The History of Persecution, from the Patriarchal Age, to the Reign of George IIChandler, Samuel
History
The History of Persecution, from the Patriarchal Age, to the Reign of George II
Chandler, Samuel
Persecution -- Great Britain; Persecution -- History
was removed to Tyre, he was obliged by force to come thither, and
commanded to answer to the several crimes objected against him. Some of
them he cleared himself of, and as to others he desired more time for
his vindication. At length, after many sessions, both his accusers, and
the multitude who were present in the council, demanded his deposition
as an impostor, a violent man, and unworthy the priesthood. Upon this,
Athanasius fled from the synod; after which they condemned him, and
deprived him of his bishopric, and ordered he should never more enter
Alexandria, to prevent his exciting tumults and seditions. They also
wrote to all the bishops to have no communion with him, as one convicted
of many crimes, and as having convicted himself by his flight of many
others, to which he had not answered. And for this their procedure they
assigned these reasons; that he despised the emperor’s orders, by not
coming to Cæsarea; that he came with a great number of persons to Tyre,
and excited tumults and disturbances in the council, sometimes refusing
to answer to the crimes objected against him, at other times reviling
all the bishops; sometimes not obeying their summons, and at others
refusing to submit to their judgment; that he was fully and evidently
convicted of breaking in pieces the sacred cup, by six bishops who had
been sent into Egypt to inquire out the truth. Athanasius, however,
appealed to Constantine,[116] and prayed him, that he might have the
liberty of making his complaints in the presence of his judges.
Accordingly Eusebius of Nicomedia, and other bishops came to
Constantinople, where Athanasius was; and in an hearing before the
emperor, they affirmed that the council of Tyre had done justly in the
cause of Athanasius, produced their witnesses as to the breaking of the
sacred cup, and laid many other crimes to his charge. And though
Athanasius seems to have had the liberty he desired of confronting his
accusers, yet he could not make his innocence appear: for
notwithstanding he had endeavoured to prejudice the emperor against what
they had done, yet he confirmed their transactions, commended them as a
set of wise and good bishops, censured Athanasius as a seditious,
insolent, injurious person, and banished him to Treves, in France. And
when the people of Alexandria, of Athanasius’s party, tumultuously cried
out for his return, Antony the Great, a monk, wrote often to the emperor
in his favour. The emperor in return wrote to the Alexandrians, and
charged them with madness and sedition, and commanded the clergy and
nuns to be quiet; affirming he could not alter his opinion, nor recall
Athanasius, “being condemned by an ecclesiastical judgment as an exciter
of sedition.” He also wrote to the monk, telling him it was impossible
“he should disregard the sentence of the council,” because that though a
few might pass judgment through hatred or affection, yet it was not
probable that such a large number of famous and good bishops should be
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