The Flight of Athanasius

But he fled again, saying to his close friends, “Let us withdraw for a little while, friends. It is only a small cloud, and it will soon pass.” He went on board at once, crossed the Nile, and hurried with all speed into Egypt, closely pursued by those who were looking to seize him. When he learned that his pursuers were not far off, his companions urged him to retreat into the desert once more. But he turned to a trick instead, and so made his escape. He persuaded those who were with him to turn back and go to meet his enemies, and they did so at once. As they came up to them, they were simply asked where they had seen Athanasius. They answered that he was not far away, and that if they hurried they would soon overtake him. Deceived in this way, the pursuers set off again after him with even greater speed, but to no purpose. Athanasius got safely away and returned secretly to Alexandria, and there he stayed hidden until the persecution was over. [a]

Such were the dangers that followed one after another in the life of the bishop of Alexandria: these last at the hands of the pagans, after those he had earlier suffered at the hands of Christians.

Besides all this, the governors of the provinces took advantage of the emperor’s superstition to feed their own greed, and treated the Christians more cruelly than their sovereign had authorized. Sometimes they extracted larger sums of money than they should have, and at other times they inflicted bodily punishment on them. The emperor learned of these excesses and looked the other way. When the victims appealed to him against their oppressors, he answered mockingly, “It is your duty to bear these afflictions patiently, for this is the command of your God.”