Primary source · Greek and Latin chancery

The Letters and Oration of Constantine

Emperor Constantine · AD 313–337

Eusebius (HE X, Vita Constantini) & the Optatan appendix (carriers) — manuscript witness to The Letters and Oration of Constantine
Eusebius (HE X, Vita Constantini) & the Optatan appendix (carriers) — 4th c. carriers; medieval copiesEastern Orthodox St. Fathers · Public domain · Commons
Close
Eusebius (HE X, Vita Constantini) & the Optatan appendix (carriers) — manuscript witness to The Letters and Oration of Constantine

Eusebius (HE X, Vita Constantini) & the Optatan appendix (carriers) — 4th c. carriers; medieval copiesEastern Orthodox St. Fathers · Public domain · Commons

What this text is

The first Christian emperor in his own words: the letter begging Alexander and Arius to stop quarreling 'over small and quite minute points,' the summons to Nicaea, the letter on Easter, and the Good Friday Oration to the Assembly of the Saints.

Profile of Constantine the Great →

Public-domain translations

E. C. Richardson (NPNF, 1890)

Restore to me then quiet days and untroubled nights, that the joy of undimmed light, the delight of a tranquil life, may henceforth be my portion… open to me by your unity of judgment the road to the East. (To Alexander and Arius, in Vita II.72.)

Manuscript witnesses

Eusebius (HE X, Vita Constantini) & the Optatan appendix (carriers)

4th c. carriers; medieval copies

The emperor's church correspondence survives embedded in Eusebius and the Donatist dossier — a papyrus find (P.Lond. 878) vindicated the Vita's documents.

PRINCIPAL CARRIERS

Provenance

The imperial chancery, AD 313–337

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Figures named in this text (1)

Complete public-domain text ↗