Chapter
VIII
.—
Concerning Theodore, the Keeper of the Sacred
Vessels of Antioch. How Julian, the Uncle of the Traitor, on Account of
these Vessels, falls a Prey to Worms
.
It
is said that when Julian,
the uncle of the emperor,
1379
was intent upon removing the votive gifts of the church of Antioch,
which were many and costly, and placing them in the imperial treasury,
and also closing the places of prayer, all the clergy fled. One
presbyter, by name Theodoritus, alone did not leave the city; Julian
seized him, as the keeper of the treasures, and as capable of giving
information concerning them, and maltreated him terribly; finally he
ordered him to be slain with the sword, after he had responded bravely
under every torture and had been well approved by his doctrinal
confessions. When Julian had made a booty of the sacred vessels, he
flung them upon the ground and began to mock; after blaspheming Christ
as much as he wished, he sat upon the vessels and augmented his
insulting acts. Immediately his genitals and rectum were corrupted;
their flesh became putrescent, and was changed into worms. The disease
was beyond the skill of the physicians. However, from reverence and
fear for the emperor, they resorted to experiments with all manner of
drugs, and the most costly and the fattest birds were slain, and their
fat was applied to the corrupted parts, in the hope that the worms
might be thereby attracted to the surface, but this was of no effect;
for being deep buried, they crept
into the living flesh, and did not cease their gnawing until they put
an end to his life. It seemed that this calamity was an infliction of
Divine wrath, because the keeper of the imperial treasures, and other
of the chief officers of the court who had made sport of the Church,
died in an extraordinary and dreadful manner,
1380
as if condemned by Divine wrath.
1379
Philost. vii. 10, variations; Theodoret, iii. 12,
13. Cf. Am. Marcel. xxiii. 1. 4–6.
1380
Felix and Elpidius, officials whom Philost. and
Theodoret assert to have been punished.