Книга 1

Painters, depicting ancient events on boards and walls, of course, give pleasure to the audience and keep what happened long ago in fresh memory for a long time. But historians, using books instead of boards, and the colors of words instead of paints, make the memory of the past even stronger and firmer, because the art of a painter is smoothed out by time. For this purpose, I will try to describe everything that remains not included in the history of the church: for I consider indifference to the glory of famous deeds and oblivion of the most useful legends to be criminal. This is precisely why some of my friends repeatedly stimulated me to real work. However, commensurating this work with my strengths, I am afraid to take on it and only in trusting in the generous Giver of blessings do I begin what is beyond my strength. So, Eusebius of Palestine, starting the story from St. Apostolov, described church events before the reign of the God-loving Constantine, and I will make the end of his work the beginning of my stories. 1 Where did the Arian heresy begin? After the overthrow of those lawless and wicked tyrants - I mean Maxentius, Maximinus and Licinius, 2 in the church the storm raised by these tormentors, as if by some kind of whirlwinds, subsided, and, after the winds had passed, the church calmed down. Such a peaceful refuge was provided to her by the all-validated King Constantine, who received a calling to that, in the words of the divine Apostle (Gal. 1.1), “not from man, nor by man,” but from heaven. He issued laws that forbade sacrifices to idols and commanded the creation of churches; he appointed people adorned with faith as rulers of the people, ordering them to honor the priests and threatening execution to those who dared to offend 3 From that time on, some of them began to rebuild the destroyed churches, others began to build new, more extensive and magnificent ones. Looking at such deeds, we rejoiced and were comforted, while the enemies were consumed with sorrow and annoyance. The churches of the idols were closed, and holidays were often held in Christian churches and solemn meetings took place. But for the crafty and envious demon, the destroyer of people, it was unbearable to see the church floating with a fair wind; he formed malicious plans and tried to drown it, controlled by the Creator and Ruler of all. Since the Hellenic error had already become obvious, since the various tricks of the demons were brought to light and very many people, having ceased to honor the creature, sang the Creator instead, he did not openly raise a war against God and our Savior, but found people honored with the name of Christians and, however, enslaved by love and vanity, and he used them as an instrument of his plans, and through them he involved the former error and many others, not forcing them to idolize the creature, but disposing them to classify the Creator and Maker himself among the creature. I will tell you where these tares were sown first and how they were sown. There is Alexandria, the greatest and most populous city, the metropolis not only of Egypt, but also of Thebaid and Libya, adjacent to Egypt. In it, after Peter, this victorious warrior, who received the crown of martyrdom under the aforementioned wicked persecutors, a certain Achilles was the leader for some time and ruled the helm of the church, and he was followed by the courageous champion of the gospel dogmas Alexander. At this time, Arius, who stood in the rank of presbyters and had the task of explaining the Divine Scripture, seeing that Alexander had received the helm of the bishopric, could not bear the attack of envy, but, aroused by it, sought pretexts for enmity and quarrel. Alexander’s praiseworthy life, of course, did not allow him to weave slander against him, however, driven by envy, he could not calm down. Having found such a person, the opponent of the truth raises a storm through him and spreads it in the church - namely, he convinces him to go openly against the apostolic teaching of Alexander. Following the Divine Scripture, Alexander called the Son equal in honor to the Father and having the same being with God who gave birth to Him, and Arius, opposing the truth, began to call Him a creature and a creature and said that there was a time when He did not exist, adding to this and so on, which we learn more clearly from his writings. 4 He spread this teaching not only in the church, but also in external assemblies and gatherings, and, going from house to house, he won over to his side everyone he could. Alexander, the defender of the apostolic dogmas, at first tried to reason with him with exhortations and advice, but when he saw that he was persistently mad and openly preaching his wickedness, he excluded him from the priestly rank, for he listened to the voice of the law of God, which says: “if ... your right eye causes you to stumble, absolve you and take it away from you” (Matthew 5.29). List of major bishops At this time, the reins of the Roman church were held by Sylvester 5, the successor of Miltiades 6, who received ordination as a bishop in the same church after Marcellus 7, who became famous during the persecution. In Antioch, after the death of the tyrant, when peace came to the churches, Vitaly took government power and built a church in Palaia, destroyed by the persecutors, and the primate Philogenius who followed him completed this construction and during the time of Licinius showed zeal for piety. The Church of Jerusalem, after Hermon, was entrusted to Macarius, a man fully worthy of his name and adorned with various virtues. In the church of Constantinople at that time, Alexander enjoyed the honor of priestly service, and he, seeing that Arius was overcome by the passion of ambition, and was holding special meetings with people carried away by his blasphemy, announced messages to these leaders of the churches about such blasphemy. In my history I will place his letter to the bishop of the same name; it clearly shows the whole matter of Arius, so that no one thinks that my stories are fiction. Then, after this message, I will also give the message of Arius, and after it others that are necessary for the historical story, so that they confirm the truth of the story and express the past deeds more clearly. This is what the Alexandrian Bishop Alexander writes to his co-name. Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, to Alexander, Bishop of Constantinople “To Alexander, the most respected and unanimous brother, Alexander wishes health in the Lord.” The will of restless people is power-hungry and money-loving, usually slandering dioceses that seem large, and under various pretexts attacks their church piety. Excited by the devil working in them to the supposed pleasure, they lose all sense of reverence and trample on the fear of God’s judgment. Having suffered from them, I considered it necessary to inform your Philokalia so that you would beware of them, lest one of them dare to enter your dioceses either by himself, or through others (after all, deceivers know how to cover up their wickedness), or through messages with which, presenting lies in a plausible light, they can easily mislead a person who listens to them with simple and pure faith. It was precisely Arius and Achilles who recently decided to jointly imitate the arrogance of Kolluf and extended much further than him: because Kolluf, who himself accuses them, at least had some reason for his crafty enterprise 8; and they, seeing his selling of Christ, did not even want to remain under the authority of the church, but, having built themselves robber dens, constantly gather in them day and night and invent slander against Christ and us. Condemning all the apostolic pious teaching and, like the Jews, having formed an anti-Christ gathering, they reject the Divinity of our Savior and preach that He is equal to all people. Collecting all the passages of Scripture that speak of His saving economy and humiliation for us, they try to confirm their wicked preaching with these passages, and turn away from expressions that speak of His original divinity and ineffable glory with the Father. Thus, regarding Christ, strengthening the wicked opinion of the Hellenes and Jews, they most of all pursue their praises, confirm everything for which we are subjected to their ridicule, and daily raise indignation and persecution against us: then they drag us to judgment on the complaints of disorderly women, whom they themselves persuaded; then they dishonor Christianity by allowing their girls to run shamelessly around the neighborhood. In a word, they dared to tear that unsewn tunic of Christ, which even the crucifying warriors did not want to divide into pieces. Therefore, having learned about their life and wicked enterprise, although this information, due to their secrecy, was received by us too late, we, with common consent, expelled them from the church that worships the Divinity of Jesus Christ. But for our sake they began to run everywhere, began to turn to our fellow servants of like minds with us, pretending to want peace and harmony, but in fact, under the guise of goodwill, trying to drag some among them into their illness. From these latter they ask verbose statements of faith, so that, by reading them to those whom they have deceived, they will become unrepentant in their error and root them in wickedness, and they claim that there are bishops on their side who adhere to the same way of thinking; and yet they do not reveal to them what we were cunningly taught, what they did and why they were expelled from the church: they are silent about this, or leave it in the shadows through deliberately fictitious speeches and writings. Thus covering up their disastrous teaching with convincing and insinuating conversations, they attract to themselves those who are susceptible to deception, and at the same time do not miss the opportunity to slander our piety before everyone. That is why some subscribed to their statements and accepted them into the church, although the fellow ministers who dared to do this are subject, as I think, to the greatest reproach, especially since the apostolic rule does not allow this, and also because by their act they increase the power of the devil operating in heretics against Christ. Therefore, beloved, I have not hesitated at all to make up my mind to inform you of the unbelief of these people, who say that there was once a time when there was no Son of God, that He was born after, not existing before, and that whenever there was, but He alone was created, like every man. God, they say, created everything from non-existent things, thus counting among the creation all rational and irrational creatures and the Son of God, and as a result they claim that His nature is changeable and can perceive good and evil. Then, assuming that the Son of God is from non-existence, they distort the passages of Divine Scripture that say that He always has existence, and which show the immutability of the Word and the Divinity of the Wisdom of the Word, that is, Christ. And we, just like Him, these wicked people say, can become sons of God; for it is written: “They gave birth to sons and raised them up” (Isaiah 1.2). And when they were told what is said further in the same verse: “He who rejected me,” which is not natural for the Savior, who has an unchangeable nature, they, putting aside all shame, answered that He was chosen from all sons, for God, by foreknowledge and providence, knew about Him that He would not be rejected. Not because, they say, God chose Him because He by nature has something special and superior to other sons by nature, they say, He is not the Son of God, and not because of His special, essential relationship to God, but because, despite the changeability of His nature, He, through exercising Himself in moral activity, did not deviate to the worse. So, if Paul or Peter had shown equal strength in this, then their adoption would not have differed in the least from His adoption. In confirmation of this insane teaching, they, mocking the Holy Scriptures, offer the following words of the psalmist spoken about Christ: “thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: for this reason, O God, thy God anointed thee with the oil of gladness, and is more than thy partaker” (Ps. 44.8). But that the Son of God did not come from non-existence and that there was no time when there was no Son of God - this is sufficiently taught by the Evangelist John, speaking of Him: “the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father” (John 1.18). The Divine Teacher, wanting to show that two objects - the Father and the Son are inseparable from each other, called the Son "being in the bosom of the Father." And that the Word of God does not belong to the number of creatures created from nothing, the same John proves with the words: “all this came into existence”; for John designated the peculiar hypostasis of the Word of God as follows: “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word. ... All that was, and without him there was nothing more than there was” (John 1.1–3). If everything was created by Him, then how is it that He who gave existence to all created beings did not himself once exist? The Creative Word cannot at all be of the same nature with created beings, as He Himself was in the beginning and produced everything, created everything out of non-existence; for what exists is the opposite of what has come from non-existence, and is far removed from it, while the above words show that there is no distance between the Father and the Son and that the soul is not able to imagine it even with a simple thought. The expression “the world was created from something that does not exist” signifies the subsequent and recent origin of the being, when everything received its existence from the Father through the Son. Therefore, deeply contemplating the existence of God the Word, inaccessible to the mind of created beings, the divine John recognized it as unworthy to call Him a work and a creation and did not dare to signify the Creator and the creature by the same names - not because the Word was not born (for the Father alone was not born), but because the inexplicable hypostasis of the only begotten Son of God exceeds the concept not only of the evangelists, but also of the angels. That is why I do not think to count among pious people the one who dares to extend his inquisitiveness even to this question. He does not listen to the words of Scripture: “You shall not seek yourselves from yourselves, nor test yourselves who are strong” (Sir 3.21). If the knowledge of many other subjects, which are incomparably lower than this, is hidden from the human mind - as, for example, we read in Paul: “their eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not breathed what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2.9); or, as God says to Abraham: “man cannot number the stars” (Gen. 15.5); or again: “the sand of the sea and the drops of rain... who can count” (Sir 1.2), then who would explore the hypostasis of the Word of God except a madman? The Prophetic Spirit speaks of it: “Who will confess his generation” (Isaiah 53.8)? And our Savior himself, benefiting the God-speaking apostles, the pillars of all things in the world, hastened to remove from them, as a burden, the knowledge of this subject. He said that the understanding of this most divine mystery is higher than the nature of all of them and that the knowledge of it abides in one Father: “no one knows the Son, - He says, “no one knows the Father but the Son” (Matthew 11.27). I think the Father speaks about the same thing in the following words: “My secret is to me (and mine).” And that it is insane to think that the Son of God came from something that does not exist and, therefore, has a temporary existence, is evident even from the expression: “he makes from something that does not exist,” although the foolish do not understand the madness of their words. The expression: “once did not exist” must refer either to time or to some continuation of eternity. If it is true that “all that happened”, i.e. if through Him all eternity, and time, and divisions of times, and the very no-time, which contains non-existence, came into being, then is it not absurd to say that the One who created times, eternity and years, in which non-existence is contained, himself once did not exist? Indeed, it would be extremely senseless and ignorant to believe that the author of any thing received his existence after the origin of the thing he created. According to heretics, the continuation of time, in which, as they say, the Son has not yet originated from the Father, precedes the existence of the Wisdom of God that created everything. This means that the Holy Scripture unfairly calls the Son of God “the firstborn of all creation” (Col 1.15; Sir 24.10). But these words of Scripture are confirmed by the most emphatic Paul when he speaks of the Son of God: “And by him hath made the heir of all, and by him also made the worlds” (Hebrews 1.2). And again: “by him were all things created, whether they be in heaven or on earth, visible and invisible, whether they were powers, whether they were dominions, whether they were thrones... all things were created by this and in him, and they are before all” (Col 1.16, 17) So, it is obvious that the opinion of the creation of the Son of God from something that does not exist is the most ungodly, therefore the Father must always be. But the Father is always the Father, since he always has a Son, by whom he is called the Father. If the Father always has a Son, then He is always a perfect Father, alien to shortcomings in relation to goodness and who gave birth to the only begotten Son not in time, not in the continuation of time, and not from existence. Isn’t it also wicked to say that the Wisdom of God did not once exist when it testifies to itself: “I was with him (with God), I ordered everything; I’m behaving, I’m having fun about her” (Proverbs 8.29, 30)? Or that the power of God once did not exist, that the Word of God was once silent, or that in God there were once no other properties by which the Son is recognized and the Father is qualified? Whoever says that there is no “radiance of glory” (Heb. 1.3) denies the existence of the original Light, from which the radiance comes. If the “image of God” did not always exist (2 Cor 4.4; Col 1.15), then, obviously, the One whose image it was did not always exist. If there was no feature of the hypostasis of God (Heb. 1.3), then there was no one whose hypostasis was fully determined by it. From this we can see that the sonship of our Savior has nothing to do with the sonship of people. Just as His ineffable hypostasis, we said, is incomparably higher than all creatures to which He gave existence, so His sonship, which by nature participates in the Divinity of the Father, is inexpressibly higher than the sonship of people who received through Him the gift of adoption. Since His nature is unchangeable, He is all-perfect and does not need anything, and they, subject to change for better and worse, always need His help. And in what way can the Wisdom of God be improved? In what way can self-truth or God the Word receive an increase? How can true life and true light improve? If this is impossible, then how many times more unnatural is it for the Wisdom of God to ever accept stupidity, or for the Power of God to unite with weakness, or for Reason to be darkened by foolishness, or for the true Light to mix darkness with itself? The Apostle directly says: “What fellowship is there between light and darkness; What kind of agreement does Christ have with Belial?” (2 Cor 6.14, 15). And Solomon finds it impossible to even imagine that the trace of the serpent would be found on the stone, which, according to the teaching of Paul, is Christ (Proverbs 30.19; 1 Cor. 10:4). Meanwhile, people and angels, being His creatures, received from Him the blessing to improve themselves through the exercise of virtue and the fulfillment of the commandments of the law to avoid sins. Therefore, our Lord, being the Son of the Father by nature, accepts worship from everyone, and people receive the “Spirit of sonship” only when they are freed from the “spirit of work” (Rom. 8.15) through good works and self-improvement and, thus benefited by the Son by nature, become sons by adoption. Paul expressed His true, own and preferential sonship when he said about God: “he who... did not spare his own Son, but for us,” i.e. for sons not by nature, “he gave him up to eat” (Rom. 8.32), where he called Him his son or his own, in contrast to sons not his own. And in the Gospel it reads: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3.17). And in the psalms the Savior says: “The Lord said to me: You are my son” (Ps 2.7; Heb 1.5), and, with these words, expressing true sonship, he shows that besides Him, there are no other true and natural sons of God. Moreover, what do the following words mean: “from the womb before the morning star gave birth to you?” (Ps 109.3). Don't they clearly indicate the natural sonship of the Father's birth, which He received not for the purity of morals and self-improvement in virtue, but because of the peculiarity of nature? Hence, the only begotten Son of the Father has an immutable sonship, while the sonship of rational creatures, which they receive both by nature and by the purity of morals and the gift of God, is considered changeable in the Word of God: “having seen...,” it says, “the daughters of men being the sons of God, girding their wives,” and so on. (Genesis 6.2). We also know that God spoke through Isaiah: “Sons have begotten and raised up, but they have rejected me” (Isaiah 1.2). I could say a lot to you, beloved, but I leave it, considering it unnecessary to make detailed reminders to teachers who think the same way as me. You yourself have been taught by God and know that the teaching that has risen again against church piety originally belonged to Ebion and Artema and is an imitation of the heresy of Paul of Samosata, 9 who was a bishop in Antioch, excommunicated from the Church by a conciliar court of all bishops in the universe, and whose successor Lucian had no communication with three bishops for many years. It was their wickedness that the exorcists who have now appeared from us borrowed the residue of their wickedness, and it is their secret branch that should be revered - Arius, Achilles and the council of other wicked ones. I do not know how it happened that the three bishops ordained in Syria adopted their way of thinking and thereby inflamed them even more for the worse. Let the trial of these bishops be based on your research. Firmly keeping in mind those passages of Scripture that speak of the Savior’s suffering, His humility, humiliation, so-called poverty and everything that He endured for us, they cite them to refute His highest and original Divinity, and do not remember expressions testifying to His natural glory, greatness and abiding with the Father. Such, for example, are the words: “I and the Father are one” (John 10.30). The Lord expresses with them not that He is the Father or that two natures hypostatically constitute one, but that the Son of the Father precisely preserves the Father’s nature, that he has in himself a perfect similarity with the Father, imprinted by nature itself, and is the likeness of the Father, not different from Him in any way, is the image of the prototype itself. Our Lord fully revealed this to Philip when he desired to see His Father. Philip said: “Show us the Father”; but the Lord answered him: “He who sees me, sees the Father” (John 14.9); for in the purest and most animated mirror of the Divine image the Father himself is contemplated. Likewise, the saints say in the psalms: “in Your light we will see light” (Ps 35.10). Therefore, whoever honors the Son honors the Father - and rightly so; for every ungodly word that one dares to speak against the Son also applies to the Father. After this, is it surprising what I intend to write further about to you, beloved - is it surprising the lies and slander of heretics against me and our most pious people? Those who are armed against the Divinity of the Son of God, of course, will not refuse to ungratefully slander us. They do not even deign to compare the ancients with themselves and do not tolerate being compared to those persons who were our mentors in adolescence. In their opinion, not one of our current co-conspirators in the entire universe has achieved the measure of wisdom. They only consider themselves sages, non-covetous people and inventors of dogmas, they say that only they alone have been revealed such secrets as have never even occurred to any of the people in the sunflower. O impious arrogance and boundless madness! O vain love of glory, fit for madmen! O satanic pride, which has hardened their wicked souls! They are not ashamed of the God-loving clarity of the ancient scriptures. The pious teaching about Christ, which all our fellow servants agreed upon, did not curb their insolence against Him. Yes, even demons do not tolerate such wickedness, for they too are afraid to utter blasphemous words against the Son of God. We had to, to the best of our ability, say this against those who raised ignorant dust against Christ and decided to blaspheme our pious faith in Him. They, the inventors of absurd fables, say that, turning away from their impious blasphemy, which is not based on any evidence of Scripture, producing the existence of Christ from something that does not exist, we admit two unborn beings. These ignoramuses claim that it is necessary to be one of two things: either to think that the Son of God is from something that does not exist, or to certainly recognize two unborn. But, ignorant, they do not know that there is a great difference between the unbegotten Father and the rational and irrational creatures created by Him from non-existent things, and that between them the only-begotten nature had to mediate, through which the Father of the Word of God created everything from non-existent things and which was born from the self-existent Father. Thus, in one place the Lord himself says: “Whoever loves one who has been born loves him who is born of him” (1 John 5.1). Regarding this subject, we maintain the same faith that the entire Apostolic Church maintains: we believe in one unbegotten Father, not owing his existence to any author, immutable and unchangeable, always identical and identical, receiving neither increase nor decrease, giver of the law, prophets and gospels, Lord of the patriarchs, apostles and all saints; and into one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, born not from something that is not, but from a Father who exists, not in the likeness of bodies, - through separation or flowing out in parts, as Savely 10 and Valentinus teach, but ineffably and inexplicably, as the above words of the prophet say: “Who can confess his generation?” (Isaiah 53.8). For His hypostasis incomprehensible to any created nature, just as the Father himself is incomprehensible; because the nature of rational creatures cannot contain the knowledge of the Father’s birth of God. However, people moved by the spirit of truth have no need to learn this from me, when the teaching of Christ is announced to us and preceded by him, who says: “No one knows the Father except the Son, nor does anyone know the Son except the Father” (Matthew 11.27). We know that the Son of God is immutable and unchangeable, like the Father, has no need for anything and is a perfect Son, similar to the Father, and differing from Him only in one birth. The Son of God is the most accurate and in no way different image of the Father, because this image fully possesses everything that most expresses His likeness to the Father. This is what the Lord Himself taught: “My Father,” He says, “is in pain for me” (John 14.28). Therefore we also believe that the Son is always from the Father; for he is “the radiance of glory and the image of the hypostasis” of the Father (Heb. 1.3). But let no one always accept the words in the sense of unbornness, as people with damaged feelings of the soul think: neither was, nor always, nor before centuries are not the same thing with unbornness. The human mind is not able to invent any word to signify unbornness. I think that you agree with me on this, and I am even completely confident in the right judgment of all of you, that these words do not at all mean unbornness. They are nothing more than a mere representation of times, and therefore cannot worthily express the Divinity and, as it were, the antiquity of the Only Begotten. However, these words were used by holy men when they tried, to the best of their ability, to explain this sacrament, but, using them, they asked their listeners for an apology and, to justify themselves, said that their speech could only rise to this level. If there are people who expect some higher words from human lips, containing more than what is accessible to man, and consider what is partially known to them insufficient, then the expectations of such people, of course, are far from being satisfied by the words: “there was, always, and before the age.” There is no doubt, however, that they, whatever they are, will never fully express unbornness. So, we must attribute special dignity to the unborn Father, saying that He does not have any author of His existence, and again give the Son a special honor befitting Him, appropriating to Him the beginningless birth from the Father and, as said above, bringing Him worship, so that the words: “was, always and before the age” are applied to Him only piously and reverently, not at all rejecting His Divinity, but in the image and expression of the Father seeing in everything there is the most exact similarity with Him, but unbornness should be considered a property that belongs only to the Father, as the Savior himself said: “My Father is painful to me” (John 14.28). In addition to this pious opinion about the Father and the Son, based on the teaching of Divine Scripture, we also confess one Holy Spirit, who renewed both the holy people of the Old Testament and the divine teachers of the Testament called the new. Let us confess together the one and only, catholic, apostolic church, never defeated, even if the whole world were armed against it, always victoriously repelling every wicked attack of heretics; for her Householder approved of us with this proclamation: “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” (John 16.33). Finally, we also recognize the resurrection of the dead, of which our Lord Jesus Christ became the firstfruits, having from the Mother of God Mary a true body, not a ghostly one, and at the end of the ages descending to the human race to take away sin from it, crucified and dying, through which, however, not diminished in His Divinity, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Majesty. This. I wrote in the message only in part, recognizing, as said above, that it is unnecessary to write to you about every subject in all its detail, because all this is not hidden from your sacred jealousy. This is how we teach, this is how we preach, these are the apostolic dogmas of the church, for which we are ready to die, not paying any attention to those who force us to abandon them, even if the coercion is accompanied by torture, and without rejecting the hope contained in them. Arius, Achilles and other enemies of the truth who opposed them, as alien to our pious teaching, were expelled from the church, in accordance with the words of Blessed Paul: “If anyone preaches the gospel to you more than he has already received, let him be anathema,” even if this evangelist pretended to be “an angel from heaven” (Gal. 1.8–9); also: “Whoever teaches differently and does not approach the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teachings according to good faith, he has become proud and knows nothing,” and so on. (1 Tim 6.3, 4). From all the brethren of anathematized people, none of you accept these, and no one allows what they write or say, for they, deceivers, all lie, they have no truth. They walk around the cities with the sole intention of hypocritically and flatteringly distributing and receiving letters under the guise of friendship and in the name of peace, and with these letters to confirm in error the women deceived by them and drowning in sins, etc. (2 Tim 3.6). So, beloved and unanimous brothers, turn away from these people who display such great audacity against Christ and partly publicly ridicule Christianity, partly dishonor it in judicial places, who, during the time of peace, as much as they can, inflict persecution on us and weaken the power of the ineffable sacrament of the birth of Christ. Move away from them and express to us your consent to suppress their frantic insolence, just as many of our other colleagues expressed to us indignation at these apostates from the faith and, having signed our letter, now sent to you with my son, Deacon Apion, confirmed this with their own letters. And all our fellow servants, Egyptian and Thebaidian, Libyan and Pentapolitan, Syrian, Lycian and Pamphylian, Asian, Cappadocian and others from the neighboring regions, signed it. I hope that, following their example, you will certify me with a message. Among the many means I have taken to heal those infected, it will probably be salutary that the deluded will be assured of the agreement of our fellow servants with us and thus will hasten to repent. Greet each other, together with the brethren who are with you. I wish you good health, beloved! May God grant me to receive fruit from your Christ-loving soul. Here are the anathematized heretics: of the presbyters - Arius; of the deacons - Achilles, Euzos, Anphalius, Lucius, Sarmatius, Julius, Mina, another Arius and Helladius. Alexander sent the same message to Philogenius, the head of the Antichian church, to Eustathius, who was then entrusted with the administration of the Beria church 11, and to all other defenders of the apostolic dogmas. Meanwhile, Arius was not left alone; he also communicated with many in whom he hoped to find like-minded people. And that blessed Alexander wrote against him was not a lie, Arius himself testifies to this in his letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia. I am introducing this letter into my history for the purpose of delivering information to those who do not know about the accomplices of wickedness. Letter of Arius to Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia “To the most desirable lord, the man of God, the faithful Orthodox Eusebius, unjustly persecuted by the pope.” (Pope) in the Christian church of that time was sometimes called the bishops who headed the largest churches in the east of the empire, in particular, the metropolitans of Antioch, Alexandria, etc. Alexander, for the all-conquering truth, which you also defend, Arius wishes health in the Lord. On the occasion of the departure of my father Ammonius to Nicomedia, I considered it a pleasant duty to greet you through him and together remind you of your innate love and disposition that you have for your brothers for the sake of God and His Christ, that the bishop is strongly persecuting us and persecuting us, using all means to do so. He even recognized us as godless people and expelled us from the city - because we did not agree with him when he spoke publicly; God is always, the Son is always; together the Father, together the Son; The Son coexists with God unbegotten; He is always begotten and unbegotten; God does not precede the Son either in thought or in any atom; God is always, the Son is always; Son from God himself. Therefore, your brother, the bishop of Caesarea Eusebius, Theodotus, Paulinus, Athanasius, Gregory, Aetius and all the shepherds of the east, who say that God pre-exists the Son without beginning, are anathematized, excluding only Philogonius, Ellanikos and Macarius - people unconfirmed in the faith and heretics, of whom one produces the Son from the Father through vomiting, the other through throwing out, and the third calls Him unborn. We cannot even hear such wickedness, even if the heretics threatened us with a thousand deaths. We say and think, teach and teach this: the Son is both unbegotten, and in no sense is a part of the Unbegotten, and did not come from anything pre-existing, but by the will and counsel (of God) there was before time and before ages the perfect God, the only begotten, unchangeable. However, He did not exist before He was born, or created, or determined, or founded, for before His birth He did not exist. We are persecuted because we say: the Son has a beginning, while God is without beginning. We are persecuted because we say: The Son is from non-existence. But we say this because He is not a part of God and does not come from anything pre-existing. This is why they are persecuting us! You know the rest. I wish you health in the Lord! Remember our sorrows, true Solukianist, Eusebius!” Of the persons mentioned here by Arius, Eusebius was the bishop of Caesarea, Theodotus was the bishop of Laodicea, Paulinus was the bishop of Tyre, Athanasius was the bishop of Anazarb, Gregory was the bishop of Beria, and Aetius was the bishop of Lydda. Lydda is the same city that is now called Diospolis. Arius could boast of these only like-minded people. He named Philogonia, the primate of Antioch, Ellanikos of Tripoli and Macarius of Jerusalem as his opponents, reproaching them for the fact that they recognized the Son as eternal and pre-eternal, equal in honor and consubstantial with the Father. Having received this letter, Eusebius himself vomited out his wickedness and wrote thus to the Tyrian bishop Peacock. Letter from Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, to Paulinus, Bishop of Tyre “Eusebius wishes his master Peacock good health in the Lord.” Neither the zeal of my master Eusebius regarding the true teaching, nor yours, sir, silence in the same matter remained unknown, but reached us. And we, as it should be, rejoiced about our lord Eusebius, but we grieve about you, believing that the silence of such a man is a loss for us. You know that it is indecent for a wise husband to change someone else’s mind and remain silent about the truth. Therefore, I beg you, awaken thinking in your spirit and begin to write about this, which will benefit both yourself and your listeners, especially if you want to express your thoughts, following the order of Scripture and the instructions of its sayings and meaning. So, for example, lord, we have never heard of two unborn beings, we have never learned and do not believe that one is divided into two or reveals something inherent in corporeality. We believe in one unborn, in another, truly happened - and not from its essence, since it does not at all participate in the nature of the unborn and has existence not from its essence, but is completely different in nature and power, created in the perfect likeness of the properties and power of the creator, so that its beginning cannot not only be expressed in words, but also understood by thought, and not only people, but also all creatures above people are not able to understand this. And we say this not from our own speculations, we learned this from Scripture. We know that he was created, founded and born of an essence, unchangeable and ineffable nature in the likeness of the one who created him, as the Lord himself says: God “created me the beginning of his ways..., and before the world was the foundation of me,... before all the hills he gave birth to me” (Proverbs 8.22–23, 25). If it were from him, that is, from him, as a part or outflow of his being, he would not be called either created or founded. This, truly, you yourself know, sir, for what came from the unborn could not have been created or founded either by another or by himself, but would have existed unborn from time immemorial. If the fact that he is called begotten gives some reason to think that He came from the essence of the Father and has the same nature as the Father, then we know that the word “begotten” is applied by Scripture not to Him alone, but also to others, who by nature are not at all similar to the unborn, for it is also said about people: “Sons have begotten and raised up, but they have rejected me” (Isaiah 1.2), and also: “You have forsaken God who gave birth to you” (Deut. 32.18), and about other creatures it is said: “Who ... is the one who gave birth to drops of dew?” (Job 38.28). And by this Scripture does not mean that nature came from nature, but that the birth of every creature took place according to the will of God. There is nothing from the essence of God: everything came into being according to His will, and every creation exists as long as it was created, for the creator is God, and creatures were created like Him in mind, created by His will. And although everything came from God through Him, yet everything was created by God. When you receive this and reveal it according to the grace given to you from God, then try to write to my lord Alexander. I am sure that by writing to him you will convert him. Greet all our brothers in the Lord. May the grace of God keep you unharmed, master, and strengthen you in prayers for us! “They also sent such and such letters to each other, rebelling against the truth. When blasphemy thus spread in the Egyptian and Eastern churches, disputes and quarrels over divine dogmas began to open in every city and village. And the common people were spectators of events and judges of speeches, joining either one side or the other. Things happened that were bitter and worthy of tears. It was not foreigners and enemies, as had once been the case, who were now besieging the church, but fellow tribesmen, people living under the same roof and sharing the same meal, instead of arrows, they struck each other with their tongues, or, better yet, the members that made up a single body armed themselves against each other. About the acts of the great Council of Nicaea Having learned about this, the wise king 12 first of all tried to block the very source of evil and therefore sent one man, known for his prudence, to Alexandria with a message, hoping through this to extinguish discord and reconcile those who differ. But, deceived in his expectations, he convened that famous Council of Nicaea and, to arrive there, allowed the bishops and their companions to take public donkeys, mules and horses. When everyone who could endure the difficulty of the journey had gathered, the king himself arrived in Nicaea, wanting to see the numerous bishops and establish their unanimity, and upon his arrival, he immediately ordered that everything they needed be supplied to them in abundance. Three hundred and eighteen bishops gathered, 13 but the Roman one, due to extreme old age, was not there: in his place he sent two presbyters with the authority to agree to the resolutions of the council. At that time there were many men who were adorned with the apostolic gifts, and there were many who, according to the Apostle Paul, bore “the marks of the Lord Jesus on their bodies” (Gal. 6.17). Thus, Jacob, bishop of Mingidon Antioch, which the Syrians call Niziboa, raised and brought back to life the dead and performed many other miracles, which I consider unnecessary to mention in this work, because I have already spoken about them in my Lover of God 14. And Paul, the bishop of Neocaesarea, a fortress lying on the banks of the Euphrates, experienced the cruelty of Licinius: both of his hands were weakened from the fact that they were burned with a hot iron, which tightened and deprived the nerves that give the members movement. Some had their right eyes gouged out, others had their right knees cut off. Among the latter was Paphnutius of Egypt. Briefly put, there one could see a host of martyrs gathered in one place. However, this divine and ever-memorable meeting was not without people and a nasty quality: insidious people, like pitfalls, also took part in it, although in small numbers. They hid their wickedness and secretly approved of the blasphemous teachings of Arius. So, when everyone had gathered, the king ordered to prepare a large chamber in the palace and put in it many benches and armchairs, so that there would be enough of them for the entire council of bishops. Having thus prepared everything befitting their honor, he invited them to enter and discuss the proposed matter, then after everyone else he himself entered, accompanied by a few. He had excellent height and attractive beauty, but he was especially surprised by the modesty expressed on his face. When they placed a small throne for him in the middle, he sat down, having first asked permission to do so from the bishops. The whole divine host sat down with him. Here the great Eustathius, who then had primacy in the Antiochian church (for Philogenius, whom I mentioned above, passed on to a better life, and therefore the bishops, priests and all the Christ-loving people put this man in his place against his will and ordered him to shepherd the church), the first crowned the head of the king with flowers of praise and thanked his vigilant care for divine objects 15. At the end of this speech, the all-glorious king delivered his speech about unanimity and harmony, and reminded the bishops of the cruelty of former tyrants and of the most longed-for peace granted in his days by God. He also said that it is sad, and very sad, to see how, after the overthrow of enemies, when no one dares to contradict the church, they themselves attack each other and give opponents a reason for pleasure and laughter, although they reason about divine subjects and have in writing the teaching of the All-Holy Spirit. For the books of the evangelists and apostles, as well as the prophecies of the ancient prophets, he said, clearly instruct us how we should think about God. Therefore, having removed the hostile dispute, he added, let us take the solution to the issues under investigation from the inspired Scriptures. The king spoke this and similar things to the priests with filial love, as to his fathers, trying to make them agree in the teaching of the apostolic dogmas. And most of the bishops who were at the council were convinced by his words and lovingly accepted unanimity and sound teaching. But a few of whom I mentioned before, and besides them, Minophant of Ephesus, Patrophilus of Scythopolis, Theognis, bishop of Nicaea itself, Narciss, bishop of Neronia, which was the city of the second Cilicia and now called Irinopolis, also Theona of Marmaric and Secundus, bishop of Ptolemais of Egypt, contradicted the apostolic dogmas, adhering to the side of Arius. They even set out in writing and presented to their council a confession of faith, which, upon reading, everyone called it forged and distorted and was immediately torn up. But when a strong murmur arose against them and everyone began to accuse them of betraying piety, they were afraid and, standing up first, except for Secundus and Theona, excommunicated Arius. Having thus deposed this wicked man, the bishops, with common consent, drew up a confession of faith, which is preserved to this day in the churches, and, having approved it with their signature, left the meeting 16. However, the bishops I mentioned accepted this confession insidiously and insincerely, which is confirmed by their subsequent plans against the champions of piety, and by the writings of the latter against the former. This is exactly what the above-mentioned Bishop of Antioch Eustathius wrote about them when he described the acts of the conciliar, explained the blasphemy of heretics and explained the passage from Proverbs: “The Lord made me the beginning of his ways in his works” (Proverbs 8.22). Now I will move on to the story of the very actions of the council. Denunciation of the Arians from the writings of Eustathius and Athanasius What are these actions? When a great council gathered in Nicaea to discuss matters of faith, at which about two hundred and seventy bishops united (I say: about, because from the large number of those gathered I cannot accurately determine their number, and besides, I did not study this with particular care), and when they began to establish the symbol, on Wednesday the work of Eusebius 17 appeared, full of his blasphemous teaching. Having been read aloud to everyone, it immediately caused the listeners inexplicable grief with its ugliness, and covered the author himself with unbearable shame. Now the work of the Eusebians has been exposed, and their wicked work has been torn apart in the sight of everyone; but at the same time, some of their accomplices, hiding behind the name of peace, silenced all the best defenders of the truth. Fearing that by the verdict of such a great council they would be expelled from the church, the followers of Arius stood up and anathematized the teaching condemned by the council, and signed the symbol set out by unanimous consent with their own hands. Thus, having retained their leadership through many intrigues, when they should have been under repentance, they either secretly or openly began to patronize the opinions rejected by the council and confirm them with various evidence. In addition, wanting to root the planting of tares, they were wary of meeting knowledgeable people, evaded the overseers and thus defeated the preachers of piety. But we believe that godless people cannot overcome the divine. “Even if they are able again, they will be defeated again,” let’s say in the words of the great-voiced prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 8.9). This is what the great Eustathius writes! And his supporter and defender of the truth, successor as head of the famous Alexander, Athanasius, in his letter to Afram, among other things, adds the following. When the assembled bishops wanted to destroy the wicked sayings invented by the Arians, that is, that the Son is from non-existence, that He is a creation and a creature, that there was a time when He did not exist, and that His nature is changeable - and to write what is said in Scripture, namely, that the Son is the only begotten of God by nature, that He is the word, the power, the only wisdom of the Father, the true God, as John said, or the radiance glory and the image of the hypostasis of the Father, as Paul wrote, then the Eusebians, carried away by their own evil teaching, said to each other: let us agree, for we are also from God: “one God ..., from him are all things” (1 Cor 8.6), “the ancient thing was made, behold, everything was new” (2 Cor 5.17, 18), and this is all from God. They also referred to what is written in the book The Shepherd: “first of all, believe that God is one, that He created everything, arranged everything and brought everything from non-existence into existence.” But the bishops, seeing their villainy and the cunning of their wickedness, expressed more clearly what it means from God, and wrote that the Son is from the essence of God, and although creatures come from God, but in the sense that they do not exist from themselves or not without a reason, but have the beginning of their origin, while the Son alone is actually from the essence of the Father; for this is the peculiarity of the only begotten and true Word of the Father. This is the reason why it is written - from the essence. Then the bishops again asked the small number, apparently the Arians: do they call the Son not a creation, but power, the only wisdom and image of the Father, eternal, in no way different from Him at all, and true God? But the Eusebians, as was noted, made it clear to each other by a wave that this too was in accordance with our teaching, for we too are called the image and glory of God (1 Cor 11.7), and it is said about us: “for ever we are alive” (2 Cor 4.11), and we have many powers, likewise: “all the power of God came out of the land of Egypt” (Ex 12.41), Moreover, “the caterpillar and the locust are called great power” (Joel. 2.25), it also says: God is “mighty with us; God is our helper Jacob” (Ps. 45.8). Yes, it is not only that we are called close to God that testifies for us; He even called us brothers. Therefore, if the Son is called true God, this does not grieve us; for he who has become true is truly true. Such was the perverse reasoning of the Arians. But here the bishops, seeing their deceit, collected from the Scriptures words: radiance, source, river, image of the hypostasis, and expressions: “in your light we will see light” (Ps 35:10), “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and, finally, they clearly and briefly wrote that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, for all of the above contains this very meaning. The murmur of the heretics that these sayings are not in Scripture was abolished by their very denunciation, for they also expressed their wickedness in unwritten words, since it is not written anywhere: from something that does not exist, or there was once a time when the Son did not exist, and therefore they accepted condemnation from words, although also unwritten, but understood piously. Moreover, the heretics found words as if in uncleanness and spoke truly from the earth; and the bishops did not invent words on their own, but wrote on the basis of paternal testimonies. Even in ancient times, for almost a hundred and thirty years, there were bishops who presided both in the great Rome and in our city, who denounced people who called the Son a creation and not consubstantial with the Father. The former bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, also knew this, who had previously accepted the heresy of Arius, but then subscribed to the definitions of the Council of Nicaea and wrote the following to his flock in confirmation: “we found that some of the ancient, learned and famous bishops and writers, when discussing the Divinity of the Father and the Son, used the word consubstantial.” Thus, hiding their illness, the Eusebians, out of fear of the large host of bishops, agreed with the statement of faith compiled at the council and fell under prophetic reproof; for it is to them that the God of all calls: “These people draw near to me with their lips, and with their lips they honor me, but their heart is far from me” (Isaiah 29.13). And Theona and Secundus, who refused to do the same, were excommunicated by the general consent of all as people who preferred the blasphemy of Arius to the teaching of the Gospel. After this, the bishops met again and wrote twenty rules regarding church deanery 18. About the deeds of Meletius, from whom the schismatic Meletians remain to this day, also a conciliar message about him Since Meletius also fell under this sentence of deposition, who shortly before the insane teaching of Ariev was awarded episcopal ordination, and then, convicted of some misdeeds, was deprived of his dignity by the most divine Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, who received the crown of martyrdom, and, wanting to retain the primacy in Alexandria by violent measures, caused noise and confusion throughout the Thebaid and in the borderland. with her in Egypt; then the Fathers of the Council wrote a letter to the Alexandrian church about their determination regarding its innovations. This message is as follows. Conciliar message: “Holy, by the Grace of God, and to the great church of Alexandria, and to the beloved brethren in Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis, who gathered in Nicaea and formed the great and holy council of bishops, in the Lord we wish you health. Since, by the grace of God and by the will of the most God-loving Tsar Constantine, who gathered us from various cities and regions, a great and holy council was formed in Nicaea, it seemed very necessary from the entire holy council to send letters to you, so that you would know what was proposed and examined at it, and what was recognized to be approved. First of all, in the presence of the most God-loving king Constantine, the question of the wickedness and lawlessness of Arius was investigated. Everyone gave their voice to this: to anathematize his wicked teaching; also anathematize his blasphemous expressions and names, which he used to blaspheme the Son of God, saying that the Son of God is from non-existence, that before His birth He did not exist, that there was a time when He did not exist, that He can arbitrarily perceive evil and good. All this was anathematized by the holy council, which could not even bear to hear such impious teaching, or madness, and such blasphemous expressions. What was directed against him as against the target, you, no doubt, have either already heard or will hear: we don’t want to say so that they don’t think that we are attacking a person who has suffered a worthy punishment for his sins. His wickedness was so strong that it carried away both Theona of Marmaric and Secundus of Ptolemais into destruction, for they suffered the same thing. But the grace of God freed Egypt from this evil teaching, from this blasphemy and wickedness, and from those persons who dared to disturb and divide the people reconciled from above. There still remained the stubbornness of Meletius and those ordained by him; but we will inform you, beloved brothers, about the opinion of the council and regarding this sect, the council decided to show Meletius more philanthropic, although the latter, judging strictly, was not worth any leniency. He will remain in his city, but has no right to ordain or elect, and for this reason he should not appear in either the village or the city, but only retain the name of his dignity. Those appointed by him and confirmed by the sacramental ordination are accepted into communion so that, while maintaining their dignity and service, they certainly occupy second place after all the persons who are appointed in each parish and church and elected by our most venerable co-celebrant Alexander. The former have no right either to choose whoever they like, or to propose names, or to do anything without the consent of the bishop of the catholic church, subject to Alexander: on the contrary, by the grace of God and your prayers, those who are not convicted of any schism and living in the bowels of the Catholic Church can blamelessly choose and propose names of persons worthy of the clergy, and do everything in accordance with the law and church charter. If one of the churchmen has to end his life, then in the service, instead of the deceased, those recently accepted should be allowed, provided that they are worthy and were elected by the people, with the consent and approval of the bishop of Alexandria. This is allowed for everyone else, but in relation to the person of Meletius, for the sake of his previous unrest, for the sake of his reckless and stubborn disposition, the opinion is not the same: he, as a person who can again cause the same unrest, is not given any right and no power. This mainly and strictly applies to Egypt and the most holy church of Alexandria. As for other laws and decrees made in the presence of our lord and most respected co-servant and brother Alexander, then, upon returning, he, as a lord and participant in the events, will himself inform you about them in more detail. We also inform you of agreement in the celebration of our most holy Easter: through your prayers, this matter has also been decided, so that all the Eastern brothers, who previously disagreed in this celebration with the Romans, with you and with all who have been keeping Easter since ancient times, will henceforth celebrate it with you 19 . So, rejoicing over the success of affairs - about universal peace and the eradication of all heresy, accept with all the more honor and all the more love our co-celebrant, your Bishop Alexander, who delighted us with his presence and, being at such an age, took up so much work to establish peace among you. Pray for all of us, that what has been recognized as good will stand firm, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it was done, we believe, by the good pleasure of God the Father in the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The Trinity is consubstantial and eternal." This divine council of bishops proposed such a cure for Meletius’ illness. However, traces of Meletian madness have been preserved to this day: in those countries, at least, there are some societies of monks who do not listen to sound teaching (2 Tim 4.3) and in their way of life adhere to some empty decrees, similar to the absurd statutes of the Samaritans and Jews. The great tsar also wrote to those bishops who could not be at the council, informing them about the actions of the council. I consider it my duty to attach this message to my History, since it clearly shows the God-loving soul of the writer. Message from Tsar Constantine to the bishops who were not at the council, about the actions of the council Constantine Augustus to the Churches: “Knowing from experience the successful course of public affairs how great the goodness of divine power can be, I considered it necessary, first of all, to keep in mind the goal that among all the most blessed communities of the universal church a single faith, sincere love and harmonious veneration of the Almighty God should be observed. But since this could not otherwise have come into an unchangeable and firm order, unless all, or at least very many, bishops had gathered in one place and examined every subject relating to the divine faith, I gathered together as many bishops as possible and, as one of you all (for I confess that I feel great pleasure in being your co-celebrant), being present at the council myself, I subjected everything to proper examination until the thought was acceptable to the guardian of all, God, was not illuminated with light as the basis of unity until there was no longer room for differences of opinion or misunderstanding in the reasoning of faith. Here there was a study regarding the holiest day of Easter, and the general opinion was recognized as good for everyone and everywhere to celebrate it on the same day. For what could be more beautiful and reverent when the holiday, which gives us the hope of immortality, is invariably celebrated by everyone according to the same order and in a known way? First of all, it seemed indecent to celebrate that most holy holiday according to the custom of the Jews, 20 who, having desecrated their hands with an unlawful act, as unclean, were rightly punished with spiritual blindness. Having rejected their custom, it would be much better to continue the same, more true order that we have observed from the very first day of the passion to the present, the image of this celebration for future centuries. So, let us have nothing in common with the hostile Jewish people, because the Savior has shown us another path - before us lies a legal field and corresponding to our most sacred faith. By entering upon it with one mind, beloved brethren, let us separate ourselves from that shameful society, for, truly, the self-praise of the Jews is strange, as if, regardless of their decree, we cannot observe this. And what can those who, having committed this murder of the Lord, go mad and are no longer driven by common sense, but by unbridled desire, think correctly, wherever their innate rage directs them? That is why they do not see the truth in this either, so that, delving more and more into errors instead of proper correction, they celebrate Easter on a different occasion in the same year. Why follow them when it is known that they suffer from such a terrible disease of delusion? We, of course, will not tolerate our Easter being celebrated twice in the same year. And if what has been said is not enough, then your prudence itself should take every possible care and wish that your pure souls do not in any way communicate with the customs of the most unworthy people. Moreover, it must be understood that disagreement in such a matter and regarding such a holiday of faith is lawless, for our Savior gave us one day to celebrate our liberation, that is, the day of passion, and deigned that there should nevertheless be His universal church, the members of which, no matter how many and different places they are scattered, are nevertheless warmed by one spirit, that is, by the one will of God. So, let the prudence of your reverence consider how bad and indecent it is that at certain times some observe fasting, while others celebrate feasts, and that after the days of Easter, some spend time in celebration and peace, while others keep the prescribed fasts. That is why Divine Providence deigned that this should be properly corrected and brought to the same order, to which, I think, everyone agrees. When all this had to be corrected, so that we would have nothing in common with those parricides and murderers of the Lord, and when the order followed in this regard by all the churches of the western, southern, northern and some eastern regions of the empire is really decent, and therefore is now recognized by everyone as good, then I guarantee that it will also please your prudence: your prudence, of course, will gladly accept what is unanimously and unanimously observed in Rome, in throughout Italy and Africa, in Egypt, Spain, Gaul, Britain, Libya, throughout Greece, in the Asian, Pontic and Cilician regions. She will realize that in the named places there are not only a larger number of churches, but also that they all desire this order as the best. Yes, it seems that common sense demands that we have no communication with the oath-breaking Jews. Briefly say: according to the general judgment of all, it was decided that the most holy holiday of Easter should be celebrated on the same day 21. It is not appropriate to be discriminatory in relation to such a great shrine; it is much better to follow the established opinion, in which there is no admixture of alien error and error. If this is so, then joyfully accept heavenly grace and a truly divine commandment, for everything that is done at the holy councils of bishops is related to the will of God. Therefore, having announced the decisions of the council to all our beloved brothers, you must accept and approve both what was spoken by us before and the observance of this most holy day, so that when my long-standing desire is fulfilled - to see your love in person, I can celebrate the holy holiday with you on the same day and rejoice with you in everything, seeing that the cruelty of the devil, with the help of Divine power, has been tamed by our deeds, and that everywhere your faith, peace and unanimity flourish. May God protect you, beloved brothers!” About the contents that were assigned to churches, and about other virtues of the king Thus he wrote to the bishops who were not at the council, and greeted those who had gathered, numbering three hundred and eighteen, with many greetings and gifts and, ordering a large number of tables to be prepared, treated them all together - he accepted the most worthy at his table, and placed the rest at others. Noticing that some had a tear in their right eye, and learning that they suffered this suffering for their firmness in faith, he touched their sores with his lips with full faith that he would derive a blessing from here for his love. Then, at the end of the feast, he again presented gifts to everyone and handed them letters to the main regional commanders, whom he ordered to provide ready support in each city to persons who had doomed themselves to permanent virginity and widowhood and were dedicated to the service of God, measuring this support more by generosity than by actual need. The third part of this content is provided to them to this day, because, although the wicked Julian 22 took everything from them altogether, his successor 23 again ordered to give out as much as is now being given out, and the reason for the decrease in the issuance was the then famine. If the content provided then was three times more than what is now, then from this anyone who wants can easily find out how great the king’s generosity was. It would be unfair, I think, to consign the following to oblivion. Some grumpy people brought accusations against some bishops, and submitted their denunciations to the king in writing. The king, while agreement between the bishops had not yet been restored, accepted this and, putting everything in one bundle, sealed it with his ring and ordered it to be kept. But then, when the peace was confirmed, he brought the denunciations filed to himself in the presence of the bishops and burned them before them, swearing that he had not read anything written here; it is not necessary, he said, to make the misdeeds of the priests publicly known, so that the people, having received from here a reason for temptation, would not begin to sin without fear. They say that Constantine added the following to this: if he himself happened to be an eyewitness to a sin committed by a bishop, he would cover the lawless deed with his purple, so that looking at it would not harm the audience. Having expressed such a lesson and given such honor to the priests, he commanded everyone to go to their flock. And I, as proof of the shamelessness of the Arians, who not only despise our common fathers, but also abandon their own, I want to introduce into my History the message of Eusebius of Caesarea about faith, because it contains a living denunciation of their madness. While they hold him in high esteem as their accomplice, they directly contradict his writings. Eusebius wrote this letter to some followers of the Ariev teachings, who, it seems, suspected him of treason. However, what is written will better show the writer’s purpose. Epistle of Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, on the Faith Set forth at Nicea “You, beloved, have probably already learned from others about the affairs of the great council convened in Nicaea regarding the church faith, because rumor usually goes ahead of the true story of events. But so that the truth does not reach you distorted by mere hearing, we considered it necessary to send to you, firstly, the formula of faith we proposed, and secondly, the one in which additions were made and made public to our expressions. The formula that existed among us was read in the presence of our most God-loving king, recognized as good and approved. It reads as follows: “The faith we have set forth 24. As we received from the bishops who preceded us, both at the first catechumen and at the reception of baptism, as we learned from the divine Scriptures; as they believed and taught in the presbytery and in the bishopric itself, so we believe and now represent our faith. Here it is: I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, Creator of everything visible and invisible; and into one Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, into God from God, into light from light, into life from life, into the only begotten Son, the firstborn of all creation, who before all ages was born of the Father, through whom all things came into being, who for our salvation became incarnate and lived among men, and suffered, and rose again on the third day and ascended to the Father, and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. I also believe in one Holy Spirit 25. I believe that each of them exists and has existence, that the Father is truly the Father, the Son is truly the Son, the Holy Spirit is truly the Holy Spirit. So our Lord, sending his disciples to preach, said: “Going... teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28.19). We have established ourselves in this, we think this, we have held this before, we will stand in this faith until death, anathematizing all godless heresy. That we have felt all this with our hearts and souls, as much as we know ourselves, that we feel all this even now and that we speak sincerely, we are testified to by God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ, being ready to prove and convince you that we believed so and preached so in times past.” As we expounded this faith, there was no room for contradiction. On the contrary, our most living mantis king was the first to testify that it is true and that he himself also thinks, and therefore he commanded everyone to join him, sign these dogmas and be in agreement with them, adding only the word “consubstantial,” which he himself interpreted, saying that consubstantial is of course not in relation to the properties of the body, that the Son did not come from the Father through division or cutting off, for it is not possible for the immaterial, spiritual incorporeal nature was subject to some corporeal property, but that to express this, divine and mysterious words were needed. This is how our wisest and pious king spoke of wisdom, and the bishops, regarding the addition of the word “consubstantial,” composed the following formula: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of everything visible and invisible; and into one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, begotten of the Father, that is, from the essence of the Father, into God from God, into light from light, into true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, through whom everything happened both in heaven and on earth, who for us men and for our salvation came down, became incarnate and became man, suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven and will come to judge living and dead; and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say that there was a time when (the Son) did not exist, or that He did not exist before He was born, or that He was born from something non-existent, or who assert that the Son of God exists from another hypostasis or being, or is perverted, or changeable, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.” And since this formula was published by them, we do not leave the expressions: “from the essence of the Father” and “consubstantial with the Father,” as they say, without investigation. Questions and answers arose about these expressions, and their meaning was carefully considered. Namely, they recognize the word “from essence” as an indication that although the Son is from the Father, He is not a part of the Father. This, in our opinion, agrees well with the meaning of pious teaching, which preaches that the Son is from the Father, but is not part of His essence. Therefore, we have confirmed this meaning and, therefore, have not rejected the words “consubstantial,” bearing in mind the goal of preserving peace and not falling away from the right way of thinking. That is why we have adopted the expression: “begotten, uncreated,” for the word “to create” is a general name for the other creatures created by the Son, with which the Son has no resemblance and, therefore, is not himself a creation similar to those produced by Him, but is an essence superior to every creature. This essence, according to the teaching of the Divine Word, was born from the Father in an ineffable and incomprehensible manner of birth for all created nature. With a similar study, the expression that the Son is consubstantial with the Father is examined, that is, consubstantial not in the image of bodies, and not in the way that is characteristic of mortal animals, for this is impossible either through division, or through cutting, or through any property, or change, or change in the power of the Father, because the ungenerated nature of the Father is alien to all this. Consubstantial with the Father means that the Son of God does not show any resemblance to born creatures, but in all respects is likened to one Father-Parent, and exists not from another hypostasis and essence, but from the Father. As soon as it was explained in this way, we recognized it as good to accept it - especially since in some ancient works the name “consubstantial”, we know, was used by famous bishops and writers when they theologized about the Father and the Son. But enough about the stated faith, in which we all agreed, not without research, but on the proposed grounds, decided in the presence of the most God-loving king and approved for the reasons expressed. After the faith, we also considered the anathematization promulgated by the bishops to be worthy of acceptance, because it prohibits the use of words that are not in Scripture and from which all the confusion and unrest almost occurred in the churches. Since, for example, not a single inspired book contains the expressions “from things that do not exist” or “there was a time when (the Son) was not” and others beyond these, it did not seem decent to speak and teach them. We agreed with this excellent opinion because we were not in the habit of using such expressions before. It is also not considered inappropriate to anathematize the words: “Before He was not born,” for everyone confesses that He was the Son of God even before His birth according to the flesh. Our most God-loving king himself proved from reason that the Son of God, by His Divine birth, existed before all ages, for even before His birth He was potentially unborn with the Father, so that the Father is always the Father, just as he is always the King, always the Savior, and potentially everything is always the same and one and the same. This message, beloved, was forced upon us by necessity: our desire was to show you the prudence of our research and agreement, that is, that we really, from the very beginning to the present moment, defended our opinion, as long as there was something wrong with the formulas of faith. When, according to sound research into the meaning of the words, it turned out that these words were similar to those admitted in our own statement of faith, then we accepted them without any dispute, as not presenting any difficulties.” Denunciation of the now blasphemous Arians from the writings of Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea So, Eusebius clearly testified that the word “consubstantial” is not new and was not invented by the fathers who gathered at that time, but from ancient times it was passed down from the ancestors to the descendants. In the same way, he testifies both here and in another work that the doctrine of faith set forth in Nicea was unanimously accepted by the entire Council of Bishops at that time, where he extols with praise the course of action of Constantine the Great. He writes like this: “Having said this in Latin, while someone else was conveying the same in Greek, the king invited the leaders of the church to begin their reasoning. After this, some began to accuse their neighbors, others made excuses and blamed each other. There was quite a lot presented here from both sides, and at the very beginning there was a big dispute, but the king patiently listened to everyone and carefully accepted the submissions. Analyzing, in particular, what was said by both sides, he little by little reconciled those who stubbornly competed and meekly talked with each of them. Speaking Greek, which he was also not ignorant of, he seemed somehow sweet and pleasant. Convincing some, admonishing others with a word, others speaking well, praising and inclining everyone to like-mindedness, he finally agreed on the concepts and opinions of everyone regarding controversial subjects, so that the faith was accepted unanimously and the simultaneous celebration of the saving holiday was determined everywhere. Then, the general resolutions are put into writing and approved by everyone’s signature.” And a little lower, Eusebius continues: “Having arranged everything in this way, Constantine sent them all home. They returned with joy and from that time on they adhered to one way of thinking, approved by the consent of the king, so that, separated by great spaces, they formed, as it were, one body. Rejoicing at such a successful completion of affairs, the king honored the bishops who were not present at the council with messages, as the most ripe fruit of research, and ordered the people in the villages and suburbs to distribute a large amount of money and at the same time celebrated the twentieth anniversary of his reign. So, the like-minded people of Arius, even if they did not consider it impious to contradict other fathers, should at least believe this, which usually serves as the subject of their surprise and which, however, shows that that confession of faith was unanimous. When they rebel against the opinions of their fathers, they must in every possible way avoid the wickedness invented by Arius, having learned his most shameful and terrible death. Since not everyone may know the manner of his death, I will tell you how it happened. On the death of Arius, from the message of Athanasius Having lived for a very long time in Alexandria, Arius wanted to again boast in church meetings and spread a rumor that he was renouncing his wickedness and promising to accept the confession of faith set forth by the fathers. But since he could not convince either the divine Alexander or Athanasius, who succeeded him in primacy and piety, of this, then, with the assistance of Eusebius of Nicomedia, he again fled to Constantinople. And what he was up to here and what sentence he received from the righteous Judge was perfectly described by Athanasius, great in all respects, in his letter to Apion. I am posting an excerpt from this message in my story. “I was not in Constantinople when he died, but Presbyter Macarius was there, and from him I heard the following. Through the machinations of the Eusebians, Arius was summoned by King Constantine. When he entered, the king asked him: does he contain the faith of the Catholic Church? He swore that he believed correctly and submitted a written statement of his faith, and meanwhile he hid his guilt, for which he was excommunicated by Bishop Alexander and covered himself with the words of Holy Scripture. When he swore that he did not think that for which Alexander excommunicated him from the church, the king released him, saying: if your faith is right, then you swore rightly, but if it is wicked and you swore, then God from heaven will judge you. With this he left the king, and the Eusebians, with their characteristic violence, wanted to bring him into the church. But the bishop of Constantinople, Alexander of blessed memory, opposed their intention, arguing that someone convicted of heresy should not be accepted into communion. Finally, Arius’s accomplices began to threaten Alexander: “Just as we did it independently of your will that Arius was called king,” they said, “so tomorrow, although it is not in your mind, he will be with us in this very church.” The day on which this was said was the Sabbath. Hearing such threats and being extremely saddened, Bishop Alexander entered the church and, raising his hands to God, sobbed, then threw himself on his face in the sanctuary and, lying prostrate, prayed. Macarius was with him at prayer and heard his voice. He asked God for two things, saying this: if Arius is brought into the church tomorrow, let me, your servant, go, and do not destroy the righteous with the wicked; if you have mercy on your church - and I know that you have mercy - look at the words of the Eusebians and do not betray your heritage for consumption and reproach; take Arius away, so that when he enters the church, it will not seem that heresy has entered with him, and so that, finally, they will not consider wickedness for piety. Having prayed in this way, the bishop left the church, extremely worried. And then a terrible and strange miracle happened: while Eusebius’s accomplices continued to threaten, and the bishop prayed, Arius fully hoped for the protection of the Eusebians and, boasting a lot, sat down on a chair, at the request of his womb 26 . Here, according to Scripture, he suddenly “fell on his face, and once sat down in the middle” (Acts 1.18), and fell and departed (Acts 5.5), through which he lost both – communication and life. This was the end of Aria! Greatly ashamed of this, the accomplices of Eusebius buried their like-minded person, and Alexander, of blessed memory, with such joy in the church, composed a holiday in piety and Orthodoxy, praying and solemnly glorifying God with all the brethren - not because he seemed to rejoice in death - no, for it is fitting for every person to die alone (Heb. 9.27), but because this judgment of God defeated all human judgments; for the Lord himself, having judged between the threats of Eusebius’s accomplices and the prayer of Alexander, condemned the Arian heresy, showed it to be unworthy of church communion, and thus revealed before everyone that, although it had found approval and patronage from the king and from all people, it was nevertheless condemned by the truth itself. Arius reaped such classes from his evil seeds! Even here he saw the threshold of future torment and exposed his wickedness with his very punishment.” But I turn to the story of the king's piety. He sent messages to all the subjects of Rome, in which he urged them to move away from their previous errors and accept the teachings of our Savior, through which he attracted everyone to this truth. He encouraged the bishops of each city to build churches, encouraging them to do so not only with messages, but also with generous monetary donations and the delivery of everything necessary for the work. This is evident from his very messages, which read like this. Message from Tsar Constantine on the building of churches. The winner is Constantine the Great, Augustus to Eusebius 27. “Since evil will and tyranny have persecuted the servants of Christ the Savior even to this day, I am truly and firmly convinced, beloved brother, that all church buildings have either collapsed due to negligence, or are kept in an indecent state out of fear of terrible injustice. Now, when freedom has been returned and that serpent, by the providence of the great God and our service, has been removed from the government of the state, I think that the divine power has become clear to everyone, and, therefore, those who have fallen through fear, unbelief, or due to some sins, having recognized the true God, will turn to the true and correct way of life. Therefore, you yourself, as the primate of the churches, know, and remind other local primates-bishops, presbyters and deacons, that they are diligently engaged in the creation of churches, either correcting those that exist, or spreading them, or, as needed, building new ones. Whatever need you encounter, ask for it for yourself, and through you, let others ask from the rulers and regional authorities, for they are ordered to fulfill with perfect diligence everything that is said by your reverence. May God protect you, beloved brother." This is how he wrote about the creation of churches to the bishop of each diocese. And what he wrote to Eusebius of Palestine about the preparation of scrolls of sacred books can be easily learned from the epistle itself. His other message is about the preparation of scrolls of divine Scriptures. The winner is Constantine the Great, Augustus - Eusebius. “In our city of the same name, according to the providence of the Savior God, very many people again joined the holy church, so that, with the rapid growth of everything, the multiplication of churches here turns out to be very decent. So, accept our decision with all readiness. We thought it proper to declare to your prudence that you order experienced and well-versed scribes to write fifty volumes on dressed parchment, easy to read and easily portable for use. These volumes should contain divine Scripture, which, you yourself know, especially needs to be had and used in the church. For this purpose, out of our meekness, a letter was sent to the governor of the district, so that he would take care of delivering to you everything you need for their preparation. Their preparation as quickly as possible will depend on your care. To transport the written volumes, this letter from us gives you the right to take two public carts, on which especially well-written scrolls will be easy to deliver to you and to me. One of the deacons of your church will perform such a task and, upon arrival to us, will test our love for mankind. May God protect you, beloved brother!” And this is enough to testify or, better yet, clearly show how the all-glorious king turned all his zeal to divine objects. But to what has been said I also add what he did for the saving coffin. Having learned that crazy and frantic worshipers of idols had filled up the Holy Sepulcher and through this they tried to consign the memory of our salvation to oblivion and on top of it they built a church for the demon of intemperance, laughing at the Nativity of the Virgin, the king first ordered the destruction of this shameful building, and the land desecrated by unclean sacrifices, to be taken out and thrown as far as possible outside the city, then he ordered the construction of the greatest and most beautiful church. But this can be seen more clearly in the message itself, which he wrote to the head of that church. Its leader at that time was the aforementioned Macarius, who was present at that great council and, together with others, fought against the blasphemy of Ariev. The king's message is: His message to Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem about the construction of the church of God. The winner Constantine the Great - Macarius. The goodness of our Savior is so great that it seems that no word is enough to adequately describe a real miracle. The sign of the most holy passions, hidden underground for so long and remaining in obscurity for entire centuries, finally, through the overthrow of the common enemy, shone for the servants of the Lord freed from him and truly serves as an object beyond any surprise. If now all the so-called wise men from all over the world gathered in one place and wanted to say something worthy of the event, they could not even briefly outline it. Faith in this miracle is as much higher than any nature that contains human meaning, as much as the heavenly is superior to the human. Therefore, my first and only goal is always that faith in the truth is daily confirmed by new miracles and that in this way our souls, with all humility and like-mindedness, are zealous for the preservation of the holy law. I want to convince you especially in a matter that is obvious to everyone, i.e. that my main concern is how to find a holy place, which by the will of God was cleansed by me from the shameful accessories of the church, as if from some burden - that place which, according to the judgment of God, was holy from the very beginning, and when faith in saving suffering was illuminated through it with a new light, became even more sacred - how to decorate this place with excellent buildings. Therefore, your foresight should so arrange and take care of everything necessary so that not only the church itself is more magnificent than all the churches existing anywhere, but so that the other buildings with it are much more excellent than the most beautiful buildings in the cities. As for the construction and elegant decoration of the walls, know that we entrusted the care of this to one of the most excellent regional rulers, our friend Drakilian, and to the ruler of your province. At the request of my piety, it was ordered that, under their care, artists and craftsmen, and everything, at the discretion of your insight, necessary for the construction, should be immediately delivered to you. As for the columns and marble, which ones you recognize as the most precious and useful, consider them yourself in detail and try to write to me, so that, having learned from your letter how many materials are required, I can deliver them from everywhere, for the most wondrous place in the world should be decorated as it should be. Moreover, I want to know what kind of church vault you like - mosaic or decorated differently. If it is mosaic, then everything else in it can be decorated with gold. Your Reverence will soon inform the above-mentioned judges how many artisans, artists and costs are required. Try also to immediately inform me not only about the marble and columns, but also about the mosaic, which you consider to be the best. May God protect you, beloved brother! About Helen, the mother of King Constantine, and her zeal in building the church of God This message was delivered (to the bishop) by no one else, but by the king’s mother herself, 28 that mother of a beautiful son whom all the pious glorify. She, the driver of this light and the nourisher of its piety, took upon herself the labors of the journey, despised the infirmity of old age, for she made this journey shortly before her death, and died at the age of eighty. Seeing the place that had suffered life-saving suffering for the whole world, she immediately ordered the destruction of the mentioned shameful church and the removal of rubbish. When the tomb, which had been hidden until that time, was opened, three crosses appeared, buried at the Holy Sepulcher. Here everyone was undoubtedly convinced that one of them was the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the other crosses were the thieves crucified with Him, but no one knew which one touched the body of the Lord and received drops of His precious blood. In this case, the wisest and truly divine Macarius, the primate of the city, resolved this bewilderment as follows. One famous woman was overcome by a long illness. Laying each of these crosses on her with prayer and reverence, he learned the power of the Savior’s cross, which, as soon as it touched that wife, immediately healed her serious illness and restored her to her former health. Thus, the king's mother achieved what was the object of her ardent desires. As for the nails, she drove some into the king’s helmet, taking care of her son’s head so that enemy arrows would be reflected from it, others forged into the bridle of his horse, keeping in mind both the safety of the king and the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy, for long before that time the prophet Zechariah cried: “and the hedgehog in the bridle of the horse will be holy to the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 14.20). She placed a small part of the Savior’s cross in the royal palace, and the rest, putting the rest in a silver ark made at her order, she gave to the bishop of the city, commanding him to preserve the monument of our salvation for future generations. Then, having brought various kinds of materials to artists from all places, she built those most extensive and magnificent churches. I consider it completely unnecessary to describe their beauty and grandeur, because, one might say, all those who love God flock there and see the richness of the buildings for themselves. Here is another memorable act of this all-glorious and wondrous queen: having gathered all the virgins who had dedicated themselves to God for their whole lives, and having seated them at the tables, she herself served as a servant in front of them, served them, served food and glasses, poured wine, held the washbasin over the basin and poured water on their hands. Having completed such and similar deeds, she returned to her son. Then, having taught him many instructions regarding a pious life and poured out her last blessings on him, she peacefully passed away into another life. Upon death, she received the honor that should have been received by someone who served the God of all so diligently and so ardently. Meanwhile, Arius' accomplices did not forget their evil intentions. On the illegal transfer of Eusebius of Nicomedia Meanwhile, Arius' accomplices could not hide their evil intentions. Yielding to circumstances, they, it is true, put their hands to the confession of faith, but, having put on sheep's skin, they acted like wolves. When that divine Alexander, who struck Arius with his prayer - I mean Alexander, the bishop of Byzantium, for that was the name of Constantinople at that time - passed on to a better life, the defender of wickedness Eusebius, thinking little about those definitions that he himself had recently drawn up together with other bishops, immediately left Nicomedia and, contrary to the rule prohibiting bishops and presbyters from moving from one city to another, took over the throne of Constantinople. However, it is not surprising that people, who rebelled with such fury against the Divinity of the only begotten Son of God, fearlessly violated other laws. Moreover, this was not the first time that Eusebius introduced this news; he had dared to do the same before. For he was once the bishop of Beria, he jumped to Nicomedia, from where he was later expelled, together with the Nicene bishop Theognis, after the council for obvious impiety. And this was witnessed by Tsar Constantine in his charter. I will include the end of his message in my narrative. This is what he wrote to the Nicomedians: Epistle of King Constantine to the Nicomedia against Eusebius and Theognis Who taught this to such gentle people? None other than Eusebius, a confidant of tyrant cruelty, for one can see from many things that he was always under the protection of the tyrant: this is evidenced by the murder of bishops, and true bishops; The most severe persecution of Christians also cries out loudly about this. I'm not even talking now about the insults inflicted on me personally, through which the crowds of opponents had a lot of success. He even sent spies to me and gave the tyrant almost armed assistance. Let no one think that I cannot prove this. The sure proof is that, as you know, I clearly captured the presbyters and deacons loyal to Eusebius. But I leave it at that; It is not indignation that moves my lips, but the desire to shame. The only thing I’m afraid of, the only thing I’m worried about is that, I see, they made you participants in the crime; for through the instruction and perverse teaching of Eusebius, your consciousness has become alien to the truth. However, you will not be slow to be healed if, having now received a faithful and blameless bishop, you look to God. Now this is in your power, and even before it should have depended on your court, if the aforementioned Eusebius, with the assistance of people who were strong at that time, had not come here and shamelessly upset the proper order. But since Eusebius needs to talk about this with your love, let your kindness remember the council that took place in the city of Nicea, at which I myself was present, having nothing else in mind except the desire to bring everyone to agreement, and first of all to expose and remove the evil that began with the madness of Arius of Alexandria and strengthened by the absurd and destructive jealousy of Eusebius. This same Eusebius, most beloved and most respected, with what effort, do you think, - since he was defeated by his own conscience - and with what shamelessness defended the lie refuted from everywhere! Either he sent me various intercessors for himself, or he himself asked for some kind of assistance on my part so that he, accused of such an important crime, would not lose his honor. I testify to this by God himself, who is merciful to me and to you. And now you will find out that Eusebius bypassed and basely deceived even me. Then everything happened according to his wishes, although he harbored all kinds of evil in his soul. Not to mention his other dishonorable actions, I ask you to listen especially to what he did together with the accomplice of his madness, Theognis. I ordered that some who had fallen away from our faith be sent here from Alexandria, because through their machinations the flame of hostility was flaring up. But the above-mentioned honest bishops, once saved for repentance by the mercy of the council, not only accepted them and gave them safe shelter, but also began to share with them their evil intentions. Therefore, I decided to do this with these ungrateful people: I ordered them to be taken and exiled to the most remote places. Now your job is to turn to God with the faith in which, as you know, you have always lived, and, living by this faith correctly, act in such a way that we rejoice in having bishops who are blameless, Orthodox and humane. And whoever dares to remember those destroyers or recklessly praise them, in his insolence will immediately be curbed by the power of the servant of God, that is, by me. May God protect you, beloved brothers! So, those bishops at that time were deposed and expelled from their cities, and instead of them Nicomedia was entrusted to Amphion, and Nicaea to Christ. However, later, having used the king’s usual cunning and philanthropy, finding it accessible to deception, they again began to fight and received their former power. About the intrigues arranged by Eusebius and his accomplices to Saint Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch Meanwhile, Eusebius, as I have already said, forcibly took possession of the bishopric of Constantinople, 29 and through this gained great power, since he was close to the king, and, having become bolder from frequent interviews with him, began to plot intrigues for the defenders of the truth. First of all, pretending that he ardently wanted to see Jerusalem, and flatteringly telling the king that he would very much like to look at the splendor of the buildings there that were celebrated everywhere, he went there with the greatest honor, since the king gave him chariots and everything he needed. Theognis of Nicaea also went with him, as it is said, an accomplice of his evil plans. Arriving in Antioch and wearing the guise of friendship, they were received there with the greatest zeal, for the defender of the truth, the great Eustathius, expressed to them all his fraternal kindness. When they reached the holy places and saw their like-minded people, that is, Eusebius of Caesarea, Patrophilus of Scythopolis, Aetius of Lida, Theodotus of Laodicea and others, who were infected with a similar teaching of Arius, they revealed their secret intention to them and came with them to Antioch. The pretext for the arrival of outside bishops was the honor of accompanying Eusebius, but the real reason was the war against piety. They bribed an obscene woman who was selling her beauty, and, convincing her to serve them with her tongue, they formed a meeting 30. Then they ordered everyone to leave and brought in that pathetic woman. The woman, pointing to her infant child, said that she conceived him and gave birth to him from cohabitation with Eustathius, and screamed shamelessly. Seeing the obvious slander, Eustathius ordered the woman to introduce someone who knew about it. When she answered that she did not have a witness to her accusation, the fairest of the judges invited her to swear, although the law directly says that words must be confirmed by two or three witnesses, and the Apostle commands not to accept accusations against an elder without two or three witnesses (1 Tim. 5.19). So, despising the divine laws, they accepted a denunciation against such a great man without any evidence. When that woman confirmed her words with an oath and said that the child was indeed born from Eustathius, the zealots of truth immediately pronounced a sentence on him as an adulterer. Meanwhile, other bishops - and there were many defenders of the apostolic teaching here, who were completely unaware of the secret machinations of Eusebius - clearly contradicted this and did not allow the great Eustathius to accept the lawless sentence pronounced against him. Therefore, the bishops who started this matter hastily went to the king and, having convinced him of the justice of the accusation and their sentence of deposition, did the same thing: the ascetic of piety and chastity was expelled as an adulterer and a tyrant. Eustathius was taken through Thrace to the city of Illyricum. About the heretical bishops ordained in Antioch after the departure of Saint Eustathius And instead of him, the Eusebians ordained Eulalia. But since Eulalius did not live long, they wanted to move Eusebius of Palestine here. When Eusebius himself began to shy away from such a move and the king did not allow it, they elected Euphronius, and after the death of the latter, who lived only a year and a few months after his ordination, they transferred the bishopric over that church to Placentius. All these bishops equally harbored in their souls the destructive teaching of Arius. Therefore, among the Christians who adhered to piety, very many between the clergy and the people, leaving church meetings, gathered separately. They were all called Eustathians, because they began to gather separately after Eustathius’ departure. Meanwhile, that woman, having fallen into a severe and prolonged illness, discovered the former intention - the whole sad story, and told about the secret machinations not to two or three, but to very many priests. She admitted that she decided to commit that slander for money and that, however, her oath was not entirely false, for the child was really born from Eustathius, a coppersmith. Such and such things were accomplished in Antioch by this wonderful assembly. On the conversion of Indians to faith At this time, the light of knowledge of God shone among the Indians, 31 for when the glory of the king’s courage and piety spread everywhere and the surrounding barbarians learned through experience to prefer peace to war, then everyone began to fearlessly enter into mutual communication and many, partly out of curiosity, partly for the sake of trade, began to undertake long journeys. Under these circumstances, one Tyrian, knowledgeable in external philosophy, wished to see the extreme limits of India and went there with two young men, his brothers. Having satisfied his desire, he boarded the ship and returned back. When the ship entered one harbor to stock up on water, the sailors were attacked by barbarians and some were drowned and others were taken into slavery. The Tyrian was among the dead, and the young men were brought to the king. One of them was called Edesius, and the other Frumentius. The owner of that land tested them for a long time and, finding them smart, entrusted them with the management of his house. Whoever does not believe this story, let him look at Joseph and the kingdom of Egypt, and also remember the prophet Daniel and those three ascetics of piety, because they, too, having been captives, achieved leadership over the Babylonians. After the death of the king, two brothers remained with his son and enjoyed even greater honor 32. And since they were brought up in piety, people who came to India for trade were persuaded to gather according to Roman custom and perform divine services. Then, after a long time, they approached the king and, as a reward for their services, asked him for permission to return to their fatherland. Having received this permission, they arrived in the land of Rome, and Aedesius went to Tyre, and Frumentius preferred concern for divine affairs to meeting with his parents and, going to Alexandria, told the head of the local church how ardently the Indians desired enlightenment with spiritual light. At that time, Athanasius held the helm of that church. Having heard this, he said: who better than you can dispel the darkness of ignorance of the mentioned people and enlighten them with the radiance of divine preaching? Having said this, Athanasius informed him of the grace of the bishopric and sent him to educate the Indians 33. Frumentius left his fatherland and, not paying attention to the vastness of the sea, went to that uneducated people and, with the help of divine grace, diligently enlightened them. Performing apostolic miracles, he caught people trying to contradict his teaching, and the power of signs, confirming his words, captivated thousands every day. On the conversion of the Iberians to piety So, Frumentius led the Indians to the knowledge of God, and at the same time the Iberians were shown the path to the truth by a captive wife 34 . She constantly practiced prayer: the sackcloth spread on the floor was for her a bed and a soft bed, and she considered fasting the highest pleasure. It was through these kinds of exploits that she acquired apostolic gifts. Since barbarians, due to a lack of medical knowledge, have a custom during illness to go to each other and from those who were sick and then recovered, learn about the method of treatment, then one woman came to this praiseworthy captive with a sick child and asked to tell her what should be done. The wife, taking the child, laid him on the bed and prayed to the Creator of all things, that He would be pleased to relieve him of his illness. The Lord accepted her prayer and granted healing to the child. Since then, this wonderful wife became known to everyone, she did not even hide from the king’s wife, and she soon invited her, because she herself was obsessed with some serious illness. However, due to the modesty of her disposition, the healer refused to fulfill her request. Then the queen, forced by necessity, ignored her royal dignity and came to the captive herself. And the captive, having also laid her on her bed, again used prayer as a saving cure for illness. For her healing, the queen offered her such a reward as she considered desirable, namely gold, silver, lower and outer garments, and in general various gifts of royal generosity. But the divine wife said that she did not need these things, but that she would consider it a great reward for herself to accept piety, and at the same time she taught the queen, as much as she could, divine teaching and convinced her to build a holy church for Christ who healed her. Having heard this, the queen returned to the palace and amazed her husband with the speed of her healing. Then, telling him about the power of the God of the captive, she convinced him to recognize this one God, build a church for him and bring the whole people to his service. The king glorified the miracle performed on his wife, but did not want to build a church. After a little time, he happened to go hunting, and here the philanthropic Lord caught him, as Paul once did, for the darkness that suddenly enveloped him did not allow him to go further, and while those who were with him on the hunt enjoyed the ordinary light, he remained alone and was bound by the bonds of blindness. Finding himself in such a hopeless situation, he found a way to salvation; for he immediately remembered his unbelief and, calling on the captive God for help, freed himself from the darkness, then, going to that wondrous captive, asked her to show the image of the church. Then He who once fulfilled the artistic wisdom of Beseliel, bestowed upon this woman also the grace of the outline of the divine church. So, the wife drew, and they dug and built. When the building was finished and the roof was laid, and only priests were needed, then the wonderful wife easily arranged this too. She convinced the leader of that people to send ambassadors to the Roman king and ask him to send them a teacher of piety. Having accepted this advice, the leader actually sent an embassy to the king, and the king - he was an excellent zealot of piety, Constantine - having learned about the reason for the embassy, ​​received the ambassadors with the greatest friendliness and, having chosen a man adorned with faith, reason and good life, and awarded the rank of bishop, sent him to that people as a preacher with very many gifts. He awarded this kind of care to the Iberians at their request 35 . And he cared about the pupils of piety in Persia without any external motivation, for, having learned that they were being persecuted by infidels and that the Persian king, betrayed by error, was plotting all sorts of intrigues for them, he wrote to him and urged him to turn to piety and honor the pious. However, the message itself will better express the writer’s thoughtfulness. Letter from King Constantine to the Persian King Canopy about Christians By observing divine faith, I partake of the light of truth; and guided by the light of truth, I recognize divine faith. These are the ways in which, as the matter itself shows, I adhere to the most holy reverence for God and confess that this ministry is a teacher in the knowledge of a holy God. Assisted by the power of this God, I began from the confines of the ocean and little by little animated the entire universe with the firm hope of salvation, so that all the provinces, which had almost disappeared from enslavement to so many tyrants and from groaning under the burden of daily disasters, having come under this protection, seemed to be revived and healed, as if by some kind of healing. This is the God I honor; My army dedicated to God carries His knowledge on its shoulders and rushes with it wherever justice calls, immediately receiving brilliant trophies as a reward. I confess that I constantly keep this God in my memory, I glorify this living God in the highest with a clear and pure thought, I call on Him with kneeling, abhorring all unclean blood, unpleasant and disgusting incense and turning away from all earthly radiance, by which the wicked and secret deception has cast many nations and entire generations into the underworld, because that the God of all things does not want people to attach to their own whims what His providence, out of love for mankind, brought into being for the benefit of all. He demands from people only a pure thought and an untainted soul, and only with this does he weigh the deeds of virtue and piety. He delights in deeds of mercy and forbearance, loves the meek, but hates the rebellious, loves loyalty, but will punish infidelity, destroys all arrogant power and executes the exaltation of the vain, casts down from the heights those who are pompous with pride, and rewards the humble and gentle according to their wealth. That is why, highly appreciating a just reign, He strengthens it with His help and protects royal wisdom with the silence of peace. I do not think, my brother, that I am mistaken in recognizing this God as the leader and father of everything. Many of the local sovereigns, carried away by violent and perverse thoughts, decided to reject Him, but all of them suffered such an end as punishment that a whole generation of people who followed them, imitators of such a life, point to their disasters as an example. One of them, in my opinion, was the one whom God’s wrath, like lightning, drove from here and betrayed to your country, where, to his shame, he became such a famous trophy among you. However, it was probably for the good that even in our time such people were clearly punished; for I myself saw the death of those who recently tormented the people devoted to God with lawless orders. So, let there be great thanks to God that, according to His all-perfect providence, all humanity, serving the divine law, rejoices and rejoices, enjoying the peace returned to itself. This convinced me myself that everything is in the best and safest situation, since God wants to bring all people to Himself through pure and true reverence for God, instilling in them unanimity regarding divine objects. You can imagine how happy I was when I heard about the number of people, I mean Christians, to whose benefit my word is inclined, when I heard that, according to my desire, the best provinces of Persia are being decorated with them. May it be as good for them as it is good for you; May they enjoy prosperity just like you! For this, the Lord of all will honor you with condescension, mercy and favor. So, I entrust them to you, as a great sovereign, I entrust them to your well-known piety; love them according to your love for mankind. With such faith you will bring both yourself and us indescribable benefits. This is how this best king cared for people who were adorned with piety. His care extended not only to his own subjects, but, if possible, to those who lived under a foreign power. For this reason, he himself enjoyed special divine favor. Ruling all of Europe, Libya and, moreover, most of Asia, he everywhere had well-meaning subjects who gladly submitted to his power. And among the barbarians, some submitted to him voluntarily, while others served, having been subdued by arms. He erected trophies everywhere and was a victorious king. However, this has already been glorified more extensively by others, but we will stick to the assumed history. So, this all-validated king bore in his soul true apostolic guardianship. Meanwhile, some, even those awarded the priesthood, not only did not want to edify the church, but tried to undermine its very foundation, for it was precisely those who ruled the churches in accordance with the apostolic teaching, weaving all kinds of slander, who were deposed and expelled. So, their hatred was not satisfied, having composed that notorious fable about the great Eustathius, they planned to undermine the other greatest pillar of piety and used various intrigues for this. I will tell you this sad story as briefly as possible. About the intrigues directed against St. Afanasia Five months after the Council of Nicaea, that wondrous Bishop Alexander, who labored against the blasphemous teaching of Ariev, died, 36 and Athanasius, a man imbued with divine teaching from childhood and having passed through all the degrees of the church rank with special dignity, took over the leadership of the Alexandrian church. At the great council, he fought for the apostolic dogmas, and therefore the defenders of the truth glorified him, and its opponents saw in this opponent their enemy and enemy. Athanasius was present at the council along with the famous Alexander, and although he was young in age, he was already in charge of the rank of deacons. Since the people who decided to wage war against the only begotten Son of God knew from experience that he was ready to defend the truth, then, having learned that he was entrusted with the helm of the Alexandrian church, his superiors considered it a death for their sect. Because of this, this is what they are planning. That Meletius, whom the Council of Nicea deposed, did not cease to stir up unrest and rebellion in Thebaid and in neighboring Egypt. Taking advantage of this, in order to ward off any suspicion of denunciation, they bribed one of his accomplices and convinced him to go to the king and weave a slander that Athanasius was collecting taxes from Egypt and sending the collected money to one person plotting tyranny 37 . Having thus deceived the king, they brought Athanasius to Constantinople. But, having appeared, he exposed the falsity of the denunciation and again received the church entrusted to himself by God 38 . This is also evident from the message that the king wrote to the Alexandrian church, and the end of which I will give here. Epistle of King Constantine to the Alexandrians ...The evil ones could do nothing against your bishop, believe me, brothers. They have achieved nothing except that, having ruined our time, they no longer have room for repentance in this life. So, take care of yourselves, I ask you; love your beloved and with all your might drive away those who want to destroy the grace of your unanimity. Lifting your eyes to God, love one another. And I cordially received your Bishop Athanasius and talked with him in the full conviction that I was talking with a man of God. Another libel against Bishop Athanasius However, the wicked were not moved by this either, but composed another fable, which none of the tragedians or comedians of ancient times had invented. Having again bribed informers from the same community, they bring them to the king, and they shout that this devotee of virtue has committed many unspeakable atrocities. Their leaders were Eusebius, Theognis and Theodore of Perinth (Perinth is now called Heraclius) 39 . The accusers argued that those atrocities were not only intolerable, but also unbearable to hear, 40 and thus convinced the king to convene a council in Caesarea in Palestine, where Athanasius had the most ill-wishers, and order him to be tried there. The king believed them as priests, for he did not know the plans they were hiding at all, and ordered it to be according to this; but the divine Athanasius, knowing the displeasure of his judges, did not arrive at the council. Through this, those who rebelled against the truth by war, having received a new reason for slander, in addition to other crimes, accused Athanasius of tyranny and insolence against the king - and were not completely deceived in their hope, for the meek sovereign, having heard about this, became angry and, expressing his anger in a letter to Athanasius, ordered him to go to Tire, since here he ordered the council to gather, suggesting that it seems that Athanasius is suspicious of Caesarea because of its primate. Meanwhile, the king wrote to the council 41 how fitting it was for a person adorned with piety to write. Here is his message. Message from Tsar Constantine to the Council Constantine Augustus to the Holy Cathedral in Tire: Naturally, and with the peaceful state of the present time, it seems that it would be very appropriate for the universal church to enjoy serenity, and for the servants of Christ to now abandon all quarrel. But since some of them, incited by the sting of perverted love, not to mention leading a life unworthy of their title, try to throw everything into confusion, which, in my opinion, is beyond any misfortune, then I appeal, as they say, to your good will and ask you, without any delay, gathering in one place, to form a council, give help to those in need, heal the brethren in danger, bring to unanimity scattered members and correct the evil while time permits, in order to restore to so many dioceses proper harmony, destroyed - what madness! – the arrogance of very few people. And that such a thing is pleasing to the Lord God of all, and is most desirable to us, and to you yourself, if you restore peace, will bring no small glory, I think everyone agrees on that. So, do not hesitate any longer, but from this very moment, increasing your zeal, try to put a proper end to the discord that has occurred. Gather yourself with all sincerity and faith, which in any case, almost in words, the Savior we honor demands from us. On my part, nothing pertaining to my reverence will be omitted; I will fulfill everything you wrote about. I have already sent a letter to those bishops whom you wanted, and demanded that they come and participate in your concerns, I also sent proconsul Dionysius to you, so that he would remind those who should come to your council and monitor the course of events, especially the deanery. Whoever, which I do not expect, dares now to ignore our command and does not appear at the council, we will send an official to him, who, by royal decree, will expel him and teach him that he should not resist the decisions of the autocrat aimed at protecting the truth. However, it will depend on your holiness, through a general judgment, not prompted by hatred or partiality, but guided by church and apostolic decree, to come up with a decent cure, both for crimes and for random errors, so that the church can be freed from all reproach, and my worries can be alleviated, and you yourself, through returning the grace of peace to the now indignant churches, will gain the greatest glory. May God protect you, beloved brethren! So, after the congress of bishops in Tire, several others also came there, accused of perverse teaching, among whom was Asclepas of Gaza. The wondrous Athanasius also came. But I want to tell you in advance about the pitiful invention of the informers and then describe everything that happened at this notorious trial. Among the accomplices of Meletius was a certain Bishop Arsenius. The Meletians hid him and asked that he not appear for as long as possible. Then, having cut off the right hand from one dead body, they salted it and, putting it in a wooden box, carried it everywhere, saying that it was cut off from Arseny, and calling Athanasius a murderer. But the all-seeing eye did not allow Arseny to hide for long. First it became known in Egypt and Thebaid that he was alive, and then the Lord brought him to Tire, where this hand, which aroused much speculation, was brought to trial. Here those around Athanasius captured him and, placing him in a hotel, kept him secret for some time. Meanwhile, the great Athanasius himself came to the meeting at dawn. Here they first brought in one woman of a dissolute life, who shamelessly came and said that she had taken a vow of virginity and that Athanasius, who was received by her as a guest, had raped her and molested her against her will. As soon as the woman said this, the accused entered, and with him a certain praiseworthy elder named Timothy. The judges immediately ordered Athanasius to answer this accusation, but he remained silent, as if it were not Athanasius, and Timothy said to the woman: so I once had a relationship with you, wife? Did I go to your house? Then she began to shout even more shamelessly, approached Timofey, raised her hand and, pointing her finger at him, said: “Yes, you took my virginity, you deprived me of chastity” - and much more that women who have lost shame from extreme debauchery usually say. When the inventors of this fable were thus put to shame and the judges who knew about it were put to shame, the woman was taken out. The great Athanasius said that she should not be released, but that it was necessary to investigate and find out who invented that fable, but the attackers shouted that there were other, more important accusations that could not be refuted by any art or dexterity, because the judge of what was proposed would not be hearing, but sight. Having said this, they opened that notorious box and took out the salted hand. Seeing her, everyone screamed - some because they considered it a real crime, and others because, although they saw a lie here, they thought that Arseny was still hiding. As soon as there was a short silence, the accused asked the judges if any of them knew Arseny? To this question, many answered that they knew this husband well. Then Athanasius ordered him to be brought in and asked again: is this Arseny, whom I killed, and they were looking for, and who, after the murder, was disgraced and deprived of his right hand? When they confessed that it was he, Athanasius, opening his cloak, showed both his hands, right and left, and said that, of course, no one would look for the third, because each person received from the Creator of all things only two hands. After such discovery of the intrigues, both the informers and the judges who knew about the deception should have hidden and wished that the earth would swallow them up, but instead they created noise and rebellion in the assembly, calling Athanasius a sorcerer and saying that by some magic he averts the eyes of people. Not long before, accusing him of murder, they themselves now decided to torture and kill him, and only the persons who were entrusted by the king to take care of the deanery prevented them from doing this. Having snatched the winner from their hands, they put him on a ship and thus saved his life. Athanasius went to the king and told him this whole sad story, and the judges, having elected some like-minded bishops, such as Theognis of Nicea, Theodore of Perinth, Maris of Chalcedon, Narcissus of Cilicia and others like them, sent them to Mareotis. Mareotis is an Alexandrian country, which received its name from Lake Marea. Here, having invented lies, forged several testimonies and attached to them denounced slander as true accusations, they sent it all to the king. On the consecration of the temple in Jerusalem and on the expulsion of Saint Athanasius And they themselves went to Elia 42, where, upon leaving Tire, the king ordered the entire cathedral to go. He ordered other bishops to come to Elia from everywhere and consecrate the churches he had built. At the same time, he sent some of his especially beloved leaders there with the order that they should deliver everything in abundance to everyone, not only to the bishops and those accompanying them, but also to the poor who flocked there from all sides. He decorated the divine altar with royal veils and golden utensils shining with precious stones. When this most brilliant celebration was thus accomplished, the bishops returned to their cities, and the king, having learned about the lordship and splendor of the celebration, was filled with joy and thanked the Giver of blessings for hearing this desire of his. Meanwhile, Athanasius came to him and complained about the unfair trial of the council. As a result, he ordered the accused bishops to appear before him. The bishops arrived and, foreseeing that they would be clearly exposed, abandoned their previous slander and told the king that Athanasius had threatened to prevent the export of wheat from Egypt. Believing these words, the king exiled Athanasius to a city in Gaul named Trivera (Trier). This was in the thirtieth year of his reign 43. About the will of the blessed king Constantine A year and several months later, the king, while in Nicomedia, fell ill. Knowing how unfaithful human life is, he here accepted the gift of divine baptism; but he put it off until now because he wanted to be rewarded with it in the Jordan River. He left three sons as heirs to his kingdom: Constantine, Constantius and Constant, the youngest in years 44. He also ordered that the great Athanasius return to Alexandria, and he gave this command in the presence of Eusebius, who tried in every possible way to convince him of the contrary. Let no one be surprised that the deceived king sent such great men into exile: he believed the bishops, who, although they hid cunning within themselves, nevertheless had all the outward virtues and thereby misled him. Those who know the Holy Scriptures know that the divine prophet David was also deceived; and it was not the bishop who deceived him, but a domestic and worthless servant - I mean Ziba, who lied to the king about Mephibosheth and for that received his field. However, I say this not to accuse the prophet, but in order to protect the king, to show the weakness of human nature and to teach that one should not listen only to the accusers, even if they were very worthy of faith, but one ear should be left for the accused. About the death of Tsar Constantine So, the king moved to a better kingdom. The regional commanders, the leaders of the army and all other authorities put him in a golden coffin and transferred him to Constantinople. And before the coffin and behind the coffin walked the whole army, bitterly mourning their loss, because everyone had a tender father in him. What honor was given to his body and how long it remained in the royal palace - since the rulers were awaiting the arrival of his son - I consider it unnecessary to write about this, because it was described by others, whose works are not difficult to read and from them to learn how this common patron rewarded his good servants. And whoever does not believe this, let him look at what is happening now at his tomb and statue. Then he will believe the scripture and the words of the Lord: “those who glorify me I will glorify, and those who humble me I will despise” (1 Samuel 2.30). The “Ecclesiastical History” of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (260–340) and the “Father of Church History,” covers events from the beginning of the new era to 324 AD. e. The last event mentioned by Eusebius is the defeat of Licinius. Maxentius (d. 312), son of Maximian Herculus, was declared Augustus in Rome in 306. In 312 he opposed Constantine, but was defeated in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312. He did not persecute Christians and was distinguished by his personal licentiousness. Maximin was appointed by Galerius as Caesar to Asia. Under him, the persecution of Christians in Egypt, Antioch, and Edessa intensified. Licinius (d. 325 AD), co-emperor of Galerius, son-in-law of Diocletian. During his reign, many Christians suffered in the east of the Roman Empire. This refers to the Edict of Milan in 313 AD. e. Arius tried to consider the question of the relationship of persons in St. Trinity from the point of view of logic (see 1.5.). Moreover, he could not accept the statements of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, who believed that “St. The Trinity is one in the Trinity.” Saying that Christ was created by God the Father, Arius came to the conclusion that God the Son cannot be equal to the Father and identical in essence. The conflict also lay in the fact that the disputing parties from the very beginning had different understandings of the terms “essence” and “hypostasis.” For the defenders of the Nicene symbol, these words meant a single being of the trinitarian god and did not differ from each other, but for their opponents they served to designate a real qualitative difference in the divine persons. Sylvester, bishop Roman (314–335). During his reign the cathedrals of St. Peter on Vatican Hill, St. Paul outside the city walls and St. John next to the Lateran Palace, which became the residence of the Roman bishop. Miltiades (311–314), bishop. Roman, African by origin. The circumstances of death and burial place are unknown. Marcellus (308–309), bishop. Roman. Some historians identify him with the Roman bishop Marcellinus (296–304), who probably died during the persecutions of 304. Colluf, a presbyter of the Alexandrian church, opposed Arius, however, criticizing his doctrine of the Trinity, he himself fell into heresy. Pavel, bishop Samosata (since 260 Antiochene). A representative of the Adoptian direction of the monarchian heresy, who considered Christ to be a simple man by nature. Deposed on the third attempt at the Council of Antioch in 268. Sabellius, follower of the monarchian heresy. The main provisions of his teaching were as follows: “One and the same is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy One. Spirit, so these are three names for one hypostasis, or as body, soul and spirit in man.” God is not both Father and Son. He acts sequentially in three energies: first in the person of the Father as the Creator and Lawgiver, then in the person of the Son as the Savior and in the person of the Spirit as the life-giving and giver of gifts. The year of death is unknown. This refers to the city of Beroe of Antioch. Constantine the Great, after an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the disputing parties, convened the 1st Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in Bithynia, which opened on May 20, 325. The emperor himself arrived there on June 13–14. The number 318 is inaccurate. Sources name between 250 and 320 participants, although none of them provide a complete and accurate list of their names. According to the assumption of M. E. Posnov, the number 318 symbolically means the number of Abraham’s faithful slaves (Gen. 14.14). Theodoret speaks of his book “History of the God-Lovers,” which continues the tradition begun by Rufinus and Palladius’s “Lavsaik” and is dedicated to describing the life and spiritual exploits of hermits and ascetics in the east of the empire. Probably, in this place Theodoret is deliberately “mistaken”: the welcoming speech was made by Eusebius of Caesarea, but those who presided at the council were given the floor after Constantine’s response speech. This reshuffle is understandable, since Eusebius had been aligned with the Semi-Arians for quite a long time and could not be a positive hero in the eyes of Theodoret, who could be entrusted with the honor of delivering such a speech. The Nicene Creed was signed on June 19. The formulation of Eusebius of Caesarea was taken as a basis, and under pressure from the emperor, but with amendments from Hosea, bishop. Cordoba, it was accepted. This refers to Eusebius, bishop. Nicomedia. The rules of the Council of Nicaea established the procedure for convening extraordinary and permanent councils, the rights and advantages of the metropolitans of Antioch, Alexandria, etc. It was decided that the time of Easter celebration would be determined by the Alexandrian church, and the Bishop of Rome would notify everyone. For Jews, Passover always begins on the same day - Nisan 15 (April) and is celebrated for 8 days. Christians of Asia Minor celebrated Easter at the same time as them. However, Easter was subsequently celebrated at different times in different churches: in 387, for example, Easter was celebrated in Rome five weeks earlier than in Alexandria. In the 5th century, Gaul, Britain, and Italy continued to use different time cycles to calculate the date of Easter. Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363). Emperor Jovian, who repealed the anti-Christian decrees of Julian. This formula is also given in the “Ecclesiastical History” of Socrates Scholasticus, 1. 8. The symbol proposed by Eusebius at the beginning ended at this point. The further provision about the persons of the Trinity is the result of the edition of the Symbol. Arius died in a public toilet near the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Most likely he suffered a stroke. This and the following epistle are sent to Eusebius of Caesarea. Empress Helena, wife of Constantius Chlorus and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. However, according to more reliable reports by Eusebius of Caesarea (On the Life of Constantine, III. 13), Constantine’s Christian upbringing was by no means the merit of Helen, who most likely adopted some Christian ideas under the influence of her son. Eusebius of Nicomedia became the capital's bishop after the removal of Bishop from this post. Paul in 339 Theodoret is very confused in the chronology of the events presented in this chapter: the Council of Antioch in 330, at which Eustathius was deposed, he transfers to 339. In addition, Eustathius was accused of allegedly following the heresy of Sabellius in his theological reasoning. We are not talking about the people of India, but the people of Ethiopia. These brothers lived at the royal court in Aksum and remained in the country at the request of the king's widow, who needed their support during the years of the regency and in raising her son, the heir to the throne, Ezana. Frumentius was consecrated bishop by Athanasius in 328-329. Later, in 356, Constantius tried to bring him back in order to persuade him to convert to Arianism, but was refused by Ezan and his brother Sazan. In this chapter, Theodoret talks about the conversion of the inhabitants of Georgia (Iveria) to Christianity. “The Captive Wife” – Nonna (Nino, Nina), educator of Georgia. This story about the conversion of the king of Georgia Meroi is also contained in the “Ecclesiastical History” of Socrates Scholasticus, 1. 20, as well as in the work of the same name by Sozomen, bishop. Salamis, II. 7.37. The year of Alexander's death and the election of Athanasius has not yet been precisely determined. The figure of 5 months was obviously taken by Theodoret from Chapter 59. Apologies of Athanasius. The most likely date for the election of Athanasius to the post of Bishop of Alexandria is June 328. Athanasius was accused of instituting a special tax on clothing in favor of the Alexandrian church, and also of sending money to a certain rebel Philumen. Theodoret's instructions are inaccurate: Athanasius first appeared before Constantine at the end of 331 in Nicomedia, and not in Constantinople. Perinthos or Thracian Heraclea is the ecclesiastical metropolis of the Thracian diocese, the residence of the head of the Thracian bishops. The bishop of Constantinople also submitted to him until 451. Athanasius was accused of cutting off the hand of the Meletian bishop Arsenius, and he was also credited with complicity in the blasphemy committed in one of the churches by the presbyter Athanasius Macarius. See I. 30. The Council of Tire took place in 335. Aelia Capitolina is the Roman name for Jerusalem, which it received under Emperor Hadrian. Abolished by Constantine the Great. The accusation of delaying the supply of wheat from Alexandria was very serious in the eyes of Constantine, since the capital was supplied with Egyptian grain. Athanasius was supposed to leave for Trier on November 7, 335 (according to other sources, at the beginning of 336). The empire was already divided in 335 between Constantine II, Constantius and Constantine the Great's nephew Dalmatius, who died in 337 during a revolt of soldiers in Constantinople. In 340, Constantine II died in the battle with Constant at Aquileia, and the empire was formally divided into two parts between Constant and Constantius. 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