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Such subjects as the above, however, are best left to the decision of
individual judgment.
The emperor, about this period, condemned Eunomius to banishment.
This heretic had fixed his residence in the suburbs of
Constantinople, and held frequent churches in private houses, where
he read his own writings. He induced many to embrace his sentiments,
so that the sectarians, who were named after him, became very
numerous. He died not long after his banishment, and was interred at
Dacora, his birthplace, a village of Cappadocia, situated near
Mount Argeus, in the territory of Caesarea. Theophronius, who was
also a native of Cappadocia, and who had been his disciple, continued
to promulgate his doctrines. Having gotten a smattering, through the
writings of Aristotle, he composed an introduction to the study of the
syllogisms in them, which he entitled "Exercises for the Mind."
But he afterwards engaged, I have understood, in many unprofitable
disputations, and soon ceased to confine himself to the doctrines of
his master. But being eager for new things, he endeavored to prove,
from the terms which are placed in the Sacred Scriptures, that though
God foreknows that which is not, and knows that which is, and
remembers what has happened, he does not always have that knowledge in
the same manner with respect to the future and present, and changes his
knowledge of the past. As this hypothesis appeared positively absurd
to the Eunomians, they excommunicated him from their church; and he
constituted himself the leader of a new sect, called, after his name,
Theophronians. Not long after, Eutychus, one of the Eunomians,
originated another sect in Constantinople, to which his own name was
given. For the question had been proposed, as to whether the Son of
God is or is not acquainted with the last hour; and for its solution,
the words of the evangelist were quoted, in which it is stated that the
day and hour are known only to the Father. Eutychus, however,
contended that this knowledge belongs also to the Son, inasmuch as He
has received all things from the Father. The Eunomian presidents,
having condemned this opinion, he seceded from communion with them,
and went to join Eunomius in his place of banishment. A deacon, and
some other individuals, who had been dispatched from Constantinople to
accuse Eutychus, and, if necessary, to oppose him in argument,
arrived first at the place of destination. When Eunomius was made
acquainted with the object of their journey, he expressed himself in
favor of the sentiments propounded by Eutychus; and, on his arrival,
prayed with him, although it was not lawful to pray with any one who
travels unprovided with letters written in sacred characters, attesting
his being in communion. Eunomius died soon after this contention; and
the Eunomian president, at Constantinople, refused to receive
Eutychus into communion; for he antagonized him from jealousy because
he was not even of clerical rank, and because he could not answer his
arguments, and did not find it possible to solve his problems.
Eutychus, therefore, separated those who had espoused his sentiments
into a personal heresy. Many assert that he and Theophronius were the
first who propounded the peculiar views entertained by the Eunomians
concerning divine baptism. The above is a brief account of such
details as I have been able to give in order to afford a succinct
knowledge of the causes which led the Eunomians to be divided among
themselves. I should be prolix were I to enter into further
particulars; and, indeed, the subject would be by no means an easy
one to me, since I have no such dialectic skill.
The following question was, in the meantime, agitated among the
Arians of Constantinople: Prior to the existence of the Son (whom
they regard as having proceeded out of nothing), is God to be termed
the Father? Dorotheus, who had been summoned from Antioch to rule
over them in the place of Marinus, was of opinion that God could not
have been called the Father prior to the existence of the Son,
because the name of Father has a necessary connection with that of
Son. Marinus, on the other hand, maintained that the Father was
the Father, even when the Son existed not; and he advanced this
opinion either from conviction, or else from the desire of contention,
and from jealousy at the preference that had been shown to Dorotheus in
the Church. The Arians were thus divided into two parties;
Dorotheus and his followers retained possession of the houses of
prayer, while Marinus, and those who seceded with him, erected new
edifices in which to hold their own churches. The name
"Psathyrians" and "Goths" were given to the partisans of
Marinus; Psathyrians, because Theoctistus, a certain cake-vender
was a zealous advocate of their opinions; and Goths, because their
sentiments were approved by Selinus, bishop of that nation. Almost
all these barbarians followed the instructions of Selinus, and they
gathered in churches with the followers of Marinus. The Goths were
drawn to Selinus particularly because he had formerly been the
secretary of Ulphilas, and had succeeded him as bishop. He was
capable of teaching in their churches, not only in the vernacular, but
also in the Greek language.
Soon after a contest for precedency arose between Marinus and
Agapius, whom Marinus himself had ordained bishop over the Arians at
Ephesus; and in the quarrel which ensued, the Goths took the part of
Agapius. It is said that many of the Arian clergy of that city were
so much irritated through the ambition displayed by these two bishops,
that they communed with the Catholic Church. Such was the origin of
the division of the Arians into two factions, a division which still
subsists; so that, in every city, they have separate churches. The
Arians at Constantinople, however, after a separation of thirty five
years, were reconciled to each other by Plinthas, formerly a consul,
general of the cavalry and infantry, a man possessed of great influence
at court. To prevent the revival of the former dissensions among
them, the question which had been the cause of the division was
forbidden to be mooted. And these occurrences took place later.
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