Lessons from Julian the apostate and his attempt to rebuild the Temple.
- Roland Flores
- Mar 23
- 9 min read
Lessons from Julian the apostate and his attempt to build the third Temple.
Ave María! May Our Immaculate Lady, the Mother of God, together with St. Joseph and All saints, pray for us. As most of you know by now a certain war, some say a military operation, has come to fruition.I do not wish to speak of the politics behind this conflict but two major theological errors beings proposed as good things in the midst of this conflict. The first is the Zionism and the rebuilding of the Third Temple. The second is our current political system and coat of ethics as being morally superior to all others. To begin this discussion I wish to study the life and decisions of Julian the apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome.
Julian the apostate, the proto-Freemason.
Flavius Claudius Julianus or Julian, was born in Constantinople in 331 AD. His father was Julius Constantius, St. Constantine's younger half-brother. Julian’s mother, Basilina, died shortly after his birth. Julian was raised in heresy by Eusebius, the Arian Bishop of Nicomedia. Another influencial person in Julian’s life was Mardonius, a pagan philosopher. When conflict arose between the two, Julian chose the pagan Mardonius and told Eusebius: "farewell, and devote yourself to your books. You have shown me the man I was in search of." Julian only spent the first 20 years of his life as an Arian before secretly embracing paganism. In 355 AD, Julian was made Caesar of the West by the emperor and later married his sister, Helena. This was of course a political move, so the emperor would have a permanent representative in Gaul. During his rule in Gaul, Julian led serval military campaigns against the franks and other Germanic tribes. His rule ended in 361 AD, when the emperor died and named Julian as his rightful successor. Despite his personal rejection of Christianity, his first political act was to preside over the Emperor’s burial in the Church of the Apostles. Soon after this, Julian as the Emperor, publicly rejected Christianity but made no immediate move directly against the Church. Julian rejected the administration of his Christian predecessors but also made no attempt to restore the outwardly anti-Christian regime under Diocletian. His own ideals led him to the reigns of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.
Julian described the ideal ruler as being essentially primus inter pares or "first among equals.” While in Constantinople, it was not strange to see Julian frequently active in the Senate, participating in debates and making speeches, placing himself at the level of Senators. Another effect of Julian's political philosophy was that the authority of the cities was expanded at the expense of the imperial bureaucracy as Julian sought to reduce direct imperial involvement in urban affairs. Despite not outwardly attacking the Church,
Julian did restore paganism as the state religion of Rome, undoing the Christianization that occurred just two generations before him. His aim, Atleast as he publicly stated, was not to destroy Christianity but to drive the faith out of the governing classes of the empire. Julian restored pagan temples, which had been confiscated or simply appropriated by wealthy citizens. He also repealed the stipends that Constantine had awarded to bishops, and removed other clerical privileges, including a right to be consulted on appointments and to act as private courts. In 362, Julian promulgated an edict to guarantee freedom of religion. This edict proclaimed that all the religions were equal before the law but certified that the state religion of the Roman Empire had returned to its cult of idols. The law also stated that the Roman state did not impose any religion on its provinces. The edict was seen as an act of favor toward the Jews, even by his own supporters. Julian also attempted to control the eduction, In his School Edict he required that all public teachers be approved by him; and that the state paid their salaries. This of course was intended to prevent Christian teachers. “If they want to learn literature, they have Luke and Mark: Let them go back to their churches and expound on them.” In his Tolerance Edict of 362, Julian decreed the reopening of pagan temples, the restitution of confiscated temple properties, and the return from exile of "heretical" Christian bishops who had been censured or excommunicated by the Church. This also included catholic clergy that had been exiled by Arians. While it might seem like a noble thing to restore catholic bishops and priests, it was truly done to pin Catholics against heretics. Julian hoped Christianity would destroy itself. This resulted in riots and violence. An Example of this violence was the attack of Catholic Church In mauritania Africa by bands of vengeful Donatists, who killed several Catholics. As part of the this same edict of tolerance, Julian supported not only the return of Jews to Palestine but also the rebuilding of the Temple. Julian also hoped the temple would help disprove Christ. Instead, a seemingly miraculous fire stopped the rebuilding. St. Gregory Nazianzen writes of the event: "being driven against one another, as though by a furious blast of wind, and sudden heaving of the earth… a flame issued forth... and stopped them." Most importantly for Julian’s edicts however was the fact that Rome was still a predominantly pagan empire that had not wholly accepted Christianity. Despite his love of “religious liberty” Julian eventually did outlaw the Christian liturgy and demand the suppression of the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments). Many Christians were martyred under Julian’s administration, including a convent in Syria, where consecrated virgins were fed to beasts. In 363 AD Julian moved to Antioch as he staged a military campaign to definitively secure Rome’s eastern border. While there, Julian tried to resurrect an ancient pagan custom of spring the temple of Apollo at Delphi.
However during the rituals, the devils informed Julian that the bones of St. Babylas, bishop and martyr, were suppressing them. Julian made the mistake of ordering the removal of the bones from the vicinity of the temple. The result was a massive Christian procession that only served to fuel Christian sentiments. The procession chanted Psalm 96: “A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about. His lightnings have shone forth to the world: the earth saw and trembled. The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of all the earth. The heavens declared his justice: and all people saw his glory. Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that glory in their idols. Adore him, all you his angels.” Julian became enraged by this and ordered his men to seize the most zealous men among the Christians. One of these was a man named Theodorus, who was tortured on a rack but only chanted more zealously.
Julian finally ordered no more torture and released all the Christians, understanding it would only make the Christians more zealous. Shortly after that, the temple of Apollo was destroyed by a mysterious fire, causing the roof to collapse and crush the idols inside. Julian suspected the Christians and ordered a strict investigations and shut up the cathedral of Antioch in retaliation. However, when the investigations proved that the fire was the result of an accident Julian was forced to reopen the cathedral. News of the fires origin spread and effectively ended Julian’s attempt to reinstate idols in Antioch. In March 363, Julian departed from Antioch with an army of 95,000 men, 1000 supply ships and of 50 pontoon boats to facilitate river crossings.
According to several historians, St. Basil the Great prayed for the protection of the church and saw a vision during an ecstasy. He saw Christ ordering St. Mercurius: ‘Go to strike the enemy of those who believe in Me!’ The holy Martyr left immediately. By May, the Roman army had sacked Bagdad and reached the heavily fortified Persian capital, Ctesiphon. However, Julian failed to capture the coty and was forced to retreat. During the withdrawal, Julian's forces suffered several attacks from Persian forces. In one such engagement on 26 June 363, at the indecisive Battle of Samarra in Mesopotamia, Julian was wounded.
He received a wound from a spear that reportedly pierced the lower lobe of his liver and intestines. The wound was not immediately deadly. Julian was treated by his personal physician, who seems to have made every attempt to treat the wound. Despite these efforts, on the third day a major hemorrhage occurred and the emperor died. Some writers reported that his final words were "Thou hast conquered, Galilean.”
The Church on the various errors of Julian the apostate.
In our modern time, we often fall into the trap of thinking with an evolutionary mindset. Man us constantly progressing, says Darwinistic thinkers but the truth is far from this. “Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us” (Ecclesiastes 1:10). We tend to think that the period known as the enlightenment brought new ideas when in reality, it merely vomited up old condemned notions. This is of course an over simplified explanation. Studying Julian’s life, we see that many of the liberal ideals of Julian are chiefly among the notions of the age of revolutions 1770-1850. As we know these revolutions would succeed in overthrowing Christian order and establishing the modern governments that we live in. Enshrined as divine within these republics are many of the errors of Julian. The easiest to condemn of course is the motion of “religious liberty” or freedom of conscience. “20. Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood. It is certain that that concord which always was favorable and beneficial for the sacred and the civil order is feared by the shameless lovers of liberty.”
This notion was condemned by Pope Pius IX in Quanta Cura 1864 and his Syllabus of Errors. Then agains by Pope Leo XIII in Libertas 1888 and finally by Pope Pius XI in Quas Primas 1925. And secondly the error of Julian’s false Equality was condemned by Pius VI in Divinae Sapientiae 1775. Interestingly, there are a lot of similarities between this rise of modern republics, the secret societies behind them, and Julian’s life. To begin with, Julian was raised in heresy. Cardinal John Henry Newman writes if Julian: “he was nurtured by heresy.” Siamirly many of these foundational revolutionary societies had been whitewashed of the faith by Protestants. Such is the case of England with the Anglicans and puritans, then France with the Huguenots. St. Bail the Great, who was a literal classmate of Julian, writes regarding the atmosphere of the times: “The doctrines of True Religion are overturned. There's complete immunity in sining. Everyone walks according to his heart's desire. Vice knows no bounds. The people know no restraint. Men in Authority are afraid to speak, all the while unbelievers laugh at what they see. Men of weak Faith are shaken. Faith is uncertain. Souls are drenched in ignorance. While every Blasphemous tongue Wags free, the holy things are trotten under foot. St. Jerome confirms at the time of Julian, over one third of all bishops held the Arian heresy. Just as the foundational decades before the revolutions, heresy and immortality were everywhere in the 17th century Europe.
Julian, over Corliss, practiced his paganism in secret until he was able to become emperor, perhaps the satanic secret societies mimic this approach. There is much more we could discuss and I encourage every reader to find even more parallels between Julian and the republics of our modern day. Ultimately, Julian would be labeled as a proto-antiChrist by the fathers of the church. Lastly, what really cannot be ignored was Juliana’s attempt to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and his overt desire to use Zionism to undermine Christ. This sentence could be used not only to speak of Julian but several politicians who are suppose to represent the Conservative Party. Julian was fail in destroying Christianity, only fueling devotion and growth for the church. This too seems to mirror the modern woke agenda, that is seemingly doing the same thing pushing people into faith. Finally and Perhaps prophetically, Julian would fail and die attempting to conquering the fortified capital of the Persians, who were not Christian. Whether this defeat is prophetic, only time will tell. Ultimately Julian serves as a wonderful example of an anti-Christ and a tremendously accurate example of a proto-mason.
References.
Julian the apostate:
Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate and His Plan to Rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.
Julian the Apostate and His Plan to Rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, Jeffrey Brodd, BR 11:05, Oct 1995.
Emperor Julian Killed by St. Mercurius
Hugh O'Reilly
Against the Galileans: Cyril of Alexandria and the Revival of Paganism in the Fourth Century
https://www.pappaspatristicinstitute.com/post/against-the-galileans#:~:text=This%20polemical%20work%2C%20like%20Julian's,three)%20books%20Against%20the%20Galileans.
How Julian Became Known as Apostate -
Roman History DOCUMENTARY.
32-Julian, the Apostate Who Aped the Church | Way of the Fathers with Mike Aquilina
Prefiguring the End Times: the Era of Julian the Apostate Part 1): A Warning for Our Times
Julian the Apostate, the Rebuilt Temple & the Great Apostasy: A Catholic Prophetic Warning Part 2)
The pagan Emperor Julian (the apostate) criticizes Alexandrian Christians for abandoning Paganism
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Mirari Vos or On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism by Pope Gregory XVI - 1832.
Quanta Cura Condemning Current Errors Pope BI. Pius IX - 1864
Charitas In the Civil Oath in FrancePope Pius VI - 1791
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