By Water & Blood

Epitome of Book 2

CHAP. I.--PHILOSTORGIUS falsely relates, that after the general council and the recantation of the Eusebians, and their open return to the orthodox faith, the emperor Constantine punished them, because, while they subscribed to the Homoousian faith, they entertained sentiments at variance with it,^[16] and on the other band, that he recalled Secundus and his associates from banishment, and sent letters in every direction, exploding the term "Homoousios," and confirming the doctrine of a diversity of substance. He adds that Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, subscribed these letters, and that on this account Arius communicated with him. But when all fear on account of the emperor was at an end, Alexander returned to his original sentiments, while Arius and those who joined with him in his opinions seceded from communion with Alexander and the church.

CHAP. 2.--He says that Arius, after his secession from the church, composed several songs to be sung by sailors, and by millers,^[17] and by travellers along the high road, and others of the same kind, which he adapted to certain tunes, as he thought suitable in each separate case, and thus by degrees seduced the minds of the unlearned by the attractiveness of his songs to the adoption of his own impiety.

  CHAP. 3.--Though Philostorgius extols Arius to the skies for impugning the Divinity of the Son, yet he asserts that the latter is involved in the most absurd errors, because he everywhere affirms that God cannot be known, or comprehended, or conceived by the human mind; and not only by men, (which perhaps were an evil more easy to endure,) but also not even by His own only-begotten Son. And lie asserts that not only Arius, but also a large body of his followers, were carried ^|435 away into this absurd error at the same time. For with the exception of Secundus and Theonas, and the disciples of the martyr Lucian, namely Leontius, Antonius, and Eusebius of Nicomedia, the rest of the impious band of heretics adopted this opinion.

CHAP. 4.--Philostorgius asserts that Constantine was induced by the fraudulent artifices of his step-mother to put his son Crispus to death; ^[18] and afterwards, upon detecting her in the act of adultery with one of his Cursores, ordered the former to be suffocated in a hot bath. He adds, that long afterwards Constantine was poisoned by his brothers during his stay at Nicomedia, by way of atonement for the violent death of Crispus. 

CHAP. 5.--He also says that Urphilas^[19] brought over as settlers to the Roman territory a large body of persons who had been driven out of their ancient abodes for the sake of their religion. These came from among the Scythians, north of the Ister, and were formerly called Getae, though now they are better known as Goths. And he asserts that this race of men were brought over to the faith of Christ in the following manner. While Valerian and Gallienus were administering the empire, a large multitude of Scythians, who lived north of the Ister, made an incursion into the Roman territory, and laid waste a great part of. Europe by their predatory excursions and afterwards having crossed over into Asia, invaded Cappadocia and Galatia. Here they took a large quantity of prisoners, among whom were not a few ecclesiastics; and they returned to their own country laden with spoils and booty. These pious captives, by their intercourse with the barbarians, brought over a great number of the latter to the true faith, and persuaded them to embrace the Christian religion in the place of heathen superstitions. Of the number of these ^|436 captives were the ancestors of Urphilas himself, who were of Cappadocian descent, deriving their origin from a village called Sadagolthina, near time city of Parnassus. This Urphilas, then, was the header of this pious band which came out from among the Goths, and became eventually their first bishop. The following was the method of his appointment. Being sent by the then king of the Goths on an embassy to the court of the emperor Constantine, (for the barbarous tribes in those parts were subject to the emperor,) he was ordained bishop of the Christians among time Goths, by Eusebius and the other prelates that were with him. Accordingly he took the greatest care of them in many ways, and amongst others, he reduced their language to a written form, and translated into their vulgar tongue all the books of holy Scripture, with the exception of the Books of Kings, which he omitted, because they are a mere narrative of military exploits, and the Gothic tribes were especially fond of war, and were in more need of restraints to check their military passions than of spurs to urge them on to deeds of war. But those books have the greatest influence in exciting the minds of readers, inasmuch as they are regarded with great veneration, and are adapted to lead the hearts of believers to the worship of God. This multitude of converts were located by the emperor in the different parts of Moesia, as he thought best, and he held Urphilas himself in such high honour, that he would often speak of him in conversation as the Moses of his day. Philostorgius is loud in his praises of this Urphilas ; ^[20] and asserts that both he ^|437 and the Goths who were under his spiritual rule, were followers of his own heretical opinions.

CHAP. 6.--The impious Philostorgius relates that the Christians in Central India,^[21] who were converted to the faith of Christ by the preaching of St. Bartholomew, believe that the Son is not of the same substance with the Father. He adds that Theophilus the Indian,^[22] who had embraced this opinion,^[23] came to them, and delivered it to them as a doctrine; and also that these Indians are now called Homeritae,^[24] instead of their old name of Sabaeans, which they received from the city of Saba, the chief city of the whole nation.

CHAP. 7.--Philostorgius says, that Eusebius,^[25] Maris, and Theognis, after a period of three years spent in banishment, were recalled by command of the emperor, and immediately put forth an heretical form of faith, and sent it in every direction, in order to counteract the Nicene Creed. He adds, that Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, was deposed ^[26] and excommunicated by the same parties, because he afterwards returned to the Homoousian faith; but that Eustathius,^[27] bishop of Antioch, was deposed by them on different grounds, namely, on a charge of having attempted the chastity of a certain woman, and seduced her; upon this the emperor condemned him to banishment, and sent him into the western parts of the empire. As to the rest, he writes, that in this illegitimate council there were no less than two hundred and fifty bishops, and that Nicomedia was the workshop where they contrived all their evil deeds.  ^|438 

CHAP. 8.--Concerning Agapetus,^[28] a follower of his own peculiar heretical sect., who was originally a soldier, then a priest of his sect, and eventually became bishop of Synada, he tells many wonderful stories ; he says, for example, that many dead men were raised by him to life again, and that he expelled and healed many maladies of various kinds. He adds that many other wonderful things were done by him, and that by his exertions many of the Gentiles were converted to the Christian religion.

CHAP. 9.--He says that, in the twenty-eighth year^[29] of his reign, Constantine turned Byzantium into the city of Constantinople; and that, when he went to mark out the circuit of the city,^[30] he walked round it with a spear in his hand; and that when his attendants thought that he was measuring out too large a space, one of them came up to him and asked him, How far, O prince?" and that the emperor answered, "Until he who goes before me conies to a stop ;" by this answer clearly manifesting that some heavenly power was heading him on, and teaching him what he ought to do. Philostorgius adds, that Constantine, after building the city, called it "Alma Roma.," which means in the Latin tongue, "Glorious." He also states, that the emperor established there a senate, and distributed among the citizens a copious allowance of corn, and adorned the city in other particulars with such sumptuous magnificence, that it became a rival to ancient Rome in splen dour.

CHAP. 10.--He states, that on the decease of Alexander, the bishop of this city, Eusebius,^[31] bishop of Nicomedia, was translated to the episcopal chair of the newly erected metropolis.

CHAP. 11.--The impious contriver of lies asserts, that after the death of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, the votes of the prelates were not unanimous, and that when there was a diversity |439 of sentiment, and a considerable amount of time had been spent in altercation, the divine Athanasius suddenly appeared one evening in the church called after Dionysius, and finding there two Egyptian bishops, firmly closed the doors with the assistance of some of his followers, and so was ordained by them,^[32] though strongly against the will of the the ordainers. For a power from above fell upon them, and so constrained their will and powers that what Athanasius wished ; was at once done. Philostorgius adds, that the remainder of the bishops then present anathematized Athanasius on account of this transaction ; and that the latter, having first thoroughly strengthened his cause, addressed to the emperor certain letters relating to his ordination, in the name of the entire state; and that the emperor, thinking that the letters in question were written by the assembly of the Alexandrians, ratified the election with his own approval. Afterwards, however, upon being informed of the details of the transaction, he sent Athanasius to Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, to give account of the matter before a synod which was assembled there. And Philostorgius writes, that Athanasius gave way before the threats of the emperor. At length, however, upon arriving at Tyre, he was unwilling to submit to a legal inquiry, but fraudulently suborned a certain harlot, whose belly proclaimed her shame, and laid his plots against Eusebius, who was regarded as the head and chief of the assembly,^[33] thinking doubtless that he would escape from trial, and avoid the sentence of the synod, in the midst of the tumult and commotion which he thought in all probability would be raised. But our author, so partial to liars, writes that the fraud was openly detected in the very same manner, as the orthodox party say the harlot was detected who had been suborned by the heretics to give evidence against the great Athanasius. For he says that Eusebius asked the harlot if she knew the person who had defiled her; and that upon her answering that she knew him well, Eusebius again asked her whether the party in question was present |440 among the episcopal assembly. She answered, "Spare evil words, my lord; I should be mad, if I were to accuse such holy men of such foul lust" From this the truth was elucidated, and so the whole of the fraudulent conspiracy was brought to light. Thus, says Philostorgius, Eusebius showed himself superior to every calumny that was brought forward, but Athanasius, who hind hoped to escape trial altogether, went away after having been convicted of a double crime, not merely an illegal ordination, but also a foul calumny; and so, by the common consent of all, a sentence of deposition was passed against him. Athanasius, however, went on unblushingly, and ventured to assert that time sentence of deposition and time calumnious stories thrown in his teeth were equally untrue, being mere fabrications of time hatred and ill-will of the bishops assembled in the synod, because lie refused to receive ordination at their hands. On this account the emperor, he adds, charged a second synod of bishops to examine into the cause of Athanasius; and the latter added some fresh charges to the original calumnies. For they said. that Callinicus the confessor, and bishop of Pelusium, had been loaded by him with iron chains and sent into confinement, and that Athanasius did not cease to treat him with contumely, until he had fairly removed him out of his way. Then also the hand of Armenius was brought into court, and Mareotes and Ischyras came forward, and the sacred cup and other stories of a like kind were devised. For these reasons, he says, Athanasius was excommunicated by the synod, and Gregory the Cappadocian substituted in his place.^[34] Such are the stories of this lover of untruth against the holy Athanasius.

CHAP. 12.--He says that Helen, the mother of the emperor, built the city which was called Helenopolis,^[35] at the entrance of the. Gulf of Nicomedia: and that the reason of her great predilection for the spot, was because the body of the martyr Lucian was carried thither by a dolphin after his death by martyrdom. |441

CHAP. 13.--He says that when this martyr Lucian was about to die, and was debarred from the church and the altar by the hand of tyranny, and when chains and stripes forbade him even to move, he lay upon his back and offered the venerable sacrifice upon his own breast, and so partook himself, and gave his companions the opportunity of receiving likewise of the unspotted sacrifice. This act of sacrifice was performed in the prison, and the holy band of Christians who stood as it were around his dying bed, at the same time represented the church, and afforded a screen to prevent the heathen from seeing what was being done.

CHAP. 14.--Philostorgius recounts many other disciples of this martyr Lucian, and especially Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon, and Theognis, bishop of Nicaea; and also Leontius, who afterwards became bishop of Antioch, and Antonius of Tarsus in Cilicia; likewise Menophantus, Numenius, and Eudoxius, together with Alexander and Asterius the Cappadocian; of whom he says that they yielded to the violence of tyrants so far as to offer sacrifice to the gods of the heathen; but afterwards made amends for their lapse, their master himself assisting to bring them to repentance.

CHAP. 15.--Out of the above-mentioned individuals he specifies Antonius and Leontius as having preserved their piety pure and unsullied; but as for Eusebius, Maris, and Theognis, they were brought into collision with the Nicene symbol, but afterwards returned to their original opinions. But Maris, after returning to the orthodox belief, fell afterwards into another grievous error. In like manner, too, Theognis, who held that God was the Father even before he had begotten the Son, inasmuch as he had the power of begetting him. Of Asterius he says that he interpolated the doctrine of Lucian, affirming in his writings and orations that the Son is the image of the Father's substance, and in no way differing from him.^[36]

CHAP. 16.--He says that Constantine, having entered |442 upon the thirty-second year of his reign, was poisoned by his brothers at Nicomedia. And that when his end drew near, and the plot was discovered, he drew up a testament enjoining that the authors of his death should be punished, and ordering that whichever of his sons should first arrive, should proceed to take measures against them, lest his children too should be destroyed by a like conspiracy. He further adds, that the document itself which contained these instructions, was intrusted to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia; but that the latter, being alarmed lest the emperor's brothers should make search for it, and wish to know what was written in it, placed the tablet in the hands of the deceased emperor, and concealed it beneath his clothes. Accordingly when they had come, as Eusebius expected they would, to search for the tablet which contained the will, Eusebius answered that he had. indeed received it, but that he had immediately returned it into the hands of the emperor. Afterwards, however, this same Eusebius, having again taken away the tablet, deposited it in the hands of Constantius the son of Constantine, who was the first of the brothers to arrive; and who not long afterwards put into execution the instructions contained in his father's will.

CHAP. 17.--This impious enemy of God also accuses the Christians of offering sacrifices ^[37] to an image of Constantine placed upon a column of porphyry, and of honouring it with lighted lamps and incense, and of offering vows to it as to God, and making supplications to it to ward off calamities.

CHAP. 18.--He writes also, that after the death of Constantine the Great, when all who were in exile in various parts had obtained permission to return, Athanasius, too, returned ^[38] from Gaul to Alexandria, and hearing of the death of Gregory, landed and went straight from the ship, just as he was, to the church, and took his episcopal seat, without showing any regard to those who had deposed him. |443