14.  And therefore, first in the holy Synod of Nicæa, Nicæa, a.d. 325.  Athanasius was present as theological assistant to Alexander of Alexandria. the gathering of the three hundred and eighteen chosen men, united by the Holy Ghost, as far as in him lay, he stayed the disease.  Though not yet ranked among the Bishops, he held the first rank among the members of the Council, for preference was given to virtue just as much as to office.  Afterwards, when the flame had been fanned by the blasts of the evil one, and had spread very widely (hence came the tragedies of which almost the whole earth and sea are full), the fight raged fiercely around him who was the noble champion of the Word.  For the assault is hottest upon the point of resistance, while various dangers surround it on every side:  for impiety is skilful in designing evils, and excessively daring in taking them in hand:  and how would they spare men, who had not spared the Godhead?  Yet one of the assaults was the most dangerous of all:  and I myself contribute somewhat to this scene; yea, let me plead for the innocence of my dear fatherland, for the wickedness was not due to the land that bore them, but to the men who undertook it.  For holy indeed is that land, and everywhere noted for its piety, but these men are unworthy of the Church which bore them, and ye have heard of a briar growing in a vine; Isai. v. 2 (LXX.); vii. 23, v. l. “in a vineyard.” and the traitor S. Luke vi. 16. was Judas, one of the disciples.