Let Us Remember Julian

Christians call him the apostate. We – many polytheists across traditions—consider him a saint, and some, a martyr. Julian (331-363) was Roman emperor from 362-363. While raised a Christian, he returned to some type of Hellenic polytheism (one deeply steeped in Platonism) very early on, and during his all too brief reign, attempted to drive back the encroaching dominance of Christianity. (1). My particular favorite bit of legislation, which he did not live long enough to really see play out, was forbidding Christians from teaching classical texts. This would, had it been allowed to come to fruition, have barred them from the corridors of power, and more importantly from evangelizing and instantiating Christianity in those corridors of power (2).

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about Julian today and it occurred to me that I have a prayer card for him. To honor him, through Monday 9pm, I will give a free prayer card for Julian to anyone who emails me at Krasskova at gmail.com asking for one. Include your name and a mailing address. One per person.

May our sancti, sanctae, and martyrs ever and always be remembered.
What is remembered, lives.

Julian by Sasha Chaitow

Notes:

1. For Christians, this was not a good thing, but I would point out that whereas Christianity can exist, practice, and for the most part be left alone in polytheistic theology, the opposite has never been true.
2. Christians understood this well. I think it’s rather comparable on a certain level to the way so many theology departments (I exclude Fordham, which has consistently been wonderful and welcoming) won’t even consider polytheists for their grad programs, often instead pushing them into religious studies (if they’re mentored at all).