Julian the Apostate

:For other meanings of Julian, see Julian (disambiguation).

Julian and religion

Julian is called "The Apostate" because he converted from Christianity to Paganism. He suppressed the persecution of pagans and destruction of temples that had followed Constantine I's official encouragement of Christianity. (During his earlier years, while studying at Athens, he became acquainted with two men who later became both bishops and saints: Gregory Nazianzus and Basil the Great.) Though Constantine had legalized Christianity, it was not declared the official state religion until Theodosius I in the 380s. Constantine and his immediate successors had prohibited the upkeep of pagan temples, and many temples were destroyed and pagan worshippers killed during the reign of Constantine and his successors. The extent to which the emperors approved or commanded these destructions and killings is disputed, but it is certain they did not prevent them.

Related Topics:
Apostate - Paganism - Constantine I - Christianity - Gregory Nazianzus - Basil the Great - Theodosius I - 380s

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Julian's religious status is a matter of considerable dispute. He did not practice normative civic paganism of the earlier empire, but a kind of magical approach to classical philosophy sometimes identified as theurgy and also neoplatonism. Whatever his personal practices, they were not Christian. According to Socrates Scholasticus, Julian believed himself to be Alexander the Great in another body via transmigration of souls, as taught by Plato and Pythagoras (Book III, Chapter XXI of his writings).

Related Topics:
Philosophy - Theurgy - Neoplatonism - Christian - Socrates Scholasticus - Alexander the Great - Transmigration - Soul - Plato - Pythagoras

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Many of Julian's actions sought to harass and undermine the ability of Christians to organize in resistance to the reastablishment of pagan acceptance in the empire. The Orthodox or Catholic Church retells a story concerning two of his bodyguards, who were Christians, that when Julian came to Antioch he gave orders to sprinkle all the food in the marketplace and the water wells with blood from idol worship. This would have left the Christians in that town with nothing to eat or drink without violating their beliefs. The two bodyguards opposed the edict, and were executed at Julian's command. The Orthodox Church remembers them as Saints Juventinus and Maximos.

Related Topics:
Orthodox - Catholic - Antioch

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In his school edict Julian prohibits Christian teachers from using pagan scripts e.g. the Illias, that formed the core of Roman education. This was an attempt to remove some of the power of Christian schools by alienating their students from Roman society, not to mention a satirical attack at what Julian may have viewed as a hypocrisy: Christian schools teaching the Bible as the sole source of knowledge while simultaneously teaching classical pagan texts as well, knowledge of which was needed for success in Roman society.

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In his tolerance edict of 362, Julian decreed the reopening of pagan temples, the restitution of alienated temple properties, and called back Christian bishops that were exiled by church edicts. The latter was an instance of tolerance of different religious views, but may also have been an attempt by Julian to widen a schism between different Christian sects, further weakening the Christian movement as a whole.

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After his arrival in Antiochia in preparation for the Persian war, the temple of Apollo burned down. Since Julian believed Christians to be responsible, the main church was closed.

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In 363 Julian, on his way to engage Persia, stopped at the ruins of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. In keeping with his effort to foster religions other than Christianity, Julian ordered the Temple rebuilt. A personal friend of his, Ammianus Marcellinus, wrote this about the effort:

Related Topics:
Solomon's Temple - Jerusalem - Ammianus Marcellinus

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Julian thought to rebuild at an extravagant expense the proud Temple once at Jerusalem, and committed this task to Alypius of Antioch. Alypius set vigorously to work, and was seconded by the governor of the province; when fearful balls of fire, breaking out near the foundations, continued their attacks, till the workmen, after repeated scorchings, could, approach no more: and he gave up the attempt.

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The failure to rebuild the Temple has been ascribed to an earthquake, common in the region, and to the Jews' ambivalence about the project. Sabotage is a possibility, as is an accidental fire. Divine intervention was the common view among church historians of the time. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/julian-jews.html http://www.gibsoncondo.com/~david/convert/history.html

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