Churches at Nicomedia and Antioch

After adorning the city that bore his name in this way, he next honored the capital of Bithynia with a stately and magnificent church, wishing to raise in this city too, in honor of his Savior and at his own expense, a memorial of his victory over his own enemies and the enemies of God. He also adorned the leading cities of the other provinces with sacred buildings of great beauty. One example is that metropolis of the East named after Antiochus, where, since it was the head of that part of the empire, he dedicated to the service of God a church of unequaled size and beauty. The whole building was surrounded by an enclosure of great extent, inside which the church itself rose to a great height. It was eight-sided, and surrounded on every side by many rooms, courts, and upper and lower chambers, the whole richly adorned with an abundance of gold, bronze, and other materials of the costliest kind. [a]