rested here about one hundred years, till 351, when Gallus Caesar
translated it to Daphne, five miles from Antioch, to oppose the worship
of a famous idol of Apollo, which gave oracles in that place. Gallus
erected a church, sacred to the name of St. Babylas, near the profane
temple, and placed in it his venerable ashes in a shrine above ground.
The neighborhood of the martyr's relics struck the devil dumb, as is
averred by St. Chrysostom. Theodoret,[3] Sozomen, and others, who
triumph over the pagans on this account.[4] Eleven years after, Julian
the Apostate came to Antioch, in the year 362, and by a multitude of
sacrifices endeavored to learn of the idol the cause of his silence. At
length the fiend gave him to understand, that the neighborhood was full
of dead bones, which must be removed before he could be at rest and
disposed to give answers. Julian understood this of the body of St.
Babylas, and commanded that the Christians should immediately remove his
shrine to some distant place; but not touch the other dead bodies. Thus
do the fathers and Christian historians of that age relate this
miracle.[5] The Christians obeyed the order, and with great solemnity
carried back in procession the sacred relics to Antioch, singing on this
occasion the psalms which ridicule the vanity and feebleness of idols,
repeating after every verse: "May they who adore idols and glory in
false gods, blush with shame and be covered with confusion." The
following evening, lightning fell on the temple of Apollo, and reduced
to ashes all the rich and magnificent ornaments with which it was
embellished, and the idol itself, leaving only the walls standing.
Julian, the emperor's uncle, {213} and governor of the East, upon this
news hastened to Daphne, and endeavored by tortures to compel the
priests to confess if the accident had happened by any negligence, or by
the interposition of the Christians: but it was clearly proved by the
testimony of these very priests, and also by that of several peasants
who saw the fire fall from heaven, that lightning was the cause. The
Apostate durst not restore the idol lest the like thunder should fall on
his own head: but he breathed nothing but fury against the Christians in
general, more especially against those of Antioch, the fatal effects of
which he intended they should feel at his return from the Persian war.
Vain projects against God, who defeated them by his unhappy death in
that expedition! The ruin