The Catholics Restored After Sardica

While they were treating everyone in this way, about fifty bishops met at Rome. They denounced Eusebius and his party as suspect men who were afraid to come, and they condemned the written statement these men had sent as unworthy of belief. But us they received, and they gladly welcomed us into their communion. While this was going on, a report of the council held at Rome, and of what had been done against the churches at Alexandria and throughout the East, reached the ears of the emperor Constans. He wrote to his brother Constantius, and the two of them at once decided that a council should be called and the matters settled, so that those who had been wronged might be freed from further suffering, and those who had done the wrong might no longer be able to commit such outrages. [a]

So there gathered at the city of Sardica, from both East and West, about one hundred and seventy bishops, more or less. Those who came from the West were bishops only, with Hosius as their father. But those from the East brought tutors and advocates with them: Count Musonianus and Hesychius the Castrensian. Because of these men they came very eagerly, thinking that everything would once again be managed by their authority. For it is by means of such persons that they have always made themselves feared by anyone they wished to intimidate, and have carried out their designs against whomever they chose. But when they arrived, they saw that the case was to be heard simply as a church matter, without interference from the count or from soldiers. They saw the accusers who had come from every church and city, and the evidence brought against them. They saw the venerable bishops Arius and Asterius, who had come up in their company, withdrawing from them and siding with us. These two gave an account of their cunning: how suspicious their conduct was, and how they feared the outcome of a trial, in case we should convict them of being false accusers, and in case it should come out, through the very men they put forward as accusers, that they had themselves suggested everything those men were to say and had contrived the whole plot.

They saw how things stood. They had come with great zeal, thinking that we would be afraid to meet them. But now, seeing how eager we were, they shut themselves up in the palace, for they were lodging there, and began to confer with one another like this: “We came here for one result, and we see another. We arrived in company with counts, and the trial is going ahead without them. We are certainly condemned. You all know the orders that have been given. Athanasius and those with him have the reports of the proceedings in the Mareotis, which clear him and cover us with disgrace. Why then do we delay? Why are we so slow? Let us invent some excuse and be gone, or we will be condemned if we stay. It is better to suffer the shame of running away than the disgrace of being convicted as false accusers. If we run away, we will find some way of defending our heresy. And even if they condemn us for running away, we still have the emperor as our patron, and he will not let the people throw us out of the churches.”

That is how they reasoned among themselves. Meanwhile Hosius and all the other bishops let them know again and again how ready Athanasius and those with him were, saying, “They are ready with their defense, and they promise to prove you false accusers.” They also said, “If you are afraid of the trial, why did you come to meet us? Either you should not have come, or, now that you have come, you should not run away.” When they heard this they were still more alarmed, and they fell back on an excuse even more unseemly than the one they had put forward at Antioch: they said they were leaving because the emperor had written to them with the news of his victory over the Persians. And they were not ashamed to send this excuse by Eustathius, a presbyter of the church of Sardica. Even so, their flight did not go as they wished. For the holy council, over which the great Hosius presided, at once wrote to them plainly: “Either come forward and answer the charges brought against you for the false accusations you have made against others, or know that the council will condemn you as guilty and declare Athanasius and those with him free and clear of all blame.” At this, the alarms of their conscience drove them to flight rather than to accept what the letter proposed. For when they saw the people they had wronged, they would not even turn their faces toward them to hear what they had to say, but ran away all the faster.

In this disgraceful and unseemly way their flight took place. The holy council, which had gathered from more than thirty-five provinces, saw the malice of the Arians. It admitted Athanasius and those with him to answer the charges the others had brought against them, and to declare what they had suffered. When they had made their defense in this way, as we said before, the council approved and so greatly admired their conduct that it gladly welcomed them into communion. It wrote letters in every direction, to each bishop’s own church, and especially to Alexandria, Egypt and the provinces of Libya, declaring Athanasius and his friends innocent and free of all blame, and their opponents slanderers, wrongdoers, and anything rather than Christians. So the council sent them away in peace. But it deposed Stephanus and Menophantus, Acacius and George of Laodicea, Ursacius and Valens, Theodore and Narcissus. As for Gregory, who had been sent to Alexandria by the emperor, it published a declaration that he had never been made a bishop and ought not to be called a Christian. So it declared the ordinations he claimed to have performed void, and ordered that they should not even be named in the church, because they were new and against the law. In this way Athanasius and his friends were sent away in peace (the letters about them are placed at the end because of their length), and the council was dissolved. [g]

The deposed men ought now to have kept quiet. Instead they, together with those who had broken away in that disgraceful flight, behaved in such a way that what they had done before seems trifling compared with this. The people of Adrianople would not hold communion with them, since they had fled from the council and been proved guilty. So they took their complaints to the emperor Constantius and managed to have ten laymen beheaded, men who belonged to the arms factory there. Philagrius, who was there again as count, helped their designs in this matter too. The tombs of these men, which we have seen in passing, lie in front of the city. Then, as though they had won a great success by running away to avoid being convicted of false accusation, they prevailed on the emperor to order whatever they wanted. So they had two presbyters and three deacons banished from Alexandria to Armenia. As for Arius and Asterius, who had withdrawn from their party, the one bishop of Petra in Palestine and the other a bishop in Arabia, they not only had them banished to Upper Libya but also had them treated with insult. [i] Lucius, bishop of Adrianople, spoke out boldly against them and exposed their impiety. When they saw this, they again had him bound with iron chains on his neck and hands, as they had done before, and so drove him into exile, where he died, as they know. Diodorus, a bishop, they removed. And against Olympius of Aenus and Theodulus of Trajanopolis, both bishops in Thrace, good and orthodox men, they brought false charges when they saw how these men hated the heresy. Eusebius and his party had done this first, and the emperor Constantius had written letters on the subject; next these men revived the charge. The letter said that the two bishops were not only to be expelled from their cities and churches, but were also to be put to death wherever they were found. However surprising this conduct may be, it is just what their principles lead to. Taught by Eusebius and his party in such ways, and heirs of their impiety and evil principles, they wanted to make themselves feared at Alexandria, as their fathers had done in Thrace. They had an order written that the harbors and the gates of the cities should be watched, so that the banished men could not take advantage of the permission the council had given them and return to their churches. They also had orders sent to the magistrates at Alexandria about Athanasius and certain presbyters named in them: if the bishop, or any of the others, were found coming to the city or its territory, the magistrate was to have power to behead whoever was found. So this new Jewish heresy not only denies the Lord, but has also learned to commit murder. [l]

Even after this they did not rest. Just as the father of their heresy “goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour,” so these men, having obtained the use of the public post, went about everywhere. Whenever they found people who reproached them for their flight and hated the Arian heresy, they scourged them, put them in chains, and had them banished from their country. They made themselves so feared that many were driven to hide what they believed, and many to flee into the deserts, rather than willingly have any dealings with them at all. Such were the outrages their madness drove them to after their flight. Then they committed another outrage. It is indeed in keeping with the character of their heresy, but it is something we never heard of before, and that is not likely to happen again soon even among the more dissolute of the Gentiles, much less among Christians. The holy council had sent the bishops Vincentius of Capua, the chief city of Campania, and Euphrates of Agrippina, the chief city of Upper Gaul, as its envoys. They were to obtain the emperor’s consent to the council’s decision that the bishops should return to their churches, since it was he who had caused them to be expelled. The most religious Constans had also written to his brother and supported the bishops’ cause. But these admirable men, who will dare anything, saw the two envoys at Antioch, consulted together, and formed a plot. Stephanus undertook to carry it out by himself, as a fit instrument for such purposes. So they hired a common prostitute, and that at the season of most holy Easter, stripped her, and brought her by night into the room of Bishop Euphrates. The woman thought it was a young man who had sent for her, and at first she went along with them willingly. But when they pushed her in, she saw the man asleep and unaware of what was going on. Then she made out his features and saw the face of an old man and the dress of a bishop, and at once she cried out aloud and declared that force was being used on her. They told her to be quiet and to bring a false charge against the bishop. So when day came the affair was talked about everywhere, and the whole city came running together. Those who had come from the palace were in great commotion. They were astonished at the report that had spread, and demanded that it not be passed over in silence. So an inquiry was held. Her master gave information about the men who had come to fetch her, and they informed against Stephanus, for they were his clergy. So Stephanus was deposed, and Leontius the eunuch was appointed in his place, only so that the Arian heresy might not lack a supporter. [m]

Now the emperor Constantius felt some remorse and came to himself. Judging from what they had done to Euphrates that their attacks on the others were of the same kind, he gave orders that the presbyters and deacons who had been banished from Alexandria to Armenia should be released at once. He also wrote publicly to Alexandria, ordering that the clergy and laity who were friends of Athanasius should suffer no further persecution. And when Gregory died, about ten months later, he sent for Athanasius with every mark of honor, writing to him no fewer than three times a very friendly letter in which he urged him to take courage and come. He also sent a presbyter and a deacon to encourage him still further to return, for he thought that I did not care to return because I was alarmed at what had happened before. He wrote to his brother Constans as well, asking him also to urge me to return. And he declared that he had been waiting for Athanasius a whole year, and that he would not allow any change to be made or any ordination to take place, since he was keeping the churches for Athanasius their bishop. [p] So he wrote in this way, and encouraged him through many others, for he had his counts Polemius, Datianus, Bardion, Thalassus, Taurus and Florentius, the men Athanasius could most trust, write to him as well. Athanasius committed the whole matter to God, who had stirred the conscience of Constantius to do this, and came with his friends to the emperor. The emperor gave him a favorable hearing and sent him off to his country and his churches, writing at the same time to the magistrates in the various places that, whereas he had earlier ordered the roads to be guarded, they should now give him free passage. Then the bishop complained of what he had suffered and of the letters the emperor had written against him, and begged him not to let his enemies revive the false accusations against him after he had gone. “If you please,” he said, “summon these persons. As far as we are concerned, they are free to come forward, and we will expose their conduct.” But the emperor would not do this. Instead he ordered that everything that had earlier been written against him in slander should all be destroyed and wiped out. He declared that he would never again listen to any such accusations, and that his purpose was fixed and unchangeable. He did not simply say this, but sealed his words with oaths, calling on God to witness them. And so, encouraging him with many other words and urging him to take heart, he sent the following letters to the bishops and magistrates. [s]

Constantius Augustus, the Great, the Conqueror, to the bishops and clergy of the catholic church. The most reverend Athanasius has not been abandoned by the grace of God… and so on. Another letter. From Constantius to the people of Alexandria. Having your welfare in view in every respect… and so on. Another letter. Constantius Augustus, the Conqueror, to Nestorius, prefect of Egypt. It is well known that an order was given by us earlier, and that certain documents are to be found that injure the good name of the most reverend bishop Athanasius, and that these are among the orders kept by Your Worship. Now we want Your Sobriety, of which we have good proof, to send to our court, in compliance with this order of ours, all the letters concerning the man named above that are found in your order-book. [t]

The following is the letter he wrote after the death of the blessed Constans. It was written in Latin and is here translated into Greek. Constantius Augustus, the Conqueror, to Athanasius. It is not unknown to Your Prudence that it was my constant prayer that my late brother Constans might prosper in all his undertakings. So your wisdom may imagine how deeply I grieved when I learned that he had been taken off by most unholy hands. Now, since there are certain people who at this truly mournful time are trying to alarm you, I have thought it right to address this letter to Your Constancy. I urge you, as befits a bishop, to teach the people what belongs to the divine religion, and, as you are accustomed to do, to spend your time in prayer together with them, and not to believe idle rumors, whatever they may be. For our fixed decision is that you should continue, as we desire, to perform the office of a bishop in your own place. May divine Providence preserve you, most beloved father, for many years. [v]

So, under these circumstances, when they had at last taken their leave and set out on their journey, those who were friendly rejoiced to see a friend. But of the other party, some were confounded at the sight of him; others did not have the nerve to show themselves, and hid; and others repented of what they had written against the bishop. So all the bishops of Palestine, except some two or three, and those men of suspect character, received Athanasius so willingly and welcomed communion with him so gladly that they wrote to excuse themselves. In what they had written before, they said, they had acted not by their own wish but under compulsion. Of the bishops of Egypt and the provinces of Libya, and of the laity of those countries and of Alexandria, there is no need for me to speak. They all came running together, filled with unspeakable delight, not only because they had received their friends alive, beyond all their hopes, but also because they were delivered from the heretics, who had been like tyrants and raging dogs toward them. So their joy was great, and the people in the congregations encouraged one another in virtue. How many unmarried women who had been about to marry now remained virgins for Christ! How many young men, seeing the example of others, took up the monastic life! How many fathers persuaded their children, and how many were urged by their children, not to let anything keep them from the Christian ascetic life! How many wives persuaded their husbands, and how many were persuaded by their husbands, to give themselves to prayer, as the apostle has said! How many widows and how many orphans, who had been hungry and naked before, were now, through the great zeal of the people, no longer hungry, and went about clothed! In a word, so great was their rivalry in virtue that you would have thought every family and every house a church, because of the goodness of those who lived there and the prayers offered to God. And in the churches there was a deep and wonderful peace, while the bishops wrote from every quarter and received from Athanasius the customary letters of peace. [w]

Ursacius and Valens too, as if suffering the scourge of conscience, changed their minds. They wrote a friendly and peaceable letter to the bishop himself, although they had received no communication from him. And going up to Rome, they repented and confessed that everything they had done and said against him rested on falsehood and mere slander. Nor did they only do this of their own accord; they also anathematized the Arian heresy and handed in a written declaration of their repentance, addressing the following letter in Latin to Bishop Julius. It has been translated into Greek. The copy was sent to us in Latin by Paul, bishop of Trier. Translated from the Latin. Ursacius and Valens to my lord, the most blessed Pope Julius. It is well known that we… and so on. Translated from the Latin. The bishops Ursacius and Valens to my lord and brother, Bishop Athanasius. Since we have the chance to send… and so on. After writing these, they also signed the letters of peace presented to them by Peter and Irenaeus, presbyters of Athanasius, and by Ammonius, a layman, who were passing that way, although Athanasius had sent them no communication even by these men. [y]

Now who was not filled with wonder at seeing these things and the great peace that reigned in the churches? Who did not rejoice to see so many bishops in agreement? Who did not glorify the Lord at the sight of the people’s delight in their gatherings? How many enemies repented! How many who had falsely accused him before now excused themselves! How many who had hated him before now showed him affection! How many of those who had written against him took back what they had said! Many too who had sided with the Arians, not by choice but out of necessity, came by night and excused themselves. They anathematized the heresy and begged him to pardon them, because, although the plots and slanders of those men had made them appear to be on their side in body, in their hearts they had held communion with Athanasius and had always been with him. Believe me, this is true.