§ 2. THE ANONYMOUS ACCOUNT.
We must now examine the description of the church by the writer generally called the Anonymous of Combefis (otherwise of Banduri or Lambecius). Codinus, who is believed to have died soon after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, has so closely copied the Anonymous that the accounts differ only in a few minor particulars. Combefis says that the text of the Anonymous was collated by Lambecius, “who produced it from the royal archives” with the Chronography of the Logothetae, a tenth-century work to which the same account is added as a separate treatise. Labarte however considers that it was written in the eleventh century: Choisy assigns it to the fourteenth, a view with which we are inclined to agree; but in any case we cannot think it earlier than the twelfth century.
The description by Paulus is so precisely accurate where we can—as is so largely the case—check it by the existing work, that there cannot be a doubt of his entire accuracy. With the Anonymous this is not so; and it must first of all be borne in mind that he professes not to write of the church as he saw it, but to celebrate its splendour when first completed by Justinian; in this his account differs entirely from the Silentiary’s, which there is no sign to show that he had ever read. The Anonymous has been very largely used by scholars of the ability of Labarte and Bayet, but we believe him to be entirely unreliable where he speaks of the former state of the church. He simply gathers the legends which had grown up, because facts were forgotten, and enumerates the relics.
“The great church,[221] known as S. Sophia [formerly a place of heathen worship—Codinus], was first built of an oblong (dromica) form, like those of S. Andronicus and S. Acacius. On its completion it was adorned with many statues. This building lasted seventy-four years. But in the reign of Theodosius the Great, at the time of the second synod of Constantinople, an Arian uproar arose, during which the roof of the church was destroyed by fire. The most holy patriarch Nectarius took up his office at S. Irene, a church which was also built by Constantine. Then for two [Codinus and Glycas say sixteen] years S. Sophia was without a roof, until Theodosius, with Rufinus as his master workman (magistros), covered it with cylindrical vaults. After this it remained unhurt for thirty-nine years, making altogether eighty-five years (sic) from the time of Constantine, until the fifth year of Justinian’s reign. This was after the massacre in the Circus, in which thirty-five thousand men were killed, when a faction elected Hypatius emperor. However, in the fifth year of Justinian’s reign, the Most High God put it into his mind that he should build a temple to surpass all that had ever been built from the time of Adam.
“He wrote therefore to the strategi, toparchs, judges, and satraps of the different provinces, that with all zeal they should look for materials—columns, piers, panels, and lattice-doors—everything in fact that would be useful for building. Obeying the emperor’s letter, they quickly sent all that could be found from the shrines of the pagan idols, from baths, and private houses, from every province of east, west, north, and south, and from all the islands.
“Eight porphyry columns from Rome, which, according to Plutarch, Justinian’s secretary, a widow Marcia had received as dowry, were transmitted to Constantinople. They had formerly stood in a temple of the Sun built by Valerian, who surrendered himself to the Persians. Eight others of green, of marvellous beauty, were quarried and sent from Ephesus by the praetor Constantine. The Marcia, whom I have just mentioned, wrote to the emperor as follows: ‘I send thee, master, eight columns from Rome of equal length and size, and the same weight, for the safety of my soul.’
“Of the other columns some were brought from Cyzicus, some from the Troad, others from the Cyclades and Athens. And when sufficient was collected for the work seven and a half years had been spent. Then in the twelfth year of Justinian’s reign, the church built by Constantine was destroyed with the foundations; the old materials were put aside, as a sufficient amount of fresh had been prepared; and Justinian began to buy up the neighbouring houses. The first of these was one belonging to a widow named Anna, of which the price was estimated at eighty-five librae. She was however unwilling to sell it to the emperor, and refused to give it up under five hundred librae; nor did the emperor gain his purpose by sending the nobles of the court to win her over. He finally went himself and begged her to sell her house at any price. But when she saw him as a suppliant, she fell at his feet, saying, ‘Lord and King, I can accept no moneys for my house from thee; I ask only that I may obtain reward in the day of judgment, and that I may be buried in a tomb near the future church, so that the memory of my gift may live for ever.’ The emperor promised that when the church was finished she should be buried there, for the land which she had given up, that the memory of it might live for ever. The part which she gave to the great church is that now occupied by the skeuophylakium, and the chapel (naos) of S. Peter.
“Then the part which is occupied by the Holy Well, and all about the thysiasterium, and the place of the ambo, and the middle of the nave, was the house of a certain eunuch, Antiochus, which was valued at thirty-eight librae. He was offended because the emperor had not offered him a proper price for it. Now the emperor was much distressed, wondering what to do. But the Magister Strategius—a guardian of the treasures, the adopted brother of the emperor—promised that the emperor should gain his point by a little guile, and that the other should sell his house. Now this Antiochus was an eager frequenter of the Circus, and especially favoured the blue faction. When the games were about to be given, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Praetorian prison. Then Antiochus called out from the prison that if he could only witness the games he would do whatever the emperor wished. He was then led by the emperor’s orders to his empty seat, and made to sell his house before the games commenced, the Quaestor and the whole Senate being witness. Now there used to be the custom, that as soon as the emperor ascended to his seat the charioteers should begin, but because they stopped then, until the eunuch had accomplished his deed of sale, even to the present day the chariots for the races are accustomed to enter at a slow trot.
“The whole of the right-hand part of the Gynaeceum[222] up to the column of S. Basil, and some portion of the nave, was the house of an eunuch, Chariton, nicknamed Chenopolus, who sold it as a favour for double its value, which was twelve librae.
“The left part of the Gynaeceum[222] up to the column of S. Gregory Thaumaturgus was the house of one Xenophon, a cobbler. When they wanted to buy this house, besides asking twice the value, which was fourteen librae, he also demanded that, on the day of the games, the four charioteers of the four factions should do obeisance to him as well as to the emperor. The emperor decreed that it should be done as he had asked, but made him a laughing-stock for ever. For on the day of the games he was set midway in the boundaries, so that the charioteers, by way of joke, bowed to his back before beginning their courses, and so it is still done, and the man is styled ‘Chief of those below.’ He wears a white chlamys, woven with byssus.
“On the area of the naos, the four nartheces, the louter, and the parts adjacent, was the house of Damianus, a noble of Seleucia, the value of which he estimated at ninety librae, and gladly gave to the emperor.
“Now Justinian, when he had measured out the site, and found a stone to act as centre, from the thysiasterium as far as the lower [western] apse, laid the foundations of the great dome in circle-wise. Now from the apses right away to the most outside narthex, the foundations were laid in marshy and spongy ground. And when it had been begun, he urged Eutychius the patriarch to offer up prayers to God for its safe building, and then, taking with his own hands lime and stone, giving thanks to God, he himself laid the first stone in its place. Now before the church was built he constructed the oratory of S. John the Precursor with a gilt vault, and various ornamentations of precious stones. This is generally called the Baptistery, and is situated near the Horologium. He built at the same time the adjacent portion of the Metatorium, that he might frequently rest there with his court, and refresh himself with food. Then also he built the whole of the portico, which leads from the palace up to the Great Church, so that, as often as he liked, he might cross over and devote his time to the building, without being seen by any one. There were one hundred master workmen, and each had a band of a hundred men under him, making ten thousand men altogether. Fifty bands took one side, and fifty the other; and by the emulation between them, the work quickly progressed.
“The form of the church was shown to the emperor in a dream by an angel. And the first Deviser (mechanikos) of the builders was skilful and full of sound wisdom, and well versed in building churches. Barley was put into cooking pots, and its decoction, instead of water, was mingled with unslaked lime (asbestos) and tiles [crushed]. The mixture, when warm, became viscous and sticky. At the same time they cut slips off willow trees, which were cast into the cooking pots with the barley; they then made solid masses, having a length of over fifty feet, and fifty feet broad, and twenty feet deep, and placed them in the foundations. They were put there, not hot, nor yet quite cold, that so they might bind better, and above these masses they placed large square stones.
“When the foundations had arisen from the earth two cubits, they had spent four hundred and fifty-two miliarisia of gold. Money was brought daily from the palace, and placed in the Horologium, and each of those who carried stone received a piece of silver, lest any slackness should come upon them, or they should be tempted to complain. Some of them, when carrying stone, gave way under the weight, and fell head foremost and were hurt. Strategius, whom I have mentioned, distributed the wages: he was a Count of the royal treasury, and foster-brother of Justinian.
“Now when the piers (pinsoi) had been finished, and the great columns, both those from Rome and the green ones, had been put in their position, the emperor left his noonday sleep and devoted himself to the work, and inspected, with Troilus, a count of the household, all the polishers (lithoxooi), stonecutters (laotomoi), carpenters (tektonikoi), and labourers (oikodomoi), promising them each week a nummus more, or as much as each might ask, above their fixed wages. He used to come to see how the work was proceeding, clad in a white linen garment, his head covered with a kerchief, and holding a stick in his hand.
“And when they had raised the vaults (apsides) of the upper floor, those on the right and on the left, and had covered over these vaults, the emperor decreed that no miliarisia should be carried from the palace on Sundays. Now it was the third hour of the day, and Strategius ordered the men to go to their dinners. As Ignatius, the first mechanikos of the builders whom I have mentioned above, came down, he left his son on the right-hand side of the upper floor, where he had been working, with strict orders to watch the workmen’s tools. He was a boy of about fourteen. As he was sitting there, a eunuch, clad in shining garments, and fair to look upon, like one sent from the palace, appeared to him and said, ‘What is the reason why the workmen do not quickly finish the work of God, but have left it and gone to eat?’ To him the boy answered, ‘At the earliest hour, my lord, they will be here.’ But he cried, ‘Go quickly and bring them.’ When the boy said that he was not to leave, lest the tools should disappear, the eunuch said, ‘Go quickly and summon them here, for I swear to thee, my son, by the Holy Wisdom, whose temple is now being built, I will not depart, since, by the command of the Word of God, I am to minister and guard here until you return.’ When he heard this, the boy quickly set out, leaving the angel of God as guard. And when he had got down, and gone to his father and the rest, he related everything in order; then the father took his son and led him to the emperor’s table. For the emperor was then dining in the oratory of St. John the Precursor, by the Horologium. When he heard the story, he summoned all his eunuchs, and showed each in turn to the boy. Then the boy calling out that he saw none like the one that had appeared, the emperor knew that it was an angel of the Lord who had addressed the boy, and this was made more clear, as the boy said that he was clothed in a white robe, his eyes glittering like fire; then the emperor praised God, saying, ‘God has accepted my temple.’ And as he had been wondering what name to call it, he named it S. Sophia, according to interpretation ‘Word of God.’ And the emperor took counsel with himself and said, ‘I will not allow the boy to return, so that the angel may guard it for ever, as he promised by his oath. For if the boy return, the angel will depart.’ Having consulted with the principal senators and the bishops, the emperor commanded that the boy should not be sent back to the temple, so that, by the grace of God, it should have a guardian till the end of the world. And then the emperor loaded the boy with gifts and honours, and, with the consent of his father, sent him to the Cyclades. Now the conversation of the angel with the boy happened on the right-hand side of the pier of the upper arch, as one ascends towards the dome. [Codinus says, “near the Syllagonum,” for this it has been suggested to read Syllagoeum, or “the place of the council”].
“When the workmen had continued the work up to the second catechumena, and the upper columns and arches were built, and they were roofing the adjacent parts, the emperor began to be anxious for want of funds. But as he was standing in the upper part of an arch, as they were about to begin the dome, at the hour of the Sabbath just before dinner, an eunuch appeared to him, clad in white, and said, ‘Why are you distressed for money? To-morrow bid some of your nobles to come, and they shall have as much gold as they wish.’ On the following day the eunuch came and showed himself to the emperor. The emperor sent to follow him Strategius, and Basilides the quaestor, and Theodorus the patrician, and Colocyns who was a praefect, besides fifty servants, twenty mules, and twenty paniers. With all these he marched out of the Golden Gate. And when they had come to the Tribunalium, there seemed to those who were sent to be built there palaces of stupendous beauty. But when they had dismounted, the eunuch bade them ascend a wonderful stair, and then, producing a splendid gold key, he opened the door of a room, and, as Strategius says, the whole floor was heaped with gold coins. Taking a shovel, the eunuch filled each panier with four hundred pounds of gold, amounting altogether to eight thousand, and with these he sent them back to the emperor; and having closed up the room with the key, he said to them, ‘Take the gold to the emperor, and bid him spend it on the work.’ The eunuch left them there, and they came and showed the emperor the gold they had received. He was astonished, and asked them where they had been, and where the eunuch dwelt. They told him all in order, and how the wealth of gold was spread on the floor of the room. The emperor hoped that the eunuch would return, but as he was disappointed he sent a slave to the place. When the slave had found the place where the palace had been, and saw that there were no houses there, he returned, and told all to the emperor. He was then astonished, but understanding how it was, said, ‘Truly this is a miracle as all may see;’ and he praised God.
“Now when they were going to build the thysiasterium and let in the light through glass windows, the Deviser (mechanikos) suggested that the apsoid (muax) should have one light. Then he changed his mind, and suggested that it should have two, so that it should not be heavy, because no wooden ties (ikriomata) were placed there as in the narthex, and on the sides of the church. But the rest of the craftsmen were opposed, saying that one arch (kamara) would light the holy place. Then the chief builder (protooikodomos) was at a loss what to do, because the emperor said at one time that there should be one arch (apsis), and at another time two. Whilst the master (maistor) was thus pondering and anxious, on the fourth day, at the fifth hour, appeared an angel of the Lord, like the emperor, with royal robes and red shoes, and said to the craftsman, ‘I will that there be a triple light, and that the conch be made with three windows,[223] in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.’ He then disappeared quickly. Then the master, struck with wonder, rushed to the palace, and said to the emperor, ‘You keep not to your word. Until to-day you wanted one window, and then two, to light the bema; but now, when the work is all but finished, you come to me and say, three windows shall light the bema, as a symbol of the Trinity.’ Now the emperor knew that day that he had not left the palace, and he recognised that an angel of the Lord had spoken. He said, ‘As I have bidden thee, so do.’
“All the piers (pessoi) inside and outside were made strong by iron bars (mochloi), so that they were bound together, and made immovable; the joints of the piers were made with oil and asbestos; and upon them was placed a plating of many marbles (orthomarmarosis).
“The emperor sent Troilus the Cubicular, Thedosius the Prefect, and Basilides the Quaestor, to Rhodes to have bricks (besala) of Rhodian clay, made all equal in weight and length, with the words engraved on them, ‘God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.’[224] And they sent bricks of measured sizes to the emperor, twelve of them weigh one of ours; for the clay is light, spongy, fine, and white; hence arose the common idea that the dome is built of pumice stone (kiserion); but this is not so, though it is light and of a white colour.
“Thus the four great arches were built; and when they had been raised to the level of the dome (troulos), on the completion of every twelfth course, prayers were uttered for the church, and relics of the saints built in. Thus arose the building; it was then adorned with marble and covered with mosaic. And into the piers, arcades, and larger columns they placed relics of the saints. And when the marble plating had been finished, they applied gold to the margins of the slabs, and to the capitals of the columns. And the carved work, and the ornaments of the upper galleries, both of the parts with two stories, and with three (diorophoi and triorophoi), were all covered with pure gold. The thickness of the gold plating (petalos) was two inches.[225]
“But all the vaults (orophoi) of the upper galleries, of the parts with two stories on the sides, and the vaulting of the nave, and of the parts adjacent, and of the four nartheces, he gilded with glass mosaic. He gilded even the proaulia, with their upper chambers, and columns, and marble slabs.
“The floor of the nave was adorned with various marbles, both with the Roman of a rue-green colour and others of a rosy red; and these were all laid down and polished. The walls outside and all round were covered with large and valuable stones.
“The thysiasterium was of shining silver, the barrier (stethea), and its large columns, with the doors, were all of silver. All the silver was dipped in gold. Four tables were set up in the thysiasterium supported on columns, and these were gilt. The seven seats of the priests, on which they sat on either side, with the throne of the patriarch, and the four columns, were all gilded. And it was forbidden to go up into the holy place, the Kuklios, also called the Holy of Holies, which is above the steps.
“He set up also large columns of silver-gilt, and the lilies with the ciborium. And the ciborium he made with silver and nielloed (arguroencauston). Above the ciborium was a globe of solid gold, weighing 118 pounds, and golden lilies, weighing six pounds, and above them a golden cross, with most precious and rare stones, weighing eighty pounds. Such was the design he made.
“And as he wished to make the holy table more beautiful than the rest, and more precious with gold, he collected numerous craftsmen, and consulted with them. Their opinion and advice was to cast into the melting pot (choneuterion) gold, silver, stones of every kind, and pearls, copper, electron, lead, tin, iron, glass, and every other metallic substance. And they ground them all together and formed them into masses (olboi), and poured them into the pot; and when it had been melted, they took it from the fire and poured it out into a mould (tupos). Thus the holy table was made. And it was then set up by the emperor on solid columns of gold, studded with precious stones. And the ‘sea’ (thalassa) of the holy table was ornamented with gold and precious stones. Who can see the holy table without being astonished? and who can gaze at it on account of the many glinting surfaces? so that at one time it all appears of gold, from another place all of silver, and in another of glittering sapphire; and altogether there are eighty-two different colours of metals and stones and pearls.
“He made also, above and below, carved ivory doors overlaid with gold, to the number of 365. In the first entrance into the louter he made the doors of electron; doors also of electron were in the narthex, two of them smaller than the middle one, which was much larger, and of silver dipped in gold (chrusembaphos). The architraves also were overlaid with gold. Three or the doors inside, instead of being made of new wood, were made of wood from the Ark. He wished to make the pavement entirely of silver [Codinus says gold], but his advisers dissuaded him, saying that in the future poor emperors might have it taken up. And those who persuaded him were Maximian and Hierotheus, Athenian philosophers and astronomers, saying that in the latter days poorer rulers would come and take it all away. And following these counsels the thought was given up. And every day the emperor had 2,000 miliarisia put in a heap and mingled with earth; and when work was finished, in the evening, the craftsmen dug out the mound and found the miliarisia, and this the emperor did that they might be eager for their work. And collecting the materials, as was said, took seven and a half years. But the completion of the temple, even with the crowd of workmen I have mentioned, all labouring with the greatest eagerness, took nine years two months.
“The ambo with the solea he paved with sardonyx, and inserted precious stones; its columns were of solid gold, with carbuncles and crystals and sapphires; and he overlaid the upper part of the solea richly with gold. The ambo had also a golden dome studded with pearls, lychnites, and emeralds.
“The gold cross of the ambo weighed 100 pounds. It had also seizae,[226] and lychnites, and was embroidered with pearls. And the ambo above had a hat-shaped covering (petasion), upon[227] supports (stethea).
“The top of the Holy Well was brought from Samaria. It was considered sacred, because Christ had sat on it, and talked to the woman. And the bronze trumpets, which stand by the Holy Well, were brought from Jericho; they were those at whose blasts by angels the walls of Jericho fell down. The honoured Cross, to-day in the skeuophylakium, which was the measure of our Lord’s height, was eagerly sought for in Jerusalem by the faithful and brought hither. And for this reason they surrounded it with silver, and all kinds of precious stones, and overlaid it with gold. And to this day it works healing wonders, and drives away diseases and demons. And in every column [of the church] both above and below is placed one sacred relic.
“He made also golden vessels for the twelve solemn feasts, according to the sacred Gospels: basins (cherniboxeses), ewers (orkioloi), chalices (diskopoteria), and patens (diskoi); they were all of solid gold, set with precious stones and pearls. And the number of the sacred vessels was 1,000; altar-cloths (endutai), with rows of jewels, 300; crowns, 100. Every festal day had its own chalice covering (poterokalumma). There were paten covers (diskokalummata) of gold, with pearls and precious stones, to the number of 1,000; four-and-twenty gospels, each worth two centenaria; thirty-six censers of solid gold with precious stones; 300 lamps (luchnitai) weighing forty pounds; 6,000 candelabra (polycandela), and clustered lights[228] of solid gold, for the ambo, the bema, the two gynaecea, and the narthex.
“The revenues of 365 farms in Egypt, India, and all the East and West were devoted to the maintenance of the church. For each holy day was set aside 1,000 measures of oil, 300 measures of wine, and 1,000 sacramental loaves. Similarly for the daily services, the clergy, including the lowest, numbered 1,000, with 100 singers divided into two for alternate weeks. For the clergy there were cells round the building; for the singers there were two monasteries.
“He made five gold crosses, each weighing 100 pounds, which were adorned with all kinds of precious stones, so that they were each valued at eight centenaria: also two candlesticks of gold incrusted with pearls and precious stones, valued at five centenaria, as well as two other large carved candelabra (manoualia) of gold; these had golden feet, each worth 100 pounds, to stand below the golden candelabra. He made fifty others too, of silver, of the height of a man, to stand by the altar. On the adornment of the ambo and solea was spent 100,000 pounds, which was the tribute levied by Constantine on Saroboris, King of the Persians, and on many others. The whole church with the parts outside and around—with the exception of the vessels and ornaments, which were given by the emperor—cost 800,000 pounds.
“Now Justinian alone began and alone finished the church with no other helping him, or even building a part of it. Its beauty is wonderful to behold; all kinds of pearls glitter there like the sea, and one seems to see the ever-flowing waters of great rivers. Now the four boundaries[229] of the church he called after the rivers that flowed from Paradise, and he made a law that whosoever was excommunicated should stand there for his sins. And for the phiale in the centre he made twelve arcades, and lions belching out water for the people to wash in. On the right side, however, of the right-hand gynaeceum, he made a basin (thalassa) of one cubit for the water to come up in, and one flight of steps (klimax) for the priests to cross above the water. He placed too in the front of the basin (dexamene) an open tank for the rain (ombusia), and carved twelve lions, twelve pards, twelve deer, and eagles, and hares, and calves, and crows, twelve of each, and these spouted out the water for the use of the priests alone. The place was called the place of the lions (leontarion) and metatorion, because there was a golden couch there, that the emperor might rest on his way to the temple. But who can describe the comeliness and beauty of the temple, overlaid with resplendent gold from the crown to the pavement?
“When the temple and the sacred vessels had been all completed, on the 24th of December he marched in solemn pomp from the palace to the Gate of the Augusteum, opening into the Horologium; and he killed 1,000 oxen, 6,000 sheep, 500 deer, 1,000 pigs, 1,000 fowls, and gave them to the poor and needy, as well as 30,000 measures of wheat. And the distribution of these on that day took three hours, and then the emperor entered with the cross, and the patriarch Eutychius, and at the royal entrance he left the patriarch and walked alone to the ambo; then, stretching out his hands to heaven, he cried, ‘Glory be to God who has thought me worthy to finish this work. Solomon, I have surpassed thee.’ And when the ceremony was over he distributed largesse, and with the help of Strategius gave away three hundred pounds of gold. But on the following day he solemnly opened the temple, and killed even more oxen, and feasted every one for fifteen days until the feast of Epiphany, praising God. In such a way as this was the great work completed.
“Now the new dome which was built by Justinian, and the gorgeous and wonderful ambo, with the solea, and the patterned pavement of the nave, lasted seventeen years. But after the death of Justinian, his nephew Justin succeeded, and in the second year of his reign, and the fifth day, at the sixth hour the dome fell, and destroyed the wonderful ambo with the golden supports, and the solea, and all the sardonyx, and choice pearls and sapphires. But the arches, and the columns, and the rest of the building remained unhurt. Then the emperor summoned the skilful mastermen, and inquired what had caused the fall of the dome. But they answered and said to the king, ‘Your uncle took away too quickly the supports (antinux) for the dome, which were of wood, to cover it with mosaic; and made it too high so that it should be seen from everywhere, and thus the craftsmen, by destroying the scaffolding (skalosis) before the foundations had been sufficiently set, caused the fall of the dome.’ Thus spake they to the king, and they added that if he wished to build a dome like a hollow cymbal he should follow his uncle’s example, and send to Rhodes, and should order bricks made in the same way and of the same weight as the previous ones. The emperor gave the order, and bricks were brought from Rhodes, similar to the previous ones. So once more the dome was built, with fifteen fathoms taken from its height, and formed like a drum so that it should not again fall. The supports were left for a year, until they knew that the dome had become well set. But the ambo and solea, which they were not able to build of an equal magnificence to the former ones, they are made of marble, with columns covered with silver, and there was a silver inclosure (stethos), round the solea. But the dome of the ambo he did not build again, frightened by the expense. And for the pavement, as he was not able to find slabs of such beauty and size as heretofore, he sent Manasses, a Patrician and Praepositus, to Proconnesus, and marble was worked there as is seen now, of a green colour, like rivers flowing into a sea.
“But when they wished to cut away the scaffolding of the dome, and to take away the timbers, they filled up the church with water to a height of five cubits, and threw down the beams into the water, and thus the lower parts of the walls were uninjured. And he covered it all with mosaic. Hence there are some who say that Justin, Justinian’s nephew, built the church, but in this they lie. Let us rather give thanks to our God who has willed that the great structure should remain untouched, so that we can enter it, and give the praise that is due to Christ; for He is worthy of all glory, honour, power, and worship, now and for ever, Amen.”