Athanasius in Favor with Jovian; Antony’s Vision

At this time Athanasius, who governed the see of Alexandria, and some of his friends thought it necessary, since the emperor was a Christian, to go to his court. So Athanasius went to Antioch and laid before the emperor the matters he thought fitting. Others, however, say that the emperor sent for him to consult him about the affairs of religion and right doctrine. When the business of the church had been settled as far as possible, Athanasius began to think about going home. [a]

Euzoius, the bishop of the Arian heresy in Antioch, tried to install Probatius, a eunuch who held the same views as he did, at Alexandria. The whole party of Euzoius plotted with him to bring this about. Lucius, a citizen of Alexandria who had been ordained presbyter by George, tried to turn the emperor against Athanasius by claiming that he had been accused of various crimes and had been condemned to lifelong exile by earlier emperors, as the cause of the quarrels and troubles of the church about the divine being. Lucius also begged Jovian to appoint another bishop over the church of Alexandria. The emperor knew of the plots that had been laid against Athanasius, and so he put no faith in the slander. He ordered Lucius, with threats, to go away quietly, and he told Probatius and the other eunuchs of his palace, whom he considered the authors of these troubles, to behave more wisely. From then on Jovian showed the greatest friendship to Athanasius, and sent him back to Egypt with instructions to govern the churches and people of that country as he thought best. It is also said that he praised the bishop’s virtue, his life, his gifts of mind and his eloquence. [b]

So, after it had been opposed for a long time, as has been told in the earlier books, the Nicene faith was fully restored under this reign. But more trouble awaited it within a very short time. For, as it turned out later, the prediction of Antony the monk was not fulfilled in its entirety by what happened to the church in the reign of Constantius; part of it was not fulfilled until the reign of Valens. It is said that before the Arians took control of the churches in the reign of Constantius, Antony had a dream in which he saw mules kicking the altar with their hooves and overturning the holy table. When he woke up, he immediately predicted that the church would be troubled by the bringing in of false and mixed doctrines and by the rebellion of the heterodox. The events that took place both before and after the period we are now describing proved this prediction true. [c]