Epistola ad Presbyteros. Diaconos et Popolum Alexandriae

Letter of Pope Julius I to the presbyters, deacons, and people of Alexandria. Julius congratulates the Alexandrians on the return of Athanasius, to whom they had always clung with faith and love, and wishes them well. Julius to the presbyters, deacons, and people dwelling in Alexandria. I. I too congratulate you, most beloved brothers, that you finally see the fruit of your faith before your eyes. For that this is truly so is evident to anyone in my brother and fellow bishop Athanasius, whom God has restored to you both on account of the purity of his life and on account of your prayers. From this it is certainly possible to perceive that you have always offered pure prayers, full of charity, to God. Mindful, indeed, of the heavenly promises, and of the discipline leading to them, in which you were instructed through the teaching of my aforementioned brother, you know most truly, and have comprehended according to the right faith instilled in you, that he would by no means be forever separated from you, whom you have always held as if present in your most pious souls. Therefore, in writing to you, I have no need of many words: whatever may be said to you by me, this your faith has anticipated, and through the grace of God has fulfilled the common wish of us all. I therefore congratulate you (for I will say it again) that you have kept your souls unconquered in faith. Nor do I congratulate my brother Athanasius any less, that, although he was exposed to many hardships, yet at no hour was he unmindful of your charity and your desire.

For although he seemed to be taken from you in body for a time, yet in spirit he has constantly dwelt with you, as one who proves, and has returned more illustrious than when he departed. II. And I indeed, most beloved, consider all those tribulations which he endured not without glory. For both your faith and his have been known and approved by all. For unless so many and such great things had happened, who would believe either that you had formed such a judgment concerning so great a bishop and pursued him with such great charity, or that he had been adorned with so many and such great virtues, on account of which he is not a stranger to the hope which is stored up in heaven? Therefore he has attained, from every side, a glorious testimony of confession, both in this age and in the future. For having suffered many and various calamities by land and sea, he trampled upon all the machinations of the Arian heresy; and often assailed by envy through snares and brought into danger of life, he despised death, fortified by the protection of almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ: trusting that the future would be such that he would both avoid the snares and be restored to you for your consolation, bearing greater trophies from your conscience, in which he became known gloriously to the farthest ends of the whole world, approved for the integrity of his life. Indeed, he carried confidence in the purpose of his mind and in heavenly doctrine, but you also have shown that you love him with a perpetual and constant judgment.

III. He returns to you now much more illustrious than when he departed from you. For if precious metals, gold and silver, are tested by fire for purity, what shall one say for the dignity of so great a man, who, having overcome so many dangers of calamities, is restored to you, declared pure and innocent not only by our judgment but also by that of the whole synod? Therefore, receive, beloved brothers, with all glory and joy according to God, your bishop Athanasius, with those who were companions in so many of his labors, supported by the Greek text of Socrates; and having obtained your wishes, rejoice, you who, when your pastor, so to speak, hungered and thirsted for piety, nourished and refreshed him with salutary writings. For you were a consolation to him while he dwelt in a foreign region; you cherished him with your most faithful souls and minds in persecution and dangers. For me, certainly, it is already pleasing, as I think and foresee in my mind the joy of each one of you at his return, the most pious gatherings of the multitude, and the glorious festivity of those running together. What and how great a day will that be for you, when our brother returns, and the preceding evils cease, and that precious and most longed-for return will unite all in a certain eagerness of fullest joy? Such joy, indeed, for the most part reaches even to us, to whom it is granted by God as a gift that we could come to know so great a man.

It is fitting, therefore, to close the letter with a prayer. IV. May almighty God, and His Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, bestow upon you perpetual grace, granting a reward for your admirable faith, which you have shown toward your bishop with such splendid testimony: that to you and your posterity, both here and in the future age, He may impart the best things, which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man; which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9), through Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom glory is to almighty God for ever and ever. Amen. I desire that you fare well in the Lord, beloved brothers.