The Cruelty of Macedonius and the Riots He Caused

The bishops of the Arian party began to grow bolder because of the imperial edicts. How they set about calling a synod we will explain a little later. For now, let us briefly mention a few of their earlier acts. Acacius and Patrophilus threw out Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, and installed Cyril in his see. Macedonius turned the order of things upside down in the cities and provinces near Constantinople, promoting to church honors the men who had helped him in his intrigues against the churches. He ordained Eleusius bishop of Cyzicus, and Marathonius bishop of Nicomedia. Marathonius had earlier been a deacon under Macedonius himself, and he proved very active in founding monasteries, both of men and of women. But now we must tell how Macedonius laid waste the churches in the cities and provinces around Constantinople. As I have already said, this man seized the bishopric and inflicted countless miseries on those who were unwilling to adopt his views. His persecutions were not limited to those who were recognized as members of the catholic church, but extended to the Novatians as well, since he knew that they held the doctrine of the homoousion. So they, along with the others, suffered the most unbearable things; but their bishop, whose name was Angelius, escaped by flight. [a]

Many people known for their piety were seized and tortured because they refused to take communion with him. After the torture they forced the men to share in the holy mysteries: their mouths were forced open with a piece of wood, and then the consecrated elements were thrust into them. Those who were treated this way regarded it as a punishment far more painful than all the others. They also laid hold of women and children and compelled them to be initiated by baptism; and if anyone resisted or spoke against it, a flogging followed at once, and after the flogging, chains and prison and other violent measures. I will relate an instance or two here, from which the reader may form some idea of how harsh and cruel Macedonius and those then in power were. They first pressed in a box, and then sawed off, the breasts of women who were unwilling to take communion with them. The same parts of other women they burned, partly with irons and partly with eggs made scorching hot in the fire. This kind of torture, unknown even among the pagans, was invented by people who professed to be Christians. These facts were told to me by the aged Auxanon, the presbyter in the Novatian church whom I spoke of in the first book. He also said that he himself had endured a great many hardships from the Arians before he reached the rank of presbyter. He had been thrown into prison and beaten with many lashes, together with Alexander the Paphlagonian, his companion in the monastic life. He added that he himself had been able to bear these tortures, but that Alexander died in prison from their effects. Alexander is now buried on the right as one sails into the bay of Constantinople called Ceras, close by the rivers, where there is a church of the Novatians named after Alexander.

Moreover the Arians, urged on by Macedonius, tore down many churches in various cities, and among them the church of the Novatians at Constantinople near Pelargus. Why I mention this church in particular will be seen from the extraordinary things connected with it, as the same aged Auxanon testified. The emperor’s edict and the violence of Macedonius had doomed to destruction the churches of those who held the doctrine that the Son is of one substance with the Father. The decree and the violence reached this church, and those who were charged with carrying out the order were at hand to do it. I cannot help admiring the zeal the Novatians showed on this occasion, and the sympathy they received from those whom the Arians threw out at that time, but who are now in peaceful possession of their churches. For when the agents of their enemies were pressing to destroy it, a huge crowd of Novatians, helped by many others who held the same views, gathered around this doomed church, took it down, and carried its materials to another place. This place lies opposite the city; it is called Sycae, and it makes up the thirteenth ward of the city of Constantinople. The removal was done in a very short time, because of the extraordinary eagerness of the many people who took part in it. One carried tiles, another stones, a third timber; some loaded themselves with one thing and some with another. Even women and children helped in the work, regarding it as the fulfillment of their dearest wishes, and counting it the greatest honor to be reckoned faithful guardians of things consecrated to God. In this way the church of the Novatians was moved to Sycae at that time. Long afterward, when Constantius was dead, the emperor Julian ordered its former site to be given back and allowed them to rebuild it there. So the people, as before, carried the materials back and raised the church again in its former place. Because of this, and because of its great improvement in structure and decoration, they called it Anastasia, and not unfittingly. The church, as we said before, was restored later in the reign of Julian.

But at that time the catholics and the Novatians alike were being persecuted. For the catholics detested worshiping in the churches where the Arians assembled, but went to the other three, for that is the number of churches the Novatians have in the city, and took part in divine service with them. Indeed they would have united completely, had not the Novatians refused out of regard for their ancient rules. In other respects, however, they kept up such warmth and affection toward one another that they were ready to lay down their lives for one another. So both parties were persecuted without distinction, not only at Constantinople but also in other provinces and cities. At Cyzicus, Eleusius, the bishop of that place, committed the same kind of outrages against the Christians there as Macedonius had done elsewhere, harassing them and driving them off in every direction; and among other things he completely demolished the church of the Novatians at Cyzicus.

But Macedonius crowned his wickedness in the following way. He heard that there were a great many of the Novatian sect in the province of Paphlagonia, and especially at Mantinium, and he saw that so large a body could not be driven from their homes by churchmen alone. So, with the emperor’s permission, he had four companies of soldiers sent into Paphlagonia, so that fear of the army might make them accept the Arian opinion. But the people of Mantinium, driven to desperation by zeal for their religion, armed themselves with long sickles, hatchets and whatever weapon came to hand, and went out to meet the troops. A battle followed, in which many of the Paphlagonians were killed, but nearly all the soldiers were wiped out. I learned these things from a Paphlagonian peasant who said that he was present at the fight, and many others from that province confirm this account. Such were the exploits of Macedonius on behalf of Christianity: murders, battles, imprisonments and civil wars. These actions made him hateful not only to those he persecuted but even to his own party. They made him offensive to the emperor as well, and above all the incident I am about to relate did so.

The church where the coffin lay that held the relics of the emperor Constantine was in danger of falling. Because of this, those who went in, as well as those who usually stayed there for prayer, were very much afraid. So Macedonius wanted to move the emperor’s remains, so that the coffin would not be damaged by the collapse. When the people heard of this, they tried to prevent it, insisting “that the emperor’s bones should not be disturbed, since such a removal would be the same as digging them up.” Many, however, maintained that moving the body could not possibly harm the dead, and so two parties formed over this question; those who held that the Son is of one substance with the Father sided with those who opposed it as an act of impiety. Macedonius, with complete disregard for these feelings, had the emperor’s remains carried to the church where those of the martyr Acacius lay. At this a huge crowd rushed toward that building in two hostile divisions, which attacked one another with great fury. Many lives were lost, so that the churchyard was covered with blood, and the well that was in it overflowed with blood, which ran into the adjoining colonnade and from there even into the street itself. When the emperor was told of this unhappy event, he was furious with Macedonius, both because of the slaughter he had caused and because he had dared to move his father’s body without consulting him. So, leaving the Caesar Julian to look after the western parts, he himself set out for the East. How Macedonius was deposed a short time afterward, and so suffered a punishment far too light for his infamous crimes, I will relate later.