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"Neighbourhood on the Lord's Day, the on'ly Day, on which, in thofe Parts, the Eu'charift was Celebrated. That when Macarius came to the Village where Ifchyras liv'd, 'he wasty'd to his Couch by Sicknefs; How then could he be Celebrating the Sacrament? And then, Ifchyras was no Prefbyter; and therefore had no Power to Confecrate. All excellent Defences, efpecially the laft, if it was true. And that it was true, was prov'd thus: He was not Ordained by any Bishop. All the Ordination he cou'd pretend to, he had from One who was never more than a Presbyter. That he was not Ordained by a BiShop, was thus prov'd: Meletius, the only Bifhop he could pretend to have been Ordain'd by, when he was Reconciled to Alexander, Athanafius's immediate Predeceffor, gave him. a Lift of All the Presbyters and Deacons he had ordain'd in the Diocefs of Alexandria, but no Ifchyras fo much as once named amongst them. Nay as Athanafius has it, p. 188. Meletius did not fo much pretend ever to have had fo much as one Clergyman in the Mareotick Region.

48. The Tyrian Synod however was Refolved to find Athanafius Guilty. They therefore fent fix Bishops to Mareotis, to enquire on the place, into the Matter of Fact, whe ther the Chalice was indeed broken, &c. what Injuftice and Partiality they fhew'd, 'tis not my prefent Business to tell you. That which I am concern'd for, is, that their coming thither on fuch an Errand, oblig'd the Mereotick Presbyters and Deacons to meet and write two

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two Letters containing things most proper for my Purpose. One, they Directed to the Bifbops met at Tyre, wherein they tell them, They wonder how Ifchyras can pretend to be a Presbyter: They can affure them he was never One: Sometimes he had indeed boafted that he was Colluthus's Prefbyter; But, unless 'twas fome of his own Blood, no 'Man believ'd him. He never had a Church. He was never owned for a Clergyman by the Neighbourhood: Yet because he affum'ed to himself the Name of One, the Matter was inquir'd into, and he was formally Reduc'd to the Order of Laicks by a Syn< od of Bishops Convocated in Alexandria [An. 324.] wherein the Great Hofius [next year Prefident of the Council of Nice was prefent. Athanafius p. 190, 191, has Recorded the Letter word for word.

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49. The other Letter they wrote to Philagrius, then call'd Prefect of Egypt, wherein they tell him, That, let Ifchyras fay what he will, and the fix Bifhops, [Theognis, Maris, Macedonius, Theodorus, Urfacius and Valens] fent by the Tyrian Synod to Mareotis, make of him what they please, they can affure him he was not a Prefbyter: For Hands were Imposed on him only by Colluthus, a Prefbyter, who falfly affum'd to ' himself the Name of a Bifhop, and who af'terwards was Commanded in Open Synod [An. 324. juft now mentioned] by Hous and the Bilhops who were with him, to behave as became [what he only was] a Pref byter

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'byter. And they farther tell him, that by that fame Synod, All who had receiv'd Impofition of Hands from Collutbus (because he was no more but a Prefbyter) were reduced "to the Station of Lay-Men, and among the reft, Ifchyras, particularly, was reckoned a Laick. Aaïnds we are the very words. Adὤφθη ding, that the Church, he then (An. 335.) pretended to have, was never any fuch thing. Twas nothing but a little Cottage belonging to an Orphan, call'd Ifion. Befeeching Philagrius the Prefect therefore, by every thing that was Sacred, to acquaint the Emperour, and the Cafars his Sons, with the account they had given, as containing nothing but 'what was certain Truth. This Letter alfo Athanafius has faithfully Recorded, p. 192, 193. Both Letters (written in September An. 335.) are Subfcribed by XV Prefbyters, and as many Deacons.

50. But all this notwithstanding, the Tyrian Synod confifting moftly of Arians, and managed by the Subtilty of the Malicious Eufebius, Depofed Athanafius. In confequence whereof he was, by the Emperour, Banished to Triers. Conftantine dying An. 337. He was forthwith Reftored to his Chair by Conftantius; and liv'd Peaceably in the Exercise of his Office about two years. Then, An. 339. (fay fome, An. 342, fay the Benedictines, the latest Publishers of Athanafius's Works a Synod confifting of about an Hundred Bifhops was Convocated in Alexandria. This Synod had the whole Procefs laid before N 3 them

them. They found Athanafius Notoriously Injured by the Tyrian Synod: And in confequence thereof, in a Circular Epiftle directed to all Bishops of the Catholick Communion, they Pronounced Athanafius free of all Crimes laid to his Charge; and particularly, having minutely Canvaffed and Confidered the Cafe of Ifchyras, they wrote [as near as I can Tranflate it thus: This is that much Talk'd on Ifchyras, who was neither Ordained by the Church, nor by Meletius: For when Alexander received from Meletius, the Lift of thofe he had Ordained Prefbyters, his Name was not in it. Whence then was Ifchyras a Prefbyter? Who Ordained him? WhobutColluthus? For that only remains. But 'tis manifeft that Colluthus gu τερ ὧν ἐτελάτησε was never morethan a Prefbyter to bisDying Day; καὶ πᾶτα χεὶς αὐτὸ γέγονεν άκυρος &C. fo he had no Power to Ordain; and as all his Impofitions of Hands were Performed in Schifm, fo thofe he had Impofed them on, were [by the Alexandrian Synod, An. 324. already mentioned reduced to the Station of Laicks, and, to this day, Affemble or Communicate as fuch: How then could an ions a Private Man, [one that was no Prieft living in a Private House, have a Myftical or Confecrated Chalice? (n) p. 134. Neither is this all.

51. An, 341. A Synod, whereof the Prevailing Party, Arians, met at Antioch; and again depofed Athanafius. So he fled to Rome. Hereupon Julius, then Bishop of Rome, Convocated a Synod, An. 342, confifting of more than 50 Bifhops. Here again, the whole Pro

cefs

cefs was Revifed; Athanafius was found Innocent, and admitted to Communion as Bifhop of Alexandria; and Julius, in the Name of the Synod, wrote an excellent Epiftle to thofe Bishops who had met in Antioch, wherein he told them, that the Mareotick, Prefly'ters had been at Rome, and made it Evident that Ifchyras was no Prefbyter. p. 147. And again, That thofe who were with Abanafus had proved that Ifebyras was never a Prefbyter of the Catholick Church, That he had never Communicated as a Prefbyter and that when Alexander, by the Indul gence of the Great Synod (of Nice) receiv 'ed those who had been Involv'd in Meletius's Schifm, Ifcbyras was not Lifted amongst • Meletius's Presbyters: And this (fays Fulius) C 15 μέγιτον τεκμήριο, as great an Evidence as can 'be, that he was none of Meletius's Presbyters, for without doubt, bad be been one of them, be bad been Lifted with the Ref. p. 148. Once

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more,

52. Anno 347. The whole Matter was again laid before the Great Synod of Sardica, confifting of about 300 Bifhops, Convocated by the Imperial Authority, from all the Provinces of the Roman Empire: And all the

ournal theRecords concerning Ifchyras being Read, he was found (as the Council fays in their Epiftle to the Prefbyters and Deacons, and all the Chriftians in Alexandria) to have been aμéves, an Arrant Villain, p. 156, 157. They have the fame over again in another Epiftle written to the Bifhops of Egypt and Libya.

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