The Plot Against Athanasius

Alexander, that admirable bishop who had stood up so successfully to the blasphemies of Arius, died five months after the Council of Nicaea, and Athanasius succeeded him as bishop of the church of Alexandria. Athanasius had been trained in sacred studies from his youth, and in every church office he held he had won general admiration. At the general council he had defended the teaching of the apostles so well that all the champions of the truth approved of him, while its opponents came to see their adversary as their personal foe and a public enemy. He had attended the council as one of Alexander’s attendants. He was then a very young man, though he was the chief of the deacons. [a]

Those who denied the only Son of God heard that the helm of the church of Alexandria had been put into his hands. They knew his zeal for the truth from experience, and they thought his rule would be the ruin of their own power. So they devised the following scheme against him. To avoid suspicion, they bribed some followers of Melitius. Melitius had been deposed by the Council of Nicaea, but he kept on stirring up trouble in the Thebaid and the neighboring parts of Egypt. They persuaded these men to go to the emperor and accuse Athanasius of levying a tax on Egypt and giving the gold he collected to a certain man who was preparing to seize the imperial power. The emperor was taken in by the story, and Athanasius was brought to Constantinople. When he arrived he proved that the charge was false, and the office God had entrusted to him was restored to him. A letter from the emperor to the church of Alexandria shows this. I will copy out only its closing paragraph. [b]

Part of the letter of the emperor Constantine to the Alexandrians: “Believe me, my brothers, the wicked men could do nothing against your bishop. Surely they could have had no other aim than to waste our time and to leave themselves no room for repentance in this life. So help yourselves, and love what has won your love. Use all your strength to drive out those who want to destroy your harmony. Look to God, and love one another. I gladly welcomed Athanasius your bishop, and I have spoken with him as with one I know to be a man of God.” [d]