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| The Epistle of Constantine concerning the preparation of copies of the Holy Scriptures.
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Chapter XV.—The Epistle of Constantine concerning the
preparation of copies of the Holy Scriptures.
“Constantinus Augustus, the great and the victorious, to
Eusebius.
“In the city388
| 388 Constantinople was dedicated a.d. 330 on
the site of the ancient Byzantium. | which bears our name, a great number
of persons have, through the providential care of God the Saviour,
united themselves to the holy Church. As all things there are in a
state of rapid improvement, we deemed it most important that an
additional number of churches should be built. Adopt joyfully the mode
of procedure determined upon by us, which we have thought expedient to
make known to your prudence, namely, that you should get written, on
fine parchment, fifty volumes389
| 389 σωμάτια. The Codex Sinaiticus has been thought to be one of
these. | , easily legible
and handy for use; these you must have transcribed by skilled
calligraphers, accurately acquainted with their art. I mean, of course,
copies of the Holy Scriptures, which, as you know, it is most necessary
that the congregation of the Church should both have and use. A letter
has been sent from our clemency to the catholicus390
| 390 i.e.
the “Comes fisci,” or officer managing the revenues of the
Province. Diœcesis is used in civil sense by Cicero, Ep. Fam. 3,
8, 4, and Ammianus (17, 7, 6), mentions the compliment paid by
Constantius II. to his empress Eusebia, by naming a
“Diocese” of the Empire after her. | of the diocese, in order that he may be
careful that everything necessary for the undertaking is supplied. The
duty devolving upon you is to take measures to ensure the completion of
these manuscripts within a short space of time. When they are finished,
you are authorised by this letter to order two public carriages for the
purpose of transmitting them to us; and thus the fair manuscripts will
be easily submitted to our inspection. Appoint one of the deacons of
your church to take charge of this part of the business; when he comes
to us, he shall receive proofs of our benevolence. May God preserve
you, beloved brother.”
What has been already said is
enough to shew, nay to clearly prove, how great zeal the emperor
manifested on the matters of religion. I will, however, add his noble
acts with regard to the Sepulchre of our Saviour. For having learnt
that the idolaters, in their frantic rage, had heaped earth over the
Lord’s tomb, eager thus to destroy all remembrance of His
Salvation, and had built over it a temple to the goddess of unbridled
lust, in mockery of the Virgin’s birth, the emperor ordered the
foul shrine to be demolished, and the soil polluted with abominable
sacrifices to be carried away and thrown out far from the
city, and a new temple of great size and beauty to be erected on the
site. All this is clearly set forth in the letter which he wrote to the
president391
| 391 πρόεδρος. Cf. Thuc. iii. 25. The πρυτάνεις
in office in the Athenian ἐκκλησία were so called. In our author a common synonym for Bishop.
προεδρια = sedes = see. | of the church of Jerusalem,
Macarius, whom we have already mentioned as a member of the great
Nicene Council, and united with his brethren in withstanding the
blasphemies of Arius. The following is the letter.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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