the holy communion to persons who
were not fasting: all which were false or frivolous. The saint held a
legal council of forty bishops in the city at the same time; and refused
to appear before that at the Oak, alleging most notorious infractions of
the canons in their pretended council. The cabal proceeded to a sentence
of deposition, which they sent to the city and to the emperor, to whom
they also accused him of treason, for having called the empress Jezabel,
a false assertion, as Palladius testifies. The emperor hereupon issued
out an order for his banishment, but the execution of it was opposed by
the people, who assembled about the great church to guard their pastor.
{247} He made them a farewell sermon,[31] in which he spoke as follows:
"Violent storms encompass me on all sides; yet I am without fear,
because I stand upon a rock. Though the sea roar, and the waves rise
high, they cannot sink the vessel of Jesus. I fear not death, which is
my gain: not banishment, for the whole earth is the Lord's: nor the loss
of goods; for I came naked into the world, and must leave it in the same
condition. I despise all the terrors of the world and trample upon its
smiles and favor. Nor do I desire to live unless for your service.
Christ is with me: whom shall I fear? Though waves rise against me:
though the sea, though the fury of princes threaten me, all these are to
me more contemptible than a spider's web. I always say: O Lord, may thy
will be done: not what this or that creature wills, but what it shall
please thee to appoint, that shall I do and suffer with joy. This is my
strong tower: this is my unshaken rock: this is my staff that can never
fail. If God be pleased that it be done, let it be so. Wheresoever his
will is that I be, I return him thanks." He declared that he was ready
to lay down a thousand lives for them, if at his disposal, and that he
suffered only because he had neglected nothing to save their souls. On
the third day after the unjust sentence given against him, having
received repeated orders from the emperor to go into banishment, and
taking all possible care to prevent a sedition, he surrendered himself,
unknown to the people, to the count, who conducted him to Praenetum in
Bithynia. After his departure his enemies entered the city with guards,
and Severianus mounted the pulpit, and began to preach, pretending to
show the deposition of the saint to have been legal and just. But the
people would not su