Athanasius on the Death of Arius

Arius stayed in Alexandria a long time, and he tried, by stirring up disorder, to force his way back into the gatherings of the church. He claimed to renounce his ungodliness and promised to accept the confession of faith drawn up by the fathers. But he could not win the confidence of the divine Alexander, or of Athanasius, who succeeded Alexander both as patriarch and in piety. So, helped and encouraged by Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, he went off to Constantinople. The schemes he then began, and the punishment the righteous Judge brought on them, are best told by the excellent Athanasius in his letter to Apion. So I will now insert this passage in my work. He writes: [a]

“I was not in Constantinople when he died, but Macarius the presbyter was there, and I learned all the details from him. The emperor Constantine was persuaded by Eusebius and his party to send for Arius. When he arrived, the emperor asked him whether he held the faith of the catholic church. Arius then swore that his faith was orthodox and handed in a written summary of what he believed. But he concealed the reasons why Bishop Alexander had thrown him out of the church, and he made dishonest use of the words of Holy Scripture. “So when he had declared on oath that he did not hold the errors for which Alexander had expelled him from the church, Constantine dismissed him, saying, ‘If your faith is orthodox, you have sworn well. But if your faith is ungodly and you have sworn anyway, may God from heaven judge you.’ “When he left the emperor, the followers of Eusebius, with their usual violence, wanted to bring him into the church. But Alexander of blessed memory, bishop of Constantinople, refused permission, saying that the inventor of the heresy ought not to be admitted to communion. Then at last the followers of Eusebius made this threat: ‘Just as we got the emperor to send for Arius against your will, so now, even if you forbid it, Arius will join in communion with us in this church tomorrow.’ [c]

“It was on Saturday that they said this. Bishop Alexander was deeply grieved at what he had heard. He went into the church and poured out his lament, lifting up his hands to God in supplication, and he threw himself face down on the floor of the sanctuary and prayed. Macarius went in with him, prayed with him, and heard his prayers. He asked for one of two things. ‘If Arius,’ he said, ‘is to be joined to the church tomorrow, let me your servant depart, and do not destroy the godly with the ungodly. If you will spare your church, and I know that you do spare her, look on the words of the followers of Eusebius, and do not give up your inheritance to destruction and shame. Take Arius away, so that if he comes into the church, heresy may not seem to come in with him, and ungodliness may not from then on be taken for godliness.’

“After praying this way, the bishop left the church deeply anxious. Then a horrible and extraordinary disaster followed. The followers of Eusebius had broken out in threats, while the bishop had turned to prayer. Arius, made bold by the protection of his party, made many trivial and foolish speeches. Then suddenly a call of nature forced him to withdraw, and at once, as it is written, ‘falling headlong, he burst open in the middle,’ and breathed his last, deprived at one stroke of both communion and life. “That, then, was the end of Arius. The followers of Eusebius were covered with shame, and they buried the man whose belief they shared. The blessed Alexander completed the service, rejoicing with the church in piety and right belief, praying with all the brothers and greatly glorifying God. “This was not because he rejoiced at the death of Arius. Far from it, for ‘it is appointed to all men once to die.’ It was because the event plainly went beyond any human condemnation. For the Lord himself judged between the threats of the followers of Eusebius and the prayer of Alexander, and he condemned the Arian heresy. He showed that it was unworthy to be received into the communion of the church, and so made it plain to all that even if it had the favor and support of the emperor and of all men, it stood condemned by the truth itself.”

These were the first fruits Arius reaped from the deadly seeds he himself had sown, the prelude to the punishments that awaited him hereafter. His ungodliness was condemned by his punishment.

I will now turn my account to the emperor’s piety. He wrote a letter to all the subjects of the Roman Empire, urging them to give up their former errors and to embrace the teaching of our Savior, and trying to lead them to this truth. He stirred up the bishops in every city to build churches. He encouraged them not only by his letter but also by giving them large sums of money and paying all the costs of building. His own letter shows this. It went as follows.