Thwarted Efforts to Rebuild the Temple

Though the emperor hated and oppressed the Christians, he showed benevolence and humanity toward the Jews. He wrote to the Jewish patriarchs and leaders, as well as to the people, requesting that they pray for him and for the prosperity of the empire. In taking this step he was not motivated, I am convinced, by any respect for their religion; for he was aware that it is, so to speak, the mother of the Christian religion, and he knew that both religions rest on the authority of the patriarchs and the prophets; but he thought he would aggrieve the Christians by favoring the Jews, their most persistent enemies. Perhaps he also calculated that he could persuade the Jews to embrace paganism and sacrifices; for they were only acquainted with the mere letter of Scripture and could not, like the Christians and a few of the wisest among the Hebrews, discern its hidden meaning.

Events proved that this was his real motive; for he sent for some of the chiefs of the race and exhorted them to return to observe the laws of Moses and the customs of their fathers. When they replied that because the Temple in Jerusalem was overturned it was neither lawful nor ancestral to do this in a place other than the metropolis that they had been cast out of, he gave them public money and commanded them to rebuild the Temple and to practice the cult similar to that of their ancestors by sacrificing according to the ancient way. The Jews began the undertaking without reflecting that, according to the prediction of the holy prophets, this could not be accomplished. They sought for the most skillful artisans, collected materials, cleared the ground, and began the task so earnestly that even the women carried heaps of earth and brought their necklaces and other ornaments to defray the expense. The emperor, the other pagans, and all the Jews regarded every other undertaking as secondary in importance to this. Although the pagans were not well-disposed toward the Jews, they still assisted them in this enterprise, as they reckoned on its ultimate success and hoped by this means to falsify the prophecies of Christ. Beyond this motive, the Jews themselves were motivated by the consideration that the time had arrived to rebuild their Temple. When they had removed the ruins of the former building, they dug up the ground and cleared away its foundation. It is said that on the following day, when they were about to lay the first foundation, a great earthquake occurred, and by the violent agitation of the earth stones were thrown up from the depths, so that those Jews who were engaged in the work were wounded, as were those who were only looking on. The houses and public porticos near the site of the Temple, which they had occupied, were suddenly thrown down; many were caught there, and some perished immediately. Others were found half dead, with mutilated hands or legs. Others were injured in other parts of their bodies. When God caused the earthquake to cease, the workmen who survived again returned to their task, partly because such was the edict of the emperor and partly because they were themselves interested in the undertaking. Men often, in endeavoring to gratify their own passions, seek what is injurious to themselves, reject what would be truly advantageous, and are deluded by the idea that nothing is really useful except that which is agreeable to them. Once led astray by this error, they are no longer able to act in a manner conducive to their own interests or to take warning from the calamities that are visited upon them.

The Jews, I believe, were in just this state. For instead of regarding this unexpected earthquake as a manifest indication that God was opposed to the rebuilding of their Temple, they proceeded to recommence the work. But all parties relate that they had scarcely returned to the undertaking when fire suddenly burst from the foundations of the Temple and consumed several of the workmen.

This fact is fearlessly stated and believed by all. The only discrepancy in the narrative is that some maintain that flame burst from the interior of the Temple, as the workmen were striving to force an entrance, while others say that the fire proceeded directly from the earth. However the phenomenon might have occurred, it is equally wondrous. A more tangible and even more extraordinary miracle followed. Suddenly the sign of the cross appeared spontaneously on the garments of the people engaged in the undertaking. These crosses were disposed like stars and appeared as a work of art. Many were thus led to confess that Christ is God and that the rebuilding of the Temple was not pleasing to Him. Others presented themselves in the church, were initiated, and asked Christ, in hymns and supplications, to pardon their transgression. If anyone does not feel disposed to believe my narrative, let him go and be convinced by those who heard the facts I have related from eyewitnesses, for they are still alive. Let him inquire also of the Jews and pagans who left the work incomplete or who, to speak more accurately, were able to commence it.