having been captured. But the emperor, who was most gentle in all things, treating the enemy humanely, commanded him to live quietly in Thessalonica. But he, having been quiet for a short time, was discovered to have hired some barbarians in order to fight again; and Constantine, having learned these things, commanded him to undergo capital punishment. Then affairs enjoyed complete quiet and calm by the unconquerable power of the cross, having been delivered from the wickedness of the tyrants. At that time the bishop of Aelia was Macarius, the well-named, having succeeded Hermonas. And the great Constantine, having become sole ruler, transferred all his care to divine things, building churches and lavishly enriching them from the public account with both money and expenditures, and all kinds of treasures, and he wrote a first law that things dedicated to idols be given to the Church of the Christians, and that those still worshipping idols should undergo capital punishment; he wrote a second law, that only Christians should serve in the army, and that they should rule over peoples and military camps. He wrote a third law, that the week of the saving passion, and that of Renewal, should be free from business. And thereafter there was deep peace and joy 4060 in the whole world, as all the nations daily had recourse to holy baptism, and with their own hands smashed their ancestral gods. But these things were not tolerable to the avenging demon, but again he plotted by himself how he might cut off such great joy of the Christians, and though he might make men deify the creation, he was no longer able to do so. For his deceit was exposed. But he attempted to persuade the unstable to rank the Creator with the creatures. And there was no small disturbance in the Churches of God, as a certain Arius of Alexandria was stirring things up and down, and disturbing the world. Some bishops, few in number, were joined with him, of whom the first was Eusebius of Nicomedia, and Eusebius son of Pamphilus, and others with them. And the great Constantine, seeing the great contention, was vexed in his soul, and first he attempted through exhortatory words and letters of both parties to dissolve the strife. But when he saw that the evil had become incurable, he ordered an ecumenical council to be held in the city of the Nicaeans. And three hundred and eighteen bishops in number gathered, of whom the most were confessors, bearing the marks of Jesus on their body. And 4061 with them was the all-praised and great Constantine, and when the matter was moved, they brought forth a written exposition of the faith, which is now recited orthodoxly in every Church. And those with Arius who persisted in the evil doctrine they repudiated, and exiled, and others were ordained in their place. And the emperor, having honored and greeted the bishops, dismissed them in peace to their own dioceses, rejoicing at the concord of the Churches. And he exhorted Macarius, the bishop of Aelia, who was present at the council and a champion of the apostolic doctrines, to search for the life-giving cross, and the God-receiving tomb, and all the holy places, and he likewise urged the other bishops to ask, if each saw anything for the completion of his own Church; and it was the nineteenth year of his reign, when the council at Nicaea took place. After these things the emperor sent his mother Helena, the praiseworthy and God-loving, to Jerusalem with letters and an abundance of money to Macarius of Jerusalem, for the search for the life-giving wood, and for the building of the holy places, as the empress herself requested, saying that she had seen a divine vision, commanding her to go to Jerusalem, and to bring to light the holy places that had been covered over by the lawless, and had been made to disappear for so many years. And the bishop, having learned that the

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συλληφθείς. Φιλαν θρώπως δὲ χρησάμενος ὁ κατὰ πάντα πραότατος βασιλεὺς τῷ δυσμενεῖ, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ἐν Θεσσαλο νίκῃ διάγειν ἡσυχάζοντα. Ὁ δὲ μικρὸν ἡσυχάσας ἐφωράθη βαρβάρους τινὰς μισθωσάμενος πρὸς τὸ αὗθις ἀναμαχέσασθαι· μαθὼν δὲ ταῦτα ὁ Κωνσταν τῖνος ἐκέλευσεν κεφαλικὴν αὐτὸν ὑποστῆναι τιμω ρίαν. Τότε τελείως τὰ πράγματα ἡσυχίας καὶ γαλή νης ἀπήλαυσε τῇ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἀηττήτῳ δυνάμει, τῆς τῶν τυράννων μοχθηρίας ἀπαλλαγείσης. Κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον ὁ τῆς Αἰλίας ἐπίσκοπος Μακάριος ὁ φερώνυμος ἦν Ἑρμωνᾶν διαδεξάμενος. Ὁ δὲ μέγας Κωνσταντῖνος μονοκράτωρ γενόμενος πᾶσαν τὴν φροντίδα εἰς τὰ θεῖα μετήνεγκεν, ἀνοι κοδομῶν ἐκκλησίας καὶ φιλοτίμως πλουτῶν αὐτὰς ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου λόγου ἔν τε χρήμασι καὶ ἀναλώμασι, καὶ παντοίοις κειμηλίοις, καὶ πρῶτον νόμον ἔγραψε ἀποδίδοσθαι τὰ τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἀφιερωμένα τῇ τῶν Χριστιανῶν Ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ τοὺς ἔτι εἰδωλολα τροῦντας κεφαλικαῖς ὑφίστασθαι τιμωρίαις· δεύτε ρον νόμον ἔγραψε, Χριστιανοὺς μόνους στρατεύε σθαι, ἐθνῶν τε καὶ στρατοπέδων τούτους ἄρχειν. Τρίτον νόμον ἔγραψε, ἀπράκτους εἶναι τήν τε τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους ἑβδομάδα, καὶ τὴν τῆς ∆ιακαινησίμου. Καὶ ἦν λοιπὸν εἰρήνη βαθεῖα καὶ χαρὰ 4060 ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ, πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ὁσημέραι προστρεχόντων τῷ θείῳ βαπτίσματι, καὶ ἰδίαις χερ σὶν τοὺς πατρῴους θεοὺς συντριβόντων. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα οὐκ ἦν φορητὰ τῷ ἀλάστορι δαίμονι, ἀλλὰ πάλιν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐδραματούργει, πῶς ἂν ἐκ κόψειεν τὴν τοσαύτην τῶν Χριστιανῶν χαρμονὴν, καὶ ποιήσαι μὲν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους θεοποιῆσαι τὴν κτίσιν, οὐκ ἔτι δὲ οἷόστε ἦν. Ἐφωράθη γὰρ ἡ ἀπά τη αὐτοῦ. Τὸν δὲ Κτίστην συντάξαι τοῖς κτίσμασι παραπεῖσαι ἐπειράθη τοὺς ἀστηρίκτους. Καὶ ἦν τά ραχος οὐκ ὀλίγος ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ Θεοῦ, Ἀρείου τινὸς Ἀλεξανδρέως ἄνω καὶ κάτω κινοῦντος, καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην ταράττοντος. Συναπήχθη σαν αὐτῷ ἐπίσκοποί τινες ὀλίγοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν, ὧν πρῶτος Εὐσέβιος ὁ Νικομηδείας, καὶ Εὐσέ βιος ὁ Παμφίλου, καὶ ἕτεροι σὺν αὐτοῖς. Θεω ρῶν δὲ τὴν μεγάλην φιλονεικίαν ὁ μέγιστος Κων σταντῖνος, ἠνιᾶτο τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἐπει ρᾶτο διὰ παραινετικῶν ῥημάτων καὶ γραμμάτων τῶν ἑκατέρων μερῶν διαλῦσαι τὴν ἔριν. Ὡς δὲ εἶ δεν ἀνήκεστον γενόμενον τὸ κακὸν, προσέταξε γε νέσθαι οἰκουμενικὴν σύνοδον ἐν τῇ Νικαέων πόλει. Καὶ συνῆλθον ἐπίσκοποι τὸν ἀριθμὸν τριακόσιοι δέκα καὶ ὀκτὼ, ὧν οἱ πλεῖστοι ἦσαν ὁμολογηταὶ, καὶ στί γματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέροντες. Ἦν 4061 δὲ σὺν αὐτοῖς ὁ πανεύφημος καὶ μέγας Κωνσταντῖνος, καὶ δὴ τῆς ὑποθέσεως κινηθείσης, ἔγγραφον πίστεως ἔκθεσιν ἐξήνεγκαν, τὴν κατὰ πᾶσαν Ἐκ κλησίαν ὀρθοδόξως νῦν ἀπαγγελλομένην. Τοὺς δὲ περὶ Ἄρειον ἐπιμένοντας τῇ κακοδοξίᾳ ἀπεκήρυξαν, καὶ ἐξώρισαν, καὶ ἐχειροτονήθησαν ἕτεροι ἀντ' αὐ τῶν. Φιλοτιμησάμενος δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπισκόπους καὶ ἀσπασάμενος ἀπέλυσε μετ' εἰρήνης εἰς τὰς ἰδίας παροικίας, χαίρων ἐπὶ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ τῶν Ἐκκλη σιῶν. Παρεκελεύσατο δὲ τῷ τῆς Αἰλίας ἐπισκόπῳ Μα καρίῳ παρόντι ἐν τῇ συνόδῳ, καὶ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν δογμάτων ὑπερμαχοῦντι, ἀναζητῆσαι τὸν ζωοποιὸν σταυρὸν, καὶ τὸ θεόληπτον μνῆμα, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους τόπους, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐπισκόπους ὁμοίως προετρέψατο αἰτήσασθαι, εἴ τι συνορᾷ πρὸς ἀπαρ τισμὸν ἕκαστος τῆς ἰδίας Ἐκκλησίας· ἦν δὲ ἐννεα καιδέκατος τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ ἐνιαυτὸς, ὅτε ἐγένετο ἡ κατὰ Νίκαιαν σύνοδος. Μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπέστειλεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἑαυτοῦ μητέρα Ἑλένην τὴν ἀξιέπαινον καὶ θεοφιλῆ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα μετὰ γραμμάτων καὶ χρη μάτων ἀφθονίας πρὸς τὸν Μακάριον Ἱεροσολύ μων, ἐπὶ ἀναζητήσει τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ ξύλου, καὶ οἰκοδομῇ τῶν ἁγίων τόπων, αὐτῆς αἰτησαμένης τῆς βασιλίδος, φασκούσης ὀπτασίαν θείαν ἑωρακέναι, κελεύουσαν αὐτῇ τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καταλαβεῖν, καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους τόπους εἰς φῶς ἀγαγεῖν χωσθέντας ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνόμων, καὶ ἀφανεῖς γενομένους, ἐπὶ τοσούτους χρόνους. Μαθὼν δὲ ὁ ἐπίσκοπος ἀφικομένην τὴν

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