A protective word in which St. Athanasius justifies his flight during the persecution carried out by the Duke Syrian

“The word of defense, in which St. Athanasius justifies his flight during the persecution carried out by the Duke Syrian” (27 chapters, end of 357), addressed to the Alexandrian Church. In this letter, Saint Athanasius the Great justifies his flight from the persecution of the Duke of Syrian, rejecting the slander of the Arians, who reproached him for cowardice. The saint with dignity exposes his accusers and proves that in certain circumstances it is not only permissible but necessary for a person to ensure his life and safety by flight, and contrasts them with the teachings of Christ, His example, and the examples of the prophets and apostles. Then he describes the wild rage of his pursuers, their cruel pursuit and the circumstances of his flight, accomplished with the help of God: “Whom, having ever begun to pursue and caught, did they not insult as much as they wanted? Who, having begun to search and having found, was not brought to the point where either the evil one befell them, or they suffered harm from everywhere?.. For, having subjected them to many insults in advance, these insidious people brought them to imprisonment. And Theodulus and Olympius, the Bishops of Thracia, and me and my presbyters were forced to search so diligently that if we had been found, we would have been subject to the death penalty, and probably would not have been alive if, beyond their hopes, we had not then escaped.” *The title of the work in Greek is Ἀπολογία περὶ τῆς φυγῆς αὐτοῦ. *The title of the work in Latin is Apologia de fuga sua. 1) I hear that Leontius, who is now in Antioch, Narcissus from the city of Nero, George, who is now in Laodicea, and the rest of the Arians with them, talk a lot about me and blame me, calling me fear that I did not come and did not give myself up to them when they were looking to kill me. I can write a lot about their slander and slander, which they cannot deny, which everyone who has heard about it admits: however, I intend to say no more than the Lord’s word and the Apostolic saying, namely, that lies are from the devil (John 8:44) and molesters “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). And this sufficiently proves that they do not think and act according to the Gospel, but according to their own whims and consider what they please to be good. 2) But since they arrogate to themselves the right to accuse themselves of fear, it is necessary to write a little about this; for even from a little it will be clear that they are crafty in disposition and have not read the Divine Scriptures, and if they do read, they do not believe that the words contained in them are inspired by God; if they believed, they would not dare to act contrary to the Scriptures and would not be jealous of the evil behavior of the Jews who killed the Lord. And the Jews, when God gave the commandment: “Honor your father and your mother” and: “Whoever curses his father or mother, let him die” (Matthew 15:4, Exodus 20:12, Exodus 21:16), established a new law, turning honor into dishonor, and the respect that children owe to their parents, replacing it with silver; and also, reading the acts of David, they learned from them the opposite, and the innocent people, who on the Sabbath day pulled out and washed ears of corn in their hands (Matthew 12:1), were accused not because they cared about the laws and the Sabbath (which is what they violated the law most of all), but because, being crafty in character, they were jealous of the disciples being saved, and only wanted their opinion to have power. And they received retribution for their iniquity, became hostile to God, and were already called the princes of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10). But these, in my opinion, no less than the Jews, already bear the punishment, namely, ignorance of their folly. They do not understand what they are saying, and they also consider themselves to know what they do not know. They only have the knowledge to do evil and daily invent even worse things in addition to the previous bad ones. And if they blame me for the current flight, it is not out of a desire to see me valiant in virtue. For will their enemies wish this upon those who are not at one with them in their evil spirits? But out of their malice, they feignedly divulge this, thinking (they are so simple in reality) that, frightened by their slander, I too will join them in time. It is desirable for them (that is why they go everywhere, sometimes pretending to be friends, sometimes inspecting everything like enemies), they want, having already had enough of blood, to eradicate me too; because I have always maintained and continue to adhere to a way of thinking that is contrary to their wickedness, and by denouncing their heresy, I put it to shame. 3) Whom, having ever begun to pursue and caught, did they not insult as much as they wanted? Who, having begun to search and found, was not brought to the point where either an evil end befell them, or they suffered harm from everywhere? What judges apparently do is their work, and it is better to say that judges are servants of their will and wickedness. Therefore, in what place is there not a monument to their malice? Against whom, who was not of the same mind with them, did they not conspire, like Jezebel, inventing pretexts for accusation? What Church does not now shed tears because of their malice against the Bishops? Antioch mourns the confessor and strong in Orthodoxy Eustathius, Balanea the venerable Euphrasian, Paltos and Antarad Cymatius and Carterius, Adrianople the Christ-loving Eutropius, and after him Lucius, who repeatedly bore bonds from them and died in bonds, Ancyrus Marcellus, Berrius Cyrus and Gaza Asclepius. For, having subjected them to many insults in advance, these insidious people brought them to imprisonment. And Theodulus and Olympius, the Bishops of Thracia, and me and my presbyters were forced to search so diligently that if we had been found, we would have been subject to the death penalty, and probably would not have been alive if, beyond their hopes, we had not then escaped. For such instructions were given about Olympia to the Proconsul Donatus, and about me to Philagrus. Having pursued and found the Bishop of Constantinople Paul, they ordered to obviously strangle him in the so-called Cappadocian Kukuza, using Philip, who was the eparch, for this task; because he was the patron of their heresy and the minister of crafty councils. 4) But were they fed up with so many atrocities and finally calmed down? Not at all. Not only did they not stop the persecution, but, like the leech mentioned in Proverbs (Proverbs 30:15), they became even more courageous in evil deeds, attacking large dioceses. For who can adequately describe what they have done now? Who is able to retain in memory everything that they set in motion? When the churches were in peace and the people were praying during the service, Liberius, Bishop of Rome, Paulinus, Bishop of the Metropolis of Gallia, Dionysius, Bishop of the Metropolis of Italy, Lucifer, Bishop of the Metropolis of Sardinia, and Eusebius, Bishop of Italy, all pious Bishops and preachers of the truth, were suddenly kidnapped and imprisoned without any reason excuse, except that they did not join the Arian heresy and did not sign false accusations and slander against me with the Arians. 5) And it will be unnecessary for me to talk about the great venerable old man and true confessor of Hosea. For everyone perhaps knows that he too was driven into exile; because he was an old man, not unknown, but especially of all and most famous. At what council was he not a leader? Didn’t he convince everyone with right-wing broadcasts? What Church does not have the most beautiful monuments of his intercession? Who ever came to him with sadness and did not leave him with joy? Who asked him in need and went away without receiving what he wanted? However, they dared to rebel against him; because he, knowing what slander they were making out of their wickedness, did not subscribe to the fabricated slander against me. And if subsequently, due to the excessive blows and conspiracies inflicted on him on his relatives, he yielded to them for a minute, like an old man and exhausted in body; then in this one can see the cunning of these people, in any case trying to show that they really are not Christians. 6) After this, they again attacked Alexandria, again seeking my death; and the present events were worse than the previous ones. The soldiers suddenly surrounded the church, and the place of prayers was replaced by something that is done only in war. Then, at Lent, George, sent by them from Cappadocia, arrived and increased the atrocities that he had learned from them. After the week of Easter, virgins were thrown into prison, bound bishops were taken away by soldiers, the homes and bread of orphans and widows were plundered, houses were broken into, Christians were driven out of them at night, houses were sealed, and the brothers of the clerics suffered for their brothers. All this is terrible; but even more terrible is what they dared to do after that. On the week of Pentecost, the fasting people went out to pray in the cemetery, because everyone turned away from communicating with George. But, having learned about this, this all-evil one excites the military leader Sebastian, a Manichaean, and he himself, leading many soldiers with weapons and with naked swords, bows and arrows, rushes towards the people in the very church of the Lord. And, having found a few praying, because most of them had left because of the late hour, he performed such deeds as only befit an Aryan disciple: he lit a fire and, placing the virgins before the fire, forced them to say that they were of the Aryan faith. When he saw that the maidens were invincible and did not care about the fire, he uncovered them and hit them so hard in the face that for some time they could hardly recognize them. 7) Having captured forty men, he tortured them in a new way: having just cut off the branches from the date trees, while they still had needles, he used them to cut out the spines of some so much that the embedded needles had to be cut out more than once, while others could not bear it and died. All those suddenly captured, even the maidens, were imprisoned in the great Oasis; and the bodies of the deceased were not initially allowed to be given to their own, but were hidden where they wanted, leaving them unburied; because they thought to hide such cruelty. But they do this too, recklessly, guided by an erroneous understanding. since the households of the deceased rejoiced at their confession and wept over their bodies; then the more loudly the denunciation of the wickedness and cruelty of the heretics spread. They soon imprisoned from Egypt and Libya the Bishops: Ammonius, Muias, Gaius, Philo, Hermas, Pliny, Psenosiris, Nilammon, Agathon, Anagamthos, Mark, Ammonius, another Mark, Dracontius, Adelphius, Athenodorus - and the presbyters: Hieraxes and Dioscorus - and with such cruelty forced them to go that some died on the road, while others were already in captivity at the place of imprisonment. More than thirty Bishops were forced to flee. For, like Achaab, they tried as much as possible to destroy the truth. The wicked dared to commit such insolence. 8) Doing this and not being ashamed that they had planned so many evils against me before, now they also blame me for being able to escape their murderous hands, or better yet, they bitterly complain that they did not destroy me in the end, and use this as an excuse that they blame my fear, not knowing that with this murmur they are turning the reproach more on themselves. For if it is a bad thing to run, then it is much worse to drive. One takes cover so as not to die, and the other drives, trying to kill. And Scripture allows for running, but whoever seeks the death of another breaks the law and, rather, himself gives the reason for flight. Therefore, if they are blamed for fleeing, then let them be more ashamed of themselves, as persecutors. Let them stop plotting, and there will soon be no one fleeing for their lives. But they do not stop their own deceit and do everything to catch us, not knowing that flight serves as a great exposure not to the persecuted, but to the persecutors. Everyone runs not from the meek and humane, but rather from the fierce and crafty in disposition. Therefore, “everyone who is sad and every one who is in debt” ran away from Saul and resorted to David (1 Sam. 22:2). Therefore, they also try to kill those hiding, so as not to have their wickedness exposed. But it seems that these people, who are always mistaken, are blind in this too. For the more famous the escape, the more obvious the murder or imprisonment that took place through their malice becomes even more obvious. If they kill them, then death will cry out even louder against them. If they also imprison you, then they will send monuments of their lawlessness everywhere against themselves. 9) Therefore, if they had retained common sense, they would have seen that they had confused themselves and stumbled over their own thoughts. But since their chastity has been destroyed, when this very thing prompts them to persecute and seek murder, they do not see their wickedness. Or maybe (for there is nothing that they would not dare to do), they will dare to blame Providence itself for those whom it does not betray to them, because, according to the word of the Savior, it is known that even a sparrow cannot fall into a net without our heavenly Father (Matthew 10:29). How quickly these destroyers catch someone, they immediately forget others, and before others themselves, puffing up their eyebrows with sheer self-praise, and they do not know the time, and doing offense to people, do not respect nature itself, imitating the Babylonian tormentor, the more they attack with ferocity, they do not have mercy on anyone, but they also “burden the old man with a yoke” (Isa. 47:6) and, as it is written, “to the disease of ulcers... apply” (Psalm 68:27) these merciless ones. Therefore, if they had not done this and if they had not imprisoned those who defend me from their slander, then others would have considered their words worthy of belief. since they plotted against many and venerable Bishops and did not spare either the great confessor Hosea, or the Bishop of Rome, or so many Bishops of Spain, Gaul, Egypt, Libya and other countries, but, on the contrary, they caused so much evil to everyone who denounced them for me, does this not mean that before others they plotted much more against me, and they really want to put me to an evil death after them? To this end they are vigilant, and consider it an insult to themselves if they see those whom they would not want to live being saved. 10) Therefore, who will not see their deceit? Who doesn’t know that it is not for the sake of virtue that they blame fear, but, thirsting for blood, they use their evil tricks as if they were nets, thinking that they will catch with them anyone they want to kill? And that they are such, this was demonstrated by their deeds, revealing that their temper is more ferocious than that of animals, and that they are superior in cruelty to the Babylonians. And although such reproof is enough for them, nevertheless, since, like their father the devil, they hide behind soft speeches in order to accuse me of fear, when they themselves are more fearful than hares, let us see what is written about this in the Divine Scriptures. Then it will turn out that they oppose the Scriptures no less than they slander the virtues of the saints. If they slander those who hide from those who seek to kill them, and blame those who flee from their persecutors, what will they do when they see Jacob fleeing from his brother Esau, and Moses retreating to Midian, fearing Pharaoh? Going into such nonsense, how will they justify David, who runs away from home from Saul, when he sent him to kill him, then takes refuge in a cave, then “changes his face” (1 Sam. 21:13), until he left Abimelech 1 and avoided evil intentions? What will these people, who easily give the answer to everything, say, seeing that the great Elijah either calls on God and raises the dead, or hides from Achaab and flees from the threats of Jezebel? Then the sons of the prophets, whom Jezebel was looking for, with the help of Obadiah, hid secretly in dens. 11) Let us assume that they did not read this as the Old Testament; but they also don’t remember at all what is in the Gospel. For the disciples, “out of fear for the sake of the Jews” (John 20:19), remained in secrecy; and Paul, when the leader of the people was looking for him in Damascus, was hung from the wall “in the treasury” (Acts 9:25) and escaped the hands of the seeker. Since Scripture speaks in this way about the saints, what excuse can they find for their insolence? If the saints are blamed for fear, then such insolence is characteristic only of the frantic. And if they begin to slander that the saints did this contrary to God’s will, then they are completely ignorant of Scripture. For in the Law there was a decree (Deut. 19:3 et seq.) to establish cities of refuge where those sought for death could be saved for a time. At the end of the ages, when He who spoke to Moses, the Father’s Word, himself came, again gave this commandment, saying: “When you are persecuted in this city, flee to another” (Matt. 10:23), and then continues: “Whenever you see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, I stand in holy vengeance: whoever honors, let him understand: then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; Matt. 24, 15–18). And, knowing this, the saints were guided by this in their lives. For what the Lord has now commanded, He also spoke the same before His coming in the flesh through the saints. And the law that leads people to perfection is this: to do what God commanded. 12) Therefore, the Word itself, who became man for us, was pleased, like us, to hide when we were looking for, and also to run and evade those who plotted evil when they initiated persecution. For, just as by hunger, thirst and suffering, so by this hiding of himself and flight it was fitting for Him to prove of Himself that He bears flesh and has become a man. And at the beginning, when, after His incarnation, the Lord was still a baby, He Himself commanded Joseph through an Angel: “Arise, take the Child and His Mother, and flee to Egypt... for Herod wants to seek the souls of the Child" (Matthew 2:13); and after the death of Herod, for the sake of Archelaus, his son, he retired to Nazareth. When he proved about Himself that He was God and created the withered hand healthy, and the Pharisees “went out... and gave counsel that they would destroy Him” (Mk. 3:6), Jesus, having learned this, withdrew from there. And when he raised Lazarus from the dead, “from that day,” it is said, “they deliberated that Jesus, who was not among the Jews, but went from there to a country near the desert” ( John 11, 53, 54). Then, when the Savior says: “before even Abraham was not, I am; then the Jews took... stone, and they cast it down: Jesus hid himself and went out of the church, passing through the midst of them: and so he passed by” (John 8, 58, 59), 13) Seeing this, or better yet, hearing it, because they don’t see, will they not, according to what is written, “desire to be burned with fire” (Isa. 9:5), because they are plotting and saying the opposite of what the Lord does and teaches? When John died as a martyr, and the disciples buried the body, “hearing Jesus departed from there into ships into an empty place alone” (Matthew 14:13). This is how the Lord acted, this is what he taught. Oh, although let the heretics be ashamed of this and limit their insolence to only people, they will not even more furiously accuse the Savior of fearing the Savior Himself, as those who have already learned to blaspheme Him! But no one will tolerate these frantic ones; rather, they will accuse them of not understanding the Gospel. There is a solid and true pretext for such removal and flight. And the Evangelists mentioned this when speaking about the Savior. And from this we must conclude that all the saints had the same pretext. For what is written about the Savior according to humanity must be applied generally to the entire human race, because the Savior bore our body on Himself and revealed in Himself human weakness, which John described as follows: “I seek... that they may have Him: and no man lay hands on Him, because His hour had not come” (John 7:30). And until this hour came, He Himself said to the Mother: “My hour has not come” (John 2:4), and He said to His so-called brothers: “My time has not come” (John 7:6). And when the time came, he said to the disciples: “Sleep and rest: behold, the hour is approaching, and the Son of man is being delivered into the hands of sinners” (Matthew 26:45). 14) Therefore, as God and the Father's Word, He did not have time, because He Himself is the creator of times, but having become a man and saying this, He shows by this that time is measured for every person, and it was not measured by chance, as some of the Greeks think and fable, but as He himself determined the creator according to the will of the Father. And this is written and it has already become obvious to everyone. If it is hidden and hidden from all people why and what measure is assigned to each, then everyone, however, knows that just as there is a time for spring, summer, autumn and winter, so, according to what is written, there is a “time to die” and a time to live (Eccl. 3:2). That is why the time of the human race was truncated under Noah; and since everyone's time had come, the summers were shortened. And Hezekiah was given fifteen years, because God promised those who sincerely served Him: “I will fulfill it with the length of days” (Psalm 90:16). And Abraham dies “full of days” (Gen. 25:8), and David begs, saying: “Do not bring me to the end of my days” (Psalm 101:25). And one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, knowing this well, said: “You will come into the grave like wheat that is ripe at the time of reaping, or like a stack of threshing floor that is brought down at the time of harvest” (Job. 5, 26); and Solomon, attaching a seal to his saying, says: “The souls of the wicked are taken away untimely” (Proverbs 11:30), which is why he exhorts in Ecclesiastes, saying: “Do not be wicked much and do not be cruel, lest you die out of season” (Eccl. 7:18). 15) And as this is written, then, according to the instructions of Scripture, the saints knew that time was measured for everyone. But no one knows the end of this time; David’s word serves as proof of this: “I will bring the lowliness of my days to me” (Psalm 101:24), for he asked to make known to him what he did not know. Therefore, the rich man, thinking of living for a long time, heard: “foolishly, this night they will take your soul from you: but what you have prepared, to whom will they be” (Luke 12:20)? And Ecclesiastes, daring by the Holy Spirit, pronounces a decisive sentence and says: “man has not understood his time” (Eccl. 9:12). That is why the patriarch Isaac said to his son Esau: “Behold, I am old and do not know the day of my end” (Gen. 27:2). Therefore, the Lord, as God and the Father’s Word, knowing what time He measured out for everyone, and knowing what time He Himself determined for the suffering of His body, because for our sake He became man, before the onset of this time and Himself, like us, hid when they were looking for Him, ran away when they persecuted Him, and, evading the intrigues, “walked by” and “walked in the midst of them” (John 8:59 , Luke 4, 30). And when He Himself brought to an end the time determined by Him, in which He wanted to suffer for everyone bodily, then He proclaimed this to the Father, saying: “Father, the hour has come: glorify Your Son” (John 17:1); He no longer began to hide from the seekers, but He Himself wanted to be taken. For it is said: “He said to those who came to Him: “Whom are you looking for?” And when they answered: “Jesus of Nazareth,” he said to them: I am the one whom you are looking for (John 18:4, 5), and he did this not once, but twice, and then they took Him to Pilate. Just as He did not allow Himself to be taken until the time came, so He did not begin to hide when the time came, but He betrayed Himself to those who were malicious, in order to show everyone that both human life and death depend on the highest judgment, and without the will of our Father who is in heaven, neither a human hair can become white or black, nor a sparrow can ever fall into a net. 16) So the Lord, according to what was said above, gave Himself for everyone, and the saints, having learned from the Savior, because they had always been taught by Him, in the fight against the persecutors legally fled and hid from them when they were sought. How people, not knowing the end of the time determined by Providence, did not want to simply betray themselves to those who were malicious; Knowing what is written that the lots of men are in the hands of God (Psalm 30:16), that “the Lord gives life, and the Lord also makes death” (1 Samuel 2:6), they agreed better to endure to the end, as the Apostle said, passing “in sheepskin and in goat skins, deprivation, sorrow, embitterment:... wandering in the deserts and hiding in the mountains and in dens and in the pits of the earth” (Heb. 11, 37, 38), until either the definite time of death came, or God himself, who determined the time, spoke to them, and stopped those who were evil, or clearly handed over the persecuted to the persecutors, as He himself found it best, and this, especially before others, can be completely learned from David. For when Joab stirred him up against Saul, David said: “As the Lord lives, unless the Lord strikes him, or the day of his death comes... or he will go down into battle and perish from those who resist, it will not be for me from the Lord to lay my hand on Christ the Lord” (1 Sam. 26, 10, 11). 17) If sometimes those who gave themselves up to flight themselves came to the seekers, they did not just do it. since the Spirit spoke to them, then, as lovers of God, they went to meet their enemies, and by this again proving their obedience and zeal. So, Elijah listens to the Spirit and appears to Achaav. And Micah the prophet comes to the same Akhaav. This is what another Prophet does, calling to the altar in Samaria and shaming Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:2-10), and Paul reproaching Caesar (Acts 25:11). It was not out of fear that they fled, let this not happen! Or rather, flight for them was a feat and a thought of death. But they both observed the rules and thought well of themselves, so that they did not immediately surrender themselves to their enemies, this would mean killing themselves, becoming guilty of their own death and opposing the Lord, Who says: “If God joins together, let not man separate” (Matt. 19:6), and did not want to suffer reproach for cowardice, as if they did not have the strength to endure sorrows during flight, which are more painful and terrible than death itself, because the dying person ceases to suffer, and the one who indulges in flight, daily expecting an attack from enemies, considers death easier for himself; and therefore, those who die in flight do not die ingloriously, but can also boast of martyrdom. Therefore, Job is recognized as great in courage; because, while still alive, he endured so much great suffering, which he would not have felt at all if he had died. That is why these blessed Fathers were guided by this rule of life; those who were persecuted did not indulge in fear, but even more so showed their spiritual courage. Thus, confining themselves in stuffy and gloomy places and leading a harsh life, they also did not renounce death when the time came. They took care of this, so as not to be horrified by death when it is present, and not to anticipate the judgment determined by Providence, not to oppose His supervision, according to which they recognized themselves as being protected, and so that, by acting boldly, they themselves would not become guilty of their own horror, as it is written: “he who is bold... will terrify himself with his mouth” (Proverbs 13:3). 18) Of course, they were so prepared for the virtue of courage that no one can doubt it. Patriarch Jacob, who had previously fled from Esau, was not afraid of the impending death, but on the contrary, at that very time he blessed each of the patriarchs according to their dignity. But the great Moses, who first hid from Pharaoh and fled from him to Midian, was not afraid when he heard: go to Egypt; and again, when he was commanded to ascend Mount Avarim and die there, he fearlessly accepted the command and even joyfully went to the mountain. And David, who had previously fled from Saul, was not afraid to be exposed to danger in battles for the people, even when he listened to the offer to choose death or flight, and he had the opportunity to escape by flight and save his life, this wise man rather chose death. And the great Elijah, who had been hiding from Jezebel for a long time, was not afraid when the Spirit commanded him to go to Achaab and convict Ahaziah. And Peter, covered with fear for the sake of the Jews, and the Apostle Paul, hanging in the coffer and fleeing, having heard: “You must suffer martyrdom in Rome,” did not postpone the journey, but even more rejoicing, they set off on the road, and one, as if hastening to his own, rejoiced, tempered, and the other was not afraid of the coming time, but boasted still, saying: “For I am already devoured, and the time of my departure has come” ( 2 Tim. 4:6). 19) And while this shows that their previous flight was not out of fear, it also testifies that their present deed is not unimportant, but preaches about some great valor of their courage. It was not out of weakness of spirit that they withdrew, but it was then with the greatest effort that they accomplished the feat; and were condemned, were not accused of fear by people like these current reproaches, but all the more blessed were the Lord God, Who says: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matthew 5:10). And such a feat was not useless for them, because, as Wisdom said: “like gold in the furnace” of the tempted “you will find them worthy of God” ( Prem. 3, 5, 6). And they shone most then, like sparks saved from their persecutors, delivered from evil intentions and thereby preserved for teaching the nations; why, their flight and hiding from the irritability of the seekers was according to the Lord’s will. For it was then that they were so loving of God and presented the best evidence of their virtues. 20) Patriarch Jacob, during his flight, was honored with many Divine visions, and even, while he was at peace, he had as his protector the Lord, Who either shames Laban or restrains Esau. And after this Jacob became the father of Judah, from whom the Lord appeared in the flesh, and bestowed blessings on the patriarchs. And the God-loving Moses, when he was on the run, then saw a great vision; and having escaped from the persecutors, he was sent as a prophet to Egypt, becoming a servant of so many signs and the Law; was the leader of a large people in the desert. And the persecuted David taught: “My heart will vomit out the good word” (Psalm 44:2), and: “Our God will come, our God, and will not be silent” (Psalm 49:3), and even more so he could, saying: “On my enemies my eye will look” (Psalm 53:9), and again: “In God I trust, I will not fear: whatever he does me" man (Psalm 55:5). Running away and hiding in a cave from the face of Saul, he said: "Sent from heaven and saved me, giving reproach to those who trample me: God sent His mercy and His truth, and deliver my soul from among the skimni" (Psalm. 56, 4, 5), and thus, saved by God’s providence, both later he himself became a king and received the promise that from his seed our Lord would shine. And the great Elijah, retiring to Mount Carmel, called on God and suddenly destroyed four hundred or more of the prophets of Baal; and when two captains of fifty were sent against him and with them a hundred soldiers, saying: “Let fire come down from heaven” (2 Kings 1:10), he punished with fire, and he himself was kept in order to anoint Elisha in his place and serve as a model of asceticism for the sons of the prophets. And blessed Paul, writing: “I received the exile, and the Lord delivered me from all” (2 Tim. 3:11), and will deliver, all the more he prevailed and said: “But in all these we overcome... For we know that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:37-39). And then he was caught up to the third heaven and introduced into paradise, where he heard “unspeakable verbs, which a man should not speak” (2 Cor. 12:4). For this purpose he was then preserved so that “from Jerusalem... even to Illyricum he might fulfill the gospel” (Rom. 15:19). 21) Therefore, the flight of the saints is neither blameworthy nor useless. If they had not turned aside from their persecutors, how would the Lord have shone forth from the seed of David? Or how would others preach the word of truth? This is why the persecutors sought the saints, so that there would be no one to teach. And the Jews commanded the Apostles not to teach; but they endured everything for this reason, so that the Gospel could be preached. Thus laboring, they did not spend the time of flight in idleness, and the persecuted did not forget about the benefit of others, but, as ministers of the good word, they did not skimp on teaching it to everyone, even while fleeing they preached the Gospel, foreshadowed the tricks of those who were malicious, and protected the faithful with admonitions. Thus, blessed Paul, having learned from experience, foreshadowed that “all... who want to live godly in Christ... will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12), and at the same time he supported those who were fleeing, saying: “let us persevere through the struggle that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1). For although tribulations are unceasing, “tribulation makes patience perfect, and patience is skill, and skill is hope; but hope does not put to shame” (Rom. 5:3-5). And the prophet Isaiah, with the expected disaster, reminded and cried: “Go my people, enter your church, shut your doors, hide yourself a little, until the wrath has passed by” (Isa. 26:20). And Ecclesiastes, knowing the evil intentions against the pious and saying: “If you see the insult of the poor and the plunder of justice and righteousness in the land, do not marvel at the thing: for the high one is an overseer, and the high ones are above them, and the abundance of the earth” (Eccl. 5, 7, 8), had David as his father, who experienced the severity of persecution and protects the afflicted with these words: “Be of good courage, and let your heart be strong, all who trust in the Lord” (Psalm 30:25), and to those suffering persecution he says: not man, but the Lord himself will help, “and deliver them... because you have trusted in Him” (Psalm 36:40). And I myself “have endured the Lord, and have heeded and heard my prayer: and raised me up from the pit of the grave, and from the clay of the mire” (Psalm 39:2,3). This proves that the flight of the saints is useful and not fruitless for people, although the Arians do not have the same opinion. 22) Therefore, as it has been said, the saints, indulging in flight, were primarily and by special care preserved as doctors for the sake of those who needed them. And for others, and in general for all of us people, this is the law: to flee from persecutors, to hide from those who seek and not to boldly tempt the Lord, but to wait, as I said above, until the certain hour of death comes, or the Judge deigns to do what is best for them, as He Himself recognizes as best; to be ready, as the time demands, when the persecutors catch on, to strive for the truth even to the point of death. This was also observed by the blessed martyrs during the period of persecution: those who were persecuted fled, those who were found endured in hiding, those who were found suffered. If some of them themselves came to the persecutors, then this was not done simply, but at the same time they testified about themselves, and it became clear to everyone that their zeal and such a sudden appearance before the persecutors were from the Spirit. 23) Such are the commandments of the Savior, such are the deeds of the saints! Let these, who have never heard a worthy name from anyone before, tell me: from whom did they learn to be persecutors? They cannot say that they learned from the saints, and all that remains is to admit that they learned from the devil, who says: “I will suffer persecution” (Ex. 15:9). The Lord commanded to run away, and the saints ran, but to persecute is a devilish undertaking, and the devil asks that he be allowed to persecute everyone. Let them also say what they should agree with, either with the Lord’s words or with their fables? Whose actions should be imitated: the actions of the saints, or what they conceive? But perhaps they are not able to judge this either, because they are blinded by their mind and conscience, as Isaiah said, “they esteem bitter things as sweet... and light as darkness” (Isa. 5:20). Let one of us Christians go and shame them, saying in a loud voice: “It is good to trust in the Lord” (Psalm 117:9), not to listen to their bullshit, because the words of the Lord have eternal life in themselves, and the words they utter are filled with deceit, all malice and bloodshed. 24) This is enough to overthrow the madness of the wicked and show that they are not trying for anything else, but only competing in slander and blasphemy. But since they once dared to become Christ-fighters, they later became inquisitive; then let them examine the very image of my removal and ask their own about it. For the Arians and the soldiers came to encourage them and point out me, whom the soldiers did not know. Although they are so uncompassionate, when they hear, they will be ashamed and calm down. It was already night and some of the people were holding an all-night vigil in anticipation of God's service; suddenly the commander Sirian comes with more than five thousand soldiers, who had weapons, naked swords, bows, arrows and clubs, as was said before, and he surrounded the church, placing the soldiers one next to the other, so that those leaving the church could not pass them. And I, considering it unreasonable to leave the people in such confusion and not put them in more danger, sitting down on my throne, ordered the deacon to read and the people to listen to the psalm: “For His mercy endures forever,” and thus everyone to disperse and go home. But since the commander had already entered by force and the soldiers occupied the sanctuary in order to capture me, the clergy who were there and some of the people raised a cry and begged that I too should leave. But I argued with them that I would not leave until everyone left one by one; then he stood up, ordered a prayer to be read, and insistently demanded that everyone go out before me, saying: “It is better for me to be in danger than to suffer harm to any of you.” Therefore, when most of the people left, and the rest followed them, the monks who were there with me and some of the clergy entered and took me with them. Thus (I bear witness to the truth itself), when the soldiers partly surrounded the sanctuary, partly walked around the church, I went out, led by the Lord, and under His protection, I withdrew unnoticed by the soldiers, magnificently glorifying God himself, that I did not betray my people, but, having sent them out first, I myself could be saved and escape the hands of those who were looking for me. 25) Therefore, when Providence so miraculously saved me, who can rightly reproach me that I myself did not surrender into the hands of the seekers, or did not return and appear to them? This would clearly mean being ungrateful before the Lord, acting against His commandments and not being consistent with the actions of the saints. Let anyone who condemns this dare to blame the great Apostle Peter for the fact that, imprisoned and guarded by soldiers, he followed the calling Angel and, having left prison and was saved, did not return and did not betray himself, although he heard what was done by Herod. Let the frantic Arian also condemn the fact that the Apostle Paul, hanging from the wall and being saved, did not change his mind, did not return and did not betray himself; that Moses did not return from Midian to Egypt so that those who sought him would catch him; that David did not appear to Saul in the cave, that the sons of the prophets were in dens, and did not give themselves up to Achaab, because this would also mean acting against the commandment when Scripture says: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:16, Matt. 4:7). 26) And I, reverent for this and taught by this, behaved this way; and I do not reject the mercy and help of the Lord shown to me, although these frantic ones gnash their teeth at me. These were the circumstances of my removal. I think that it will not deserve a single reproach from people who have a sound mind, when, according to the testimony of Divine Scripture, this same model has been handed over to our teaching by the saints. But these people, as you can see, are ready for any insolence and do not want to leave anything unfulfilled that could prove their cunning and cruelty. And their life is the same as their way of thinking and their idle talk. No one is even able to recount those numerous and terrible atrocities that they are not ashamed to commit in practice. When Leontius was accused of having an affair with a young woman named Eustoleia, and was forbidden to live with her, he castrated himself for her sake in order to freely spend time with her, although he did not clear himself of suspicion, but for this, especially, he was deposed from the presbyters, and only the heretic Constantius forced him to be named Bishop; Narcissus, for many other bad deeds, was deposed three times by different Councils, and now among them he surpasses everyone in wickedness. And George, having been a presbyter, was deposed for his vicious life, and, having called himself a Bishop, was nevertheless deposed again at the great Sardician Council, but he has the advantage that he lives dissolutely and does not hide it, which is why he is condemned even by his own people, and measuring the purpose and joy of life by shameful deeds. 27) Therefore, each of them surpasses the other in his bad deeds; but they have a common depravity, namely: according to their teaching, they are anti-Christ, and are no longer called Christians, but, moreover, Arians. This is what we should condemn them for, for this is alien to faith in Christ. But they hide it. And it is not surprising that with such a way of thinking, and having become entangled in so many bad deeds, they persecute and search for those who do not contribute to their most evil heresy, and, killing them, they rejoice, and not succeeding in what they want, they are sad and consider it an insult to themselves when, as I said above, they see alive someone they wanted to see dead. Oh, if only they could suffer such an insult that they would faint in their iniquities, and those persecuted by them would thank the Lord and say in the words of the 26th Psalm: “The Lord is my enlightenment and my Savior, whom will I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, from whom shall I fear? Sometimes those who are angry come close to me and destroy my flesh, insulting me and defeating me, they become weak and fall” (Psal. 26:1, 2), and also in the words of the 30th Psalm: “Thou hast saved my soul from want, and thou hast shut me up in the hands of the enemy; To them be the Father and the Holy Spirit glory and power forever and ever! Amen. in Scripture the name of this king is Achish You might be interested in: