Chapter XV.--After the Synod, on the Death of Alexander, Athanasius is constituted Bishop of Alexandria.
A little after this, Alexander bishop of Alexandria having died, [203] Athanasius was set over that church. Rufinus relates, that this [Athanasius] when quite a boy, played with others of his own age at a sacred game: this was an imitation of the priesthood and the order of consecrated persons. In this game therefore Athanasius was allotted the episcopal chair, and each of the other lads personated either a presbyter or a deacon. The children engaged in this sport on the day in which the memory of the martyr and bishop Peter was celebrated. Now at that time Alexander bishop of Alexandria happening to pass by, observed the play in which they were engaged, and having sent for the children, enquired from them the part each had been assigned in the game, conceiving that something might be portended by that which had been done. He then gave directions that the children should be taken to the church, and instructed in learning, but especially Athanasius; and having afterwards ordained him deacon on his becoming of adult age, he brought him to Nicæa to assist him in the disputations there when the Synod was convened. This account of Athanasius Rufinus has given in his own writings; nor is it improbable that it took place, for many transactions of this kind have often occurred. Concerning this matter it will suffice to have said the above. [204]
[203] Socrates and Sozomen are both mistaken in putting the death of Alexander and ordination of Athanasius after the return of Eusebius and Theognis from exile. According to Theodoret (H. E. I. 26), Alexander died a few months after the Council of Nicæa, hence in 325 a.d., and Athanasius succeeded him at the end of the same year, or at the beginning of the next.
[204] See, for additional features of the story not reproduced by Socrates, Rufinus, H. E. I. 14.
Chapter XVI.--The Emperor Constantine having enlarged the Ancient Byzantium, calls it Constantinople.
After the Synod the emperor spent some time in recreation, and after the public celebration of his twentieth anniversary of his accession, [205] he immediately devoted himself to the reparation of the churches. This he carried into effect in other cities as well as in the city named after him, which being previously called Byzantium, he enlarged, surrounded with massive walls, [206] and adorned with various edifices; and having rendered it equal to imperial Rome, he named it Constantinople, establishing by law that it should be designated New Rome. This law was engraven on a pillar of stone erected in public view in the Strategium, [207] near the emperor's equestrian statue. [208] He built also in the same city two churches, one of which he named Irene, and the other The Apostles. [209] Nor did he only improve the affairs of the Christians, as I have said, but he also destroyed the superstition of the heathens; for he brought forth their images into public view to ornament the city of Constantinople, and set up the Delphic tripods publicly in the Hippodrome. It may indeed seem now superfluous to mention these things, since they are seen before they are heard of. But at that time the Christian cause received its greatest augmentation; for Divine Providence preserved very many other things during the times of the emperor Constantine. [210] Eusebius Pamphilus has in magnificent terms recorded the praises of the emperor; [211] and I considered it would not be ill-timed to advert thus to them as concisely as possible.
[205] The Vicennalia.
[206] These walls were superseded by the great walls built under Theodosius the Younger; see VII. 31.
[207] Mansion house,' the building in which the two chief magistrates had their headquarters.
[208] The city was formally dedicated as the capital of the empire in 330 a.d.
[209] Cf. II. 16, and I. 40.
[210] The text seems somewhat doubtful here. Valesius conjectures a te alla pleista kai touto malista, idiomatically, this among many other things'; but the mss. read more obscurely, kai alla pleista.
[211] Euseb. Life of Const. III. 33; cf. also 52-55.
Chapter XVII.--The Emperor's Mother Helena having come to Jerusalem, searches for and finds the Cross of Christ, and builds a Church.
Helena, the emperor's mother (from whose name having made Drepanum, once a village, a city, the emperor called it Helenopolis), being divinely directed by dreams went to Jerusalem. Finding that which was once Jerusalem, desolate as a Preserve for autumnal fruits,' [212] according to the prophet, she sought carefully the sepulchre of Christ, from which he arose after his burial; and after much difficulty, by God's help she discovered it. What the cause of the difficulty was I will explain in a few words. Those who embraced the Christian faith, after the period of his passion, greatly venerated this tomb; but those who hated Christianity, having covered the spot with a mound of earth, erected on it a temple to Venus, and set up her image there, not caring for the memory of the place. [213] This succeeded for a long time; and it became known to the emperor's mother. Accordingly she having caused the statue [214] to be thrown down, the earth to be removed, and the ground entirely cleared, found three crosses in the sepulchre: one of these was that blessed cross on which Christ had hung, the other two were those on which the two thieves that were crucified with him had died. With these was also found the tablet [215] of Pilate, on which he had inscribed in various characters, that the Christ who was crucified was king of the Jews. Since, however, it was doubtful which was the cross they were in search of, the emperor's mother was not a little distressed; but from this trouble the bishop of Jerusalem, Macarius, shortly relieved her. And he solved the doubt by faith, for he sought a sign from God and obtained it. The sign was this: a certain woman of the neighborhood, who had been long afflicted with disease, was now just at the point of death; the bishop therefore arranged it so that each of the crosses should be brought to the dying woman, believing that she would be healed on touching the precious cross. Nor was he disappointed in his expectation: for the two crosses having been applied which were not the Lord's, the woman still continued in a dying state; but when the third, which was the true cross, touched her, she was immediately healed, and recovered her former strength. In this manner then was the genuine cross discovered. The emperor's mother erected over the place of the sepulchre a magnificent church, [216] and named it New Jerusalem, having built it facing that old and deserted city. There she left a portion of the cross, enclosed in a silver case, as a memorial to those who might wish to see it: the other part she sent to the emperor, who being persuaded that the city would be perfectly secure where that relic should be preserved, privately enclosed it in his own statue, which stands on a large column of porphyry in the forum called Constantine's at Constantinople. I have written this from report indeed; but almost all the inhabitants of Constantinople affirm that it is true. Moreover the nails with which Christ's hands were fastened to the cross (for his mother having found these also in the sepulchre had sent them) Constantine took and had made into bridle-bits and a helmet, which he used in his military expeditions. The emperor supplied all materials for the construction of the churches, and wrote to Macarius the bishop to expedite these edifices. When the emperor's mother had completed the New Jerusalem, she reared another church not at all inferior, over the cave at Bethlehem where Christ was born according to the flesh: nor did she stop here, but built a third on the mount of his Ascension. So devoutly was she affected in these matters, that she would pray in the company of women; and inviting the virgins enrolled in the register [217] of the churches to a repast, serving them herself, she brought the dishes to table. She was also very munificent to the churches and to the poor; and having lived a life of piety, she died when about eighty years old. Her remains were conveyed to New Rome, the capital, and deposited in the imperial sepulchres.
[212] Isa. i. 8. oporophulakion , a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,' according to the English versions (both authorized and revised), which follows the Hebrew; in the LXX the words en sikuerato are added.
[213] See the Ep. of Constantine to Macarius, in chap. 9 above.
[214] xoanon, as distinguished from agalma, or andrias, used with less reverence; the word is derived from xeo, to polish.'
[215] sanis, board.'
[216] oikon eukterion, house of prayer.'
[217] kanoni: a word of many meanings; see Sophocles' Lex. and a dissertation on the word in Westcott On the Canon Appendix A, p. 499.