Church History 1 part 16/28

Supposing that Christianity owed its strength to the manner of life and conduct of those who practiced it, he intended to adorn the pagan temples everywhere with the equipment and order of the Christian religion—with platforms and seats of honor, and with teachers and readers of Greek doctrines and exhortations, with prayers appointed at fixed hours and days, with retreats for men and women who had resolved to pursue philosophy, and with lodgings for strangers and the poor and the other forms of philanthropy toward those in need—so as to give dignity to the Greek doctrine, and, following the Christian practice, to establish a proportionate discipline of penance, arising from repentance, for both voluntary and involuntary sins.

Not least, it is said, did he emulate the tokens of episcopal letters, by which it was customary for strangers travelling anywhere whatsoever to be received without fail wherever they arrived, and to be deemed worthy of hospitality as though acquaintances and dearest friends, on the strength of the testimony of the token.

Having these things in mind, he was eager to accustom the Greeks to the practices of the Christians.

But since this may perhaps seem incredible to many, I shall furnish proof of what has been said from no other source than the emperor's own words.

Letter of the Emperor Julian to Arsacius, High Priest of Galatia

Hellenism does not yet prosper as we would wish, on account of those who practice it;

for the things belonging to the gods are splendid and great, and surpass every prayer and every hope (may Adrasteia look with favor upon our words);

for so great and so remarkable a change within so short a time—no one, a little while before, would even have dared to pray for it.

What then? Do we suppose that these things suffice, and do we fail to observe that it is above all the philanthropy shown toward strangers, the care taken over the burial of the dead, and the feigned gravity of their way of life that have so greatly increased this atheism? Each of these, I think, we too ought truly to practice.

And it is not enough that you alone should be such, but all, without exception, who are priests throughout Galatia;

whom you must either shame into compliance, or persuade to be zealous, or remove from priestly office, if they do not come forward together with their wives, children, and servants to worship the gods, but instead tolerate their household servants, or sons, or Galilean wives showing impiety toward the gods and preferring atheism to reverence for the divine.

Furthermore, exhort every priest neither to frequent the theater nor to drink in a tavern, nor to preside over any disgraceful and shameful trade or occupation;

and honor those who obey, but expel those who disobey.

Establish numerous guesthouses in every city, so that strangers may enjoy our benevolence—not only our own people, but also anyone else who may be in need.

As for whence you shall obtain the funds, I have already devised a plan for the present.

For each year I have ordered thirty thousand modii of grain and sixty thousand pints of wine to be given throughout all Galatia;

of which I say a fifth part ought to be spent on the poor who serve the priests, while the rest should be distributed by us to strangers and beggars.

For it is shameful that, while not even one of the Jews is a beggar, and the impious Galileans support not only their own people but even ours as well, our own people should appear to lack the assistance that ought to come from us.

Teach the Greeks also to contribute together toward such services, and teach the Greek villages to offer the firstfruits of their crops to the gods, and accustom the Greeks to such good works, instructing them that this was of old our own practice.

Homer, indeed, has represented Eumaeus as saying:

"Stranger, it is not right for me, even were one worse than you to come, to dishonor a stranger;"

"a gift, though small, is welcome."

Let us not abandon our reverence toward the gods.

If I should learn that you are doing these things, I shall be filled with joy.

Visit the governors seldom at their residence, but communicate with them for the most part by letter.

And when they enter the city, let none of the priests go out to meet them; but when they come to visit the temples of the gods, let them be met within the forecourt.

And let no soldier go before them within, but let whoever wishes follow;

for as soon as one crosses the threshold of the sacred precinct, he becomes a private citizen.

For you yourself govern those within your household, as you know, since the divine law also demands this.

Those who obey are, in truth, devout, while those who cling to vanity are seekers of glory and vainglorious men.

I am ready to help Pessinus, if they render the Mother of the Gods gracious to themselves;

but if they neglect her, not only will they not be blameless, but—not to speak too harshly—let them beware lest they also incur our displeasure.

For it is not right for me to care for or to pity men who are hated even by the immortal gods.

Persuade them, then, if they wish to retain my protection, to become, as a whole people, suppliants of the Mother of the Gods... Now the emperor, by acting and writing in this manner, supposed that he would easily bring his subjects to change their belief of their own accord.

And though he strove by every means to overthrow the religion of the Christians, he was neither able to persuade them entirely, nor was he willing to use open force, lest he should seem to be a tyrant.

Yet he did not relax his zeal, but contrived every means of drawing his subjects, and especially the army, over to Hellenism, doing this partly by himself and partly through his officials.

And accustoming them in every conceivable way to practice Hellenism, he resolved to change back into its former shape the chief of the Roman military standards, which Constantine, by divine command, as has been said before, had transformed into the symbol of the cross.

And he ordered that this, and whatever else pertains to Hellenic worship, should be intermixed with the images, so that, under the pretext of the customary honor paid to the emperor, people might unwittingly worship the things depicted alongside them.

And making use of ancient customs, he strove with every artifice to steal away the free choice of his subjects;

for he reasoned that if he could persuade them, he would thereafter more readily undertake whatever he wished;

but if he found them disobedient, he would punish them without pardon, as innovators against the customs of the Romans and as offenders against the state and the empire.

Now a few, who indeed were made to pay the penalty, perceived the deceit, and, according to their custom, refused to render worship;

but the multitude, as is usual, through ignorance or lack of careful thought, simply supposed they were obeying an ancient law, and approached the images with greater naivety.

But the emperor gained nothing more by this.

And although this device had been put to the test, he nevertheless did not give up, but continued devising every scheme by which he might bring his subjects to worship in the same manner as himself.

And the device he then contrived was not out of keeping with what has been said.

It was, however, attempted more openly and more forcibly than before, and it became an occasion for showing courage to not a few of those serving in the palace guard.

For when the time came for the emperor to bestow gifts on the soldiers (this generally happens on the sacred festival days of the Romans, and on the birthdays of emperors and of imperial cities), he, reasoning that the soldiery is by nature simple and foolish and is readily overcome by money through its customary greed, took his seat for the distribution of the gifts.

And as each one came forward for this gift, those standing beside the emperor commanded him first to offer incense.

For frankincense had been set nearby, and

fire, this indeed being an ancient custom among the Romans.

some could not bear either to offer incense or to receive the gift from the emperor; others, under the pretext of law and ancient custom, did not even realize what wrong they were doing; while others, enticed by the apparent gain, or overcome beforehand by fear and confusion at the scene suddenly displayed before them, even though they understood they were paganizing, did not escape from doing so.

Of those, again, who fell into this sin through ignorance, it is said that some, as they feasted at the banquet, being cheerful with one another as usually happens at drinking parties, and pledging healths to each other, invoked the name of Christ over their cups.

And one of the guests, taking this up, said, "It is strange that you should presume to invoke Christ, whom you denied a short while ago, when, upon receiving the gift from the emperor, you cast the frankincense upon the fire." As soon as they heard this and understood what they had done, they immediately leapt up and ran out into the public streets, crying aloud and in tears, calling both God himself and all mankind to witness that they were Christians and had remained so, and that—if one may say so at all—it was only their hand that, in ignorance of what had happened, had committed the pagan act, without their mind having taken any part in it.

And when they came before the emperor, hurling back at him the gold he had given them, they very boldly demanded to receive back their own true gift, and that he should put them to death;

for they would not repent, they said, if for that in which their right hand had sinned unwittingly, their whole body should pay the penalty for Christ's sake.

But the emperor, though he took this hard, refrained from killing them, lest they should be deemed worthy of the honors of martyrdom;

instead, he stripped them of their military rank and expelled them from the palace.

And it was from this same disposition, taken as his starting point, that he acted toward all the Christians;

indeed, even where he had no charge to bring against those who declined to sacrifice, he begrudged them equal civic rights, and a share in assemblies and public markets, and he did not allow them to share in the administration of justice, or in ruling, or in holding public offices;

nor indeed did he permit their children to be taught the poets and writers of the Greeks, or to attend the teachers of these subjects.

For he was greatly vexed by Apollinarius the Syrian, who was well equipped in every kind of learning and style of eloquence, and by Basil and Gregory the Cappadocians, who surpassed the rhetoricians of that time in reputation, and by very many other learned men besides these, of whom some emulated the doctrine set forth at Nicaea, while others sprang from the heresy of Arius.

Supposing, therefore, that the power of persuasion was engendered by this alone, he did not permit Christians to be trained in the studies of the Greeks;

and it was at this very time that this Apollinarius, putting his vast learning and natural talent to good use, composed, in place of the poetry of Homer, the Hebrew antiquities in heroic verse down to the reign of Saul, and divided the whole work into twenty-four parts, giving to each volume a title corresponding to the Greek letters, according to their number and order.

He also composed comedies modeled on the dramas of Menander, and imitated the tragedy of Euripides and the lyre of Pindar.

And, simply put, taking his subjects from the divine Scriptures for what are called the general course of studies, he labored in a short time to produce works equal in number and equal in force, similar in character, style, form, and structure to those of the Greeks who had won renown in these fields;

so that, if men did not honor antiquity and regard familiar things as dear, they would, I think, have praised and been instructed by the diligent labor of Apollinarius equally with the ancients—admiring his talent all the more for this reason: that each of the ancients labored over one subject alone, whereas he, undertaking the tasks of them all under pressing need, reproduced the excellence of each.

Not ignoble, too, is his discourse against the emperor himself, or rather against the philosophers of the Greeks, which he entitled "On Behalf of Truth";

in which, apart from the testimony of the sacred Scriptures, he showed that they had strayed from thinking rightly concerning God.

For the emperor, mocking them, wrote the following to the bishops who were then distinguished:

"For if you had known, you would not have condemned." Some attribute this letter to Basil, who presided over the churches in Cappadocia, and this is not unlikely;

but whether these words be his or another's, it is right to admire the writer for his courage and learning.

And the emperor, eager to march against the Persians, came to Antioch of the Syrians;

and when the populace cried out that, although provisions were plentiful, they were being sold at a high price, he, moved I think by a desire for popularity, ordered that goods in the market be sold at a lower price than was proper.

But as the shopkeepers fled the market, provisions ran short, and the Antiochenes, taking this hard, reviled the emperor and mocked him for the thickness of his beard, and mocked the coinage because it bore the image of a bull.

For they jeered that, under his rule, the world had been turned topsy-turvy, just like bulls flipped upon their backs.

And he, being angered at first, threatened to do the Antiochenes harm, and made preparations to move his residence to Tarsus;

but changing his temper in an extraordinarily restrained manner, he avenged the insult with words alone, composing a most excellent and very witty discourse against the Antiochenes, which he entitled "Misopogon" (The Beard-Hater).

And there too he treated the Christians in the same manner, and strove to strengthen Hellenism.

And beneath the trees, in succession through the seasons, the earth brings forth fragrant flowers of every kind.

And something more like a roof than mere shade encloses the place on every side, the density of the branches and leaves not permitting the sun's ray to fall upon the ground;

it is a delightful and most lovely place, owing to the abundance and beauty of its waters, the mildness of its climate, and the breath of gentle winds.

For both the situation and the nature of the place are suited to indulgence, and the theme of the myth associated with it, being of an amorous kind, upon the slightest occasion produced a twofold passion in corrupted young men.

For, putting forward the myths as an excuse, they were violently inflamed and rushed unrestrainedly into licentious acts, being unable to exercise self-control themselves, nor able to bear the sight of others exercising self-control alongside them.

And besides, this place was in any case held in reverence and great esteem by the Hellenists;

indeed, they even boast that, when Hadrian was still a private citizen, a foreknowledge of his coming reign was foretold to him here.

For they say that he, dipping a laurel leaf into the spring, drew from it knowledge of things to come, made known in writing upon the leaf;

but when he came to power, he buried the spring, so that it might not be possible for others also to learn the future beforehand.

But let these matters be recounted precisely by those to whom such things are a concern.

Being a Christian, and holding in the highest honor those who had borne witness for the doctrine, he resolved to cleanse this place of Hellenic superstition and the outrage of licentious men.

And from that time, it is said, the demon no longer gave oracles as it had been accustomed;

and at first it seemed that this happened to it because it was deprived of the sacrifices and the worship of which it had previously been deemed worthy, but subsequent events showed that it was because the martyr, having become its neighbor, would not permit it to do this.

For indeed, even when Julian alone held sway over the Roman world, though it partook of libations, the savor of sacrifice, and an abundance of victims, it remained silent nonetheless; and at last, when it did give an oracle, it itself revealed the cause of its former silence.

For when the emperor had resolved to make trial of the oracle there concerning matters that seemed important to him, he came to the temple and lavishly honored the demon with votive offerings and sacrifices, and begged it not to neglect the matters he was concerned about.

It did not, however, openly declare that it was unable to give oracles because of Babylas the martyr, whose tomb lay nearby;

"the place," it said, "is full of dead bodies, and for this reason the oracles are hindered from going forth."

So the Christians gathered together and drew the coffin to the city, a distance of about forty stades, to the place where the martyr now lies, having given his name to that place.

And they say that at that time men and women, young men and virgins, old men and children, who were drawing the coffin, encouraging one another, continued singing psalms the whole way, ostensibly lightening their sweat and toil by the song, but in truth being moved by zeal and eagerness because the one who ruled did not hold the same opinion as they concerning the Divine.

Those who were accurate in the psalms led the others in the chanting, and the multitude joined in with one accord and sang this verse:

"Let all those be put to shame who worship carved images and who trust in idols..." Provoked to anger at this, as though he had been insulted, the emperor resolved to punish the Christians.

Sallustius, who held the office of prefect, although he was a Hellene, did not approve of this resolve... but, having no power to oppose it, carried the emperor's command into effect.

And on the following day he arrested many of the Christians and put them in chains.

Bringing forward first a certain young man (his name was Theodore), he fastened him to the instrument of torture.

Though torn for a long time with the iron claws, he was not overcome by the torments, nor did he entreat the prefect; but showing himself as though free from pain, as though a spectator of what was being done to him, he endured the blows with fortitude.

And again singing the same psalm which he had sung on the day before, he showed by his deeds that he did not repent of those things for which he was being judged.

The prefect, astonished at the young man's steadfastness, went to the emperor and told him what had happened, saying that unless he desisted quickly from this undertaking, they would make themselves ridiculous and would make the Christians more glorious.

As this seemed the better course, those who had been arrested were released from their bonds.

It is said that afterward, when some inquired whether he had felt any sensation of those torments, Theodore replied that he was not altogether without pain, but that a young man stood beside him who eased his agonies, wiping away his sweat with a very fine linen cloth and pouring on him ice-cold water, by which he checked the inflammations and refreshed him from his sufferings.

It seems to me that no mere human being, however noble he might be, could so utterly disregard his own body unless he were also assisted by a divine impulse.

The Christians believed that, at the martyr's request, fire sent from God had fallen upon the demon.

But the Hellenes spread the story that the affair was the work of the Christians.

As this suspicion prevailed, the priest of Apollo was brought before the tribunal, that he might reveal who had dared to commit the arson.

Though he was imprisoned and endured many blows and was cruelly tortured, he denounced no one.

By this above all the Christians insisted that it was not through any human plot, but through divine wrath, that heavenly fire had struck the temple.

I must also relate another of the things that happened in the reign of Julian—a sign of the power of Christ, and a proof of the divine wrath against the ruler.

For when he learned that at Caesarea Philippi (a Phoenician city which they call Paneas) there was a famous statue of Christ, which the woman with the issue of blood had set up after she had been delivered from her affliction, he had it taken down and set up his own in its place.

But a violent fire fell from heaven and cut through the parts about the breast of the statue, cast down the head together with the neck, and drove it face downward into the very place where the breast was broken through.

And from that time until now it still stands in that condition, covered with the soot of the thunderbolt.

As for the statue of Christ, the pagans at that time dragged it away and broke it in pieces; but afterward the Christians gathered up the fragments and deposited them in the church, where they are preserved even now.

From the pedestal on which this statue had stood, as Eusebius relates, there grew up a certain plant, a remedy against all manner of afflictions and diseases, whose species not one of the physicians or experts in our part of the inhabited world has ever recognized.

To me it seems no wonder that, since God had dwelt among men, his benefits also should prove to be strange and extraordinary.

For, as is likely, a great many other marvels in various cities and villages are known accurately only to the inhabitants of those places, made known to them by tradition handed down from the beginning.

And that this is true I shall at once demonstrate from what follows.

There is a city of Palestine now called Nicopolis.

This city, while it was still a village, was known to the divine book of the Gospels, which calls it Emmaus; but the Romans, after the capture of Jerusalem and their victory over the Jews, proclaimed it Nicopolis, naming it thus after what had occurred.

Before this city, by the fork in the road where Christ, walking with Cleopas and his companion after his resurrection from the dead, joined their company as though hastening to another village, there is a certain healing spring, in which both men and other animals suffering from various diseases are washed clean of their afflictions.

For it is said that Christ, coming from some journey to this spring together with his disciples, washed his feet there, and that from that time the water became a remedy against afflictions.

And of the tree called the persea, at Hermopolis in the Thebaid, they say that a splinter, or a leaf, or a small piece of its bark drives away many diseases

when applied to those who are suffering.

For it is said among the Egyptians that, when Joseph fled because of Herod, taking with him Christ and Mary the holy virgin, he came to Hermopolis; and as he entered by the gate, this tree, which was very great, unable to bear the coming of Christ, bent down to the ground and did him homage.

These things I have related concerning this plant, having heard them from many people.

Whether this was a sign of God's presence in the city, or whether, as is likely, since the tree was worshipped after the pagan custom by the inhabitants on account of its size and beauty, it was shaken because the demon served through it shuddered at the destroyer of such things;

for they say that all the wooden images of the Egyptians likewise shook of their own accord when Christ then came among them, according to the prophecy of Isaiah.

And when the demon had been driven away, the plant remained as a testimony to what had happened, healing those who approached it with faith.

Of these things, the Egyptians and the Palestinians are each witnesses of what exists among them respectively.

Now the emperor, although he hated the Christians and was harsh toward them, was nevertheless well disposed and gentle toward the Jews, and he wrote to their patriarchs and leaders, and to the multitude itself, asking them to pray for him and for his kingdom.

He did this, as I conjecture, not because he approved of their religion (for he knew that this was, so to speak, the mother of the Christian doctrine, making use of the same prophets and patriarchs), but because the Jews held an implacable hatred toward them.

And by his attentions toward the Jews he sought to grieve those to whom he was hostile.

Perhaps also he thought that he could more readily draw them toward paganism and sacrifices, since they took the sacred books only according to the letter, not according to the spiritual sense, as did the Christians and the wiser among the Hebrews themselves.

That he held this opinion he showed by what he undertook.

For summoning the leaders of the nation, he urged them to sacrifice, reminding them of the laws of Moses and their ancestral customs.

But when they said that, the temple in Jerusalem having been thrown down, it was neither lawful nor traditional for them, having fallen away from their mother-city, to do this elsewhere, he gave them public funds and ordered them to raise up the temple and to worship in the same manner as their forefathers, sacrificing in the ancient fashion.

Now they, not considering that, according to the sacred prophecies, this could not come to pass, applied themselves eagerly to the work.

And gathering together skilled craftsmen, they prepared the materials and cleared the site.

They labored at this with such great zeal that even their wives carried out the earth in the folds of their garments, and readily contributed their necklaces and all their other feminine ornaments toward the expense of the work.

Everything else was secondary to this undertaking, both for the emperor, and for the other Hellenes, and for all the Jews.

For some, though not well disposed toward the Jews, shared in this zeal, supposing that the undertaking could succeed and that Christ's predictions could be proved false; while others held this same intent and believed that the time had come to raise up the temple.

But when they had torn down the remains of the former building, dug it up, and cleared the ground, it is said that on the following day, on which they were about to lay the first foundation, a great earthquake occurred; and by the shaking of the earth the stones were flung up from their foundations, and those Jews perished who were supervising the work and who had come to view it.

For the houses near the temple, as well as the public colonnades in which they were lodging, collapsed all at once.

And most of those caught within them perished at once, while others were found half-dead and maimed in their legs or arms, and others suffered misfortune in other parts of the body.

But when God ceased shaking the earth, those who survived again attempted the work, since it was, as it were, unavoidable because of the emperor's command, and it was also agreeable to their own wishes.

For human nature is somehow inclined, in matters that please it, to lean toward what is unprofitable, and to suppose that only that which it wishes to accomplish will prove advantageous.

Utterly mastered by the deception arising from this, it can neither, through any forethought, perceive its own advantage, nor, chastened by the experience of dangers, come to its senses regarding what is fitting.

Such, I believe, is precisely what befell the Jews at that time.

For although the former hindrance was sufficient, and had clearly shown that the divine was angered at what was being done, they nevertheless again eagerly pursued a hopeless task.

They attempted the work a second time, and suddenly fire leapt up from the foundations of the temple and consumed many.

And this is confidently stated and believed by all, and doubted by no one, except that some say that as they were forcing their way into the sanctuary a flame met them and produced the aforesaid result, while others say it happened as soon as they began to carry out the earth.

But whether one accepts this account or the former one, either amounts to a like wonder.

In addition to this, another event occurred, even clearer and more extraordinary than the former.

For of its own accord the clothing of everyone was marked with the sign of the cross, and in a manner the garments were spangled with star-like marks, as though speckled by the deliberate skill of weaving.

From this, some concluded at once that Christ was God and that he was not pleased with the renewal of the temple, while others before long attached themselves to the church, were initiated, and with hymns and supplications sought to propitiate Christ for what they had presumed to do.

Whoever does not find these things credible, let him be persuaded by those who, still living, have heard them from eyewitnesses; and let him be persuaded also by the Jews and Hellenes who left the work half-finished—or rather, who were unable even to begin it.

Book Six of the Ecclesiastical History of Hermias Sozomen. All that I have learned to have befallen the churches during the reign of Julian has been set forth in the preceding book.

As soon as spring began, having resolved to make war upon the Persians, he quickly crossed the river Euphrates.

And passing by Edessa, perhaps out of hatred for its inhabitants, since this city had from the beginning been Christian in its whole population, he came to Carrhae.

From there he sent about twenty thousand heavy-armed soldiers from the forces accompanying him to the river Tigris, both to guard those regions and so that they might be at hand for him in due time, whenever he should summon them.

To Arsacius, the ruler of the Armenians, who was in alliance with the Romans, he wrote, ordering him to join him in the enemy's territory.

Indulging in this letter in arrogance beyond measure, exalting himself as fit for rule and as a friend of the gods he worshipped, and reviling Constantius, whose successor he was, as unmanly and impious, he threatened him most insolently.