1 1 December, 361 a.d. This proclamation must be distinguished from the one in Gaul (II. 47); the latter was the proclamation by the army, and occurred during the lifetime of Constantius.
3 See Bingham, Eccl. Antiq. VI. 4, end.
4 The `reader, 0' anagnwsthj, lector, was commonly a young man possessed of a good voice, who read the Scriptures from the pulpit or reading-desk (not the altar). Bennett, Christ. Archaeol. p. 374.
5 See Smith, Dict. of Greek and Rom. Antiq. See also, on sacrificing to idols as a sign of apostacy, Bingham, Eccl. Antiq. XVI. iv. 5.
7 It is difficult to determine in what particulars the improvements mentioned here were made. Gregory Nazianzen, Contra Julianum, I. lxxv., confesses that Julian had made reforms in the matter.
9 The friendly or propitious divinity of the Persian theology; hence identified with the light and life-giving sun.
10 The secret or innermost sanctuary of the temple, where none but priests were permitted to enter; afterwards applied to any secret place.
11 This George is, according to some authorities, the St. George of the legend. In its Arian form the legend represents St. George as warring against the wizard Athanasius; later, the wizard was transformed to a dragon, and George to an armed knight slaying the dragon. On other forms and features of the legend, see Smith & Wace, Dict. of Christ. Biogr., Georgius (43).
13 Artemius, whom the Emperor Julian afterwards beheaded for desecrating the pagan temple.
14 Philostorgius (VII. 10) calls this Julian `the governor of the East, who was the uncle on the maternal side of Julian the Apostate. 0' Sozomen also (V. 7 and 8) and Theodoret (H. E. III. 12, 13) furnish information regarding him, as well as Ammianus Marcellius XXIII. i. Cf. also Julian, Epist. XIII. (Spanheim, p. 382).
15 Theodoret, H. E. III, 4, mentions Hilarius, Astenius, and some other bishops who were at this time recalled from exile by Julian's edict, and joined Lucifer and Eusebius in these deliberations about restoring the authority of the canons and correcting abuses in the church.
17 More especially the canons of the Council of Nicaea.
19 The bishops composing the Council of Nicaea simply declared their faith in the Holy Spirit, without adding any definition; they were not met with any denial of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This denial was first made by Macedonius, in the fourth century.
20 Euseb. H. E. VI. 33, says that this Beryllus denied that Christ was God before the Incarnation. He, however, gives the see of Beryllus as Bostra in Arabia, instead of Philadelphia. So also Epiphanius Scholasticus; though Nicephorus, X. 2, calls him Cyrillus, instead of Beryllus.
21 Valesius conjectures that Socrates is wrong here in attributing such an action to the Synod of Alexandria, as the term ousia does not occur in the Nicene Creed, and such action would therefore be in manifest contradiction to the action at Nicaea. This, however, is not probable, in view of the dominating influence of Athanasius in both. But, as the acts of the Alexandrian synod are not extant, it is impossible to verify this conjecture.
24 The only work of Evagrius preserved to our days is his Ecclesiastical History.
33 Rather Achisch, king of Gath, 1 Sam. xxi. 10.
37 2 Cor. xi. 32, 2 Cor. xi. 33.
42 Abbreviated from Athanasius.
43 Matt. ii. 13, Matt. ii. 22.
44 Matt. xii. 14, Matt. xii. 15.
47 Matt. xiii. 13; Isa. ix. 5.