Indeed, to use Ostrogorsky's more strongly worded phrasing, "the Roman-Hellenistic cult of the sovereign lived on in the Christian Byzantine empire in all its ancient glory.
He accordingly caused twelve coffins to be set up in this church, like sacred pillars in honor and memory of the apostolic number, in the center of which his own was placed, having six of theirs on either side of it.Symbolism aside, modern scholars offer differing accounts as to whether Eusebius ever used the actual title of isapóstolos in reference to Constantine.
John Julius Norwich maintains that "for the last few years of his life, Constantine had regularly used the title isapóstolos",[8] though he does not cite a primary source.
[10] In contrast to this, Jonathan Bardill states rather bluntly that our sources do not directly speak of Constantine as an equal of the apostles until the 5th century (that is, after Eusebius).
As Gilbert Dagron explains, the difficulty was not necessarily that Constantine was unworthy (merely immodest, more like), but rather that the title resulted in a very ambiguous mixing of church and state.