vened at Antioch. It is said that Maximus, bishop of Jerusalem, kept aloof from this council, because he repented having unawares consented to the deposition of Athanasius.1 The bishop of Rome, and the bishops of other parts of Italy, and of the remoter provinces of the empire, also absented themselves from this council. At the same period of time, the Franks devastated Western Gaul; and the provinces of the East, and more particularly Antioch, were visited by a tremendous earthquake. Gregory repaired to Alexandria with a large body of soldiers, in order to obtain a safe and undisputed entrance into the city; the Arians also, who were anxious for the expulsion of Athanasius, sided with him. Athanasius, fearful lest the people should be exposed to sufferings on his account,2 assembled them by night in the church, and when the soldiers came to take possession of the church,3 prayers having been concluded, he caused a psalm to be sung. During the chaunting of this psalm, the soldiers remained without, and quietly awaited its conclusion, and in the mean time Athanasius secretly made his escape, and fled to Rome. In this manner Gregory possessed himself of the bishopric of Alexandria. The indignation of the people was aroused, and they burnt the church which bore the name of Dionysius, one of the former bishops of their city.

CHAP. VII.-BISHOPS OF ROME AND OF CONSTANTINOPLE; RESTORATION OF PAUL AFTER THE DEATH OF EUSEBIUS. DEATH OF HERMOGENES, A GENERAL OF THE ARMY.

THUS were the schemes of those who upheld various heresies in opposition to truth successfully carried into execution; and thus did they depose those bishops who strenuously maintained throughout the East the supremacy of the doctrines of the Nicæan council. These heretics had taken possession of the most important bishoprics, such as Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria, and the capital city of the Hellespont, and they held all the neighbouring bishops in

1 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. i. 8.

2

Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 11.

3 Valesius reminds us that this occurred not on the arrival of Gregory, but at his enthronization. Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 10.

A. D. 341.]

TUMULTS AT CONSTANTINOPLE.

115

subjection. The bishop of Rome and all the clergy of the West were offended at these proceedings, and religiously maintained the faith of the council of Nicæa, which they had embraced from the beginning. On the arrival of Athanasius, they received him kindly, and proposed to pass judgment on his case. Irritated at this interference, Eusebius wrote to Julius, exhorting him to constitute himself a judge of the decrees that had been enacted against Athanasius by the council of Tyre. But before he had been able to ascertain the sentiments of Julius, and, indeed, soon after the council of Antioch, Eusebius died. Immediately upon this event, those citizens of Constantinople who maintained the doctrines of the Nicæan council conducted Paul to the church. At the same time, the adherents of Theognis, bishop of Nicæa, of Theodore, bishop of Heraclea, and others of the same party, aided by the Arians, assembled at Constantinople, and ordained Macedonius bishop of Constantinople. This excited a sedition in the city, which assumed all the appearance of a war, for the people rose up against each other, and many fell in the encounter. The city was filled with tumult, so that the emperor, who was then at Antioch, on hearing of what had occurred, was filled with indignation, and issued a decree for the expulsion of Paul. Hermogenes, general of the cavalry, endeavoured to put this edict of the emperor's into execution, for, having been sent to Thrace, he had, on the journey, to pass by Constantinople, and he thought, by means of his army, to eject Paul from the church. But the people, instead of yielding, met him with open resistance, and while the soldiers, in obedience to the orders they had received, were engaged in violent assault on the city, the populace1 entered the house of Hermogenes, set fire to it, killed him, and attaching to his body a cord, dragged it through the city. The emperor had no sooner received this intelligence than he took horse to Constantinople, in order to punish the people. They, however, went to meet him with tears and supplications, and induced him to desist from his purpose. He deprived them of about half of the corn which his father, Constantine, had granted them annually from the tributes of Egypt: probably from the idea that luxury and great abundance rendered them easily 1 We have adopted here the emendation of Valesius, who reads σradiῶται for στρατιῶται.

disposed to sedition. He turned all his anger against Paul, and commanded his expulsion from the city. He manifested great displeasure against Macedonius, because he had taken part in the murder of the general and of other individuals; and, also, because he had been ordained without first obtaining his sanction. He, however, returned to Antioch, without having either confirmed or dissolved his ordination. The Arians soon after deposed Gregory, because he had shown little zeal in the support of their doctrines, and had moreover incurred the enmity of the Alexandrians on account of the calamities which had marked the commencement of his authority, especially the conflagration of the church. They elected George, a native of Cappadocia, in his stead; this new bishop was admired on account of his activity, and his zeal in support of the Arian dogmas.

CHAP. VIII.-ARRIVAL OF THE EASTERN ARCHBISHOPS AT ROME; LETTER OF JULIUS, BISHOP OF ROME. BY MEANS OF THE LETTERS OF JULIUS, PAUL AND ATHANASIUS ARE REINSTATED IN THEIR OWN BISHOPRICS; LETTER FROM THE ARCHBISHOPS OF THE EAST TO JULIUS.

ATHANASIUS, on leaving Alexandria, fled to Rome. Paul, bishop of Constantinople, Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, and Asclepas, bishop of Gaza, repaired thither at the same time. Asclepas, who was strongly opposed to the Arians, had been accused by them of having thrown down an altar,3 and Quintian had been appointed in his stead over the church of Gaza. Lucius, also, bishop of Adrianople, who had on some accusation been deposed from his office, was dwelling at this period in Rome. The Roman bishop, on learning the cause of their condemnation, and on finding that they held the same sentiments as himself, and adhered to the Nicæan doctrines, admitted them to communion; and as, by the dignity of his seat, the charge of watching over the orthodox devolved upon him, he restored them all to their own churches. He wrote to the

1 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 14.

2

Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 15, 16.

3 The same accusation is made against him in the epistle of the Eastern bishops at Sardica.

A. D. 341.]

ATHANASIUS AND PAUL REINSTATED.

117

bishops of the East, and rebuked them for having judged these bishops unjustly, and for having disturbed the peace of the church by abandoning the Nicæan doctrines. He summoned

a few among them to appear before him on an appointed day, in order to account to him for the sentence they had passed, and threatened to bear with them no longer should they introduce any further innovations. Athanasius and Paul were reinstated in their bishoprics, and forwarded the letter of Julius to the bishops of the East. The bishops were highly indignant at this letter; and they assembled together at Antioch, and framed a reply to Julius, replete with elegance and the graces of rhetoric, but couched in a tone of irony and defiance. They confessed, in this epistle, that the church of Rome was entitled to universal honour,2 because it had been founded by the apostles, and had enjoyed the rank of a metropolitan church from the first preaching of religion, although those who first propagated a knowledge of Christian doctrines in this city came from the East. They added, that the second place in point of honour ought not to be assigned to them, merely on account of the smallness of their city and of their numerical inferiority, for that, with respect to zeal and firmness, they surpassed others. They called Julius to account for having admitted Athanasius into communion, and expressed their indignation against him for having insulted their synod, and abrogated their decrees; and they reprehended his conduct, because, they said, it was opposed to justice and to the canons of the church. After these complaints and protestations, they proceeded to state, that they were willing to continue on terms of amity and communion with Julius, provided that he would sanction the deposition of the bishops whom they had expelled, and the ordination of those whom they had elected in their stead: but that, unless he would accede to these terms, they should have recourse to hostility. They added, that the bishops who had preceded them in the government of the Eastern churches had offered no opposition to the deposition of Novatian by the church of Rome. They

1 kekaλλieπnμÉvŋv. Compare Athanasius, 2 Apologet. adv. Arianos, where Julius complains that the letter of the bishops is written in a proud and arrogant tone, and for the sake of displaying their eloquence (piλoτιμίας ἑνέκα).

2 Valesius renders piλoriμíav pépɛiv, “ambitiosè se jactare.”

made no allusion in their letter to any deviations they had manifested from the doctrines of the council of Nice, but merely stated they had various reasons to allege in justification of the course they had pursued, and that they considered it unnecessary to enter at that time upon any defence of their conduct, as they were suspected of having violated justice in every respect.

CHAP. IX.-EJECTION OF PAUL AND ATHANASIUS; MACEDONIUS IS INVESTED WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

AFTER having written in this strain to Julius, the bishops of the East brought accusations against those whom they had deposed before the emperor Constantius. Accordingly, the emperor, who was then at Antioch, wrote to Philip, the prefect of Constantinople, commanding him to reinstate Macedonius in the government of the church, and to expel Paul from the city. The prefect, fearing lest the execution of this order should give rise to a sedition among the people, kept the whole matter a profound secret. He repaired to the public bath which is called Zeuxippus, a large and beautiful structure, and having sent for Paul, as if he wished to converse with him on some affairs of general interest, showed him, on his arrival, the edict of the emperor. Paul was immediately and secretly conveyed through the palace, which is contiguous to the bath, to the sea-side, and was placed on board a vessel, and conducted to Thessalonica, whence, it is said, his ancestors originally came. He was strictly prohibited from approaching the Eastern regions, but was not forbidden to visit Illyria and the remoter provinces.

On quitting the prætorium, Philip, accompanied by Macedonius, proceeded to the church. The people, who had in the mean time been assembling together, quickly filled the church, and the two parties into which they were divided, namely, the Arians and the followers of Paul, respectively strove to take possession of the church. When the prefect and Macedonius arrived at the gates of the church, the soldiers endeavoured to force back the people, but, as they were so crowded

1 τ Vжάρxч. Comp. Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 16.