Arrangement was effected between them by which all the exiled bishops returned, and Athanasius came back to his flock. Athanasius asserts that the final act at Jerusalem had been Eusebius's aim all along; all the accusations against himself had tended to get him out of the road in order that the rehabilitation of the Arians might be effected. By the time Constantine dedicated Nova Roma, the controversy was in full swing. Eusebius wanted him no further, and hence did not care to protect him. The synods was tumultuous, and even the Count Dionysius, who had come with soldiers to support the Eusebians thought the proceedings unfair. This was to be consummated at length at Constantinople, but the designs of man were frustrated by the hand of God. He was convicted, not without grounds, of Sabellianizing, and took refuge in Rome. It remains a mystery how so many well-meaning bishops were deceived into condemning Athanasius. The Meletian schism, in Egypt, had only been partially healed by the mild measures decreed at Nicæa, and the schismatics were giving trouble. At Tyre he had refused to condemn Athanasius, and he presented a book to the emperor in which the Eusebians received harsh words. He was bishop of the imperial city, and the young emperor obeyed his counsels. He may really have believed Arian doctrine, but clearly his chief aim had ever been his own aggrandizement, and the humiliation of those who had humbled him at Nicæa. And when the Emperor, his thoughts poisoned towards Athanasius by Eusebius of Nicomedia and others, ordered the Bishop of Alexandria to readmit Arius to the communion of that church, Athanasius refused. For Eusebius had not contented himself with Nicomedia, now that it was no longer the capital, but managed to get St. Paul of Constantinople exiled once more, and had seized upon that see, which was evidently, in his view, to be set above Alexandria or Antioch, and to be in very deed a second Rome. As a result several months after the council Constantine exiled Eusebius and Arius, Also, he sent Theognis, … The campaign opened with a successful attack on Eustathius of Antioch, the principal prelate of the East properly so called. This was exactly what the … Eusebius of Nicomedia was among the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed, although he did not agree to the condemnation of Arius, whom Eusebius considered as having been misrepresented. The Arians, who were ready to disguise their doctrine to some extent, were therefore able to obtain from him a favor, which he denied to the few uncompromising Catholics who rejected his generalities. But they thought that they ought not to take a secondary place because they had less great and populous churches, since they were superior in virtue and intention. Contact information. And when the Emperor, his thoughts poisoned in opposition to Athanasius by Eusebius of Nicomedia and others, ordered the Bishop of Alexandria to readmit Arius to the communion of that church, Athanasius refused. Noté /5. He was a pupil at Antioch of Lucian the Martyr, in whose famous school he learned his Arian doctrines. ; GWATKIN, Studies of Arianism 2nd ed. If Epiphanius is right in calling him an old man even before Nicæa he must now have reached a great age. Constantine was induced by Eusebius to write to Athanasius curtly telling him he should be deposed, if he refused to receive into the Church any who demanded to be received. The great see of Alexandria was filled in 328 by the deacon Athanasius, who had taken a leading part in Nicæa. The situation changed when Constantine had conquered Licinius in 323. His accusers took good care not to appear. Though he had signed the creed, he had not agreed to the condemnation of Arius, who had been, so he said, misrepresented; and after the council he encouraged in their heresy some Arians whom Constantine had invited to Constantinople with a view to their conversion. The Egyptian bishops had drawn up a protest, attributing all that had been done at Tyre to a conspiracy between Eusebius and the Meletians and Arians, the enemies of the Church. He had hoped, he says, to cover the matter in silence, "but Eusebius, who is now at Nicomedia, considering the Church's affairs to be in his hands, because he has not been condemned for having left Berytus and for having coveted the Church of Nicomediam is the leader of these apostates, and has sent round a document in their support, in order that he might seduce some of the ignorant into this disgraceful heresy. The banishment of Athanasius came after a series of synods and events largely attended and controlled by Arian prelates. Eusebius of Nicomedia. The Alexandrian Arians had now signed an ambiguous formula of submission, and Eusebius of Nicomedia wrote to Athanasius, asking him to reinstate them, adding a verbal message of threats. The saint returned to his Church with a letter from Constantine, in which the emperor sermonized the Alexandrians after his wont, urging them to peace and unity. . Eusebius, and of these at least forty were contemporaries of our author. December 6, 2020 art4341 Leave a comment. While at the imperial court, Eusebius increased his popularity with the members of the imperial family. Influence in the Imperial family as well as the Imperial court He was later appointed the bishopric of Nicomedia around 317, which was about the same time that Licinius took up residence in the city. The Meletian schism, in Egypt, had only been partially healed by the mild measures decreed at Nicæa, and the schjismatics were giving trouble. A deputation was sent to Mareotis to inquire into the question of Ischyras and the chalice, and the chief enemies of Athanasius were chosen for the purpose. More than this, it may be said that the world suffers to this day from the evil wrought by this worldly bishop.