CHAPTER XXIX

IDOLATROUS TEMPLES DESTROYED BY JOHN, IN PHENŒCIA

HEARING that some of the inhabitants of Phenœcia were addicted to the worship of demons, John selected some ascetics who were filled with fervent zeal, and sent them to destroy the idolatrous temples, furnishing them with imperial edicts to authorise the act. He did not take the money, requisite to pay the labourers appointed to destroy the temples, from the royal treasury, but induced some ladies of great opulence, who were eminent on account of their faith, to defray this expense; and the temples of the demons were then thrown down from their very foundations.