The Funeral Service in the Church of the Apostles

As soon as Constantius had withdrawn with the soldiers, the ministers of God came forward with the crowd and the whole congregation of the faithful, and performed the rites of divine worship with prayer. At the same time they paid their tribute of praise to the character of this blessed ruler, whose body rested on a high and conspicuous monument. The whole multitude joined with the priests of God in offering prayers for his soul, not without tears, or rather with much weeping. In this they did a service in keeping with the wishes of the godly man who had died. In this too the favor of God was shown to his servant. Not only did he leave the succession of the empire to his own beloved sons, but the earthly tent of his thrice-blessed soul, as he had earnestly wished, was allowed to share the monument of the apostles. It was joined with the honor of their name and with that of the people of God; it was honored by the sacred rites and the service of the mysteries; and it shared in the prayers of the saints. So he went on holding imperial power even after death, governing a worldwide dominion as though with renewed life, and keeping in his own name, as Victor, Maximus, Augustus, the sovereignty of the Roman world. [a]