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ARSENIUS was a bishop of the Meletian faction. The men of his
party put him in a place of concealment, and charged him to remain
there as long as possible. They then cut off the right hand of a
corpse, embalmed it, placed it in a wooden case, and carried it about
everywhere, declaring that it was the hand of Arsenius, who had been
murdered by Athanasius. But the all-seeing eye did not permit
Arsenius to remain long in ConCealment. He was first seen alive in
Egypt; then in the Thebaid; afterwards he was led by Divine
ProvidenCe to Tyre, where the hand of tragic fame was brought before
the council. The friends of Athanasius hunted him up, and brought
him to an inn, where they compelled him to lie hid for a time. Early
in the morning the great Athanasius came to the council.
First of all a woman of lewd life was brought in, who deposed in a
loud and impudent manner that she had vowed perpetual virginity, but
that Athanasius, who had lodged in her house, had violated her
chastity. After she had made her charge, the accused came forward,
and with him a presbyter worthy of all praise, by name Timotheus.
The court ordered Athanasius to reply to the indictment; but he was
silent, as if he had not been Athanasius. Timotheus, however,
addressed her thus: "Have I, O woman, ever conversed with you,
or have I entered your house?" She replied with still greater
effrontery, screaming aloud in her dispute with Timotheus, and,
pointing at him with her finger, exclaimed, "It was you who robbed
me of my virginity; it was you who stripped me of my chastity;"
adding other indelicate expressions which are used by shameless women.
The devisers of this calumny were put to shame, and all the bishops
who were privy to it, blushed.
The woman was now being led out of the Court, but the great
Athanasius protested that instead of sending her away they ought to
examine her, and learn the name of the hatcher of the plot. Hereupon
his accusers yelled and shouted that he had perpetrated other viler
crimes, of which it was utterly impossible that he could by any art or
ingenuity be cleared; and that eyes, not ears, would decide on the
evidence. Having said this, they exhibited the famous box and exposed
the embalmed hand to view. At this sight all the spectators uttered a
loud cry. Some believed the accusation to be true; the others had no
doubt of the falsehood, and thought that Arsenius was lurking
somewhere or other in concealment. When at length, after some
difficulty, a little silence was obtained, the accused asked his
judges whether any of them knew Arsenius. Several of them replying
that they knew him well, Athanasius gave orders that he should be
brought before them. Then he again asked them, "Is this the right
Arsenius? Is this the man I murdered? this the man those people
mutilated after his murder by cutting off his right hand?" When they
had confessed that it was the same individual, Athanasius pulled off
his cloak, and exhibited two hands, both the right and the left, and
said, "Let no one seek for a third hand, for man has received two
hands from the Creator and no more."
Even after this plain proof the calumniators and the judges who were
privy to the crime, instead of hiding themselves, or praying that the
earth might open and swallow them up, raised an uproar and commotion in
the assembly, and declared that Athanasius was a sorcerer, and that
he had by his magical incantations bewitched the eyes of men. The very
men who a moment before had accused him of murder now strove to tear him
in pieces and to murder him. But those whom the emperor had entrusted
with the preservation of order saved the life of Athanasius by dragging
him away, and hurrying him on board a ship .
When he appeared before the emperor, he described all the dramatic
plot which had been got up to ruin him. The calumniators sent bishops
attached to their faction into Mareotis, viz., Theognis, bishop of
Nicaea, Theodorus, bishop of Perinthus, Maris, bishop of
Chalcedon, Narcissus of Cilicia , with others of the same
sentiments. Mareotis is a district near Alexandria, and derives its
name from the lake Maria . Here they invented other falsehoods,
and, forging the reports of the trial, mixed up the charges which had
been shown to be false with fresh accusations, as if they had been
true, and despatched them to the emperor.
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