I.
Encyclical Epistle
of the
Blessed Athanasius,
Bishop of Alexandria
[S. Athanasius wrote the following Epistle in the
year 341. In that year the Eusebians held the famous Council of the
Dedication at Antioch, vid. Athan. de Syn. §. 25. (Libr. F. vol. 8.
p. 109, &c.) Here they appointed Gregory to the see of Alexandria
in the place of Athanasius, whom they had already condemned and
denounced at the Synod of Tyre, A.D.
335. Gregory was by
birth a Cappadocian, and, (if Nazianzen speaks of the same Gregory,
which some critics doubt,) studied at Alexandria, where S. Athanasius
had treated him with great kindness and familiarity, though Gregory
afterwards took part in propagating the calumny against him of having
murdered Arsenius. Gregory was on his appointment dispatched to
Alexandria with Philagrius Prefect of Egypt, and their proceedings on
their arrival are related in the following Encyclical Epistle, which
S. Athanasius forwarded immediately upon his retreat from the city to
all the Bishops of the Catholic Church. It is less correct in style,
as Tillemont observes, than other of his works, as if composed in
haste. In the Editions previous to the Benedictine, it was called an "Epistle
to the Orthodox every where;" but Montfaucon has been able to restore
the true title. He has been also able from his MSS. to make a far more
important correction, which has cleared up some very perplexing
difficulties in the history. All the Editions previous to the
Benedictine read "George" throughout for "Gregory," and "Gregory" in
the place where "Pistus" occurs. Baronius, Tillemont, &c. had
already made the alterations from the necessity of the case.]
———————
To his fellow-Ministers [Note
1] in every place, beloved Lords, Athanasius sends health in the
Lord.
§. 1.
1. OUR sufferings have been
dreadful beyond endurance, and it is impossible to describe them in
suitable terms; but {2} in order that the dreadful nature of the
events which have taken place may be more readily apprehended, I have
thought it good to bring to your notice a history out of the
Scriptures. It happened that a certain Levite was injured in the
person of his wife [Judg. xix. 19.]; and, when he considered the
exceeding greatness of the pollution, (for the woman was a Hebrew, and
of the tribe of Judah,) being astounded at the outrage which had been
committed against him, he divided his wife's body, as the Holy
Scripture relates in the Book of Judges, and sent a part of it to
every tribe in Israel, in order that it might be understood that an
injury like this pertained not to himself only, but extended to all
alike; and that, if the people sympathised with him in his sufferings,
they might as avenge him; or if they neglected to do so, might bear
the disgrace of being considered henceforth as themselves guilty of
the wrong. The messenger's whom he sent related what had happened; and
they that heard and saw it, declared that such things had never been
done from the day that the children of Israel came up out of Egypt. So
every tribe of Israel was moved, and all came together against the
offenders, as though they had themselves had been the sufferers; and
at last the perpetrators of this iniquity were destroyed in war, and
became a curse [Note 2] in the
mouths of all: for the assembled people considered not their kindred
blood, but regarded only the crime they had committed. You know the
history, brethren, and the particular account of the circumstances
given in Scripture. I will not therefore describe them more in detail,
since I write to persons acquainted with them, and as I am anxious to
represent to your piety our present circumstances, which are even
worse than those to which I have referred. For my object in reminding
you of this history is this, that you may compare those ancient
transactions with what has happened to us now, and perceiving how
little these last exceed the other in cruelty, may be filled with
greater indignation on account of them, than were the people of old
against those offenders.
2. For the treatment we have undergone, surpasses
the bitterness of any persecution; and the calamity of the Levite was
but small, when compared with the enormities which have now been
committed against the Church; or rather such {3} deeds as these were
never before heard of in the whole world, or the like experienced by
any one. In that case it was but a single woman that was injured, and
one Levite who suffered wrong; now the whole Church is injured, the
priesthood insulted, and worst of all, piety [Note
3] is persecuted by impiety. On that occasion the tribes were
astounded, each at the sight of part of the body of one woman; but now
the members of the whole Church are seen divided from one another, and
are sent abroad some to you, and some to others, bringing word of the
insults and injustice which they have suffered. Be ye therefore also
moved, I beseech you, considering that these wrongs are done unto you
no less than unto us; and let every one lend his aid, as feeling that
he is himself a sufferer, lest shortly the Ecclesiastical Canons, and
the faith of the Church be corrupted. For both are in danger, unless
God shall speedily by your hands amend what has been done amiss, and
the Church be avenged on her enemies. For our Canons [Note
A] and our forms were not given to the Churches at the present
day, but were wisely and safely transmitted to us from our
forefathers. Neither had our faith its beginning at this time, but it
came down to us from the Lord through his disciples [Note
B]. That therefore the ordinances which have been preserved in the
Churches from old time until now, may not be lost in our days, and the
trust which has been committed to us required at our hands; rouse
yourselves, brethren, as being stewards of the mysteries of God, and
seeing them now seized upon by aliens. Further particulars of our
condition you will learn from the bearers of our letters; but I was
anxious myself to write you a brief account thereof, that you may know
for certain, that such things have never before been committed against
the Church, from the day that our Saviour, when He was taken up, gave
command to his disciples, saying, Go ye, and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost [Mat. xxviii. 19.]. {4}
§. 2.
3. Now the outrages which have been committed
against us, and against the Church are these. While we were holding
our assemblies in peace, as usual, and while the people were rejoicing
in them, and advancing in godly conversation, and while our
fellow-ministers in Egypt, and the Thebais, and Libya, were in love
and peace both with one another and with us; on a sudden the Prefect
of Egypt puts forth a public letter, bearing the form of an edict, and
declaring that one Gregory from Cappadocia was coming to be my
successor, supported by his own body-guard. This announcement
confounded every one, for such a proceeding was entirely novel, and
now heard of for the first time. The people however assembled still
more constantly in the Churches [Note
C], for they very well knew that neither they themselves, nor any
Bishop or Presbyter, nor in short any one had ever complained against
me; and they saw that Arians only were on his side, and were aware
also that he was himself an Arian, and was sent by the Eusebians to
the Arian party. For you know, brethren, that the Eusebians have
always been the supporters and associates of the impious heresy of the
Arian fanatics [Note 4], by
whose means they have ever carried on their designs against me, and
were the authors of my banishment into Gaul.
4. The people, therefore, were justly indignant
and exclaimed against the proceeding, calling the rest of the
magistrates and the whole city to witness, that this novel and
iniquitous attempt was now made against the Church, not on the ground
of any charge brought against me by Ecclesiastical persons, but
through the wanton assault of the Arian heretics. For even if there
had been any complaint generally prevailing against me, it was not an
Arian, or one professing Arian doctrines, that ought to have been
chosen to supersede me but according to the Ecclesiastical Canons, and
the direction of Paul, when the people were gathered together, and
the {5} spirit of them that ordain, with the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ, all things ought to have been enquired into
and transacted canonically, in the presence of those among the laity
and clergy who demanded the change; and not that a person brought from
a distance by Arians, as if making a traffic of the title of Bishop,
should with the support and strong arm of heathen magistrates, thrust
himself upon those who neither demanded nor desired his presence, nor
indeed knew any thing of what had been done. Such proceedings tend to
the dissolution of all Ecclesiastical rules, and compel the heathen to
blaspheme, and to suspect that our appointments are not made according
to a divine rule, but as a matter of traffic and patronage [Note
5].
§. 3.
5. Thus was this notable appointment of Gregory
brought about by the Arians, and such was the beginning of it. And
what outrages he committed on his entry into Alexandria, and of what
great evils that event was the cause, you may learn both from our
letters, and by enquiry of those who travel among you. While the
people were offended at such an unusual proceeding, and in consequence
assembled in the Churches, in order to prevent the impiety of the
Arians from mingling itself with the faith of the Church, Philagrius
who has long been a persecutor of the Church and her virgins, and is
now Prefect [Note D] of Egypt, an
apostate already, and a fellow-countryman of Gregory, a man too of no
respectable character, and moreover supported by the Eusebians, and
therefore full of zeal against the Church; this person, by means of
promises which he afterwards fulfilled, succeeded in gaining over the
heathen multitude, with the Jews and disorderly persons, and having
excited their passions, sent them in a body with swords and clubs into
the Churches to attack the people.
6. What followed upon this it is by no means easy
to describe: indeed it is not possible to set before you a just
representation of the circumstances, nor even could one recount a
small part of them without tears and lamentations. Have such deeds as
these ever been made the subjects of tragedy {6} among the ancients?
or has the like ever happened before in time of persecution or of war?
The Church and the holy Baptistery were set on fire, and straightway
groans, shrieks, and lamentations, were heard through the city; while
the citizens in their indignation at these enormities, cried shame
upon the governor, and protested against the violence used to them.
For the holy and undefiled virgins [Note
E] were stripped naked, and suffered treatment which is not to be
named, and if they resisted, they were in danger of their lives. Monks
were trampled under foot and perished; some were hurled headlong;
others were destroyed with swords and clubs; others were wounded and
beaten. And oh! what deeds of impiety and iniquity were committed upon
the Holy Table! They offered birds and pine cones [Note
F] in sacrifice, singing the praises of their idols, and
blaspheming even in the very Churches our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God. They burned the books of Holy
Scripture which they found in the Church; and the Jews, the murderers
of our Lord, and the godless heathen entering irreverently (O strange
boldness!) the holy Baptistery, stripped themselves naked, and acted
such a disgraceful part, both by word and deed, as one is ashamed even
to relate. Certain impious men also, following the examples set them
in the bitterest persecutions, seized upon the virgins, and widows,
and having tied their hands together, dragged them along, and
endeavoured to make them blaspheme and deny the Lord; and when they
refused to do so, they beat them violently and trampled them under
foot.
§. 4.
7. In addition to all this, after such a notable
and illustrious entry into the city, the Arian Gregory, taking
pleasure in these calamities, and as if desirous to secure to the
heathens and Jews, and those who had wrought these evils upon us, a
prize and price of their iniquitous success, gave up the Church to be
plundered by them. Upon this licence of iniquity and disorder, their
deeds were worse than in time of war, and more cruel than those of
robbers. Some of them {7} plundered whatever fell in their way; others
divided among themselves the sums which individuals had laid up there
[Note G]; the wine, of which there
was a large quantity, they either drank or emptied out or carried
away; they plundered the store of oil, and every one took as his spoil
the doors and chancel rails; the candlesticks they forthwith laid
aside in the wall [Note 6], and
lighted the candles of the Church before their idols; in a word,
rapine and death pervaded the Church.
8. And the impious [Note
7] Arians, so far from feeling shame that such things should be
done, added yet further outrages and cruelty. Presbyters and laymen
had their flesh torn, virgins were stripped of their veils [Note
8], and led away to the tribunal of the governor, and then cast
into prison; others had their goods confiscated, and were scourged;
the bread of the ministers and virgins was intercepted. And these
things were done even during the holy season of Lent [Note
H], about the time of Easter; a time when the brethren were
keeping fast, while this notable person Gregory exhibited the
disposition of a Caiaphas, and, together with that Pilate the
Governor, furiously raged against the pious worshippers of Christ.
Going into one of the Churches on the Preparation [Note
I], in company with the Governor and the heathen multitude, when
he saw that the people regarded with abhorrence his forcible entry
among them, he caused that most cruel person, the Governor, publicly
to scourge in one hour, four and thirty virgins and married women, and
men of rank, and to cast them into prison. Among whom there was one
virgin, who, being fond of reading, had the Psalter in her hands, at
the time when he caused her to be publicly scourged: the book was
seized by the officers, and the virgin herself shut up in prison.
§. 5.
9. When all this was done, they did not stop even
here; but consulted how they might act the same part in the other {8}
Church, where I principally abode during those days; and they were
eager to extend their fury [Note 9]
to this Church also, in order that they might hunt out and dispatch
me. And this would have been my fate, had not the grace of Christ
assisted me, if it were only that I might escape to relate these few
particulars concerning their conduct. For seeing that they were
exceedingly mad against me, and being anxious that the Church should
not be injured, nor the virgins that were in it suffer, nor additional
murders be committed, nor the people again outraged, I withdrew myself
from among them, remembering the words of our Saviour, If they
persecute you in this city, flee ye into another [Mat. x. 23.]. I
judged from the mischief they had done to one Church, that there was
no outrage they would forbear to perpetrate against the other,
especially since they had not reverenced even the Lord's day [Note
10] on this holy Festival, but on that day when our Lord delivered
all men from the bonds of death, they had shut up in prison the people
of his Church; and Gregory and his associates, as if fighting against
our Saviour, and depending upon the support of the Governor, had
turned into mourning this day of liberty to the servants of Christ.
The heathens were rejoiced to do this, for they abhor that day; and
Gregory perhaps did but fulfil the commands of the Eusebians, when he
forced the Christians to mourn under the infliction of bonds.
10. With these acts of violence has the Governor
seized upon the Churches, and has given them up to Gregory and the
Arian fanatics. Thus, those persons who were excommunicated by us for
their impiety, now glory in the plunder of our Churches; while the
people of God, and the Clergy of the Catholic Church are compelled
either to have communion with the impiety of the Arian heretics, or
else to forbear entering into them. Moreover, by means of the
Governor, Gregory has exercised no small violence towards the captains
of ships and others who pass over sea, torturing and scourging some,
putting others in bonds, and casting them into prison, in order to
oblige them not to resist his iniquities, and to convey letters [Note
11] from him. And not satisfied with all this, that he may glut
himself with my blood, he has caused his savage associate the
Governor, to prefer an indictment {9} against me, as in the name of
the people, before the most religious Emperor Constantius, which
contains such odious charges, that if they were true, I ought not only
to be banished, but should deserve to suffer a thousand deaths. The
person who drew it up is an apostate from Christianity, and a
shameless worshipper of idols, and they who subscribed it are
heathens, and keepers of idol temples, and others of them Arians. In
short, not to make my letter tedious to you, a persecution rages here,
and such a persecution as was never before raised against the Church.
For in former instances a man at least might pray while he fled from
his persecutors, and be baptized while he lay in concealment. But now
their extreme cruelty has imitated the godless conduct of the
Babylonians. For as they falsely accused Daniel, so does the notable
Gregory now accuse before the Governor those who pray in their houses,
and watches every opportunity to insult their ministers, so that
through his violent conduct, the souls of many are endangered from
missing baptism, and many who are in sickness and sorrow have no one
to visit them, a calamity which they bitterly lament, accounting it
worse than their sickness. For while the ministers of the Chinch are
under persecution, the people who condemn the impiety of the Arian
heretics choose rather thus to be sick and to run the risk, than that
a hand of the Arians should come upon their heads.
§. 6.
11. Gregory then is an Arian, and has been sent
to the Arian party; for none demanded him, but they only; and
accordingly as a hireling and a stranger, he makes use of the Governor
to inflict these dreadful and cruel deeds upon the people of the
Catholic Churches, as not being his own. For since Pistus, whom the
Eusebians formerly appointed over the Arians, was justly anathematized
and excommunicated for his impiety by you the Bishops of the Catholic
Church, as you all know, on our writing to you concerning him, they
have now, therefore, in like manner sent this Gregory to them; and
lest they should a second time be put to shame, by our again writing
against them, they have employed foreign force against me, in order
that, having obtained possession of the Churches, they may seem to
have escaped all suspicion of being Arians. But in this too they have
{10} been mistaken, for none of the people of the Church are with
them, except the heretics only, and those who have been excommunicated
for their crimes, and such as have been compelled by the Governor to
dissemble.
12. This then is the plot of the Eusebians, which
they have long been devising and bringing to bear; and now have
succeeded in accomplishing through the false charges which they have
made against me before the Emperor. Notwithstanding, they are not yet
content to be quiet, but even now seek to kill me; and they make
themselves so formidable to my friends, that they are all driven into
banishment, and expect death at their hands. But you must not for this
stand in awe of their iniquity, but on the contrary avenge: and shew
your indignation at this their unprecedented conduct against me. For
if when one member suffers all the members suffer with it, and,
according to the blessed Apostle, we ought to weep with them that
weep, let every one, now that so great a Church as this is suffering,
avenge its wrongs, as though he were himself the sufferer. For we have
a common Saviour, who is blasphemed by them, and Canons belonging to
us all, which they are transgressing. If while any of you had been
sitting in your Church, and while the people were assembled with you,
without any blame, some one had suddenly come under plea of an edict
to be your successor, and had acted the same part towards you, would
you not have been indignant? would you not have demanded to be
righted? If so, then it is right that you should be indignant now,
lest if these things be passed over unnoticed, the same mischief shall
by degrees extend itself to every Church, and so our schools of
religion be turned into a market-house and an exchange.
§. 7.
13. You are acquainted with the history of the
Arian fanatics, beloved, for you have often, both individually and in
a body, condemned their impiety; and you know also that the Eusebians,
as I said before, are engaged in the same heresy; for the sake of
which they have long been carrying on a conspiracy against me. And I
have represented to you, what has now been done, both for them and by
them, with greater cruelty than is usual even in time of war, in order
that after the example set before you in the history which I {11}
related at the beginning, you may entertain a zealous hatred of their
wickedness, and reject those who have committed such enormities
against the Church. If the brethren at Rome last year, before these
things had happened, and on account of their former misdeeds, wrote
letters to call a Council, that these evils might be set right,
(fearing which, the Eusebians took care previously to throw the Church
into confusion, and desired to destroy me, in order that they might
thenceforth be able to act as they pleased without fear, and might
have no one to call them to account;) how much more ought you now to
be indignant at these outrages, and to condemn them, seeing they have
added this to their former misconduct.
14. I beseech you, overlook not such proceedings,
nor suffer the famous Church of the Alexandrians to be trodden down by
heretics. In consequence of these things the people and their
ministers are separated from one another, as one might expect,
silenced by the violence of the Prefect, yet abhorring the impiety of
the Arian fanatics. If therefore Gregory shall write unto you, or any
other in his behalf, receive not his letters, brethren, but tear them
in pieces and put the bearers of them to shame, as the ministers of
impiety and wickedness. And even if he presume to write to you after a
friendly fashion, nevertheless receive them not. Those who bring his
letters convey them only from fear of the Governor, and on account of
his frequent acts of violence. And since it is probable that the
Eusebians will write to you concerning him, I was anxious to admonish
you beforehand, so that you may herein imitate God, who is no
respecter of persons, and may drive out from before you those that
come from them because for the sake of the Arian fanatics they caused
persecutions, rape of virgins, murders, plunder of the Church's
property, burnings and blasphemies in the Churches, to be committed by
the heathens and Jews at such a season. The impious and mad Gregory
cannot deny that he is an Arian, being proved to be so by the person
who writes his letters. This is his secretary Ammon, who was cast out
of the Church long ago by my predecessor the blessed Alexander for his
many crimes and for his impiety.
15. For all these reasons, therefore, vouchsafe
to send me a {12} reply, and condemn these impious men; so that even
now the ministers and people of this place, seeing your orthodoxy and
hatred of wickedness, may rejoice in your concord in the Christian
faith, and that those who have been guilty of these lawless deeds
against the Church may be reformed by your letters, and brought at
last, though late, to repentance. Salute the brotherhood that is among
you. All the brethren that are with me salute you. Fare ye well, and
remember me, and the Lord preserve you continually, most truly beloved
Lords.
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Notes
A. vid. Beveridg. Cod. Can. Illustr. i. 3. §. 2.
who comments on this passage at length. Allusion is also made to the
Canons in Apol. contr. Arian. §. 69.
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B.
vid. Athan. de Syn. §. 4. (Oxf. Tr. p. 78. and note O.) Orat. i. §.
8. (ibid. p. 191.) Tertull. Præscr. Hær. §. 29. (O. T. p. 462, and
note C.)
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C.
Assembling in the Churches seems to have been a sort of protest or
demonstration, sometimes peaceably, but sometimes in a less
exceptionable manner;—peaceably, during Justina's persecution at
Milan. Ambros. Ep. i. 20. August. Confess. ix. 15. but at Ephesus
after the third Ecumenical Council the Metropolitan shut up the
Churches, took possession of the Cathedral, and succeeded in repelling
the imperial troops. Churches were asylums, vid. Cod. Theodos. ix. 45.
§. 4. &c. at the same time arms were prohibited.
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D.
The Prefect of Egypt was called Augustalis as having been first
appointed by Augustus, after his victories over Antony. He was of the
Equestrian, not, as other Prefects, of the Senatorian order. He was
the imperial officer, as answering to Proprætors in the Imperial
Provinces. vid. Hofman. in voc.
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E.
The sister of S. Antony was one of the earliest known inmates at a
nunnery, vit. Ant. §. 2. 3. They were called by the Catholic Church
by the title, "Spouse of Christ." Apol. ad Const. §. 33.
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F.
The [thuos] or suffitus of Grecian sacrifices generally
consisted of portions of odoriferous trees. vid. Potter. Antiqu. ii.
4. Some translate the word here used, ([strobilous],) "shell-fish."
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G.
Churches, as heathen temples before them, were used for deposits. At
the sack of Rome, Alaric spared the Churches and their possessions;
nay, he himself transported the costly vessels of St. Peter into his
Church.
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H.
Lent and Passion Week was the season during which Justina's
persecution of St. Ambrose took place, and the proceedings against St.
Chrysostom at Constantinople. On the Paschal Vigils, vid. Tertull. ad
Uxor. ii. 4. p. 426, note N. Oxf. Tr.
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I.
[paraskeue], i.e. Good Friday. The word was used for
Friday generally as early as S. Clem. Alex. Strom. vii. p. 877. ed.
Pott. vid. Constit. Apostol. v. 13. Pseudo-Ign. ad Philipp.13.
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Margin Notes
1. [sulleitourgois].
Return to text
2.
[anathema].
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3.
[eusebeia], orthodoxy, vid. vol. viii. p. 1, note A.
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4.
[areiomaniton]. Vid. Ath. Oxf. Tr. viii. p. 91, note Q.
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5.
O. T. viii. p. 190, note C.
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6.
[en toi toichioi. (?) toicharchoi] for deacons. Apost.
Const. ii. 57. Clement. p. 615. from idea of navis or nave.
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7.
[dussebeis].
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8.
[apomaphorizomenai].
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9.
[manian].
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10.
Easter Day.
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11.
i.e. letters of communion.
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