The Synod Deposes Athanasius

So Athanasius left, hurrying to the emperor. The synod first condemned him in his absence. Then, when the report of the inquiry made at Mareotis was presented, they voted to depose him. In their sentence of deposition they heaped insulting names on him, but said nothing at all about the shameful collapse of the murder charge his slanderers had brought. They also received into communion Arsenius, the man who was reported to have been murdered. He had formerly been a bishop of the Melitian heresy, and he now signed the deposition of Athanasius as bishop of the city of Hypselopolis. So, by an extraordinary turn of events, the man Athanasius was supposed to have murdered was found alive to help depose him. [a]