Constantine the Great and his Adoption of Christianity. Michael Joseph Intro to World Religions 15 December 2014

Transcription

1 Constantine the Great and his Adoption of Christianity Michael Joseph Intro to World Religions 15 December 2014

2 Abstract Constantine s adoption of Christianity prompted the vast social and political transformation of the entire Roman Empire that laid the foundation of modern Christianity. After his conversion, moral Christian doctrines were incorporated into Roman government and thus dissolved the schism between church and state. Constantine established the Council of Nicaea, which set guidelines for Christian orthodoxy and officially decided which texts belonged in the canon of the New Testament. Constantine s influence on Christianity paved the way for Papacy as an authoritative figure in western European politics, politically motivated wars justified by Christian doctrine, and the institutionalized discrimination faced by non-christians, especially Jews.

3 Christianity is the world s leading religion in terms of followers consisting of more than two billion of earth s inhabitants. The number of Christian practitioners surged after the Roman Emperor, Constantine I, freed early followers of Christ from persecution and converted to Christianity himself in the third century. Constantine s adoption of Christianity prompted the vast social and political transformation of the entire Roman Empire that laid the foundation of modern Christianity. After his conversion, moral Christian doctrines were incorporated into Roman government and thus dissolved the schism between church and state. Constantine established the Council of Nicaea, which set guidelines for Christian orthodoxy and officially decided which texts belonged in the canon of the New Testament of the bible. After Christianity became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire it set out to colonize, evangelize, and convert the rest of the Eurasian hemisphere, which later lead to the Crusades in the 10th century and expanded the influence of Christianity across the globe. Born Flavius Valerius Constantinus, Constantine was the son of a Roman Army Officer and a concubine. His father, Constantius, was appointed Caesar of the Western Empire by Diocletian and left his family behind in the Eastern Empire. Constantine s mother, Helena, who was later named a saint by the Roman Catholic Church was already a Christian and raised Constantine under Christian moral values. Constantine received a formal education and studied Latin, Greek, and philosophy. His interest in Christianity was peaked early as he read the Old Testament and made a pilgrimage to the ruins of Babel. 1 Constantine was kept as sort of a hostage by Galerius, Caesar of the Eastern Empire, because Diocletian did not fully trust Constantius. In the East, Galerius ruled brutally and Constantine witnessed the horrific persecutions of the Christians. This made

4 an important impression upon Constantine as it would affect his policy and treatment toward Christians. In 305, Constantine joined his father in Britannia to aid the Roman campaign. His father would fall ill and die a year later but before his death Constantius declared that he wanted his son to take his rank as Augustus but after hearing of Constantius decision, Galerius demoted Constantine to Caesar. By 312 Maxentius declared war on Constantine for murdering his father. After a series of unsuccessful battles Maxentius fortified himself and his troops within the walls of Rome and awaited a siege from Constantine. Constantine and Maxentius would meet each other over the Tiber River for battle. The myth states that the night before the battle Constantine had a dream where he was visited by God wielding the cross with the inscription In Hoc Signo Vinces, which translates to, with this sign you will conquer. 2 Before battle Constantine instructed all of his soldiers to mark their shields with the ChiRho symbol, which are the first two letters of the Greek word Chritso. Maxentius infantry was pushed off of the bridge and slaughtered by Constantine s calvary. Maxentius had drowned in the Tiber before the battle was over. This battle depicted Constantine s faith in the Christian religion. After the war, Constantine marched his army to Rome and paraded the town with Maxentius decapitated head. Constantine liberated political exiles and prisoners of Maxentius and started a propagandistic campaign tarnishing Maxentius name. Constantine had now become Augustus of both eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire. Constantine s first act as emperor was enforcing the Edict of Milan. This law legally recognized Christianity as a religion and allowed Christians to practice publicly. The Edict also returned any property previously confiscated back to its rightful owners.

5 The Edict of Milan required that the wrong done to the Christians be righted as thoroughly as possible. Constantine s reign saw the integration of Roman government and Christian moral values. This disintegration between church and state and toleration of Christian beliefs also saw the intolerance of behaviors that would normally be socially acceptable within Roman culture. Constantine made it illegal to practice homosexuality, abortion, suicide, prostitution, the mass killing of human beings for entertainment in gladiatorial combat, and many other behaviors deemed as sin by the Christian faith. Rome also began to care for its destitute citizens, slaves, orphans, and prisoners. 3 Constantine s tenure was also marked by the rise in power of the papacy. Constantine utilized the Bishops of Rome in his inner advisory council. Another famous myth states that Constantine offered to donate the entire Western Roman Empire to the Roman Bishop Sylvester I in exchange for Sylvester s instruction of Constantine in Christianity, Constantine s baptism, and to cure Constantine of leprosy. 4 Even though this never occurred it exemplified the relationship between Constantine and the Papacy and how serious Constantine was in his faith. Constantine also gave to Bishop Miltiades the Lateran Palace which he inherited through his marriage to his second wife. The palace was first used as a place for bishops to convene and would later become the main residence for the Pope in southeast Rome. Constantine also made political and economic changes to Rome. He moved the capital of the empire to Byzantium and named it Constantinople after himself. Constantine also replaced all forms of Roman currency with the Solidus, a gold coin with his face on one side and Christian images on the other. A schism in ideology started to take effect among Christian theologians so Constantine established the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. 5 The

6 council officially determined Christian Orthodoxy, compiled the canonical books for the Bible, and affirmed the Jesus Christ was a divine being. The council also built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to commemorate the final resting place of Jesus Christ. The changes made by Constantine in Roman government created long lasting affects that not even he could have foreseen. The continuation of Roman domination was accompanied by the expansion of Christendom across the Eurasian continent. Christians became known for being bigoted and intolerant of any religion other than their own. They discriminated against anyone who openly committed anything Christian orthodoxy deemed as sinful. Christians believed that Jews were to blame for the death of Jesus Christ and collectively held all Jews responsible for deicide. Roman laws also discriminated against Jews prohibiting them from owning Christian slaves and marrying Christians. 6 This type of institutional discriminatory system lead to and justified the oppression faced by Jews later in western European history. After the decline of the Roman Empire no strong secular government existed and the only authoritative figure was the Catholic Church in Rome. During Medieval times, there was a constant struggle of power between the king and the pope. Christian clergy also held political authority during this time. The first crusades were also a direct result of Constantine s influence. The first crusades were sanctioned by the Pope to reclaim lands in Jerusalem from Muslims. The papacy used Christianity to justify war on the infidels. The crusades marked the beginning of a pattern of Christian oppression upon different ethnicities of the world and the consensual perception of Christians shifted towards a negative connotation. Constantine the Great played a monumental role in the history of early Christianity.

7 His conversion to the faith ultimately lead to the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire and later formation of the Roman Catholic Church. His changes in government policy along with his moral Christian beliefs shifted the way Christians were valued in Roman society. His reign also marked the rise in power of the papacy, giving the Pope political authority within Roman society. Constantine started the political strategy of justifying actions through Christ.

8 Endnotes 1. Christoph Pieper, Constantine: Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire (Leiden 2013) Diederik Burgersdijk, Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge (2013) 3. Benjamin Wiker, Constantine s Gift to Christianity (2012) 4. J.F. Matthews, Constantine I Roman Emperor (2014) 2 5. Roman Emperor Constantine I (Columbia 2013) 6. USF Florida Center for Instructional Technology, Summary of Geological Movement of Jews in the Past 2,000 Years (Tampa 2013) Bibliogrpahy "Roman emperor Constantine I." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition 1-2. Literary Reference Center, EBSCOhost(accessed December 15, 2014). Burgersdijk, Diederik "Remembering Constantine at the Milvian Bridge." Mnemosyne 66, no. 3: Literary Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 15, 2014). RAMELLI, Ilaria L. E "Constantine: the Legal Recognition of Christianity and its Antecedents." Anuario De Historia De La Iglesia 22, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 15, 2014). Pieper, Christoph "Constantine. Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire." Mnemosyne 66, no. 4/5: Literary Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 15, 2014).