A homily with a description of the Church of the Holy Apostles

This article provides a translation and discussion of a short section from a homily by the future Emperor Leo VI describing the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. The account supplements our knowledge of the church and makes it clear that the differences in the accounts of the church given by Constantine of Rhodes and Nikolaos Mesarites do not necessarily indicate an alteration in the mosaic programme of the building between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Leo’s description also appears to treat the images from an overtly Iconophile perspective.