should be sent away to the mines; and not simply to any mine, but to that of Pheeno4, 3 Vide des 3 Vid. de Syn. 31, note 4, also Greg. Naz. Orat. 35. 3. Epiph. Her. 69. 3. Theod. Hist. i. 3. (p. 730. ed. Schulze). oe 4 The mines of Phzno lie almost in a direct line between Petrze and Zoar, which is at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea. They formed the place of punishment of Confessors in the Maximinian Persecution, Euseb. de Mart. Pal. 7, and in the Arian Persecution at Alexandria after Athan. Theod. H. Z. iv. 19, P- 996.
where even a condemned murderer is hardly able to live a few days. And what was most unreasonable in their conduct, they would not permit him even a few hours to have his wounds dressed, but caused him to be sent off immediately, saying, ‘If this is done, all men will be afraid, and henceforward will be on our side.’ After a short interval, however, being unable to accomplish his journey to the mine on account of the pain of his stripes, he died on the way. He perished rejoicing, having obtained the glory of martyrdom. But the miscreants were not even yet ashamed, but in the words of Scripture, ‘having bowels without mercy 5,’ they acted accordingly, and now again perpetrated a satanic deed. When the people prayed them to spare Eutychius and besought them for him, they caused four honourable and free citizens to be seized, one of whom was Hermias who washed the beggars’ feet®; and after scourging them very severely, the Duke cast them into the prison. But the Arians, who are more cruel even than Scythians, when they had seen that they did not die from the stripes they had received, complained of the Duke and threatened, saying, ‘ We will write and tell the eunuchs”, that he does not flog as we wish.’ Hearing this he was afraid, and was obliged to beat the men a second time; and they being beaten, and knowing for what cause they suffered and by whom they had been accused, said only, ‘We are beaten for the sake of the Truth, but we will not hold communion with the heretics: beat us now as thou wilt; God will judge thee for this.’ The impious men wished to expose them to danger in the prison, that they might die there; but the people of God observing their time, besought him for them, and after seven days or more they were set at liberty.
61. Lil-treatment of the Poor.
But the Arians, as being grieved at this, again devised another yet more cruel and unholy deed; cruel in the eyes of all men, but well suited to their antichristian heresy. ‘The Lord commanded that we should remember the poor; He said, ‘Sell that ye have, and give alms;’ and again, ‘I was a hungred, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; for inasmuch as ye have done it unto Phzeno was once the seat of a Bishopric, which sent a Bishop to the Councils at Ephesus, the Ecumenical, and the Latrocinium. vid. Reland, Palestine, pp. 951, 952. Montfaucon zz doc. Athan. Le Quien. Or. Christ. t. 3. Ps 745+ 5 Prov. xii. ro.
6 ‘Epyeiay Aovovta Tos avegdSovs, Inauspicato verterat Hermantius, ‘qui angiportos non pervios lavabat;’ Montfaucon, CodZ. Nov. t. 2. p. xliii. who translates as above, yet not satisfactorily, especially as there is no article before Aovovra. Tillemont says, “qui avait ‘‘ quelle charge” dans la police de la ville,’ understanding by avé&oSor, ‘ inclusi sive incarcerati homines;’ whereas they are ‘il qui ava tas édSous in exitibus viarum, stipem cogunt.’ Montf. ibid. For the custom of washing the feet vid. Bingh.
HISTORY OF THE ARIANS, one of these little ones, ye have done it unto Me®” But these men, as being in truth opposed to Christ, have presumed to act contrary to His will in this respect also. For when the Duke gave up the Churches to the Arians, and the destitute persons and widows were unable to continue any longer in them, the widows sat down in places which the Clergy entrusted with the care of them appointed. And when the Arians saw that the brethren readily ministered unto them and supported them, they persecuted the widows also, beating them on the feet, and accused those who gave to them before the Duke. This was done by means of a certain soldier named Dynamius. And it was well-pleasing to Sebastian 9, for there is no mercy in the Manichzans; nay, it is considered a hateful thing among them to shew mercy to a poor man %*, Here then was a novel subject of complaint; and a new kind of court now first invented by the Arians.
Persons were brought to trial for acts of kindness which they had performed; he who shewed mercy was accused, and he who had received a benefit was beaten; and they wished rather that a poor man should suffer hunger, than that he who was willing to shew mercy should give to him. Such sentiments these modern Jews, for such they are, have learned from the Jews of old, who when they saw him who had been blind from his birth recover his sight, and him who had been a long time sick of the palsy made whole, accused? the Lord who had bestowed these benefits upon them, and judged them to be transgressors who had experienced His goodness, 62. Lil-treatment of the poor.
Who was not struck with astonishment at these proceedings? Who did not execrate both the heresy, and its defenders? Who failed to perceive that the Arians are indeed more cruel than wild beasts? For they had no prospect of gain? from their iniquity, for the sake of which they might have acted in this manner; but they rather increased the hatred of all men against themselves. They thought by treachery and terror to force certain persons into their heresy, so that they might be brought to communicate with them; but the event turned out quite the contrary. The sufferers endured as martyrdom whatever they inflicted upon them, and neither betrayed nor denied the true faith in Christ. And those who were without and witnessed their conduct, and at 9 [They would give money, but thought it wrong to give food.
Ath. was possibly unaware of this distinction. See Bright, Introd. | to Hist. Tracts, p.1xxi. note 7.] I Joh. ix.; Matt. ix. 3.
2 Vid. de Decr. § 1. 3 Cf. note on Orvat. i. § 8.
last even the heathen, when they saw these things, execrated them as antichristian, as cruel executioners; for human nature is prone to pity and sympathise with the poor. But these men have lost even the common sentiments of humanity; and that kindness which they would have desired to meet with at the hands of others, had themselves been sufferers, they would not permit others to receive, but employed against them the severity and authority of the magistrates, and especially of the Duke 63. Lll-treatment of the Presbyters and Deacons.
What they have done to the Presbyters and Deacons; how they drove them into banishment under sentence passed upon them by the Duke and the magistrates, causing the soldiers to bring out their kinsfolk from the houses 4, and Gorgonius, the commander of the polices to beat them with stripes; and how (most cruel act of all) with much insolence they plundered the loaves® of these and of those who were now dead; these things it is impossible for words to describe, for their cruelty surpasses all the powers of language. What terms could one employ which might seem equal to the subject? What circumstances could one mention first, so that those next recorded would not be found more dreadful, and the next more dreadful still? All their attempts and iniquities7 were full of murder and impiety; and so unscrupulous and artful are they, that they endeavour to deceive by promises of protection, and by bribing with money °, that so, since they cannot recommend themselves by fair means, they may thereby make some display to impose on the simple, PART VIII. PERSECUTION IN EGYPT.
64. Who would call them even by the name of Gentiles; much less by that of Christians? Would any one regard their habits and feelings as human, and not rather those of wild beasts, seeing their cruel and savage conduct? ‘They are more worthless than public hangmen; more audacious than all other heretics. To the Gentiles they are much inferior, and stand far apart and separate from them’. I have heard from our fathers, and I believe their report to be a faithful one, that long ago, when 6 rovs aptous [i.e. their stated allowance: see also Afol. Ar 18], the word occurs Hucyct. 4, Afol. Fug. 6, supr. §§ 31, 54, in this sense; but Nannius, Hermant, and Tillemont, with some plausibility understand it as a Latin term naturalized, and translate ‘ most cruel of all, with much insolence they tore the ‘‘ limbs” of the dead,’ alleging that merely to take away ‘loaves’ was not so ‘cruel’ as to take away ‘lives,’ which the Arians had done [the | parallels refute this, apart from linguistic grounds].
a persecution arose in the time? of Maximian, the grandfather of Constantius, the Gentiles concealed our brethren the Christians, who were sought after, and frequently suffered the loss of their own substance, and had trial of imprisonment, solely that they might not betray the fugitives. They protected those who fled to them for refuge, as they would have done their own persons, and were determined to run all risks on their behalf. But now these admirable persons, the inventors of a new heresy, act altogether the contrary part; and are distinguished for nothing but their treachery. They have appointed themselves as executioners, and seek to betray all alike, and make those who conceal others the objects of their plots, esteeming equally as their enemy both him that conceals and him that is concealed. So murderous are they; so emulous in their evil-doings of the wickedness of Judas.
65. Martyrdom of Secundus of Barka.
The crimes these men have committed cannot adequately be described. I would only say, that as I write and wish to enumerate all their deeds of iniquity, the thought enters my mind, whether this heresy be not the fourth daughter of the horse-leach 3 in the Proverbs, since after so many acts of injustice, so many murders, it hath not yet said, ‘It is enough.’ No; it still rages, and goes about+ seeking after those whom it has not yet discovered, while those whom it has already injured, it is eager to injure anew. After the night attack, after the evils committed in consequence of it, after the persecution brought about by Heraclius, they cease not yet to accuse us falsely before the Emperor (and they are confident that as impious persons they will obtain a hearing), desiring that something more than banishment may be inflicted upon us, and that hereafter those who do not consent to their impieties may be destroyed. Accordingly, being now emboldened in an extreme degree, that most abandoned Secundus 5 of Pentapolis, and Stephanus® his accomplice, conscious that their heresy was a defence of any injustice they might commit, on discovering a Presbyter at Barka who would not comply with their desires (he was called Secundus, being of the same name, but not of the same faith with the heretic), they kicked him till he died7, While he was thus suffering he imitated the Saint, and said, ‘Let no one avenge my cause before human judges; I have the Lord for my avenger, 5 Lp, Ag. 7. 6 Cf. Hest. Aceph. ix., de Syn. 12, Thdt.
7 In like manner the party of Dioscorus at the Latrocinium, or Eutychian Council of Ephesus, a.p. 449, kicked to death Fla. vian, Patriarch of Constantinople.
for whose sake I suffer these things at their hands.’ They however were not moved with pity at these words, nor did they feel any awe of the sacred season; for it was during the time of Lent® that they thus kicked the man to death.
66. Persecution the weapon of Arianism.
O new heresy, that hast put on the whole devil in impiety and wicked deeds! For in truth it is but a lately invented evil; and although certain heretofore appear to have adopted its doctrines, yet they concealed them, and were not known to hold them. But Eusebius and Arius, like serpents coming out of their holes, have vomited forth the poison of this impiety; Arius daring to blaspheme openly, and 9 Eusebius defending his blasphemy. He was not however able to support the heresy, until, as I said before, he found a patron? for it in the Emperor. Our fathers called an Ecumenical Council, when three hundred of them, more or less?, met together and condemned the Arian heresy, and all declared that it was alien and strange to the faith of the Church. Upon this its supporters, perceiving that they were dishonoured, and had now no good ground of argument to insist upon, devised a different method, and attempted to vindicate it by means of external power. And herein one may especially admire the novelty as well as wickedness of their device, and how they go beyond all other heresies. For these support their madness by persuasive arguments calculated to deceive the simple; the Greeks, as the Apostle has said, make their attack with excellency and persuasiveness of speech, and with plausible fallacies; the Jews, leaving the divine Scriptures, now, as the Apostle again has said, contend about ‘ fables and endless genealogies 3;’ and the Manichees and Valentinians with them, and others, corrupting the divine Scriptures, put forth fables in terms of their own inventions, But the Arians are bolder than them all, and have shewn that the other heresies are but their younger sisters4, whom, as I have said, they surpass in impiety, emulating them all, and especially the Jews in their iniquity. For as the Jews, when they were unable to prove the charges which they pretended to allege against Paul, straightway led him to the chief captain and the governor; so likewise these men, who surpass the Jews in their devices, make use only of the power of the judges; and if any one so much as speaks against them, he is dragged before the Governor or the General.
8 Encye. 4.
9 Afol. Ar. 50 2 Apol. Ar, 23.
THISTORY "OF “THEVARLTANS.
67. Arianism worse than other heresies, because of Persecution.
The other heresies also, when the very Truth has refuted them ‘on the clearest evidence, are wont to be silent, being simply confounded by their conviction. But this modern and accursed heresy, when it is overthrown by argument, when it is cast down and covered with shame by the very Truth, forthwith endeavours to coerce by violence and stripes and imprisonment those whom it has been unable to persuade by argument, thereby acknowledging itself to be anything rather than godly. For it is the part of true godliness not to compel 5, but to persuade, as I said before. Thus our Lord Himself, not as employing force, but as offering to their free choice, has said to all, ‘If any man wi! follow after Me®; and to His disciples, ‘ Will ye also go away7?’ This heresy, however, is altogether alien from godliness; and therefore how otherwise should it act, than contrary to our Saviour, seeing also that it has enlisted that enemy of Christ, Constantius, as it were Antichrist himself®, to be its leader in impiety? He for its sake has earnestly endeavoured to emulate Saul in savage cruelty. For when the priests gave victuals to David, Saul commanded, and they were all destroyed, in number three hundred and five?; and this man, now that all avoid the heresy, and confess a sound faith in the Lord, annuls a Council of full three hundred Bishops, banishes the Bishops themselves, and hinders the people from the practice of piety, and from their prayers to God, preventing their public 5 The early theory about persecution seems to have been this,— that that was a bad cause which ‘depended’ upon it, but that, when a ‘cause’ was good, there was nothing wrong in using force in due ‘subordination’ to argument [so Pius 1X. in Eucycd. ‘Quanta cura,’ speaks of the ‘officium coercendi sancitis pcenis violatores catholice religionis]; that there was as little impropriety in the civil magistrate’s inducing ‘individuals’ by force, when they were incapable of higher motives, as by those secular blessings which follow on Christianity. Our Lord’s kingdom was not of this world, that is, it did not depend on this world; but, as subduing, engrossing, and swaying this world, it at times condescended to make use of this world’s weapons against itself. The simple question was ‘whether a cause depended on force for its existence.’ §. Athanasius declared and the event proved, that Arianism was so dependent. When Emperors ceased to persecute, Arianism ceased to be; it had no life in itself. Again, all cruel persecution, or long continued, or on a large scale, was wrong, as arguing ‘am absence’ of moral and rational grounds in the ‘cause’ so maintained. Again, there was an evident ‘impropriety’ in ecclesiastical functionaries using secular weapons, as there would be in their engaging in a secular pursuit, or forming secular connections; whereas the soldier might as suitably, and should as dutifully, defend religion with the sword, as the scholar with his pen. And further there was an abhorrence of cruelty natural to us, which it was a duty to cherish and maintain. All this being considered, there is no inconsistency in S. Athanasius denouncing persecution, and in Theodosius decreeing that ‘the heretical teachers, who usurped the sacred titles of Bishops or Presbyters,’ should be ‘ exposed to the heavy penalties of exile and confiscation. Gibbon, zs. ch. 27. For a list of passages from the Fathers on the subject, vid. Limborch on the Inquisition, vol. x. Bellarmin. de Laicis, c. 21, 22, and of authors in favour of persecution, vid. Gerhard de Magistr. Polit. p. 741, &c. [But vide supr., AZol. Fug, 23: ‘persecution is a device of the devil;’ see also Socr. vii. 3.] © Matt. xvi. 24. 7 John vi. 67.
8 Cf. De Syx. 5, note ro. 9 x Sam. xxii. 18, LXX.
assemblies. And as Saul overthrew Nob, the city of the priests, so this man, advancing even further in wickedness, has given up the Churches to the impious. And as he honoured Doeg the accuser before the true priests, and persecuted David, giving ear to the Ziphites; so this man prefers heretics to the godly, and still persecutes them that flee from him, giving ear to his own eunuchs, who falsely accuse the orthodox. He does not perceive that whatever he does or writes in behalf of the heresy of the Arians, involves an attack? upon the Saviour.
68. Constantius worse than Saul, Ahab, and Pilate. His past conduct to his own relations.
Ahab himself did not act so cruelly towards the priests of God, as this man has acted towards the Bishops. For he was at least pricked in his conscience, when Naboth had been murdered, and was afraid at the sight 2 of Elijah, but this man neither reverenced the great Hosius, nor was wearied or pricked in conscience, after banishing so many Bishops; but like another Pharaoh, the more he is afflicted, the more he is hardened, and imagines greater wickedness day by day. And the most extraordinary instance of his iniquity was the following. It happened that when the Bishops were condemned to banishment, certain other persons also received their sentence on charges of murder or sedition or theft, each according to the quality of his offence. These men after a few months he released, on being requested to do so, as Pilate did Barabbas; but the servants of Christ he not only refused to set at liberty, but even sentenced them to more unmerciful punishment in the place of their exile, proving himself ‘an undying evil **’ to them. To the others through congeniality of disposition he became a friend; but to the orthodox he was an enemy on account of their true faith in Christ. Is it not clear to all men from hence, that the Jews of old when they demanded Barabbas, and crucified the Lord, acted but the part which these present enemies of Christ are acting together with Constantius? nay, that he is even more bitter than Pilate. For Pilate, when he perceived3 the injustice of the deed, washed his hands; but this man, while he banishes the saints, gnashes his teeth against them more and more.
69. But what wonder is it if, after he has been led into impious errors, he is so cruel towards the Bishops, since the common feelings of humanity could not induce him to spare 20 A quotation from Homer, Od. xii. 118. 3 Matt. xxvii. 24.
even his own kindred. His uncles¢ he slew; his cousins he put out of the way; he commiserated not the sufferings of his father-in-law, though he had married his daughter, or of his kinsmen; but he has ever been a transgressor of his oaths towards all. So likewise he treated his brother in an unholy manner; and now he pretends to build his sepulchre, although he delivered up to the barbarians his betrothed wife Olympias, whom his brother had protected till his death, and had brought up as his intended consort. Moreover he attempted to set aside his wishes, although he boasts to be his heirs; for so he writes, in terms which any one possessed of but a small measure of sense would be ashamed of. But when I compare his letters, I find that he does not possess common understanding, but that his mind is solely regulated by the suggestions of others, and that he has no mind of his own at all. Now Solomon says, ‘If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked ®.? This man proves by his actions that he is such an unjust one, and that those about him are wicked.
70. Inconstancy of Constantius.
How then, being such an one, and taking pleasure in such associates, can he ever design anything just or reasonable, entangled as he is in the iniquity of his followers, men who verily bewitch him, or rather who have trampled his brains under their heels? Wherefore he now writes letters®, and then repents that he has written them, and after repenting is again stirred up to anger, and then again laments his fate, and being undetermined what to do, he shews a soul destitute of understanding. Being then of such a character, one must fairly pity him, because that under the semblance and name of freedom he is the slave of those who drag him on to gratify their own impious pleasure. Ina word, while through his folly and inconstancy, as the Scripture saith 7, he is willing to comply with the desires of others, he has given himself up to condemnation, to be consumed by fire in the future judgment; at once consenting to do whatever they wish, and gratifying them in their designs against the Bishops, and in their exertion of authority over the Churches. For beho!d, he has now again thrown into disorder all the Churches of Alexandria® and of Egypt and Libya, and has publicly given orders, that the Bishops of the Catholic Church and faith be cast out of their churches, and that they be all given up to the professors of the Arian 4 [See above, p. 134, note 8, and ref. there; also Gibbon, ch. xviii. vol. ii. p. 364 sgg.J 7 Prov. vii. 22, LXX.
€ Prov. xxix, re, 8 Afol. Const. 27, -HISTORIA ARIANORUM.
doctrines9. The General began to carry this order into execution; and straightway Bishops were sent off in chains, and Presbyters and Monks bound with iron, after being almost beaten to death with stripes. Disorder prevails in every place; all Egypt and Libya are in danger, the people being indignant at this unjust command, and seeing in it the preparation for the coming of Antichrist, and beholding their property plundered by others, and given up into the hands of the heretics.
71. This wickedness unprecedented.
When was ever such iniquity heard of? when was such an evil deed ever perpetrated, even in times of persecution? They were heathens who persecuted formerly; but they did not bring their idols into the Churches. Zenobia was a Jewess, and a supporter of Paul of Samosata; but she did not give up the Churches to the Jews for Synagogues. ‘This is a new piece of iniquity. It is not simply persecution, but more than persecution, it is a prelude and preparation?® for the coming of Antichrist. Even if it be admitted that they invented false charges against Athanasius and the rest of the Bishops whom they banished, yet what is this to their later practices? What charges have they to allege against the whole of Egypt and Libya and Pentapolis?? For they have begun no longer to lay their plots against individuals, in which case they might be able to frame a lie against them; but they have set upon all ina body, so that if they merely choose to invent accusations against them, they must be condemned, Thus their wickedness has blinded their understanding?; and they have required, without any reason assigned, that the whole body of the Bishops shall be expelled, and thereby they shew that the charges they framed against Athanasius and the rest of the Bishops whom they banished were false, and invented for no other purpose than to support the accursed heresy of the Arian enemies of Christ.
This is now no longer concealed, but has become most manifest to all men. He commanded Athanasius to be expelled out of the city, and gave up the Churches to them. And the Presbyters and Deacons that were with him, who had been appointed by Peter and Alexander, were also expelled and driven into banishment; and the real Arians, who not through any suspicions arising from circumstances, but on account of the heresy had been expelled at first together with Arius himself by 9 [This is ‘ certainly false,’ see Ecyclop. Brit., art. PaLmyra, eee eee sewer eee the Bishop Alexander,—Secundus in Libya, in Alexandria Euzéius3 the Chananzan, Julius, Ammon, Marcus, Irenzus, Zosimus, and Sarapion surnamed Pelycon, and in Libya *Sisinnius, and the younger men with him, associates in his impiety; these have obtained possession of the Churches, 72. Banishment of Egyptian Bishops. And the General Sebastian wrote to the governors and military authorities in every place; and the true Bishops were persecuted, and those who professed impious doctrines of Christ, they gnashed their teeth against them with increased fury. Nay more, they would not give up the bodies of the dead to their friends for burial, but concealed them that they might appear to’ be ignorant of the murder. They did not however escape detection; the whole city perceived it, and all men withdrew ‘from them as executioners, as malefactors and robbers. Moreover they overthrew monasteries, and endeavoured to cast monks into the fire; they plundered houses, and breaking into the house of certain free citizens where the Bishop had deposited were brought in in their stead. They banished ya treasure, they plundered and took it away.
Bishops who had grown old in orders, and had been many years in the Episcopate, having been ordained by the Bishop Alexander; Ammonius#, Hermes, Anagamphus, and Marcus, they sent to the Upper Oasis; Muis, Psenosiris, Nilammon, Plenes, Marcus, and Athenodorus to Ammoniaca, with no other intention than that they should perish in their passage through the deserts. They had no pity on them though they were suffering from illness, and indeed proceeded on their journey with so much difficulty on account of their weakness, that they were obliged to be carried in litters, and their sickness was so dangerous that the materials for their burial accompanied them. One of them indeed died, but they would not even permit the body to be given up to his friends for interment. With the same purpose they banished also the Bishop Dracontius to the desert places about Clysma, Philo to Babylon, Adelphius to Psinabla in the Thebais, and the Presbyters Hierax and Dioscorus to Syene. They likewise drove into exile Ammonius, Agathus, Agathodzemon, Apollonius, Eulogius, Apollos, Paphnutius, Gaius,and Flavius, ancient Bishops, as also the Bishops Dioscorus, Ammonius, Heraclides, and Psais; some of whom they gave up to work in the stone-quarries, others they persecuted with an intention to destroy, and many others they plundered. They banished also forty of the laity, with certain virgins whom they had before exposed to the fires; beating them so severely with rods taken from palm-trees, that after lingering five days some of them died, and others had recourse to surgical treatment on account of the thorns left in their limbs, from which they suffered torments worse than death® But what is most dreadful to the mind of any man of sound understanding, though characteristic of these miscreants, is this: When the virgins during the scourging called upon the Name