The Honors He Gave to Bishops, and the Building of Churches

The emperor also personally invited the company of God’s ministers and treated them with the highest possible respect and honor, showing them favor in deed and word as men consecrated to the service of his God. So they were welcomed at his table, though they were plain in their dress and outward appearance. Yet they were not plain in his eyes, for he thought he saw in them not the man that ordinary eyes see, but the God in him. He also took them with him as companions on his journeys, believing that the One whose servants they were would help him in this way. Besides this, out of his own private wealth he gave costly gifts to the churches of God. He enlarged the houses of prayer and raised them higher, and he adorned the majestic sanctuaries of the church with abundant offerings. [a]