xandria,
as Constantius desired, if only the Eustathians were allowed one inside
the walls of Antioch. His terms were prudently declined, for the Arians
were a minority even in the congregation of Leontius. The old Arian
needed all his caution to avoid offence. 'When this snow melts,'
touching his white head, 'there will be much mud.' Nicenes and Arians
made a slight difference in the doxology; and Leontius always dropped
his voice at the critical point, so that nobody knew what he said. This
policy was successful in keeping out of the Eustathian communion not
only the indifferent multitude, but also many whose sympathies were
clearly Nicene, like the future bishops Meletius and Flavian. But they
always considered him an enemy, and the more dangerous for the contrast
of his moderation with the reckless violence of Macedonius at
Constantinople. His appointments were Arianizing, and he gave deep
offence by the ordination of his old disciple, the detested Aetius. So
great was the outcry that Leontius was forced to suspend him. The
opposition was led by two ascetic laymen, Flavian and Diodorus, who both
became distinguished bishops in later time. Orthodox feeling was
nourished by a vigorous use of hymns and by all-night services at the
tombs of the martyrs. As such practices often led to great abuses,
Leontius may have had nothing more in view than good order when he
directed the services to be transferred to the church.

[Sidenote: State of parties.]

The case of Antioch was not exceptional. Arians and Nicenes were still
parties inside the church rather than distant sects. They still used the
same prayers and the same hymns, still worshipped in the same buildings,
still commemorated the same saints and martyrs, and still considered
themselves members of the same church. The example of separation set by
the Eustathians at Antioch and the Arians at Alexandria was not followed
till a later stage of the controversy, when Diodorus and Flavian on one
side, and the Anomoeans on the other, began to introduce their own
peculiarities into the service. And if the bitterness of intestine
strife was increased by a state of things which made every bishop a
party nominee, there was some compensation in the free intercourse of
parties afterwards separated by barriers of persecution. Nicenes and
Arians in most places mingled freely long after Leontius was dead, and
the Novatians of Constantinople threw open their churches to the victims