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After Athanasius had been preserved in this wise and appeared suddenly
in the church, no one knew whence he came. The people of
Alexandria, however, rejoiced at his return, and restored his
churches to him.
The Arians, being thus expelled from the churches, were compelled to
hold their assemblies in private houses, and constituted Lucius, in
the place of George, as the bishop of their heresy. George had been
already slain; for when the magistrates had announced to the public the
decease of Constantius, and that Julian was sole ruler, the pagans
of Alexandria rose up in sedition. They attacked George with shouts
and reproaches as if they would kill him at once. The repellants of
this precipitate attack, then put him in prison; a little while after
they rushed, early in the morning, to the prison, killed him, flung
the corpse upon a camel, and after exposing it to every insult during
the day, burnt it at nightfall. I am not ignorant that the Arian
heretics assert that George received this cruel treatment from the
followers of Athanasius; but it seems to me more probable that the
perpetrators of these deeds were the pagans; for they had more cause
than any other body of men to hate him, especially on account of the
insults be offered their images and their temples; and having,
morever, prohibited them from sacrificing, or performing the ancestral
rites. Besides, the influence he had acquired in the palaces
intensified the hatred towards him; and as the people, are wont to
feel towards those in power, they regarded him as unendurable.
A calamity had also taken place at a spot called Mithrium; it was
originally a desert, and Constantius had bestowed it on the church of
Alexandria. While George was clearing the ground, in order to erect
a house of prayer, an adytum was discovered. In it were found idols
and certain instruments for initiation or perfection which seemed
ludicrous and strange to the beholders. The Christians caused them to
be publicly exhibited, and made a procession in order to nettle the
pagans; but the pagans gathered a multitude together, and rushed upon
and attacked the Christians, after arming themselves with swords,
stones, and whatever weapon came first to hand. They slew many of the
Christians, and, in derision of their religion, crucified others,
and they left many wounded.
This led to the abandonment of the work that had been commenced by the
Christians, while the pagans murdered George as soon as they had
heard of the accession of Julian to the empire. This fact is admitted
by that emperor himself, which he would not have confessed unless he
had been forced by the truth; for he would rather, I think, have had
the Christians, whoever they were, than the pagans to be the
murderers of George; but it could not be concealed. It is apparent
in the letter which he wrote on the subject to the inhabitants of
Alexandria, wherein he expresses severe opinions. In this epistle he
only censures and passes over the punishment; for he said that he
feared Serapis, their tutelary divinity, and Alexander their
founder, and Julian, his own uncle, who formerly was governor of
Egypt and of Alexandria. This latter was so favorable to paganism
and hated Christianity so exceedingly, that contrary to the wishes of
the emperor, he persecuted the Christians unto death.
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