A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

339unworthy of the episcopate, but also as of one not elected byqualified persons. But when he had shown himself superior tothis calumny (for having assumed direction of the Church ofthe Alexandrians, he ardently contended for the Nicene creed),then the adherents of Eusebius exerted themselves to cause theremoval of Athanasius and to bring Arius back to Alexandria;for thus only did they think they should be able to cast out thedoctrine of consubstantiality and introduce Arianism. Eusebiustherefore wrote to Athanasius to receive Arius and his adherents;and when he wrote he not only entreated him, but he openlythreatened him. When Athanasius would by no means accede tothis he endeavored to persuade the Emperor to receive Arius in [309]audience and then permit him to return to Alexandria; and howhe accomplished these things I shall tell in its proper place.Meanwhile, before this, another commotion was raised in theChurch. In fact those of the household of the Church againdisturbed her peace. Eusebius Pamphilius says that immediatelyafter the synod Egypt became agitated by intestine divisions; buthe does not give the reason for this. From this he has gainedthe reputation of being disingenuous and of avoiding the specificationof the causes of these dissensions from a determinationon his part not to give his sanction to the proceedings at Nicæa.Yet as we ourselves have discovered from various letters whichthe bishops wrote to one another after the synod, the term homoousiostroubled some of them. So that while they occupiedthemselves about it, investigating it very minutely, they rousedthe strife against each other. It seemed not unlike a contestin the dark; for neither party appeared to understand distinctlythe grounds on which they calumniated one another. Thosewho objected to the word homoousios conceived that those whoapproved it favored the opinion of Sabellius and Montanus; theytherefore called them blasphemers, as subverting the existence ofthe Son of God. And again those who defended the term, chargingtheir opponents with polytheism, inveighed against them