Constantine’s Letter to the Nicomedians Against Eusebius and Theognis

“Who has taught these doctrines to the innocent multitude? Plainly Eusebius, the partner in the cruelty of the tyrants. That he was the tyrant’s client has been clearly shown. Indeed it is proved by the slaughter of the bishops, and by the fact that those victims were true bishops. The relentless persecution of the Christians proclaims it aloud. [a] “I will say nothing here of the insults aimed at me, through which the conspiracies of the opposing faction were chiefly carried on. But he went so far as to send spies to watch me, and he all but raised troops to help the tyrant. Let no one think I am alleging what I am not ready to prove. I have clear evidence, for I have had the bishops and presbyters of his following arrested. But I pass over all this. I mention it only to make these people ashamed of their conduct, not out of any resentment.

“There is one thing I fear, one thing that troubles me: to see you charged as accomplices. For you are swayed by the teachings of Eusebius and so have been led away from the truth. But your cure will be quick if you obtain a bishop who holds pure and faithful teaching and then look to God. This depends on you alone. And no doubt you would have done it long ago, if this same Eusebius had not come here, strongly backed by those then in power, and overturned all good order. “Since something more must be said about Eusebius, your patience will remember that a council was held in the city of Nicaea. I was present at it, as my conscience required, moved by no other motive than the wish to bring about agreement among all, and above all to expose and drive out the evil that began with the folly of Arius of Alexandria and was at once strengthened by the absurd and harmful schemes of Eusebius. “But, beloved and much-honored brothers, you do not know how earnestly and how shamefully Eusebius, though convicted by the witness of his own conscience, kept on supporting the false doctrines that had been condemned everywhere. He secretly sent people to me to plead for him, and he begged me in person to help him avoid being thrown out of his bishopric, though his crimes had been fully uncovered. God, who I trust will continue his goodness to you and to me, is witness that what I say is true. I myself was then misled and deceived by Eusebius, as you will come to know well. In everything he acted as he pleased, his mind full of every kind of hidden evil.

“To pass over the rest of his misdeeds, you should know of the crime he recently committed together with Theognis, his partner in folly. I had sent orders for the arrest of certain people in Alexandria who had deserted our faith and through whom the firebrand of dissension had been lit. But these fine gentlemen, these bishops if you please, whom I had spared through the council’s mercy so that they might repent, not only took those people under their protection but also shared in their evil deeds. So I decided to punish these ungrateful men by arresting them and banishing them to some far-off region. “It is now your duty to look to God with the same faith that you have plainly always held, and in which it is right that you should remain. So let us have cause to rejoice in the appointment of pure, orthodox, and kindly bishops. If anyone should mention those destroyers or dare to speak in their praise, let him know that his audacity will be checked by the authority given to me as the servant of God. May God keep you, beloved brothers.”

The bishops just named were then deposed and banished. The church of Nicomedia was entrusted to Amphion, and that of Nicaea to Chrestus. But the exiled bishops, using their usual tricks, took advantage of the emperor’s kindness, revived the earlier quarrels, and regained their former power. [b]