A coin showing Julian the Apostate

On the Outskirts of Antioch

(After C. P. Cavafy’s Εις τα προάστια της Αντιοχείας)

It shocked us here in Antioch when we
Found out what Julian had done. You see,
At Daphni, Great Apollo made it clear
He wouldn’t speak (not that we’d shed a tear!),
No not a single oracle unless
His fane was purified. What caused distress
Were all the Christian graves about the place,
And chief among the tombs he would efface
Our holy martyr Vavylas was there,
The glory of our church — let fiends beware!
Apollo’s silence proved he surely did.
The presence of our mighty saint forbid
The so-called god (a title quite absurd)
From prophecy. He could not speak a word.
Apostate Julian, consumed with rage,
Demanded, ‘Pull the body up! Assuage
Apollo! Throw the martyr's bones away,
This Vavylas. Do you not hear? Obey
This instant – get him out of there’ (he cried),
‘Apollo’s temple must be purified!’

We took the holy relic from the site,
Translated it with love and solemn rite.
Since then the temple has done brilliantly!
A fire, vast in its intensity,
(Can you believe?) erupted in a flash –
The idol and its fane reduced to ash.
The emperor was livid when he heard
And put the blame on us, but not a word
Is true – a nasty rumor through and through.
What matters is that he erupted too.

Drew Nathaniel Keane

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