EVIL DEEDS OF GEORGE IN EGYPT.

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the minds of the people, and carried on a cruel persecution against the followers of Athanasius, and, moreover, imprisoned and maimed many men and women, he was accounted a tyrant, and became an object of universal hatred. The people were so deeply incensed at his conduct, that they rushed into the church, and would have torn him to pieces, had he not escaped from them, and fled to the emperor. Those who held the sentiments of Athanasius, then took possession of the churches. But they did not long retain possession of them; for the commander of the troops, when he returned to Alexandria, restored them to the partisans of George. A secretary of the emperor's was afterwards sent to punish the leaders of the sedition, and he treated many of the citizens with the utmost rigour and cruelty. When George returned, he was more formidable, it appears, than ever, and was regarded with greater aversion than before, for he instigated the emperor to the perpetration of many evil deeds; and besides, the monks of Egypt openly declared him to be perfidious and inflated with arrogance. The opinions of these monks were always adopted by the people, and their testimony was universally received, because they were noted for their virtue and the philosophical tenor of their lives.

CHAP. XI.-LIBERIUS, BISHOP OF ROME, AND THE CAUSE OF HIS BEING EXILED BY CONSTANTIUS. FELIX, HIS SUCCESSOR. ALTHOUGH What I have recorded did not occur at the same period of time after the death of Constans to Athanasius and the church of Alexandria, yet I deemed it right, for the sake of greater clearness, to relate all these events in consecutive order. The council of Milan was dissolved without any business having been transacted, and the emperor condemned to banishment all those who had opposed the designs of the enemies of Athanasius. As Constantius wished to establish uniformity of doctrine throughout the church, and to unite the priesthood in the maintenance of the same sentiments, he formed a plan to convene the bishops of every religion to a council, to be held in the West. He was aware of the difficulty of carrying this scheme into execution, arising from the vast extent of land and seas which some of the bishops would

have to traverse, yet he did not altogether despair of success. While this project was occupying his mind, and before he prepared to make his triumphal entrance into Rome, he sent for Liberius, the bishop of Rome, and strove to persuade him to conformity of sentiment with priests by whom he was attended, and amongst whom was Eudoxius. As Liberius, however, refused compliance, and protested that he would never yield on this point, the emperor banished him to Beroa, in Thrace. It is alleged, that another reason of the banishment of Liberius was, that he would not withdraw from communion with Athanasius, but manfully opposed the emperor, who insisted that Athanasius had injured the church, had occasioned the death of his elder brother,1 and had sown the seeds of enmity between Constans and himself. As the emperor revived all the decrees which had been enacted against Athanasius by various councils, and particularly by that of Tyre, Liberius told him that no regard ought to be paid to edicts which were issued from motives of hatred, of favour, or of fear. He desired that the bishops of every region should be made to sign the formulary of faith compiled at Nicæa, and that those bishops who had been exiled on account of their adherence to it should be recalled. He suggested that all the bishops should, at their own expense, and without being furnished either with money or conveyances by the public, proceed to Alexandria, and endeavour to ascertain the truth by inquiries, which could be more easily instituted at that city than elsewhere, as the injured and those who had inflicted injury dwelt there. He then exhibited the letter written by Valens and Ursacius to Julius, his predecessor in the Roman bishopric, in which they solicited his forgiveness, and acknowledged that the depositions brought against Athanasius, at Mareota, were false; and he besought the emperor not to condemn Athanasius during his absence, nor to give credit to enactments which were evidently obtained by the machinations of his enemies. With respect to the alleged injuries which had been inflicted on his brothers, he entreated the emperor not to revenge himself by the hands of priests who had been set apart by God, not for the execution of vengeance, but for sanctification, and the performance of just and benevolent

The interrogation of Liberius by the emperor on this charge is extant in Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. ii. 16.

A. D. 358.]

HERESY OF AETIUS.

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actions. The emperor, perceiving that Liberius was not disposed to comply with his mandate, commanded that he should be conveyed to Thrace, unless he would change his mind within two days. "To me, O emperor," replied Liberius, "deliberation is of no avail; my resolution has long been formed, and I am ready to go forth to exile." It is said, that when he was being conducted to banishment, the emperor sent him five hundred pieces of gold; he, however, refused to receive them, and said to the messenger who brought them, "Go, and tell him who sent this gold, to give it to the flatterers and hypocrites1 who surround him, for their insatiable cupidity plunges them into a state of perpetual want which can never be relieved. Christ, who is, in all respects, like unto his Father, supplies us with food and with all good things."

Liberius having, for the above reasons, been deposed from the government of the Roman church, his bishopric was transferred to Felix,2 a deacon of the same church. It is said that Felix always continued in adherence to the Nicene faith; and that, with respect to his conduct in religious matters, he was blameless. The only thing alleged against him was, that, prior to his ordination, he held communion with the heterodox. When the emperor entered Rome, the people loudly demanded Liberius; after consulting with the bishops who were with him, he replied, that he would recall Liberius and restore him to the people, if he would consent to embrace the same sentiments as those held by the priests of the court.

CHAP. XII.-AETIUS, THE SYRIAN, AND EUDOXIUS, THE SUCCESSOR OF LEONTIUS IN THE BISHOPRIC OF ANTIOCH. CONCERNING THE TERM "CONSUBSTANTIAL."

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ABOUT this time,3 Aetius broached his peculiar opinions concerning the Godhead. He was then deacon of the church of Antioch, and had been ordained by Leontius. He maintained, like Arius, that the Son is a created being, that he was created out of nothing, and that he is dissimilar from the Father.

1 He means the Arian bishops.

2 Comp. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. ii. 37. 3 Comp. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. ii. 35.

So also says Socrates. But Epiphanius asserts that he was ordained by George of Alexandria.

As he was extremely addicted to contention, very bold in his assertions on theological subjects, and prone to have recourse to a very subtle mode of argumentation, he was accounted a heretic even by those who held the same sentiments as himself. When he had been, for this reason, excommunicated by the heterodox, he feigned a refusal to hold communion with them, because they had unjustly admitted Arius into communion after he had perjured himself by declaring to the emperor Constantine that he maintained the doctrines of the council of Nicæa. Such is the account given of Aetius.

While the emperor was in the West, intelligence arrived of the death of Leontius, bishop of Antioch. Eudoxius requested permission of the emperor to return to Syria, that he might superintend the affairs of that church. On permission being granted, he repaired with all speed to Antioch, and installed himself as bishop of that city without the sanction of George, bishop of Laodicea, of Mark, bishop of Arethusa, of the other Syrian bishops, or of any other bishops to whom the right of conferring ordination pertained. It was reported that he acted with the concurrence of the emperor, and of the eunuchs belonging to the palace, who, like Eudoxius, favoured the doctrines of Aetius, and believed that the Son is dissimilar from the Father. When Eudoxius found himself in possession of the church of Antioch, he ventured to uphold this heresy openly. He assembled in Antioch all those who held the same opinions as himself, among whom were Acacius, bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine, and Uranius, bishop of Tyre, and rejected the terms, "of like substance" and "consubstantial," under the pretext that they had been denounced by the Western bishops. Hosius had certainly, with the view of arresting the contention excited by Valens, Ursacius, and Germanius,1 consented, though by compulsion,2 with some other bishops at Sirmium, to refrain from the use of the terms "consubstantial" and "of like substance," because such terms do not occur in the Holy Scriptures, and are beyond the understanding of men.3 Eudoxius wrote to the bishops as if they all upheld what Hosius

Otherwise called Germinius. He was afterwards promoted to the bishopric of Sirmium.

2 See above, chap. 6, sub finem.

3 Athanasius also excuses the lapse of Hosius, on the ground that he acted under compulsion.

A. D. 358.]

INNOVATIONS OF EUDOXIUS.

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had admitted, and congratulated Valens, and Ursacius, and Germanius, for having been instrumental in the introduction of orthodox doctrines into the West.

CHAP. XIII.-INNOVATIONS OF EUDOXIUS CENSURED IN A LETTER WRITTEN BY GEORGE, bishop oF LAODICEA. DEPUTATION FROM THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA TO CONSTANTIUS.

AFTER Eudoxius had introduced these new doctrines, many members of the church of Antioch, who were opposed to them, were excommunicated. George, bishop of Laodicea, gave them a letter to take to the bishops who had been invited from the neighbouring towns to Ancyra in Galatia by Basil, for the purpose of consecrating a church which he had erected. This letter was as follows.

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'George, to his most honoured lords Macedonius, Basil, Cecropius, and Eugenius, sends greeting in the Lord. Nearly the whole city has suffered from the shipwreck of Aetius. The disciples of this wicked man whom you contemned have been encouraged by Eudoxius, and promoted by him to clerical appointments, and Aetius himself has been raised to the highest honour. Go, then, to the assistance of this great city, lest by its shipwreck the whole world should be submerged. Assemble yourselves together, and solicit the signatures of other bishops, that Aetius may be ejected from the church of Antioch, and that his disciples who have been ordained by Eudoxius may be cut off from the priesthood. If Eudoxius persist in affirming that the Son is dissimilar from the Father, and in preferring those who uphold this dogma to those who reject it, the city of Antioch is lost to you." Such was the strain of George's letter.

The bishops who were assembled at Ancyra clearly perceived by the enactments of Eudoxius at Antioch, that he contemplated the introduction of innovations in doctrine; they apprized the emperor of this fact, and besought him that the doctrine established at Sardica, at Sirmium,' and at other

We are not to understand the Catholic council of Sirmium, but one of the Oriental bishops alone, in which Photinus was deposed, and in which a formula of faith was drawn up by Mark, bishop of Arethusa, of which