Life of Constantine

And now I beseech you, most mighty God, to be merciful and gracious to your Eastern nations, to your people in these provinces, worn as they are by protracted miseries; and grant them healing through your servant. Not without cause, O holy God, do I prefer this prayer to you, the Lord of all. Under your guidance have I devised and accomplished measures fraught with blessings: preceded by your sacred sign I have led your armies to victory: and still, on each occasion of public danger, I follow the same symbol of your perfections while advancing to meet the foe. Therefore have I dedicated to your service a soul duly attempered by love and fear. For your name I truly love, while I regard with reverence that power of which you have given abundant proofs, to the confirmation and increase of my faith. I hasten, then, to devote all my powers to the restoration of your most holy dwelling-place, which those profane and impious men have defiled by the contamination of violence.