.—Letter of Julius to the Eusebians at Antioch.
Eusebius and his fellows wrote also to Julius, and thinking to frighten me, requested him to call a council, and to be himself the judge, if he so pleased. When therefore I went up to Rome, Julius wrote to Eusebius and his fellows as was suitable, and sent moreover two of his own Presbyters, Elpidius and Philoxenus. But they, when they heard of me, were thrown into confusion, as not expecting my going up thither; and they declined the proposed Council, alleging unsatisfactory reasons for so doing, but in truth they were afraid lest the things should be proved against them which Valens and Ursacius afterwards confessed. However, more than fifty Bishops assembled, in the place where the Presbyter Vito held his congregation; and they acknowledged my defence, and gave me the confirmation both of their communion and their love. On the other hand, they expressed great indignation against Eusebius and his fellows, and requested that Julius would write to the following effect to those of their number who had written to him. Which accordingly he did, and sent it by the hand of Count Gabianus.
The Letter of Julius.
Julius to his dearly beloved brethren, Danius, Flacillus, Narcissus, Eusebius, Maris, Macedonius, Theodorus, and their friends, who have written to me from Antioch, sends health in the Lord.
21. I have read your letter
which was brought to me by my Presbyters Elpidius and Philoxenus, and I
am surprised to find that, whereas I wrote to you in charity and with
conscious sincerity, you have replied to me in an unbecoming and
contentious temper; for the pride and arrogance of the writers is
plainly exhibited in that letter. Yet such feelings are inconsistent
with the Christian faith; for what was written in a charitable spirit
ought likewise to be answered in a spirit of charity and not of
contention. And was it not a token of charity to send Presbyters to
sympathize with them that are in suffering, and to desire those who had
written to me to come thither, that the questions at issue might obtain
a speedy settlement, and all things be duly ordered, so that our
brethren might no longer be exposed to suffering, and that you might
escape further calumny? But something seems to shew that your temper is
such, as to force us to conclude that even in the terms in which you
appeared to pay honour to us, you have expressed yourselves under the
disguise of irony. The Presbyters also whom we sent to you, and who
ought to have returned rejoicing, did on the contrary return sorrowful
on account of the proceedings they had witnessed among you. And I, when
I had read your letter, after much consideration, kept it to myself, thinking that after all some of you would come, and there would be no need to bring it forward, lest if it should be openly exhibited, it should grieve many of our brethren here. But when no one arrived, and it became necessary that the letter should be produced, I declare to you, they were all astonished, and were hardly able to believe that such a letter had been written by you at all; for it is expressed in terms of contention rather than of charity.
Now if the author of it wrote with an ambition of
exhibiting his power of language, such a practice surely is more
suitable for other subjects: in ecclesiastical matters, it is not a
display of eloquence that is needed, but the observance of Apostolic
Canons, and an earnest care not to offend one of the little ones of the
Church. For it were better for a man, according to the word of the
Church, that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the sea, than that he should offend even one of the little
ones. But if such a letter was written, because
certain persons have been aggrieved on account of their meanness of
spirit towards one another (for I will not impute it to all); it were
better not to entertain any such feeling of offence at all, at least
not to let the sun go down upon their vexation; and certainly not to
give it room to exhibit itself in writing.
