/lit/ - Literature

398 CE: During the Fourth Ecclesiastical Council of Carthage (North Africa, now Tunisia) the study of Greco-Roman works is forbidden to anyone, even the Christian bishops themselves. 399 CE: Arcadius, once again, orders the demolition of the remaining temples. At this point, most of them are in the deep rural areas of the empire.
400 CE: Bishop Nicetas destroys the Oracle of Dionysus and forcibly baptizes all non-Christians in the area. By this final year of the fourth century, a definite Christian hierarchy has already been established which includes priests, bishops, archbishops of larger cities and the ‘patriarchs’: the archbishops responsible for major cities, namely Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Constantinople.
401 CE: A crowd of Christians lynched the Hellenists in Carthage, destroying temples and statues. In Gaza, the Hellenists are lynched at the request of Bishop Porphyry, who also orders the destruction of the nine temples still standing in the city. That same year, a council in Chalcedon commands the excommunication – even after their deaths! - of Christians who keep good relationships with their Hellenist relatives.
St. John Chrysostom, ‘Holy and Father of the Church’, raises funds with the help of rich, boring, idle and resentful Christian women against the patriarchal Roman worship of perfection and war (such women are fascinated by the sickly Christian sadomasochism). Thus financed, he carries out a work of demolition of Greek temples.

Thanks to the work of ‘Saint’ John Chrysostom, the ancient temple of Artemis in Ephesus is demolished.