Arius the Libyan: A Romance of the Primitive Church

by Nathan C. Kouns

"And I also!" said Eusebius of Cæsarea. "And I also!" said Maris of Chalcedon; and Theognis of Nicea; and Menophantes of Ephesus; and a score of other bishops, each in his turn pressing the old presbyter's hand. Then said the presbyter: "If your resolution hold, either the policy and craft of Constantine will deny us a death so glorious, or our martyrdom will of itself reinstate the kingdom of heaven in spite of the emperor. Let us rejoice, then, in hope of the triumph of the truth!"

And having thus quietly but unflinchingly made a covenant that, if the matter should be prosecuted to extremities against Arius, they would share his fate, and thereby furnish to the whole body of Christians throughout the world a most terrible and unanswerable protest against the council and the emperor, these devoted men calmly awaited the beginning of the struggle which they knew to be steadily approaching, although they were unable to determine from what quarter it would come.

CHAPTER IX.

"I HAVE NO SUPERIOR BUT CHRIST."

When the council met one morning, Athanasius produced and laughingly read a song, or hymn, which had been written and set to music by the Libyan, for the use of uneducated Christians at Alexandria, in order to enable them to memorize and keep in mind the doctrines of Christianity as he had understood them. This song was part of a little book entitled "Thalia," or "Songs of Joy," which the presbyter had written for sailors and others who had no certain means of attending regular religious services, and in it occurred the following expressions: "God was not always Father; once he was not Father; afterward he became Father; and his only-begotten is Jesus Christ our Lord."

And thereupon Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, moved the council to declare that this sentiment was heretical; and that the man who wrote it should be expelled from the Church of Christ; and Arius and his friends perceived that the struggle for the destruction of the presbyter had begun. For a while the council-hall was filled with clamorous and bitter denunciations of Arius: "The heretic!" "The atheist!" "The defamer of Christ!" "The polytheist!" "The pagan!" "The Libyan serpent!" "The ram of Baucalis!" and almost every other term of reproach which the vocabulary of ecclesiasticism could furnish, were shouted throughout the hall by the partisans of Constantine. Finally, the clamor seemed to wear itself out, and, order having been partially restored, Potammon of Hierapolis, a confessor whom the pagans had left blind and lame, straightened up himself and with great awkwardness and earnestness cried out: "Brethren, I was reared up in Central Africa, and know nothing of philosophy, but do try to serve the Lord, and to avoid all heresy and false doctrine. I have often sung this song, not knowing it was heresy, with my people! What is there wrong about the song, then? Do any of you deny that Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God? or that he is our Lord and Saviour? or will some of you now pretend to believe that the Son is older than the Father? What is wrong about the song?"

To the same effect spoke many of the friends of Arius; and Maris of Chalcedon said: "The Gospels uniformly call Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son of the Father, and I have never believed it necessary or proper to go any further than the simple, direct scriptural statement."

Finally, Eusebius of Nicomedia obtained a hearing, and, speaking calmly and soothingly, he said: "Brethren, the song which ye have heard read seems to be merely a metrical composition formed to aid the memory of those who were unable to read and write, and those who had no copy of the Scriptures, in keeping in mind certain scriptural phrases and doctrines; and I could not be led to suspect a great and pious presbyter of heresy upon such a cause as that. Let us proceed, then, decently and in order; and if ye would know truly what Arius hath taught as religion, call upon him to declare what he hath so taught. This seemeth to me to be the only fair and honorable course, worthy of a Christian assembly, if any one think there is cause to suppose that he hath taught anything contrary to Scripture."

This reasonable counsel at once prevailed with the greater number, and by a large vote they requested Arius to declare his teachings. Thereupon the old heretic arose, and in his strange, peculiar, fascinating tone and manner, spoke as follows: "Brethren, I have never taught anything concerning our Lord as religion, except that which is expressly laid down in the Scriptures; to wit, that Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God, the Saviour of the world. I do not know anything, and have never taught as articles of faith necessary to be believed, anything except what is thus expressly and definitively stated in the Gospels. Of course, like every man who thinks at all, I have meditated often and earnestly about the philosophy of the facts stated, and have formed in my own mind certain speculations in relation thereto which are satisfactory to mine own understanding, and I have not hesitated to declare these opinions in all proper times and places; but I have never said, at any time or place, that these merely philosophical speculations upon the nature of Deity were binding upon any man's conscience, or that they should be taught and believed as the rule of any man's faith and practice; because they have not been revealed or declared as such by the word of God. If any man allege that I have done otherwise, let him make the charge in writing and produce the proof, as was the custom at every Christian council in such cases that hath ever been held upon the motion of the bishops authorized to call a council, as at Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, in Pontus, Gaul, Mesopotamia, and Ephesus."

The presbyter said no more, but quietly resumed his seat, and the calm, grave, and reasonable manner in which he had met and disposed of the vociferations which had assailed him, in the opinion of nearly all, left no course to be pursued with decency except to present written charges against him, and offer proofs thereof. But such a course did not by any means suit the purposes of those who were resolved upon his ruin; and Athanasius, who at all times was able to command a respectful hearing at the hands of the assembly, without seeming to notice the challenge thrown down by the Libyan, said in his own winning and seemingly respectful way: "Hast thou not publicly and customarily, in thy Baucalis church, in Alexandria, preached things that were contrary to the views of the Bishop Alexander--contrary to his interpretation of the Scriptures, for which he did order that thou be suspended from thy ministry; and didst not thou pertinaciously refuse to obey his episcopal order, and obstinately persevere in proclaiming thine abominable heresies? Wilt thou now deny this?"