The Great Bishops, and the Christians East and West

In the consulship of Constantine Caesar and Crispus Caesar, Silvester governed the church of Rome, Alexander that of Alexandria, and Macarius that of Jerusalem. No one had been appointed over the church of Antioch on the Orontes since Romanus, for the persecution, it seems, had kept the ordination from taking place. Not long afterward, however, the bishops assembled at Nicaea were so impressed by the purity of the life and teaching of Eustathius that they judged him worthy to fill the apostolic see. Although he was then bishop of neighboring Beroea, they moved him to Antioch. [a]

The Christians of the East, as far as Libya on the borders of Egypt, did not dare to meet openly as a church, for Licinius had withdrawn his favor from them. But the Christians of the West, the Greeks, the Macedonians, and the Illyrians met for worship in safety, under the protection of Constantine, who was then at the head of the Roman Empire. [d]