A. D. 385. 26. She passed through Syria, and came to Sidon, near which place, at Sarepta, she entered the little tower of Elijah. At Cæsarea she saw the house of Cornelius the Centurion, which had been converted into a church; the house of St. Philip, and the rooms of his four daughters, the virgin prophetesses. 1 Fleury, i. Near Jerusalem she saw the tomb of Helena', Queen of Adiabene. The governor of Palestine, who was acquainted with St. Paula's family, sent some of his attendants to prepare a palace for her reception, but she chose rather to be lodged in a little cell. She visited all the holy places with so great devotion, that she could not be drawn away from those which she saw first, but for the strong desire that she had of going to the rest. Prostrated before the CrossTM, she there adored the Saviour as though she actually saw him fixed upon it. At her entrance into the Sepulchre she kissed the stone which the angel had moved away in order to open it, and much more the place where the body of our Lord Jesus Christ had been laid. At Mount Sion she was shewn the pillar to which He was tied when He was scourged, still stained with His blood, and at that time supporting the gallery of a church. She was shewn besides the room in [p. 674.] which the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. After having distributed alms in Jerusalem, she departed for Bethlehem, and on the road saw the sepulchre of Rachel. When she had entered the cave of the Helena was the Queen of Monobazus, King of Adiabene (called Osdroene by Amm. Marcell.) a country once forming part of Mesopotamia. She became a convert to the Jewish faith, and on the accession of her son, Izates, who had also, by other means, been converted, she visited Jerusalem, and distributed corn among the Jews during the famine, (predicted by Agabus, Acts xi. 28,) in the fifth and sixth years of Claudius. See Euseb. 2. 12. Josephus, Antiq. 20. c. 2. Her tomb, three stades distant from Jerusalem, is mentioned by Pausanias (lib. viii. p. 483.) with that of Mausolus in Caria, as peculiarly remarkable. "While the Jews were "disseminating Monotheism in the "West, in Babylonia their proselytes "were Kings; and the later Jewish temple beheld an Eastern Queen (by a singular coincidence, of the same 1 cernere 2 Nativity, she fancied that she saw there the Child wor- A. D. 385. shipped by the wise men and shepherds. She visited the [jurabat Tower of Ader, or of the Flock, with all the other famous oculis fidei.] places of Palestine; and amongst other things at Bethphage [p. 675.] she saw the sepulchre of Lazarus, and the house of Martha [p. 676.] and Mary. Upon Mount Ephraim she venerated the sepul- [venerata est.] chres of Joshua and the High Priest Eleazar. At Sychar, she entered the church which is built over Jacob's well, where the Saviour conversed with the Samaritan woman. Then she saw the sepulchres of the twelve Patriarchs, and at Sebaste or Samaria those of Elisha and Obadiah, and above all that of St. John the Baptist, where she was terrified' at the ' [cernebat operations of the evil spirit on the possessed persons who were brought thither to be delivered. At Morasthi, she saw gire crucia tibus, et a church in the place where had formerly been the sepulchre ante sepulof the Prophet Micah. St. Jerome gives us this descrip- torum ulution of the pilgrimage of St. Paula, and thus informs us of mines more the remains of sacred antiquity, which in his days were shewn luporum, in Palestine. 3 variis dæmones ru chra sanc lare ho &c.] St. Paula, accompanied by her daughter Eustochium and [p. 677.] several other virgins, went from Palestine into Egypt. She went first to Alexandria, and then to the deserts of Nitria, where the Bishop Isidorus, the Confessor, came to meet her, with a countless multitude of monks, of whom many were Priests or Deacons. She visited the most celebrated solitaries, went into their cells, threw herself at their feet, and she would readily have remained in that desert with her virgins, had she not been induced to leave it, out of the love which she bore to the Holy Land. She therefore returned immediately to Palestine, and settled at Bethlehem, where she lived three years in a small lodging, till she had built cells, monasteries, and houses of entertainment near the road, for the reception of pilgrims. Here she passed the remainder of her life under the direction of St. Jerome, who also himself there ended his days, employed in the study of the holy Scriptures, and in shewing hospitality to strangers. 4 5 XXXVIII. cution of the idolatry by The Emperor Theodosius was at this time using his utmost The Perseendeavours to destroy Idolatry in the East. Constantine Great indeed prohibited the offering of sacrifices to spirits, but he did not pull down their temples, he evil Theodosius. only Zos.iv.36. 5 [Zos. ii. A. D. 385. ordered that no one should enter into them. His children Theodor. followed his steps; Julian' endeavoured by all means to reFleury, xvi, establish idolatry, Jovian again opposed it: but Valens made 5. 21. 25. war against the Catholics only, and suffered all others to profess what religion they pleased, so that in his reign, sacrifices were publicly offered up to idols, and it was usual to celebrate the orgies of Bacchus. Theodosius finding affairs in this condition, undertook to destroy idolatry utterly. Not feeling himself yet in a condition to contend with Maximus, he received an embassy from him, and accepted the alliance which he offered him. He acknow ledged him for his colleague, and ordered Cynegius, Prætorian Præfect of the East, whom he sent into Egypt, there to proclaim Maximus, Augustus, and to set up his statue at Idac. Fast. Alexandria. But at the same time he charged Cynegius to cause all the temples to be closed, and to forbid the people to worship the idols; which was accordingly done. Egypt appears again and again on those occasions as the fountainhead of superstitions, and as the country in which idolatry had taken the deepest root. We find a law of Theodosius Tit. 10. 1.9. directed to Cynegius, and dated from Constantinople on the de Pagan. eighth of the calends of June, under the consulship of Arcadius and Bauto, that is to say, on the twenty-fifth of May, A.D. 385, by which it is prohibited under pain of a severe punishment, to offer any sacrifices of animals, in order to search their entrails, and so enquire into futurity, or in general, to practise any kind of divination whatever. An.389. 3 Cod. Theod. xvi. XXXIX. St. Mar cellus of Apameia. 4 Chron. 3 At Heliopolis in Phoenicia, the great and famous temple of Balanius or Belenius', which is supposed to be a name for the sun, was converted into a church. The same thing was Pasch. An. done at Damascus. St. Marcellus' of Apameia was the first Cảng. among the Bishops that pulled down the temples of his city, Theodor. in dependance upon the law of the Emperor. He had suc 379. et ibi 5. 21. ceeded John in his Bishopric, who was present at the great Council of Constantinople in the year 381. Marcellus was a man of singular virtue, who had corresponded with the Martyrs, that is to say, probably, with St. Eusebius of Samosata, and the others who were persecuted under Valens; at length he himself suffered martyrdom. The Præfect of the East, Cynegius, came to Apameia with two tribunes and their troops, who kept the people in awe. The Præfect A. D. 385. attempted to pull down the temple of Jupiter, which was exceedingly large, and enriched with a quantity of ornaments, but it was built with such solidity, that it seemed to him an undertaking beyond the strength of man. The stones of the temple were large, perfectly well joined, and, moreover, cramped with iron and lead. St. Marcellus seeing the Præfect thus discouraged, advised him to proceed to the other towns, and in the mean time he betook himself to prayer to God, beseeching Him that He would supply him with some means of destroying the building. The next morning a man who was neither mason nor carpenter, but only a simple porter, came to offer himself, and promised to pull down the temple with ease, desiring only the wages of two workmen. The Bishop having agreed to this proposal, the other went to work in the following manner. The temple was built upon a height, and on the four sides there was a gallery attached to it, whose pillars, which were of the same height with the temple, were sixteen cubits round. The stone of which it was built was very hard, and the tools made but little impression on it. The labourer therefore dug up the earth at the base of each pillar, which he propped up underneath with pieces of olive tree: having thus undermined three of them, he set fire to the wood, but he could not make it burn, and there appeared a dark Spirit, who hindered the effect of the fire. So, after having tried several times without success to fire the wood, he went to St. Marcellus with the information, who was sleeping in the afternoon according to the custom of those hot countries. He immediately ran to the church, and ordered some water to be carried thither in a vessel. He placed the water under the altar, then prostrated himself with his face to the ground, and prayed God to arrest the power of the Devil, that he might no longer seduce the unbelievers. After this he made the sign of the cross on the water, and ordered a Deacon named Equitius, full of faith and zeal, to run with speed, and throw some of this water on the wood, and then set fire to it. The evil spirit fled, being unable to withstand the virtue of the water, as is related by Theodoret; the water served as oil to light the fire, which consumed the wood in a moment. A. D. 385. The three pillars being no longer supported, fell down and drew down twelve more along with them, together with one side of the temple. The noise which this occasioned was heard over all the city, and brought the people together, who 'Soz. 7.15. glorified God. St. Marcellus destroyed the other temples' in the same manner, both in the city and in the country, being convinced that it would not otherwise be easy to convert the idolaters. St. Marcellus being informed that there was a large temple in a district of the territories of Apameia, called Aulon, set out with a number of soldiers and gladiators for the Pagans used to defend their temples, and often hired Galileans and inhabitants of Mount Libanus to guard them. When St. Marcellus came within sight of the temple of Aulon, he placed himself out of reach of the arrows, for he was lame, and could neither fight, pursue, nor retire. While the soldiers and gladiators were attacking the temple, some Pagans came out from a part of it which was not attacked, and knowing that the Bishop was alone, surprized him, threw him into a fire, and put him to death. This was not known at first, but in a little time it was discovered, and the children of St. Marcellus wished to revenge his death, but the Council of the province opposed it, judging it unreasonable to avenge a death for which they ought rather to give thanks unto God. The Church commemorates St. Marcellus of Apameia, Martyrol. as a Martyr, on the fourteenth of August'. Rom. Aug. 14. the Luci a Libell. Marc. et 3 Theodosius directed to this same Cynegius a rescript in XL. favour of the Luciferians, who were schismatics. Two Rescript concerning Priests of this sect, named Marcellinus and Faustinus, preferians. sented a memorial to the three Emperors, Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, to demand justice for the persecution Faust.à Sir- which they pretended they suffered from the Catholics. mond.1650. [ap. Opp. whom they called Prevaricators', because they had received to Sirmond. their communion those who had fallen at the time of the to.i. p. 228. A.D.1696.] Council of Ariminum. These schismatics owned their number Gennadius, ap. S. Hie to be very small, and condemned the most holy Bishops; among others, St. Hilary, whom they accused of having shewn favour to the Prevaricators, and even to Heretics; and Hosius, whom they represented as a persecutor after his fall, and whose death they described in a terrible, though fabulous ron. to. v. p. 31, in Faustin. 6 4 [p. 235.] p. 29. |