On the Day June 27 363AD

The Emperor Concedes to Christ

Khen Lim




Julian the Apostate (Image source: flickr.com)

Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus (Julian in short) ruled the Roman Empire for not much more than two short years. Nephew of Constantine the Great, Julian died on June 27* 363AD while at war with the Persians in Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia (now Baghdad). It was reported that as he laid dying in agony with a spear having pulverised his liver, he uttered the words, “You have conquered, O Galilean” in reference to Christ Jesus. The next night, he died, having ruled for only twenty short months.

(* some maintain that it was arguably June 26)

It was recorded that he was mortally wounded by a spear thrown ‘no one knew whence,’ and rumours were that it was a Christian who did the deed. Although it was likely a spurious claim, Christians had more than enough justification to do it in light of the animosity that Julian had against them in the Roman Empire. Astonishingly, Julian’s uncle, Constantine, was a key influence in the expansion of the Christian faith fifty years earlier when he secured a momentous victory under the sigh of the Chi-Rho, the first two Greek letters for Khristos (Christ) used as a Christian symbol.

Although Julian was brought up and baptised as a Christian and was even ordained a lector in church, he was under the tutelage influence of Maximus of Ephesus who paved the way for his conversion to the pagan Neoplatonism. It was his rejection of Christ that earned him the unenviable title of Julianus Apostata or Julian the Apostate.

Here was a man who had the world at his feet. From young, he was well educated. Though initially brought up in obscurity (parents were killed), he surrounded himself with outstanding teachers and soon after studying in Pergamum at Ephesus and later Athens, became a man of refined culture. Judging from his surviving works, his literary talent was undoubtedly prodigious with a profound adoration for Hellenism.

Very likely, his Christian upbringing did not survive once he became ruler supreme because it reminded him of the religion of those who murdered his parents and many of his relatives, preferring the solace of his philosophic speculations and Maximus’ spellbinding magic ministrations. The irony though was that Julian owed his life to another Christian but that seemed to be irrelevant.

When Julian ascended to power, he began putting into plan the grand restoration of traditional pagan religions, asserting that they be elevated to official status under an established hierarchy. To him, the pagan religions – and not Christianity – were the true heritage of the empire. Old temples were rebuilt, new ones started and soon, he devised a comprehensive pagan priesthood system.

Despite the vociferous objections from Christian quarters, Julian ignored their disapproval and instead, responded by expelling Christian teachers who opposed pagan authorships and practices. To further antagonise the Christians, he collaborated with the Jews and ordered the Jewish temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem but as if God had spoken, an earthquake promptly ruined that project.

No matter what he thought of Christianity, he still borrowed ideas from the faith he despised such as how he urged pagans to be more caring and compassionate towards the poor and the needy regardless of their religious leanings. By doing so, he inadvertently handed the Christians an undeniably strong moral advantage over any of the pagan counterparts that Julian sided with.

In the end, Julian’s dying words affirmed the one thing that Christians knew – that God had judged him and Christ had defeated him. And with his untimely death at 31 years of age, the pagans had lost the one patron who handed them on the silver platter, a seemingly endless perks and privileges.