The episcopal leaders of the contending sects, convinced from experience how much their fate would depend on the earliest impressions that were made on the mind of an untutored soldier, hastened to the court of Edessa, or Antioch. The highways of the East were crowded with Homoousian, and Arian, and Semi-Arian, and Eunomian bishops, who struggled to outstrip each other in the holy race; the apartments of the palace resounded with their clamours, and the ears of the prince were assaulted, and perhaps astonished, by the singular mixture of metaphysical argument and passionate invective. The moderation of Jovian, who recommended concord and charity, and referred the disputants to the sentence of a future council, was interpreted as a symptom of indifference; but his attachment to the Nicene Creed was at length discovered and declared by the reverence which he expressed for the celestial virtues of the great Athanasius. The intrepid veteran of the faith, at the age of seventy, had issued from his retreat on the first intelligence of the tyrant's death. The acclamations of the people seated him once more on the archiepiscopal throne, and he wisely accepted or anticipated the invitation of Jovian.
這時各教派彼此競爭的領導人物，根據過去的經驗，相信自己的前途完全取決於在這位稚嫩的軍人的頭腦中形成的最早的第一印象，全都急匆匆奔向埃德薩的朝廷或安條克。東部的大道上擠滿了持本體同一論的阿裡烏斯派和半阿裡烏斯派，和優諾米派的主教，在這場神聖的賽跑中盡全力你追我趕；皇宮的各個房間都迴響著他們的亂哄哄的叫喊聲，皇帝的耳朵已充滿了形而上學的爭論與無情的咒罵離奇地混雜在一起的叫囂，也許使他不免感到很驚詫。約維安要求彼此和睦、互相諒解，以及等待召開一次宗教大會，來解決他們的爭端；但他對偉大的阿塔納西烏斯的天神般的美德所表示的敬仰則終於讓世人看到，也表明，他完全忠於尼西亞教義。這位堅韌不拔的老信徒已是70高齡，一得到暴君已死去的消息便立即從他的隱居地走出來，在人民的熱烈歡呼聲中，他又一次登上了大主教的寶座，並且明智地接受了，或者說預先準備接受了約維安的邀請。
he venerable figure of Athanasius, his calm courage and insinuating eloquence, sustained the reputation which he had already acquired in the courts of four successive princes. As soon as he had gained the confidence and secured the faith of the Christian emperor, he returned in triumph to his diocese, and continued, with mature counsels and undiminished vigour, to direct, ten years longer, the ecclesiastical government of Alexandria, Egypt, and the Catholic church. Before his departure from Antioch, he assured Jovian that his orthodox devotion would be rewarded with a long and peaceful reign. Athanasius had reason to hope that he should be allowed either the merit of a successful prediction, or the excuse of a grateful though ineffectual prayer
阿塔納西烏斯的可敬的形象，冷峻的勇氣和令人信服的辯才都使他始終保持住在以往四代皇帝時期早已贏得的名望。在他一得到這位基督教皇帝的信任，並肯定了他的信仰以後，他便立即返回自己的教區，以老練的手法和毫不衰減的精力在埃及的亞曆山大裡亞和正統基督教教會的管理部門繼續執政達10年之久。在他離開安條克之前，他曾向約維安保證說，他這樣皈依正統基督教，必將為他的統治帶來長治久安的盛世。阿塔納西烏斯有理由希望，後人或者會稱讚他作了一次成功的預言，或者會原諒他不過作了一次雖然無效但卻表示了他的感激心情的禱告。
約維安僅僅當政8個月便死去。在約維安之後，瓦倫提尼安當了皇帝，並與他的兄弟瓦倫斯共同執政。這時西部和東部諸省已正式劃分開。瓦倫提尼安在西部繼續執行他的寬容政策。瓦倫斯則在東部奉行阿裡烏斯主義。
