Siła i bezsilność cesarza Walensa, gorliwego chrześcijanina a zarazem wroga chrześcijan w ujęciu Sokratesa z Konstantynopola

Abstract

Emperor Valens, who ruled in the years 364–378, is connected above all with the fateful disaster suffered by the Roman army in the clash with the Goths at Adrianople on 9 August 378, in which he himself found death. Christians, supporters of the Nicene creed of 325, read his sudden death as God’s punishment for the persecution of Orthodox Christians, whom they considered themselves to be. Socrates of Constantinople, author of Ecclesiastical History, which was a continuation of the work of Eusebius of Caesarea, noticed a contradiction in the conduct of Emperor Valens. The historian saw in him both an ardent Christian, who was zealous in his faith, and an enemy of Christians, who waged war against them. This contradiction was attributed by Socrates to the ruler himself, who, though convinced of his great religious zeal, had nothing to do with the principles of the Christian religion, which he should follow. As for the strength and powerlessness of the title, it must be said that Socrates of Constantinople believed that the power of Emperor Walens was only apparent, although much Christian blood was shed on his command. The powerlessness of this ruler was first exposed by the Christians persecuted by him, and ultimately by God himself, sending various cataclysms to the Roman Empire, and to Walens himself a death unworthy of the emperor without his due burial.