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AT this time another accusation was concocted against Athanasius by
the Arians, who invented this pretext for it. The father of the
Augusti had long before granted an allowance of corn to the church of
the Alexandrians for the relief of the indigent. This, they
asserted, had usually been sold by Athanasius, and the proceeds
converted to his own advantage. The emperor, giving credence to this
slanderous report, threatened Athanasius with death, as a penalty;
who, becoming alarmed at the intimation of this threat, took to
flight, and kept himself concealed. When Julius, bishop of Rome,
was apprised of these fresh machinations of the Arians against
Athanasius, and had also received the letter of the then deceased
Eusebius, he invited the persecuted Athanasius to come to him,
having ascertained where he was secreted. The epistle also of the
bishops who had been some time before assembled at Antioch, just then
reached him; and at the same time others from the bishops in Egypt,
assuring him that the entire charge against Athanasius was a
fabrication. On the receipt of these contradictory communications,
Julius first replied to the bishops who had written to him from
Antioch, complaining of the acrimonious feeling they had evinced in
their letter, and charging them with a violation of the canons,
because they had not requested his attendance at the council, seeing
that the ecclesiastical law required that the churches should pass no
decisions contrary to the views of the bishop of Rome: he then
censured them with great severity for clandestinely attempting to
pervert the faith; in addition, that their former proceedings at Tyre
were fraudulent, because the investigation of what had taken place at
Mareotes was on one side of the question only; not only this, but
that the charge respecting Arsenius had plainly been proved a false
charge. Such and similar sentiments did Julius write in his answer to
the bishops convened at Antioch; we should have inserted here at
length, these as well as those letters which were addressed to
Julius, did not their prolixity interfere with our purpose. But
Sabinus, the advocate of the Macedonian heresy, of whom we have
before spoken, has not incorporated the letters of JUlius in his
Collection of Synodical Transactions; although he has not omitted
that which the bishops of Antioch sent to Julius. This, however,
is usual with him; he carefully introduces such letters as make no
reference to, or wholly repudiate the term homoousion; while he
purposely passes over in silence those of a contrary tendency. This is
sufficient on this subject. Not long after this, Paul, pretending
to make a journey from Thessalonica to Corinth, I arrived in
Italy: upon which both the bishops made an appeal to the emperor of
those parts, laying their respective cases before him.
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