Prud. de coron. martyr. p. 71. Footnote 466: Pont. in vit. S. Cyp. p. 8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GALLIENUS, DIONYSIUS, CLAUDIUS II. _Twenty-fourth_ BISHOP _of_ Rome. [Sidenote: Year of Christ 258. _The See vacant almost a whole Year._] _Sixtus_ being dead, and the Christians prevented by the Persecution from assembling to chuse another in his room, the See remained vacant almost a whole Year, that is, from the 6th of _August_ 258. to the 22d of _July_ 259. when _Dionysius_, a Presbyter of the Church of _Rome_, whom we have mentioned above, was elected, to the great Satisfaction of the Faithful; for he was one of the most eminent Men of his Time both for Piety and Learning[467]. During his Pontificate, the _Goths_ broke into the Empire, over-ran all _Asia Minor_, and, having almost utterly destroyed the City of _Cæsarea_, they carried with them into Captivity most of its Christian Inhabitants. _Firmilian_ was then Bishop of the Place, who had censured the Conduct of _Stephen_ with so much Sharpness and Acrimony; [Sidenote: Dionysius_’s Charity to the distressed Christians of_ Cæsarea.] but the Remembrance of what had passed on that unhappy Occasion had not that Effect on _Dionysius_, which far less Provocations have had on many of his Successors; for he no sooner heard of the Distress that Church was in, than, laying hold of so favourable an Opportunity to exert his Charity, he writ a Letter to comfort them in their Calamity, and at the same time dispatched proper Persons with large Collections to ransom the Christians who had fallen into the Hands of the _Barbarians_[468]. The Letter, which _Dionysius_ wrote on this Occasion, was carefully kept in the Archives of the Church of _Cæsarea_, as an authentic Monument of his Goodness and Charity[469]. The great _Dionysius_ Bishop of _Alexandria_ having, at this Time, composed a learned Treatise to prove against _Sabellius_ the Distinction of the Divine Persons, some over-zealous Catholics, misconstruing several Passages in that Work, and concluding that he had run into the opposite Error, accused him to the Bishop of _Rome_, as if he denied the Son to be consubstantial with the Father[470]. [Sidenote: Dionysius _of_ Alexandria, _accused at_ Rome _over him_.] Hereupon the Bishop of _Rome_, having assembled a Council, acquainted _Dionysius_ with the Sentiments of the other Bishops, and his own, expressing his Concern, that the Divinity of the Word should have been questioned by him, and at the same time desiring him to answer the Accusation[471]. This _Dionysius_ readily did in Four Books, which he styled _Confutation and Apology_; shewing therein that his Opinion was very different from what it had been represented at _Rome_, and explaining those Passages which had given Ground for the Accusation. This Work he addressed to the Bishop of _Rome_[472].