CHAPTER XXVII

ST. JULIAN AND ANTHONY THE GREAT

ABOUT the same time the celebrated Julian, of whom I have already spoken, was compelled to leave the desert and go to Antioch. The Arians, who had been long habituated to falsehood, and to the invention of calumnies, declared that this holy man had joined their party. Flavian, Diodorus, and Aphraates, who were illustrious defenders of the truth, sent the faithful Acacius, who was afterwards raised to the government of the church of Berœa, to this celebrated man, beseeching him to have pity upon so many millions of men, and to confute the falsehood of the enemy by bearing witness to the truth. The miracles which he performed during his journey, and after his arrival in the city of Antioch, I have fully related in my history, entitled “Philotheus,” where those who desire information respecting them, may easily obtain it. That all the inhabitants of this populous city crowded to our assemblies, will not be doubted by those who are acquainted with human nature; for men are generally attracted by whatever is strange and marvellous. Even the enemies of truth acknowledge that he performed a great many wonderful miracles. Anthony acted in the same way during the reign of Constantine at Alexandria: he left the solitudes of the desert to go about every part of the city, warning the inhabitants that the Arians were opposing the truth, and that the doctrines of the apostles were preached only by Athanasius. Thus did these holy men know how to meet the emergencies of every period; they knew when to remain in retirement, and when to leave the desert and repair to the cities.