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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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100 Pages
Page 42
35. Give us notice therefore of this, dearly beloved, that we may write both to them, and to the Bishops who will have again to assemble, so that the accused may be condemned in the presence of all, and confusion no longer prevail in the Churches. What has already taken place is enough: it is enough surely that Bishops have been sentenced to banishment in the presence of Bishops; of which it behoves me not to speak at length, lest I appear to press too heavily on those who were present on those occasions. But if one must speak the truth, matters ought not to have proceeded so far; their petty feeling ought not to have been suffered to reach the present pitch. Let us grant the "removal," as you write, of Athanasius and Marcellus, from their own places, yet what must one say of the case of the other Bishops and Presbyters who, as I said before, came hither from various parts, and who complained that they also had been forced away, and had suffered the like injuries? O beloved, the decisions of the Church are no longer according to the Gospel, but tend only to banishment and death [581] . Supposing, as you assert, that some offence rested upon those persons, the case ought to have been conducted against them, not after this manner, but according to the Canon of the Church. Word should have been written of it to us all [582] , that so a just sentence might proceed from all. For the sufferers were Bishops, and Churches of no ordinary note, but those which the Apostles themselves had governed in their own persons [583] .
[581] Hist. Arian. S:67.
[582] Coustant in loc. fairly insists on the word "all," as shewing that S. Julius does not here claim the prerogative of judging by himself all Bishops whatever, and that what follows relates merely to the Church of Alexandria.
[583] St. Peter (Greg. M. Epist. vii. Ind. 15. 40.) or St. Mark (Leo Ep. 9.) at Alexandria. St. Paul at Ancyra in Galatia (Tertull. contr. Marcion. iv. 5.) vid. Coustant. in loc.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/defence-against-arians.asp?pg=42
