the history of heresies, and their refutation - Catholic Apologetics ...

the Emperor with many crimes (8). They accused him of having violated a virgin of having killed
Arsenius, the Bishop of Ipsele, in the Thebaid of casting down an altar, and breaking a consecrated
chalice; and they now renewed the same charges in the Council of Tyre (9), Constantino, at the request of
his mother, St. Helen, had built the great Church of the Resurrection, in Jerusalem, and had invited a
great number of bishops to consecrate it with all solemnity; it was on this occasion that Eusebius of
Nicomedia suggested to him that it would be well to collect all the bishops, before the consecration, into a
council, to establish a general peace. The Emperor was most anxious for peace above all things; so he at
once agreed, and selected Tyre as the most convenient place for the bishop to meet on their way to
Jerusalem. Eusebius, who had planned the scheme, now got together all the bishops of his party, so that
there were sixty bishops in all; but many of these were Catholics, and this number was increased soon
after by the arrival of St. Athanasius, accompanied by Paphuntius, Potamon, and several other Egyptian
bishops. St. Athanasius, seeing the storm he had to encounter, refused to come at first, but was
constrained by Constantino, who threatened him with banishment in case of refusal (10). Eusebius next
contrived that the Count Flavius should be present, to preserve order, as he said, and keep down any
disturbance; but, in reality, to crush St. Athanasius and his friends. Flavius, accordingly, came,
accompanied by a large body of troops, ready to seize on any one who opposed Eusebius’s party (11).
25. The impious synod was now opened, and St. Athanasius, who, in right of his dignity, should preside,
was obliged to stand as a criminal to be tried for crimes he never was guilty of. When St. Potamon saw
him in this position he was highly indignant with Eusebius of Cesarea, who was seated among the judges
(12). " Tell me, Eusebius," said he, " how did it happen that, when we were both prisoners, in the days of
persecution for the faith, my right eye was plucked out, but you left the prison safe and sound, without
any mark of constancy; how could that have happened, unless you yielded to the will of the tyrant ?"
(8) Orsi, l. 12, n. 92. (9) Ibid (10) Socrat l.1.n.28 (11) Orsi, I. 12, n. 96. (12) Epiph. Her. 69
Eusebius, enraged at the charge, instead of making any defence, got up, and left the council, and the
synod was dissolved for that day (13). St. Athanasius protested that he did not wish to submit himself to
the judgment of his enemies, but in vain. He was first accused by two bishops of Meletius’s party; and the
principal charges they brought against him were the violation of the virgin, the murder of the bishop, and
the desecration of the altar and chalice. This last charge they could not bring any proof of, so they
confined themselves to the two former; and, to prove the crime of violation (14), they introduced into the
synod a prostitute, who declared that St. Athanasius had robbed her of her honour. The Saint, however,
knowing the plot beforehand, made one of his priests, of the name of Timothy, stand forward; and he
said to the woman : " Do you mean to charge me with having violated you ?" " Yes," said the unfortunate
wretch, thinking he was St. Athanasius, " you have violated me you have robbed me of my virginity,
which I dedicated to God." Thus this first calumny was most triumphantly refuted, and the other charge
was equally proved to be unfounded. Among the other proofs they adduced of the murder of Arsenius,
they exhibited a hand which was cut off from his dead body, they said, by St. Athanasius. But the fact
was thus (15) : When the Saint was first accused of the crime, Arsenius lent himself to the Arian party,
and concealed himself, that his death might be proved. But he soon repented of such wickedness, and, to
clear St. Athanasius, he came to Tyre, and confronted the Saint’s accusers in the council; for while the
accusers were making the charge, and showing the dead hand as a proof, Athanasius asked them, did
they know Arsenius ? They answered, that they did. He then called forth the man they said was dead,
and told him to hold up his head, that all might recognize him. But even this would not stop their
mouths, for they then said, that he did not kill him, but cut off his hand only; but Athanasius opened
Arsenius’s mantle, and showed that both his hands were perfect.
(13) Orsi, l. 12, n. 97. (14) Ibid, n. 93. (15) Orsi, l. 12, n. 94, ex St. Athan. Apol. contra Ar. n. 65.
Beaten out of this last accusation, they then said that it was all accomplished by magic, and that the Saint
was a magician. Finally, they said, that St. Athanasius (16) forced persons to hold communion with him,
by imprisoning some, flogging and tormenting others, and that he even deposed and flogged some
bishops; and the winding up of the matter was, that he was condemned and deposed. When St.
Athanasius saw that he was so unjustly deposed, he appealed to the Emperor in Constantinople, and
acquainted him with all he suffered in the Council of Tyre; and Constantino wrote to the bishops who
were yet remaining in Jerusalem, reproving them for tumultuously smothering the truth, and ordering
them to come immediately to Constantinople, and account for their conduct (17). The Eusebians obeyed
the imperial order, and, saying nothing more about the murder of Arsenius, or the broken chalice, they
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