Stephen being dead, Sixtus or Xystus II. a Deacon of the Church of Rome, was chosen to succeed him. As the late Dispute was not yet ended, Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria no sooner heard of his Promotion, than he began to press him with great Earnestness to relinquish the wild Pretensions of his Predecessor, and concur with the other Bishops in restoring Peace and Tranquillity to the Church[[459]]. He writ Three Letters to him on the same Subject, whereof the last was from Dionysius and the whole Church of Alexandria, to Sixtus and the whole Church of Rome[[460]]. He writ likewise to Dionysius and Philemon, two Presbyters of the Church of Rome, whom we have mentioned above, and who upon Stephen’s Death seem to have abandoned his Party; for Dionysius of Alexandria, in his first Letter to Sixtus, writes, That these two Presbyters had been formerly of Stephen’s Opinion[[461]], a plain Indication that they were not then. The Bishop of Alexandria had at last the Satisfaction to see his pious Endeavours crowned with Success; for we find no farther Mention of this Dispute till it was revived by the Donatists. |Peace restored to
the Church by his
means.| In what manner it ended, we are no-where told; but it is manifest from the Writers of those Times, that the African and Asiatic Bishops continued the same Practice of baptizing Heretics, till it was condemned by the two great Councils, of Arles in 314. and of Nice in 325[[462]]. Whence we may well conclude, that the Terms proposed at the Beginning of the Dispute by Dionysius and St. Cyprian were agreed to by Sixtus, viz. That no Restraint should be laid on the Bishops of either Side, but that every one should be allowed to follow undisturbed which of the two Opinions he thought most agreeable to the Scripture and to Reason. This was allowing the Bishops to consult the Scriptures, and make use of their own Reason, in a Point already judged and decided by the Bishop of Rome. But the Successors of Sixtus have not been so complaisant; for they pretend, that a blind Faith ought to be yielded to all their Decisions as infallibly true, a blind Obedience to all their Decrees as unquestionably holy.
But now the Persecution, which had begun some Months before the Decease of Stephen, raged with more Violence than ever: |Valerian persecutes
the Church.| For Valerian having, at the Instigation of an Egyptian Magician, changed the Kindness he once had for the Christians into an implacable Hatred, he ordered, by a Rescript to the Senate, all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, to be carefully sought for, and executed without Mercy[[463]]. |Sixtus martyred.| Pursuant to this Order, Sixtus, who among the first fell into the Hands of the Persecutors, was immediately either beheaded, as we read in the Pontifical of Bucherius[[464]], or crucified, as we are told by Prudentius[[465]]; having held the Chair only Eleven Months, and some Days. Pontius, a Deacon of the Church of Carthage, styles him a good and pacific Prelate[[466]], no doubt on account of his Conduct quite opposite to that of his ambitious and quarrelsome Predecessor[[N8]].
[N8]. Ruffinus published, under the Name of Sixtus Bishop of Rome, the Book of a Pythagorean Philosopher, named Sixtus. St. Jerom reproaches him in two Places with that Imposture, as he styles it, supposing him to have known the Work, which he ascribed to Pope Sixtus, not to be his[[1]]. St. Austin was imposed upon among the rest; for, in his Treatise of Nature and Grace, he quotes that Book as the Work of Pope Sixtus; but he afterwards owned and corrected his Mistake[[2]]. It was ranked by Pope Gelasius among the Books of Heretics; so that he supposed it to have been written by a Christian, which was more than he could know, there not being a single Word in it whence we can argue the Author to have believed in, or to have had any Knowlege of Christ: and it is on this Consideration that it has been thought unworthy of a Bishop of those times.
[1]. Ep. ad Ctesiph. contr. Pelag. c. 22. & in cap. 18. Ezech.
[2]. Aug. l. 2. retract. c. 42.
| Gallienus, | DIONYSIUS, Twenty-fourth Bishop of Rome. | Claudius II. |
Year of Christ 258.