Father." This explanation excited laughter among the audience.

Eudoxius and Acacius exerted themselves to the utmost in endeavouring to cause the edicts of the Nicene council to fall into disuse and oblivion. They sent the formulary read at Ariminum, with various alterations and additions of their own, to every province of the empire, and procured from the emperor an edict for the banishment of all who should refuse to subscribe to it. But this undertaking, which appeared to them so easy of execution, was the source of the greatest calamities, excited commotions throughout the empire, and entailed upon the church in every region a persecution more grievous than those which it had suffered under the Pagan emperors. For, if this persecution did not occasion such tortures and punishments to the body as preceding ones, it appeared more grievous to all who reflected aright, on account of its disgraceful nature; for both the persecutors and the persecuted belonged to the church and men of the same religion treated their fellows with a degree of cruelty which the ecclesiastical laws prohibit to be manifested towards enemies and strangers.

CHAP. XXVII.-MACEDONIUS, AFTER HIS REJECTION FROM HIS BISHOPRIC, BLASPHEMES AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST; PROPAGATION OF HIS HERESY THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF MARATHONIUS AND OTHERS.

WHEN the spirit of innovation becomes regarded with popular favour,1 it is scarcely possible to arrest its progress: inflated as it always is with arrogance, it contemns the institutions of the Fathers, and enacts laws of its own. It even despises the theological doctrines of antiquity, and seeks out zealously a new form of religion of its own devising. After Macedonius had been deposed from the church of Constantinople, he renounced the tenets of Acacius and Eudoxius. He began to teach that the Son is God, and that he is in all respects and in substance like unto the Father. But he affirmed that the Holy Ghost is inferior in dignity, and designated him a minister and a servant, and applied to him whatever could, without error, be said of the holy angels. 1 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 45.

A. D. 360.]

MACEDONIAN HERESY.

195

This doctrine was embraced by Eleusius, Eustathius, and by all the other bishops who had been deposed at Constantinople by the partisans of the opposite heresy. Their example was quickly followed by the people of Constantinople, Thrace, Bithynia, the Hellespont, and of the neighbouring provinces. For their manners and mode of life were calculated to produce a great impression on the multitude. They assumed great gravity of demeanour and austerity of life, while their style of conversation was pleasing and persuasive. It is said that all these qualifications were united in Marathonius. He originally held a public appointment in the army under the command of the prefects; after amassing some money in this employment, he undertook the superintendence of the hospitals for the relief of the sick and the destitute. Afterwards, at the suggestion of Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, he embraced an ascetic mode of life, and founded a monastical institution in Constantinople which exists to the present day. He brought so much zeal and wealth to the support of the aforesaid heresy, that the Macedonians were by many termed Marathonians, and it seems to me, not without reason; for it appears that without the efforts of Marathonius, the heresy would soon have become extinct. In fact, after the deposition of Macedonius, the Macedonians possessed neither churches nor bishops2 until the reign of Arcadius. The Arians, who excommunicated and rigorously persecuted all who held different sentiments from themselves, deprived them of all these privileges.

It would be no easy task to enumerate the names of the priests who were at this period ejected from their cities; for I believe that no province of the empire was exempted from these depositions.

1 Id est, ex numerario officii præfectorum prætorio. Conf. Amm. Marcell. xv. p. 84. Vales.

2 That is, as Valesius remarks, at Constantinople. Compare Baronius Annal. A. D. 360, ch. 19.

CHAP. XXVIII. THE ARIANS, UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THE HOLY MELETIUS UPHELD THEIR SENTIMENTS, TRANSLATE HIM FROM SEBASTE TO ANTIOCH. ON HIS PREACHING THE ORTHODOX DOCTRINES, HE IS DEPOSED, AND HIS BISHOPRIC TRANSFERRED TO EUZOIUS.

1

Ar the period that Eudoxius obtained the government of the church of Constantinople, there were many aspirants to the bishopric of Antioch; and, as is frequently the case under such circumstances, discord and contention divided the clergy and the people of that church. Each party was anxious to commit the government of the church to a bishop of its own persuasion; for interminable disputes concerning doctrine were rampant among them, and they could not agree as to the mode of singing psalms; and, as has been before stated, psalms were sung by each individual, in conformity with his own peculiar creed. Such being the state of the church of Antioch, the partisans of Eudoxius thought that it would be well to intrust the bishopric of that city to Meletius, then bishop of Sebaste, he being possessed of great and persuasive eloquence, of eminent virtue, and above all, as they imagined, being firmly attached to their tenets. They believed that his fame would attract the inhabitants of Antioch and of the neighbouring cities to conform to their heresy; particularly the sectarians called Eustathians, who had invariably adhered to the Nicene doctrines. But their expectations were utterly frustrated. It is said that, on his first arrival in Antioch, an immense multitude, composed of Arians, and of those who were in communion with Paulinus, flocked around him. Some were drawn by curiosity, desiring to know whether his merits were equivalent to the great reputation he enjoyed; others were anxious to hear what he had to say, and to ascertain the nature of his opinions; for a report had been spread abroad, which was afterwards proved to be true, that he maintained the doctrines of the council of Nicæa. In his first discourses, he confined himself to instructing the people in what we call ethics; afterwards, however, he openly declared that the Son is of the same substance as the Father. It is said that, at these words, the archdeacon of the church stretched out his hand, and covered

1 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 44.

MELETIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH.

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the mouth of the preacher, but that he continued to explain his sentiments more clearly by means of his fingers than he could by language. He extended three fingers towards the people, closed them, and then allowed only one finger to remain extended, and thus expressed by signs what he was prevented from uttering. As the archdeacon freed his mouth, in order to seize his hand, he unfolded his doctrine with still greater perspicuity than before, and exhorted his auditors to adhere to the tenets of the council of Nicæa, assuring them that they would deviate from the truth if they followed any other doctrines. As he persisted in the enunciation of the same sentiments, either by word of mouth, or by means of signs when the archdeacon closed his mouth, the followers of Eustathius testified their joy by loud acclamations, while the Arians gave evident proofs of dissatisfaction. Eudoxius and his partisans were transported with indignation at this discourse, and contrived by their machinations to expel Meletius from Antioch. Soon afterwards, however, they recalled him ; for they fancied that he had renounced his former sentiments, and had espoused theirs. As, however, it soon became apparent that his devotion to the Nicene doctrines was firm and unalterable, he was ejected from the church, and banished by order of the emperor, and his bishopric was conferred on Euzoius, who had formerly been banished with Arius. The followers of Meletius separated themselves from the Arians, and held their assemblies apart; for those who had, from the beginning, maintained that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, refused to admit them into communion, because Meletius had been ordained by Arian bishops, and because his followers had been baptized by Arian priests. For these reasons, although united by the reception of one creed, they did not hold communion together.

The emperor, having been informed that an insurrection was about to arise in Persia, repaired to Antioch.

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CHAP. XXIX.-THE PARTISANS OF ACACIUS EXCITE FRESH COMMOTIONS, STRIVE TO ABOLISH THE TERM CONSUBSTANTIAL," AND FAVOUR THE HERESY OF ARIUS.

THE partisans of Acacius were not able to remain in tranquillity; and they therefore assembled in Antioch, and con

demned the decrees which they had themselves enacted. They erased the term "similar" from the formulary which had been read at Ariminum and at Constantinople, and affirmed that in all respects, in substance and in will, the Son is dissimilar from the Father, and that he proceeded from what had no previous existence, even as Arius had taught from the commencement. They were joined by the partisans of Aetius, who had been the first after Arius to venture upon the profession of these opinions, and who had hence obtained the name of atheists: the disciples of Arius were sometimes called Anomians and Exucontians.1 When those who maintained the Nicene doctrines demanded of the Acacians how they could say that the Son is dissimilar from the Father, and that he proceeded out of nothing, when it was affirmed in their own formulary that he is "God of God," they replied that the apostle Paul had declared that "All things are of God," 2 and that the Son is included in the term "all things;" and that it was in this sense, and in accordance with the Sacred Scriptures, that the expressions in their formulary were to be understood. Such were the equivocations and sophistry to which they had recourse. At length, finding that they could advance no efficient argument to justify themselves in the opinion of those who pressed them on this point, they withdrew from the assembly, after the formulary of Constantinople had been read a second time, and returned to their own cities.

CHAP. XXX.-GEORGE, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, AND THE BISHOP OF JERUSALEM. AFTER THE DEPOSITION OF CYRIL, THREE BISHOPS SUCCESSIVELY SUCCEED TO HIS BISHOPRIC: RESTORATION OF CYRIL TO THE CHURCH AT JERUSALEM.

DURING this period, Athanasius was obliged to remain in concealment,3 and George returned to Alexandria, and commenced a cruel persecution against the Pagans, and against the Christians who differed from him in opinion. He compelled both parties to offer worship in the mode he indicated, and where opposition was made he enforced obedience by com

1 The same statement is made by Athanasius in his book de Synodis Arimini et Seleucia.

21 Cor. xi. 12.

3 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. ii. 28, and iii. 2.