Letter 40: To Hecebolius [apparently an official of Edessa, capital of Osroene in northern Mesopotamia].

To Hecebolius [apparently an official of Edessa, capital of Osroene in northern Mesopotamia]. I have treated all the Galileans [Christians] with such kindness and goodwill that none of them has suffered violence anywhere, or been dragged into a temple, or threatened into anything against his will. But the Arian faction [one of the rival Christian sects], made arrogant by their wealth, has attacked the Valentinian Christians [followers of a different theological position] and committed in Edessa the kind of outrageous acts that would never be tolerated in a well-ordered city. Since their most admirable law commands them to sell all they have and give to the poor, so that they may more easily reach the kingdom of heaven — and wishing to help them in that noble effort — I have ordered that all the funds belonging to the Arian church in Edessa be confiscated and distributed to my soldiers, and that its property be seized for my private treasury. Let poverty teach them proper behavior, and let them not be deprived of that heavenly kingdom they still hope for. I publicly command you, citizens of Edessa: stop your feuding and factional violence. Otherwise, you will provoke even my benevolence against you, and those found guilty of disturbing public order will pay the penalty — by sword, exile, and fire. [Julian took a sardonic pleasure in quoting Christian scripture against Christians. The confiscation of Arian church property in Edessa was one of his more openly punitive acts against Christians, though he framed it as helping them fulfill their own religious teachings.]

To Hecebolius 1 [End of 362 or early in 363, Antioch] I have behaved to all the Galilaeans with such kindness and benevolence that none of them has suffered violence anywhere or been dragged into a temple or threatened into anything else of the sort against his own will. But the followers of the Arian church, in the insolence bred by their wealth, have attacked the followers of Valentine2 and have committed in Edessa such rash acts as could never occur in a well-ordered city. Therefore, since by their most admirable law they are bidden to sell all they have and give to the poor that so they may attain more easily to the kingdom of the skies, in order to aid those persons in that effort, I have ordered that all their funds, namely, that belong to the church of the people of Edessa, are to be taken over that they may be given to the soldiers, and that its property 3 be confiscated to my private purse.4 This is in order that poverty may teach them to behave properly and that they may not be deprived of that heavenly kingdom for which they still hope. And I publicly command you citizens of Edessa to abstain from all feuds and rivalries, else will you provoke even my benevolence against yourselves, and being sentenced to the sword and to exile and to fire pay the penalty for disturbing the good order of the commonwealth. 1 This can hardly be the sophist to whom Julian addressed one of his most flowery and sophistic letters, for which see p. 217. Probably he was some leading official of Edessa, the capital of Osroene in Northern Mesopotamia. Constantius had favoured the Arians there and encouraged their fanatical sectarianism by handing over to them the great basilica of St. Thomas. Sozomen 6. 1, says that on his way to Persia Julian hurried past Edessa because the city remained obstinately Christian; later he relates, 6. 18, that the Emperor Valens visited Edessa and persecuted the non-Arian Christians; cf. Socrates 4. 18. 2 Valentine founded one of the sects of the Gnostics in the first century a.d.; by the fourth century the Valentinian heresy had very few adherents. 3 Probably Julian means the valuables such as Church plate belonging to the various churches in Edessa; for his spoliation of the churches cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Against Julian 3. 86 D, and Sozomen 5. 5. 4 Τριβάτοις=privatis; or "to lay uses."

[Πρός: Ἑκηβολίῳ] Ἐγὼ μὲν κέχρημαι τοῖς Γαλιλαίοις ἅπασιν οὕτω πρᾴως καὶ φιλανθρώπως, ὥστε μηδένα μηδαμοῦ βίαν ὑπομένειν μηδὲ εἰς ἱερὸν ἕλκεσθαι μηδ’ εἰς ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον ἐπηρεάζεσθαι παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν πρόθεσιν. οἱ δὲ τῆς Ἀρειανικῆς ἐκκλησίας ὑπὸ τοῦ πλούτου τρυφῶντες ἐπεχείρησαν τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Οὐαλεντίνου καὶ τετολμήκασι τοιαῦτα κατὰ τὴν Ἔδεσσαν, οἷα οὐδέποτε ἐν εὐνομουμένῃ πόλει γένοιτ’ ἄν. οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ θαυμασιωτάτου νόμου προείρηται πωλῆσαι τὰ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δοῦναι πτωχοῖς ἵν’ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εὐκοπώτερον πορευθῶσι, πρὸς τοῦτο συναγωνιζόμενοι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὐτῶν τὰ χρήματα τῆς Ἐδεσσηνῶν ἐκκλησίας ἅπαντα ἐκελεύσαμεν ἀναληφθῆναι δοθησόμενα τοῖς στρατιώταις, καὶ τὰ κτήματα τοῖς ἡμετέροις προστεθῆναι πριβάτοις, ἵνα πενόμενοι σωφρονῶσι καὶ μὴ στερηθῶσιν ἧς ἔτι ἐλπίζουσιν οὐρανίου βασιλείας. τοῖς οἰκοῦσι δὲ τὴν Ἔδεσσαν προαγορεύομεν ἀπέχεσθαι πάσης στάσεως καὶ φιλονεικίας, ἵνα μή, τὴν ἡμετέραν φιλανθρωπίαν κινήσαντες, καθ’ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν κοινῶν ἀταξίας δίκην τίσητε, ξίφει καὶ φυγῇ καὶ πυρὶ ζημιωθέντες.