Theodosius Made Emperor, and the Exiled Bishops Return

Gratian saw that it was absolutely necessary to check the raids of the barbarians along the Danube in Illyria and Thrace, and that his presence was just as necessary in Gaul to drive back the inroads of the Alemanni. So at Sirmium he took Theodosius as his partner in the government of the empire. Theodosius came from an illustrious family of the Pyrenees in Spain, and he had won such renown in war that even before he was raised to the imperial power he was universally thought capable of holding the reins of the empire. [a]

At this time all the churches of the East, except the church of Jerusalem, were in the hands of the Arians. The Macedonians differed only a little in belief from those who held the doctrine of Nicaea, and they shared fellowship and communion with them in every city. This had been especially true of the Macedonians of Constantinople ever since their reconciliation with Liberius. But after Gratian’s law was enacted, some bishops of the Macedonian heresy took courage and took back the churches from which Valens had driven them. They met together at Antioch in Caria and declared that the Son is not to be called “of one substance” with the Father, but only like him in substance. From that time many of the Macedonians separated from the others and held their own churches, while others condemned the quarrelsome opposition of those who had made these decisions and joined themselves still more firmly to the followers of the Nicene doctrine. [b]

Many of the bishops whom Valens had banished, and who were recalled about this time under Gratian’s law, showed no ambition to be restored to the highest offices of the church. They preferred the unity of the people. So they begged the Arian bishops to keep the posts they held, and not to tear apart by quarrels the church, which had been handed down by God and the apostles as one, but which rivalry and the ambition for first place had divided into many parts. Eulalius, bishop of Amasia in Pontus, was one of those who acted this way. It is said that when he returned from exile he found his church presided over by an Arian bishop, and that hardly fifty people of the city had submitted to the authority of this new bishop. Eulalius, who wanted unity above everything else, offered to share the government of the church with the Arian bishop, and expressly agreed to give him first place. But the Arian would not accept this proposal, and before long he found himself deserted by the few who had followed him, for they went over to the other side. [c]