rds converted into a magnificent
church; and the credulity of the succeeding age was prepared to believe
the miracles and visions, which attested the presence, or at least the
protection, of the Mother of God. [32] The pulpit of the Anastasia was
the scene of the labors and triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen; and, in the
space of two years, he experienced all the spiritual adventures which
constitute the prosperous or adverse fortunes of a missionary. [33] The
Arians, who were provoked by the boldness of his enterprise, represented
his doctrine, as if he had preached three distinct and equal Deities;
and the devout populace was excited to suppress, by violence and tumult,
the irregular assemblies of the Athanasian heretics. From the cathedral
of St. Sophia there issued a motley crowd "of common beggars, who had
forfeited their claim to pity; of monks, who had the appearance of goats
or satyrs; and of women, more terrible than so many Jezebels." The doors
of the Anastasia were broke open; much mischief was perpetrated, or
attempted, with sticks, stones, and firebrands; and as a man lost his
life in the affray, Gregory, who was summoned the next morning before
the magistrate, had the satisfaction of supposing, that he publicly
confessed the name of Christ. After he was delivered from the fear
and danger of a foreign enemy, his infant church was disgraced and
distracted by intestine faction. A stranger who assumed the name of
Maximus, [34] and the cloak of a Cynic philosopher, insinuated himself
into the confidence of Gregory; deceived and abused his favorable
opinion; and forming a secret connection with some bishops of Egypt,
attempted, by a clandestine ordination, to supplant his patron in the
episcopal seat of Constantinople. These mortifications might sometimes
tempt the Cappadocian missionary to regret his obscure solitude. But
his fatigues were rewarded by the daily increase of his fame and his
congregation; and he enjoyed the pleasure of observing, that the greater
part of his numerous audience retired from his sermons satisfied with
the eloquence of the preacher, [35] or dissatisfied with the manifold
imperfections of their faith and practice. [36]

[Footnote 24: Sozomen, l. vii. c. v. Socrates, l. v. c. 7. Marcellin.
in Chron. The account of forty years must be dated from the election or
intrusion of Eusebius, who wisely exchanged the bishopric of Nicomedia
for the throne of Constantinople.]

[Footnote 25: See Jortin