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Julian the Apostate
From A Storehouse of Knowledge
Emperor Julian the Apostate, nephew of Constantine the Great, ruled the Roman Empire from 361 to 363 AD.
Though raised a Christian as was all the rest of the imperial family, when he succeeded to the empire upon the death of the three sons of Constantine, he openly rejected Christ in favor of the ancient Roman pagan religion. He restored many ruined temples and attempted to encourage a largely indifferent populace to worship the pagan gods and offer sacrifices. He criticized the pagans for insufficient charity, saying that "it is disgraceful when no Jew is a beggar and the impious Galileans [i.e., Christians] support our poor in addition to their own; everyone is able to see that our coreligionists are in want of aid from us."[1]
In an attempt to sow division within the Church, Julian recalled all the theologians (including Athanasius) whom his predecessors had exiled for exacerbating controversies. In an attempt to encourage the Jews to offer blood sacrifices and disprove the words of Christ[2], he also attempted to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. However, various miracles stopped construction of the building[3].
Julian died in a campaign against the Persian Empire. According to rumor, his last words were, "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean."[Citation Needed]
