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THE Melitians, on the failure of their first attempt, secretly
concocted other indictments against Athanasius. On the one hand they
charged him with breaking a sacred chalice, and on the other with
having slain one Arsenius, and with having cut off his arm and
retained it for magical purposes. It is said that this Arsenius was
one of the clergy, but that, having committed some crime, he fled to
a place of concealment for fear of being convicted and punished by his
bishop. The enemies of Athanasius devised the most serious attack for
this occurrence. They sought Arsenius with great diligence, and
found him; they showed him great kindness, promised, to secure for
him every goodwill and safety, and conducted him secretly to
Patrines, a presbyter of a monastery, who was one of their
confederates, and of the same interest as themselves. After having
thus carefully concealed him, they diligently spread the report in the
market places and public assemblies that he had been slain by
Athanasius. They also bribed John, a monk, to corroborate the
accusation. As this evil report was universally circulated, and had
even reached the ears of the emperor, Athanasius, being apprehensive
that it would be difficult to defend his cause before judges whose minds
were prejudiced by such false rumors, resorted to stratagems akin to
those of his adversaries. He did everything in his power to prevent
truth from being obscured by their attacks; but the multitude could not
be convinced, on account of the non-appearance of Arsenius.
Reflecting, therefore, that the suspicion which rested upon him could
not be removed except by proving that Arsenius, who was said to be
dead, was still alive, he sent a most trustworthy deacon in quest of
him. The deacon went to Thebes, and ascertained from the declaration
of some monks where he was living. And when he came to Patrines,
with whom he had been concealed, he found that Arsenius was not
there; for on the first intelligence of the arrival of the deacon he
had been conveyed to Lower Egypt. The deacon arrested Patrines,
and conducted him to Alexandria, as also Elias, one of his
associates, who was said to have been the person who conveyed Arsenius
elsewhere. He delivered them both to the commander of the Egyptian
forces, and they confessed that Arsenius was still alive, that he had
been secretly concealed in their house, and that he was now living in
Egypt. Athanasius took care that all these facts should be reported
to Constantine. The emperor wrote back to him, desiring him to
attend to the due performance of the priestly functions, and the
maintenance of order and piety among the people, and not to be
disquieted by the machinations of the Melitians, it being evident that
envy alone was the cause of the false indictments which were circulated
against him and the disturbance in the churches. The emperor added
that, for the future, he should not give place to such reports; and
that, unless the calumniators preserved the peace, he should certainly
subject them to the rigor of the state laws, add let justice have its
course, as they had not only unjustly plotted against the innocent,
but had also shamefully abused the good order and piety of the Church.
Such was the strain of the emperor's letter to Athanasius; and he
further commanded that it should be read aloud before the public, in
order that they might all be made acquainted with his intentions. The
Melitians were alarmed at these menaces, and became more quiet for a
while, because they viewed with anxiety the threat of the ruler. The
churches throughout Egypt enjoyed profound peace, and, directed by
the presidency of this great priest, it daily increased in numbers by
the conversion of multitudes of pagans and other heretics.
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