Chronicle of Edessa

In the year 681, he went out from the church of Edessa in the month of September.

1

In the year 689, in the month of Adar, Mar Barses, Bishop of Edessa, departed from this world.

2

In the year 690, on the twenty-ninth of September, which was a Friday, the Edessenes returned [to] the church of Edessa.

3

And in that same year, Mar Eulogius became bishop.

[Regarding the text from the previous page:] ...and of several other provinces; nor is there need that he also invaded Edessa. Add that Modestus, who according to the opinion of all writers was Praetorian Prefect while Valens attacked Basil at Caesarea, is said to have held that dignity until the year of Christ 373 in the laws of the Theodosian Code, as Pagi also notes at the year 370, number 31. However, at number 25, he had incorrectly written that it appeared from the subscriptions of the laws of the Theodosian Code that Modestus was Praetorian Prefect in the year 375. Basil therefore had been attacked by Valens before the persecution occurred, which was only excited in the month of September of the year 373. Nor does it stand in the way that Amphilochius in the Life of Basil writes that he died on the Kalends of January in the fifth year of Valens and Valentinian, and that, as Gregory of Nyssa testifies in his epistle to Olympius, eight years having been passed in the episcopate, and the ninth having begun: and so the year of Christ 380, which was the fifth year of Valentinian the Younger, as Pagi says at the year 378, number 2; or the year 376, into which the fifth consulship of Valens and Valentinian fell, as Combefis thinks in his notes to Amphilochius: or finally the year 378, as others have imagined. For to begin with the words of Amphilochius, everyone acknowledges that there is an error in them, whether it is placed in the number of years, or in the name of Valens, or for any other reason: hence no truth can be extracted from them, no light can shine upon that obscure history. The eight years of the episcopate, which are mentioned by Nyssa with the ninth begun, can be applied equally comfortably to all the opinions of the authors; especially since Amphilochius, chapters 8 and 9, Nicephorus, book 10, chapter 25, and the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle under the consuls of the year 363, called Basil bishop while Julian was emperor, because he was indeed taking care of the Church of Caesarea, in the absence of the pastor, even though he was still a priest, as the often-cited Pagi rightly warns at the year 365, number 5.

1 Ejected by the Arians. Baronius, number 108, refers this persecution of the Edessene Church to the year 371. Pagi, number 8, extends it to the following year. Dionysius, however, agreeing with our Chronicle, reports that it was excited in the month of September in the year of the Greeks 684, of Christ 373. Rufinus, book 2, chapter 5, Socrates, book 4, chapter 18, Sozomen, book 6, chapter 18, and Theodoret, book 6, chapter 17 describe the same event, where they append the remarkable deed of that generous woman, which in the Life of S. Ephrem, page 51, is recalled to the times of Julian the Apostate, as we noted there.

XXXI. In the month of September of the same year, the people left the church of Edessa, having been expelled by the Arians.

XXXII. In the year 689, in the month of March, Mar Barses, Bishop of Edessa, died.

XXXIII. In the same year, on the 27th day of December, the Orthodox returned by right of postliminy restoration to a former state or position and recovered the church of Edessa.

XXXIV. During the same time, Mar Eulogius became bishop, in the year...

2. In the same year. Rather, at the beginning of the following year, that is, of the Greeks 690, which corresponds to the current year of Christ 378. For the Emperor Valens perished in the month of August of the year 378, upon whose extinction Gratian recalled all who had been ejected into exile by him. He also enacted a law that men of every religion should gather in the churches: Only the Eunomians, Photinians, and Manichaeans were to be driven from the church, says Socrates, book 5, chapter 2, whom Sozomen supports in book 7, chapter 1. Theodoret adds, speaking of Gratian, in book 5, chapter 2: Furthermore, together with the Law, he also sent Sapor, the Master of Soldiers, who was then considered very famous, and he ordered the preachers of Arian blasphemy, like certain wild beasts, to be excluded from the sacred buildings: he restored the same to the best pastors and the divine flock. And that was indeed executed in individual provinces without controversy. Therefore, the Catholics recovered the church of Edessa not in the month of December of the year of the Greeks 689, during which the year of Christ 377 was still in progress, but [in the year] of the Greeks 690, of Christ 378, with the Arians having been driven out after the death of Valens, by the order of Gratian. The same must be said of the Chronicle of Dionysius, who records the ejection of the Arians to the year 689 of the Greeks.

3. Eulogius. Theodosius the Great began to rule in the month of January of the year 379, as testified by Socrates, Idacius in the Fasti, Marcellinus in the Chronicle, and others. Therefore, in the same year, Eulogius assumed the episcopate, about whom see Theodoret, book 4, chapter 18. He subscribed to the Council of Constantinople, as is read in the Acts of the same Council.