he had been turned away from the faith of his father. Julian heard the news of
his end as he was crossing from Europe into Asia and assumed the sovereignty
with delight at having now no rival. In his earlier days, while yet a lad,
Julian had, as well as Gallus1 his brother, imbibed pure and pious teaching. In
his youth and earlier manhood he continued to take in the same doctrine.
Constantius, dreading lest his kinsfolk should aspire to imperial power, slew
them;2 and Julian, through fear of his cousin, was enrolled in the order of
Readers,3 and used to read aloud the sacred books to the people in the
assemblies of the church.

He also built a martyr's shrine; but the martyrs, when they beheld his apostasy,
refused to accept the offering; for in consequence of the foundations being,
like their founder's mind, unstable, the edifice fell down4 before it was
consecrated. Such were the boyhood and youth of Julian. At the period, however,
when Constantius was setting out for the West, drawn thither by the war against
Magnentius, he made Gallus, who was gifted with piety which he retained to the
end,5 Caesar of the East. Now Julian flung away the apprehensions which had
previously stood him in good stead, and, moved by unrighteous confidence, set
his heart on seizing the sceptre of empire. Accordingly, on his way through
Greece, he sought out seers and soothsayers, with a desire of learning if he
should get what his soul longed for. He met with a man who promised to predict
these things, conducted him into one of the idol temples, introduced him within
the shrine, and called upon the demons of deceit. On their appearing in their
wonted aspect terror compelled Julian to make the sign of the cross upon his
brow. They no sooner saw the sign of the Lord's victory than they were reminded
of their own rout, and forthwith fled away. On the magician becoming acquainted
with the cause of their flight he blamed him; but Julian confessed his terror,
and said that he wondered at the power of the cross, for that the demons could
not endure to see its sign and ran away. "Think not anything of the sort, good
sir;" said the magician, "they were not afraid as you make out, but they went
away because they abominated what you did." So he tricked the wretched man,
initiated him in the mysteries, and filled him with their abominations. So lust
of empire stripped the wretch of all true religion. Nevertheless after attaining
the supreme power he concealed his impiety for a considerable time; for he was
specially apprehensive about the troops who had been instructed in the
principles of true religion, first by the illustrious Constantine who freed them
from their former error and trained them in the ways of truth, and afterwards by
his sons, who confirmed the instruction given by their father. For if
Constantius, led astray by those under whose influence he lived, did not admit
the term omoou/sion, at all events he sincerely accepted the meaning underlying
it, for God the Word he styled true Son, begotten of his Father before the ages,
and those who dared to call Him a creature he openly renounced, absolutely
prohibiting the worship of idols.

I will relate also another of his noble deeds, as satisfactory proof of his zeal
for divine things. In his campaign against Magnentius he once mustered the whole
of his army, and counselled them to take part all together in the divine
mysteries, "for," said he, "the end of life is always uncertain, and that not
least in war, when innumerable missiles are hurled from either side, and swords
and battle axes and other weapons are assailing men, whereby a violent death is
brought about. Wherefore it behoves each than to wear that precious robe which
most of all we need in yonder life hereafter: if there be one here who would not
now put on this garb let him depart hence and go home. I shall not brook to
fight with men in my army who have no part nor lot in our holy rites."6 Chapter
II.-Of the Return of the Bishops and the Consecration of Paulinus.

Julian had clear information on these points, and did not make known the impiety
of his soul. With the object of attracting all the bishops to acquiescence in
his rule he ordered even those who had been expelled from their churches by
Constantius, and who were sojourning on the furthest confines of the empire, to
return to their own churches. Accordingly, on the promulgation of this edict,
back to Antioch came the divine Meletius, and to Alexandria the far famed
Athanasius.7 But Eusebius,8 and Hilarius9 of Italy and Lucifer10 who presided
over the flock in the island of Sardinia, were living in the Thebaid on the
frontier of Egypt, whither they had been relegated by Constantius. They now met
with the rest whose views were the same and affirmed that the churches ought to
be brought into harmony. For they not only suffered from the assaults of their
opponents, but were at variance with one another. In Antioch the sound body of
the church had been split in two; at one and the same time they who from the
beginning, for the sake of the right worthy Eustathius, had separated from the
rest, were assembling by themselves; and they who with the admirable Meletius
had held aloof from the Arian faction were performing divine service in what is
called the Palaea. Both parties used one confession of faith, for both parties
were champions of the doctrine laid down at Nicaea. All that separated them was
their mutual quarrel, and their regard for their respective leaders; and even
the death of one of these did not put a stop to the strife. Eustathius died
before the election of Meletius, and the orthodox party, after the exile of
Meletius and the election of Euzoius, separated from the communion of the
impious, and assembled by themselves; with these, the party called Eustathians
could not be induced to unite. To effect an union between them the Eusebians and
Luciferians sought to discover a means. Accordingly Eusebius besought Lucifer to
repair to Alexandria and take counsel on the matter with the great Athanasius,
intending himself to undertake the labour of bringing about a reconciliation.

Lucifer however did not go to Alexandria but repaired to Antioch. There he urged
many arguments in behalf of concord on both parties. The Eustathians, led by
Paulinus, a presbyter, persisted in opposition. On seeing this Lucifer took the
improper course of consecrating Paulinus as their bishop. This action on the
part of Lucifer prolonged the feud, which lasted for eighty-five years, until
the episcopate of the most praise-worthy Alexander.11 No sooner was the helm of
the church at Antioch put into his hands than he tried every expedient, and
brought to bear great zeal and energy for the promotion of concord, and thus
joined the severed limb to the rest of the body of the church. At the time in
question however Lucifer made the quarrel worse and spent a considerable time in
Antioch, and Eusebius when he arrived on the spot and learnt that bad doctoring
had made the malady very hard to heal, sailed away to the West. When Lucifer
returned to Sardinia he made certain additions to the dogmas of the church and
those who accepted them were named after him, and for a considerable time were
called Luciferians. But in time the flame of this dogma too went out and it was
consigned to oblivion.12 Such were the events that followed on the return of the
bishops.

Chapter III.-Of the Number and Character of the Deeds Done by Pagans Against the
Christians When They Got the Power from Julian. When Julian had made his impiety
openly known the cities were filled with dissensions. Men enthralled by the
deceits of idolatry took heart, opened the idols' shrines, and began to perform
those foul rites which ought to have died out from the memory of man. Once more
they kindled the fire on the altars, befouled the ground with victims' gore, and
defiled the air with the smoke of their burnt sacrifices. Maddened by the demons
they served they ran in corybantic13 frenzy round about the streets, attacked
the saints with low stage jests, and with all the outrage and ribaldry of their
impure processions. On the other hand the partizans14 of piety could not brook
their blasphemies, returned insult for insult, and tried to confute the error
which their opponents honoured. In their turn the workers of iniquity took it
ill; the liberty allowed them by the sovereign was an encouragement to audacity
and they dealt deadly blows among the Christians.

It was indeed the duty of the emperor to consult for the peace of his subjects,
but he in the depth of his iniquity himself maddened his peoples with mutual
rage. The deeds dared by the brutal against the peaceable he overlooked and
entrusted civil and military offices of importance to savage and impious men,
who though they hesitated publicly to force the lovers of true piety to offer
sacrifice treated them nevertheless with all kinds of indignity. All the honours
moreover conferred on the sacred ministry by the great Constantine Julian took
away. To tell all the deeds dared by the slaves of idolatrous deceit at that
time would require a history of these crimes alone, but out of the vast number
of them I shall select a few instances. At Askalon and at Gaza, cities of
Palestine, then of priestly rank and women who had lived all their lives in
virginity were disembowelled, filled with barley, and given for food to swine.
At Sebaste, which belongs to the same people, the coffin of John the Baptist was
opened, his bones burnt, and the ashes scattered abroad.15 Who too could tell
without a tear the vile deed done in Phoenicia? At Heliopolis16 by Lebanon there
lived a certain deacon of the name of Cyrillus. In the reign of Constantine,
fired by divine zeal, he had broken in pieces many of the idols there
worshipped. Now men of infamous name, bearing this deed in mind, not only slew
him, but cut open his belly and devoured his liver. Their crime was not,
however, hidden from the all-seeing eye, and they suffered the just reward of
their deeds; for all who had taken part in this abominable wickedness lost their
teeth, which all fell out at once, and lost. too, their tongues, which rotted
away and dropped from them: they were moreover deprived of sight, and by their
sufferings proclaimed the power of holiness. At the neighbouring city of Emesa17
they dedicated to Dionysus, the woman-formed, the newly erected church, and set
up in it his ridiculous androgynous image. At Dorystolum,18 a famous city of
Thrace, the victorious athlete Aemilianus was thrown upon a flaming pyre, by
Capitolinus, governor of all Thrace. To relate the tragic fate of Marcus,
however, bishop of Arethusa,19 with true dramatic dignity, would require the
eloquence of an Aeschylus or a Sophocles. In the days of Constantius he had
destroyed a certain idol-shrine and built a church in its place; and no sooner
did the Arethusians learn the mind of Julian than they made an open display of
their hostility. At first, according to the precept of the Gospel,20 Marcus
endeavoured to make his escape; but when he became aware that some of his own
people were apprehended in his stead, he returned and gave himself up to the men
of blood. After they had seized him they neither pitied his old age nor
reverenced his deep regard for virtue; but, conspicuous as he was for the,
beauty alike of his teaching and of his life, first of all they stripped and
smote him, laying strokes on every limb, then they flung him into filthy sewers,
and, when they had dragged him out again, delivered him to a crowd of lads whom
they charged to prick him without mercy with their pens.21 After this they put
him into a basket, smeared him with pickle22 and honey, and hung him up in the
open air in the height of summer, inviting wasps and bees to a feast. Their
object in doing this was to compel him either to restore the shrine which he had
destroyed, or to defray the expense of its erection. Marcus, however, endured
all these grievous sufferings and affirmed that he would consent to none of
their demands. His enemies, with the idea that he could not afford the money
from poverty, remitted half their demand, and bade him pay the rest; but Marcus
hung on high, pricked with pens, and devoured by wasps and bees, yet not only
shewed no signs of pain, but derided his impious tormentors with the repeated
taunt, "You are groundlings and of the earth; I, sublime and exalted." At last
they begged for only a small portion of the money; but, said he, "it is as
impious to give an obole as to give all." So discomfited they let him go, and
could not refrain from admiring his constancy, for his words had taught them a
new lesson of holiness.

Chapter IV.-Of the Laws Made by Julian Against the Christians.

Countless other deeds were dared at that time by land and by sea, all over the
world, by the wicked against the just, for now without disguise the enemy of God
began to lay down laws against true religion. First of all he prohibited the
sons of the Galileans, for so he tried to name the worshippers of the Saviour,
from taking part in the study of poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy, for said he,
in the words of the proverb "we are shot with shafts feathered from our own
wing,"23 for from our own books they take arms and wage war against us.

After this he made another edict ordering the Galileans to be expelled from the
army.

Chapter V.-Of the Fourth Exile and Flight of the Athanasius. At this time
Athanasius, that victorious athlete of the truth, underwent another peril, for
the devils could not brook the power of his tongue and prayers, and so armed
their ministers to revile him. Many voices did they utter beseeching the
champion of wickedness to exile Athanasius, and adding yet this further, that if
Athanasius remained. not a heathen would remain, for that he would get them all
over to his side. Moved by these supplications Julian condemned Athanasius not
merely to exile,24 but to death. His people shuddered, but it is related that he
foretold the rapid dispersal of the storm, for said he "It is a cloud which soon
vanishes away." He however withdrew as soon as he learnt the arrival of the
bearers of the imperial message, and finding a boat on the bank of the river,
started for the Thebaid. The officer who had been appointed for his execution
became acquainted with his flight, and strove to pursue him at hot haste; one of
his friends, however, got ahead, and told him that the officer was coming on
apace. Then some of his companions besought him to take refuge in the desert,
but he ordered the steersman to turn the boat's head to Alexandria. So they
rowed to meet the pursuer, and on came the bearer of the sentence of execution,
and, said he, "How far off is Athanasius?" "Not far," said Athanasius,25 and so
got rid of his foe, while he himself returned to Alexandria and there remained
in concealment for the remainder of Julian's reign.26 Chapter VI.-Of Apollo and
Daphne, and of the Holy Babylas.

Julian, wishing to snake a campaign against the Persians, dispatched the
trustiest of his officers to all the oracles throughout the Roman Empire, while
he himself went as a suppliant to implore the Pythian oracle of Daphne to make
known to him the future. The oracle responded that the corpses lying hard by
were becoming an obstacle to divination; that they must first be removed to
another spot; and that then he would utter his prophecy, for, said he, "I could
say nothing, if the grove be not purified." Now at that time there were lying
there the relics of the victorious martyr Babylas27 and the lads who had
gloriously suffered with him, and the lying prophet was plainly stopped from
uttering his wonted lies by the holy influence of Babylas. Julian was aware of
this, for his ancient piety had taught him the power of victorious martyrs, and
so be removed no other body from the spot, but only ordered the worshippers of
Christ to translate the relics of the victorious martyrs. They marched with joy
to the grove,28 put the coffin on a car and went before it leading a vast
concourse of people, singing the psalms of David, while at every pause they
shouted "Shame be to all them that worship molten images."29 For they understood
the translation of the martyr to mean defeat for the demon.

Chapter VII.-Of Theodorus the Confessor.

Julian could not endure the shame brought upon him by these doings, and on the
following day ordered the leaders of tile choral procession to be arrested.
Sallustius was prefect at this time and a servant of iniquity, but he
nevertheless was anxious to persuade the sovereign not to allow the Christians
who were eager for glory to attain the object of their desires. When however he
saw that the emperor was impotent to master his rage, he arrested a young man
adorned with the graces of a holy enthusiasm while walking in the Forum, hung
him up before the world on the stocks, lacerated his back with scourges, and
scored his sides with claw-like instruments of torture. And this he did all day
from dawn till the day was done; and then put chains of iron on him and ordered
him to be kept in ward. Next morning he informed Julian of what had been done,
and reported the young man's constancy and added that the event was for
themselves a defeat and for the Christians a triumph. Persuaded of the truth of
this, God's enemy suffered no more to be so treated and ordered Theodorus30 to
be let out of prison, for so was named this young and glorious combatant in
truth's battle. On being asked if he had had any sense of pain on undergoing
those most bitter and most savage tortures he replied that at the first indeed
he had felt some little pain, but that then had appeared to him one who
continually wiped the sweat from his face with a cool and soft kerchief and bade
him be of goodcourage. "Wherefore," said he, "when the executioners gave over I
was not pleased but vexed, for now there went away with them he who brought me
refreshment of soul." But the demon of lying divination at once increased the
martyr's glory and exposed his own falsehood; for a thunderbolt sent down from
heaven burnt the whole shrine31 and turned the very statue of the Pythian into
fine dust, for it was made of wood and gilded on the surface. Julianus the uncle
of Julian, prefect of the East, learnt this by night, and riding at full speed
came to Daphne, eager to bring succour to the deity whom he worshipped; but when
he saw the so-called god turned into powder he scourged the officers in charge
of the temple,32 for he conjectured that the conflagration was due to some
Christian. But they, maltreated as they were, could not endure to utter a lie,
and persisted in saying that the fire had started not from below but from above.
Moreover some of the neighbouring rustics came forward and asserted that they
had seen the thunderbolt come rushing down from heaven.

Chapter VIII.-Of the Confiscation of the Sacred Treasures and Taking Away of the
Allowances.33

Even when the wicked had become acquainted with these events they set themselves
in array against the God of all; and the prince ordered the holy vessels to be
handed over to the imperial treasury. Of the great church which Constantine had
built he nailed up the doors and declared it closed to the worshippers wont to
assemble there. At this time it was in possession of the Arians. In company with
Julianus the prefect of the East, Felix the imperial treasurer, and Elpidius,
who had charge of the emperor's private purse and property, an officer whom it
is the Roman custom to call "Comes privatarum,"34 made their way into the sacred
edifice. Both Felix and Elpidius, it is said, were Christians, but to please the
impious emperor apostatised from the true religion. Julianus committed an act of
gross indecency on the Holy Table35 and, when Euzoius endeavoured to prevent
him, gave him a blow on the face, and told him, so the story goes, that it is
the fate of the fortunes of Christians to have no protection from the gods. But
Felix, as be gazed upon the magnificence of the sacred vessels, furnished with
splendour by the munificence of Constantine and Constantius, "Behold," said he,
"with what vessels Mary's son is served." But it was not long before they paid
the penalty of these deeds of mad and impious daring.

Chapter IX.-Of What Befell Julianus, the Emperor's Uncle, and Felix.

Julianus forthwith fell sick of a painful disease; his entrails rotted away, and
he was no longer able to discharge his excrements through the normal organs of
excretion,36 but his polluted mouth, at the instant of his blasphemy, became the
organ for their emission. His wife, it is said, was a woman of conspicuous
faith, anti thus addressed her spouse: "Husband, you ought to bless our Saviour
Christ for shewing you through your castigation his peculiar power. For you
would never have known who it is who is being attacked by you if with his wonted
long suffering he had refrained from visiting you with these heaven-sent
plagues." Then by these words and the heavy weight of his woes the wretched man
perceived the cause of his disease, and besought the emperor to restore the
church to those who had been deprived of it. He could not however gain his
petition, and so ended his days.

Felix too was himself suddenly struck down by a heaven-sent scourge, and kept
vomiting blood from his mouth, all day and all night, for all the vessels of his
body poured their convergent streams to this one organ: so when all his blood
was shed he died, and was delivered to eternal death.

Such were the penalties inflicted on these men for their wickedness.

Chapter X.-Of the Son of the Priest. A Young man who was a priest's son, and
brought up in impiety, about this time went over to the true religion. For a
lady remarkable for her devotion and admitted to the order of deaconesses37 was
an intimate friend of his mother. When he came to visit her with his mother,
while yet a tiny lad, she used to welcome him with affection and urge him to the
true religion. On the death of his mother the young man used to visit her and
enjoyed the advantage of her wonted teaching. Deeply impressed by her counsels,
he enquired of his teacher by what means he might both escape the superstition
of his father and have part and lot in the truth which she preached. She replied
that he must flee from his father, and honour rather the Creator both of his
father and himself; that he must seek some other city wherein he might lie hid
and escape the violence of the impious emperor; and she promised to manage this
for him. Then, said tile young man, "henceforward I shall come and commit my
soul to you." Not many days afterwards Julian came to Daphne. to celebrate a
public feast. With him came the young man's father, both as a priest, and as
accustomed to attend the emperor; and with their father came the young man and
his brother, being appointed to the service of the temple and charged with the
duty of ceremonially sprinkling the imperial viands. It is the custom for the
festival of Daphne to last for seven days. On the first day the young man stood
by the emperor's couch, and according to the prescribed usage aspersed the
meats, and thoroughly polluted them. Then at full speed he ran to Antioch,38 and
making his way to that admirable lady, "I am come," said he, "to you; and I have
kept my promise. Do you look to the salvation of each and fulfil your pledge."
At once she arose and conducted the young man to Meletius the man of God, who
ordered him to remain for awhile upstairs in the inn. His father after wandering
about all over Daphne in search of the boy, then returned to the city and
explored the streets and lanes, turning his eyes in all directions and longing
to light upon his lad. At length he arrived at the place where the divine
Meletius had his hostelry; and looking up he saw his son peeping through the
lattice. He ran up, drew him along, got him down, and carried him off home. Then
he first laid on him many stripes, then applied hot spits to his feet and hands
and back, then shut him up in his bedroom, bolted the door on the outside, and
returned to Daphne. So I myself have heard the man himself narrate in his old
age, and he added further that he was inspired and filled with Divine Grace, and
broke in pieces all his father's idols, and made mockery of their helplessness.
Afterwards when he bethought him of what tie had done he fared his father's
return and besought his Master Christ to nod approval of his deeds,39 break the
bolts, and open the doors. "For it is for thy sake," said he, "that I have thus
suffered and thus acted." "Even as I thus spoke." he told me, "out fell the
bolts and open flew the doors, and back I ran to my instructress. She dressed me
up in women's garments and took me with her in her covered carriage back to the
divine Meletius. He handed me over to the bishop of Jerusalem, at that time
Cyril, and we started by night for Palestine." After the death of Julian this
young man led his father also into the way of truth. This act he told ne with
the rest. So in this fashion these hen were guided to the knowledge of God and
were made partakers of Salvation.

Chapter XI.-Of the Holy Martyrs Juventinus and Maximinus.

Now Julian, with less restraint, or shall I say, less shame, began to arm
himself against true religion, wearing indeed a mask of moderation, but all the
while preparing gins and traps which caught all who were deceived by them in the
destruction of iniquity. He began by polluting with foul sacrifices the wells in
the city and in Daphne, that every man who used the fountain might be partaker
of abomination. Then he thoroughly polluted the things exposed in the Forum, for
bread and meat and fruit and vegetables and every kind of food were aspersed.
When those who were called by the Saviour's name saw what was done, they groaned
and bewailed and expressed their abomination; nevertheless they partook, for
they remembered the apostolic law, "Everything that is sold in the shambles eat,
asking no question for conscience sake."40 Two officers in the army, who were
shield bearers in the imperial suite, at a certain banquet lamented in somewhat
warm language the abomination of what was being done, and employed the admirable
language of the glorious youths at Babylon, "Thou hast given us over to an
impious Prince, an apostate beyond all the nations on the earth."41 One of the
guests gave information of this, and the emperor arrested these right worthy men
and endeavoured to ascertain by questioning them what was the language they had
used. They accepted the imperial enquiry as an opportunity for open speech, and
with noble enthusiasm replied "Sir we were brought up in true religion; we were
obedient to most excellent laws, the laws of Constantine and of his sons; now we
see the world full of pollution, meats and drinks alike defiled with abominable
sacrifices, and we lament. We bewail these things at home, and now before thy
face we express our grief, for this is the one thing in thy reign which we take
ill." No sooner did he whom sympathetic courtiers called most mild and most
philosophic hear these words than he took off his mask of moderation, and
exposed the countenance of impiety. He ordered cruel and painful scourgings to
be inflicted on them and deprived them of their lives; or shall we not rather
say freed them from that sorrowful time and gave them crowns of victory? He
pretended indeed that punishment was inflicted upon them not for the true
religion for sake of which they were really slain, but because of their
insolence, for he gave out that he had punished them for insulting the emperor,
and ordered this report to be published abroad, thus grudging to these champions
of the truth the name and honour or martyrs. The name of one was Juventinus; of
the other Maximinus. The city of Antioch honoured them as defenders of true
religion, and deposited them in a magnificent tomb, and up to this day they are
honoured by a yearly festival.42 Other men in public office and of distinction
used similar boldness of speech, and won like crowns of martyrdom.

Chapter XII.-Of Valentinianus the Great Emperor.

Valentinianus,43 who shortly afterwards became emperor, was at that time a
Tribune and commanded the Hastati quartered in the palace. He made no secret of
his zeal for the true religion. On one occasion when the infatuated emperor was
going in solemn procession into the sacred enclosure of the Temple of Fortune,
on either side of the gates stood the temple servants purifying, as they
supposed, all who were coming in, with their sprinkling whisks. As Valentinianus
walked before the emperor, he noticed that a drop had fallen on his own cloak
and gave the attendant a blow with his fist, "for," said he, "I am not purified
but defiled." For this deed he won two empires. On seeing what had happened
Julian the accursed sent him to a fortress in the desert, and ordered him there
to remain, but after the lapse of a year and a few months be received the empire
as a reward of his confession of the faith, for not only in the life that is to
come does the just Judge honour them that care for holy things, but sometimes
even here below He bestows recompense for good deeds, confirming the hope of
guerdons yet to be received by what he gives in abundance now. But the tyrant
devised another contrivance against the truth, for when according to ancient
custom he had taken his seat upon the imperial throne to distribute gold among
the ranks of his soldiery, contrary to custom he had an altar full of hot coals
introduced, and incense put upon a table, an ordered each man who was to receive
the gold first to throw incense on the altar, and then to take the gold from his
own right hand. The majority were wholly unaware of the trap thus laid; but
those who were forewarned feigned illness and so escaped this cruel snare.
Others in their eagerness for the money made light of their salvation while
another group abandoned their faith through cowardice.

Chapter XIII.-Of Other Confessors.

After this fatal distribution of money some of the recipients were feasting
together at an entertainment. One of them who had taken the cup in his hand did
not drink before making on it the sign of salvation.44

One of the guests found fault with him for this, and said that it was quite
inconsistent with what had just taken place. "What," said he, "have I done that
is inconsistent?" Whereupon he was reminded of the altar and the incense, and of
his denial of the faith; for these things are all contrary to the Christian
profession. When they heard this the greater number of the feasters moaned and
bewailed themselves, and tore out handfuls of hair from their heads. They rose
from the banquet, and ran through the Forum exclaiming that they were
Christians, that they had been tricked by the emperor's contrivances, that they
retracted their apostasy, and were ready to try to undo the defeat which had
befallen them unwittingly. With these exclamations they ran to the palace loudly
inveighing against the wiles of the tyrant, and imploring that they might be
committed to the flames in order that, as they had been befouled by fire, by
fire they might be made clean. All these utterances drove the villain out of his
senses, and on the impulse of the moment he ordered them to be beheaded; but as
they were being conducted without the city the mass of the people started to
follow them, wondering at their fortitude and glorying in their boldness for the
truth. When they had reached the spot where it was usual to execute criminals,
the eldest of them besought the executioner that he would first cut off the head
of the youngest, that he might not be unmanned by beholding the slaughter of the
rest. No sooner had be, knelt down upon the ground and the headsman bared his
sword, than up ran a man announcing a reprieve, and while yet afar off shouting
out to stop the execution. Then the youngest soldier was distressed at his
release from death. "Ah," said he, "Romanus" (his name was Romanus) "was not
worthy of being called Christ's martyr." What influenced the vile trickster in
stopping the execution was his envy: he grudged the champions of the faith their
glory. Their sentence was commuted to relegation beyond the city walls and to
the remotest regions of the empire.

Chapter XIV.-Of Artemius the Duke.45 Of Publia the Deaconess and Her Divine
Boldness.

Artemius46 commanded the troops in Egypt. He had obtained this command in the
time of Constantine, and had destroyed most of the idols. For this reason Julian
not only confiscated his property but ordered his decapitation.

These and like these were the deeds of the man whom the impious describe as the
mildest and least passionate of men.

I will now include in my history the noble story of a right excellent woman, for
even women, armed with divine zeal, despised the mad fury of Julian. In those
days there was a woman named Publia, of high reputation, and illustrious for
deeds of virtue. For a short time she wore the yoke of marriage, and had offered
its most goodly fruit to God, for from this fair soil sprang John, who for a
long time was chief presbyter at Antioch, and was often elected to the apostolic
see, but from time to time declined the dignity. She maintained a company of
virgins vowed to virginity for life, and spent her time in praising God who had
made and saved her. One day the emperor was passing by, and as they esteemed the
Destroyer an object of contempt and derision, they struck up all the louder
music, chiefly chanting those psalms which mock the helplessness of idols, and
saying in the words of David "The idols of the nations are of silver and gold,
the work of men's hands,"47 and after describing their insensibility, they added
"like them be they that make them and all those that trust in them."48 Julian
heard them, and was very angry, and told them to hold their peace while he was
passing by. She did not however pay the least attention to his orders, but put
still greater energy into their chaunt, and when the emperor passed by again
told them to strike up "Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered."49 On
this Julian in wrath ordered the choir mistress to be brought before him; and,
though he saw that respect was due to her old age, he neither compassionated her
gray hairs, nor respected her high character, but told some of his escort to box
both her ears, and by their violence to make her cheeks red. She however took
the outrage for honour, and returned home, where, as was her wont, she kept up
her attack upon him with her spiritual songs,50 just as the composer and teacher
of the song laid the wicked spirit that vexed Saul.

Chapter XV.-Of the Jews; Of Their Attempt at Building, and of the Heaven-Sent
Plagues that Befel Them.

Julian, who had made his soul a home of destroying demons, went his corybantic
way, ever raging against true religion. He accordingly now armed the Jews too
against the believers in Christ. He began by enquiring of some whom he got
together why, though their law imposed on them the duty of sacrifices, they
offered none. On their reply that their worship was limited to one particular
spot, this enemy of God immediately gave directions for the re-erection of the
destroyed temple,51 supposing in his vanity that he could falsify the prediction
of the Lord, of which, in reality, he exhibited the truth.52 The Jews heard his
words with delight and made known his orders to their countrymen throughout the
world. They came with haste from all directions, contributing alike money and
enthusiasm for the work; and the emperor made all the provisions he could, less
from the pride of munificence than from hostility to the truth. He despatched
also as governor a fit man to carry out his impious orders. It is said that they
made mattocks, shovels, and baskets of silver. When they had begun to dig and to
carry out the earth a vast multitude of them went on with the work all day, but
by night the earth which had been carried away shifted back from the ravine of
its own accord. They destroyed moreover the remains of the former construction,
with the intention of building everything up afresh; but when they had got
together thousands of bushels of chalk and lime, of a sudden a violent gale
blew, and storms, tempests and whirlwinds scattered everything far and wide.
They still went on in their madness, nor were they brought to their senses by
the divine longsuffering. Then first came a great earthquake, fit to strike
terror into the hearts of men quite ignorant of God's dealings; and, when still
they were not awed, fire running from the excavated foundations burnt up most of
the diggers, and put the rest to flight. Moreover when a large number of men
were sleeping at night in an adjacent building it suddenly fell down, roof and
all, and crushed the whole of them. On that night and also on the following
night the sign of the cross of salvation was seen brightly shining in the sky,
and the very garments of the Jews were filled with crosses, not bright but
black.53 When God's enemies saw these things, in terror at the heaven-sent
plagues they fled, and made their way home, confessing the Godhead of Him who
had been crucified by their fathers. Julian heard of these events, for they were
repeated by every one. But like Pharaoh he hardened his heart.54 Chapter XVI.-Of
the Expedition Against the Persians. No sooner had the Persians heard of the
death of Constantius, than they took heart, proclaimed war, and marched over the
frontier of the Roman empire. Julian therefore determined to muster his forces,
though they were a host without a God to guard them. First he sent to Delphi, to
Delos and to Dodona, and to the other oracles55 and enquired of the seers if he
should march. They bade him march and promised him victory. One of these oracles
I subjoin in proof of their falsehood. It was as follows. "Now we gods all
started to get trophies of victory by the river beast and of them I Ares, bold
raiser of the din of war, will be leader."56 Let them that style the Pythian a
God wise in word and prince of the muses ridicule the absurdity of the
utterance. I who have found out its falsehood will rather pity him who was
cheated by it. The oracle called the Tigris "beast" because the river and the
animal bear the same name. Rising in the mountains of Armenia, and flowing
through Assyria it discharges itself into the Persian gulf. Beguiled by these
oracles the unhappy man indulged in dreams of victory, and after fighting with
the Persians had visions of a campaign against the Galileans, for so he called
the Christians, thinking thus to bring discredit on them. But, man of education
as he was, he ought to have bethought him that no mischief is done to reputation
by change of name, for even had Socrates been called Critias and Pythagoras
Phalaris they would have incurred no disgrace from the change of name-nor yet
would Nireus if he had been named Thersites57 have lost the comeliness with
which nature had gifted him. Julian had learned about these things, but laid
none of them to heart, and supposed that he could wrong us by using an
inappropriate title. He believed the lies of the oracles and threatened to set
up in our churches the statue of the goddess of lust.

Chapter XVII.-Of the Boldness of Speech of the Decurion of Beroea.58

After starting with these threats he was put down by one single Beroean.
Illustrious as this man was from the fact of his holding the chief place among
the magistrates, he was made yet more illustrious by his zeal. On seeing his son
falling into the prevailing paganism, he drove him from his home and publicly
renounced him. The youth made his way to the emperor in the near neighbourhood
of the city and informed him both of his own views and of his father's sentence.
The emperor bade him make his mind easy and promised to reconcile his father to
him. When he reached Beroea, he invited the men of office and of high position
to a banquet. Among them was the young suppliant's father, and both father and
son were ordered to take their places on the imperial couch. In the middle of
the entertainment Julian said to the father, "It does not seem to me to be right
to force a mind otherwise inclined and having no wish to shift its allegiance.
Your son does not wish to follow your doctrines. Do not force him. Even I,
though I am easily able to compel you, do not try to force you to follow mine."
Then the father, moved by his faith in divine truth to sharpen the debate,
exclaimed "Sir," said he "are you speaking of this wretch whom God hates59 and
who has preferred lies to truth?"

Once more Julian put on the mask of mildness and said "Cease fellow from
reviling," and then, turning his face to the youth, "I," said he, "will have
care for you, since I have not been able to persuade your father to do so." I
mention this circumstance with a distinct wish to point out not only this worthy
man's admirable boldness, but that very many persons despised Julian's sway.

Chapter XVIII.-Of the Prediction of the Pedagogue.

Another instance is that of an excellent man at Antioch, entrusted with the
charge of young lads, who was better educated than is usually the case with
pedagogues,60 and was the intimate friend of the chief teacher of that period,
Libanius the far-famed sophist.

Now Libanius61 was a heathen expecting victory and bearing in mind the threats
of Julian, so one day, in ridicule of our belief he said to the pedagogue, "What
is the carpenter's son about now?" Filled with divine grace, he foretold what
was shortly to come to pass. "Sophist," said he, "the Creator of all things,
whom you in derision call carpenter's son, is making a coffin."62

After a few days the death of the wretch was announced. He was carried out lying
in his coffin. The vaunt of his threats was proved vain, and God was
glorified.63 Chapter XIX.-Of the Prophecy of St. Julianus the Monk. A Man who in
the body imitated the lives of the bodiless, namely Julianus, surnamed in Syrian
Sabbas, whose life I have written in my "Religious History," continued all the
more zealously to offer his prayers to the God of all, when he heard of the
impious tyrant's threats. On the very day on which Julian was slain, he heard of
the event while at his prayers, although the Monastery was distant more than
twenty stages from the army. It is related that while he was invoking the Lord
with loud cries and supplicating his merciful Master, he suddenly checked his
tears, broke into an ecstasy of delight, while his countenance was lighted up
and thus signified the joy that possessed his soul. When his friends beheld this
change they begged him to tell them the reason of his gladness. "The wild boar,"
said he, "the enemy of the vineyard of the Lord, has paid the penalty of the
wrongs he has done to Him; he lies dead. His mischief is done." The whole
company no sooner heard these words than they leaped with joy and struck up the
song of thanksgiving to God, and from those that brought tidings of the
emperor's death they learnt that it was the very day and hour when the accursed
man was slain that the aged Saint knew it and announced it.64 Chapter XX.-Of the
Death of the Emperor Julian in Persia.

Julian's folly was yet more clearly manifested by his death. He crossed the
river that separates the Roman Empire from the Persian,65 brought over his army,
and then forthwith burnt his boats, so making his men fight not in willing but
in forced obedience.66 The best generals are wont to fill their troops with
enthusiasm, and, if they see them growing discouraged, to cheer them and raise
their hopes; but Julian by burning the bridge of retreat cut off all good hope.
A further proof of his incompetence was his failure to fulfil the duty of
foraging in all directions and providing his troops with supplies. Julian had
neither ordered supplies to be brought from Rome, nor did he make any bountiful
provision by ravaging the enemy's country. He left the inhabited world behind
him, and persisted in marching through the wilderness. His soldiers had not
enough to eat and drink; they were without guides; they were marching astray in
a desert land. Thus they saw the folly of their most wise emperor. In the midst
of their murmuring and grumbling they suddenly found him who had struggled in
mad rage against his Maker wounded to death. Ares who raises the war-din had
never come to help him as he promised Loxias had given lying divination; he who
glads him in the thunderbolts had hurled no bolt on the man who dealt the fatal
blow the boasting of his threats was dashed to the ground. The name of the man
who dealt that righteous stroke no one knows to this day. Some say that he was
wounded by an invisible being, others by one of the Nomads who were called
Ishmaelites; others by a trooper who could not endure the pains of famine in the
wilderness. But whether it were man or angel who plied the steel, without doubt
the doer of the deed was the minister of the will of God. It is related that
when Julian had received the wound, he filled his hand with blood, flung it into
the air and cried, "Thou hast won, O Galilean." Thus he gave utterance at once
to a confession of the victory and to a blasphemy. So infatuated was he.67

Chapter XXI.-Of the Sorcery at Carroe Which Was Detected After His Death. After
He Was Slain the Jugglery of His Sorcery Was Detected. For Carroe is a City
Which Still Retains the Relics of His False Religion.

Julian had left Edessa on his left because it was adorned with the grace of true
religion, and while in his vain folly he was journeying through Carrae, he came
to the temple honoured by the impious and after going through certain rites with
his companions in defilement, he locked and sealed the doors, and stationed
sentinels with orders to see that none came in till his return. When news came
of his death, and the reign of iniquity was succeeded by one of piety, the
shrine was opened, and within was found a proof of the late emperor's manliness,
wisdom, and piety.68 For there was seen a woman hung up on high by the hairs of
her head, and with her hands outstretched. The villain had cut open her belly,
and so I suppose learnt from her liver his victory over the Persians.69 This was
the abomination discovered at Carrae.

Chapter XXII.-Of the Heads Discovered in the Palace at Antioch and the Public
Rejoicings There.

It is said that at Antioch a number of chests were discovered at the palace
filled with human heads, and also many wells full of corpses. Such is the
teaching of the evil deities. When Antioch heard of Julian's death she gave
herself up to rejoicing and festivity; and not only was exultant joy exhibited
in the churches, and in the shrines of martyrs, but even in the theatres the
victory of the cross was proclaimed and Julian's vaticination held up to
ridicule. And here I will record the admirable utterance of the men at Antioch,
that it may be preserved in the memory of generations yet to come, for with one
voice the shout was raised, "Maximus, thou feel, where are thy oracles? for God
has conquered and his Christ." This was said because there lived at that time a
man of the name of Maximus, a pretender to philosophy, but really a worker of
magic, and boasting himself to be able to foretell the future. But the
Antiochenes, who had received their divine teaching from the glorious
yokefellows Peter and Paul, and were full of warm affection for the Master and
Saviour of all, persisted in execrating Julian to the end. Their sentiments were
perfectly well known to the object of them, and so he wrote a book against them
and called it "Misopogon."70 This rejoicing at the death of the tyrant shall
conclude this book of thy history, for it were to my mind indecent to connect
with a righteous reign the impious sovereignty of Julian.

1: On the murder of the Princes of the blood Gallus was first sent alone to
Tralles or Ephesus, (Soc. iii. 1,) and afterwards spent some time with his
brother Julian in Cappadocia in retirement, but with a suitable establishment.
On their relationship to Constantius vide Pedigree in the prolegomena.

2: The massacre "involved the two uncles of Constantius, seven of his cousins,
of whom Dalmatius and Hannibalianus were the most illustrious, the patrician
Optatus, who had married a sister of the late Emperor, and the praefect
Abcavius." "If it were necessary to aggravate the horrors of this bloody scene
we might add that Constantius himself had espoused the daughter of his uncle
Julius, and that he had bestowed his sister in marriage on his cousin
Hannibalianus." "Of so numerous a family Gallus and Julian alone, the two
youngest children of Julius Constantius, were saved from the hands of the
assassins, till their rage, satiated with slaughter, had in some measure
subsided." Gibbon, Chap. xviii. Theodoretus follows the opinion of Athanasius
and Julian in ascribing the main guilt to Constantius, but, as Gibbon points
out, Eutropius and the Victors "use the very qualifying expressions;" "sinente
potius quam jubente;" "incertum quo suasore;" and "vl militum." Gregory of
Nazianzus (Or. iv. 21) ascribes the preservation of both Julian and his brother
Gallus to the clemency and protection of Constantius.

3: Tertullian (De Praesc. 41) is the earliest authority for the office of
Anagnostes, Lector, or Reader, as a distinct order in the Church. Henceforward
it appears as one of the minor orders, and is frequently referred to by Cyprian
(Epp. 29. 38, etc.). By one of Justinian's novels it was directed that no one
should be ordained Reader before the age of eighteen, but previously young boys
were admitted to the office, at the instance of their parents, as introductory
to the higher functions of the sacred ministry. Dict. Christ. Ant. 1. 80.

4: Sozomen (v. 2) tells us that when the princes were building a chapel for the
martyr Mamas, the work of Gallus stood, but that of Julian tumbled down. A more
famous instance of the care of Gallus for the christian dead is the story of the
translation of the remains of the martyr Babylas from Antioch to Daphne,
referred to by our author (iii. 6) as well as by Sozomen v. 19, and by Rufinus
x. 35. cf. Bishop Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers II. i. 42.

5: Gallus was made Caesar by the childless Constantius in 350, in about his 25th
year. "Fuit" says Am. Marcellinus (xiv. II. 28) "forma conspicuus bona, decente
filo corporis, membrorumque recta compage, flavo capillo et molli, barba licet
recens emergente lanugine tenera." His government at Antioch was not successful,
and at the instigation of the Eunuch Eusebius he was executed in 354 at Pola, a
town already infamous for the murder of Crispus.

6: amuhtoij .

7: The accession of Julian was made known in Alexandria at the end of Nov. 361,
and the Pagans at once rose against George, imprisoned him, and at last on Dec.
24, brutally beat and kicked him to death. The Arians appointed a
successor-Lucius, but on Feb. 22 Athanasius once more appeared among his
faithful flock, and lost no time in getting a Council for the settlement of
several moot points of discipline and doctrine, which Theodoret proceeds to
enumerate.

8: i.e. of Vercellae. Vide p. 76. From Scythopolis he had been removed to
Cappadocia, and thence to the Thebaid, whence he wrote a letter, still extant,
to Gregory, bp. of Elvira in Spain.

9: Valesius supposes Hilary of Poictiers to be mentioned here, though he
recognises the difficulty of the " o ek thj 'Italiaj

10: cf. p. 76, note. Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, had first been relegated in
355 to Eleutheropolis, (a town of the 3d C., in Palestine, about 20 m. west of
Jerusalem) whence he wrote the controversial pamphlets still extant. He
vigorously abused Constantius, to whom he paid the compliment of sending a copy
of his work. The emperor appears to have retorted by having him removed to the
Thebaid, whence he returned in 361.

11: cf. p. 41. Eustathius died about 337, at Philippi, - probably about six
years after his deposition. Alexander, an ascetic (cf. post, V. Ch. 35) did not
become bishop of Antioch till 413.

12: The raison d'etre of the Luciferians as a distinct party was their
unwillingness to accept communion with men who had ever lapsed into Arianism.
Jerome gives 371 as the date of Lucifer's death. "To what extent he was an
actual schismatic remains obscure." St. Ambrose remarks that "he had separated
himself from our communion," (de excessu Satyri 1127, 47) and St. Augustine that
"he fell into the darkness of schism, having lost the light of charity." (Ep.
185 n. 47.) But there is no mention of any separation other than Lucifer's own
repulsion of so many ecclesiastics; and Jerome in his dialogue against the
Luciferians (§20) calls him " beatus and bonus pastor. " J. Ll. Davies in Dict.
Christ. Biog. s. v.

13: Corybantes, the name of the priests of Cybele, whose religious service
consisted in noisy music and wild armed dances, is a word of uncertain origin.
The chief seat of their rites was Pessinus in Galatia.

14: Qiaswtai . lit. The "club-fellows," or "members of a religious brotherhood."

15: Sebaste was a name given to Samaria by Herod the Great in honour of
Augustus. cf. Rufinus H. E. xi. 28 and Theophanes, Chronographia i. 117.
Theodoretus claims to have obtained some of the relics of the Baptist for his
own church at Cyrus (Relig. Hist. 1245). On the development of the tradition of
the relics, cf. Dict. Christ. Ant. i. 883. A magnificent church was built by
Theodosius (Soz. vii. 21 and 24) in a suburb of Constantinople, to enshrine a
head discovered by some unsound monks. The church is said by Sozomen (vii. 24)
to be "at the seventh milestone," on the road out of Constantinople, and the
place to be called Hebdomon or "seventh." I am indebted to the Rev. H. F. Tozer
for the suggestion that Hebdomon was a promontory on the Propontis, to the west
of the extreme part of the city, where the Cyclobion was, and where the Seven
Towers now are; and that the Seven Towers being about six Roman miles from the
Seraglio Point, which is the apex of the triangle formed by the city, the phrase
at the seventh milestone is thus accounted for. Bones alleged to be parts of the
scull are still shewn at Amiens. The same emperor built a church for the body on
the site of the Serapeum at Alexandria.

16: Heliopolis, the modern Baalbec, the "City of the Sun," was built at the west
foot of Anti-Libanus, near the sources of the Orontes.

17: On the Orontes; now Homs. Here Aurelian defeated Zenobia in 273.

18: Durostorum, now Silistria, on the right bank of the Danube.

19: Valesius (note on Soz. v. 10) would distinguish this Marcus of Arethusa from
the Arian Marcus of Arethusa, author of the creed of Sirmium (Soc. H. E. ii.
30), apparently on insufficient grounds (Dict. Christ. Biog. s. v.). Arethusa
was a town not far from the source of the Orontes.

20: Matt. x. 23.

21: The sharp iron stilus was capable of inflicting severe wounds. Caesar, when
attacked by his murderers, "caught Casca's arm and ran it through with his pen."
Suetonius.

22: garon , garum, was a fish-pickle. cf. the barbarous punishment of the
skafeusij 23: cf. Aristophanes (Aves 808) " tad' oux up' allwn alla toij autwn
pteroij ."

24: The crowning outrage which moved Julian to put out the edict of exile was
the baptism by the bishop of some pagan ladies. The letter of Julian (Ep. p.
187) fixed Dec. 1st, 362, as the limit of Athanasius' permission to stay in
Egypt, but it was on Oct. 23d (Fest. Ind.) that the order was communicatedto
him.

25: The story may be compared with that of Napoleon on the return from Elba in
Feb. 1815, when on being hailed by some passing craft with an enquiry as to the
emperor's health, he is said to have himself taken the speaking trumpet and
replied "Quite well."

26: He concealed himself at Choeren, (? El Careon) near Alexandria, and went
thence to Memphis, whence he wrote his Festal Letter for 363. Julian died June
26, 363.

27: Babylas, bishop of Antioch from 238 to 251, was martyred in the Decian
persecution either by death in prison (Euseb. H. E. vi. 39 meta thn omologian en
desmwthriw metallacantoj ) or by violence. (Chrys. des. B.c. gentes) "Babylas
had won for himself a name by his heroic courage as bishop of Antioch. It was
related of him that on one occasion when the emperor Philip, who was a
Christian, had presented himself one Easter Eve at the time of prayer, he had
boldly refused admission to the sovereign, till he had gone through the proper
discipline of a penitent for some offence committed. (Eus. II. E. vi. 34.) He
acted like a good shepherd, says Chrysostom, who drives away the scabby sheep,
lest it should infect the flock." Bp. Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers II. i. p. 40-46.

28: "The Daphnean Sanctuary was four or five miles distant from the city."
"Rufinus says six, but this appears to be an exaggeration." Bp. Lightfoot l. c.

29: Ps. 96. 7.

30: "Gibbon seems to confuse this young man Theodorus with Theodoretus the
presbyter and martyr who was put to death about this time at Antioch by the
Count Julianus, the uncle of the emperor, (Soz. v. 8., Ruinart's Act. Mart.
Sinc. p. 605 sq.) for he speaks in his text of `a presbyter of the name of
Theodoret, 0' and in his notes of `the passion of S. Theodore in the Acta
Sincera of Ruinart, 0'" Bp. Lightfoot. p. 43.

31: "Gibbon says, `During the night which terminated this indiscreet procession,
the temple of Daphne was in flames, 0' and later writers have blindly followed
him. He does not give any authority, but obviously he is copying Tillemont H. E.
iii. p. 407 `en mesme temps que l'on portant dans la ville la châsse du Saint
Martyr, c'est àdire la nuit suivante. 0' The only passage which Tillemont quotes
is Ammianus, (xxii. 13) `eodem tempore die xi. Kal. Nov., 0' which does not bear
him out. On the contrary the historians generally (cf. Soz. v. 20, Theod. iii.
7) place the persecutions which followed on the processions, and which must have
occupied some time, before the burning of the temple." Bp. Lightfoot.

32: newkorouj. newkoroj is the word rendered "worshipper" in Acts xix. 35 by A.
V. The R.V. has correctly "temple-keeper," the old derivation from korew =
sweep, being no doubt less probable than the reference of the latter part of the
word to a root KOR = KOL, found in colo, curo.

33: thj twn sithresiwn afairesewj . This deprivation is not further referred to
in the text. Philostorgius (vii. 4) says "He distributed the allowance of the
churches among the ministers of the daemons," cf. Soz. v. 5. The restitution is
recorded in Theod. iv. 4. The sitometrion of St. Luke xii. 42. (cf. thn trofhn
in Matt. xxiv. 45) is analogous to the sithresia of the text. Vide Suicer s. v.

34: By the constitution of Constantine the two great ministers of finance were
(i) the Comes sacrarum largitionum, treasurer and paymaster of the public staff
of the Empire; (ii) Comes rei privatoe, who managed the privy purse and kept the
liber beneficionum, an account of privileges granted by the emperor. cf. Dict.
Christ. Ant. i. p. 634.

35: Trapeza is the word commonly employed by the Greek Fathers and in Greek
Liturgies to designate the Lord's Table. Qusiasthrion is used by Eusebius H. E.
x. 4, for the Altar of the Church of Tyre, but the earlier qusiasthrion of
Ignatius (Philad. iv.) does not appear to mean the Lord's Table. cf. Bp.
Lightfoot Ap. Fathers. pt. II. ii. p. 258.

36: apokrisij .

37: The earliest authorities for the order are St. Paul, Rom. xvi. 1, and
probably I. Tim. iii. 11; and Pliny in his letter to Trajan, if ancilla =
diakonoj .

38: Vide note on page 98.

39: neusai .

40: I. Cor. x. 25.

41: Song of the Three Children, v. 8, quoted not quite exactly from the
Septuagint, which runs pareowkaj hmaj ... basilei adikw kai ponhrotatw para
pasan thn ghn . The text is, paredwkaj hmaj basilei paranomw apostath para panta
ta eqnh ta onta epi thj ghj .

42: cf. St. Chrysostom's homily in their honour. The Basilian menology mentions
Juventinus under Oct. 9.

43: Valentinianus, a native of Cibalis (on the Save) in Pannonia (Bosnia) was
elected Feb. 26, 364, and reigned till Nov. 17, 375. Though a Christian, he was
tolerant of paganism, or the peasant's religion, as in his reign heathenism
began to be named (Codex Theod. xvi. ii. 18). The "shortly after" of the text
means some two years.

44: "The original mode of making the sign of the Cross was with the thumb of the
right hand, generally on the forehead only, or on other objects, once or thrice.
(Chrysost. Hom. ad pop. Art. xl. ) `Thrice he made the sign of the cross on the
chalice with his finger. 0' (Sophron. in Prat. Spirit.)" Dict. Christ. Ant. s.
v.

45: By the Constitution of Constantine the supreme military command was given to
a "Magister equitum" and a "Magister peditum." Under them were a number of
"Duces" and "Comites," Dukes and Counts, with territorial titles.

46: Ammianus Marcellinus (XXII. 11) says, "Artemius ex duce Aegypti,
Alexandrinis urgentibus, atrocium criminum mole, supplicio capitall multatus
est."

47: Psalm cxv. 4.

48: Psalm cxv. 8.

49: Psalm lxvii. 1.

50: Cf. Eph. v. 19.

51: Bp. Wordsworth (Dict. Chris. Biog. iii, 500) is in favour of the letter (Ep.
24, Ed. Didot 350) in which Julian desires the prayers of the Creator and
professes a wish to rebuild and inhabit Jerusalem with them after his return
from the Persian war and there give glory to the Supreme Being. It is addressed
to his "brother Julus, the very venerable patriarch."

52: This is the motive ascribed by the Arian Philostorgius (vii. 9).

53: "The curious statement that crosses were imprinted on the bodies anti
clothes of persons present, is illustrated in the original edition of Newman's
Essay (clxxxii.)" (i.e. on ecclesiastical miracles) "by some parallel instances
quoted by Warburton from Casaubon and from Boyle. Such crosses, or cross-like
impressions, are said to have followed not only a thunderstorm, but also an
eruption of Vesuvius these crosses were seen on linen garments, as shirt
sleeves, women's aprons, that had lain open to the air, and upon the exposed
parts of sheets." "Chrysostom (Ed. Montfaucon, vol. v. 271, etc.) mentions
`crosses imprinted upon garments, 0' as a sign that had occurred in his
generation, close to the mention of the Temple of Apollo that was overthrown by
a thunderbolt, and separated from the wonders in Palestine that he mentions
subsequently." Dr. E. A. Abbott. Philomythus, 189.

54: This event "came like the vision of Constantine, at a critical epoch in the
world's history. It was as the heathen poet has it, a `dignus vindice nodus. 0'
All who were present or heard of the event at the time, thought, we may be sure,
that it was a sign from God. As a miracle then it ranges beside those biblical
miracles in which, at some critical moment, the forces of nature are seen to
work strikingly for God's people or against their enemies. In the O. T. we have
for example, the instances of the plagues of Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea
and the drowning of Pharaoh's host, the crossing of the Jordan, the prolongation
of sunlight" (? darkness. Vide "A misunderstood miracle" by the Rev. A. Smythe
Palmer) "the destruction of Sennacherib's army; in the N. T. the stilling of the
storm, and the earthquake and the darkness at the crucifixion." Bp. Wordsworth.
Dict. Ch. Biog. ii. 513. To biblical instances may be added the defeat of Sisera
anti the fall of Aphek. But, too, for "the forces of nature," when the Armada
was scattered, or when the siege of Leyden was raised the course of modern
history would have been changed. Cressy may also be cited.

55: This is probably the last occasion on which the moribund oracles were
consulted by any one of importance. Of Delphi, the "navel of the earth" (Strabo
ix. 505) in Phocis, Cicero had written some four centuries earlier "Cur isto
modo jam oracula Delphi non eduntur, non modo nostra aetate, sed jam diu, ut
nihil possit esse contemptius:" Div. ii. 57. Plutarch, who died about a.d. 120,
wrote already "de defectu oraculorum.

56: nun pantej wrmhqhmen qeoi nikhj tropaia komisasqai para qhri potamw twn d
egw hgemoneusw qouroj polemoklonos #Arhj .

57: These four illustrations, occurring in a single sentence indicate a certain
breadth of reading on the part of the writer, and bear out his character for
learning. (cf. Gibbon and Jortin, remarks on Eccl. Hist. ii. 113.) Socrates, the
best of the philosophers, is set against Critias, one of the worst of the
politicians of Hellas; Pythagoras, the Samian sage of Magna Graecia, against
Phalaris, the Sicilian tyrant who

58: Valesius points out that politeuesqai means to hold the rank of Curiales or
Decuriones. The Beroea mentioned is presumably the Syrian Beroea now Haleb or
Aleppo.

59: The word thus translated is either active or passive according to its
accentuation. Qeomishj = hated by God; Qeomishj = hating God.

60: The word seems here used in its strictly Athenian sense of a slave who took
charge of boys on their way between school and home (Vide Lycias 910. 2 and
Plat. Rep. 373. C.) rather than in the more general sense of teacher. In Xen.
Lac. 3. 1. it is coupled with didaskaloj : here it is contrasted with it.

61: "One of the most noteworthy and characteristic figures of expiring
heathenism." J.R. Mozley, Dict. Christ. Biog. s. v. Born in Antioch a.d. 314, he
died about the close of the century. He was a voluminous author, and wrote among
other things a "vain, prolix, but curious narrative of his own life." Gibbon.
The most complete account of him will be found in E. R. Siever's Das Leben des
Libanius.

62: The form in the text ( glwssokomon ) is rejected by Attic purists, but is
used twice by St. John, as well as in the Septuagint. In II. Chron. xxiv. 8 (cf.
II. Kings xii. 9) it means a chest. In St. John's Gospel xii. 6 and xiii. 29 it
is "the bag," properly (xi. 3) "box," which Judas carried. In the Palatine
anthology Nicanor the coffin maker makes these "glossokoma" or coffins.
Derivatively the word means "tongue-cases," i.e. cases to keep the tongues or
reeds of musical instruments. An instance of similar transfer of meaning is our
word "coffin;" derivatively a wicker basket; - at one time any case or cover,
and in Shakespeare (Titus Andronicus Act V. 2, 189) pie crust. Perhaps "casket,"
which now still holds many things, may one day only hold a corpse.

63: In times and circumstances totally different, it may seem that Julian's
courtesy and moderation contrast favourably with the fierce zeal of the
Christians. A modern illustration of the temper of the Church in Julian's reign
may be found in the following account given of his dragoman by the late author
of "Eothen." "Religion and the literature of the Church which he served had made
him a man, and a brave man too. The lives of his honored Saints were full of
heroic actions provoking imitation, and since faith in a creed involves faith
its ultimate triumph, Dthemetri was bold from a sense of true strength; his
education too, though not very general in its character, had been carried quite
far enough to justify him in pluming himself upon a very decided advantage over
the great bulk of the Mahometan population, including the men in authority. With
all this consciousness of religious and intellectual superiority, Dthemetri had
lived for the most part in countries lying under Mussulman governments, and had
witnessed (perhaps too had suffered from) their revolting cruelties; the result
was that he abhorred and despised the Mussulman faith and all who clung to it.
And this hate was not of the dull, dry, and inactive sort; Dthemetri was in his
way a true crusader, and whenever there appeared atair open. ing in the defence
of Islam, he was ready and eager to make the assault. Such feelings, backed by a
consciousness of understanding the people with whom he had to do, made Dthemetri
not only firm and resolute in his constant Interviews with men in authority, but
sometimes also very violent and very insulting." Kinglake's "Eothen," 5th Ed.,
p. 270.

64: The emperor Julian was wounded in the neighbourhood of Symbria or Hucumbra
on the Tigris on the morning of June 26th, 363, and died at midnight. On the
somewhat similar stories of Apollonius of Tyana mounting a lofty rock in Asia
Minor and shouting to the crowd about him `well done, Stephanus; excellent,
Stephanus; smite the blood-stained wretch; thou hast struck, thou hast wounded,
thou hast slain, 0' at the very moment when Domitian was being murdered at Rome
(Dion Cass, 67. 18); and of Irenaeus at Rome hearing a voice as of a trumpet at
the exact hour when Polycarp suffered at Smyrna proclaiming `Polycarp has been
martyred 0' (Vid. Ep. Smyrn.). Bp. Lightfoot (Apostolic Fathers 1. 455) writes
"The analogies of authenticated records of apparitions seen and voices heard at
a distance at the moment of death have been too frequent in all ages to allow us
to dismiss the story at once as a pure fiction." Such narratives at all events
testify to a wide-spread belief.

65: There seems to be an allusion to Caesar's passage of the Rubicon in 49 b.c.

66: His fleet, with the exception of a few vessels, was burned at Abuzatha,
where he halted five days (Zos 3. 26).

67: The exclamation was differently reported. Sozomen vi. 2. says that some
thought he lifted his hand to chicle the sun for failing to help him. It has
been observed that the sound of nenikhkaj Galilaie and hpathkaj hlie would not
be so dissimilar in Greek as in English. Ammianus Marcellinus (xxv. 3-9.) says
that he lost all hope of recovery when he heard that the place where he lay was
called Phrygia, for in Phrygia he had been told that he would die. So it befell
with Cambyses at Ecbatana (Her. iii. 64), Alexander King of Epirus at the
Acheron (Livy viii. 24) and Henry IV in the Jerusalem Chamber, when he asked
"Doth any name particular belong unto this lodging where I first did swoon?" and
on hearing that the chamber was called Jerusalem, remembered the old prediction
that in Jerusalem he must die, and died.

68: The reading eusebeian for asebeian seems to keep up the irony.

69: hpatoskopia , or "inspection of the liver," was a recognized form of
divination. cf. the Sept. of Ez. xxi. 21. " kai eperwthsai en toij gluptoij, kai
hpatoskophsasqai " and Cic. de div. ii. 13. "Caput jecoris ex omni parte
diligentissime considerant; si vero id non est inventum, nihil putant accidere
potuisse tristius." Vide also Aesch. Pr. V. 503, and Paley's note.

70: "The residence of Julian at Antioch was a disappointment to himself, and
disagreeable to almost all the inhabitants." "He had anticipated much more
devotion on the part of the pagans, and much less force and resistance on that
of the Christians than he discovered in reality. He was disgusted at finding
that both parties regretted the previous reign. `Neither the Chi nor the Kappa
0' (that is neither Christ nor Constantius) `did our city any harm 0' became a
common saying (Misopogon p. 357). To the heathens themselves the enthusiastic
form of religion to which Julian was devoted was little more than an unpleasant
and somewhat vulgar anachronism. His cynic asceticism and dislike of the theatre
and the circus was unpopular in a city particularly addicted to public
spectacles. His superstition was equally unpalatable. The short, untidy,
long-bearded man, marching pompously in procession on the tips of his toes, and
swaying his shoulders from side to side, surrounded by a crowd of abandoned
characters, such as formed the regular attendants upon many heathen festivals,
appeared seriously to compromise the dignity of the empire. (Ammianus xxii. 14.
3. His words `stipatus mulierculis 0' etc. go far to justify Gregory's dhmosia
taij pornaij proupine


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  CHAPTER 13: THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THEODORET - BOOK 4
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Book IV.

Chapter I.-Of the Reign and Piety of Jovianus.

Chapter II.-Of the Return of Athanasius.

Chapter III.-Synodical Letter to the Emperor Jovian Concerning the Faith.

Chapter IV.-Of the Restoration of Allowances to the Churches; And of the
Emperor's Death.

Chapter V.-Of the Reign of Valentinianus, and How He Associated Valens His
Brother with Him.

Chapter VI.-Of the Election of Ambrosius, the Bishop of Milan.

Chapter VII.

Chapter VIII.-Synodical Epistle of the Synod in Illyricum Concerning the Faith.

Chapter IX.-Of the Heresy of the Audiani.

Chapter X.-Of the Heresy of the Messaliani.

Chapter XI.-In What Manner Valens Fell into Heresy.

Chapter XII.-How Valens Exiled the Virtuous Bishops.

Chapter XIII.-Of Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, and Others.

Chapter XIV.-Of the Holy Barses, and of the Exile of the Bishop of Edessa and
His Companions.

Chapter XV.-Of the Persecution Which Took Place at Edessa, and of Eulogius and
Protogenes, Presbyters of Edessa.

Chapter XVI.-Of the Holy Basilius, Bishop of Caesarea, and the Measures Taken
Against Him by Valens and the Prefect Modestus.

Chapter XVII.-Of the Death of the Great Athanasius and the Election of Petrus.

Chapter XVIII.-On the Overthrow of Petrus and the Introduction of Lucius the
Arian.

Chapter XIX.-Narrative of Events at Alexandria in the Time of Lucius the Arian,
Taken from a Letter of Petrus, Bishop of Alexandria.

Chapter XX.-Of Mavia,95 Queen of the Saracens, and the Ordination96 Of Moses the
Monk.

Chapter XXI.

Chapter XXII.-How Flavianus and Diodorus Gathered the Church of the Orthodox in
Antioch.

Chapter XXIII.-Of the Holy Monk Aphraates.

Chapter XXIV.-Of the Holy Monk Julianus.

Chapter XXV.-Of What Other Monks Were Distinguished at This Period.

Chapter XXVI.-Of Didymus of Alexandria and Ephraim the Syrian.

Chapter XXVII.-Of What Bishops Were at This Time Distinguished in Asia and
Pontus.

Chapter XXVIII.-Of the Letter Written by Valens to the Great Valentinianus About
the War, and How He Replied.

Chapter XXIX.-Of the Piety of Count Terentius.

Chapter XXX.-Of the Bold Utterance of Trajanus the General.

Chapter XXXI.-Of Isaac139 The Monk of Constantinople and Bretanio the Scythian
Bishop.

Chapter XXXII.-Of the Expedition of Valens Against the Garbs and How He Paid the
Penalty of His Impiety.

Chapter XXXIII.-How the Goths Became Tainted by the Arian Error.

Book IV.

Chapter I.-Of the Reign and Piety of Jovianus.

After Julian was slain the generals and prefects met in council and deliberated
who ought to succeed to the imperial power and effect both the salvation of the
army in the campaign, and the recovery of the fortunes of Rome, now, by the
rashness of the deceased Emperor, placed to use the common saying, on the razor
edge of peril.1 But while the chiefs were in deliberation the troops met
together and demanded Jovianus for emperor, though he was neither a general nor
in the next highest rank; a man however remarkably distinguished, and for many
reasons well known. His stature was great; his soul lofty. In war, and in grave
struggles it was his wont to be first. Against impiety be delivered himself
courageously with no fear of the tyrant's power, but with a zeal that ranked him
among the martyrs of Christ. So the generals accepted the unanimous vote of the
soldiers as a divine election. The brave man was led forward and placed upon a
raised platform hastily constructed. The host saluted him with the imperial
titles, calling him Augustus and Caesar. With his usual bluntness, and fearless
alike in the presence of the commanding officers and in view of the recent
apostasy of the troops, Jovianus admirably said "I am a Christian. I cannot
govern men like these. I cannot command Julian's army trained as it is in
vicious discipline. Men like these, stripped of the covering of the providence
of God, will fall an easy and ridiculous prey to the foe." On hearing this the
troops shouted with one voice, "Hesitate not, O emperor; think it not a vile
thing to command us. You shall reign over Christians nurtured in the training of
truth; our veterans were taught in the school of Constantine himself; younger
men among us were taught by Constantius. This dead man's empire lasted but a few
years, all too few to stamp its brand even on those whom it deceived."2 Chapter
II.-Of the Return of Athanasius.

Delighted with these words the emperor undertook for the future to take counsel
for the safety of the state, and how to bring home the army without loss from
the campaign. He was in no need of much deliberation, but at once reaped the
fruit sprung from the seeds of true religion, for the God of all gave proof of
His own providence, and caused all difficulty to disappear. No sooner had the
Persian sovereign been made acquainted with Jovian's accession than he sent
envoys to treat for peace; nay more, he despatched provisions for the troops and
gave directions for the establishment of a market for them in the desert. A
truce was concluded for thirty years, and the army brought home in safety from
the war.3 The first edict of the emperor on setting foot upon his own territory
was one recalling the bishops from their exile, and announcing the restoration
of the churches to the congregations who had held inviolate the confession of
Nicaea. He further sent a despatch to Athanasius, the famous champion of these
doctrines, beseeching that a letter might be written to him containing exact
teaching on matters of religion. Athanasius summoned the most learned bishops to
meet him, and wrote back exhorting the emperor to hold fast the faith delivered
at Nicaea, as being in harmony with apostolic teaching. Anxious to benefit all
who may meet with it I here subjoin the letter.4 Chapter III.-Synodical Letter
to the Emperor Jovian Concerning the Faith. To Jovianus Augustus most devout,
most humane, victorious, Athanasius, and the rest of the bishops assembled, in
the name of all the bishops from Egypt to Thebaid, and Libya. The intelligent
preference and pursuit of holy things is becoming to a prince beloved of God.
Thus may you keep your heart in truth in God's hand and reign for many years in
peace.5 Since your piety has recently expressed a wish to learn from us the
faith of the Catholic Church, we have given thanks to the Lord and have
determined before all to remind your reverence of the faith confessed by the
fathers at Nicaea. This faith some have set at nought, and have devised many and
various attacks on us, because of our refusal to submit to the Arian heresy.
They have become founders of heresy and schism in the Catholic Church. The true
and pious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ has been made plain to all as it is
known and read from the Holy Scriptures. In this faith the martyred saints were
perfected, and now departed are with the Lord. This faith was destined
everywhere to stand unharmed, had not the wickedness of certain heretics dared
to attempt its falsification; for Arius and his party endeavoured to corrupt it
and to bring in impiety for its destruction, alleging the Son of God to be of
the nonexistent, a creature, a Being made, and susceptible of change. By these
means they deceived many, so that even men who seemed to be somewhat,6 were led
away by them. Then our holy Fathers took the initiative, met, as we said, at
Nicaea, anathematized the Arian heresy, and subscribed the faith of the Catholic
Church so as to cause the putting out of the flames of heresy by proclamation of
the truth throughout the world. Thus this faith throughout the whole church was
known and preached. But since some men who wished to start the Arian heresy
afresh have had the hardihood to set at naught the faith confessed by the
Fathers at Nicaea, and others are pretending to accept it, while in reality they
deny it, distorting the meaning of the omoousion and thus blaspheming the Holy
Ghost, by alleging it to be a creature and a Being made through the Son's means,
we, perforce beholding the harm accruing from blasphemy of this kind to the
people, have hastened to offer to your piety the faith confessed at Nicaea, that
your reverence may know with what exactitude it is drawn up, and how great is
the error of them whose teaching contradicts it. Know, O holiest Augustus, that
this faith is the faith preached from everlasting, this is tile faith that the
Fathers assembled at Nicaea confessed. With this faith all the churches
throughout the world are in agreement, in Spain, in Britain,7 in Gaul, in all
Italy and Campania, in Dalmatia and Mysia, in Macedonia, in all Hellas, in all
the churches throughout Africa, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, Pamphylia and Isauria,
and Lycia, those of all Egypt and Libya, of Pontus, Cappadocia and the
neighbouring districts and all the churches of the East except a few who have
embraced Arianism. Of all those above mentioned we know the sentiments after
trial made. We have letters and we know, most pious Augustus, that though some
few gainsay this faith they cannot prejudice8 the decision of the whole
inhabited world.

After being long trader the injurious influence of the Arian heresy they are the
more contentiously withstanding true religion. For the information of your
piety, though indeed you are already acquainted with it, we have taken pains to
subjoin the faith confessed at Nicaea by theae three hundred and eighteen
bishops. It is as follows.

We believe in one God, Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and
invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father,
that is of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of
very God: begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all
things were made both in Heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for our
salvation came down from Heaven, was incarnate and was made man. He suffered and
rose again the third day. He ascended into Heaven, and is coming to judge both
quick and dead. And we believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church anathematizes those who say there was a time when the Son of
God was not; that before He was begotten He was not; that He was made out of the
non-existent, or that He is of a different essence or different substance, or a
creature or subject to variation or change. In this faith, most religious
Augustus, all must needs abide as divine and apostolic, nor must any strive to
change it by persuasive reasoning and word battles, as from the beginning did
the Arian maniacs in their contention that the Son of God is of the non
existent, and that there was a time when He was not, that He is created and made
and subject to variation. Wherefore, as we stated, the council of Nicaea
anathematized this heresy and confessed the faith of the truth. For they have
not simply said that the Son is like the Father, that he may be believed not to
be simply like God but very God of God. And they promulgated the term
"Homooµsion" because it is peculiar to a real and true son of a true and natural
father. Yet they did not separate the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son,
but rather glorified It together with the Father and the Son in the one faith of
the Holy Trinity, because the Godhead of the Holy Trinity9 is one.

Chapter IV.-Of the Restoration of Allowances to the Churches; And of the
Emperor's Death. When the emperor had received this letter, his former knowledge
of and disposition to divine things was confirmed, and he issued a second edict
wherein he ordered the amount of corn which the great Constantine had
appropriated to the churches to be restored.10 For Julian, as was to be expected
of one who had gone to war with our Lord and Saviour, had stopped even this
maintenance, and since the famine which visited the empire in consequence of
Julian's iniquity prevented the collection of the contribution of Constantine's
enactment, Jovian ordered a third part to be supplied for the present, and
promised that on the cessation of the famine he would give the whole.

After distinguishing the beginning of his reign by edicts of this kind, Jovian
set out from Antioch for the Bosphorus; but at Dadastanae, a village lying on
the confines of Bithynia and Galatia, he died.11 He set out on his journey from
this world with the grandest and fairest support and stay, but all who had
experienced the clemency of his sway were left behind in pain. So, me-thinks,
the Supreme Ruler, to convict us of our iniquity, both shews us good things and
again deprives us of them; so by the former means He teaches us how easily He
can give us what He will; by the latter He convicts us of our unworthiness of
it, and points us to the better life.

Chapter V.-Of the Reign of Valentinianus, and How He Associated Valens His
Brother with Him. When the troops had become acquainted with the emperor's
sudden death, they wept for the departed prince as for a father, and made
Valentinian emperor in his room. It was he who smote the officer of the temple12
and was sent to the castle. He was distinguished not only for his courage, but
also for prudence, temperance, justice, and great stature. He was of so kingly
and magnanimous a character that, on an attempt being made by the army to
appoint a colleague to share his throne, he uttered the well-known words which
are universally repeated, "Before I was emperor, soldiers, it was yours to give
me the reins of empire: now that I have taken them, it is mine, not yours, to
take counsel for the state." The troops were struck with admiration at what he
said, and contentedly followed the guidance of his authority. Valentinian,
however, sent for his brother from Pannonia, and shared the empire with him.
Would that he had never done so! To Valens,13 who had not yet accepted unsound
doctrines, was committed the charge of Asia and of Egypt, while Valentinian
allotted Europe to himself. He journeyed to the Western provinces, and beginning
with a proclamation of true religion, instructed them in all righteousness. When
the Arian Auxentius, bishop of Milan, who was condemned in several councils,
departed this life,14 the emperor summoned the bishops and addressed them as
follows: "Nurtured as you have been in holy writ, you know full well what should
be the character of one dignified by the episcopate, and how he should rule his
subjects aright, not only with his lip, but with his life; exhibit himself as an
example of every kind of virtue, and make his conversation a witness of his
teaching. Seat now upon your archiepiscopal throne a man of such character that
we who rule the realm may honestly bow our heads before him and welcomeh is
reproofs,-for, in that we are men, it needs must be that we sometimes
stumble,-as a physician's healing treatment."

Chapter VI.-Of the Election of Ambrosius, the Bishop of Milan.

Thus spoke the emperor, and then the council begged him, being a wise and devout
prince, to make the choice. He then replied, "The responsibility is too great
for us. You who have been dignified with divine grace, and have received
illumination from above, will make a better choice." So they left the imperial
presence and began to deliberate apart. In the meanwhile the people of Milan
were torn by factions, some eager that one, some that another, should be
promoted. They who had been infected with the unsoundness of Auxentius were for
choosing men of like opinions, while they of the orthodox party were in their
turn anxious to have a bishop of like sentiments with themselves. When
Ambrosius, who held the chief civil magistracy15 of the district, was apprised
of the contention, being afraid lest some seditious violence should be attempted
he hurried to the church; at once there was a lull in the strife. The people
cried with one voice "Make Ambrose our pastor,"-although up to this time he was
still16 unbaptized. News of what was being done was brought to the emperor, and
he at once ordered the admirable man to be baptized and ordained, for be knew
that his judgment was straight and true as the rule of the carpenter and his
sentence more exact than the beam of the balance. Moreover he concluded from the
agreement come to by men of opposite sentiments that the selection was divine.
Ambrose then received the divine gift of holy baptism, and the grace of the
archiepiscopal office. The most excellent emperor was present on the occasion
and is said to have offered the following hymn of praise to his Lord and
Saviour. "We thank thee, Almighty Lord and Saviour; I have committed to this
man's keeping men's bodies; Thou hast entrusted to him their souls, and hast
shown my choice to be righteous." Not many days after the divine Ambrosius
addressed the emperor with the utmost freedom, and found fault with certain
proceedings of the magistrates as improper. Valentinian remarked that this
freedom was no novelty to him, and that, well acquainted with it as he was, he
had not merely offered no opposition to, but had gladly concurred in, the
appointment to the bishopric. "Go on," continued the emperor, "as God's law bids
you, healing the errors of our souls."

Such were the deeds and words of Valentinian at Milan.

Chapter VII.

Letters of the Emperors Valentinianus and Valens, written to the diocese17 of
Asia about the Homooµsion, on hearing that same men in Asia and in Phrygia were
in dispute about the divine decree.

Valentinian ordered a council to be held in Illyricum18 and sent to the
disputants the decrees ratified by the bishops there assembled. They had decided
to hold fast the creed put forth at Nicaea and the emperor himself wrote to
them, associating hisbrother with him in the dispatch, urging that the decrees
be kept. The edict clearly proclaims the piety of the emperor and similarly
exhibits the soundness of Valens in divine doctrines at that time. I shall
therefore give it in full. The mighty emperors, ever august, augustly
victorious, Valentinianus, Valens, and Gratianus,19 to the bishops of Asia,
Phrygia, Carophrygia Pacatiana,20 greeting in the Lord. A great council having
met in Illyricum,21 after much discussion concerning the word of salvation, the
thrice blessed bishops have declared that the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost is of one substance.22 This Trinity they worship, in no wise remitting the
service which has duly fallen to their lot, the worship of the great King. It is
our imperial will that this Trinity be preached, so that none may say "We accept
the religion of the sovereign who rules this world without regard to Him who has
given us the message of salvation," for, as says the gospel of our God which
contains this judgment, "we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's
and to God the things that are God's."23

What say you, ye bishops, ye champions of the Word of salvation? If these be
your professions, thus then continue to love one another, and cease to abuse the
imperial dignity. No longer persecute those who diligently serve God, by whose
prayers both wars cease upon the earth, and the assaults of apostate angels are
repelled. These striving through supplication to repel all harmful demons both
know how to pay tribute as the law enjoins, and do not gainsay the power of
their sovereign, but with pure minds both keep the commandment of the heavenly
King, and are subject to our laws. But ye have been shewn to be disobedient. We
have tried every expedient but you have given yourselves up.24 We however wish
to be pure from you, as Pilate at the trial of Christ when He lived among us,
was unwilling to kill Him, and when they begged for His death, turned to the
East,25 asked water for his hands and washed his hands, saying I am innocent of
the blood of this righteous man.26

Thus our majesty has invariably charged that those who are working in the field
of Christ are not to be persecuted, oppressed, or ill treated; nor the stewards
of the great King driven into exile; lest to-day under our Sovereign you may
seem to flourish and abound, and then together with your evil counsellor trample
on his covenant,27 as in the case of the blood of Zacharias,28 but he and his
were destroyed by our Heavenly King Jesus Christ after (at) His coming, being
delivered to death's judgment, they and the deadly fiend who abetted them. We
have given these orders to Amegetius, to Ceronius to Damasus, to Lampon and to
Brentisius by word of mouth, and we have sent the actual decrees to you also in
order that you nay know what was enacted in the honourable synod. To this letter
we subjoin the decrees of the synod, which are briefly as follows. In accordance
with the great and orthodox synod we confess that the Son is of one substance
with the Father. And we do not so understand the term of one substance` as some
formerly interpreted it who signed their names with feigned adhesion; nor as
some who now-a-days call the drafters of the old creed Fathers, but make the
meaning of the word of no effect, following the authors of the statement that
"of one substance" means "like," with the understanding that since the Son is
comparable to no one of the creatures made by Him, He is like to the Father
alone. For those who thus think irreverently define the Son "as a special
creation of the Father," but we, with the present synods, both at Rome and in
Gaul, hold that there is one and the same substance of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, in three persons, that is in three perfect essences.29 And we confess,
according to the exposition of Nicaea, that the Son of God being of one
substance, was made flesh of the Holy Virgin Mary, and hath tabernacled among
men, and fulfilled all the economy30 for our sakes in birth, in passion, in
resurrection, and in ascension into Heaven; and that He shall come again to
render to us according to each man's manner of life, in the day of judgment,
being seen in the flesh, and showing forth His divine power, being God bearing
flesh, and not man bearing Godhead.

Them that think otherwise we damn, as we do also them that do not honestly damn
him that said that before the Son was begotten He was not, but wrote that even
before He was actually begotten He was potentially in the Father. For this is
true in the case of all creatures, who are not for ever with God in the sense in
which the Son is ever with the Father, being begotten by eternal generation.

Such was the short summary of the emperor. I will now subjoin the actual
dispatch of the synod.

Chapter VIII.-Synodical Epistle of the Synod in Illyricum Concerning the Faith.

"The bishops of Illyricum to the churches of God, and bishops of the dioceses of
Asia, of Phrygia, and Carophrygia Pacatiana, greeting in the Lord.

"After meeting together and making long enquiry concerning the Word of
salvation, we have set forth that the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is
of one substance. And it seemed fitting to pen a letter to you, not that we
write what concerns the worship of the Trinity in vain disputation, but in
humility deemed worthy of the duty.

"This letter we have sent by our beloved brother and fellow labourer Elpidius
the presbyter. For not in the letters of our hands, but in the books of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, is it written `I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of
Cephas and I of Christ. Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the
name of Paul?'31

"It seemed indeed fitting to our humility not to pen any letter to you, on
account of the great terror which your preaching causes to all the region under
your jurisdiction, separating as you do the Holy Spirit from the Father and Son.
We were therefore constrained to send to you our lord and fellow labourer
Elpidius to ascertain if your preaching is really of this character and to carry
this dispatch from the imperial government of Rome.

"Let them who do not regard the Trinity as one substance be anathema, and if any
man be detected in communion with them let him be anathema.

"But for them that preach that the Trinity is of one substance the Kingdom of
Heaven is prepared.

"We exhort you therefore brethren to teach no other doctrine, nor even hold any
other and vain belief, but that always and everywhere, preaching the Trinity to
be of one substance, ye may be able to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

"While writing on this point we have also been reminded to pen this letter to
you about the present or future appointment of our fellow ministers as bishops,
if there be any sound men among the bishops who have already discharged a public
office;32 and, if not, from the order of presbyters: in like manner of the
appointment of presbyters and deacons out of the actual priestly33 order that
they may be in every way blameless, and not from the ranks of the senate and
army.

"We have been unwilling to pen you a letter at length, because of the mission of
one representative of all, our lord and fellow labourer Elpidius, to make
diligent enquiry about your preaching, if it really is such as we have heard
from our lord and fellow labourer Eustathius.

"In conclusion, if at any time you have been in error, put off the old man and
put on the new. The same brother and fellow labourer Elpidius will instruct you
how to preach the true faith that the Holy Trinity, of one substance with God
the Father, together with the Son and Holy Ghost, is hallowed, glorified, and
made manifest, Father in Son, Son in Father, with the Holy Ghost for or ever and
ever. For since this has been made manifest, we shall manifestly be able to
confess the Holy Trinity to be of one substance according to the faith set forth
formerly at Nicaea which the Fathers confirmed. So long as this faith is
preached we shall be able to avoid the snares of the deadly devil. When he is
destroyed we shall be able to do homage to one another in letters of peace while
we live in peace.

"We have therefore written to you in order that ye may know the deposition of
the Ariomaniacs, who do not confess that the Son is of the substance of the
Father nor the Holy Ghost. We subjoin their names,-Polychronius, Telemachus,
Faustus, Asclepiades, Amantius, Cleopater.

"This we thus write to the glory of Father and Son and Holy Ghost for ever and
ever, amen. We pray the Father and the Son our Saviour Jesus Christ with the
Holy Ghost that you may fare well for many years."

Chapter IX.-Of the Heresy of the Audiani. The illustrious emperor thus took heed
of the apostolic decrees, but Audaeus, a Syrian alike in race and in speech,
appeared at that time as an inventor of new decrees. He had long ago begun to
incubate iniquities and now appeared in his true character. At first he
understood in an absurd sense the passage "Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness."34 From want of apprehension of the meaning of the divine
Scripture he understood the Divine Being to have a human form, and conjectured
it to be enveloped in bodily parts; for Holy Scripture frequently describes the
divine operations under the names of human parts, since by these means the
providence of God is made more easily intelligible to minds incapable of
perceiving any immaterial ideas. To this impiety Audaeus added others of a
similar kind. By an eclectic process he adopted some of the doctrines of Manes35
and denied that the God of the universe is creator of either fire or darkness.
But these and all similar errors are concealed by the adherents of his faction.

They allege that they are separated from the assemblies of the Church. But since
some of them exact a cursed usury, and some live unlawfully with women without
the bond of wedlock, while those who are innocent of these practices live in
free fellowship with the guilty, they hide the blasphemy of their doctrines by
accounting as they do for their living by themselves. The plea is however an
impudent one, and the natural result of Pharisaic teaching, for the Pharisees
accused the Physician of souls and bodies in their question to the holy Apostles
"How is it that your Master eateth with publicans and sinners?"36 and through
the prophet, God of such men says "Which say, `come not near me for I am pure'
this is smoke of my wrath."37 But this is not a tithe to refute their
unreasonable error. I therefore pass on to the remainder of my narrative.38
Chapter X.-Of the Heresy of the Messaliani. At this time also arose the heresy
of the Messaliani. Those who translate their name into Greek call them
Euchitae.39

They have also another designation which arose naturally from their mode of
action. From their coming under the influence of a certain demon, which they
supposed to be the advent of the Holy Ghost, they are called enthusiasts.40

Men who have become infected with this plague to its full extent shun manual
labour as iniquitous; and, giving themselves over to sloth, call the
imaginations of their dreams prophesyings. Of this heresy Dadoes, Sabbas,
Adelphius, Hermas, and Simeones were leaders, and others besides, who did not
hold aloof from the communion of the Church, alleging that neither good nor harm
came of the divine food of which Christ our Master said "Whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood shall live for ever."41 In their endeavor to hide their
unsoundness they shamelessly deny it even after conviction, and abjure men whose
opinions are in harmony with their own secret sentiments.

Under these circumstances Letoius, who was at the head of the church of
Melitine,42 a man full of divine zeal, saw that many monasteries, or, shall I
rather say, brigands` caves, had drunk deep of this disease. He therefore burnt
them, and drove out the wolves from the flock. In like manner the illustrious
Amphilochius43 to whom was committed the charge of the metropolis of the
Lycaonians and who ruled all the people, no sooner learnt that this pestilence
had invaded his diocese than he made it depart from his borders and freed from
its infection the flocks he fed.

Flavianus,44 also, the far famed high-priest of the Antiochenes, on learning
that these men were living at Edessa and attacking with their peculiar poison
all with whom they came in contact, sent a company of monks, brought them to
Antioch, and in the following manner convicted them in their denial of their
heresy. Their accusers, he said, were calumniating them, and the witnesses
giving false evidence; and Adelphius, who was a very old man, he accosted with
expressions of kindness, and ordered to take a seat at his side. Then he said
"We, O venerable sir, who have lived to an advanced age, have more accurate
knowledge of human nature, and of the tricks of the demons who oppose us, and
have learnt by experience the character of the gift of grace. But these younger
men have no clear knowledge of these matters, and cannot brook to listen to
spiritual teaching. Wherefore tell me in what sense you say that the opposing
spirit retreats, and the grace of the Holy Ghost supervenes." The old man was
won over by these words and gave vent to all his secret venom, for he said that
no benefit accrues to the recipients of Holy Baptism, and that it is only by
earnest prayer that the in-dwelling demon is driven out, for that every one born
into the world derives from his first father slavery to the demons just as he
does his nature; but that when these are driven away, then come the Holy Ghost
giving sensible and visible signs of His presence, at once freeing the body from
the impulse of the passions and wholly ridding the soul of its inclination to
the worse; with the result that there is no more need for fasting that restrains
the body, nor of teaching or training that bridles it and instructs it how to
walk aright. And not only is the recipient of this gift liberated from the
wanton motions of the body, but also clearly foresees things to come, and with
the eyes beholds the Holy Trinity. In this wise the divine Flavianus dug into
the foul fountain-head and succeeded in laying bare its streams. Then he thus
addressed the wretched old man. "O thou that hast grown old in evil days, thy
own mouth convicts thee, not I, and thou art testified against by thy own lips."
After their unsoundness had been thus exposed they were expelled from Syria, and
withdrew to Pamphylia, which they filled with their pestilential doctrine.

Chapter XI.-In What Manner Valens Fell into Heresy.

I Will now pursue the course of my narrative, and will describe the beginning of
the tempest which stirred up many and great billows to buffet the Church.
Valens, when he first received the imperial dignity, was distinguished by his
fidelity to apostolic doctrine. But when the Goths had crossed the Danube and
were ravaging Thrace, be determined to assemble an army and march against them;
and accordingly resolved not to take the field without the garb of divine grace,
but first to protect himself with the panoply of Holy Baptism.45 In forming this
resolution he acted at once well and wisely, but his subsequent conduct betrays
very great feebleness of character, resulting in the abandonment of the truth.
His fate was the same as that of our first father, Adam; for he too, won over by
the arguments of his wife, lost his free estate and became not merely a captive
but an obedient listener to woman's wily words. His wife46 had already been
entrapped in the Arian snare, and now she caught her husband, and persuaded him
to fall along with her into the pit of blasphemy. Their leader and initiator was
Eudoxius, who still held the tiller of Constantinople, with the result that the
ship was not steered onwards but sunk47 to the bottom.

Chapter XII.-How Valens Exiled the Virtuous Bishops. At the very time of the
baptism of Valens Eudoxius bound the unhappy man by an oath to abide in the
impiety of his doctrine, and to expel from every see the holders of contrary
opinions. Thus Valens abandoned the apostolic teaching, and went over to the
opposite faction; nor was it long before he fulfilled the rest of his oath; for
from Antioch he expelled the great Meletius, from Samosata the divine Eusebius,
and deprived Laodicea of her admirable shepherd Pelagius.48 Pelagius had taken
on him the yoke of wedlock when a very young man, and in the very bridal
chamber, on the first day of his nuptials, he persuaded his bride to prefer
chastity to conjugal intercourse, and taught her to accept fraternal affection
in the place of marriage union. Thus he gave all honour to temperance, and
possessed also within himself the sister virtues moving in tune with her, and
for these reasons he was unanimously chosen for the bishopric. Nevertheless not
even the bright beams of his life and conversation awed the enemy of the truth.
Him, too, Valens relegated to Arabia, the divine Meletius to Armenia, and
Eusebius, that unflagging labourer in apostolic work to Thrace. Unflagging he
was indeed, for when apprised that many churches were now deprived of their
shepherds, he travelled about Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, wearing the garb
of war and covering his head with a tiara, ordaining presbyters and deacons and
filling up the other ranks of the Church; and if haply he lighted on bishops
with like sentiments with his own, he appointed them to empty churches.

Chapter XIII.-Of Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, and Others. Of the courage and
prudence shewn by Eusebius after he had received the imperial edict which
commanded him to depart into Thrace, I think all who have been hitherto ignorant
should hear.49 The bearer of this edict reached his destination in the evening,
and was exhorted by Eusebius to keep silent and conceal the cause of his coming.
"For," said the bishop, "the multitude has been nurtured in divine zeal, and
should they learn why you have come they will drown you, and I shall be held
responsible for your death." After thus speaking and performing evening service,
as he was wont, the old man started out alone on foot, at nightfall. He confided
his intentions to one of his household servants who followed him carrying
nothing but a cushion and a book. When he had reached the bank of the river (for
the Euphrates runs along the very walls of the town) he embarked in a boat and
told the oarsmen to row to Zeugma.50 When it was day the bishop had reached
Zeugma, and Samosata was full of weeping and wailing, for the above mentioned
domestic reported the orders given him to the friends of Eusebius, and told them
whom he wished to travel with him, and what books they were to convey. Then all
the congregation bewailed the removal of their shepherd, and the stream of the
river was crowded with voyagers. When they came where he was, and saw their
beloved pastor, with lamentations and groanings they shed floods of tears, and
tried to persuade him to remain, and not abandon the sheep to the wolves. But
all was of no avail, and he read them the apostolic law which clearly bids us be
subjects to magistrates and authorities.51 When they had heard him some brought
him gold, some silver, some clothes, and others servants, as though he were
starting for some strange and distant land. The bishop refused to take anything
but some slight gifts from his more intimate friends, and then gave the whole
company his instruction and his prayers, and exhorted them to stand up boldly
for the apostolic decrees.

Then he set out for the Danube, while his friends returned to their own town,
and encouraged one another as they waited for the assaults of the wolves. In the
belief that I should be wronging them were the warmth and sincerity of their
faith to lack commemoration in my history I shall now proceed to describe it.
The Arian faction, after depriving the flock of their right excellent shepherd,
set up another bishop in his place; but not an inhabitant of the city, were he
herding in indigence or blazing in wealth, not a servant, not a handicraftsman,
not a hind, not a gardener, nor man nor woman, whether young or old, came, as
had been their wont, to gatherings in church. The new bishop lived all alone;
not a soul looked at him, or exchanged a word with him. Yet the report is that
he behaved with courteous moderation, of which the following instance is a
proof. On one occasion he had expressed a wish to bathe, so his servants shut
the doors of the bath, and kept out all who wished to come in. When he saw the
crowd before the doors he ordered them to be thrown open, and directed that
every one should freely use the bath. He exhibited the same conduct in the balls
within; for on observing certain men standing by him while he bathed he begged
them to share the hot water with him. They stood silent. Thinking their
hesitation was due to a respect for him, he quickly arose and made his way out,
but these persons had really been of opinion that even the water was affected
with the pollution of his heresy, and so sent it all down the sinks, while they
ordered a fresh supply to be provided for themselves. On being informed of this
the intruder departed from the city, for he judged that it was insensate and
absurd on his part to continue to reside in a city which detested him, and
treated him as a common foe. On the departure of Eunomius (for this was his
name) from Samosata, Lucius, an unmistakable wolf, and enemy of the sheep, was
appointed in his place. But the sheep, all shepherdless as they were, shepherded
themselves, and persistently preserved the apostolic doctrine in all its purity.
How the new intruder was detested the following relation will set forth.

Some lads were playing ball in the market place and enjoying the game, when
Lucius was passing by. It chanced that the ball was dropped and passed between
the feet of the ass. The boys raised an outcry because they thought that their
ball was polluted. On perceiving this Lucius told one of his suite to stop and
learn what was going on. The boys lit a fire and tossed the ball through the
flames with the idea that by so doing they purified it. I know indeed that this
was but a boyish act, and a survival of the ancient ways; but it is none the
less sufficient to prove in what hatred the town held the Arian faction.

Lucius however was no follower of the mildness of Eunomius, but persuaded the
authorities to exile many others of the clergy, and despatched the most
distinguished champions of the divine dogmas to the furthest confines of the
Roman Empire; Evolcius, a deacon, to Oasis, to an abandoned village; Antiochus,
who had the honour of being related to the great Eusebius, for he was his
brother's son, and further distinguished by his own honourable character, and of
priestly rank, to a distant part of Armenia. How boldly this Antiochus contended
for the divine decrees will be seen from the following facts. When the divine
Eusebius after his many conflicts, whereof each was a victory, had died a
martyr's death, the wonted synod of the people was held, and among others came
Jovinus then bishop of Perrha52 who for some little time had held a communion
with the Arians. Antiochus was unanimously chosen as successor to his uncle.
When brought before the holy table and bidden there to bend the knee, he turned
round and saw that Jovinus had put his right hand on his head. Plucking the hand
away he bade him be gone from among the consecrators, saying that he could not
endure a right hand which had received mysteries blasphemously celebrated.

These events happened somewhat later. At the time I am speaking of he was
removed to the interior of Armenia. The divine Eusebius was living by the Danube
where the Goths were ravaging Thrace and besieging cities, as is described in
his own works.

Chapter XIV.-Of the Holy Barses, and of the Exile of the Bishop of Edessa and
His Companions.

Barses, whose fame is now great not only in his own city of Edessa, and in
neighbouring towns, but in Phoenicia, in Egypt, and in the Thebaid, through all
which regions he had travelled with a high reputation won by his great virtue,
had been relegated by Valens to the island of Aradus,53 but when the emperor
learnt that innumerable multitudes streamed thither, because Barses was full of
apostolic grace, and drove out sicknesses with a word, he sent him to
Oxyrynchus54 in Egypt; but there too his fame drew all men to him, and the old
man, worthy of heaven, was led off to a remote castle near the country of the
barbarians of that district, by name Pheno. It is said that in Aradus his bed
has been preserved to this day, where it is held in very great honour, for many
sick persons lie down upon it and by means of their faith recover.

Chapter XV.-Of the Persecution Which Took Place at Edessa, and of Eulogius and
Protogenes, Presbyters of Edessa.

Now a second time Valens, after depriving the flock of their shepherd, had set
over them in his stead a wolf. The whole population had abandoned the city, and
were assembled in front of the town, when he arrived at Edessa. He had given
orders to the prefect, Modestus by name, to assemble the troops under his orders
who were accustomed to exact the tribute, to take all who were present of the
armed force, and by inflicting blows with sticks and clubs, and using if need be
their other weapons of war to disperse the gathering multitude. Early in the
morning, while the prefect was executing this order, on his way through the
Forum he saw a woman holding an infant in her arms, and hurrying along at great
speed. She had made light of the troops, and forced her way through their ranks:
for a soul fired with divine zeal knows no fear of man, and looks on terrors of
this kind as ridiculous sport. When the prefect saw her, and understood what had
happened, he ordered her to be brought before him, and enquired whither she was
going. "I have heard," said she, "that assaults are being planned against the
servants of the Lord; I want to join my friends in the faith that I may share
with them the slaughter inflicted by you." "But the baby," said the prefect,
"what in the world are you carrying that for?" "That it may share with me," said
she, "the death I long for." When the prefect had heard this from the woman and
through her means discovered the zeal which animated all the people, he made it
known to the emperor, and pointed out the uselessness of the intended massacre.
"We shall only reap," said he "a harvest of discredit from the deed, and shall
fail to quench these people's spirit." He then would not allow the multitude to
undergo the tortures which they had expected, and commanded their leaders, the
priests, I mean, and deacons, to be brought before him, and offered them a
choice of two alternatives, either to induce the flock to communicate with the
wolf, or be banished from the town to some remote region. Then he summoned the
mass of the people before him, and in gentle terms endeavoured to persuade them
to submit to the imperial decrees, urging that it was mere madness for a handful
of men who might soon be counted to withstand the sovereign of so vast an
empire. The crowd stood speechless. Then the prefect turned to their leader
Eulogius, an excellent man, and said, "Why do you make no answer to what you
have heard me say?" "I did not think," said Eulogius, "that I must answer, when
I had been asked no question." "But," said the prefect, "I have used many
arguments to urge you to a course advantageous to yourselves." Eulogius rejoined
that these pleas had been urged on all the multitude and that he thought it
absurd for him to push himself forward and reply; "but," he went on, "should you
ask me my individual opinion I will give it you." "Well," said the prefect,
"communicate with the emperor. With pleasant irony Eulogius continued, "Has he
then received the priesthood as well as the empire?" The prefect then perceiving
that he was not speaking seriously took it ill, and after heaping reproaches on
the old man, added, "I did not say so, you fool; I exhorted you to communicate
with those with whom the Emperor communicates." To this the old man replied that
they had a shepherd and obeyed his directions, and so eighty of them were
arrested, and exiled to Thrace. On their way thither they were everywhere
received with the greatest possible distinction, cities and villages coming out
to meet them and honouring them as victorious athletes. But envy armed their
antagonists to report to the emperor that what had been reckoned disgrace had
really brought great honour on these men; thereupon Valens ordered that they
were to be separated into pairs and sent in different directions, some to
Thrace, some to the furthest regions of Arabia, and others to the towns of the
Thebaid; and the saying was that those whom nature had joined together savage
men had put asunder, and divided brother from brother. Eulogius their leader
with Protogenes the next in rank, were relegated to Antinone.55

Even of these men I will not suffer the virtue to fall into oblivion. They found
that the bishop of the city was of like mind with themselves, and so took part
in the gatherings of the Church; but when they saw very small congregations, and
on enquiry learnt that the inhabitants of the city were pagans, they were
grieved, as was natural, and deplored their unbelief. But they did not think it
enough to grieve, but to the best of their ability devoted themselves to making
these men whole. The divine Eulogius, shut up in a little chamber, spent day and
night in putting up petitions to the God of the universe; and the admirable
Protogenes, who had received a good education56 and was practised in rapid
writing, pitched on a suitable spot which he made into a boys' school, and,
setting up for a schoolmaster, he instructed his pupils not only in the art of
swift penmanship, but also in the divine oracles. He taught them the psalms of
David and gave them to learn the most important articles of the apostolic
doctrine. One of the lads fell sick, and Protogenes went to his home, took the
sufferer by the hand and drove away the malady by prayer. When the parents of
the other boys heard this they brought him to their houses and entreated him to
succour the sick; but he refused to ask God for the expulsion of the malady
before the sick had received the gift of baptism; urged by their longing for the
children's health, the parents readily acceded, and won at last salvation both
for body and soul. In every instance where he persuaded any one in health to
receive the divine grace, he led him off to Eulogius, and knocking at the door
besought him to open, and put the seal of the Lord on the prey. When Eulogius
was annoyed at the interruption of his prayer, Protogenes used to say that it
was much more essential to rescue the wanderers. In this he was an object of
admiration to all who beheld his deeds, doing such wondrous works, imparting to
so many the light of divine knowledge and all the while yielding the first place
to another, and bringing his prizes to Eulogius. They rightly conjectured that
the virtue of Eulogius was by far the greater and higher. On the quieting of the
tempest and restoration of complete calm, they were ordered to return home, and
were escorted by all the people, wailing and weeping, and specially by the
bishop of the church, who was now deprived of their husbandry. When they reached
home, the great Barses had been removed to the life that knows no pain, and the
divine Eulogius was entrusted with the rudder of the church which he had
piloted;57 and to the excellent Protogenes was assigned the husbandry of
Charrae,58 a barren spot full of the thorns of heathendom and needing abundant
labour. But these events happened after peace was restored to the churches.

Chapter XVI.-Of the Holy Basilius, Bishop of Caesarea, and the Measures Taken
Against Him by Valens and the Prefect Modestus.

Valens, one might almost say, deprived every church of its shepherd, and set out
for the Cappadocian Caesarea,59 at that time the see of the great Basil, a light
of the world. Now he had sent the prefect before him with orders either to
persuade Basil to embrace the communion of Eudoxius, or, in the event of his
refusal, to punish him by exile. Previously acquainted as he was with the
bishop's high reputation, he was at first unwilling to attack him, for he was
apprehensive lest the bishop, by boldly meeting and withstanding his assault,
should furnish an example of bravery to the rest. This artful stratagem was as
ineffective as a spider's web. For the stories told of old were quite enough for
the rest of the episcopate, and they kept the wall of the faith unmoved like
bastions in the circle of its walls. The prefect, however, on his arrival at
Caesarea, sent for the great Basil. He treated him with respect, and, addressing
him with moderate and courteous language, urged him to yield to the exigencies
of the time, and not to forsake so many churches on account of a petty nicety of
doctrine. He moreover promised him the friendship of the emperor, and pointed
out that through it he might be the means of conferring great advantages upon
many. "This sort of talk," said the divine man, "is fitted for little boys, for
they and their like easily swallow such inducements. But they who are nurtured
by divine words will not suffer so much as a syllable of the divine creeds to be
let go, and for their sake are ready, should need require, to embrace every kind
of death. The emperor's friendship I hold to be of great value if conjoined with
true religion; otherwise I doom it for a deadly thing."

Then the prefect was moved to wrath, and declared that Basil was out of his
senses. "But," said the divine man, "this madness I pray be ever mine." The
bishop was then ordered to retire, to deliberate on the course to be pursued,
and on the morrow to declare to what conclusion he had come. Intimidation was
moreover joined with argument. The reply of the illustrious bishop is related to
have been "I for my part shall come to you tomorrow the same man that I am
today; do not yourself change, but carry out your threats." After these
discussions the prefect met the emperor and reported the conversation, pointing
out the bishop's virtue, and the undaunted manliness of his character. The
emperor said nothing and passed in. In his palace he saw that plagues from
heaven had fallen, for his son60 lay sick at the very gates of death and his
wife61 was beset by many ailments. Then he recognised the cause of these
sorrows, and entreated the divine man, whom he had threatened with chastisement,
to come to his house. His officers performed the imperial behests and then the
great Basil came to the palace.

After seeing the emperor's son on the point of death he promised him restoration
to life if he should receive holy baptism at the hands of the pious, and with
this pledge went his way. But the emperor, like the foolish Herod, remembered
his oath, and ordered some of the Arian faction who were present to baptize the
boy, who immediately died. Then Valens repented; he saw how fraught with danger
the keeping of his oath had been, and came to the divine temple and received the
teaching of the great Basil, and offered the customary gifts at the altar. The
bishop moreover ordered him to come within the divine curtains where he sat and
talked much with him about the divine decrees and in turn listened to him.

Now there was present a certain man of the name of Demosthenes,62 superintendent
of the imperial kitchen, who in rudely chiding the man who instructed the world
was guilty of a solecism of speech. Basil smiled and said "we see here an
illiterate Demosthenes;" and on Demosthenes losing his temper and uttering
threats, he continued "your business is to attend to the seasoning of soups; you
cannot understand theology because your ears are stopped up." So he said, and
the emperor was so delighted that he gave him some fine lands which he had there
for the poor under his care, for they being in grievous bodily affliction were
specially in need of care and cure. In this manner then the great Basil avoided
the emperor's first attack, but when he came a second time his better judgement
was obstructed by counsellors who deceived him; he forgot what had happened on
the former occasion and ordered Basil to go over to the hostile faction, and,
failing to persuade him, commanded the decree of exile to be enforced. But when
he tried to affix his signature to it he could not even form one tittle of a
word,63 for the pen broke, and when the same thing happened to the second and to
the third pen, and he still strove to sign that wicked edict, his hand shook; he
quaked, his soul was filled with fright; he tore the paper with both his hands,
and so proof was given by the Ruler of the world that it was He Himself who had
permitted these sufferings to be undergone by the rest, but had made Basil
stronger than the snares laid against him, and, by all the incidents of Basil's
case, had declared His own almighty power, while on the other hand He had
proclaimed abroad the courage of good men. Thus Valens was disappointed in his
attack.

Chapter XVII.-Of the Death of the Great Athanasius and the Election of Petrus.
At Alexandria, Athanasius the victorious, after all his struggles, each rewarded
with a crown, received release from his labours and passed away to the life
which knows no toil. Then Peter, a right excellent man, received the see. His
blessed predecessor had first selected him, and every suffrage alike of the
clergy and of men of rank and office concurred, and all the people strove to
show their delight by their acclamations. He had shared the heavy labours of
Athanasius; at home and abroad he had been ever at his side, and with him had
undergone manifold perils. Wherefore the bishops of the neighbourhood hastened
to meet; and those who dwelt in schools of ascetic discipline left them and
joined the company, and all joined in begging that Peter might be chosen to
succeed to the patriarchal chair of Athanasius.64 Chapter XVIII.-On the
Overthrow of Petrus and the Introduction of Lucius the Arian. No sooner had they
seated him on the episcopal throne than the governor of the province assembled a
mob of Greeks and Jews, surrounded the walls of the church,65 and bade Peter
come forth, threatening him with exile if he refused. He thus acted on the plea
that he was fulfilling the emperor's good pleasure by bringing those of opposite
sentiments into trouble, but the truth was that be was carried away by his
impious passion. For be was addicted to the service of the idols, and looked
upon the storms which beset the Church as a season of brilliant festivity. The
admirable Peter, however, when he beheld the unforeseen conflict, secretly
withdrew, and embarked in a vessel bound for Rome.

After a few days Euzoius came from Antioch with Lucius, and handed over the
churches to him. This was he of whose impiety and lawlessness Samosata had
already had experience. But the people nurtured in the teaching of Athanasius,
when they now saw how different was the spiritual food offered them, held aloof
from the assemblies of the Church.

Lucius, who employed idolators as his attendants, went on scourging some,
imprisoning others; some he drove to take to flight, others' homes he rifled in
rude and cruel fashion. But all this is better set forth in the letter of the
admirable Peter. After recounting an instance of the impious conduct of Lucius I
shall insert the letter in this work.

Certain men in Egypt, of angelic life and conversation, fled from the disquiet
of the state and chose to live in solitude in the wilderness. There they made
the sandy and barren soil bear fruit; for a fruit right sweet and fair to God
was the virtue by whose law they lived. Among many who took the lead in this
mode of life was the far-famed Antonius, most excellent master in the school of
mortification, who made the desert a training place of virtue for his hermits.
He after all his great and glorious labours had reached the haven where the
winds of trouble blow no more, and then his followers were persecuted by the
wretched and unhappy Lucius. All the leaders of those divine companies, the
famous Macarius, his namesake, Isidorus, and the rest66 were dragged out of
their caves and despatched to a certain island inhabited by impious men, and
never blessed with any teacher of piety. When the ship drew near to the shore of
the island the demon reverenced by its inhabitants departed from the image which
had been his time-old home, and filled with frenzy the daughter of the priest.
She was driven in her inspired fury to the shore where the rowers were bringing
the ship to land. Making the tongue of the girl his instrument, the demon
shouted out through her the words uttered at Philippi by the woman possessed
with the spirit of Python,67 and was heard by all, both men and women, saying,
"Alas for your power, ye servants of the Christ; everywhere we have been driven
forth by you from town and hamlet, from hill and height, from wastes where no
men dwell; in yon islet we had hoped to live out of the reach of your shafts,
but our hope was vain; hither you have been sent by your persecutors, not to be
harmed by them, but to drive us out. We are quitting the island, for we are
being wounded by the piercing rays of your virtue." With these words, and words
like these, they dashed the damsel to the ground, and themselves all fled
together. But that divine company prayed over the girl and raised her up, and
delivered her to her father made whole and in her right mind. The spectators of
the miracle flung themselves at the feet of the new comers and implored to be
allowed to participate in the means of salvation. They destroyed the idol's
grove, and, illuminated by the bright rays of instruction, received the grace of
holy baptism. On these events becoming known in Alexandria all the people met
together, reviling Lucius, and saying that wrath from God would fall upon them,
were not that divine company of saints to be set free. Then Lucius, apprehensive
of a tumult in the city, suffered the holy hermits to go back to their dens. Let
this suffice to give a specimen of his impious iniquity. The sinful deeds he
dared to do will be more clearly set forth by the letter of the admirable Peter.
I hesitate to insert it at full length, and so will only quote some extracts
from it.

Chapter XIX.-Narrative of Events at Alexandria in the Time of Lucius the Arian,
Taken from a Letter of Petrus, Bishop of Alexandria.

Palladius governor of the province, by sect a heathen,68 and one who habitually
prostrated himself before the idols, had frequently entertained the thought of
waging war against Christ. After collecting the forces already enumerated he set
out against the Church, as though he were pressing forward to the subjugation of
a foreign foe. Then, as is well known, the most shocking deeds were done, and at
the bare thought of telling the story, its recollection fills me with anguish. I
have shed floods of tears, and I should have long remained thus bitterly
affected had I not assuaged my grief by divine meditation. The crowds intruded
into the church called Theonas69 and there instead of holy words were uttered
the praises of idols; there where the Holy Scriptures had been read might be
heard unseemly clapping of hands with unmanly and indecent utterances; there
outrages were offered to the Virgins of Christ which the tongue refuses to
utter, for "it is a shame even to speak of them."70 On only hearing of these
wrongs one of the well disposed stopped his ears and prayed that he might rather
become deaf than have to listen to their foul language. Would that they had been
content to sin in word alone, and had not surpassed the wickedness of word by
deed, for insult, however bad it be, can be borne by them in whom dwells
Christ's wisdom and His holy lessons. But these same villains, vessels of wrath
fitted for destruction,71 screwed up their noses and poured out, if I may so
say, as from a well-head, foul noises through their nostrils, and rent the
raiment from Christ's holy virgins, whose conversation gave an exact likeness of
saints; they dragged them in triumph, naked as when they were born, through all
the town; they made indecent sport of them at their pleasure; their deeds were
barbarous and cruel. Did any one in pity interfere and urge to mercy he was
dismissed with wounds. Ah! woe is me. Many a virgin underwent brutal violation;
many a maid beaten on the head, with clubs lay dumb, and even their bodies were
not allowed to be given up for burial, and their grief-stricken parents cannot
find their corpses to this day. But why recount woes which seem small when
compared with greater? Why linger over these and not hurry on to events more
urgent? When you hear them I know that you will wonder and will stand with us
long dumb, amazed at the kindness of the Lord in not bringing all things utterly
to an end. At the very altar the impious perpetrated what, as it is written,72
neither happened nor was heard of in the days of our fathers. A boy who had
forsworn his sex and would pass for a girl, with eyes, as it is written, smeared
with antimony,73 and face reddened with rouge like their idols, in woman's
dress, was set up to dance and wave his hands about and whirl round as though he
had been at the front of some disreputable stage, on the holy altar itself where
we call on the coming of the Holy Ghost, while the by-standers laughed aloud and
rudely raised unseemly shouts. But as this seemed to them really rather decorous
than improper, they went on to proceedings which they reckoned in accordance
with their indecency; they picked out a man who was very famous for utter
baseness, made him strip off at once all his clothes and all his shame, and set
him up as naked as he was born on the throne of the church, and dubbed him a
vile advocate against Christ. Then for divine words he uttered shameless
wickedness, for awful doctrines wanton lewdness, for piety impiety, for
continence fornication, adultery, foul lust, theft; teaching that gluttony and
drunkenness as well as all the rest were good for man's life.74 In this state of
things when even I had withdrawn from the church75 -for how could I remain where
troops were coming in-where a mob was bribed to violence-where all were striving
for gain-where mobs of heathen were making mighty promises?-forth, forsooth, is
sent a successor in my place. It was one named Lucius, who had bought the
bishopric as he might some dignity of this world, eager to maintain the bad
character and conduct of a wolf.76 No synod of orthodox bishops had chosen
him;77 no vote of genuine clergy; no laity had demanded him; as the laws of the
church enjoin.

Lucius could not make his entrance into the city without parade, and so he was
appropriately escorted not by bishops, not by presbyters, not by deacons, not by
multitudes of the laity; no monks preceded him chanting psalms from the
Scriptures; but there was Euzoius, once a deacon of our city of Alexandria, and
long since degraded along with Arius in the great and holy synod of Nicaea, and
more recently raised to rule and ravage the see of Antioch, and there, too, was
Magnus the treasurer,78 notorious for every kind of impiety, leading a vast body
of troops. In the reign of Julian this Magnus had burnt the church at Berytus,79
the famous city of Phoenicia; and, in the reign of Jovian of blessed memory,
after barely escaping decapitation by numerous appeals to the imperial
compassion, had been compelled to build it up again at his own expense.

Now I invoke your zeal to rise in our vindication. From what I write you ought
to be able to calculate the character and extent of the wrongs committed against
the Church of God by the starting up of this Lucius to oppose us. Often rejected
by your piety and by the orthodox bishops or every region, he seized on a city
which had just and righteous cause to regard and treat him as a foe. For he does
not merely say like the blasphemous fool in the psalms "Christ is not true
God."80 But, corrupt himself, he corrupted others, rejoicing in the blasphemies
uttered continually against the Saviour by them who worshipped the creature
instead of the Creator. The scoundrel's opinions being quite on a par with those
of a heathen, why should he not venture to worship a new-made God, for these
were the phrases with which he was publicly greeted "Welcome, bishop, because
thou deniest the Son. Serapis loves thee and has brought thee to us." So they
named their native idol. Then without an interval of delay the afore-named
Magnus, inseparable associate in the villainy of Lucius, cruel body-guard,
savage lieutenant, collected together all the multitudes committed to his care,
and arrested presbyters and deacons to the number of nineteen, some of whom were
eighty years of age, on the charge of being concerned in some foul violation of
Roman law. He constituted a public tribunal, and, in ignorance of the laws of
Christians in defence of virtue, endeavoured to compel them to give up the faith
of their fathers which had been handed down from the apostles through the
fathers to us. He even went so far as to maintain that this would be gratifying
to the most merciful and clement Valens Augustus. "Wretched man" he shouted
"accept, accept the doctrine of the Arians; God will pardon you even though you
worship with a true worship, if you do this not of your own accord but because
you are compelled. There is always a defence for irresponsible compulsion, while
free action is responsible and much followed by accusation. Consider well these
arguments; come willingly; away with all delay; subscribe the doctrine of Arius
preached now by Lucius," (so he introduced him by name) "being well assured that
if you obey you will have wealth and honour from your prince, while if you
refuse you will be punished by chains, rack, torture, scourge and cruel
torments; you will be deprived of your property and possessions; you will be
driven into exile and condemned to dwell in savage regions."

Thus this noble character mixed intimidation with deceit and so endeavoured to
persuade and compel the people to apostatise from true religion. They however
knew full well how true it is that the pain of treachery to right religion is
sharper than any torment; they refused to lower their virtue and noble spirit to
his trickery and threats, and were thus constrained to answer him. "Cease, cease
trying to frighten us with these words, utter no more vain words. We worship no
God of late arrival or of new invention. Foam at us if you will in the vain
tempest of your fury and dash yourselves against us like a furious wind. We
abide by the doctrines of true religion even unto death; we have never regarded
God as impotent, or as unwise, or untrue, as at one time a Father and at another
not a Father, as this impious Arian teaches, making the Son a being of time and
transitory. For if, as the Ariomaniacs say, the Son is a creature, not being
naturally of one substance with the Father, the Father too will be reduced to
non-existence by the nonexistence of the Son, not being as they assert at one
period a Father. But if He is ever a Father, his offspring being truly of Him,
and not by derivation, for God is impassible, how is not he mad and foolish who
says of the Son through whom all things came by grace into existence, "there was
a time when he was not."

These men have truly become fatherless by falling away from our fathers
throughout the world who assembled at Nicaea, and anathematized the false
doctrine of Arius, now defended by this later champion. They laid down that the
Son was not as you are now compelling us to say, of a different substance from
the Father, but of one and the same. This their pious intelligence clearly
perceived, and so from an adequate collation of divine terms they owned Him to
be consubstantial.

Advancing these and other similar arguments, they were imprisoned for many days
in the hope that they might be induced to fall away from their right mind, but
the rather, like the noblest of the athletes in a Stadium, they crushed all
fear, and from time to time as it were anointing themselves with the thought of
the bold deeds done by their fathers, through the help of holy thoughts
maintained a nobler constancy in piety, and treated the rack as a training place
for virtue. While they were thus struggling, and had become, as writes the
blessed Paul, a spectacle to angels and to men,81 the whole city ran up to gaze
at Christ's athletes, vanquishing by stout endurance the scourges of the judge
who was torturing them, winning by patience trophies against impiety, and
exhibiting triumphs against Arians. So their savage enemy thought that by
threats and torments he could subdue and deliver them to the enemies of Christ.
Thus therefore the savage and inhuman tyrant evilly entreated them by inflicting
on them the tortures that his cruel ingenuity devised, while all the people
stood wailing and shewing their sorrow in various ways. Then he once more
mustered his troops, who were disciplined in disorder, and summoned the martyrs
to trial, or as it might rather be called, to a foregone condemnation, by the
seaport, while after their fashion hired cries were raised against them by the
idolaters and the Jews. On their refusal to yield to the manifest heresy of the
Ariomaniacs they were sentenced, while all the people stood in tears before the
tribunal, to be deported from Alexandria to the Phoenician Heliopolis,82 a place
where none of the inhabitants, who are all given over to idols, can endure so
much as to hear the name of Christ.

After giving them the order to embark, Magnus stationed himself at the port, for
he had delivered his sentence against them in the neighbourhood of the public
baths. He showed them his sword unsheathed, thinking that he could thus strike
terror into men who had again and again smitten hostile demons to the ground
with their two-edged blade. So he bade them put out to sea, though they had got
no provisions on board, and were starting without one single comfort for their
exile. Strange and almost incredible to relate, the sea was all afoam; grieved,
I think, and unwilling, if I may so say, to receive the good men upon its
surface, and so have part or lot in an unrighteous sentence. Now even to the
ignorant was made manifest the savage purpose of the judge and it may truly be
said "at this, the heavens stood astonished."83 The whole city groaned, and is
lamenting to this day. Some men beating on their breast with one hand after
another raised a mighty noise; others lifted up at once their hands and eyes to
heaven in testimony of the wrong inflicted on them, and so saying in all but
words, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,"84 what unlawful deeds are being
done. Now all was weeping and wailing; singing and sighing sounded through all
the town, and from every eye flowed a river of tears which threatened to
overwhelm the very sea with its tide. There was the aforesaid Magnus on the port
ordering the rowers to hoist the sails, and up went a mingled cry of maids and
matrons, old men and young, all sobbing and lamenting together, and the noise of
the multitude overwhelmed the roar raised by the waves on the foaming sea. So
the martyrs sailed off for Heliopolis, where every man is given over to
superstition,85 where flourish the devil's ways of pleasure, and where the
situation of the city, surrounded on all sides by mountains that approach the
sky, is fitted for the terrifying lairs of wild beasts. All the friends they
left behind now alike in public in the middle of the town and each in private
apart groaned and uttered words of grief, and were even forbidden to weep, at
the order of Palladius, prefect of the city, who happened himself to be a man
quite given over to superstition. Many of the mourners were first arrested and
thrown into prison, and then scourged, torn with carding combs, tortured, and,
champions as they were of the church in their holy enthusiasm, were despatched
to the mines of Phennesus86 and Proconnesus.87

Most of them were monks, devoted to a life of ascetic solitude, and were about
twenty-three in number. Not long afterwards the deacon who had been sent by our
beloved Damasus, bishop of Rome, to bring us letters of consolation and
communion, was led publicly through the town by executioners, with his hands
tied behind his back like some notorious criminal. After sharing the tortures
inflicted on murderers, he was terribly scourged with stones and bits of lead
about his very neck.88 He went on board ship to sail, like the rest, with the
mark of the sacred cross upon his brow; with none to aid and none to tempt him
he was despatched to the copper mines of Phennesus. During the tortures
inflicted by the magistrate on the tender bodies of little boys, some have been
left lying on the spot deprived of holy rites of burial, though parents and
brothers and kinsfolk, and indeed the whole city, begged that this one
consolation might be given them. But alas for the inhumanity of the judge, if
indeed he can be called judge who only condemns! They who had contended nobly
for the true religion were assigned a worse fate than a murderer's, their bodies
lying, as they did, unburied. The glorious champions were thrown to be devoured
by beasts and birds of prey.89 Those who were anxious for conscience' sake to
express sympathy with the parents were punished by decapitation, as though they
had broken some law. What Roman law, nay what foreign sentiment, ever inflicted
punishment for the expression of sympathy with parents? What instance is there
of the perpetration of so illegal a deed by any one of the ancients? The male
children of the Hebrews were indeed once ordered to be slain by Pharaoh, but his
edict was suggested by envy and by fear. How far greater the inhumanity of our
day than of his. How preferable, if there be a choice in unrighteousness, their
wrongs to ours. How much better; if what is illegal can be called good or bad,
though in truth iniquity is always iniquity.

I am writing what is incredible, inhuman, awful, savage, barbarous, pitiless,
cruel. But in all this the votaries of the Arian madness pranced, as it were,
with proud exultation, while the whole city was lamenting; for, as it is written
in Exodus, "there was not a house in which there was not one dead."90 The men
whose appetite for iniquity was never satisfied planned new agitation. Ever
wreaking their evil will in evil deeds, they darted the peculiar venom of their
iniquity at the bishops of the province, using the aforesaid treasurer Magnus as
the instrument of their unrighteousness.

Some they delivered to the Senate, some they trapped at their good pleasure,
leaving no stone unturned in their anxiety to hunt in all from every quarter to
impiety, going about in all directions, and like the devil, the proper father of
heresy, they sought whom they might devour.91 In all, after many fruitless
efforts, they drove into exile to Dio-Caesarea,92 a city inhabited by Jews,
murderers of the Lord, eleven of the bishops of Egypt, all of them men who from
childhood to old age had lived an ascetic life in the desert, had subdued their
inclinations to pleasure by reason and by discipline, had fearlessly preached
the true faith of piety, had imbibed the pious doctrines, had again and again
won victory against demons, were ever putting the adversary out of countenance
by their virtue, and publicly posting the Arian heresy by wisest argument. Yet
like Hell,93 not satisfied with the death of their brethren, fools and madmen as
they were, eager to win a reputation by their evil deeds, they tried to leave
memorials in all the world of their own cruelty. For lo now they roused the
imperial attention against certain clerics of the catholic church who were
living at Antioch, together with some excellent monks who came forward to
testify against their evil deeds. They got these men banished to Neocaesarea94
in Pontus, where they were soon deprived of life in consequence of the sterility
of the country. Such tragedies were enacted at this period, fit indeed to be
consigned to silence and oblivion, but given a place in history for the
condemnation of the men who wag their tongues against the Only begotten, and
infected as they were with the raving madness of blasphemy, strive not only to
aim their shafts at the Master of the universe, but further waged a truceless
war against His faithful servants.

Chapter XX.-Of Mavia,95 Queen of the Saracens, and the Ordination96 Of Moses the
Monk. At this time97 the Ishmaelites were devastating the country in the
neighbourhood of the Roman frontier. They were led by Mavia, a princess who
regarded not the sex which nature had given her, and displayed the spirit and
courage of a man. After many engagements she made a truce, and, on receiving the
light of divine knowledge, begged that to the dignity of high priest of her
tribe might be advanced one, Moses by name, who dwelt on the confines of Egypt
and Palestine. This request Valens granted, and ordered the holy man to be
conveyed to Alexandria, and there, as the most convenient place in the
neighbourhood, to receive episcopal grace. When he had arrived and saw Lucius
endeavouring to lay hands on him-"God forbid" said he "that I should be ordained
by thine hand: the grace of the Spirit visits us not at thy calling." "Whence,"
said Lucius, "are you led to conjecture this?" He rejoined "I am not speaking of
conjecture but of clear knowledge; for thou fightest against the apostolic
decrees, and speakest words against them, and for thy blasphemous utterances thy
lawless deeds are a match. For what impious man has not on thy account mocked
the meetings of the Church? What excellent man has not been exiled? What
barbarous savagery is not thrown into the shade by thy daily deeds?" So the
brave man said, and the murderer heard him and desired to slay him, but was
afraid of kindling once again the war which had come to an end. Wherefore he
ordered other bishops to be produced whom Moses had requested. After receiving
the episcopal grace of the right worthy faith Moses returned to the people who
had asked for him, and by his apostolic teaching and miracles led them in the
way that leads to truth.98 These then were the deeds done by Lucius in
Alexandria under the dispensation of the providence of God.

Chapter XXI. At Constantinople the Arians filled a boat with pious presbyters
and drove her without ballast out to sea, putting some of their own men on
another craft with orders to set the presbyters boat on fire. So, fighting at
the same time against both sea and flames, at last they were delivered to the
deep, and won the martyrs crown. At Antioch Valens spent a considerable time,
and gave complete license to all who, under cover of the Christian name, pagans,
Jews and the rest, preached doctrines contrary to those of the gospel. The
slaves of this error even went so far as to perform pagan rites, and thus the
deceitful fire which, after Julian, had been quenched by Jovian, was now
rekindled by permission of Valens. The rites of Jews, of Dionysus, and of
Demeter were now no longer performed in a corner, as they would be in a pious
reign, but by revellers running wild in the forum. Valens was a foe to none but
them that held the apostolic doctrine. First he drove them from their churches,
the illustrious Jovian having given them also the new built church. And when
they assembled close up to the mountain cliff to honour their Master in hymns,
and enjoy the word of God, putting up with all the assaults of the weather, now
of rain, now of snow and cold, and now of violent heat, they were not even
suffered this poor protection, and troops were sent to scatter them far and
wide.

Chapter XXII.-How Flavianus and Diodorus Gathered the Church of the Orthodox in
Antioch.

Now Flavianus and Diodorus, like break-waters, broke the force of the advancing
waves. Meletius their shepherd had been constrained to sojourn far away. But
these looked after the flock, opposing their own courage and cunning to the
wolves, and bestowing due care upon the sheep. Now that they were driven away
from under the cliff they fed their flocks by the banks of the neighbouring
river. They could not brook, like the captives at Babylon, to hang their harps
upon the willows,99 but they continued to hymn their maker and benefactor in all
places of his dominion.100 But not even in this spot was the meeting of the
pious pastors of them that blessed the Lord suffered by the foe to be assembled.
So again this pair of excellent shepherds gathered their sheep in the soldiers
training ground and there tried to show them their spiritual food in secret.
Diodorus, in his wisdom and courage, like a clear and mighty river, watered his
own and drowned the blasphemies of his opponents, thinking nothing of the
splendour of his birth, and gladly undergoing the sufferings of the faith. The
excellent Flavianus, who was also of the highest rank, thought piety the only
nobility,101 and, like some trainer for the games, anointed the great
Diodorus102 as though he had been an athlete for five contests.103 At that time
he did not himself preach at the services of the church, but furnished an
abundant supply of arguments and scriptural thoughts to preachers, who were thus
able to aim their shafts at the blasphemy of Arius, while he as it were handed
them the arrows of his intelligence from a quiver. Discoursing alike at home and
abroad he easily rent asunder the heretics nets and showed their defences to be
mere spiders webs. He was aided in these contests by that Aphraates whose life I
have written in my Religious History,104 and who, preferring the welfare of the
sheep to his own rest, abandoned his cell of discipline and retirement, and
undertook the hard toil of a shepherd. Having written on these matters in
another work I deem it now superfluous to recount the wealth of virtue which he
amassed, but one specimen of his good deeds I will proceed now to relate, as
specially appropriate to this history.

Chapter XXIII.-Of the Holy Monk Aphraates. On the north of the river Orontes
lies the palace. On the South a vast two storied portico is built on the city
wall with lofty towers on either side. Between the palace and the river lies a
public way open to passengers from the town, through the gate in this quarter,
and leading to the country in the suburbs. The godly Aphraates was once passing
along this thoroughfare on his way to the soldiers training ground, in order to
perform the duty of serving his flock. The emperor happened to be looking down
from a gallery in the palace, and saw him going by wearing a cloak of undressed
goat's skin,105 and walking rapidly, though of advanced age. On its being
remarked that this was Aphraates to whom all the town was then attached, the
emperor cried out "Where are you going? Tell us." Readily and cleverly he
answered "To pray for your empire." "You had better stop at home" said the
emperor "and pray alone like a monk." "Yes," said the divine man, "so I was
bound to do and so I always did till now, as long as the Saviour's sheep were at
peace; but now that they are grievously disturbed and in great peril of being
caught by beasts, I needs must leave no means untried to save the nurslings. For
tell me, sir, had I been a girl sitting in my chamber, and looking after the
house, and had seen a flash of flame fall and my father's house on fire, what
ought I to do? Tell me; sit within and never mind the house being on fire, and
wait for the flame to approach? or bid my bower good bye and run up and down and
get water and try to quench the flame? Of course you will say the latter, for so
a quick and spirited girl would do. And that is what I am doing now, sir. You
have set fire to our Father's house and we are running about in the endeavour to
put it out." So said Aphraates, and the emperor threatened him and said no more.
One of the grooms of the imperial bedchamber, who threatened the godly man
somewhat more violently, met with the following fate. He was entrusted with the
charge of the bath, and immediately after this conversation he came down to get
it ready for the emperor. On entering he lost his wits, stepped into the boiling
water before it was mixed with the cold, and so met his end. The emperor sat
waiting for him to announce that the bath was ready for him to enter, and after
a considerable time had gone by he sent other officers to report the cause of
the delay. After they had gone in and looked all about the room they discovered
the chamberlain slain by the heat, and lying dead in the boiling water. On this
becoming known to the emperor they perceived the force of the prayers of
Aphraates. Nevertheless they did not depart from the impious doctrines but
hardened their heart like Pharaoh, and the infatuated emperor, though made aware
of the miracle of the holy man, persisted in his mad rage against piety.

Chapter XXIV.-Of the Holy Monk Julianus. At this time too the celebrated
Julianus, whom I have already mentioned, was forced to leave the desert and come
to Antioch, for when the foster children of lies, the facile framers of calumny,
I mean of course the Arians, were maintaining that this great man was of their
faction, those lights of the truth Flavianus, Diodorus, and Aphraates sent
Acacius,106 an athlete of virtue who afterwards very wisely ruled the church at
Beroea, to the famous Julianus107 with the entreaty that he would take pity on
so many thousands of men, and at the same time convict the enemy of lies and
confirm the proclamation of the truth. The miracles worked by Julianus on his
way to and from Antioch and in that vast city itself are described in my
Religious History, which is easily accessible to all who wish to become
acquainted with them. But I am sure that no one who has enquired into human
nature will doubt that he attracted all the population of the city to our
assembly, for the extraordinary is generally sure to draw all men after it. The
fact of his having wrought great marvels is attested even by the enemies of the
truth.

Before this time in the reign of Constantius the great Antonius108 had acted in
the same way in Alexandria, for he abandoned the desert and went up and down
that city, telling all men that Athanasius was the preacher of the true doctrine
and that the Arian faction were enemies of the truth. So those godly men knew
how to adapt themselves to each particular opportunity, when to remain inactive,
and at rest, and when to leave the deserts for towns.

Chapter XXV.-Of What Other Monks Were Distinguished at This Period.

There were also other then at this period who emitted the bright rays of the
philosophy of solitary life. In the Chalcidian109 desert Avitus, Marcianus110
and Abraames,111 and more besides whom I cannot easily enumerate, strove in
their bodies of sense to live a life superior to sense. In the district of
Apamea,112 Agapetus,113 Simeon,114 Paulus and others reaped the fruits of the
highest wisdom. In the district of the Zeugmatenses115 were Publius116 and
Paulus. In the Cyrestian117 the famous Acepsemas had been shut up in a cell for
sixty years without being either seen or spoken to. The admirable Zeumatius,
though bereft of sight, used to go about confirming the sheep, and fighting with
the wolves; so they burnt his cell, but the right faithful general Trajanus got
another built for him, and paid him besides other attentions. In the
neighbourhood of Antioch, Marianus,118 Eusebius,119 Ammianus,120 Palladius,121
Simeon,122 Abraames,123 and others, preserved the divine image unimpaired; but
of all these the lives have been recorded by us. But the mountain which is in
the neighbourhood of the great city was decked like a meadow, for in it shone
Petrus, the Galatian, his namesake the Egyptian, Romanus Severus,124 Zeno,125
Moses, and Malchus,126 and many others of whom the world is ignorant, but who
are known to God.

Chapter XXVI.-Of Didymus of Alexandria and Ephraim the Syrian. At that period at
Edessa flourished the admirable Ephraim, and at Alexandria Didymus,127 both
writers against the doctrines that are at variance with the truth. Ephraim,
employing the Syrian language, shed beams of spiritual grace. Totally untainted
as he was by heathen education128 he was able to expose the niceties of heathen
error, and lay bare the weakness of all heretical artifices. Harmonius129 the
son of Bardesanes130 had once composed certain songs and by mixing sweetness of
melody with his impiety beguiled the hearers, and led them to their destruction.
Ephraim adopted the music of the songs, but set them to piety, and so gave the
hearers at once great delight and a healing medicine. These songs are still used
to enliven the festivals of our victorious martyrs.

Didymus, however, who from a child had been deprived of the sense of sight, had
been educated in poetry, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, the logic of
Aristotle, and the eloquence of Plato. Instruction in all these subjects he
received by the sense of hearing alone,-not indeed as conveying the truth, but
as likely to be weapons for the truth against falsehood. Of holy scriptures he
learnt not only the sound but the sense. So among livers of ascetic lives and
students of virtue, these men at that time were conspicuous.

Chapter XXVII.-Of What Bishops Were at This Time Distinguished in Asia and
Pontus.

Among the bishops were the two Gregorii, the one of Nazianzus131 and the other
of Nyssa,132 the latter the brother and the former the friend and fellow worker
of the great Basilius. These were foremost champions of piety in Cappadocia; and
in front rank with them was Peter, born of the same parents with Basilius and
Gregorius, who though not having received like them a foreign education, like
them lived a life of brilliant distinction. In Pisidia Optimus,133 in Lycaonia
Amphilochius,134 fought in the front rank on behalf of their fathers faith, and
repelled tim enemies assaults. In the West Damasus,135 Bishop of Rome, and
Ambrosius, entrusted with the government of Milan, smote those who attacked them
from afar. In conjunction with these, bishops forced to dwell in remote regions,
confirmed their friends and undid their foes by writings-thus pilots able to
cope with the greatness of the storm were granted by the governor of the
universe. Against the violence of the foe He set in battle array the virtue of
His captains, and provided means meet to ward off the troubles of these
difficult times, and not only were the churches granted this kind of protection
by their loving Lord, but deemed worthy of yet another kind of guidance.

Chapter XXVIII.-Of the Letter Written by Valens to the Great Valentinianus About
the War, and How He Replied. The Lord roused the Goths to war, and drew on to
the Bosphorus him who knew only how to fight against the pious. Then for the
first time the vain than became aware of his own weakness, and sent to his
brother to ask for troops. But Valentinian replied that it were impious to help
one fighting against God, and right rather to check his rashness. By this the
unhappy man was filled with yet greater infatuation, yet he did not withdraw
from his rash undertaking, and persisted in ranging himself against the
truth.136 Chapter XXIX.-Of the Piety of Count Terentius.

Terentius, an excellent general, distinguished for his piety, had set up
trophies of victory and returned from Armenia. On being ordered by Valens to
choose a boon, he mentioned one which it was becoming in a man nurtured in piety
to choose, for he asked not gold nor yet silver, not land, not dignity, not a
house, but that one church might be granted to them that were risking their all
for the Apostolic doctrine. Valens received the petition, but on becoming
acquainted with its contents he tore it up in a rage, and bade Terentius beg
some other boon. The count, however, picked up the pieces of his petition, and
said, "I have my reward, sir, and I will not ask another. The Judge of all
things is Judge of my intention."

Chapter XXX.-Of the Bold Utterance of Trajanus the General.

After Valens had crossed the Bosphorus and come into Thrace he first spent a
considerable time at Constantinople, in alarm as to the issue of the war. He had
sent Trajanus in command of troops against the barbarians. When the general came
back beaten, the emperor reviled him sadly, and charged him with infirmity and
cowardice. Boldly, as became a brave man, Trajanus replied: "I have not been
beaten, sir, it is thou who hast abandoned the victory by fighting against God
and transferring His support to the barbarians. Attacked by thee He is taking
their side, for victory is on God's side and comes to them whom God leads. Dost
thou not know," he went on, "whom thou hast expelled from their churches and to
whose government these churches have been delivered by thee?" Arintheus and
Victor,137 generals like Trajanus, confirmed the truth of what he said, and
implored the emperor not to be angered by reproaches which were founded upon
fact.138 Chapter XXXI.-Of Isaac139 The Monk of Constantinople and Bretanio the
Scythian Bishop.

It is related that Isaac, who lived as a solitary at Constantinople, when he saw
Valens marching out with his troops, cried aloud, "Whither goest thou, O
emperor? To fight against God, instead of having Him as thy ally? 'Tis God
himself who has roused the barbarians against thee, because thou hast stirred
many tongues to blasphemy against Him and hast driven His worshippers from their
sacred abodes. Cease then thy campaigning and stop the war. Give back to the
flocks their excellent shepherds and thou shalt win victory without trouble, but
if thou tightest without so doing thou shalt learn by experience how hard it is
to kick against the pricks.140 Thou shalt never come back and shalt destroy thy
army." Then in a passion the emperor rejoined, "I shall come back; and I will
kill thee, and so exact punishment for thy lying prophecy." But Isaac undismayed
by the threat exclaimed, "If what I say be proved false, kill me."

Bretanio, a man distinguished by various virtues, and entrusted with the
episcopal government of all the cities of Scythia, fired his soul with
enthusiasm, and protested against the corruption of doctrines, and the emperor's
lawless attacks upon the saints, crying in the words of the godly David, "I
spoke of thy testimonies also before Kings and was not ashamed."141 Chapter
XXXII.-Of the Expedition of Valens Against the Garbs and How He Paid the Penalty
of His Impiety.

Valens, however, spurned these excellent counsellors, and sent out his troops to
join battle while he himself sat waiting in a hamlet for the victory. His troops
could not stand against the barbarians' charge, turned tail and were slain one
after another as they fled, the Romans fleeing at full speed and the barbarians
chasing them with all their might. When Valens heard of the defeat he strove to
conceal himself in the village where he lay, but when the barbarians came up
they set the place on fire and together with it burnt the enemy of piety. Thus
in this present life Valens paid the penalty of his errors.142 Chapter
XXXIII.-How the Goths Became Tainted by the Arian Error. To those ignorant of
the circumstances it may be worth while to explain how the Goths got the Arian
plague. After they had crossed the Danube, and made peace with Valens, the
infamous Eudoxius, who was on the spot, suggested to the emperor to persuade the
Goths to accept communion with him. They had indeed long since received the rays
of divine knowledge and had been nurtured in the apostolic doctrines, "but now,"
said Eudoxius, "community of opinion will make the peace all the firmer." Valens
approved of this counsel and proposed to the Gothic chieftains an agreement in
doctrine, but they replied that they would not consent to forsake the teaching
of their fathers. At the period in question their Bishop Ulphilas was implicitly
obeyed by them and they received his words as laws which none might break.
Partly by the fascination of his eloquence and partly by the bribes with which
he baited his proposals Eudoxius succeeded in inducing him to persuade the
barbarians to embrace communion with the emperor, so Ulphilas won them over on
the plea that the quarrel between the different parties was really one of
personal rivalry and involved no difference in doctrine. The result is that up
to this day the Goths assert that the Father is greater than the Son, but they
refuse to describe the Son as a creature, although they are in communion with
those who do so. Yet they cannot be said to have altogether abandoned their
Father's teaching, since Ulphilas in his efforts to persuade them to join
communion with Eudoxius and Valens denied that there was any difference in
doctrine and that the difference had arisen from mere empty strife.143 1: The
common proverbial saying, from Homer downwards; epi curou istatai akmhj oleqroj
he biwnai . Il. 10. 173.

2: Jovianus, son of Count Varronianus of Singidunum (Belgrade), was born in 330
or 331 and reigned from June 363 to February 364. His hasty acceptance by a part
of the army may have been due to the mistake of the sound of "Jovianus Augustus"
for that of "Julianus Augustus" and a belief that Julian survived. "Gentilitate
enim prope perciti nominis, quod una littera discernebat, Julianum recreatum
arbitrati sunt deduci magnis favoribus, ut solebat." Amm. xxv. v. 6.

3: The terms were in fact humiliating, "pacem cum Sapore necessariam quidem sed
ignobilem fecit; multatus finibus, ac nonnulla imperii Romani parte tradita:
quod ante eum annis mille centum et duobus de viginti fere ex quo Romanum
imperium conditum erat, nunquam accidit." Eut. brev x. 17.

4: "Gibbon (Chap. xxv) sneers at Athanasius for assuring Jovian `that his
orthodox faith would be rewarded with a long and peaceful reign, 0' and remarks
that after his death this charge was omitted from some mss., referring to
Valesius on the passage of Theodoret, and Jortin's Remarks, iv. p. 38. But the
expression is not that of a prophet who stakes his credit on the truth of his
prediction, but little more than a pious reflection, of the nature of a wish."
Bp. J. Wordsworth, Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 463. n. Jortin says "the good
bishop's mantikh failed him sadly; and the emperor reigned only one year, and
died in the flower of his age." The note of Valesius will be found below.

5: Scarcely a prophecy, even if we read eceij , "you shall keep;" a bare wish if
we read exoij , "may you keep." Vide preceding note. In Athanasius we find eceij
. Valesius says "The latter part of this sentence is wanting in the common
editions of Athanasius, and Baronius supposes it to have been added by some
Arian, with the object of ridiculing Athanasius as a false prophet. As a fact
the reign of Jovian was short. But I see nothing low, spurious or factitious.
Athanasius is not in fault because Jovian did not live as long as he had
wished."

6: Gal. vi. 3.

7: Christianity thus appears more or less constituted in Britain more than 200
years before the mission of Augustine. But by about 208 the fame of British
Christianity had reached Tertullian in Africa. The date, that of the first
mention of the Church in Britain, Indicates a probable connexion of its
foundation with the dispersion of the victims of the persecution of the Rhone
cities. The phrase of Tertullian, "places beyond the reach of the Romans, but
subdued to Christ," points to a rapid spread into the remoter parts of the
island. Vide Rev. C. Hole's "Early Missions," S. P. C. K.

8: prokrima poiein .

9: " Triaj is either the number Three, or a triplet of similar objects, as in
the phrase kasignhtwn triaj (Rost u. Palm's Lexicon. s. v.) In this sense it is
applied by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. IV. vii. 55) to the Triad of Christian
graces, Faith, Hope, and Charity. As Gregory of Nazianzus says (Orat. xiii. p.
24) Triaj ou pragmatwn aniswn apariqmhsij, all' iswn kai omotimwn sullhyij . The
first instance of its application to the Three Persons in the one God is in
Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autol. ii. 15)" [_. c. 185] "Similarly the word
Trinitas, in its proper force, means either the number Three or a triad. It is
first applied to the mystery of the Three in One by Tertullian, who says that
the Church `proprie et spiritualiter ipse est spiritus, in quo est Trinitas
unius divinitatis, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus. 0' De Pudicita 21." [_
c. 240] Archd. Cheetham. Dict. Christ. Biog. S. V.

10: cf. III. 8 page 99.

11: At an obscure place called Dadastanae, half way between Ancyra and Nicaea,
after a hearty supper he went to bed in a room newly built. The plaster was
still damp, and a brazier of charcoal was brought in to warm the air. In the
morning he was found dead in his bed. (Amm. xxv. 10. 12. 13.) This was in
February or March, 364.

12: Vide page 101. "Valentinian belongs to the better class of Emperors. He was
a soldier like Jovian, and held the same rank at his election. He was a decided
Christian like Jovian, and, like him, free from the stain of persecution.
Jovian's rough good humour was replaced in Valentinian by a violent and
sometimes cruel temper, but he had a sense of duty, and was free from Jovian's
vices." Gwatkin, Arian Cont. 121.

13: "Valens was timid, suspicious, and slow, yet not ungentle in private life.
He was as uncultivated as his brother, but not interior to him in scrupulous
care for his subjects. He preferred remitting taxation to fighting at the head
of the legions. In both wars he is entitled to head the series of financial
rather than unwarlike sovereigns whose cautious policy brought the Eastern
Empire safely through the great barbarian invasions of the fifth century."
Gwatkin, p. 121.

14: Vide note on page 81.

15: By the constitution of Constantine, beneath the governors of the twelve
dioceses of the Empire were the provincial governors of 116 provinces, rectores,
correctores, praesides, and consulares. Ambrosius had been appointed by Probus
Consularis of Liguria and Aemilia. Probus, in giving him the appointment, was
believed to have "prophested," and said "Vade; age non ut judex, sed ut
episcopus." Paulinus S.

16: amuhtoj .

17: The twelve dioceses of the Empire, as constituted under Diocletian, were (1)
Oxiens; (2) Pontica; (3) Asiana; (4) Thracia; (5) Moesia; (6) Pannonia; (7)
Britanniae; (8) Galliae; (9) Viennensis; (10) Italiciana; (11) Hispaniae; (12)
Africa.

18: Under Constantine Illyricum Occidentale included Dalmatia, Pannonia,
Noricum, and Savia; Illyricum Orientale, Dacia, Moesia, Macedonia and Thrace.

19: Eldest son of Valentinian I. Born a.d. 359. Named Augustus 367 Succeeded his
father 375; his uncle Valens 378. Murdered 383. The synod was convoked in the
year of Valentinian's death.

20: Phrygia Pacatiana was the name given in the fourth century to the province
extending from Bithynia to Pamphylia. "Cum in veterum libris non nisi duae
Phrygiae occurrant, Pacatiana et salutaris, mavult Valesius h. l. scribere,
kariaj frugiaj pakatianhj . Sed consentientibus in vulgata lectione omnibus
libris mallem servare karafrugiaj pakatianhj , quam Pacatianam karofrugian
dictam esse putaverim quod Cariae proxime adhaeresceret." Schulze.

21: The date of this Council is disputed. "Pagi contending for 373, others for
375, Cave for 367." Dict. Ch. Ant. i. 813.

22: omoousion .

23: Matt. 22. xxi.

24: hmeij exrhsameqa tw alfa ewj tou w umeij de eautouj apedwkate .

25: The turning to the East is not mentioned in the Gospel of St. Matthew or in
the Apocryphal Acts of Pilate; and the Imperial Decree seems here to import a
Christian practice into the pagan Procurators tribunal. Orientation was
sometimes observed in Pagan temples anti the altar placed at the east end;
perhaps in connexion with the ancient worship of the sun. cf. Aesch. Ag. 502;
Paus. V. 23. i; Cic. Cat. iii. §43. In. Virg. Aen. viii. 68 Aeneas turns to the
East when he prays to the Tiber. cf. Liv 1. 18. But praying towards the East is
specially a primitive Christian custom, among the earliest authorities being
Tertullian (Apol. XVI.) and Clemens Al. (Stromat. VII. 7).

26: Matthew xxvii. 24.

27: "Locus densis," says Valesius, "tenebris obvolutus" ...The note of Schulze
is "primum o parakeklhmenoj videtur malus genius esse ( fqorimaioj daimwn postea
dicitur) qui excitaverat ( parekalese ) episcopos ad dissentientes vexandos
plane ut crudeles Judaei excitaverant Pilatum ut Christum interimerent; sic enim
in superioribus Valentinianus dixerat. Porro Valent. non modo ad historiam
Zachariae a Judaeis in templo interfecti alludit, sed, si quid video, etiam ad
verba ea quibus utitur Paulus, Heb. x. 29 ton uion tou Qeou katapatein kai to
aima thj diaqhkhj koinon hghsasqai , quare placet conjectura Valesii patein "
(the reading adopted in the translation above), " ta thj diaqhkhj autou wj epi
tou Zaxariou tou aimatoj

28: It is to be observed that the imperial letter does not add the probably
interpolated words "son of Barachias" which are a difficulty in Matt. xxiii. 35,
and do not appear in the Codex Sinaiticus.

29: Here for the first time in our author we meet with the word Hypostasis to
denote each distinct person. Compare note on page 36. "Origen had already
described Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three upostaseij or Beings, in
opposition to the Monarchians, who saw in them only three modes of manifestation
of one and the same Being. And as Sabellius had used the words tria proswpa for
these modes of manifestation, this form of expression naturally fell into
disfavour with the Catholics. But when Arius insisted on (virtually) three
different hypostases in the Holy Trinity, Catholics began to avoid applying the
word hypostases to the Persons of the Godhead. To this was added a difficulty
arising from the fact, that the Eastern Church used Greek as the official
language of its theology, while the Western Church used Latin, a language at
that time much less well provided with abstract theological terms. Disputes were
caused, says Gregory of Nazianzus (Orat. xxi. p. 395), dia stenothta thj para
toij 'Italoij glwtthj kai onomatwn penian . (Compare Seneca Epist. 58.) The
Latins used essentia and substantia as equivalent to the Greek ousia and
upostasij , but interchanged them, as we have seen in the translation of the
Nicene Creed with little scruple, regarding them as synonyms. They used both
expressions to describe the Divine Nature common to the Three. It followed that
they looked upon the expression "Three Hypostases" as implying a division of the
substance of the Deity, and therefore as Arian. They preferred to speak of "tres
Personae." Athanasius also spoke of tria proswpa , and thus the words proswpa
and Personae became current among the Nicene party. But about the year 360, the
Neo-Nicene party, or Meletians, as they are sometimes called, became scrupulous
about the use of such an expression as tria proswpa , which seemed to them to
savour of Sabellianism. Thus a difference arose between the old Athanasian party
and the Meletians." Archd. Cheetham in Dict. Christ. Biog. Art. "Trinity."

30: Compare note on page 72.

31: I. Cor. i. 12.

32: The original is here obscure, and has been altered an dinterpreted in
various ways.

33: ec autou tou ieratikou tagmatoj . It is noticeable that the word ieratikon
is used here of the clerical order generally, inclusive of lower ranks, such as
the readers, singers, doorkeepers and orphans enumerated in the Apostolic
Constitutions from whom deacons and presbyters were to be appointed. For
illustrations of the phrases ieratikh tacij and ieratikon tagma vide Dict.
Christ. Ant. ii. 1470. The exclusively sacrificial sense sometimes given to
iereuj and sacerdos, with their correlatives, is modified by the fact that
derivatively both only mean "the man concerned with the sacred." ( ieroj

34: Gen. 1. 26.

35: Vide note on page 75.

36: Mark ii. 16. Observe verbal inaccuracy of quotation.

37: Is: 65. 5. The Greek of the text is oi legontej kaqaroj eimi, mh mou aptou
outoj kapnoj tou qumou mou . In the Sept. the passage stand oi legontej porrw ap
emou, mh eggishj moi oti kaqaroj eimi , etc. The O. T. is quoted as loosely as
the New.

38: Anthropomorphism, or the attribution to God of a human form is the frequent
result of an unintelligent anthropopathism, which ascribes to God human
feelings. Paganism did not rise higher than the material view. Judaism,
sometimes apparently anthropomorphic, taught a Spiritual God. Tertullian uses
expressions which exposed him to the charge of anthropomorphism, and the Pseudo
Clementines (xvii. 2) go farther. The Audaeus of the text appears to be the
first founder of anything like an anthropomorphic sect.

39: The Syriac name whence comes "Messaliani" or "Massaliani" means praying
people ylc/mv y )l/c;

40: The form enqousiasthj is ecclesiastical, and late Greek, but the verb
enqousiazein occurs at least as early as Aeschylus. (Fr. 64 a.) 41: Compare John
vi. 54 and John vi. 51; the citation as before is inexact.

42: Melitine (Malatia). metropolis of lesser Armenia; the scene of the defeat of
Chosroes Nushirvan by the Romans a.d. 577.

43: Archbishop of Iconium, the friend of Basil and first cousin of Gregory of
Nazianzus, B. probably about 344. He is not mentioned after the beginning of the
5th century.

44: cf. ii. 19, and iv. 22. He was not consecrated bishop until 381.

45: Valens was baptized in 368.

46: Albia Dominica.

47: The use of the word baptized for submerged is significant. Polyb. 1: 51. 6
uses it of sinking a ship. It first appears with the technical sense of baptized
in the Evangelists.

48: Present at Antioch in 363; banished to Arabia in 367. Present at
Constantinople in 381.

49: Samosata, the capital of Commagene on the Euphrates, is of interest as the
birthplace of Lucian (c. 120) as well as the see of this Eusebius, the valued
friend of Basil and of Gregory of Nazianzus. We shall find him mentioned again
v. 4.

50: Zeugma was on the right bank of the Euphrates, nearly opposite the ancient
Apamea and Seleucia and the modern Biredjik. The name is derived from the
"Zeugma" or Bridge of Boats built here by Alexander. Strabo xvi. 2. 3.

51: Titus, iii. 1.

52: Jovinus was a friend of Basil (Ep. 118) as well as of Eusebius of Samosata.

53: An island off the coast of Phoenicia; now Ruad. The town on the opposite
mainland was Antaradus.

54: Oxyrynchus on the Nile, at or near the modern Behnese (?) was so called
because the inhabitants worshipped the "sharpsnout," or pike. Strabo xvii. 1.
40.

55: Antinoopolis, now Enseneh on the right bank of the Nile.

56: The manuscripts here vary considerably.

57: Eulogius was at Rome in 369, at Antioch in 379, and Constantinople in 381.

58: Charrae, now Harran, in Mesopotamia, on the point of divergence of the main
caravan routes, is the Haran to which Terah travelled from Orfah. It was
afterwards made famous by the defeat of the Romans in b.c. 53, when

59: Caesarea Ad Argaeum (now Kasaria) at the foot of Mount Argaeus, was made a
Roman province by Tiberius a.d. 18. The progress of Valens had hitherto been
successful, and the Catholic cause was endangered. Bithynia had been coerced,
and the mobile Galatians had given in. "The fate of Cappadocia depended on
Basil." cf. Dict. Ch. Biog. i. 289.

60: Galates. cf. Soc. iv. 26.

61: Dominica. cf. Soc. iv. 26.

62: If this Demosthenes "is the same person with the Demosthenes who four years
later held the office of vicar of Pontus we have in him one of the many examples
presented by the history of the Eastern empire of the manner in which base arts
raised the meanest persons to the highest dignities." Dict. Chris. Biog. s. v.
But the chief cook may have been a high functionary like the chief baker at the
court of the Pharaohs or the Lord High Steward at that of St. James's. Of the
elevation of a menial to power many parallels may be found. Demosthenes of
Pontus afterwards became a partisan of the Semi-arians and accused Basil's
brother, Gregory of Nyssa, of dishonesty. Basil. Epist. 264, 385, 405.

63: stoixeion is a simple sound of the voice as distinguished from gramma , a
letter.

64: "The discussions about the year of his death may be considered as
practically closed; the Festal Index, although its chronology is sometimes
faulty, confirming the date of 373, given in the Maffeian fragment. The exact
day, we may believe, was Thursdays May 2, on which day of the month Athanasius
is venerated in the Western Church. He had sat on the Alexandrian throne
forty-six complete years. He died tranquilly in his own house." Canon Bright in
Dict. Christ. Biog. S. V.

65: The church Theonas, where Syrianus nearly seized Athanasius in 356.

66: There are traces of some confusion about the saints and solitaries of this
name at this period. "There were two hermits or monks of this name both of the
4th c., both living in Egypt, whose character and deeds are almost
indistinguishable." "One of them is said to have been the disciple of Anthony,
and the master of Evagrius." "The name of Macarius, like a double star, shines
as a central light in the monkish history, and is enshrined alike in the Roman
martyrologies, and in the legends of the Greek church. Macarius is a favourite
saint in Russia." (Canon Fremantle, Dict. Christ. Biog. iii. 774.) cf. Soc. iv.
23. In iv. 21 Soc. describes both the Macarii as banished to the island "which
had not a single Christian inhabitant." Sozomen (vi. 20) has the same story.

67: Acts xvi. 16, where the reading pneuma puqwna recommended on the
overwhelming authority of )

68: eqnikoj , "foreigner" a "gentile." Another common term for "heathen" in
ecclesiastical Greek is Ellh! , but neither "Gentile" nor "Greek" expresses the
required sense so well as "Heathen," which, like the cognate "Pagan," simply
denotes a countryman and villager, and marks the age when Christianity was found
to be mainly in towns.

69: Vide note on page 120.

70: Eph. v. xii.

71: Romans ix. 22.

72: Joel i. 2.

73: I adopt the reading stibh for stimmi . cf. Ez. xxiii. 40 (Sept.). estibizon
touj ofqalmouj sou .

74: cf. Greg. Naz. Orat. xxv. 12. p. 464 Ed. Migne.

75: cf. Soc. 21.

76: Observe the pun.

77: On the subject of episcopal election, vide Dict. Christ. Biog. lv. 335.

78: o twn komhtathsiwn de largitionwn komhj . Valesius says, "thesauri
principis, qui vulgo sacrae largitiones dicebantur, alii erant per singulas
dioeceses quibus proeerant comites. Alii erant in comitatu una cum principe, qui
comitatenses largitiones dice-bantur. His praeerat comes largitionum
comitatensium."

79: Beyrout, between the ancient Byblus and Sidon. Near here St. George killed
the dragon, according to the legend. Our patron saint's dragon does not seem to
have been, as may possibly have been the case in some similar stories a
surviving Saurian, but simply a materialization of some picture of George
vanquishing the old dragon, the Devil.

80: Ps. xiv. 1. The Sept. reads Eipen afrwn en kardia autou ouk esti Qeoj ,
which admits of the translation "He is not God."

81: I. Cor. iv. 9.

82: In Coele Syria, near the sources of the Orontes, where the ruins of the
temple of the sun built by Autoninus Pius are known by the modern equivalent of
the older title - Baal-Bek. "the city of the sun."

83: Jer. ii. 12. A V. "Be astonished, O ye heavens." But in Sept. as in text
ecesth o ouranoj epi toutw .

84: Isaiah 1. 2.

85: Here the obvious sense of deisidaimonwn matches the "superstitious" of A. V.
in Acts 17. 22.

86: Valesius identifies Phennesus with Phynon in Arabia Petraea, now Tafileh.

87: The island of Marmara in the sea of that name.

88: The Roman "Flagellum" was a frightful instrument of torture, and is
distinguished from the "scutica," or whip, and "virga," or rod. It was knotted
with bones and bits of metal; and sometimes ended in a hook. Horace (Sat. 1.
iii, 119) calls it "horribile."

89: ct. Soph. Ant. 30, Where the corpse of Polyneikes is described as left 90:
Ex. xii. 30.

91: I. Peter v. 8.

92: Now Sefurieh, anciently Sepphoris; an unimportant place till erected by
Herod Antipas into the capital of Galilee.

93: Proverbs xxvii. 20.

94: Now Niksar, on the river Lykus, the scene of two councils; (i.) a.d. 315,
when the first canon ordered every priest to forfeit his orders on marriage
(Mansi ii. 539) (ii.) a.d. 350, when Eustathius of Sebaste was condemned (Mansi,
iii. 291).

95: cf. Soz. vi. 38, and Soc. iv. 36.

96: The word used is xeirotonia , of which it is well to trace the varying
usages. These are given by the late Rev. E. Hatch (Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1501)
as follows. "This word is used (a) in the N. T. Acts xiv, 24, xeirotonhsantej de
autoij kat' ekklhsian presbuterouj : II. Cor. viii. 19 (of Titus) xeirotonhqeij
upo twn ekklhsiwn ; (b) in sub-apostolic Greek, Ignat. ad Philad. c. 10; (c) in
the Clementines, Clement. Ep. ad Jacob. c. 2; (d) in the Apostolical
Constitution; (e) in the Canon Law; (f) in the Civil Law. Its meaning was
originally "to

97: i.e. about 375. elect," but it came afterwards to mean even in classical
Greek, simply "to appoint to office," without itself indicating the particular
mode of appointment (cf. Schomann de Comitus, p. 122). That the latter was its
ordinary meaning in Hellenistic Greek, and consequently in the first ages of
church history, is clear from a large number of instances; e.g. in Josephus vi.
13, 9, it is used of the appointment of David as King by God; id. xiii, 22, of
the appointment of Jonathan as High Priest by Alexander; in Philo ii, 76 it is
used of the appointment of Joseph as governor by Pharaoh; in Lucian, de morte
Peregrini c. 41 of the appointment of ambassadors. "In Sozomen vii, 24 of the
appointment of Arcadius as Augustus by Theodosius." "In later times a new
connotation appears of which there is no early trace; it was used of the
stretching out of the bishop's hands in the rite of imposition of hands." The
writer of the above seems hardly to do justice to its early use for ordination
as well as for appointment. In the Pseudo-Ig. ad. Her. c. iii, it is said of
bishops ekeinoi xeirotonousi, xeiroqetousi and Bp. Lightfoot comments "while
xeiroqesia is used of laying on of hands, e.g. in confirmation, xeirotonia is
said of ordination, e.g. Ap. Const. viii. 27. ` episkopoj upo triwn h duo
episkopwn xeirotoneisqw xeirotonia

98: Sozomen (vi. 38) describes Lucius as remonstrating in moderate language. "Do
not judge of me before you know what my creed is." Socrates (iv. 36) makes Moses
charge Lucius with condemning the orthodox to exile, beasts, and burning. On
Socrates Valesius annotates "Hanc narrationem de episcopo Saracenis dato et de
pace cum iisdem facta, desumpsit quidera Socrates, ex Rufini lib. ii. 6." Lucius
was ejected from Alexandria when the reign of Valens ended with his death in
378. Theodoretus appears to confound this Lucius with an Arian Lucius who
usurped the see of Samosata. Vide chap. xviii.

99: Psalm cxxxvii.

100: Psalm ciii. 22.

101: cf. "Virtus sola nobilitas."

102: Diodorus was now a presbyter. Chrysost. (Laus Diodori §4. tom. iii. p. 749)
describes how the whole city assembled and were fed by his tongue flowing with
milk and honey, themselves meanwhile supplying his necessities with their gifts.
Valens retorted with redoubled violence, and anticipated the "noyades" of
Carrier at Lyons. cf. Socrates iv. 17 and Dict. Christ. Biog. ii. 529.

103: The five contests of the complete athlete are summed up in the line 104:
Relig. Hist. viii.

105: The word Sisura was used for a common upper garment, but according to the
grammarian Tzetzes (Schol. Ad. Lyc. 634) its accurate meaning is the one given
in the text.

106: A monk of Gindarus near Antioch (Theod. Vit. Pat. ii.) afterward envoy from
the Syrian churches to Rome, and Bishop of Beroea, (Aleppo) a.d. 378. He was at
Constantinople in 381, (cf. v. 8.) and is famous for his opposition to
Chrysostom.

107: Julianus Sabas (i.e. Abba) an ascetic solitary of Osrhoëne, the district
south of the modern Horton. He is the second of the saints of Theodoret's
"Religious History," where we read that he lived on millet bread, which he ate
once a week, and performed various miracles, which are recorded by Theodoret on
the authority of Acacius.

108: Antonius, St. Anthony, the illustrious and illiterate ascetics friend and
correspondent of Constantine (Soc. i. 13), the centre of many wild legends, was
born in 250 a.d. in upper Egypt. Athanasius calls him the "founder of
Asceticism." In 335 he revisited Alexandria to oppose the Arians, as narrates in
the text. He died in his cell in 355, bequeathing his "hair shirt. his two
woollen tunics, and his bed, among Amathas and Macarius who watched his last
hours, Serapion, and Athanasius."

109: i.e. the district round Chalcis in Syria, to be distinguished from the
Macedonian Chalcidice.

110: Native of Theodoret's see of Cyrus. He built himself a cell like the
"Little Ease" of the Tower of London, and promoted orthodoxy by the influence of
his austerities. _c. 385. cf. Tillemont, viii. 483.

111: A. went on missionary journeys disguised as a pedlar, and eventually
unwillingly became bishop of Carrae. Theod. Relig. Hist. 3.

112: Presumably Apamea ad Orontem. (Famiah.) 113: Bishop of Apamea, a comrade
and disciple of Marcianus. (Relig. Hist. iii.)

114: Also a disciple of Marcian. For fifty years he maintained a school of
ascetic philosophy. cf. Chrysost. Ep. 55. and Tillemont. ix. 304. Apparently not
the same as Simeones Priscus of Relig. Hist. vi.

115: i.e. near Zeugma, on the Euphrates, opposite Apamea.

116: vide Relig. Hist. v.

117: i.e. round Theodoret's see of Cyrus.

118: Uncle of Eusebius, a "faithful servant of God." Relig. Hist. iv.

119: Relig. Hist. iv. Abbot of Mt. Coryphe nephew of Marianus. He chained his
neck to his girdle that he might be compelled to violate the prerogative of his
manhood (cf. Ovid. Met i. 85) and keep his eyes on the ground.

120: Vide Relig. Hist. iv. He had a monastery near Antioch.

121: Relig. Hist. vii.

122: cf. the Symeones Priscus of Relig. Hist vi.

123: The disciple of Ephrem Syrus. Vide Soz. iii. 16, and Eph. Syr. Act. S.
Abraam.

124: Born at Rhosus. His life is given in Relig. Hist. xi.

125: Relig. Hist. xii. He lived "without bed, lamp, fire, pitcher, pot, box, or
book, or anything."

126: Met in his old age by Jerome, to whom he told the story of his life. Born
at Edessa, he ended his days at Maronia, near Antioch. Vide Jer. vita Malchi.

127: Flourished c. 309-399. Blind from the age of four, he educated himself with
marvellous patience, and was placed by Athauasius at the head of the
catechetical school of Alexandria. Jerome called him his teacher and seer and
translated his Treatise on the Holy Spirit. Jer. de Vir. Illust. 109.

128: " paideiaj 'Ellhnikhj ." His ignorance of languages weakens the force of
his dialectic and illustrations. Vid. Dict. Christ. Biog: s. v.

129: Harmonius wrote about the end of the 2nd century, both in Greek and in
Syriac. cf. Theod. Haeret. Fabul. Compend. i. 22, where he is said to have
learned Greek at Athens.

130: Bardesanes, or Bar Daisan, the great Syrian gnostic, was born in 155. cf.
the prologue to the "Dialogues."

131: Gregorius of Nazianzus (in Cappadocia, on the Halys) was so called not as
bishop of Nazianzus. He was bishop successively of Sasima, "a detestable little
village," - (Carm. xi. 439-446) - and of Constantinople, and was called
"Nazianzenus" because his father and namesake was bishop of that see. On his
acting as bishop at Nazianzus after his withdrawal from Constantinople, vide
note on page 136.

132: A younger brother of Basil, bishop of Caesarea, born about 335; he was
bishop of Nyssa, an obscure town of Cappadocia, from 372 to 395. Their parents
were Basil, an advocate and Emmelia. Petrus, the youngest of ten children, was
bishop of Sebaste.

133: Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia; was present at Constantinople in 381. He was
a witness to the will of Gregory of Nazianzus.

134: Vide note on p. 114.

135: Vide note on p. 82.

136: On this Valesius remarks that Valentinian was already dead (_ 375) when the
Goths crossed the Danube and ravaged Thrace (376). Theodoretus should have
written "Gratianus" for "Valentinianus," and "nephew" for "brother."

137: Magister equitum. Amm. xxxi. 7.

138: Gibbon (chap. xxvi) records the conduct of the war by "Trajan and
Profuturus, two generals who indulged themselves in a very false and favourable
opinion of their own abilities." "Anhelantes altius. sed imbelles." Amm.

139: Possibly the Isaac who opposed Chrysostom. Soz. viii. 9.

140: Acts ix. 5.

141: Psalm cxix. 46. The text quotes the Sept. elaloun en toij marturioij sou
enantion basilewn kai ouk hsxunomhn .

142: "On the 9th August, 378, a day long and fatally memorable in the annals of
the empire, the legions of Valens moved forth from their entrenched camp under
the walls of Hadrian. ople, and after a march of eight miles under the hot sun
of August came in sight of the barbarian vanguard, behind which stretched the
circling line of the waggons that guarded the Gothic host. The soldiers of the
empire, hot, thirsty, wearied out with hours of waiting under the blaze of an
August sun, and only half understanding that the negotiations were ended and the
battle begun, fought at a terrible disadvantage but fought not ill. The infantry
on the left wing seem even to have pushed back their enemies and penetrated to
the Gothic waggons. But they were for some reason not covered as usual by a
force of cavalry and they were jammed into a too narrow space of ground where
they could not use their spears with effect, yet presented a terribly easy mark
to the Gothic arrows. They fell in dense masses as they had stood. Then the
whole weight of the enemy's attack was directed against the centre and right.
When the evening began to close in, the utterly routed Roman soldiers were
rushing in disorderly flight from the fatal field. The night, dark and moonless,
may have protected some, but more met their death rushing blindly over a rugged
and unknown country.

143: Christianity is first found among the Goths and some German tribes on the
Rhine about a.d. 300, the Visigoths taking the lead, and being followed by the
Ostrogoths. They were converted under Arian influences, and simply accepted an
Arian creed. So Salvian writes of them with singular charity, in a passage
partly quoted by Milman (Lat. Christ. I. p. 349.) "Haeretici sunt sed non
scientes. Denique apud nos sunt haeretici, apud se non sunt. Nam in tantum se
catholicos esse judicant ut nos ipsos titulo haereticae appellationis infament.
Quod ergo illi nobis sunt, hoc nos illis. Nos eos injuriam divinae generationis
facere certi sumus quod minorem patre filium dicant. Illi nos injuriosos patri
existimant, quia aequales esse credamus. Veritas spud nos est. Sed illi spud se
esse proesumunt. Honor Dei apud nos est, sed illi hoc arbitrantur honorem
divinitatis esse quod credunt. Inofficiosi sunt; sed illis hoc est summum
religionis officium. Impii sunt; sed hoc putant veram esse pietatem. Errant
ergo, sed bono animo errant, non odio, sed affectu Dei, honorare se dominum
atque amare credentes." (Salvianus de Gub. Dei V. p. 87.) The spirit of this
good Presbyter of Marseilles of the 5th century might well have been more often
followed in Christian controversy.


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  CHAPTER 14: THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THEODORET - BOOK 5
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Book V.

Chapter I.-Of the Piety of the Emperor Gratianus.

Chapter II.-Of the Return of the Bishops.

Chapter III.-Of the Dissension Caused by Paulinus; Of the Innovation by
Apollinarius of Laodicea, and of the Philosophy of Meletius.

Chapter IV.-Of Eusebius6 Bishop of Samosata.

Chapter V.-Of the Campaign of Theodosius.

Chapter VI.-Of the Reign of Theodosius and of His Dream.

Chapter VII.-Of Famous Leaders of the Arian Faction.

Chapter VIII.-The Council Assembled at Constantinople.

Chapter IX.-Synodical Letter from the Council at Constantinople.

Chapter X.-Synodical Letter of Damasus Bishop of Rome Against Apollinarius and
Timotheus.

Chapter XI.-A Confession of the Catholic Faith Which Pope Damasus Sent to Bishop
Paulinus in Macedonia When He Was at Thessalonica.

Chapter XII.-Of the Death of Gratianus and the Sovereignty of Maximus.

Chapter XIII.-Of Justina, the Wife of Valentinianus, and of Her Plot Against
Ambrosius.

Chapter XIV.-Of the Information Given by Maximus the Tyrant to Valentinianus.

Chapter XV.-Of the Letter Written by the Emperor Theodosius Concerning the Same.

Chapter XVI.-Of Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium.

Chapter XVII.-Of the Massacre of Thessalonica; The Boldness of Bishop Ambrosius,
and the Piety of the Emperor.

Chapter XVIII.-Of the Empress Placilla.71 Chapter XIX.-Of the Sedition of
Antioch.72

Chapter XX.

Chapter XXI.-Of Marcellus, Bishop of Apamea, and the Idols' Temples Destroyed by
Him.

Chapter XXII.-Of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, and What Happened at the
Demolition of the Idols in that City.

Chapter XXIII.-Of Flavianus Bishop of Antioch and of the Sedition Which Arose in
the Western Church on Account of Paulinus.

Chapter XXIV.-Of the Tyranny of Eugenius and the Victory Won Through Faith by
the Emperor Theodosius.

Chapter XXV.-Of the Death of the Emperor Theodosius.96 Chapter XXVI.-Of Honorius
the Emperor and Telemachus the Monk.

Chapter XXVII.-Of the Piety of the Emperor Arcadius and the Ordination of John
Chrysostom.

Chapter XXVIII.-Of John's Boldness for God.

Chapter XXIX.-Of the Idol Temples Which Were Destroyed by John in Phoenicia.

Chapter XXX.-Of the Church of the Goths.

Chapter XXXI.-Of His Care Far the Scythians and His Zeal Against the
Marcionists.

Chapter XXXII.-Of the Demand Made by Gainas and of John Chrysostom's Reply.

Chapter XXXIII.-Of the Ambassage of Chrysostom to Gainas.

Chapter XXXIV.-Of the Events Which Happened on Account of Chrysostom.

Chapter XXXV.-Of Alexander, Bishop of Antioch.

Chapter XXXVI.-Of the Removal of the Remains of John and of the Faith of
Theodosius and His Sisters.

Chapter XXXVII.-Of Theodotus Bishop of Antioch.

Chapter XXXVIII.-Of the Persecutions in Persia and of Them that Were Martyred
There.

Chapter XXXIX.-Of Theodorus, Bishop of Mopsuestia.

Book V.

Chapter I.-Of the Piety of the Emperor Gratianus.

How the Lord God is long suffering towards those who rage against him, and
chastises those who abuse his patience, is plainly taught by the acts and by the
fate of Valens. For the loving Lord uses mercy and justice like wights and
scales; whenever he sees any one by the greatness of his errors over-stepping
the bounds of loving kindness, by just punishment He hinders him from being
carried to further extremes.

Now Gratianus, the son of Valentinianus, and nephew of Valens, acquired the
whole Roman Empire. He had already assumed the sceptre of Europe on the death of
his father, in whose life-time he had shared the throne. On the death of Valens
without issue he acquired in addition Asia, and the portions of Libya.1 Chapter
II.-Of the Return of the Bishops. The emperor at once gave plain indications of
his adherence to true religion, and offered the first fruits of his kingdom to
the Lord of all, by publishing an edict commanding the exiled shepherds to
return, and to be restored to their flocks, and ordering the sacred buildings to
be delivered to congregations adopting communion with Damasus.2 This Damasus,
the successor of Liberius in the see of Rome, was a man of most praiseworthy
life and by his own choice alike in word and deed a champion of Apostolic
doctrines. To put his edict in force Gratianus sent Sapor the general, a very
famous character at that time, with orders to expel the preachers of the
blasphemies of Arius like wild beasts from the sacred folds, and to effect the
restoration of the excellent shepherds to God's flocks. In every instance this
was effected without dispute except in Antioch, the Eastern capital, where a
quarrel was kindled which I shall proceed to describe.

Chapter III.-Of the Dissension Caused by Paulinus; Of the Innovation by
Apollinarius of Laodicea, and of the Philosophy of Meletius.

It has been already related how the defenders of the apostolic doctrines were
divided into two parties; how immediately after the conspiracy formed against
the great Eustathius, one section, in abhorrence of the Arian abomination,
assembled together by themselves with Paulinus for their bishop, while, after
the ordination of Euzoius, the other party separated themselves from the impious
with the excellent Meletius, underwent the perils previously described, and were
guided by the wise instructions which Meletius gave them. Besides these
Apollinarius of Laodicea constituted himself leader of a third party, and though
he assumed a mask of piety, and appeared to defend apostolic doctrines, he was
soon seen to be an open foe. About the divine nature he used unsound arguments,
and originated the idea of certain degrees of dignities. He also had the
hardihood to render the mystery of the incarnation3 imperfect and affirmed that
the reasonable soul, which is entrusted with the guidance of the body, was
deprived of the salvation effected. For according to his argument God the Word
did not assume this soul, and so neither granted it His healing gift, nor gave
it a portion of His dignity. Thus the earthly body is represented as worshipped
by invisible powers, while the soul which is made in the image of God has
remained below invested with the dishonour of sin.4 Many more errors did he
utter in his stumbling and blinded intelligence. At one time even he was ready
to confess that of the Holy Virgin the flesh had been taken, at another time he
represented it to have come down from heaven with God the Word, and yet again
that He had been made flesh and took nothing from us. Other vain tales and
trifles which I have thought it superfluous to repeat he mixed up with God's
gospel promises. By arguments of this nature he not only filled his own friends
with dangerous doctrine but even imparted it to some among ourselves. As time
went on, when they saw their own insignificance, and beheld the splendour of the
Church, all except a few were gathered into the Church's communion. But they did
not quite put away their former unsoundness, and with it infected many of the
sound. This was the origin of the growth in the Church of the doctrine of the
one nature of the Flesh and of the Godhead, of the ascription to the Godhead of
the Passion of the only begotten, and of other points which have bred
differences among the laity and their priests. But these belong to a later date.
At the time of which I am speaking, when Sapor the General had arrived and had
exhibited the imperial edict, Paulinus affirmed that he sided with Damasus, and
Apollinarius, concealing his unsoundness, did the same. The divine Meletius, on
the other hand, made no sign, and put up with their dispute. Flavianus, of high
fame for his wisdom, who was at that time still in the ranks of the
presbyterate, at first said to Paulinus in the hearing of the officer "If, my
dear friend, you accept communion with Damasus, point out to us clearly how the
doctrines agree, for he though he owns one substance of the Trinity openly
preaches three essences.5 You on the contrary deny the Trinity of the essences.
Shew us then how these doctrines are in harmony, and receive the charge of the
churches, as the edict enjoins." After so silencing Paulinus by his arguments he
turned to Apollinarius and said, "I am astonished, my friend, to find you waging
such violent war against the truth, when all the while you know quite clearly
how the admirable Damasus maintains oar nature to have been taken in its
perfection by God the Word; but you persist in saying the contrary, for you
deprive our intelligence of its salvation. If these our charges against you be
false, deny now the novelty that you have originated; embrace the teaching of
Damasus, and receive the charge of the holy shrines."

Thus Flavianus in his great wisdom stopped their bold speech with his true
reasoning.

Meletius, who of all men was most meek, thus kindly and gently addressed
Paulinus. "The Lord of the sheep has put the care of these sheep in my hands:
you have received the charge of the rest: our little ones are in communion with
one another in the true religion. Therefore, my dear friend, let us join our
flocks; let us have done with our dispute about the leading of them, and,
feeding the sheep together, let us tend them in common. If the chief seat is the
cause of strife, that strife I will endeavour to put away. On the chief seat I
will put the Holy Gospel; let us take our seats on each side of it; should I be
the first to pass away, you, my friend, will hold the leadership of the flock
alone. Should this be your lot before it is mine, I in my turn, so far as I am
able, will take care of the sheep." So gently and kindly spoke the divine
Meletius. Paulinus did not consent. The officer passed judgment on what had been
said and gave the churches to the great Meletius. Paulinus still continued at
the head of the sheep who had originally seceded.

Chapter IV.-Of Eusebius6 Bishop of Samosata.

Apollinarius after thus failing to get the government of the churches,
continued, for the future, openly to preach his new fangled doctrine, and
constituted himself leader of the heresy. He resided for the most part at
Laodicea; but at Antioch he had already ordained Vitalius, a man of excellent
character, brought up in the apostolic doctrines, but afterwards tainted with
the heresy. Diodorus, whom I have already mentioned,7 who in the great storm had
saved the ship of the church from sinking, had been appointed by the divine
Meletius, bishop of Tarsus, and had received the charge of the Cilicians. The
see of Apamea8 Meletius entrusted to John, a man of illustrious birth, more
distinguished for his own high qualities than for those of his forefathers, for
he was conspicuous alike for the beauty of his teaching and of his life. In the
time of the tempest he piloted the assembly of his fellows in the faith
supported by the worthy Stephanus. The latter was however translated by the
divine Meletius to carry on another contest, for on the arrival of intelligence
that Germanicia had been contaminated by the Eudoxian pest he was sent thither
as a physician to ward off the disease, thoroughly trained as he had been in a
complete heathen education as well as nurtured in the Divine doctrines. He did
not disappoint the expectations formed of him, for by the power of his spiritual
instruction he turned the wolves into sheep.9 On the return of the great
Eusebius from exile he ordained Acacius whose fame is great at Beroea.10 and at
Hierapolis Theodotus,11 whose ascetic life is to this clay in all men's mouths.
Eusebius12 was moreover appointed to the see of Chalcis, and Isidorus13 to our
own city of Cyrus; both admirable men, conspicuous for their divine zeal.

Meletius is also reported to have ordained to the pastorate of Edessa, where the
godly Barses had already departed this life, Eulogius,14 the well known champion
of apostolic doctrines, who bad been sent to Antinone with Protogenes. Eulogius
gave Protogenes,15 his companion in hard service, the charge of Carrae, a
healing physician for a sick city.

Lastly the divine Eusebius ordained Maris, Bishop of Doliche,16 a little city at
that time infected with the Arian plague. With the intention of enthroning this
Maris, a right worthy man, illustrious for various virtues, in the episcopal
chair, the great Eusebius came to Doliche. As he was entering into the town a
woman thoroughly infected with the Arian plague let fall a tile from the roof,
which crushed in his head and so wounded him that not long after he departed to
the better life. As he lay a-dying he charged the bystanders not to exact the
slightest penalty from the woman who had done the deed, and bound them trader
oaths to obey him. Thus he imitated his own Lord, who of them that crucified Him
said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."17

Thus, too, he followed the example of Stephanus, his fellow slave, who, after
the stones had stormed upon him, cried aloud, "Lord lay not this sin to their
charge."18 So died the great Eusebius after many and various struggles. He had
escaped the barbarians in Thrace, but he did not escape the violence of impious
heretics, and by their means won the martyr's crown.19

These events happened after the return of the bishops, and now Gratian learnt
that Thrace was being laid waste by the barbarians who had burnt Valens, so he
left Italy and proceeded to Pannonia.

Chapter V.-Of the Campaign of Theodosius.

Now at this time Theodosius, on account alike of the splendour of his
ancestry,20 and of his own courage, was a man of high repute. For this reason
being from time to time stricken by the envy of his rivals, he was living in
Spain, where he had been born and brought up.21 The emperor, being at a loss
what measures to take, now that the barbarians, puffed up by their victory, both
were and seemed well nigh invincible, formed the idea that a way out of his
difficulties would be found in the appointment of Theodosius to the supreme
command. He therefore lost no time in sending for him from Spain, appointing22
him commander in chief and despatching him at the head of the assembled forces.

Defended by his faith Theodosius marched confidently forth. On entering Thrace,
and beholding the barbarians advancing to meet him, he drew up his troops in
order of battle. The two lines met, and the enemy could not stand the attack and
broke. A rout ensued, the foe taking to flight and the conquerors pursuing at
full speed. There was a great slaughter of the barbarians, for they were slain
not only by Romans but even by one another. After the greater number of them had
thus fallen, and a few of those who had been able to escape pursuit had crossed
the Danube, the great captain dispersed the troops which he commanded among the
neighbouring towns, and forthwith rode at speed to this emperor Gratianus,
himself the messenger of his own triumph. Even to the emperor himself, astounded
at the event, the tidings he carried seemed incredible, while others stung with
envy gave out that he had run away and lost his army. His only reply was to ask
his gainsayers to send and ascertain the number of the barbarian dead, "For,"
said he, "even from their spoils it is easy to learn their number." At these
words the emperor gave way and sent officers to investigate and report on the
battle.23 Chapter VI.-Of the Reign of Theodosius and of His Dream. The great
general remained, and then saw a wonderful vision clearly shewn him by the very
God of the universe himself. In it he seemed to see the divine Meletius, chief
of the church of the Antiochenes, investing him with an imperial robe, anti
covering his head with an imperial crown. The morning after the night hi which
he had seen the vision he told it to one of his intimate friends, who pointed
out that the dream was plain and had nothing obscure or ambiguous about it. A
few days at most had gone by when the commissioners sent to investigate the
battle returned and reported that vast multitudes of the barbarians had been
shot down.

Then the emperor was convinced that he had done right well in selecting
Theodosius for the command, and appointed him emperor and gave him the
sovereignty of the share of Valens.

Upon this Gratian departed for Italy and despatched Theodosius to the countries
committed to his charge. No sooner had Theodosius assumed the imperial dignity
than before everything else he gave heed to the harmony of the churches, and
ordered the bishops of his own realm to repair with haste to Constantinople.
That division of the empire was now the only region infected with the Arian
plague, for the west had escaped the taint. This was due to the fact that
Constantine the eldest of Constantine's sons, and Constans the youngest, had
preserved their father's faith in its integrity, and that Valentinian, emperor
of the West, had also kept the true religion undefiled.

Chapter VII.-Of Famous Leaders of the Arian Faction. The Eastern section of the
empire had received the infection from many quarters. Arius, a presbyter of
Alexandria in Egypt, there begat the blasphemy. Eusebius, Patrophilus, and
Aetius of Palestine, Paulinus and Gregorius of Phoenicia, Theodotus of Laodicea
and his successor Georgius, and after him Athanasius and Narcissus of Cilicia,
had nurtured the seeds so foully sown. Eusebius and Theognis of Bithynia;
Menophantus of Ephesus; Theodorus of Perinthus and Maris of Chalcedon, and some
others of Thrace famous only for their vices, had for a long time gone on
watering and tending the crop of tares. These bad husbandmen were aided by the
indifference of Constantius and the malignity of Valens. For these reasons only
the bishops of his own empire were summoned by the emperor to meet at
Constantinople. They arrived, being in all one hundred and fifty in number, and
Theodosius forbade any one to tell him which was the great Meletius, for he
wished the bishop to be recognized by his dream. The w hole company of the
bishops entered the imperial palace, and then without any notice of all the
rest, Theodosius ran up to the great Meletius, and, like a boy who loves his
father, stood for a long space gazing on him with filial joy, then flung his
arms around him, and covered eyes and lips and breast and head and the hand that
had given him the crown, with kisses. Then he told him of his dream. All the
rest of the bishops were then courteously welcomed, and all were bidden to
deliberate as became fathers on the subjects laid before them.

Chapter VIII.-The Council Assembled at Constantinople. At this time the recent
feeder of the flock at Nazianzus24 was living at Constantinople,25 continually
withstanding the blasphemies of the Arians, watering the holy people with the
teaching of the Gospel, catching wanderers outside the flock and removing them
from poisonous pasture. So that flock once small he made a great one. When the
divine Meletius saw him, knowing as he did full well the object which the makers
of the canon26 had before them when, with the view of preventing the possibility
of ambitious efforts, they forbade the translation of bishops, he confirmed
Gregory in the episcopate of Constantinople.27 Shortly afterwards the divine
Meletius passed away to the life that knows no pain, crowned by the praises of
the funeral eloquence of all the great orators.

Timotheus, bishop of Alexandria, who had followed Peter, the successor of
Athanasius in the patriarchate, ordained in place of the admirable Gregorius,
Maximus-a cynic who bad but recently suffered his cynic's hair to be shorn, and
had been carried away by the flimsy rhetoric of Apollinarius. But this absurdity
was beyond the endurance of the assembled bishops-admirable men, and full of
divine zeal and wisdom, such as Helladius, successor of the great Basil,
Gregorius and Peter, brothers of Basil, and Amphilochius from Lycaonia, Optimus
from Pisidia, Diodorus from Cilicia.28 The council was also attended by Pelagius
of Laodicaea,29 Eulogius of Edessa,30 Acacius,31 our own Isidorus,32 Cyril of
Jerusalem, Gelasius of Caesarea in Palestine,33 who was renowned alike for lore
and life and many other athletes of virtue.

All these then whom I have named separated themselves from the Egyptians and
celebrated divine service with the great Gregory. But he himself implored them,
assembled as they were to promote harmony, to subordinate all question of wrong
to an individual to the promotion of agreement with one another. "For," said he,
"I shall be released from many cares and once more lead the quiet life. I bold
so dear; while you, after your long and painful warfare, will obtain the longed
for peace. What can be more absurd than for men who have just escaped the
weapons of their enemies to waste their own strength in wounding one another; by
so doing we shall be a laughing stock to our opponents. Find then some worthy
man of sense, able to sustain heavy responsibilities and discharge them well,
and make him bishop." The excellent pastors moved by these counsels appointed as
bishop of that mighty city a man of noble birth and distinguished for every kind
of virtue as well as for the splendour of his ancestry, by name Nectarius.
Maximus, as having participated in the insanity of Apollinarius, they stripped
of his episcopal rank and rejected. They next enacted canons concerning the good
government of the church, and published a confirmation of the faith set forth at
Nicaea. Then they returned each to his own country. Next summer the greater
number of them assembled again in the same city, summoned once more by the needs
of the church. and received a synodical letter from the bishops of the west
inviting them to come to Rome, where a great synod was being assembled. They
begged however to be excused from travelling thus far abroad; their doing so,
they said, would be useless. They wrote however both to point out the storm
which had risen against the churches, and to hint at the carelessness with which
the western bishops had treated it. They also included in their letter a summary
of the apostolic doctrine, but the boldness and wisdom of their expressions will
be more clearly shown by the letter itself.

Chapter IX.-Synodical Letter from the Council at Constantinople.

"To the right honourable lords our right reverend brethren and colleagues
Damasus, Ambrosius, Britton, Valerianus, Ascholius, Ahemius, Basilius and the
rest of the holy bishops assembled in the great city of Rome, the holy synod of
the orthodox bishops assembled at the great city of Constantinople, sends
greeting in the Lord.

"To recount all the sufferings inflicted on us by the power of the Arians, and
to attempt to give information to your reverences, as though you were not
already well acquainted with them, might seem superfluous. For we do not suppose
your piety to hold what is befalling us as of such secondary importance as that
you stand in any need of information on matter's which cannot but evoke your
sympathy. Nor indeed were the storms which beset us such as to escape notice
from their insignificance. Our persecutions are but of yesterday. The sound of
them still rings in the ears alike of those who suffered them and of those whose
love made the sufferers' pain their own. It was but a day or two ago, if I may
so say, that some released from chains in foreign lands returned to their own
churches through manifold afflictions; of others who had died in exile the
relics were brought home; others again, even after their return from exile,
found the passion of the heretics still at boiling heat, and, slain by them with
stones as was the blessed Stephen, met with a sadder fate in their own than in a
stranger's land. Others, worn away with various cruelties, still bear in their
bodies the scars of their wounds and the marks of Christ.34

"Who could tell the tale of fines, of disfranchisements, of individual
confiscations, of intrigues, of outrages, of prisons? In truth all kinds of
tribulation were wrought out beyond number in us, perhaps because we were paying
the penalty of sins, perhaps because the merciful God was trying us by means of
the multitude of our sufferings. For these all thanks to God, who by means of
such afflictions trained his servants and, according to the multitude of his
mercies, brought us again to refreshment. We indeed needed long leisure, time,
and toil to restore the church once more, that so, like physicians healing the
body after long sickness and expelling its disease by gradual treatment, we
might bring her back to her ancient health of true religion. It is true that on
the whole we seem to have been delivered from the violence of our persecutions
and to be just now recovering the churches which have for a long time been the
prey of the heretics. But wolves are troublesome to us who, though they have
been driven from the byre, yet harry the flocks up and down the glades, daring
to hold rival assemblies, stirring seditions among the people, and shrinking
from nothing which can do damage to the churches.

"So, as we have already said, we needs must labour all the longer. Since however
you showed your brotherly love to us by inviting us(as though we were your own
members) by the letters of our most religious emperor to the synod which you are
gathering by divine permission at Rome, to the end that since we alone were then
condemned to suffer persecution, you should not now, when our emperors are at
one with us as to true religion, reign apart from us, but that we, to use the
apostle's phrase,35 should reign with you, our prayer was, if it were possible,
all in company to leave our churches, and rather gratify our longing to see you
than consult their needs. For who will give us wings as of a dove, and we will
fly and be at rest?36 But this course seemed likely to leave the churches who
were just recovering quite undefended, and the undertaking was to most of us
impossible, for, in accordance with the letters sent a year ago from your
holiness after the synod at Aquileia to the most pious emperor Theodosius, we
had journeyed to Constantinople, equipped only for travelling so far as
Constantinople, and bringing the consent of the bishops remaining in the
provinces for this synod alone. We had been in no expectation of any longer
journey nor had heard a word about it before our arrival at Constantinople. In
addition to all this, and on account of the narrow limits of the appointed time
which allowed of no preparation for a longer journey, nor of communicating with
the bishops of our communion in the provinces and of obtaining their consent,
the journey to Rome was for the majority impossible. We have therefore adopted
the next best course open to us under the circumstances, both for the better
administration of the church, and for manifesting our love towards you, by
strongly urging our most venerated, and honoured colleagues and brother bishops
Cyriacus, Eusebius and Priscianus, to consent to travel to you.

"Through them we wish to make it plain that our disposition is all for peace
with unity for its sole object, and that we are full of zeal for the right
faith. For we, whether we suffered persecutions, or afflictions, or the threats
of emperors, or the cruelties of princes or any other trial at the hands of
heretics, have undergone all for the sake of the evangelic faith, ratified by
the three hundred and eighteen fathers at Nicaea in Bithynia. This is the faith
which ought to be sufficient for you, for us, for all who wrest not the word of
the true faith; for it is the ancient faith; it is the faith of our baptism; it
is the faith that teaches us to believe in the name of the Father, of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.

"Accordiug to this faith there is one Godhead, Power and Substance of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; the dignity being equal, and the majesty
being equal in three perfect essences37 and three perfect persons.38 Thus there
is neither room for the heresy of Sabellius by the confusion of the essences or
destruction of the individualities; thus the blasphemy of the Eunomians, of the
Arians, and of the Pneumatomachi is nullified, which divides the substance, the
nature and the godhead and superinduces on the uncreated consubstantial and
co-eternal trinity a nature posterior, created and of a different substance. We
moreover preserve unperverted the doctrine of the incarnation of the Lord,
holding the tradition that the dispensation of the flesh is neither soulless nor
mindless nor imperfect; and knowing full well that God's Word was perfect before
the ages, and became perfect than in the last days for our salvation.

"Let this suffice for a summary of the doctrine which is fearlessly and frankly
preached by us, and concerning which you will be able to be still further
satisfied if you will deign to read the report of the synod of Antioch, and also
that issued last year by the oecumenical council held at Constantinople, in
which we have set forth our confession of the faith at greater length, and have
appended an anathema against the heresies which innovators have recently
inscribed.

"Now as to the particular administration of individual churches, an ancient
custom, as you know, has obtained, confirmed by the enactment of the holy
fathers at Nicaea, that, in every province, the bishops of the province, and,
with their consent, the neighbouring bishops with them, should perform
ordinations as expediency may require. In conforming with these customs note
that other churches have been administered by us and the priests of the most
famous churches publicly appointed. Accordingly over the new made (if the
expression be allowable) church at Constantinople, which, as though from a
lion's mouth, we have lately snatched by God's mercy from the blasphemy of the
heretics, we have ordained bishop the right reverend and most religious
Nectarius, in the presence of the oecumenical council, with common consent,
before the most religions emperor Theodosius, and with the assent of all the
clergy and of the whole city. And over the most ancient and truly apostolic
church in Syria, where first the noble name of Christians39 was given them, the
bishops of the province and of the eastern diocese40 have met together and
canonically ordained bishop the right reverend and most religious Flavianus,
with the consent of all the church, who as though with one voice joined in
expressing their respect for him. This rightful ordination also received the
sanction of the general council. Of the church at Jerusalem, mother of all the
churches, we make known that the right reverend and most religious Cyril is
bishop, who was some time ago canonically ordained by the bishops of the
province, and has in several places fought a good fight against the Arians. We
beseech your reverence to rejoice at what has thus been rightly and canonically
settled by us, by the intervention of spiritual love and by the influence of the
fear of the Lord, compelling the feelings of then, and making the edification of
churches of more importance than individual grace or favour. Thus since among us
there is agreement in the faith and Christian charity has been established, we
shall cease to use the phrase condemned by the apostles, `I am of Paul and I of
Apollos and I of Cephas,'41 and all appearing as Christ's, who in us is not
divided, by God's grace we will keep the body of the church unrent, and will
boldly stand at the judgment seat of the Lord."

These things they wrote against the madness of Arius, Aetius, and Eunomius; and
moreover against Sabellius, Photinus, Marcellus, Paul of Samosata, and
Macedonius. Similarly they openly condemned the innovation of Apollinarius in
the phrase, "And we preserve the doctrine of the incarnation of the Lord,
holding the tradition that the dispensation of the flesh is neither soulless,
nor mindless, nor imperfect."

Chapter X.-Synodical Letter of Damasus Bishop of Rome Against Apollinarius and
Timotheus. When the most praiseworthy. Damasus had heard of the rise of this
heresy, he proclaimed the condemnation not only of Apollinarius but also of
Timotheus his follower. The letter in which he made this known to the bishops of
the Eastern empire I have thought it well to insert in my history.

Letter of Damasus bishop of Rome.

"Most honourable sons: Inasmuch as your love renders to the apostolic see the
reverence which is its due, accept the same in no niggard measure for
yourselves.42 For even though in the holy church in which the holy apostle sat,
and taught us how it becomes us to manage the rudder which has been committed to
us, we nevertheless confess ourselves to be unworthy of the honour, we yet on
this very account strive by every means within our power if haply we may be able
to achieve the glory of that blessedness. Know then that we have condemned
Timotheus, the unhallowed, the disciple of Apollinarius the heretic, together
with his impious doctrine, and are confident that for the future his remains
will have no weight whatever. But if that old serpent, though smitten once and
again, still revives to his own destruction, who though he exists without the
church never ceases from the attempt by his deadly venom to overthrow certain
unfaithful men, do you avoid it as you would a pest, mindful ever of the
apostolic faith-that, I mean, which was set out in writing by the Fathers at
Nicaea; do you remain on steady ground, firm and unmoved in the faith, and
henceforward suffer neither your clergy nor laity to listen to vain words and
futile questions, for we have already given a form, that he who professes
himself a Christian may keep it, the form delivered by the Apostles, as says St.
Paul, `if any one preach to you another gospel than that you have received let
him be Anathema.'43 For Christ the Son of God, our Lord, gave by his own passion
abundant salvation to the race of men, that he might free from all sin the whole
man involved in sin. If any one speaks of Christ as having had less of manhood
or of Godhead, he is full of devils` spirits, and proclaims himself a child of
hell.

"Why then do you again ask me for the condemnation of Timotheus? Here, by the
judgment of the apostolic see, in the presence of Peter, bishop of Alexandria,
he was condemned, together with his teacher, Apollinarius, who will also in the
day of judgment undergo due punishment and torment. But if he succeeds in
persuading some less stable men, as though having some hope, after by his
confession changing the true hope which is in Christ, with him shall likewise
perish whoever of set purpose withstands the order of the Church. May God keep
you sound, most honoured sons." The bishops assembled in great Rome also wrote
other things against other heresies which I have thought it necessary to insert
in my history.

Chapter XI.-A Confession of the Catholic Faith Which Pope Damasus Sent to Bishop
Paulinus in Macedonia When He Was at Thessalonica.

After the Council of Nicaea there sprung up this error. Certain men ventured
with profane mouths to say that the Holy Spirit is made through the Son. We
therefore anathematize those who do not with all freedom preach that the Holy
Spirit is of one and the same substance and power with the Father and the Son.
In like manner we anathematize them that follow the error of Sabellius and say
that the Father and the Son are the same. We anathematize Arius and Eunomius who
with equal impiety, though with differences of phrase, maintain the Son and the
Holy Spirit to be a creature. We anathematize the Macedonians who, produced
froth the root of Arius, have changed the name but not the impiety. We
anathematize Photinus who, renewing the heresy of Ebion, confessed that our Lord
Jesus Christ was only of Mary.44 We anathematize them that maintain that there
are two sons-one before the ages and another after the assumption of the flesh
from Mary. We anathematize also all who maintain that the Word of God moved in
human flesh instead of a reasonable soul. For this Word of God Himself was not
in His own body instead of a reasonable and intellectual soul, but assumed and
saved our soul, both reasonable and intellectual, without sin.45 We anathematize
also them that say that the Word of God is separated from the Father by
extension and contraction, and blasphemously affirm that He is without essential
being or is destined to die.

Them that have gone from churches to other churches we so far hold alien from
our communion till they shall have returned to those cities in which they were
first ordained.

If any one, when another has gone from place to place, has been ordained in his
stead, let him who abandoned his own city be held deprived of his episcopal rank
until such time as his successor shall rest in the Lord.

If any one denies that the Father is eternal and the Son eternal and the Holy
Ghost eternal, let him be anathema.

If any one denies that the Son was begotten of the Father, that is of His divine
substance, let him be anathema.

If any one denies that the Son of God is very God, omnipotent and omniscient,
and equal to the Father, let him be anathema.

If any one says that the Son of God, living in the flesh when he was on the
earth, was not in heaven and with the Father, let him be anathema.46

If any one says that in the Passion of the Cross the Son of God sustained its
pain by Godhead, and not by reasonable soul and flesh which He bad assumed in
the form of a servant,47 as saith the Holy Scripture, let him be anathema.

If any one denies that the Word of God suffered in the flesh and tasted death in
the flesh, and was the first-born of the dead,48 as the Son is life and giver of
life, let him be anathema.

If any one deny that He sits on the right hand of the Father in the flesh which
He assumed, and in which He shall come to judge. quick and dead, let him be
anathema.

If any one deny that the Holy Spirit is truly and absolutely of the Father, and
that the Son is of the divine substance and very God of God,49 let him be
anathema.

If any one deny that the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent,
as also the Son of the Father, let him be anathema.

If any one say that the Holy Spirit is a created being or was made through the
Son, let him be anathema.

If any one deny that the Father made all things visible and invisible, through
the Son who was made Flesh, and the Holy Spirit, let him be anathema.

If any one deny one Godhead and power, one sovereignty and glory, one lordship,
out kingdom, will and truth of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,
let him be anathema.

If any one deny three very persons of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, living for ever, containing all things visible and invisible, omnipotent,
judging all things, giving life to all things, creating all things and
preserving all things,50 let him be anathema.

If any one denies that the Holy Ghost is to be worshipped by all creation, as
the Son, and as the Father, let him be anathema.

If any one shall think aright about the Father and the Son but does not hold
aright about the Holy Ghost, anathema, because he is a heretic, for all the
heretics who do not think aright about God the Son and about the Holy Ghost are
convicted of being involved in the unbelief of the Sews and the heathen; and if
any one shall divide Godhead, saying that the Father is God apart and the Son
God, and the Holy Ghost God, and should persist that they are called Gods and
not God, on account of the one Godhead and sovereignty which we believe and know
there to be of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost-one God in three
essences,51 -or withdrawing the Son and the Holy Ghost so as to suggest that the
Father alone is called God and believed in as one God, let him be anathema. For
the name of gods has been bestowed by God upon angels and all saints, but of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost on account of their one and equal
Godhead, not the names of "gods" but the name of "our God" is predicated and
proclaimed, that we may believe that we are baptized in Father and Son and Holy
Ghost and not in the names of archangels or angels, like the heretics or the
Jews or foolish heathen. This is the salvation of the Christians that believing
in the Trinity, that is in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and being
baptized into the same one Godhead and power and divinity and substance, in Him
we may trust.

These events happened during the life of Gratianus.

Chapter XII.-Of the Death of Gratianus and the Sovereignty of Maximus.

Gratianus in the midst of his successes in war and wise and prudent government
ended his life by conspiracy.52 He left no sons to inherit the empire, and a
brother of the same name as their father, Valentinianus,53 who was quite a
youth. So Maximus,54 in contempt of the youth of Valentinianus, seized the
throne of the West.

Chapter XIII.-Of Justina, the Wife of Valentinianus, and of Her Plot Against
Ambrosius. At this time Justina,55 wife of Valentinianus the great, and mother
of the young prince, made known to her son the seeds of the Arian teaching which
she had long ago received. Well knowing the warmth of her consort's faith she
had endeavoured to conceal her sentiments during the whole of his life, but
perceiving that her son's character was gentle and docile, she took courage to
bring her deceitful doctrine forward. The lad supposed his mother's counsels to
be wise and beneficial, for nature so disposed the bait that he could not see
the deadly hook below. He first communicated on the subject with Ambrosius,
under the impression that, if he could persuade the bishop, he would be able
without difficulty to prevail over the rest. Ambrosius, however, strove to
remind him of his father's piety, and exhorted him to keep inviolate the
heritage which he had received. He explained to him also how one doctrine
differed from the other, how the one is in agreement with the teaching of the
Lord and with the teaching of his apostles, while the other is totally opposed
to it and at war with the code of the laws of the spirit. The young man, as
young men will. spurred on moreover by a mother herself the victim of deceit,
not only did not assent to the arguments adduced, but lost his temper, and, in a
passion, was for surrounding the approaches to the church with companies of
legionaries and targeteers. When, however, he learnt that this illustrious
champion was not in the least alarmed at his proceedings, for Ambrosius treated
them all like the ghosts and hobgoblins with which some men try to frighten
babies, he was exceedingly angry and publicly ordered him to depart from the
church. "I shall not," said Ambrosius, "do so willingly. I will not yield the
sheepfold to the wolves nor betray God's temple to blasphemers. If you wish to
slay me drive your sword or your spear into me here within. I shall welcome such
a death."56 Chapter XIV.-Of the Information Given by Maximus the Tyrant to
Valentinianus.

After a considerable time Maximus57 was informed of the attacks which were being
made upon the loud-voiced herald of the truth, and he sent dispatches to
Valentinianus charging him to put a stop to his war against true religion and
exhorting him not to abandon his father's faith. In the event of his advice
being disregarded he further threatened war, and confirmed what he wrote by what
he did,58 for he mustered his forces and marched for Milan where Valentinianus
was then residing. When the latter heard of his approach he fled into
Illyricum.59 He had learnt by experience what good he had got by following his
mother's advice.

Chapter XV.-Of the Letter Written by the Emperor Theodosius Concerning the Same.
When the illustrious emperor Theodosius had heard of the emperor's doings and
what the tyrant Maximus had written to him he wrote to the fugitive youth to
this effect: You must not be astonished if to you has come panic and to your
enemy victory; for you have been fighting against piety, and he on its side. You
abandoned it, and are running away naked. He in its panoply is getting the
mastery of you stripped bare of it, for He who hath given us the law of true
religion is ever on its side. So wrote Theodosius when he was yet afar off; but
when he had heard of Valentinian's flight, and had come to his aid, and saw him
an exile, taking refuge in his own empire, his first thought was to give succour
to his soul, drive out the intruding pestilence of impiety, and win him back to
the true religion of his fathers. Then he bade him be of good cheer and marched
against the tyrant. He gave the lad his empire again without loss of blood and
slew Maximus. For he felt that he should be guilty of wrong and should violate
the terms of his treaty with Gratianus were be not to take vengeance on those
who had caused his ally's death.60 Chapter XVI.-Of Amphilochius, Bishop of
Iconium. On the emperor's return the admirable Amphilochius, whom I have often
mentioned, came to beg that the Arian congregations might be expelled from the
cities. The emperor thought the petition too severe, and refused it. The very
wise Amphilochius at the moment was silent, for he had hit upon a memorable
device. The next time he entered the Palace and beheld standing at the emperor's
side his son Arcadius, who had lately been appointed emperor, he saluted
Theodosius as was his wont, but did no honour to Arcadius. The emperor, thinking
that this neglect was due to forgetfulness, commanded Amphilochius to approach
and to salute his son. "Sir," said he, "the honour which I have paid you is
enough." Theodosius was indignant at the discourtesy, and said, "Dishonour done
to my son is a rudeness to myself." Then, and not till then, the very wise
Amphilochius disclosed the object of his conduct, and said with a loud voice,
"You see, sir, that you do not brook dishonour done your son, and are bitterly
angry with those who are rude to him. Believe then that the God of all the world
abominates them that blaspheme the Only begotten Son, and hates them as
ungrateful to their Saviour and Benefactor."

Then the emperor understood the bishop's drift, and admired both what he had
done and what he had said. Without further delay he put out an edict forbidding
the congregations of heretics.61 But to escape all the snares of the common
enemy of mankind is no easy task. Often it happens that one who has kept clear
of lascivious passion is fixed fast in the toils of avarice; and if he prove
superior to greed there on the other side is the pitfall of envy, and even if he
leap safe over this he will find a net of passion waiting for him on the other
side.. Other innumerable stumbling blocks the enemy sets in men's paths, trying
to catch them to their ruin.62

Then he has at his disposal the bodily passions to help the wiles which he lays
against the soul. The mind alone, if it keep awake, gets the better of him,
frustrating the assault of his devices by its inclination to what is Divine.
Now, since this admirable emperor had his share of human nature,63 and was not
free from its emotions, his righteous anger passed the bounds of moderation, and
caused the perpetration of a savage and lawless deed. I must tell this story for
the sake of those into whose hands it will fall; it does not, indeed, only
involve blame of the admirable emperor, but so redounds to his credit as to
deserve to be remembered.

Chapter XVII.-Of the Massacre of Thessalonica; The Boldness of Bishop Ambrosius,
and the Piety of the Emperor.

Thessalonica is a large and very populous city, belonging to Macedonia, but the
capital of Thessaly and Achaia, as well as of many other provinces which are
governed by the prefect of Illyricum. Here arose a great sedition, and several
of the magistrates were stoned and violently treated.64 The emperor was fired
with anger when he heard the news, and unable to endure the rush of his passion,
did not even check its onset by the curb of reason, but allowed his rage to be
the minister of his vengeance. When the imperial passion had received its
authority, as though itself an independent prince, it broke the bonds and yoke
of reason unsheathed swords of injustice right and left without distinction, and
slew innocent and guilty together. No trial preceded the sentence. No
condemnation was passed on the perpetrators of the crimes. Multitudes were mowed
down like ears of corn in harvest-tide. It is said that seven thousand perished.

News of this lamentable calamity reached Ambrosius. The emperor on his arrival
at Milan wished according to custom to enter the church. Ambrosius met him
outside the outer porch and forbade him to step over the sacred threshold. "You
seem, sir, not to know," said he, "the magnitude of the bloody deed that has
been done. Your rage has subsided, but your reason has not yet recognised the
character of the deed. Peradventure your Imperial power prevents your
recognising the sin, and power stands in the light of reason. We must however
know how our nature passes away and is subject to death; we must know the
ancestral dust from which we sprang, and to which we are swiftly returning. We
must not because we are dazzled by the sheen of the purple fail to see the
weakness of the body that it robes. You are a sovereign, Sir, of men of like
nature with your own, and who are in truth your fellow slaves; for there is one
Lord and Sovereign of mankind, Creator of the Universe. With what eyes then will
you look on the temple of our common Lord-with what feet will you tread that
holy threshold, how will you stretch forth your hands still dripping with the
blood of unjust slaughter? How in such hands will you receive the all holy Body
of the Lord? How will you who in your rage unrighteously poured forth so much
blood lift to your lips the precious Blood? Begone. Attempt not to add another
crime to that which you have committed. Submit to the restriction to which the
God the Lord of all agrees that you be sentenced. He will be your physician, He
will give you health."65

Educated as he had been in the sacred oracles, Theodosius knew clearly what
belonged to priests and what to emperors. He therefore bowed to the rebuke of
Ambrose, and retired sighing and weeping to the palace. After a considerable
time, when eight months had passed away, the festival of our Saviour's birth
came round and the emperor sat in his palace shedding a storm of tears.

Now Rufinus, at that time controller of the household,66 and, from his
familiarity with his imperial master, able to use great freedom of speech,
approached and asked him why he wept. With a bitter groan and yet more abundant
weeping "You are trifling, Rufinus," said the emperor, "because you do not feel
my troubles. I am groaning and lamenting at the thought of my own calamity; for
menials and for beggars the way into the church lies open; they can go in
without fear, and put up their petitions to their own Lord. I dare not set my
foot there, and besides this for me the door of heaven is shut, for I remember
the voice of the Lord which plainly says, `Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall
have been bound in heaven.'"67

Rufinus replied "With your permission I will hasten to the bishop, and by my
entreaties induce him to remit your penalty." "He will not yield" said the
emperor. "I know the justice of the sentence passed by Ambrose, nor will he ever
be moved by respect for my imperial power to transgress the law of God."

Rufinus urged his suit again and again, promising to win over Ambrosius; and at
last the emperor commanded him to go with all despatch. Then, the victim of
false hopes, Theodosius, in reliance on the promises of Rufinus, followed in
person, himself. No sooner did the divine Ambrose perceive Rufinus than he
exclaimed, "Rufinus, your impudence matches a dog's, for you were the adviser of
this terrible slaughter; you have wiped shame from your brow, and guilty as you
are of this mad outrage on the image of God you stand here fearless, without a
blush." Then Rufinus began to beg and pray, and announced the speedy approach of
the emperor. Fired with divine zeal the holy Ambrosius exclaimed "Rufinus, I
tell you beforehand; I shall prevent him from crossing the sacred threshold. If
he is for changing his sovereign power into that of a tyrant I too will gladly
submit to a violent death." On this Rufinus sent a messenger to inform the
emperor in what mind the archbishop was, and exhorted him to remain within the
palace. Theodosius had already reached the middle of the forum when he received
the message. "I will go," said he, "and accept the disgrace I deserve." He
advanced to the sacred precincts but did not enter the holy building. The
archbishop was seated in the house of salutation68 and there the emperor
approached him and besought that his bonds might be loosed.

"Your coming" said Ambrose "is the coming of a tyrant. You are raging against
God; you are trampling on his laws." "No," said Theodosius, "I do not attack
laws laid down, I do not seek wrongfully to cross the sacred threshold; but I
ask you to loose my bond, to take into account the mercy of our common Lord, and
not to shut against me a door which our master has opened for all them that
repent." The archbishop replied "What repentance have you shown since your
tremendous crime? You have inflicted wounds right hard to heal; what salve have
you applied?" "Yours" said the emperor "is the duty alike of pointing out and of
mixing the salve. It is for me to receive what is given me." Then said the
divine Ambrosius "You let your passion minister justice, your passion not your
reason gives judgment. Put forth therefore an edict which shall make the
sentence of your passion null and void; let the sentences which have been
published inflicting death or confiscation be suspended for thirty days awaiting
the judgment of reason. When the days shall have elapsed let them that wrote the
sentences exhibit their orders, and then, and not till then, when passion has
calmed down, reason acting as sole judge shall examine the sentences and will
see whether they be right or wrong. If it find them wrong it will cancel the
deeds; if they be righteous it will confirm them, and the interval of time will
inflict no wrong on them that have been rightly condemned." This suggestion the
emperor accepted and thought it admirable. He ordered the edict to be put out
forthwith and gave it the authority of his sign manual. On this the divine
Ambrosius loosed the bond.

Now the very faithful emperor came boldly within the holy temple but did not
pray to his Lord standing, or even on his knees, but lying prone upon the ground
he tittered David's cry "My soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken thou me
according to thy word."69

He plucked out his hair; he smote his head; he besprinkled the ground with drops
of tears and prayed for pardon. When the time came for him to bring his
oblations to the holy table, weeping all the while he stood up and approached
the sanctuary.70

After making his offering, as he was wont, he remained within at the rail, but
once more the great Ambrosius kept not silence and taught him the distinction of
places. First he asked him if he wanted anything; and when the emperor said that
he was waiting for participation in the divine mysteries, Ambrose sent word to
him by the chief deacon and said, "The inner place, sir, is open only to
priests; to all the rest it is inaccessible; go out and stand where others
stand; purple can make emperors, but not priests." This instruction too the
faithful emperor most gladly received, and intimated in reply that it was not
from any audacity that he had remained within the rails, but because he had
understood that this was the custom at Constantinople. "I owe thanks," he added,
"for being cured too of this error." So both the archbishop and the emperor
showed a mighty shining light of virtue. Both to me are admirable; the former
for his brave words, the latter for his docility; the archbishop for the warmth
of his zeal, and the prince for the purity of his faith. On his return to
Constantinople Theodosius kept within the bounds of piety which he had learnt
from the great archbishop. For when the occasion of a feast brought him once
again into the divine temple, after bringing his gifts to the holy table he
straightway went out. The bishop at that time was Nectarius, and on his asking
the emperor what could possibly be the reason of his not remaining within,
Theodosius answered with a sigh "I have learnt after great difficulty the
differences between an emperor and a priest. It is not easy to find a man
capable of teaching me the truth. Ambrosius alone deserves the title of bishop."
So great is the gain of conviction when brought home by a man of bright and
shining goodness.

Chapter XVIII.-Of the Empress Placilla.71

Yet other opportunities of improvement lay within the emperor's reach, for his
wife used constantly to put him in mind of the divine laws in which she had
first carefully educated herself. In no way exalted by her imperial rank she was
rather fired by it with greater longing for divine things. The greatness of the
good gift given her made her love for Him who gave it all the greater, so she
bestowed every kind of attention on the maimed and the mutilated, declining all
aid from her household and her guards, herself visiting the houses where the
sufferers lodged, and providing every one with what he required. She also went
about the guest chambers of the churches and ministered to the wants of the
sick, herself handling pots and pans, and tasting broth, now bringing in a dish
and breaking bread and offering morsels, and washing out a cup and going through
all the other duties which are supposed to be proper to servants and maids. To
them who strove to restrain her from doing these things with her own hands she
would say, "It befits a sovereign to distribute gold; I, for the sovereign power
that has been given me, am giving my own service to the Giver." To her husband,
too, she was ever wont to say, "Husband, you ought always to bethink you what
you were once and what you have become now; by keeping this constantly in mind
you will never grow ungrateful to your benefactor, but will guide in accordance
with law the empire bestowed upon you, and thus you will worship Him who gave
it." By ever using language of this kind, she with fair and wholesome care, as
it were, watered the seeds of virtue planted in her husband's heart.

She died before her husband, and not long after the time of her death events
occurred which showed how well her husband loved her.

Chapter XIX.-Of the Sedition of Antioch.72 In consequence of his continual wars
the emperor was compelled to impose heavy taxes on the cities of the empire.73
The city of Antioch refused to put up with the new tax, and when the people saw
the victims of its exaction subjected to torture and indignity, then, in
addition to the usual deeds which a mob is wont to do when it is seizing an
opportunity for disorder, they pulled down the bronze statue of the illustrious
Placilla, for so was the empress named, and dragged it over a great part of the
town.74 On being informed of these events the emperor, as was to be expected,
was indignant. He then deprived the city of her privileges, and gave her dignity
to her neighbour, with the idea that thus he could inflict on her the greatest
indignity, for Antioch from the earliest times had had a rival in Laodicea.75 He
further threatened to burn and destroy the town and reduce it to the rank of a
village. The magistrates however had arrested some men in the very act, and had
put them to death before the tragedy came to the emperor's ears. All these
orders bad been given by the Emperor, but had not been carried out because of
the restriction imposed by the edict which had been made by the advice of the
great Ambrosius.76 On the arrival of the commissioners who brought the emperor's
threats, Elebichus, then a military commander, and Caesarius prefect of the
palace, styled by the Romans magister officiorum,77 the whole population
shuddered in consternation. But the athletes of virtue,78 dwelling at the foot
of the hill, of whom at that time there were many of the best, made many
supplications and entreaties to the imperial officers. The most holy Macedonius,
who was quite unversed in the things of this life, and altogether ignorant of
the sacred oracles, living on the tops of the mountains, and night and day
offering up pure prayers to the Saviour of all, was not in the least dismayed at
the imperial violence, nor at all affected by the power of the commissioners. As
they rode into the middle of the town he caught hold of one of them by the cloak
and bade both of them dismount. At the sight of a little old man, clad in common
rags, they were at first indignant, but some of those who were conducting them
informed them of the high character of Macedonius, and then they sprang from
their horses, caught hold of his knees, and asked his pardon. The old man, urged
on by divine wisdom, spoke to them in the following terms: "Say, dear sirs, to
the emperor; you are not only an emperor, you are also a man. Bethink you,
therefore, not only of your sovereignty, but also of your nature. You are a man,
and you reign over your fellow men. Now the nature of man is formed after the
image and likeness of God. Do not, therefore, thus savagely and cruelly order
the massacre of God's image, for by punishing His image you will anger the
Maker. Think how you are acting thus in your wrath for the sake of a brazen
image. Now all who are endued with reason know how far a lifeless image is
inferior to one alive and gifted with soul and sense. Take into account, too,
that for one image of bronze we can easily make many more. Even you yourself
cannot make one single hair of the slain."

After the good men had heard these words they reported them to the emperor, and
quenched the flame of his rage. Instead of his threats he wrote a defence, and
explained the cause of his anger. "It was not right," said he, "because I was in
error, that indignity should be inflicted after her death on a woman so worthy
of the highest praise. They that were aggrieved ought to have armed their anger
against me." The emperor further added that he was grieved and distressed when
he heard that some had been executed by the magistrates. In relating these
events I have had a twofold object. I did not think it right to leave in
oblivion the boldness of the illustrious monk, and I wished to point out the
advantage of the edict which was put out by the advice of the great Ambrosius.79

Chapter XX. Of the destruction of the temples all over the Empire.

Now the right faithful emperor diverted his energies to resisting paganism, and
published edicts in which he ordered the shrines of the idols to be destroyed.
Constantine the Great, most worthy of all eulogy, was indeed the first to grace
his empire with true religion; and when he saw the world still given over to
foolishness he issued a general prohibition against the offering of sacrifices
to the idols. He had not, however, destroyed the temples, though he ordered them
to be kept shut. His sons followed in their father's footsteps. Julian restored
the false faith and rekindled the flame of the ancient fraud. On the accession
of Jovian he once more placed an interdict on the worship of idols, and
Valentinian the Great governed Europe with like laws. Valens, however, allowed
every one else to worship any way they would and to honour their various objects
of adoration. Against the champions of the Apostolic decrees alone he persisted
in waging war. Accordingly during the whole period of his reign the altar fire
was lit, libations and sacrifices were offered to idols, public feasts were
celebrated in the forum, and votaries initiated in the orgies of Dionysus ran
about in goat-skins, mangling hounds in Bacchic frenzy, and generally behaving
in such a way as to show the iniquity of their master. When the right faithful
Theodosius found all these evils he pulled them up by the roots, and consigned
them to oblivion.80 Chapter XXI.-Of Marcellus, Bishop of Apamea, and the Idols'
Temples Destroyed by Him. The first of the bishops to put the edict in force and
destroy the shrines in the city committed to his care was Marcellus, trusting
rather in God than in the hands of a multitude. The occurrence is remarkable,
and I shall proceed to narrate it. On the death of John, bishop of Apamea, whom
I have already mentioned, the divine Marcellus, fervent in spirit,81 according
to the apostolic law, was appointed in his stead.

Now there had arrived at Apamea the prefect of the East82 with two tribunes and
their troops. Fear of the troops kept the people quiet. An attempt was made to
destroy the vast and magnificent shrine of Jupiter, but the building was so firm
and solid that to break up its closely compacted stones seemed beyond the power
of man; for they were huge and well and truly laid, and moreover clamped fast
with iron and lead.83 When the divine Marcellus saw that the prefect was afraid
to begin the attack, he sent him on to the rest of the towns; while he himself
prayed to God to aid him in the work of destruction. Next morning there came
uninvited to the bishop a man who was no builder, or mason, or artificer of any
kind, but only a labourer who carried stones and timber on his back. "Give me,"
said he, "two workmen's pay; and I promise you I will easily destroy the
temple." The holy bishop did as he was asked, and the following was the fellow's
contrivance. Round the four sides of the temple went a portico united to it, and
on which its upper story rested.84 The columns were of great bulk, commensurate
with the temple, each being sixteen cubits in circumference. The quality of the
stone was exceptionally hard, and offering great resistance to the masons'
tools. In each of these the man made an opening all round, propping up the
superstructure with olive timber before he went on to another. After he had
hollowed out three of the columns, he set fire to the timbers. But a black demon
appeared and would not suffer the wood to be consumed, as it naturally would be,
by the fire, and stayed the force of the flame. After the attempt had been made
several times, and the plan was proved ineffectual, news of the failure was
brought to the bishop, who was taking his noontide sleep. Marcellus forthwith
hurried to the church, ordered water to be poured into a pail, and placed the
water upon the divine altar. Then, bending his head to the ground, he besought
the loving Lord in no way to give in to the usurped power of the demon, but to
lay bare its weakness and exhibit His own strength, lest unbelievers should
henceforth find excuse for greater wrong. With these and other like words he
made the sign of the cross over the water, and ordered Equitius, one of his
deacons, who was armed with faith and enthusiasm, to take the water and sprinkle
it in faith, and then apply the flame. His orders were obeyed, and the demon,
unable to endure the approach of the water, fled. Then the fire, affected by its
foe the water as though it had been oil, caught the wood, and consumed it in an
instant. When their support had vanished the columns themselves fell down, and
dragged other twelve with them. The side of the temple which was connected with
the columns was dragged down by the violence of their fall, and carried away
with them. The crash, whichwas tremendous, was heard throughout the town, and
all ran to see the sight. No sooner did the multitude hear of the flight of the
hostile demon than they broke out into a hymn of praise to God.

Other shrines were destroyed in like manner by this holy bishop. Though I have
many other most admirable doings of this holy man to relate,-for he wrote
letters to the victorious martyrs, and received replies from them, and himself
won the martyr's crown,-for the present I hesitate to narrate them, lest by over
prolixity I weary the patience of those into whose hands my history may fall.

I will therefore now pass to another subject.

Chapter XXII.-Of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, and What Happened at the
Demolition of the Idols in that City. The illustrious Athanasius was succeeded
by the admirable Petrus, Petrus by Timotheus, and Timotheus by Theophilus, a man
of sound wisdom and of a lofty courage.85 By him Alexandria was set free from
the error of idolatry; for, not content with razing the idols' temples to the
ground, he exposed the tricks of the priests to the victims of their wiles. For
they had constructed statues of bronze and wood hollow within, and fastened the
backs of them to the temple walls, leaving in these walls certain invisible
openings. Then coming up from their secret chambers they got inside the statues,
and through them gave any order they liked and the hearers, tricked and cheated,
obeyed.86 These tricks the wise Theophilus exposed to the people.

Moreover he went up into the temple of Serapis, which has been described by some
as excelling in size and beauty all the temples in the world.87 There he saw a
huge image of which the bulk struck beholders with terror, increased by a lying
report which got abroad that if any one approached it, there would be a great
earthquake, and that all the people would be destroyed. The bishop looked on all
these tales as the mere drivelling of tipsy old women, and in utter derision of
the lifeless monster's enormous size, he told a man who had an axe to give
Serapis a good blow with it.88 No sooner had the man struck, than all the folk
cried out, for they were afraid of the threatened catastrophe. Serapis however,
who had received the blow, felt no pain, inasmuch as he was made of wood, and
uttered never a word, since he was a lifeless block. His head was cut off, and
forthwith out ran multitudes of mice, for the Egyptian god was a dwelling place
for mice. Serapis was broken into small pieces of which some were committed to
the flames, but his head was carried through all the town in sight of his
worshippers, who mocked the weakness of him to whom they had bowed the knee.

Thus all over the world the shrines of the idols were destroyed.89

Chapter XXIII.-Of Flavianus Bishop of Antioch and of the Sedition Which Arose in
the Western Church on Account of Paulinus. At Antioch the great Meletius had
been succeeded by Flavianus who, together with Diodorus, had undergone great
struggles for the salvation of the sheep. Paulinus had indeed desired to receive
the bishopric, but he was withstood by the clergy on the ground that it was not
right that Meletius at his death should be succeeded by one who did not share
his opinions, and that to the care of the flock ought to be advanced he who was
conspicuous for many toils, and had run the risk of many perils for the sheeps'
sake. Thus a lasting hostility arose among the Romans and the Egyptians against
the East, and the ill feeling was not even destroyed on the death of Paulinus.
After him when Evagrius had occupied his see, hostility was still shewn to the
great Flavianus, notwithstanding the fact that the promotion of Evagrius was a
violation of the law of the Church, for he had been promoted by Paulinus alone
in disregard of many canons. For a dying bishop is not permitted to ordain
another to take his place, and all the bishops of a province are ordered to be
convened; again no ordination of a bishop is permitted to take place without
three bishops. Nevertheless they refused to take cognizance of any of these
laws, embraced the communion of Evagrius, and filled the ears of the emperor
with complaints against Flavianus, so that, being frequently importuned, he
summoned him to Constantinople, and ordered him to repair to Rome.

Flavianus, however, urged in reply that it was now winter, and promised to obey
the command in spring. He then returned home. But when the bishops of Rome, not
only the admirable Damasus, but also Siricius his successor and Anastasius the
successor of Siricius, importuned the emperor more vehemently and represented
that, while he put down the rivals against his own authority, he suffered bold
rebels against the laws of Christ to maintain their usurped authority, then he
sent for him again and tried to force him to undertake the journey to Rome. On
this Flavianus in his great wisdom spoke very boldly, and said, "If, sir, there
are some who accuse me of being unsound in the faith, or of life and
conversation unworthy of the priesthood, I will accept my accusers themselves
for judges, and will submit to whatever sentence they may give. But if they are
contending about see and primacy I will not contest the point; I will not oppose
those who wish to take them; I will give way and resign my bishopric. So, sir,
give the episcopal throne of Antioch to whom you will." The emperor admired his
manliness and wisdom, and bade him go home again, and tend the church committed
to his care.

After a considerable time had elapsed the emperor arrived at Rome, and once more
encountered the charges advanced by the bishops on the ground that he was making
no attempt to put down the tyranny of Flavianus. The emperor ordered them to set
forth the nature of the tyranny, saying that he himself was Flavianus and had
become his protector. The bishops rejoined that it was impossible for them to
dispute with the emperor. He then exhorted them in future to join the churches
in concord, put an end to the quarrel, and quench the fires of an useless
controversy. Paulinus, he pointed out, had long since departed this life;
Evagrius had been irregularly promoted; the eastern churches accepted Flavianus
as their bishop. Not only the east but all Asia. Pontius, and Thrace were united
in communion with him, and all Illyricum recognised his authority over the
oriental bishops. In submission to these counsels the western bishops promised
to bring their hostility to a close and to receive the envoys who should he sent
them. When Flavianus had been informed of this decision he despatched to Rome
certain worthy bishops with presbyters and deacons of Antioch, giving the chief
authority among them to Acacius bishop of Beroea, who was famous throughout the
world. On the arrival of Acacius and his party at Rome they put an end to the
protracted quarrel, and after a war of seventeen years90 gave peace to the
churches. When the Egyptians were informed of the reconciliation they too gave
up their opposition, and gladly accepted the agreement which was made. At that
time Anastasius had been succeeded in the primacy of the Roman Church by
Innocent, a man of prudence and ready wit. Theophilus, whom I have previously
mentioned, held the see of Alexandria.91 Chapter XXIV.-Of the Tyranny of
Eugenius and the Victory Won Through Faith by the Emperor Theodosius. In this
manner the peace of the churches was secured by the most religious emperor.
Before the establishment of peace he had heard of the death of Valentinianus and
of the usurpation of Eugenius and had marched for Europe.92 At this time there
lived in Egypt93 a man of the name of John, who had embraced the ascetic life.
Being full of spiritual grace, he foretold many future events to persons who
from time to time came to consult him. To him the Christ-loving emperor sent, in
his anxiety to know whether he ought to make war against the tyrants. In the
case of the former war he foretold a bloodless victory. In that of the second he
predicted that the emperor would only win after a great slaughter. With this
expectation the emperor set out, and, while drawing up his forces, shot down
many of his opponents, but lost many of his barbarian allies.94 When his
generals represented that the forces on their side were few and recommended him
to allow some pause in the campaign, so as to muster an army at the beginning of
spring and out-number the enemy, Theodosius refused to listen to their advice.
"For it is wrong," said he, "to charge the Cross of Salvation with such
infirmity, for it is the cross which leads our troops, and attribute such power
to the image of Hercules which is at the head of the forces of our foe." Thus in
right faith he spoke, though the men left him were few in number and much
discouraged. Then when he had found a little oratory, on the top of the hill
where his camp was pitched, be spent the whole night in prayer to the God of
all.

About cock-crow sleep overcame him, and as he lay upon the ground he thought he
saw two men in white raiment riding upon white horses, who bade him be of good
cheer, drive away his fear, and at dawn arm and marshal his men for battle.
"For," said they, "we have been sent to fight for you," and one said, "I am John
the evangelist," and the other, "I am Philip the apostle."

After he had seen this vision the emperor ceased not his supplication, but
pursued it with still greater eagerness. The vision was also seen by a soldier
in the ranks who reported it to his centurion. The centurion brought him to the
tribune, and the tribune to the general. The general supposed that he was
relating something new, and reported the story to the emperor. Then said
Theodosius, "Not for my sake has this vision been seen by this man, for I have
put my trust in them that promised me the victory. But that none may have
supposed me to have invented this vision, because of my eagerness for the
battle, the protector of my empire has given the information to this man too,
that he may bear witness to the truth of what I say when I tell you that first
to me did our Lord vouchsafe this vision. Let us then fling aside our fear. Let
us follow our front rank and our generals. Let none weigh the chance of victory
by the number of the men engaged, but let every man bethink him of the power of
the leaders."

He spoke in similar terms to his men, and after thus inspiring all his host with
high hope, led them down from the crest of the hill. The tyrant saw the army
coming to attack him from a distance, and then armed his forces and drew them up
for battle. He himself remained on some elevated ground, and said that the
emperor was desirous of death, and was coming into battle because he wished to
be released from this present life: so he ordered his generals to bring him
alive and in chains. When the forces were drawn up in battle array those of the
enemy appeared by far the more numerous, and the tale of the emperor's troops
might be easily told. But when both sides had begun to discharge their weapons
the front rank proved their promises true. A violent wind blew right in the
faces of the foe, and diverted their arrows and javelins and spears, so that no
missile was of any use to them, and neither trooper nor archer nor spearman was
able to inflict any damage upon the emperor's army. Vast clouds of dust, too,
were carried into their faces, compelling them to shut their eyes and protect
them from attack. The imperial forces on the other hand did not receive the
slightest injury from the storm, and vigorously attacked and slew the foe. The
vanquished then recognised the divine help given to their conquerors, flung away
their arms, and begged the emperor for quarter. Theodosius then yielded to their
entreaty and had compassion on them, and ordered them to bring the tyrant
immediately before him. Eugenius was ignorant of how the day had gone, and when
he saw his men running up the hillock where he sat, all out of breath, and
shewing their eagerness by their panting, he took them for messengers of
victory, and asked if they had brought Theodosius in chains, as he had ordered.
"No," said they, "we are not bringing him to you, but we are come to carry you
off to him, for so the great Ruler has ordained." Even as they spoke they lifted
him from his chariot, put chains upon him, and carried him off thus fettered,
and led away the vain boaster of a short hour ago, now a prisoner of war. The
emperor reminded him of the wrongs he had done Valentinianus, of his usurped
authority, and of the wars which he had waged against the rightful emperor. He
ridiculed also the figure of Hercules and the foolish confidence it had inspired
and at last pronounced the sentence of right and lawful punishment.

Such was Theodosius in peace and in war, ever asking and never refused the help
of God.95 Chapter XXV.-Of the Death of the Emperor Theodosius.96

After this victory Theodosius fell sick and divided his empire between his sons,
assigning to the elder the sovereignty which he had wielded himself and to the
younger the throne of Europe.97

He charged both to hold fast to the true religion, "for by its means," said he,
"peace is preserved, war is stopped, foes are routed, trophies are set up and
victory is proclaimed." After giving this charge to his sons he died, leaving
behind him imperishable fame. His successors in the empire were also inheritors
of his piety.

Chapter XXVI.-Of Honorius the Emperor and Telemachus the Monk.

Honorius, who inherited the empire of Europe, put a stop to the gladiatorial
combats which had long been held at Rome. The occasion of his doing so arose
from the following circumstance. A certain man of the name of Telemachus had
embraced the ascetic life. He had set out from the East and for this reason had
repaired to Rome. There, when the abominable spectacle was being exhibited, he
went himself into the stadium, and, stepping down into the arena, endeavoured to
stop the men who were wielding their weapons against one another. The spectators
of the slaughter were indignant, and inspired by the mad fury of the demon who
delights in those bloody deeds, stoned the peacemaker to death. When the
admirable emperor was informed of this he numbered Telemachus in the array of
victorious martyrs, and put an end to that impious spectacle.

Chapter XXVII.-Of the Piety of the Emperor Arcadius and the Ordination of John
Chrysostom. On the death at Constantinople of Nectarius, bishop of that see,
Arcadius, who had succeeded to the Eastern empire, summoned John, the great
luminary of the world. He had heard that he was numbered in the ranks of the
presbyterate, and now issued orders to the assembled bishops to confer on him
divine grace, and appoint him shepherd of that mighty city.98 This fact is alone
sufficient to show the emperor's care for divine things. At the same time the
see of Antioch was held by Flavianus, and that of Laodicea by Elpidius, who had
formerly been the comrade of the great Meletius, and had received the impress of
his life and conversation more plainly than wax takes the impression of a seal
ring.99

He succeeded the great Pelagius;100 and the divine Marcellus101 was followed by
the illustrious Agapetus102 whom I have already described as conspicuous for
high ascetic virtue. In the time of the tempest of heresy, of Seleucia ad
Taurum, Maximus,103 the companion of the great John, was bishop, and of
Mopsuestia Theodorus,104 both illustrious teachers. Conspicuous, too, in wisdom
and character was the holy Acacius,105 bishop of Beroea.

Leontius,106 a shining example of many virtues, tended the flock of the
Galatians.

Chapter XXVIII.-Of John's Boldness for God. When the great John had received the
tiller of the Church, he boldly convicted certain wrong doers, made seasonable
exhortations to the emperor and empress, and admonished the clergy to live
according to the laws laid down. Transgressors against these laws he forbade to
approach the churches, urging that they who shewed no desire to live the life of
true priests ought not to enjoy priestly honour. He acted with this care for the
church not only in Constantinople, but throughout the whole of Thrace, which is
divided into six provinces, and likewise of Asia, which is governed by eleven
governors. Pontica too, which has a like number of rulers with Asia, was happily
brought by him under the same discipline.107 Chapter XXIX.-Of the Idol Temples
Which Were Destroyed by John in Phoenicia. On receiving information that
Phoenicia was still suffering from the madness of the demons' rites, John got
together certain monks who were fired with divine zeal armed them with imperial
edicts and despatched them against the idols' shrines. The money which was
required to pay the craftsmen and their assistants who were engaged in the work
of destruction was not taken by John from imperial resources, but he persuaded
certain wealthy and faithful women to make liberal contributions, pointing out
to them how great would be the blessing their generosity would win.

Thus the remaining shrines of the demons were utterly destroyed.108 Chapter
XXX.-Of the Church of the Goths.

It was perceived by John that the Scythians were involved in the Arian net; he
therefore devised counter contrivances and discovered a means of winning them
over. Appointing presbyters and deacons and readers of the divine oracles who
spoke the Scythian tongue, he assigned a church to them,109 and by their means
won many from their error. He used frequently himself to visit it and preach
there, using an interpreter who was skilled in both languages, and he got other
good speakers to do the same. This was his constant practice in the city, and
many of those who had been deceived he rescued by pointing out to them the truth
of the apostolic preaching.

Chapter XXXI.-Of His Care Far the Scythians and His Zeal Against the
Marcionists. On learning that some of the Nomads encamped along the Danube were
thirsty for salvation, but had none to bring them the stream, John sought out
men who were filled with a love of labour like that which had distinguished the
apostles, and gave them charge of the work. I have myself seen a letter written
by him to Leontius, bishop of Ancyra, in which he described the conversion of
the Scythians, and begged that fit men for their instruction might be sent. On
hearing that in our district110 some men were infected with the plague of
Marcion he wrote to the then bishop charging him to drive out the plague, and
proffering him the aid of the imperial edicts. I have said enough to show how,
to use the words of the divine apostle, he carried in his heart "the care of all
the churches."111 His boldness may also be learnt from other sources.

Chapter XXXII.-Of the Demand Made by Gainas and of John Chrysostom's Reply.

One Gainas, a Scythian, but still more barbarous in character, and of cruel and
violent disposition, was at that time a military commander. He had under him
many of his own fellow-countrymen, and with them commanded the Roman cavalry and
infantry. He was an object of terror not only to all the rest but even to the
emperor himself, who suspected him of aiming at usurpation.

He was a participator in the Arian pest, and requested the emperor to grant him
the use of one of the churches. Arcadius replied that he would see to it and
have it done. He then sent for the divine John, told him of the request that had
been made, reminded him of the power of Gainas, hinted at the usurpation which
was being aimed at, and besought him to bridle the anger of the barbarian by
this concession.112 "But," said that noble man, "attempt, sir, no such promise,
nor order what is holy to be given to the dogs.113 I will never suffer the
worshippers and praisers of the Divine Word to be expelled and their church to
be given to them that blaspheme Him. Have no fear, sir, of that barbarian; call
us both, me and him, before you; listen in silence to what is said, and I will
both curb his tongue and persuade him not to ask what it is wrong to grant." The
emperor was delighted with what Chrysostom said, and on the next day summoned
both the bishop and the general before him. Gainas began to request the
fulfilment of the promise, but the great John said in reply that the emperor,
who professed the true religion, had no right to venture on any act against it.
Gainas rejoined that he also must have a place to pray in. "Why," said the great
John, "every church is open to you, and nobody prevents you from praying there
when you are so disposed." "But I," said Gainas, "belong to another sect, and I
ask to have one church with them, and surely I who undergo so many toils in war
for Romans may fairly make such a request." "But," said the bishop, "you have
greater rewards for your labours, you are a general; you are vested in the
consular robe, and you must consider what you were formerly and what you are
now-your indigence in the past and your present prosperity; what kind of raiment
you wore before you crossed the Ister, and what you are robed in now. Consider,
I say, the littleness of your labours and the greatness of your rewards, and be
not unthankful to them who have shewn you honour." With these words the teacher
of the world silenced Gainas, and compelled him to stand dumb. In process of
time, however, he made known the rebellion which he had long had at heart,
gathered his forces in Thrace, and went out ravaging and plundering in very many
directions. At news of this there arose an universal panic among both princes
and subjects, and no one was found willing to march against him; no one thought
it safe to approach him with an ambassage, for every one suspected his barbarous
character.

Chapter XXXIII.-Of the Ambassage of Chrysostom to Gainas.

Then when every one else was passed over because of the universal panic, this
great chief was persuaded to undertake the ambassage. He took no heed of the
dispute which has been related, nor of the ill feeling which it had engendered,
and readily set out for Thrace. No sooner did Gainas hear of the arrival of the
envoy than he bethought him of the bold utterance which he had made on behalf of
true religion. He came eagerly froth a great distance to meet him, placed his
right hand upon his eyes, and brought his children to his saintly knees. So is
it the nature of goodness to put even those who are most opposed to it to the
blush and vanquish them. But envy could not endure the bright rays of his
philosophy. It put in practice its wonted wiles and deprived of his eloquence
and his wisdom the imperial city-aye indeed the whole world.114 Chapter
XXXIV.-Of the Events Which Happened on Account of Chrysostom. At this part of my
history I know not what sentiments to entertain; wishful as I am to relate the
wrong inflicted on Chrysostom, I yet regard in other respects the high character
of those who wronged him. I shall therefore do my best to conceal even their
names.115 These persons had different reasons for their hostility, and were
unwilling to contemplate his brilliant virtue. They found certain wretches who
accused him, and, perceiving the openness of the calumny, held a meeting at a
distance from the city and pronounced their sentence.116 The emperor, who had
confidence in the clergy, ordered him to be banished. So Chrysostom, without
having heard the charges brought against him, or brought forward his defence,
was forced as though convicted on the accusations advanced against him to quit
Constantinople,117 and departed to Hieron at the mouth of the Euxine, for so the
naval station is named. In the night there was a great earthquake and the
empress118 was struck with terror. Envoys were accordingly sent at daybreak to
the banished bishop beseeching him to return without delay to Constantinople,
and avert the peril from the town. After these another party was sent and yet
again others after them and the Bosphorus was crowded with the couriers. When
the faithful people learned what was going on they covered the mouth of the
Propontis with their boats, and the whole population lighted up waxen torches
and came forth to meet him. For the time indeed his banded foes were
scattered.119 But after the interval of a few months they endeavoured to enact
punishment, not for the forged indictment, but for his taking part in divine
service after his deposition. The bishop represented that he had not pleaded,
that he had not heard the indictment, that he had made no defence, that he had
been condemned in his absence, that he had been exiled by the emperor, and by
the emperor again recalled. Then another Synod met, and his opponents did not
ask for a trial, but persuaded the emperor that the sentence was lawful and
right. Chrysostom was then not merely banished, but relegated to a petty and
lonely town in Armenia of the name of Cucusus. Even from thence he was removed
and deported to Pityus, a place at the extremity of the Euxine and on the
marches of the Roman Empire, in the near neighbourhood of the wildest savages.
But the loving Lord did not suffer the victorious athlete to be carried off to
this islet, for when he had reached Comana he was removed to the life that knows
nor age nor pain.120 The body that had struggled so bravely was buried by the
side of the coffin of the martyred Basiliscus, for so the martyr had ordained in
a dream.

I think it needless to prolong my narrative by relating how many bishops were
expelled from the church on Chrysostom's account, and sent to live in the ends
of the earth, or how many ascetic philosophers were involved in the same
calamities, and all the more because I think it needful to curtail these hideous
details, and to throw a veil over the ill deeds of men of the same faith as our
own. Punishment however did fall on most of the guilty, and their sufferings
were a means of good to the rest. This great wrong was regarded with special
detestation by the bishops of Europe, who separated themselves from communion
with the guilty parties. In this action they were joined by all the bishops of
Illyria. In the East most of the cities shrank from participation in the wrong,
but did not make a rent in the body of the church. On the death of the great
teacher of the great teacher of the world, the bishops of the West refused to
embrace the communion of the bishops of Egypt, of the East, of the Bosphorus,
and in Thrace, until the name of that holy man had been inserted among those of
deceased bishops. Arsacius his immediate successor they declined to acknowledge,
but Atticus the successor of Arsacius, after he had frequently solicited the
boon of peace, was after a time received when he had inserted the name in the
roll.121 Chapter XXXV.-Of Alexander, Bishop of Antioch. At this time the see of
Alexandria was held by Cyril,122 brother's son to Theophilus whom he succeeded;
at the same time Jerusalem was occupied by John123 in succession to Cyril whom
we have formerly mentioned. The Antiochenes were under the care of Alexander124
whose life and conversation were of a piece with his episcopate. Before his
consecration he passed his time in ascetic training and in hard bodily exercise.
He was known as a noble champion, teaching by word and confirming the word by
deed. His predecessor was Porphyrius who guided that church after Flavianus, and
left behind him many memorials of his loving character.125 He was also
distinguished by intellectual power. The holy Alexander was specially rich in
self discipline and philosophy; his life was one of poverty and self denial; his
eloquence was copious and his other gifts were innumerable; by his advice and
exhortation, the following of the great Eustathius which Paulinus, and after him
Evagrius, had not permitted to be restored, was united to the rest of the body,
and a festival was celebrated the like of which none had ever seen before. The
bishop gathered all the faithful together, both clergy and laity, and marched
with them to the assembly. The procession was accompanied by musicians; one hymn
was sung by all in harmony, and thus he and his company went in procession from
the western postern to the great church, filling the whole forum with people,
and constituting a stream of thinking living beings like the Orontes in its
course. When this was seen by the Jews, by the victims of the Arian plague, and
by the insignificant remnant of Pagans, they set up a groaning and wailing, and
were distressed at seeing the rest of the rivers discharging their waters into
the Church. By Alexander the name of the great John was first inscribed in the
records126 of the Church.

Chapter XXXVI.-Of the Removal of the Remains of John and of the Faith of
Theodosius and His Sisters. At a later time the actual remains of the great
doctor were conveyed to the imperial city, and once again the faithful crowd
turning the sea as it were into land by their close packed boats, covered the
mouth of the Bosphorus towards the Propontis with their torches. The precious
possession was brought into Constantinople by the present emperor,127 who
received the name of his grandfather and preserved his piety undefiled. After
first gazing upon the bier he laid his head against it, and prayed for his
parents and for pardon on them who had ignorantly sinned, for his parents had
long ago been dead, leaving him an orphan in extreme youth, but the God of his
fathers and of his forefathers permitted him not to suffer trial from his
orphanhood, but provided for his nurture in piety, protected his empire from the
assaults of sedition, and bridled rebellious hearts. Ever mindful of these
blessings he honours his benefactor with hymns of praise. Associated with him in
this divine worship are his sisters,128 who have maintained virginity throughout
their lives, thinking the study of the divine oracles129 the greatest delight,
and reckoning that riches beyond robbers' reach are to be found in ministering
to the poor. The emperor himself was adorned by many graces, and not least by
his kindness and clemency, an unruffled calm of soul and a faith as undefiled as
it is notorious. Of this I will give an undeniable proof. A certain ascetic
somewhat rough of temper came to the emperor with a petition. He came several
times without attaining his object, and at last excommunicated the emperor and
left him under his ban. The faithful emperor returned to his palace, and as it
was the time for the banquet, and his guests were assembled, he said that he
could not partake of the entertainment before the interdict was taken off. On
this account he sent the most intimate of his suite to the bishop, beseeching
him to order the imposer of the interdict to remove it. The bishop replied that
an interdict ought not to be accepted from every one, and pronounced it not
binding, but the emperor refused to accept this remission until the imposer of
it had after much difficulty been discovered, and had restored the communion
withdrawn. So obedient was he to divine laws. In accordance with the same
principles he ordered a complete destruction of the remains of the idolatrous
shrines, that our posterity might be saved from the sight of even a trace of the
ancient error, this being the motive which he expressed in the edict published
on the subject. Of this good seed sown he is ever reaping the fruits, for he has
the Lord of all on his side. So when Rhoïlas,130 Prince of the Scythian Nomads,
had crossed the Danube with a vast host and was ravaging and plundering Thrace,
and was threatening to besiege the imperial city, and summarily seize it and
deliver it to destruction, God smote him from on high with thunderbolt and
storm, burning up the invader and destroying all his host. A similar providence
was shewn, too, in the Persian war. The Persians received information that the
Romans were occupied elsewhere, and so in violation of the treaty of Peace,
marched against their neighbours, who found none to aid them under the attack,
because, in reliance on the Peace, the emperor had despatched his generals and
his men to other wars. Then the further march of the Persians was stayed by a
very violent storm of rain and hail; their horses refused to advance; in twenty
days they had not succeeded in advancing as many furlongs. Meanwhile the
generals returned and mustered their troops. In the former war, too, these same
Persians, when besieging the emperor's eponymous city,131 were providentially
rendered ridiculous. For after Vararanes132 had beset the aforesaid city for
more than thirty days with all his forces, and had brought up many helepoles,
and employed innumerable engines, and built up lofty towers outside the wall,
resistance was offered, and the assault of the attacking engines repelled, by
the bishop Eunomius alone. Our men had refused to fight against the foe, and
were shrinking from bringing aid to the besieged, when the bishop, by opposing
himself to them, preserved the city from being taken. When one of the barbarian
chieftains ventured on his wonted blasphemy, and with words like those of
Rabshakeh and Sennacherib, madly threatened to burn the temple of God, the holy
bishop could not endure his furious wrath, but himself commanded a balista,133
which went by the name of the Apostle Thomas, to be set up upon the battlements,
and a mighty stone to be adjusted to it.Then, in the name of the Lord who had
been blasphemed, he gave the word to let go,-down crashed the stone on that
impious chief and hit him on his wicked mouth, and crushed in his face, and
broke his head in pieces, and sprinkled his brains upon the ground. When the
commander of the army who had hoped to take the city saw what was done, he
confessed himself beaten and withdrew, and in his alarm made peace.

Thus the universal sovereign protects the faithful emperor, for he clearly
acknowledges whose slave he is, and performs fitting service to his Master.134
Chapter XXXVII.-Of Theodotus Bishop of Antioch.

Theodosius restored the relics of the great luminary of the world to the city
which deeply regretted his loss. These events however happened later.135

Innocent the excellent bishop of Rome was succeeded by Bonifacius, Bonifacius by
Zosimus and Zosimus by Caaelestinus.136 At Jerusalem after the admirable John
the charge of the church was committed to Praylius, a man worthy of his name.137
At Antioch after the divine Alexander Theodotus, the pearl of purity, succeeded
to the supremacy of the church, a man of conspicuous meekness and of exact
regularity of life. By him the sect of Apollinarius was admitted to fellowship
with the rest of the sheep on the earnest request of its members to be united
with the flock. Many of them however continued marked by their former
unsoundness.138 Chapter XXXVIII.-Of the Persecutions in Persia and of Them that
Were Martyred There. At this time Isdigirdes,139 King of the Persians, began to
wage war against the churches and the circumstances which caused him so to do
were as follows. A certain bishop, Abdas by name,140 adorned with many virtues,
was stirred with undue zeal and destroyed a Pyreum, Pyreum being the name given
by the Persians to the temples of the fire which they regarded as their God.141
On being informed of this by the Magi Isdigirdes sent for Abdas and first in
moderate language complained of what had taken place and ordered him to rebuild
the Pyreum. This the bishop, in reply, positively refused to do, and thereupon
the king threatened to destroy all the churches, and in the end carried out all
his threats, for first be gave orders for the execution of that holy man and
then commanded the destruction of the churches. Now I am of opinion that to
destroy the Pyreum was wrong and inexpedient, for not even the divine Apostle,
when he came to Athens and saw the city wholly given to idolatry, destroyed any
one of the altars which the Athenians honoured, but convicted them of their
ignorance by his arguments, and made manifest the truth. But the refusal to
rebuild the fallen temple, and the determination to choose death rather than so
do, I greatly praise and honour, and count to be a deed worthy of the martyr's
crown; for building a shrine in honour of the fire seems to me to be equivalent
to adoring it. From this beginning arose a tempest which stirred fierce and
cruel waves against the nurslings of the true faith, and when thirty years had
gone by the agitation still remained kept up by the Magi, as the sea is kept in
commotion by the blasts of furious winds. Magi is the name given by the Persians
to the worshippers of the sun and moon142 but I have exposed their fabulous
system in another treatise and have adduced solutions of their difficulties. On
the death of Isdigirdes, Vararanes, his son, inherited at once the kingdom and
the war against the faith, and dying in his turn left them both together to his
son.143 To relate the various kinds of tortures and cruelties inflicted on the
saints is no easy task. In some cases the hands were flayed, in others the back;
of others they stripped the heads of skin from brow to beard; others were
enveloped in split reeds with the cut part turned inwards and were surrounded
with tight bandages from head to foot; then each of the reeds was dragged out by
force, and, tearing away the adjacent portions of the skin, caused severe agony;
pits were dug and carefully greased in which quantities of mice were put; then
they let down the martyrs, bound hand and foot, so as not to be able to protect
themselves from the animals, to be food for the mice, and the the mice, under
stress of hunger, little by little devoured the flesh of the victims, causing
them long and terrible suffering. By others sufferings were endured even more
terrible than these, invented by the enemy of humanity and the opponent of the
truth, but the courage of the martyrs was unbroken, and they hastened unbidden
in their eagerness to win that death which ushers men into indestructible life.
Of these I will cite one or two to serve as examples of the courage of the rest.
Among the noblest of the Persians was one called Hormisdas, by race an
Achaemenid144 and the son of a Prefect. On receiving information that he was a
Christian the king summoned him and ordered him to abjure God his Saviour. He
replied that the royal orders were neither right nor reasonable, "for he," so he
went on, "who is taught to find no difficulty in spurning and denying the God of
all, will haply the more easily despise a king who is a man of mortal nature;
and if, sir, he who denies thy sovereignty is deserving of the severest
punishment, how much more terrible a chastisement is not due to him who denies
the Creator of the world?" The king ought to have admired the wisdom of what was
said, but, instead of this, he stripped the noble athlete of his wealth and
rank, and ordered him to go clad in nothing save a loin cloth, and drive the
camels of the army. After some days had gone by, as he looked out of his
chamber, he saw the excellent man scorched by the rays of the sun, and covered
with dust, and he be thought him of his father's illustrious rank, and sent for
him, and told him to put on a tunic of linen. Then thinking the toil he had
suffered, and the kindness shewn him, had softened his heart, "Now at least,"
said he "give over your opposition, and deny the carpenter's son." Full of holy
zeal Hormisdas tore the tunic and flung it away saying, "If you think that this
will make one give up the true faith,keep your present with your false belief."
When the king saw how bold he was he drove him naked from the palace.

One Suenes, who owned a thousand slaves, resisted the King, and refused to deny
his master. The King therefore asked him which of his slaves was the vilest, and
to this slave handed over the ownership of all the rest, and gave him Suenes to
be his slave. He also gave him in marriage Suenes' wife, supposing that thus he
could bend the will of the champion of the truth. But he was disappointed, for
he had built his house upon the rock.145 The king also seized and imprisoned a
deacon of the name of Benjamin. After two years there came an envoy from Rome,
to treat of other matters, who, when he was informed of this imprisonment,
petitioned the king to release the deacon. The king ordered Benjamin to promise
that he would not attempt to teach the Christian religion to any of the Magi,
and the envoy exhorted Benjamin to obey, but Benjamin, after he heard what the
envoy had to say, replied, "It is impossible for me not to impart the light
which I have received; for how great a penalty is due for the hiding of our
talent is taught in the history of the holy gospels."146 Up to this time the
King had not been informed of this refusal and ordered him to be set free.
Benjamin continued as he was wont seeking to catch them that were held down by
the darkness of ignorance, and bringing them to the light of knowledge. After a
year information of his conduct was given to the king, and he was summoned and
ordered to deny Him whom he worshipped. He then asked the king "What punishment
should be assigned to one who should desert his allegiance and prefer another?"
"Death and torture," said the king. "How then" continued the wise deacon "should
he be treated who abandons his Maker and Creator, makes a God of one of his
fellow slaves, and offers to him the honour due to his Lord?" Then the king was
moved with wrath, and had twenty reeds pointed, and driven into the nails of his
hands and feet. When he saw that Benjamin took this torture for child's play, he
pointed another reed and drove it into his privy part and by working it up and
down caused unspeakable agony. After this torture the impious and savage tyrant
ordered him to be impaled upon a stout knotted staff, and so the noble sufferer
gave up the ghost.

Innumerable other similar deeds of violence were committed by these impious men,
but we must not be astonished that the Lord of all endures their savagery and
impiety, for indeed before the reign of Constantine the Great all the Roman
emperors wreaked their wrath on the friends of the truth, and Diocletian, on the
day of the Saviour's passion, destroyed the churches throughout the Roman
Empire, but after nine years had gone by they rose again in bloom and beauty
many times larger and more splendid than before, and he and his iniquity
perished.147

These wars and the victory of the church had been predicted by the Lord, and the
event teaches us that war brings us more blessing than peace. Peace makes us
delicate, easy and cowardly. War whets our courage and makes us despise this
present world as passing away. But these are observations which we have often
made in other writings.

Chapter XXXIX.-Of Theodorus, Bishop of Mopsuestia. When the divine Theodorus was
ruling the church of Antioch, Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, a doctor of the
whole church and successful combatant against every heretical phalanx, ended
this life. He had enjoyed the teaching of the great Diodorus, and was the friend
and fellow-worker of the holy John, for they both together benefited by the
spiritual draughts given by Diodorus. Six-and-thirty years he had spent in his
bishopric, fighting against the forces of Arius and Eunomius, struggling against
the piratical band of Apollinarius, and finding the best pasture for God's
sheep.148 His brother Polychronius149 was the excellent bishop of Apamea, a man
gifted with great eloquence and of illustrious character.

I shall now make an end of my history, and shall entreat those who meet with it
to requite my labour with their prayers. The narrative now embraces a period of
105 years, beginning from the Arian madness and ending with the death of the
admirable Theodorus and Theodotus.150 I will give a list of the bishops of great
cities after the persecution.

List of the bishops of great cities.

List of the bishops of great cities. Of Rome:-

Miltiades [Melchiades. 311-314]

Silvester

[314-35]

Julius [337-352. Mark Jan. to Oct., 336]

Liberius

[352-366]

Damasus

[366-384]

Siricius

[384-398]

Anastasius

[398-401]

Innocentius

[402-417]

Bonifacius

[418-422]

Zosimus

[417-418]

Caelestinus

[422-432] Of Antioch:-

Vitalius

1: Gratian was proclaimed Augustus by Valentinian in 367. (Soc. IV. 11. Soz. vi.
10.) He came to the throne on the death of Valentinian at Bregetio, Nov. 17,
375. He associated his brother Valentinian II. with him, and succeeded his uncle
Valens Aug. 9, 378. On Jan. 19, 379 he nominated Theodosius Augustus.

2: Cf. note on page 82.

3: to thj oikonomiaj musthrion . Vide note on page 72.

4: Adopting Platonic and Pauline psychology giving body, soul and spirit (cf. I.
Thess. v. 23, and Gal. v. 17) Apollinarius attributed to Christ a human body and
a human soul or anima animans shared by man with brutes, but not the reasonable
soul, spirit or anima rationalis. In place of this be put the Divine Logos. The
Word, he said, was made Flesh not Spirit, God was manifest in the Flesh not
Spirit.

5: treij upostaseij .

6: cf. page 93.

7: Vide pages 85 and 126.

8: Ad Orentem, now Famiah. This John was prefect at Constantinople in 381. A
better known John of Apamea is an ascetic of the 5th c., fragments of whose
works are among the Syriac mss. in the British Museum.

9: This seems to be all that is known of Stephanus of Germanicia (now Marash or
Banicia in Syria) mentioned also as the see of Eudoxius. cf. Book II. p. 86.

10: Acacius of Beroea (Aleppo) was later an opponent of Chrysostom and of Cyril,
but in his old age of more than 100 in 436.

11: Theodotus is mentioned also in the Relig. Hist. c. iii. as paying an Easter
visit to the hermit Marcian. Hierapolis, or Bambyce, is now Bumbouch in the
Pachalic of Aleppo.

12: Similarly mentioned in Relig. Hist. c. iii. Chalcis is in Coele Syria.

13: Also one of Marcian's Easter party. As well as these bishops there were
present some men of high rank and position, who were earnest Christians. When
all were seated, Marcian was asked to address them. "But he fethced a deep sigh
and said `the God of all day by day utters his voice by means of the visible
world, and in the divine scriptures discourses with us, urging on us our duties,
telling us what is befitting, terrifying us by threats, winning us by promises,
and all the while we get no good. Marcian turns away this good like the rest of
his kind, and does not care to enjoy its blessing. What could be the use of his
lifting up his voice? 0'" Relig. Hist. iii. 3.

14: Vide Book iv. 15. p, 118.

15: Vide Book iv. 15. p, 118.

16: Doliche is in Commagene.

17: Luke xxiii. 34.

18: Acts vii. 59.

19: The Martyrdom of Eusebius is commemorated in the Eastern Churches on June
22; in the Roman Kalendar on June 21.

20: His father, a distinguished general in Britain and elsewhere, was
treacherously slain in 376, probably because an oracle warned Valens of a
successor with a name beginning " QEOD ." cf. Soc. iv. 19. Soz. vi. 35. Ammian.
xxix. I. 29.

21: At his paternal estate at Cauca in Spain; to the cast of the Vaccaei in
Tarraconensis.

22: xeirotonhsaj . Vide note on page 125.

23: Theodoret's is the sole authority for this connexion of the association of
Theodosius in the Empire with a victory, and his alleged facts do not fit in
with others which are better supported. Gratian, a vigorous and sensible lad of
nineteen, seems to have felt that the burden was too big for his shoulders, and
to have looked out for a suitable colleague. For the choice which he made, or
was advised to make, he had good ground in the reputation already won by
Theodosius in Britain and in the campaign of 373 against the Sarmatians and
Quadi, and the elevation of the young general (born in 346, he was thirty two
when Gratian declared him Augustus at Sirmium, Jan. 19, 379) was speedily
vindicated. Theodoret, with his contempt for exact chronology, may have
exaggerated one of the engagements of the guerrilla warfare waged by the new
emperor after his accession, when he carefully avoided the error of Valens in
risking all on a pitched battle. By the end of 379 he had driven the barbarians
over the Balkan range. Dr. Stokes (Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 960) points out that
between Aug. 9, 378, and Jan. 19, 379, there was no time for news to travel from
Hadrianople to Mitrovitz, where Gratian was, for couriers to fetch Theodosius
thither from remoter Spain, for Theodosius then in the winter months to organize
and carry out a campaign.

24: "Cave credas episcopum Nazianzi his verbis designari," says Valesius; -
because before 381 the great Gregory of Nazianzus had at the most first helped
his father in looking after the church at Nazianzus, and on his father's death
taken temporary and apparently informal charge of the see. But in the latter
part of his note Valesius suggest that ta teleutaia may refer to the episcopate
of Gregory at Nazianzus in his last days, after his abdication of the see of
Constantinople,-"Atque hic sensus magis placet, magis enim convenire videtur
verbis Theodoreti;" "Recent feeder," then, or "he who most recently fed," will
mean "he who after the events at Constantinople which I am about to relate,
acted as bishop of Nazianzus." Gregory left Constantinople in June 381, repaired
to Nazianzus, and after finding a suitable man to occupy the see, retired to
Arianzus, but was pressed to return and take a leading post in order to check
Apollinariuan heretics. His health broke down, and he wished to retire. He would
have voted in the election of his successor, but his opponents objected on the
ground that he either was bishop of Nazianzus, or not; if he was, there was no
vacancy; if he was not, he had no vote. Eulalius was chosen in 383, and Gregory
spent six weary years in wanderings and troubles, and at last found in rest in
389.

25: It was probably in 379 that Gregory first went to Constantinople and
preached in a private house which was to him a "Shiloh, where the ark rested, an
Anastasia, a place of resurrection" (Orat. 42. 6). Hence the name "Anastasia"
given to the famous church built on the site of the too strait house.

26: i.e. the xvth of Nacaea, forbidding any bishop, presbyter or deacon, to pass
form one city to another. Gregory himself classes it among " Nomouj palai
teqnhkotaj " (Carm. 1810-11).

27: Gregory had been practically acting as bishop, when an intriguing party led
by Peter of Alexandria tried to force Maximus, a cynic professor, who was one of
Gregory's admiring hearers, on the Constantinopolitan Church. "At this time,"
i.e. probably in the middle of 380, and certainly before Nov. 24, when
Theodosius entered the capital, "A priest from Thasco had come to Constantinople
with a large sum of money to buy Proconnesian marble for a church. He too was
beguiled by the specious hope held out to him. Maximus and his party thus gained
the power of purchasing the service of a mob, which was as forward to attack
Gregory as it had been to praise him. It was night, and the bishop was ill in
bed, when Maximus with his followers went to the church to be consecrated by
five suffragans who had been sent from Alexandria for the purpose. Day began to
dawn while they were till preparing for the consecration. They had but half
finished the tonsure of the cynic philosopher, who wore the flowing hair common
to his sect, when a mob, excited by the sudden news, rushed in upon them, and
drove them from the church. They retired to a flute player's shop to complete
their work, and Maximus, compelled to flee from Constantinople, went to
Thessalonica with the hope of gaining over Theodosius himself." Archdeacon
Watkins. Dict. Christ. Biog. ii. 752.

28: Helladius, successor or Basil at the Cappadocian Caesarea, was orthodox, but
on important occasions clashed unhappily with each of the two great Gregories of
Nyssa and Nazianzus.

29: cf. note on Chap. iv. 12, page 115.

30: cf. note on iv. 15, page 119.

31: Of Beroea, vide page 128.

32: i.e. of Cyrus, cf. p. 134.

33: For fragments of his writings vide Dial. i. and iii.

34: Gal. vi. 17.

35: I. Cor. iv. 8.

36: Ps. lv. 6.

37: upostasesi .

38: proswpoij .

39: Acts xi, 26.

40: Vide note on p. 53.

41: I. Cor. i. 12.

42: This rendering seems the sense of the somewhat awkward Greek of the text,
and obviates the necessity of adopting Valesius' conjecture that the "nobis" of
the original Latin had been altered by a clerical error into "vobis." If we read
nobis, we may translate "you shew it in no niggard measure to ourselves."

43: Gal. i. 8.

44: Photinus, the disciple of Marcellus of Ancyra, was condemned at the synod of
Sirmium in 349. Dict. Christ. Ant. ("Sirmium, Councils of.") Sulpicius Severus
writes (II. 52) "Photinus vero novam haeresim jam ante protulerat, a Sabellio
quidem in unione dissentiens, sed intium Christi ex Maria praedicabat."

45: Vide note on Apollinarius, p. 132.

46: John iii. 13.

47: Phil. ii. 7.

48: Coloss. i. 18. Rev. i. 5.

49: Valesius supposes the Greek translator to have read Deum verbum for Deum
vernum, which is found in Col. Rom., and which I have followed.

50: Latin, "Omnia quae sunt salvanda salvantes."

51: Qeon ena en trisin ipostasesin . The last three words are wanting in the
Latin version.

52: Gratianus made himself unpopular (i) by his excessive adiction to sport,
playing the Commodus in the "Vivaria," when not even a Marcus Aurelius could
have answered all the calls of the Empire. (Amm. xxxi. x. 19) and (ii) by
affecting the society and customs of barbarians (Aur. Vict. xlvii. 6). The
troops in Britain rose against him, gathered aid in the Low Countries, and
defeated him near Paris. He fled to Lyons, where he was treacherously
assassinated Aug. 25, 383. He was only twenty-four. (Soc. v. II.) 53:
Valentinianus II., son of Valentinianus I. and Justina was born c. 371.

54: Magnus Maximus reigned from 383 to 388. Like Theodosius, he was a Spaniard.

55: Justina, left widow by Magnentius in 353, was married to Valentinian I. (we
may dismiss the story of Socrates (iv. 31) that he legalized bigamy in order to
marry her in the lifetime of Severa) probably in 368. Her first conflict with
Ambrose was probably in 380 at Sirmium. On the murder of Gratian in 383 Maximus
for four years left the young Valentinian in possession of Italy, in deference
to the pleading of Ambrose. It was during this period, at Easter, 385, that
Justina ungratefully attacked the bishop and demanded a church for Arian
worship.

56: This contest is described by Ambrose himself in letters to Valentinian and
to his sister Marcellina, Epp. xx. xxi, and in the "Sermo de basilicis
tradendis." On the apparent error of Gibbon in confusing the "vela" which were
hung outside a building to mark it as claimed for the imperial property, with
the state hangings of the emperor's seat inside, vide Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 95.

57: After Easter, 387.

58: The motives here stated seem to have had little to do with the march of
Maximus over the Alps. Indeed so far from enthusiasm for Ambrose and the
Ambrosian view of the faith being conspicuous in the invader, he had received
the bishop at Treves as envoy from Valentinina, had refused to be diverted from
his purpose, and had moveover taken offence at the objection of Ambrose to
communicate with the bishops who had been concerned in the first capital
punishment of a heretic - i.e. Priscillian.

59: Valentinian and his mother fled to Thessalonica.

60: Zosimus (iv. 44) represents Theodosius, now for two years widowed, as won
over to the cause of Valentinian by the loveliness of the young princess Galla,
whom he married.

61: Arcadius was declared Augustus early in 383 (Clinton Fast. Rome, I. p. 504).
Theodosius issued his edict against the heretics in September of same year.
Sozomen (7. 6) tells the story of an anonymous old man, priest of an obscure
city, simple and unworldly; "this," remarks Bishop Lightfoot (Dic. Christ. Biog.
i. 106), "is as unlike Amphilochius as it can possibly be."

62: " agreuwn ." cf. Mark xii. 13.

63: "Irasci sane rebus indignis, sed flecti cito." Aur. Vict. xlviii.

64: "Botheric, the Gothic general, shut up in prison a certain scoundrel of a
charioteer who had vilely insulted him. At the next races the mob of
Thessalonica tumultuously demanded the charioteer's liberation and when Botheric
refused rose in insurrection and slew both him and several magistrates of the
City." Hodgkin 121. This was in 390.

65: A well-known picture of Vandyke in the National Gallery, a copy with some
variations of a larger picture at Vienna by Rubens, represents the famous scene
of the excommunication of Theodosius.

66: " magistroj ," i.e. "magister officiorum."

67: Matt. xviii. 18. In its primary sense the binding and loosing of the Gospels
is of course the binding and loosing of the great Jewish schools, i.e.,
prohibition and permission. The moral and spiritual binding and loosing of the
scribe, to whom a key was given as a symbol of his authority to open the
treasures of divine lore, has already in the time of Theodoret become the
dooming or acquitting of a Janitor commanding the gate of a more material
heaven.

68: Valesius says that this "house of salutation" according to Scaliger was the
episcopal hospitium or guest quarters. His own opinion however is that it was
the audience chamber or chapter-house of the church where the bishop with his
presbyters received the faithful whom came to his church.

69: Ps. cxix. 25.

70: twn anaktorwn. Anaktoron in classical Greek = temple or shrine. e.g. Eur.
And. 43 " Qetidoj anaktoron ." Archd. Cheetham (Dict. Christ. Aut. i. 79),
quoting Lobeck, says "also the innermost recess of a temple." Eusebius (Orat.
ix) uses it of the great church built by Constatine at Antioch. Theodosius was
already within the Church. The sacrarium was in Greek commonly to agion , or to
ierateion . The 31st canon of the first Council of Braga ordains "ingredi
sacrarium ad communicandum non liceat laicis nisi tantum clericis."

71:

72: Flacilla died as has been said, in Sept. 385. The revolt at Thessalonica was
in 390, and the disturbances at Antioch in 387. The chapters of Theodoret do not
follow chronological order.

73: More probably the money was wanted to defray the expenses of magnificent
fêtes in honour of the young Arcadius, including a liberal donation to the army.
On the whole incident see Chrysostom's famous Homilies on the Statues.

74: The mob looted the baths, smashed the hanging lamps, attack the praetorium,
insulted the imperial portrait, and tore down the bronze statues of Theodosius
and his deceased wife from their pedestals, and dragged them through the
streets. A "whiff" of arrows from the guard calmed the oriental Paris of the 4th
century.

75: i.e. the Laodicea on the Syrian coast, so called after the mother of
Seleceus Nicator, and now Latakia.

76: Theodoret apparently refers to the advice given by Ambrosius after the
massacre of Thessalonica, which, as we have said, took place three years after
the instrustion at Antioch.

77: i.e. master of the household.

78: i.e. the ascetic monks.

79: cf. note on page 145.

80: "Extat oratio Libanii ad imperatorem Theodosium pro temple in qua docet
quomodo se gesserint imperatores Christiani erga pagamos. et Constantinum quidem
Magnum ait duntaxat spoliasse templa, Constantinum vero ejus filium prohibuisse
Sacrificia: ejusque legem a secutis imperatoribus at ab ipsomet Theodosio esse
observatam; reliqua vera permissa fuisse paganis, id est turificationem et
publicas epulas." Valesius.

81: Romans xii. 11.

82: Valesius points out that this was Cynegius, prefect of the East, who was
sent by Thedosius to effect the closing of the idol's temples. cf. Zos: iv.

83: kai sidhrw kai molibdw prosdedemenoi . We are reminded of the huge cramps
which must at one time have bound the stones of the Colosseum, - the ruins being
pitted all over by the holes made by the middle-age pillagers who tore them
away.

84: I do not understand the description of this temple and its destruction
precisely as Gibbon does. " dioruttwn " does not seem to mean "undermining the
foundations"; St. Matthew and St. Luke use it of the thieves who "dig through"
or "break in." The word = dig though, and so into.

85: "The perpetual enemy of peace and virtue." Gibbon. High office deteriorated
his character. cf. Newman. Hist. Sketches iii.

86: In the museum at Naples is shewn part of the statue of Diana, found near the
Forum at Pompeii. In the back of the head is a hole by means a tube in connexion
with which, - the image standing against a wall, - the priests were supposed to
deliver the oracles of the Huntress-Maid.

87: "A great number of plates of different metals, artificially joined together,
composed the majestic figure of the deity who touched on either side of the
walls of the sanctuary. Serapis was distinguished from Jupiter by the basket or
bushel which was placed on his head, and by the emblematic monster which he held
in his right hand; the head and body of a serpent branching into three tails,
which were again terminated by the triple heads of a dog, a lion, and a wolf."
Gibbon, on the authority of Macrobius Sat. i. 20.

88: Gibbon quotes the story of Augustus in Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 24. "Is it
true," said the emperor to a veteran at whose home he supped, "that the man who
gave the first of his eyes and of his life?" "I want that man," replied the
clear sighted veteran, "and you now sup on one of the legs of the goddess." cf.
the account in Bede of the destruction by the priest Coify of the great image of
the Saxon God at the Goodmanham in Yorkshire.

89: "Some twenty years before the Roman armies withdrew from Britain the triumph
of Christianity was completed. Then a question occurs whether archaeology casts
any light on the on the discomfiture of Roman paganism in Britain. In proof of
the affirmative a curious fact has been adduced, that the statues of pagan
divinities discovered in Britain are always or mostly broken. At Binchester, for
instance, the Roman Vinovium, not far from Durham, there was found among the
remains of an important Roman building a stone statue of the goddess Flora,
which its legs broken, lying face downward across a drain as a support to the
masonry above. It would certainly not be wise to press archaeological facts too
far; but the broken gods in Britain curiously tally with the edicts of
Theodosius and the shattered Serapis at Alexandria." Hole Early Missions, p. 24.

90: i.e. from 381, when Flavianus was appointed to the see of Antioch, to 398,
the date of the mission of Acacius.

91: vide Chap. xxii. He succeeded in July, 385.

92: Valentinian II. was strangled while bathing in the Rhine at Vienne, May 15,
392. Philost. xi. 1. cf. Soc. v. 25; Soz. vii. 22.

93: i.e. at Lycopolis, the modern Siut, in the Thebaid. The envoy was the Eunuch
Eutropius. Soz. vii. 22. Claud. i. 312.

94: "Theodosius marched north-westwards, before, up the valley of the Save, and
to the city of Aemona." (Laybach.) "Not there did he meet his foes, but at a
place thirty miles off, half-way between Aemona and Aquileia, where the
Frigidus, (now the Wipbach, or Vipao) burst suddenly from a limestone hill. Here
the battle was joined between Eugenius and his Franklin patron and Theodosius
with his 20,000 Gothic foederati and the rest of the army of the East. Gainas,
Saul, Bacarius, Alaric, were the chief leaders of the Teutonic troops. The first
day of battle fell heavily on the foederati of Theodosius, half of whim were
left dead epon the field." Hodgkin Dynasty of Theodosius, p. 131. This was Sept.
5, 394.

95: Here was a crucial contest between paganism and Christianity, which might
seem a "nodus dignus vindice Deo." On the part played by storms in history vide
note on page 103. Claudian, a pagan, was content to acknowledge the finger of
providence in the rout of Eugenius, and apostrophizing Honorius, exclaims

96:

97: Arcadius was now eighteen, and Honorius eleven. Arcadius reigned at
Constantinople, the puppet of Rufinus, the Eunuch Eutropius, and his Empress,
Eudoxia.

98: Nectarius died in Sept. 397, and John Chrysostom was appointed in Feb. 398.
cf. Soc. vi. 2 and Soz. viii. 2.

99: Elpidius, possibly a kind of domestic chaplain ( suskhnoj ) to Meletius, was
afterwards a warm friend and advocate of Chrysostom. In 406 he was deposed and
imprisoned for three years, and not restored till 414.

100: Vide note on p. 115.

101: Marcellus was bishop of Apamea.

102: Succeeded his brother Marcellus in 398. cf. note on p. 128 and Relig. Hist.
3.

103: Soc. vi. 3; Soz. viii, 2.

104: Vide p. 159.

105: Vide p. 128.

106: Of Ancyra cf. Soz. vi, 18; and viii, 30.

107: Valesius points out that those commentators have been in error who have
supposed Theodoretus to be referring here to ecclesiastical divisions and
officers.

108: The imperial edict for the destruction of the Phoenician Temples was
obtained in 399.

109: The Church of St. Paul. Hom. xii. pp. 512-526.

110: i.e. at Cyrus.

111: II. Cor. xi. 28.

112: The three great officials, Aurelianus, Saturninus, and the Count John had
already surrendered themselves to the arrogant Goth, and their lives had only
been spared at the entreaty of Chrysostom.

113: Matt. vii. 6.

114: It is not clear where the mission of Chrysostom to Gainas should be placed.
Gainas attacked the capital by sea and by land, but his Goths were massacred in
their own church, and he was repulsed. He was finally defeated and slain in Jan.
401.

115: The foes of Chrysostom were

116: i.e. at the suburb of Chalcedon known as "the Oak." The charges included
his calling the Empress Jezebel, and eating a lozenge after the Holy Communion.
Pallad. 66.

117: For three days the people withstood his removal. At last he slipped out by
a postern, and, when a nod would have roused rebellion, submitted to exile. But
he was only deported a very little way.

118: Eudoxia was the daughter of Banto, a Frankish general. Philostorgius (xi.
6), says that she " ou kata thn tou androj diekeito nwqeian, all: enhn auth tou
barbarikou qrasouj ouk oligon .

119: The proceedings of "the Oak" were declared null and void, and the bishop
was formally reinstated. 403.

120: Theodoret omits the second offence to Eudoxia - his invectives on the
dedication of her silver statue in front of St. Sophia in Sept. 403. (Soc. vi.
18. Soz. viii. 20) "Once again Herodias runs wild; once again she dances; once
again she is in a hurry to get the head of John on a charger." Or does the
description of Herodias, and not Salome, as dancing, indicate that the
calumnious sentence was not really uttered by Chrysostom, but said to have been
uttered by informers whose knowledge of the Gospels was incomplete?

121: Atticus (Bp. of Constantinople 405-426) was forced by fear alike of the mob
and the Emperor to consent to the restitution. His letters to Peter and
Aedesius, deacon of Cyril of Alexandria, and Cyril's reply, (Niceph. xiv. 26-27)
are interesting. Cyril "would as soon put the name of Judas on the rolls as that
of Chrysostom." Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 209.

122: Cyril occupied the Episcopal throne of Alexandria from 412 to 444.
Theodoretus could not be expected to allude to the withdrawal of the Roman
legions from Britain in 401, or the release of Britoins from their allegiance by
Honorius in 410. The sack of Rome by the Goths in the latter year might have
however claimed a passing notice.

123: Of the five Johns more or less well known as bishop of Jerusalem this was
the second-from 386 to 417. He is chiefly known to us from the severe criticisms
of Jerome.

124: Bp. from 413 to 421.

125: Palladius (Dial. 143 et Seqq.) describes Porphyrius as a monster of
frivolity, iniquity, and bitterness. It is interesting to hear both sides.

126: Theodoret here uses the word diptuxon . Other words in use were ierai,
deltoi and katalogoi

127: Theodosius II. succeeded his father May 1, 408, at the age of eight. The
translation of the remains of Chrysostom took place at the beginning of 438.
Theodosius died in 450, and the phrase " o nun basileuwn " thus limits the
composition of the History. As however Theodoret does not continue his list of
bishops of Rome after Caelestinus, who died in 440, we may conclude that the
History was written in 438-439. But the mention of Isdigirdes II. in Chap.
xxxviii. carries us somewhat further. Possibly the portions of the work were
jotted down from time to time.

128: Theodosius II. had four sisters, Flaccilla, Pulcheria, Arcadia, and Marina.
Pulcheria was practically empress-regnant for a considerable period. She was
only two years older than her brother, but was declared Augusta and empress July
14, 414, at the age of 15 1/2. On his death In 450 she married Marcianus a
general. Besides the relics of Chrysostom she translated in 446 those of the
martyrs of Sebaste. Soz. ix. 2.

129: " ta qeia logia ." This is the common phrase in our author for the Holy
Scriptures. According to the interpretation given by Schleiermacher and like
theologians to the title of the work of Papias, " logiwn kuriakwn echghseij "
and to the passage of Eusebius (Ecc. Hist. iii. 39) in which Papias is quoted as
salting that Matthew " Ebraidi dialektw ta logia sunegrayato

130: Supposed to be identified with Rogas, Rugilas, or Roas, a prince said by
Priscus in his Hist. Goth. to have preceded Attila in the sovereignty of the
Huns. cf. Soc. vii, 43.

131: i.e. Rhoesina, or Theodosiopolis in Osrhoena, now Erzeroum.

132: Vararanes V. son of Isdigirdes I. persecuted Christians in the beginning of
the 5th c. cf. Soc. vii. 18, 20.

133: It is interesting to find in the fifth century an instance of the sacred
nomenclature with which we have familiar instances in the "San Josef" and the
"Salvador del mundo" of Cape St. Vincent, and the "Santa Anna" and "Santissima
Trinidad" of Trafalgar. (Southey, Life of Nelson, Chap iv. and ix.) On the north
side of Sebastopol there was an earthwork called "The Twelve Apostles."
(Kinglake, Crimea, Vol. iv. p. 48.) St. Thomas was the supposed founder of the
church of Edessa.

134: This might have been written before the weaker elements in the character of
Theodosius II. produced their most disastrous results. But he was not a
satisfactory sovereign, nor a desirable champion of Christendom. In some
respects like our Edward the Confessor and Henry VI. he had, in the words of
Leo, "the heart of a priest as well as of an emperor." "He had fifteen prime
ministers in twenty-five years, the last of whom, the Eunuch Chrysaphius,
retained his power for the longest period. a.d. 443-450. During that time the
empire was rapidly hurrying to destruction. The Vandals in Africa and the Huns
under Attila in Europe were ravaging some of his fairest provinces while the
emperor was attending to palace intrigues. ...Chrysaphius made him favourable to
Eutyches, and thus largely contributed to the establishment of the monophysite
heresy." Dr. Stokes in Dict. Christ. Biog. iv. 966.

135: This paragraph belongs more appropriately to the preceding chapter. The
relics of Chrysostom were translated in 438.

136: The accepted order is Innocent I. 402-417; Zosimus 417-418; Boniface I.
418-422; Caelestinus 422-432.

137: Prauj = meek, gentle.

138: Apollinarians survived the condemnation of Apollinarius at Constantinople
in 381.

139: Yezdegerd I. son of Sapor III. Vide note on p. 156.

140: Abdas was bishop of Susa. In Soc. vii. 8 he is "bishop of Persia."

141: The second of the six supreme councillors of Ahuramazda in the scheme of
Zarathustra Spitama (Zoroaster) is Ardebehesht, light or lightness of any kind
and representing the omnipresence of the good power. Hence sun, moon and stars
are symbols of deity and the believer is enjoined to face fire or light in his
worship. Temples and altars must be fed with holy fire. In their reverence for
fire orthodox Parsees abstained from smoking, but alike of old and today they
would deny the charge of worshipping fire in any other sense than as an honoured
symbol.

142: The word in the original is stoixeia&Eaxute\ on this Valesius annotates
"This does not mean the four elements, for the Persian Magi did not worship the
four elements but only fire and the sun and moon." In illustration of this use
of the word he quotes Chrysostom. Hom. 58 in Matth.

143: i.e. Isdigirdes II. 440-457.

144: Achaemenes was the name of the Grandfather of Cambyses, father of Cyrus,
and also of a son of Darius, son of Hystaspes. Hence the Achaemenidae were the
noblest stock of Persia.

145: Matt. vii. 24.

146: Matt. xxv. 25.

147: The edict of Diocletian against the Christians was issued on the feast of
the Terminalia, Feb. 23, 303. Good Friday, here h tou swthriou paqouj hmera ,
was commonly known as hmera tou staurou, pasxa staurwsimou , and paraskeuh .

148: Theodorus was born at Antioch in 350, consecrated bishop of Mopsuestia in
392, and died in 428 in Cilicia.

149: The evidence is in favour of distinguishng this Polychronius from the monk
described in the Religious History.

150: "The date of the death of Theodotus is fixed for a.d. 429 by a passage of
Theodoret's letter to Dioscorus, where, when speaking of his having taught for
six years under him at Antioch, he refers to his blessed and holy memory,
combined with one in his history, stating that the death of Theodore of
Mopsuestia took place in the episcopate of Theodotus." Dict. Christ. Biog. iv.
983.


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