The disturbance was reported to the emperor, who declared the slain Christians to be martyrs. The defenders barricaded within were to be pardoned but the temple, itself, destroyed, so that, says Rufinus, "the cause of the evils and the roots of the discord which had taken up the defense of the idols should be eliminated, so that once these were done away with the reason for the conflict might disappear" (II.22). As the imperial rescript was read aloud and it became clear that the pagans were being held responsible, the Christians, shouting their joy, assailed the temple. They hesitated, however, to desecrate the figure of Serapis itself, fearful that, "if a human hand touched the statue, the earth would split open on the spot and crumble into the abyss, while the sky would crash down at once" (II.23).
Then, at the instigation of Theophilus, one of the soldiers took an axe and struck the god on the jaw. Everyone cried out but, when the sky did not fall, the head was chopped off. Theodoret (Ecclesiastical History, V.22) relates that a horde of mice ran out from the hollow cavity, no doubt to the glee of the Christians. The rest of the huge idol was broken into pieces, the head carried through the town and the god burned in front of the sullen pagans who had worshiped him. Later, when the temple itself was being razed to the ground, Socrates relates that hieroglyphs in the shape of crosses (ankh) were found incised in the stone. They were claimed by both sides, the pagans contending that "it symbolizes one thing to Christians and another to heathens."
Busts of Serapis, which had been placed throughout the city, were destroyed and, boasts Rufinus, "so cut and filed away that not even a trace or mention of him or any other demon remained anywhere. In their place everyone painted the sign of the Lord's cross on doorposts, entrances, windows, walls, and columns" (XI.29). And so the Christians of the city exorcised the gods of the pagans. source
