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"CONSTANTINUS AUGUSTUS, the great and the
victorious, to Eusebius.
"In the city which bears our name, a great number of persons have,
through the providential care of God the Saviour, united themselves
to the holy Church. As all things there are in a state of rapid
improvement, we deemed it most important that an additional number of
churches should be built. Adopt joyfully the mode of procedure
determined upon by us, which we have thought expedient to make known to
your prudence, namely, that you should get written, on fine
parchment, fifty volumes , easily legible and handy for use; these
you must have transcribed by skilled calligraphers, accurately
acquainted with their art. I mean, of course, copies of the Holy
Scriptures, which, as you know, it is most necessary that the
congregation of the Church should both have and use. A letter has
been sent from our clemency to the catholicus of the diocese, in order
that he may be careful that everything necessary for the undertaking is
supplied. The duty devolving upon you is to take measures to ensure
the completion of these manuscripts within a short space of time. When
they are finished, you are authorised by this letter to order two
public carriages for the purpose of transmitting them to us; and thus
the fair manuscripts will be easily submitted to our inspection.
Appoint one of the deacons of your church to take charge of this part
of the business; when he comes to us, he shall receive proofs of our
benevolence. May God preserve you, beloved brother."
What has been already said is enough to shew, nay to clearly prove,
how great zeal the emperor manifested on the matters of religion. I
will, however, add his noble acts with regard to the Sepulchre of our
Saviour. For having learnt that the idolaters, in their frantic
rage, had heaped earth over the Lord's tomb, eager thus to destroy
all remembrance of His Salvation, and had built over it a temple to
the goddess of unbridled lust, in mockery of the Virgin's birth, the
emperor ordered the foul shrine to be demolished, and the soil polluted
with abominable sacrifices to be carried away and thrown out far from
the city, and a new temple of great size and beauty to be erected on
the site. All this is clearly set forth in the letter which he wrote
to the president of the church of Jerusalem, Macarius, whom we have
already mentioned as a member of the great Nicene Council, and united
with his brethren in withstanding the blasphemies of Arius. The
following is the letter.
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