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WHILE the events I have above related were taking place in
Italy, the East, even before the council of Seleucia had been
constituted, was the theatre of great disturbances. The adherents of
Acacius and Patrophilus, having ejected Maximus, turned over the
church of Jerusalem to Cyril. Macedonius harassed Constantinople
and the neighboring cities; he was abetted by Eleusius and
Marathonius. This latter was originally a deacon in his own church,
and was a zealous superintendent of the poor of the monastical dwellings
inhabited by men and women, and Macedonius raised him to the bishopric
of Nicomedia. Eleusius, who, not without distinction, was formerly
attached to tile military service of the palace, had been ordained
bishop of Cyzicus. It is said that Eleusius and Marathonius were
both good men in their conduct, but that they were zealous in
persecuting those who maintained that the Son is of the same substance
as the Father, although they were not so distinctly cruel as
Macedonius, who not only expelled those who refused to hold communion
with him, but imprisoned some, and dragged others before the
tribunals. In many cases he compelled the unwilling to communion. He
seized children and women who had not been initiated and initiated
them, and destroyed many churches in different places, under the
pretext that the emperor had commanded the demolition of all houses of
prayer in which the Son was recognized to be of the same substance as
the Father.
Under this pretext the church of the Novatians at Constantinople,
situated in that part of the city called Pelargus, was destroyed. It
is related that these heretics performed a courageous action with the
aid of the members of the Catholic Church, with whom they made common
cause. When those who were employed to destroy this church were about
to commence the work of demolition, the Novatians assembled themselves
together; some tore down the materials, and others conveyed them to a
suburb of the city called Sycae. They quickly achieved this task;
for men, women, and children participated in it, and by offering
their labor to God they were extraordinarily inspirited. By the
exercise of this zeal the church was soon renewed, and, from this
circumstance, received the name of Anastasia. After the death of
Constantius, Julian, his successor, granted to the Novatians the
ground which they had previously possessed, and permitted them to
rebuild their church. The people spiritedly took advantage of this
permission, and transported the identical materials of the former
edifice from Sycae. But this happened at a later period of time than
that which we are now reviewing. At this period a union was nearly
effected between the Novatian and Catholic churches; for as they held
the same opinions concerning the Godhead, and were subjected to a
common persecution, the members of both churches assembled and prayed
together. The Catholics then possessed no houses of prayer, for the
Arians had wrested them from them. It appears, too, that from the
frequent intercourse between the members of each church, they reasoned
that the differences between them were vain, and they resolved to
commune with one another. A reconciliation would certainly have been
effected, I think, had not the desire of the multitude been
frustrated by the slander of a few individuals, who asserted that there
was an ancient law prohibiting the union of the churches.
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