Church History 1 part 4/28

for this was nothing other than the judgment of God, formed through the agreement of so many and so great priests by the Holy Spirit, after exact inquiry and the testing of all doubtful points.

The emperor rejoiced exceedingly to see the whole church in agreement concerning the doctrine;

and offering thanksgiving to God for the harmony of the bishops, and on behalf of himself, his children, and the empire, he thought it necessary to construct a house of prayer to God in Jerusalem, near the place called Calvary.

About the same time, Helena, his mother, also came to Jerusalem, both to pray and to visit the holy places there.

Being reverently disposed toward the doctrine of the Christians, she was very intent on discovering the wood of the venerable cross.

But the discovery neither of this nor of the divinely wondrous tomb was easy.

Those who had striven eagerly by every device to cut off the religion had hidden the place there beneath a great mound of earth and had raised it up, making it deeper than it originally was, as indeed it still appears now.

And having enclosed all around the whole area of the resurrection and of Calvary, they adorned it and paved the surface with stone;

and they built a temple of Aphrodite and set up a small statue, so that those worshiping Christ there might be thought to be worshiping Aphrodite, and in time the true reason for the veneration of the place fell into oblivion, since the Christians dared neither to frequent it freely nor to disclose it to others, while the Greek temple and the statue conversely gave credence to the other account.

The place, however, became known, and the deception that had been contrived concerning it was exposed—as some say, because a certain Hebrew man, one of those dwelling in the East, disclosed it from an ancestral writing; but as it is more truly to be understood, because God revealed it through signs and dreams.

For I do not think that divine things need disclosure from men, whenever it seems good to God that they themselves should become manifest.

At that time, then, by the emperor's command, when the place there had been cleared to a depth, in part the cave of the resurrection came to light, and elsewhere, around the same place, three crosses were found, and separately another piece of wood, in the manner of a placard, declaring the following in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words and letters:

"Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews."

And this, as the sacred book of the Gospels relates, so it happened to have been written beforehand above the head of Christ, Pilate, who governed Judea, having ordered it.

But the discernment of the divine cross, even though it had been found, was still a difficult task, since the inscription itself had rotted away and been scattered, and at the same time the three crosses had also been thrown about in confusion, as is likely, the order having been disturbed at the taking down of the crucified bodies.

For when the soldiers found him dead upon the wood, they took him down and first gave him up for burial, according to the account;

but afterward, hastening the death of the robbers on either side, they broke their legs and threw the pieces of wood, one this way and another that way, wherever it happened.

For what care would it have been to them to leave these things in their former order, since each man was eager to finish before evening, and did not consider it a good thing to linger about the crosses of men who had died by violence?

So then, while the divinely wondrous wood was still unidentified, and needed a disclosure more divine than what belongs to man, the following came to pass.

There was a certain woman among the notable people of Jerusalem, suffering from a most grievous and incurable disease.

Macarius, the bishop of the church there, came to her as she lay ill, taking with him the emperor's mother and those around her.

Having first prayed, and having appointed a sign for those watching, by which they would know that whichever piece was the divine cross would, when laid upon her, deliver the woman from her disease, he brought each of the pieces of wood to her in turn.

But when two of them had been laid upon her, what took place seemed nothing but nonsense and mockery, the woman being at death's door.

But when he likewise brought the third piece of wood, she suddenly regained her sight, and gathering her strength together, immediately leapt up healthy from her bed.

It is also said that a dead man was in the same way brought back to life.

Of the divinely wondrous wood that was found, the greater part remains even now in Jerusalem, kept in a silver case.

It is preserved there, but a portion the empress carried to her son Constantine, and moreover also the nails with which the body of Christ had been pierced through.

From these it is recorded that the emperor had a helmet made, and a bridle for a horse, in accordance with the prophecy of Zechariah, in which it had been foretold that at the present time there would be, "upon the bridle of the horse, holy to the Lord Almighty."

For thus, in these very words, the prophet says.

These things had long ago been known and foretold by the holy prophets, but were afterward confirmed through wondrous works, when it appeared to God to be the fitting time.

This is not yet so wonderful, seeing that even among the Greeks themselves it is agreed that this is a saying of the Sibyl:

"O blessed wood, on which God was stretched out!"

This, even one eager to be an adversary could not deny.

She therefore foreshadowed beforehand the wood of the cross and the reverence paid to it.

These things have been related by us as we have received them, having heard them from men who knew them accurately, to whom the learning had come down by succession from fathers to children, and as many as have themselves set these very things down in writing, as best they were able, and have left them to those who came after.

Concerning this place, the emperor, having proposed to raise a temple to God, commanded the governors there to provide that the work should be shown forth as magnificent and costly as possible.

And in her turn Helena, his mother, built two temples, the one at Bethlehem around the cave of Christ's birth, the other on the summit of the Mount of Olives, from where he was taken up into heaven.

Many other things also show her piety and reverence, and not least this as well.

For it is said that, while staying then in Jerusalem, she invited the sacred virgins to a banquet, and became a servant at the dinner, setting the dishes before them, pouring water upon their hands, and doing the other things which it is proper for the attendants of the guests to minister.

At that time, going about the cities of the East, she honored the churches in each city with fitting offerings, made many who had fallen from their means rich, distributed necessities ungrudgingly to the poor, and freed those who had suffered long imprisonment, exile abroad, and labor in the mines.

And it seems to me that she has received recompenses worthy of these deeds;

for she completed her life here, insofar as more was not permitted, brilliantly and very notably;

she was proclaimed Augusta, and had gold coin stamped with her own image, and having received authority over the imperial treasuries from her son, she made use of them according to her own judgment.

But when she had to leave this life here, she died gloriously, being about eighty years of age, leaving her son, together with the Caesars her descendants, ruling over the whole Roman world.

And if there is any benefit in these things, oblivion did not cover her even after her death;

the age to come holds, as a pledge of her perpetual remembrance, the city in Bithynia and another among the Palestinians, which took their name from her.

Let this much be said by us here concerning Helena.

The emperor was ever laboring at some work that contributed to piety, and everywhere raised most beautiful churches to Christ, especially in the great cities — as at Nicomedia in Bithynia, at Antioch on the river Orontes, and at the city of Byzantium, which he caused to hold power equal to Rome and to share in her sovereignty.

For since everything was proceeding according to his purpose, and affairs with foreign nations had been settled by wars and treaties, he resolved to found a city bearing his own name, equal in honor to Rome.

So he took possession of the plain before Ilium by the Hellespont, above the tomb of Ajax, where it is said the Achaeans who once campaigned against Troy had their naval station and their tents, and there he marked out the plan of the city, of such a kind and such a size as was fitting.

And he constructed gates on a conspicuous height, which even now are still visible from the sea to those who sail past.

But while he was laboring at this task, God appeared to him by night and directed him to seek another site.

And having moved him to Byzantium in Thrace, opposite Chalcedon in Bithynia, He declared that he should found his city there and deem it worthy of the name of Constantine.

And he, persuaded by the words of God, extended the city formerly called Byzantium to a great width, and encircled it with mighty walls.

...from Rome, while he summoned others from other nations.

He also levied taxes, some for the buildings and adornments of the city, others for the maintenance of the citizens; and having arranged everything else concerning the city, and having lavishly adorned it with a hippodrome, fountains, colonnades, and other buildings, he named it New Rome, Constantinople, and made it the sovereign city of all who dwell within the territory subject to the Romans, to the north and south and toward the rising sun, and of the seas between, from the cities around the Danube and Epidamnus, and those by the Ionian gulf as far as Cyrene, and of the Libyans in that region along what is called the Northern Sea.

He also established another great council chamber, which they call the Senate, assigning it the same honors and sacred festivals as was customary for the elder Romans.

And in his eagerness to show, in every respect, the city that bore his name as rivaling the Rome of the Italians, he did not fail of his purpose.

For it grew, one may say with God's help, to such a degree that it is acknowledged to surpass Rome even in population and in wealth.

And I consider the cause of this to be the piety, dear to God, of both its founder and the city itself, and the compassion and generosity of its inhabitants toward the needy.

For it is so persuasive in drawing people to faith in Christ, that many Jews, and almost all the Greeks there, become Christians.

And since it began its imperial existence at the very time when the religion was also increasing in numbers, it had no experience of altars, Greek temples, or sacrifices, except insofar as it was attempted for a brief time by Julian, who reigned later, and immediately died out.

Constantine, then, honoring this city as a newly-founded city of Christ, and bearing his own name, adorned it with many great houses of prayer.

And the divine also cooperated with the emperor's zeal, and by manifestations confirmed that the houses of prayer throughout the city were holy and salvific.

And it is generally agreed that, from that time, the most renowned among both foreigners and citizens was the church in the place once called "the Hestiae" (the Hearths).

This place, now called the Michaelion, lies on the right hand as one sails down from the Pontus to Constantinople, distant from the city about thirty-five stades for one going by boat, but seventy or more for one going

...around by the strait that runs through the middle.

This place received the name that now prevails, because it is believed that the divine archangel Michael appeared there.

And I too, having received the greatest benefits there, affirm that this is true.

And the experience of many other events also shows that this is so:

For some, who had fallen into terrible misfortunes or inescapable dangers, and others, who had fallen into diseases or unknown afflictions, having prayed there to God, have found deliverance from their calamities.

But it would take too long to relate in detail how each of these things happened, and to whom.

But what happened to Aquilinus, a man who still associates with us and pleads cases in the same courts, I will necessarily relate, having heard some of it from him, and having witnessed some of it myself.

For when a violent fever, aroused by yellow bile, seized him, the physicians gave him some purgative medicine to drink.

And this he vomited up, and together with the vomit, the bile that had been discharged stained the surface with a similarly-colored hue.

From this point on, he vomited up every food and drink.

And as he endured this for a long time, the food not remaining settled within him, the physicians' art was at a loss in the face of his affliction; and being now half-dead, he urged his household to carry him to the house of prayer, declaring that he would either die there or be delivered from the disease.

And as he lay there, a divine power appeared to him by night and directed him to dip whatever he ate in a drink of the following composition: mixed together from honey, wine, and pepper combined.

And this indeed delivered the man from his disease.

And yet, according to the reasoning of their art, it seemed to the physicians that the hottest of drinks was contrary to what should be given in cases of ailments caused by yellow bile.

...of physicians who had served in campaigns, he, suffering severely from an ailment of the feet, was delivered from his pains in this place, and was deemed worthy of an extraordinary divine vision.

For as he had at first been a pagan, when he began to become a Christian, the other tenets of the doctrine seemed to him somehow plausible, but he could not accept that the divine cross had become the cause of the salvation of all.

While he held this opinion, a divine vision appeared to him and showed him a certain symbol of the cross among the objects lying upon the altar of the church there, and declared expressly that, from the time when Christ was crucified, of all the things that have been accomplished for the common benefit of the human race, or for the benefit of particular individuals, neither the holy angels nor pious and good men have achieved anything without the power of the venerable cross.

But these things I have been led to relate — since it is not the occasion to recount everything — from among the events which I have learned to have occurred at this shrine.

It is also necessary to relate what was decreed by the Emperor Constantine concerning the oak called Mamre.

This place, which they now call the Terebinth, has Hebron as its neighbor to the south, at a distance of fifteen stades, and is distant from Jerusalem about two hundred and fifty stades.

It is here that the true account tells that, along with the angels sent against the Sodomites, the Son of God appeared to Abraham and foretold to him the birth of his son.

And there, even to this day, the local inhabitants, as well as the Palestinians from further away, the Phoenicians, and the Arabs, hold a splendid annual festival in summer.

And a great many also gather for the sake of trade, to sell and to buy.

The festival is eagerly sought after by all: by the Jews, because they boast of Abraham as their patriarch; by the Greeks, on account of the visitation of the angels; and by the Christians, in turn, because it was then that He appeared to that pious man who, in later times, for the salvation of the human race, openly manifested Himself through the Virgin.

And they honor this place, each according to their own religion: some praying to the God of all, others invoking the angels, pouring libations of wine and burning incense, or sacrificing an ox, a goat, a sheep, or a cock.

For whatever choice and excellent animal each person possessed, he would raise it carefully throughout the whole year, and, in fulfillment of a vow, keep it for the feasting of the festival there, for himself and his household.

And all, in honoring this place, and being careful lest they suffer harm through divine wrath, neither have intercourse with women there — even though at the festival the women take particular care of their beauty and adornment, and appear and go about however they happen to — nor otherwise indulge in licentious behavior, and this even though, for the most part, they pitch their tents together and sleep intermingled.

For the place is open to the sky and used for tillage, and has no buildings except those which long ago were made by Abraham himself beside the very oak, and the well that was constructed by him.

And during the time of the festival, no one drew water from it.

For, according to Greek custom, some placed lit lamps there, others poured out wine or threw in cakes, and others still, coins, perfumes, or incense.

And on account of this, as is likely, the water became unusable because of the mixture of the things thrown into it.

These rites, being performed in the aforementioned manner, gladly, according to what was lawful for the Greeks, the mother of Constantine's wife, having once come there in fulfillment of a vow, reported to the emperor.

And he, upon hearing this, blamed the bishops of Palestine severely, on the grounds that they had neglected what was fitting, and had overlooked a holy place being defiled by profane libations and sacrifices.

His pious reproof is shown by the letter written on this matter to Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, and to Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, and to the other bishops of Palestine:

...that nothing else be done there except the worship of God according to the law of the Church.

But if anyone should be caught attempting the former practices, the bishops were to report him, so that the greatest punishment might be inflicted upon him.

In accordance with this letter of the emperor, the officials and priests of Christ carried out in deed what had been commanded.

But since many peoples and cities throughout the whole empire, still holding fear and reverence for the illusion connected with idols, turned away from the doctrine of the Christians, and clung to antiquity and to the ancestral customs and festivals, it seemed necessary to him to teach his subjects to neglect the objects of their worship.

And this would be easy, if he first accustomed them to despise the temples and the images within them.

When he had conceived this plan, there was no need of a military force; instead, Christian men employed in the imperial household carried out what had been decided, traveling through the cities with imperial letters.

For the populations, fearing for themselves, their children, and their wives, lest they should suffer some harm by opposing, kept quiet.

And the temple-wardens and priests, stripped of the support of the multitude, gave up the most precious objects in their possession, including the so-called objects fallen from heaven, and they themselves brought these out from the innermost sanctuaries and the hidden recesses within the temples.

And thenceforth, what had previously been inaccessible and known only to the priests, became accessible to anyone who wished.

As for the images, those made of precious material, and of the other objects whatever seemed useful, were refined by fire and made into public funds; while those wonderfully wrought in bronze were brought from all quarters to the emperor's namesake city, for its adornment.

As for the temples, some were stripped of their doors, others of their roofs, and others still, being otherwise neglected, fell into ruin and decayed.

At that time, the temple of Asclepius at Aegae in Cilicia was demolished and utterly destroyed, as was that of Aphrodite at Aphaca, near Mount Lebanon and the river Adonis.

Both temples had been most renowned and revered among the ancients, since the people of Aegae boasted that those who were suffering bodily ailments were healed of their diseases there, the deity appearing by night and healing them.

And at Aphaca, upon a certain invocation and appointed day, a fire, darting like a star from the summit of Lebanon, would descend into the neighboring river.

And they said that this was Urania, for so they called Aphrodite.

As these things happened in this manner, the emperor's aim proceeded according to his purpose.

For some, seeing the objects that had once been solemn and fearsome now cast about carelessly, stuffed inside with straw and rubbish, came to hold their former objects of veneration in contempt, and blamed their ancestors for their error; while others, envying the Christians the honor they received from the emperor, thought it necessary to imitate the customs of the ruler.

Others, having engaged themselves in inquiry concerning the doctrine, whether by signs or by dreams or by intercourse with bishops or monks, judged it better to become Christians.

And from that time whole peoples and cities willingly changed from their former opinion.

It was then that the port of the city of Gaza, which they call Maiuma, though exceedingly superstitious and previously in admiration of the ancient rites, suddenly and as one whole people changed over to Christianity.

The emperor, rewarding them for their piety, deemed them worthy of the greatest honor, and declared that place, which had not previously been a city, to be a city, and named it Constantia, honoring the place with the name of his most honored son on account of their religion.

It is from a like cause, I have learned, that Constantina, the city among the Phoenicians, came to be inscribed

with the name of the emperor.

But indeed it is not easy to record every particular instance.

They pulled down their temples and idols, and built houses of prayer.

As the church thus increased throughout the whole Roman world, the religion advanced even through the barbarians themselves.

For already the tribes about the Rhine were becoming Christian—both the Celts and those Gauls who dwell furthest within, bordering on the ocean—and the Goths, and all who formerly were their neighbors about the banks of the river Ister, having long since partaken of faith in Christ, were transformed to a gentler and more rational way of life.

For almost all the barbarians, the occasion for embracing the doctrine of the Christians arose from the wars that took place from time to time between the Romans and foreign nations during the reign of Gallienus and the emperors after him.

For at that time an unspeakable multitude of mixed nations, crossing over from Thrace, overran Asia, and other barbarians elsewhere did the same to the neighboring Romans; and many of the priests of Christ, having been taken captive, were among them.

And when these priests healed the sick among them there, and cleansed those possessed by demons, merely by naming Christ and invoking him as the Son of God, and moreover pursued a blameless way of life as true philosophers and overcame reproach by their virtues, the barbarians, marveling at the men's manner of life and their extraordinary works, understood that it was wise, and that they would have God propitious to them, if they imitated those who had shown themselves superior and likewise worshipped the Superior Being as they did.

Putting these men forward, therefore, as teachers of what was to be done, they were instructed and baptized, and thereafter attended church.

It is said that during the reign now under discussion, the Iberians came to know Christ.

This is a great and most warlike barbarian nation, and dwells further inland than the Armenians, toward the north.

A captive Christian woman brought it about that they came to despise their ancestral religion.

She, being most faithful and exceedingly devout, did not, even among a foreign people, relax her accustomed manner of life.

Fasting, and praying both night and day, and blessing God, were things dear to her.

The barbarians inquired for what reason she endured this.

When she answered simply that it was necessary thus to worship Christ, the Son of God, both the name of the one worshipped and the manner of the worship seemed strange to them.

It happened that a young child there fell gravely ill, and its mother, carrying it about from house to house, showed it to everyone.

For it was the custom among the Iberians to do this, so that if anyone should be found who could cure the sickness, relief from the affliction might be readily obtained for the sufferers.

When the child, having been cured nowhere, was brought also to the captive woman, she said, "I have neither knowledge nor experience of drugs, whether useful ones or plasters."

"But I believe that Christ, whom I worship, the true and great God, will become the savior of your child, O woman." And immediately, having prayed on his behalf, she delivered him from the sickness, though he had been expected to die at any moment.

Not long after, she likewise saved, in the same manner, the wife of the ruler of that nation, who was about to perish of an incurable disease, and she taught her the knowledge of Christ, presenting him as the steward of health and of life and of the kingdom, and Lord of all things.

And she, having believed through the experience of what had happened to her that the captive woman's words were true, embraced the religion of the Christians, and held the woman in great honor.

The king, marveling at the swiftness and wondrousness of the belief and the cure, learned the reason from his wife, and ordered that the captive woman be rewarded with gifts.

"But," said the queen, "she cares little for these things, however precious they may be considered."

The only thing she values highly is the service of her own God.

...and to save those who are in dire straits. Although the woman often seemed to speak well on such matters, the ruler of Iberia remained doubtful and was not altogether persuaded, suspecting the novelty of the affair and reverencing his ancestral religion.

Not long after, having gone with his retinue into the forest, he went hunting.

Suddenly a very dense mist and thick air, pouring over them from every side, covered the sky and the sun.

A deep night and thick darkness held the forest.

Then, each man fearing for himself, they were scattered from one another.

The king, wandering alone, as is wont to happen to men who are at a loss amid dangers, thought of Christ.

And he resolved in his mind to consider him God and to worship him from then on, if he should escape the present peril.

While he was still pondering these things, the mist immediately dispersed, and the air changed to clear sky; and as the sun's ray struck into the forest, he was saved from there.

Having shared with his wife what had happened, he sent for the captive woman and bade her teach in what manner it was fitting to worship Christ.

When she had instructed him in whatever it was lawful for a woman to say and do, he gathered his subjects and publicly proclaimed to the community the divine benefits that had befallen both himself and his wife.

Though not yet fully instructed concerning the doctrine, he imparted it to his subjects.

And they persuaded the whole people to worship Christ—he himself persuading the men.

while the queen, together with the captive woman, persuaded the women.

And swiftly, by common agreement of the whole nation, they made preparations, with the greatest zeal, to build a church.

When they had raised the enclosure around the temple, they set up hoisting-machines and were raising the columns, and fixing them upon their bases.

It is said that, after the first and second columns had been set upright, the erection of the third column proved troublesome, and could be accomplished neither by the skill of the craftsmen nor forced by sheer strength, although many were pulling.

When evening came, the captive woman alone spent the night there, imploring God that the setting up of the columns might be made easy, while all the others withdrew in distress, and the king most of all.

For though raised to the midpoint, the column remained aslant, and, being fixed in the ground from its lower end, was immovable.

This was destined, on account of it, to make the Iberians all the more firmly convinced concerning the wonders that had gone before, and concerning the divine.

For when at dawn they arrived at the church—a marvelous thing, resembling a dream—the column that on the previous day had been immovable appeared upright, suspended a small distance above its own base.

When all were astounded and confessed together that Christ alone was the true God, while all were watching, it gently slid down of its own accord, as if by craftsmanship, and was fitted onto its base.

After this, the remaining columns were set upright with ease, and the Iberians carried out the rest of the work with even greater eagerness.

When the church had been built with zeal, at the suggestion of the captive woman they sent envoys to Constantine, the emperor of the Romans, bearing an offer of alliance and a treaty, and in return requesting that priests be sent to their nation.

When the envoys had recounted in detail what had happened among them, and how the whole nation worshipped Christ with great diligence, the emperor of the Romans rejoiced at the embassy, and sent the envoys back home, having accomplished everything according to their wish.

Thus the Iberians came to know Christ, and even now they worship him with diligence.