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By Archibald Robertson.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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128 Pages (Part I)
Page 126
As he approached Hermupolis, the bishops, clergy, and monks ('about 100 in number') of the Thebaid lined both banks of the river to welcome him. 'Who are these,' he exclaimed, 'that fly as a cloud and as doves with their young ones' (Isa. lx. 8, LXX). Then he saluted the Abbat Theodore, and asked after the brethren. 'By thy holy prayers, Father, we are well.' He was mounted on an ass and escorted to the monastery with burning torches (they 'almost set fire to him'), the abbat walking before him on foot. He inspected the monasteries, and expressed his high approval of all he heard and saw, and when Theodore, upon departing for his Easter (363) visitation [82] of the brethren, asked 'the Pope' to remember him in his prayers, the answer was characteristic: 'If we forget thee, O Jerusalem' (Vit. Pachom. 92, see p. 569). About midsummer he was near Antinoupolis, and trusted messengers warned him that the pursuers were again upon his track. Theodore brought his covered boat to escort him up to Tabenne, and in company with an 'abbat' called Pammon they made their way slowly against wind and stream. Athanasius became much alarmed and prayed earnestly to himself, while Theodore's monks towed the boat from the shore. Athanasius, in reply to an encouraging remark of Pammon, spoke of the peace of mind he felt when under persecution, and of the consolation of suffering and even death for Christ's sake. Pammon looked at Theodore, and they smiled, barely restraining a laugh. 'You think me a coward,' said Athanasius. 'Tell him,' said Theodore to Pammon. 'No, you must tell him.' Theodore then announced to the astonished archbishop that at that very hour Julian had been killed in Persia, and that he should lose no time in making his way to the new Christian Emperor, who would restore him to the Church. The story (below, p. 487) implies rather than expressly states that the day and hour tallied exactly with the death of Julian, June 26, 363. This story is, on the whole, the best attested of the many legends of the kind which surround the mysterious end of the unfortunate prince. (Cf. Thdt. H. E. iii. 23, Soz. vi. 2. For the religious policy of Julian and his relation to Church history, see Rendall's Julian and the full and excellent article by Wordsworth in D.C.B. iii. 484-525.)
Athanasius entered Alexandria secretly and made his way by way of Hierapolis (Sept. 6, Fest. Ind.) to Jovian at Edessa, and returned with him (apparently) to Antioch. On Feb. 14 (or 20, Fest. Index) he returned to Alexandria with imperial letters and took possession of the churches, his fourth exile having lasted 'fifteen months and twenty-two days' (Hist. Aceph.). The visit to Antioch was important.
[82] Krueger, in Theol. Litzg. 1890, p. 620 sqq., fixes the death of Theodore for Easter 363, on the ground, as I venture to think, of a date (345) for the death of Pachomius too early by one year. The question is too intricate to discuss here, but with all deference to so competent a critic, I am confident that Theodore lived till at any rate the following Easter.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/athanasius-life-arianism.asp?pg=126
