Paul and Athanasius Driven Out Again

After writing in this vein to Julius, the bishops of the East brought charges before the emperor Constantius against those they had deposed. So the emperor, who was then at Antioch, wrote to Philip, the prefect of Constantinople, ordering him to hand the church over to Macedonius and to expel Paul from the city. The prefect feared an uproar among the people. Before the emperor’s order could become known, he went to the public bath called Zeuxippus, a large and conspicuous building, and summoned Paul as if he wished to talk with him about some matter of public business. As soon as Paul arrived, he showed him the emperor’s order. In keeping with the orders, Paul was secretly led through the palace next to the bath down to the sea, put on board a ship, and sent to Thessalonica, where, it is said, his ancestors had come from. He was strictly forbidden to approach the Eastern regions, but was not forbidden to visit Illyria and the more distant provinces. [a]

On leaving the courtroom, Philip went to the church with Macedonius. Meanwhile the people had gathered in countless numbers and quickly filled the church, and the two parties into which they were divided, the supporters of the Arian heresy and the followers of Paul, each struggled to take possession of the building. When the prefect and Macedonius reached the doors of the church, the soldiers tried to push the people back to make way for these dignitaries. But the crowd was packed so tightly, all the way to the farthest point, that it was impossible for them either to draw back or to make room. The soldiers, thinking the crowd was refusing to give way, killed many with their swords, and a great number were trampled to death. So the emperor’s order was carried out: Macedonius received the churches, and Paul was unexpectedly driven out of the church in Constantinople.

Athanasius, meanwhile, had fled and gone into hiding, fearing the threats of the emperor Constantius, who had threatened to punish him with death. For the heterodox had made the emperor believe that he was a stirrer of sedition, and that on his return to his bishopric he had caused the deaths of several people. But what had chiefly aroused the emperor’s anger was the report that Athanasius had sold the provisions the emperor Constantine had given to the poor of Alexandria and had kept the money for himself.