On the contrary, Julian's campaign was inglorious (his peoples and cities were persecuted by cries of the mob and jesters, which is still remembered by many today); and his return was even more inglorious. What kind of disgrace is this? It was carried by buffoons, the procession was accompanied by indecent games; they drank, danced, reviled him for apostasy, for defeat and death. And what insult did he not suffer? Why did he not hear from impudent people who put their art in insulting others? Finally, the city of Tara receives him, I do not know how and for what he was condemned to such a disgrace. Here the place of burial was assigned to him dishonorably, and the tomb is unclean, contemptible, disgusting to the pious eye.

I have described only the most important and important faults of Julian; but I also know that two or three court caressers, equal to him in impiety (of the others I am willing to keep silent), were given such a reward for their impiety that they would in a short time have ravaged all the possessions of the Romans by land and sea without hindrance, had not these affairs soon come to a favorable end. So much did they surpass the ancient hundred-armed giants in robbery and greed! The administration of the regions was entrusted to people who were not the most truthful, but the most inhuman. One was the right to receive superiority – apostasy; and they only received gifts from Julian, who plotted the greatest evil against themselves and others. What shall we say of the changes and alterations in the rulings of the courts, which in one night changed and turned here and there, like the ebb and flow of the sea? For this indefatigable man wanted to judge himself, appropriating everything for himself out of ambition. Perhaps they will think that I blame too much for small crimes and reduce large ones with small ones. However, everyone will agree that such deeds are not worthy of the Elysian fields and not of the glory that Radomantus has there, and which people of the same brotherhood and rank honor Julian. One thing I am surprised at in Julian: he insistently invited many of his peers and acquaintances, especially from the Asian schools, to his place, as if intending to do wondrous deeds, and inspired them with hopes, recalling his promises. When they appeared, it turned out that this was only a cunning trick and a deception of the eyes. He led some with this, others with that. He even invited some of them to the table in a friendly way; instead of any other bait, he called his comrades, gave them a cup, joked with them, but let them go with nothing; so that they did not know whom to blame more, whether he was guilty of deceit, or themselves of credulity.

But who does not know that many of the villagers who came to him publicly for what is usually asked of kings, he beat with his fists and trampled under foot in front of everyone, and treated them so cruelly that they rejoiced if they were not subjected to something most grievous? In what part of the Word should we mention the blowing and blowing that this wondrous man, in mockery of our rites, made for the old women to show off, lighting a fire on the altar? How good it was to see the king of Rome with disfigured cheeks, arousing great laughter not only among strangers, but also among those whom he thought to please by it! Surely he had not heard that his goddess, Athena, had cursed the pipes when, looking into the water instead of a mirror, she saw that the pipe had disfigured her face.

There were two reasons for this journey: one of the most plausible was to survey Greece and its schools; the other, the most remote and not known to many, is to consult with the priests there; for impiety had not yet manifest impudence. And then I guessed this man quite well, although I am not one of those who are skilled in such a business. I was made a soothsayer by the inconstancy of his temper and immoderate enthusiasm; unless the best diviner is the one who knows how to guess well. To me, they did not bode well: the neck was unsteady, the shoulders were moving and straightening, the eyes were running, insolent and fierce, the legs were not standing firm, but bent, the nose expressing impudence and contempt, the features of the face were ridiculous and also expressing laughter loud and immoderate, the inclination and throwing back of the head without any reason, the speech was slow and interrupted, the questions were confused and incoherent, the answers were no better, mixed with one another, unfirm, not subject to rules.

But why describe it in detail? As I had seen him before, as I had known him in his deeds. If some of those who were with me then had been here and heard my words, they would have no difficulty in witnessing it. For at the same time that I saw it, I said to them: "What evil does the Roman Empire foster!" and having prophesied, I wished to be a false soothsayer. For it would be better for me to be a false prophet than to experience so many evils in the universe, and to be born to such a monster as has never been seen before; although they tell of many floods, of many fires, eruptions and sinkholes of the earth, of inhuman people, of monstrous and complex beasts, produced by nature in an unusual manner. And therefore he had an end worthy of his madness. Only here God did not show His usual long-suffering, because His love for mankind would have been disastrous for many. In virtuous people it would produce despondency, and in sinners it would produce arrogance and the thought that no one watches over our deeds, there is no control or retribution, but everything moves and is governed by chance, a thought that shows a cunning mind, very pernicious about the most important subjects!

This is what we proclaim, the Galileans, contemptible people, worshippers of the Crucified, disciples of fishermen and, as we say, of the ignorant; we who sit and sing psalms together with the old women; we, who are exhausted by long fasts and half-dead, watch in vain and talk idly during the all-night vigils, and yet we depose you. Where is the one who weighed the tribute? (Isaiah 33:18). I borrow this song of victory from one of our unwise ones, as it seems to you. Where are the sacrifices, ceremonies, and sacraments? Where are the slaughters, open and secret? Where is the art of divination by dissected entrails? Where are the miracles of foresight and the signs of ventriloquists? Where is the glorious Babylon, about which so much talk has been made, and the whole universe, which you dreamed of conquering for yourself, shedding a little impure blood? Where are the Persians and Medes, whom he counted in his hands? Where are the gods who are accompanied by you, who guide and accompany you, your protectors, your companions? Where are the prophecies and threats against Christians, or the complete destruction of us and our name at a certain time? Everything disappeared, deceived, dissipated; all the grandiose praises of the wicked turned out to be a dream.

"See, O Lord," he says, "how this foreigner blasphemes Thee, the God of Israel; Thou hast seen, O Lord, that thou mayest not be silent (Psalm 34:22)." And the king's prayer did not remain in vain, for he who rebelled against God knew in practice his folly and departed without fulfilling his threats: suddenly struck by some invisible force, he lost the greater part of his army and was driven away by unpleasant news, which put an end to the siege and his hopes beyond hope. This was done by Hezekiah, surrounded by a large army, king of the great Jerusalem, who, perhaps, would have repulsed the hostile hordes by himself. And we, for whom there remained only one weapon, one wall, one defense, the hope of God (for we were utterly deprived of all human help from every quarter), from whom else could we expect to hear our prayers and repel threats, if not from God, who with an oath rejected the arrogance of Jacob? Oh, what incredible stories! What audacious hopes! We were promised sacrifices to the demons; we, the great inheritance of God, the holy people, the royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), were destined as a reward for the fulfillment of one hope, for the victory in one battle. Such is the gift from you to Christians, because you have been saved by them to the common harm! Thus hast thou repaid the Lord thy God! Hitherto God had still restrained and postponed His wrath for us, had not yet kindled all His zeal, but had only lifted His hand high against the wicked, and though He had drawn and prepared the bow, yet He had held it by force, and waited for all the wickedness of Julian to come out, like some malignant and festering abscess; for such is the law of God's judgment: either to save by repentance, or to punish justly. And then, with difficulty enduring the present and lamenting the future (because the very goodness of God to His own, hidden from us, was intolerable to us), we lifted up our voice to God; now calling upon Him as the Lord, now imploring Him as a good Father, now as if complaining and entering into judgment with Him, which is characteristic of people who lament, they cried out: "Why, O God, hast Thou rejected us forever, Thy wrath has been kindled against the sheep of Thy pasture? Remember Thy assembly, which Thou hast acquired of old (Psalm 73:1.2), which Thou hast acquired through the sufferings of Thy Only-begotten Word, which Thou hast vouchsafed Thy great covenant, which Thou hast drawn to heaven by a new mystery and by the pledge of the Spirit, move Thy feet to the ruins of the ages! Thou didst endure, and the enemy destroyed all things in the sanctuary, and rejoiced at Thy feast (Psalm 73:3). We invoked the sword and the plagues of Egypt, we asked God to judge our strife; they begged at last to rise up against the wicked, saying: "How long shall the wicked, O Lord, as long as the wicked shall triumph" (Ps. 93.1.5)? How long shall Thy people be trampled underfoot, and Thy inheritance oppressed? We repeated these and similar lamentable words: "He has made us a reproach and a reproach to our neighbors, a proverb to the town, a reproach to all men (Ps. 79.7; 43:14,15). We remembered the vineyard that was brought from Egypt — from the darkness of godlessness, grew into the beauty and greatness of the Faith, and then lost its fence — God's providence that watches over us, became open to all passers-by, to evil rulers, and was devastated by this wild boar, this evil man, who had appropriated evil to himself, filled with the mire of evil.

Thus I pondered and cried out to God before. What do I change in the sounds of the song now? I already mourn the destruction of the wicked; I become philanthropic to the haters, and I say this: "How accidentally they came to ruin, disappeared, perished from horrors (Ps. 72:19), like dust swept up by a whirlwind, like fluff blown by the wind, like the morning dew, like the whistle of an arrow shot, like a thunderclap, like a swift lightning?" For punishment often serves for the good of those who are punished. But what if they remain of the same opinion, still hold on to idols, and are not chaste by calamity, which admonishes even the foolish? Jeremiah weeps for Jerusalem so much that soulless things are called to weeping, and demands tears at the walls (Pl. Jer. 2. 18); What kind of lamentation is there to be found worthy of these people so stubborn? Who will mourn the present alone, without shedding tears for the future punishment for having been mad, having departed from God, and serving the creature together with the Creator (Romans 1:2:5), and not only serving, but rising up against the servants of God and lifting up against them an impious hand worthy of such evils? But as God wills, so be it! Who knows that God, who looses prisoners (Ps. 145:7), raises up from the gates of death the heavy laden and the prostrate to the valley, does not want the death of the sinner, but awaits his conversion, — Who also enlightened and made us wise who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death — this God will receive them one day, and, laying down the heavy and iron rod, will shepherd them with the pastor's staff?

But I return my word again to the same song of victory: Bel is fallen, Dagon is cast down (Isaiah 46:1), Sharon is like the wilderness, Lebanon is put to shame (Isaiah 33:9); Now they will no longer say to the stupid, motionless and insensitive crowd of idols: rule! — they will not look for a fly, the god of Akron, or anything even more ridiculous; they will not think of groves and high places, and of every wooded and shady mountain, they will not offer their sons and daughters as sacrifices to demons (Psalm 105:37), for which Israel was reproached by the prophets from ancient times. But what do I care about that? I will turn to the present, to what actually concerns us. They will no longer look deceitfully at our sacred temples, defile with impure blood the altars, which received their name from the most pure and bloodless Sacrifice; they will not dishonor sacred places with godless altars, plunder and defile offerings, adding covetousness to impiety; they will not offend the gray hair of priests, the honesty of deacons, the chastity of virgins; they will no longer let unclean pigs into the dissected wombs of the Saints, so that they may devour these wombs along with their food; they will not destroy with fire and scatter to the wind the remains of the Saints, giving them over to dishonor with the most dishonorable bones, in order to deprive them of their due honor; they will no longer set up the seats of the destroyers, nor will they be amused by the blasphemy of bishops and elders, and also of prophets and apostles, and even of Christ himself; they will no longer triumph over us, forbidding us by law to form false names, so that at the same time they close our mouths. Submit here your royal and sophistic speeches, your irresistible syllogisms and enthymemes; Let's see what unlearned fishermen say in our country. Remove the noise of thy songs, and the sound of thy harp, my prophet commandeth thee (Amos 5:2, 3). May David sing again with boldness, who with mysterious stones overthrew the haughty Goliath, conquered many with meekness and spiritual sweetness healed Saul, tormented by an evil spirit. Let thy candle-bearer quench the fire; and the wise and sacred divas will light their lamps for the Bridegroom. Let your hierophant lay off the garment of a harlot; but the priests will be clothed with righteousness (Psalm 131:9) and with the adornment of glory instead of the spirit of despondency (Psalm 61:4), they will put on a great and undefiled tunic, Christ is our adornment. Let your preacher be silent, and speak not of inglorious things; let my preacher speak that which is divinely inspired. Leave your magical and magical books, and let only the prophetic and apostolic books be re-read. Cease thy abominable and dark-filled nocturnal gatherings; and I will restore the holy and radiant all-night vigils. Block your hiding places and paths that lead down to hell; I will show you the open paths that lead to heaven. What stockpiles of weapons, what inventions of shells, what darkness and hordes of men would produce what our prayers and God's will would do? God with a word dispelled darkness, with a word produced light, founded the earth, rounded the heavens, distributed the stars, poured out the air, set boundaries for the sea, stretched out rivers, animated animals, created man in His image, gave beauty to everything. In a word, even now He has dispelled the darkness of the night and brought everything into light, order, and its former order. Now the greedy and deceitful demons no longer rule; the creature is not offended by the worship given to it instead of God. Cast off your Triptolems, and the Celei, and the mysterious dragons; be ashamed, finally, of the books of your theologian, Orpheus; Take advantage of the gift of time that covers your shamelessness. If these are only fables and fictions, then I will discover your nocturnal mysteries. Now the oak no longer speaks, the tripod does not prophesy, and the Pythia is not filled, I do not know what, but no more than fables and delirium. The Castalian spring is silent and silent again, its water arousing not the gift of prophecy, but laughter. Apollo again became a voiceless idol, Daphne a tree mourned in a fable! Dionysus is androgynous again and leads a crowd of drunks with him; your great mystery, the god Phallus, suffers with love for the beautiful Prosimnus. Semele is struck by lightning again. Again limping on both legs, but agile in finding adulterers is Hephaestus, this god stained with soot, although he is a glorious artist and the Olympian Phersite. Ares is again chained for fornication along with Fear, Horror and Confusion, and wounded for his insolence. Aphrodite is again an adulteress, shamefully born, the servant of shameful marriages. Athena is a virgin again and gives birth to a dragon. Hercules is mad again, or, better said, stops being possessed.

Again, from lustfulness and voluptuousness, Zeus, the adviser and ruler of the gods, who alone raises them all with all that exists, and who himself cannot be moved from their place by everyone, is transformed into all forms. The coffin of the Dia is again shown in Crete. As soon as I see your Cerdoius, Logia and Epagonia, I close my eyes and run away from your god, because I am ashamed to look. I do not prevent you from worshipping the power of eloquence and wisdom. One thing is worthy of your respect: the homage paid by the androgynes of the Egyptians to the Nile, Isis, the Mendesian gods, the Apis, and all the other monstrous and many-made beasts which you paint or sculpt. I laugh at your Pan, Priapus, Hermaphroditus, and the rest of the gods, who in a frenzy are either mutilated or torn to pieces. I leave all this to the spectacle and the poets who adorn your gods; but I will conclude the word with an exhortation.

Men and women, young men and elders, all who serve in this sanctuary and occupy the lower degrees, all whom the Lord once delivered from error and godlessness, and now from the rebellion of the pagans and from present and expected calamities! Listen to the word of a husband who has learned this not lightly, but from daily events, from ancient stories, books, and deeds! It is a great thing not to experience any sorrow; or perhaps not great, if the word is true, that the Lord loves him, chastens him, and smites every son whom he receives. 12:6) and for whom he is especially concerned. On the contrary, it is a great thing not to sin at all, or at least not to sin grievously; because God has placed to be completely sinless above human nature. And the second thing after this I believe is that those who have fallen and been punished, and then those who have been forgiven, should always feel punishment and avoid a new punishment for a new crime. Therefore, we also feel God's punishment by our own deeds. Let us show ourselves worthy not of what we have suffered before, but of what we have received in the end. Let us justify ourselves in the calamity that has befallen us by the fact that we, not as evildoers, were given over to the pagans, but were admonished like children. Let us not forget the storm in the time of silence, the sickness in the time of health, the captivity after the safe return to Jerusalem, and Egypt after Egypt. Let not the time of suffering be the best time of rest for us; but it will be so, if it turns out that we were then humble and moderate, and in all our hopes we stretched out to heaven, and now we are exalted, arrogant, and have again turned to the same sins by which we were brought to the calamities that befell us. No, my children (1 Samuel 2:24), says the priest Eli, exhorting his children who have sinned against God. On the contrary, knowing that it is easier to restore lost prosperity than to preserve what has been given by God (for what is lost is restored by chastity, and what is given is lost by carelessness), knowing that a sick body is restored by medicine and abstinence, and that restored body, with a little negligence and satiety, again comes to weakness and falls into former infirmities, knowing all this and suggesting to each other, let us come into ourselves and chastely dispose of our time. And first, brethren, let us celebrate not with carnal rejoicing, not with feasting, not with drunkenness; You know their fruit, unclean lies and debauchery. Let us not cover the streets with flowers, anoint our meals with the shame of incense, decorate the vestibules; let them not be illuminated by sensual light, let them not turn into houses of disorder by the sound of pipes and applause! Thus it was established by the pagans to celebrate the new moons. And we will not honor God with this, not with the present time, which is unworthy of us, but with the purity of the soul, the brightness of the mind, the lamps that illumine the entire body of the Church, that is, the divine contemplations and meditations lifted up on the sacred candlestick and illuminating the entire universe. In comparison with this light, in my opinion, all the fires kindled in people at private or public celebrations are insignificant. I also have myrrh, but such as is anointed only by priests and kings, as multi-component and of great value, and exhausted for us, — the myrrh composed by the art of the great Myrrh-Bearer. Oh, that I too would be vouchsafed to bring the fragrance of this world! I have both a spiritual and a divine meal, which I have prepared in the sight of my enemies (Ps. 22. 5); after it I calm down and rejoice, and when I am satisfied, I do not give myself over to shameful thoughts, but lull in myself every rebellion of the passions. I also have flowers that are more beautiful and lasting than any spring flower, the flowers of the field that the Lord has blessed (Gen. 27:27), that is, priests, fragrant pastors and teachers, and of the people all that is pure and chosen. It is with them that I wish to be crowned and adorned, when, following the example of the holy Apostle, having fought the good fight, I have completed the course, I have kept the faith (2 Tim. 4:7). Let us replace tympanums with spiritual songs, disorderly shouts and songs with psalmody, spectacular applause with applause with a thankful and harmonious movement of the hands, laughter with meditation, drunkenness with wise conversation, jocularity with sedateness. If, however, you, as a lover of solemn assemblies and festivals, need to dance, jump, not with the dance of shameless Herodias, whose work was the death of the Baptist, but with the galloping of David, at the establishment of Kiot in its place, which, as I think, was a mysterious sign of a swift and free procession before God.

This is the first and most important part of my exhortation! The second part, as far as I know, will be difficult and unpleasant for many. For a man who has been given the opportunity to repay evil for evil, especially if what he has suffered gives a just cause for anger, does not like to obey a word that curbs his irritability. Yet my word is worthy of being heard and accepted. Let us not immoderately take advantage of the circumstances of the time, let us not allow excesses in the use of our power, let us not be hard-hearted towards those who have offended us, let us not do what we ourselves have condemned. From the present change, taking advantage of the fact that we avoid evil, let us hate all vengeance. Moderate people consider their offenders to be a sufficient punishment for their fear, the expectation of what they deserve, and the torment of their own conscience. For he who fears the punishment to come is already suffering, although he does not yet suffer punishment; he punishes himself, perhaps more than the executioners would punish him. Therefore, let us not wish to moderate (God's) wrath, lest we appear to punish weaker than is proper, but since we cannot punish for everything, let us forgive in everything, and through this we will become better than our offenders and become higher than them. Let us show what the demons teach them, and what Christ teaches us, Who gained glory through suffering, and triumphed no less by not doing what He could have done. Let us give God only thanksgiving, let us extend the sacrament with goodness, and let us take advantage of the circumstances only in this case. Let us conquer the tormentors with love of truth. Especially in forgiveness, let us show love for humanity and the power of the commandment, which repays us with equal love for mankind, as soon as we have need of it; for we know that with what measure we measure, it will be measured to us (Mk. 4. 24). And if anyone is very grieved, let us leave those who have grieved us to God and to the judgment to come. Let us not lessen future wrath by laying our own hand on them. Let us not think of taking away their property, let us not drag them to trial, let us not expel them from their fatherland, let us not punish them with whips; I will say briefly: we will not do them anything that we ourselves have suffered. And if possible, let us make them meek by our own example. Whether a son or a father, or a wife, a relative, a friend, or any other person who is dear to him, has suffered, let us reward each one for his suffering, persuading him to endure with firmness all that he has suffered. Higher than this gift, what else can we give them? Shall we also speak of the greatest blessing that we have received? Our persecutors are persecuted by the reproaches of peoples and cities at spectacles, in marketplaces, and at meetings. Everywhere the old is appeased, the new is exposed to shame, and to great surprise, even the accomplices of our persecutors are reproachfully overthrown by the gods themselves, as having deceived them for a long time, and only later were convicted of deception. Whoever was an admirer yesterday has now become a scolder. What more can be demanded?

This is now being recompensed to the unfortunate, and perhaps it is still a small part of the recompense. The time will come when I will see my offenders and their great leader weeping over their wickedness, when all iniquity will be judged and tortured. I am silent about our Divine utterances and about the executions that, according to our teaching, are prepared for the future. Turn to your doctrine and to the horrors of which not only poets, but also philosophers like to discuss; turn to your Pyriphlegethonts, Cocytus, and Acherontes, in whom Tantalus, Titius, and Ixion are tormented for unrighteousness. Julian, the king of this brotherhood, will be numbered among them, and will even precede them, according to our word and definition. He will not languish with thirst, standing up to his neck in the lake; he will not be terrified by the stone, according to the image of the tragedian, hanging over his head and constantly rising and falling; it will not be turned on a rapidly spinning wheel; and the birds will not tear at his liver, which is never exhausted, but always replenished, let it all be the truth, or one fable that hides the truth in fiction. But then we will see how and with what he will be punished, we will see that his torment will be heavier than those described, because punishments and retributions are always proportionate to the crimes.

Such is our gift to you, excellent and wise man (I will say in your own words), for a kick! This we repay you, who were forbidden by your great and wonderful code to learn eloquence. You see that we should not have been silent to the end, that your statutes could not condemn us to eternal silence; but that we also have been given freedom to raise our voices and ease your foolishness. Just as it is impossible by any art to restrain the Nile waterfalls that fall from Ethiopia to Egypt, or to stop the sun's ray, although for a short time it is eclipsed by a cloud; so it is impossible to bind the language of Christians, which denounces your deeds. This is brought to you by Basil and Gregory, opponents and opponents of your plan, as you yourself thought, assuring others, glorifying and encouraging us to greater piety by their threats.