Council
Tyre
335 · Tyre
Attested. The deposition is certain. Fairness of the procedure is exactly what the parties disputed.
Tyre: for and against
Tyre judged Athanasius, not the wording of Nicaea. 'For' means on his side. He was the accused, not a judge. The against column is the accusers he and the church historians name.
For the Nicene side
- Athanasius of Alexandria
Attested
The accused. Deposed, not a judge. His Apology against the Arians is the main account of the hearing.
Against
- Eusebius of Nicomedia
Attested
Leading organizer of the case against Athanasius.
- Eusebius of Caesarea
Attested
Sat with the council that deposed Athanasius. He was not the author of the Arsenius charge.
- Theognis of Nicaea
Attested
Named by Athanasius on the commission sent into the Mareotis to investigate.
- Ursacius of Singidunum
Attested
Bishop of Singidunum. With Valens, an accuser and a member of that commission.
- Valens of Mursa
Attested
Bishop of Mursa, not the later emperor Valens. Named with Ursacius on the commission.
Reservations or a third party
No one in this column. A blank is not a hidden vote.
Convened by. Constantine I, to hear charges against Athanasius
Issues. Meletian and Eusebian charges against Athanasius: violence in Egypt, a broken chalice attributed to a man named Ischyras, and the claim that he had killed Bishop Arsenius and kept his hand for magic. The Nicene creed was not the motion on the floor.
Outcomes. Athanasius produced Arsenius alive. In his Apology against the Arians he says he showed that Arsenius had both hands. The council deposed him anyway. Constantine then exiled him to Trier. Athanasius reports the imperial pretext as a threat to hold back Egypt's grain fleet, not a new doctrinal vote. The staging of the Arsenius scene is his account, followed by Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. It was not an ecumenical council.
Canons or creeds. No doctrinal definition and no creed. A list of bishops who voted to acquit does not survive. Egyptian bishops came with him; the named accusers are much clearer in the sources than any defense ballot.