The first matter which came before this august assembly was the question whether the Christian passover ("Easter") should be celebrated on the same day with the Jewish (the fourteenth day of the month Nisan), or on the following Sunday. And the bitter feeling of many of the Christians that "the celebration of it on the same day that was kept by the wicked race that put the Saviour to death was an impious absurdity," on one side, and the reverence on the other side for a custom which had come down from the apostles, gave rise to a long controversy on the subject; but it was finally "determined by common consent" that the ancient custom should be set aside, and the more recent Christian practice established.
During these proceedings, Arius the Libyan took no part whatever in the discussions or business of the council, but sat as a quiet and attentive spectator of their deliberations. Many of them, knowing his great erudition and holy character, consulted him privately, and he fully gave them the benefit of his learning and opinions. Arius was now sixty years of age, and was greatly changed from the bright and happy youth whom we knew at Baucalis; greatly changed even from the broken-hearted but ever-diligent, earnest, and eloquent presbyter of the earlier years of his ministry at Alexandria. "He is tall and thin, apparently unable to support his stature; he has an odd way of contorting and twisting himself, which his enemies compare to the wrigglings of a snake. He would be handsome, but for the emaciation and deadly pallor of his face, and a downcast look imparted by a weakness of eye-sight. At times his veins throb and swell, and his limbs tremble, as if suffering from some violent internal complaint, the same, perhaps, that will terminate one day in his sudden and frightful death. There is a wild look about him, that is at first sight startling. His dress and demeanor are those of a rigid ascetic. He wears a long coat with short sleeves, such as the monks wore to indicate that their hands were not made for injury, and a scarf of only half size, such as was the mark of an austere life; and his hair hangs in tangled masses about his head. He is usually silent, but at times breaks out into fierce excitement, such as will give the impression of madness. Yet with all this there is a sweetness in his voice, and a winning, earnest manner, which fascinate those who come across him. Among the religious ladies of Alexandria he is said to have had from the first a following of not less than seven hundred. This strange, captivating, moon-struck giant is the heretic Arius, or, as his adversaries call him, the madman of Ares, or Mars": and the description given here of him is not that of a partisan of his own, but of a Trinitarian ecclesiastic.
Many sittings of the council passed, day after day, in which the paschal controversy, the Melitian schism, and other matters of a theological character, were discussed and determined, but the heretic remained utterly silent. He was ever ready to give aid, advice, counsel, and furnish references to authorities, to those who applied to him, but not once did he open his lips to speak to the assembly. But the purpose of Constantine to crush him wavered not, and the emperor had one rare quality--he knew how to wait.
One evening, after the close of the council's daily session, the ancient Bishop Alexander, accompanied by his young Archdeacon Athanasius, was proceeding toward his lodgings, when Marcellus, the Bishop of Ancyra, accosted him: "Hail, bishop! From what thou didst tell me of his fierce, aggressive nature, I am astonished to find that the Libyan madman continueth so quiet. How is it that thou hast called him vehement, fierce, eloquent, and controversial?"
"He hath some secret end in view," replied the bishop, "and I can not fathom his purposes. But on to-morrow, Athanasius, who speaketh for me in the council, shall provoke him to some reply, and thou mayst then judge of his quiet disposition for thyself."
"Good enough," said Marcellus. "No man can pick a quarrel with an oyster that keepeth its shell closed."
CHAPTER VII.
THE SUBVERSION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
On the next meeting of the council, Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, offered a resolution that the Church should make a decree requiring all the married clergy to separate from their wives and lead lives of celibacy. Some objected to this, on the ground that the practice of the Church had never prohibited the marriage of clergymen of any rank; others insisted on adopting the rule, because clerical marriages, besides other inconveniences, would tend to make the office of bishop an hereditary one, and so elevate improper persons to that sacred place. But the chief opposition "came from a most unexpected quarter. From among the Egyptian bishops stepped out into the midst, looking out of his one remaining eye, and halting on his paralyzed leg, the old hermit-confessor, Paphnutius. With a roar of indignation rather than a speech, he broke into the debate: 'Lay not this heavy yoke on the clergy. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. By exaggerated strictness you will do the Church more harm than good. All can not bear such an ascetic rule. The wives themselves will suffer from it. Marriage itself is continence. It is enough for a man to keep from marriage after he has been ordained, according to the ancient custom, but do not separate him from the wife whom once for all he married when he was a layman!'
"His speech produced a profound impression. His own austere life and unblemished celibacy gave force to every word he uttered."