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Translated by Cardinal Newman.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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70 Pages
Page 50
56. The great Church pillaged.
After this, that they might fully execute the orders they had received (for this was what they earnestly desired, and what the Count and the Receiver-General instructed them to do), they seized upon the seats, the throne, and the table which was of wood [1693] , and the curtains [1694] of the Church, and whatever else they were able, and carrying them out burnt them before the doors in the great street, and cast frankincense upon the flame. Alas! who will not weep to hear of these things, and, it may be, close his ears, that he may not have to endure the recital, esteeming it hurtful merely to listen to the account of such enormities? Moreover they sang the praises of their idols, and said, 'Constantius hath become a heathen, and the Arians have acknowledged our customs;' for indeed they scruple not even to pretend heathenism, if only their heresy may be established. They even were ready to sacrifice a heifer which drew the water for the gardens in the Caesareum [1695] ; and would have sacrificed it, had it not been a female [1696] ; for they said that it was unlawful for such to be offered among them.
57. Thus acted the impious [1697] Arians in conjunction with the heathens, thinking that these things tended to our dishonour. But Divine justice reproved their iniquity, and wrought a great and remarkable sign, thereby plainly shewing to all men, that as in their acts of impiety they had dared to attack none other but the Lord, so in these proceedings also they were again attempting to do dishonour unto Him. This was more manifestly proved by the marvellous event which now came to pass. One of these licentious youths ran into the Church, and ventured to sit down upon the throne; and as he sat there the wretched man uttered with a nasal sound some lascivious song. Then rising up he attempted to pull away the throne, and to drag it towards him; he knew not that he was drawing down vengeance upon himself. For as of old the inhabitants of Azotus, when they ventured to touch [1698] the Ark, which it was not lawful for them even to look upon, were immediately destroyed by it, being first grievously tormented by emerods; so this unhappy person who presumed to drag the throne, drew it upon himself, and, as if Divine justice had sent the wood to punish him, he struck it into his own bowels; and instead of carrying out the throne, he brought out by his blow his own entrails; so that the throne took away his life, instead of his taking it away. For, as it is [1699] written of Judas, his bowels gushed out; and he fell down and was carried away, and the day after he died. Another also entered the Church with boughs of trees [1700] and, as in the Gentile manner he waved them in his hands and mocked, he was immediately struck with blindness, so as straightway to lose his sight, and to know no longer where he was; but as he was about to fall, he was taken by the hand and supported by his companions out of the place, and when on the following day he was with difficulty brought to his senses, he knew not either what he had done or suffered in consequence of his audacity.
[1693] Vid. Fleury's Church History, xxii. 7. p. 129, note k. [Oxf. tr. 1843.] By specifying the material, Athan. implies that altars were sometimes not of wood. [cf. D.C.A. 61 sq.]
[1694] Curtains were at the entrance, and before the chancel. vid. Bingh. Antiqu. viii. 6. S:8. Hofman. Lex. in voc. velum. also Chrysost. Hom. iii. in Eph.
[1695] The royal quarter in Alexandria, vid. Apol. Const. 15. In other Palatia an aqueduct was necessary, e.g. vid. Cod. Theod. xv. 2. even at Daphne, though it abounded in springs, ibid. 1, 2.
[1696] Vid. Herodot. ii. 41. who says that cows and heifers were sacred to Isis. vid. Jablonski Pantheon Aeg. i. 1. S:15. who says that Isis was worshipped in the shape of a cow, and therefore the cows received divine honours. Yet bulls were sacrificed to Apis, ibid. iv. 2. S:9. vid. also Schweighaeuser in loc. Herod.
[1697] Vid. note on de Decr. S:1. This is a remarkable instance of the special and technical sense of the words, eusebeia, asebountes, &c. being here contrasted with pagan blasphemy, &c.
[1698] 1 Sam. 5, 6.
[1699] Acts i. 18.
[1700] [meta thallon; phallon 'pro vera lectione probabiliter haberi posse arbitror.' Montf. Coll. Nov. t. ii.]
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/history-arians.asp?pg=50
