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daily of all the nations to the faith of Christ and being baptized and shattering their ancestral idols. And he legislated that the cubit of the rising of the river Nile in Egypt be brought up in the church, and not in the Serapeum, as was customary for the Greeks. And Licinius, before he went completely mad, coming to Antioch, put to death Theotecnus the magician and those with him after many tortures. ιεʹ. ιζʹ. ιθʹ. ιʹ. εʹ. ιγʹ. εʹ. In this year Licinius began to stir up a persecution against Christians. and first he persecuted the Christians in the palace, having forgotten the overthrow of the tyrants before him and the treaties with the great Constantine. And being mad for women and committing injustices 17 and murdering Christians, he did not cease; The divine Constantine, having commanded him by letter to desist from his madness, did not persuade him. This man also caused Basileus, the bishop of Amaseia, and, as some say, also the holy forty martyrs and many others to be perfected through tortures. Alexander, bishop of Byzantium, for 23 years. ιϛʹ. ιηʹ. κʹ. αʹ. ϛʹ. ιδʹ. ϛʹ. In this year Arius, named for madness, in Alexandria revealed his own heresy in church and worked a schism, the evil one cooperating with him, not being able to bear to see the peace of the church. And there was also a very violent earthquake in Alexandria, so that many houses fell and destroyed many people. ιζʹ. ιθʹ. καʹ. βʹ. ζʹ. ιεʹ. ζʹ. In this year the great Constantine, having learned of the movement of Arius, being greatly grieved, wrote a common letter to Alexander and Arius, advising them to put an end to the evil movement and be at peace with one another. And he also sent Hosius, the bishop of Corduba, to Alexandria concerning Arius and to the East to correct the easterners who, from old custom, celebrated Easter in a more Jewish manner. But he returned having accomplished nothing in either matter. In this year the great Constantine also appointed Constans, his son, as Caesar and sent him to the Gauls. ιηʹ. κʹ. κβʹ. γʹ. ηʹ. ιϛʹ. ηʹ. In this year, as some say, the great Constantine with Crispus, his son, was baptized in Rome by Sylvester, as those in old Rome to this day have the baptistery as a testimony that he was baptized in Rome by Sylvester after the overthrow of the tyrants. But those in the East say that he was baptized around the time of his death in Nicomedia by Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian; where it also happened that he fell asleep. For he was postponing, they say, his baptism, hoping to be baptized in the river Jordan. 18 But to me it seems more true that he was baptized by Sylvester in Rome, and that the decrees carried in his name to Miltiades are forgeries by the Arians, who are eager from this to acquire glory for themselves, or who even wish to slander the all-pious emperor, showing him from this to be unbaptized, which is absurd and false. For if he had not been baptized at the synod of Nicaea, then he would not have partaken of the divine mysteries, nor would he have prayed with the holy fathers, which is most absurd both to say and to think. But other Arians and Greeks slander the great Constantine as illegitimate; but these men also lie. For his genealogy was royal even before Diocletian. For his father Constantius was the grandson of the emperor Claudius and from Helen his first wife he had the great Constantine. And he also had other sons from Theodora, the daughter of Maximian Herculius, and sister of Maxentius who had been tyrant in Rome and was slain by Constantine near the Mulvian bridge (when he also beheld the sign of the cross in the sky), and of Fausta, the wife of the great Constantine. And let no one be surprised if, being pagans before baptism, the father and the son married two sisters. And their lineages are thus, as is set out below. 19 Constantius [the great] from Theodora,

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ὁσημέραι πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν τῇ πίστει Χριστοῦ καὶ βαπτιζομένων καὶ τὰ πατρῷα εἴδωλα συνθλαττόντων. τὸν δὲ πῆχυν τῆς ἀναβάσεως τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ποταμοῦ Νείλου ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐνομοθέτησεν ἀναφέρεσθαι, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ Σαραπίῳ, ὡς εἴθιστο τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. Λικίνιος δὲ πρὸ τοῦ τελείως μανῆναι εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν ἐλθὼν Θεότεκνον γόητα καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ μετὰ πολλὰς βασάνους ἀνεῖλεν. ιεʹ. ιζʹ. ιθʹ. ιʹ. εʹ. ιγʹ. εʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει Λικίνιος ἤρξατο κατὰ Χριστιανῶν διωγμὸν κινεῖν. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τοὺς ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ Χριστιανοὺς ἐδίωξε λήθην λαβὼν τῆς τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ τυράννων καθαιρέσεως καὶ τῶν πρὸς τὸν μέγαν Κωνσταντῖνον συνθηκῶν. γυναικομανῶν δὲ καὶ ἀδικῶν 17 καὶ φονεύων Χριστιανοὺς οὐκ ἐπαύετο· τούτῳ διὰ γραμμάτων ὁ θεῖος Κωνσταντῖνος κελεύσας ἀποστῆναι τῆς μανίας οὐκ ἔπεισεν. οὗτος καὶ Βασιλέα, τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Ἀμασείας, καί, ὥς τινές φασιν, καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους τεσσαράκοντα μάρτυρας καὶ ἄλλους πολλοὺς διὰ βασάνων τελειωθῆναι ἐποίησεν. Βυζαντίου ἐπίσκοπος Ἀλέξανδρος ἔτη κγʹ. ιϛʹ. ιηʹ. κʹ. αʹ. ϛʹ. ιδʹ. ϛʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει Ἄρειος, ὁ τῆς μανίας ἐπώνυμος, ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳτὴν ἑαυτοῦ αἵρεσιν ἐπ' ἐκκλησίας ἐφανέρωσε καὶ σχίσμα εἰργάσατο, συνεργοῦντος αὐτῷ τοῦ πονηροῦ μὴ φέροντος βλέπειν τὴν εἰρήνην τῆς ἐκκλησίας. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ σεισμὸς ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ λαβρότατος, ὥστε πεσεῖν οἰκίας πολλὰς καὶ λαὸν πολὺν ὀλέσαι. ιζʹ. ιθʹ. καʹ. βʹ. ζʹ. ιεʹ. ζʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει μαθὼν ὁ μέγας Κωνσταντῖνος τὴν τοῦ Ἀρείου κίνησιν σφόδρα λυπηθεὶς ἔγραψεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ καὶ Ἀρείῳ κοινὴν ἐπιστολήν, συμβουλεύων καταλῦσαι τὴν πονηρὰν κίνησιν καὶ εἰρηνεῦσαι εἰς ἀλλήλους. ἀπέστειλε δὲ καὶ Ὅσιον, τὸν ἐπίσκοπον Κουδρούβης, ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ περὶ Ἀρείου καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ διορθσόμενον τοὺς ἀνατολικοὺς ἐκ παλαιᾶς συνηθείας Ἰουδαϊκώτερον ἑορτάζοντας τὸ πάσχα. ὑπέστρεψε δὲ ἄπρακτος πρὸς ἀμφότερα. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει καὶ Κώνσταν, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ μέγας προεβάλετο καίσαρα καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Γαλλίας. ιηʹ. κʹ. κβʹ. γʹ. ηʹ. ιϛʹ. ηʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει, ὥς φασί τινες, Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ μέγας σὺν Κρίσπῳ, τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ, ἐν Ῥώμῃ ὑπὸ Σιλβέστρου ἐβαπτίσθη, ὡς οἱ κατὰ τὴν πρεσβυτέραν Ῥώμην μέχρι σήμερον τὸν βαπτιστῆρα ἔχουσιν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ὅτι ὑπὸ Σιλβέστρου ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἐβαπτίσθη μετὰ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν τυράννων. οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀνατολὴν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ φασὶν αὐτὸν περὶ τὸν θάνατον ὑπὸ Εὐσεβίου τοῦ Νικομηδέως Ἀρειανοῦ βεβαπτίσθαι· ἔνθα καὶ ἔτυχεν αὐτὸν κοιμηθῆναι. ἀναβαλλόμενος γὰρ ἦν, φασίν, τὸ βάπτισμα, ἐλπίζων ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ βαπτισθῆναι ποταμῷ. 18 ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀληθέστερον φαίνεται τὸ ὑπὸ Σιλβέστρου ἐν Ῥώμῃ βεβαπτίσθαι αὐτόν, καὶ τὰς ἐπ' ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ φερομένας διατάξεις πρὸς Μιλτιάδην πεπλασμένας εἶναι τοῖς Ἀρειανοῖς, δόξαν ἐντεῦθεν περιποιεῖσθαι σπουδάζουσιν ἑαυτοῖς, ἢ καὶ τὸν πανευσεβῆ βασιλέα κακίζειν ἐθέλουσιν, ἀβάπτιστον δεικνύντες ἐντεῦθεν, ὅπερ ἄτοπόν ἐστι καὶ ψευδές. εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ἦν βεβαπτισμένος ἐν τῇ κατὰ Νίκαιαν συνόδῳ, λοιπὸν οὐδὲ μετελάμβανε τῶν θείων μυστηρίων, οὐδὲ συνηύχετο τοῖς ἁγίοις πατράσιν, ὅπερ ἀτοπώτατόν ἐστι καὶ λέγειν καὶ φρονεῖν. ἄλλοι δὲ Ἀρειανοὶ καὶ Ἕλληνες ὡς νόθον διαβάλλουσι τὸν μέγαν Κωνσταντῖνον· ψεύδονται δὲ καὶ οὗτοι. ἡ γὰρ γενεαλογία αὐτοῦ βασιλικὴ ὑπῆρχε καὶ πρὸ ∆ιοκλητιανοῦ. ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ Κωνστάντιος θυγατρίδης ἦν Κλαυδίου τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ ἐξ Ἑλένης τῆς πρώτης αὐτοῦ γυναικὸς ἔσχε τὸν μέγαν Κωνσταντῖνον. εἶχε δὲ καὶ ἄλλους υἱοὺς ἐκ Θεοδώρας, τῆς θυγατρὸς Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ Ἐρκουλίου, ἀδελφῆς δὲ Μαξεντίου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Ῥώμην τυραννήσαντος καὶ ἀναιρεθέντος ὑπὸ Κωνσταντίνου περὶ Μουλυΐαν τὴν γέφυραν (ὅτε καὶ τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ σημεῖον ἐθεάσατο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ), καὶ Φαύστας, τῆς γαμετῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου. καὶ μηδεὶς θαυμαζέτω, εἰ πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἑλληνίζοντες δύο ἀδελφὰς ἔγημαν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ υἱός. εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ γενέσεις αὐτῶν οὕτως, ὡς ὑποτέτακται. 19 Κωνστάντιος [ὁ μέγας] ἐκ Θεοδώρας,