Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/262

Rh 248 GEORGIUS. p. 182, ed. 0x011. 1740-43 ; Bayle, Dictionnaire, &c., s. V. Arnynitzes.) 5. Aneponymws, or without a surname. [See the Peripatetic, No. 41.] 6. Aristinus, an historian, Joseph, bishop of Modon (who flourished about A. D. 1440), in his defence of ' the council of Florence, in reply to Mark of Ephesus, cites Georgius Aristinus as an authority for the statement, that the addition of the words " filioque" to the Nicene creed had been made shortly after the second oecumenical council (that of Constantinople, a. d. 381), in the time of Pope Damasus. (Allatius, Diatrib. de Gorg. apud Fabr. Bibl Or. vol. xii. p. 21.) 7. Of Cappadocia, a man of bad character, a heretic and a persecutor, and an intruder into the see of the orthodox Athanasius, then in banish- ment, and yet, strange to tell, a saint in the Roman Calendar, and the patron saint of England. It is possible, indeed, that his moral delinquency has been aggravated by the party spirit of the ecclesi- astical historians, and other writers to whom his Arianism made him odious ; but it is hard to be- lieve that their invectives are without considerable foundation. He was born, according to Ammianus, at Epiphaneia, in Cilicia, but our other authorities speak of him as a Cappadocian. His father was a fuller. Gregory Nazianzen, whose passionate in- vective is our chief authority for his early history, says that he was of a bad family (jrov-qpos to •yivos) ; but it does not appear whether it was dis- creditfible for anything more than its humble occu- pation. George appears to have been a parasite, a hanger-on of the wealthy, "one that would sell himself," according to Gregory, " for a cake." He obtained an appointment connected with the supply of bacon to the army ; but being detected in some unfaithfulness, was stripped of his charge and his emoluments, and was glad to escape with- out bodily punishment. According to Gregory, he afterwards wandered from one city or province to another, till he was fixed at Alexandria, " where he ceased to wander, and began to do mischief." It is probable, however, that he held office as a re- ceiver of some branch of the revenue at Constan- tinople, having by bribery obtained the favour of the eunuchs who had influence at the court of Constantius II., the then reigning emperor. Atha- nasius, who notices this appointment, calls him TaixiLO(pdyos, " a peculator ; " but it is not clear whether he refers to his former official delinquency or to some new ofifence. Thus far it does not appear that George had even professed tc be a Christian : we have certainly no intimation that he sustained any ecclesiastical cha- racter before his appointment to the see of Alexan- dria. Athanasius says it was reported at the time of his appointment that he had not been a Christian at all, but rather an idolater ; and there is reason to believe that Athanasius is right in charging him with professing Christianity for interest sake. Arianism was patronised by Constantius, and George consequently became a zealous Arian; and was. after his appointment to Alexandria, concerned in assem- bling the Arian councils of Seleuceia (a. d. 359) and Constantinople (a.d. 360). According to Socrates and Sozomen, Gregory, whom the Arian party had appointed to the see of Alexandria, vacant by the ex- pulsion of Athanasius, had become unpopular, through the tumults and disasters to which his appointment had led ; and was at the same time regarded as GEORGIUS. not zealous enough in the support of Arianism. He was therefore removed, and George was ap- pointed by the council of Antioch (a. d. 354, or, according to Mansi, a. d. 356) in his place. It is probable that George was appointed from his sub- serviency to the court, and his readiness to promote any fiscal exactions, and his general unscrupulous- ness ; and he was induced to accept the appoint- ment by the hope of gain, or, as Athanasius ex- presses it, " he was hired " to become bishop. Count Heraclian was sent by Constantius to gain the support of the heathen people of Alexandria to George's election ; and he succeeded in his ob- ject, by giving them hopes of obtaining toleration for their own worship ; and the emperor, in a letter preserved by Athanasius, recommended the new prelate to the support and favour of the Alexan- drians generally. But a persecution of the Tri- nitarian party had commenced even before the ar- rival of George, whjch took place during Lent, A. D. 355. They were dispossessed of the churches ; and Sebastian, commander of the troops in Egypt, publicly exposed some women, who had devoted themselves to a life of religious celibacy, naked before the flame of a large fire, to make them re- nounce orthodoxy. On George's arrival, the perse- cution continued as fiercely as before, or even more so. Widows and orphans were plundered of their houses and of their bread ; several men were so cruelly beaten with fresh-gathered palm branches, with the thorns yet adhering to them, that some were long before they recovered, and some never recovered at all ; and many virgins, and thirty bishops, were banished to the greater Oasis, or elsewhere : several of the bishops died in the place of exile, or on the way. Athanasius, how- ever, escaped, and remained in concealment till George's death. George and his partisans refused at first to give up to their friends for burial the bodies of those who died, " sitting," says Theodo- ret, " like daemons about the tombs." His perse- cutions led to a revolt. The Trinitarian party rose against him, and would have killed him. He escaped, however, and fled to the emperor ; and the Trinitarians re-occupied the churches. A no- tary was sent, apparently from Constantinople ; the orthodox were again expelled ; the guilty were punished, and George returned, rendered more ty- rannical by this vain attempt to resist him. While his bitter persecution of the orthodox was embittering the anger of that numerous party, his rapacity and subserviency to the court offended all. He suggested to Constantius to require a rent for all the buildings which had been erected at the public cost, and ministered to the emperor's cruelty, as well as his rapacity, by accusing many Alexandrians of disobedience to his orders. Mindful of his own interest, he sought to obtain a monopoly of nitre and of the marshes where the papyrus and other reeds grew, of the salterns, and of biers for the dead and the management of funerals in Alexan- dria. His luxury and arrogance tended further to increase the hatred entertained towards him. A passage in Athanasius {De Synod, c. 12) gives some reason to think that sentence of deposition was pronounced against him at the Council of Seleuceia (a. d. 359) ; but if so, it was not carried into effect. The immediate cause of his downfal was his persecution of the heathens. He had excited their fears by exclaiming at the view of a splendid