Eusebius. The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, trans. G.A. Williamson (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1965) 383–401.

Book 10

PEACE AND RECOVERY OF THE CHURCH:

VICTORY OF CONSTANTINE

The peace bestowed on us by God

I. Thanks be to God, the Almighty, the King of the universe, for all His mercies; and heartfelt thanks to the Saviour and Redeemer of our souls, Jesus Christ, through whom we pray that peace from troubles outside and troubles in the heart may be kept for us stable and unshaken for ever.

Together with my prayers I now add Book 10 of the History of the Church to its predecessors. This I shall dedicate to you, my most worshipful Paulinus, calling on you to set the seal on the entire work; and it is appropriate that in a perfect number I should here set out the perfect account in celebration of the re-establishment of the churches, obeying the Divine Spirit when He exhorts us thus:

"Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvellous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have wrought salvation for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation;
In the sight of the heathen He has revealed His righteousness (Ps. xcviii. i–2)."

As these inspired lines command me, let me now obediently sing aloud the new song, because after those terrifying darksome sights and stories I was now privileged to see and celebrate such things as in truth many righteous men and martyrs of God before us desired to see on earth and did not see, and to hear and did not hear (Adapted from Matt. xiii. 17). But they, hastening with all speed, attained far better things in the heavens, caught up in a paradise of divine pleasure (See 2 Cor. xii. 4.); whereas I, acknowledging that even my present lot is better than I deserve, have been more than amazed at the bountiful grace of its Author, and am duly filled with wonder, worshipping Him -with my whole soul's strength, and testifying to the truth of the written prophecies which declare:

"Come hither and behold the works of the Lord,
What wonders He has wrought in the world,
Making wars cease to the ends of the world:
The bow He will break and will shatter the weapon,
And the shields He will burn up with fire (Ps. xlvi. R-9)."

Happy that all this has been clearly fulfilled in my own time let me proceed with the next part of my story.

Destruction, in the way described, had overtaken the whole brood of God's enemies, and at one stroke had blotted them out from human sight. Thus yet another inspired saying had been fulfilled:

"I saw the wicked high exalted,
And lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon.
And I passed by, and lo, he was not;
And I sought his place, and it was not found (Ps. xxxvii. 33–6)."

From that time on a day bright and radiant, with no cloud overshadowing it, shone down with shafts of heavenly light on the churches of Christ throughout the world, nor was there any reluctance to grant even those outside our community the enjoyment, if not of equal blessings, at least of an effluence from and a share in the things that God had bestowed on us.
Re-establishment of the churches

2. Thus all men living were free from oppression by the tyrants; and released from their former miseries, they all in their various ways acknowledged as the only true God the Defender of the godly. Above all for us who had fixed our hopes on the Christ of God there was unspeakable happiness, and a divine joy blossomed in all hearts as we saw that every place which a little while before had been reduced to dust by the tyrants' wickedness was now, as if from a prolonged and deadly stranglehold, coming back to life; and that cathedrals were again rising from their foundations high into the air, and far surpassing in magnificence those previously destroyed by the enemy.

Emperors too, the most exalted, by a succession of ordinances in favour of the Christians, confirmed still further and more surely the blessings that God showered upon us; and a stream of personal letters from the emperor reached the bishops, accompanied by honours and gifts of money. I shall take the opportunity at the proper place in my account to inscribe in this book as on a sacred tablet these communications, translated from Latin into Greek, in order that all who come after us may bear them in remembrance.
Dedication ceremonies everywhere

3. The next stage was the spectacle prayed and longed for by us all - dedication festivals in the cities and consecrations of the newly built places of worship, convocations of bishops, gatherings of representatives from far distant lands, friendly intercourse between congregation and congregation, unification (A familiar word—enosis), of the members of Christ's body conjoint in one harmony. In accordance with a prophet's prediction, which mystically signified beforehand what was to be, there came together bone to bone (Ez. Xxxvii , Eusebius has added the `joints' to secure the play upon words) and joint to joint, and all that in riddling oracles the scripture infallibly foretold. There was one power of the divine Spirit coursing through all the members, one soul in them all (Acts iv. 32) the same enthusiasm for the faith, one hymn of praise on all their lips. Yes, and our leaders performed ceremonies with full pomp, and ordained priests the sacraments and majestic rites of the Church, here with tile singing of psalms and intoning of the prayers given us from God, there with the carrying out of divine and mystical ministrations; while over all were the ineffable symbols of the Saviour's Passion. And together, the people of every age, male and female alike, with all their powers of mind, rejoicing in heart and soul, gave glory through prayers and thanksgiving to the Author of their happiness, God Himself.

Every one of the dignitaries of the Church present delivered a public oration according to his ability, inspiring the great audience. 4. One of the moderately capable (One may guess who) came forward into their midst with a prepared discourse. It was a church assembly, and the many-pastors present gave him a quiet and orderly hearing. Addressing himself personally to a single bishop, an admirable man and one dear to God, through whose initiative and enthusiasm the most magnificent cathedral in Phoenicia had been built at Tyre, he delivered the following address.

FESTIVAL ORATION ON THE BUILDING OF THE CHURCHES,

ADDRESSED TO PAULINUS, BISHOP OF TYRE

Friends of God, and priests (Eusebius here writes not presbyteroi but hiereis, equivalent to Latin sacerdotes; he uses the corresponding adjective just below) clothed with the sacred vestment and the heavenly crown of glory, the divine unction and priestly garments of the Holy Spirit; and you, so young yet the pride of the holy temple of God, honoured with ripe wisdom from God yet renowned for the precious works and deeds of virtue in its youthful prime, on whom the God who holds the entire universe in His hand has Himself bestowed the supreme honour of building His house upon earth and re-establishing it for Christ, His only begotten and firstborn Word, and for Christ's holy and majestic bride - shall I call you a new Bezalel (Ex. Xxxv), the master builder of a divine tabernacle, or a Solomon, king of a new and far nobler Jerusalem, or a new Zerubbabel, who adorned the temple of God with the glory that was far greater than the old (Hag. ii. 9)? And you too, nurslings of the sacred flock of Christ, home of good words school of self-discipline, and university of true religion, earnest and dear to God.

Long ago, as the inspired records of miraculous signs from God and the wonders performed by the Lord in the service of men were read aloud in our hearing, we might well send up hymns and songs to God; for we were taught to say:

"O God, with our ears have we heard, our fathers have told us,
The work which Thou didst in their days, in ancient days (Ps. xliv. r.)."

But now it is no longer by hearing the spoken word that men learn of the uplifted arm and the heavenly right hand of our God All-gracious and King of all; but by deeds, if we may put it so, and with our very eyes we see that the traditions of an earlier age were trustworthy and true. And so we may raise our voices in a second hymn of victory and cry aloud:

"As we have heard, so also we have seen
In the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our God (Ps. xlviii. 8.)."

And in what city but this new-made city built by God? It is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and basis of truth, (I Tim. iii. I5.) and of it another inspired saying joyously declares:

"Glorious things have been spoken of thee,
o city of God (Ps. lxxxvii. 3.)."

And since in this city God the All-Gracious has brought us together through the grace of His Only-begotten, let each of the invited guests sing, nay shout,

I was glad when they said to me
`Into the house of the Lord we will go'

and

Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house,
And the dwelling-place of Thy glory (Ps. cxxii. I and xxvi. 8.).

It is not only for each by himself, but for all of us together with one spirit and one soul, to give glory and praise, saying:

Great is the Lord and highly to be praised
In the city of our God, in His holy mountain (Ps. xlviii. I.)

For great He is in truth, and great is His house, lofty and stretching far, and lovely in beauty beyond the sons of men (Baruch iii. 24 and Ps. xlv. 2.). Great is the Lord, who alone does wondrous things; great is He who does things great and unsearchable, glorious and marvellous things of which there is no number; (Ps. lxxii. 18 and Job ix.10.) great is He who changes times and seasons, removing kings and setting them up, raising the poor man from the ground and from the dunghill lifting up the needy (Dan. ii. 27 and Ps. cxiii. 7). He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble from the ground; the hungry He has filled with good things and the arms of the proud He has broken (Luke i. 52–3 and Job xxxviii. 15.). Not only for believers but also for unbelievers has He proved true the record of the ancient narratives, He the Doer of wonders, the Doer of great things, the Master of the universe, the Fashioner of the whole world, the Almighty, the All-Gracious, the one and only God. To Him then let us sing the new song with this as the background to our thought:

To Him who alone does wondrous things
(For everlasting is His mercy);
To Him who smote great kings,
And slew mighty kings
(For everlasting is His mercy).
For in our low estate He remembered us,
And redeemed us from our adversaries (Ps. cxxxvi. 4, 17–18, 23–4.).

The Father of the universe may we praise aloud in such strains without ceasing. The second source of our blessings, our Guide to the knowledge of God, the Teacher of true religion, the Destroyer of the wicked, the Tyrannicide, the Reformer of our life, our Deliverer from despair, Jesus let us glorify, His name ever on our lips. For He alone being an All-Gracious Father's unique, All-Gracious Son, in fulfilment of His Father's love for man, most willingly put on the nature of us men who lay far below, doomed to perish. A devoted physician, to save the lives of the sick, sees the horrible danger yet touches the infected place, and in treating another man's troubles brings suffering on himself (Quoted from Hippocrates, Flatulence.): but we were not merely sick, or afflicted with horrible ulcers and wounds already festering, but actually lying among the dead, when He by his own efforts saved us from the very abyss of death, because no one else in heaven was strong enough to minister unscathed to the salvation of so many. Alone He took hold of our most painful perishing nature; alone endured our sorrows; alone He took upon Him the retribution for our sins (Adapted from Is. liii. 4–5.). When we were not half dead, but lying in tombs and graves and by now altogether foul and stinking (A reminiscence of John v. 28 and xi. 39.), He raised us up; and as He did long ago, so now in His eager love for men He surpasses all the hopes of ourselves or anyone else, saving us and giving us His Father's blessings without stint - He the Lifegiver, the Lightbringer, our great Physician and King and Lord, the Christ of God. Then, once for all, seeing that the entire human race was buried in gloomy night and deep darkness through the deceitfulness of wicked demons and the activities of accursed spirits, by nothing but His appearing He tore asunder - as easily as the sun's rays melt wax - the imprisoning bonds of our sins.

And now, as a result of this wonderful grace and bounty, the envy that hates good, the demon that loves evil, bursting with rage, lined up all his lethal forces against us. At first he was like a mad dog that closes his jaws on the stones thrown at him and vents on the inanimate missiles his fury against those who are trying to keep him away: he directed his ferocious madness against the stones of the places of worship and the inanimate timbers of the buildings, bringing, as he himself imagined, ruin on the churches. Then he uttered terrible hissings and his own serpent-like sounds, at one time in the threats of godless tyrants, at another in the blasphemous decrees of impious rulers. Again, he vomited forth his own deadly venom, and by his noxious, soul-destroying poisons he paralysed the souls enslaved to him, almost annihilating them by his death-bringing sacrifices to dead idols, and letting loose against us every beast in human shape and every kind of savagery.

But once again the Angel of great counsel, God's great Commander-in-Chief (Joshua v. 14.), after the thoroughgoing training of which the greatest soldiers in His kingdom gave proof by their patience and endurance in all trials, appeared suddenly and thereby swept all that was hostile and inimical into oblivion and nothingness, so that its very existence was forgotten. But all that was near and dear to Him He advanced beyond glory in the sight of all, not men only but the heavenly powers as well - sun, moon, and stars, and the entire heaven and earth. So now as never before the most exalted emperors of all, aware of the honour they have been privileged to receive from Him, spit in the faces of dead idols, trample on the lawless rites of demons, and laugh at the old lies handed down by their fathers. But as the one only God they recognize the common Benefactor of themselves and all men, and Christ they acknowledge as Son of God and sovereign Lord of the universe, naming Him `Saviour' on monuments, and inscribing in royal characters in the middle of the city that is queen of the cities on earth an indelible record of His triumphs and His victories over the wicked. So it is that alone since time began Jesus Christ our Saviour is not acknowledged as an ordinary human king - even by the most exalted on earth - but worshipped as the true Son of the God of the universe and as Himself God.

And no wonder. For which of the kings who ever lived achieved such greatness as to fill the ears and mouths of all men on earth with his name? What king established laws so just and impartial, and was strong enough to have them proclaimed in the hearing of all mankind from the ends of the earth and to the furthest limit of the entire world? Who made the barbarous, uncivilized customs of uncivilized races give place to his own civilized and most humane laws? Who was for whole ages attacked on every side, yet displayed such superhuman greatness as to be for ever in his prime and to remain young throughout his life? Who so firmly established a people unheard-of from the beginning of time that it is not hidden in some corner of the earth but is found in every place under the sun? Who so armed his soldiers with the weapons of true religion that their souls proved tougher than steel in their battles with their opponents? Which of the kings wields such power, leads his armies after death, sets up trophies over his enemies, and fills every place, district, and city, Greek or non-Greek, with votive offerings - his own royal houses and sacred temples, like this cathedral with its exquisite ornaments and offerings?

These things are indeed awe-inspiring and overwhelming, astonishing and amazing, and serve as clear proofs that our Saviour is King; for now too

He spoke, and they were made;
He commanded, and they were created (Ps. xxxiii. 9 and cxlviii. 5.).

What indeed could withstand the will of the sovereign Lord and Ruler the Word of God Himself? These things, again, call for a lengthy exposition of their own, if we are to examine them carefully and interpret them. But less importance attaches to the efforts of those who have laboured, in the eyes of Him whom we name God, when He looks at the live temple consisting of us all, and views the house of living and immovable stones (1 Peter ii. 4.), well and securely based on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone (Eph. ii. 20–1). This store was rejected by the master builders not only of that old building which no longer exists, but also of the building that still stands and consists of most of mankind - bad builders of bad buildings. But it was accepted by the Father, who laid it then to be for all time the head of the corner of this our common Church. This temple built of you yourselves, a living temple of a living God, the greatest truly majestic sanctuary, I say, whose innermost shrines are hidden from the mass of men and are in truth a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies, who would dare to examine and describe? Who could ever look inside the surrounding temple buildings, except the Great High Priest of the universe, who alone is permitted to search out the secrets of every rational soul?

But perhaps there is one other for whom, alone among equals, it is possible to take the second place after Him. I mean the commander at the head of this army, whom the first and great High Priest (Heb, iv. 14.) Himself has honoured with second place in the priestly offices here performed, the shepherd of your spiritual flock, who by the allotment and judgement of the Father was set over your people, as if He had Himself appointed him His votary and interpreter, the new Aaron or Melchizedek, made like the Son of God (Heb. vii. x, 3.), abiding and guarded by Him continually through the common prayers of you all. Let him then be permitted alone after the first and greatest High Priest, if not in the first place at any rate in the second, to see and examine the innermost recesses of your souls; for through long experience he has made a thorough test of every man, and by his enthusiasm and attentiveness he has disposed you all in the order and teaching of true religion; and of all men he is best able to give an account to match his deeds of all that by divine power he has accomplished.

Our first and great High Priest tells us that whatever He sees the Father doing, that the Son does likewise (John v. 19.). This one looks to the First as to a teacher, with the pure eyes of the mind, and whatever he sees Him doing, that he takes as an archetype and pattern, and like an artist he has moulded its image, to the best of his ability, into the closest likeness. In no respect is he inferior to that Bezalel whom God Himself filled with a spirit of wisdom and understanding, and with technical and scientific knowledge, and chose to be architect of the temples that symbolized the heavenly types. In the same way this man, having the whole Christ, the Word, the Wisdom, the Light, impressed upon his soul, has built this magnificent shrine for God Most High, resembling in its essence the pattern of the better one as the visible resembles the invisible. Words cannot do justice to his generosity, to his liberal hand, so insatiable in its determination, or to the eagerness of you all, to the generous scale of your contributions, as in splendid rivalry you strove to be in no way behind him in this same purpose.

This site, to put first things first, which by the machinations of our opponents had been buried under a heap of filthy rubbish, he did not disregard or abandon to the malignity of those responsible, though he could have gone to any of the innumerable sites that abounded in the city, and so found an easy solution of the problem and a means of avoiding trouble. Instead, he first braced himself to his task, then roused all Christian people by his enthusiasm, gathered them all together in one great body, and launched his first campaign; for he felt that the church which had been assailed by her enemies, which had suffered before the rest and had endured the same persecutions as we, but before they came to us, and which was like a mother bereft of her children, should be the first to share the enjoyment of the All-Gracious God's munificence. For when the Great Shepherd (Heb. xiii. 20.) had driven away the wild beasts and wolves and every kind of savage creature, and had, as the word of God declares, broken the teeth of the lions (Ps. Iviii. 6.), deeming it good that His sons should again come together, it was most proper that he should erect the fold of the flock, in order to shame the enemy and avenger and publicly condemn the crimes of the sacrilegious enemies of God.

Now these men no longer exist, these enemies of God - in fact they never did; for after bringing distress on other people and on themselves too, they paid to justice a penalty not to be laughed at, utterly ruining themselves, their friends, and their families. Thus the predictions inscribed so long ago on sacred tablets have been proved trustworthy by events. In them the voice of God speaks the truth throughout, but listen to these declarations about them.

A sword have the wicked drawn, they have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
To slay the upright in heart.
May their sword enter their own hearts,

And may their bows be broken (Ps. xxxvii. 13–14.).

And again:

Their memorial has perished with a resounding crash,
And their name Thou hast blotted out for ever and for ever and ever (Ps. ix. 6, 5.).

For indeed, when they were in trouble,

They cried, and there was none to save;
To the Lord, and He did not listen to them.
They were bound hand and foot and fell;
But we have risen and have been set uprights (Ps. xviii. 41, xx. 8.).

And listen to this prophecy:

Lord, in Thy city Thou shalt set their image at nought (Ps. lxxiii. 20.).
The truth of that statement has been established for all to see.

These men, like the giants of old (A reference to the Greek legend.), joined battle with God and have brought their lives to this miserable end. By contrast, the Church that was desolate and rejected by men has by her inspired endurance won the victory we have seen, so that the prophetic voice of Isaiah calls aloud to her thus:

Be glad, thirsty desert;
Let the desert rejoice, and blossom as a lily;
The desert places shall blossom forth and rejoice.
Be strong, weak hands and feeble knees:
Take courage, you that are timid at heart;
Be strong, do not fear.
Lo, our God dispenses justice and will dispense;
He will come and save us.
For (says he) in the desert water broke out,
And a channel in thirsty soil;
And the dry ground shall become lush meadows,
And on the thirsty soil shall be a spring of water (Is, xxxv. 1–7.).

These things were foretold in words long ago, and set down in sacred books; but the fulfilment has reached us no longer by hearsay but in fact. This desert, this dry ground, this defenceless widow - they cut down her gates with axes as in a thicket of trees, together breaking her down with hatchet and stonemason's hammer; they destroyed her books and set on fire the sanctuary of God; they profaned to the ground the dwelling-place of His name; all that passed by the way plucked her fruit, having first broken down her fences; the boar from the thicket ravaged her and the solitary wild beast devoured her - yet by the, miraculous power of Christ, now when He wills it, she has become like a lily. At that time by His command, as of a father who cares, she was disciplined:

For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines,
And He whips every son whom He acknowledges (Prov. Iii 12 and Heb. Xii. 6.).

In moderation, then, she was suitably corrected; and now once more she is commanded to rejoice again, and she blossoms like a lily and breathes her sweet divine odour on all mankind; for, as the Scripture says, in the desert water broke out, the stream of the divine regeneration by the saving baptism; and now what a little while ago was desert has become lush meadows, and on the thirsty soil has gushed a spring of living water. Strength has indeed come to hands that before were weak; and to the strength of those hands these great and splendid works bear witness. The once diseased and sagging knees have recovered their normal movement, and march straight forward along the road to the knowledge of God, in haste to rejoin the flock of the All-Gracious Shepherd. If the tyrants' threats have reduced some souls to torpor, even they are not passed over by the Saving Word as incurable: to them He freely gives the healing medicine, urging them on towards the divine comfort:

Take courage, you that are timid at heart;
Be strong, do not fear.

The word which foretold that she whom God had allowed to become desolate should enjoy these blessings was heard and readily understood by this new and splendid Zerubbabel of ours, after that bitter captivity and the abomination of desolation (Dan. xii. II and Matt. xxiv. 15.). He did not pass the body over as dead, but he made it his very first task, by means of entreaties and prayers, to propitiate the Father, with the warm approval of you all. Taking the only Quickener of the dead as ally and co-worker, he raised up the fallen church, after first cleansing her and curing her sickness; and he clothed her with a garment - not the old one she had had from the first, but one that accorded with the further instructions of the divine oracles which emphatically declare: `The final glory of this house shall be greater than the former (Hag. ii. 9. The next six paragraphs contain the earliest extant description of a Christian church. If the reader finds it hard to visualize the building, he must remember that Eusebius is not writing an architectural specification for the information of posterity, but voicing the emotions of a mass meeting at the wonderful new birth of the Church, which he sees figured and presented in concrete form in the magnificent cathedral at Tyre, of which every feature has for him a symbolical meaning.).

Accordingly, the whole area that he took in was much larger, and `i he gave the outer enclosure the protection of a wall surrounding the whole, to provide the maximum safety for the entire structure. Then he opened up a gateway, wide and towering high, to receive the rays of the rising sun, thus providing even those who stood outside the sacred precincts with an unlimited view of the interior, and as it were turning the eyes even of strangers to the Faith towards the first entrances, so that no one should hurry past without being profoundly moved by the thought of the former desolation and the miraculous transformation now: he hoped that perhaps emotion at the mere sight would turn people and propel them towards the entrance.

He does not permit a man who has passed inside the gates to go at once with unhallowed and unwashed feet into the holy places within; he has left a very wide space between the church proper and the first entrances, adorning it all round with four colonnades at right angles, so that the outer walls turn the site into a quadrangle and pillars rise on every side. The space between these he has filled with wooden screens of trellis work to a proportionate height. In the middle he left a clear space where the sky can be seen, so that the air is bright and open to the sun's rays. There he placed symbols of sacred purifications, constructing fountains exactly in front of the cathedral: these with their ample flow of fresh water enable those who are proceeding towards the centre of the sacred precincts to purify themselves. For all who enter, this is the first stopping-place, lending beauty and splendour to the whole and at the same time providing those still in need of elementary instruction with the station they require.

Passing beyond this wonderful sight, he opened passages to the cathedral through still more numerous gateways inside the court. In the full blaze of the sun once more, he sited three gates on one side: the centre one he dignified with height and breadth far exceeding those of the outside pair, and by providing bronze plates (Meaning doubtful: possibly `almanacs'.) bound with iron, and elaborate reliefs, he gave it breathtaking loveliness, so that it looks like a queen between two humble bodyguards. In the same way he determined the number of the gateways to the colonnades along both sides of the whole edifice: over the colonnades, to admit still more light, he designed separate openings into the buildings; and these he ornamented elaborately with exquisite wood-carvings.

The basilica itself (Churches of this period followed the design of the public buildings in the Roman forum.) he built solidly of still richer materials in abundance, never for a moment counting the cost. This is not, I think, the time to state the precise measurements of the building, or to describe in full its dazzling beauty, the incredible vastness, the brilliant appearance of the workmanship, the towering walls that reach for the sky, and the costly cedars of Lebanon that form the ceiling. Even about them the inspired word has something to tell us.

The trees of the Lord shall be glad,
The cedars of Lebanon which He planted (Ps. civ. 16.).

I need not go into details now about the perfection of the overall design and the superlative beauty of the individual parts, for the evidence of our eyes makes instruction through the ears unnecessary. But I will say this: after completing the great building I have described, he furnished it with thrones high up, to accord with the dignity of the prelates, and also with benches arranged conveniently throughout. In addition to all this he placed in the middle the Holy of Holies - the altar - excluding the general public from this part too by surrounding it with wooden trellis-work wrought by the craftsmen with exquisite artistry, a marvellous sight for all who see it.

Not even the floor was overlooked by him. This he made bright with marble laid in wonderful patterns going on next to the outside of the building, where he constructed halls and chambers along both sides on a great scale skilfully uniting them with the fabric of the basilica so that they share the openings that let light into the central building. These, too, were provided for those still in need of cleansing and sprinkling with water and the Holy Ghost, and were the work of our most peaceful Solomon, who built the temple of God, so that the prophecy I quoted earlier is no longer mere words but plain fact; for the final glory of this house has become and now in truth is greater than the former.

It was natural and right that - as her Shepherd and Lord had once for all accepted death on her behalf, and after His Passion had changed the foul body which for her sake He had put on into His dazzling glorious body, and brought the very flesh that was dissolved from perishability to imperishability (1 Cor. xv. 42.)—so in her turn the Church should reap the benefit of the Saviour's labours. For having received from Him the promise of much better things than these (An allusion to Heb. xi. 39-40.), she longs to receive permanently and for all time the much greater glory of the regeneration in the resurrection of an imperishable body, with the choir of the angels of light in the kingdom of God beyond the skies, and with Christ Jesus Himself, the great Benefactor and Saviour. Meanwhile, in the present she who was once widowed and desolate has by God's grace been wreathed with these blossoms, and has become in truth like a lily, as the prophecy declares; and having donned her bridal dress and put on the garland of loveliness, she is taught by Isaiah to dance, so to speak, offering her thanks to God the King in words of praise. Listen to what she says:

Let my soul rejoice in the Lord;
For He has clothed me with the mantle of salvation and the tunic of gladness;
He has wreathed me like a bridegroom with a chaplet, And like a bride He has adorned me with ornaments,
And like the ground that grows its blossom,
And as a garden will cause what is sown in it to spring up,
So the Lord, the LORD, has caused righteousness and rejoicing to spring up before all the heathen (Is. lxi. 10-11.).

With such words on her lips she dances. And how does the Bridegroom, the heavenly Word, Jesus Christ Himself, answer her? Listen to His words:

Do not fear because you have been put to shame.
Or tremble because you have been reproached;
For your everlasting shame you will forget,
And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
Not as a wife forsaken and without hope has the Lord called you,
Nor as a woman hated from her youth, says your God.
For a little while I forsook you,
And with great mercy will I comfort you.
With a little wrath I turned my face from you,
And with everlasting mercy will I comfort you,
Says your Deliverer, the Lord.
Awake, awake!
You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath;
For the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath, you have drained and emptied.
There was none to comfort you out of all the children whom you bore,
And there was none to take your hand.
Lo, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath;
And never again shall you drink it:
I will put it into the hands of those who wronged you and humbled you.
Awake, awake! put on your strength, put on your glory:
Shake off the dust and stand up.
Sit down: loose the band from your neck.
Raise your eyes and look about you, and see your children gathered together:
Lo, they are gathered together and have come to you.
As I live, says the Lord, you will put them all on as an ornament,
And wrap them about you like the ornaments of a bride.
For your desolate, destroyed, and ruined places will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
And those who swallow you up will be removed far from you.
For the sons you have lost will say in your ears,
`The place is too narrow for me: give me a place where I may dwell.'
And you will say in your heart, `Who has begotten me these?
I am childless and a widow: who has brought these up for me?
I was left alone: these my children, whence came they (Is. liv. 4-8, Ii. 17–23, lii. 1–2, xlix. 18–21.)? ’

These things Isaiah foretold, these things had long ago been set down about us in sacred books, but it was necessary, was it not, that their truth should one day be shown by facts. And since this is the way in which the Bridegroom, the Word, speaks to His Bride, the Sacred and Holy Church, it was with good reason that this escort of the Bride stretched out your hands in the common prayers of you all and woke and raised up the desolate one who lay dead, despaired of by men, by the will of God the universal King and by the manifestation of the power of Jesus Christ; and when he had raised her he made her such as the precepts of the sacred oracles taught him she should be.

This cathedral is a marvel of beauty, utterly breathtaking, especially to those who have eyes only for the appearance of material things. But all marvels pale before the archetypes, the metaphysical prototypes and heavenly patterns of material things - I mean the re-establishment of the divine spiritual edifice in our souls. This edifice the Son of God Himself created in His own image, and in every way and in every respect He endowed it with the divine likeness, an imperishable nature, a non-physical spiritual essence, remote from any earthly matter and actively intelligent. Once for all, at the first He transformed it from non-existence to existence, making it a holy bride and a most sacred temple for Himself and the Father. This He Himself plainly reveals in this confession:

I will dwell in them and walk in them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Cor. vi. 16; a conflation of Lev. xxvi. 12 and Ez. xxxvii. 27.).

Such is the perfect and cleansed soul, begotten from the beginning so as to bear the image of the heavenly Word.

But when, through the envy and jealousy of the demon that loves evil, she became by her own free choice a lover of sensuality and evil, the Deity withdrew from her, and bereft of a protector, she was soon captured, proving an easy prey to the inveiglements of those so long bitter against her. Overthrown by the battering-rams and engines of her unseen and spiritual foes, she came crashing to the ground, so that not even one stone of her virtue remained standing on another in her; she lay full length on the ground dead, her natural thoughts about God gone without trace. As she lay prostrate, made as she was in the image of God (Gen. I. 27.), she was ravaged not by that boar out of the wood (Ps. lxxx. 13.) visible to us, but by some destroying demon and spiritual beasts of the field, who inflamed her with sensual passions as if with blazing arrows of their own wickedness (A reminiscence of Eph, vi. 16.), and set on fire the truly divine sanctuary of God, profaning to the ground the dwelling-place of His name (Ps. Ixxiv. 7.). Then they buried the unfortunate under a great heap of earth, and robbed her of the last hope of salvation.

But when she had paid the just penalty of her sues, the Protector, the Word, the divinely bright and saving One, restored her once more, obedient to the benevolent spirit of His Father, the All-Gracious. First He chose the souls of the supreme emperors, most dear to Him, and by their means He purged the whole world of all the wicked and pernicious people, and of the terrible God-hating tyrants themselves. Then He brought out into the open His own disciples, who all their lives had been dedicated to Him but, as in a storm of evils, secretly concealed tinder His sheltering wings, and with His Father's munificence He gave them a worthy reward. Again by their means He purged the souls which a little while before were fouled and heaped with rubbish of every sort and the debris of impious decrees: He cleansed them with pickaxes and two-pronged hoes - the penetrating lessons that He taught; and when He had made the place of the understanding of you all bright and shining, thenceforth He entrusted it to this leader, so wise and dear to God. An acute and discriminating judge of other matters, he is well able to appreciate and evaluate the character of the souls entrusted to his care; and from almost the first day he has never yet ceased to build, finding the right place, now for the shining gold, now for the tested, pure silver and the precious, costly stones among you all. So once more a sacred, mystic prophecy is fulfilled in what he has done for you - the prophecy that says:

Lo, I prepare for you the carbuncle for your stone,
And for your foundations the sapphire,
And for your battlements the jasper,
And for your gates stones of crystal,
And for your enclosing wall choice stones,
And all your sons taught of God,.
And in perfect peace your children;
And in righteousness shall you be built (Is. liv. 11–14.).

Building truly in righteousness, he equitably divided the whole people in accordance with their powers. With some, he walled round the outer enclosure - that was enough for them - making unwavering faith the protective barrier. This accounted for. far the greater part of the people, who were not strong enough to support a greater edifice. To some he entrusted the entrances to the church proper, giving them the task of waiting at the doors to guide those entering, since he justifiably regarded them as gateways to the house of God. Others he made under-props to the first outer pillars that form a quadrangle round the court, bringing them for the first time into touch with the letter of the four gospels. Others he joined to the basilica along both sides still under instruction and in process of advancing, but not very far removed from the divine vision that the faithful enjoy of what is innermost. From these last he chooses the undefiled souls, purified like gold by divine washing; these he makes under-props to pillars much grander than the outer ones, drawing on the innermost mystic teaching of Holy Writ, while others he illumines with openings towards the light. With one huge gateway, consisting of the praise of our Sovereign Lord, the one only God, he adorns the whole cathedral; and on. both sides of the Father's supreme power he supplies the secondary beams of the light of Christ, and the Holy Ghost (Eusebius intends no heresy: As Christ is begotten of, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from, the Father, the Father may not unnaturally be deemed primary.), As to the rest, from end to end of the building he reveals in all its abundance and rich variety the clear light of the truth in every man, and everywhere and from every source he has found ;room for the living, securely-laid, and unshakable stories of human souls. In this way he is constructing out of them all a great and kingly house, glowing and full of light within and without, in that not only heir heart and mind, but their body too, has been gloriously enriched with the many-blossomed adornment of chastity and temperance.

There are also in this shrine thrones and an infinite number of benches and seats, all the souls, on which rest the Holy Spirit's gifts, just as in olden time, they appeared to the holy apostles, and others 'with them, to whom were revealed dividing tongues like flames of fire, fire which rested on each one of them. (Acts ii. 3.) In the ruler of them all (Paulinus.) we may say that the entire Christ Himself has found a resting-place, and in those who take second place to him proportionately, according to each man's capacity to receive the power. of Christ and the Holy Spirit divided among them (Heb. ii. 4.). The souls of some might be benches for the angels assigned to each man with a view to his instruction and protection. As to the solemn, great, and unique altar, what could it be if not the spotless Holy of Holies of the common Priest of them all - His soul? Standing beside it on the right-hand side (Rom. viii. 34 and Heb. vii. 25), the great High Priest of the universe (Heb. Iv. 14), Jesus Himself, the only begotten of God, receives with shining eyes and upturned hands the sweet-smelling incense of all the worshippers, and the bloodless and immaterial prayer-sacrifices, and transmits them to the Father in heaven, the God of the universe. He Himself first adores the Father, and alone renders Him the honour due; then He beseeches Him to continue favourable and propitious towards us for ever (Rom. Viii. 34 and Heb vii. 25).

Such is the great cathedral which throughout the whole world under the sun the great Creator of the universe, the Word, has built, Himself again fashioning this spiritual image on earth of the vaults beyond the skies, so that by the whole creation and by rational beings on earth His Father might be honoured and worshipped. As for the realm above the skies and the patterns there of things here on earth, the Jerusalem above, as it is called (Gal. iv. 26.), the heavenly Mount Zion and the celestial city of the Living God, in which countless hosts of assembled angels and the church of the first-born enrolled in heaven give glory with praises beyond our utterance or understanding to their Maker, the supreme Ruler of the universe - these things no mortal can worthily hymn; for indeed eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and into the heart of man there have not entered, these very things which God has prepared for those that love Him (I Cor. ii. 9, slightly modified.). Of these things we have now in part been found worthy; so let us all - men, women, and children, small and great together, with one spirit and one soul - everlastingly give thanks and praise to the Author of all the blessings we enjoy. He is very merciful to all our iniquities, He cures all our diseases, He redeems our life from destruction, He crowns us with pity and compassion, He satisfies our desire with good things. He has not dealt with us according to our sins or rewarded us according to our iniquities; for as far as the east is from the west, He has removed our iniquities from us. Just as a father pities his sons, the Lord has pitied those who fear Him (Ps. ciii. 3–5, 10–13, slightly modified.).

Let us now and for all time to come rekindle the memory of these things; and let the Author of the present assembly and of this joyous and most glorious day, the Lord of the festival Himself, be before the eyes of our mind night and day at every hour and, may I say, at every breath. Let us love and reverence Him with all the power of our soul; and let us now stand up and with aloud voice of supplication beseech Him to shelter us in His fold and preserve us to the end, bestowing on us His own unbreakable, unshakable, and everlasting peace in Christ Jesus our Saviour, through whom be glory to Him for ever and ever. Amen.

Copies of imperial laws

5. At this point it would be well to reproduce also the imperial ordinances of Constantine and Licinius in translations from the Latin (The document that follows, based on the Edict of Milan, is a rescript sent to an individual governor, to whose intelligence the extraordinary repetitiveness does little credit. Eusebius's Greek is marred by several omissions and mistakes, apparently due to deficiencies in his copy of the Latin. These are here corrected from the Latin as preserved in Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum.).

COPY OF IMPERIAL ORDINANCES, TRANSLATED PROM LATIN

For a long time past we have made it our aim that freedom of worship should not be denied, but that every man, according to his own inclination and wish, should be given permission to practise his religion as he chose. We had therefore given command that Christians and non-Christians alike should be allowed to keep the faith of their own religious beliefs and worship. But in view of the fact that numerous conditions of different kinds had evidently been attached to that rescript, in which such a right was granted to those very persons, it is possible that some of them were soon afterwards deterred from such observance.

When with happy auspices I, Constantinus Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, had arrived at Milan, and were enquiring into all matters that concerned the advantage and benefit of the public, among the other measures directed to the general good, or rather as questions of highest priority, we decided to establish rules by which respect and reverence for the Deity would be secured, i.e. to give the Christians and all others liberty to follow whatever form of worship they chose, so that whatsoever divine and heavenly powers exist might be enabled to show favour to us and to all who live under our authority. This therefore is the decision that we reached by sound and careful reasoning: no one whatever was to be denied the right to follow and choose the Christian observance or form of worship; and everyone was to have permission to give his mind to that form of worship which he feels to be adapted to his needs, so that the Deity might be enabled to show us in all things His customary care and generosity. It was desirable to send a rescript stating that this was our pleasure, in order that after the complete cancellation of the conditions contained in the earlier letter (The Edict of Galerius.) which we sent to Your Dedicatedness about the Christians, the procedure that seemed quite unjustified and alien to our clemency should also be cancelled, and that now every individual still desirous of observing the Christian form of worship should without any interference be allowed to do so. All this we have decided to explain very fully to Your Diligence, that you may know that we have given the said Christians free and absolute permission to practise their own form of worship. When you observe that this permission has been granted by us absolutely, Your Dedicatedness will understand that permission has been given to any others who may wish to follow their own observance or form of worship—a privilege obviously consonant with the tranquillity of our times—so that every man may have permission to choose and practise whatever religion he wishes. This we have done to make it plain that we are not belittling any rite or form of worship.

With regard to the Christians, we also give this further ruling. In the letter sent earlier to Your Dedicatedness precise instructions were laid down at an earlier date with reference to their places where earlier on it was their habit to meet. We now decree that if it should appear that any persons have bought these places either from our treasury or from some other source, they must restore them to these same Christians without payment and without any demand for compensation, and there must be no negligence or hesitation. If any persons happen to have received them as a gift, they must restore the said places to the said Christians without loss of time; provided that if either those who have bought these same places or those who have received them as a gift wish to appeal to our generosity, they may apply to the prefect and judge of the region, in order that they also may benefit by our liberality. All this property is to be handed over to the Christian body immediately, by energetic action on your part, without any delay.

And since the aforesaid Christians not only possessed those places where it was their habit to meet, but are known to have possessed other places also, belonging not to individuals but to the legal estate of the whole body, i.e. of the Christians, all this property, in accordance with the law set forth above, you will order to be restored without any argument whatever to the aforesaid Christians, i.e. to their body and local associations, the provision mentioned above being of course observed, namely, that those persons who restore the same without seeking compensation, as we mentioned above, may expect to recoup their personal losses from our generosity.

In all these matters you must put all the energy you possess at the service of the aforesaid Christian body, in order that our command may be carried out with all possible speed, so that in this also our liberality may further the common and public tranquillity. For by this provision, as was mentioned above, the divine care for us of which we have been aware on many earlier occasions will remain with us unalterably for ever. And in order that the pattern of this our enactment and of our generosity may be brought to the notice of all, it is desirable that what we have written should be set forth by an edict of your own and everywhere published and brought to the notice of all, so that the enactment giving effect to this our generosity may be known to every citizen.