empress, with the bishops of the province met the empress. And immediately she commanded the bishops to make a search for the desired wood. And when all were at a loss about the place, and different people were relating different things from suspicion, the bishop of the city exhorted all to keep quiet, and to offer prayer more earnestly to God for this. And when this was done, the place was immediately shown by God to the bishop, in which the temple and the statue of the unclean demon had been established. Then the empress, using her imperial authority, gathering a multitude of many artisans and workers, ordered the temple of the demon to be overthrown from its foundations, and when this was done, the divine tomb appeared, and the place of the Skull, and not far off, three buried crosses; and having searched carefully, they also found the nails. Thenceforth, perplexity and distress seized the empress, as she sought which one was the Lord's cross. But the bishop resolved the doubt through faith. For by bringing each of the crosses to a sick woman of noble rank, who had been given up by all, and was breathing her last, he found only the one being 4064 sought; for as the shadow of the salutary [cross] drew near the dying woman, she who was breathless and motionless immediately leaped up by divine power, glorifying God with a loud voice. And the empress, with great joy and fear, taking up the life-giving cross, sent a part of it, along with the nails, to her son, but the rest, having made a silver reliquary, she handed over to the bishop of the city as a memorial for all generations. And having decreed that a church be built at the life-giving tomb and at holy Golgotha, and in Bethlehem, where the Lord was born in the flesh, and on the Mount of Olives, where the Lord, having blessed his disciples, was taken up, and having done many other good things, she returned to her son. And he, receiving her with joy, placing the portion of the precious cross in a golden case, handed it over to the bishop for safekeeping, having ordered that the Exaltation of the Cross be celebrated with annual commemorations. Of the nails, some he had forged into his own helmet, and others he mixed into the bridle of his horse, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "On that day there shall be upon the bridle of the horse, Holy to the Lord Almighty." And the emperor wrote to Bishop Macarius to hasten the building, and sent a supervisor of the work with a lavish supply of money, instructing him that the holy places be built magnificently, so that there be not such beauty in all the earth. And he also wrote to the governors of the province, to assist the work in every way from public resources, in money and expenses and materials. At that time the emperor was cheerfully celebrating the festival of his twentieth anniversary, giving thanks to God for all the good things which he had done in the time of his reign. The years that passed from the coming of Christ until the finding of the cross are three hundred and fifty-two, and from Adam until the coming of Christ, five thousand four hundred and seventy-five years. In Aelia, Maximonas succeeded the bishop Macarius; he was a gentle and distinguished man; for in the persecution he endured many tortures, and having had his right eye cut out, he was released. And amid these things the blessed Helena died, being 80 years old, having given many instructions to her son concerning piety towards Christ. And when the emperor learned that the building of the new Jerusalem had reached its end, he ordered the bishop to go there and to assemble a synod of many bishops and to dedicate the holy places. This was Eusebius of Nicomedia, who held to the Arian doctrines. This man, 4065 having been anathematized at Nicaea with his fellow bishops and exiled, but after a time, taking the emperor's philanthropy as a provision, they brought an imperial document to the emperor, swearing that

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βασιλίδα, σὺν τῆς ἐπαρχίας ἐπισκόποις ἀπήντησε τῇ βασιλίδι. Εὐθέως δὲ παρεκελεύσατο τοῖς ἐπι σκόποις τὴν ζήτησιν τοῦ ποθουμένου ξύλου ποιήσα σθαι. Ἀπορούντων δὲ πάντων περὶ τοῦ τόπου, καὶ ἄλλων ἄλλως ἐξ ὑποψίας διηγουμένων, ὁ τῆς πόλεως ἐπίσκοπος πάντας παρεκάλει ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, καὶ σπουδαιότερον εὐχὴν ὑπὲρ τούτου τῷ Θεῷ προσ φέρειν. Τούτου δὲ γενομένου εὐθέως ἐδείχθη θεόθεν ὁ τόπος τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, ἐν ᾧ ἵδρυτο τῆς ἀκαθάρτου δαί μονος ὁ ναὸς καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα. Τότε ἡ βασίλισσα τῇ βα σιλικῇ αὐθεντίᾳ χρωμένη, συναγαγοῦσα πλῆθος πολ λῶν τεχνιτῶν καὶ ἐργατῶν ἐκέλευσεν ἐκ βάθρων ἀνατραπῆναι τὸν τῆς δαίμονος ναὸν, καὶ τούτου γενομένου ἀνεφάνη τὸ θεῖον μνῆμα, καὶ ὁ τόπος τοῦ Κρανίου, καὶ μὴ μήκοθεν τρεῖς σταυροὶ κεχωσμένοι· ἐπιμελῶς δὲ ἐρευνήσαντες εὗρον καὶ τοὺς ἥλους. Ἐκεῖθεν λοιπὸν ἀμηχανία καὶ θλίψις κατέλαβε τὴν βασιλίδα, ἐπιζητοῦσαν ποῖος ἄρα ἦν ὁ ∆εσποτικὸς σταυρός. Ὁ δὲ ἐπίσκοπος διὰ πίστεως τὴν ἀμφιβο λίαν ἔλυσε. Γυναικὶ γὰρ ἀῤῥωστούσῃ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, καὶ ἀπεγνωσμένῃ ὑπὸ πάντων, καὶ τὰ τελευταῖα πνεούσῃ προσαγαγὼν ἕκαστον τῶν σταυρῶν, τὸν ζη 4064 τούμενον εὗρεν μόνον· ὡς ἤγγισε γὰρ ἡ σκιὰ τοῦ σωτηρίου τῇ θανούσῃ, ἡ ἄπνους καὶ ἀκίνητος θείᾳ δυνάμει παραχρῆμα ἀνεπήδησε, μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ δοξάζουσα τὸν Θεόν. Ἡ δὲ βασίλισσα μετὰ χαρᾶς μεγάλης καὶ φόβου ἀνελομένη τὸν ζωοποιὸν σταυρὸν, μέρος μέντοι σὺν τοῖς ἥλοις ἀνεκόμισε πρὸς τὸν παῖδα, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν, γλωσσόκομον ἀργυροῦν ποιήσασα, παρέδωκε τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ τῆς πόλεως εἰς μνημόσυνον πάσαις γενεαῖς. Καὶ θεσπίσασα ἐκκλησίαν γενέσθαι ἐν τῷ ζωοποιῷ μνήματι καὶ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Γολγοθᾶ, καὶ ἐν τῇ Βηθλεὲμ, ἔνθα ὁ Κύριος τὴν κατὰ σάρκα γέννησιν ἐτέχθη, καὶ ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῶν Ἐλαιῶν, ἔνθα ὁ Κύριος εὐλογήσας τοὺς μαθητὰς ἀνελήφθη, καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ καλὰ ποιήσασα, ἀνέστρεψε πρὸς τὸν παῖδα. Ὁ δὲ μετὰ χαρᾶς αὐτὴν ὑποδεξάμενος, τὴν μὲν τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ μερίδα ἐν χρυσῇ θήκῃ ἀποθέμενος παρέδωκε τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ εἰς τήρησιν, ἐνιασιαίαις μνήμαις ἑορτάζειν τὴν ἀνάδειξιν τοῦ σταυροῦ προστάξας. Τῶν δὲ ἥλων τοὺς μὲν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν περικεφαλαίαν ἀνεχάλκευσε, τοὺς δὲ ἀνέμιξε τῷ σαλιβαρίῳ τοῦ ἵππου αὐτοῦ, ἵνα πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος, «Ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἔσται τὸ ἐπὶ χαλινὸν τοῦ ἵππου ἅγιον τῷ Κυρίῳ παντοκράτορι.» Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἔγραψε τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ Μακαρίῳ ἐπισπεύδειν τὴν οἰκοδομὴν, καὶ ἄρχοντα τοῦ ἔργου ἀπέστειλε μετὰ δαψιλείας χρημάτων, παραγγείλας αὐτῷ φιλοτίμως κτισθῆναι τοὺς ἁγίους τόπους, ὡς μὴ εἶναι τοσαύτην καλλονὴν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ. Ἔγραψε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἡγεμόσι τῆς ἐπαρχίας, παντοίως συνεπιλαβεῖν τοῦ ἔργου ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων πραγμάτων ἔν τε χρήμασι καὶ ἀναλώμασι καὶ ὕλαις. Ἦν δὲ τότε ὁ βασιλεὺς φαιδρῶς ἄγων τῆς εἰκοσαετηρίδος τὴν ἑορτὴν, εὐχαριστῶν τῷ Θεῷ ὑπὲρ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὧν ἐποίησεν ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ. Συνάγονται δὲ ἔτη ἀπὸ μὲν Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἕως τῆς εὑρέσεως τοῦ σταυροῦ ἔτη τριακόσια πεντήκοντα δύο, ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀδὰμ ἕως τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἔτη πεντακισχίλια καὶ τετρακό σια ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε. Ἐν δὲ Αἰλίᾳ τὸν Μακάριον ἐπίσκοπον διεδέξατο Μαξιμωνᾶς· οὗτος δὲ πρᾶος ἀνὴρ καὶ ἐπίσημος· ἐν γὰρ τῷ διωγμῷ πολλοὺς βασάνους ὑπέμεινε, καὶ τὸν δεξιὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐκκοπεὶς ἀπελύθη. Καὶ ἐν τού τοις τελευτᾷ ἡ μακαρία Ἑλένη ἐτῶν οὖσα πʹ. πολλὰ ἐντειλαμένη τῷ παιδὶ περὶ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσεβείας. Μαθὼν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ὅτι τέλος ἔσχεν ἡ οἰκοδομὴ τῆς νέας Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἐκέλευσε τῷ ἐπι σκόπῳ καταλαβεῖν αὐτὴν καὶ συγκροτῆσαι σύν οδον πλειόνων ἐπισκόπων καὶ ἐγκαινιάσαι τοὺς ἁγίους τόπους. Οὗτος δὲ ἦν Εὐσέβιος ὁ Νικομηδείας, ὁ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν δογμάτων ἀντεχόμενος. Οὗτος 4065 ἀναθεματισθεὶς ἐν τῇ Νικαέων μετὰ τῶν συνθρό νων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐξορισθεὶς, μετὰ χρόνον δὲ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν τοῦ βασιλέως εἰς ἐφόδιον λαβόντες, χαρτίον βασιλικὸν ἀνήνεγκαν τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὀμνύοντες, ὅτιπερ

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