THE VISION OF EULOGIOS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
‘When we were at the Community of Tougara, nine miles outside Alexandria, Abba Menas, who ruled that community, told us this concerning the saintly Pope Eulogios: One night, while he was performing the office alone in the chapel of the episcopal residence, he saw the Archdeacon Julian standing before him. When he saw him, he was disturbed that the man should have dared to enter unannounced, but he said nothing. At the end of the psalm, he prostrated himself; and so too did the one who had appeared to him in the form of the archdeacon.
When the pope got up and offered the prayer, the other remained prostrate on the ground. The pope turned to him and said, ‘How long will it be before you stand up?’ The other replied, ‘Unless you offer me your hand and raise me, I cannot stand up.’ Then the abba put out his hand, took hold of him, and raised him up. After that, he took up the psalm again; but when he turned around, he no longer saw anybody.
When he had completed the dawn office, he called for his chamberlain and said to him, ‘Why did you not announce the entry of the archdeacon, but let him come to me unannounced, and that in the night-time?’ The chamberlain said he had neither seen anybody nor had anyone come in. The pope was not convinced.
‘Call the porter here,’ he cried, and when the porter arrived, he asked him, ‘Did the Archdeacon Julian not come in here?’ The porter asserted with an oath that the archdeacon had neither come in nor gone out. Then the pope kept his peace.
When day dawned, Archdeacon Julian came in to pray. The pope said to him, ‘Why did you break the rule by coming in to me unannounced last night, Archdeacon Julian?’ He replied, ‘By the prayers of my lord, I did not come in here last night, nor did I leave my own house until this very hour.’
Then the great Eulogios realized that it was Julian the Martyr he had seen, urging him to rebuild his church which had been dilapidated for some time and threatened to fall down. The godly Eulogios, the friend of martyrs, set his hand to the task with determination. By rebuilding the martyr’s temple from its foundations and distinguishing it with a variety of decorations, he provided a shrine worthy of a holy martyr.