fices, and to celebrate
publicly the feasts of Jupiter, Ceres, and Bacchus.[4] Sapor, king of
Persia, having invaded Armenia, took by treachery king Arsaces, bound
him in silver chains, (according to the Persian custom of treating royal
prisoners,) and caused him to perish in prison. To, check the progress
of these ancient enemies of the empire, Valens sent an army towards
Armenia, and marched himself to Edessa, in Mesopotamia. Thus the
persecution at Antioch was abated, to which the death of Valens put an
end, who was burnt by the Goths in a cottage, after his defeat near
Adrianople, in 378. His nephew Gratian, who then became master of the
East, went in all haste to Constantinople, by his general, Theodosius,
vanquished the Goths, and by several edicts recalled the Catholic
prelates, and restored the liberty of the church in the Eastern empire.
St. Meletius, upon his return, found that the schism had begun to engage
distant churches in the division. Most of the Western prelates adhered
to the election of Paulinus. St. Athanasius communicated with him, as he
had always done with his friends the Eustathian Catholics, though, from
the beginning, he disapproved of the precipitation of Lucifer of
Cagliari in ordaining him, and he afterwards communicated also with St.
Meletius. St. Basil, St. Amphilochius of Iconium, St. Pelagius of
Laodicea, St. Eusebius of Samosata, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory
of Nyasa, St. Gregory of Nazianzum, St. Chrysostom, and the general
council of Constantinople, with almost the unanimous suffrage of all the
East, zealously supported the cause of St. Meletius. Theodosius having,
after his victory over the Goths, been associated by Gratian, and taken
possession of the Eastern empire, sent his general, Sapor, to Antioch,
to re-establish there the Catholic pastors. In an assembly which was
held in his presence, in 379, St. Meletius, Paulinus, and Vitalis, whom
Apollinarius had consecrated bishop of his party there, met, and St.
Meletius, addressing himself to Paulinus, made the following
proposal:[5] "Since our sheep have but one religion, and the same faith,
let it be our business to unite them into one flock; let us drop all
disputes for precedency, and agree to feed them together. I am ready to
share this see with you, and let the survivor have the care of the whole
flock." After some demur the proposal was accepted of, and Sapor put St.
Meletius in possession of the churches which he had gov