To John, Bishop of Germanicia, Urging Him to Stand Firm

As soon as I received your holiness’s earlier letter, I replied. As for the present state of affairs, it is impossible to hold any good hope. I fear that this is the beginning of the general falling away. Look at it. Those who lament what was done at Ephesus, by violence as they say, show no sign of repentance. They stand by their unlawful deeds, and on them they are building a structure of injustice and impiety together. The rest take no common action to disown those deeds, and do not refuse to hold communion with men who stand by their unlawful action. When we see all this, what hope of good can we hold? If they were expressing admiration for what happened, as though everything had been done well and rightly, it would only be proper for them to stand by what they themselves praise. But if, as they say, they lament what was done, and declare that it was done by force and violence, why in the world do they not reject what was unlawfully done? Why is the present, which lasts so short a time, preferred to what is sure to come? Why in the world do they lie openly and deny that any novelty has been brought into doctrine? For what murders or what sorceries have I been driven out? What adulteries did the man commit? What tombs did the man violate? It is perfectly plain even to outsiders that it was for doctrine that I and the rest were driven out. Why, even the lord Domnus was deposed by these fine people because he would not accept “the Chapters,” which they called admirable and declared that they stood by. I had read their propositions; they rejected me as the head and front of the heresy, and drove out others for the same reason. [a]

What has happened proves plainly enough that they supposed the Savior laid down the law of upright living for the wagon-dwelling nomads rather than for themselves. When some men brought charges against Candidianus the Pisidian, accusing him of several adulteries and other wicked acts, the president of the council is reported to have said, “If you are bringing an accusation on points of doctrine, we receive your charges. We have not come here to judge adulteries.” Accordingly Athenius and Athanasius, who had been driven out by the synod of the East, were told to return to their own churches. It was just as though our Savior had laid down no laws about conduct, and had only ordered us to keep to doctrines, which these most sagacious persons have been the first to corrupt. Let them stop mocking, then. Let them no longer try to hide the impiety that they have confirmed by blows as well as by words. If this is not the case, let them tell us the reasons for the massacres. Let them confess in writing the distinction between the natures of our Savior, and that the union is without confusion. Let them declare that after the union both the Godhead and the manhood remained unimpaired. “God is not mocked.” Let them disown the Chapters, which they have often rejected and have now approved at Ephesus. Do not let them deceive your holiness with their lies. They used to praise my sermons at Antioch while they were still simply brothers, and when they were made readers, and when they were ordained deacons, presbyters and bishops. At the end of my sermon they used to embrace me and kiss me, on the head, on the breast, on the hands, and some of them would cling to my knees, calling my teaching apostolic. That is the very teaching they have now condemned and anathematized. They used to call me the light not only of the East but of the whole world. And now, if you please, I have been condemned as an outlaw, and as far as it lies in their power I do not even have bread to eat. They have anathematized even everyone who talks with me. But the man whom only a little while ago they deposed, and called a Valentinian and an Apollinarian, they have honored as a martyr for the faith, groveling at his feet, asking his pardon and calling him spiritual father. Do even woodlice change their color to match the stones, or chameleons their skin to suit the leaves, as these men change their minds to match the times? I give up to them my see, my dignity, my rank, and all the luxury of this life. On the side of the apostolic teaching I wait for the evils they think so terrible, and I find comfort enough in the thought of the Lord’s judgment. For I hope that because of this injustice the Lord will forgive me many of my sins. [d]

Now I beg your holiness to beware of fellowship in wrongdoing, and to insist that they reject what has been done. If they refuse, shun them as traitors to the faith. That your reverence should wait a while to see whether the storm will pass, we have not thought a matter for blame. But after the ordination of the chief bishop of the East, every man’s mind will be made plain. Be so good, sir, as to pray for me. At this time I am in great need of that help, so that I may hold out against all that is being plotted against me. [l]