To Eusebius, Bishop of Ancyra, on the Order Confining Him

I had hoped at this time to hear often from your holiness. Suffering as I do under charges that are plain slander, I am in need of a brother’s comfort. Those who are now reviving the heresy of Marcion, Valentinus, Mani and the other Docetists are angry that I have publicly exposed their heresy. So they have tried to deceive the emperor’s ears, calling me a heretic and falsely accusing me of dividing our one Lord Jesus Christ, the divine Word made man, into two sons. Their words did not have the success they expected. So a dispatch was written to the right honorable and glorious commander and consul. It contained no charge of heresy at all, but certain other charges no less groundless. They claimed that I was trying to hold frequent synods at Antioch, that certain people had taken offense at this, and that for this reason I ought to stop these proceedings and look after the churches entrusted to my care. When this order was shown to me, I seized on the sentence as an opportunity for good. In the first place, I gained the rest I had longed for so much. Beyond that, I trust that the stains of the many errors I have committed will be wiped away, because of the wrong the enemies of the truth have plotted against me. [a]

Even in this present life our supreme Ruler shows us very plainly how he cares for those who suffer wrong. I have been staying quietly, confined within the boundaries of my own district. Throughout the East everyone has been distressed and bitterly grieving, though forced into silence by the terror that has fallen on them, for what has happened to me has struck terror into the hearts of all. Meanwhile the Lord has stooped down from heaven, has proved my slanderers liars, and has laid bare their ungodly purpose. They have turned even Alexandria against me, and through their fine agents they are drumming into everyone’s ears that I preach two sons instead of one.

In fact I am so far from holding this detestable opinion that I have even objected to some of the holy fathers of the Council of Nicaea. In their treatises against the madness of Arius, they were forced in the struggle with their opponents to draw too sharp a distinction, and I have refused to accept such a distinction. For I know how the demands of drawing a distinction lead to exaggeration. And so that no one may suppose I speak as I do out of fear, let anyone who likes take up my old writings, written before the Council of Ephesus, and those I wrote after that council of twelve years ago. By God’s grace I have written commentaries on all the Prophets, the Psalms and the Apostles. Long ago I wrote against the Arians, the Macedonians, the clever arguments of Apollinarius and the madness of Marcion. And in every one of my books, by God’s grace, the mind of the church shines clearly. I have also written a book on the Mysteries, another on Providence, another on the Questions of the Magi, a life of the saints, and besides these, not to name every one, many more. [d] I have listed them not out of ambition, but to challenge my accusers and my judges to test any of my writings they choose. They will find that by God’s grace I hold no opinion except what I have received from holy Scripture.

So now that your holiness has heard this from me, I beg you to inform those who do not know, and to persuade the unbridled tongues that insult me, and all who are deceived by them, not to believe what they have heard about me from my slanderers. Beg them to believe the Lawgiver instead, when he cries out, “Men shall not receive a false report.” Ask them to wait until the facts are proved. [f] My prayer is that the churches may enjoy calm, and that this long and painful storm may pass away. But if the great number of our sins will not allow this to happen, and if because of them we are handed over to the one who sifts us, then we pray that we may share in the dangers suffered for the faith. Then, since we have no confidence from the life we have lived, at least for having guarded the faith whole we may find pity and pardon on the day of the Lord’s appearing. And we beg your holiness to join us in praying for this. [g]