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1. This is
the festival of our great king. Let us, the royal children, rejoice in
it, inspired and instructed by our sacred theme. The leader of our feast
is the great king himself. In saying ‘the great king’ I mean him who
is truly great. The king who is present with us will not be offended but
will rather join in applauding this expression of piety, for I refer to
Him who is beyond the universe, the highest of all, the supremely
exalted, the supremely great, the thrones of whose kingdom are the
vaults of heaven and the earth the footstool of his feet. None can
worthily conceive him; the light about him flashes with beams of
ineffable brightness, so that none may approach the vision of his
godhead. Him the hosts of heaven surround and the supernal powers
attend; him they acknowledge as their master, their lord and their king
. . . [Eusebius continues to
describe the praises of the created order. The passage concludes as
follows.] To him, its great king, the whole universe itself gives
concerted praise. To him the heavens above, and the choirs beyond the
vaults of heaven, give honour. Hosts of angels sing his ineffable
praises. Spirits who spring from incorporeal light adore the parent of
their being. The timeless ages which were before this heaven and this
earth, and still yet other and infinite ages of ages, antecedent to all
visible existence , acknowledge him as their sole and supreme sovereign
and lord. o him too he who is over all, before all, and after all, the
pre‑existent only‑begotten Word makes propitiation for the
salvation of a11. He is the great high-priest of the great God; he is
older than all time and all ages; he supremely and solely is dedicated
to the honour of the Father. His glory is that of supreme ruler , of the
universe, and viceroy , of the Father’s kingdom kingdom. He is that
light transcending all things which surrounds the Father and stands as
both mediator and barrier between the being of created things and the
unbegun and uncreated ‑ that light which, streaming down from the godhead that is
without end or beginning, goes forth to illuminate all things, both the
realm above the heavens and all that is under heaven, with the radiance
of a wisdom brighter than the sun in splendour. He then must be ruler of
this whole universe ‑ the Word of God, whose presence is all
pervasive, over all things, through all things, and in all things both
visible and invisible.* From him and through him the king who is dear to
God receives an image of the kingdom that is above and so in imitation
of that greater king himself guides directs the course of everything on
earth. 2. The only-begotten
Word of God continues sharing in his Father’ rule from ages without
beginning to infinite and endless ages. So too the one who is dear to
him, sustained by royal aid emanating from on high an strong in the
power of his sacred title, has been exercising an earthly rule for long
periods of years. Again, the saviour of the universe is bringing the
whole heaven and earth and the
kingdom that is above
into a condition worthy of his father. So too the one dear to him
directs those who come under his control on earth to the
only‑begotten saving Word and makes them fit for his kingdom. The
one saviour of the universe, like a good shepherd keeping wild beasts
far from his flock, drives away by his divine and invincible might the
rebellious powers which used to fly about in the air above the earth and
harass the souls of men. So too the one dear to him is adorned by him
from on high with the trophies of victory over his enemies; by the rule
of war he masters the open enemies of the truth and brings them to a
right mind.
The Word who is before the world, the saviour of the universe, imparts
seeds of reason and salvation to his disciples, making them ( rational
and giving them an understanding of the Father’s kingdom. So too the
one dear to him is a kind of spokesman of the divine Word, who summons
every race of mankind to a knowledge of the Almighty; he calls aloud in
the hearing of all and proclaims in clear tones to everyone on earth the
laws of true piety. The saviour of the universe opens wide the heavenly
gates of the Father’s kingdom to all who are travelling from this
world to the other. And he in his turn, emulating the divine example,
reproves every stain of godless error from his earthly kingdom; he
invites within in his royal palaces bands of holy and pious men, firmly
resolved to save without loss of a single life that whole company whose
helmsman and governor he is. And now, in celebrating this festival, when the all‑sovereign God has granted him the honour of reigning for these three decades, he, alone of all those who have yet ruled the Roman empire, it not as the ancients did, in honour of earth spirits, of seducing demonic apparitions or of any other of the deceptions or fooleries of godless men; rather, fully conscious of the good things bestowed on him, it is to the one who has thus honoured him that he pays his thank offering. Nor does he follow the ancients in defiling his royal palaces with blood and gore or in appeasing the earth spirits with smoke and fire and the whole burnt offerings of animal sacrifice. Instead he offers to the king of the universe the sacrifice which is dear and pleasing to him, namely his own royal soul and godly spirit. For this is the only appropriate sacrifice ‑ the acceptable sacrifice which our king has been taught to offer not with fire or blood but with purified mind and understanding. With true conviction of soul he holds fast to the ways of piety; with exalted mind he utters the praises s of God; with royal deeds he imitates the divine benevolence. So wholly devoted to God, he presents to him the great offering of his own self, the first‑fruits of the world which has been entrusted to him. This is the first and greatest sacrifice he makes; then, like a good shepherd he offers, not ‘a splendid sacrifice of first-born lambs’ [a reference to Homer's Iliad 4, 102] but the souls of the spiritual lambs within his care, whom he leads to the knowledge and worship of God. Rejoicing
in such an offering, gladly welcoming the proffered gift and delighting
in the priest who makes so solemn and noble a sacrifice, God has given
to him further long periods of kingly rule, adding to his his sovereign
multitude of festivals, and at each ten‑yearly celebration has
chosen one of his sons to have a share in the imperial throne, thereby,
as it were, giving an increase of time to a healthy and flourishing
plant. First of all, to mark the first ten years of his imperial rule he
appointed the son who bears his own name to a share in his royal office,
to mark the second decade he appointed the next in age, and similarly
the third to mark the decade which we are now celebrating. And now as
the fourth period begins its course and his allotted time extends still
further into the future, he plans to expand his royal authority still
further by ungrudging association of his family with himself. [Constantine
II was appointed Caesar in 317, Constantiuis
II in 323, and Constans in 333.
Their cousin Dalmatiius was appointed Caesar in 335.
Eusebius does not mention Constantine’s eldest son Crispus,
appointed Caesar in 3i’7 and
executed in mysterious circumstances in 326.]
By this appointment of Caesars he is fulfilling the oracles of
the holy prophets, who long ago declared ‘the saints of the most high
will receive the kingdom’ (Dan. 7: 18]. So God himself the all
sovereign grants to his beloved king increase alike of time and children
and has made his rule over the nations of the world fresh and vigorous,
like a plant that is putting forth its shoots. He it is who is granting
him this festival, establishing him as victor over all his enemies and
foes and providing in him an example of true piety for all the
inhabitants of the world. As for our emperor, just as the sun gives light
to those who dwell in the very furthest parts by means of the
rays that stream out from it into the distance, so he assigns his sons
to the corners of the globe as lamps and torches bearing the light of
which he is the source ‑ to us whose home is in the east he gives
a son worthy of himself, and to other races yet others of his children.
These noble Caesars he has harnessed, as it were, under a single yoke as
the four horses of his royal chariot. He himself directs and guides from
on high with the reins of an inspired harmony and concord. At one and
the same time he traverses the whole world under the sun; he himself is
present to all; he himself oversees all. The
kingdom which he is invested is an image of the heavenly one. He looks
up to see the archetypal pattern and p guides those favours in response
to the worship given to him. With freedom God has granted him the
celebration of whom he rules below in accordance with that pattern. The
example of monarchical rule
there is a source of strength to him. This is something granted man
alone of the creatures of the earth by the universal King. The basic
principle of kingly authority is the establishment of a single source
of authority to which everything is subject. Monarchy is superior to
every other constitution and form of government. For polyarchy, where
everyone competes on equal terms, is really anarchy and discord. This is
why there is one God, not two three or even more. Polytheism is strictly
atheism. There is one king, and his Word and royal law are one. That
Word is not something expressed ‘in phrases or syllables not something
that takes a period of time to write down with a pen; he is the living
and existent divine Word dispensing to all those under him and after him
the kingdom of his Father. The heavenly hosts surround him, the myriads
of God’s ministering angels, the great company of the supernal armies
and of the invisible spirits of the lower heavens who play their part in
maintaining the order of the whole world. And at the head of all these
is the royal Word as a viceroy of the great king. The inspired voices of
the sacred writers have honoured him with countless titles ‑
captain of the host, great high‑priest, prophet of the Father,
angel of great counsel, effulgence of paternal light, only begotten
son. He who begat him made him to be living word, law, wisdom, the full
complement of every good and gave him to all who are subject to his
kingdom as a gift embodying the greatest goods. He pervades all things
and reaches to every place. He unfolds God’s favours bountifully to
all, including even the rational creation on this earth. On them he has
bestowed a copy of kingly authority, in that he has furnished the soul
of man, made after his own image, with divine powers. From that same
source the soul receives as an outcome of divine emanation its
participation in the other virtues also. For he only is wise who is also
the only God. He alone is essentially good; he alone is truly powerful,
he is the begetter of righteousness, the Father of Word and wisdom, the
source of light and life, the
dispenser of truth and virtue; so too he is the author of
kingship itself and of all rule and authority. |