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THE bishops assembled at Constantinople deposed also Marcellus
bishop of Ancyra, a city of Galatia Minor, on this account. A
certain rhetorician of Cappadocia named Asterius having abandoned his
art, and professed himself a convert to Christianity, undertook the
composition of some treatises, which are still extant, in which he
commended the dogmas of Arius; asserting that Christ is the power of
God, in the same sense as the locust and the palmer-worm are said by
Moses to be the power of God, with other similar utterances. Now
Asterius was in constant association with the bishops, and especially
with those of their number who did not discountenance the Arian
doctrine: he also attended their Synods, in the hope of insinuating
himself into the bishopric of some city: but he failed to obtain
ordination, in consequence of having sacrificed during the
persecution. Going therefore throughout the cities of Syria, he read
in public the books which he had composed. Marcellus being informed of
this, and wishing to counteract his influence, in his over-anxiety to
confute him, fell into the diametrically opposite error; for he dared
to say, as the Samosatene had done, that Christ was a mere man.
When the bishops then convened at Jerusalem had intelligence of these
things, they took no notice of Asterius, because he was not enrolled
even in the catalogue of ordained priests; but they insisted that
Marcellus, as a priest, should give an account of the book which he
had written. Finding that he entertained Paul of Samosata's
sentiments, they required him to retract his opinion; and he being
thoroughly ashamed of himself, promised to burn his book. But the
convention of bishops being hastily dissolved by the emperor's
summoning them to Constantinople, the Eusebians on their arrival at
that city, again took the case of Marcellus into consideration; and
as Marcellus refused to fulfil his promise of burning his untimely
book, those present deposed him, and sent Basil into Ancyra in his
stead. Moreover Eusebius wrote a refutation of this work in three
books, in which he exposed its erroneous doctrine. Marcellus however
was afterwards reinstated in his bishopric by the Synod at Sardica,
on his assurance that his book had been misunderstood, and that on that
account he was supposed to favor the Sa-mosatene's views. But of
this we shall speak more fully in its proper place.
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