The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Rufinus of Aquileia, Church History 10.36

Dedit et aliud Iulianus vecordiae suae ac levitatis indicium. Nam cum in Dafnis suburbano Antiochiae iuxta fontem Castalium litaret Apollini et nulla ex his, quae quaerebat, responsa susciperet causas que silentii percontaretur a sacerdotibus daemonis, aiunt: 'Babylae martyris sepulchrum propter adsistere et ideo responsa non reddi'. Tum ille venire Galilaeos, hoc enim nomine nostros appellare solitus erat, et auferre sepulchrum martyris iubet. Igitur ecclesia universa conveniens, matres et viri, virgines iuvenes que inmensa exultatione succincti trahebant longo agmine arcam martyris, psallentes summis clamoribus et cum exultatione dicentes: confundantur omnes, qui adorant sculptilibus, et qui confidunt in simulacris suis. Haec in auribus profani principis per sex milia passuum tanta exultatione psallebat omnis ecclesia, ut caelum clamoribus resultaret. Unde ille in tantam iracundiae rabiem deductus est, ut altera die conprehendi Christianos passim et trudi iuberet in carcerem ac poenis et cruciatibus adfici.

'Julian also gave another sign of his madness and folly. When he had offered sacrifice to Apollo by the Castalian spring in Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, but had received no answers to his questions and asked the priests of the demon the reasons for the silence, they said, "The burial place of the martyr Babylas is nearby and for that reason no answer is given." Then he ordered the Galileans, for thus he called our people, to come and remove the martyr's tomb. The whole Church therefore came together, mothers and husbands, virgins and youths, and with immense rejoicing pulled along the martyr's coffin in a long procession singing psalms with loud cries and exultation and saying, "May all those be put to shame who worship carven idols and who trust in their images." This psalm the whole church sang in the hearing of the sacrilegious sovereign over a distance of six miles with such exultation that the sky rang with the shouts. He became so furious that the next day he ordered Christians to be arrested at random, thrust into prison, and subjected to punishment and torture.'

Here the story of the relics of Babylas and the temple of Apollo ends. Rufinus describes tortures imposed about a young Christian, but unlike later church historians, does not say anything about the destruction of the shrine by fire.


Text: Mommsen 1909, 958.
Translation: Amidon 1997, 40.

Procession

Burial site of a saint - unspecified

Destruction/desecration of saint's shrine

Ceremonies at burial of a saint

Bodily relic - entire body
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics

Pagans
Monarchs and their family
Crowds

Relationships with pagan practices

Source

Discussion

Bibliography