The Headless History

The emperor Constantius also wrote about the return of Athanasius, and this letter too is found among the emperor’s letters. [a]

After the death of Gregory, Athanasius came back from the city of Rome and the parts of Italy. He entered Alexandria on the 24th of Paophi, in the consulship of Constantius for the fourth time and Constans for the third (the 21st of October in the year 346), that is, after seven years, six months and three days. He then remained in peace at Alexandria for nine years, three months and nineteen days.

After his return, in the consulship of Limenius and Catullinus (the year 349), Theodore, Narcissus and George came to Constantinople with others. They wanted to persuade Paul to hold communion with them, but he would not say even a word to them, and answered their greeting with an anathema. So they took Eusebius of Nicomedia as their ally and laid snares for the most blessed Paul. They brought a false charge against him concerning Constans and Magnentius, and drove him out of Constantinople, so that they might have room there to sow the Arian heresy. But the people of Constantinople wanted the most blessed Paul, and they rioted again and again to keep him from being taken from the city, for they loved his sound teaching. The emperor, however, was angry, and sent Count Hermogenes to throw him out. When the people heard this, they dragged Hermogenes through the middle of the town. This gave them a pretext against the bishop, and they exiled him to Armenia. Theodore and the rest wanted to place in the see of that town Eudoxius, an ally and partisan of the Arian heresy, who had been ordained bishop of Germanicia. But the people were stirred up to riot and would not let anyone sit in the see of the blessed Paul. So they took Macedonius, a presbyter of Paul, and ordained him bishop of the town of Constantinople. The whole assembly of bishops condemned him, since, in disloyalty to his own father, he had received the laying on of hands from heretics.

However, after Macedonius had held communion with them and signed, they brought up pretexts of no importance, removed him from the church, and installed the Eudoxius of Antioch we mentioned before. That is why those who took part in this breakaway are called Macedonians, who have made shipwreck in what they teach about the Holy Spirit.

After this, Athanasius heard that there was to be trouble stirred up against him. The emperor Constantius was then living at Milan (the year 353), and Athanasius sent a ship to the court carrying five bishops, Serapion of Thmuis, Triadelphus of Nicotas, Apollo of Upper Cynopolis, Ammonius of Pachemmon…, and three presbyters of Alexandria, Peter the physician, Astericius and Phileas. They set sail from Alexandria on the 24th of Pachon, in the consulship of Constantius Augustus for the sixth time and Constantius Caesar for the second (the 19th of May in the year 353). Four days later, on the 28th of Pachon, Montanus, an officer of the palace, entered Alexandria and gave the bishop Athanasius a letter from the same Constantius Augustus forbidding him to come to court. At this the bishop was deeply distressed, and all the people were greatly troubled. So Montanus, having accomplished nothing, went away and left the bishop at Alexandria.

Some time later Diogenes, an imperial notary, came to Alexandria in the month of Mesori, in the consulship of Arbetion and Lollianus (August of the year 355), that is, two years and five months after Montanus had left Alexandria. Diogenes pressed everyone hard to force the bishop to leave the town, and caused no small distress to all. On the 6th of the month Thoth he made a fierce attempt to lay siege to the church, and he spent four months in his efforts, that is, from the month of Mesori, or from the first of the added days, until the 26th of Choiac (the 23rd of December). But the people and the magistrates resisted Diogenes strongly, and Diogenes went back without success on the 26th of that month Choiac, in the consulship of Arbetion and Lollianus, after the four months already mentioned.

Then Duke Syrianus and Hilary the notary came from Egypt to Alexandria on the 10th of Tybi, in the year after the consulship of Arbetion and Lollianus (the 6th of January in the year 356). Sending ahead all the legions of soldiers throughout Egypt and Libya, the duke and the notary entered the Church of Theonas by night with their whole force of soldiers, on the 13th of Mechir, during the night before the 14th. They broke down the doors of the Church of Theonas and went in with a vast force of soldiers. But bishop Athanasius escaped their hands and was saved, on that 14th of Mechir. This happened nine years, three months and nineteen days after the bishop’s return from Italy. Once the bishop had escaped, his presbyters and people kept possession of the churches and held communion there for four months, until the prefect Cataphronius and Count Heraclius entered Alexandria on the 16th day of the month Payni, in the consulship of Constantius for the eighth time and Julian Caesar for the first (the 10th of June in the year 356).

Four days after they entered, the Athanasians were driven out of the churches, and the churches were handed over to those who belonged to George and were expecting him as their bishop. So these took over the churches on the 21st of Payni. George himself arrived at Alexandria on the 30th of Mechir, in the consulship of Constantius for the ninth time and Julian Caesar for the second (the 24th of February in the year 357), that is, eight months and eleven days after his party had taken over the churches. So George entered Alexandria and held the churches for eighteen whole months. Then the common people attacked him in the Church of Dionysius, and he barely escaped, in danger and after a great struggle, on the 1st of the month Thoth, in the consulship of Tatianus and Cerealis (the 29th of August in the year 358). George was driven out of Alexandria on the tenth day after the riot, that is, on the 5th of Paophi (the 2nd of October). Nine days after George’s departure, that is, on the 14th of Paophi, those who belonged to bishop Athanasius threw out George’s men and held the churches for two months and fourteen days, until Duke Sebastian came from Egypt, threw them out, and handed the churches over to George’s party again, on the 28th of the month Choiac (the 24th of December).

Nine whole months after George’s departure from Alexandria, Paul the notary arrived, on the 29th of Payni, in the consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius (the 23rd of June in the year 359). He published an imperial order in George’s favor and punished many people to avenge him. Two years and five months after that, George came back from court to Alexandria on the 30th of Athyr, in the consulship of Taurus and Florentius (the 26th of November in the year 361), that is, three years and two months after he had fled. And at Antioch, those of the Arian heresy drove the Paulinians out of the church and appointed Meletius. When he would not go along with their evil purpose, they ordained in his place Euzoius, a presbyter of George of Alexandria.

Now George, having entered Alexandria on the 30th of Athyr, as we said, stayed safely in the town for three days, that is, until the 3rd of Choiac. For on the 4th of that same month the prefect Gerontius announced the death of the emperor Constantius, and that Julian alone held the whole empire. At this news the citizens of Alexandria and everyone else shouted against George, and with one accord put him under guard. He was kept in prison, bound with iron, from that 4th of Choiac until the 27th of the same month: twenty-four days. For on the 28th of that month, early in the morning, nearly all the people of the town brought George out of prison, together with the count who was with him, the superintendent of the building of the church called the Caesareum, and they killed them both. They carried their bodies around through the middle of the town, George’s on a camel, and that of Dracontius dragged by men with ropes. And when they had heaped these insults on them, at about the seventh hour of the day, they burned both bodies.

Then, in the next … on the 10th day of the month Mechir, in the year after the consulship of Taurus and Florentius (the 4th of February in the year 362), an order of the emperor Julian was published, commanding that whatever had been taken away in former times from the idols, the temple attendants and the public treasury should be restored to them.

Three days later, on the 14th of Mechir, an order of the same emperor Julian, and also one of Modestus the vicar, was given to Gerontius the prefect, commanding all bishops who had until then been beaten by factions and exiled to return to their towns and provinces. This letter was published the next day, the 15th of Mechir. Afterwards an edict of the prefect Gerontius was also published, by which bishop Athanasius was ordered to return to his church. Twelve days after this edict was published, Athanasius was seen at Alexandria, and he entered the church on the 27th day of that same month Mechir. So the time from his flight, which took place in the days of Syrianus and Hilary, until his return, when Julian… the 27th of Mechir. He remained in the church until the 26th of Paophi, in the consulship of Mamertinus and Nevitta (the 23rd of October in the year 362): eight whole months. [v]

On the day just mentioned, the 27th of Paophi, the prefect published an edict of the emperor Julian that Athanasius, the bishop, should leave Alexandria. No sooner was the edict published than the bishop left the town, and he stayed in the neighborhood of Thereu. Soon after his departure, Olympus the prefect, at the bidding of the same Pythiodorus and those with him, very troublesome men, sent Paul and Astericius, presbyters of Alexandria, into exile, and directed them to live at the town of Andropolis. [x]

Then the same prefect Olympus, on the 26th day of the month Mesori, in the consulship of Julian Augustus for the fourth time and Sallustius (the 20th of August in the year 363), announced that the emperor Julian was dead, and that Jovian, a Christian, was emperor. In the following month, on the 18th of Thoth, a letter of the emperor Jovian came to Olympus the prefect, saying that only the most high God should be worshiped, and Christ, and that the peoples should practice their religion, holding communion in the churches. And Paul and Astericius, the presbyters mentioned before, came back from exile in the town of Andropolis and entered Alexandria on the 10th day of Thoth, after ten months.

Bishop Athanasius, having stayed at Thereu as we said, went up into the higher parts of Egypt, as far as Upper Hermopolis in the Thebaid, and as far as Antinoopolis. While he was staying in these places, it became known that the emperor Julian was dead and that Jovian, a Christian, was emperor. So the bishop entered Alexandria secretly, without many knowing he had arrived, and went by sea to meet the emperor Jovian. Afterwards, when the affairs of the church had been settled, he received a letter, came to Alexandria, and entered the church on the 19th day of Athyr, in the consulship of Jovian and Varronian. From his leaving Alexandria under Julian’s order until his arrival on that 19th of Athyr, one year, three months and twenty-two days passed.

At Constantinople, meanwhile, Eudoxius of Germanicia held the church, and there was a split between him and Macedonius. But through Eudoxius another, worse heresy came out of the false teaching of the Arians Aetius and Patricius of Nicaea, who held communion with Eunomius, Heliodorus and Stephen. Eudoxius took it up and held communion with Euzoius, bishop at Antioch, of the Arian sect. On a pretext they deposed Seleucius, Macedonius, Hypatian and fifteen other bishops who sided with them, because they would not accept “unlike,” or “a creature of the uncreated.” Their statement of faith is as follows.

The statement of faith of Patricius and Aetius, who held communion with Eunomius, Heliodorus and Stephen.

“These are the attributes of God: unbegotten, without origin, eternal, not subject to command, unchangeable, all-seeing, infinite, beyond comparison, almighty, knowing the future without foresight, without beginning. These do not belong to the Son. For he is commanded, he is under command, he is made from nothing, he has an end, he is not compared with the Father, and the Father surpasses him… of Christ is found: in relation to the Father, he is ignorant of the future. He was not God, but Son of God; God of those who come after him. And in this he has an unvarying likeness to the Father, namely, he sees all things, because all things… because he does not change in goodness. But he is not like the Father in the quality of Godhead, nor in nature. But if we said that he was born of the quality of Godhead, we would be saying that he resembles the offspring of serpents, and that is an ungodly saying. And just as a statue produces rust from itself, and will be eaten away by that same rust, so the Son too, if he is produced from the nature of the Father, will consume the Father. But it is from the work, and the newness of the work, that the Son is by nature God, and not from the nature, but from another nature: like the Father, but not from him. For he was made the image of God; and we are out of God and from God, since all things are from God, and the Son too, as if from something else. As iron that has rust is worn away, as a body that breeds worms is eaten up, as a wound that produces discharges is consumed by them, so thinks anyone who says that the Son is from the nature of the Father. Now let anyone who does not say that the Son is like the Father be put outside the church, and be anathema. If we say that the Son of God is God, we bring in two who are without beginning. We call him the image of God. Whoever calls him ‘out from God’ teaches as Sabellius did. And whoever says that he is ignorant of the birth of God teaches as the Manichaeans do. If anyone says that the substance of the Son is like the substance of the unbegotten Father, he blasphemes. For just as snow and white lead are alike in whiteness but unlike in kind, so too the substance of the Son is other than the substance of the Father. But snow has a different whiteness…

“Be pleased to hear that the Son is like the Father in his workings. Just as angels cannot comprehend the nature of archangels (let them be pleased to understand this), nor archangels the nature of a cherub, nor the cherubim the nature of the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit the nature of the only Son, nor the only Son the nature of the unbegotten God.”

When bishop Athanasius was about to come from Antioch to Alexandria, the Arians Eudoxius, Theodore, Sophronius, Euzoius and Hilary took counsel together and appointed Lucius, a presbyter of George, to seek a hearing from the emperor Jovian at the palace, and to say what is contained in the copies. Here we have left out some less necessary matter.

After Jovian, Valentinian and Valens were called to the throne rather quickly. A decree of theirs was sent out everywhere, and was delivered at Alexandria too, on the 10th of Pachon, in the consulship of Valentinian and Valens (the 5th of May in the year 365). It ordered that the bishops who had been deposed and driven from their churches under Constantius, and who in the time of Julian’s reign had reclaimed for themselves and taken back their office as bishops, should now be thrown out of the churches again. A fine of about 215 pounds of gold was laid on the officials of the courts, unless they banished the bishops from the churches and towns. Because of this, great confusion and rioting broke out at Alexandria, so that the whole church was in turmoil. For the officials, with the prefect Flavian and his staff, were few in number; and because of the imperial order and the fine of gold they pressed for the bishops to leave the town. The Christian people resisted and contradicted the officials and the magistrate. They maintained that bishop Athanasius did not come under this definition or under the imperial order, because Constantius had not banished him, but had even restored him. Likewise Julian had persecuted him: he recalled everyone, and then, for the sake of idolatry, he threw Athanasius out again. But Jovian brought him back. This opposition and rioting went on until the next month, Payni, on the 14th day. For on that day the prefect Flavian made a report, declaring that he had consulted the emperors on the very point that had been raised at Alexandria, and so in a short time they all became quiet.

Four months and twenty-four days later, that is, on the 8th of Paophi, bishop Athanasius left the church secretly by night and withdrew to a country house near the New River. But the prefect Flavian and Duke Victorinus, not knowing that he had withdrawn, came that same night to the Church of Dionysius with a force of soldiers. They broke down the back door and went into the upper parts of the house looking for the bishop’s rooms, but they did not find him, for he had withdrawn not long before. He stayed at that property from the 8th of Paophi until the 6th of Mechir, that is, four whole months (from the 5th of October to the 31st of January). After this, Bresidas, an imperial notary, came to Alexandria in the same month of Mechir with an imperial letter ordering the said bishop Athanasius to return to the town and hold the churches as usual. On the 7th day of the month Mechir, in the year after the consulship of Valentinian and Valens, that is, in the consulship of Gratian and Dagalaifus, the notary Bresidas, with Duke Victorinus and Flavian the prefect, gathered at the palace. They announced to the officials of the courts who were present, and to the people, that the emperors had ordered the bishop to return to the town. At once Bresidas the notary went out with the officials of the courts and a crowd of Christian people to the country house, took bishop Athanasius, with the imperial order, and led him into the church called the Church of Dionysius, on the 7th day of the month Mechir.

From the consulship of Gratian and Dagalaifus (the year 366), through the next consulship, of Lupicinus and Jovinus (the year 367), to that of Valentinian and Valens for the second time, on the 14th of Payni (the 8th of June in the year 368): in this consulship forty years of Athanasius’s time as bishop are completed. Of these years he spent two years, four months and eleven days at Trier in Gaul, and ninety months and three days in Italy and the West. At Alexandria and in unknown places, in hiding while he was being harassed by Hilary the notary and the duke, seventy-two months and fourteen days. On journeys in Egypt and at Antioch, fifteen months and twenty-two days; at the property near the New River, four months. The total comes to exactly seventeen years, six months and twenty days. He also remained in peace at Alexandria for twenty-two years, five months and ten days. Besides this, he twice stayed a short time outside Alexandria: on his last journey, and at Tyre and at Constantinople. So the result is as I stated above: forty years of Athanasius’s time as bishop, up to the 14th of Payni in the consulship of Valentinian and Valens. Then in the following consulship, of Valentinian and Victor, on the 14th of Payni, one year; and in the following consulship, of Valentinian and Valens for the third time, on the 14th of Payni; and in the following consulships, of Gratian and Probus, and the next, of Modestus and Arintheus, and another consulship, of Valentinian and Valens for the fourth time, on the 8th of Pachon, he fell asleep (the 3rd of May in the year 373).

Now in the consulship of Lupicinus and Jovinus, mentioned above, Lucius, who was especially eager to claim for himself the office of bishop of the Arians, arrived, a long time after he had left Alexandria. He entered the town secretly by night on the 26th day of the month Thoth (the 24th of September in the year 367), and, as it is said, stayed in a certain small house, keeping in hiding for that day. But the next day he went to a house where his mother was staying. His arrival was known at once all over the town, and the whole people gathered and condemned his coming. Duke Trajan and the prefect were extremely displeased at his senseless and bold arrival, and sent officials to throw him out of the town. So the officials came to Lucius. But seeing, all of them, that the people were angry and rioting fiercely against him, they were afraid to bring him out of the house by themselves, in case he should be killed by the crowd. And they reported this to the magistrates. Then the magistrates themselves, Duke Trajan and the prefect Tatianus, came to the place with many soldiers, entered the house, and brought Lucius out themselves at the seventh hour of the day, on the 27th day of Thoth. As Lucius followed the magistrates, the whole people of the town came after them, Christians and pagans and people of every religion, all alike, with one breath, with one mind and of one accord. From the house he was led out of, through the middle of the town, all the way to the duke’s house, they did not stop shouting, hurling insults and criminal charges at him, and crying, “Let him be taken out of the town.” However, the duke took him into his house, and he stayed with him for the rest of the day and the whole night. On the following day, the 28th of the same month, the duke, early in the morning, took charge of him as far as Nicopolis, and handed him over to soldiers to be escorted out of Egypt.

Now Athanasius died on the 8th of the month Pachon. Five days before he fell asleep, he ordained as bishop Peter, one of the presbyters of long standing, who carried on the office of bishop, following him in all things. After him Timothy his brother succeeded to the office of bishop for four years. After him Theophilus, who had been a deacon, was ordained bishop (the year 385). The end.