{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/203/2030090.htm","path":"chr/ecf/203/2030090.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/203/2030090.htm","text":"Chapter VII.\u2014Of Theodorus the Confessor.\nJulian could not endure the shame brought upon him by these doings, and on the following day ordered the leaders of the choral procession to be arrested. Sallustius was prefect at this time and a servant of iniquity, but he nevertheless was anxious to persuade the sovereign not to allow the Christians who were eager for glory to attain the object of their desires. When however he saw that the emperor was impotent to master his rage, he arrested a young man adorned with the graces of a holy enthusiasm while walking in the Forum, hung him up before the world on the stocks, lacerated his back with scourges, and scored his sides with claw-like instruments of torture. And this he did all day from dawn till the day was done; and then put chains of iron on him and ordered him to be kept in ward. Next morning he informed Julian of what had been done, and reported the young man\u2019s constancy and added that the event was for themselves a defeat and for the Christians a triumph. Persuaded of the truth of this, God\u2019s enemy suffered no more p. 99 to be so treated and ordered Theodorus 624 to be let out of prison, for so was named this young and glorious combatant in truth\u2019s battle. On being asked if he had had any sense of pain on undergoing those most bitter and most savage tortures he replied that at the first indeed he had felt some little pain, but that then had appeared to him one who continually wiped the sweat from his face with a cool and soft kerchief and bade him be of good courage. \u201cWherefore,\u201d said he, \u201cwhen the executioners gave over I was not pleased but vexed, for now there went away with them he who brought me refreshment of soul.\u201d But the demon of lying divination at once increased the martyr\u2019s glory and exposed his own falsehood; for a thunderbolt sent down from heaven burnt the whole shrine 625 and turned the very statue of the Pythian into fine dust, for it was made of wood and gilded on the surface. Julianus the uncle of Julian, prefect of the East, learnt this by night, and riding at full speed came to Daphne, eager to bring succour to the deity whom he worshipped; but when he saw the so-called god turned into powder he scourged the officers in charge of the temple, 626 for he conjectured that the conflagration was due to some Christian. But they, maltreated as they were, could not endure to utter a lie, and persisted in saying that the fire had started not from below but from above. Moreover some of the neighbouring rustics came forward and asserted that they had seen the thunderbolt come rushing down from heaven.\n\u201cGibbon seems to confuse this young man Theodorus with Theodoretus the presbyter and martyr who was put to death about this time at Antioch by the Count Julianus, the uncle of the emperor, (Soz. v. 8., Ruinart\u2019s Act. Mart. Sinc. p. 605 sq.) for he speaks in his text of \u2018a presbyter of the name of Theodoret,\u2019 and in his notes of \u2018the passion of S. Theodore in the Acta Sincera of Ruinart,\u2019\u201d Bp. Lightfoot. p. 43.\n99:625\n\u201cGibbon says, \u2018During the night which terminated this indiscreet procession, the temple of Daphne was in flames,\u2019 and later writers have blindly followed him. He does not give any authority, but obviously he is copying Tillemont H. E. iii. p. 407 \u2018en mesme temps que l\u2019on portant dans la ville la ch\u00e2sse du Saint Martyr, c\u2019est \u00e0 dire la nuit suivante.\u2019 The only passage which Tillemont quotes is Ammianus, (xxii. 13) \u2018eodem tempore die xi. Kal. Nov.,\u2019 which does not bear him out. On the contrary the historians generally (cf. Soz. v. 20, Theod. iii. 7) place the persecutions which followed on the processions, and which must have occupied some time, before the burning of the temple.\u201d Bp. Lightfoot.\n99:626\n\u03bd\u03b5\u03c9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03bd\u03b5\u03c9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 is the word rendered \u201cworshipper\u201d in Acts xix. 35 by A.V. The R.V. has correctly \u201ctemple-keeper,\u201d the old derivation from \u03ba\u03bf\u03c1\u03ad\u03c9 = sweep, being no doubt less probable than the reference of the latter part of the word to a root KOR = KOL, found in colo, curo.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. III: The Ec...","type":"page"}