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The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret (CCEL)
Chapter XXII. Of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, and what happened at the demolition of the idols in that city.
The illustrious Athanasius was succeeded by the admirable Petrus, Petrus by Timotheus, and Timotheus by Theophilus, a man of sound wisdom and of a lofty courage. 1 By him Alexandria was set free from the error of idolatry; for, not content with razing the idols’ temples to the ground, he exposed the tricks of the priests to the victims of their wiles. For they had constructed P. 148 statues of bronze and wood hollow within, and fastened the backs of them to the temple walls, leaving in these walls certain invisible openings. Then coming up from their secret chambers they got inside the statues, and through them gave any order they liked and the hearers, tricked and cheated, obeyed. 2 These tricks the wise Theophilus exposed to the people.
Moreover he went up into the temple of Serapis, which has been described by some as excelling in size and beauty all the temples in the world. 3 There he saw a huge image of which the bulk struck beholders with terror, increased by a lying report which got abroad that if any one approached it, there would be a great earthquake, and that all the people would be destroyed. The bishop looked on all these tales as the mere drivelling of tipsy old women, and in utter derision of the lifeless monster’s enormous size, he told a man who had an axe to give Serapis a good blow with it. 4 No sooner had the man struck, than all the folk cried out, for they were afraid of the threatened catastrophe. Serapis however, who had received the blow, felt no pain, inasmuch as he was made of wood, and uttered never a word, since he was a lifeless block. His head was cut off, and forthwith out ran multitudes of mice, for the Egyptian god was a dwelling place for mice. Serapis was broken into small pieces of which some were committed to the flames, but his head was carried through all the town in sight of his worshippers, who mocked the weakness of him to whom they had bowed the knee.
Thus all over the world the shrines of the idols were destroyed. 5
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“The perpetual enemy of peace and virtue.” Gibbon. High office deteriorated his character. cf. Newman. Hist. Sketches iii. ↩
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In the museum at Naples is shewn part of the statue of Diana, found near the Forum at Pompeii. In the back of the head is a hole by means of a tube in connexion with which,—the image standing against a wall,—the priests were supposed to deliver the oracles of the Huntress-Maid. It is curious to note that just at this period when the pagan idols were destroyed, faint traces of image worship begin to appear in the Church. In another two centuries and a half it was becoming common, and in this particular point, Christianity relapsed into paganism. Littledale Plain Reasons, p. 47. ↩
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“A great number of plates of different metals, artificially joined together, composed the majestic figure of the deity who touched on either side of the walls of the sanctuary. Serapis was distinguished from Jupiter by the basket or bushel which was placed on his head, and by the emblematic monster which he held in his right hand; the head and body of a serpent branching into three tails, which were again terminated by the triple heads of a dog, a lion, and a wolf.” Gibbon, on the authority of Macrobius Sat. i. 20. ↩
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Gibbon quotes the story of Augustus in Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 24. “Is it true,” said the emperor to a veteran at whose home he supped, “that the man who gave the first blow to the golden statue of Anaitis was instantly deprived of his eyes and of his life?” “I want that man,” replied the clear sighted veteran, “and you now sup on one of the legs of the goddess.” cf. the account in Bede of the destruction by the priest Coify of the great image of the Saxon God at the Goodmanham in Yorkshire. ↩
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“Some twenty years before the Roman armies withdrew from Britain the triumph of Christianity was completed. Then a question occurs whether archæology casts any light on the discomfiture of Roman paganism in Britain. In proof of the affirmative a curious fact has been adduced, that the statues of pagan divinities discovered in Britain are always or mostly broken. At Binchester, for instance, the Roman Vinovium, not far from Durham, there was found among the remains of an important Roman building a stone statue of the goddess Flora, with its legs broken, lying face downward across a drain as a support to the masonry above. It would certainly not be wise to press archæological facts too far; but the broken gods in Britain curiously tally with the edicts of Theodosius and the shattered Serapis at Alexandria.” Hole Early Missions, p. 24. ↩
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Kirchengeschichte (BKV)
5. Der Feldzug des Theodosius
In jener Zeit stand Theodosius sowohl wegen des Adels seiner Ahnen als auch wegen seiner eigenen Tüchtigkeit in hohem Ansehen, wurde daher vom Neide seiner Standesgenossen und Verwandten verfolgt und hielt sich eben deshalb in Spanien auf, wo er geboren und erzogen worden war. Da nun der Kaiser in Verlegenheit war, was er tun solle, weil die durch den Sieg übermütig gewordenen Barbaren in Wirklichkeit und auch nach seinem Urteil schwer zu bekämpfen waren, so erhoffte er von der Übertragung des Oberbefehls an Theodosius eine Befreiung aus der schlimmen Lage. Sofort ließ er den Mann aus Spanien herbeiholen, ernannte ihn zum Feldherrn und schickte ihn mit dem gesammelten Heere ab. Dieser zog, gestützt auf den Glauben, mutig aus, rückte in Thracien ein und stellte, als er die Barbaren heranmarschieren sah, sein Heer wie zur Schlacht auf. Es erfolgte ein Zusammenstoß; die Barbaren konnten dem Ansturm nicht Stand halten, verließen die Schlachtordnung und wandten sich zur Flucht; wie sie aber flohen, setzten ihnen die anderen mit aller Gewalt nach. Es entstand ein großes Gemetzel unter den Barbaren, da sie nicht nur von den Römern niedergemacht wurden, sondern sich auch selbst gegenseitig hinmordeten. Nachdem so die meisten umgekommen waren und nur wenige, die sich hatten verstecken können, über die Donau zurückgegangen waren, verteilte der vortreffliche Feldherr sofort sein Heer in die nahegelegenen Städte, er selbst aber eilte so schnell als möglich zum Kaiser Gratian, um ihm seinen Sieg zu melden. Aber selbst dem Kaiser schien sein Bericht nicht glaubwürdig, so sehr war derselbe erstaunt über das Geschehene, S. 269 zumal da auch seine Gegner, vom Stachel des Neides getrieben, behaupteten, er sei geflohen und habe sein Heer vollständig zugrunde gerichtet. Theodosius verlangte daher, daß seine Gegner abgesandt werden sollten, um selbst die Menge der getöteten Barbaren sich anzusehen. Leicht, sagte er, könne man auch aus der Beute auf die Zahl (der gefallenen Feinde) schließen. Der Kaiser ging denn auch auf diesen Vorschlag ein und schickte Boten ab, welche das Geschehene untersuchen und darüber Bericht erstatten sollten.
