The Saints’ Example and the Lives of His Accusers

I was careful to avoid such an offense, and these examples taught me how to act, so that is how I ordered my conduct. Nor do I make light of the favor and the help the Lord has shown me, however these men in their madness may gnash their teeth at us. For since our withdrawal took place in the way we have described, I do not think anyone of sound judgment can find any fault in it at all, since according to Holy Scripture the saints have left us this pattern for our instruction. But there is no atrocity, it seems, that these men fail to commit, and they will leave nothing undone that can show their own wickedness and cruelty. And indeed their lives match their spirit and the follies of their doctrines. For there is no sin one could charge them with, however monstrous, that they do not commit without shame. [a]

Leontius, for instance, was censured for his intimacy with a young woman named Eustolium and was forbidden to live with her. So he mutilated himself for her sake, so that he could keep company with her freely. Yet he did not clear himself of suspicion. On the contrary, it was for this that he was deposed from his rank as presbyter. Even so, the heretic Constantius by force had him named a bishop. Narcissus, besides being charged with many other offenses, was deposed three times by different councils; and now he is one of them, that most wicked man. And George, who was a presbyter, was deposed for his wickedness, and though he had made himself a bishop, he was deposed a second time at the great Council of Sardica. On top of all this, his dissolute life was notorious, for even his own friends condemn him for holding that the goal of life and its happiness lie in committing the most shameful crimes.