Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.)
A copy of the letter as follows:
23. A copy of the letter as follows:
Constantius Victor Augustus to Athanasius. It is not unknown to your Prudence, how constantly I prayed that success might attend my late brother Constans in all his undertakings, and your wisdom will easily judge how greatly I was afflicted, when I learnt that he had been cut off by the treachery of villains. Now forasmuch as certain persons are endeavouring at this time to alarm you, by setting before your eyes that lamentable tragedy, I have thought good to address to your Reverence this present letter, to exhort you, that, as becomes a Bishop, you would teach the people to conform to the established religion, and, according to your custom, give yourself up to prayer together with them. For this is agreeable to our wishes; and our desire is, that you should at every season be a Bishop in your own place.
And in another hand:—May divine Providence preserve you, beloved Father, many years.
Edition and rights
NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters. Historical English edition; series volume first published 1892.
Archibald Robertson, volume editor; historical English translations as revised in this edition
Ancient work and historical English translation: public domain in the United States (published before 1931). Copyright rules vary by country. This is a historical source transcription, not an official Church edition. Modern website material is not reproduced.
Historical footnotes and publisher introductions are omitted. Author-written openings are retained. Paragraph whitespace is normalized. Transcriptions can contain errors; this is not a critical edition. Attribution follows the historical edition, not universal scholarly agreement.
Digitization provenance (not an external reading link): https://www.ccel.org/ccel/s/schaff/npnf204.xml
Source section: xviii.ii.xxiii · Text SHA-256: f36c80b6f4609529dc87c521d20b1628f79ac076a3601e6e3038e383c81200b7