[Marcus Introduction]
Christianity was for the first time
tolerated by the Roman Emperors in 311. The only serious attempt made to hinder its
progress after this time was by the Emperor Julian (361-363) who had left the Christian
fold. Although apparently in favor of freedom of religion, he was in reality unjust to the
Christians but rather partial to the Jews. In a famous Greek letter to the Jews,
(selection one below), he abolished the special taxes paid to the Roman government and
sought also to stop the payment of a tax paid by Jews for the support of the Jewish
patriarchate in Palestine. In this same letter he also encouraged the rebuilding of
Jerusalem and, we may assume, of the Jewish Temple. Had this attempt been successful it
would have meant the reestablishment of the Jewish state with its sacrifices, priests, and
more important, its Sanhedrin or Senate.
The second selection describes the work of the actual building of the Temple. It is
very probable that it was not so much an earthquake, as Church historians say, but the
death of Julian in 363 and the coming into power again of a Christian emperor that finally
put an end to this project. (Some modern historians believc-without sufficient ground, in
our opinion-that the work on the Temple was never even begun, and look upon the account as
a fable.) The story of this attempted rebuilding of the Temple is found in the Ecclesiastical
History written in Greek by Salamanius Hermias Sozomenus about 443-450. Sozomen was a
native Palestinian and claimed to have his knowledge from eye-witnesses. He was a
conservative Christian without sympathy for the Jews or for Julian.
I. Julian Proposes to Rebuild Jerusalem, 362-363
To The Community
of The Jews
In times past, by far the most burdensome thing in the yoke of your slavery has been
the fact that you were subjected to unauthorized ordinances and had to contribute an
untold amount of money to the accounts of the treasury. [Ever since Vespasian, about 72 CE, the Jews had been paying the Romans special Jewish taxes, like the Fiscus
Judaicus.] Of this I used to see many instances with my own eyes, and I have learned
of more, by finding the records which are preserved against you. Moreover, when a tax was
about to be levied on you again I prevented it, and compelled the impiety of such obloquy
to cease here; and I threw into the fire the records against you that were stored in my
desks; so that it is no longer possible for anyone to aim at you such a reproach of
impiety. My brother [cousin] Constantius of honored memory [in whose reign, 337-361, severe
laws were enacted against the Jews] was not so much responsible for these wrongs of yours
as were the men who used to frequent his table, barbarians in mind, godless in soul. These
I seized with my own hands and put them to death by thrusting them into the pit, that not
even any memory of their destruction might still linger amongst us.
And since I wish that you should prosper yet more, I have admonished my brother Iulus
[Hillel II, d. 365], your most venerable patriarch, that the levy which is
said to exist among you [the taxes paid by world Jewry for support of the Palestinian
patriarchate] should be prohibited, and that no one is any longer to have the power to
oppress the masses of your people by such exactions; so that everywhere, during my reign,
you may have security of mind, and in the enjoyment of peace may offer more fervid prayers
for my reign to the Most High God, the Creator, who has deigned to crown me with his own
immaculate right hand. For it is natural that men who are distracted by any anxiety should
be hampered in spirit, and should not have so much confidence in raising their hands to
pray; but that those who are in all respects free from care should rejoice with their
whole hearts and offer their suppliant prayers on behalf of my imperial office to Mighty
God, even to Him who is able to direct my reign to the noblest ends, according to my
purpose.
This you ought to do, in order that, when I have successfully concluded the war with
Persia, I may rebuild by my own efforts the sacred city of Jerusalem [closed to the Jews
since Hadrian, 135 CE], which for so many years you have longed to see inhabited,
and may bring settlers there, and, together with you, may glorify the Most High God
therein.
***
II. The Failure To Rebuild the Temple, 363
Though the emperor hated and oppressed the Christians, he manifested benevolence and
humanity towards the Jews. He wrote to the Jewish patriarchs and leaders, as well as to
the people, requesting them to pray for him, and for the prosperity of the empire. In
taking this step he was not actuated, I am convinced, by any respect for their religion;
for he was aware that it is, so to speak, the mother of the Christian religion, and he
knew that both religions rest upon the authority of the [biblical] patriarchs and the
prophets; but he thought to grieve the Christians by favoring the Jews, who are their most
inveterate enemies. But perhaps he also calculated upon persuading the Jews to embrace
paganism and sacrifices; for they were only acquainted with the mere letter of Scripture,
and could not, like the Christians and a few of the wisest among the Hebrews, discern the
hidden meaning [the allegorical meaning, through which the Christians could prove the
validity of Christianity from the Old Testament].
Events proved that this was his real motive; for he sent for some of the chiefs of the
race and exhorted them to return to the observance of the laws of Moses and the customs of
their fathers. On their replying that because the Temple in Jerusalem was overturned, it
was neither lawful nor ancestral to do this in another place than the metropolis out of
which they had been cast, he gave them public money, commanded them to rebuild the Temple,
and to practice the cult similar to that of their ancestors, by sacrificing after the
ancient way. [Sacrifice was permitted by Jewish law only in Jerusalem.] The Jews entered
upon the undertaking, without reflecting that, according to the prediction of the holy
prophets, it could not be accomplished. They sought for the most skillful artisans,
collected materials, cleared the ground, and entered so earnestly upon the task, that even
the women carried heaps of earth, and brought their necklaces and other female ornaments
towards defraying the expense.
The emperor, the other pagans, and all the Jews, regarded every other undertaking as
secondary in importance to this. Although the pagans were not well-disposed towards the
Jews, yet they assisted them in this enterprise, because they reckoned upon its ultimate
success, and hoped by this means to falsify the prophecies of Christ. [Since Jesus in the
New Testament had prophesied the destruction of the Temple, its rebuilding would make of
him a false prophet.] Besides this motive, the Jews themselves [relying on the sympathy of
Julian] were impelled by the consideration that the time had arrived for rebuilding their
Temple.
When they had removed the ruins of the former building, they dug up the ground and
cleared away its foundation; it is said that on the following day when they were about to
lay the first foundation, a great earthquake occurred, and by the violent agitation of the
earth, stones were thrown up from the depths, by which those of the Jews who were engaged
in the work were wounded, as likewise those who were merely looking on. The houses and
public porticos, near the site of the Temple, in which they had diverted themselves, were
suddenly thrown down; many were caught thereby, some perished immediately, others were
found half dead and mutilated of hands or legs, others were injured in other parts of the
body.
When God caused the earthquake to cease, the workmen who survived again returned to
their task, partly because such was the edict of the emperor, and partly because they were
themselves interested in the undertaking. Men often, in endeavoring to gratify their own
passions, seek what is injurious to them, reject what would be truly advantageous, and are
deluded by the idea that nothing is really useful except what is agreeable to them. When
once led astray by this error, they are no longer able to act in a manner conducive to
their own interests, or to take warning by the calamities which are visited upon them.
[The Church Father here records his belief that the Temple could not be rebuilt.]
The Jews, I believe, were just in this state; for, instead of regarding this unexpected
earthquake as a manifest indication that God was opposed to the reerection of their
Temple, they proceeded to recommence the work. But all parties relate that they had
scarcely returned to the undertaking, when fire burst suddenly from the foundations of the
Temple, and consumed several of the workmen. [J. M. Campbell in the Scottish Review,
1900, believed that an explosion of oil put an end to the work. This sounds
fanciful.]
This fact is fearlessly stated, and believed by all; the only discrepancy in the
narrative is that some maintain that flame burst from the interior of the Temple, as the
workmen were striving to force an entrance, while others say that the fire proceeded -
directly from the earth. In whichever way the phenomenon might have occurred, it is
equally wonderful.
A more tangible and still more extraordinary miracle ensued; suddenly the sign of the
cross appeared spontaneously on the garments of the persons engaged in the undertaking.
These crosses looked like stars, and appeared the work of art. Many were hence led to
confess that Christ is God, and that the rebuilding of the Temple was not pleasing to Him;
others presented themselves in the church, were initiated, and besought Christ, with hymns
and supplications, to pardon their transgression. If any one does not feel disposed to
believe my narrative, let him go and be convinced by those who heard the facts I have
related from the eyewitnesses of them, for they are still alive. Let him inquire, also, of
the Jews and pagans who left the work in an incomplete state, or who, to speak more
accurately, were unable to commence it.
BILIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES TO TEXTBOOKS
Elbogen. pp. 14-18; Roth, pp. l40-148
Golub, J. S., Medieval Jewish History, Sec. I; Sec. III, "The Christian
Church."
READINGS FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS
Graetz, 111, pp. 595-603.
Adler, M, "The Emperor Julin and the Jews," JQR, O. S., V (1893), pp 591-651
JE, "Julian the Apostate."
ADDITIONAL SORCE MATERIALS IN ENGLISH
The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus, Book III, chapter XX, in A
Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second
Series, II, contains an earlier account of the rebuilding of the Temple.
Source
Jacob Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, 315-1791, (New York:
JPS, 1938), 8-12
Later printings of this text (e.g. by Atheneum, 1969, 1972, 1978) do not indicate that
the copyright was renewed)
This text is part of the Internet Jewish History
Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts
for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.
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© Paul Halsall, July 1998
