Constantius Turns against Athanasius

With the usurpers dead, Constantius expected peace to return and the disorders to cease. He left Sirmium to go back to ancient Rome and enjoy the honor of a triumph for his victory over the usurpers. He also meant, if possible, to bring the Eastern and the Western bishops to one mind about doctrine by calling a council in Italy. About this time Julius died, after governing the church of Rome for twenty-five years, and Liberius succeeded him. [a]

Those who opposed the doctrines of the Council of Nicaea thought this a good opportunity to slander the bishops they had deposed. They hoped to have them thrown out of the church as supporters of false doctrine and disturbers of the public peace, and to accuse them of having tried, while Constans was alive, to stir up ill feeling between the emperors. And it was true, as we told above, that Constans had threatened his brother with war unless he agreed to receive the orthodox bishops. Their efforts were aimed chiefly at Athanasius. They hated him so much that even when he was protected by Constans and enjoyed the friendship of Constantius, they could not hide their hostility. Narcissus, bishop of Cilicia, Theodore, bishop of Thrace, Eugenius, bishop of Nicaea, Patrophilus, bishop of Scythopolis, Menophantus, bishop of Ephesus, and other bishops, thirty in all, gathered at Antioch. They wrote a letter to all the bishops of every region, stating that Athanasius had returned to his bishopric in violation of the rules of the church, that he had not cleared himself before any council, and that he was supported only by some of his own faction. They urged them not to hold communion with him or write to him, but to enter into communion with George, who had been ordained to succeed him. Athanasius simply despised these proceedings; but he was about to undergo greater trials than any he had yet known.

As soon as Magnentius was dead and Constantius found himself sole master of the Roman Empire, he turned all his efforts to bringing the bishops of the West to admit that the Son is of like substance with the Father. In carrying out this plan, however, he did not use force at first. He tried by persuasion to win the agreement of the other bishops to the decrees of the Eastern bishops against Athanasius; for he thought that if he could bring them to one mind on this point, it would be easy for him to set the affairs of religion in order.