"The

repeated his request, John replied, by saying, that it was not permitted to the emperor to do anything against the interests of the religion which he professed. Gaïnas replied, that it was necessary that some edifice should be alloted to him for prayer. "All the sacred edifices are open to you," said John "and if you desire to pray, the entrance of none is prohibited.” "But I," said Gaïnas, "belong to another sect; and I desire that a building should be appropriated to me and to my party. The services I have rendered to the empire in many wars, render it but just that my request should be granted." recompences which you have received," replied the bishop, "exceed in number the services which you have rendered. You have been raised to the command of the troops, and have been invested with the consular robes. It is right that you should consider what you were formerly, and what you now are. Contrast your former poverty with your present opulence. Compare the garments which you wore before you crossed the Ister, with the robes in which you are now arrayed you must surely perceive that, as your services have been few, so have your rewards been great; and do not be ungrateful towards those who have advanced you to so much honour." By these discourses, the doctor of the world closed the mouth of Gaïnas, and compelled him to be silent. Some time after, Gaïnas carried his long-formed projects of usurpation into execution; he collected some troops in Thrace, and raised the standard of revolt. When this intelligence was announced, all the people, both rulers and subjects, were filled with alarm. There was no one who would venture to take up arms against him, neither would any one undertake to go on an embassy to him, so greatly was the power of the barbarian feared by all.

CHAP. XXXIII.-CHRYSOSTOM REPAIRS AS AN AMBASSADOR

TO GAINAS.

ALL the people at this juncture persuaded this great man, he being the only one among them who was not intimidated, to go on an embassy to Gaïnas. He did not stop to reflect upon the altercation which had taken place between them, nor on the probable resentment of the barbarian, but repaired. willingly to Thrace. When Gaïnas heard of the approach of

him whose fidelity in defending religion he well remembered, he joyfully travelled a long way to meet him; and when he saw him, he placed his right hand on his eyes, and drew his children round his knees. Thus does virtue charm and intimidate her very opponents.

CHAP. XXXIV. PERSECUTION AGAINST JOHN, BISHOP OF

CONSTANTINOPLE.

ENVY was unable to bear the lustre of the virtue of this bishop, and resorted to its usual artifices to deprive the metropolis and the whole world of his eloquence and doctrines. I cannot define the feelings I experience in writing this part of my history. For when I wish to relate the injustice to which this great man was exposed, I am confused by the recollection of the other virtues of those who injured him; I shall therefore endeavour, as far as possible, to conceal their names. They had, from various causes, conceived so inveterate a hatred against him, that they could not perceive the greatness of his numerous virtues. They sought out some persons to accuse him; but, as the falsity of their accusations was very manifest, they held a council without the city and passed sentence against him. The emperor believed the assertion of the bishops, and commanded him to be banished: so that John, without hearing the grounds of his accusation, and without being permitted to make any defence, was, as if he had been guilty of the crimes laid to his charge, banished from the city to a place called Hieron,1 situated at the mouth of the Pontus. At night a great earthquake took place, and the empress was exceedingly terrified; at the earliest break of day messengers were despatched to the exile, entreating him to return with the utmost speed to the city, and deliver it from impending danger. After these messengers had departed others were despatched on the same errand, and then again others, until the Bosphorus was blocked up with the messengers. mouth of the Propontus was filled with ships, in which the faithful people had embarked, for they all went out to him bearing lighted torches. Thus were the plots of the hostile

The

So called from the temple of the twelve gods. The place is mentioned by Demosthenes in his oration against Leptines and in that against Polycles. The town was much resorted to by the Athenians, as being a convenient port for the corn-trade, and commanding the Euxine.

faction frustrated. A few months after, the partisans of this faction again assembled, and laying aside their former false accusations, charged him merely with having exercised the episcopal functions after his deposition. He replied, that none of the forms of law had been observed in his case, that he had heard none of the accusations, that he had made no defence, and that no sentence of condemnation had been passed in his presence, but that he had been expelled from the city, and had been afterwards recalled by the emperor. The enemies of John again assembled in council, but did not trouble themselves this time by passing another sentence of condemnation. They succeeded in persuading the emperor that the first sentence was just and legal, and had him not only expelled from the city, but banished to Cucusus, a small and unpeopled district of Armenia. An order was then issued for him to be conveyed to Pityunta, a town situated at the farthest extremity of Pontus, and of the Roman empire, lying in the neighbourhood of the most cruel and barbarous nations. But the gracious Lord did not permit this triumphant combatant to be conducted thither; for, when he had travelled as far as Comana, he was translated to a life exempt from infirmity and pain. His body was, according to his own command, deposited near the tomb of the martyr Basiliscus. It is unnecessary, and would render the history too prolix, to enumerate the bishops who were banished from their churches on his account, and who were expelled to the farthest extremities of the habitable globe; nor is it requisite to give an account of the hermits, who underwent cruel persecutions in the same cause. Besides, I think it is right to pass rapidly over occurrences, and to conceal the transgressions of those who are one with us in faith. of those who had treated him so unjustly received the punishment that they had merited, and their sufferings served as warnings to the others. The bishops of Europe viewed the injustice with detestation; they withdrew from communion with those by whom it had been committed, and were joined by all Illyria. Most of the Eastern cities shunned all participation in the crime, and yet did not separate themselves from the body of the church. The Western bishops would not, even after the death of the great doctor of the world, admit to communion any member of the churches of Egypt, of the

Most

East, of the Bosphorus, or of Thrace, until they had placed the name of that inspired man on an equality with those of the other bishops. Arsacius, who succeeded him, was deemed unworthy of the bishopric. Attacus, the successor of Arsacius, sent many embassies to the bishops of the West, to solicit their friendship; and, at length, after he had restored the name of John to the holy registers, they acknowledged him as a bishop.

CHAP. XXXV.-CYRIL, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, AND ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH.

CYRIL, the nephew of Theophilus, was at this period bishop of Alexandria. John, a man of exemplary piety, was the bishop of Jerusalem, having succeeded another Cyril, who has been already mentioned. Alexander, who governed the church of Antioch, added the virtues of private life to the dignity of the priesthood. Before he was raised to the bishopric, he dwelt in a monastery, and led a life of conflict and austerity. He not only instructed others by precept, but confirmed his precepts by his actions. He succeeded Porphyry, who had received the helm of the church at the death of Flavian, and who had left behind him many memorials of his philanthropy, and of his remarkable prudence. The holy Alexander distinguished himself by the austerity of his life, by his love of wisdom, by his contempt of riches, by his eloquence, and by innumerable other endowments. The numerous partisans of Eustathius whom Paulinus, and after him Evagrius, would not receive into communion, were gained over by the mild exhortations of Alexander, and were re-united with the rest of the body; and he commemorated the event by a festival which was unequalled in point of splendour and magnificence. He assembled all those who had been of the same opinions as himself, both clergy and people, and brought them to the place in which the Eustathians held their meetings. They found them engaged in singing psalms, and they sung with them. From the left gate opposite the West to the New Church, all the space was crowded with men ; presenting the similitude of a majestic river, like that which flowed through the city. On seeing this, the Jews, Arians, and Greeks lamented and mourned, because they perceived that this river was flowing into the sea of the church. This bishop was the first who [THEODORET.]

R

inscribed the name of the celebrated John in the ecclesiastical register.

CHAP. XXXVI.-REPENTANCE OF THOSE WHO HAD PERSECUTED THE BISHOP JOHN, AND THE REMOVAL OF HIS REMAINS.

THE remains of the great teacher were, some time after, removed to the imperial city. A great multitude of the faithful crowded the sea in ships, and lighted up part of the Bosphorus, near the mouth of the Propontis, with torches. These treasures were brought to the city by the present emperor,1 who bears the name of his father, and who zealously maintains his pious principles. He laid his face upon the coffin, and entreated that his parents might be forgiven for having so unadvisedly persecuted the bishop. He had, by the death of his parents, been left an orphan at a very early age. But God took him under his own protection, and had him brought up in the knowledge of piety, while He preserved the empire from all seditions, and repressed the projects of usurpers. These mercies are ever present to his remembrance; and he is always ready to celebrate the praises of his Benefactor. In offering up these praises he is joined by his sisters, who have vowed perpetual virginity, and whose highest delight consists in meditating upon the Holy Scriptures; the wants of the poor they regard as their treasure. The emperor is adorned with many excellent qualities; among which may be mentioned his philanthropy and mildness, his placidity of mind, which can be ruffled by no tempests, and his sincere and stedfast faith. This will be clearly proved by the following narrative.

CHAP. XXXVII,-FAITH OF THEODOSIUS THE YOUNger, and

OF HIS SISTERS.

A MAN of a bold and audacious character, who had embraced an ascetic life, went to the emperor to make some request. After he had reiterated his demand several times without obtaining it, he ejected the emperor from communion with the church, and retired after imposing this restriction. The faithful emperor returned to his palace, where some guests had been invited to a banquet. On their arrival, he said

1 Theodosius the younger.