Liberius Before the Emperor Constantius

Constantius: “Since you are a Christian and the bishop of our city, we have thought it right to send for you, to urge you to renounce all connection with the folly of the ungodly Athanasius. For when the synod cut him off from the communion of the church, the whole world approved the decision.” [a] Liberius: “Emperor, church sentences ought to be passed with the strictest justice. So, if it pleases Your Piety, order the court to be assembled, and if it is seen that Athanasius deserves condemnation, then let sentence be passed on him according to the church’s procedure. For we cannot condemn a man unheard and untried.” Constantius: “The whole world has condemned his ungodliness; but he laughs at the danger, as he has done from the start.” Liberius: “Those who signed the condemnation were not eyewitnesses of anything that happened. They were moved by the desire for glory, and by the fear of disgrace at your hands.” The emperor: “What do you mean by glory and fear and disgrace?” Liberius: “Those who do not love the glory of God, but set a higher value on your gifts, have condemned a man they have neither seen nor judged. That is very contrary to the principles of Christians.” The emperor: “Athanasius was tried in person at the Council of Tyre, and all the bishops of the world at that synod condemned him.” Liberius: “No judgment has ever been passed on him in his presence. Those who gathered there condemned him after he had left.”

Eusebius the eunuch foolishly broke in: “It was proved at the Council of Nicaea that he held opinions wholly at odds with the catholic faith.” [b] Liberius: “Of all those who sailed to Mareotis, sent to draw up reports against the accused, only five delivered the sentence against him. Of the five who were sent, two are now dead, namely Theognis and Theodore. The other three, Maris, Valens and Ursacius, are still living. At Sardica sentence was passed against all those who were sent to Mareotis for this purpose. They presented a petition to the council asking pardon for having drawn up reports against Athanasius at Mareotis, made up of false accusations and the statements of one side only. Their petition is still in our hands. Whose cause are we to take up, Emperor? With whom are we to agree and hold communion? With those who first condemned Athanasius and then asked pardon for having condemned him, or with those who have condemned these men?” [c] Epictetus the bishop: “Emperor, Liberius is not pleading for the faith, nor in defense of church judgments. He only wants to boast before the senators of Rome that he has beaten the emperor in argument.” [d] The emperor, addressing Liberius: “What part of the world are you, that you alone, all by yourself, take the side of an ungodly man and are destroying the peace of the empire and of the whole world?” Liberius: “My standing alone does not make the truth one bit weaker. According to the ancient story, only three men were found resisting a decree.” [e] Eusebius the eunuch: “You are making our emperor a Nebuchadnezzar.” Liberius: “Not at all. But you rashly condemn a man without any trial. What I want is this. First, that a general confession of faith be signed, confirming the one drawn up at the Council of Nicaea. Second, that all our brothers be called back from exile and restored to their own sees. If, when all this has been carried out, it can be shown that the teachings of all those who now fill the churches with trouble agree with the apostolic faith, then we will all gather at Alexandria to meet the accused, the accusers and their defender; and after examining the case we will pass judgment on it.” Epictetus the bishop: “There will not be enough post-carriages to carry so many bishops.” [f] Liberius: “Church business can be done without post-carriages. The churches are able to provide for carrying their own bishops to the coast.”

The emperor: “A sentence once passed ought not to be revoked. The decision of the greater number of bishops ought to prevail. You alone keep up a friendship with that ungodly man.” Liberius: “Emperor, it is a thing unheard of until now, that a judge should accuse a man who is absent of ungodliness, as though he were the judge’s personal enemy.” The emperor: “Everyone without exception has been wronged by him, but no one as deeply as I have. Not content with the death of my eldest brother, he never stopped stirring up Constans, of blessed memory, to hostility against me. But I, with great restraint, put up with the violence of both the instigator and his victim alike. Not one of the victories I have won, not even those over Magnentius and Silvanus, is equal to the expulsion of this vile man from the government of the church.” [g] Liberius: “Emperor, do not carry out your own hatred and revenge by means of bishops, for their hands ought to be raised only to bless and to sanctify. If it agrees with your will, order the bishops to return to their own homes. And if it turns out that they are of one mind with the man who today holds to the true teaching of the confession of faith signed at Nicaea, then let them come together and see to the peace of the world, so that an innocent man may not be made a target for reproach.” The emperor: “Only one question needs to be settled. I want you to enter into communion with the churches, and I want to send you back to Rome. So agree to peace, sign your agreement, and then you will return to Rome.” Liberius: “I have already said goodbye to the brothers in that city. The decrees of the church matter more than living in Rome.” The emperor: “You have three days to consider whether you will sign the document and return to Rome. If not, you must choose the place of your banishment.” Liberius: “Neither three days nor three months can change my mind. Send me wherever you please.”

Two days later the emperor sent for Liberius, and finding his views unchanged, he ordered him banished to Beroea, a city of Thrace. When Liberius was leaving, the emperor sent him five hundred pieces of gold to pay his expenses. Liberius said to the messenger who brought them, “Go and give them back to the emperor. He needs them to pay his troops.” The empress also sent him a sum of the same amount. He said, “Take it to the emperor, for he may need it to pay his troops. But if not, let it be given to Auxentius and Epictetus, for they are in need of it.” Eusebius the eunuch brought him other sums of money, and Liberius spoke to him like this: “You have turned all the churches of the world into a desert, and do you bring alms to me, as though to a criminal? Go away, and first become a Christian.” He was sent into exile three days later, without having accepted anything that was offered him. [h]