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Once Upon a Time …

The Emperor Julian (“the Apostate”), in his drive to re-paganize the empire, tried to weaken Christian opposition by dividing it, setting one faction against another. He restored heretical bishops who had been deposed, so that major cities would have two competing bishops. He offered prominent Catholics high positions, so that he could neutralize them while claiming their support. Meanwhile, he made the requirements for schoolteachers so stringently pagan that no Christian could fulfill them. Banished from the public square, Christianity could be minimized as a cultural force. According to a recent biographer, Julian “marginalised Christianity to the point where it could potentially have vanished within a generation or two, and without the need for physical coercion.” Said Julian: “If they want to learn literature, they have Luke and Mark: Let them go back to their churches and expound on them.” Julian wished to remove Christians from public discourse – drive them into a cultural ghetto.

10 thoughts on “Once Upon a Time …

  1. Well, if this doesn’t sound like the agenda of the secular modernists, I don’t know what does. A lesson that needs to be remembered by all.

  2. You cannot leave us in suspense like that…WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!

  3. Read the linked reviews. He was killed in battle before he could do much damage.

  4. Pray that the American people will come to their senses and peaceably vote all politicians who are attempting to destroy our God-given and Constitutional rights out of office in November.

  5. Sounds like the secular humanists are the Emperor Julian of today.

  6. There’s a good Audio Sancto sermon on this subject. Very good.

  7. Julian was an interesting fellow – what most folks forget (and perhaps our current administration should remember) is although he had a small following, even the pagans he hoped to revitalize were not very keen about his pet projects. In modern parlance, he lacked a support base for most of his reign. By supporting a fringe element, he sacrificed his overall popularity. In order to rehabilitate it, Julian embarked on a not-too-bright war against the Persians and was killed early in the campaign. What is interesting is that – even then – there was a hot debate as to who actually offed the Emperor … the Persians may have done it, but many Christians in his army claimed that he was killed by a Christian member of his own army. As one historian has quipped, “perhaps there was a second spear man on the grassy knoll …”

  8. Emperor Julian – sounds like someone who wrote Obama’s policies! Obama = Julian!

  9. I find stories like this one encouraging. Another reminder that the Catholic Church has outlasted every empire, kingdom and persecution and that we will outlast the current challenge as well.

  10. Fortunately, these days it isn’t necessary to drive a spear into our current apostate wanna-be’s. Just don’t vote for them, or for their ilk, and support their opponents with your donations and your voice. Much cleaner way to solve the issue, and it doesn’t involve jail time or risking your soul.

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