The Council of Antioch and the Holy Meletius

At this time Constantius was living at Antioch. The Persian war was over and there had been a time of peace, and once again he gathered bishops together, with the aim of making them all deny both the formula “of one substance” and the formula “of a different substance.” On the death of Leontius, Eudoxius had seized the see of Antioch. But after he was removed from there, and, after many synods, unlawfully installed at Constantinople, the church of Antioch had been left without a shepherd. So the bishops, who had gathered in considerable numbers from every quarter, declared that their first duty was to provide a pastor for the flock, and that after that they would deliberate with him on matters of faith. It happened at just the right time that the divine Meletius, who had been governing a certain city of Armenia, had been grieved by the unruliness of the people under him and was now living elsewhere without a charge. The Arian faction imagined that Meletius thought as they did and upheld their doctrines. So they petitioned Constantius to put the reins of the church of Antioch into his hands. Indeed, in their hope of establishing their impiety there was no law they did not fearlessly break. Lawlessness was becoming the very foundation of their blasphemy, and this was not the only example of their irregular proceedings. On the other hand, those who held to the apostolic teaching knew perfectly well that the great Meletius was sound in the faith, and knew clearly his spotless character and his wealth of virtue. They came to a common vote, and took steps to have their resolution written out and signed by all without delay. Both parties entrusted this document, as a binding agreement, to the safekeeping of a bishop who was a noble champion of the truth, Eusebius of Samosata. When the great Meletius had received the imperial summons and arrived, out came all the higher ranks of the priesthood to meet him, out came all the other orders of the church, and the whole population of the city. Jews and pagans were there too, all eager to see the great Meletius. Now the emperor had instructed Meletius and the others who were able to speak to explain to the crowd the text, “The Lord formed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.” He ordered skilled shorthand writers to take down on the spot what each man said, thinking that in this way the teaching would be more exact. First of all George of Laodicea poured out his foul heresy. After him Acacius of Caesarea put forward a compromise teaching, far removed indeed from the blasphemy of the enemy, but not keeping the apostolic doctrine pure and undefiled. Then the great Meletius rose and set out the straight line of the rule of faith, for he used the truth as a carpenter uses his rule, and avoided both too much and too little. Then the crowd broke into loud applause and begged him to give them a short summary of his teaching. So he showed three fingers, then drew back two and left one, and spoke the memorable sentence, “In thought they are three, but we speak as to one.” [a]

Against this teaching the men who had the plague of Arius in their hearts sharpened their tongues, and started a clever slander, declaring that the divine Meletius was a Sabellian. In this way they won over the fickle ruler, who, like the famous Euripus, easily shifted his current now this way and now that, and got him to send Meletius back to his own home. [h]

Euzoius, an open defender of Arian teaching, was promptly promoted in his place. He was the very man whom the great Alexander had deposed, when he was a deacon, at the same time as Arius. Now the part of the people who remained sound separated from the unsound, and met in the apostolic church that stands in the part of the city called the Palaea. [i]

For thirty years, ever since the attack made on the illustrious Eustathius, they had gone on putting up with the abomination of Arianism, in the hope of some change for the better. But when they saw impiety growing, and men faithful to the apostolic doctrines both openly attacked and threatened by secret plots, the divine Meletius in exile, and Euzoius, the champion of heresy, set up as bishop in his place, they remembered the words spoken to Lot: “Escape for your life.” They remembered too the law of the gospel, which plainly commands: “If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you.” The Lord laid down the same law about the hand and the foot, and added, “It is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be thrown into hell.” [j]

So came about the division of the church.