Eunomius Breaks with Eudoxius; Athanasius Hides

About the same time Eunomius separated from Eudoxius and held his own assemblies apart, because he had repeatedly begged that his teacher Aetius be received into communion, and Eudoxius kept opposing it. Eudoxius did this against his own wishes, for he did not reject Aetius’s opinion, since it was the same as his own; but he gave way to the general feeling of his own party, who objected to Aetius as unorthodox. This was the cause of the split between Eunomius and Eudoxius, and such was the state of things at Constantinople. [a]

The church at Alexandria, meanwhile, was thrown into turmoil by an edict of the praetorian prefects, sent there through the efforts of Eudoxius. At this Athanasius, dreading the reckless violence of the crowd and fearing that he would be blamed for any excesses it might commit, hid himself for four whole months in his family’s tomb. But since the people, out of their affection for him, grew rebellious in their impatience at his absence, the emperor, on learning that Alexandria was in an uproar for this reason, ordered by letter that Athanasius be allowed to preside over the churches without interference. This is why the Alexandrian church enjoyed peace until the death of Athanasius. How the Arian faction took possession of the churches after his death we will relate in the course of our history.