|
ATHANASIUS, after having fled from Tyre, repaired to
Constantinople, and on coming to the emperor Constantine, complained
of what he had suffered, in presence of the bishops who had condemned
him, and besought him to permit the decrees of the council of Tyre to
be submitted for examination before the emperor. Constantine regarded
this request as reasonable, and wrote in the following terms to the
bishops assembled at Tyre:
"I know not what has been enacted in confusion and vehemence by your
Synod; but it appears that, from some disturbing disorder, decrees
which are not in conformity with truth have been enacted, and that your
constant irritation of one another evidently prevented you from
considering what is pleasing to God. But it will be the work of
Divine Providence to scatter the evils which have been drawn out of
this contentiousness, and to manifest to us clearly whether you have
not been misled in your judgment by motives of private friendship or
aversion. I therefore command that you all come here to my piety
without delay, in order that we may receive an exact account of your
transactions. I will explain to you the cause of my writing to you in
this strain, and you will know from what follows, why I summon you
before myself through this document. As I was returning on horseback
to that city which bears my name, and which I regard as my much
prospered country, Athanasius, the bishop, presented himself so
unexpectedly in the middle of the highway, with certain individuals who
accompanied him, that I felt exceedingly surprised at beholding him.
God, who sees all things, is my witness, that at first I did not
know who he was, but that some of my attendants having ascertained this
point, and the injustice which he had suffered, gave me the necessary
information. I did not on this occasion grant him an interview. He,
however, persevered in requesting an audience; and although I refused
him, and was on the point of commanding that he should be removed from
my presence, he told me with more boldness, that he sought no other
favor of me than that I should summon you hither, in order that he
might in your presence complain of what he had suffered unnecessarily.
As this request appears reasonable and timely, I deemed it right to
address you in this strain, and to command all of you who were convened
at the Synod of Tyre to hasten to the court of our clemency, so that
you may demonstrate by your works, the purity and inflexibility of your
decisions before me, whom you cannot refuse to acknowledge as a genuine
servant of God. By my zeal in His service, peace has been
established throughout the world, and the name of God is genuinely
praised among the barbarians, who till now were m ignorance of the
truth; and it is evident that whoever is ignorant of the truth knows
not God. Notwithstanding, as is above stated, the barbarians have,
through my instrumentality, learnt to know genuinely and to worship
God; for they perceived that everywhere, and on all occasions, his
protection rested on me; and they reverence God the more deeply
because they fear my power. But we who have to announce the mysteries
of forbearance (for I will not say that we keep them), we, I say,
ought not to do anything that can tend to dissension or hatred, or, to
speak plainly, to the destruction of the human race. Come, then, to
us, as I have said, with all diligence, and be assured that I shall
do everything in my power to preserve all the particularly infallible
parts of the law of God in a way that no fault or heterodoxy can be
fabricated; while those enemies of the law who, under the guise of the
Holy Name, endeavor to introduce variant and differing blasphemies,
have been openly scattered, utterly crushed, and wholly suppressed."
This letter of the emperor so excited the fears of some of the bishops
that they set off on their journey homewards. But Eusebius, bishop
of Nicomedia, and his partisans, went to the emperor, and
represented that the Synod of Tyre had enacted no decrees against
Athanasius but what were founded on justice. They brought forward as
witnesses Theognis, Maris, Theodore, Valens, and Ursacius, and
deposed that he had broken the mystical cup, and after uttering many
other calumnies, they prevailed with their accusations. The emperor,
either believing their statements to be true, or imagining that
unanimity would be restored among the bishops if Athanasius were
removed, exiled him to Treves, in Western Gaul; and thither,
therefore, he was conducted.
|
|