Christian critics of Julian the Apostate - Socrates Scholasticus

Julian the apostate, the last Roman Pagan Emperor had a short reign of less than two years but he made a big splash and is arguably the most well known Emperor of the late Roman period. But various Christian theologians, chroniclers and thinkers would be highly critical of him and his championing of paganism after his death. So this article is part of a series on what his critics wrote about him. And in this post I’m going to look at how the late 4th/early 5th century Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus saw the Emperor and discuss his criticisms of Julians actions and works.

Socrates Scholasticus was a Church historian who lived in Constantinople. He’s primarily known for his book ‘Historia Ecclesiastica’ (‘Church History’) which is a very detailed account from Constantine’s time on the never ending conflicts between the Arian Christians and Catholics and the numerous other heresies that were springing up in the eastern half of the Roman Empire and also the huge issues that a lot of Christians had with what was decided in the Council of Nicaea - where Jesus was officially elevated to divine status and therefore equal to God.

The Emperor Julian died on the 26th of June 363 during the war against the Persians. His body was brought back by Jovian who succeeded him as Emperor and he was eventually buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople despite not being a Christian. On the death of Julian, the well known and respected pagan philosopher Libanius, who was a friend of Julian would write his funeral oration which he named ‘Julianus’. But this funeral oration referred positively to Julian’s policies in restraining the spread of Christianity and of his book ‘Contra Galilaeos ‘ meaning ‘Against the Christians’ which was an anti-Christian polemic. Socrates admits that Libanius was as he puts it ‘an excellent rhetorician’ but uses this funeral oration for Julian as the reason to not only find fault with Libanius but also with Julian. on a more general front.