Epistolae [ex Galland Bibl]

First Letter. To the Emperor Constantius. Having received the letters summoning the synod, the holy bishop informs the Emperor that he is hastening to Milan. Eusebius to Constantius Augustus, Emperor, greeting. I, most clement Emperor, seeing that your devoted mind desires this—namely, that ecclesiastical peace might endure throughout the world—have received your letter with great joy. I have also received the letter of my brothers and fellow bishops, by which they have deigned to inform me of this, so that, with a full report through those whom I deemed necessary to obey your command, I might hasten to come to Milan. Whatever, Lord Emperor, when I come into your presence, shall seem just and pleasing to the Lord, I promise that I shall do. May God keep you, most glorious Emperor. (See the convocatory letter of Constantius in volume XIII of our Patrology, col. 564.)

Second Letter. To the Priests and People of Italy. The holy Shepherd rejoices with his flock over its faith, and exhorts it to continue on the path of salvation. To the most beloved brothers and most greatly desired priests, and also to the holy congregations steadfast in faith of Vercelli, Novara, Hipporegium, and likewise Tortona: Eusebius, bishop, sends eternal greeting in the Lord. I. Although our Lord has sustained us, separated from you in body, with many blessings, and has presented us with your presence through the arrival and visitation of very many brothers; nevertheless we were sad and sorrowful and not without tears: because for a long interval of time we did not receive writings from your holiness. For we feared that either some diabolical subtlety had seized you, or that human power had subjugated you to the faithless. While we were affected by these thoughts, and were turning all consolation from brothers who came to us from various provinces more into grief over your absence than into joy, the Lord deigned to grant this: that I might learn that about which I was anxious, not only through the letters of your sincerity, but also through the presence of our dear ones, the deacon Syrus and the exorcist Victorinus. And so I have learned, most beloved brothers, that you are, as I desired, unharmed.

And as if suddenly snatched across all the distance of lands (as happened to Habakkuk, who was carried by an angel all the way to Daniel), so I judged myself to have arrived among you, while I receive letters from each of you, and while I run through your holy friends and the love in your writings. II. Tears were mingled for me with joy; and my mind, eager to read, was held back by the occupation of tears. And both were necessary, so that each individual sense might anticipate the duties of its own affection in this fulfillment of desire. Thus, day by day, judging myself to be serving with you in this occupation, I forgot past labors: for joys surrounded me on all sides, here offering steadfast faith, here affection, here fruit; so that, placed in so many and such great goods, I suddenly judged myself, as I said above, not to be in exile, but to be with you. I rejoice, therefore, most beloved brothers, in your faith; I rejoice in the salvation that follows the faithful; I rejoice in the fruits, that not only established there, but you also proceed far. For just as a farmer grafts onto a good tree that, for the sake of fruit, does not suffer the axe, is not consigned to the flames, so we wish and desire not only to show service to your holiness according to the flesh, but to expend our souls for your salvation. You have extended, as I said, your fruitful branches, and through such long stretches of lands you have labored to reach me.

I rejoice as a farmer, and gladly I pluck the fruits of your labor, because you have wished to do so much. Not only I, or those who are with me—our most holy presbyters and deacons and the other brothers—but also all of us who are desiring. For you have filled, as the most blessed Apostle says (Philem. 7, 20), my bowels, when you have fulfilled the divine commands, which it was fitting for Christians to fulfill toward a bishop or toward ecclesiastical men whom you know to be laboring in exile for the sake of the faith. You have fulfilled what it was fitting for brothers to do for brothers, and for sons to show to a father. But when we, according to the divine commands, wishing to make for you from earthly things heavenly, from transitory things stable, from fragile things everlasting fruits, we began out of necessity to sow daily as those who endure. The poor rejoiced at your fruits; not only the men of that city itself glorified God, but also all; and those who were able to see how great a love you had for me, seeing from those very fruits, glorified God, and named us with every honor along with your blessing.

III. When the devil, the enemy of the innocent, the foe of justice, the adversary of faith, saw that God was being blessed in this work, he inflamed his Ariomanites against us, who for a long time had been sighing not only over this work but also over their own faithlessness, to which they could not persuade us, so that they might become violent; in this manner which he has always used, that those whom he could not persuade, he would terrify by force and power. He therefore gathered together a multitude of his own, who seize and mock us, dragging us to the workshop of their faithlessness; and they say that all this power has been handed over to them by the emperor. While they were saying many things and boasting about their power, I wished to show them in this that what they could do was nothing, while remaining silent I gave my body to the executioners, as the Lord said could be given up in persecutions. How free I was in spirit, while I suffer at their hands, and am shut up, and kept for four days, and hear the reproaches and persuasions of various people, I showed in this, that I did not speak a single word. They wished to add to their malice, that the brothers, that is, the presbyters and deacons, should keep away from me; and they said they would also prohibit the others from approaching me. I, lest I should eat food from the hands of the faithless, or rather of the transgressors (which is worse) of the faithless, as the Apostle says, made a libellus to them in this manner: A COPY OF THE LIBELLUS MADE TO PATROPHILUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS.

The servant of God Eusebius, together with his fellow servants who labor with me for the sake of the faith, to Patrophilus the guard and his men. IV. By the violence of many and by fury, you dragged me not only along the ground, but at times with my body bared and supine, you carried me out of this lodging which you gave me through your agents in the matter, from which I have never departed except by your violence; and God knows, and the city knows, and you cannot deny this either now or in the future. Therefore I reserve the case for God, so that, as He Himself ordains, it may reach an end. Meanwhile, know that I have decreed this (so that reason may stand both now and in the future, and here): in the lodging where you keep me shut up, in which, after the first carrying out, thrusting me back more cruelly, you dared to carry me out from there in the same way and to cast me into a single cell, I will not eat bread nor drink water unless each of you first professes, not only by word but also by hand, that you will not prevent my brothers who willingly suffer with me for the sake of the faith from bringing necessary food from the lodging where they stay, nor those who have deigned to visit me. It would indeed have been fitting to depart from the body, lest I be compelled to speak often of such a great crime, which you have committed against divine and public law, to those wishing to know.

But lest any of the unbelievers call you cruel toward us, and thinking we are ignorant of divine precepts, suppose that we wished to avoid confusion rather than obey the Lord, and therefore presumed to desire this: I say again that unless you profess both by word and in writing, you will be murderers by forbidding. V. Almighty God knows this; His Only-Begotten Son, ineffably born of Him, knows it—He who for the sake of our salvation, God of eternal power, put on perfect man, willed to suffer, triumphed over death and rose on the third day, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come to judge the living and the dead; and the Holy Spirit knows it. The Catholic Church bears witness, which confesses thus: that I will not be guilty in this matter, but you, who wished to prevent my fellow servants from providing the necessities. And if you have prepared this, you ought to despise it—not as one fearing death, but lest after my departure you say that I wished to depart by voluntary death and find some cloud of accusation against us. Know that I will convene the Churches which I can reach by means of closed letters in the meantime; I will also convene the servants of God, so that in their assembly the whole world may recognize what the integral faith, which has been approved by all Catholic bishops, suffers from the Ariomanites, whom it previously condemned. I, Eusebius the bishop, have also subscribed.

I adjure you, whoever you are who read this letter, by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that you not suppress it, but pass it on to others to read. VI. Therefore, scarcely on the fourth day were they softened by this little book; they compelled us, fasting, to return to the lodging where we had stayed. Meanwhile, they saw how the people received us with joy as we returned. They surrounded our lodging with lamps. We began, with the Lord’s consent, again to minister to the needy. Their inhumanity could not endure this, and they turned our love into their hatred. They were scarcely able to tolerate us for about twenty-five days. They burst forth again, and with a lost band of many men, they came to our lodging armed with clubs, broke through the wall by way of others’ enclosures, and reached us violently. They seized us again, and shut us up in a tighter confinement with only the most beloved presbyter Tegrinus. They also seized and imprisoned all our brothers, that is, all the presbyters and deacons. After three days, by their own authority, they sent them into exile in various places. They cast other brothers who had come to visit us into the public prison, holding them confined for many days. They flew again to the lodging, and destroyed everything that had been procured either for expenses or for the poor. But because this public crime of theirs was noted by all the citizens, they used this pretext: that they might render some things lighter, and boast that they had returned our things to us. They kept the expenses for themselves; and after such a crime, they were making inquiries.

if it were possible, to deny it in such a way that they would allow none of my people to come to me, who might bring food necessary for the body. Scarcely on the sixth day, with various people crying out to them, they permitted one to come. As far as it was in their power, they showed murderous intentions; the first one they sent away on the fourth day, lest they cease from their malice. Afterwards, on the sixth day, with us failing, they at length permitted someone to come with provisions. These, therefore, are the works of the Ariomanites. VII. See, most holy brothers, whether this is not persecution, while we who guard the catholic faith suffer these things; and consider more deeply whether it is not even far worse than that which was carried out by those who served idols. They sent people to prison, yet they did not forbid their own people from coming to them. How greatly has Satan wounded the Churches through the cruelty of the Ariomanites! They send to public prison those who ought to set free. They commit violence, who learn to suffer for the sake of justice. They plunder the goods of others, who are taught by divine law not to reclaim their own plundered goods. I pass over how great a cruelty has seized them, while they rejoice in temporal wealth. In prison, for those confined with thieves, the right to see their own people is not denied by the quartermasters or by the judges; from us, even our own are forbidden; and devoted brothers are not only kept from the lodging where we are held, but are also threatened with punishment if they approach the prison. Thus they have subjugated all, so that I have recognized it most clearly.

Let me begin with the bishops: while some fear losing their office, they have lost the faith itself; and while they are unwilling to lose earthly possessions and privileges, they have judged the heavenly treasures and true security as nothing. The rest are likewise led astray: when they see the bishops fearing to lose these things, they begin to love what they can never possess forever. VIII. Thus the Ariomanites terrify the rich by threatening them with proscription; thus they terrify the poor, since they have the power to shut them up in prison. And what madness it is! In the place where we are held, they not only send into prison the men who serve us, but they also shut up holy virgins in the public jail without any fear of God. But just as the wicked elders who sought to violate Susanna’s chastity did not rejoice, so too will these never rejoice who try to subject the Church to their own faithlessness by varied persecution and excessive oppression. For the holy Daniel said to them: “Thus the daughters of Israel, fearing, lay with you” (Dan. 13:57). But let human fear depart from your minds, most holy ones, since you have the Lord’s consolation, who says: “Do not fear those who kill the body, for they cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). This is a time of testing; it is a time for those who are tested to become known openly. They have taken up human assistance because they do not have divine assistance; if they had it, they would never subjugate the souls of the innocent to themselves by earthly power.

IX. We ought to have written many things about the evils of the walls, by which not only I, but very many of us are oppressed; but we are unable to do this, and to convey their cruelty in writing. We are kept in the strictest confinement by them. Therefore, both our other associates and friends are forbidden to approach us. But the Lord has granted me this letter through our most beloved Syrian deacon, whom I had the power to send, because by the providence of our Lord he had come at that time to see the holy places, and was not found among the other brothers. X. Moreover, we have written this letter as best we could, constantly beseeching God that He might restrain the guards hour by hour, and grant that the deacon might not carry to you a message of our toil rather than a letter of whatever greeting. For this reason, I earnestly ask you to guard the faith with all vigilance, preserve concord, apply yourselves to prayers, and be mindful of us without ceasing: so that the Lord may deign to free His Church, which labors throughout the whole world, and that we who are oppressed may rejoice, freed together with you: which the Lord will deign to grant, if you pray, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed with Him from the ages and unto all ages of ages, Amen.

XI. Again I ask, and I entreat you by the mercy of God, that each one of you inscribe his greeting in this letter; because, as I was accustomed to do individually, I have been unable to write to each one, necessity compelling. Thus in this letter I address you all, brothers, and also the holy sisters, sons and daughters; I appeal to every sex, I entreat every age, that you be content with this greeting, and with our homage, and that you deign to greet also those who are outside and who deign to love us. Our brothers who are with me, presbyters and deacons, and all our people, greet you; they together with me earnestly ask that, mindful of us, you deign to greet all your people with our homage. Moreover, I have sent the letters which I wrote to Patrophilus, my keeper, so that from these you may recognize that we can be terrified neither by the threats of the Ariomanites, nor can we be led into their fellowship by their serpentine, flattering subtlety. May the Divinity protect you, and make you flourish and live both here and in the future with all your people, most dear and greatly longed-for brothers.

LETTER III. TO GREGORY, BISHOP OF SPANENSIS. Eusebius congratulates Gregory for having resisted Hosius and the very many who fell at Ariminum into communion with Valens and Ursacius. (See this letter in volume X of our Patrology, among the historical works of St. Hilary, Fragment XI, col. 713. See also the letters of Pope Liberius to Eusebius, Patrology volume VIII, cols. 1353, 1356.)