Constantine Puts Down Paganism and Builds Churches

After this the emperor paid more and more attention to the interests of the Christians, and abandoned the pagan superstitions. He abolished the gladiator fights, and set up his own statues in the temples. The pagans claimed that it was Serapis who brought up the Nile to water Egypt, because a cubit rod was usually carried into his temple. So the emperor directed Alexander to move the rod to the church. They predicted that the Nile would not overflow, because Serapis would be displeased. Yet there was a flood the following year, and afterward it came regularly. So the fact itself proved that the rising of the Nile did not come from their superstition, but from the decrees of Providence. [a]

About the same time those barbarians, the Sarmatians and the Goths, made raids into Roman territory. Yet the emperor’s zeal for the churches did not slacken in the least; he made fitting provision for both matters. Putting his trust in the Christian standard, he defeated his enemies completely, so that he even threw off the tribute in gold that earlier emperors had been accustomed to pay the barbarians. And they, terror-struck at the unexpectedness of their defeat, then for the first time embraced the Christian religion, by which Constantine had been protected.

Again, he built other churches. One of them was put up near the Oak of Mamre, under which, as the holy Scriptures declare, Abraham entertained angels. The emperor had been told that altars had been set up under that oak and that pagan sacrifices were offered on them. So he rebuked Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, by letter, and ordered that the altars be torn down and a house of prayer built beside the oak. He also directed that another church be built in Heliopolis in Phoenicia, for this reason. Who first gave laws to the people of Heliopolis I cannot say, but his character and morals may be judged from the practice of that city. For the laws of the country required the women among them to be held in common, so the children born there were of doubtful descent, and there was no telling fathers from their offspring. Their virgins, too, were offered for prostitution to strangers who came there. The emperor hurried to correct this evil, which had long prevailed among them. He passed a solemn law of chastity, did away with the shameful evil, and made it possible for families to know one another. And having built churches there, he saw to it that a bishop and holy clergy were ordained. In this way he reformed the corrupt ways of the people of Heliopolis. He likewise tore down the temple of Venus at Aphaca on Mount Lebanon, and put an end to the shameful deeds that were celebrated there. Why should I describe how he drove the demon of divination out of Cilicia, by ordering the building where it lurked to be razed to its foundations?

So great, indeed, was the emperor’s devotion to Christianity that when he was about to go to war with Persia, he had a tabernacle made of embroidered linen in the form of a church, just as Moses had done in the wilderness. It was built so that it could be carried from place to place, so that he might have a house of prayer even in the most desolate regions. But the war was not fought at that time; it was prevented by dread of the emperor. It would be out of place here, I think, to describe the emperor’s diligence in rebuilding cities and turning many villages into cities: Drepanum, for example, to which he gave his mother’s name, and Constantia in Palestine, named after his sister. For my task is not to list all the emperor’s actions, but only those connected with Christianity, and especially those that concern the churches. So I leave the emperor’s glorious achievements to others better able to tell them in detail, since they belong to a different subject and call for a separate work.

I myself would have kept silent if the church had remained undisturbed by divisions, for where the subject supplies nothing to tell, there is no need for a narrator. But since subtle and empty disputing has confused the apostolic faith of Christianity and at the same time scattered it, I thought it right to record these things, so that what happened in the churches would not be lost in obscurity. For accurate knowledge of these matters wins renown among the many; and at the same time it makes the one who has it more secure against error, and teaches him not to be carried away by any empty sound of clever argument he may happen to hear.