Sav. ii. Sav. ii. 3 Tom. ix. Sav. iii. Tom. vii. St. Matthew' and St. John'; the Epistle to the Romans*; Tom. viii, the two Epistles' to the Corinthians and those to Timothy'. He takes notice that after Easter he preached only on Sundays, and during the course of the year about once a-week, though he preached at all the assemblies. Such was the Priest John, who comforted the people of Antioch, when under apprehensions of the just resentment of the Emperor Theodosius. 4 Tom. X. Sav. iii. 5. Tom. xi. Sav. iv. Tom Serm. 51.) vid. 4. p. 730. B. Sav. vi. p. 72. [cf. Præf. 7.] Serm. i. de Anna. 701. A. B. X. In the mean time Maximus, amusing Valentinian with proposals of peace, and under the appearance of friendship, advanced without noise towards Italy, passed the Alps, and tom. iv. p. marched to Aquileia, in order to take him by surprise ; (Serm. 66.) but Valentinian embarked with his mother Justina", crossed Maximus the sea and came to Thessalonica, that he might throw himin Italy. self into the arms of Theodosius, about the end of the year Zos. iv. c. 387. Maximus easily made himself master of Italy, and even 42. (p. 766of Rome itself, and he also subdued Africa. Being' informed that they had burnt a synagogue at Rome, he sent an edict Cod. The thither, as a vindicator of public discipline. This led the 1s. Amb. Christian population to say, "No good waits for him, he is "become a Jew." A. D. 387. 7.) Ruffin. xi. c.16. Chron. od. p. 118. Ep. 40. ad Soz. vii. 14. 4 Theodor. v. 15. Theodosius being informed that Valentinian was at Thes[*A.D.388.] salonica, went thither to him, leaving his son Arcadius at Soc. v. 12. Constantinople3. He had written' to Valentinian, " You ought "not to be surprised at your ill success, nor at the progress "of Maximus; you oppose the true religion, he supports "it." He rescued the young Prince from the false doctrines which he had received from his mother, and brought him back to the doctrine of the Church. He then undertook to restore him, and to revenge the death of Gratian; though it would have been more to his interest to have taken advantage c. 26. tom. of Valentinian's misfortune, and to have divided the empire with Maximus, who was very powerful, and with whom he had until then kept measures. Theodosius now declared against him, and prepared for war. de Civit. v. vii. Whilst Theodosius stayed at Thessalonica, he made a law d The Homilies on Genesis were delivered at different times; the Eight A.D. 386, the Sixty-seven A. D. 395. Vid. Monitum in Serm. viii. in Genes., and Præf. Bened. tom. iv. § 2; those on the Psalms A.D. 370-386, on St. Matthew od. xvi. de Hæret. against heretics, dated the tenth of March, A.D. 388, and A. D. 388. addressed to Cynegius the Prætorian Præfect of the East. It ordered them to be driven out of the cities', particularly 'Cod. Thethe Apollinarians, and forbade their making any Bishops or tit. 5. 14. Clerks, or holding assemblies, and even from appearing before [cf. Soz. vi. the Emperor. On the fourteenth of June following, the two 25.] Emperors being at Stobi in Macedonia, made' another law Ibid. 15. addressed to Trifolius the Prætorian Præfect of Italy, which contains in general the same prohibitions, and seems intended to revoke a law, which Valentinian, or rather his mother Justina, had made in favour of the Arians on the twenty- bk. xviii. third of January in the year 386. 3 ch. 43. Conclusion p. 721.) Nectar. p. 166. With respect to the law against the Apollinarians, it is XI. thought to have been owing to the zeal of St. Gregory of the HisNazianzen. His retreat did not prevent his being concerned tory of St. Gregory of for the misfortunes of the Church, and particularly of that Nazianzus. at Constantinople. He wrote on this subject to the Bishop 'Soz.vi. 27. (Orat. xlvi. Nectarius as follows: " They who are of the sect of Arius "or Eudoxius boast of their heresy, holding assemblies as if Ep. 202. ad they were permitted. The Macedonians are so insolent tom. ii. "that they assume to themselves the name of Bishops, and "boast that Eleusius is the author of their ordinations". [xeрOTOVlais.] "Eunomius, who is our domestic evil, is not satisfied with "being on any terms what he is, but thinks himself a loser "if he does not draw every body over to his pernicious "doctrine". And what is the most intolerable is the pre- [Tỷ εavтoû "sumption of the Apollinarians. I cannot but wonder how awλеių.] 66 your Holiness suffers them to usurp the right of holding "assemblies as solemn as ours." He concludes with p. 169. exhorting Nectarius to represent to the Emperor, that the affection which he had shewn to the Church in all other respects, would be unprofitable, if this error should prevail over the sound doctrine. St. Gregory calls Eunomius his domestic evil, because he was a native of Cappadocia, and [rò èykóλπιον ἡμῶν was at that time banished thither. For the Emperor Theo- κακόν.] dosius having found that certain of the officers of his bed-Philost. x. chamber were attached to the doctrine of Eunomius, he banished them from the palace, and caused him to be immediately carried away from Chalcedon. He at first sent him to Halmyris in Mosia, but the place of his exile being 6. A. D. 388. taken by the Barbarians, he was banished to Cæsarea in Cappadocia; and being obnoxious there on account of what he had written against St. Basil, he was sent to his own estate in a place called Dacoroëni. tom. ii. p. A. D. 383.] Carm. v. p. 70. [Ben. p. 926. v. 145.] After this letter to Nectarius we find nothing of St. Gregory's, relating to the affairs of the Church. He was still in his retirement of Arianzus, his native country. All his luxuries were a garden, a fountain, and some trees. His life was Carm. Ix. spent in fastings', tears, and watchings; his knees were p.138.[Ben. worn and wounded with kneeling; his bed' was of straw, 914. scr. his coverlet a coarse sack-cloth, his habit a single tunic, he went barefoot, lived without the use of fire, and had no company but wild beasts. But notwithstanding his austerities, his continual sickness, and his great age, he still felt violent struggles of the flesh against the spirit. And Carm. lix. this is the reason that he says, that although he was a P 406. v. virgin in respect of his body, he is not certain that he is so 58.] in mind. He very carefully avoided the sight of women, as we find by a letter to one of his relations named Valentinian, 5 Ep. 196. who under pretence of enjoying his companys, came and lived [203.p.169. with some women over against him. This neighbourhood made him leave the place, though he had cultivated it by his own labour, and though it was near a church of martyrs. But this is not supposed to have happened during his last [ Bened. retreat". 3 v. 165. p. 136. A. tom. ii.] A. D. 387.] [v. 90. p. 406.] 7 Carm. lix. The chief remedy' which St. Gregory made use of against P. 136. C. temptations, was prayer, and trust in the grace of God. He speaks of it in this manner in one of his poems: “Virtue is "not only a gift of God, but it proceeds likewise from thine "own earnest exertion; nor does it entirely depend upon thy own mind, but is of a mightier power: my sight is not "sufficient for discerning visible objects without the light of "the sun. Two parts of good proceed from God, the first and "the last; but there is one also which is mine; He hath "made me capable of good, and He gives me strength; it is "I who run in the midst of the race, having Christ for my breath, Christ for my strength; He enableth me to see and "to run successfully; without Him all we mortals are but vain "toys, living corpses, infected by sins. As a bird cannot fly "without air, nor the dolphin swim without water, so without "Christ men cannot move one step." Whence he concludes A. D. 388. that we ought to glory in nothing, and to attribute nothing to our own strength, but deeply to humble ourselves. P. 243. 2 [v. 49.] Vit. St. à Gregor. Presb. tom. i. [Vid. Fleur. 18. 51. 3 Orat. li. 101. ad These sacred poems were St. Gregory's employment in his last retirement. In them he recounts the history of his life and sufferings; he describes his temptations, and bewails his infirmities. He prays, he instructs, he explains the mysteries, and lays down rules for conduct. Besides the inclination to poetry with which he was inspired by the beauty and skill of his genius, he considered this exercise as a work of penance', 'Carm. 162. compositions in verse being more difficult than those in prose. p. 902. He wished also to supply those who were fond of music and v. 33.] poetry, with proper subjects for their entertainment, and not to let the Pagans think that none but they could succeed in the pursuits of literature. Besides, he had a mind to oppose Gregor. the poems of Apollinarius by such as were useful and religious, as he says himself. Thus did St. Gregory Nazianzen Script. make use of the leisure which he had in his retirement, where p. 158. he ended his days happily in extreme old age. He seems himself to acknowledge that he wrought miracles, where he note y.] says that he was called upon for assistance in sickness, and in fin. [Ep. that he often cast out devils only by pronouncing the name Cledon. of Christ [or by describing in the air the sign of the Cross]. tom. ii. p. 93.] He died at above ninety years of age, in the thirteenth ['p. 948. v. 105.] year of the Emperor Theodosius, in the year of Christ, 391. Carm. 60. The Greek Church honours his memory on the twenty-fifth of January, and the Latin Church on the ninth of May. Amidst the preparations of war against Maximus, the v. 80. Emperor Theodosius sent to consult the famous anchorite v. Gregor. St. John' of Egypt, who lived in the upper Thebaïs near the city Lycus. From his infancy he had been bred a carpenter', and he had a brother a dyer. When he was twenty-five years old he renounced the world, and put himself under the direc XII. tion of an old man, who inured him to obedience, by making of St. John him water dry wood, and perform such like offices. He spent of Egypt. five years in a monastery, afterwards he retired alone to the top Hist. 4. 25. of a mountain, into a rock where it was difficult to climb up. weyd. Vit. He there cut out three cells, one for the use of the body, the Patr. p.416. other for labour, and the third for prayer. He shut himself Laus. 43. up when he was forty years old, and lived there thirty years, Ruffin. II. p. 140. B. 61. 142. A. p. 1074. 6 Suidas Pagi, A. D. 389. § 4. 7 Anthol. Gr. p. pos'. Martyrol. Rom. Prophecy 9 Cassian. ap. Ros 1 Pallad. ibid. p. 650. 2 c. 1. ibid. p. 343. ' Pallad. P. 560. Ruffin. p. 344. A. D. 388. without seeing any person, receiving what he had occasion for through a window. At the end of this time, that is, when he was seventy years old', he received the gift of prophecy, and of healing diseases. When the Ethiopians' made an inroad into the Thebaïs, the person that had the command of the forces that went against them came to consult him; being afraid of engaging because his forces were by no means equal. John fixing a day, said to him, "If you march against "them on the day I have named you shall come up with "them and vanquish them, and you shall be esteemed by the "Emperors," which accordingly happened. He suffered no one to come into his cell, but spoke to such as came through the window. He would never see any women; and men only at certain times, and that very seldom. He permitted a building to be raised without his cell, for the reception of those who came to him from distant countries. He appeared S. August. in a dream to the wife of a tribune3, who earnestly desired to Mort. 21. see him. He restored sight to a Senator's wife with oil which he had blessed, after she had rubbed her eyes with it for three days. For he healed the sick by oil which he sent them, without suffering them to be brought to him, that he might avoid vanity. He often foretold the increase or decrease of the river Nile, a matter of so great consequence in Egypt. The Emperor Theodosius therefore caused this holy anchorite to be consulted, concerning the success of his war against Maximus, and John foretold that he should be victorious. He frequently gave him the like predictions concerning the inroads which the Barbarians made into his territories, and the manner of overcoming them, and he also foretold that he should die a natural Defeat and death. de Cura tom. vi. p. 529. XIII. death of Maximus. • Chron. scia and • Zos. 4. The Emperor Theodosius advanced' immediately from Cod. Theod. Thessalonica into Pannonia, and there defeated Maximus' [At Sci- forces in two battles, though they were superior in number Petavio.] to his own. He passed the Alps without any difficulty, (p. 770.) surprised Maximus himself in Aquileia, and entered it withc. 46.p.370. out resistance. Maximus being forsaken by his guards was divested of the Imperial ornaments, and led barefoot with his hands tied, before Theodosius and Valentinian, three miles Chron. An. from the city'. Theodosius upbraided him, in few words, Pacati c. 34, 35, &c. c. 43. 7 Prosperi 389. tom. i. |