Persecution of pagans by newly Christian Romans in the late fourth century reaches new levels of intensity, as the decrees of Theodosius have forbidden public observances of any rites but Christian.

Theodosius in 388 had sent a prefect to Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor with the aim of breaking up pagan associations and the destruction of their temples.

Theodosius has progressively made the sacred feasts of other faiths into workdays (389), forbidden public sacrifices under punishment of death, closed temples and libraries, and colluded in acts of local violence by Christians against major cult sites.

The decree promulgated in 391 that "no one is to go to the sanctuaries, [or] walk through the temples" results in the abandonment of many temples throughout the Empire, which sets the stage for widespread practice of converting or replacing these sites with Christian churches.

Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria, Nicene patriarch here from 385, obtains legal authority over one such forcibly abandoned temple of Dionysus, which he intends to turn into a church.

During the renovations, the contents of subterranean spaces ("secret caverns" in the Christian sources) are uncovered and profaned, which allegedly incites crowds of non-Christians to seek revenge.

The Christians retaliate, as Theophilus withdraws, causing the pagans to retreat into the Serapeum, still the most imposing of the city's remaining sanctuaries, and to barricade themselves inside, taking captured Christians with them.

The Serapeum, a temple built by Ptolemy III (reigned 246–222 BCE) and dedicated to Serapis, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god who was made the protector of Alexandria, is, by all of the detailed descriptions, the largest and most magnificent of all temples in the Greek quarter of Alexandria.

Besides the image of the god, the temple precinct houses an offshoot collection of the great Library of Alexandria.

According to the Christian writers Rufinus and Sozomen, the captives are reportedly forced to offer sacrifices to the banned deities, and that those who refuse are tortured (their shins broken) and ultimately cast into caves that had been built for blood sacrifices.

The trapped pagans plunder the Serapeum (Rufinus & MacMullen 1984).

A letter is sent by Theodosius to Theophilus, asking him to grant the offending pagans pardon but calling for the destruction of all pagan images, suggesting that these were at the origin of the commotion.

Consequently, the Serapeum is leveled by Roman soldiers and monks called in from the desert, as are the buildings dedicated to the Egyptian god Canopus.

The wave of destruction of non-Christian idols spreads throughout Egypt in the following weeks, as documented by a marginal illustration on papyrus from a world chronicle written in Alexandria in the early fifth century, which shows Theophilus in triumph; the cult image of Serapis, crowned with the modius, is visible within the temple at the bottom (MacMullen 1984).

A slightly different version of this account of the destruction of the Serapeum begins with bishop Theophilus closing down a Mithraeum, rather than the temple of Dionysus, but details of the ensuing profanation and insinuation of human sacrifices substantially agree.

A second account of the incident is found in writings by Eunapius, the pagan historian of later Neoplatonism.

Here, an unprovoked Christian mob successfully used military-like tactics to destroy the Serapeum and steal anything that may have survived the attack.

According to Eunapius, the remains of criminals and slaves, who had been occupying the Serapeum at the time of the attack, were appropriated by non-Christians, placed in (surviving) pagan temples, and venerated as martyrs (Turcan, 1996).

John of Jerusalem, who has been a monk since his early years, had in about 387 succeeded the noted theologian Cyril of Jerusalem as bishop.

He had been attacked in 393 by the Latin biblical scholar Jerome and by the influential Bishop Epiphanius of Constantia (now Salamis, Cyprus) for adhering to the views of Origen of Alexandria.

After Epiphanius incited the Palestinian monks to anti-Origenism, John had retaliated by denying them access to the holy places in Jerusalem and refusing to baptize converts or bury their dead.

Palestine has meanwhile passed under eastern control upon partition of the Roman Empire in 395.

Jerome had published a virulent manifesto denouncing John in the fall of 396.

The consequent scandal has reverberated throughout the Greek and Western churches.

Reconciled with Jerome at Easter in 397 through the mediation of Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, John remains neutral in the continuing Origenist polemic between Jerome and his former theological colleague Tyrannius Rufinus.

Jerome, writing elsewhere, expresses his belief that Mosaic law is a divine trick to destroy the Jews.

He also warns, “Jews are congenital liars who lure Christians to heresy. They should therefore be punished until they confess.”

Fravitta rapidly falls from favor after his consulate ends because of several intrigues in the Eastern court, as the imperial policy towards the Goths has changed because of the rebellion of Gainas: the Visigothic cheiftain in is in 402 or 40# unjustly accused of treachery and put to death.

Theophilus of Alexandria is in the year 402 summoned by the emperor to Constantinople to apologize before a synod, over which John Chrysostom is to preside, on account of several charges which have been brought against him by certain Egyptian monks, especially by the so-called four "tall brothers".

Theophilus, their former friend, had suddenly turned against them, and had them persecuted as Origenists.

Placing himself at the head of soldiers and armed servants, Theophilus had marched against the monks, burned their dwellings, and ill-treated those whom he captured.

When these monks fled to Constantinople to appeal to Patriarch John, Theophilus had written to Epiphanius of Cyprus, requesting him to go to and prevail upon Chrysostom to condemn the Origenists.

Epiphanius had gone to Constantinople at Theophilus’ request, but when he realized that Theophilus was merely using him for his own purposes, he had left the capital, dying on his return in 403.

John Chrysostom, as patriarch of Constantinople, has proven himself a courageous and faithful administrator, implementing a series of reforms in his diocese.

John’s asceticism is at odds with the luxurious tone of the age, and he finds himself incapable of subservience to the emperor Arcadius and his domineering wife, Eudoxia who, although an earnest Christian, quarrels bitterly with the patriarch.

Tactless and idealistic to the point of bigotry, the patriarch repeatedly denounces Arcadius' court for immorality and frivolity.

At this time Chrysostom delivers a sermon against the vain luxury of women.

It is reported to the empress as though Chrysostom had been referring to her personally, which only embitters her more against the Patriarch.

Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, at last appears at Constantinople in June, 403, not alone, as he had been commanded, but with twenty-nine of his suffragan bishops, and, as Palladius tells us, with a good deal of money and all sorts of gifts.

He takes his lodgings in one of the imperial palaces, and holds conferences with all the adversaries of Chrysostom.

Then he retires with his suffragans and seven other bishops to a villa near Constantinople, called Epi Dryn.

A long list of unfounded accusations is drawn up against Chrysostom, whose powerful enemies unite to condemn and depose him at the illegal Synod of the Oaks.

The synod now consists of forty-two archbishops and bishops, many of whom are Syrian and Egyptian bishops inimical to him brought by Theophilus.

The synod, assembled to judge Theophilus in accordance with the orders of the emperor, now summons Chrysostom to present himself and apologize.

Severian, Bishop of Gabala in Syria, whom Chrysostom had previously ordered to leave Constantinople because of his involvement in a plot against the patriarch, serves as prosecutor.

Chrysostom naturally refuses to recognize the legality of a synod in which his open enemies are judges.

After the third summons, Chrysostom, with the consent of the emperor, is declared to be deposed.

In order to avoid useless bloodshed, he surrenders himself on the third day to the soldiers who await him, but the threats of the excited people, and a sudden accident in the imperial palace, frighten the empress, who, fearing some punishment from heaven for Chrysostom's exile, immediately orders his recall.

After some hesitation, Chrysostom reenters the capital amid the great rejoicing of the people.

Theophilus and his party save themselves by fleeing from Constantinople.

Emperor Theodosius had adopted Christianity as the Roman state religion and banned pagan festivals, but the ludi have continued, very gradually shorn of their stubbornly pagan munera.

Honorius had legally ended gladiator munera in 399, and again in 404 CE, at least in the Western half of the Empire.

The last known gladiator fight in Rome occurs on January 1, 404, usually given as the date of the martyrdom of Saint Telemachus, a Christian monk who was stoned by the crowd for trying to stop a gladiators' fight in a Roman amphitheater.

John Cassian was born around 360, likely in the region of Scythia Minor (now Dobruja in modern-day Romania and Bulgaria), although some scholars assume a Gallic origin.

As a young adult he and an older friend, Germanus, had traveled to Palestine, where they had entered a hermitage near Bethlehem.

After remaining in that community for about three years, they had journeyed to the desert of Scete in Egypt, which was rent by Christian struggles.

There they visited a number of monastic foundations.

Approximately fifteen years later, in about 399, Cassian and Germanus had fled the controversy provoked by Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, with about 300 other Origenist monks.

John Cassian and Germanus had gone to Constantinople, where they appealed to the Patriarch of Constantinople, John Chrysostom, for protection.

John Cassian was ordained a deacon and was made a member of the clergy attached to the Patriarch while the struggles with the imperial family ensued.

When the Patriarch is forced into exile from Constantinople in 404, the Latin-speaking Cassian is sent to Rome to plead his cause before Pope Innocent I.

Innocent, who had succeeded to the bishopric of Rome in 401, was, according to his biographer in the Liber Pontificalis, the son of a man called Innocens of Albano; but according to his contemporary Jerome, his father was Pope Anastasius I, whom he was called by the unanimous voice of the clergy and laity to succeed (he had been born before his father's entry to the clergy, let alone the papacy; this is before the time of a universal rule of celibacy for priests).

Innocent loses no opportunity of maintaining and extending the authority of the Roman see as the ultimate resort for the settlement of all disputes; and his still extant communications with Victricius of Rouen, Exuperius of Toulouse, Alexander of Antioch and others, as well as his actions on the appeal made to him by John Chrysostom against Theophilus of Alexandria, show that opportunities of the kind were numerous and varied.

In 405, Innocent promulgates the church’s first official listing of books forbidden to church members without specific permission from a qualified person.

Emperor Honorius closes the Flavian Amphitheatre (the Colosseum) in an austerity move that abolishes amusements.

Cyril succeeds his uncle Theophilus as bishop of the see of Alexandria in 412.

Theodosius I, in reply to Theophilus, had in 391 given his permission to destroy Egyptian religious institutions, and Christian mobs had obliged by destroying the Library of Alexandria, the Temple of Serapis, and other pagan monuments.

Legislation in 393 sought to curb violence, particularly the looting and destruction of Jewish synagogues, but a renewal of disturbances occurs after the accession of Cyril to the patriarchate.

Hypatia, the recognized head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy at Alexandria, lectures on mathematics and on the philosophical teachings of two Neoplatonists: Plotinus (circa 205-270), the founder of Neoplatonism, and Iamblichus (circa 250-330), the founder of the Syrian branch of Neoplatonism.

Many students from wealthy and influential families had come to Alexandria purposely to study privately with Hypatia, and many of these later attained high posts in government and the Church.

A philosopher and scientist who has considerable moral authority in the city, and who has extensive influence, she is the first notable woman in mathematics, and symbolizes learning and science, which at this time in Western history are largely identified with paganism.

This leaves Hypatia in a precarious situation.

Cyril has come in conflict with the civil administration over the zeal with which he champions orthodoxy in his Alexandrian see.

He closes the churches of the Novatians, a schismatic sect that denies the power of the church to absolve those who had lapsed into idolatry during persecution.

Following Jewish attacks upon Christians in 414-15, he incites the Greeks to kill or expel the Jews from Alexandria and seize their property.

Forcing his way into the synagogue at the head of a mob, he expels the Jews and gives their property to the crowd.

The prefect Orestes, who refuses to condone this behavior, is set upon and almost stoned to death.

Only one Jew, Adamanlius, agrees to be baptized.

Riots ensue, and Cyril, who if not directly responsible at least had done nothing to prevent them, is forced to acknowledge the authority of the civil government.

Some Jews return to Alexandria within a few years, but many will return only t around 650 after the Muslims conquer Egypt.