The Constantinian change

But, whatever minor ambiguity, it seems reasonably clear that the early church shunned the sword in favour of the gospel. When did all this change?

 

Like so many things, the source of its change of its change can be traced back to the Roman Emperor Constantine.

 

Let me read a summarized account of the life of Constantine that I’ve put together, because it tells us a lot about changes that followed in the church.

Born in the area now known as Serbia in around 272AD, he was the son of Constantius, a Roman officer of the Imperial bodyguard who later became a Caesar, or junior emperor of part of the empire, under Emperor Diocletian. His mother was a Greek of low standing and may not have actually been married to his father.

Constantine was educated in the court of Diocletian as heir presumptive of his father, but was also in a sense being held as a hostage to ensure the loyalty of his father
He witnessed the political beginnings of Diocletian’s “Great Persecution” of Christians which commenced in the year 302, though was probably not involved in it.

After the abdication of Diocletian Constantine was in danger from Emperor Galerius, whom Constantine was able to persuade (at the end of long night of drinking), to permit him to return to his father; permission which he made use of that very night before Galerius awoke and changed his mind. Thus Constantine joined his father in France in 305AD and together they crossed into Britain and spent a year trying to subdue various tribes of the Picts, (or what we would call Scotts).

After the sickness and death of Constantius in 306, Constantine took his father’s place to the great anger of Emperor Galerius from whose court he had fled a year before, though to avoid war Galerius accepted Constantine’s position as a co-emperor.

In 310 a jealous Caesar Maximian rebelled against the Emperor Constantine, proclaiming himself as Emperor. Although his quest quickly failed and he was caught and committed suicide, his son Maxentius soon carried on his rebellion creating a civil war between the parts of the empire he controlled and those controlled by Constantine.
It was during this campaign, just prior to the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 that Constantine apparently had a vision. He looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the words “In this sign conquer”. Initially unsure of the meaning he had a dream the following night in which supposedly “Christ” explained to him that he should march under the sign of the cross against his enemies. Thus Constantine adopted the symbol of the cross on standards born by his troops and under this new sign rapidly conquered the remaining armies of Maxentius, entering victoriously into Rome only two days later where he was met with enthusiasm. (Constantine appears throughout to have been a relatively popular emperor amongst the people).

In 313 Constantine met with emperor Licinius in Milan to secure an alliance by the marriage of Licinius to Constantine’s half sister Constantia. During their meeting the emperors agreed to the “Edict of Milan”, officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the empire. Thus Christianity was now legalized and Christians were granted restoration of all property seized under the persecution of Diocletian.

Was Constantine now a Christian? Let’s follow his story a bit more before we decide.

Shortly after this meeting Licinius was challenged by a rival, whom he defeated making Licinius emperor of the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between Licinius and Constantine deteriorated from about 314, and a series of civil wars between them commenced. This culminated in the great civil war of 324, which had strong religious overtones with Licinius championing the ancient Pagan faiths, while Constantine continued to march under the sign of the cross. Constantine ultimately gained victory on the 18^thof September 324 and became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

Thus Constantine’s influence expanded into the East, where amongst other things he rebuilt the city of Byzantium which was then renamed to Constantinopolis (Constantinople in English).

There is no doubt that Constantine claimed to be a Christian, however it is worth noting that he also retained the title of Pontifex Maximus right through to his death. This was the title emperors held as head of the pagan priesthood (and has been carried down from these roots as a title of popes).

Can a Christian also be the head of a pagan priesthood? Apparently this was not a problem for Constantine.

Throughout his rule he patronized the church financially, built grand basilicas, granted privileges to clergy and promoted Christians to high office. However he did not patronize Christianity alone, for there are records of him recognizing gods like Apollo, Diana and Hercules. Also in 321 he instructed Christians and non-Christians to unite in observing the “venerable day of the sun”, and his coins still carries symbols of the sun cult until 324.

This history is the beginning of the MERGING of Christianity and paganism, which over time became what was called the “Holy Roman Empire”, or what we know as “Catholicism”.

 

And one of the worst effects of Constantine’s supposed Christianity was that he carried over the role of emperor as head of the priesthood into Christendom.

He presumed on himself the authority to meddle with church affairs, as though as emperor he was automatically head over the church too. Given his great patronages of wealth and favor many went along with this, though to their credit many others did not.

It is no wonder that some Christians claimed that the devil had only changed his tactics, from persecuting the church to taking it over from the inside. From about this time there is increasing division between those who continued with the “state sponsored church” and those who broke away from it.

This division carried down though the ages, and it was a terrible one. The official “Catholic” church became the persecutor, and the murderer, of countless biblical believers for around a thousand years.

Even many of the early reformers failed to make a break with this unholy union of church and state. And as a result found themselves repeating the Catholic persecutions of radicals and evangelicals.

(Jews also suffered greatly at the hands of this terrible new form of Christendom)

 

How does all this history relate though to the issue of Christians and war?

Well it goes a long way towards explaining the massive change that came over the church from that time. A change that affected how many Christians viewed money, property, the relationship of Christians to government and the role of Christians in war.

Simply put, prior to this time Christians did not engage in the wars of empire; after this time they did.

 

Was this a step forward or a giant leap backwardsfor the church?

 

Have we ever fully recovered the kingdom way of the early church?