Persecutions Under The Arian Heretics
The author of the Arian heresy was Arius, a native of Lybia, and a
priest of Alexandria, who, in A. D. 318, began to publish his errors. He
was condemned by a council of Lybian and Egyptian bishops, and that
sentence was confirmed by the council of Nice, A. D. 325. After the
death of Constantine the Great, the Arians found means to ingratiate
themselves into the favour of the emperor Constantinus, his son and
successor
in the east; and hence a persecution was raised against the
orthodox bishops and clergy. The celebrated Athanasius, and other
bishops, were banished, and their sees filled with Arians.
In Egypt and Lybia, thirty bishops were martyred, and many other
christians cruelly tormented; and, A. D. 386, George, the Arian bishop
of Alexandria, under the authority of the emperor, began a persecution
in that city and its environs, and carried it on with the most infernal
severity. He was assisted in his diabolical malice by Catophonius,
governor of Egypt; Sebastian, general of the Egyptian forces; Faustinus
the treasurer; and Herachus, a Roman officer.
The persecution now raged in such a manner, that the clergy were driven
from Alexandria, their churches were shut, and the severities practised
by the Arian heretics were as great as those that had been practised by
the pagan idolaters. If a man, accused of being a christian, made his
escape, then his whole family were massacred, and his effects
confiscated.