Post #5837

Introduced therefore to Athanasius together with him the priest Timothy, who, pretending to be Athanasius, said: I am, isn’t it, oh woman, who I have housed with you? I who violated you? To which she brazenly said: Yes, you violated me; and affirming it with oath, she invoked the authority of the judges to avenge so much infamy. Thus discovered the fraud, the impudence of the woman was confused. The Arians again pretended that Bishop Arsenius had been assassinated by Athanasius; and, keeping it hidden, they brought the hand of a dead man to trial, accusing Athanasius of having amputated it for use in magic operations. But Arsenius, having fled at night, presented himself before the whole council, thus foiling the most impudent wickedness of the enemies of Athanasius. But attributing this to the magical arts of Athanasius, they did not desist from conspiring against his life. Therefore condemned to exile in 335, he was relegated to Trier, in Gaul. Then, under the Emperor Constantius II, supporter of the Arians, beaten by storms raised against him and suffering incredible calamities, he traveled a large part of the world; and often expelled from his church, he was often returned there by the authority of Julius I, Roman Pontiff, for the protection of Emperor Constant I, brother of Constantius II, and also by decree of the council of Serdica (343 AD) and of Jerusalem, however, the Arians remain hostile to him; and to escape their obstinate fury and death, he remained hidden for five years in a dry cistern, knowing only a friend of Athanasius, who supported him in secret. Died Constantius II in 361, Julian the Apostate, who he succeeded in the Empire, having allowed the exiled bishops to return to their churches, Athanasius also returned to his see of Alexandria in 362, welcomed with the greatest honours. But not long after, persecuted by Julian, at the instigation of the Arians themselves, he was forced to leave again. Searched to death by his satellites, he turned back the boat in which he was fleeing on a river, and purposely met those who pursued him; and asked by them how far Athanasius was, he replied not to be very far: thus taking them the opposite way, he escaped it, and returned to Alexandria he remained hidden there until Julian's death. Shortly after, a new storm arose, he remained locked in his father's tomb for four months. Finally, miraculously freed from such and so many dangers, he died on the 2nd of May 373 in Alexandria, in his bed, under Valens; his life and death were illustrated by great miracles. He wrote many works full of piety and clarity to explain the Catholic faith, and most holyly ruled the church of Alexandria for forty years in the midst of the greatest vicissitudes. Saint Pius V in 1568 proclaimed him a Doctor of the Universal Church. His remains rest in Venice at the church of San Zaccaria.