The Cunning of Leontius, and the Boldness of Flavian and Diodorus

At Antioch, Placitus was succeeded by Stephen, who was expelled from the church. Leontius then took the leadership of the church. But this was against the decrees of the Nicene council, for he had castrated himself and was a eunuch. The blessed Athanasius tells the reason for his rash act. Leontius, it seems, was the subject of slanderous talk because of a young woman named Eustolia. When he found himself prevented from living with her, he castrated himself for her sake, so that he would be free to live with her. But he did not clear himself of suspicion, and for this reason all the more he was removed from the office of presbyter. That much Athanasius has written about the rest of his earlier life. I shall now give a short account of his wicked conduct. [a]

Although he shared the Arian error, he always tried to hide his unsoundness. He saw that the clergy and the rest of the people were divided into two parties. In giving glory to the Son, one party used the word “and,” while the other said “through” the Son, and “in” the Holy Spirit. He himself said the whole doxology silently, and all that those standing near him could hear was “forever and ever.” If the great wickedness of his soul had not been betrayed in other ways, it might have been said that he used this device out of a wish to keep peace among the people. But he did much harm to the champions of the truth and went on giving every support to the promoters of impiety, and so he was caught hiding his own unsoundness. He was driven both by fear of the people and by the severe threats Constantius had made against anyone who dared to say that the Son was unlike the Father. But his conduct showed what he really thought. Those who followed the apostolic teaching never received ordination from him, or even the least encouragement. Those who sided with the Arian superstition, on the other hand, were given full freedom to state their opinions, and from time to time were admitted to the priestly office.

At this point Aetius, the teacher of Eunomius, who advanced the Arian error by his speculations, was made a deacon. But Flavian and Diodorus, who had taken up the ascetic life and were open champions of the apostolic decrees, publicly protested against Leontius’s attacks on true religion. It was a disgrace to the church, they urged, that a man raised in wickedness, who schemed to make a name for himself by ungodliness, should be counted worthy to be a deacon. They also threatened to withdraw from communion with him, to travel to the western part of the empire, and to make his plots known to the world. Leontius was now alarmed. He suspended Aetius from his sacred office, but went on showing him marked favor.

That excellent pair, Flavian and Diodorus, though not yet admitted to the priesthood and still counted among the laity, worked night and day to stir up people’s zeal for the truth. They were the first to divide choirs into two parts and to teach them to sing the psalms of David antiphonally, one part answering the other. The practice began at Antioch, then spread in every direction and reached the ends of the earth. Its originators now gathered those who loved the divine word and work into the churches of the martyrs, and spent the night with them singing psalms to God. [e]

When Leontius saw this, he did not think it safe to try to stop them, for he saw that the people were very much devoted to these excellent men. But he gave his words a show of courtesy and asked them to hold this act of worship in the churches. They knew perfectly well what his evil intent was. Nevertheless they set about obeying his request, and readily summoned their choir to the church, urging them to sing praises to the good Lord. Nothing, however, could make Leontius correct his wickedness. He put on a mask of fairness and concealed the wickedness of Stephen and Placitus. Men who had accepted the corruption of the faith he added to the roll of priests and deacons, even though they lived vile and disorderly lives. Others, adorned with every kind of virtue and firmly holding to the apostolic teaching, he left unrecognized. So it came about that most of the clergy were men tainted with heresy, while the mass of the laity were champions of the faith, and even those whose profession was teaching did not dare to lay bare their blasphemy. In truth, the deeds of impiety and wickedness done at Antioch by Placitus, Stephen and Leontius are so many that they would need a history of their own, and so terrible that they deserve David’s lament. For of them too it must be said: “For look, your enemies are in an uproar, and those who hate you have lifted up their heads. They have laid crafty plans against your people and plotted against your hidden ones. They have said, ‘Come, let us root them out, so that they are no longer a people, and the name of Israel is remembered no more.’” [g]

Let us now go on with the course of our story.