CHAPTER XXV

INNOVATIONS OF EUDOXIUS BISHOP OF GERMANICA.—HE IS ZEALOUSLY OPPOSED BY BASIL BISHOP OF ANCYRA, AND BY EUSTATHIUS BISHOP OF SEBASTE

THE city Germanica is situated in Euphratia, a province bordering on Cilicia, Syria, and Cappadocia. When Eudoxius, the bishop of his city, heard of the death of Leontius, he took forcible possession of the chief authority in Antioch, and ravaged the vineyard of the Lord like a wild boar. He did not, like Leontius, conceal by artifice the malignity of his disposition; but he openly and violently opposed the doctrines of the apostles, and persecuted all those who dared to resist him. At this period, Basil had succeeded Marcellus in the government of the church of Ancyra; and Eustathius was bishop of Sebaste, the capital of Armenia. These two bishops hearing of the violence and cruelty of Eudoxius, had the courage to write to the emperor Constantius on the subject. The emperor was then in the West, endeavouring to repair the injuries which the tyrants had inflicted on the country. They both possessed the favour and confidence of the emperor on account of their exemplary course of life.