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having represented the form of heaven in a painting with colors, and delivering him to the painting as resting in an ethereal abode above the vaults of heaven. And they proclaimed his sons, and them alone and no others, as Emperors and Augusti, and used supplicatory shouts, entreating that the body of their king be brought to them and be laid in the queen of cities. 4.70.1 But in this way also they honored him who was honored by God. And the second of his sons, arriving at the city, brought his father’s body, himself leading the funeral procession. The military detachments led the way in a phalanx, and a countless multitude followed, and spearmen and hoplites escorted the emperor’s 4.70.2 body. And when they came to the church of the Savior's apostles, there they laid the coffin to rest. And the young emperor Constantius, in this way honoring his father, by his presence and by the duties pertaining to him, fulfilled the obligations of fitting piety. 4.71.1 But when he withdrew with the military detachments, the ministers of God then came forward with the entire multitudes and the devout people, and fulfilled the duties of the divine worship with prayers. There, indeed, the blessed one, lying above on a high platform, was glorified, and a vast crowd with those consecrated to God, not without tears but with much weeping, offered prayers to God for the emperor's soul, fulfilling their desires for the God-beloved. 4.71.2 And in this, God showed his favor toward his servant, in that even at his end he bestowed the empire upon his beloved and legitimate sons as successors, and he was deemed worthy of the place he had desired, together with the memorial of the apostles, so that one can see even now the body of the thrice-blessed soul glorified with the title of the apostles and gathered with the people of God, being deemed worthy of divine ordinances and the mystical liturgy and enjoying the communion of holy prayers, and himself having obtained the empire even after death. As if, therefore, from a revival administering the entire empire, he holds power over the Roman 4.72.1 leadership with the title Victor, Maximus, Augustus; not like the Egyptian bird, which they say, being unique in its nature, dies upon spices, sacrificing itself for its own end, but revives from its own ashes and flying up again becomes such as it was before, but like his own Savior, who, similarly to the grain of wheat, being multiplied many times over from one, with the blessing of God provided the ear of corn and filled the whole world with his fruits. Similarly to this, therefore, the thrice-blessed one became many-fold from one through the succession of his sons, so that he was honored by the erection of images among all nations together with his sons, and the familiar name of Constantine was received even after the end of his life. And already images were being engraved on coins, on one side impressing the blessed one in the form of one with a veiled head, and on the other side, on a four-horse chariot in the manner of a charioteer, being taken up by a right hand stretched out to him from above. Having shown these things to our own eyes in the case of Constantine alone, who was clearly proved to be a Christian above all who have ever been, the God over all has demonstrated how great a difference there was for him between those deemed worthy to revere both him and his Christ and those who chose the opposite, who, having set out to wage war against his church, made him their enemy and adversary, the ruin of each of their lives demonstrating the clear proof of their enmity toward God, just as, therefore, the end of Constantine made plain to all the pledges of his love for God, he being the only one of the Roman emperors to have honored the King of all, God, with an excess of piety, the only one to have proclaimed the word of Christ with boldness to all, the only one, so to speak, to have glorified his church as no other from the beginning of time, the only one to have cast down all polytheistic error, and to have refuted every form of idolatry, and indeed the only one to have been deemed worthy of such things both in life itself and after death, of which no one could

71

οὐρανοῦ μὲν σχῆμα διατυπώσαντες ἐν χρωμάτων γραφῇ, ὑπὲρ ἁψίδων δ' οὐρανίων ἐν αἰθερίῳ διατριβῇ διαναπαυόμενον αὐτὸν τῇ γραφῇ παραδιδόντες. τοὺς δ' αὐτοῦ παῖδας καὶ οὗτοι μόνους καὶ οὐδ' ἄλλους αὐτοκράτορας καὶ σεβαστοὺς ἀνεκάλουν, βοαῖς τ' ἐχρῶντο ἱκετηρίαις τὸ σκῆνος τοῦ σφῶν βασιλέως παρ' αὐτοῖς κομίζεσθαι καὶ τῇ βασιλίδι πόλει κατατίθεσθαι ποτνιώμενοι. 4.70.1 Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἵδε ταύτῃ τὸν παρὰ θεῷ τιμώμενον ἐκόσμουν. ὁ δὲ τῶν παίδων δεύτερος τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς σκῆνος ἐπιστὰς τῇ πόλει προσεκόμιζεν, αὐτὸς ἐξάρχων τῆς ἐκκομιδῆς. ἡγεῖτο δὲ κατὰ στῖφος τὰ στρατιωτικὰ τάγματα, εἵπετό τε πληθὺς μυρίανδρος, λογχοφόροι τε καὶ ὁπλῖται τὸ βασιλέως περιεῖπον 4.70.2 σῶμα. ὡς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦ σωτῆρος νεὼν παρῆσαν, ἐνταυθοῖ τὴν λάρνακα διανέπαυον. καὶ βασιλεὺς μὲν νέος Κωνστάντιος ὧδέ πη κοσμῶν τὸν πατέρα τῇ τε παρουσίᾳ καὶ τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν καθήκουσι τὰ τῆς πρεπούσης ὁσίας ἀπεπλήρου. 4.71.1 Ἐπεὶ δ' ὑπεχώρει σὺν τοῖς στρατιωτικοῖς τάγμασι, μέσοι δὴ παρῄεσαν οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ λειτουργοὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς πλήθεσι πανδήμῳ τε θεοσεβείας λαῷ τά τε τῆς ἐνθέου λατρείας δι' εὐχῶν ἀπεπλήρουν. ἔνθα δὴ ὁ μὲν μακάριος ἄνω κείμενος ἐφ' ὑψηλῆς κρηπῖδος ἐδοξάζετο, λεὼς δὲ παμπληθὴς σὺν τοῖς τῷ θεῷ ἱερωμένοις οὐ δακρύων ἐκτὸς σὺν κλαυθμῷ δὲ πλείονι τὰς εὐχὰς ὑπὲρ τῆς βασιλέως ψυχῆς ἀπεδίδοσαν τῷ θεῷ, τὰ καταθύμια τῷ θεοφιλεῖ πλη4.71.2 ροῦντες, κἀν τούτῳ τοῦ θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν αὐτοῦ θεράποντα εὐμένειαν ἐνδειξαμένου ὅτι δὴ καὶ τέλος αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς καὶ γνησίοις υἱοῖς διαδόχοις τὴν βασιλείαν ἐδωρεῖτο, καὶ τοῦ σπουδασθέντος αὐτῷ τόπου σὺν τῇ τῶν ἀποστόλων κατηξιοῦτο μνήμῃ, ὡς ὁρᾶν ἔστι εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τὸ μὲν τῆς τρισμακαρίας ψυχῆς σκῆνος τῷ τῶν ἀποστόλων προσρήματι συνδοξαζόμενον καὶ τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ συναγελαζόμενον, θεσμῶν τε θείων καὶ μυστικῆς λειτουργίας ἀξιούμενον καὶ κοινωνίας ὁσίων ἀπολαῦον εὐχῶν, αὐτὸν δὲ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἐπειλημμένον. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐξ ἀναβιώσεως τὴν σύμπασαν ἀρχὴν διοικῶν, Νικητὴς Μέγιστος Σεβαστὸς αὐτῷ προσρήματι τῆς Ῥω4.72.1 μαίων ἡγεμονίας κρατεῖ· οὐ κατὰ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον ὄρνιν, ὃν δή φασι μονογενῆ ὄντα τὴν φύσιν θνήσκειν μὲν ἐπ' ἀρωμάτων αὐτὸν αὐτῷ τὴν τελευτὴν θυηπολοῦντα, ἀναβιώσκειν δ' ἐξ αὐτῆς σποδιᾶς καὶ ἀναπτάντα τοιοῦτον οἷος καὶ πρότερον ἦν φῦναι, κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτοῦ σωτῆρα, ὃς τῷ τοῦ πυροῦ σπόρῳ παραπλησίως ἀνθ' ἑνὸς πολυπλασιαζόμενος σὺν εὐλογίᾳ θεοῦ παρεῖχε τὸν στάχυν καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκουμένην τῶν αὐτοῦ κατεπίμπλα καρπῶν. τούτῳ οὖν ἐμφερῶς ὁ τρισμακάριος πολυπλάσιος διὰ τῆς τῶν παίδων διαδοχῆς ἀνθ' ἑνὸς ἐγίγνετο, ὡς καὶ εἰκόνων ἀναστάσεσι παρὰ πᾶσιν ἔθνεσιν ἅμα τοῖς αὐτοῦ τιμᾶσθαι παισίν, οἰκεῖόν τε τοὔνομα Κωνσταντίνου καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ βίου παραλαμβάνεσθαι τελευτήν. Ἤδη δὲ καὶ νομίσμασιν ἐνεχαράττοντο τύποι, πρόσθεν μὲν ἐκτυποῦντες τὸν μακάριον ἐγκεκαλυμμένου τὴν κεφαλὴν σχήματι, θατέρου δὲ μέρους ἐφ' ἅρματι τεθρίππῳ ἡνιόχου τρόπον, ὑπὸ δεξιᾶς ἄνωθεν ἐκτεινομένης αὐτῷ χειρὸς ἀναλαμβανόμενον. Ταῦθ' ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς δείξας ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπὶ μόνῳ τῶν πώποτε Χριστιανῷ διαφανῶς ἀποδειχθέντι Κωνσταντίνῳ ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων θεός, ὁπόσον ἦν ἄρα αὐτῷ τὸ διάφορον παρεστήσατο τῶν αὐτόν τε καὶ τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτοῦ σέβειν ἠξιωμένων τῶν τε τὴν ἐναντίαν ἑλομένων, οἳ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ πολεμεῖν ὡρμηκότες αὐτὸν αὐτοῖς ἐχθρὸν καὶ πολέμιον κατεστήσαντο, τῆς ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τοῦ βίου καταστροφῆς ἐναργῆ τὸν ἔλεγχον τῆς αὐτῶν θεοεχθρίας ἐνδειξαμένης, ὥσπερ οὖν τῆς θεοφιλίας τὰ ἐχέγγυα τὸ Κωνσταντίνου τοῖς πᾶσι φανερὸν κατέστησε τέλος, μόνου μὲν Ῥωμαίων βασιλέων τὸν παμβασιλέα θεὸν ὑπερβολῇ θεοσεβείας τετιμηκότος, μόνου δὲ τοῖς πᾶσι πεπαρρησιασμένως τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ κηρύξαντος λόγον, μόνου τ' εἰπεῖν ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ ὡς οὐδ' ἕτερος τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος δοξάσαντος, μόνου τε πᾶσαν πολύθεον πλάνην καθελόντος, πάντα τε τρόπον εἰδωλολατρίας ἀπελέγξαντος, καὶ δὴ καὶ μόνου τοιούτων ἠξιωμένου ἐν αὐτῇ τε ζωῇ καὶ μετὰ θάνατον, οἵων οὐκ ἄν τις