nd, namesake, perhaps even brother of the bishop of
Caesarea, was a personage of high importance both then and afterward. As
Athanasius was called "the Great" by the orthodox, so was Eusebius by
the Arians. Even miracles were ascribed to him. Originally bishop of
Beyruth (Berytus), he had been translated to the see of Nicomedia, then
the capital of the Eastern Empire. He had been a favorite of the
Emperor's rival Licinius, and had thus become intimate with Constantia,
the Emperor's sister, the wife, now the widow of Licinius. Through her
and through his own distant relationship with the imperial family he
kept a hold on the court which he never lost, even to the moment when he
stood by the dying bed of the Emperor, years afterward, and received him
into the Church. We must not be too hard on the Christianity of
Eusebius, if we wish to vindicate the baptism of Constantine.

Not far from the great prelate of the capital of the East would be the
representative of what was now a small Greek town, but in five years
from that time would supersede altogether the glories of Nicomedia.
Metrophanes, bishop of Byzantium, was detained by old age and sickness,
but Alexander, his presbyter, himself seventy years of age, was there
with a little secretary of the name of Paul, not more than twelve years
old, one of the readers and collectors of the Byzantine Church.
Alexander had already corresponded with his namesake on the Arian
controversy, and was apparently attached firmly to the orthodox side.

Besides their more regular champions the orthodox party of Greece and
Asia Minor had a few very eccentric allies. One was Acesius, the
Novatian, "the Puritan," summoned by Constantine from Byzantium with
Alexander, from the deep respect entertained by the Emperor for his
ascetic character. He was attended by a boy, Auxanon, who lived to a
great age afterward as a presbyter in the same sect. This child was then
living with a hermit, Eutychianus, on the heights of the neighboring
mountain of the Bithynian Olympus, and he descended from these solitudes
to attend upon Acesius. From him we have obtained some of the most
curious details of the council.

Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, was among the bishops, the fiercest
opponent of Arius, and, when the active deacon of Alexandria was not
present, seems to have borne the brunt of the arguments. Yet, if we may
judge from his subsequent history, Athanasius could never have been
quite at ease in leavi