CHAPTER XXV

HONOUR PAID TO THE BISHOPS BY THE EMPEROR

AT the very time that these decrees were passed by the Council, the twentieth anniversary of the reign of Constantine was celebrated: for it was a Roman custom to have a feast on the tenth year of every reign. The emperor, therefore, invited the bishops to the festival, and presented suitable gifts to them: and when they prepared to return home, he called them all together, and exhorted them to be of one mind and at peace among themselves, so that no dissensions might henceforth creep in among them. After many other similar exhortations, he concluded by commanding them to be diligent in prayer for himself, his children, and the empire, and then bade them farewell. He wrote to the churches in every city, in order that those who had not been present at the Council, might be informed of what had transpired; and addressing himself more particularly to the Alexandrians, he urged them to receive unanimously the exposition of faith which had been set forth by the Council, and had been proved to be according to the Divine Will by the fact that so many bishops, appointed by the Holy Spirit, had, after lengthened disputation and investigation, consented to it.