Church History 1 part 11/18

And Artemius too — this man had been general of the soldiers in Egypt — since, having received that command in the days of Constantius, he had shattered a great many idols, was not only stripped of his possessions by Julian but was also afterward deprived of his head.

These and similar deeds were done by him who was called by the impious "most gentle" and "most in command of his temper."

But I shall add to my history a praiseworthy account of an excellent woman as well;

for even women, armed with divine zeal, despised his fury.

There was at that time a certain Publia, most renowned and much spoken of because of her achievements in virtue.

She, having borne the yoke of marriage for but a brief time, offered to God an admirable fruit.

For John, who led the presbyters of Antioch for a very long time, and who often received the votes for the apostolic see, yet always fled that office, sprang from that wondrous field.

She, having a choir of virgins who had vowed lifelong virginity, always sang hymns to the God who had made and saved them; and when the emperor passed by, they sang together all the more loudly, considering the accursed one contemptible and ridiculous.

"The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands."

And after this recital of their insensibility they said:

"Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them."

On hearing this, he was greatly vexed, and ordered them to keep silence at the time of his passing by.

But she, caring little for his ordinances, filled the choir with even greater zeal, and again, as he passed by, bade them sing:

"Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered."

And he, enraged, ordered the choir's leader to be brought before him.

And though he saw an old age most worthy of reverence, he neither pitied the grey hair of her body nor honored the virtue of her soul, but ordered certain of his guards to strike her on both cheeks and redden her face with their hands.

But she, receiving this dishonor as the highest honor, went up to her chamber, and continued as always to assail him with spiritual melodies, just as the author and teacher of that melody used to still that evil spirit which troubled Saul.

For this man too, having taken up residence with accursed demons, continued in Corybantic frenzy and raged against piety.

For this very reason he also armed the Jews against those who had believed in Christ.

And first, having gathered them together, he asked why, since the Law commanded sacrifice, they did not offer sacrifices;

and he showed all the more the truth of this reason.

For they, gladly hearing these words, made known to all their kinsmen throughout the world what had been commanded.

And they came running together from every quarter, contributing both money and zeal toward the building.

And he who had ordered this also supplied a great abundance, not out of generosity, but in order to fight against the truth.

And he sent along a governor as well, a minister worthy of his impious commands.

They say that they even fashioned spades, shovels, and baskets out of silver.

And when they began to dig and to carry out the earth, many myriads labored at this all day long, but by night the earth would move back of its own accord from the ravine; and they also tore down the remaining ruins of the old building, hoping to construct everything anew.

And when they had also gathered together many myriads of measures of gypsum and lime, suddenly violent winds blew, and whirlwinds and squalls and storms scattered them all at once.

But while they still raged and were not brought to their senses by the divine forbearance, first a very great earthquake occurred, sufficient to terrify even those wholly uninitiated in divine matters.

And since they were not afraid, fire leaping up from the foundations being dug burned very many of the diggers and scattered the rest.

And by night, when a very great multitude were sleeping in a nearby portico, the building suddenly collapsed together with its roof, and buried all who were sleeping there.

And on that same night, and again on the following day, the shape of the saving cross, luminous, was seen in the sky;

and the very garments of the Jews were filled with crosses, no longer luminous, however, but formed of a black color.

Seeing these things and dreading the God-sent scourges, those who fought against God fled and made their way home, confessing as God the one whom their forefathers had nailed to the wood.

Julian heard of these things — for they were reported by all — yet, like Pharaoh, he hardened his heart.

And when the Persians, learning of the death of Constantius, took courage and came to the borders of the Romans, having declared war beforehand, it seemed good to him to gather the army, since he had no other champion to lead it.

And they urged him to go to war and promised him victory.

And I will insert into my history one of the oracles, as a refutation of its falsehood.

"Now have all we gods set out to bear away trophies of victory beside the river Ther;

and of these I, impetuous Ares, tumultuous in war, shall lead the way."

Let those, then, who call the Pythian the oracular god and leader of the Muses mock the absurdity of these verses;

but I, having discovered his falsehood, lament the one who was deceived.

They named the river Tigris after a wild beast, since there is an animal bearing the same name.

This river, rising from the Armenian mountains and flowing through Assyria, empties into the Persian Gulf.

Beguiled by these oracles, the wretched man dreamed of victory, and after the Persian campaign he fancied a war against the Galileans.

He called the Christians "Galileans," supposing that he would attach dishonor to them by this appellation.

But it behooved him, steeped as he was in learning, to consider how little a change of name mars one's reputation.

For neither if Socrates had been named Critias, nor if Pythagoras had been called Phalaris, would they have suffered any disgrace from the change of names;

nor indeed, had Nereus been surnamed Thersites, would he have lost the beauty he received from nature.

But the man who had been educated in these things took none of this to heart, and supposed that we were being harmed by a name that suits us not at all;

and trusting the lying oracles, he threatened to set up in the churches the idols of the licentious demon.

Setting out with these threats, he was overcome by a single man at Beroea.

But zeal made this man the more conspicuous.

For when he saw his son had run aground upon the impiety then prevailing, he drove him from his house and openly disowned him.

The son, coming to the emperor at the camp near the city, disclosed both his own resolve and his father's disowning of him;

but the emperor bade the young man be at ease, promising that he would reconcile the father to him.

When he arrived at Beroea, he invited the officials and the most distinguished citizens to a banquet;

and among them was this young man's father as well.

He ordered him, together with his son, to recline at his own couch.

When the meal was half over, he said to the father:

"It does not seem right to me to force an opinion inclined one way, and to lead it, against its will, in another direction."

"So do not force your son to follow your beliefs against his will;"

"for I do not force you," he said, "to follow mine, though I could very easily compel you."

But he, whetting his reasoning on faith in things divine, said:

"Do you mean, O emperor, that accursed, God-hated man who has chosen falsehood over truth?" And he again, putting on the mask of gentleness:

"Stop your reviling, man," he said.

And turning his face toward the young man,

he said, "I shall take thought for you, since I have not persuaded your father to do as I wished."

I have recalled this story not without purpose, but wishing to show not only the admirable frankness of that wonderful man, but also that very many held his power in contempt.

For again in Antioch there was a certain excellent man, entrusted with the tutoring of youths, who was well acquainted — having shared in more conversation than befits a mere tutor — with the head of the teachers of that time, who was Libanius, celebrated among the sophists.

This man, being impious and awaiting the victory and picturing to himself Julian's threats, mockingly asked the tutor, deriding our faith:

"What is the carpenter's son doing now?" But the tutor, filled with divine grace, foretold what would happen shortly after:

"A coffin, O sophist," he said, "the Maker of the universe is preparing — he whom you, in your mockery, called the carpenter's son."

A few days later, the death of that accursed man was announced, and he was borne home lying in a coffin, and the boast of his threats was shown to be vain.

And he who imitated in the body the life of the bodiless — I mean Julian, surnamed "Saba" in the Syrian tongue, whose manner of life we recorded in the Religious History — offered a more earnest supplication to the God of all, having learned of that impious man's threats.

On that very day on which the other received his death-blow, this man, while at prayer, perceived it, though more than twenty stations were reckoned from the monastery to the camp.

They say that as he was beseeching and imploring the loving Lord, suddenly the flow of his tears ceased, and his face relaxed and was filled with gladness and shone with joy, and by this he made known to them the delight of his soul.

Those closest to him, seeing this change come over him, besought him to disclose the cause of his joy.

He said that the wild boar, the enemy of the divine vineyard, had paid the penalty for the wrongs it had done against it, and now lay dead, its plotting brought to an end.

When they had learned this, they all rejoiced together and offered up to God a hymn of thanksgiving.

And they learned also, from those who reported his death, that it was that very day and that very hour, on which the wretch had been slain, that the divine old man had perceived and foretold.

His folly, however, death showed still more clearly.

For having crossed the river that marks the boundary between the Persian and Roman dominions, and having brought his army across, he immediately burned the ships, thereby forcing his soldiers to fight rather than persuading them.

The best generals are wont to fill those under their command with eagerness, and even if they see them despondent, they cheer them and lift them up with hopes;

but he cut off hope, by burning the bridge of return.

Moreover, though it was necessary to provide the soldiers with the needful food from every quarter, he neither ordered it to be brought from his own territory, nor supplied abundance by plundering the enemy's land;

for, abandoning inhabited lands, he marched through the desert.

There, then, the soldiers, lacking both drink and food, and having no guides for the march but wandering in a desert region, came to know the ill-counsel of their most wise emperor.

Lamenting and groaning, they suddenly found lying dead the man who had raged madly against his Maker, and found that war-clanging Ares had not come to his aid as promised, that Loxias had prophesied falsely, that the Thunderer had not used his thunderbolts against his slayer, and that the boast of his threats lay cast down upon the ground.

But no one has known to this very day who dealt that just blow;

some say that one of the invisible powers dealt it, others that it was one of the nomads called Ishmaelites, and others that it was a soldier who had grown embittered at the hunger and the desert.

But whether it was a man or an angel who drove home the sword, it is clear that whoever did this became the minister of the divine will.

They say that when he received the blow, he immediately filled his hand with blood, and threw it into the air, and said:

"You have conquered, Galilean," and thus in the same breath both confessed the victory and dared to utter the blasphemy.

After the slaughter, the sorceries of his witchcraft were exposed.

For Carrhae is a city that even to this day still bears the remnants of that impiety.

As that vain man passed through this city on his march (for he had left Edessa on his left, being adorned with piety), he entered a shrine honored by the impious, and having performed a certain rite there together with his partners in that abomination, he set locks and seals upon the doors, and ordered certain soldiers to keep watch there, commanding that no one be allowed inside the doors until his return.

But when his death was announced and a pious reign succeeded the impious one, they went inside the shrine and discovered the admirable "courage," "wisdom," and, besides these, the "piety" of the emperor.

For they saw a woman hung up by her hair, her hands stretched out;

her belly the accursed man had ripped open, and by means of her liver had, presumably, divined the victory over the Persians.

This, then, was the abomination uncovered at Carrhae.

In Antioch, they say, many chests filled with heads were found in the palace, and many wells choked with dead bodies.

For these are the teachings of those ill-named gods.

The city of Antioch, upon learning of his slaughter, celebrated with public feasts and festivals;

and they danced not only in the churches and at the shrines of the martyrs, but even in the theaters they proclaimed the victory of the cross and mocked his oracular pronouncements.

I too will set down their admirable cry, that its memory may be preserved for those who come after us.

"Where now are your oracles, foolish Maximus?"

"God and his Christ have conquered!"

There was at that time a certain Maximus, wearing the guise of philosophy, but practicing sorcery and priding himself on foretelling the future.

As for the fact that the Antiochenes, having received the divine doctrines from that greatest pair, Peter and Paul, and ardently longing for the Master and Savior of all, had persisted always in abhorring that execrable man — this even he himself knew well.

For this very reason he also wrote a treatise against them, and named it the "Misopogon."

I shall set, as the conclusion of this history, the dance of rejoicing over the tyrant's death.

For they did not consider it lawful to unite a pious kingdom with an impious dominion.

The chapters of the Fourth Book. 1.

On the reign and piety of Jovian.

On the return of Saint Athanasius.

A synodal letter written to the emperor Jovian concerning the faith.

On the food-allowances restored to the churches.

On the reign of Valentinian, and how he made his brother Valens his partner in rule.

On the ordination of Ambrose the bishop.

A letter of the emperors Valentinian and Valens concerning the homoousion, written to the diocese of Asia.

The synodal letter of the council assembled in Illyricum concerning the faith.

On the heresy of the Audians.

On the heresy of the Messalians.

In what manner Valens turned aside into the heresy.

How he exiled those of the bishops who shone forth in virtue.

On Eusebius, bishop of Samosata, and Antiochus the presbyter, and Eulcius the deacon.

On the zeal of the people of Samosata.

On Saint Barses, bishop of Edessa, and the clergy who were exiled together with him.

On the persecution that took place in Edessa.

On Eulogius and Protogenes, presbyters of the Edessenes.

On Saint Basil, bishop of Caesarea, and what was done against him by the emperor Valens and Modestus the prefect.

On the death of Saint Athanasius and the ordination of Peter.

On Lucius the Arian.

On the ordination of Moses the monk.

On the deeds daringly done in Constantinople.

The events concerning Saint Aphrahat the monk.

The events concerning Saint Julian the monk.

The events concerning Saint Antony the monk.

What other monks were distinguished at this time.

What bishops were distinguished in Pontus and Asia at this time.

On what was written by Valens to the great Valentinian concerning the war, and what was faithfully written back by him in reply.

On the piety of Terentius the count.

On the boldness of speech of Trajan the general.

On Isaac, the monk in Constantinople.

On the boldness of speech of Vetranio, bishop of Scythia.

On the campaign of Valens against the Goths, and how he paid the penalty for his impiety.

Whence the Goths came to share in the Arian error.

While these men were deliberating about these matters, the army, assembled together, unanimously demanded Jovian as emperor — a man who held neither the rank of general nor any rank following it, but who was a man of note and distinction, known to many for various reasons.

For he had a very great stature and a magnanimous soul, and he was accustomed to excel in wars and in the greater contests.

For having spoken boldly against the impiety, he did not fear the power of the tyrant, but through his eagerness had ranked himself among the martyrs of our Savior.

Then indeed the generals, taking the army's unanimous agreement as a divine vote, brought that man, excellent in every way, into their midst, and having hastily constructed a lofty tribunal, set him upon it.

Then, when all had offered him the imperial titles and hailed him as Augustus and Caesar, that admirable man, using his customary boldness of speech, and fearing neither the officers nor a change of the soldiers for the worse:

"I cannot," he said, "being a Christian, rule over such men, nor reign over Julian's army, trained as it has been in wicked lessons;"

"for, stripped of divine providence, they are easily overcome and very easily assailed, and will become a source of gloating for their enemies."

Having heard these words, the soldiers raised a common cry:

"Do not hesitate, O emperor, nor refuse command over us as though it were something wicked;"

"for you will reign over Christians, men reared together with pious teachings."

"For the elder among us enjoyed the teaching of Constantine, while those after them shared in the instruction of Constantius;"

"and as for him who has died, the time of his rule was short, and not even sufficient to fix its corruption firmly in those who were deceived by it."

Pleased by these words, the emperor thereafter deliberated about the safety of the common people, and how he might lead the army safely out of enemy territory.

He had no need of many counsels, but reaped the fruits of the seeds of piety.

For at once the God of all showed forth his own providence and resolved the apparent difficulty.

For the king of the Persians, having learned of his accession to the throne, sent envoys to negotiate for peace;

then he sent supplies of food to the soldiers, and ordered that a market be set up for them in the desert.

Having thus concluded a thirty-year truce, he led the army, still in vigorous condition, out of enemy territory.

As soon as he set foot upon the land under his own rule, he first issued a law commanding that the bishops return from exile, and directing that the churches be restored to those who had kept the faith set forth at Nicaea undefiled.

He also wrote to that Athanasius, the champion of these doctrines, requesting that the accurate teaching concerning divine matters be set down in writing for him.

He, gathering together the more distinguished of the bishops, wrote back, urging that the faith set forth at Nicaea be kept, as being in accord with the apostolic doctrines.

I shall also insert the letter itself, having in view the benefit of those who will read it.

To the most devout and most humane Victor Augustus, Jovian: Athanasius and the rest of the bishops who came, on behalf of all the bishops from Egypt and the Thebaid and Libya.

A love of learning and a longing for heavenly things are fitting for a God-loving emperor;

for thus indeed do you truly hold your heart in the hand of God, and you will bring your reign to completion in peace through many cycles of years.

Since, then, your piety has wished to learn from us the faith of the catholic Church, we, having given thanks to the Lord for this, resolved above all to remind your godliness of the faith confessed by the fathers at Nicaea.

For certain persons, having rejected this faith, plotted against us in various ways because we would not submit to the Arian heresy, and have become the cause of heresy and schisms within the catholic Church.

Now the true and pious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ has been made manifest to all, and is known and read out from the divine Scriptures.

For in this faith the saints, having been made perfect, bore witness as martyrs, and now, having departed, are with the Lord.

And this faith always remained entirely unharmed, except that the wickedness of certain heretics dared to falsify it.

For a certain Arius and those with him attempted to corrupt it and to introduce impiety against it, asserting that the Son of God was out of nothing, and a creature, and a work, and mutable; and in these things they deceived many, so that even those who seemed to be of some standing were carried along with their blasphemy.

But our holy fathers, acting first, having assembled, as I said above, in the council at Nicaea, anathematized the Arian heresy, and confessed in writing the faith of the catholic Church, so that, this being proclaimed everywhere, the heresy kindled by the heretics might be extinguished.

This faith, then, was known and proclaimed throughout every church.

Some pretend to confess this faith, but in truth deny it, misinterpreting the term homoousion; and these same men also blaspheme the Holy Spirit, by asserting that it is a creature and a work that came into being through the Son. Since we necessarily perceived the harm that comes upon the peoples from such blasphemy, we have been eager to present to your piety the faith confessed at Nicaea, so that your godliness may know with what great accuracy it was written, and how greatly those who teach contrary to it are in error.

For we have come to know by experience the mind of all those mentioned above, and we have their letters.

And we know, most God-beloved Augustus, that even if a few should speak against this faith, they cannot prejudice the whole world.

For having long been corrupted by the Arian heresy, they now resist true religion all the more contentiously.

And for Your Piety to know it—though indeed you already know it—we have nevertheless taken care to subjoin the faith confessed at Nicaea by the three hundred and eighteen bishops.

This, then, is the faith set forth at Nicaea:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father as only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, both the things in heaven and the things on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down, was made flesh, was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day, ascended into the heavens, and is coming to judge the living and the dead;

But those who say that 'there was a time when he was not,' and 'before he was begotten he was not,' and that he came to be out of things that were not, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or mutable, or alterable—these the holy catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

It is necessary, most God-beloved Augustus, to abide in this faith as being divine and apostolic, and that no one shift it by plausible arguments and disputes over words;

which is exactly what the Arian madmen did from the beginning, saying that the Son of God is out of things that were not, and that there was a time when he was not, and that he is created and made and mutable.

For this reason, as we have said before, the council at Nicaea also anathematized this heresy, and confessed the faith of truth.

For they did not simply say that the Son is 'like' the Father—lest he be believed to be simply 'like' God, rather than true God from God—but they also wrote 'consubstantial,' which is proper to a genuine and true son, from a true and natural father.

Nor indeed did they estrange the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son; rather, they glorified it together with the Father and the Son in the one faith of the Holy Trinity, because there is also one Godhead in the Holy Trinity. When the emperor had read this letter, he confirmed the knowledge and disposition he already held concerning things divine.

And he issued another law, ordering that the grain allotment which the great Constantine had assigned be restored to the churches.

For Julian had also cut off this provision, inasmuch as he had taken up war against our God and Savior.

At that time Jovian ordered that a third part of the allotment be supplied, promising that once the famine ceased he would provide the full grain-ration.

Having adorned the beginnings of his reign with such laws, he set out from Antioch for the Bosporus.

I think that the Ruler of the universe, exposing our wickedness, both shows us good things and again strips us of them, teaching us through the one that he can very easily grant what he wills, and through the other convicting us as unworthy of good things, and urging us toward a better life.

Then indeed, when the soldiers learned of the emperor's sudden death, they mourned the departed as a father, and put forward as emperor that Valentinian—the one who had struck the temple-warden with his hand and had been sent off to the garrison—a man distinguished not only for courage, but also for prudence, temperance, justice, and stature of body.

And he was so kingly and magnanimous that, when the army attempted to put forward a colleague for him in the empire, he uttered that saying celebrated by all:

'It was yours, soldiers, when there was no emperor, to give me the reins of empire;

'but since I have received it, henceforth it is mine, and no longer yours, to deliberate concerning the affairs of state.'

The soldiers, marveling at these words and embracing them, followed, guided by his nods.

But he, having summoned his brother from Pannonia—though he ought not to have—made him his colleague in the empire, one who had not yet been infected by the corruption of those doctrines;

and having handed over to him the scepters of Asia, and indeed of Egypt as well, he allotted Europe to himself.

And having taken possession of the West, he thoroughly instructed it in good order, beginning from the proclamations of true religion.