"But thou at least (says he to the Pagans), _listen to thine own gods, to thy oracular deities themselves_, who have borne witness, and ascribed to our Saviour (Jesus Christ) not imposture, but piety and wisdom, and ascent into heaven." This was vastly obliging and liberal of the god Apollo, but, it happens awkwardly enough, that the whole work (consisting of several books) ascribed to Porphyry, in which this and other admissions equally honorable to the evidences of the Christian religion are made, was _not_ written by Porphyry, but is altogether the pious fraud of Christian hands, who have kindly fathered the great philosopher with admissions, which, as he would certainly never have made himself, they have very charitably made for him.[219:2] The festival in honor of the resurrection of Adonis was observed in Alexandria in Egypt--_the cradle of Christianity_--in the time of St. Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria (A. D. 412), and at Antioch--the ancient capital of the Greek Kings of Syria--even as late as the time of the Emperor Julian (A. D. 361-363), whose arrival there, during the solemnity of the festival, was taken as an ill omen.[219:3] It is most curious that the arrival of the Emperor Julian at Antioch--where the followers of Christ Jesus, it is said, were first called Christians--at that time, should be considered an _ill omen_. Why should it have been so? He was not a Christian, but a known apostate from the Christian religion, and a zealous patron of _Paganism_. The evidence is very conclusive; _the celebration in honor of the resurrection of Adonis had become to be known as a Christian festival, which has not been abolished even unto this day_. The ceremonies held in Roman Catholic countries on Good Friday and on Easter Sunday, are nothing more than the festival of the death and resurrection of Adonis, as we shall presently see. Even as late as the year A. D. 386, the resurrection of Adonis was celebrated in _Judea_. St. Jerome says: "Over Bethlehem (in the year 386 after Christ) the grove of Tammuz, that is, of Adonis, was casting its shadow! And in the _grotto_ where formerly the infant Anointed (_i. e._, _Christ Jesus_) cried, the lover of Venus was being mourned."[220:1] In the idolatrous worship practiced by the _children of Israel_ was that of the worship of _Adonis_.