E03589: Cyril of Alexandria, in his treatise Against Julian, responds to the criticism of the cult of martyrs expressed by Julian the Apostate in his book Against the Christians, of c. 362. Written in Greek in Alexandria, 433/444.

Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian (CPG 5233)

Summary:

1. Julian’s criticism of Christian devotion to impure tombs.

(col. 1017-8) Cyril responds that Christians do not deny that tombs are impure, but this does not prevent them and indeed anyone from honouring the dead for their virtuous life. Honouring those who lived well in the past provides exemplars for the young. Cyril adduces the examples of honour bestowed by the Athenians to the heroes of the Persian Wars. Christian honour for the martyrs does not differ from that.

(col. 1019-1020) Julian’s reference to Christ’s quote that whitewashed tombs are impure is misleading, because it is just a metaphor for the Pharisees’ moral state, not a commandment instructing us to avoid tombs as impure. Christ raised people from the dead, even Lazarus whose body had started to smell at the moment of its resurrection.

(col. 1019-1022) Cyril questions the pagan superstition of ritual impurity from contact with tombs and dead bodies. Does a virtuous person change into evil from contact with a tomb? If the stench of the tomb causes spiritual harm, then the fragrance of a perfume shop should be the best moral school.

(col. 1022-1024) Quoting Homer (Il. Ο 36, Π 440), Cyril suggests that the pagan gods are afraid of death, because they cannot defeat it. Christ, however, defeated death by allowing it to conquer his flesh. The living and vivifying God cannot be called a dead man, and the same applies to the martyrs who disdained death.


2. Julian’s criticism of Christian incubation.

(col. 1023-1026) Julian lies when he claims that the Apostles taught Christians to seek dreams at tombs, because there is no attestation of that. The Christians do not seek prophetic dreams, because it is forbidden in Deuteronomy (13:1-3). Divination through dreams is a pagan practice, as attested in various sources. Julian’s use of Isaiah’s passage is misleading, because it refers to a period when Israel had fallen into idolatry, and condemns the divinatory visits of Jews to tombs.

(col. 1027-1030) Cyril returns the accusation of necrolatry, claiming that it is in fact that pagan religion that is a worship of tombs and dead figures. He quotes Clement of Alexandria to prove that major pagan shrines contain tombs.


Text: Migne 1863. Summary: E. Rizos.