Another Plot Against Athanasius

But those who slandered Athanasius did not give up. On the contrary, they made up a story against him so bold that it outdid everything the old writers of tragedy and comedy ever invented for the stage. Once again they bribed people of the same party and brought them before the emperor, loudly accusing that champion of virtue of many abominable crimes. The leaders of the party were Eusebius, Theognis, and Theodore, bishop of Perinthus, the city now called Heraclea. They accused Athanasius of crimes they described as too shocking to be tolerated or even listened to. Then they persuaded the emperor to call a council at Caesarea in Palestine, where Athanasius had many enemies, and to order that his case be tried there. The emperor knew nothing at all of the plot that had been laid, and they persuaded him to give the order they wanted. [a]

But the holy Athanasius knew well the ill will of those who were to try him, and he refused to appear at the council. This gave the opponents of the truth a pretext for accusing him further, and they charged him before the emperor with defiance and arrogance. Their hopes were not entirely disappointed. The emperor, patient as he was, was angered by what they told him. He wrote to Athanasius angrily and ordered him to go to Tyre. The council was ordered to meet there, I think, from a suspicion that Athanasius was afraid of Caesarea on account of its bishop. The emperor also wrote to the council in a style that suited his devoted piety. His letter follows. [b]