eech, nor in prayer, nor in communion. But, stepping down from the ship and bypassing the threshold of the church, he went away and lodged somewhere outside the city, and having guests who had arrived before him to stay with us—for there were lodgings and everything else necessary, well-equipped—neither they nor he himself would comply with our wishes. Seeing this, we were deeply troubled in spirit; and although we could find no reason for such unjust enmity, we nevertheless performed for them the offices it was right for us to show, and frequently implored him to join with us and say for what reason he was stirring up such a great war from the outset and bringing discord into such a great city. But when he would not explain his reasons, and his accusers were pressing me, the most pious Emperor called us and ordered [us] to go to the place where he was staying, to hear there the charges being brought against him. A For they alleged incursions, murders, and many other things. Knowing the laws of the fathers, and deferring to the man with honor, and possessing letters from him on this matter [stating] that business in each province must be conducted there, and not be drawn outside their borders, we vehemently refused to take on the judgment of the case. Furthermore, he, as if striving to add a heap to his earlier attempts, called my archdeacon with great authority; and as if the church were already widowed and had no bishop, he brought all the clergy over to himself through him. Churches were becoming deserted day by day, as clerics were abducted from each church and instructed to accuse us and produce libels against us. After this, he called us to judgment as well, although the charges brought against him had not yet been cleared—a thing that was most contrary to all canons and laws. B But knowing that we were not coming to a judgment (for otherwise we would have come six hundred times) but to an enemy and a foe, which the things done both before and after sufficiently declare, we sent to him bishops—Demetrius, bishop of Pisinunt, Eulysius of Apamea, Lupicinus of Appiaria—and priests, Germanus and Severus, and answered with the modesty befitting our character: that we did not avoid judgment, but an open enemy and a manifest foe. For he who, without even having received libels, acted in such a way from the very beginning, and withdrew himself from the prayers and communion of the Church, and moreover suborned accusers, drew the clergy to himself, and desolated the church—how could he be considered fit to ascend the judgment seat, which is in no way suitable for him? For it is not appropriate that those who are in Egypt should judge those who are in Thrace, and especially one who is himself guilty, an enemy, and a foe. C But he, reverencing none of these things, was panting with great frenzy to accomplish what he had conceived in his mind.
Yet when we protested that we were ready to clear [ourselves] of the charges and to declare our innocence, just as we are innocent, before a hundred or a thousand bishops, he did not agree; but although we were absent, and were appealing to a synod, and were seeking a legitimate judgment, and were shunning not a tribunal but manifest enmities, he nevertheless received the accusers, absolved those whom I had excommunicated, and accepted libels from those who had not yet purged themselves of their own crimes; and he ordered proceedings to be recorded, all of which were forbidden by the laws and canons. And what need is there to say many things? He did not cease to do and contrive everything until he expelled us by force and power from the city and the Church, even when evening was already advanced, and the whole people were following us. Therefore, dragged by force and abducted by the Curiosus of the city in the middle of the city, and thrown into a ship, I sailed through the night, because I had appealed to a synod and a just judgment. Who could hear these things without tears, even if he had a heart of stone? D