Athanasius Banished to Gaul

This letter made the members of the synod very afraid, and so most of them went back to their own cities. But Eusebius, Theognis, Maris, Patrophilus, Ursacius and Valens went to Constantinople. They would not allow any further inquiry into the broken cup, the overturned communion table, or the murder of Arsenius. Instead they turned to another slander. They told the emperor that Athanasius had threatened to stop the shipments of grain that were regularly sent from Alexandria to Constantinople. They declared too that the bishops Adamantius, Anubion, Arbathion and Peter had heard these threats from Athanasius’s own lips; for slander is most believed when the person who makes it seems worthy of trust. [a]

So the emperor was deceived. Angered against Athanasius by this charge, he at once condemned him to exile and ordered him to live in the provinces of Gaul. Some say that the emperor reached this decision in order to establish unity in the church, since Athanasius flatly refused to hold any communion with Arius and his followers. Athanasius accordingly settled at Trier, a city of Gaul.