Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church : Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome

This groundbreaking study brings into dialogue for the first time the writings of Julian, the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and his most outspoken critic, Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, a central figure of Christianity. Susanna Elm compares these two men not to draw out the obvious contrast between the Church and the Emperor’s neo-Paganism, but rather to find their common intellectual and social grounding. Her insightful analysis, supplemented by her magisterial command of sources, demonstrates the ways in which both men were part of the same dialectical whole. Elm recasts both Julian and Gregory as men entirely of their times, showing how the Roman Empire in fact provided Christianity with the ideological and social matrix without which its longevity and dynamism would have been inconceivable. Abbreviations xiii Acknowledgments xvii Introduction 1 Universalism and Governance 2 Julian the Emperor and Gregory theTheologian 3 Gregory and the Bishops 6 Julian and Gregory in Context 9 Part one 1. Nazianzus and the Eastern Empire, 330–361 17 Nazianzus and Gregory: The Personal and the Local 19 Constantinople: Emperor, Cosmopolis, and Cosmos 28 Constantius’s Triumph: Unity and Harmony, 358–360 42 Reversal: Constantius and Julian Augustus, 360–361 53 2. Julian, from Caesar to Augustus: Paris to Constantinople, 355–362 60 Toward Constantinople: From Caesar to Augustus, 360–361 61 Julian’s Concepts of Leadership: Philosopher and King 71 3. Philosopher, Leader, Priest: Julian in Constantinople, Spring 362 88 The Context of Julian’s Concepts of the True Philosophical Life 90 A Philosopher as Leader, in Julian’s OwnWords: Against the Cynic Heraclius 106 A Universal Divinity for a Universal Empire; or, How to Interpret Myth: Hymn to the Mother of the Gods 118 How to Achieve True Philosophy: Against the Uneducated Cynics 136 The Law Regarding Teachers 139 Part two 4. On the True Philosophical Life and Ideal Christian Leadership: Gregory’s Inaugural Address, Oration 2 147 A High-Wire Act:The True Philosophical Life as the Model of Priesthood in Late Antiquity 153 The Codes of Aptitude 166 5. The Most Potent Pharmakon: Gregory the Elder and Nazianzus 182 The Other High-Wire Act: Fathers and Sons 183 The Royal Road: Gregory the Elder’s Opponents at Nazianzus 201 6. Armed like a Hoplite—Gregory the Political Philosopher atWar: Eunomius, Photinus, and Julian 213 Oikeiōsis prosTheon as Political Philosophy 215 The Enemy on the Inside: Photinus and Eunomius 228 What DoWords Mean? 245 Oikeiōsis prosTheon: Oration 2 against Eunomius 259 Part three 7. A Health-Giving Star Shining on the East: Julian in Antioch, July 362 to March 363 269 The Emperor as Priest 273 Julian’s Divine Mandate 286 The Platonic Philosopher-King: The Misopogon and Julian’s Universal Vision 327 8. The Making of the Apostate: Gregory’s Oration 4 against Julian 336 The Pillar of Infamy: An Inverted Fürstenspiegel 344 Imperial Decrees and Divine Enactments: Julian and Constantius 365 9. A Bloodless Sacrifice ofWords to theWord: Logoi for the Logos 378 Myth and Allegory 380 Logoi:TheTheological Implications 387 Apostasis versus Theōsis; or, True Oikeiōsis prosTheon 413 Oration 6, On Peace: Unity and Concord 422 10. Gregory’s Second Strike, Oration 5 433 The Pagan Context 435 Gregory’s Second Strike against the Pagans 445 Procopius versus Valens 465 Conclusion: Visions of Rome 479 Governing the Oikoumenē 480 Authority and Kinship of the Elites 483 Competing Universalisms 485 Bibliography 489 Index 529