being types for the people, and overthrowing this strange and alien A device of the impious, you shall have the boast, saying: We have kept the faith; and you shall receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. And may it be that I too, with you, may inherit the promises, which were spoken not only to Paul, but also to all those who have loved the appearing of our Lord, and Savior, and God, and supreme King, Jesus Christ, through whom to the Father be the glory and the power in the Holy Spirit, both now and unto all ages of ages. Amen.
ADMONITION CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING APOLOGY
I. The *Apology to the Emperor Constantius*, if you look at the strength of its arguments, is most powerful; if at its wit and grace, most elegant; if at the variety of its contents, most delightful, and it is rightfully deemed to be among the chief works of Athanasius. For because Athanasius was about to recite it before Constantius, as is evident from many passages in it, he elaborated it with great care. However, because all access to Constantius had been cut off by the stratagems of the Arians, it was not granted to Athanasius, although he made the journey several times, to meet the Emperor, as he himself testifies toward the end of this Apology. Wherefore, since it was sent to Constantius himself, it is unknown whether it ever reached him or was intercepted by the Arians. Furthermore, it is most certain that it was written at the beginning of the last persecution by Constantius, shortly after the flight of Athanasius; and therefore we refer it without doubt to the year 356. Moreover, the first part of it was written before the Paschal feast of that same year, as is evident from Athanasius’s own words, and the latter part after that solemnity.
II. Athanasius wrote it to repel the various calumnies of the Arians, which had been brought to Constantius by them. For those implacable adversaries of Athanasius had fabricated these accusations: 1° That Athanasius had incited the Emperor Constans against his brother Constantius; 2° that he had sent letters to the tyrant Magnentius, to whom, they claimed, he was very much devoted; 3° that he had held assemblies in the church called the *Kyriakon*, or Lord’s house, before the building was completed and before the dedication of that temple had been celebrated; 4° that when granted leave by Constantius to approach him, he had not complied, and had refused to depart from Alexandria. Athanasius most powerfully refutes all these calumnies, often bringing forward eyewitnesses as testimony to his innocence, so that no suspicion of the crimes imputed to him might remain.
III. We refrain, moreover, both in this admonition and in the notes, from those serious and complicated questions that concern the deeds and chronology of Athanasius: for they are more conveniently investigated in the *Life of Athanasius*.