The Orthodox divided
among themselves.
But Athanasius, Basil, and the other Champions of the Orthodox Party, were not so much alarmed at the cruel Persecution raised against them by their Enemies, as at the unhappy Divisions that reigned at this very time among themselves. It was to procure a Remedy for these Divisions, to heal a dangerous Schism, that rent the Orthodox Party into two opposite Factions, that Basil, by the Advice of Athanasius[Athanasius], writ the above-mentioned Letter to Damasus, and that the Orthodox Bishops of the East writ in common a Letter to all their Brethren in the West. As this Schism did more Hurt to the Orthodox Cause than it was in the Power of their Enemies to have done, I shall not think it foreign to my Purpose to insert a succinct Account of its Rise and Progress. |What occasioned
this Division.| Eustathius, the Orthodox Bishop of Antioch, being deposed by the Arians in 331. and one of their own Party put in his room, the greater Part of the Clergy and People of that City, acknowleging the new-chosen Bishop, and his Arian Successors, assisted at their Assemblies, mixed with the Arians, and received the Sacraments at their Hands, though they disagreed with them in Belief. But some more zealous than the rest, refusing to own any other Bishop so long as Eustathius lived, held their Assemblies apart, under the Direction of Presbyters animated with the like Zeal. These, from their steady Attachment to Eustathius, were called Eustathians, and with them alone Athanasius communicated while he was at Antioch[[1033]]. This Schism or Separation continued even after the Death of Eustathius, those of his Party declining not only the Communion of the Arians and their Bishops, but of the Orthodox, who communicated with them. In the Year 360. the See of Antioch being vacant, by the Translation of Eudoxius the Arian to that of Constantinople, the Arians, and the Orthodox, who communicated with them, chose with one Consent the famous Meletius to succeed him. Both Parties joyfully concurred in this Election; the Orthodox, because they knew his Doctrine to be no less pure than his Manners; and the Arians, because they hoped, by such a distinguishing Mark of their Friendship and Esteem, to win him, and by his Means to gain over to their Party the whole City of Antioch, nay, and the Eustathians themselves[[1034]]. But they soon found, to their great Mortification, that the Orthodox were better acquainted with Meletius than they, that he was most zealously attached to the Orthodox Party, and was not to be swayed by Friendship or Enmity, by Hopes or Terrors. |Meletius the new
Bishop of Antioch
declares in favour of
the Orthodox.| He was no sooner installed, which Ceremony was performed with the greatest Solemnity, than he loudly declared in favour of Consubstantiality, and boldly cut off from his Communion, as rotten and incurable Members, all who held the opposite Doctrine. The Arians of Antioch were thunderstruck with the Boldness of the Attempt; the whole Party took the Alarm; Eudoxius Bishop of Constantinople, and the neighbouring Bishops, forgetful of every thing else, hastened to Antioch; Hopes, Fears, Prayers, Menaces, were successively employed, and nothing left unattempted to divert, at least to allay, the impending Storm. But all in vain; the Zeal of Meletius was incapable of Controul: he openly declared, that nothing should, nothing could, make him desist from, or relent in, the Work he had undertaken, till he had utterly extirpated the Arian Heresy, without leaving the least Shoot of so poisonous a Weed in the Field, which by Divine Appointment he was to guard and cultivate[[1035]]. The Arians finding him immovably fixed in his Resolution, and, what doubled their Concern, the whole Party in imminent Danger from one of their own chusing, they applied with better Success to the Emperor Constantius; and, charging the new Bishop of Antioch with Sabellianism, which Charge the credulous and unwary Prince believed upon their Word, |He is banished.| they extorted from him a Rescript banishing Meletius from Antioch about Thirty Days after his Installment, and confining him to Melitene in Armenia, his native City[[1036]]. Euzoius was preferred in his room, formerly the chief Favourite of Arius, and the most antient of all his Disciples; for together with him he was condemned by the great Council of Nice.
Great Divisions in
that Church.
The Orthodox, who had hitherto communicated with the Arians, were so disobliged and scandalized at these Proceedings, that, in the End they renounced the Arian Communion; and, assembling by themselves, proposed an Union with the Eustathians. But their Proposal was rejected by the leading Men of that Party, alleging, that they could not admit them to their Communion, because they had for so many Years communicated with the Arians, received the Sacraments at their Hands, and still seemed to acknowlege Meletius as lawful Bishop, though he had been chosen by the Arian Faction: for the Eustathians, notwithstanding the heroic Firmness of Meletius in defending and promoting the common Cause, refused to own him, for no other Reason but because the Arians had had a chief Share in his Election[[1037]]. As this Disagreement greatly weakened the Orthodox Cause in Antioch, and might, in time, be attended with fatal Consequences, no Pains were spared by the apostolic Men of those Times, to induce the Eustathians to abate somewhat of their Zeal and Severity. As for the other Party, notwithstanding their Attachment to Meletius, whence they had the Name of Meletians, they were greatly inclined to an Accommodation, and seemed to court the Communion of the Eustathians, almost upon any Terms. Lucifer, the famous Bishop of Cagliari, on his Return from Thebais in Egypt, to which Place he had been confined by Constantius, was prompted by his Zeal to take Antioch in his Way, with a Design to mediate an Accommodation between the dissenting Parties. Being arrived in that City, he had several Conferences with the leading Men of the one and the other Party; and, finding neither averse to an Accommodation, he conceived great Hopes of succeeding in his Design; and therefore begged the Fathers of the Council of Alexandria, which was already sitting, and to which he had been invited by Athanasius, to dispense with his assisting at that Assembly, since his Presence seemed more necessary at Antioch. However, he appointed Two of his Deacons to be present as his Deputies, injoining them to agree, in his Name, to the Decisions of the Council[[1038]]. Baronius owns here, which I cannot help observing by the way, that Lucifer never appeared in the Council of Alexandria[[1039]]; forgetting, no doubt, what he elsewhere so strenuously maintains[[1040]]; viz. that Lucifer assisted at that Assembly, in the Name of Pope Liberius, and as his Legate.
The Council of
Alexandria strive
to heal these Divisions.
The Fathers of the Council not only approved of the Bishop of Cagliari’s Resolution, but appointed Eusebius of Vercelli, and Asterius of Petra in Arabia, to assist him in so pious an Undertaking. What seemed chiefly to obstruct the so much wished for Union, was a great Attachment on one Side to Meletius, and an equal Obstinacy on the other, in refusing to acknowlege one preferred by the Arians. The Confessors therefore assembled in Alexandria (for of Confessors alone that Assembly was composed) were of Opinion, that, if every other Remedy proved ineffectual, their Deputies should apply to Meletius; and, having persuaded him to resign his Dignity, chuse another in his room, equally acceptable to both Parties. They did not in the least doubt but Meletius would readily, nay, with great Joy, sacrifice his Dignity, and every other private View, to the public Tranquillity[[1041]]; so great was the Opinion they entertained of his Virtue. Had this wise Resolution taken place, it had, in all Likelihood, been attended with the desired Effect. |All Means of an
Accommodation cut
off by the imprudent
Conduct of the Bishop
of Cagliari.| But before the Deputies could reach Antioch, Lucifer, more commendable for Zeal than Prudence, had cut off all means of an Accommodation, by conferring, of his own Authority, the Episcopal Dignity on the Presbyter Paulinus, who was at the Head of the Eustathians, and had with more Warmth than any other opposed Meletius, and those who adhered to him. He was assisted in that irregular Ordination by Two other Confessors[[1042]]; viz. Gorgonius of Germanicia, and Cymatius of Gabala, or rather of Paltos[[1043]]. This Step he took to oblige the Eustathians, when he found that they could by no means be induced to acknowlege Meletius. But, instead of closing, he thereby widened, the Breach, the Meletians declaring, that they would never abandon a Bishop of their own Party, to acknowlege one of another, chosen without their Consent, or even their Knowlege[[1044]]. This unhappy Division, thus settled and confirmed between the Two Orthodox Parties in Antioch, did not continue long confined to that particular Church, but soon extended to the Church universal; some owning Meletius for lawful Bishop of Antioch, and others Paulinus. Athanasius communicated with Paulinus, and not with Meletius; and his Example was followed by the Bishops of Egypt, of Cyprus, and all the Bishops in the West[[1045]]. On the other hand, all the Orthodox Bishops in the East, except Athanasius, and those I have mentioned, espoused, with great Warmth, the Cause of Meletius[[1046]]. They all continued, however, notwithstanding this Disagreement, to communicate with each other, though with some Indifference and Coldness. The Ordination of Paulinus gave Rise to another Schism; for Eusebius of Vercelli, finding, on his Arrival at Antioch, all Hopes of an Accommodation cut off, and no room left for the Measures concerted and agreed to by the Council, immediately quitted the City, without communicating with either Party. This was condemning the Conduct of Lucifer; which he could not brook; and therefore, full of Resentment, he renounced the Communion of Eusebius, with whom he had hitherto lived in the greatest Intimacy, and suffered together with him a most painful Exile for the common Cause[[1047]].
St. Basil Bishop of
Cæsarea applies to
Damasus.
Basil Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, one of the great Lights of the Church, left nothing unattempted, which he apprehended could any-ways contribute to the reuniting of the Orthodox among themselves, and putting an End to the present Schism. But, despairing at last of Success, and finding the Prelates in the East all warmly engaged in the Dispute, some in favour of Meletius, and some of Paulinus, he resolved to apply to the Bishop of Rome, who had not yet declared for either of the Competitors, his Thoughts being wholly employed in securing his Dignity against a Competitor at Home. He writ therefore to Damasus, intreating him to dispatch Deputies into the East, who, in Concert with the Prelates there, inclined to an Accommodation, might settle the proper Means of accomplishing so desirable a Work, and uniting in Charity those, who were already united in Faith. He added, that it was from his Zeal alone they expected Relief, from that Zeal which he had made so eminently appear on other Occasions; that Dionysius, one of his Predecessors, had afforded them a seasonable Assistance, when their Wants were less pressing, and their Condition not so deplorable; and therefore that there was no room left to doubt of his readily conforming to so glorious an Example[[1048]]. With this Letter, and another from the Bishops in the East, soliciting the Advice, Assistance, and Mediation of their Collegues in the West, Dorotheus, Deacon of the Church of Antioch, was dispatched into Italy: whence he returned in the Beginning of the following Year 372. with an Answer from the Bishops of Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul[[1049]]. |The haughty Conduct
of Damasus resented
by St. Basil.| But Damasus did not condescend to return an Answer to Basil, or take the least Notice of his Letter; which haughty Conduct he justly resented, and in pretty sharp Terms, taxing Damasus, in one of his Letters[[1050]], with a Spirit of Pride and Vanity, which made him overlook other Bishops as below his Attention, and expect to be accosted by them with the meanest Flattery. But his thus disregarding the Request and Intreaties of the Bishop of Cæsarea, was not owing to his Pride alone. He was so little acquainted with the State of the Churches in the East, and what passed there, that he looked upon Eusebius Bishop of Samosata, and Meletius, with whom Basil lived in great Intimacy, as rank Arians, tho’ they both lived at that very time in Exile, having been driven from their Sees by the Arians, on account of the Zeal, which they had, with an invincible Firmness, exerted in Defence of the Orthodox Faith[[1051]]. The Bishop of Rome might, with very little Trouble, have been better informed; but his Mind, it seems, was so deeply engaged in worldly Affairs, and his Thoughts so taken up with State, Pomp, and Grandeur, that he was never at Leisure to mind those Matters, which justly claimed, and ought to have engrossed, his whole Attention. By him the Western Bishops were led into the same Mistake concerning Eusebius and Meletius; and hence the Backwardness they shewed to correspond with Basil, as if he designed to impose upon them, or was himself imposed upon by others. |St. Basil complains of
Damasus, and the
Western Bishops.| Of this Basil justly complained in a Letter he writ to Eusebius of Samosata. If the Wrath of God, says he, is in the End appeased, if Mercy takes place, what other Help do we stand in need of? But, if his Anger continues, what Relief will the Pride of the West afford us? They neither know the Truth, nor can they patiently bear it. They are ever prepossessed with idle Jealousies, ever swayed by groundless Surmises; and therefore act now the same Part they lately acted in the Case of Marcellinus; that is, they quarrel with those, who inform them of the Truth, and, being left to themselves, they introduce and establish Heresies. As for my own Part, I had once some Thoughts of writing a private Letter to their Chief (that is, to Damasus), and, waving all Mention of Church Affairs, only tell him, that they neither know what passes here, nor take the right Method to be informed; and that they ought not to oppress those who are already humbled by Affliction, nor mistake Pride for Dignity, since that Sin alone is capable of Setting a Man at Enmity with God[[1052]]. From these Words it is pretty plain, that the Notion of the Pope’s Infallibility was not yet broached, or at least was not yet known to Basil. The Bishop of the Metropolis of the Empire was deservedly looked upon, in regard of the Dignity of his See, as the Chief and Head of all the Western Bishops; and to him as such, not as an infallible and unerring Judge, the Eastern Bishops frequently applied in the Disputes, that happened to rise among them; so that all we can infer from their applying to him is, that his Authority bore a great Sway; which was owing to the Pre-eminence of his See, and not to any Power or Prerogative peculiar to him, and superior to others.
Damasus takes on him
the Office of Judge,
being only chosen
Mediator.
It was long ere Damasus could be brought to give any Attention to the Affairs of the East; and when he did, it was only to add Fewel to the Fire, which had lately begun to rage with great Violence. For, looking upon the Office of a bare Mediator, which alone had been offered him, as no-ways suitable to his Dignity, he arrogantly assumed that of a Judge, and not only acknowleged Paulinus for lawful Bishop of Antioch, but, misled by false and groundless Reports, declared Meletius a Transgressor of the Canons, an Intruder, a Schismatic, and even an Heretic[[1053]]; that Meletius, who had suffered Exile, and innumerable Hardships, in Defence of the Orthodox Faith, who was then revered all over the East, as a Man of extraordinary Sanctity, and is now honoured by the Church of Rome as a Saint of the first Class. |His Conduct con-
demned by St. Basil.| But his thus openly declaring in favour of Paulinus, his treating in such a base and unworthy manner one of the most eminent Prelates in the East, served only to engage the Followers of Meletius more warmly in his Cause; and the great Basil, among the rest, who could not help censuring the Conduct of Damasus as rash, partial, and injudicious: he even repented his having ever applied to him; for, in one of his Letters to Eusebius of Samosata, he expresses himself thus: The Saying of Diomedes occurs to my Mind; Intreaties are not to be used with Achilles, he is too haughty[[1054]]; and truly the more you flatter haughty and insolent Men, the more haughty and insolent they become[[1055]]. As no Regard was had to the Authority of Damasus, and the Western Bishops, who, following his Example, acknowleged Paulinus, and not Meletius, the Orthodox Bishops in the East not only continued divided among themselves, but a new Division arose between the Western Bishops, and those of the Party of Meletius, at the Head of which was Basil Bishop of Cæsarea. But, of these unhappy Divisions, so far as the Bishops of Rome were concerned in them, we shall have Occasion to speak hereafter.