Month: December 2013

The story continues.

But let no-one think that this story is irrelevant to our subject.  Our intention is to show that the accusation made against the great Severus is entirely unfounded.  Far from ever deserving the accusation and reproach of idolatry, he was constantly with those who gave proof of their zeal against the pagans, and he praised their conduct.   He was a Christian by faith, but he was still only a catechumen at this time.  As he was then applying himself to the study of secular knowledge, he could not show himself so that everyone [thinks] he lived in Phoenicia.  However the following fact proves that at Alexandria he was well above any pagan ideas.  Sometime after the destruction of the idols, the pious Menas, who had prophesied for Severus the dignity of a bishop, left the human life.  He immediately made his way to the one whom he loved, adorned with numerous virtues: virginity of body and soul, love of neighbour, humility, perfect charity and great sweetness.

At that time I was afflicted by a physical illness, and the pagans thought that we were receiving chastisement for what we had done to their gods, in our zeal for religion, and for the idols which we had burned.  They spread a rumour that I too was certainly going to die at this time.  When it turned out that, by a miracle due to the kindness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I was delivered from sickness, I pronounced the eulogy of the illustrious Menas in a funeral discourse.  I made mention of the destruction of the pagan idols, I recalled their annihilation by fire, before all the people of the town; then, finally, I recalled all that had happened, as was right, on the tomb of he who, through his great amiability and love of his neighbour, was even the admiration of the pagans, before the zeal which was showed against them.  The great Severus rejoiced so much and felt such lively joy on hearing this oration, and boasted of the words uttered by myself against the pagans, as if they were his own, that he applauded me more than everyone.  Meanwhile the pagans, whom we had invited to come and hear, and who had come without knowing what was to be said, wept to some degree over their misfortunates and one of them shouted angrily, “If you had the intention of speaking against the gods, why did you bring us to the tomb of your friend?”

I have been obliged to speak of these things because of the slanderer in question.  Because I have never sought to talk about my own affairs, which are those of a man immersed in sin and unworthy to write the story, not only of the great Stephen, of Athanasius and Paralios, but also of Menas, as well as their friends who competed in zeal with them, and principally of Severus, who is the reason for this work, and whose stay in Phoenicia we will likewise tell.

Severus has yet to put in an appearance, as Zacharias Rhetor is busy telling us all about his own student experiences in Alexandria ca. 500 AD.

Paralios, having offered God an exploit of this nature, received the baptism of the Redeemer when the Easter festival arrived, along with many pagans who had been zealous for idolatry until their old age, and had long served the wicked demons.  Also baptised with him was the admirable Urbanus, who today is professor of Latin grammar in the imperial city, and Isidore of Lesbos, brother of the Zenodotus whom I mentioned earlier, as well as many others.  After burning all the formulae of invocation of the gods of the pagans, i.e. the demons, that he possessed, he [Paralios] received baptism.  In fact these were tormenting him before the divine baptism, and filling him with terror after the idols had been burned, and he came to my house to ask me what he should do.  I went back with him, having with me a Christian book, and thinking to read to him the homily of exhortation of Gregory the Theologian, relating to the redemptive baptism.  I found him, following a struggle with the demons, very burdened and very depressed.  He could hardly breathe, he said, under the influence of the Christian words.  I asked him whether by chance he had with him the formulae to invoke the gods of the pagans.  He admitted that he had, when his memory was appealed to, that he possessed papers (χάρτης) of this sort.  I said to him, “If you want to be delivered from this obsession with demons, deliver these papers into the flames.”  This he did in front of me, and, from that moment, he was delivered from his obsession with demons.  After that I read to him the homily of exhortation of the divine Gregory.  Then he heard these words, “But do you like in the world, and are you soiled with public business, and would it be hard for you to lose the divine mercy?  The remedy is simple: if it is possible, flee from the forum and society, attach to yourself the wings of the eagle, or rather of the dove, to speak more appropriately.  (What is there, indeed, in common between you and Caesar, or the affairs of Caesar?)  Tarry where there is neither sin or darkness, where there is no snake who bites along the road, and prevents you from walking in the way of God.  Free your soul from the world, flee Sodom, flee the fire, take the road without turning back, for fear that you may be turned into a pillar of salt, save yourself on the mountain of faith so that you do not perish.”  After, as I was saying, Paralios had heard the reading of this passage, he shouted, “Let us take wings and fly to the divine philosophy, with the redemptive baptism.”  It was with this thought that he approached the divine baptism, and that he was initiated into the divine mysteries.  On the eighth day after baptism, when he had to take off the clothing of the newly baptised, he went along with my brother Stephen, who was studying literature and learning medicine, to the joy of the monastic life.  He stayed there during the night, unknown to me, because he had found me too weak, to tell the truth, ran with him to Enaton, and went to the convent of the great Salomon, near the illustrious Stephen.  After earnestly petitioning his brother Athanasius, he took the monastic habit (σχῆμα), and embraced the divine philosophy among them, at the same time as my brother.

The pagan Paralios has been flirting with Christianity, and talking with his Christian brother Athanasius and the latter’s friend Stephen, who are based at the monastery at Enaton.  He’s gone to the pagan oracle at Menouthis, demanding some answers, and has been snubbed.  So he got angry and went back to Alexandria.  There he started jeering at the pagan students in the school, and has been beaten up.  He has just fled for help to some Christian students, while shouting that he wants to become a Christian.  The pagans have told them not to interfere, this isn’t a pagan-Christian dispute, but a settling of scores with an enemy of theirs.  Now read on!

We had great difficulty, because of some trouble-makers, in pulling Paralios out of these murderous hands. We took him immediately to the monks at the place named Enaton. We showed them the bruises he had received for the Christian religion, informed them how much he had suffered unjustly because he had condemned the error of the pagans, and told them that he had offered to Christ, as a beautiful beginning, the sufferings that he had endured for him.  Immediately the great Salomon (the Superior of the illustrious Athanasius and Stephen) took the monks with him, went to Alexandria, and make known what had happened to Peter [Mongus], who at that time was the Patriarch of God.  Peter was a very capable man and of an ardent piety.  He stirred up against the pagans the majority of the important people of the town, among them the sophist Aphthonius, who was a Christian, and who had many pupils.  Aphthonius told the young men who were taking his course to go with us and help us.  We all decided to go together and denounce the murderous pagans to the bishop Peter.  He added [to our number] his archdeacon and protonotary, which is called in Latin the “primicerius”, and sent us to Entrichius, who at that time was prefect (ὕπαρχος) of Egypt.  Entrichius was a secret follower of the pagans, and the assessor, that he had as Symponos, openly indulged in the cult of the pagan demons.  The latter began to insult us, then he expelled the mass of young people and ordered that only a small number should set forth the matter.  After the pupils of Aphthonius left, there were five of us left: Paralios who, before baptism, had become a confessor; the illustrious Menas whom I mentioned earlier; Zenodotus of Mytilene, a town of Lesbos; Demetrius of Suulmone (?), all four most ardent champions of the faith of God.  Following them, I was there as the fifth.  When the prefect was advised of the gravity of the matter, he ordered that one of us, whichever wanted to do it, should draw up a formal indictment, as seemed good to him.  Paralios then wrote, and accused certain people of having offered pagan sacrifices, and having fallen upon him like brigands.

The prefect ordered the accused to appear before him.  When, from the members of the clergy and the laity, the Philoponoi learned of the affront given to those who had competed in their zeal for good, they learned of the sacrifices and the pagan practices that some had dared to carry out.  They suddenly rose up against the important people and attacked with violence the prefect’s assessor, shouting, “It’s wrong that someone who is a pagan should be a government assessor, and take part in the business of government, because the laws and edits of the autocratic emperors forbid it.”   The prefect had difficulty in rescuing his assessor when he tried.  Us he ordered to keep quiet.  Therefore the whole people rose up against the pagans.  Indeed those who were accused fled, starting with Horapollon, who was the reason why all the pagans were being persecuted.  The prefect, in his love for them, had not disturbed them.

It’s a melancholy, but clearly accurate and contemporary, depiction of intolerance and religious persecution and systematic discrimination.  The pagans are allowed to go on quietly, but are at the mercy of any scumbag who starts shouting and playing the “religion card” to get his own way in some dispute, and their lives and property are constantly at risk.  The patriarch quickly saw a way to exploit the situation to increase his own power and influence, and incited mob violence.

The next section of the Life of Severus of Antioch — who has hardly been mentioned so far! — deals with the vengeance of the mob and the sacking of the shrine of Isis at Menouthis.  This I translated earlier.

The pagan Asclepiodotus has passed off the illegitimate child of a priestess of Isis as the child of his sterile wife, claiming that Isis had cured her.  The student Paralios, vacillating between his pagan friends, and Stephen, the friend of his Christian brother Athanasius, has learned the story.

Paralios, believing that this story was true, made it known to his brother, and to those who were with him, as a remarkable thing.  He said that this demonstration from facts had greater force than any argument from logic, and he gloried in it as an obvious pagan miracle.  The divine Stephen, having heard the story of this nonsense, said to Paralios, “If a sterile woman, my friend, has given birth, she will also have milk, and the pagans must verify the matter, by the intermediary of an honourable lady of a family known at Alexandria.  She can see it and establish this prodigy and miracle, and so it will not seem that the daughter of an important official of Caria, and the wife of a philosopher, is insulted (?).”  This language seemed reasonable, and Paralios forwarded the proposal of the monks to the pagan philosophers.  But these, thinking that nobody could be allowed to impugn this fabulous story, said to Paralios, “How dare you demand the impossible!  Do you think to persuade people [the philosophers] who remain unshakeably attached to the truth, and who don’t waste time on things of this sort?”  But as it seemed ……………. sent …………….. so the outcome for Paralios was that he moved away from the teachings of the pagans.

He produced yet another fact, which is as follows.  While at Menouthis, Paralios saw Isis, i.e. the demon who this goddess represents, who said to him in a dream, “Beware of that one, he’s a magician.”  Now it happened that the man in question had also come to learn grammar, and studied with the (same) master and that the demon revealed to him (the same thing) about Paralios, when he went to Menouthis.  Each made his vision known to his friends at the school of Horapollon, and each learned what his fellow-pupil said about him, and each was persuaded that he was telling the truth and that his fellow-pupil was lying.

Also Paralios recalled the teaching of the great Stephen; he remembered that both Stephen and Athanasius had spoken long discourses with him on the evils of the malevolent demons, telling him that these were in the habit of stirring up men, one against another, because they enjoyed wars and fighting and were the enemies of peace.

However Paralios wanted to know the truth about these things.  Indeed he reflected on what was the custom of the demon, and about the error, and about what went on in these places.  Until then he believed that his companion was lying.  So he returned to Menouthis.  He offered the customary sacrifices to the demon and prayed that he would let him know by an oracle if it was himself who was a magician, or his enemy, and whether such an oracle had really been given to both of them.   The demon, not tolerating the idea that the oracles in question might be tainted by contradiction and wickedness, did not deign to reply.  Paralios then begged the demon for a number of days not to leave the question unanswered because, he said, he wouldn’t try to refuse him, or the other gods, his submission and honours if he received entire satisfaction on this subject.  The demon persevered in his silence, and didn’t even give him sight of the customary illusion of his epiphany.  After waiting for a long time and offering many sacrifices, Paralios grew angry, and had no more doubts about the wicked teaching of the demons.  He praised the great Stephen, who had really told him the truth, and he prayed, as the latter had told him to do, “Creator of all things (etc.)”, adding these words by the great Stephen, “Show me your truth and do not let me be seduced by this demon who loves fighting, who arms men against each other and who stirs up quarrels; nor by the other evil demons like him.”  In fact he had been advised to address a prayer to the creator of everything, because it was desired to get rid of, immediately, the invocation of the gods of the pagans and the demons, of Chronos, Zeus, Isis, and names of that sort, and to accustom him little by little to the truth of the teachings [of the gospel]; it was desired that he should recognise no other creator of everything than our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the Father made the world, the principalities, the powers, and the dominations, as it is written, “All things were made by him,” says the Theologian, “and nothing was made without him.”  After this prayer, Paralios returned to Alexandria.  He uttered many words against the gods of the pagans, saying with David, “All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord is the creator of the heavens.”

He mocked Horapollon, Heraiscus, Ammonius, and Isidore (who finished up being recognised as a manifest and troublesome magician) and the rest of the pagans, (jeering) at what went on at Menouthis, the impurities of all kinds and the lubricity of the priestess of Isis, affirming that she engaged in debauchery with anybody who wanted to, that she was no different to a prostitute who gives herself to the first man who comes along.

The pupils of Horapollon, who were attached to the follies of the pagans, could not bear the sarcasm and  reproaches of Paralios.  So they fell upon him in the very school where they were studying.  They waited for the moment when few Christians were present and when Horapollon had left.

It was the sixth day of the week, which is called Friday, during which all the other professors, so to speak, used to teach and expound at home.  Paralios was beaten up; his head was a mass of bruises and his whole body was covered with some kind of injury.  After succeeding, with difficulty, in getting a little away from them — he had a robust constitution — he sought refuge and assistance with the Christians, while a mob of pagans surrounded him and kicked him.  Now we were present at that moment, having a philosophy course.  The philosophers as well as Horapollon used to teach in the school on Friday as normal.  There were three of us; myself, Thomas the sophist, who loved Christ in all things (he is with me in Gaza), and Zenodotus of Lesbos.  As we were constantly in the churches with those who are called (at Alexandria) Philoponoi, and in other places are called “zealots”, and in still others “companions”, and as we appeared rather redoubtable (to the pagan pupils) to some degree, we approached the troublemakers, who were many, and told them that they were not doing well at all, in making someone suffer so who wanted to become a Christian.  It was, indeed, what Paralios was shouting.  The pagans wanted to deceive us and soothe us with their claims, saying, “We’ve no quarrel with you, but we will avenge ourselves on Paralios as an enemy.”

Since Christianity was the state religion, and paganism was illegal, there must have been a definite undercurrent here.  Ancient states were not policed, so a great deal could go on that was in theory illegal.  So it came down to pressure. Zacharias and his friends were implicitly saying, “You don’t want us to report you as pagans to the authorities here, do you?”  And the pagans were saying, “This isn’t a Christian-pagan thing; this guy has insulted us and is getting some payback.”

It’s notable that Zacharias does not disguise that Paralios had indeed provoked a riot, and was now playing “the religion card”.   This might have been unintelligible a century ago.  Sadly it is not so now.

We’re all familiar with how the “race card” can be played today by unscrupulous members of ethnic minorities.  Indeed I recall a Nigerian IT contractor in one job, who had consistently refused to do what he was told and kept interfering with an important computer system.  My boss of the time, a very diffident and somewhat leftist man, had no choice other than to sack him and have him escorted off site, or else be sacked himself.  The security staff arrived to march the Nigerian to the exit; whereupon the latter suddenly discovered that he was a victim of “racism”, and shouted this claim all the way to the gate.   It was a false claim, but one that gave him power.  Sadly for him his misconduct was inarguable.

Likewise anybody who has read the History of the Coptic Patriarchs of Alexandria will recognise how disputes between individuals often led to one side claiming to be Moslems in order to bring down the state on their foes.

It seems that, when equality before the law is lost, when the rulers of a state privilege some group on ideological grounds, non-members of that group will continually endure injustice on all sorts of occasions from the unscrupulous.  Clearly something similar prevailed in the 6th century in Alexandria.

Did Paralios really convert at Menouthis?  The story indicates that there was only his word for it.  I suspect that we may reasonably doubt it; and we may reasonably suppose that he merely claimed this later.   Probably he was still vacillating when he came back to Alexandria, but was very annoyed with the shrine at Menouthis and its supporters.  On this theory, once in a dispute with his fellow pagans that he was going to lose, the lure of the “Christian card” was too strong to resist.  It would take a man of more principle, than Paralios then was, not to use it while being beaten up!