A ROYAL-HEARTED EXILE
ATHANASIUS had prevailed once more over his enemies, but Eusebius was
always at the Emperor's side and knew how to play upon his weakness.
Was it possible, he asked, that so many and such various charges could
be brought up against a man if he were innocent? Athanasius was clever
and had many friends, he continued, who were ready to swear that black
was white for his sake. Let him be forced to appear alone before his
accusers, and the Emperor would soon find out the truth. As a matter
of fact, such charges could only be dealt with by a council; let one
be held at once, and let Athanasius be summoned to attend.
Constantine fell into the trap. A council was summoned, and letters
were sent to Alexandria. Athanasius, however, clearly saw that he
could expect no justice in the midst of his enemies, and for a long
time refused to leave his see. In the meantime the place of meeting
had been changed from Caesarea to Tyre, and Athanasius was accused by
Eusebius of having obstinately resisted the Emperor's orders. His
reasons, they added, were plain to all; conscious of his guilt, he
dared not face the assembly. The Emperor threatened to send and bring
him by force if he did not come. Further resistance was useless, so he
set out for Tyre.
It was a strange Council. Of the sixty Bishops present, nearly all
were Arians and open enemies of Athanasius. The Meletians were also
present. Jailers were at the doors instead of deacons. The priest
Macarius, to whose innocence Constantine himself had testified, was
brought in guarded by soldiers and loaded with chains. Athanasius
himself was obliged to stand as a criminal before his judges. A few of
the Egyptian Bishops who were present loudly protested against such
behavior, but their protests were insultingly set aside.
The old charges were brought up one by one. Athanasius was accused of
being violent and cruel in conduct, a perpetual center of strife. To
this he answered that the trial was not a fair one, considering that
nearly all who were present were his enemies.
The affair of Ischyras was then brought up, but nothing could be
proved.
Lastly, a Meletian Bishop told, with thrilling and tragic details, the
story of the cruel murder of Arsenius.
"Here is the very hand of the murdered man," he concluded, producing
and opening the famous box. A cry of well-feigned horror burst from
the Arians.
"Did any of you know Arsenius?" asked Athanasius calmly. Several rose
to their feet. "Then, behold my witness," said the Patriarch, signing
to a priest who stood near the door.
A man was brought in whose face and figure were hidden in a long
cloak, which Athanasius drew slowly away. It was Arsenius himself who
stood before them!
"Here is one hand," continued the Patriarch, drawing it out from the
cloak, "and here is the other. I presume that to no man God has given
more. Perhaps those who maintain that that severed hand is the hand of
Arsenius can show us where it was affixed."
There was a moment of general confusion, during which the Meletian who
had so graphically told the story of Arsenius' murder concluded that
prudence was the better part of valor and hastily disappeared from the
assembly. But the Arians were never at a loss. It was by magic, they
declared, that Athanasius had caused the dead man to appear in their
midst.
It was useless to continue the argument against such persistent
injustice. Athanasius left the Council abruptly and set out for
Constantinople to place himself, a stern and accusing figure, in the
Emperor's way as he rode out from his palace.
Constantine, recognizing who it was, tried to pass in silence, but
Athanasius stood firm.
"The Lord judge between me and you," he said solemnly, "if you take
the part of my enemies against me."
The Emperor halted. "What do you wish?" he asked.
"Let me be tried by a lawful council, or let me meet my accusers face
to face in your presence," said Athanasius.
"It shall be done," replied Constantine.
The Arians, meanwhile, had declared Athanasius guilty of all the
charges brought against him and had deposed him from his see. They
were congratulating themselves on the success of their enterprise when
they received an alarming letter from the Emperor accusing them of
concealing the truth and bidding them come at once to Constantinople.
Several of them, seized with fear, returned to their homes; a few
others, who were bolder, headed by Eusebius and Theognis of Nicea, set
out for the Imperial city. They made their plans on the way. Once
arrived, instead of bringing up the old charges, they accused
Athanasius of having prevented the sailing of the grain vessels from
Alexandria to Constantinople in order to cause a famine. It was a
clever trick. Constantine was extremely touchy about the prosperity of
his new city and had just condemned to death a friend of his own for
the same crime. He turned on Athanasius in anger.
"How could I, a poor man and a Bishop, do such a thing?" asked the
Patriarch.
"You are rich enough and powerful enough for anything," retorted
Eusebius bitterly.
As for Constantine, he declared that he would uphold the decisions of
the Council. Athanasius deserved to lose his life, but he would show
indulgence. He therefore banished him to Treves in Gaul, and the
Arians triumphed.
There was mourning and lamentation in Alexandria and throughout all
Egypt when the tidings came. Many appeals were made for justice, but
in vain. Even St. Antony, though he wrote to Constantine, could not
move him. One thing alone the Emperor would not do in spite of all the
persuasions of the Arians--appoint a successor to the absent
Patriarch. Athanasius, indeed, continued to govern the diocese from
his distant exile, writing continually to his Bishops and clergy,
exhorting them to stand fast in the Faith and reminding them that the
road to consolation lay through affliction.
Eusebius, in the meantime, was trying to force Alexander, the aged
Bishop of Constantinople, to admit Arius to communion. Although ninety
years old, he stood firm, and neither threats nor persuasions could
move him. The Emperor was at last induced to fix a day on which
Alexander was to receive the heretic or be driven from his see.
The Bishop appealed to Heaven. He ordered a seven days' fast
throughout his diocese, during which the faithful were to pray that
God would prevent such a sacrilege. On the eve of the appointed day,
the aged prelate, having heard that Arius had arrived in the town,
prostrated himself on his face before the altar. "Lord," he prayed,
"if Arius must be received to communion in this church tomorrow, take
me, I beseech Thee, from this world. But if Thou hast pity on Thy
Church, suffer not, I pray Thee, that such a thing should be."
Arius at that very moment was being escorted in triumph around the
city by his followers. Suddenly the heresiarch turned pale and
trembled. He did not feel well, he said; he would rejoin them
presently. The time passed, and he did not return. At last they went
to look for him. It was but a dead body which they found, a sight
before which even they turned pale. Arius had been overtaken by a
sudden and horrible death.
The fate of the heresiarch made a great impression on the Emperor, who
had himself but a short time to live. During his last illness he was
haunted by the thought of Athanasius. His eldest son, Constantine II,
who held his court at Treves, was a firm friend of the exiled Bishop;
the dying Emperor sent him a secret message to restore Athanasius to
his see. He then received Baptism at the hands of Eusebius of
Nicomedia, and died a few days later.
Constantine's empire was divided between his three sons, Constantine,
Constans and Constantius. The two former, who were staunch friends of
Athanasius, would die within twelve years of their father. Then
Constantius, who had inherited all the weakness and none of the good
qualities of Constantine the Great, and was, moreover, the tool of the
Arians and the bitter enemy of those who were true to Athanasius,
would be left master of the whole Roman Empire. One of the first acts
of Constantine II was to bring Athanasius back to Alexandria. He had
been absent for over two years, and the rejoicings attending his
return were great. They were not to last long, however, for Egypt and
the East made up that part of the Empire which had been left to
Constantius, who was completely in the toils of Eusebius.
Now, Eusebius had long been coveting the see of Constantinople; he
therefore proceeded, with the Emperor's assistance, to depose the
rightful Bishop and to install himself in his place. He was, as he
thought, in a position to carry all things before him, when
Athanasius, firm and undaunted as ever, appearing suddenly on the
scene, upset all his plans. Both Constantine and Constans were
Athanasius' friends, and Constantius was not strong enough to resist
them.
Eusebius determined to take a bold step--he would appeal to the Pope,
and he promptly set to work to compose a letter which was a
masterpiece of deceit.
"Athanasius has been deposed by a Council of the Church," he wrote.
"His return was therefore unlawful." An account of all the charges
brought against the Patriarch at the Council of Tyre followed. "Ink
does not stain the soul," observed Eusebius lightly, as lie after lie
took shape upon the paper.
The letter was sent to Rome by three trusty friends, but Pope Julius
was not so easily deceived. He knew more about the matter than the
Arians thought--so much, indeed, that the chief of the three envoys
left suddenly during the night, fearful of what might come to light on
the morrow. The two others, losing their heads completely, agreed to
meet Athanasius at a synod at which the Pope himself should preside.
Eusebius was beside himself when he heard of this arrangement. To
appear in some Western town, with no Emperor to back him up, and to
urge against Athanasius, in the presence of the Pope, charges which he
knew to be false, was a program which did not appeal to him at all.
Taking the law into his own hands, he called a council of his friends
and elected an Arian called Gregory in Athanasius' place.
Even if the Patriarch had been rightly deposed, the Egyptian Bishops
alone could have elected his successor; but Eusebius and his party had
long since ceased to care for right or justice. Theodore, the Governor
of Egypt, was known to be a good Catholic and friendly to Athanasius.
He was therefore removed, and an apostate called Philagrius, notorious
for his violence and cruelty, was put in his place. The first act of
this man was to publish an edict stating that Gregory was the
Patriarch of Alexandria and that Athanasius was to be treated as an
enemy. With armed troops he then took possession of the city churches,
while Gregory, with a strong escort of soldiers, made his entrance
into the town. All who resisted were imprisoned, scourged or slain. To
prevent further bloodshed, Athanasius left Alexandria and set out for
Rome. The first news that he heard on reaching Italy was that his
friend and patron Constantine II was dead.