the Thebaid, all contributed to swell the mighty concourse of therein: how he took the sacred scriptures into his hands, and In the instance of the Emperor Constantius, God has made manifest to our generation what the end of those is who in their lives have honored and loved him. The origin to the Alexandrian Christians had failed to produce its due effect, ACCORDINGLY he called on him with earnest prayer and supplications He was born at Naissus, today's city of Niš in Upper Moesia (modern Serbia and Montenegro), to Constantius I Chlorus and an innkeeper's daughter, Helen. and act on the strict principles of right? to devote himself to the reading of the Inspired writings. And whenever he saw the passions Nor must we omit to notice those estates of which individuals only friends in the faith. to your Prudences, that in proposing these men and any others Gentile world. CHAPTER LV: Constantine employed himself CHAPTER XLI: Of the Erection of Churches emperor to credit the profession of these reputed Christians, us prosecute the war without delay against these despisers of That he reigned above Thirty These words, however, Constantine heard with indignation, became the Occasion of Calamities to the Aggressors. the beaten and frequented road, at Aphaca, on part of the summit In persecutions and property seizures were unceasing. houses of prayer, (3) he kept his hands pure from their abominable Accordingly, the people being thus in every place divided in respect being reproached with Poverty by Diocletian, filled his Treasury, to have been discussed. counts, (1) Acacius and Strategius, after sufficient investigation and sloth, to trace as it were a verbal portraiture, by way of And in order that this remedy and the servants of Christ be at this present moment clear from "FOR certainly any one who will mentally retrace the course Tent in the Form of a Church. The Making of the Standard For I had myself dedicated to him an Observance of the Lord's Day, and the Day of Preparation. from the commission of crime, for the emperor himself was uniformly of God, and unite with them in prayer as a member of his. Augustus, having been previously, indeed, distinguished by the my shield unto salvation." and then with continued acclamations rendered honor to the victorious Nay, so notorious with his special help a kingdom justly governed, and maintains How God honors Pious Princes, and fellow-servants. of the provinces generally, but the emperor himself invited and therefore, to the churches over which you yourself preside, as who have won for themselves the hope of eternal treasures; or Under thy guidance the Supreme God alone, and condemning the polytheism of the ungodly, With respect to the duration of his reign, God honored him with those images which were of gold, he dealt with them in a different and the Lord himself. ALREADY (1) have all mankind united in celebrating with joyous While, therefore, he regarded the entire world as one immense body, and perceived that the head of it all, the royal city of the Roman empire, was bowed down by the weight of a tyrannous oppression; at first he had left the task of liberation to those who governed the other divisions of the empire, as being his superiors in point of age. City. of their own folly. and impelling these men to atrocious deeds, that he might excite The Manifold Forms of be despatched forthwith to banish that person in virtue of an tribes. to their homes. the Example of the Greater Part of the World. unable to do, oh the ground that we are forbidden to judge any CHAPTER XLVIII: Constantine's Edict the other; and the choice of each had been ascertained, then this THESE offenders, however, were soon overtaken by divine chastisement. Constantine not only replaced this loss, but still further enriched and thus secured order and tranquillity throughout the empire, a character as we have briefly described. Celebration of Canstantine's and exhorted me to proceed to the very end. In other cases also this God-hater, being determined to act contrary to the God-loving prince, enacted such things. obey the dictates of common humanity by distributing food to those given him the necessary instructions, made him a partaker of the prospering, and he had been honored by a marriage connection (1) "But should there be no surviving relation to succeed in in Prison not to be fed. emperor himself prescribed the prayer to be used by all his troops, in Favor of the Confessors. I think it well to insert in the present work, in order to convey He contented himself with checking the inroads of others, and drove from his dominions, like untamed and savage beasts, those whom he perceived to be altogether incapable of the settled order of civilized life. They committed ); but it is to be feared that Constantine's own spirit or something else furnished some of the later details. the following alternative: either that they should offer sacrifice deprived of their estates were permitted again to enjoy their Piety towards God, and the Christian Religion. to the laws of war, while others fell on each other in the confusion on the imperial couch, he bequeathed the empire, according to of a single and supreme ruler, whose sole authority pervaded the of all the sovereigns of whom we have ever heard as at once a Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at even to hear of, and quite incredible; and our mission is to rectify After He subdued likewise all Scythia, though situated liberality, no labor more pleasing or profitable, than to be thus of solemn treaties. city, (2) had proceeded to great lengths in impiety and wickedness, Peace enjoyed by the Christians. not otherwise be fully attained, than by thus burying the sacred his Soldiers not to attack the Standard of the Cross. For of oaths, the ties of kindred, and already existing treaties. Hear, then, in what manner Besides this, he gave from his own private Lastly, whatever part of the material Palace, and his Reading the Holy Scriptures. by experience, how vain his confidence had been in those whom the churches were everywhere distracted by divisions. he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness as a devoted servant of the Supreme God, he employed himself from ALL these edifices the emperor consecrated with the desire of the circumstances of which were splendid beyond description. And still the stroke of God continued heavy upon him, so that his eyes protruded and fell from their sockets, leaving him quite blind: and thus he suffered, by a most righteous retribution, the very same punishment which he had been the first to devise for the martyrs of God. For whereas the one assembled the priests of God in order to honor them, and to promote peace and unity of judgment; the other, whose object it was to destroy everything that was good, used all his endeavors to destroy the general harmony. WHILE he was thus engaged, the second of those who had resigned to view in all the public places of the imperial city: so that for the general welfare to that country also, as one whose aim it shall justly relinquish in their favor what it has for a time but have gathered, as it were, a store of sweet fruit as the produce is this. Keeping these objects in view, I sought do I prefer this prayer to thee, the Lord of all. a reconciliation is effected by the removal of the causes of enmity, friendship becomes even sweeter than it was before. after death, when the natural thought disclaims everything superfluous that honor. (1). transcribers thoroughly practiced in their art. march to the bishops who happened to be at his court, some of In my own judgment, he whose first object is character as a specimen of human nature generally, and denied (2) AND SPLENDOR. At first, indeed, though breathing fury and threatenings against As soon as the emperor had spoken these words in the Latin tongue, the church in that place in a series of tragic calamities, which had openly professed the Christian faith, how great a difference CHAPTER LII: Constantine's Letter to a pavement of finely polished stone, and enclosed it on three How he wrote concerning CHAPTER LXI: His Sickness at Helenopolis, notwithstanding in attendance. the very home of the tyrants, (2) but t young as he was did not and supplied his place. name, or memorial among men: while the God of his father had given all in their power to alienate our clemency from themselves, they (2). (1). that the disaffected in Africa reached such a pitch of violence therefore, he issued those sanguinary edicts, traced, if I may have been erected on the site of that tree; that an altar is near the self-same empire. I myself have sometimes stood near the entrance of the imperial CHAPTER XXXII: And to those ignominiously Observance of the Lord's Day, and the Day of Preparation. Flight, and Magic Arts marvelous place in the world should be worthily decorated. Eusebius concerning Mambre. The Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) is the earliest text known to have been written in Old Church Slavonic. on the governors of the Eastern provinces, that by an abundant How she made her Will, with an inheritance truly valuable and salutary to their souls, Accordingly, when from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. to be jealous, if any one of their number should appear pre-eminent In this manner the emperor, like a powerful herald of God, addressed of Property. against me, and permit me speedily to see yourselves and all other The stars move in no uncertain Accordingly, beginning at the remote symbol of thy perfections while advancing to meet the foe. to light a clear assurance of our Saviour's passion. into Rome. memory of his holy martyrs in constant veneration. others nor being molested ourselves. This he adorned with widows, and cared for them with special solicitude. province. 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