Documents on the Council of Tyre, Part 2

I have already pointed this out to my lords Placitus and his colleagues: Athanasius has come forward and complained that the very persons he objected to have been sent, and he cries out that he has been wronged and deceived. Alexander, my dear lord, has also written to me on the subject, and so that you may see that what his Goodness says is reasonable, I have attached his letter for you to read. Remember too what I wrote to you before. I urged on your Goodness, my lords, that the persons sent ought to be commissioned by the common vote and decision of all. Take care, then, that our proceedings do not fall under censure, and that we do not give just grounds for blame to those who are inclined to find fault with us. For just as the accuser’s side ought not to suffer any oppression, neither ought the defendant’s. And I think there is no slight ground for blame against us when my lord Alexander plainly disapproves of what we have done. [a]

While matters were going on in this way, we withdrew from them, as from ‘an assembly of treacherous men.’ For they did whatever they pleased, though there is no one in the world who does not know that proceedings held with only one side present cannot stand. The divine law itself settles this. When the blessed apostle was suffering under a similar conspiracy and was brought to trial, he demanded, ‘The Jews from Asia ought to have been here before you to make their charge, if they had anything against me.’ And on that occasion Festus too, when the Jews wanted to lay a plot against him like the one these men have now laid against me, said, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to hand any man over to die before the accused has his accusers face to face and has the chance to answer for himself concerning the charge laid against him.’ But Eusebius and his party had the boldness to twist the law, and they have proved more unjust even than those wrongdoers. For at first they did not proceed in private. But when they found themselves weak because we were present, they at once went out, like the Jews, and took counsel together by themselves how they might destroy us and bring in their heresy, just as those others demanded Barabbas. It was for this purpose, as they have themselves confessed, that they did all these things. [c]

These facts were quite enough to clear us. Still, so that the wickedness of these men and the openness of the truth may be shown more fully, I have not been unwilling to go over them again. I want to show that they have acted inconsistently with themselves; that like men scheming in the dark they have fallen foul of their own friends; and that while they wanted to destroy us, they have wounded themselves like madmen. For in their inquiry into the matter of the mysteries they questioned Jews and examined catechumens. ‘Where were you,’ they asked, ‘when Macarius came and overturned the table?’ They answered, ‘We were inside.’ Yet there could be no offering if catechumens were present. Again, they had written word everywhere that Macarius came and overthrew everything while the presbyter was standing and celebrating the mysteries. Yet when they questioned whomever they pleased and asked them, ‘Where was Ischyras when Macarius rushed in?’ those people answered that he was lying sick in a small room. Well then, a man who was lying down was not standing, and a man lying sick in his room was not making the offering. Besides, Ischyras said that certain books had been burned by Macarius; but the very witnesses they had suborned to testify declared that nothing of the kind had been done, and that Ischyras was lying. [f]

And what is most remarkable of all: they had again written word everywhere that we had hidden away those who were able to give evidence, yet these very persons appeared, and they questioned them. Nor were they ashamed when they saw it proved on all sides that they were slanderers, and that they were acting in this matter in secret and as they pleased. For they prompted the witnesses by signs, while the prefect threatened them and the soldiers pricked them with their swords. But the Lord revealed the truth and showed them to be slanderers. That is also why they hid the minutes of their proceedings. They kept them for themselves, and they ordered those who wrote them to put them out of sight and give them to no one at all. But in this too they were disappointed. The man who wrote them was Rufus, who is now public executioner in the Augustal prefecture, and he can testify to the truth of this. And Eusebius and his party sent the minutes to Rome by the hands of their own friends, and Bishop Julius passed them on to me. And now they are furious, because we obtained and read what they wished to hide.

Such was the nature of their schemes, and very soon they showed plainly the reasons for their conduct. For when they left, they took the Arians with them to Jerusalem and there admitted them to communion, sending out a letter about them. Part of it, the beginning, runs as follows. The holy council, gathered at Jerusalem by the grace of God, to the church of God in Alexandria, and to the bishops, presbyters and deacons in all Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, Pentapolis and throughout the world: greetings in the Lord. We have come together out of different provinces to a great meeting, which we have held for the dedication of the Martyrium of the Savior. It has been appointed to the service of God, the King of all, and of his Christ, through the zeal of our most God-beloved emperor Constantine. And the grace of God has given us still more abundant joy of heart, which our most God-beloved emperor himself has brought us by his letters. In them he has stirred us up to do what is right: to put away all envy from the church of God, to drive far from us all the malice by which the members of God have until now been torn apart, and with simple and peaceable minds to receive Arius and his companions, whom envy, that enemy of all goodness, had caused to be shut out of the church for a time. Our most religious emperor has also testified in his letter to the soundness of their faith. He made sure of it from the men themselves, receiving their profession of it from them by word of mouth, and he has now made it plain to us by attaching to his own letters the men’s orthodox opinion in writing. [h]

Everyone who hears of these things must see through their treachery. For they made no secret of what they were doing, unless perhaps they confessed the truth without meaning to. If I was what stood in the way of admitting Arius and his companions into the church, and if they were received while I was suffering from their plots, what other conclusion can be drawn than that all this was done for their sake? What else, than that all their proceedings against me, and the story they invented about the breaking of the cup and the murder of Arsenius, had one purpose only: to bring impiety into the church and to keep these men from being condemned as heretics? For this is what the emperor had threatened in his letters to me before. And they were not ashamed to write as they did, and to declare that the very men whom the whole Ecumenical Council had anathematized held orthodox views. And as they took it upon themselves to say and do anything without scruple, so they were not afraid to meet together ‘in a corner’ to overthrow, as far as lay in their power, the authority of so great a council. [i]

Moreover, the price they paid for false testimony shows their wickedness and impious intentions still more fully. The Mareotis, as I have already said, is a country district of Alexandria. There has never been either a bishop or a country bishop there; the churches of the whole district are subject to the bishop of Alexandria, and each presbyter has charge of one of the largest villages, which number about ten or more. Now the village where Ischyras lives is a very small one, with so few inhabitants that no church has ever been built there, but only in the next village. Nevertheless they decided, against ancient custom, to name a bishop for this place, and not only that, but to appoint one who was not so much as a presbyter. They knew well how unusual such a step was. Yet they were bound by the promises they had made him in return for his false charge against me, so they put up even with this, for fear that this abandoned man, if they treated him ungratefully, might tell the truth and so expose the wickedness of Eusebius and his party. For all this he has no church and no people to obey him; they all drive him off like a dog. And this though they have even got the emperor to write to the receiver general (for everything is in their power), ordering a church to be built for him, so that once he has one, his story about the cup and the table may seem believable. They also had him named a bishop at once, because if he had no church and was not even a presbyter, he would appear to be a false accuser who had made up the whole affair. At any rate he has no people, and even his own relatives do not obey him. And as the title he keeps is an empty one, so the following letter is useless. He keeps it and shows it off, and it exposes the utter wickedness of himself and of Eusebius and his party.

The Letter of the Receiver General. Flavius Hemerius to the tax collector of the Mareotis: greetings. Ischyras the presbyter has petitioned the piety of our lords, the Augusti and Caesars, that a church might be built in the district of Irene, belonging to Secontarurus, and their divinity has commanded that this be done as soon as possible. Take care, therefore, as soon as you receive the copy of the sacred edict, which is placed above with all due reverence, and the reports drawn up before my Devotion, that you quickly make a summary of them and enter it in the order book, so that the sacred command may be carried out.

While they were plotting and scheming in this way, I went up and laid before the emperor the unjust conduct of Eusebius and his party, for it was he who had ordered the council to be held, and his count presided at it. When he heard my report he was greatly moved, and wrote to them as follows. Constantine, Victor, Maximus, Augustus, to the bishops assembled at Tyre. I do not know what decisions you have reached in your council amid noise and uproar. But somehow the truth seems to have been twisted because of certain confusions and disorders: through your contentiousness with one another, which you are determined shall prevail, you have failed to see what is pleasing to God. However, it will rest with divine Providence to scatter the mischiefs that plainly come from this contentious spirit, and to show us clearly whether, while you were assembled in that place, you had any regard for the truth, and whether you made your decisions uninfluenced by either favor or hostility. Therefore I want all of you to gather with all speed before my Piety, so that you may give in person a true account of your proceedings. [o]

Why I have thought it right to write to you like this, and why I summon you before me by letter, you will learn from what I am about to say. As I was recently entering our all-happy home of Constantinople, which bears our name (I happened at the time to be on horseback), suddenly Bishop Athanasius, with certain others he had with him, came up to me in the middle of the road, so unexpectedly that it caused me great astonishment. God, who knows all things, is my witness that at first sight I could not even have recognized him, if some of my attendants, when I naturally asked them, had not told me both who it was and what injustice he was suffering. I did not, however, enter into any conversation with him at that time, nor grant him an interview. When he asked to be heard I was refusing, and I all but gave orders for him to be removed. Then, with growing boldness, he asked only this favor: that you should be summoned to appear, so that he might have the opportunity of complaining before me, in your presence, of the ill-treatment he has received. Since this seemed to me a reasonable request and suited to the times, I gladly ordered this letter to be written to you, so that all of you who made up the council held at Tyre might hurry without delay to the court of my Clemency, and prove by facts that you had given an impartial and uncorrupted judgment. This, I say, you must do before me, and not even you will deny that I am a true servant of God.

For indeed it is through my devotion to God that peace is kept everywhere, and the name of God is truly worshiped even by the barbarians, who until now were ignorant of the truth. And it is plain that whoever is ignorant of the truth does not know God either. Nevertheless, as I said before, even the barbarians have now come to the knowledge of God through me, his true servant, and have learned to fear him whom they see from actual events to be my shield and protector everywhere. And it is chiefly from this that they have come to know God, whom they fear because of the dread they have of me. But we, who are supposed to set forth (for I will not say to guard) the holy mysteries of his goodness, we, I say, engage in nothing but what leads to dissension and hatred, and, in short, to whatever helps to destroy the human race. But hurry, as I said before, and all of you come to us with all speed. Be assured that I will try with all my might to set right what is wrong, so that above all those things may be preserved and firmly established in the law of God to which no blame or dishonor can attach; while the enemies of the law, who under pretense of his holy name bring in many and various blasphemies, will be scattered abroad, entirely crushed and utterly destroyed.

When Eusebius and his party read this letter, knowing what they had done, they kept the rest of the bishops from going up and went by themselves: that is, Eusebius, Theognis, Patrophilus, the other Eusebius, Ursacius and Valens. And they no longer said anything about the cup and Arsenius, for they did not have the boldness to do so. Instead they invented another accusation, one that touched the emperor himself, and declared before him that Athanasius had threatened to have the grain held back that was sent from Alexandria to the emperor’s own home city. The bishops Adamantius, Anubion, Agathammon, Arbaethion and Peter were present and heard this. The emperor’s anger proved it too. For although he had written the letter above and condemned their injustice, as soon as he heard such a charge as this he was at once enraged, and instead of granting me a hearing he sent me away into Gaul. And this again shows their wickedness still further. For when the younger Constantine, of blessed memory, sent me back home, he remembered what his father had written, and he too wrote as follows. [r]

Constantine Caesar, to the people of the catholic church of the city of Alexandria. I suppose it has not escaped the knowledge of your pious minds that Athanasius, the interpreter of the revered law, was sent away into Gaul for a time. The purpose was this: since the savagery of his bloodthirsty and implacable enemies was persecuting him to the danger of his sacred life, he might in this way escape suffering some disaster beyond remedy through the perverse dealings of those evil men. To escape this, then, he was snatched out of the jaws of his attackers and ordered to spend some time under my government. And so he was abundantly supplied with everything he needed in this city where he lived, although indeed his renowned virtue, relying entirely on divine help, makes light of the sufferings of adverse fortune. Now it was the fixed intention of our master Constantine Augustus, my father, to restore the said bishop to his own place and to your most beloved piety. But he was taken away by the fate that is common to all men, and went to his rest before he could accomplish his wish. So I have thought it right to carry out that intention of the emperor of sacred memory, which I have inherited from him. When he comes to present himself before you, you will learn with what reverence he has been treated. Indeed it is no wonder, whatever I have done on his behalf; for the thought of your longing for him, and the sight of so great a man, moved my soul and urged me to it. May divine Providence continually preserve you, beloved brothers. Dated at Trier, the 17th of June.

This being the reason why I was sent away into Gaul, who, I ask again, does not plainly see the emperor’s intention and the murderous spirit of Eusebius and his party? Who does not see that the emperor did this to keep them from forming some more desperate plan? For he listened to them in simplicity. Such were the practices of Eusebius and his party, and such their schemes against me. Who that has seen them will deny that nothing has been done in my favor out of partiality? Who will deny that that great number of bishops, both one by one and all together, wrote as they did on my behalf and condemned the lies of my enemies justly and in accordance with the truth? Who that has watched such proceedings will deny that Valens and Ursacius had good reason to condemn themselves, and to write as they did, accusing themselves when they repented, choosing to suffer shame for a short time rather than undergo the punishment of false accusers forever and ever? [u]

That is why my blessed fellow ministers, acting justly and according to the laws of the church, have now endured every kind of suffering. When certain people claimed that my case was doubtful and tried to force them to annul the sentence passed in my favor, these bishops chose to be banished rather than see the judgment of so many bishops overturned. Now if those true bishops had resisted only with words those who plotted against me and wanted to undo everything done on my behalf, or if they had been ordinary men and not the bishops of famous cities and the heads of great churches, there would be room to suspect that here too they had acted out of contentiousness and to please me. But they did not only try to convince by argument; they also endured banishment. One of them is Liberius, bishop of Rome. For although he did not endure the sufferings of banishment to the end, he still remained in his exile for two years, knowing of the conspiracy formed against us. There is also the great Hosius, together with the bishops of Italy and of Gaul, and others from Spain, and from Egypt and Libya, and all those from Pentapolis. As for Hosius, for a little while, through fear of the threats of Constantius, he seemed not to resist them. Yet the great violence and tyrannical power that Constantius used, and the many insults and lashes inflicted on him, proved that it was not because he gave up my cause that he yielded to them for a season, but through the weakness of old age, being unable to bear the lashes. Since all this is so, I say it is entirely right that everyone, being fully convinced, should hate and abhor the injustice and the violence they have used against me, especially since it is well known that I have suffered these things for nothing else than the Arian impiety. [w]

Now if anyone wishes to learn about my case and the lies of Eusebius and his party, let him read what has been written on my behalf, and let him hear the witnesses: not one, or two, or three, but that great number of bishops. And again let him pay attention to the witnesses of these proceedings, Liberius and Hosius and their companions. When they saw the attempts made against us, they chose to endure every kind of suffering rather than give up the truth and the judgment pronounced in our favor. And they did this with an honorable and righteous intention, for what they suffered proves to what straits the other bishops were reduced. They stand as memorials and records against the Arian heresy and the wickedness of false accusers. They give a pattern and model to those who come after: to contend for the truth to the death, to abhor the Arian heresy, which fights against Christ and is a forerunner of Antichrist, and not to believe those who try to speak against me. For the defense put forward, and the sentence given, by so many bishops of high character are a trustworthy and sufficient testimony on our behalf. [y]