CHAPTER XXX-THIRTY THROUGH THIRTY-TWO CHAPTER XXX-THIRTY THROUGH THIRTY-TWO
Chapter 30 The Epistle of the Bishops against Paul The pastors who had assembled
about this matter prepared by common consent an epistle addressed to Dionysius,
Bishop of Rome, and Maximus of Alexandria, and sent it to all the provinces.
In this they make manifest to all their own zeal and the perverse error of Paul,
and the arguments and discussions which they had with him, and show the entire
life and conduct of the man.
It may be well to put on record at the present time the following extracts from
their writing.
To Dionysius and Maximus, and to all our fellow ministers throughout the world,
bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and to the whole Catholic Church under
heaven, Helenus, Hymenaeus, Theophilus, Theoteknus, Maximus, Proclus, Nicomus,
Ilianus, Paul, Bolanus, Protogenes, Hierax, Eutychius, Theodorus, Malchion,
and Lucius, and all the others who dwell with us in the neighboring cities and
nations, bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and the churches of God, greeting to the
beloved brethren in the Lord.
A little farther on they proceed thus.
We sent for and called many of the bishops from a distance to relieve us from this
deadly doctrine, as Dionysius of Alexandria and Firmilianus of Cappadocia,
those blessed men.
The first of these, not considering the author of this delusion worthy to be
addressed, sent a letter to Antioch, not written to him, but to the entire
parish, of which we give a copy below.
But Firmilianus came twice, and condemned his innovations, as we who are present
know and testify, and many others understand.
But as he promised to change his opinions, he believed him, and hoped that without
any reproach to the word what was necessary would be done.
So he delayed the matter, being deceived by him who denied even his own God and
Lord, and had not kept the faith which he formerly held.
And now Firmilianus was again on his way to Antioch, and had come as far as Tarsus
because he had learned by experience his God-denying wickedness.
But while we, having come together, were calling for him and awaiting his
arrival, he died.
After other things they describe as follows the manner of life which he led.
Whereas he has departed from the rule of faith, and has turned aside after base and
spurious teachings, it is not necessary, since he is without, that we should pass
judgment upon his practices, as for instance, in that although formerly
destitute and poor, and having received no wealth from his fathers, nor made anything
by trade or business, he now possesses abundant wealth through his iniquities and
sacrilegious acts, and through those things which he extorts from the brethren,
depriving the injured of their rights, and promising to assist them for reward,
yet deceiving them, and plundering those who in their trouble are ready to give
that they may obtain reconciliation with their oppressors, supposing that gain is
godliness.
Or in that he is haughty, and is puffed up, and assumes worldly dignities,
preferring to be called ducenarius rather than bishop, and struts in the
marketplaces, reading letters and reciting them as he walks in public, attended by a
bodyguard, with a multitude preceding and following him, so that the faith is envied
and hated on account of his pride and haughtiness of heart.
Or in that he practices chicanery in ecclesiastical assemblies, contrives to
glorify himself and deceive with appearances, and astonish the minds of the
simple, preparing for himself a tribunal and lofty throne, not like a disciple of
Christ, and possessing a secretum, like the rulers of the world, and so
calling it, and striking his thigh with his hand, and stamping on the tribunal
with his feet.
Or in that he rebukes and insults those who do not applaud, and shake their
handkerchiefs, as in the theatres, and shout and leap about like the men and
women that are stationed around him, and hear him in this unbecoming manner,
but who listen reverently and orderly, as in the house of God.
Or in that he violently and coarsely assails in public the expounders of the
word that have departed this life, and magnifies himself, not as a bishop,
but as a sophist and juggler.
And stops the psalms to our Lord Jesus Christ as being the modern productions of
modern men, and trains women to sing psalms to himself in the midst of the
church on the great day of the Passover, which anyone might shudder to hear,
and persuades the bishops and presbyters of the neighboring districts and cities
who fawn upon him to advance the same ideas in their discourses to the people.
For to anticipate something of what we shall presently write, he is unwilling to
acknowledge that the Son of God has come down from heaven.
And this is not a mere assertion, but it is abundantly proved from the
records which we have sent to you, and not least where he says Jesus Christ
is from below.
But those singing to him and extolling him among the people say that their impious
teacher has come down an angel from heaven.
And he does not forbid such things, but the arrogant man is even present when
they are uttered.
And there are the women, the sub-introductae, as the people of Antioch
call them, belonging to him and to the presbyters and deacons that are with him.
Although he knows and has convicted these men, yet he connives at this and their
other incurable sins, in order that they may be bound to him, and through fear for
themselves may not dare to accuse him for his wicked words and deeds.
But he has also made them rich, on which account he is loved and admired
by those who covet such things.
We know, beloved, that the bishop and all the clergy should be an example to the
people of all good works, and we are not ignorant how many have fallen or incurred
suspicion through the women whom they have thus brought in, so that even if we should
allow that he commits no sinful act, yet he ought to avoid the suspicion which
arises from such a thing, lest he scandalize someone or lead others to
imitate him.
For how can he reprove or admonish another not to be too familiar with women,
lest he fall, as it is written, when he has himself sent one away already
and now has two with him, blooming and beautiful, and takes them with him
wherever he goes, and at the same time lives in luxury and surfeiting?
Because of these things all mourn and lament by themselves, but they so fear his
tyranny and power that they dare not accuse him.
But as we have said, while one might call the man to account for this conduct if he
held the Catholic doctrine and was numbered with us, since he has scorned the
mystery and struts about in the abominable heresy of Artemis, for why should we not
mention his father, we think it unnecessary to demand of him an
explanation of these things.
Afterwards, at the close of the epistle, they add these words.
Therefore we have been compelled to excommunicate him, since he sets himself
against God and refuses to obey, and to appoint in his place another bishop
for the Catholic Church.
By divine direction, as we believe, we have appointed Domnus, who is adorned
with all the qualities becoming in a bishop, and who is a son of the blessed
Demetrianus, who formerly presided in a distinguished manner over the same parish.
We have informed you of this that you may write to him, and may receive letters of
communion from him.
But let this man write to Artemis, and let those who think as Artemis does
communicate with him.
As Paul had fallen from the episcopate, as well as from the orthodox faith,
Domnus, as has been said, became bishop of the church at Antioch.
But as Paul refused to surrender the church building, the emperor Aurelian was
petitioned, and he decided the matter most equitably, ordering the building to be
given to those to whom the bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome should
adjudge it.
Thus this man was driven out of the church with extreme disgrace by the worldly
power.
Such was Aurelian's treatment of us at that time, but in the course of his reign
he changed his mind in regard to us, and was moved by certain advisers to
institute a persecution against us, and there was great talk about this on
every side.
But as he was about to do it, and was, so to speak, in the very act of signing
the decrees against us, the divine judgment came upon him, and restrained him
at the very verge of his undertaking, showing in a manner that all could see
clearly, that the rulers of this world can never find an opportunity against the
churches of Christ, except the hand that defends them permits it, in divine and
heavenly judgment, for the sake of discipline and correction, at such times
as it sees best.
After a reign of six years, Aurelian was succeeded by Probus.
He reigned for the same number of years, and Carus, with his sons Carinus and
Numerianus, succeeded him.
After they had reigned less than three years, the government devolved on
Diocletian, and those associated with him.
Under them took place the persecution of our time, and the destruction of the
churches connected with it.
Shortly before this, Dionysius, Bishop of Rome, after holding office for
nine years, died, and was succeeded by Felix.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE PERVERSIVE HERESY OF THE MANICHEANS WHICH BEGAN AT THIS TIME.
At this time the madman, named from his demoniacal heresy, armed himself in the
perversion of his reason, as the devil, Satan, who himself fights against God,
put him forward to the destruction of many.
He was a barbarian in life, both in word and deed, and in his nature demoniacal and
insane.
In consequence of this he sought to pose as Christ, and being puffed up in his
madness, he proclaimed himself the paraclete and the very Holy Spirit,
and afterwards, like Christ, he chose twelve disciples as partners of his new
doctrine.
And he patched together false and godless doctrines collected from a multitude of
long-extinct impieties, and swept them, like a deadly poison, from Persia to our
part of the world.
From him the impious name of the Manicheans is still prevalent among many.
Such was the foundation of this knowledge falsely so called, which sprang up in
those times.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE DISTINGUISHED ECCLESIASTICS OF OUR DAY, AND WHICH OF THEM SURVIVED UNTIL THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE CHURCHES.
At this time Felix, having presided over the Church of Rome for five years,
was succeeded by Eutychianus, but he in less than ten months left the position to
Caius, who lived in our day.
He held it about fifteen years, and was in turn succeeded by Marcellinus,
who was overtaken by the persecution.
About this time Timaeus received the episcopate of Antioch after Domnus,
and Cyril, who lived in our day, succeeded him.
In his time we became acquainted with Dorotheus, a man of learning among those
of his day, who was honored with the office of presbyter in Antioch.
He was a lover of the beautiful in divine things, and devoted himself to the Hebrew
language, so that he read the Hebrew scriptures with facility.
He belonged to those who were especially liberal and was not unacquainted with
Grecian propedutics.
Besides this, he was a eunuch, having been so from his very birth.
On this account, as if it were a miracle, the emperor took him into his family,
and honored him by placing him over the purple dye-works at Tyre.
We have heard him expound the scriptures wisely in the Church.
After Cyril, Tyrannus received the episcopate of the parish of Antioch.
In his time occurred the destruction of the churches.
Eusebius, who had come from the city of Alexandria, ruled the parishes of Laodicea
after Socrates.
The occasion of his removal thither was the affair of Paul.
He went on this account to Syria, and was restrained from returning home by
those there who were zealous in divine things.
Among our contemporaries he was a beautiful example of religion,
as is readily seen from the words of Dionysius which we have quoted.
Anatolius was appointed his successor, one good man, as they say, following
another.
He also was an Alexandrian by birth.
In learning and skill in Greek philosophy, such as arithmetic and geometry,
astronomy and dialectics in general, as well as in the theory of physics,
he stood first among the ablest men of our time, and he was also at the head in
rhetorical science.
It is reported that for this reason he was requested by the citizens of Alexandria to
establish there a school of Aristotelian philosophy.
They relate of him many other eminent deeds during the siege of the Pyrrhocheum
in Alexandria, on account of which he was especially honored by all those in high
office, but I will give the following only as an example.
They say that bread had failed the besieged, so that it was more difficult to
withstand the famine than the enemy outside, but he being present provided for
them in this manner.
As the other part of the city was allied with the Roman army, and therefore was not
under siege, Anatolius sent for Eusebius, for he was still there before his transfer
to Syria, and was among those who were not besieged, and possessed moreover a great
reputation and a renowned name which had reached even the Roman general,
and he informed him of those who were perishing in the siege from famine.
When he learned this, he requested the Roman commander as the greatest possible
favor to grant safety to deserters from the enemy.
Having obtained his request, he communicated it to Anatolius.
As soon as he received the message, he convened the Senate of Alexandria,
and at first proposed that all should come to a reconciliation with the Romans.
But when he perceived that they were angered by this advice, he said,
But I do not think you will oppose me if I counsel you to send the supernumeraries
and those who are in no wise useful to us, as old women and children and old men,
outside the gates, to go wherever they may please.
For why should we retain for no purpose those who must at any rate soon die?
And why should we destroy with hunger those who are crippled and maimed in body,
when we ought to provide only for men and youth, and to distribute the necessary
bread among those who are needed for the garrison of the city?
With such arguments he persuaded the assembly, and rising first he gave his
vote that the entire multitude, whether of men or women, who were not
needful for the army, should depart from the city, because if they remained and
unnecessarily continued in the city, there would be for them no hope of safety,
but they would perish with famine.
As all the others in the senate agreed to this, he saved almost all the besieged.
He provided that first those belonging to the church, and afterwards, of the others
in the city, those of every age, should escape, not only the classes
included in the decree, but under cover of these, a multitude of others, secretly
clothed in women's garments, and through his management they went out of the gates
by night and escaped to the Roman camp.
There Eusebius, like a father and physician, received all of them,
wasted away through the long siege, and restored them by every kind of
prudence and care.
The church of Laodicea was honored by two such pastors in succession, who,
in the providence of God, came after the aforesaid war from Alexandria to that
city.
Anatolius did not write very many works, but in such as have come down to us we can
discern his eloquence and erudition.
In these he states particularly his opinions on the Passover.
It seems important to give here the following extracts from them.
From the Pascal Canons of Anatolius.
There is then in the first year the new moon of the first month, which is the
beginning of every cycle of nineteen years, on the twenty-sixth day of the
Egyptian Faminoth.
But according to the months of the Macedonians, the twenty-second day of
Distrus, or as the Romans would say, the eleventh before the calends of April.
On the said twenty-sixth of Faminoth, the sun is found and not only entered on
the first segment, but already passing through the fourth day in it.
They are accustomed to call this segment the first dodecatomorion, and the equinox,
and the beginning of months, and the head of the cycle, and the starting point of
the planetary circuit.
But they call the one preceding this the last of months, and the twelfth segment,
and the final dodecatomorion, and the end of the planetary circuit.
Wherefore we maintain that those who place the first month in it, and determine by it
the fourteenth of the Passover, commit no slight or common blunder.
And this is not an opinion of our own, but it was known to the Jews of old,
even before Christ, and was carefully observed by them.
This may be learned from what is said by Philo, Josephus, and Mucius.
And not only by them, but also by those yet more ancient, the two Agathobuli,
surnamed masters, and the famous Aristobulus, who was chosen among the
seventy interpreters of the sacred and divine Hebrew scriptures by Ptolemy
Philadelphus and his father, and who also dedicated his exegetical books on the law
of Moses to the same kings.
These writers, explaining questions in regard to the Exodus, say that all alike
should sacrifice the Passover offerings after the vernal equinox in the middle of
the first month, but this occurs while the sun is passing through the first segment
of the solar, or as some of them have styled it, the zodiacal circle.
Aristobulus adds that it is necessary for the feast of the Passover that not only
the sun should pass through the equinoctial segment, but the moon also.
For as there are two equinoctial segments, the vernal and the autumnal, directly
opposite each other, and as the day of the Passover was appointed on the fourteenth
of the month, beginning with the evening, the moon will hold a position
diametrically opposite the sun, as may be seen in full moons, and the sun
will be in the segment of the vernal equinox, and of necessity the moon in that
of the autumnal.
I know that many other things have been said by them, some of them probable,
and some, approaching absolute demonstration, by which they endeavor to
prove that it is altogether necessary to keep the Passover and the feast of
unleavened bread after the equinox.
But I refrain from demanding this sort of demonstration, for matters from which the
veil of the Mosaic law has been removed, so that now at length with uncovered face
we continually behold as in a glass Christ and the teachings and sufferings of
Christ, but that with the Hebrews the first month was near the equinox,
the teachings also of the book of Enoch show.
The same writer has also left the institutes of arithmetic in ten books,
and other evidences of his experience and proficiency in divine things.
Theoteknus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, first ordained him as bishop,
designing to make him his successor in his own parish after his death.
And for a short time both of them presided over the same church.
But the synod which was held to consider Paul's case called him to Antioch,
and as he passed through the city of Laodicea, Eusebius being dead,
he was detained by the brethren there.
And after Anatolius had departed this life, the last bishop of that parish
before the persecution was Stephen, who was admired by many for his knowledge
of philosophy and other Greek learning.
But he was not equally devoted to the divine faith, as the progress of the
persecution manifested, for it showed that he was a cowardly and unmanly dissembler
rather than a true philosopher.
But this did not seriously injure the church, for Theodotus restored their
affairs, being straightway made bishop of that parish by God himself, the Saviour of
all.
He justified by his deeds both his lordly name and his office of bishop,
for he excelled in the medical art for bodies and in the healing art for souls,
nor did any other man equal him in kindness, sincerity, sympathy and zeal in
helping such as needed his aid.
He was also greatly devoted to divine learning.
Such an one was he.
In Caesarea in Palestine, Agapius succeeded Theoteknus, who had most
zealously performed the duties of his episcopate.
Him too we know to have labored diligently, and to have manifested most
genuine providence in his oversight of the people, particularly caring for all the
poor with liberal hand.
In his time we became acquainted with Pamphilus, that most eloquent man,
of truly philosophical life, who was esteemed worthy of the office of presbyter
in that parish.
It would be no small matter to show what sort of a man he was and whence he came,
but we have described, in our special work concerning him, all the particulars of his
life, and of the school which he established, and the trials which he
endured in many confessions during the persecution, and the crown of martyrdom
with which he was finally honored.
But of all that were there he was indeed the most admirable.
Among those nearest our times we have known Pierius, of the presbyters in
Alexandria, and Meletius, bishop of the churches in Pontus, rarest of men.
The first was distinguished for his life of extreme poverty and his philosophic
learning, and was exceedingly diligent in the contemplation and exposition of divine
things, and in public discourses in the church.
Meletius, whom the learned call the honey of Attica, was a man whom everyone would
describe as most accomplished in all kinds of learning, and it would be impossible to
admire sufficiently his rhetorical skill.
It might be said that he possessed this by nature, but who could surpass the
excellence of his great experience and erudition in other respects?
For in all branches of knowledge had you undertaken to try him even once,
you would have said that he was the most skillful and learned.
Moreover, the virtues of his life were not less remarkable.
We observed him well in the time of the persecution, when for seven full years he
was escaping from its fury in the regions of Palestine.
Zamdas received the episcopate of the church of Jerusalem after the bishop
Hymenaeus, whom we mentioned a little above.
He died in a short time, and Hermon, the last before the persecution in our
day, succeeded to the apostolic chair, which has been preserved there until the
present time.
In Alexandria, Maximus, who after the death of Dionysius had been bishop for
eighteen years, was succeeded by Theonus.
In his time, Achillas, who had been appointed a presbyter in Alexandria at the
same time with Peirius, became celebrated.
He was placed over the school of the sacred faith, and exhibited fruits of
philosophy most rare and inferior to none, and conduct genuinely evangelical.
After Theonus had held the office for nineteen years, Peter received the
episcopate in Alexandria, and was very eminent among them for twelve entire
years.
Of these he governed the church less than three years before the persecution,
and for the remainder of his life he subjected himself to a more rigid
discipline, and cared in no secret manner for the general interest of the churches.
On this account he was beheaded in the ninth year of the persecution,
and was adorned with the crown of martyrdom.
Having written out in these books the account of the successions from the birth
of our Savior to the destruction of the places of worship, a period of three
hundred and five years, permit me to pass on to the contests of those who,
in our day, have heroically fought for religion, and to leave in writing,
for the information of posterity, the extent and the magnitude of those conflicts.