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ABOUT this period, the emperor, having determined upon erecting a
temple in honor of God, charged the governors to see that the work was
executed in the most magnificent and costly manner possible. His
mother Helena also erected two temples, the one at Bethlehem near the
cave where Christ was born, the other on ridges of the Mount of
Olives, whence He was taken up to heaven. Many other acts show her
piety and religiousness, among which the following is not the least
remarkable: During her residence at Jerusalem, it is related that
she assembled the sacred virgins at a feast, ministered to them at
supper, presented them with food, poured water on their hands, and
performed other similar services customary to those who wait upon
guests. When she visited the cities of the East, she bestowed
befitting gifts on the churches in every town, enriched those
individuals who had been deprived of their possessions, supplied
ungrudgingly the necessities of the poor, and restored to liberty those
who had been long imprisoned, or condemned to exile or the mines. It
seems to me that so many holy actions demanded a recompense; and
indeed, even in this life, she was raised to the summit of
magnificence and splendor; she was proclaimed Augusta; her image was
stamped on golden coins, and she was invested by her son with authority
over the imperial treasury to give it according to her judgment. Her
death, too, was glorious; for when, at the age of eighty, she
quitted this life, she left her son and her descendants (like her of
the race of Caesar), masters of the Roman world. And if there be
any advantage in such fame, forgetfulness did not conceal her though
she was dead, the coming age has the pledge of her perpetual memory;
for two cities are named after her, the one in Bithynia, and the
other in Palestine. Such is the history of Helena.
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