<h2><SPAN name="chap27.2"></SPAN> Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part II. </h2>
<p>Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a
long interval of forty years, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.24" name="linknoteref-27.24" id="linknoteref-27.24">24</SPAN> the faith of the princes and prelates, who
reigned in the capital of the East, was rejected in the purer schools of
Rome and Alexandria. The archiepiscopal throne of Macedonius, which had
been polluted with so much Christian blood, was successively filled by
Eudoxus and Damophilus. Their diocese enjoyed a free importation of vice
and error from every province of the empire; the eager pursuit of
religious controversy afforded a new occupation to the busy idleness of
the metropolis; and we may credit the assertion of an intelligent
observer, who describes, with some pleasantry, the effects of their
loquacious zeal. “This city,” says he, “is full of mechanics and slaves,
who are all of them profound theologians; and preach in the shops, and in
the streets. If you desire a man to change a piece of silver, he informs
you, wherein the Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a
loaf, you are told by way of reply, that the Son is inferior to the
Father; and if you inquire, whether the bath is ready, the answer is, that
the Son was made out of nothing.” <SPAN href="#linknote-27.25"
name="linknoteref-27.25" id="linknoteref-27.25">25</SPAN> The heretics, of various
denominations, subsisted in peace under the protection of the Arians of
Constantinople; who endeavored to secure the attachment of those obscure
sectaries, while they abused, with unrelenting severity, the victory which
they had obtained over the followers of the council of Nice. During the
partial reigns of Constantius and Valens, the feeble remnant of the
Homoousians was deprived of the public and private exercise of their
religion; and it has been observed, in pathetic language, that the
scattered flock was left without a shepherd to wander on the mountains, or
to be devoured by rapacious wolves. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.26"
name="linknoteref-27.26" id="linknoteref-27.26">26</SPAN> But, as their zeal,
instead of being subdued, derived strength and vigor from oppression, they
seized the first moments of imperfect freedom, which they had acquired by
the death of Valens, to form themselves into a regular congregation, under
the conduct of an episcopal pastor. Two natives of Cappadocia, Basil, and
Gregory Nazianzen, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.27" name="linknoteref-27.27" id="linknoteref-27.27">27</SPAN> were distinguished above all their
contemporaries, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.28" name="linknoteref-27.28" id="linknoteref-27.28">28</SPAN> by the rare union of profane eloquence and of
orthodox piety.</p>
<p>These orators, who might sometimes be compared, by themselves, and by the
public, to the most celebrated of the ancient Greeks, were united by the
ties of the strictest friendship. They had cultivated, with equal ardor,
the same liberal studies in the schools of Athens; they had retired, with
equal devotion, to the same solitude in the deserts of Pontus; and every
spark of emulation, or envy, appeared to be totally extinguished in the
holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory and Basil. But the exaltation of
Basil, from a private life to the archiepiscopal throne of Caesarea,
discovered to the world, and perhaps to himself, the pride of his
character; and the first favor which he condescended to bestow on his
friend, was received, and perhaps was intended, as a cruel insult. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.29" name="linknoteref-27.29" id="linknoteref-27.29">29</SPAN>
Instead of employing the superior talents of Gregory in some useful and
conspicuous station, the haughty prelate selected, among the fifty
bishoprics of his extensive province, the wretched village of Sasima, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.30" name="linknoteref-27.30" id="linknoteref-27.30">30</SPAN>
without water, without verdure, without society, situate at the junction
of three highways, and frequented only by the incessant passage of rude
and clamorous wagoners. Gregory submitted with reluctance to this
humiliating exile; he was ordained bishop of Sasima; but he solemnly
protests, that he never consummated his spiritual marriage with this
disgusting bride. He afterwards consented to undertake the government of
his native church of Nazianzus, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.31"
name="linknoteref-27.31" id="linknoteref-27.31">31</SPAN> of which his father had
been bishop above five-and-forty years. But as he was still conscious that
he deserved another audience, and another theatre, he accepted, with no
unworthy ambition, the honorable invitation, which was addressed to him
from the orthodox party of Constantinople. On his arrival in the capital,
Gregory was entertained in the house of a pious and charitable kinsman;
the most spacious room was consecrated to the uses of religious worship;
and the name of Anastasia was chosen to express the resurrection of the
Nicene faith. This private conventicle was afterwards converted into a
magnificent church; and the credulity of the succeeding age was prepared
to believe the miracles and visions, which attested the presence, or at
least the protection, of the Mother of God. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.32"
name="linknoteref-27.32" id="linknoteref-27.32">32</SPAN> The pulpit of the
Anastasia was the scene of the labors and triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen;
and, in the space of two years, he experienced all the spiritual
adventures which constitute the prosperous or adverse fortunes of a
missionary. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.33" name="linknoteref-27.33" id="linknoteref-27.33">33</SPAN> The Arians, who were provoked by the boldness
of his enterprise, represented his doctrine, as if he had preached three
distinct and equal Deities; and the devout populace was excited to
suppress, by violence and tumult, the irregular assemblies of the
Athanasian heretics. From the cathedral of St. Sophia there issued a
motley crowd “of common beggars, who had forfeited their claim to pity; of
monks, who had the appearance of goats or satyrs; and of women, more
terrible than so many Jezebels.” The doors of the Anastasia were broke
open; much mischief was perpetrated, or attempted, with sticks, stones,
and firebrands; and as a man lost his life in the affray, Gregory, who was
summoned the next morning before the magistrate, had the satisfaction of
supposing, that he publicly confessed the name of Christ. After he was
delivered from the fear and danger of a foreign enemy, his infant church
was disgraced and distracted by intestine faction. A stranger who assumed
the name of Maximus, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.34" name="linknoteref-27.34" id="linknoteref-27.34">34</SPAN> and the cloak of a Cynic philosopher,
insinuated himself into the confidence of Gregory; deceived and abused his
favorable opinion; and forming a secret connection with some bishops of
Egypt, attempted, by a clandestine ordination, to supplant his patron in
the episcopal seat of Constantinople. These mortifications might sometimes
tempt the Cappadocian missionary to regret his obscure solitude. But his
fatigues were rewarded by the daily increase of his fame and his
congregation; and he enjoyed the pleasure of observing, that the greater
part of his numerous audience retired from his sermons satisfied with the
eloquence of the preacher, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.35" name="linknoteref-27.35" id="linknoteref-27.35">35</SPAN> or dissatisfied with the manifold imperfections
of their faith and practice. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.36" name="linknoteref-27.36" id="linknoteref-27.36">36</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.24" id="linknote-27.24">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
24 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.24">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. v.
Socrates, l. v. c. 7. Marcellin. in Chron. The account of forty years must
be dated from the election or intrusion of Eusebius, who wisely exchanged
the bishopric of Nicomedia for the throne of Constantinople.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.25" id="linknote-27.25">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
25 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.25">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Jortin’s Remarks on
Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 71. The thirty-third Oration of
Gregory Nazianzen affords indeed some similar ideas, even some still more
ridiculous; but I have not yet found the words of this remarkable passage,
which I allege on the faith of a correct and liberal scholar.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.26" id="linknote-27.26">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
26 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.26">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the thirty-second
Oration of Gregory Nazianzen, and the account of his own life, which he
has composed in 1800 iambics. Yet every physician is prone to exaggerate
the inveterate nature of the disease which he has cured.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.27" id="linknote-27.27">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
27 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.27">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ I confess myself deeply
indebted to the two lives of Gregory Nazianzen, composed, with very
different views, by Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 305-560, 692-731)
and Le Clerc, (Bibliothèque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 1-128.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.28" id="linknote-27.28">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
28 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.28">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Unless Gregory Nazianzen
mistook thirty years in his own age, he was born, as well as his friend
Basil, about the year 329. The preposterous chronology of Suidas has been
graciously received, because it removes the scandal of Gregory’s father, a
saint likewise, begetting children after he became a bishop, (Tillemont,
Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 693-697.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.29" id="linknote-27.29">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
29 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.29">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Gregory’s Poem on his own
Life contains some beautiful lines, (tom. ii. p. 8,) which burst from the
heart, and speak the pangs of injured and lost friendship. ——In
the Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena addresses the same pathetic complaint
to her friend Hermia:—Is all the counsel that we two have shared.
The sister’s vows, &c. Shakspeare had never read the poems of Gregory
Nazianzen; he was ignorant of the Greek language; but his mother tongue,
the language of Nature, is the same in Cappadocia and in Britain.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.30" id="linknote-27.30">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
30 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.30">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ This unfavorable portrait
of Sasimae is drawn by Gregory Nazianzen, (tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 7, 8.)
Its precise situation, forty-nine miles from Archelais, and thirty-two
from Tyana, is fixed in the Itinerary of Antoninus, (p. 144, edit.
Wesseling.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.31" id="linknote-27.31">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
31 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.31">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The name of Nazianzus has
been immortalized by Gregory; but his native town, under the Greek or
Roman title of Diocaesarea, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 692,) is
mentioned by Pliny, (vi. 3,) Ptolemy, and Hierocles, (Itinerar. Wesseling,
p. 709). It appears to have been situate on the edge of Isauria.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.32" id="linknote-27.32">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
32 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.32">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Ducange, Constant.
Christiana, l. iv. p. 141, 142. The Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) is interpreted
to mean the Virgin Mary.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.33" id="linknote-27.33">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
33 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.33">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Tillemont (Mem. Eccles.
tom. ix. p. 432, &c.) diligently collects, enlarges, and explains, the
oratorical and poetical hints of Gregory himself.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.34" id="linknote-27.34">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
34 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.34">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ He pronounced an oration
(tom. i. Orat. xxiii. p. 409) in his praise; but after their quarrel, the
name of Maximus was changed into that of Heron, (see Jerom, tom. i. in
Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 301). I touch slightly on these obscure and
personal squabbles.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.35" id="linknote-27.35">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
35 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.35">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Under the modest emblem
of a dream, Gregory (tom. ii. Carmen ix. p. 78) describes his own success
with some human complacency. Yet it should seem, from his familiar
conversation with his auditor St. Jerom, (tom. i. Epist. ad Nepotian. p.
14,) that the preacher understood the true value of popular applause.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.36" id="linknote-27.36">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
36 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.36">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Lachrymae auditorum
laudes tuae sint, is the lively and judicious advice of St. Jerom.]</p>
<p>The Catholics of Constantinople were animated with joyful confidence by
the baptism and edict of Theodosius; and they impatiently waited the
effects of his gracious promise. Their hopes were speedily accomplished;
and the emperor, as soon as he had finished the operations of the
campaign, made his public entry into the capital at the head of a
victorious army. The next day after his arrival, he summoned Damophilus to
his presence, and offered that Arian prelate the hard alternative of
subscribing the Nicene creed, or of instantly resigning, to the orthodox
believers, the use and possession of the episcopal palace, the cathedral
of St. Sophia, and all the churches of Constantinople. The zeal of
Damophilus, which in a Catholic saint would have been justly applauded,
embraced, without hesitation, a life of poverty and exile, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.37" name="linknoteref-27.37" id="linknoteref-27.37">37</SPAN> and
his removal was immediately followed by the purification of the Imperial
city. The Arians might complain, with some appearance of justice, that an
inconsiderable congregation of sectaries should usurp the hundred
churches, which they were insufficient to fill; whilst the far greater
part of the people was cruelly excluded from every place of religious
worship. Theodosius was still inexorable; but as the angels who protected
the Catholic cause were only visible to the eyes of faith, he prudently
reenforced those heavenly legions with the more effectual aid of temporal
and carnal weapons; and the church of St. Sophia was occupied by a large
body of the Imperial guards. If the mind of Gregory was susceptible of
pride, he must have felt a very lively satisfaction, when the emperor
conducted him through the streets in solemn triumph; and, with his own
hand, respectfully placed him on the archiepiscopal throne of
Constantinople. But the saint (who had not subdued the imperfections of
human virtue) was deeply affected by the mortifying consideration, that
his entrance into the fold was that of a wolf, rather than of a shepherd;
that the glittering arms which surrounded his person, were necessary for
his safety; and that he alone was the object of the imprecations of a
great party, whom, as men and citizens, it was impossible for him to
despise. He beheld the innumerable multitude of either sex, and of every
age, who crowded the streets, the windows, and the roofs of the houses; he
heard the tumultuous voice of rage, grief, astonishment, and despair; and
Gregory fairly confesses, that on the memorable day of his installation,
the capital of the East wore the appearance of a city taken by storm, and
in the hands of a Barbarian conqueror. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.38"
name="linknoteref-27.38" id="linknoteref-27.38">38</SPAN> About six weeks
afterwards, Theodosius declared his resolution of expelling from all the
churches of his dominions the bishops and their clergy who should
obstinately refuse to believe, or at least to profess, the doctrine of the
council of Nice. His lieutenant, Sapor, was armed with the ample powers of
a general law, a special commission, and a military force; <SPAN href="#linknote-27.39" name="linknoteref-27.39" id="linknoteref-27.39">39</SPAN> and
this ecclesiastical revolution was conducted with so much discretion and
vigor, that the religion of the emperor was established, without tumult or
bloodshed, in all the provinces of the East. The writings of the Arians,
if they had been permitted to exist, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.40"
name="linknoteref-27.40" id="linknoteref-27.40">40</SPAN> would perhaps contain the
lamentable story of the persecution, which afflicted the church under the
reign of the impious Theodosius; and the sufferings of their holy
confessors might claim the pity of the disinterested reader. Yet there is
reason to imagine, that the violence of zeal and revenge was, in some
measure, eluded by the want of resistance; and that, in their adversity,
the Arians displayed much less firmness than had been exerted by the
orthodox party under the reigns of Constantius and Valens. The moral
character and conduct of the hostile sects appear to have been governed by
the same common principles of nature and religion: but a very material
circumstance may be discovered, which tended to distinguish the degrees of
their theological faith. Both parties, in the schools, as well as in the
temples, acknowledged and worshipped the divine majesty of Christ; and, as
we are always prone to impute our own sentiments and passions to the
Deity, it would be deemed more prudent and respectful to exaggerate, than
to circumscribe, the adorable perfections of the Son of God. The disciple
of Athanasius exulted in the proud confidence, that he had entitled
himself to the divine favor; while the follower of Arius must have been
tormented by the secret apprehension, that he was guilty, perhaps, of an
unpardonable offence, by the scanty praise, and parsimonious honors, which
he bestowed on the Judge of the World. The opinions of Arianism might
satisfy a cold and speculative mind: but the doctrine of the Nicene creed,
most powerfully recommended by the merits of faith and devotion, was much
better adapted to become popular and successful in a believing age.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.37" id="linknote-27.37">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
37 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.37">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Socrates (l. v. c. 7) and
Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) relate the evangelical words and actions of
Damophilus without a word of approbation. He considered, says Socrates,
that it is difficult to resist the powerful, but it was easy, and would
have been profitable, to submit.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.38" id="linknote-27.38">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
38 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.38">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Gregory Nazianzen,
tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 21, 22. For the sake of posterity, the bishop of
Constantinople records a stupendous prodigy. In the month of November, it
was a cloudy morning, but the sun broke forth when the procession entered
the church.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.39" id="linknote-27.39">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
39 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.39">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Of the three
ecclesiastical historians, Theodoret alone (l. v. c. 2) has mentioned this
important commission of Sapor, which Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom.
v. p. 728) judiciously removes from the reign of Gratian to that of
Theodosius.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.40" id="linknote-27.40">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
40 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.40">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ I do not reckon
Philostorgius, though he mentions (l. ix. c. 19) the explosion of
Damophilus. The Eunomian historian has been carefully strained through an
orthodox sieve.]</p>
<p>The hope, that truth and wisdom would be found in the assemblies of the
orthodox clergy, induced the emperor to convene, at Constantinople, a
synod of one hundred and fifty bishops, who proceeded, without much
difficulty or delay, to complete the theological system which had been
established in the council of Nice. The vehement disputes of the fourth
century had been chiefly employed on the nature of the Son of God; and the
various opinions which were embraced, concerning the Second, were extended
and transferred, by a natural analogy, to the Third person of the Trinity.
<SPAN href="#linknote-27.41" name="linknoteref-27.41" id="linknoteref-27.41">41</SPAN>
Yet it was found, or it was thought, necessary, by the victorious
adversaries of Arianism, to explain the ambiguous language of some
respectable doctors; to confirm the faith of the Catholics; and to condemn
an unpopular and inconsistent sect of Macedonians; who freely admitted
that the Son was consubstantial to the Father, while they were fearful of
seeming to acknowledge the existence of Three Gods. A final and unanimous
sentence was pronounced to ratify the equal Deity of the Holy Ghost: the
mysterious doctrine has been received by all the nations, and all the
churches of the Christian world; and their grateful reverence has assigned
to the bishops of Theodosius the second rank among the general councils.
<SPAN href="#linknote-27.42" name="linknoteref-27.42" id="linknoteref-27.42">42</SPAN>
Their knowledge of religious truth may have been preserved by tradition,
or it may have been communicated by inspiration; but the sober evidence of
history will not allow much weight to the personal authority of the
Fathers of Constantinople. In an age when the ecclesiastics had
scandalously degenerated from the model of apostolic purity, the most
worthless and corrupt were always the most eager to frequent, and disturb,
the episcopal assemblies. The conflict and fermentation of so many
opposite interests and tempers inflamed the passions of the bishops: and
their ruling passions were, the love of gold, and the love of dispute.
Many of the same prelates who now applauded the orthodox piety of
Theodosius, had repeatedly changed, with prudent flexibility, their creeds
and opinions; and in the various revolutions of the church and state, the
religion of their sovereign was the rule of their obsequious faith. When
the emperor suspended his prevailing influence, the turbulent synod was
blindly impelled by the absurd or selfish motives of pride, hatred, or
resentment. The death of Meletius, which happened at the council of
Constantinople, presented the most favorable opportunity of terminating
the schism of Antioch, by suffering his aged rival, Paulinus, peaceably to
end his days in the episcopal chair. The faith and virtues of Paulinus
were unblemished. But his cause was supported by the Western churches; and
the bishops of the synod resolved to perpetuate the mischiefs of discord,
by the hasty ordination of a perjured candidate, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.43"
name="linknoteref-27.43" id="linknoteref-27.43">43</SPAN> rather than to betray the
imagined dignity of the East, which had been illustrated by the birth and
death of the Son of God. Such unjust and disorderly proceedings forced the
gravest members of the assembly to dissent and to secede; and the
clamorous majority which remained masters of the field of battle, could be
compared only to wasps or magpies, to a flight of cranes, or to a flock of
geese. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.44" name="linknoteref-27.44" id="linknoteref-27.44">44</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.41" id="linknote-27.41">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
41 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.41">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Le Clerc has given a
curious extract (Bibliothèque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 91-105) of the
theological sermons which Gregory Nazianzen pronounced at Constantinople
against the Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, &c. He tells the
Macedonians, who deified the Father and the Son without the Holy Ghost,
that they might as well be styled Tritheists as Ditheists. Gregory himself
was almost a Tritheist; and his monarchy of heaven resembles a
well-regulated aristocracy.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.42" id="linknote-27.42">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
42 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.42">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The first general council
of Constantinople now triumphs in the Vatican; but the popes had long
hesitated, and their hesitation perplexes, and almost staggers, the humble
Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 499, 500.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.43" id="linknote-27.43">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
43 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.43">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Before the death of
Meletius, six or eight of his most popular ecclesiastics, among whom was
Flavian, had abjured, for the sake of peace, the bishopric of Antioch,
(Sozomen, l. vii. c. 3, 11. Socrates, l. v. c. v.) Tillemont thinks it his
duty to disbelieve the story; but he owns that there are many
circumstances in the life of Flavian which seem inconsistent with the
praises of Chrysostom, and the character of a saint, (Mem. Eccles. tom. x.
p. 541.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.44" id="linknote-27.44">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
44 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.44">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Consult Gregory
Nazianzen, de Vita sua, tom. ii. p. 25-28. His general and particular
opinion of the clergy and their assemblies may be seen in verse and prose,
(tom. i. Orat. i. p. 33. Epist. lv. p. 814, tom. ii. Carmen x. p. 81.)
Such passages are faintly marked by Tillemont, and fairly produced by Le
Clerc.]</p>
<p>A suspicion may possibly arise, that so unfavorable a picture of
ecclesiastical synods has been drawn by the partial hand of some obstinate
heretic, or some malicious infidel. But the name of the sincere historian
who has conveyed this instructive lesson to the knowledge of posterity,
must silence the impotent murmurs of superstition and bigotry. He was one
of the most pious and eloquent bishops of the age; a saint, and a doctor
of the church; the scourge of Arianism, and the pillar of the orthodox
faith; a distinguished member of the council of Constantinople, in which,
after the death of Meletius, he exercised the functions of president; in a
word—Gregory Nazianzen himself. The harsh and ungenerous treatment
which he experienced, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.45" name="linknoteref-27.45" id="linknoteref-27.45">45</SPAN> instead of derogating from the truth of his
evidence, affords an additional proof of the spirit which actuated the
deliberations of the synod. Their unanimous suffrage had confirmed the
pretensions which the bishop of Constantinople derived from the choice of
the people, and the approbation of the emperor. But Gregory soon became
the victim of malice and envy. The bishops of the East, his strenuous
adherents, provoked by his moderation in the affairs of Antioch, abandoned
him, without support, to the adverse faction of the Egyptians; who
disputed the validity of his election, and rigorously asserted the
obsolete canon, that prohibited the licentious practice of episcopal
translations. The pride, or the humility, of Gregory prompted him to
decline a contest which might have been imputed to ambition and avarice;
and he publicly offered, not without some mixture of indignation, to
renounce the government of a church which had been restored, and almost
created, by his labors. His resignation was accepted by the synod, and by
the emperor, with more readiness than he seems to have expected. At the
time when he might have hoped to enjoy the fruits of his victory, his
episcopal throne was filled by the senator Nectarius; and the new
archbishop, accidentally recommended by his easy temper and venerable
aspect, was obliged to delay the ceremony of his consecration, till he had
previously despatched the rites of his baptism. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.46"
name="linknoteref-27.46" id="linknoteref-27.46">46</SPAN> After this remarkable
experience of the ingratitude of princes and prelates, Gregory retired
once more to his obscure solitude of Cappadocia; where he employed the
remainder of his life, about eight years, in the exercises of poetry and
devotion. The title of Saint has been added to his name: but the
tenderness of his heart, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.47" name="linknoteref-27.47" id="linknoteref-27.47">47</SPAN> and the elegance of his genius, reflect a more
pleasing lustre on the memory of Gregory Nazianzen.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.45" id="linknote-27.45">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
45 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.45">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Gregory, tom. ii. de
Vita sua, p. 28-31. The fourteenth, twenty-seventh, and thirty-second
Orations were pronounced in the several stages of this business. The
peroration of the last, (tom. i. p. 528,) in which he takes a solemn leave
of men and angels, the city and the emperor, the East and the West, &c.,
is pathetic, and almost sublime.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.46" id="linknote-27.46">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
46 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.46">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The whimsical ordination
of Nectarius is attested by Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 8;) but Tillemont
observes, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 719,) Apres tout, ce narre de Sozomene
est si honteux, pour tous ceux qu’il y mele, et surtout pour Theodose,
qu’il vaut mieux travailler a le detruire, qu’a le soutenir; an admirable
canon of criticism!]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.47" id="linknote-27.47">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
47 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.47">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ I can only be understood
to mean, that such was his natural temper when it was not hardened, or
inflamed, by religious zeal. From his retirement, he exhorts Nectarius to
prosecute the heretics of Constantinople.]</p>
<p>It was not enough that Theodosius had suppressed the insolent reign of
Arianism, or that he had abundantly revenged the injuries which the
Catholics sustained from the zeal of Constantius and Valens. The orthodox
emperor considered every heretic as a rebel against the supreme powers of
heaven and of earth; and each of those powers might exercise their
peculiar jurisdiction over the soul and body of the guilty. The decrees of
the council of Constantinople had ascertained the true standard of the
faith; and the ecclesiastics, who governed the conscience of Theodosius,
suggested the most effectual methods of persecution. In the space of
fifteen years, he promulgated at least fifteen severe edicts against the
heretics; <SPAN href="#linknote-27.48" name="linknoteref-27.48" id="linknoteref-27.48">48</SPAN>
more especially against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity;
and to deprive them of every hope of escape, he sternly enacted, that if
any laws or rescripts should be alleged in their favor, the judges should
consider them as the illegal productions either of fraud or forgery. The
penal statutes were directed against the ministers, the assemblies, and
the persons of the heretics; and the passions of the legislator were
expressed in the language of declamation and invective. I. The heretical
teachers, who usurped the sacred titles of Bishops, or Presbyters, were
not only excluded from the privileges and emoluments so liberally granted
to the orthodox clergy, but they were exposed to the heavy penalties of
exile and confiscation, if they presumed to preach the doctrine, or to
practise the rites, of their accursed sects. A fine of ten pounds of gold
(above four hundred pounds sterling) was imposed on every person who
should dare to confer, or receive, or promote, an heretical ordination:
and it was reasonably expected, that if the race of pastors could be
extinguished, their helpless flocks would be compelled, by ignorance and
hunger, to return within the pale of the Catholic church. II. The rigorous
prohibition of conventicles was carefully extended to every possible
circumstance, in which the heretics could assemble with the intention of
worshipping God and Christ according to the dictates of their conscience.
Their religious meetings, whether public or secret, by day or by night, in
cities or in the country, were equally proscribed by the edicts of
Theodosius; and the building, or ground, which had been used for that
illegal purpose, was forfeited to the Imperial domain. III. It was
supposed, that the error of the heretics could proceed only from the
obstinate temper of their minds; and that such a temper was a fit object
of censure and punishment. The anathemas of the church were fortified by a
sort of civil excommunication; which separated them from their
fellow-citizens, by a peculiar brand of infamy; and this declaration of
the supreme magistrate tended to justify, or at least to excuse, the
insults of a fanatic populace. The sectaries were gradually disqualified
from the possession of honorable or lucrative employments; and Theodosius
was satisfied with his own justice, when he decreed, that, as the
Eunomians distinguished the nature of the Son from that of the Father,
they should be incapable of making their wills or of receiving any
advantage from testamentary donations. The guilt of the Manichaean heresy
was esteemed of such magnitude, that it could be expiated only by the
death of the offender; and the same capital punishment was inflicted on
the Audians, or Quartodecimans, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.49"
name="linknoteref-27.49" id="linknoteref-27.49">49</SPAN> who should dare to
perpetrate the atrocious crime of celebrating on an improper day the
festival of Easter. Every Roman might exercise the right of public
accusation; but the office of Inquisitors of the Faith, a name so
deservedly abhorred, was first instituted under the reign of Theodosius.
Yet we are assured, that the execution of his penal edicts was seldom
enforced; and that the pious emperor appeared less desirous to punish,
than to reclaim, or terrify, his refractory subjects. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.50" name="linknoteref-27.50" id="linknoteref-27.50">50</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.48" id="linknote-27.48">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
48 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.48">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Theodosian Code,
l. xvi. tit. v. leg. 6—23, with Godefroy’s commentary on each law,
and his general summary, or Paratitlon, tom vi. p. 104-110.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.49" id="linknote-27.49">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
49 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.49">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ They always kept their
Easter, like the Jewish Passover, on the fourteenth day of the first moon
after the vernal equinox; and thus pertinaciously opposed the Roman Church
and Nicene synod, which had fixed Easter to a Sunday. Bingham’s
Antiquities, l. xx. c. 5, vol. ii. p. 309, fol. edit.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.50" id="linknote-27.50">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
50 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.50">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 12.]</p>
<p>The theory of persecution was established by Theodosius, whose justice and
piety have been applauded by the saints: but the practice of it, in the
fullest extent, was reserved for his rival and colleague, Maximus, the
first, among the Christian princes, who shed the blood of his Christian
subjects on account of their religious opinions. The cause of the
Priscillianists, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.51" name="linknoteref-27.51" id="linknoteref-27.51">51</SPAN> a recent sect of heretics, who disturbed the
provinces of Spain, was transferred, by appeal, from the synod of Bordeaux
to the Imperial consistory of Treves; and by the sentence of the
Prætorian praefect, seven persons were tortured, condemned, and executed.
The first of these was Priscillian <SPAN href="#linknote-27.52"
name="linknoteref-27.52" id="linknoteref-27.52">52</SPAN> himself, bishop of Avila,
in Spain; who adorned the advantages of birth and fortune, by the
accomplishments of eloquence and learning. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.53"
name="linknoteref-27.53" id="linknoteref-27.53">53</SPAN> Two presbyters, and two
deacons, accompanied their beloved master in his death, which they
esteemed as a glorious martyrdom; and the number of religious victims was
completed by the execution of Latronian, a poet, who rivalled the fame of
the ancients; and of Euchrocia, a noble matron of Bordeaux, the widow of
the orator Delphidius. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.54" name="linknoteref-27.54" id="linknoteref-27.54">54</SPAN> Two bishops who had embraced the sentiments of
Priscillian, were condemned to a distant and dreary exile; <SPAN href="#linknote-27.55" name="linknoteref-27.55" id="linknoteref-27.55">55</SPAN> and
some indulgence was shown to the meaner criminals, who assumed the merit
of an early repentance. If any credit could be allowed to confessions
extorted by fear or pain, and to vague reports, the offspring of malice
and credulity, the heresy of the Priscillianists would be found to include
the various abominations of magic, of impiety, and of lewdness. <SPAN href="#linknote-27.56" name="linknoteref-27.56" id="linknoteref-27.56">56</SPAN>
Priscillian, who wandered about the world in the company of his spiritual
sisters, was accused of praying stark naked in the midst of the
congregation; and it was confidently asserted, that the effects of his
criminal intercourse with the daughter of Euchrocia had been suppressed,
by means still more odious and criminal. But an accurate, or rather a
candid, inquiry will discover, that if the Priscillianists violated the
laws of nature, it was not by the licentiousness, but by the austerity, of
their lives. They absolutely condemned the use of the marriage-bed; and
the peace of families was often disturbed by indiscreet separations. They
enjoyed, or recommended, a total abstinence from all animal food; and their
continual prayers, fasts, and vigils, inculcated a rule of strict and
perfect devotion. The speculative tenets of the sect, concerning the
person of Christ, and the nature of the human soul, were derived from the
Gnostic and Manichaean system; and this vain philosophy, which had been
transported from Egypt to Spain, was ill adapted to the grosser spirits of
the West. The obscure disciples of Priscillian suffered languished, and
gradually disappeared: his tenets were rejected by the clergy and people,
but his death was the subject of a long and vehement controversy; while
some arraigned, and others applauded, the justice of his sentence. It is
with pleasure that we can observe the humane inconsistency of the most
illustrious saints and bishops, Ambrose of Milan, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.57"
name="linknoteref-27.57" id="linknoteref-27.57">57</SPAN> and Martin of Tours, <SPAN href="#linknote-27.58" name="linknoteref-27.58" id="linknoteref-27.58">58</SPAN> who,
on this occasion, asserted the cause of toleration. They pitied the
unhappy men, who had been executed at Treves; they refused to hold
communion with their episcopal murderers; and if Martin deviated from that
generous resolution, his motives were laudable, and his repentance was
exemplary. The bishops of Tours and Milan pronounced, without hesitation,
the eternal damnation of heretics; but they were surprised, and shocked,
by the bloody image of their temporal death, and the honest feelings of
nature resisted the artificial prejudices of theology. The humanity of
Ambrose and Martin was confirmed by the scandalous irregularity of the
proceedings against Priscillian and his adherents. The civil and
ecclesiastical ministers had transgressed the limits of their respective
provinces. The secular judge had presumed to receive an appeal, and to
pronounce a definitive sentence, in a matter of faith, and episcopal
jurisdiction. The bishops had disgraced themselves, by exercising the
functions of accusers in a criminal prosecution. The cruelty of Ithacius,
<SPAN href="#linknote-27.59" name="linknoteref-27.59" id="linknoteref-27.59">59</SPAN>
who beheld the tortures, and solicited the death, of the heretics,
provoked the just indignation of mankind; and the vices of that profligate
bishop were admitted as a proof, that his zeal was instigated by the
sordid motives of interest. Since the death of Priscillian, the rude
attempts of persecution have been refined and methodized in the holy
office, which assigns their distinct parts to the ecclesiastical and
secular powers. The devoted victim is regularly delivered by the priest to
the magistrate, and by the magistrate to the executioner; and the
inexorable sentence of the church, which declares the spiritual guilt of
the offender, is expressed in the mild language of pity and intercession.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.51" id="linknote-27.51">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
51 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.51">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Sacred History of
Sulpicius Severus, (l. ii. p. 437-452, edit. Ludg. Bat. 1647,) a correct
and original writer. Dr. Lardner (Credibility, &c., part ii. vol. ix.
p. 256-350) has labored this article with pure learning, good sense, and
moderation. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 491-527) has raked
together all the dirt of the fathers; a useful scavenger!]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.52" id="linknote-27.52">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
52 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.52">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Severus Sulpicius
mentions the arch-heretic with esteem and pity Faelix profecto, si non
pravo studio corrupisset optimum ingenium prorsus multa in eo animi et
corporis bona cerneres. (Hist. Sacra, l ii. p. 439.) Even Jerom (tom. i.
in Script. Eccles. p. 302) speaks with temper of Priscillian and
Latronian.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.53" id="linknote-27.53">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
53 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.53">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The bishopric (in Old
Castile) is now worth 20,000 ducats a year, (Busching’s Geography, vol.
ii. p. 308,) and is therefore much less likely to produce the author of a
new heresy.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.54" id="linknote-27.54">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
54 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.54">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Exprobrabatur mulieri
viduae nimia religio, et diligentius culta divinitas, (Pacat. in Panegyr.
Vet. xii. 29.) Such was the idea of a humane, though ignorant,
polytheist.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.55" id="linknote-27.55">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
55 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.55">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ One of them was sent in
Sillinam insulam quae ultra Britannianest. What must have been the ancient
condition of the rocks of Scilly? (Camden’s Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1519.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.56" id="linknote-27.56">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
56 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.56">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The scandalous calumnies
of Augustin, Pope Leo, &c., which Tillemont swallows like a child, and
Lardner refutes like a man, may suggest some candid suspicions in favor of
the older Gnostics.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.57" id="linknote-27.57">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
57 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.57">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist.
xxiv. p. 891.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.58" id="linknote-27.58">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
58 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.58">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ In the Sacred History,
and the Life of St. Martin, Sulpicius Severus uses some caution; but he
declares himself more freely in the Dialogues, (iii. 15.) Martin was
reproved, however, by his own conscience, and by an angel; nor could he
afterwards perform miracles with so much ease.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-27.59" id="linknote-27.59">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
59 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-27.59">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The Catholic Presbyter
(Sulp. Sever. l. ii. p. 448) and the Pagan Orator (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet.
xii. 29) reprobate, with equal indignation, the character and conduct of
Ithacius.]</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />