the faithful--was carried far and wide by the hands of trusty
messengers. The Arians had the Roman Emperor on their side, but the
pen of Athanasius was more powerful than the armies of Constantius.

"God will comfort you," he wrote to his people in Alexandria on
hearing that the churches were in the hands of the Arians. "If they
have the temples, you have the Faith of the Apostles. If they are in
the place, they are far from the Faith; but you, even if you are cast
out from the churches, possess the Faith in your hearts. Which is the
greater, the place or the Faith? The place is good only when the Faith
of the Apostles is taught there; it is holy only when it is the home
of holiness."

Rumor said that Athanasius was in hiding in the Thebaid among the
monks. The Arians searched the desert foot by foot to find him, but in
vain. The monks themselves might have thrown some light upon the
matter, but they were silent men, given to prayer and labor; they did
not seem to understand what was asked of them, even when questioned
with a dagger at their throats.

Silent but faithful, their sentinels were everywhere, watching for the
enemy's approach. Athanasius was always warned in time and led by
trusty guides to another and a safer place. Sometimes it was only by a
hair's breadth that he escaped, but for six years he eluded his
enemies. There was not one of the monks who would not gladly have laid
down his life for him. He lived among them as one of themselves, and
they learned more from him of the religious life than they could
teach. As mortified as the holiest among them, always serene and
forgetful of self in the midst of hardships and danger, forced
sometimes to hide for months in the mountain caves where his only food
was what the faithful could bring him, his one thought was the Church.
The Arians had made Constantius their spiritual head. They had given
him that title of "Eternal" which they had denied to the Son of God.
Their Bishops and teachers were everywhere; but Athanasius, like
Antony, leaned strongly on Christ's promise.

It would have been madness to return openly to Alexandria while
Constantius lived, but several times during those dreadful years
Athanasius visited the city in secret and at the risk of his life. In
hiding, with a price on his head, he was as formidable an enemy to the
Arians as he would have been at Alexandria. His spirit was abroad
among the people, encouraging them to persevere, cheering