23. Hence came their pretended
condemnation Condemnation,
i.e., of Aetius, who was banished by Constantius after the Council. of the heretics,
whom they renounced in words, in order to gain plausibility for their
efforts, but in reality furthered; charging them not with unbounded
impiety, but with exaggerated language. Hence came the profane
judges of the Saints, and the new combination, and public view and
discussion of mysterious questions, and the illegal enquiry into the
actions of life, and the hired informers, and the
purchased
sentences. Some were unjustly deposed Deposed.
Cyril of Jerusalem, Eustathius of Sebaste, Basil of Ancyra and
others.
from their sees, others intruded, and among other necessary
qualifications, made to sign the bonds of iniquity: the ink was
ready, the informer at hand. This the majority even of us, who
were not overcome, had to endure, not falling in mind, though prevailed
upon to sign, To sign,
etc. Cf. Orat. xviii. 18. and so uniting with
men who were in both respects wicked, and involving ourselves in the
smoke, The smoke,
etc. Cf. Orat. xvi. 6; Ps. xviii. 9; cv. 32. if not in the
flame. Over this I have often wept, when contemplating the
confusion of impiety at that time, and the persecution of the orthodox
teaching which now arose at the hands of the patrons of the
Word.