Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/165

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 145 afterwards converted into a magnificent church ; and the creduUty of the succeeding age was prepared to believe the miracles and visions, which attested the presence, or at least the protection, of the Mother of God.^^ The pulpit of the Anastasia was the scene of the labours and triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen ; and, in the space of two years, he experienced all the spiritual adventures which constitute the prosperous or adverse fortunes of a missionary. ^^ The Arians, who were provoked by the boldness of his enterprise, represented his doctrine as if he had preached three distinct and equal Deities ; and the devout populace was excited to suppress, by violence and tumult, the irregular assemblies of the Athanasian heretics. From the cathedral of St. Sophia there issued a motley crowd "of common beggars, who had forfeited their claim to pity ; of monks, who had the appearance of goats or satyrs ; and of women, more terrible than so many Jezebels ". The doors of the Anastasia were broke open ; much mischief was per- petrated, or attempted, with sticks, stones, and firebrands ; and, as a man lost his life in the affray, Gregory, who was summoned the next morning before the magistrate, had the satisfaction of supposing that he publicly confessed the name of Christ. After he was delivered from the fear and danger of a foreign enemy, his infant church was disgraced and distracted by intes- tine faction. A stranger who assumed the name of Maximus ^ and the cloak of a Cynic philosopher, insinuated himself into the confidence of Gregory ; deceived and abused his favourable opinion ; and, forming a secret connexion with some bishops of Egypt, attempted by a clandestine ordination to supplant his patron in the episcopal seat of Constantinople. These mortifi- cations might sometimes tempt the Cappadocian missionary to regret his obscure solitude. But his fatigues were rewarded by the daily increase of his fame and his congregation ; and he enjoyed the pleasure of observing that the greater part of his ^ See Ducange, Constant. Christiana, 1. iv. p. 141, 142. The deCa BvvaiJ.i.^ o( Sozomen (1. vii. c. 5) is interpreted o mean the Virgin Mary. [The site of the Church of Anastasia, S.W. of the Hipood-ome, is marked now by the mosque of Mehmed Pasha Djemi; see Paspa'es, BvL,avriyai MeAeVoi, 369.] 3» nilemont (M6m. Eccl^s. torn. ix. p 432, &c.) dihgently collects, enlarges and explains the oratorical and poetical hints o Gregory himself. 1 197 ii/^.J) in his praise ; but after their quarrel the name of Maximus was changed into that of Heron (see Jerom, tom. i. in Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 301). I touch slightly on these obscure and personal squabbles. [For an account of Maximus, see Hodgkin, i. 346 s^^. Cp. also J. Draseke, Z. f. Wiss. Theologie, 36(1893), p. 290 J^?.] VOL. in. 10
 * He pronounced an oration (tom. i. Orat. xxiii. p. 409 [ = xxv. Migne, p.