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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
OF
JOHN BISHOP OF EPHESUS --------
DURING the reign of Justinian, the empress Theodora, a devoted member of the Monophysite party, had built and endowed at Constantinople numerous monasteries, in which she placed bodies of monks drawn chiefly from the Asiatic provinces of the Roman empire. Fostered by the empress they naturally were looked upon with displeasure by the patriarchs of Constantinople, whose authority they disowned; for already their own organization was complete, and from the death of Severus, patriarch of Antioch, A. D. 542, to the present day, there has been maintained in the East a succession of Monophysite patriarchs, to whom all the members of the party owe allegiance. But as lesser evils close at hand are more felt than greater ones at a distance, so probably the residence of Theodosius, the exiled patriarch of Alexandria, at Constantinople, annoyed the ecclesiastical authorities there far more than the rapid increase of |2 Monophysitism in the East. For though Justinian had removed Theodosius from his see, yet he was received at court with so much distinction by Theodora, and so thoroughly supported by her influence, that his disgrace was turned into a triumph, and during his thirty years' exile, to his death in A. D. 567, he exercised paramount authority over the numerous monasteries and churches of his party at the capital, as well as in Egypt his proper sphere.
The patriarch moreover, who had been intruded into the Constantinopolitan see upon the refusal of Eutychius to subscribe to a notion of Justinian that the body of our Lord was incapable of corruption, was by no means a man likely to bear with any interference with his authority patiently. For John Scholasticus was more of a lawyer than a theologian, and a thorough man of the world; and no sooner therefore had the health of Justin failed, and John was free to carry out his plans, than he determined upon crushing the whole Monophysite party.
The narrative of this persecution is introduced by a pathetic lamentation, in which our historian especially quotes the prophecy of our Lord, that "the brother shall deliver the brother to death:" a prophecy, he says, not to be restricted to the glorious company of the Apostles, but equally belonging to all members of the Church; and especially true in the case of his own party, as being persecuted, not by heathens, |3 but by their fellow-Christians, at whose hands, restrained neither by mercy nor the fear of God, he protests that they met with such cruel and pitiless treatment that heathens could have done no more.
It was, however, the breaking out of this persecution which induced him to add this third part to his Church History. For he had previously completed in twelve books, divided into separate chapters, each with distinct headings, the history, or literally, the narratives and tales of the church, from the days of Julius Caesar, the first king of Rome, to the sixth year of Justin II, Justinian's sister's son: and in it he declares that he had borne willing testimony to Justin's zeal and anxiety for the unity of the church, his earnest desire being to speak the truth whatever might befal. For this concluding portion he requests the indulgence of his readers, if they find it destitute of arrangement and with occasional repetitions: for it was written under circumstances of great difficulty, piecemeal as opportunity permitted; nay, he even apologizes for writing it at all: "for I am fully aware that the times of the world are on the wane, and all but spent: yet have I recorded these events, because I would have men know them during the period, short though it be, ere this woebegone world shall pass away."
[I. 4.] He introduces his narrative by a string of quotations from "the groans and lamentable cries of the much suffering Jeremiah, and the glorious |4 prophet Isaiah," spoken originally of Jerusalem, but applied by him to the Monophysite church; doubtless their most mournful expressions seemed to him, and that rightly, to find their fulfilment in the events of his own time; for it is thus that Scripture is the support and consolation of all ages, because its words whether of joy or sorrow are not confined to one fulfilment, but belong to all times and all individuals. These however we may pass by, and proceed to his history.
[I. 5.] For the long period then of more than forty years, all the congregations of the orthodox church had enjoyed a time of peace and tranquillity both in the capital and its suburbs; and in entire liberty, fully and freely and without fear, had assembled wherever they chose, and performed all the mysteries and ordinances of the church. But suddenly in the holy days of the Lenten fast, on the Saturday 1 before Palm Sunday, from the urgency and wicked violence of him who governed the church of the capital, namely John of Sirmin 2, a village in Syria, and from his numerous slanders against the whole party of the orthodox, the victorious Justin was |5 stirred up unto great wrath, and in an angry decree commanded that all the places where the believers assembled should be shut up, the altars in them razed, their priests and bishops seized and cast into prison, and all who met there for worship driven away and dispersed, and commanded never to enter them again. And other similar decrees and injunctions were issued in great wrath, whereas up to that time they had been permitted in peace and quietness to celebrate the rites of their religion.
The loss of a portion of the manuscript keeps us in ignorance of the measures which immediately followed. When the narrative recommences, we find the prefect sitting in judgment upon (apparently) an old man, who thus indignantly apostrophizes his judge.; [I.9] "...Why sittest thou as a Christian, and judgest the servants of God after the fashion of a heathen? Thou art not a living man, if thou dost not quickly burn me, a weak old man, and roast and eat me." Similar emphatic protests against the cruelty of the persecutors occur in other parts of John's history. The prefect on hearing himself thus addressed was alarmed, and moved by the prisoner's great age, commanded him to be conducted to the bishop: but he in great anger sent and imprisoned him at Heraclea in Thrace, where during two years he was so closely confined that none of his friends were permitted to see him; and as no change of raiment was provided for him, he was soon covered with |6 vermin: and when one of his former disciples who had heard of his state procured for him a supply of clothing, he was not allowed to give it him even by the hands of others. At the end of two years he sickened and died: and in his last words pronounced a solemn anathema, in case he should be buried by the Synodites 3, or if any one of them should dare to minister at his funeral, or offer over him a prayer. A crowd of orthodox Romans therefore in the neighbourhood undertook the charge of his burial, and wrapping his body as that of an illustrious martyr in cere cloths and spices, they conducted him in solemn procession towards the capital, uttering as they went cries of indignation and shame at the persecution of such holy men: and finally a party of believers from the capital went out to receive the corpse, as being that of a saint.
[I. 10.] The patriarch's chief attack however was directed against the monasteries, of which there existed many both in Constantinople itself, and its neighbourhood, and of these several had a very large number of inmates, especially the convents, in which the late queen Theodora had placed the nuns who in a previous persecution |7 had been driven out of Antioch, Isauria, Cilicia, Cappadocia, and the Roman provinces in the east. So powerful in fact were some of these establishments that they numbered more than three hundred members. Upon these then also descended the storm and tempest of persecution, and a murky cloud and terrifying darkness covered them; for there came clergy and laics with the prison-keepers, and sergeants, and along with them the body-guard of the prefect of the city; who being let loose upon them with barbarous violence surrounded the convents, and like a troop of wolves breaking into and falling upon a fold of sheep, so they rushed in, and laid their destructive hands upon the inmates, who were Christ's own lambs; and the clergy, who had brought with them consecrated bread, dragged and pulled them by main force to make them receive the communion at their hands. And they all fled like birds before the hawk, and cowered down in corners, wailing and saying, 'We cannot communicate with the synod of Chalcedon, which divides Christ our God into two natures after the union, and teaches a quaternity instead of the Holy Trinity.' But with angry words and main force they were dragged up to communicate; and when they held their hands above their heads, in spite of their screams their hands were seized, and they were dragged along, uttering shrieks of lamentation, and sobs, and loud cries, and struggling to escape. And so the |8 sacrament was thrust by force into the mouths of some, in spite of their screams, while others threw themselves on their faces upon the ground, and cursed every one who required them to communicate by force. Some of them then they thus reduced to obedience; but others who still resisted, and would not yield, they separated from the rest, and expelled them from their convents, and delivered them into the hands of the Roman sergeants, by whom they were hurriedly torn away, and taken to the city, and dispersed there among various houses and prisons; and, as was said, they there met at the hands of some with treatment too wanton and abominable for us to mention. But there is One, Who seeth their cause, even the righteous Judge, Who shall judge their cause and avenge their quarrel.
And thus then, and in this savage and barbarous manner, were the convents treated, both of men and women.
But there is One, Who seeth their cause, even the righteous Judge, Who shall judge their cause and avenge their quarrel. And thus then, and in this savage and barbarous manner, were the convents treated, both of men and women.
[I. 11.] The person who stirred up and occasioned and put into execution all these evils, was the John mentioned above as head of the church in the city. For he by his slanders inflamed the king against the whole party of the believers, and so worked upon him that at length he obtained permission to treat them as he liked: whereupon, by means of his satellites, he poured upon their ranks every where the blight of his wicked nature. For his measures were not |9 confined to the city, nor to his own diocese, but he wrote letters also to other countries, that he might stir up the like troubles and persecutions and miseries also there. He even went in person to the convents both of men and women, and to houses, and forced and compelled the inmates to communicate with him, and whoever persisted in refusing, both men and women, whether monks or clergy or nuns, he commanded in cruel wrath and without mercy, that they should be imprisoned separately in various monasteries, and finally pronounced against them harsh sentences of death. He managed also so to deceive and stir up their victorious majesties, that they did whatever he wished, and visited the convents one after another, the patriarch going to each first in person, accompanied by his clergy, to celebrate divine service there and reconsecrate them; after which he proclaimed in them the 'divided synod,' and fixed up his own pictures, and put in them clergy to celebrate the communion every first day of the week, and on the festivals, and days kept in memory of the saints. The following day the king visited the monasteries in person; and the next day the queen in like manner, offering each of them gifts, and restoring such monks as either had, or were ready to make their submission. But such as resisted were exiled, or sent into close confinement, or made over without mercy to the praetorian guards to torture, or given up to whatever bitter and cruel scourgings and ill treatment |10 the fierce and vindictive malice of their persecutors suggested to them.
The measure however which the orthodox most deeply resented was the annulling of the orders of their clergy. And this, as our historian represents it, was the result of mere caprice on the patriarch's part, who was so blinded by mere party rage as to be unable to perceive that such a proceeding was "contrary to reason and justice, and the canons." Probably however he was principally influenced by the desire of increasing the power of his see; for just at this time the bishops of Constantinople were making that attempt, in which Rome finally succeeded, of raising themselves to the headship of the Christian church. Constantinople was not merely then "a second Rome," as they delighted to call it; but from the disastrous state of Italy, it was raised in importance far above its western rival, and the residence of the emperor there, gave to its patriarch the opportunity of gaining for his plans the support of the secular power. Already we find them assuming the title of (Ecumenical bishop, so sharply rebuked a few years later by Gregory the Great of Rome; and probably John's purpose was to extend the authority of his see, by compelling bishops beyond its limits, such as Paul of Antioch, Stephan of Cyprus, &c., to submit to reconsecration at his hands, and return to their dioceses as his suffragans. The accusation of heresy gave him an excuse for meddling beyond his own proper limits, and we shall find |11 him trying his hand, though not successfully, with Alexandria itself. Be this however as it may, the narrative is as follows:
[I. 12.] The bishop therefore being full of the spirit of fierce opposition, and led away by violence and heat, and as a man blinded in the vision of his eyes, so he being blinded by the passion of hatred in his soul, and intoxicated as it were, ventured, after contriving to force and drive into communion with him by savage tyranny and violence, many priests of the orthodox party: after, I say, they had communicated with him, and been received according to their rank in the priesthood, the presbyters being received by him as presbyters, and officiating at the administration of the sacrament on an equal footing with his own presbyters, and sitting in a row with them inside the chancel; and the deacons also in like manner performing in company with his own deacons their appointed part in the services; and that not once merely or thrice, but on as many as thirty-six several occasions in all the offices of the church: after they had thus officiated with him in right of their previous ordination, and fulfilled all the order of their priesthood, then, after all this, the cruel thought entered his mind, as though he had been but a young boy, and violently, being elated with pride, and drunken with power and haughtiness, he gave orders, saying; 'We command all those who have given in their submission to us after being our opponents, that they be deposed from their |12 former priesthood, and be made priests by us anew.' And thus he now deposed them all, after they had acted as priests with him and in his presence thirty-six several times by right of their former ordination by the orthodox, and ordained afresh all who had submitted to communion with him. And great was their dismay and trouble at this proceeding, and they cursed and reviled both him and his lawless ordination. Several of them thus reordained he placed among the clergy of his own church: but many even of his own party blamed the step he had taken, as done wickedly and violently by him, in violation of church law and canonical order. Nor did it suffice him to act thus in his own person, but he even wrote letters to other countries, urging upon the bishops to follow his example, and do as he had done: his object being, not to bear the odium and blame alone of these illegal and disorderly doings, but hoping that others also would make themselves liable to similar complaints.
[I. 13.] Unexpected as was the outbreak of the persecution at the hands of the patriarch, still it had not been entirely unforeseen by the more thoughtful members of the orthodox party. For there had been before revealed to a worthy monk, in a vision of the night, what immediately and without delay was about to happen in the church of God. 'For he saw a lofty and broad mountain, on the southern side of which was a vast plantation of numerous churches, built row upon row, |13 until they covered a vast extent, standing close together, and being beautiful and comely and many in number. And he saw, and lo! suddenly John bishop of the royal city came, with clergy and many people with him, and ran upon them with violence, and began to root up and level with the ground all those churches: and he rooted up and levelled also the altars of them all, until he had made an end of them.' And quickly after this vision, after the interval of a few days, this very thing came to pass; for he came forth, and rooted up and overthrew the numerous meeting-houses of the churches of the believers that were in the city and in all its suburbs, according to the revelation, and according to the vision that had been foreshewn, and which manifestly in a short time was fully accomplished.
The patriarch's main difficulty, however, lay with the Monophysite bishops; and he selected Paul of Asia, bishop of Aphrodisias, and metropolitan of Caria, as the first object of his attack: and his proceedings shew how vast and despotic was the power to which the patriarchs of Constantinople had attained. [I. 14.] For Paul, as John tells us, was an honest and simple-minded old man, and was dwelling quietly in his monastery, when the patriarch sent his emissaries and arrested him, and threw him into chains, and imprisoned him in his palace: and by the severity of his treatment compelled him at length to submit to communion with him. He then sent him back |14 home, but wrote at the same time orders to the synodite bishop there to depose him from his episcopal office, and consecrate him afresh bishop of Antioch, a city of Caria. Which also was actually done, and they deposed him; and, as though they imagined that they had really stripped him of the priesthood, they now ordained him afresh, as if he had been a layman. And this became a mockery and derision to the actors themselves, and to his own people; and his clergy called him "the double-dyed." Whether Paul had been previously deprived of his bishopric does not appear, as John refers to the missing portion of his history for the reason why he was dwelling "in his monastery;" but probably he was under restraint there, and evidently had been previously removed from the discharge of his episcopal functions at Aphrodisias.
In a subsequent part of his history John relates the adventures of Paul at greater length, and even gives the very words of the recantation which the patriarch wrung from him. For apparently forgetting that he had already narrated to us his history, he writes as follows; [ II.42.] "The great sorrow of Paul also deserves to be related, who was a man honest and peaceable, and humble and guileless, and dwelt like Jacob in the tabernacle of his monastery, in the land of Caria, for a long time. And when John of Sirmin heard of him, he sent at once into Asia, and brought him bound and in chains to Constantinople, and imprisoned him in his palace in sore misery: and |15 by bonds and many tortures he forced him to submit to receive the communion at his hands. And because he felt shame at the gray hair and venerable character of the man, he did not reveal the fraud of his heart, and what he purposed concerning him. But after he had brought him to submission, and made him obedient to his will, he sent him to the bishop of Aphrodisias, with a letter in these words: 'Depose this man from his bishopric, and consecrate him afresh, and set him over Antioch, a city under thy dominion (in thy diocese).' And when he had received Paul and the letters, he at once laid hands on him,—for he had no idea of their artifice,—and said to him, 'See, the patriarch has sent me his commands to depose thee from thy bishopric, and consecrate thee afresh.' And he, on hearing this, began lamenting and saying, 'O heathens that ye are! lo, these many years have I been consecrated, and am a bishop, and, according to canonical order, three bishops took part thereat; and now, for what reason am I deposed contrary to the canon, and wickedly ordained anew? And if ye annul my priesthood, and ordain me afresh, then also first annul my baptism, and baptise me afresh.' And when they would not give way, but were even full of wrath at him, they took him tyrannically and violently and deposed him, and consecrated him afresh, while he smote upon his face, and his eyes became dim, and he grew blind. And so finally, in tears and lamentation over his state, and anxious only to hasten for |16 refuge unto repentance, death overtook him, and his old age descended in affliction and misery to the grave, reserving his cause for that Judge who judgeth righteously.
[II. 43.] John further adds a copy of the recantation which they forced Paul to sign without reading it, and which is as follows;
> Act of recantation, which the counsellors of John wrote in the name of Paul, and laid it before him.
[II. 43. ] John further adds a copy of the recantation which they forced Paul to sign without reading it, and which is as follows;
> Act of recantation, which the counsellors of John wrote in the name of Paul, and laid it before him.
"I, Paul, who was a lost and erring man, having come to the knowledge of the true faith, and repented, and returned to the Church of God of my own accord, and by my own free act, without violence or compulsion, acknowledge unto thee, my Lord John, the oecumenical patriarch, by this writing, that I consent, unto my last breath, unto the Synod of the six hundred and thirty holy fathers assembled in the city of Chalcedon, and to the letter of the holy and blessed pope of Rome, as the confession and faith of Peter, head of the Apostles; nor will I again turn away or change from it for ever. And these things I have confessed and signed in my own handwriting; I, Paul, bishop, confess that I consent, and receive all that is written in this paper."
This therefore they brought for him to sign, but would not let him read it, or know what they had written in his name, falsely and treacherously professing that it was all his own doing, and testifying of him a testimony of lies without fear of God. |17
[I.15.] The patriarch's next victim was Elisha, who already was in confinement in a monastery called Bethdios 4, whence the patriarch took him, and imprisoned him in his palace, and by the most rigorous measures compelled him to submit to his communion, Elisha hoping, says John, even so to find an opportunity of escaping from his hands. But on the patriarch's wishing to send him to Sardes, the metropolis of Lydia, that he might be deposed from his episcopal office, and consecrated afresh, Elisha resisted, saying, 'All unworthy though I be, yet was I made bishop by the orthodox, and thou never shalt consecrate me afresh. If however thou thinkest that it is according to order to depose me, and consecrate me afresh, depose me first of all from the baptism wherewith I was baptized, and then baptize me a second time.' To this the patriarch craftily replied, that, after all, it was but the vestments which he took away. But Elisha would not for one moment consent, or submit himself to him, or listen to his words: and upon this he grew angry, and imprisoned him in another monastery called Beth Abraham 5, and |18 passed upon him a harsh sentence: and there accordingly he was detained for a long time, and underwent great affliction, until he fell seriously ill, when upon petition he was permitted to go to the warm baths attended by keepers.
[I. 16.] Far more severe and extraordinary was the treatment experienced by Stephan, bishop of Cyprus. He had aroused the wrath of the patriarch by warmly reproving him for seeking to annul the orthodox ordinations, and in return had been banished to the island of Plataea. Thither he now sent a body of clergy to fetch him away, and along with them a number of lifeguardsmen (excubitores), with orders to beat him with clubs 6, until he vomited blood, or consented to their communion. Twelve of them accordingly beat him until he fell down speechless in the midst, and lay apparently dead. But on seeing him lie motionless, and dying as it seemed, they ran, and brought four pails of water, which they dashed over him, and so after a long time his soul returned to him again, and he returned to life as from the dead. And thus by force he was compelled to submit to |19 communion with them; but even so he was less influenced by his own sufferings, than by the knowledge that several of the believers who had sent to supply his wants, had been arrested and thrown into prison on his account, and that in case of further resistance on his part, they intended to attack them, and plunder their property. They took him therefore, and brought him to the capital, where much discussion took place between him and the patriarch, but finally he was compelled to submit to their communion.
When however John required him to consent to the annulling of his orders, and his reconsecration to the bishopric of the island of Cyprus, he contended with him and resisted him, and finally made an outcry, and began to exclaim, 'Woe is me! If thou purposes! to depose me from the priesthood of the orthodox, and ordain me afresh, depose me first also from my baptism, and baptize me also afresh, and then thou shalt depose me from my priesthood and ordain me again. For by the life of the Lord God, if thou dost not baptize me afresh, I will never suffer thee to ordain me afresh. ' And as this took place in the church, a great tumult arose, and multitudes flocked together, until Stephan rushed suddenly away, and entered the king's presence, terrifying him also, and exclaiming, 'Woe! woe! Christianity is ruined: the regulations of the Christian church are overthrown: all the constitutions and canons of the church of God are confounded and trampled under foot, and are |20 undone! What means this wickedness, that contrary to law the priesthood of the orthodox Christians is annulled by those who are now in power, and another new one substituted in its place? For lo! these twenty years have I, unworthy though I be, been a bishop canonically consecrated by the orthodox at the command of Theodosius, patriarch of Alexandria; and now that I have yielded myself, and submitted to you, this man, acting in the same wicked way to me as he has done to many others, wishes to depose me also from the priesthood of the orthodox, and to ordain me afresh in his own. Let him show the canons where he learnt this; or say whether it is from ignorance and not understanding the canons of the church, that he thus acts; or whether, knowing them, he insults them and tramples them under foot, in his pride and haughtiness and wrong-headedness. If too this commandment proceeds from you, and he thus acts with your privity, let every one know it: but be well assured, that his purpose is, that after your reign is over, the blame and fault of breaking the canons shall rest upon you, and he intends that you should be included with him in the violation of the laws of the church. If moreover it is with your privity, and by your command, that he annuls our priesthood, and ordains afresh, command him also to annul our baptism and confer it afresh, and so let him proceed to reordain us as priests. For so the nineteenth canon of the three hundred and eighteen fathers commands, |21 with reference to the pernicious heresy of Paul of Samosata, and the like, that they are first to be baptized again, and then such of them as are worthy are to be made priests 7. And this regulation was made because of the wickedness of their heresy. Now then let this man show first of all what his pretext is for thus acting, and for being so puffed up with pride as to depose and ordain us afresh.
' When the king heard these things, and perceived that Stephan had good reason for finding fault, and was supported by the canons in his arguments, he was in a maze, and like one just roused from a deep sleep; and himself also blamed and reprobated the proceeding, saying, 'In very truth this is done wrongly and without law, and is contrary to the whole constitution of the church, for the priesthood to be annulled and conferred afresh; and it is monstrous and entirely foreign to all the constitutions of the church. ' And then he commanded that such a thing should never again be done in the church |22 of God: and published immediately a royal edict forbidding every one from ever again venturing to annul the priesthood, except in case of the heresies in which the canons so ordain. And if, it proceeds, any bishops are proved guilty of so acting, they are to be immediately deprived of their sees and sent into exile. When however the edict was drawn up, and John knew that a decisive order was about to be published, he and his partisans contrived by bribery to put the obnoxious decree out of the way; and it was never again seen!
And there was great enmity between John and Stephan on this account all their days.
[II. 3.] In a subsequent part of the history, mention is again made of Stephan, where, after an outline of the previous narrative, our historian tells us, that this event led to much confidential intercourse between him and the king, who appointed him bishop of the island of Cyprus, and honoured him greatly, and also granted for his sake a considerable alleviation of the taxes there. It appears further that Stephan continued in union with the council of Chalcedon, the arguments employed being possibly too powerful for him to wish to experience them a second time, but used his influence on more than one occasion in mitigation of the treatment to which other monophysite bishops were exposed.
[I. 17.] The pretext, though, as the event proved, it was but a false and deceitful one, on which John and his counsellors summoned the bishops together, |23 who had previously been exiled by him from their sees, and imprisoned in various monasteries, was, that he wished to confer with them as to the best mode of reconciling all parties, and establishing unity in the Church, On this pretence then he first took Paul the patriarch from the monastery of the Acoemetae 8, and imprisoned him in his palace, and then the rest, one after another, until all four were confined in the same prison, that is, Paul, and John (our author), and Stephan, and Elisha. No discussion, however, was permitted, but they sent them in the prison a paper containing words to this effect; 'You must unite yourselves to us after the manner of the union |24 between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch.' Upon receiving this message, they both understood and despised the wickedness practised towards them, and sent in answer, 'Ye have counselled well: and we therefore, provided we have leave to do and practise that which Cyril did, and may excommunicate and eject and drive out of the Church of God the Synod of Chalcedon just as Cyril did the wicked Nestorius;—upon these terms we will not oppose you upon other matters, but will unite ourselves to you without hindrance. If, however, it is not your pleasure to permit us to do that which Cyril did, how or in what manner craftily plan ye to require of us the union which finally took place between Cyril and John, when the very first step that Cyril took . is forbidden us?'
If, however, it is not your pleasure to permit us to do that which Cyril did, how or in what manner craftily plan ye to require of us the union which finally took place between Cyril and John, when the very first step that Cyril took . is forbidden us? '
Nor was this retort the sole rebuff which the patriarch had to endure from the Monophysite bishops: [I. 18.] for on a subsequent day, when they were brought into his presence to dispute concerning the faith, and the corruption of it by the council of Chalcedon, and concerning also his own proceedings, they took the initiative, and reproached him strongly, and argued with him, and rebuked him manfully, urging him with questions, and saying, 'O master, and chief ruler of the church, shew us by what canon or ecclesiastical constitution you have been taught, and received the practice of annulling the ordination of the orthodox bishops, and the rest of the clergy, many of whom have been more years in |25 orders than your father has lived: and yet nevertheless you depose and ordain them afresh in the priesthood of the two natures, the followers of which proclaim and teach a quaternity instead of the mysterious and holy Trinity? In what ecclesiastical constitution have you discovered, and lit upon this right of annulling the priesthood of the true orthodox, and creating afresh in its place another priesthood of the synodites? What is your pretext, or what fault find you in us, or what heresy, such as the canons enjoin, that you take and depose those, who themselves find fault with you, and flee from your communion because of the heresy of the two natures, and because of the blasphemies of the synod, and of the letter of Leo, which proclaim and teach a quaternity instead of the holy Trinity. You least of all men have the right, under pretext of heresy, to find fault with, and condemn them, and pronounce their ordination invalid. If, however, you think you have the right thus illegally to depose them, tell us wherein your right consists, and we will henceforward cease to blame you. For if you have persuaded yourself, that this practice of your's to depose true priests, and ordain them again, in violation of all the constitutions and canons of the church, is a right one, you should also have annulled their baptism, and baptized them again, according to the purport of the canons. For the sixteenth (really the nineteenth) canon of the 318 fathers, which treats of the pernicious heresy of Paul of Samosata, |26 ordered them to be baptized afresh: and that then such as appeared worthy should be ordained priests again. If therefore you now consider in yourself, that you have received back from heresy those whom you have treated with as much cruelty as if they had been captives taken in battle, and ordained afresh, why have you observed one part of the canon, but set at nought its previous requirement?'
If therefore you now consider in yourself, that you have received back from heresy those whom you have treated with as much cruelty as if they had been captives taken in battle, and ordained afresh, why have you observed one part of the canon, but set at nought its previous requirement? '
The patriarch listened in silence to these arguments, and knew that his acts were worthy of blame, nor had he any defence to offer for them: finally however he answered as follows; 'As I perceive that you are troubled and offended at this annulling of your orders,—for so I conclude from what you have said, and to which I have given a patient audience,—if this matter is set right, and the annulling of your ordinations discontinued, will you be contented, and enter into union with me? ' But they replied, 'What setting right is possible, after all this corruption and disorder which you have wrought contrary to law? Nor have your proceedings even been confined to your own diocese, nor limits put by you to your violence and heat and hatred, but you have extended even into other countries this your violation of law, and your opposition to all the constitutions and canons of the church: as regards which, one of two things must be the case, that either in ignorance of their injunctions, you have broken and transgressed them,; and trampled them under foot, or, if acquainted with |27 them, that you have despised and contemned them, and purposely set them at nought. But of this be well assured, that whenever the time shall come, whether in your lifetime, or, if so be, after your death, there will be a strict investigation, and canonical inquiry into all these transactions, if the world last so long, and the existence of the church of God. Moreover your last proceeding is a thing worthy of wonder, and a proverb, and the clapping of hands; whether it be the result of hasty passion, or of hatred, or of the pride of power; or whatever was the object for which you did it; do you settle this and decide it in. your own mind, and whether it was an act fittingly done, and after careful examination; that after you had fallen upon your captives, as if they had been the spoil of war, or like a robber on his prey, and forced them to submit to communion with you; that then, after they had taken part with you in thirty-six consecrations of the Eucharist, and the liturgies during the whole feast of Passover as well as subsequently, and you had received them in right of their former ordination, and had made the presbyters sit with your presbyters in the chancel during all those days called the love feasts, and similarly had admitted the deacons to perform the office of the diaconate with the rest of your deacons, and had placed them according to their degree, that then finally, after all this, you ventured upon the annulling of their former ordination by some strange act of senseless audacity. |28 But a point which we would now leave to your consideration and judgment is this, that in case you were determined, contrary to order and the canons of the church, thus to act, you should have done so before you had admitted them to officiate with you at the consecration of the Eucharist, and not, after all these communions, at which they had been present and taken part with you by right of their former priesthood, then to turn round, and depose them and ordain them afresh.
' Much further was said on both sides, which from its copiousness and length we must omit; but it proved to him that his conduct was open to censure, and that, if he examined what he had done, he could not acquit himself of fault, especially in his last and most extraordinary act of annulling the orders of those whom he had himself admitted to officiate with him. Upon these points his silence plainly showed that he felt he was wrong, as he had nothing to answer but arguments of a most trifling and unmeaning character.
[I. 19.] As the followers of the synod perceived that their plans had so far failed, the victorious king Justin next undertook to frame an edict by which he hoped to bring about a union. And when he had carefully copied it out, he sent it direct to the bishops imprisoned in the patriarch's palace by the hand of Zachariah, a learned man 9, and chief physician of the palace, |29 born at Arx Romanorum, and originally, as was generally supposed, of the orthodox persuasion. Him therefore the king sent with a copy of the edict, and a message to the following effect: 'The merciful king has sent you this edict, which he has had copied for your sakes, that ye by its means, together with the rest of your party, may be brought into union with us. And he permits, and even commands you, when ye have read it, to correct in it whatever ye see to be deficient and in need of correction: and whatsoever is deficient in it for a correct confession of faith, such as ye wish should prevail, add to it without fear.' The bishops accordingly having received this command took and read it, and saw that it was incomplete: for though there were expressions in it at variance with the council of Chalcedon, yet there were others borrowed from it, and in defence of its views. In accordance therefore with the command they had received, they drew up heads, under which they arranged the corrections, which if their opponents would consent to admit into the edict, they were ready, they said, to unite themselves in the fullest manner with them. The same messenger then who had brought the edict took the amendments, but showed them first to his privy councillor and adviser John, and the rest of their confederacy, who upon hearing them were in fright and alarm, and great fear fell upon them. For |30 should the bishops succeed in obtaining the insertion of their corrections, they would tear up by its very roots the whole heresy of the two natures. And the strict Nestorians 10 were even in greater alarm than those only half so; and agitated and made an uproar throughout the church, running to and fro, and stirring up both clergy and people, and saying, 'If we accept these conditions, the whole church is thrown into confusion and overturned.' And finally their whole troop assembled together, and went to the king, and endeavoured to persuade him not to admit the corrections into the edict; and at the same time stirred up the members of the court to use their influence in their behalf, many of whom were not sound in their faith, and especially the quaestor, whose name was Anastasius, of Palestine, and who was not only an heathen, but a Samaritan.
When then they had entered the king's presence, and the corrections had been read to him, they pleased him greatly, and he gave orders for their admission into the edict, and that a fair copy should be written out. Upon which all present, clergy and laity, and the members of the senate, strove with him, saying, 'Depend upon it, my lord, that if you admit these corrections into |31 your edict, and these men enter the church, it will be forthwith overturned and ruined: and in seeking to recover and get back a few, you will make men leave the church in tens of thousands.' And when some of them grew vehement in their opposition, he became angry, and turned his face upon them, and said, 'These chapters are right: but as for all of you, I know that you are Nestorians, and diseased in conscience, and rejoice not in a sound faith: and if you are not quiet, I will loose and bring out those bishops, and set them upon you, and make them fall upon you like wolves, nor will you be able to stand before them.' And then he commanded the quaestor to bring him before sunset twenty copies of the edict, with the corrections inserted; or, said he, 'I will take off your head!' And at this the agitation of the whole gang of Nestorians and semi-Nestorians grew extreme, and they buzzed about like a swarm of bees, and at length succeeded, partly by supplications and partly by terrifying him with the picture of the confusion it would introduce into the church, in prevailing upon him, after much importunity, to consent to leave the matter to their will; nor did they permit him to insert more than one or two trifling amendments: while, on their part, they introduced heretically into the body of the edict a rule to the effect, that the customs of the church were to be observed; which was a device, and crafty addition in favour of the synod, enjoining its |32 proclamation 11 in accordance with their custom. And, by this they intended to render a union impossible, and trusted to make the wheel revolve in their favour as Nestorians.
[I. 20.] Immediately that the edict thus amended was brought unto him written out fair, he signed one of the copies, and sent it to the bishops who were in prison, with a message, saying, 'See! now we have made a union upon the terms you require, and have sent you the edict, and you therefore cannot refuse to unite yourselves unto us; for it is for your sakes that I have composed this edict.' But the bishops, on reading it, saw that some fragments merely of the corrections which they had proposed were there, selected at the will of the other party, and therefore they rejected it, because their opponents had confused and mutilated it, according to their own fancy: and though they had not ventured, through fear of the king, to expunge those expressions of his which were opposed to the two natures, yet they had managed to insert in it so much of their own, that while some parts were against the synod, others were strongly in its favour, and plainly were borrowed from it and on its side. The answer, therefore, which the bishops gave to those who brought it was, that "if the |33 stumbling-block and source of the confusion of the whole church, the synod namely of Chalcedon, were entirely taken away, the church would stand in no need of the edict: but if it were to be proclaimed in the church, not a thousand such edicts, though fixed up in all parts and in every quarter, would bring about a unity, but produce rather schisms. For it is both opposed to the synod, and also contends in its behalf: and both sides of the argument are to be found in it.'
For it is both opposed to the synod, and also contends in its behalf: and both sides of the argument are to be found in it. '
[I. 21.] As they had thus rejected the terms proposed, the patriarch threw upon them the odium of the continuance of the schism, and every day, in company with those sent unto them to represent the king's person, he protested, saying, 'See, it is you who prevent and hinder the unity of the church of God. For, after all our efforts for fifty years 12, you are still driving it away, and resisting and grieving it, and not willing to come to any terms of peace.' But they in answer said, 'How do we prevent unity? A thing which you will not touch with one of your fingers, except so far as outside words go and trickery, that you may be supposed and imagined really by men to be in earnest after unity; and throw, if your devices succeed, all the blame upon us. And what is the unity you would make? or how can |34 you expect us to come to terms with you, while you still retain the synod which has uprooted and troubled the whole church of God, and proclaim it, and love it ? If. however, you are really anxious to bring about a unity according to your words, remove the snare and offence out of the level pathway of the faith, and eject it from God's church: and so, not we only, but all the believers, with joy, and free from all cause of stumbling, will unite ourselves to you.' And much more of the same sort was said, which we cannot detail because of the great thickness of paper which it would require; which passed between them every day in mutual discussion, but which, from the abundance of the words and the mass of writing, we have passed over and neglected, lest it should prove an annoyance to those who fall in with bur history.
[I. 22. ] But this was not all the bishops had to suffer, for they were also in disgrace with the chief laymen of their own party. For even before the persecution broke out, and the trials and distresses and imprisonments which it brought upon them, they were sharply reproached by other members of the orthodox party, who argued with them, saying, 'Why do ye thus persist in dispute and obstinacy, and hot make some compromise and give way a little, that there may be unity in the church of God ? Why stand ye thus with stiff neck, and resist those who are in power, without having any care for us, whom ye are ruining with our sons and daughters and |35 our substance? But what care ye that we lose our property, and become beggars? ' And as these reproaches had even before been addressed to them by the orthodox, annoyed at the loss of their wealth, and as now moreover the synodites protested against them every day, saying, 'Ye are the persons who stand in the way of unity,' they fell into great grief, and spent both day and night in sorrow and bitter weeping, sitting over against one another in tears and wailing and sobs, and saying with sad words, 'What then shall we do? for lo! we are blamed by both sides, and testified against, and found fault with: and while we are imprisoned here in misery, and no leave granted to any friend to see us, our opponents say and proclaim to the chiefs and nobles of our party, that they earnestly desire unity; and so we have to bear the whole blame of preventing unity, for every body will suppose that what they say is true. And thus we are exposed to the attacks of both sides, and shall be compelled to yield, and trust ourselves to the treacherous promises and false oaths of our opponents; though we know that they have no truth in them, and that they are unworthy of being the means of restoring unity. Should we however still resist them, we shall be held accursed of both sides even unto the end of the world, as the impeders and hinderers of the unity of the church of God, while they will have their false professions believed, and will gain the credit of being ready to effect a union, had not |36 we repelled their efforts. ' These, and such as these, says John, were the words they spake one to another during many days, with tears and groans; and he adds his protest, as in the presence of God, that his report of them is true, and himself present and an eyewitness of it all. I. 23. The discussion lasted thirty-three days, during which they were ranged against one another in sharp dispute: those on the side of the synod being clad in all the pride of power, while those who dissented from it were shut up in prison, and bitterly oppressed. And whenever their presence was required, they were loosed and taken out of their prison, and brought into the patriarch's court 13, where they were allowed to sit down, and the disputation began, and lasted as long as those in power permitted. For when either they were beaten in argument, or otherwise chose, the bishops were sent away, accompanied by their keepers, and were imprisoned within three sets of guards, the innermost being the bishop's own, the second consisting of men |37 belonging to the emperor's body-guard, while the third was the foreign guard, who kept the outer watch.
Nor were they the only sufferers, for their confinement was shared by their dependents, and not merely by the clergy and monks and other freemen, but even by their slaves, all of whom without distinction were imprisoned in dark and bitter dungeons in the palace, and closely watched. Nor was this all, for they were stripped as bare as thieves could do it by the patriarch's body-guard and apparitors, who not only took from them their coats, but even trifles of no use to them, together with their shoes and girdles and belts; and in fact whatever was found upon them they took away, and left them upon the bare ground, with scarcely clothing to cover them, or food sufficient for their maintenance. Nor was any one allowed to visit them, or supply them with anything whatsoever either for their own wants, or for the use of the bishops. And instead of the promised unity, they and their friends had to bear all these evils and griefs and temptations; and the more so because they had plainly beaten in argument those who were thus torturing them.
[I. 24. ] Finally the bishops gave way: for on one occasion being summoned as usual into the patriarch's presence, they found not only John there sitting as president, but also some high officers sent to represent the king's person, who sharply reproached them in his name for their obstinacy, saying, 'How long will ye thus resist and |38 prevent the unity of the church of God, which our lord the king, and we also, are anxious to bring about, but which blessing you day by day prevent, and drive away? When will you cease thus to show plainly to all men that you are the disturbers of the church, and you alone? Now therefore, in short, either unite yourselves to us, or make it evident that it is you who trouble and disturb and hinder the unity of the church. ' But the bishops in grief and deep sorrow said, 'Were matters justly tried, and by upright rules, it is not we who hinder union, but you, who, while the very centre of your heart is full of the corruption of opposition and division introduced at Chalcedon, wish to make it appear that we are the hinderers, while ye neither have proposed to yourselves, nor shown that you possess even the shadow of unity. What you fraudulently require is, that we should unite ourselves to all the falseness of Chalcedon, without seeking in the least to bring about in a just and upright manner a real union of the church. And now, as we have said from the beginning, if you wish really for unity, and your purpose is not rather to bring about a fraudulent deception and wicked artifice, put away first of all the cause of this division from between us, and at once unity is established in its place. Do not then falsely throw the blame upon us. And besides, supposing that this simple plan has never entered your minds, why, we ask, do you every day thus oppress and wrong us? why do you add |39 to our anxieties pain and the misery of imprisonment, and the other wrongs which without fear of God you inflict upon us, while every day you further torture us with your words, and pierce thorns into our sores? Have you no fear of God, when you see that, lo! already our lives are consumed and spent and gone from the troubles which surround us on all sides? If therefore you really propose to make union, as your words declare, put away the council of Chalcedon, which has troubled and divided, and caused schism in the church, as you yourselves cannot deny, and so will a unity, free from all division, be established throughout the whole church of God. ' And to this John and his assessors replied, 'It is you who prevent the ejection of the synod from the church: for if you united yourselves unto us, forthwith the synod also would be ejected, and the unity become complete. ' To this the bishops answer, that they can conceive no other explanation of his conduct than the wish to make them accept the council of Chalcedon, 'of which be thou well assured, said they,and all besides, that until the last breath cease from the nostrils of each one of us, the anathema of the synod and of Leo's letter, which conspire in dividing our Lord and God and Saviour into two natures after the union 14, shall never |40 cease from our mouths.
' But John and those with him answered, 'As we have often said before, so now, both we and our lords, their majesties, give you our word, and our oath as in the presence of God, that upon your union with us the synod shall immediately be put away: and whatever comes out of our mouths shall not be changed. ' But still the bishops doubted, and said, 'If you really intend to do as you say, why do you not reject the synod at once, that not we alone, but all men without hindrance may join you? Plainly your object is rather to take us by subtlety, and make us accept the heresy of the two natures, and then afterwards you will turn round and laugh at us. If this however be really your purpose, be assured that you delude and deceive your own selves: for we know full well that your purposes and thoughts are not for unity, inasmuch as it is quite evident that what you say is not the truth, and that you pretend to be ready in words only, that we may be thought by every body to be the sole obstacles to union, and be anathematized both by you and all the world as the disturbers of the peace. Nevertheless, we will sacrifice ourselves for the sake of unity, for confiding in your words and promises, and acting as though already the synod were anathematized and ejected, we, with its anathema nevertheless incessantly in our mouths, |41 will communicate with you, once, or if so be, twice; but as for a third time, until the anathematizing and ejection of the synod has taken place, we will have neither part nor communion with you for ever and ever. For we know that you will not establish the truth of your words. But to make it plain and evident to all men that you are not prepared to make unity, but purpose to deceive us and all men, lo! we yield ourselves up to communion with you, as often as two times. ' And much more was similarly said and protested on both sides, and so at length the bishops gave way, saying, 'Because of the slanders brought against us by the synodites, see, we yield ourselves up that it may be known that we are not those who prevent union. ' For every body blamed them on both sides, saying, 'See, their majesties, and the patriarch are anxious, and in earnest and ready to make union, but those in prison prevent and hinder it. ' And therefore they yielded themselves up with great sorrow, and anathematizing with loud voice the council of Chalcedon, submitted themselves to communion twice, as they had promised and agreed, after having strenuously demanded of the king and patriarch, with many adjurations during all those three and thirty days its anathematization and expulsion from the church.
The bishops apparently twice communicated with their opponents, and were let out of their prison: but upon pressing for the ejection of the |42 synod, the patriarch and his council began, as our historian proceeds, to alter their words, and make excuses, saying; 'We will write to the pope of Rome: and if he assents, we will eject the council: for we cannot for your sakes separate ourselves from Rome.' To which the bishops sadly replied: 'Now may we also repeat the word of the prophet Jonah, [Jon. iv. 2.] " Was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?" But now at least it is known and made plain to all men, that not we in our prison, and in bitter misery, are the obstacles to unity, for which we have yielded ourselves up, but that those who are clad in power, and oppress us, have been false to their promises and oaths, and seek nevertheless to throw all the blame, not of this generation only, but of all future times, upon us, as though we hindered and prevented the unity of the whole church of God: but now men will say, "See, they have sacrificed themselves for it, though treachery has been used towards them.'"
[I. 25.] But who can suffice to write or to detail the misery and grief and lamentation and breaking of heart, which came upon them after they had thus fallen into communion with their deceivers, and submitted to union with them, when union was never intended? For now their strength was spent and gone, and their eyes swollen and blinded with weeping and lamentation night and day; and scarcely might the grief of a woman for the husband of her youth be compared with theirs. For they could no longer eat their usual |43 food, but remained fasting and without consolation, while their tears flowed unceasingly and unremittingly, and they sat with their faces covered, and bewailed with bitter cries and groans one unto another; and especially that now, after so many conflicts and imprisonments, and afflictions, they had thus been taken by false craft, and submitted themselves, and fallen, while all hope of unity was far away, and the promise made them unfulfilled. So sad was their state, that those who had deceived them how tried to comfort them, when they saw them thus consumed, and surviving only for grief, and said, 'Why do ye thus kill both body and soul, as if ye had sacrificed to idols? What have ye decreed against yourselves, that ye continue thus weeping and lamenting, and choking yourselves with grief? Take food, and be comforted, and live, and not die.' But though this and much more was said by their opponents, they refused to be comforted, and sat the rather in mourning and weeping; and after spending many days in indignation after they had been released from prison, they finally returned, and stood up manfully, and reproached them even more boldly than before, chiding and reviling them for their false and treacherous conduct; and so they were again delivered up to prison and to tortures even more severe than what they had previously endured: and at length were sent in bitter wrath each into separate exile.
[I. 26.] Before their banishment however their anguish |44 of mind had moved the pity of Justin and Sophia, who sent for them to the palace, and comforted them, saying; 'Why do you give way to violent lamentation, till you are thus dejected, and more like men dead than alive? Cheer up, and be comforted: for we purpose in God to content you, and unite you to us in perfect unity. Do not despond.' But they argued with him at great length upon the promises made them, and which had been violated, and not put into execution: and finally he said to them, 'As we are preparing to go to the hot-baths, wait for us for twenty or thirty days, and be assured, that we will return at once for your sakes, and talk the matter over with you, and content you: and the whole church shall be one, and unite us all.' And so they were dismissed from his presence, after having detailed to him at great length their complaints.