{"id":14203,"date":"2015-02-27T13:32:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T13:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/?p=14203"},"modified":"2015-02-27T13:32:05","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T13:32:05","slug":"the-annals-of-eutychius-of-alexandria-10th-c-ad-chapter-11-part-7-and-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/2015\/02\/27\/the-annals-of-eutychius-of-alexandria-10th-c-ad-chapter-11-part-7-and-end\/","title":{"rendered":"The Annals of Eutychius of Alexandria (10th c. AD) \u2013 chapter 11 (part 7 and end)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This seems to wind up the stories about the Arian controversy, and we then continue with the death of Constantine, and events in the Sassanid realm.\u00a0 An apocryphal and rather awful story about Constantine\u00a0persecuting the Jews appears in this section, which gives a rather nasty impression of the attitude of the Melkites in the 10th century towards religious persecution.<\/em><\/p>\n

16. Eumenius said:\u00a0“Arius did not say that Christ created all things.\u00a0 But he said: “Through him all things were created”, because He is the Word of God through whom were created the heavens and the earth. For God simply created things through His Word, but\u00a0the Word did not create,\u00a0as is\u00a0clear from what the Lord Christ said in his Gospel: “All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made of anything that was made” (50).\u00a0 And he\u00a0also said:\u00a0“In him was life, and the life was the light of the world” (51). And he\u00a0also said:\u00a0 “He was in the world and through him the world was made” (52).\u00a0So saying, he wanted to express that all things were made through Him, and did not intend to say that it was He who created them.”\u00a0He concluded by saying:\u00a0“This was the doctrine of Arius, but the three hundred and eighteen bishops were unjust to him and have unjustly and wrongly excommunicated him.”<\/p>\n

17. Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, responded by saying:\u00a0“The three hundred and eighteen bishops have not condemned Arius\u00a0speaking with\u00a0falsehood nor acted unfairly against him because he simply said:\u00a0“The Son has created things without the Father.”\u00a0 Now if all things were created only through the Son without the [also] the Father to create them, He [i.e. the Father], would not have created even one thing.\u00a0 But in this regard we\u00a0have the gospel\u00a0as evidence that belies his words, such as the passage that reads:\u00a0“The Father creates, and I create” (53).\u00a0 And\u00a0also it is said:\u00a0“If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe in me” (54). And again:\u00a0“As the Father creates and gives life to those he wants, and takes it away, so also the Son gives life to those\u00a0he wants and takes it away” (55).\u00a0 With these words he means that He gives life,\u00a0makes die,\u00a0and creates.\u00a0 In light of these words anyone\u00a0must be considered a liar, who dares to say that He is not the creator and that things have simply been created through Him without being Himself the creator.\u00a0 As for your saying “all things were made through him,” well we have no doubt\u00a0in believing that the action in which they were made was by Christ himself, saying “Let there be…”, and they were made, as can be deduced precisely from the passage in which he says: “I create and give life.” If then your saying “through him all things were made” is to be understood simply in the sense that he has made them, then it is through him that they were made.\u00a0 If it were not so, the two statements are contradictory.”<\/p>\n

18. Then Athanasius replied\u00a0further to Eumenius saying:\u00a0“As\u00a0for the assertion of the followers of Arius that the Father wills something and then the Son creates it, as if\u00a0will\u00a0was of the Father and creation of the Son, this is also false, as the idea that the Son created\u00a0so would mean that the function of\u00a0the one doing the creating would be\u00a0greater than those of the creator,\u00a0if\u00a0he [i.e., the Son] willed and did it, while he [i.e.\u00a0the Father], willed and did not do it.\u00a0 The functions of the first, therefore, in what he did, are more extensive than those of the second.\u00a0 And from\u00a0this we should infer that the first in doing what the\u00a0second wills, is in the same condition\u00a0as any other agent of creation in the face of what the creator wants from him, namely that\u00a0he do the same with respect to compulsion and free will.\u00a0 But if he acted because he was coerced, he had no participation in the action;\u00a0if\u00a0he was free, he could obey or disobey, and therefore is deserving of reward or punishment. But to say such a thing [of Christ] would be absurd.”<\/p>\n

19. Athanasius replied\u00a0again to Eumenius saying: “If the Creator created the world by means of a created being, [the Son], this created being is certainly different from the Creator. You have in fact argued that the Creator works through another. Now the one that operates by means of another needs to be complementary to this acting through him, since he can not take any action if not through him. But he who needs another is imperfect, and the Creator is far from that!”\u00a0 When Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, had thus refuted the arguments of his opponents and showed all the defendants the falsity of their doctrine, they were dumbfounded, they were ashamed of themselves and they attacked Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, covering him with a barrel\u00a0so as to\u00a0almost kill him. He was saved from their hands by Dalmatinus, son of the king’s sister.\u00a0 Athanasius fled, went to Jerusalem, prepared the chrism without any bishop present, and consecrated the churches\u00a0by the\u00a0anointing of the [sacred] chrism. He then went to the king and informed him of what had happened.\u00a0 The king sent him back with honors\u00a0to Alexandria and was angry with Eusebius, patriarch of Constantinople, repenting of having\u00a0made him\u00a0patriarch.\u00a0 Then\u00a0the bishops who had gathered in the city of Tyre went to Jerusalem, and found that Athanasius, patriarch of Alesandria, had preceded them and had consecrated the churches.\u00a0 They celebrated a big party for the dedication of the churches, with great joy, and returned\u00a0each to\u00a0his own see.\u00a0 This happened in the thirtieth year of the reign of Constantine (56).<\/p>\n

Eusebius, patriarch of Constantinople, died excommunicate, having held the office for two years.\u00a0 After him Paul was made patriarch of Constantinople, in his place (57).\u00a0 He held the office for four years and King Constantine deposed him.<\/p>\n

20. The King Constantine gave orders that no Jew should\u00a0live in Jerusalem or\u00a0pass through it,\u00a0and he also ordered to put to death all those who refused to become Christians (58). Many pagans and Jews then embraced the Christian faith and Christianity took root everywhere.\u00a0 It\u00a0was then told\u00a0to king Constantine that the Jews had become Christians for fear of being killed but that they continued to follow their religion.\u00a0 The king said: “How will we know?” Paul, the patriarch of Constantinople, said: “The Torah forbids [eating] pork and it is for this reason that the Jews do not eat meat. Order that the throats of pigs be cut,\u00a0that the meat should be\u00a0cooked, and fed to the members of this community.\u00a0 In this way you will find that\u00a0all those who refuse to eat\u00a0are still tied to their religion.” King Constantine replied. “But if the Torah forbids the pig, why is lawful for us to eat its flesh and\u00a0make others eat it?”. Patriarch Paul replied: “You\u00a0must know that Christ our Lord, repealed all provisions of the Torah and gave us a new law which is the Gospel. He said in the Holy Gospel: “Not everything that enters the mouth defiles a man (and he meant\u00a0any food). What\u00a0defiles\u00a0a man is just what comes out of his mouth” (59),\u00a0i.e. folly and wickedness, and all that is similar to this. The apostle Paul said so in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will destroy both” (60). And it is also written in the Acts: “Peter, chief of the Apostles, was in the city of Jaffa (61) in the house of a tanner named Simon. At the sixth hour of the day he went out on the terrace of the house to pray, but a deep sleep fell upon him and saw the sky open. From the sky\u00a0he saw a mantle descend to earth in which there was every kind of quadruped, wild beasts, flying things\u00a0and birds of the air, and\u00a0he heard a voice saying: ‘O Peter, get up, kill and eat.’ Peter replied: ‘O Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean.’ But a second time the voice said: ‘Eat, what God has cleansed you\u00a0must not consider\u00a0unclean.’ The voice repeated it three times. Then the\u00a0mantle was taken back\u00a0into heaven.” (62) Peter was amazed and wondered what it meant. Because\u00a0of that vision and\u00a0because of\u00a0what Christ our Lord said in the Holy Gospel, Peter and Paul ordered us to eat the flesh of every quadruped and therefore it is not wrong to eat pork\u00a0or any other animal.”\u00a0 The king then ordered him to kill the pigs,\u00a0cook the\u00a0meat and put\u00a0it at the doors of the churches in all his kingdom\u00a0on Easter Sunday.\u00a0 To everyone coming out of the church a bite of pork was given, and those who refused to eat it were killed.\u00a0 Thus it was that many Jews were killed in that circumstance.\u00a0 Constantine erected a wall around Byzantium and called Constantinople.\u00a0 This was in his thirtieth year of the reign.\u00a0 Helena, mother of Constantine, died at the age of eighty years. Constantine reigned for thirty-two years and died.\u00a0 He lived in all for\u00a0sixty-five years. He left three children.\u00a0 The\u00a0first\u00a0was given his name, Constantine, he had called the second with the name of his father, Constantius, and the third\u00a0was called Constans (63).\u00a0 To Constantine he gave the city of Constantinople,\u00a0to Constantius Antioch, Syria and Egypt, and Rome to Constans.<\/p>\n

21.\u00a0As for\u00a0Sabur, son of Hurmuz, king of the Persians, he founded near Susa a city called Khuwwat-Sabar (64), and he founded another in the region of as-Sawad called Fir\u016bz-Sabur (65) and\u00a0he founded many others in Sind (66) and in Sigist\u0101n (67).\u00a0 He also\u00a0had many streams dug out and built many bridges and viaducts.\u00a0 Growing\u00a0old, his strength failed him, his vision blurred and his eyelids drooped over his eyes.\u00a0 So he sent his messenger to the king of India because\u00a0he was\u00a0searching for\u00a0a good doctor and the king of India sent him a doctor named George who treated him in a way that let him regain his sight and enable him to ride.\u00a0 As a sign of gratitude the king ordered him to choose a city to live in, and he chose Khuwwat-Sabur, also known as al-Karkh (68), which is near the city of Susa, and he lived there until he died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This seems to wind up the stories about the Arian controversy, and we then continue with the death of Constantine, and events in the Sassanid realm.\u00a0 An apocryphal and rather awful story about Constantine\u00a0persecuting the Jews appears in this section, which gives a rather nasty impression of the attitude of the Melkites in the 10th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[672,930],"class_list":["post-14203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-my-diary-announcements","tag-eutychius","tag-jews"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roger-pearse.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}