Peter II, Bishop of Alexandria

ANNO DOMINI CCCLXXXI. PETRUS II ALEXANDRINUS EPISCOPUS. NOTITIA.

(Galland. Veterum Patrum Biblioth., tom. VII, Proleg. p. ix, et p. 337.)

I. In the year of our Lord 372, according to the opinion of Baronius (a), which Renaudot follows (b) and Fontanini vigorously defends (c), Peter II of this name took possession of the Alexandrian see. However, concerning the year of the death of Athanasius and the ordination of Peter, his successor, I am not unaware that very learned men—Noris (d), Pagi (e), Tillemont (f), and Montfaucon (g)—have held a different view, fixing the year at 373. Their opinion is confirmed in no small measure by the authority of an anonymous author, published not long ago, who, having diligently investigated Athanasian matters (h), reports that that holy doctor fell asleep in the consulship of Valentinian and Valens, on the fifth of the nones of May. And a little later, toward the end, and most pertinent to our subject, he adds: "Athanasius having died on the fifth of that month, five days before his falling asleep he ordained (or rather designated) Peter, one of the older presbyters, as bishop, who in all things followed his governance in the episcopate." ^A Scarcely had Peter been placed in the pontifical chair when, having launched an assault, the Arians invaded the church and handed it over to a certain Lucius, an Arian, to be plundered. At that time, in fact, shortly after he had been elected, he sent synodical letters to Damasus, the Roman pontiff, in which he signified to him his ordination in the customary manner, and recounted the persecutions of the Arians by which he was being harassed. Further, responding to these letters, Damasus sent to Peter, through a certain deacon of the city of Rome, letters of both consolation and communion, [gr. text omitted]. Indeed, we are well enough informed of this matter from the encyclical letter of the same Peter concerning the events that occurred at Alexandria under the author Lucius, which is placed below.

II. But having sent these, Peter was deemed truly worthy to take the place of Athanasius: for he had been, according to the testimony of Basil (i), his disciple and one who had enjoyed a long association with him, "being the nursling of such a man and having shared a life of long standing with him"; so much so that, says Theodoret (k), he accompanied that blessed pontiff both at home and abroad, and underwent various dangers with him for the sake of the faith. On account of this, Athanasius himself, when he was about to die, designated him as his successor by his own vote, and his election was approved by all men, both of the priestly order and by the magistrates and honorable men.

III. ^B Moreover, if one is to trust Socrates (m) and Sozomen (n), our Alexandrian prelate was cast into prison by the Arians; though concerning this matter, with Theodoret and especially Rufinus—who was then living in Egypt—being silent, one might perhaps rightly have doubts, along with Tillemont (o). It seems rather to be thought that Peter, while the persecution of the Arians was raging, had hidden himself in the city of Alexandria, having imitated the example of his predecessor Athanasius, whereby he might cherish and confirm the flock committed to him; where he also wrote that excellent letter mentioned a little earlier, in which he accurately describes the tyranny of the pseudo-bishop Lucius the Arian and his followers. ^C This letter, as we understand from Socrates (p), he directed to all the churches everywhere, and Theodoret integrated it into his history (q); hence, according to the purpose of our undertaking, having extracted it, we present it below.

IV. Meanwhile, while at Alexandria confusion was being caused by the Arians...

Petrus Il Episcopi Alexandrini. [The historical account of Peter of Alexandria... from the top of the page...]

...everything, Peter departed from that city, in the year which seems to be the following one, 373, and having boarded a ship for Rome, he proceeded to Pope Damasus. There, indeed, to speak with Gregory of Nazianzus ^A, "when the East saw the tragedy, the West also wept," and the fugitive prelate publicly set forth the signs of this brutality for all to behold. For in place of the corpses, he brought forth the bloodstained garments to the Church of Rome, and by this silent accusation moved every man to tears; so that he might fasten the magnitude of the calamity before their eyes and sight, and obtain help, just as we know he did indeed obtain it. Furthermore, that Peter tarried at Rome until the beginning of the year 378 is discovered from the fact that in that very year he was present at the Roman synod celebrated under Damasus against Apollinaris, as the same Damasus writes in a synodical letter. But at the beginning of this year ^B, the learned Coutantius, to whom we refer the reader, demonstrates that that council was convened. But soon after the Roman council was celebrated, Peter seems to have returned to Alexandria, and indeed with letters from Damasus, as Socrates testifies, through which he confirmed both the faith of the consubstantial and the ordination of Peter. From this same historian we also understand that our Alexandrian prelate had returned to his see before the Emperor Valens, departing from Antioch, set out for Constantinople for the Gothic war. But in that same year, Valens perished on the fifth day before the Ides of August, as the same Socrates and Idacius in the *Fasti* relate. Regarding the rest of Peter's deeds, I would have you consult Baronius above all others, and Tillemont. After he had presided for eight years, he finally closed his last day at the end of the year 380, or, at the latest, at the beginning of 381.

PETRI II EPISCOPI ALEXANDRINI EX EPISTOLA ENCYCLICA: DE HIS QUÆ ALEXANDRIÆ GESTA SUNT AUCTORE LUCIO.

FROM THE ENCYCLICAL EPISTLE OF PETER II, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA: CONCERNING THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE DONE AT ALEXANDRIA BY THE AUTHOR LUCIUS.

(In Theodoret, *Hist. eccl.*, book IV, chapter 22.)

I. Palladius, the governor of the province, a pagan in his sect and a constant worshiper of idols, who had often trained himself for waging war against Christ, having gathered the aforementioned multitude, made an assault upon the Church, just as if he were hastening to subdue barbarians. Then, truly, the most terrible deeds were perpetrated. Which, when I merely wished to recount, the memory of them brought me such pain that I poured forth an immense flood of tears. And I would have remained in that state for a very long time, had I not curbed my grief with divine reflection. For the multitude, having entered the church which they call Theona's, in place of serious words, sang the praises of idols; instead of the reading of the holy Scriptures, they employed indecent clappings of hands and voices broken with obscenity; and finally, they offered such insults against the virgins of Christ, ^D which the tongue cannot even bear to utter; for the very pronunciation is shameful. Indeed, whoever among prudent men merely heard these things immediately stopped up his ears, and chose rather to be deaf than to hear their obscenity with his own ears. But would that they had been content to sin only with words, and that they had not overcome the indecency of their words by their deeds!

^A These men, then, being vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, turning up their noses, and letting forth, if I may so speak, long streams of obscenity from their nostrils as if from a conduit, tore apart the garb of the holy virgins of Christ, whose ascetic life reflected the likeness of the holy angels. As nature dictates, they led them naked through the whole city, mocking them with wantonness as they pleased. Everything was truly savage and unheard-of; and if anyone, moved by pity for these things, tried to restrain them and use words of exhortation, he departed wounded. But, alas for these disasters! Many underwent violent violation of their bodies; many of the virgins, while their heads were being beaten with clubs, remained lifeless, their bodies not being permitted even to be delivered for burial. ^B Thus, even to this day, while their parents bewail them, their bodies are not found.

II. But why do I relate minor matters in comparison with greater ones? Why do I linger on these, and not press on vigorously to the urgent things? Upon these, I well know that you will marvel, and you will remain stunned with us for a long time, bewildered that the Lord of philanthropy did not utterly destroy everything. For that which, according to the Scripture, has neither happened nor been heard of in the days of our fathers, these impious ones committed upon the very altar itself. For as on the stage of a wanton theater, they made a boy who had denied the male nature and desired the female—having his eyes painted and anointed with stibium, and his face reddened with rouge, as their own idols are accustomed to be—to dance in female attire upon the very holy altar where we invoke the advent of the Holy Spirit.

^A With circular gyrations, and gesturing with their hands hither and thither, they made him dance, laughing loudly and uttering lawless cries. Others, thinking that this also served for disorder, and deeming past impieties to be decorous rather than wicked, took one from their own number, a person of the most notorious depravity, who had stripped off his shame along with his garment; they placed him, naked just as he was born, upon the throne of the church, and declared him an infamous preacher against Christ. For in place of divine words, he offered filth; for weighty utterances, petulance; for piety, impiety; for continence, he taught that fornication, adultery, pederasty, theft, and eating and drinking—things useful for human life—were, among other things, becoming.

III. ^B Since these things were so, and I had withdrawn from the church (for how could I not have left, when there were incursions of soldiers, when a rabble had been bought with money to create a tumult, when coins were being distributed, and a multitude of Gentiles had been enticed to be present by grand promises?), there was sent, supposedly, our successor—one who had purchased the episcopate as a secular magistracy—a certain Lucius, a man intent on emulating the wickedness and deeds of a wolf. He was not chosen by a synod of orthodox bishops, nor by the vote of legitimate clergy, nor by the request of the people, as the laws of the Church require. Accompanying him (for his entry into the city could not have been simple) were no bishops, no presbyters or deacons, no multitude of the people; no monks went before him, chanting hymns drawn from the Scriptures. ^C Instead, there was Euzoius—who had formerly been deposed along with Arius while he was a deacon of our Alexandria at the holy and great synod of Nicaea, but who was now devastating the Church of the Antiochenes with his rule—and also the count of the comitatensian largesses, Magnus by name, leading with him an immeasurable multitude of soldiers—a man known to be a standard-bearer in every impiety. In the times of Julian, he had burned the church of the Berytians (a famous city of the Phoenicians), but in the days of Jovian of blessed memory, he was compelled to restore it at his own expense, and he had narrowly escaped being beheaded, had he not attained the emperor's clemency through the lobbying and mediation of many.

IV. ^D Hence, therefore, your zeal ought to consider—I exhort you to rouse yourselves to redress these things—what and how great are the crimes that have been committed against the Church of God, since such a tyrant as the one mentioned above has risen up against us. For immediately he, by your piety and by all everywhere

^A Lucius, who was often condemned by the orthodox, entered this city, which was justly ill-disposed toward him. For he did not merely say, like the accursed fool in the Psalms, "Christ is not truly God," but he was himself corrupted and corrupted others in his practices, rejoicing in the blasphemies which are cast against Christ by those who worship the creature rather than the Creator. For is it not so, when that scoundrel, holding opinions akin and close to the Gentiles, dares to worship a recent god? For in his presence they shouted these praises: "Welcome, bishop, you who deny the Son! Serapis, who loves you, has brought you here," pointing to their own ancestral idol.

For immediately, without a single moment of time intervening, the aforementioned Magnus, the inseparable companion of his impiety, a bitter henchman and most cruel satrap, having gathered the crowds placed under his care and guidance, arrested nineteen presbyters and deacons, some of whom had exceeded their eightieth year, ^B and as if they had been caught in some abominable crime contrary to the Roman laws, he appointed a public trial. Being himself ignorant of the virtues of the Christian laws, he compelled them to betray the ancestral faith handed down to us through the Fathers by a continuous succession from the Apostles, asserting that this would be most pleasing to the most benevolent Augustus Valens. "Agree, wretches," he would shout with a great cry, "agree to the opinion of the Arians, agree. For although the religion which you cultivate is true, God will nevertheless pardon you, since you did this not of your own accord, but compelled by necessity. For an excuse is always left for necessity, but accusation follows free will." Having these arguments, therefore, before your eyes, with all hesitation cast aside, come eagerly to subscribe to the Arian dogma, which Lucius now proclaims ^C in plain terms. And hold it for certain that if you obey, you will obtain money, resources, and honors from the emperors; but if you refuse, you will undergo imprisonment, torments, interrogations, scourges, and tortures; and being despoiled of all your money and possessions, and exiled from your homeland, you will be condemned to dwell in desolate and inhospitable places.

V. But this noble man, tempering his threats with fraud ^D and enticements, was both urging and compelling all to depart from their pious conviction.

^A But they, judging the betrayal of piety to be more bitter than any torture—as indeed it is—compelled to respond to him, answered with these words, trampling upon his fraud and his threats alike with virtue and noble courage: "Cease at last, cease to terrify us with these words; refrain from uttering vain things. For we neither worship a newly-arrived nor a recent God; and even if you foam in vain like the waves of the sea, and rush upon us like a violent wind, we shall cling to the doctrines of piety until death. We have never believed God to be lacking in power, or lacking in wisdom, or without truth; nor have we ever supposed that He was at one time Father, and at another time not Father, as does this impious Arian, regarding the Son as temporal or created in time. For if the Son is a creature, as the Ariomanites say, and not consubstantial with the Father, then the Father also will be reduced to nothing, since, according to them, if the Son does not exist, the Father did not exist at some time. ^B But if He is always Father, clearly with the true offspring from Him existing, and not by way of a flow—for God is without passion—how can he who says of the Son, 'There was when He was not,' not be mindless and insane, when by Him all things which exist were brought into being by grace? Our Fathers, therefore, from the whole world, from whom these men have fallen away and have justly become bastards, gathering in Nicaea, having anathematized the perverse opinion of Arius, which this younger man now supports—they did not say, as you now compel us to say, that the Son of the Father is of another substance, but of the same substance; correctly understanding this with a pious mind, from a gathering of many divine words into one, they confessed Him to be consubstantial."

^C VI. When they had spoken these and similar things, he kept them in prison for many days, thinking that by this act he would lead them away from their pious conviction. But they, rather, like the most noble athletes in an arena, having extinguished all fear, arming themselves with the valiant deeds of the Fathers performed by divine reason, held a more courageous mind concerning piety, deeming their tortures a gymnasium of virtue. Thus, then, as they struggled, and became a spectacle, as the blessed Paul writes, to both angels and men, the whole city ran out to see the athletes of Christ, who were overcoming the scourges of the torturing judge by their endurance, and were raising trophies of patience against impiety, and demonstrating triumphs over the Arians. And this bitter enemy, having subjected them… ^D

^A to threats and deceit, believed he would deliver them over to their persecutors. Weary, therefore, in inflicting the torments which he kept devising, as the whole populace frequently groaned and lamented, this cruel man, alien to every sense of humanity, again assembled the unruly crowds accustomed to rioting, and summoned them to the court—or rather, to a pre-arranged condemnation—near the city harbor, while the Gentiles and Jews, as was their custom, were shouting many acclamations against them for great pay. And when they would not yield to the manifest impiety of the Arianizers, he pronounced the sentence, while the crowds were lamenting before the judgment seat, that they should depart from Alexandria and dwell in Heliopolis of Phoenicia, where not one of the inhabitants can bear even to hear the name of Christ; for they are all idolaters. ^B Straightway, therefore, having ordered them to board a ship, he himself stood at the harbor (for he had determined the condemnation against them nearby in a public bath), displaying his unsheathed sword, thinking that by this he would terrify those who had often wounded the hostile demons with the two-edged sword. In such a way, then, he commands them to sail, provided with no supplies, having absolutely no consolation for enduring their exile. And what is wonderful and incredible is that the sea was foaming, and, I think, indignant on this account, and could not bear, if I may so speak, to become an accomplice and participant in an unjust command through the reception of these men. For it made clear, even to those who did not know it, the barbarous disposition of the one who had judged them.

VII. ^C It may then be truly said: The heaven was astonished at this. For the whole city groaned, and to this very day it mourns. And some were sending forth a long sound from their chests, striking themselves again and again with their hands; others were raising their hands and eyes together to heaven, protesting against the violence, saying almost just this: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the things being done are lawless.” And, in short, everything was filled with lamentation, and songs, and a dirge was dancing throughout the whole city, and a river of tears, almost covering the sea with a flood, suddenly came upon everyone. When, therefore, the aforementioned man, standing at the harbor, was ordering the rowers to hoist the sails, then a mingled wailing of virgins and women, of elders and young men, and dirges mingled with sharp tears, and the cries of all, drowned out the sound of the foaming sea beating against the rocks [or: waves] ^D with the sound of the winds.

^A While the aforementioned were sailing in this manner to Heliopolis—a city where all are idol-worshippers, where the devil’s practices for the sake of pleasure abound, and where the horrendous dwellings of wild beasts are found (for it is surrounded on all sides by mountains that reach up to the heavens)—all who remained in the midst of the city publicly and privately lamented. Each one individually poured forth words of mourning, yet they were not even permitted to weep, by order of the city’s prefect, Palladius, who was himself most addicted to idol-worship. For many of the mourners were seized and imprisoned, then scourged, lacerated, and tortured, and condemned to the mines of Phennesos and Proconnesus; these were men who had fought with divine zeal for the defense of the Church. Most of them were monks who had inhabited the desert for the sake of asceticism, numbering twenty-three.

Shortly after this, the deacon who had brought consolatory and communicatory letters from our beloved Damasus, the bishop of Rome, was led away publicly by executioners with his hands tied behind his back, just like some notorious criminal. ^B Having been tortured with the torments of murderers and even more severe ones, and having his neck struck for a long time with stones and lead-weighted scourges, he boarded a ship on the sea just like the others, having marked the sign of the divine cross upon his forehead. Without having received care or treatment, he was handed over to the mines at Phennesos, which are copper mines.

VIII.

Those who were minded to show compassion to the fathers for conscience's sake were beheaded, as if they had committed a grave crime. What Roman law, or what decree of the barbarians, ever punished those who sympathized with their fathers? Who among the ancients ever perpetrated such a lawless act? Pharaoh once commanded that the male children of the Hebrews be killed; but envy and fear had suggested that mandate to him. How much more humane were the events of that time than those we now behold! How much more desirable, if a choice of injury were given! How much better, if the iniquity were compared—though vices can never be separated from one another! The things being said are beyond belief, inhuman and terrible, cruel and barbarous, merciless and bitter.

IX.

Finally, when their efforts were rejected by all, they used the aforementioned minister of their cruelty, Magnus, to banish eleven bishops of Egypt—men who, from early youth even to old age, had inhabited the desert for the sake of asceticism; who by reason and deed had overcome the pleasures of the body; who boldly proclaimed the pious faith; who had sucked in the doctrines of piety together with the milk of their nurse; who had often carried off victory against demons; who by their virtue struck shame into the adversary; and who by their most wise discourse censured the Arian heresy—to Diocæsarea, a city inhabited by the Jews, the slayers of the Lord. And yet just like Hades, not satisfied with the death of the brethren, the senseless and foolish men dared everywhere on earth to leave monuments of their own cruelty, wishing to have the hallmark from their evil deeds. For behold, they are again turning their rage and pouring out their madness upon the clergy...

PETRI II EPISCOPI ALEXANDRINI EPISTOLA AD EPISC. ÆGYPT. ^A of those of the Catholic Church dwelling in Antioch, along with zealous monks, who had determined to testify against their machinations, having sounded in the ears of the emperor various accusations against them, caused them to be relegated to Neocaesarea of Pontus; these, perhaps, even lost their lives due to the harshness of the places. ^B Such were the tragedies which that time received: worthy of silence and oblivion, yet committed to writing for the conviction of those who sharpened their tongues against the Only-Begotten. Those who had received the disease of blasphemy not only attempted to shoot arrows at the Lord of all, but also waged an implacable war against His pious servants.

FRAGMENTS OF THE SAME

EPISTLE TO THE EGYPTIAN BISHOPS EXILED FOR THE SAKE OF THE FAITH

I. In Facundus of Hermiane, Book IV, chap. 2.

The love wherewith I rejoice in Christ concerning you, did not permit me to bear it patiently: for I am even writing as though not writing, and again I am compelled to write. And below: I therefore use you as counselors in these things which arise: and what befits me to do, while I am thus always perturbed, Timotheus ^C defaming himself as being bishop, so that by this he might the more confidently injure, and break the paternal laws? For he wished to anathematize me, and Basil of Caesarea, and Paulinus, and Epiphanius, and Diodorus the bishops, and to communicate with Vitalis alone.

II. Ibid. Book XI, chap. 2.

For he is without God, and reprobate in all things, who does not confess that the Savior, by His advent, saved the whole man: and if He saves the whole, He assumed the whole, not for the aid of salvation, but for the salvation of the whole. No one, therefore, thinking himself to hold pious opinions, should be rather an infidel. If, however, he desires to inquire, let him learn from the epistle which the bishop of blessed memory, Athanasius, writes to the Antiochenes, where he diligently explains all things: which those who are beginning to be orthodox read, and thus confirm that they have believed and subscribed.

III. Ibidem.

"Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the same also for the ages." ^D Yesterday indeed signifies eternity before the ages: today, however, the worldly age: in the ages, however, after the passing of this life. But Jesus Christ, who is understood as Savior according to the man, is not the same: for he who has received the advancement of age, being at one time an infant, and at one time a man beginning to be, as it were, thirty years old, as Luke says, cannot be the same.

IV. Ibidem.

The Holy Spirit of life is with the Father and the Son, passing through each of the prophets in their generations, who indicates things that will be and things that have been, having eyes before and behind, that is, as we have said, the knowledge of future and past things, which he narrates in Solomon from the person of the son of man from Mary, and the son.