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was laid in royal tombs. In this way, then, the emperor’s mother was brought to her end, worthy indeed of unforgettable memory on account of her own God-loving deeds and of the extraordinary and 3.47.2 wondrous plant that sprang from her, who, in addition to all else, is worthy of being called blessed for his piety toward the one who bore him, having made her so devout, who was not so before, that she seemed to have been a disciple of the common Savior from the very beginning, and having so honored her with imperial dignity that she was proclaimed Augusta and empress in all the nations and by the very military legions themselves, and her own image to be stamped on gold coins. 3.47.3 He also gave her authority over the imperial treasures, so that she could use them according to her choice and manage them according to her judgment, however she might wish and as she might think best in each case, her son having made her distinguished and enviable even in these things. For this reason, these things have also been rightly recorded by us among the things that refer to his memory, which, through an excess of piety, in honoring his mother, fulfilled the divine laws which ordain the proper things concerning the honor of parents. 3.47.4 In this manner, then, the emperor established the aforesaid beautiful works in the nation of the Palestinians, and in all the provinces he repaired the newly-built church3.48.1es, making them far more valuable than the previous ones. And honoring his namesake city with exceptional honor, he brightened it with more prayer houses and with the greatest and most conspicuous martyria and houses, some being outside the city and others within it, through which he both honored the memorials of the martyrs 3.48.2 and consecrated his city to the God of the martyrs. And being wholly inspired by the wisdom of God, he decided to declare the city that bore his name, his namesake, to be pure of all idolatry, so that nowhere in it would be seen images of the so-called gods worshipped in temples, nor altars defiled with the gore of blood, nor sacrifices consumed by fire, nor demonic festivals, nor anything else of the things customary to the superstitious. 3.49.1 And you might have seen, on the fountains placed in the middle of the public squares, the symbols of the Good Shepherd, familiar to those who come from the divine oracles, and Daniel with the lions, fashioned in bronze and glittering with plates of gold. Such divine love had seized the emperor’s soul that in the imperial palace itself, in the most preeminent chamber of all, in the very center of the gilded coffered ceiling, in the middle of a very large unfurled panel, the symbol of the Savior’s passion was fixed, composed of various and precious stones wrought in much gold. And this seems to have been made by the God-loving emperor as a protection for his own kingdom. With these things, then, he beautified his city. And he likewise honored the capital of the Bithynians with the dedication of a very great and extraordinary church, here also from his own treasures raising up 3.50.2 trophies of victory to his Savior over enemies and those who fight against God. And he also made the most prominent cities of the other nations pre-eminent with the beauty of their prayer houses, as indeed also the one in the eastern metropolis, which has received the namesake appellation of Antiochus; in which, as being the head of the nations there, he dedicated a unique church, on account of its size and beauty, having encompassed the entire temple on the outside with long enclosures, and on the inside raising the prayer house to an immense height, it being constructed in the shape of an octagon, surrounded on all sides in a circle with upper and lower chambers, which he crowned with the beauties of an abundance of much gold and bronze and other costly material. 3.51.1 These, then, were the most excellent of the emperor's dedications. But having learned that one and the same Savior, the one who recently appeared in life, had also long ago made theophanies to God-loving men of Palestine around the so-called oak of Mamre, he commands that a prayer house be erected there also 3.51.2 to the God who had appeared. To the rulers of the provinces, therefore, the imperial authority through the [letters] to each one

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ἠρίοις βασιλικοῖς ἀπετίθετο. Ὧδε μὲν οὖν ἡ βασιλέως ἐτελειοῦτο μήτηρ, ἀξία γε μνήμης ἀλήστου τῶν τε αὐτῆς εἵνεκα θεοφιλῶν πράξεων τοῦ τ' ἐξ αὐτῆς φύντος ὑπερφυοῦς καὶ 3.47.2 παραδόξου φυτοῦ, ὃν πρὸς τοῖς ἅπασι καὶ τῆς εἰς τὴν γειναμένην ὁσίας μακαρίζειν ἄξιον, οὕτω μὲν αὐτὴν θεοσεβῆ καταστήσαντα οὐκ οὖσαν πρότερον, ὡς αὐτῷ δοκεῖν ἐκ πρώτης τῷ κοινῷ σωτῆρι μεμαθητεῦσθαι, οὕτω δὲ ἀξιώματι βασιλικῷ τετιμηκότα, ὡς ἐν ἅπασιν ἔθνεσι παρ' αὐτοῖς τε τοῖς στρατιωτικοῖς τάγμασιν αὐγούσταν βασιλίδα ἀναγορεύεσθαι, χρυσοῖς τε νομίσμασι 3.47.3 καὶ τὴν αὐτῆς ἐκτυποῦσθαι εἰκόνα. ἤδη δὲ καὶ βασιλικῶν θησαυρῶν παρεῖχε τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ὡς χρῆσθαι κατὰ προαίρεσιν καὶ διοικεῖν κατὰ γνώμην, ὅπως ἂν ἐθέλοι καὶ ὡς ἂν εὖ ἔχειν αὐτῇ νομίζοιτο ἕκαστα, τοῦ παιδὸς αὐτὴν κἀν τούτοις διαπρεπῆ καὶ ἀξιοζήλωτον πεποιημένου. διὸ τῶν εἰς αὐτοῦ μνήμην ἀναφερομένων καὶ ταῦτ' εἰκότως ἡμῖν ἀνείληπται, ἃ δι' εὐσεβείας ὑπερβολὴν μητέρα τιμῶν θεσμοὺς ἀπεπλήρου θείους ἀμφὶ γονέων τιμῆς τὰ πρέποντα διαταττομένους. 3.47.4 Τὰς μὲν οὖν λεχθείσας φιλοκαλίας βασιλεὺς πρὸς τῷ Παλαιστινῶν ἔθνει τόνδε συνίστη τὸν τρόπον, καὶ κατὰ πάσας δὲ τὰς ἐπαρχίας νεοπαγεῖς ἐκκλη3.48.1 σίας ἐπισκευάζων μακρῷ τῶν προτέρων τιμιωτέρας ἀπέφαινε. τὴν δέ γ' ἐπώνυμον αὐτοῦ πόλιν ἐξόχῳ τιμῇ γεραίρων εὐκτηρίοις πλείοσιν ἐφαίδρυνε μαρτυρίοις τε μεγίστοις καὶ περιφανεστάτοις οἴκοις, τοῖς μὲν πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεος τοῖς δ' ἐν αὐτῷ τυγχάνουσι, δι' ὧν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὰς τῶν μαρτύρων μνήμας ἐτί3.48.2 μα καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ πόλιν τῷ τῶν μαρτύρων καθιέρου θεῷ. ὅλως δ' ἐμπνέων θεοῦ σοφίας, ἣν τῆς ἐπηγορίας τῆς αὐτοῦ πόλιν ἐπώνυμον ἀποφῆναι ἔκρινε, καθαρεύειν εἰδωλολατρίας ἁπάσης ἐδικαίου, ὡς μηδαμοῦ φαίνεσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν δὴ νομιζομένων θεῶν ἀγάλματα ἐν ἱεροῖς θρησκευόμενα, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ βωμοὺς λύθροις αἱμάτων μιαινομένους, οὐ θυσίας ὁλοκαυτουμένας πυρί, οὐ δαιμονικὰς ἑορτάς, οὐδ' ἕτερόν τι τῶν συνήθων τοῖς δεισιδαίμοσιν. 3.49.1 Εἶδες δ' ἂν ἐπὶ μέσον ἀγορῶν κειμέναις κρήναις τὰ τοῦ καλοῦ ποιμένος σύμβολα, τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν θείων λογίων ὁρμωμένοις γνώριμα, τόν τε ∆ανιὴλ σὺν αὐτοῖς λέουσιν ἐν χαλκῷ πεπλασμένον χρυσοῦ τε πετάλοις ἐκλάμποντα. τοσοῦτος δὲ θεῖος ἔρως τὴν βασιλέως κατειλήφει ψυχήν, ὡς ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀνακτόροις τῶν βασιλείων, κατὰ τὸν πάντων ἐξοχώτατον οἶκον τῆς πρὸς τῷ ὀρόφῳ κεχρυσωμένης φατνώσεως κατὰ τὸ μεσαίτατον, μεγίστου πίνακος ἀνηπλωμένου μέσον ἐμπεπῆχθαι τὸ τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους σύμβολον ἐκ ποικίλων συγκείμενον καὶ πολυτελῶν λίθων ἐν χρυσῷ πολλῷ κατειργασμένων. φυλακτήριον δὲ δοκεῖ τοῦτο αὐτῆς βασιλείας τῷ θεοφιλεῖ πεποιῆσθαι. Τούτοις μὲν οὖν τὴν αὐτοῦ πόλιν ἐκαλλώπιζε. τὴν δὲ Βιθυνῶν ἄρχουσαν ὁμοίως ἀναθήματι μεγίστης καὶ ὑπερφυοῦς ἐκκλησίας ἐτίμα, ἐξ οἰκείων θησαυρῶν κἀνταῦθα τῷ αὐτοῦ σωτῆρι κατ' ἐχθρῶν καὶ θεομάχων ἀνυψῶν 3.50.2 νικητήρια. καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν δ' ἐθνῶν τὰς μάλιστα κρατιστευούσας πόλεις ταῖς τῶν εὐκτηρίων φιλοκαλίαις ἐκπρέπειν ἐποίει, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀνατολικῆς μητροπόλεως, ἣ τὴν ἐπώνυμον εἴληχεν Ἀντιόχου προσηγορίαν· ἐφ' ἧς ὡς ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς τῶν τῇδε ἐθνῶν μονογενές τι χρῆμα ἐκκλησίας μεγέθους ἕνεκα καὶ κάλλους ἀφιέρου, μακροῖς μὲν ἔξωθεν περιβόλοις τὸν πάντα νεὼν περιλαβών, εἴσω δὲ τὸν εὐκτήριον οἶκον εἰς ἀμήχανον ἐπάρας ὕψος, ἐν ὀκταέδρου μὲν συνεστῶτα σχήματι, ἐν κύκλῳ ὑπερῴων τε καὶ καταγείων χωρημάτων ἁπανταχόθεν περιεστοιχισμένον, ὃν καὶ χρυσοῦ πλείονος ἀφθονίᾳ χαλκοῦ τε καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς πολυτελοῦς ὕλης ἐστεφάνου κάλλεσιν. 3.51.1 Τάδε μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐξοχώτατα τῶν βασιλέως ἐτύγχανεν ἀφιερώματα. πυθόμενος δέ τοι ἕνα καὶ τὸ αὐτὸν σωτῆρα τὸν τε ἔναγχος ἐπιφανέντα τῷ βίῳ καὶ πρόπαλαι θεοφανείας πεποιῆσθαι φιλοθέοις ἀνδράσι τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἀμφὶ τὴν καλουμένην δρῦν Μαμβρῆ, κἀνταῦθα οἶκον εὐκτήριον ἀνεγεῖραι 3.51.2 τῷ ὀφθέντι θεῷ διακελεύεται. τοῖς μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἄρχουσιν αὐθεντία βασιλικὴ διὰ τῶν πρὸς ἕκαστον