ABSTRACT
We begin with a well-known letter. After his account in Vita Constantini 2 of the victory over Licinius, the lifting of persecution and the Letter to the Provincials, Eusebius reports that Constantine became aware of what we call the Arian controversy: envy crept in to disturb the prosperity of the churches,
openly flaunting itself in the very assemblies of the saints. Indeed it set even the Bishops against each other, imparting divisive quarrels with divine doctrines as the excuse. Then it broke out like a great fire from a little spark. It began from the summit of the Alexandrian church and spread through all Egypt and Libya and the further Thebaid. It had already reached the other provinces and cities, so that it was possible to see not only the leaders of the churches sparring with words, but the multitudes also fragmented, some inclining to one side, some to the other. The spectacle of these events reached such absurdity that sacred points of divine doctrine were now subjected to disgraceful public mockery in the theatres of the unbelievers.
