Symbolism and Realism in Post-Nicene Representations of the Eucharist
R. L. P. Milburn
Even after Constantine, at the beginning of fourth century, had laid upon Church, henceforth no longer a cult suspected disloyalty and liable to persecution, duty acting as cement which should bind together threatened Empire, verities Faith were customarily declared in Christian art much by symbolic allusion representations fully descriptive character.
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History