when the monks swarmed forth from their cells at the appointed hours of social devotion. Into this abode of mortification and religious musing, Theophilus entered, with his troop, in the dead of night, and drove away the bishop of the mountain; but unable to discover his intended victims, who had been secreted, he burnt their cells, pillaged the monasteries, and then set out on his retreat. Returned to Alexandria, he encountered a general indignation and horror, which the news of his cruelty and sacrilege soon roused. The Origenists, however, took warning, and fled to other countries. Isidorus and about three hundred of his brethren sought the protection of John in Palestine, and retired, the larger part of them, to the palm-groves around Scythopolis, nearly seventy miles northward from Jerusalem. But Theophilus, with the exterminating zeal of a true foe, wrote immediately to the bishops of that province, forgiving, on the ground of ignorance, their first reception of the condemned, but requiring them, for the future, to exclude the refugees, from every church. It is mortifying to relate, that John of Jerusalem was overcome by this sudden change in the powerful patron to whom he had referred his cause; and that he appears to have wanted the resolution to defend his guests, and the courage to disobey the Egyptian primate's orders.35 Great were the mutual congratulations of Theophilus, Epiphanius and Jerome, on these decisive measures. They informed each other, in their bombastic 35. Hueti Origenian, Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect, ii. § 3. Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxi. chap. 12. A. D. 400. letters, that the snake of Origenism was now severed and disembowelled by the evangelical sword, that the host of Amalek was destroyed, and the banner of the cross erected on the altars of the Alexandrian church. Theophilus sent letters to Rome, to Cyprus, and to Constantinople, proclaiming his late measures, and exhorting the respective bishops to follow his example. Accordingly, Anastasius, the new Pope, who had succeeded Siricius at Rome, readily gratified the numerous partisans of Jerome in that city, by issuing a decree which was received through all the West, condemning the works of Origen; and Epiphanius, soon afterwards, convened a synod of his bishops in Cyprus, and procured from them a like sentence. But Chrysostom, who now held the episcopal chair of Constantinople, delayed all notice of the Egyptian prelate's recommendation,36 and thereby involved himself in a scene of troubles that closed only with his life. XI. We have passed, with barely a hasty notice, over the decree of the Roman pontiff, and the two synods of Alexandria and Cyprus, against Origen and his works. They constitute, however, an important event in the history of Universalism, being the first public acts of the church which at all affected that sentiment; and it is worth the while to pause and ascertain the particular points of doctrine which were then condemned. All the formal records of those proceedings have long since perished; but, from cotemporary authority, we learn that the tenet, which 36. Huet. Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. ii. § 5. et Sect. i. § 19. gave most offence in the Alexandrian synod, was this "that as Christ was crucified in our world for "the redemption of mankind, so he would taste "death, in the eternal state, for the salvation of the "devil." 37 This two-fold death of Christ, though sometimes intimated by Origen, was by no means one of his fixed opinions; and it can have been only from an ungenerous zeal to take the utmost advantage of his suggestions, that it was inserted in the present charge. It also appears, that in addition to this particular, his doctrine of the salvation of the devil and his angels,' was expressly condemned, in some of these public decrees, either at Alexandria, Cyprus or Rome; and likewise another notion, which cannot, with so much justice, be ascribed to him, that in the distant ages of eternity, the blessed in heaven will, by degrees, relapse into sin, and descend into the regions of woe, while, on the other hand, the damned will rise to the mansions of purity and joy: thus constituting, by perpetual revolutions, a ceaseless alternation of happiness and misery.' 38 These, we are informed, were the principal errors now condemned; and they were probably alleged to justify the sentence which was passed, forbidding his works to be read, and placing him on the list of heretics. But, what is remarkable, it is certain that his doctrine of the salvation of all mankind, was not condemned, and that some of the orthodox continued to avow it with impunity.39 37. Sulpitii Severi Dialog. i. cap. 3. I quote from G. Bulli Defens. Fid. Nicænæ cap. ix. § 23. 38. Augustinus De Civ. Dei, Lib. xxi. cap. 17. 39. Augustine De (Civitate Dei Lib. xxi. cap. 17.), about twenty The prohibition of his writings, and the angry indignity with which his name was treated, were regarded by the more dispassionate throughout all christendom, as unnecessarily severe; but, as the authoritative acts had been regularly passed, the orthodox generally acquiesced, though with reluctance, reserve, and some exceptions.40 A. D. 400, to 403. XII. When the persecuted Origenists who had fled to Palestine from the rage of Theophilus, learned that he had sent a deputation against them to Constantinople, they likewise proceeded thither to defend themselves, and to seek an asylum under the strong protection of the bishop of that city, the celebrated Chrysostom. Fifty aged men, among whom were Isidorus and the three tall brethren, came and presented themselves before him; and such was the wretchedness of their appearance that Chrysostom, it is said, melted into tears at the sight. He gave them the desired protection, till their cause should be heard; and wrote immediately to Theophilus in their behalf. But his interference was haughtily resented, and drew upon him a long and fierce persecution, the particulars of which have no direct relation to the years afterwards, reasons with those merciful brethren among the orthodox, who held the salvation of all mankind. He says they urged the superior benevolence of their doctrine as a proof of its truth; and he exposes their inconsistency in using this argument, by daring them to extend it, like Origen, to the salvation of the devil and his angels. For this, adds he, the church has condemned him; and they, of course, dare not go to the same extremity. 40. Huet. Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. ii. § 4. 12. Chrysostom, Augustine, Sulpitius Severus, Vincentius Lirinensis, &c. were favorably disposed towards the memory, though not the doctrine, of Origen. subject of this history. We may only mention, that the Origenists, having formally disavowed all heretical doctrines, continued to enjoy his countenance, as well as that of the empress Eudoxia; and were thus emboldened to accuse their bishop before the tribunal of the emperor Arcadius. Upon this, Epiphanius hastened from Cyprus to Constantinople; and, awhile afterwards, the undaunted Theophilus arrived, in obedience to the imperial summons, attended, however, by a host of bishops, from Egypt. Their vengeance was directed not so much against the Origenists as against Chrysostom. That ready engine of mischief, a synod, was formed; but when the members were gathered, they immediately separated in two bodies, and met in different places: those who hated the bishop of Constantinople, in the suburbs; and those who favored him, in the city. Among his friends, Palladius of Galatia, now bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia, seems to have taken a distinguished part; and could a majority have availed against intrigue and power, Chrysostom had triumphed. But he sunk, at length, with all his influence, under the combined assaults of the Alexandrian party, the rage of the insulted empress Eudoxia, and the obsequious edicts of the timid Arcadius and in the year 403, he was wickedly deposed and banished, together with some of his adherents. But in the mean time, the relenting Epiphanius had died on his voyage back to Cyprus; and Isidorus and the three tall brethren had closed their lives, in the city, amidst the cruel storm which their great and injured patron had brought upon himself. The objects of his hatred being thus |