Syrianus Breaks into the Church, and the Bishop Leaves Last

That would be enough to put a stop to the madness of these ungodly men, and to prove that they want nothing else than to pour out abuse and insults out of a love of quarreling. But having once dared to fight against Christ, they have now become busybodies. So let them ask their own friends how I withdrew, and learn it from them. For the Arians were mixed in among the soldiers, to stir them up against me and, since the soldiers did not know me by sight, to point me out to them. And though these men have no feeling of pity at all, yet when they hear what happened, they will surely be silent out of sheer shame. [a]

It was now night, and some of the people were keeping a vigil in preparation for a communion the next day. Suddenly the general Syrianus came upon us with more than five thousand soldiers, armed with drawn swords, bows, spears and clubs, as I described earlier. With these he surrounded the church, posting his soldiers close by, so that no one could leave the church and get past them. Now I thought it would be wrong for me to desert the people in such an uproar, and not to put myself in danger on their behalf. So I sat down on my throne and told the deacon to read a psalm, and the people to answer, “For his mercy endures forever,” and then for everyone to withdraw and go home.

But by now the general had forced his way in, and the soldiers had surrounded the sanctuary to arrest us. The clergy, and the lay people who were still there, cried out and demanded that we withdraw as well. But I refused. I said I would not go until every last one of them had left. So I stood up, called for prayer, and then asked them all to leave before me, saying that it was better for my own safety to be put at risk than for any of them to be harmed. So when most of them had gone out and the rest were following, the monks who were there with us, and some of the clergy, came up and dragged us away. And so (the Truth is my witness), while some of the soldiers stood around the sanctuary and others were going around the church, we passed through. Under the Lord’s guidance and with his protection, we got away unseen, greatly glorifying God that we had not betrayed the people, but had first sent them away, and had then been able to save ourselves and escape the hands of those who were hunting for us.