Arius at Constantinople, and the Prayer of Alexander

While these things were taking place, the thirtieth year of Constantine’s reign was completed. But Arius and his followers, having returned to Alexandria, threw the whole city into turmoil again. For the people of Alexandria were deeply angry, both at the restoration of this incurable heretic with his party and because their bishop Athanasius had been sent into exile. When the emperor learned of Arius’s perverse character, he once more ordered him to come to Constantinople, to give an account of the disturbances he had tried to stir up all over again. [a]

At that time Alexander, who had succeeded Metrophanes some time before, presided over the church at Constantinople. That this bishop was a man of devoted piety was plainly shown by the struggle he entered into with Arius. When Arius arrived, the people split into two factions and the whole city was thrown into confusion: some insisted that the Nicene Creed must on no account be infringed, while others argued that the opinion of Arius agreed with reason. In this state of affairs Alexander was hard pressed, all the more because Eusebius of Nicomedia had violently threatened to have him deposed at once unless he admitted Arius and his followers to communion. Alexander, however, was far less troubled at the thought of his own deposition than afraid of the overthrow of the principles of the faith, which they were so eager to bring about. He regarded himself as the appointed guardian of the doctrines recognized and the decisions made by the council at Nicaea, and he did everything in his power to keep them from being violated or corrupted. Driven to this extremity, he said goodbye to all the resources of argument and made God his refuge, giving himself to continual fasting and never ceasing to pray.

Telling no one of his purpose, he shut himself up alone in the church called Irene. There he went up to the altar, lay face down on the ground beneath the holy communion table, and poured out his fervent prayers with tears; and he kept this up for many nights and days in a row. What he asked of God so earnestly, he received. For this was his petition: if the opinion of Arius were correct, that he himself might not be allowed to see the day appointed for its discussion; but if he himself held the true faith, that Arius, as the author of all these evils, might suffer the punishment his impiety deserved.