As regards almsgiving, however 1 Citra sanguinis effusionem.
It strongly commends meritorious almsgiving to the church.
By a true instinct the early Christian writers called widows and orphans the altar of God on which the sacrifices of almsgiving are offered up. 4 Such works of charity, however, represent only one of the channels by which self-sacrifice is ministered, to which all prayers and thanksgiving and instruction of psalms, prophecy and preaching contribute.
The motive of the story has been variously regarded as a desire to insist upon the duty of tithe-paying, upon that of almsgiving, and upon that of burying the dead.
He was a regular observer of religious rites, took great pains to secure decorum in the services of the church, and was generous in almsgiving both within his empire and without.
