Straightway, at any rate, a certain man, by no means obscure, but exceedingly illustrious according to the distinctions esteemed in this life, the moment the decree against the churches was posted up in Nicomedia, moved by zeal toward God and impelled by a fervent faith, seized and tore it to pieces as an unholy and most impious thing, while it lay in an open and public place—and that while two emperors were present in the same city, the most senior of all, and he who held the fourth grade of authority after him. But this man, the first of those at that time to distinguish himself in this manner, while at the same time enduring such things as were to be expected for so daring a deed, preserved a demeanour free from grief and untroubled unto his very last breath.