The Synod at Milan

At that time the bishops met in Italy. Very few came from the East, since most were kept from coming either by the weaknesses of age or by the distance; but from the West there were more than three hundred. The emperor had commanded that they assemble at Milan. When they met, the eastern bishops opened the synod by calling on those gathered to pass a unanimous sentence of condemnation against Athanasius, with this aim: that from then on he would be shut out of Alexandria for good. But Paulinus, bishop of Trier in Gaul; Dionysius, bishop of Alba, the chief city of Italy; and Eusebius of Vercelli, a city of Liguria in Italy, saw that the eastern bishops, in demanding that the sentence against Athanasius be confirmed, were bent on overturning the faith. They rose and cried out loudly that this proposal showed a hidden plot against the principles of Christian truth. For they insisted that the charges against Athanasius were groundless, made up by his accusers merely as a means of corrupting the faith. After they had made this protest with great force, the gathering of bishops broke up. [a]