To Condemn a Bishop in Flight

Abstract

Not all Christian flights were created equal. With the aid of pro-Nicene authors, Athanasius of Alexandria’s multiple flights quickly became the standard for an orthodox exile. But the charge of cowardice—or worse, heresy—was not so easily dismissed. While Athanasius attempted to explain away such charges, as did many of his defenders, not all could escape such a damning verdict. In this and the following chapter, we will explore how the enemies of Nicaea, reread as the enemies of Athanasius, also found themselves in exile. But their episcopal flights were no testament to their virtue. As the quote from Theodoret’s Ecclesiastical History above demonstrates, the exiles of anti-Nicene bishops were remembered within pro-Nicene Christian tradition as evidence of their guilt. The post-Nicene age may have begun with Athanasius’s death, but the legends of Nicaea began with the literary birth of his enemy, the Arians.2 This birth was intimately tied to his life in flight, as I demonstrated in chapters 1 and 2. And we explored in chapter 4 how Athanasius’s Encyclical Letter inaugurated his exilic discourse as both the victim of—and victor over—heresy. As should be evident by now, it is impossible to have heroes without villains. The pro-Nicene contingent created larger-than-life enemies to reinforce their status as victims, whether they be emperors or heretics. Despite the best efforts of later pro-Nicene authors,