Constantine

A while back, I joined the “de-Conversion Forum“. It is a forum dedicated to those who have “deconverted” from their religions. Some have become agnostic, some athiest, some merely doubt. A very diverse and interesting crowd, they welcomed me.

On my introductory thread, one member (after having read my “Letter to My Mother” had a problem with one of my statements.

Leopardus said:

“There was one paragraph in your letter I had to call out. Know that I’m an apostate too. So I’m not pointing this out for any reason other than that I think we should have the truth in all matters.”

Leopardus quoted this excerpt from my “Letter to My Mother“:

“Constantine knew this when he created the Roman Catholic Church. He was a pagan, himself, but the relatively new “Christianity” was growing. This early Christianity taught people that they did not need church or priests to commune with God. They were not as controllable with these beliefs. So, Constantine got a committee together to decide on what books would be in the bible. People were much more biddable when they had to follow the priests rules.”

Leopardus goes on to say:

“That’s just wrong all the way through. The Church was already around. Constantine wasn’t in Rome. The decision about what books went into the Bible went on before and after Constantine. The priesthood and ideals of obedience were quite entrenched.

OK. Enough. More history only if you want it.”

See, even when correcting my assertion, this member is still quite civilized. Thank you Leopardus.

Now, I know I had read somewhere about Constantine and Christianity, but it had been so long ago, I could not remember the details. So, I did a search.

First, of course, I went to Wikipedia:

Constantine I and Christianity

Excerpts: (italics mine)

“Whatever the case, the accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christian worship, and the emperor would be a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor within the Church that would be followed for centuries.” and

“More significantly, in 325 he summoned the First Council of Nicaea, effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so classified), to deal mostly with the Arian controversy.” (see below under First Council of Nicaea for details of controversy)

Christendom

Excerpt: (italics mine)

Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 to order the government to stop the persecution of Christians, and convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 whose Nicene Creed included belief in “one holy catholic and apostolic Church”, possibly an interpretation of the Great Commission, see also Constantine I and Christianity. Christianity became the state religion of the Empire in 392 when Theodosius I passed legislation prohibiting the practice of pagan religions. The orthodox Church gradually became a defining institution of the Empire.

First Council of Nicaea

Excerpt: (italics mine)

First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day Iznik in Turkey), convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325, was the first Ecumenical council[1] of the early Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent ‘general (ecumenical) councils of Bishops’ (Synods) to create statements of belief and canons of doctrinal orthodoxy— the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the whole of Christendom.

Then, on to a few other sites:

Constantine and the rise of Christianity

Excerpt: (italics mine)

Diocletian’s idea of splitting Rome only lasted 31 years. In 324 Constantine defeated the only remaining Eastern Emperor Licinius and become the sole Emperor of Rome. The last of Constantine’s restraint disappeared and Constantine ruled over the entire Roman Empire. Apart from building great monuments to Christianity, Constantine now also became openly hostilely towards his former religion’s followers. Traditional Roman temples had their treasures confiscated. These treasures were largely given to the Christian churches instead. Some traditional Roman religions which were deemed sexually immoral by Christian standards were forbidden and their temples were destroyed. Laws were introduced to enforce Christian ideas of sexual morality. Constantine was evidently not an emperor who had decided to gradually educate the people of his empire to this new religion. The empire was shocked into a new religious order. And

Constantine remained Emperor of the Roman Empire until his death in 337. It is still unclear to historians today, if he truly had believed in Christianity, or not. He wasn’t baptized until he lay on his deathbed. At this point in time, weather his part in the rise of Christianity was for self-gain or for true beliefs seem irrelevant. What is relevant is that had it not been for Constantine’s embracement of Christianity, it is doubtful that the religion would be as large as it is today.

Constantine’s stamp on early Christian art

Excerpt: (italics mine)

The pagan Roman emperors were, in many respects, tolerant of diversity of belief. What made the Christians obnoxious was their refusal to recognize the emperor, and therefore the state, as the supreme authority.

One of the worst periods of suppression, the “Great Persecution” under the Emperor Diocletian, almost immediately preceded an extraordinary “volte-face.” The Edict of Milan of 313, declared not only general freedom of worship, but mentioned the Christians by name and particularly favored them. A dozen years later, Christianity became the official state religion.

The prime author of the edict was Constantine, then one of the joint rulers of the Roman empire. In the following years, he eliminated the last of his rivals and reunified the empires of east and west. In 330, he inaugurated a new capital bearing his name on the shores of the Bosporus, and it would remain a bastion of Christianity in the east for more than 1,100 years. In the west, the primacy of the religion he adopted endured until the 20th century.

The Impact of Constantine on Christianity

Excerpt: (italics mine)

The impact of Constantine on Christianity can be summarized fairly quickly: during the thirty years of his reign, more change took place in the status, structure, and beliefs of the Christian Church than during any previous period of its history. In 306, when Constantine was first elevated by his father’s troops, the imperial government was in the middle of a concerted effort to remove all traces of Christian presence from the empire. When he died in 337, Christian leaders had assumed the rank, dress, and, increasingly, the duties of the old civic elite. Before the century ended, the tables were turned completely, with traditional sacrifices outlawed and the old state cults forbidden. But Constantine’s role in bringing about this reversal is more problematic. At one time, the only question that needed to be asked about that role was how “sincere” Constantine’s conversion had been. Was he in truth a pious son of the church, or was he rather a political mastermind who seized on the power he could gain by subordinating this well-organized and doctrinaire group to his will? Admirers pointed to the enormous powers and benefactions he bestowed upon the church, the Christian character of his laws, and his suppression of pagan cults. Those who argued the opposite pointed disdainfully at the continued presence of pagan images on his coins for some time after 312, his unwillingness to use any but the most general terms for deity in his public utterances, and, most damningly of all, evidence that he not only permitted the old cults to survive but even actively patronized them, at least on occasion.

A Christian Empire

Excerpt:

Historians differ greatly in their assessments of Constantine’s motives and the depth of his Christian conviction. Early Christian writers portray him as a devout convert, although they have difficulty explaining his execution in 320 (on adultery charges) of Crispus, his son by his first wife, and Fausta, his wife. (Is it possible he got the idea from Leviticus????) Some later historians see him as a political genius, expediently using Christianity to unify his empire. An intermediate interpretation pictures him as a pagan gradually converted to Christianity (he was baptized on his deathbed), using his new belief for personal ends much as earlier emperors had used the imperial cult.

Perhaps, I should have said that Constantine had a huge hand in formalizing the Christian Church which became the Roman Catholic Church. What I got from all my reading was this.

When Constantine came to power, the early Christians did not recognize the authority of the Emperor. They only recognized the authority of God. The Romans were persecuting them. Constantine reported having had a “vision” and won a great battle under the sign of Christianity. Constantine issued the Edict of Milan which legalized Christianity. Constantine summoned the First Council of Nicaea (which determined doctrine). Within a short period of time, Christianity became the State Religion.

We all know history is written by the winner. With this in mind, I do not feel that I am too far wrong in saying that Constantine created the Roman Catholic Church in terms of its hierarchy. Perhaps I should have been more specific and said that he co-opted Christianity. No, I never thought he created the Christian religion “whole cloth” from nothing. I do believe he instigated authoritative doctrine, bringing the “believers’ back under Empire control. By doing this, he undermined the very words of Jesus, who taught that you do not need a priest to intercede with God on your behalf – you can have your own relationship with God.

This should not be surprising. After all, the Romans were known for conquering a people and then co-opting their religious beliefs and making them into Roman beliefs. They did it to the Greeks…