教會史 第 1 章 第 14/28 段

But the pagan population was especially angered, because he prevented them from sacrificing and from holding their ancestral festivals, and, bringing soldiers and the military commander in Egypt into the city with weapons, he stripped away images, votive offerings, and the adornments in the temples.

These things later became the occasion of his murder, as I shall relate presently.

And when Cyril had been deposed, as has been said, Herennius took over the church of Jerusalem, and after him Heraclius, and next in succession after him Hilary.

For we have received the account that these men governed the church there at that time until the reign of Theodosius, when Cyril returned again to his own throne.

Meanwhile, Julian Caesar, having prevailed in battle over the barbarians along the river Rhine, subdued some and took others captive alive.

Having thereupon appeared illustrious, and having become dear to the soldiers because of his moderation and fairness, he was proclaimed Augustus by them.

Making, as was to be expected, no request to Constantius concerning this, he replaced the officials appointed by him, and deliberately displayed also the letters by which Constantius, summoning the barbarians against Magnentius, had brought them in against the Romans.

And suddenly changing his religion—though he had previously seemed to be a Christian—he styled himself high priest, frequented the temples of the pagans, offered sacrifice, and tried to persuade his subjects to worship in this manner.

And since it was expected that the Persians would attack the Romans, and Constantius was for this reason spending his time in Syria, Julian, calculating that he could gain control of the Illyrians without a fight, set out on the road toward them, making the pretext that he was marching to Constantius for the sake of an explanation, so that he might not seem to have willingly accepted the insignia of imperial power from the soldiers against Constantius's will.

It is said that when he first crossed within the borders of this region, the vines, after the vintage, about the setting of the Pleiades, appeared full of unripe grapes, and the dew that spread down from the air upon his garment and those of his attendants imprinted the sign of the cross upon each drop.

It seemed to him, and to many of those gathered around, that the clusters appearing out of season were a good omen, while the dew had merely by chance so speckled the garment upon which it happened to fall.

But others said that of the two signs, the untimely one signified that the emperor would perish like unripe grapes, and that his reign would be short-lived, while the other foretold that the doctrine of the Christians was heavenly, and that all ought to be marked with the sign of the cross.

As it appears, those who held the opinion contrary to the emperor's did not miss the truth;

for as time went on, it proved that both predictions had been aptly spoken.

When Constantius learned that Julian was marching against him, he abandoned his preparations against the Persians and hastened toward Constantinople; and while making this journey he died at Mopsucrenae, between Cilicia and Cappadocia, near the Taurus, having lived about forty-five years, of which he had reigned thirteen together with his father, and twenty-five after him.

When he died, Julian already held Thrace;

and having come to Constantinople, he was proclaimed emperor.

The pagans put it about that, even before he left Gaul, divination and demons had stirred him up to this expedition, having foretold the death of Constantius and the change of affairs.

It would indeed have been plausible to call this foreknowledge, had not the end of his own life also overtaken him before long, as though his reign had been but a dream.

For I think it foolish to say that, having foreseen through divination the natural death of Constantius and his own slaughter among the Persians, he willingly leapt into manifest death, gaining for himself among many nothing but a reputation for imprudence and unskillful generalship, while bringing upon the Roman subjects such danger that nearly the whole, or the greater part, of the empire came close to falling under Persian power.

But let these things be said by us here, so that they may not seem to have been passed over, and let each one hold whatever view he wishes.

Now when Constantius died, the Church fell into fear of persecutions;

and for the Christians, the expectation was made more fearful than the actual trial, both by the long interval of time in between, which had made them unaccustomed to such dangers, and by the memory of the punishments of former days, and by the ruler's hatred of the doctrine.

For it is said that he immediately and openly renounced faith in Christ so unrestrainedly that, with certain sacrifices and invocations which the Greeks call apotropaic, and with the blood of victims, he washed away, as it were, our baptism, renouncing his initiation into the Church; and that from then on he made use, both privately and publicly, of burnt offerings and sacrificial victims and everything that it is lawful for the Greeks to practice without fear.

At any rate, the story goes that once, when he was offering sacrifice, the sign of the cross appeared in the entrails, encircled by a wreath; and this cast the other participants in the divination into fear, since they concluded from it that the religion would afterward be strong and the doctrine everlasting, inasmuch as the wreath that encircled it is a symbol of victory, and since, in the circuit of its circle, beginning everywhere and ending in itself, it comes to an end nowhere.

The chief interpreter of this divination, however, bade them take courage, saying that the entrails had shown auspicious signs favorable to them, enclosing the symbol of the doctrine and confining it together into one place, so that it could not spread widely and range freely wherever it wished, having the outline of the circle as its boundary.

I have also learned that he once descended into one of the fearsome and most renowned inner sanctuaries, for the sake of some rite or divination;

and when apparitions, contrived for this purpose and produced by sorcery, suddenly assailed him, overcome by the tumult and fear of the moment, he forgot himself (for it was late in life that he had come to this instruction), and, through his former habit, unwittingly, as a Christian caught up in helpless dangers, marked himself with the sign of Christ.

Immediately the apparitions vanished, and the thing being attempted was thwarted.

The initiating priest, perplexed about this, when he learned the cause of the demons' flight, declared what had happened to be a defilement, and exhorted him to be courageous and to do or think nothing Christian; and this seemed well said.

And having made preparations once again, he led him back to the rite.

The emperor's zeal for these things, then, distressed the Christians not a little and made them greatly afraid, especially because he had formerly been a Christian.

For being born of parents devout in religion, he had from youth been initiated according to the ordinance of the Church, had been instructed in the sacred Scriptures, and had been brought up under bishops and churchmen.

...he was looked to [as the elder], while Julian was still the younger;

for he was still in his eighth year of age.

Having thus been unexpectedly preserved, they were ordered to reside in Cappadocia, at Macellum;

this is a royal estate near Mount Argaeus, not far from the city of the Caesareans, possessing a magnificent palace, baths, gardens, and ever-flowing springs.

There they were deemed worthy of royal care and upbringing, and made use of studies and exercises suited to their age, along with teachers of letters and instructors in the sacred Scriptures, so that they were even enrolled in the clergy and read the ecclesiastical books to the people.

Moreover, they also displayed their piety through their conduct and deeds, holding in high regard the priests and all others who were good and zealous concerning the doctrine, frequenting the houses of prayer, and honoring the tombs of the martyrs with fitting honors.

At that time, then, it is said that, being eager to enclose the tomb of the martyr Mamas within a very great building, they divided the work between the two of them;

and as each competed with ambition and honor to surpass the other, something extraordinary and altogether incredible occurred—incredible, that is, had not many who had heard it from eyewitnesses survived down to our own time.

For Gallus's portion advanced and proceeded according to plan, but of Julian's works, some collapsed, others were thrust up out of the ground, and others would not remain fixed to the foundation, as though being driven back from below by some resistant and violent force pushing against them.

To all, this matter naturally seemed a portent.

By most it was judged only by its outcome, while others, even from that time, concluded that the man was not sound in his religion, but only feigned piety, playing the hypocrite because the ruler then in power was a Christian, and thinking it unsafe to bring his true opinion out into the open.

He betrayed, as it is said, the ancestral religion, having first been led astray by the company of diviners.

For after some time, when Constantius's anger had subsided, Gallus went to Asia and resided at Ephesus, where they held the greater part of their estate, while Julian returned to Constantinople and attended the teachers there;

and being of a good natural disposition and making easy progress in his studies, he did not go unnoticed;

for although going about in the guise of a private citizen, he associated with many.

But when, as is wont to happen in a crowd and in the imperial city, being cousin of the ruler and appearing capable of managing affairs, he was expected to become emperor, and much talk of this sort prevailed concerning him, he was ordered to reside at Nicomedia.

There the philosopher Maximus of Ephesus, having met him, became his instructor in philosophical discourses and in hatred of the Christian religion, and, acting the diviner, insisted that the rumor circulating about him was true.

He, being troubled—as commonly happens to many—by suspicion of grievous matters, and being beguiled by favorable hopes, took Maximus as his friend.

When these things were reported to the emperor, he, in fear, shaved his hair close to the skin and feigned the monastic life, but secretly held to the other religion.

But when he had now advanced into manhood, he was more readily led on, and became passionately absorbed in these matters.

Wondering whether there is any art that foretells the future, and deeming the learning of it necessary, he was led on into an experience of things which Christians ought not to pursue, and from then on he made friends of those who practiced such things.

Being of this mind, he came from Nicomedia into Asia, and having there associated with such men, he became more eager concerning these matters.

When his brother Gallus, who had been made Caesar, was reported to be plotting revolution and was put to death, Constantius, supposing that he too was possessed by a passion for the throne, kept him under guard.

But when Eusebia, the wife of Constantius, interceded and obtained his release on his behalf, he journeyed abroad to Athens, ostensibly to study the history of the Greek cities and schools, but, as it is said, to hold converse with those there [who practiced such arts].

Constantius then recalled him from there and made him Caesar;

and having betrothed to him in marriage his sister Constantia, he sent him to the Gauls in the west.

For the barbarians, whom he himself had earlier hired as allies against Magnentius, having been of no use for that purpose, were ravaging the Gauls.

Since he was still young, he entrusted the conduct of affairs to the generals who accompanied him.

But since they were negligent, the Caesar himself, as far as he was able, took thought beforehand for the war, and made the soldiers more eager for battle, both by urging them to take risks and by fixing a stated reward for each man who slew a barbarian.

Having thus won the favor of the soldiers, he reported to Constantius the laxity of the generals.

When another general was sent, he engaged the barbarians in battle and fared well.

When envoys came concerning a truce, presenting letters from Constantius that summoned them back onto Roman soil, he, intending to send back the envoy who carried these proposals only after a deliberate delay, fell unexpectedly upon the multitude of the enemy and conquered them.

It is said that Constantius, plotting against him, had entrusted this war to him.

But to me this does not seem plausible.

For he who from the outset had it in his power not even to make him Caesar—why would he have done so, and given him his sister in marriage, and, when Julian complained about the negligent generals, listened to him and sent a capable man in their place, so that he might succeed in the war, unless he happened to be his friend? But as I reckon it, Constantius, being at first well-disposed toward him, made him Caesar;

but when, contrary to his wishes, Julian was proclaimed Augustus, either fearing retribution for the wrongs he had done to him and his brother while they were young, or, as is likely, envying him the equal honor, he plotted against him through the barbarians along the Rhine.

But on these matters different people hold different opinions.

When he had become sole ruler of the empire, he opened the Greek temples throughout the East, and ordered that those which had fallen into neglect be repaired, that those which had been demolished be rebuilt, and that the altars be set up again;

and he procured for them many sources of revenue;

he revived the ancient customs and ancestral rites of the cities, and the sacrifices.

He himself openly offered sacrifice and libation in public, and held in great honor those who were zealous concerning these matters;

and to the initiates and priests, the hierophants, and the attendants of the cult images, he restored their former honors;

and he ratified the laws formerly enacted concerning them by earlier emperors, decreed exemption from public services and other burdens which they had formerly enjoyed, and restored the food allowances of the temple attendants that had been taken away.

He also gave orders that anyone who chose, as the Greeks say, to consecrate himself, must be pure with respect to certain foods and abstain from whatever it was fitting to abstain from.

He also ordered that the Nilometer and its emblems be carried to the temple of Serapis, according to the ancient ancestral custom;

for by the decree of Constantine, it had previously been brought to the Church.

He often wrote to the civic communities of the cities: if he found them turned toward Hellenism, he urged them to ask for whatever gifts they wished; but toward those that openly Christianized he was hostile, neither enduring to visit them nor to receive the embassies sent concerning the grievances that troubled them.

Indeed, when the Persians were then expected to invade, the Nisibenes sent an embassy about this; but since they were entirely Christianizing and neither opened their temples nor frequented the sacred places, he threatened not to help them nor to receive their embassy, and declared that he would not set foot in their city, regarding it as accursed, until he should learn that they had turned over to Hellenism.

And bringing similar charges also against the Constantians in Palestine, he assigned their city to the Gazaeans.

Now when Julian came to the throne, the Gazaeans obtained judgment against the Constantians.

And sitting himself as judge, he assigned Constantia, which lay about twenty stadia distant, to Gaza;

and from that time, deprived of its former name, that seaward district is called a part of the city of Gaza.

They have in common civic magistrates and generals, and public affairs;

but only in matters concerning the church do the two still, even now, appear as two cities:

for each has its own bishop and clergy, and festivals of the martyrs, and commemorations of the priests who arose among them, and boundaries of the surrounding fields, to which the

altars belonging to each bishopric are assigned according to those boundaries.

Accordingly, one of the bishops of our own time, bishop of the city of Gaza, when the head of the church of the Maiumites had died, endeavored to bring both clergies under himself, saying that it was not lawful for two bishops to preside over one city.

But when the Maiumites objected, the synod of the province decided the matter and ordained another bishop, judging that it was altogether fitting that those who, on account of piety, had been deemed worthy of the rights of a city, but who had fared otherwise through the judgment of a Hellenizing emperor, ought not, in matters of priesthood and church order, to be deprived of the honors that had been given them.

But these matters were later resolved in this way.

At about the same time the emperor also struck Caesarea near Mount Argaeus—a great and prosperous city, the metropolis of the region of Cappadocia—from the list of cities, and stripped it of the name of Caesar, which it had obtained long before under Claudius Caesar, having previously been called Mazaca.

And because the temple of Tyche, which alone had been left standing, was during his reign overturned by the Christians, he became terribly hostile to the whole city and was greatly aggrieved.

And he blamed the Hellenes—who were very few in number there—for not having defended it, and for not having readily endured suffering, if need be, on behalf of Tyche.

He ordered that all the possessions and moneys of the churches in Caesarea and within its borders, searched out under torture, be brought into the open; that they immediately pay three hundred pounds of gold to the treasury; that all the clergy be enrolled in the register of soldiers under the governor of the province—a thing reckoned exceedingly costly and disgraceful in the armies of the Romans; and that the multitude of the Christians, together with their wives and children, be registered and pay taxes just as in the villages.

And with an oath he threatened that, if they did not swiftly rebuild the temples, he would not cease being enraged and doing harm to the city, and would not even allow the Galileans to keep their heads (for so he was accustomed, in mockery, to call the Christians).

The threat would perhaps have been carried into effect, had he not died sooner.

For indeed, even from the beginning, he did not appear more humane toward the Christians out of pity than those who had previously persecuted the church; rather, having found from what had already occurred that punishments were of no benefit to the establishment of Hellenism, and that by this very means the cause of the Christians had grown and become more glorious through the courage of those who chose to die for the doctrine—

hence, envying them their glory—not that he spared them—he did not think it necessary, for changing their resolve, to employ fire or the sword or bodily torments, or to drown them and bury them alive, as had formerly been eagerly practiced; but he considered it best to persuade the multitudes by argument and exhortation to turn to Hellenism, and believed he would easily prevail in his aim if, disdaining to use force, he should unexpectedly appear humane toward them.

It is said, at any rate, that while he was sacrificing at the Tycheion in Constantinople, Maris, bishop of Chalcedon, came up to him and publicly reviled him as impious, calling him godless and apostate;

but the emperor merely reproached him for his blindness;

for he had come forward as an old man, his eyes clouded and dimmed.

And when, mocking as was his custom and blaspheming Christ, he said, "Not even your Galilean god will heal you," Maris took up the reply and said, "But I give thanks to my God for my blindness, that I may not see you fallen away from piety." And the emperor, answering nothing, passed on.

For he supposed that in this way he would rather strengthen Hellenism, by showing himself, against expectation, forbearing and gentle toward the multitude of the Christians.

Being eager for these ends, he released from banishment all who had been exiled under Constantius on account of religion, and restored to those whose goods had been confiscated by law their own property;

and he proclaimed to the populaces that no one should wrong any of the Christians, nor insult them, nor drag the unwilling to sacrifice; but that those who came voluntarily to the altars should first propitiate those whom the Greeks call the averting demons, and be purified with the purifications customary among them.

The clergy, however, he deprived of all exemption from taxation and honor and their food allowances, and he abolished the laws enacted on their behalf, restoring these matters to the town councils; he even ordered that virgins and widows who, on account of poverty, had been enrolled among the clergy for support should have exacted from them what they had formerly received from the public treasury.

For when Constantine was regulating the affairs of the churches, he assigned, out of the taxes of each city, sufficient funds for the provision of necessities to the clergy everywhere, and confirmed this by law—a law still in force even now, carefully observed ever since Julian died.

They say that this exaction proved to be most cruel and most harsh.

This is attested also by the receipts then issued by the tax-collectors to those from whom the exactions were made, as proof of the repayment of what they had received under the law of Constantine.

But the ruler's hostility toward the religion did not stop only at these things:

in his zealous hatred for the doctrine he left out no manner of means for the overthrow of the church, taking away moneys and votive offerings and the sacred vessels, and compelling those who had demolished the temples pulled down under the rule of Constantine and Constantius either to rebuild them or to pay the assessed value for them.

Being able to accomplish neither of these, and moreover in the course of the search for the sacred treasures, many priests and clergy and other Christians were harshly tortured and thrown into prisons.

So that one may conclude from every side that, with regard to murders and the contriving of bodily punishments, he was more moderate than those who had persecuted the church before him, but in other respects more harsh.

For he appears to have done the church harm in every respect, except that he recalled the priests who had been condemned, in the reign of Constantius, to dwell in a foreign land.

It is said, however, that he ordered this not out of any mercy toward them, but so that the church, through their mutual strife, might be warred upon by civil conflict and fail of its own proper institutions, or so as to defame Constantius:

for he thought he would thereby stir up hatred against him, dead though he was, among nearly all his subjects—by courting the Hellenists as being of like mind with himself, and by pitying, as wronged men, those who had suffered ill for Christ's sake under him.

Indeed, he also expelled from the palace the eunuchs who had been agreeable to him;

and he punished Eusebius, the grand chamberlain of the royal court, with death;

for indeed he also had a private grievance against this man, in that

he suspected that his brother Gallus had been put to death through this man's plotting.

As for Aetius, the founder of the Eunomian heresy, who had been condemned by Constantius to exile beyond the border and who was also otherwise suspect on account of his association with Gallus, Julian, writing to him most graciously, recalled him to his side, granting him the use of the public post-animals.

And for a like reason he then ordered Eleusius, bishop of Cyzicus, under a most severe penalty, to rebuild at his own expense, within two months only, the church of the Novatians which he had pulled down under Constantius.

Some things he did himself, and others he allowed to be done by others.

At that time also Athanasius, who up to then had kept hidden where he was living, when the death of Constantius was announced, appeared by night in the church of the Alexandrians.

And this was, understandably, a marvel, happening thus suddenly, beyond all expectation.

For when, through the plotting of George's associates and at the emperor's command, the commander of the troops in Egypt had eagerly sought to arrest him but failed, as has been related earlier, he escaped and, up to the present governorship, had been hidden with a certain consecrated virgin in Alexandria.

We have been told that she so far surpassed in beauty the women of that time that she was a marvel to those who beheld her, yet one to be shunned by those who professed decency and self-control, lest suspicion should bring upon them some reproach.

For even in the prime of her youth she was exceedingly grave and self-controlled—qualities which nature, even when it favors the body with comeliness and beauty, is not accustomed also to bestow upon it.

For it is indeed true to say—not, as some suppose, that the soul is such as the body is—but rather that the character of the body is mirrored in the pursuits of the soul, and that the same person, whatever he happens to be pursuing, appears to be of that very kind at the time he pursues it;

and to this argument, I think, no one who examined it carefully would object.

But the account says that Athanasius, in accordance with a divine vision that thus intimated to him that he would be saved, fled for refuge to this virgin.

And it seems to me, looking to the outcome, that these things were arranged not without God's help, but so that the friends of Athanasius might have no trouble even if anyone attempted to make inquiry about him or forced them to swear, and that he himself might remain concealed, hidden with this woman, whose very beauty did not allow anyone to suspect that the priest was residing there; she received him on account of his courage and preserved him safely through her own prudence, becoming so faithful a guardian and zealous a servant that she alone washed his feet and ministered to him in matters of food and everything else, and whatever nature is compelled to endure in urgent necessities, and moreover brought him from others the books he needed; and although this went on for a long time, none of the inhabitants of the city of Alexandria learned of it.

Athanasius, then, having thus been kept safe, appeared unexpectedly in the church, and it was not even known whence he had come forth;

and the people of the Alexandrians, overjoyed, handed over the churches to him.

But those who held the opinions of Arius, being expelled, held their own assemblies by themselves in private houses, putting forward Lucius, in place of George, as bishop of their sect.

For George had by then already been put to death;

for as soon as the magistrates publicly announced that Constantius had died and that Julian was emperor, the pagan populace of the Alexandrians rose in sedition;

shouting and hurling abuse, they rushed upon him intending to kill him at once, but being checked in their immediate impulse, they then held him in chains.

Not long after, rushing down to the prison at dawn, they killed him, and setting him upon a camel and spending the whole day heaping insults upon him, toward late evening they gave him over to the fire.

I am not unaware that those of the Arian heresy say that George suffered these things at the hands of the partisans of Athanasius.

But I myself consider the deed to be rather that of the Hellenists, reckoning that these had greater and more numerous grounds of hatred against him, and especially the outrage he committed against their images and temples, and his prevention of their sacrifices and ancestral customs.

And his influence at the palace also intensified the hatred against him;

and, as the populace is wont to feel toward those in power, they deemed it intolerable.

In addition to these things, the following also happened at that time concerning what they call the Mithreum:

for this place, having long since become deserted, Constantius had granted to the church of the Alexandrians.

There were found, perhaps, certain carved images and instruments belonging to those who at that time had performed initiations or rites there, which seemed ridiculous and strange to those who saw them;

and the Christians, having publicly displayed these things, paraded them about, mocking the Hellenists.

But the crowd, having gathered together, attacked the Christians, some armed with swords or stones, others with whatever else came to hand;

and having killed many, and even crucified some in mockery of their religion, they left the greater number wounded.

As a result of this, the Christians abandoned the work they had begun, unfinished; and the pagans, when Julian's reign had come, killed George.

The emperor himself also testifies that this is so.

which he would not have admitted, had he not been compelled by the truth;

for he wished, I suppose, that the murderers of George should be Christians of some sort rather than Greeks.

But nevertheless he did not conceal it;

He appears, at any rate, in his letter concerning this matter to