FALSE WITNESSES
THE storm of persecution which was to fall with such fury upon St.
Athanasius was already gathering.
Constantia, the Emperor's favorite sister, who had always been
strongly in favor of the Arians, became very ill. The priest who
attended her on her deathbed, a friend and tool of Eusebius of
Nicomedia, induced her to persuade Constantine, who visited her
continually during her illness, that Arius and his friends had been
unjustly condemned and that the judgment of God would fall on him and
his empire in consequence. Constantine, always easily influenced by
his immediate surroundings, began to waver. Constantia soon died, but
the Arian priest continued the work that had been so successfully
begun. Arius believed all that the Church believed, he pleaded; let
him at least be allowed to come into the presence of the Emperor; let
him have a chance to prove his innocence.
Although Constantine had heard with his own ears the blasphemies of
the heresiarch, although he had approved so heartily of the decision
of the Council which condemned him and had enforced it with the power
of the State, he gave way before the persuasions of this stranger.
"If Arius can assure me that he believes the profession of Faith set
forth by the Council of Nicea," he said, "he may return."
The good news was instantly made known to the heretic and his friends,
and Arius hastened to Constantinople, where he was admitted into the
Emperor's presence.
"Is it true that you believe what the Church teaches?" asked
Constantine.
"I take my solemn oath that I believe what I hold in my hand," replied
Arius, unfolding the Nicene Creed.
In the hollow of his palm was concealed a statement of his own false
doctrines, but this the Emperor could not know. He professed himself
satisfied, and thus the seed was sown which was to bring forth bitter
fruit during centuries to come.
With Arius recalled, there was no longer any reason why Eusebius and
Theognis, who declared that they shared his opinions, should remain in
banishment. Once in Constantinople, Eusebius regained all his old
influence over the Emperor.
From that day forth, the Constantine of the heavenly vision, the
Constantine of the Council of Nicea, noble, wise and humble,
disappears from the pages of history, and a man changeable, capricious
and uncertain takes his place.
The first act of Eusebius and Theognis was to drive out the Catholic
Bishops who had been elected to replace them in their sees; the second
was to look about them to see who was likely to stand in their way.
Eustathius, the Bishop of Antioch, an intrepid defender of the Faith,
must be gotten rid of at once, they decided, and they proceeded to plot
his ruin.
They started for Jerusalem to visit--or at least, so they said--the
beautiful Church of the Holy Cross which the Emperor had just built.
On their way home, they announced that they would stay for a short
time at Antioch, and they invited all the Bishops who were likely to
be friendly to meet them there in council. They were received with the
greatest courtesy by Eustathius, who did all that he could to make
their visit pleasant. They had, however, bribed an abandoned wretch of
the town to enter while the council was sitting and accuse Eustathius
before all present of a scandalous crime.
Affecting to be greatly grieved and horrified at the accusation, they
deposed Eustathius and elected an Arian in his place, silencing those
who opposed their unjust and unlawful conduct by declaring that they
acted by command of the Emperor. Constantine was then appealed to, but
in vain. The Arians were all-powerful.
The next obstacle to be removed was Athanasius, but Eusebius was
clever enough to realize that this would be no easy task. Athanasius
was not only the chief Bishop of the Eastern Church, but one who had
defeated the Arians several times before on their own ground.
He began by writing a letter to the Patriarch in which he informed him
that Constantine, having learned that the views of Arius were quite
correct, had been pleased to recall him from banishment. It was only
just and fair, therefore, that Athanasius should receive him into
communion; Eusebius, indeed, had reason to know that the Emperor would
be greatly displeased if he refused to do so.
Athanasius' reply to this threatening message was short and decided.
Neither threats nor persecution, he said, would induce him to go
against the decrees of the Council of Nicea. Arius had been condemned
by the universal Catholic Church; by that decision all true Catholics
must stand.
Eusebius was not at all discouraged. He wrote to the Emperor and told
him how lightly the Patriarch had treated his wishes. "Athanasius is
much too young for such a responsible position," he wrote, "and is of
a quarrelsome and obstinate temper. He is the last man in the world to
fill a post which, if peace is to be kept in the Church, requires the
greatest tact and charity." Perhaps, he suggested, if the Emperor
himself were to write to him, he might be made to see the matter in a
different light. A threat of banishment is always a powerful argument.
On receiving this letter, the Emperor--to his shame, be it said--wrote
to the Patriarch as follows: "Being informed of my pleasure, admit all
who wish to communion with the Church. If I hear of your standing in
the way of any who seek it, I will send at once those who will depose
you from your see."
The reply of the Patriarch was firm and courageous. "It is impossible,"
he answered, "for the Catholic Church to hold communion with those who
deny the Divinity of the Son of God and who are therefore fighting
against Him."
Eusebius was absent when the letter arrived, and the changeable
Constantine was favorably impressed by its noble and fearless tone;
the matter was therefore dropped.
Eusebius, still determined on the Patriarch's ruin, looked about him
for a tool. He found the Meletians always troublesome and ready to
join in a plot against those in authority. Three of them, appearing
suddenly at Nicomedia where Constantine was then staying, accused
Athanasius of having usurped the Royal power by levying an unlawful
tax upon the people. Unfortunately for the success of this little
plot, there were present at Court at that moment two priests of
Alexandria who were able to prove to the Emperor that the Patriarch
was completely innocent. Constantine even wrote a letter to Athanasius
telling him of the false charge brought against him, severely blaming
those who had made it and inviting him to come himself to Nicomedia.
This was not at all what Eusebius wanted. He could not prevent the
arrival of Athanasius; he therefore set to work once more to prejudice
Constantine against him before he came. The Meletians were pressed
into service again, and accused the Patriarch of treason. He had sent
a purse of gold, they said, to a certain rebel, who had stirred up a
rising against the Emperor. But when Athanasius appeared at Nicomedia,
he was able to prove that the story was a falsehood; and, to the
disgust of Eusebius and his party, he returned to Alexandria bearing a
letter from the Emperor fully establishing his innocence and the
perfidy of his accusers.
Rumors of what was passing had even reached St. Antony in his desert
solitude, and the old man, on hearing of all that his friend and
disciple had had to suffer, came down from his mountain cave to praise
him for his courage and to speak to the people.
"Have nothing to do with the Arians," he said; "you are Christians,
and they say that the Son of God is a creature." Crowds came flocking
to see the old man, for all had heard of his miracles and of his
holiness. He blessed them all and exhorted them to hold fast to the
true faith of Christ, so steadfastly upheld by their Patriarch, after
which, having done the work he had come to do, he returned to his
solitude.
The Arians were still plotting. Some time before, when Athanasius had
been visiting that part of his diocese called the Mareotis, he had
heard that a certain Ischyras, who gave himself out as a priest
although he had never been validly ordained, was causing scandal. He
celebrated, so people said, or pretended to celebrate, the Holy
Mysteries in a little cottage in the village where he lived, in the
presence of his own relations and a few ignorant peasants. Athanasius
sent one of his priests, called Macarius, to inquire into the matter
and to bring the impostor back with him.
Macarius, on his arrival, found Ischyras ill in bed and unable to
undertake the journey. He therefore warned one of his relations that
the sick man had been forbidden by the Patriarch to continue his
so-called ministry, and departed. Ischyras, on his recovery, joined
himself to the Meletians, who, urged on by the Arians, were moving
heaven and earth to find a fresh charge against Athanasius. On hearing
his story, they compelled him by threats and by violence to swear that
Macarius had burst in upon him while he was giving Holy Communion in
the church, had overturned the altar, broken the chalice, trampled the
sacred Host underfoot and burned the holy books. They reported that
all this had been done by order of the Patriarch.
Once more Athanasius had to defend himself, and once more he
triumphantly cleared himself of the accusation brought against him.
In the first place, as he proved to the Emperor, there was no church
in the village where Ischyras lived. In the second, the man himself
had been ill in bed. In the third, even if he had been up and well, he
could not have consecrated, since he had never been validly ordained.
Ischyras himself, not long after, escaping from the hands of the
Meletians, swore in the presence of thirteen witnesses that he had
been induced by threats to bear witness to the lie.
But the failure of this plot was only the signal for hatching another.
A certain Meletian Bishop called Arsenius, whom Athanasius had deposed
for refusing to obey the decrees of the Council of Nicea, was induced
to hide himself away in the desert. The Meletians then gave out that
he had been murdered by order of the Patriarch, who kept his withered
hand for purposes of magic. A wooden box was even produced containing
a hand which was said to be that of the dead man.
Constantine seems to have believed the story, for he summoned
Athanasius to come to Antioch to stand his trial, at which Eusebius
and Theognis of Nicea were to preside. Athanasius did nothing of the
sort. He sent trusty men into the desert to make a diligent search for
the missing Arsenius, who, after some difficulty, was found. The fact
was made known to the Emperor, who wrote once more to the persecuted
Patriarch, affirming his innocence and threatening the Meletians with
severe punishment if they invented any more calumnies against him.
Arsenius himself, having repented of his part in the matter, asked
pardon of Athanasius and promised obedience for the future.