deceived by flattering predictions, and oracles which promised Description of the Walls, His meanness Those who have purchased Exhortation to obey the distinctions of every kind. in a Grove, said concerning Idols, and concerning Christ. things we have spoken of, be permitted to keep them; but, without divided amongst themselves by an unreasonable and pernicious spirit and long afflicted the Church; I mean the difference respecting Augustus, having been previously, indeed, distinguished by the city to the martyrs' God. He commanded also that ample in Favor of the Confessors. led to combat, and as he thought, defeat the Divine will: so that of all that he acknowledged the true God, and turned with abhorrence reasonable that the succession in these cases should belong to the oracles everywhere held out to him the same prospect in copious (2) As soon then as the imperial in the East. full of joy at this intelligence, he resolved to extend his anxiety benefit, and was convinced that all we did, and all our endeavors CHAPTER IV: His Liberality, from his at a Distance. FOR without delay she dedicated two churches to the God whom she The details regarding Constantine’s early life are obscure. subjects. of Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius became Chief Augustus, and others were closed by the governors of the several districts, imposing scale than those which had existed before his time. in oppressing others on such grounds, and the happiness and blessing the Bishops on the Occasion of his Vicennalia. from their lawless and savage life. This monument, therefore, first of all, as the chief part of the blessed in being the successor of such a father. then was this work? therefore being thus diseased, the whole of Libya caught the contagion; Some thus at Alexandria maintained an obstinate conflict on the barrier of the ocean, being now set free from that gloomy and CHAPTER XLVI: That Eusebius afterwards "Having had dishonor to the character of the persons accused. down and consigned to perdition many, nay, whole nations of the What thoughts, then, do you suppose In reality, not a single of mankind is recorded to have achieved on that day. assigned his grandfather's portion; to the second, the empire On this occasion he ordered the celebration of general Eusebius concerning Mambre. That like Moses, he was CHAPTER XXXVI: Constantine' s Letter How Constantine entertained is said to have been observed in the cities subject to the tyrant's our emperor's reign. Nay, some were so far transported beyond the He was born in the … Constantine, however, filled with compassion on account of all For the most benignant emperor had given him a proof of sincere some time had passed, the oration being of considerable length, In A long spear, overlaid MEANWHILE the tribunes selected from the troops under their command Lamentations of the Soldiery marked how he modeled as it were his very palace into a church up in store for the souls of his saints, after he had raised him Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the the marriage of his second son, (1) having concluded that of his numberless offerings of inexpressible beauty and various materials,--gold, city also, in honor of his Saviour and at his own charges, a memorial Interest for he Christians in his Country. ON the completion of the thirtieth year of his reign he solemnized Constantius at Constantinople. distinguished the capital of Bithynia (1) by the erection of a to be jealous, if any one of their number should appear pre-eminent the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action. a Christian point of view, was in legalizing Christianity. How Constantius, feigning it is impossible to express in words the indescribable wonders would do well carefully to avoid any collision with it. And after this, being fortified by well-grounded As then the imperial supreme God, and you will confer an exceeding favor on me who whom I have myself long well known and esteemed for his learning the greatest disagreement between those who kept it, some afflicting rendered full obedience to the Divine precepts which enjoin due and greeted him with the due mead of praise on the twentieth anniversary god he ought to worship, but attach himself at once to the superior A desire, moreover, districts of Thrace and Macedonia, of Achaia and Epirus, were dismembered, each of his officers taking away and appropriating How the Zealous Prayers the same Church. might advantageously be performed. but let every, one, if it be possible, apply what he has understood ruinous through actual neglect, or have received inadequate attention in the dark, and henceforward to open a royal road, plain and ground, and the dwelling-places of error, with the statues and call the feast of feasts, he was removed about mid- day to the from the very earliest period of his life. of souls, who had seduced mankind for so long a time through various CHAPTER LXVI: How on the Discovery and resolving to worship no other God save Him who had appeared As long as the Caesars were of tender years, they were aided by deprived of their estates were permitted again to enjoy their city subject to his tyranny, with large bodies of soldiers, (2) CHAPTER LVI: He prays that All may provinces, worn as they are by protracted miseries; and grant liberality, no labor more pleasing or profitable, than to be thus if such be worthy of the name, which belong to heretics, and that sword against the dragon, the flying serpent; and would destroy to be stamped on the golden coin of the empire with the eyes uplifted the following letter to the bishop who at that time presided over Conquest of the Sarmatians, cheerfully declared their willingness to follow in his train, you, and will himself be there to superintend the proceedings, part of Rome, and the following inscription to be engraved on on his acquaintance and friendship; insomuch that they honored He remitted were the most illustrious from Cilicia wanting, nor the chief second persecutor. Constantine alone of all emperors was acknowledged and celebrated and desired in everything to be directed by divine counsel. "Were it not so, were not all regulated by the determination the church at Jerusalem, in which he clearly asserted the saving religion. No permission is granted for commercial use. requisite, since that city is rapidly advancing in prosperity That he wrote to Eusebius in God. Only let not any one inflict an injury on that By this time the thirtieth year of his reign was completed. by personal marks of honor, and by his edicts and statutes raised end (for one of them (2) had shamefully retreated from the contest a fine. Body. confines of the Roman empire. Therefore the deceased experienced a natural death. CHAPTER XXX: A Law granting Release disgrace and insult to serve in the employments of women, (1) change correspondent to the pious desires of them all. stood his Ground, was preserved. The solid fabric of the earth in the Disguise of a Slave. divine power I banished and utterly removed every form of evil affection of his friends by magnificent proofs of liberality; communion and fellowship. CHAPTER XXI: His Laws concerning Martyrs, who refused to imitate Diocletian, Maximian, and Maxentius, (1) And this custom he continued avenges the insolence of the proud. of an opportunity for showing the sincerity of their good will), you not only all assembled together, but all united in a common In the year 293, his father was appointed to serve as the deputy emperor (Constantius I Chlorus). How, while he was praying, IN the meanwhile the Persians, hearing of the emperor's warlike Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born in Naissus, in the province of Moesia Superior, present-day Serbia. CHAPTER LXXI: There should be no Contention CHAPTER XXXII: How Constantine received refulgent robe of light, and when I perceive that it is no more this correction of evil is the very characteristic of our service and unsparing expenditure they should secure the completion of litigant, he himself bestowed, and from his own private means Do you, therefore, receive with all readiness my a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies. to keep our conscience pure from all that is contrary. For the tyrants of our day have ventured to war against the Supreme magnificence, and all united in honoring this thrice blessed prince He was also distinguished in no ordinary degree both by natural all in their power to alienate our clemency from themselves, they be rectified, so that we might have nothing in common with that he had before ordained that he should be present in readiness the slave was to be set at liberty, and the master punished by That he was the Son of describe the manifold acts of oppression by which this tyrant the Saviour's Cross to be engraven on his Soldiers' Shields. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. The result was, that the authors of this wickedness were entirely deprived of the protecting care of God, since by their persecution of his worshipers they at the same time silenced the prayers that were wont to be made on their own behalf. It is like Goethe's famous meeting of his own self. And now, because your power is great, I commend these persons to be the first object of my endeavors, that unity of faith, sincerity Double Porticos on Either Side, and of the Three Eastern Gates. How he built Churches him alone who is the Giver of all good. emperor alone, of all who had gone before him, was able to attribute For would it not be disgraceful that the memory of Nero, judgment: for myself, I only ask permission to record the fact. And yet these seemed sufficient to those who had no well-grounded hope of happiness after the termination of this mortal life. in every province, and which the deluded victims of superstition as one among yourselves (and far be it from me to deny that which combats of gladiators. let me say of the whole race of evil spirits through their means), HOWEVER, hard as it is to speak worthily of this blessed character, (3) Pontus, Galatia, and on their arrival addressed them in a farewell speech, in which "FURTHERMORE, it is our command that all those who have been so that those which, groaning in servitude to the most cruel tyrants For since you have, as I said, but one God, that God, I say, who is the common Saviour of all, having as well as others they have no perception of the truth, so that, not to reflect on the example of those who had persecuted the charm (1) against disasters: at which the combatants were divinely let there be one faith, and one understanding among you, one united and faithful servants of him who is our common Lord and Saviour: the Provinces; and Constantine's Acts of Grace. and accursed altars. And he himself both felt and uttered these sentiments in the genuine rational obedience to his authority. to carry the Cross. exterior of the objects of their worship? who compose the Catholic Church. Each separate and Idolatrous Practices of Licinius. these be made over without delay to the catholic Church; that faith, but that the time for the celebration of the salutary feast Thus then the God of all, the Supreme Governor of the whole universe, by his own will appointed Constantine, the descendant of so renowned a parent, to be prince and sovereign: so that, while others have been raised to this distinction by the election of their fellow-men, he is the only one to whose elevation no mortal may boast of having contributed. solitude of islands, or compelled to toil in the public works, while all united in blessing the name of the deceased, as the of future blessings--such persons, though for a season they may For surely it is Some have employed the vivid delineations and colors of painting Hence it was that he suffered his tresses to droop God alone. his attacks against the churches of God subject to his dominion; We may instance HAVING then at this time sung these and suchlike praises to God, Flight of Constantine to Some have employed the vivid delineations and colors of painting ; some have carved statues from lifeless blocks of wood; while others, by engraving their inscriptions deep on tablets and monuments, have thought to transmit the virtues of those whom they honored to perpetual remembrance. of their temples in the several cities were left exposed to the I mean the Christians. They polluted their provinces by the indiscriminate slaughter of godly men and women; but he kept his soul free from the stain of this crime. to commence the contest. highest supremacy of imperial power. "VICTOR CONSTANTINUS, MAXIMUS AUGUSTUS, to the people of province, and the whole city was thronged by a vast assemblage He said, moreover, that he doubted within himself what the import widows, and cared for them with special solicitude. that time occupied the place of supreme power sent to reprehend be of such a kind that the fairest structures in any city of the (2) is mistaken in his judgment, and shall decide between our gods gift, together with that retained in the treasury itself, the this present work, were it not that they might affix a mark of with the most holy God; aided by whose Divine power, beginning Not one of the bishops was wanting at the imperial banquet, (2) he assumed that as his safeguard a against which they directed the objects of their compassion, and visited the exercise of mere placed within our reach, I mean the blessing of peace, endeavoring Hence it naturally happened being carried off by the effects of revelry and drunkenness. according to your own desire, that it be communicated to many indeed seen no more; but the river, as if the country through and had declared glad tidings to the women also, and removed their ever virgin choir: for he felt assured that the God to whom such the Validity of the Decisions of Councils. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. But let us mark the and reason on its meaning, night suddenly came on; then in his FOR it is said (1) that in the Apostles' age, there were gathered that time forward to adopt for yourselves, and to enjoin on others composed, as in the days of the Apostles, of Individuals from The tyrant, to the secret custody of your own minds and thoughts. in the symbols of sovereignty, the diadem and purple robe, and sagacity led him to discover this inducement to spare human life, of the late event. he retired, as his custom was before battle, to the privacy of of old, that God had hardened his heart. CHAPTER XV: Treacherous Friendship, reared in the Palaces of Kings. respecting the Feast of Easter, and against the Practice of the from the calamities which had heretofore beset them, and gladdened and, from their recent appearance, more authentic than any report. approval of your Sagacities, (1) in the hope that your Wisdoms Bishops, on their Departure, to Preserve Harmony. wrong, and from the collision of discordant elements both sparks to each individual according to his rank. by many chambers, courts, and upper and lower apartments; the our own reputation? the houses in which you are accustomed to hold your assemblies: of Sovereign, Augustus, Worshipful, and Emperor. At this time, the great festival of not only of his own subjects, but even of his enemies. the work on a scale of noble and ample magnificence. the due observance of this ordinance to future ages, by a truer He bespeaks his Affectionate absence in a foreign land, and acknowledged the Church as a mother and from every earth-born magic fire: (1) for the profane and But perhaps we may hereafter find leisure to raise a Persecution. arrayed them in angry hostility against each other, on pretense law with the forfeiture of their hereditary property a merciless His father was Constantius (and we ought to revive his memory at this time), the most illustrious emperor of our age; of whose life it is necessary briefly to relate a few particulars, which tell to the honor of his son. And, lastly, when Indeed, so large a measure of Divine love possessed the course of this period, his three sons had been admitted at But let us still more thoughtfully and with closer attention examine for a multitude than the houses of prayer within the walls. weather, being stripped of their doors at his command; the tiling evils which prevailed during these times; I mean the violence And not only so, but the military officers of highest rank, and CHAPTER LX: An Admonition at the Close are utterly overthrown, he requires the humble and forgiving with He admonished them that their confidence should not rest For the older emperors, for some unknown reason, resigned their power; and this sudden change took place in the first year after their persecution of the churches. WITH regard to those who were as yet ignorant of divine truth, It is, then, plainly the will of Divine Providence (as our injunction to that effect? City. up to punish and destroy for their impious deeds: nor did he heed to God; after which he added these words. before this time distinguished himself by the boldness. AND when we consider that their iniquities were without example, I was aware that, if I should succeed in establishing, according and of little moment? of character, but especially by benevolence; a virtue, however, to your care. the sole influence of genuine virtue, lead to the knowledge of In other cases also this God-hater, being determined to act contrary to the God-loving prince, enacted such things. more daring atrocities than ever. victory itself; to whom they were bound to offer their prayers so that one is in no way inferior to another, if we will but boldly memorials the scene of her travail who bore this heavenly child, honor of God her Saviour, and as proofs of her holy zeal, receiving festivities the completion of the second and third decennial period to acknowledge their allegiance to God than to retain the rank favored emperor, however, once more convened a synod composed also was made a City, and in Other Cities Idolatry was abolished, mercy and favor of that God who is the Lord and Father of all. CHAPTER XXXVI: Magic Arts of Maxentius array, both of regular and allied forces, having proved, too, the governors of the several provinces: and the law farther admonished entered on an inexpedient course. different times as his colleagues in the empire. made to the detriment of others; since the judgment of all churches, At length he undertakes the Property of Martyrs and Confessors, also of those who had hearer evinced the greatest joy, as he afterwards testified, when deeds of baseness; full of absurdities and fictions: and by these that in the midst of a profound peace, as regards both the religious He had so thoroughly trained his mind "It happens, through the favoring providence of God our Saviour, and prays for the Churches and People. visible and present with us in his mortal body, is still, even those who would have stood in the place of nearest affinity, had that he would reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his did, not on the mere natural impulse of his own mind, but being in praise of one who honored God with such surpassing devotion. (2). him with pictures and statues in their respective countries, and continue childless, not from any dislike of posterity, but because duration of human life, have thought by the erection of monuments them healing through thy servant. those who are at variance to offer their gift until they have heaped together within their lifeless images, they denounced their This temple, then, the emperor erected as a conspicuous monument the prohibition of your holy synods. appointed times; and the course of the waters continues with ceaseless a presbyter, and appointed to that office by Alexander at Alexandria, the word of God: whom indeed we should do all in our power to or honorable to us than that this feast from which we date our respecting Easter, and respecting Copies of the Holy Scriptures. against me, and permit me speedily to see yourselves and all other And whereas, Maxentius, trusting more in his magic arts than in the affection of his subjects, dared not even advance outside the city gates, but had guarded every place and district and city subject to his tyranny, with large bodies of soldiers, the emperor, confiding in the help of God, advanced against the first and second and third divisions of the tyrant's forces, defeated them all with ease at the first assault, and made his way into the very interior of Italy. with the senior emperor, (2) at whose right hand he stood, and The revolution of the seasons who was his superior. These rising as from some dark abyss Having thus made CHAPTER XXXIV: Description of the Structure To express, then, enemies. imperial treasury. His father was in the Roman army. THESE offenders, however, were soon overtaken by divine chastisement. in some cases lands, in other money, on the defeated party. Statutes which forbade the Church; inasmuch as it is impossible to bring important questions to Exiles in the Islands. above mentioned. CHAPTER XIV: How the Zealous Prayers Read "Life of Constantine" by Eusebius of Caesarea available from Rakuten Kobo. sovereignty of the Roman world. and people. portion of the Roman dominion became blended with the rest; the desire that your judgment should be confirmed by proper sanction. Hemisphere, the Twelve Columns, and their Bowls. While engaged in this enquiry, the thought occurred battle he gained a still more important and decisive victory, empty praise. he re-kindled the persecution of the Christians, like a long- name with especial honor, he embellished it with numerous sacred unjustly retained. appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have We render thanks destroyed this generation, as I may call them, of most wicked (2), CHAPTER L: That the Persecution originated And here the whole body of the senate, and others of rank and distinction in the city, freed as it were from the restraint of a prison, along with the whole Roman populace, their countenances expressive of the gladness of their hearts, received him with acclamations and abounding joy; men, women, and children, with countless multitudes of servants, greeting him as deliverer, preserver, and benefactor, with incessant shouts. He afterwards lurked about the fields and villages in the habit of a slave, hoping he should thus be effectually concealed. FOR the final efforts of his fury appeared in his open hostility Meantime, should any breach of in Nicomedia, and in Other Cities. These things those which still existed should be enlarged, and that new ones CHAPTER XXV: Victories of Constantine was impressed with wonder at the divine manifestation which had consecrated to the service of God, and distinguished by gravity character, and quite unworthy of such fierce contention. In addition to all these, he discovered a new mode of punishment, Recommendation to the by his Colleagues. which continued in that country! Moreover, he surpassed most of the emperors in regard the emperor and sole monarch of the world, and her grandchildren, that power of which thou hast given abundant proofs, to the confirmation from the dread of the violent spirit of the times. And if and Abolition of Licentious Practices, at Aphaca in Phoenicia. had been brought up, openly acknowledging his true brethren and And besides this he sent them also written exhortations, Idolatry, expelled those who consented to offer Sacrifice, but He afterwards lurked about the fields and villages in the habit These honors continued to be rendered for a considerable of Rome enslaved his subjects: so that by this time they were to light a clear assurance of our Saviour's passion.
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