Lucifer of Cagliari was deputed by
Pope Liberius, with the priest Pancratius and the
deacon Hilary, to request the
Emperor Constantius to convene a council, to deal with the accusations directed against
St. Athanasius and his previous condemnation. This council was convened at Milan in the newly erected
Basilica Nova (or Basilica Maior or St. Tecla). The council however did not follow the hopes of the Pope due to the overwhelming number of Arians bishops and the initial forced absence of the champion of the Nicaean faith,
Eusebius of Vercelli. Lucifer there defended the
Bishop of Alexandria (Athanasius) with much passion and in very violent language, thus furnishing the adversaries of the great Alexandrian with a pretext for resentment and further violence, and causing a new condemnation of Athanasius. The
bishop of Milan Dionysius initially seemed ready to follow the Arians in condemning Athanasius, accused not of heresy but of
lese-majesty against the Emperor. With the arrival of Eusebius the situation changed: Eusebius requested an immediate subscription of the Nicaean faith by the bishops. Eusebius, Lucifer and Dionysius signed, but the Arian bishop Valens of Mursia violently shredded the act of faith. Constantius, unaccustomed to independence on the part of the bishops, moved the synod to his palace and grievously maltreated the papal embassy. Hilary was flogged and the exiled along with Pancratius and the two Nicaean bishops. The synod, now governed by the Arian bishops of the court of Constantius, ended supporting Arian statements. == Synod of 389 ==