18. To give a proof of what I say.
When a tumult of the over-zealous part of the Church was raised against
us, and we had been decoyed by a document A
document. Benoît (I. p. 179) gives reasons for
believing that this was the creed of the council of Antioch,
a.d. 363—which accepted the Creed of
Nicæa, but explained it in terms capable of a semiarian
construction. The “over zealous part” were the
monks.
and artful terms into association with evil, he alone was believed to
have an unwounded mind, and a soul unstained by ink, even when he had
been imposed upon in his simplicity, and failed from his guilelessness
of soul to be on his guard against guile. He it was alone, or
rather first of all, who by his zeal for piety reconciled to himself
and the rest of the church the faction opposed to us, which was the
last to leave us, the first to return, owing to both their reverence
for the man and the purity of his doctrine, so that the serious storm
in the churches was allayed, and the hurricane reduced to a breeze
under the influence of his prayers and admonitions; while, if I may
make a boastful remark, I was his partner Partner.
S. Gregory had a considerable share in the explanations which made
clear his father’s real orthodoxy, and re-established
peace. Orat. vi. was pronounced by him on the occasion. in
piety and activity, aiding him in every effort on behalf of what is
good, accompanying and running beside him, and being permitted on this
occasion to contribute a very great share of the toil. Here my
account of these matters, which is a little premature, must come to an
end.