CHAPTER V

PAUL, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

PAUL, bishop of Constantinople, who faithfully maintained orthodox doctrines, was accused by the Arians of having excited seditions, and of having committed the other crimes which they usually laid to the charge of all those who preached true piety. The people, who feared the machinations of his enemies, would not permit him to go to Sardica. The Arians, taking advantage of the weakness of the emperor, procured from him an edict of banishment against Paul, who was, accordingly, sent to Cucusum, a little town formerly included in Cappadocia, but which now forms part of Lesser Armenia. But these disturbers of the public peace were not satisfied with having driven the admirable Paul into a desert. They sent the agents of their cruelty to dispatch him by a violent death. St. Athanasius testifies to this fact in the defence which he wrote of the flight of Paul. He uses the following words: “They pursued Paul, bishop of Constantinople, and having seized him at Cucusum, a city of Cappadocia, they had him strangled, by order of Philip the pro-consul, who was the protector of their heresy, and the active agent of their most atrocious projects. Such were the murders to which the blasphemy of Arius gave rise. A virulent opposition was raised by this faction against the only begotten Son of God, and his servants were not spared.”