Jonathan Stutz: The Synod of Tyre and the First Exile of Athanasius"

In the list of synods convoked by the emperor
Constantine in the context of the Arian dispute, the First Synod of Tyre (335)
is generally associated with Athanasius’s first exile. Constantine’s involvement
in the events leading up to the synod and the unfortunate sequence of events which led to the Alexandrian bishop’s exile may be one reason that the available sources are at such variance with one another in how they present the synod. Research conducted in the context of the edition of Gelasius of Caesarea’s Church Historyhas
shown that Rufinus and his alleged Greek source (i.e. Gelasius) had recourse to
a noteworthy device for preserving Constantine’s historical legacy: they placed
the whole affair in the reign of Constantine’s successor, the Arianizing
emperor Constantius. Knowledge of this historiographical background allows a
better appreciation of the contributions of later historians such as Socrates
and Theodoret, as well as of the Athanasian hagiographical tradition (BHG 185),
as these authors resisted the appeal of accepting without question a favourable
presentation of the events, but were able to heed instead to the demands of
sound source criticism.