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CONSTANTIUS: "We have judged it right, as you are a
Christian and the bishop of our city, to send for you in order to
admonish you to abjure all connexion with the folly of the impious
Athanasius. For when he was separated from the communion of the
Church by the synod the whole world approved of the decision."
LIBERIUS: "O Emperor, ecclesiastical sentences ought to be
enacted with strictest justice: therefore, if it be pleasing to your
piety, order the court to be assembled, and if it be seen that
Athanasius deserves condemnation, then let sentence be passed upon him
according to ecclesiasticaI forms. For it is not possible for us to
condemn a man unheard and untried."
CONSTANTIUS: "The whole world has condemned his impiety;
but he, as he has done from the first, laughs at the danger."
LIBERIUS: "Those who signed the condemnation were not
eye-witnesses of anything that occurred; but were actuated by the
desire of glory, and by the fear of disgrace at thy hands."
THE EMPEROR: "What do you mean by glory and fear and
disgrace?"
LIBERIUS: "Those who love not the glory of God, but who
attach greater value to thy gifts, have condemned a man whom they have
neither seen nor judged; this is very contrary to the principles of
Christians."
THE EMPEROR: "Athanasius was tried in person at the council
of Tyre, and all the bishops of the world at that synod condemned
him."
LIBERIUS: "No judgment has ever been passed on him in his
presence. Those who there assembled condemned him after he had
retired."
EUSEBIUS THE EUNUCH foolishly interposed: "It was
demonstrated at the council of Nicaea that he held opinions entirely at
variance with the catholic faith."
LIBERIUS: "Of all those who sailed to Mareotis, and who
were sent for the purpose of drawing up memorials against the accused,
five only delivered the sentence against him. Of the five who were
thus sent, two are now dead, namely, Theognis and Theodorus. The
three others, Maris, Valens, and Ursacius, are still living.
Sentence was passed at Sardica against all those who were sent for
this purpose to Mareotis. They presented a petition to the council
soliciting pardon for having drawn up at Mareotis memorials against
Athanasius, consisting of false accusations and depositions of only
one party. Their petition is still in our hands. Whose cause are we
to espouse, O Emperor? With whom are we to agree and hold
communion? With those who first condemned Athanasius, and then
solicited pardon for having condemned him, or with those who have
condemned these latter?"
EPICTETUS THE BISHOP: "O Emperor, it is not on
behalf of the faith, nor in defence of ecclesiastical judgments that
Liberius is pleading; but merely in order that he may boast before the
Roman senators of having conquered the emperor in argument."
THE EMPEROR (addressing Liberius): "What portion do you
constitute of the universe, that you alone by yourself take part with
an impious man, and are destroying the peace of the empire and of the
whole world?"
LIBERIUS: "My standing alone does not make the truth a whit
the weaker. According to the ancient story, there are found but three
men resisting a decree."
EUSEBIUS THE EUNUCH: "You make our emperor a
Nebuchadnezzar."
LIBERIUS: "By no means. But you rashly condemn a man
without any trial. What I desire is, in the first place, that a
general confession of faith be signed, confirming that drawn up at the
council of Nicaea. And secondly, that all our brethren be recalled
from exile, and reinstated in their own bishoprics. If, when all
this has been carried into execution, it can be shown that the
doctrines of all those who now fill the churches with trouble are
conformable to the apostolic faith, then we will all assemble at
Alexandria to meet the accused, the accusers, and their defender,
and after having examined the cause, we will pass judgment upon it."
EPICTETUS THE BISHOP: "There will not be sufficient
post-carriages to convey so many bishops."
LIBERIUS: "Ecclesiastical affairs can be transacted without
post-carriages. The churches are able to provide means for the
conveyance of their respective bishops to the sea coast ."
THE EMPEROR: "The sentence which has once been passed ought
not to be revoked The decision of the greater number of bishops ought
to prevail. You alone retain friendship towards that impious man."
LIBERIUS: "O Emperor, it is a thing hitherto unheard of,
that a judge should accuse the absent of impiety, as if he were his
personal enemy."
THE EMPEROR: "All without exception have been injured by
him, but none so deeply as I have been. Not content with the death
of my eldest brother , he never ceased to excite Constans, of blessed
memory, to enmity against me; but I, with much moderation, put up
alike with the vehemence of both the instigator and his victim. Not
one of the victories which I have gained, not even excepting those
over Magnentius and Silvanus, equals the ejection of this vile man
from the government of the Church."
LIBERIUS: "Do not vindicate your own hatred and revenge, O
Emperor, by the instrumentality of bishops; for their hands ought
only to be raised for purposes of blessing and of sanctification. If
it be consonant with your will, command the bishops to return to their
own residences; and if it appear that they are of one mind with him who
today maintains the true doctrines of the confession of faith signed at
Nicaea, then let them come together and see to the peace of the
world, in order that an innocent man may not serve as a mark for
reproach."
THE EMPEROR: "One question only requires to be made. I
wish you to enter into communion with the churches, and to send you
back to Rome. Consent therefore to peace, and sign your assent, and
then you shall return to Rome."
LIBERIUS: "I have already taken leave of the brethren who are
in that city. The decrees of the Church are of greater importance
than a residence in Rome."
THE EMPEROR: "You have three days to consider whether you
will sign the document and return to Rome; if not, you must choose
the place of your banishment."
LIBERIUS: "Neither three days nor three months can change my
sentiments. Send me wherever you please."
After the lapse of two days the emperor sent for Liberius, and
finding his opinions unchanged, he commanded him to be banished to
Berets, a city of Thrace. Upon the departure of Liberius, the
emperor sent him five hundred pieces of gold to defray his expenses.
Liberius said to the messenger who brought them, "Go, and give them
back to the emperor; he has need of them to pay his troops." The
empress also sent him a sum of the same amount; he said, "Take it to
the emperor, for he may want it to pay his troops; but if not, let it
be given to Auxentius and Epictetus, for they stand in need of it."
Eusebius the eunuch brought him other sums of money, and he thus
addressed him: "You have turned all the churches of the world into a
desert, and do you bring alms to me, as to a criminal? Begone, and
become first a Christian ." He was sent into exile three days
afterwards, without having accepted anything that was offered him.
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