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A tree, they say, bending down, worshipped Christ when He was fleeing to Egypt, and made a shade for Him. and envying the spring, he filled it in, and he cut down the tree. This 1.535 defiled one, having opened the tomb of the Forerunner, gave the relics to the fire and winnowed the ashes. They say that in the area of Caesarea Philippi, in the northern position of the valley, there grows a flame-like root, which they call battaritis, from which around evening a flashing light makes it unapproachable and inaccessible because anyone who draws near dies instantly. Therefore, digging a trench around it, they tie a dog to its root. And the dog, eager to follow its masters, pulls for a long time and tears up the root. And it dies on the spot, but by tying the root around them, they heal the demon-possessed. And in Galilee, they say, there is a coastal city; two stadia from it a river flows. This has in it an island-like place, about a hundred cubits in perimeter, where the white sand, carried out by the winds, is immediately transformed into glass; and when this is taken away, it is again replenished. And as Julian was passing through the city of Chalcedon, Maris, its bishop, heaped many insults to Julian's face as he was sacrificing in the temple of Tyche, calling him an apostate and an avenger and one alien to the glory of God. But he, pretending to be a philosopher, reproached Maris with a single word, saying, "Go away, wretch, and bewail your own blindness; for not even the Nazarene, whom you worship, has healed your affliction." For Maris had suffered from a cataract. But he said to the apostate 1.536 "I thank my master Christ for providing this for me, so that I might not see your most shameless and most impious face." This one ordered the great Athanasius to leave the church, as the Hellenes were provoking him. But as he was leaving, he told the Christians who were weeping for him to take courage; "Take courage," he said, "people of Christ; it is a little cloud, and it will pass."
And while Julian was staying in Antioch, and continually going up to Daphne and worshipping the idol of Apollo (for there was there a wondrous work of Bryxis the sculptor, which no one else was able to imitate), he sought an oracle from it, but received no response. Thinking that it was silent because of the relics of the holy hieromartyr Babylas that were deposited in Daphne, he ordered them all to be moved. When this was done, fire suddenly came down from heaven that night and burned down both the temple and the statue of Apollo, so that not even a trace of it was seen. Therefore the defiled one, being astonished at this, and thinking it had happened by a plot of the Christians, proceeded to an examination of the priests. And having punished them in every way, so that some of them even died, he heard this only from them, that neither by Christians nor by any other human plot, but that fire coming down from heaven had burned both the temple and the statue. Therefore the apostate and God-fighter, becoming angry, closed the great church of Antioch and plundered all the 1.537 sacred vessels. And when the dispatched counts, Felix and Julian his uncle, said that we thought there was some overseeing power that hindered us, the defiled one mocked. And Artemius, the dux of Alexandria, because under Constantius he had shown great zeal in Alexandria against the idolaters, was beheaded and his property confiscated after many tortures for the sake of his faith in Christ. Likewise also two presbyters, Eugenius and Macarius. In his third year, having punished many and made them martyrs, he also ordered the temple of the Jews to be rebuilt. And when the work was undertaken, at first a whirlwind carried out the quicklime, which was more than twenty myriad modii, and as the Jews were still attempting the work, fire came out of the foundations and burned them up, and thus
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δένδρον, φασί, κλιθὲν προσεκύνει τῷ Χριστῷ, ἡνίκα πρὸς Αἴγυπτον ἔφευγε, καὶ σκιὰν αὐτῷ πεποίηκε. καὶ τῇ μὲν πηγῇ φθονήσας κατέχωσε, τὸ δὲ δένδρον ἔκοψεν. οὗτος ὁ 1.535 μιαρὸς τὴν τοῦ προδρόμου θήκην ἀνοίξας πυρὶ τὰ λείψανα παρα δέδωκε καὶ τὴν κόνιν διελίκμησε. Φασὶ δὲ ὅτι ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὴν Καισάρειαν τῆς Φιλίππου, ἐν τῇ ἀρκτῴᾳ θέσει τῆς φάραγγος, ῥίζαν γίνεσθαι φλογοειδῆ, ἣν καλοῦσι βατταρῖτιν, ἀφ' ἧς περὶ τὴν ἑσπέραν ἐξαστράπτον φῶς ἀπροσπέλαστον εἶναι καὶ ἀπρόσιτον παρασκευάζει διὰ τὸ παρα χρῆμα τὸν ἐγγίζοντα ἀποθνήσκειν. κυκλόθεν οὖν αὐτῆς περιο ρύξαντες κύνα δεσμοῦσιν ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης αὐτῆς. ὁ κύων δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῦ δεσπόταις ἕπεσθαι ἱέμενος ἐπὶ πολὺ σύρων ἀνασπᾷ τὴν ῥίζαν. καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν θνήσκει παραυτά, τὴν ῥίζαν δὲ περιά πτοντες τοὺς δαιμονιζομένους θεραπεύουσι. καὶ ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ δέ φασι πόλιν εἶναι πάραλον· ταύτης ἀπὸ σταδίων δύο διαρρεῖ ποταμός. οὗτος ἔχει τόπον ἐν αὐτῷ νησοειδῆ, ὡσεὶ πηχῶν ἑκα τὸν τὸ περίμετρον, οὗ ἡ ἀργὴ ψάμμος διὰ τῶν ἀνέμων ἐκφερο μένη εἰς ὕελον εὐθὺς μεταποιεῖται· καὶ ταύτης ἀφαιρουμένης πά λιν αὖθις ἀναπληροῦται. ∆ιερχόμενον δὲ τὸν Ἰουλιανὸν τὴν Χαλκηδόνος πόλιν, Μά ρις ὁ ταύτης ἐπίσκοπος πολλὰς ὕβρεις τῷ Ἰουλιανῷ εἰς τὸν τῆς Τύχης ναὸν θύοντι κατὰ πρόσωπον ἐπήγαγε, παραβάτην ἀποκα λῶν καὶ ἀλάστορα καὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δόξης ἀλλότριον. ὁ δὲ ἅτε φιλόσοφον προσποιούμενος ἑνὶ τὸν Μάριν ὠνείδισε λόγῳ, "ἄπελθε" λέγων, "ταλαίπωρε, καὶ ἀποθρήνει τὴν σαυτοῦ τύφλωσιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Ναζωραῖος, ὃν σὺ προσκυνεῖς, τοῦ πάθους ἰάσατο." ἦν γὰρ ὁ Μάρις ἐπίχυσιν πεπονθώς. ὁ δέ φησι πρὸς τὸν παραβάτην 1.536 "εὐχαριστῶ τῷ δεσπότῃ μου Χριστῷ τοῦτό μοι προνοησαμένῳ, ἵνα μὴ τὸ ἀναιδέστατον καὶ ἀσεβέστατόν σου θεάσωμαι πρόσω πον." Οὗτος τὸν μέγαν Ἀθανάσιον τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐξελθεῖν ἐκέ λευσε, τῶν Ἑλλήνων αὐτὸν παροξυνάντων. ὁ δὲ ἐξερχόμενος θαρρεῖν εἶπε Χριστιανοῖς τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ δακρύουσι· "θαρ σεῖτε," φησί, "λαὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ· νεφύδριόν ἐστι, καὶ παρέρ χεται."
∆ιάγων δὲ Ἰουλιανὸς ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, καὶ συνεχῶς ἐν ∆άφνῃ ἀνιὼν καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος θεραπεύων εἴδωλον (ἦν γὰρ ἐκεῖσε θαυμαστὸν ἔργον Βρύξιδος ἀγαλματοποιοῦ, ὃ μήτις ἄλλος ἴσχυ σεν ἐκμιμήσασθαι), παρ' αὐτοῦ χρησμὸν ἐζήτει, ἀλλ' οὐδεμιᾶς ἀποκρίσεως ἔτυχε. νομίσας δὲ ὅτι διὰ τὰ ἐν τῇ ∆άφνῃ ἀποκεί μενα λείψανα τοῦ ἁγίου ἱερομάρτυρος Βαβύλα ἀποσιωπᾷ, ἐκέ λευσεν ἅπαντα μετατεθῆναι. οὗ γενομένου ἀθρόως πῦρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατελθὸν ἐκείνῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τόν τε ναὸν κατέφλεξε καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἄγαλμα, ὥστε μηδὲ ἴχνος αὐτοῦ φανῆναι. ἐκπλαγεὶς οὖν ἐπὶ τούτῳ ὁ μιαρός, καὶ νομίσας κατ' ἐπιβουλὴν Χριστιανῶν γενέσθαι, ἐπ' ἐξέτασιν τῶν ἱερέων ἐχώρει. καὶ παντοίως τιμω ρησάμενος ὥστε καί τινας αὐτῶν ἀποθανεῖν, τοῦτο μόνον ἤκουσε παρ' αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὔτε ὑπὸ Χριστιανῶν οὔθ' ὑπὸ ἄλλης ἀνθρω πίνης ἐπιβουλῆς, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πῦρ κατελθὸν ἐνέπρησε καὶ τὸν ναὸν καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα. θυμωθεὶς οὖν ὁ παραβάτης καὶ θεο μάχος τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν Ἀντιοχείας ἀπέκλεισε καὶ πάντα τὰ 1.537 ἱερὰ ἐσύλησε. τῶν δὲ ἀποσταλέντων κομήτων Φήλικος καὶ Ἰου λιανοῦ τοῦ θείου αὐτοῦ λεγόντων ὅτι ἐνομίζομεν ἐποπτικήν τινα εἶναι δύναμιν τὴν κωλύσασαν ἡμᾶς, ὁ μιαρὸς ἐπετώθαζεν. Ἀρτέμιος δὲ ὁ δοὺξ Ἀλεξανδρείας, ἐπειδήπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Κων σταντίου ζῆλον πολὺν ἐνεδείξατο ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ κατὰ τῶν εἰδω λολατρούντων, ἐδημεύθη τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτμηθεὶς μετὰ πολλὰς βασάνους ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ δύο πρεσβύτεροι, Εὐγένιος καὶ Μακάριος. Τῷ τρίτῳ ἔτει τούτου πολλοὺς τιμωρησάμενος καὶ μάρτυ ρας ποιήσας, καὶ τὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ναὸν οἰκοδομηθῆναι προσέ ταξε. καὶ τοῦ ἔργου ἐγχειρισθέντος, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα λαῖλαψ τήν τε ἄσβεστον ἐξεφόρησεν ὑπὲρ μυριάδας εἴκοσι μοδίων οὖσαν, τῶν δὲ Ἰουδαίων ἔτι τῷ ἔργῳ ἐπιχειρούντων πῦρ ἐξελθὸν τῶν θεμε λίων τούτους κατέκαυσε, καὶ οὕτω