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JOVIAN having returned from Persia, ecclesiastical commotions
were again renewed: for those who presided over the churches endeavored
to anticipate each other, in the hope that the emperor would attach
himself to their own tenets. He however had from the beginning adhered
to the homoousian faith, and openly declared that he preferred this to
all others. Moreover, he wrote letters to and encouraged Athanasius
bishop of Alexandria, who immediately after Julian's death had
recovered the Alexandrian church, and at that time gaining confidence
from the letters [spoken of] put away all fear. The emperor further
recalled from exile all those prelates whom Constantius had banished,
and who had not been re-established by Julian. Moreover, the pagan
temples were again shut up, and they secreted themselves wherever they
were able. The philosophers also laid aside their palliums, and
clothed themselves in ordinary attire. That public pollution by the
blood of victims, which had been profusely lavished even to disgust in
the reign of Julian, was now likewise taken away.
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