The Council of Tyre

Arsenius was a bishop of the Melitian party. The men of his party hid him away and told him to stay out of sight as long as possible. Then they cut the right hand off a corpse, embalmed it, put it in a wooden box, and carried it around everywhere, declaring that it was the hand of Arsenius, whom Athanasius had murdered. But the all-seeing eye did not let Arsenius stay hidden for long. He was seen alive first in Egypt, then in the Thebaid. After that, divine providence led him to Tyre, where the hand of tragic fame was brought before the council. The friends of Athanasius tracked him down, brought him to an inn, and made him stay hidden there for a time. Early in the morning the great Athanasius came to the council.

First a woman of immoral life was brought in. In a loud and brazen manner she testified that she had vowed lifelong virginity, but that Athanasius had stayed in her house and had violated her chastity. When she had made her charge, the accused came forward, and with him a presbyter worthy of all praise named Timotheus. The court ordered Athanasius to answer the charge, but he kept silent, as though he were not Athanasius. Timotheus, however, said to her, “Woman, have I ever spoken with you, or have I ever come into your house?” She answered with even greater brazenness. Screaming at Timotheus and pointing her finger at him, she cried, “It was you who robbed me of my virginity! It was you who stripped me of my chastity!” And she added other indecent things of the kind shameless women say. The men who had devised this slander were put to shame, and all the bishops who were in on it blushed. [a]

The woman was now being led out of the court. But the great Athanasius protested that instead of sending her away they ought to question her and find out the name of the one who had hatched the plot. At this his accusers yelled and shouted that he had committed other, viler crimes, from which no skill or cleverness could possibly clear him, and that eyes, not ears, would judge the evidence. With that they brought out the famous box and showed the embalmed hand. At the sight everyone watching cried out. Some believed the charge was true. Others had no doubt it was false, and thought Arsenius was hiding somewhere. When at last, with some difficulty, a little quiet was restored, the accused asked his judges whether any of them knew Arsenius. Several answered that they knew him well, and Athanasius had him brought before them. Then he asked them again, “Is this the right Arsenius? Is this the man I murdered? Is this the man those people mutilated after his murder by cutting off his right hand?” They admitted that it was the same man. Then Athanasius pulled off Arsenius’s cloak and showed both his hands, the right and the left, and said, “Let no one look for a third hand. Man has received two hands from the Creator, and no more.”

Even after this plain proof, the slanderers and the judges who were in on the crime did not hide themselves or pray for the earth to open and swallow them up. Instead they raised an uproar and turmoil in the assembly, declaring that Athanasius was a sorcerer who had bewitched people’s eyes with his magic spells. The very men who a moment before had accused him of murder now tried to tear him to pieces and murder him. But the officers the emperor had charged with keeping order saved Athanasius’s life. They dragged him away and hurried him on board a ship. [b]

When he came before the emperor, he told him the whole drama that had been staged to ruin him. The slanderers sent bishops of their faction to Mareotis, namely Theognis, bishop of Nicaea, Theodore, bishop of Perinthus, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon, and Narcissus of Cilicia, with others who shared their views. Mareotis is a district near Alexandria, and it takes its name from Lake Maria. There they invented more lies. They forged the records of the trial, mixing the charges that had already been shown to be false with fresh accusations as if they were true, and sent them to the emperor. [c]