s were regarded as forming one sanctuary; they
were enclosed within the same court, served by the same clergy, and
known by the same name, 'the Great Church,' [Greek: he Megale
Ekklesia].[124] S. Irene was again the sole cathedral building, while S.
Sophia lay in ruins for eleven years after being set on fire in 404, on
the occasion of the final banishment of John Chrysostom.

S. Irene comes prominently into view during the fierce struggle between
the adherents of the Nicene Creed and the Arians, in the half-century
which followed the inauguration of New Rome. Having been persuaded that
the point at issue between the two theological parties was not
essential, and that the agitation of the question was due to love of
disputation, Constantine the Great, who valued peace at almost any
price, attempted to suppress the controversy by his authority, and
accordingly ordered the Patriarch Alexander to admit Arius, then present
in the city, to the Holy Communion. With this order Alexander, a
champion of the Nicene Creed, refused to comply. Whereupon the followers
of Arius decided to have recourse to violence. But on the very eve of
the day fixed to carry out their purpose, Arius was taken suddenly ill
in the Forum of Constantine and died on the spot. The historian
Socrates regards the event as the act of God, for when the patriarch
heard what the heretics intended to do, he retired to the church of S.
Irene, and there for many days and nights, with fasting and tears, and
with his lips pressed to the altar, implored divine succour in his
terrible extremity. 'If the opinions of Arius be true,' the patriarch
prayed, 'let me die; but if they are false let him be judged.' The
tragic end of Arius was considered the answer to that prayer.

Upon the death of Alexander in 343, at the age of ninety-eight, the two
parties came into collision in regard to the question of his successor.
The deceased prelate had recommended two persons as suitable to fill his
place: the presbyter Paul, because of his abilities; the deacon
Macedonius, on account of his age and venerable appearance. The Arians
favoured Macedonius, as more in sympathy with their opinions; the
orthodox, however, carried the election and installed Paul in S. Irene.
The defeated party seems to have submitted, but the Emperor Constantius,
a violent Arian, quashed the election, and appointed Eusebius of
Nicomedia, a prominent upholder of the views of Arius, bishop of the
capital. Up