prus 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 removed, Theophilus was easily reconciled to the rest of the Origenists, and finally received them into his favor o.

Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. cap 4. Sect. ii. § 11, 12, 13. Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxi. chap. 23–32.

And

A. D. 401, to 404.

XIII. The Alexandrian bishop had not suffered his exertions, all this time, to be confined to the city of Constantinople. While his party was managing his contest there, he himself was often engaged at home, rousing the indignation of the Egyptian christians against Origen's name and doctrine. It was his practice to publish, annually, a General or Paschal Epistle to his churches; and in that of the year, 401, his newly adopted zeal gave itself full- utterance. He inveighed, with much bitterness, against Origen's heresies, which he comprised in the following particulars: that the kingdom of Christ would finally end, while the devil should return to his pristine glory, and become subject to the Father; that the blessed in heaven may fall away; that Christ is to be crucified in the invisible world, for the demons and wicked angels; that the bodies of the saints, after the resurrection, will at length decay and become extinet; that the Son is not to be addressed in prayer; that neither magic nor idolatry are sinful; and that marriage is dishonorable, as the result of our own guilty connexion with the body ".

In the next year's Epistle, Theophilus resumed the unfinished topic, and entered again upon his conflict with the "Hydra of Origenism." The errors he now selected as the points of his attack, were, that human souls pre-existed, but for their transgressions were doomed to this world, which was formed for their reception; that the Sun, Moon and Stars are animated; that our fleshly

P Theophili Paschal. Lib. ii. (properly i.) inter Hieronymi Opp. Tom. iv. Part ii. For the date and order of these books, see Du Pin, Cave, Fleury, &c.

bodies are not to rise; that the dignitaries of the angelic world were not created such, but rose from the original equality of souls to their present elevations, by means of their own self-improvement; that the Holy Ghost does not operate on irrational animals; that the immediate providence of God extends only to things in heaven; that Christ is not the supreme God; that all souls came from one common and uniform mass of mind; that the soul which Christ assumed was one with his divine nature, just as he is one with the Father; and that God could govern no more creatures than he has made, so that his

power is

finite". We have another of his annual Epistles, written in the year 404. Here, his zeal had begun to abate; but amidst a chaos of general and indefinite exhortation, there are some incidental attacks upon Origen's notions of pre-existence, and of the condemnation of souls to earthly bodies".

These three Epistles were afterwards translated by Jerome, for the use of the Latin christians; and with them several others, which have since perished.

XIV. While thus Theophilus was purA. D. 400, suing his quarrel in Constantinople, and at to 404. the same time, sounding the alarm in Egypt, against the newly denominated heresy, the storm which had arisen in Italy continued without cessation. Soon after the passing of the decree, in A. D. 400, against Origen's works, Pope Anastasius cited Rufinus to appear before him, on a charge of heresy. But the latter, instead of leaving his friends at

Theophili Paschal. Lib. i. (properly ii.) chal. Lib. iii.

r Theophili Pas

Aquileia, sent to the pontiff a formal Apology, or State ment of his faith and conduct; professing his hearty assent to the creeds of the churches at Rome, Alexan dria, Jerusalem and Aquileia; and declaring his belie in the trinity, in the resurrection of this very flesh, in future judgment, and in the endless punishment of the devil, of all his angels, and of wicked men, particularly, says he, "of those who slander their brethren. And "whoever denies this, let eternal fire be his portion, that

66

he may feel what he denies ". The same doctrine he also asserted, in general terms, but with much explicitness, in his Treatise on the Apostles' Creed; and we have no reason to doubt his sincerity. The Italian bishops, it seems, were generally satisfied "; but Anastasius, either suspecting dissimulation, or determined at all events to crush the obnoxious translator, passed upon him the dread sentence of excommunication. This was in A. D. 401. The Pope afterwards refused, peremptorily, to restore him to fellowship, notwithstanding a friendly remonstrance that he received, the next year, with much seeming respect, from John of Jerusalem ▾.

During all these transactions, Rufinus was solacing himself with secret revenge, by circulating, in private, a work which he had composed to defend his own conduct, to excuse Origen, but especially to expose Jerome. To this production, the partial resentment of the church has since affixed the hostile name of Invective, instead

Rufini ad Anastasium Apologia, inter Hieron. Opp. Tom. v. p. 259. t Rufini Symbolum, inter Hieron. Opp. Tom. v. pp. 127 -150 N. B. See the preceding Chap. Sect. xx. note (y) u Hieron. Apol.adv. Rufin. Lib. iii. p. 453. ▾ Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4, Sect. i. § 20.

the original and more peaceful title of Apology. aulinianus, then residing in Italy, contrived to obtain ght of it, and having secretly transcribed copious exacts, sent them to his brother at Bethlehem. From nese, Jerome had the vexation to discover that the Defence he addressed, a few years before, to his friends t Rome, had been turned back, with effect, against imself. He saw that Rufinus had succeeded in exposng much inconsistency, and some prevarication, in the explanations there given concerning his former and present treatment of Origen. But what was more perplexing, a fatal advantage had been taken of his favorite Commentaries on Ephesians and Ecclesiastes. From these very works, to which Jerome had expressly referred as a clear delineation of his views, Rufinus had now selected ample quotations that taught, in the fullest manner, the several doctrines of the resurrection of aerial instead of fleshly bodies, pre-exisence, and universal restoration, not only of mankind, but also of the devil and his angels. Particular expressions had, moreover, been pointed out, which seemed to intimate a perpetual rotation of happiness and misery, the eventual return of all intellectual creatures into one order or grade of being, and the animation of those glorious bodies, the sun, the moon and stars. "It is well," said his triumphant, exulting accuser, "for such as you to condemn Origen w."

w Hieron. Apolog. adv. Rufinum Lib. i. & ii. Tom. iv. Jerome had not yet seen Rufinus's Invective entire, but only the extracts which Paulinianus had sent him. What these were we can learn only by Jerome's answer.