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Such a person is not only 1.516 delivered from the most shameful passions and stirrings of the soul and the body, but also clearly foretells the future and beholds the holy trinity with his own eyes and is deemed worthy of theology and divine mysteries." Thus the divine Flavian, having unearthed the demonic heresy, said to the most impious old man, "You who are grown old in evil days, your own most foul mouth has convicted you, and not I, and your corrupt and unclean lips testify against you." And when this satanic and abominable deceit and heresy was made manifest, they were driven out of Syria, and they withdrew into Pamphylia and filled it with their contagion, and now, one might almost say, most of the west as well. In the 21st year of the reign of the great Constantine, they slandered Sapor, the king of the Persians, against the Christians, and a persecution arose so that more than eighteen thousand were killed by him. And the cause of the dissolution of the peace that had been made between the Romans and Persians came about for such a reason. A certain Metrodorus, of Persian descent, pretending to be a philosopher, went away to India and the Brahmans, and by practicing great self-control became revered by them. And he constructed water-mills and baths, which until then were not known among them. This man, entering the inner sanctuaries as if he were pious, stole many precious stones and pearls. And he also received gifts from the king of the Indians to bring to the emperor; and returning to Byzantium, he gave these 1.517 to the emperor as his own. And when the emperor marveled, he said that he had sent other things by land, but that they had been taken away by the Persians. Therefore Constantine wrote sharply to Sapor that they should be sent, but Sapor received the message and did not send them back. For this reason the peace was broken. So the emperor, having made a work out of these stones, sent it to the nations beyond the Danube, inscribing the gift to the greater one; which became for them a cause of destruction on account of the inscription. And they say that he was the first of all the emperors to use a diadem and to be adorned more elaborately with pearls and other stones. But he also had golden gospel-covers made with pearls and stones and presented them in the great church, which were worthy of admiration. At this time, the holy and blessed Helen also departed to the Lord, being 80 years old, and she was the first to be buried in the church of the Holy Apostles, having given many instructions to her own son concerning piety towards Christ. In the 22nd year, Constantine the most pious, having campaigned against the Germans, Sarmatians, and Goths, won a mighty victory through the power of the cross, and brought them into utter servitude. And having founded Drepanum in Nicomedia in honor of Lucian who was martyred there, he called it Helenopolis for his mother. In the 23rd, 24th, and 25th year, the octagonal Lord's house in Antioch began to be built. And he himself, having crossed the Danube, built a stone bridge over it, and subjugated the Scythians, 1.518 and he built the forum with its two great porticoes, and in the forum itself he erected a monolithic, all-porphyry column, which he brought from Rome, binding it with inscribed bronze bands. And on top of it he set up a statue in his own name, on which is written "Constantine." It shone like the sun, which was the work of Phidias, and was brought from Athens. And the seven baskets and the twelve small baskets, in which Christ our God worked a miracle, he placed under the base of the column. And he also brought the relics of the holy apostles Luke, Timothy, and Andrew into the city through the holy martyr Artemius. In his 26th and 27th year he intensified the destruction of the idols and their temples, and he assigned their revenues to the churches of God. At that time the basilica in Nicomedia was also consumed by divine fire. In his 28th year, the impious Arius, with feigned repentance and deceitful words after his deposition, having bewitched the ears of the most serene emperor, and having received two books,
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οὐ μόνον 1.516 δὲ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀπαλλάττεται αἰ σχίστων παθῶν καὶ σκιρτημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα σαφῶς προλέγει καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα ὀφθαλμοφανῶς θεωρεῖ καὶ θεολο γίας καὶ θείων μυστηρίων ἀξιοῦται." οὕτως ὁ θεῖος Φλαβιανὸς τὴν δαιμονιώδη αἵρεσιν ἀνορύξας ἔφη πρὸς τὸν δυσσεβέστατον γέροντα "πεπαλαιωμένε κακῶν ἡμερῶν, ἤλεγξέ σε τὸ σὸν μιαρώ τατον στόμα, καὶ οὐκ ἐγώ, καὶ τὰ σὰ διεφθαρμένα καὶ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη καταμαρτυροῦσί σου." φανερωθείσης δὲ τῆς σατανικῆς καὶ βδελυρᾶς ἀπάτης καὶ αἱρέσεως ταύτης, τῆς μὲν Συρίας ἐξη λάθησαν, εἰς δὲ τὴν Παμφυλίαν ἀνεχώρησαν καὶ ταύτην τῆς λώβης ἐπλήρωσαν, νῦν δὲ σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν καὶ τὴν πλείονα δύσιν. Τῷ καʹ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου δια βάλλουσι Σαπώρην τὸν βασιλέα Περσῶν κατὰ Χριστιανῶν, καὶ γίνεται διωγμὸς ὡς πλείους τῶν δεκαοκτὼ χιλιάδων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀναιρεθῆναι. ἡ δὲ αἰτία τῆς διαλύσεως τῆς μεταξὺ Ῥωμαίων καὶ Περσῶν γενομένης εἰρήνης γέγονε δι' αἰτίαν τοιαύτην. Μη τρόδωρός τις Περσογενὴς προσποιησάμενος φιλοσοφεῖν ἀπῆλθεν ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ καὶ τοὺς Βραχμᾶνας, καὶ χρησάμενος ἐγκρατείᾳ πολλῇ γέγονεν αὐτοῖς σεβαστός. εἰργάζετο δὲ ὑδρομύλους καὶ λοετρά, μέχρι τότε μὴ γνωριζόμενα παρ' αὐτοῖς. οὗτος ἐν τοῖς ἀδύτοις ὡς εὐσεβὴς εἰσιὼν λίθους τιμίους καὶ μαργαρίτας πολλοὺς ὑφεί λετο. ἔλαβε δὲ καὶ παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἰνδῶν, ὥστε τῷ βα σιλεῖ δῶρα κομίσαι· καὶ ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον δέδωκε ταῦτα 1.517 ὡς ἴδια τῷ βασιλεῖ. θαυμάζοντι δὲ αὐτῷ ἔφη καὶ ἄλλα διὰ γῆς προπέμψαι, ἀλλ' ἀφαιρεθῆναι ὑπὸ Περσῶν. γράφει οὖν ἀπο τόμως Κωνσταντῖνος πρὸς Σαπώρην, ἀποσταλῆναι αὐτά, καὶ δεξάμενος οὐκ ἀνταπέστειλε. διὰ τοῦτο ἐλύθη ἡ εἰρήνη. ἐκ τούτων οὖν τῶν λίθων ἔργον ποιήσας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπέστειλε τοῖς πέραν τοῦ ∆αννουβίου ἔθνεσιν, ἐπιγράψας τῷ μείζονι τὸ δῶρον· ὅπερ γέγονεν αὐτοῖς ὀλέθρου αἴτιον διὰ τὴν ἐπιγραφήν. φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν πρῶτον πάντων τῶν βασιλέων διαδήματι χρήσασθαι καὶ μαργαρίταις καὶ ἄλλοις λίθοις περιεργότερον κοσμηθῆναι. ἀλλὰ καὶ πτύχας εὐαγγελίων χρυσᾶς διὰ μαργάρων καὶ λίθων κατα σκευάσας ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐκκλησίᾳ προσήγαγε, θαύματος ἀξίας. ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ ἡ ἁγία καὶ μακάρια Ἑλένη πρὸς κύριον ἐκδημεῖ, ἐτῶν οὖσα πʹ, καὶ ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων θάπτεται πρώτη, πολλὰ τῷ ἰδίῳ υἱῷ περὶ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν εὐσε βείας παραγγείλασα. Τῷ κβʹ ἔτει Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ εὐσεβέστατος κατὰ Γερμανῶν καὶ Σαυροματῶν καὶ Γότθων στρατεύσας νίκην ἤρατο κραταιὰν διὰ τῆς τοῦ σταυροῦ δυνάμεως, καὶ τούτους εἰς ἐσχάτην ἤγαγε δουλείαν. καὶ ∆ρεπανᾶν τὸν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ ἐπικτίσας εἰς τιμὴν Λουκιανοῦ τοῦ ἐκεῖσε μαρτυρήσαντος Ἑλενούπολιν διὰ τὴν μητέρα ἐκάλεσεν. Τῷ κγʹ καὶ δʹ καὶ εʹ ἔτει τὸ ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ ὀκτάγωνον κυρια κὸν ἤρξατο οἰκοδομεῖσθαι. καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν ∆άνουβιν περάσας γέφυραν ἐν αὐτῷ λιθίνην πεποίηκε, καὶ τοὺς Σκύθας ὑπέταξε, 1.518 καὶ τὸν φόρον ἔκτισε μετά γε τῶν δύο μεγάλων ἐμβόλων, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ φόρῳ κίονα μονόλιθον καὶ ὁλοπόρφυρον ἔστησεν, ἐκ Ῥώμης ἀγαγών, ἐκδήσας αὐτὸν διὰ χαλκῶν ζωνῶν γεγραμμένων. ἱδρύσατο δὲ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ ἀνδριάντα ἐπ' ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ, ἐν ᾧ γέγραπται "Κωνσταντῖνος." ἔλαμψεν ἡλίου δίκην, ὃς ἦν ἔργον μὲν Φειδίου, ἤχθη δὲ ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν. καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ σπυρίδας καὶ τοὺς ιβʹ κοφίνους, ἐν οἷς Χριστὸς ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐθαυματούργησεν, ὑπὸ τὴν βάσιν τοῦ κίονος ἔθετο. καὶ τὰ λείψανα δὲ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων Λουκᾶ καὶ Τιμοθέου καὶ Ἀνδρέου διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου μάρ τυρος Ἀρτεμίου ἐν τῇ πόλει εἰσήγαγε. Τῷ κʹ καὶ κζʹ ἔτει αὐτοῦ τὴν κατὰ τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τῶν ναῶν αὐτῶν κατάλυσιν ἐπέτεινε, τὰς δὲ εἰσόδους αὐτῶν ταῖς ἐκ κλησίαις τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκύρωσε. τότε καὶ ἡ ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ βασιλικὴ πυρὶ θείῳ ἐφλέχθη. Τῷ κηʹ ἔτει αὐτοῦ ὁ δυσσεβὴς Ἄρειος ἐπιπλάστῳ μετανοίᾳ καὶ λόγοις ἀπατηλοῖς μετὰ τὴν καθαίρεσιν αὐτοῦ καταγοητεύσας τὰς ἀκοὰς τοῦ γαληνοτάτου βασιλέως, καὶ δύο βιβλία λαβών,