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The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret (CCEL)
Chapter XX. The artful Machinations of Eusebius and his followers against the Holy Eustathius, Bishop of Antioch.
Eusebius , as I have already stated, seized the diocese of Constantinople by force. And thus having acquired great power in that city, frequently visiting and holding familiar intercourse with the emperor, he gained confidence and formed plots against those who were foremost in the support of the truth. He at first feigned a desire of going to Jerusalem, to see the celebrated edifices there erected: and the emperor, who was deceived by his flattery, allowed him to set out with the utmost honour, providing him with carriages, and the rest of his equipage and retinue. Theognis, bishop of Nicæa, who, as we have before said, was his accomplice in his evil designs, travelled with him. When they arrived at Antioch, they put on the mask of friendship, and were received with the utmost deference. Eustathius, the great champion of the faith, treated them with fraternal kindness. When they arrived at the holy places, they had an interview with those who were of the same opinions as themselves, namely, Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, Patrophilus, bishop of Scythopolis, Aetius, bishop of Lydda, Theodotus, bishop of Laodicea, and others who had imbibed the Arian sentiments; they made known the plot they had hatched to them, and went with them to Antioch. The pretext for their journey was, that due honour might be rendered to Eusebius; but their real motive was their war against religion. They bribed a low woman, who made a traffic of her beauty, to sell them her tongue, and then repaired to the council, and when all the spectators had been ordered to retire, they introduced the wretched woman. She held a babe in her arms, of which she loudly and impudently affirmed that Eustathius was the father. Eustathius, conscious of his innocence, asked her whether she could bring forward any witness to prove what she had advanced. She replied that she could not: yet these equitable judges admitted her to oath, although it is said in the law, that “ at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established 1;” and the apostle says, “ against an elder receive not any accusation but before two or three witnesses 2.” But they despised these divine laws, and admitted the accusation against this great man without any witnesses. When the woman had again declared upon oath that Eustathius was the father of the babe, these truth-loving judges condemned him as an adulterer. When the other bishops, who upheld the apostolical doctrines, being ignorant of all these intrigues, openly opposed the sentence, and advised Eustathius not to submit to it, the originators of the plot promptly repaired to the emperor, and endeavoured to persuade him that the accusation was true, and the sentence of deposition just; and they succeeded in obtaining the banishment of this champion of piety and chastity, as an adulterer and a tyrant. He was conducted across Thrace to a city of Illyricum 3.
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Deut. xix. 15 ↩
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1 Tim. v. 19 ↩
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Jerome says Trajanopolis, but Eustathius died at Philippi, circa 337. Athanasius, who calls Eustathius “a confessor and sound in the faith” (Hist. Ar. §4), says the false charge which had most weight with Constantine was that the bishop of Antioch had slandered the Empress Helena. Sozomen (II. 19) records the patience with which Eustathius suffered, and sums up his character as that of “a good and true man, specially remarkable for eloquence, to which his extant writings testify, admirable as they are alike for the dignity of their style of ancient cast, the sound wisdom of their sentiments, the beauty of their language, and grace of expression.” The sole survivor of his works is an attack on Origen’s interpretation of Scripture. ↩
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ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ ΤΟΜΟΣ ΠΡΩΤΟΣ
κʹ.
Ἐπιστολὴ τοῦ βασιλέως Κωνσταντίνου κατὰ Εὐσεβίου καὶ Θεογονίου γραφεῖσα Νικομηδεῦσι.
« Τίς ἐστιν ὁ ταῦτα διδάξας οὕτως ἄκακον πλῆθος; Εὐσέβιος δηλαδὴ ὁ τῆς τυραννικῆς ὠμότητος συμμύστης. ὅτι γὰρ πανταχοῦ τοῦ τυράννου γεγένηται πρόσφυξ, πολλαχόθεν ἔστι συνορᾶν. Τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ αἱ τῶν ἐπισκόπων σφαγαὶ διαμαρτύρονται, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀληθῶς ἐπισκόπων· τοῦτο δὲ ἡ χαλεπωτάτη τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐκδίωξις διαρρήδην βοᾷ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ περὶ τῶν εἰς ἐμὲ γεγενημένων ὕβρεων νῦν ἐρῶ, δι´ ὧν ὅτε μάλιστα αἱ τῶν ἐναντίων μερῶν ἐπραγματεύσαντο συνδρομαί, οὗτος καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς κατασκόπους ἔπεμπε κατ´ ἐμοῦ καὶ μόνον οὐκ ἐνόπλους τῷ τυράννῳ συνεισέφερεν ὑπουργίας. Μηδέ μέ τις οἰέσθω εἶναι πρὸς τὴν τούτων ἀπόδειξιν ἀπαράσκευον. Ἔλεγχος γάρ ἐστιν ἀκριβής, ὅτι τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους καὶ τοὺς διακόνους τοὺς Εὐσεβίῳ παρεπομένους φανερῶς ὑπ´ ἐμοῦ συνειλῆφθαι συνέστηκεν. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν παρίημι· ἃ νῦν οὐκ ἀγανακτήσεως ἕνεκεν, ἀλλ´ εἰς ἐκείνων αἰσχύνην ὑπ´ ἐμοῦ προενήνεκται. Ἐκεῖνο μόνον δέδια, ἐκεῖνο διαλογίζομαι, ὅτι ὑμᾶς ὁρῶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἐγκλήματος καλεῖσθαι κοινωνίαν. Διὰ γὰρ τῆς Εὐσεβίου ἀγωγῆς τε καὶ διαστροφῆς συνείδησιν τῆς ἀληθείας κεχωρισμένην εἰλήφατε. Ἀλλ´ ἔστιν οὐ βραδεῖα θεραπεία, εἴ γε ἐπίσκοπον πιστόν τε καὶ ἀκέραιον νῦν γοῦν λαβόντες πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπίδητε· ὅπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐν ὑμῖν ἐστιν καὶ πάλαι ἐχρῆν τῆς ὑμετέρας κρίσεως ἠρτῆσθαι, εἰ μὴ ὁ προειρημένος Εὐσέβιος δίνῃ τῶν συλλαμβανομένων αὐτῷ ἐνταῦθα ἐληλύθει καὶ τὴν τῆς τάξεως ὀρθότητα ἀναισχύντως συνεπεπράχει. Ἀλλ´ ἐπειδὴ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Εὐσεβίου πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην ὀλίγα προσῆκε φράσαι, μέμνηται ἡ ὑμετέρα ἀνεξικακία ἐπὶ τῆς Νικαέων πόλεως γεγενῆσθαι σύνοδον, ᾗ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ πρεπόντως τῇ τῆς ἐμῆς συνειδήσεως λατρείᾳ παρήμην, οὐδὲν ἕτερον βουλόμενος ἢ ὁμόνοιαν ἅπασιν ἐργάσασθαι καὶ πρό γε πάντων ἐλέγξαι τε καὶ ἀποσείσασθαι τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο, ὃ τὴν μὲν ἀρχὴν εἰλήφει διὰ τῆς Ἀρείου τοῦ Ἀλεξανδρέως ἀπονοίας, ἰσχυροποίητο δὲ παραχρῆμα διὰ τῆς Εὐσεβίου ἀτόπου τε καὶ ὀλεθρίας σπουδῆς. Ἀλλ´ αὐτὸς οὗτος Εὐσέβιος, προσφιλέστατοι καὶ τιμιώτατοι, μεθ´ ὅσης νομίζετε συνδρομῆς, ἅτε δὴ ὑπὸ τῆς συνειδήσεως αὐτῆς ἡττώμενος, μεθ´ ὅσης δὲ αἰσχύνης τῇ πανταχόθεν ἐληλεγμένῃ ψευδολογίᾳ συνίστατο, ὑποπέμπων μέν μοι διαφόρους τοὺς ἀξιοῦντας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ἐξαιτούμενος δὲ παρ´ ἐμοῦ συμμαχίαν τινὰ ὅπως μὴ ἐπὶ τοσούτῳ ἐλεγχθεὶς πλημμελήματι τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ τιμῆς ἐκβάλλοιτο. Μάρτυς ἐστί μοι τούτου ὁ θεὸς αὐτός, ὃς ἐμοί τε καὶ ὑμῖν φιλαγάθως ἐπιμένοι, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐμὲ ἐκεῖνος περιέτρεψε καὶ ἀπρεπῶς ὑφήρπασεν, ὃ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπιγνώσεσθε. Πάντα μὲν γὰρ ἐπράχθη τότε καθὼς αὐτὸς ἐπόθει, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν κακὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διανοίας ἀποκρυπτόμενος. Ἀλλὰ πρώην, ἵνα τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς τούτου σκαιότητος παρῶ, τί μάλιστα μετὰ Θεογονίου, ὃν τῆς ἀνοίας ἔχει κοινωνόν, διεπράξατο, ἀκούσατε, παρακαλῶ. Ἀλεξανδρέας τινὰς τῆς ἡμετέρας πίστεως ἀναχωρήσαντας ἐνταῦθα κεκελεύκειν ἀποσταλῆναι, ἐπειδὴ διὰ τῆς τούτων ὑπηρεσίας ὁ τῆς διχονοίας ἠγείρετο πυρσός. Ἀλλ´ οὗτοι οἱ καλοί τε καὶ ἀγαθοὶ ἐπίσκοποι, οὓς ἅπαξ ἡ τῆς συνόδου ἀλήθεια πρὸς μετάνοιαν τετηρήκει, οὐ μόνον ἐκείνους ἐδέξαντο καὶ παρ´ ἑαυτοῖς ἠσφαλίσαντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκοινώνησαν αὐτοῖς τῆς τῶν τρόπων κακοηθείας. Διὸ τοῦτο περὶ τοὺς ἀχαρίστους τούτους ἔκρινα πρᾶξαι· ἁρπαγέντας γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐκέλευσα ὡς πορρωτάτω ἐξορισθῆναι. Νῦν ὑμέτερόν ἐστιν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐκείνῃ τῇ πίστει βλέπειν ἣ πάντοτε καὶ γεγενῆσθαι συνέστηκε καὶ εἶναι πρέπει, καὶ διαπράξασθαι οὕτως [ὡς] ἐπισκόπους ἁγνούς τε καὶ ὀρθοδόξους καὶ φιλανθρώπους ἔχοντες χαίρομεν. Εἴ τις δὲ πρὸς μνήμην τῶν λυμεώνων ἐκείνων ἢ πρὸς ἔπαινον ἀπρονοήτως ἐξαφθῆναι τολμήσει, παραχρῆμα τῆς ἰδίας τόλμης διὰ τῆς τοῦ θεράποντος τοῦ θεοῦ, τουτέστιν ἐμοῦ, ἐνεργείας ἀνασταλήσεται· ὁ θεὸς ὑμᾶς διαφυλάξει, ἀδελφοὶ ἀγαπητοί. »