Julian the Apostate, Roman Emperor, was born on this day in 331. Back when I was an undergraduate at the seminary in Jordanville, we did not write many papers. In fact, in five years, I only wrote two. One of them, for Priestmonk (now Archbishop) Peter’s class, was on Julian the Apostate. His tragic personality somehow attracted me. Julian was the only scion of St. Constantine the Great. His father was Julius Constantius, Emperor Constantine’s half-brother. In 337, the death of Constantine the Great opened the door to a brutal struggle for power. Constantine’s son Constantius II was an Arian by faith. He was afraid of his own family and ordered the murder of Julian’s father, his own father-in-law, and several of his cousins. Julian survived, but the massacre made an indelible impact on him. The Arian Bishop of Eusebios of Nikomedia became Julian’s tutor. Throughout his studies, Julian was fascinated with Neo-Platonic philosophy and, first secretly, then openly, apostatized from Christianity (he had had the rank of reader (anagnostes). Constantius II died childless, and when Julian succeeded him in 361, he began openly undoing the Christianization of the Empire. Julain issued an edict of religious tolerance in 362, allowing all religious dissidents back from exile, demanding the return of pagan buildings confiscated by Christians, and considering the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. He appropriated the right of cities to approve candidates for teaching posts. Similarly to the practical application of Soviet religious tolerance, tolerance in Julian’s interpretation meant fidelity to Hellenistic gods in the teaching of philosophy. With this attitude, Julian went against such saints as Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, who, despite having studied philosophical concepts along with Julian, did not subscribe to the polytheism of the ancient philosophers. Several Christians suffered martyrdom as a result of Julian’s reforms. However, by then, the “paganism train had left the station.” Although there were still strong enclaves of Hellenism, as in Alexandria, in many places, like Antioch, there was minimal sympathy for going back in time. Personally, Julian led the life of an ancient soldier emperor. His troops respected him. Julian died throwing himself ahead of the Roman lines fighting the Persians in 363. It was unnecessary but fit with the heroic model he sought to emulate. He was killed suddenly by an Arab horseman. The Christians attributed his death to the former Military Governor of Egypt, Holy Great Martyr Artemios, who was martyred at the orders of Julian the Apostate. |
