Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part II

Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism;
and, in a long interval of forty years, 24 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.” 25 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. 26 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, 27 were distinguished above all their contemporaries,
28 by the rare union of profane eloquence and of orthodox piety.

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. 29 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, 30
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, 31 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. 32
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. 33 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, 34 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, 35 or
dissatisfied with the manifold imperfections of their faith and
practice. 36

24 (return) [ 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.]

25 (return) [ 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.]

26 (return) [ 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.]

27 (return) [ 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.)]

28 (return) [ 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.)]

29 (return) [ 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.]

30 (return) [ 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.)]

31 (return) [ 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.]

32 (return) [ See Ducange, Constant. Christiana, l. iv. p. 141,
142. The Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) is interpreted to mean the Virgin
Mary.]

33 (return) [ Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 432, &c.)
diligently collects, enlarges, and explains, the oratorical and
poetical hints of Gregory himself.]

34 (return) [ 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.]

35 (return) [ 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.]

36 (return) [ Lachrymae auditorum laudes tuae sint, is the lively
and judicious advice of St. Jerom.]

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, 37 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. 38 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; 39 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, 40 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.

37 (return) [ 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.]

38 (return) [ 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.]

39 (return) [ 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.]

40 (return) [ 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.]

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. 41 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. 42 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, 43
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. 44

41 (return) [ 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.]

42 (return) [ 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.)]

43 (return) [ 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.)]

44 (return) [ 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.]

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, 45 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. 46 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, 47 and the
elegance of his genius, reflect a more pleasing lustre on the
memory of Gregory Nazianzen.

45 (return) [ 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.]

46 (return) [ 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!]

47 (return) [ 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.]

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; 48 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, 49 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. 50

48 (return) [ 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.]

49 (return) [ 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.]

50 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 12.]

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, 51 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 præfect, seven persons were tortured, condemned, and
executed. The first of these was Priscillian 52 himself, bishop
of Avila, in Spain; who adorned the advantages of birth and
fortune, by the accomplishments of eloquence and learning. 53 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. 54 Two bishops who had embraced the sentiments of
Priscillian, were condemned to a distant and dreary exile; 55 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. 56
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, 57 and
Martin of Tours, 58 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, 59 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.

51 (return) [ 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!]

52 (return) [ 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.]

53 (return) [ 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.]

54 (return) [ 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.]

55 (return) [ 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.)]

56 (return) [ 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.]

57 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 891.]

58 (return) [ 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.]

59 (return) [ 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.]