Church History Books 1–9 (trans.) 10 part 1/6

Therefore, after the race of impious men, hateful to God and to men—as we have set forth above—had suddenly perished, so that in them there seemed rightly fulfilled what the Holy Spirit had foretold: 'I saw the impious highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was not,'—now, every cloud being wiped away, the joyful day, brighter than usual, had shone upon the earth, and upon the churches of Christ the splendour of its own sun had gleamed; nor did there anywhere remain an envious eye to regard these things otherwise, but all mortals, at the horror of the tyrannical cruelty that had passed, even if not yet in faith, confessed that the affairs of the devout were aided, and proved firm the hope of those who hope in Christ.

From which there was present to all, as though poured in by a divine gift, a gladness—especially to those who beheld those places, which a little before had been destroyed by the impious engines of the tyrants, now rising again brighter and loftier by a renewed construction, and lofty temples being raised in place of humble little meeting-houses. For it delighted their souls and stirred them the more, while they wrote the more frequently to the person of the bishops and paid honour to the priests with the highest veneration, and also bestowed the expenses of the outlays more generously. Meanwhile festivals were most frequently kept by our people with all joy and exultation, dedications of churches being celebrated throughout the cities and each several place.

The priests gathered together into one, and it did not irk even those set far off to convene, for no space seemed long to charity. Peoples too flocked to peoples, and, as truly members of the one body of Christ, they rejoiced to be joined and associated with one another, so that there seemed to be fulfilled what was said: 'bone was gathered to bone, and joint to joint,' in whom also one Spirit, poured into all the members, is rightly said to dwell, and one soul, because there is one faith in all, and one God is worshipped by all, and out of one mouth all sing hymns together to God. And now indeed a mighty grace shone forth in the priesthood and the ministries and in all things which pertain to the observance of religion.

Here stood the choirs of those chanting psalms; young men and maidens, old men with the young, praised the name of the Lord; here the mystic ministries were performed by ordained and appointed turns. The assembly, too, of pontiffs and priests, venerable by their very hoary age, shone brightly from afar. And now indeed, if anyone, inspired through the grace of the Lord, uttered a discourse to the people, with all silence the faces and eyes of all were turned upon him, as though it were preserved to them from heaven through him in the priests. Thence one and another, and not only two or three, as the Apostle said, the rest judging, spoke; but to as many as speech was given in the opening of their mouth, that it might the more be established in them what Moses had said:

'Who will grant that the whole Church of the Lord may prophesy?' For nowhere was there malice, no envy assailed any; the gifts of God were ministered to the peoples of God, and each one, according to what is written, sought to abound unto the edification of the Church. And all these things were done in charity, so that they anticipated one another in honour, and each esteemed the other better than himself. For the simpler folk admired and looked up to those who instructed the peoples through the wisdom of the word; but wise and learned men gave preference to those to whom a pure life and sincere simplicity gave a greater confidence in offering sacrifices to God, and to whom the office of immolating the sacrifice was permitted—men whom a homelier simplicity of life preserved in purity of heart.

'... he sought out with the highest zeal the things which formerly, in the writings given to your office concerning the name of the Christians... your dedication also understands... to others the power of their own religion or observance. Likewise I will open and free for peace... that it be granted for the tranquillity of our time... concerning which... a fixed form had been established before.'

'...comprised—in a former time some also, either those who bought them or those who obtained them by gift, if they think fit, may request from our benevolence some compensation, whereby to them too through our clemency provision may be made.' Therefore, when with such simplicity the glory of the churches was advancing before God and men, and a certain image of heavenly things was held on earth, and above all things the devout prince Constantine exulted in such matters—growing day by day in faith and religion, being filled with inexplicable joy at the churches' progress—he did not think it enough for the priests of God that he should show himself their equal, unless he both far preferred them and venerated them as an image, as it were, of the divine presence; and while, for all these things, he was honoured by all no longer as an emperor but as a father, unhappy envy did not endure that the peace of our people should grow with joyful successes, or that his zeal toward us should endure unshaken.

For Licinius, who at first, on account of his uprightness of character and integrity of life and the merit of his virtues, had not only been taken by him into partnership of the empire, but had also been received into kinship by a marriage-bond—for he had received Constantine's sister in marriage—seeing that the emperor ruled over all not so much by force and fear as by love and religion, and was held in the highest veneration by all mortals, and especially by the Christians, being struck by a human vice—nay rather, smitten by the inhuman plague of envy—at first prepares by hidden snares to deceive the excellent prince, and contrives this above all through his intimates and servants.

But he, suspecting nothing indeed of his wiles and frauds, yet because he was wholly confident in God, fortified himself in all things by that sign which had been shown to him from heaven, nor could he by this means be made liable to any snares.

But Licinius, when neither the memory of benefits nor the grace of kinship could restrain the savagery of the crime he had conceived, nor yet did the snares through his hidden machinations succeed against him—reckoning that the emperor was aided by the prayers of the Christians and therefore remained safe—moved by foolish wrath, indeed declares open war on the emperor and defiles the faith and partnership of the empire, but prepares to persecute our people with a private and special hatred, alleging this as a grievance: that the Christians did not keep watch for him, as they did for Constantine, in the solemn prayers handed down to them by precept.

Therefore, by a reversed turn, he who a little before had most sharply taken vengeance on those who in the time of the tyrants had contrived anything cruel against the Christians, now hurls his weapons against our people, and stains the first sacrileges of his tyranny with the blood of our people. For first of all he orders that if anyone in his palace were a Christian, he should depart, and then also from all military service. After this the plague advanced, and by tyrannical edicts he decreed that all who professed themselves Christians should be thrust into prison. Yet straightway he found something in which to surpass his predecessors in cruelty. He adds to the edict, that no one should...

...bring food or drink to one sent into prison, saying that it was unjust that mercy should be shown and humanity offered to those whom he himself had condemned by his own laws. And so multitudes, thrust back into prison, [perished] by starvation; but, with the savagery of his mind increasing, even this seemed too little. Forthwith he extended the frenzy of his cruelty against the bishops and the other priests of God; and first he circumvented by cunning art all the more noble, and those whom a brighter fame had extolled or the repute of wisdom and learning had commended, and ordered them to be punished—with no inquiry into any charge held—on this ground alone, that they were denounced.

And now indeed, after this, with a mode of cruelty unheard of in all ages, all who had refused to acquiesce in defiled sacrifices he ordered to be handed over not to torturers, as his predecessor tyrants used to do, nor to tortures and punishments, but to butchers, that they might, hung up after the manner of swine and despised and laid upon blocks, cut them into pieces, and, divided into parts, cast them into the sea as food for fishes. The churches too, which in his own times he had caused to be built by common edicts, he himself again overthrew, and in all things strove hard to surpass in cruelty all the tyrants who had been before him.

Moreover, [he strove] to change laws to that rite, to pursue insatiable greed, to renew the census, and to fill fields empty of cultivators with tributes. Moreover, if he had sent into exile any who had been ensnared by unjust factions, [he strove] to tear away their wives from lawful marriages and join them to his own slaves and satellites; and he himself, even against the strength of his own age, delighted in adulteries and the corruption of virgins. But when, equipped with arms and 'virtues' of this kind, he began more fiercely to ply his tyranny, Constantine—who was adorned with true virtues and fortified with perfect piety toward God—prepares to go against so many and so great outrages.

Nor was there any difficulty for the victory, where both a juster cause and a purer faith and a more eminent virtue were found; and, Licinius being cast down and all memory of tyrannical domination taken away, he alone with his sons obtained the solidity of the Roman realm. Then indeed the condition of the state was held by an even moderation and a censure most worthy of the Roman name. Among the barbarous nations there was a mighty fear; but among the provincials the devotion of mind was greater than the fear. All things were quiet and tranquil from enemies and civil wars; joyful and secure, all mortals passed their time in peace. But the glory of the churches—it is incredible to relate with how great zeal of the devout emperor it grew, and how great was his care even for the expenditure of the needy.

For his soul, ardent in the faith of God, and his kindly and clement disposition, were fed by good works. And to such a degree did the goodness and tranquillity of present affairs prevail, that it bred forgetfulness of past evils. He had driven away the tyrannical laws against the Christians and had restored the civil right; moreover he conferred very many privileges upon the churches and the highest honours upon the priests. Thus, dear to God and to men, [he held] the summit of the Roman realm both with pure religion and also with virtue of soul and moderation above [measure]. They say it is the mark of skilled physicians that, when they see general diseases threatening cities or regions, they provide some kind of medicine or draught, whereby men, forearmed, may be defended from the impending destruction.

This you too, venerable father Chromatius, pursuing that kind of medicine at the time when—the barriers of Italy being burst open under Alaric the leader of the Goths—that pestilent [enemy brought deadly ruin], seeking some remedy of the fatal destruction for those committed to you by God, that they might be held occupied by [wholesome] pursuits, enjoin upon me that I should translate into Latin the ecclesiastical history which that most learned man Eusebius of Caesarea had composed in the Greek tongue, by the reading of which the mind of the hearers, bound fast, while it more eagerly seeks knowledge of the deeds done, might in a manner receive forgetfulness of the evils that were being wrought.

When I wished to excuse myself from this work—as being inferior and unequal to it, and as one who in so many years had lost the use of the Latin tongue—I considered that not without some order of apostolic instruction were you enjoining these things upon me. For when the Lord, on a certain occasion, when the crowds of hearers were hungering in the desert, had said to the apostles, 'Give ye them to eat,' Philip, one of the apostles, understanding that the emblems of the divine power shone the more brightly if they were accomplished by the ministries of the very least, did not bring forth loaves stored in the apostolic wallet, but says that a little boy was present having five loaves and two fishes; and modestly excusing him, he added: 'But what are these among so great a divine power?'

Knowing therefore that you too descend from those disciplines, recalling that perhaps after the example of Philip—when you saw the time for feeding the crowds—you have substituted a little boy, who would indeed supply five loaves doubled, as he had received them, yet, for the fulfilling of the evangelical mystery, would by his own labour add also two little fishes that he had caught—I have undertaken to carry out, as I could, what you had enjoined, being sure that the authority of him who enjoins will excuse the faults of my unskilfulness.

It should indeed be known that the tenth book of this work in the Greek, since it was very meagre in narrated deeds, being taken up with all the rest in panegyrical treatises on the bishops contributing nothing to the knowledge of events, I have—omitting those things which seemed superfluous—joined to the ninth book whatever it had of history, and in that book I have given an end to Eusebius's narrative. But the tenth and eleventh books I myself have composed, partly from the traditions of our elders, partly from those things which our own memory had already grasped; and these I have added, as it were two little fishes, to the loaves written above. And if you either approve or bless them, I shall confidently trust that they suffice for the crowds.

The whole work contains the affairs done in the Church from the ascension of the Saviour and thereafter. But since the text of the history has brought mention of the blessed Gregory, I think it most worthy to insert into the memory of posterity the deeds of so great a man, which [he wrought] under the eastern and northern [regions]. There was a certain pool situated in the regions of Pontus, abounding in fishes, from the catch of which most abundant revenues were rendered to the owners. This possession had fallen by lot of inheritance to two brothers. But the greed of money, which is cherished by almost all, [drove] the brothers at the time of fishing not so much to catch fishes as to deceive men; slaughters and wars were stirred up, and human blood was poured out for the sake of fishes. But the providence of God was at hand.

At some time [came] the help and coming of Gregory. He sees the battles and deaths of men, and, [asking] by what the brothers were inflamed, he inquires, and finds nothing but the catch of fishes. Then he—when, out of honour for his coming, both parties had for a little while fallen silent—said: 'Do not, O my little sons, violate rational souls for the sake of dumb animals, nor dissolve brotherly peace through the greed of gain; [do not] approach [things] deadly [to the soul]. I now, through the power of the Lord, will release you from all the contest of this bloody strife.' And when he had said these things, in the sight of all he fixes the rod which he held in his hand into the first waves of the shore, and himself, placing his knees on the ground, stretches out his palms to heaven, and in these words makes supplication to God on high:

'Thou, O Lord God of our fathers, who, when the first man Adam had sinned against thee and transgressed thy commandment, tempering the penalty of his fault, turnedst the sentence of malediction upon the earth, saying, «Cursed be the earth in thy works»: now therefore, having compassion on the brotherly blood of these young men, which is in peril, command that these waters be accursed in the works of these men, for whose sake, kindled with fury, they have forgotten brotherly love; so that never in this place may either a fish appear or water abide, but let it be a plain enduring the plough and fruitful of crops, and let it persevere as a guardian forever of brotherly concord.' As soon as he made an end of praying, straightway the water, withdrawing itself and fleeing back with a swifter course, being bidden to depart from the sight above, is restored to its own depths, and left a dry plain to the now-reconciled brothers.

But even to this day the soil is said to be fruitful of crops, which before had been fruitful of ships. There is also recorded another deed of his, more illustrious and more divine. In a certain place of narrow countryside, when the situation demanded that a church be built, a certain crag of a neighbouring mountain set in the way on the eastern side, and on the other a river flowing past, denied the space that would suffice for a church. And when they had no [place] for building the church, he, full of faith, is said to have passed the night in prayer and faithfully to have reminded the Lord Jesus of his own promise, by which he had said: 'If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say to this mountain: Take thyself up and cast thyself into the sea, and it would surely be done.'

And when he sought this with full faith and devotion, as the peoples gathered together toward the light the obstructing rock was found to have withdrawn just as much space as was needed. Very many other things besides are handed down concerning him; but lest we seem to draw out our discourse to great length, passing over the rest I will add just one more of his deeds. It is said that he once made a journey through the Alps in winter time, and when he had come to the highest ridge of the Alps, all things were filled with snow; there was no lodging anywhere. There was only a temple of Apollo there, into which he entered, and after the night had passed he departed. Now there was a certain priest of that temple, whose custom it was to consult the image of Apollo and to render responses to those who inquired, whence he seemed also to derive the gain of his sustenance.

So then, after Gregory had departed, the priest came according to custom to offer sacrifices and to seek oracles and responses, but no response came forth from thence. He repeated the victims; the silence remained. Again and again he made offering, but he was pouring out his tale to deaf ears. And when the priest was in a ferment of astonishment at this strange silence, at night the demon, standing beside him, said to him in his sleep: 'Why do you invoke me there, whither I can no longer come?' And when the priest asked the reason, it said that it had been driven out by the coming of Gregory. And when he inquired what remedy might now be given, it said that it was not permitted to it to enter that place in any other way unless Gregory allowed it. Having heard these things, the priest set out upon the road, turning many things over within himself and pondering with a reluctant mind.

He came to Gregory and, approaching him, laid out the matter in order; he reminded him of his own courtesy and hospitality, set forth his complaint about the expelled deity, lamented the loss of the means of his livelihood, and demanded that everything be restored to him in its former state. But Gregory, without any delay, wrote a letter in these words: 'Gregory to Apollo. I permit you to return to your place and to do the things you were accustomed to do.' The priest received this letter and carried it to the temple; and when it had been placed beside the image, the demon was present and gave responses to the one who inquired. Then that man, turning within himself, said:

'If Gregory commanded and this god departed, and could not return unless bidden, and was restored again at Gregory's bidding, how is Gregory not far better than this one, whose commands the god obeys?' Therefore, having closed the doors of the temple, he went down to Gregory, carrying with him the letter he had received, and disclosing to him the whole order of what had been done; and at the same time, prostrating himself at his feet, he begged that Gregory would offer him to that God by whose power Gregory held command over the gods of the nations. And when he persisted the more earnestly and stubbornly, he was made a catechumen by him. And when, forsaking all things, he had bound himself to a most chaste and abstinent life, not only from the errors of the demons but also from the pursuits of the world, he also obtained baptism.

And he advanced so far by the merit of his life and the virtue of his faith that he himself succeeded the blessed Gregory in the episcopate. Moreover, Gregory left us the greatest monuments of his genius in a small compass. For the same Gregory most magnificently composed a paraphrase upon Ecclesiastes, and left behind an exposition of the catholic faith, briefly set forth, which I have thought it fitting to add here for the edification of the churches: 'The Faith of Gregory, martyr and bishop of Neocaesarea. There is one God, the Father of the living Word, of subsisting Wisdom and Power, and of His own Image; the perfect begetter of the Perfect, the Father of the only-begotten Son.'

'There is one God, sole from the Sole, God from God, the figure and image of the Deity, the effectual Word, the Wisdom comprehending all things, and the Power by which the whole creation could be made; the true Son of the True, the Invisible of the Invisible, the Incorruptible of the Incorruptible, the Immortal of the Immortal, the Everlasting of the Everlasting. There is one Holy Spirit, having its substance from God, and who appeared through the Son; the Image of the perfect Son, the perfect Cause of the living, the Holiness that bestows sanctification, through whom God who is over all and in all is made known, and the Son through all. A perfect Trinity, in majesty and eternity and kingdom in no way divided nor estranged.'

'Therefore in the Trinity there is nothing made or serving, nor anything superadded, as though not subsisting before but afterward entering in from without. Thus the Son was never lacking to the Father, nor the Holy Spirit to the Son, but the same Trinity is unchangeable and immutable.' As for the remaining matters, which up to the present time have followed in order, whether we found them in the writings of our forefathers or our own memory has touched upon them, by the precepts of the pious father and in this our parents as far as we were able. Concerning the bishop Spyridon and his marvels. An example of the Nicene faith and its decrees. Concerning the cross of the Savior found in Jerusalem by Helena. Concerning the conversion of the nation of the Iberians brought about by a captive woman.

Concerning Constantia, sister of Constantine, and the presbyter she introduced to her brother. Concerning the conflict of Alexander and Eusebius and Arius. XVII. Concerning the council of the heretics at Tyre against Athanasius. XVIII. Concerning the severed arm of Arsenius and the other frauds of the heretics. XX. How the emperor Constans wrote to his brother Constantius on behalf of Athanasius and ordered him to be restored to his church. XXI. Concerning the council held at Milan and the exiles of Eusebius. XXIII. Concerning the bishops of Jerusalem and of Alexandria. XXV. Concerning the intermingling of bishops at Antioch. XXVI. Concerning the schism of the Arians, which was divided into three parts, some of them being Eunomians, others Macedonians, and others again... XXVII. Concerning the end of the emperor Constantius and the rise of Julian. XXVIII.

Concerning the council of the holy bishops at Alexandria and Lucifer. XXX. Concerning the things decreed in that same council. XXXI. Concerning Eusebius and Hilary and the restoration of the churches through them. XXXIII. Concerning the persecutions of Julian, both flattering and cunning. XXXIV. Concerning his savagery toward Athanasius the bishop. XXXVII. Concerning Theodore the confessor at Antioch.

XXXVIII. Concerning the attempts of the Jews, who, deceived by Julian, sought to rebuild the temple. XXXIX. How by an earthquake there and by fire kindled from heaven the Jews were driven off from the undertaking. XL. Concerning the terrifying signs and wonders, which were turned to their destruction. When at Alexandria, after Achillas, who had succeeded the martyr Peter, Alexander had taken up the priesthood, since there was peace and quiet for our people from persecutions, and the glory of the churches rejoiced in the merits of the confessors, the prosperity of our affairs was disturbed by a domestic contention. And a certain man, religious in appearance rather than in virtue, but wickedly greedy for glory and praise and novelty, began to put forward certain perverse notions concerning the faith of Christ, and matters that had never before come into question.

He attempted to cut off and separate the Son from that eternal and ineffable substance or nature of God the Father. The bishop, of a gentle and quiet nature, desired by constant admonitions to recall Arius from his depraved undertaking and impious assertions, yet the matter did not proceed according to his wish, since the contagion of that pestilent assertion had already infected very many, not only at Alexandria but, as became known, throughout other cities also. The report reached even the ears of the religious emperor, who indeed with all zeal and diligence took care of those things that are ours. Then he, on the advice of the bishops, ordered an episcopal council to be convened at the city of Nicaea, and that judgment be made concerning Arius's propositions and questions.

But in that council I do not think a remarkable deed of the emperor ought to be passed over in silence. For when the bishops had gathered from almost every place and, as usually happens, had brought forward certain quarrels among themselves from various causes, the emperor was frequently interrupted by individuals; petitions were presented, faults were set forth, and they gave their minds to these things more than to that for which they had come. But he, seeing that through quarrels of this kind the cause of the highest business was being frustrated, appointed a fixed day on which each of the bishops, if he seemed to have any complaint, should present it. And when he had taken his seat, he received the petitions from each. Holding all of them together in his bosom, and not opening them to reveal what was contained in them, he said to the bishops:

'God has appointed you priests and has given you power to judge concerning us as well, and therefore we are rightly judged by you; but you cannot be judged by men. On this account, await among yourselves the judgment of God alone, and let your quarrels, whatever they are, be reserved for that divine examination. For you have been given to us as gods by God, and it is not fitting that a man should judge gods, but only He of whom it is written: God stood in the assembly of the gods, and in the midst He discerns the gods. And therefore, setting aside these matters, which do not pertain to the faith of God, settle them without any contention of spirits.'

When he had said these things, he ordered all the petitions of complaints to be burned together, lest the rivalry of the priests should become known to any man. But when for many days in the council of bishops the question concerning the faith was being debated, and some held differing views and vehemently favored the undertakings of Arius, there were nonetheless more who execrated the impious enterprise. And since in that same council there was a great number of confessors among the priests, all of them opposed the novelties of Arius. But those who favored him were men crafty in disputations, and on that account hostile to the simplicity of the faith. Now how great a power the simplicity of faith possesses, we recognize also from those things which are reported to have been done there.

For when, at the zeal of the religious emperor, the priests of God had come together from every land, philosophers too, moved by report, and dialecticians most noble and most renowned, assembled. Among these a certain man distinguished in the art of dialectic stirred up, day by day, a contest of the highest struggle with our bishops, men likewise not inconsiderably learned in dialectic; and there arose a mighty spectacle, since no philosopher could be shut in or bound down by anyone of that class: for with such art of speaking did he meet the objections raised, that just where he seemed most tightly held, he would slip away like a slippery serpent.