Wherefore the blessed Fathers thus regulated their conduct also; they shewed no cowardice in fleeing from the persecutor, but rather manifested their fortitude of soul in shutting themselves up in close and dark places, and living a hard life. Yet did they not desire to avoid the time of death when it arrived; for their concern was neither to 9 1 Kings xxi. 18 shrink from it when it came, nor to forestall the sentence determined by Providence, nor to resist His dispensation, for which they knew themselves to be preserved; lest by acting hastily, they should become to themselves the cause of terror: for thus it is written, ‘He that is hasty with his lips, shall bring terror upon himself *.’
18. The Saints who fled were no cowards.
Of a truth no one can possibly doubt that they were well furnished with the virtue of fortitude. For the Patriarch Jacob who had before fled from Esau, feared not death when it came, but at that very time blessed the Patriarchs, each according to his deserts. And the great Moses, who previously had hid himself from Pharaoh, and had withdrawn into Midian for fear of him, when he received the commandment, ‘Return into Egypt3,’ fearednot to do so. And again, when he was bidden to go up into the mountain Abarim ¢ and die, he delayed not through cowardice, but even joyfully proceeded thither. And David, who had before fled from Saul, feared not to risk his life in war in defence of his people; but having the -choice of death or of flight set before him, when he might have fled and lived, he wisely preferred death. And the great Elijah, who had at a former time hid himself from Jezebel, shewed no cowardice when he was commanded by the Spirit to meet Ahab, and to reprove Ahaziah. And Peter, who had hid himself for fear of the Jews, and the Apostle Paul who was let down in a basket, and fled, when they were told, ‘Ye must bear witness at RomeS,’ deferred not the journey; yea, rather, they departed rejoicing®; the one as hastening to meet his friends, received his death with exultation; and the other shrunk not from the time when it came, but gloried in it, saying, ‘For I am | now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand 7,’ 19. Zhe Saints courageous in their flight, ang divinely favoured, These things both prove that their previous flight was not the effect of cowardice; and testify that their after conduct also was of no ordinary character: and they loudly proclaim that they possessed in a high degree the virtue of fortitude. For neither did they withdraw themselves on account of a slothful timidity, on the contrary, they were at such times under the practice of a severer discipline than at others; nor were they con- 2 Proy. xiii. 3, LXX. 3 Vid. Ex. iii. ro. 4 Deut. xxxii. 49. 5 Vid. Acts xxii. rx. [The reference to the Roman martyrdom of the ¢wo great Apostles should be noted. The tradition is as old as Clem. Rom.; much older than that of the Roman Zfzscopate of one of them.] 6 Vid. Euseb. H7zs¢. ii. 25. 7 2 Tim. iv, 6.
DE “HUGE: oe Tk ee ee ee demned for their flight, or charged with cowardice, by such as are now so fond of criminating others. Nay they were blessed through that declaration of our Lord, ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake®&? Nor yet were these their sufferings without profit to themselves; for having tried them as ‘gold in the furnace,’ as Wisdom has said, God found them worthy of Himself9. And then they shone the more ‘like sparks,’ being saved from them that persecuted them, and delivered from the designs of their enemies, and preserved to the end that they might teach the people; so that their flight and escape from the rage of them that sought after them, was according to the dispensation of the Lord. And so they became dear in the sight of God, and had the most glorious testimony to their fortitude.
20. Same subject continued, Thus, for example, the Patriarch Jacob was favoured in his flight with many, even divine visions, and remaining quiet himself, he had the Lord on his side, rebuking Laban, and hindering the designs of Esau; and afterwards he became the Father of Judah, of whom sprang the Lord according to the flesh; and he dispensed the blessings to the Patriarchs. And when Moses the beloved of God was in exile, then it was that he saw that great sight, and being preserved from his persecutors, was sent as a prophet into Egypt, and being made the minister of those mighty wonders and of the Law, he led that great people in the wilderness. And David when he was persecuted wrote the Psalm, ‘My heart uttered a good word';’ and, ‘Our God shall come even visibly, and shall not keep silence?.’ And again he speaks more confidently, saying, ‘ Mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies 3;’ and again, ‘In God have I put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me#.’ And when he fled and escaped from the face of Saul ‘to the cave,’ he said, ‘ He hath sent from heaven, and hath saved me. He hath given them to reproach that would tread me under their feet. God hath sent His mercy and truth, and hath delivered my soul from the midst of lions‘. Thus he too was saved according to the dispensation of God, and _afterwards became king, and received the promise, that from his seed our Lord should issue. And the great Elijah, when he withdrew to mount Carmel, called upon God, and destroyed at once more than four hundred prophets of Baal; and when there were sent’ to 8 Matt. v. ro, 9 Wisd. iii. 57.
3 Ps. liv. 7. 4 Ps, lvi. rz.
5. Psolvilaics take him two captains of fifty with their hundred men, he said, ‘Let fire come down from heaven ®, and thus rebuked them. And he too was preserved, so that he anointed Elisha in his own stead, and became a pattern of discipline for the sons of the prophets. And the blessed Paul, after writing these words, ‘ what persecutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord delivered me, and will deliver 7;’ could speak more confidently and say, ‘ But in all these things we are more than conquerors, for nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ 8,’ For then it was that he was caught up to the third heaven, and admitted into paradise, where he heard ‘unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter9.’ And for this end was he then preserved, that ‘from Jerusalem even unto Lllyricum’ he might ‘fully preach the Gospel?®.’
The Saints fled for our sakes.
The flight of the saints therefore was neither blameable nor unprofitable. If they had not avoided their persecutors, how would it have come to pass that the Lord should spring from the seed of David? Or who would have preached the glad tidings of the word of truth? It was for this that the persecutors sought after the saints, that there might be no one to teach, as the Jews charged the Apostles; but for this cause they endured all things, that the Gospel might be preached. Behold, therefore, in that they were thus engaged in conflict with their enemies, they passed not the time of their flight unprofitably, nor while they were persecuted, did they forget the welfare of others: but as being ministers of the good word, they grudged not to communicate it to all men; so that even while they fled, they preached the Gospel, and gave warning of the wickedness of those who conspired against them, and confirmed the faithful by their exhortations. Thus the blessed Paul, having found it so by experience, declared beforehand, ‘As many as will live godly in Christ, shall suffer persecution’.’ And so he straightway prepared them that fled for the trial, saying, ‘ Let us run with patience the race that is set before us?;’ for. although there be continual tribulations, ‘ yet tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed 3,’ And the Prophet Isaiah when such-like affliction was expected, exhorted and cried aloud, ‘ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast 4.’ And so also the Preacher, 7 2 Tim. iii, rz. To Rom. xv. 19.
2 Heb. xii. 1 12 Tim. iil, 12 4 Is. xxvi. 20.
— Hiss PuiGHr. 263 who knew the conspiracies against the righteous, and said, ‘If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for He that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they: moreover there is the profit of the earths,’ He had his own father David for an example, who had himself experienced the sufferings of persecution, and who supports them that suffer by the words, ‘Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that put your trust in the Lord ®;’ for them that so endure, not man, but the Lord Himself (he says), ‘ shall help them, and deliver them, because they put their trust in Him:’ for I also ‘waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my calling; He brought me up also out of the lowest pit, and out of the mire and clay?.’ Thus is shewn how profitable to the people and productive of good is the flight of the Saints, howsoever the Arians may think otherwise.
22. Same subject concluded.
Thus the Saints, as I said before, were abundantly preserved in their flight by the Providence of God, as physicians for the sake of them that had need. And to all men generally, even to us, is this law given, to flee when persecuted, and to hide when sought after, and not rashly tempt the Lord, but wait, as I said above, until the appointed time of death arrive, or the Judge determine something concerning them, according as it shall seem to Him to be good: that men should be ready, that, when the time calls, or when they are taken, they may contend for the truth even unto death. ‘This rule the blessed Martyrs observed in their several persecutions. When persecuted they fied, while concealing themselves they shewed fortitude, and when discovered they submitted to martyrdom. And if some of them came and presented themselves to their persecutors®, they did not do so without reason; for immediately in that case they were martyred, and thus made it evident to all that their zeal, and this offering up of themselves to their enemies, were from the Spirit.
23. Persecution is from the Devil.
Seeing therefore that such are the commands of our Saviour, and that such is the conduct of the Saints, let these persons, to whom one cannot give a name suitable to their character,—let them, I say, tell us, from whom they learnt to persecute? They cannot say, 8 Vid. instances and passages collected in Pearson’s Vind. Ignat. part ii. 0. 9; also Gibbon, ch. xvi. p. 428. Mosheim de Reb, Ante from the Saints% No, but from the Devil (that is the only answer which 1s left them);— from him who says, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake’. Our Lord commanded to flee, and the saints fled: but persecution is a device of the Devil, and one which he desires to exercise against all, Let them say then, to which we ought to submit ourselves; to the words of the Lord, or to their fabrications? Whose conduct ought we to imitate, that of the Saints, or that of those whose example these men have adopted? But since it is likely they cannot determine this question (for, as Ksaias said, their minds and their consciences are blinded, and they think ‘bitter to be sweet,’ and ‘light darkness?’), let some one come forth from among us Christians, and put them to rebuke, and cry with a loud voice, ‘It is better to trust in the Lord, than to attend to the foolish sayings of these men; for the “words” of the Lord have “ eternal life?,” but the things which these utter are full of iniquity and blood.’ 24. Lrruption of Syrianus.
This were sufficient to put a stop to the madness of these impious men, and to prove that their desire is for nothing else, but only through a love of contention to utter revilings and insults. But forasmuch as having once dared to fight against Christ, they have now become officious, let them enquire and learn into the manner of my withdrawal from their own friends. For the Arians were mixed with the soldiers in order to exasperate them against me, and, as they were unacquainted with my person, to point me out to them. And although they are destitute of all feelings of compassion, yet when they hear the circumstances they will surely be quiet for very shame. It was now night3, and some of the people were keeping a vigil preparatory to a communion on the morrow, when the General Syrianus suddenly came upon us with more than five thousand soldiers, having arms and drawn swords, bows, spears, and clubs, as I have related above. With these he surrounded the Church, stationing his soldiers near at hand, in order that no one might be able to leave the Church and pass by them. Now I considered that it would be unreasonable in me to desert the people during such a disturbance, and not to endanger myself in their behalf; therefore I sat down upon my throne, and desired the Deacon to read a Psalm, and the people to answer, ‘For His mercy endureth for ever+,’ and then all to withdraw and depart home. But the General having now 2 John vi. 68. 3 Apol. Const. 25. [on psalmody at Alexandria, cf. Aug. Conf x. 33-] DE FUGA.
made a forcible entry, and the soldiers having surrounded the sanctuary for the purpose of apprehending us, the Clergy and those of the laity, who were still there, cried out, and demanded that we too should withdraw. But I refused, declaring that I would not do so, until they had retired one and all. Accordingly I stood up, and having bidden prayer, I then made my request of them, that all should depart before me, saying that it was better that my safety should be endangered, than that any of them should receive hurt. So when the greater part had gone forth, and the rest were following, the monks who were there with us and certain of the Clergy came up and dragged us away. And thus (Truth is my witness), while some of the soldiers stood about the sanctuary, and others were going round the Church, we passed through, under the Lord’s guidance, and with His protection withdrew without observation, greatly glorifying God that we had not betrayed the people, but had first sent them away, and then had been able to save ourselves, and to escape the hands of them which sought after us.
25. Athanasius’s wonderful escape.
Now when Providence had delivered us in such an extraordinary manner, who can justly lay any blame upon me, because we did not give ourselves up into the hands of them that sought after us, nor return and present ourselves before them? This would have been plainly to shew ingratitude to the Lord, and to act against His commandment, and in contradiction to the practice of the Saints. He who censures me in this matter must presume also to blame the great Apostle Peter, because though he was shut up and guarded by soldiers, he followed the angel that summoned him, and when he had gone forth from the prison and escaped in safety, he did not return and surrender himself, although he heard what Herod had done. Let the Arian in his madness censure the Apostle Paul, because when he was let down from the wall and had escaped in safety, he did not change his mind, and return and give himself up; or Moses, because he returned not out of Midian into Egypt, that he might be taken of them that sought after him; or David, because when he was concealed in the cave, he did not discover himself to Saul. As also the sons of the prophets remained in their caves, and did not surrender themselves to Ahab. This would have been to act contrary to the commandment, since the Scripture says, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy Gods,’ Aes Sa ee re 5 Deut. vi. 16; Matt. iv. 7 26. He acted according to the example of the Saints. Character of his accusers.
Being careful to avoid such an offence, and instructed by these examples, I so ordered my conduct; and I do not undervalue the favour and the help which have been shewn me of the Lord, howsoever these in their madness may gnash their teethS* against us. For since the manner of our retreat was such as we have described, I do not think that any blame whatever can attach to it in the minds of those who are possessed of a sound judgment: seeing that according to holy Scripture, this pattern has been left us by the Saints for our instruction. But there is no atrocity, it would seem, which these men neglect to practise, nor will they leave anything undone which may shew their own wickedness and cruelty. And indeed their lives are only in accordance with their spirit and the follies of their doctrines; for there are no sins that one could charge them with, how heinous soever, that they do not commit without shame. Leontius® for instance, being censured for his intimacy with a certain young woman, named Eustolium, and prchibited from living with her, mutilated himself for her sake, in order that he might be able to associate with her freely. He did not however clear himself from suspicion, but rather on this account he was degraded from his rank as Presbyter. [Although the heretic Constantius by violence caused him to be named a Bishop?.| Narcissus’, besides being charged with many other transgressions, was degraded three times by different Councils; and now he is among them, most wicked man. And George®, who was a Presbyter, was deposed for his wickedness, and although he had nominated himself a Bishop, he was nevertheless a second time deposed in the great Council of Sardica. And besides all this, his dissolute life was notorious, for he is condemned even by his own friends, as making the end of existence, and its happiness, to consist in the commission of the most disgraceful crimes.
27. Conclusion.
Thus each surpasses the other in his own peculiar vices. But there is a common blot that attaches to them all, in that through their heresy they are enemies of Christ, and are no © Hist. Arian. § 28 [but see D.C.B. iii. 688].
7 (The bracketed passage is omitted by some good witnesses to the text. The respectful tone of the ‘Apology to Const.’ is exchanged for cold reserve in this ‘Apology,’ and for unmeasured invective in Hist. Ar] De Syn. 17, &e.
9 Apol. Ar. 8, note 3.
DEFENCE OF HIS EEIGHT.
longer called Christians’, but Arians. They ought indeed to accuse each other of the sins they are guilty of, for they are contrary to the faith of Christ; but they rather conceal them for their own sakes. And it is no wonder, that being possessed of such a spirit, and implicated in such vices, they persecute and seek after those who follow not the same impious heresy as themselves; that they delight to destroy them, and are grieved if they fail of obtaining their desires, and think themselves injured, as I said before, when they see those alive whom they wish to perish. May they continue to be injured in such sort, that they may lose the power of inflicting injuries, and 10 Vid. supr. Hf. 4g. 20infr. Hist. Arian. §§ 17. 34 fin. 41 init.
59 fin. 64 init. De. Decr. 16, note 5.
that those whom they persecute may give thanks unto the Lord, and say in the words of the twenty-sixth Psalm, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fellt!;’ and again the thirtieth Psalm, ‘Thou hast saved my soul from adversities; thou hast not shut me up into the hands of mine enemies; thou hast set my foot in a large room,’ in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom to the Father in the Holy Spirit be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
ar Ps, xxvii. 16 12 Ps. xxxi. 7, 8 (WRITTEN 358.)
Tus History takes up the narrative from the admission of Arius to communion at the ‘dedication’ synod of Jerusalem (adjourned Council of Tyre) in 335, as described in Afo/. c. Ar. 84. It has been commonly assumed from its abrupt beginning (the radra, referring to an antecedent narrative) that the History has lost its earlier chapters, which contained the story of Arianism ab ovo. Montfaucon suggests in fact that the copyists omitted the first chapters on account of their identity in substance with the great Apology. But this seems to require reconsideration. If the alleged missing chapters were different* in form from the second part of the Apology, they would not have been omitted: for such repetitions of the same matter in other words are very frequent in the works of Athanasius: but if they were identical in form, they are not lost, and the conclusion is that the History was written with the express intention of continuing the Apology. ‘The customary inference from the abrupt commencement of the History may be dismissed with a xon sequitur. Such a commencement was natural under the circumstances: we may compare the case of Xenophon, whose ‘ Hellenica’ begin with the words Mera 8€ radra, od mwoddais juépas Vorepov..., the reference being to the end of the history of Thucydides. The view here maintained is clinched by the fact that Athanasius at this very time re/sswed his Apology against the Arians with an appendix (§§ 89, 90) on the lapse of Hosius and Liberius?.
The History of the Arians, then, is a complete work, and written to continue the narrative of the second part of the Apology. Being in fact a manifesto against Constantius, it naturally takes up the tale just before his entry upon the scene as the patron of Arianism. The substantially Athanasian authorship of the History cannot be questioned. The writer occasionally, like many others ancient and modern, speaks of himself in the third person (references § 21, note 5, see also Orat. i. 3); but in other places he clearly identifies himself with Athanasius.
The only passage which appears to distinguish the writer from Athanasius (§ 52, see note), may be due to the bishop’s habitual (AfoZ Const. 11) employment of an amanuensis, but more probably the text is corrupt; in any case the passage cannot weigh against the clear sense of § 21. The zmmedzate Athanasian authorship of the piece has been questioned partly on the ground of its alleged incompleteness, partly on that of several slight discrepancies with other writings. On this twofold ground it is inferred that the Arian History has passed through some obscure process of re-editing (Gwatkin, Studies, p. 99, § 14 ‘dependent on the Vita [Antonii| 86, p. 127, ‘not an uncorrupted work’) by a later hand. I am quite unconvinced of this. The incompleteness of the work is, as I think I have shewn above, an unnecessary hypothesis, while the mistakes or inconsistencies may well be due to circumstances of composition. It was written in hiding, perhaps while moving from place to place, certainly under more pressure of highly wrought agitation and bitterness of spirit than any other work of Athanasius. The most accurate of men when working at leisure make strange slips at times (e.g. § 13, note 4); the mistakes in the History are not more than one might expect in such a work. The principal are, § 21 (see note 3), § 14 (reference in note 8), § 11, mpw yevéoOa raira (cf. Zucycl. 5), § 47 (inverting order of events in § 39).
The date of the History is at first sight a difficulty. The fall of Liberius is dealt with in Part V., which must therefore have been written not earlier than 358 (the exact chronology of the lapse of Liberius is not certain), while yet in § 4 Leontius, who died in the summer or autumn of 357, is still bishop of Antioch. We must therefore suppose that the History was begun at about the time when the Afologia de Fuga was finished (cf. the bitter conclusion t ie. slight modifications excepted, see Montf. in AZigne, P.G. xxv. 318, note 46, and 389, note 60. 2 For another example of hastily inferred mutilation, see § 48, note 3.
“HISTORY OF THE ARIANS. 267 of that tract) and completed when the lapse of Liberius was known in Egypt. A more accurate determination of date is not permitted by our materials.
The tract before us is in effect a fierce anonymous pamphlet against Constantius. Even apart from the references in the letters to the Monks and to Serapion (see below), the work bears clear marks of having been intended for secret circulation (for the practice, see Fialon, Pp. 193—199). ‘Instead of the “pious” Emperor who was so well versed in Scripture, whose presence would gladden a dedication festival, whose well-known humanity forbade the supposition that he could have perpetrated a deliberate injustice, we find a Costyllius (or “ Connikin ”) whose misdeeds could only be palliated by the imbecility which rendered him the slave of his own servants—inhuman towards his nearest of kin,—false and crafty, a Pharaoh, a Saul, an Ahab, a Belshazzar, more cruel than Pilate or Maximian, ignorant of the Gospels, a patron of heresy, a precursor of Antichrist, an enemy of Christ, as if himself Antichrist, and—the words must be written—selfabandoned to the future doom of fire’ (Bright, Zntrod, p. Ixxviii., and see §$ 9, 30, 32, $4, 40, 45, 46, 51, 53, 67—70, 74, 80). There are certainly many passages which one could wish that Athanasius had not written,—one, not necessary to specify, in which he fully condescends to the coarse brutality of the age, mingling it unpardonably with holy things. But Athanasius was human, and exasperated by inhuman vindictiveness and perfidy. If in the passages referred to he falls below himself, and speaks in the spirit of his generation, there are not wanting passages equal in nobility to anything he ever wrote. Once more to quote Dr. Bright: ‘The beautifyl description of the Archbishop’s return from his second exile, and of its moral and religious effect upon Alexandrian Church society (25), the repeated protests against the principle of persecution as alien to the mind of the Church of Christ (29, 33, 67), the tender allusion to sympathy for the poor as instinctive in human nature (63), the vivid picture—doubtless somewhat coloured by imagination—of the stand made by Western bishops, and notably for a time by Liberius, against the tyrannous dictation of Constantius in matters ecclesiastical (34 sgg. 76), the generous estimate of Hosius and Liberius in the hour of their infirmity (41, 45), the three golden passages which describe the union maintained by a common faith and a sincere affection between friends who are separated from each other (40), the all-sufficient presence of God with His servants in their extremest solitude (47), and the future joy when heaven would be to sufferers for the truth as a calm haven to sailors after a storm (79). It is in such contexts that we see the true Athanasius, and touch the source of his magnificent insuperable constancy’ (p. Ixxix.).
Nothing could be more just, or more happily put. It ought to be noted before leaving this part of the subject, that the language put into the mouth of Constantius and the Arians (33 fin., 1, 3, 9, 12, 15, 30, 42, 45, 60), is not so much a report of their words as ‘a representation ad invidiam of what is assumed to have been in their minds.’ Other instances of this are to be found in Athanasius (Zf. -Zg. 18, Ovat. ili. 17), and he uses the device advisedly (de Syn. 7, middle), The letter to Serapion on the death of Arius, and the letter to Monks, which in MSS. and printed editions are prefixed to this treatise, will be found in the collection of letters below (No. 54 and 52). They have been removed from their time-honoured place in accordance with the general arrangement of this volume, though not without hesitation, and apart from any intention to dogmatise on the relation they bear to the present tract.
The ‘Arian History’ has commonly been called the ‘ Hist. Arianorum ad Monachos,’ or even the ‘ Epistola ad Monachos;’ even at the present day it is sometimes cited simply as ‘ad Monachos.’ The History has derived this title from the fact, that in the Codices and editions, the Letter and History are frequently joined together without any sign of division. At the same time the correctness of this collocation is not entirely free from doubt. t Serapion (Letter 54 § 1) had written to Athanasius asking for three things,—a history of recent events relating to himself, an exposé of the Arian heresy, and an exact account of the death of Arius. The latter Athanasius furnishes in the letter just referred to. For the two former, he refers Serapion to a document he had written for the monks (dmep €ypaya rois povaxois), and which he now sends to Serapion. He begs Serapion at the end of his letter not on any account to part with the letters he has received, nor to copy them (he gave, he adds, the same directions to the monks, cf. Letter 52. 3), but to send them back with such corrections and additions as he might think desirable. He refers him to his letter to the monks for an explanation of the circumstances which render this precaution necessary. The monks (¢. 1) had apparently made the same request as Serapion afterwards made. It has been conjectured that the four ‘ Orations’ against Arianism, or the first three, are the treatise on the heresy addressed to the monks and subsequently sent to Serapion. But the