Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Reformation (The Story of Christianity)

by Justo L. González

This was done amid great ceremonies in which both Christians and pagan priests took part.

Years later, Jerome would say that Constantinople was dressed in the nakedness of the rest of the Empire.

A number of statues of pagan gods were taken from their ancient temples and placed in such public places as the hippodrome, the public baths, or the squares. Thus used as mere ornaments, the ancient gods seemed to be losing their old power.

But the statue itself no longer represented Apollo, for a new head, that of Constantine, had been placed on it.

Constantine’s decision to found a new capital had important consequences, for shortly thereafter the western portion of the Empire—old Rome included—was overrun by the barbarians, and Constantinople became the center that for a thousand years kept alive the political and cultural inheritance of the old Empire.

Others have claimed that Constantine was simply a shrewd politician who became aware of the advantages to be drawn from a “conversion.”

Both interpretations are exaggerated.

At that time, people who were converted were put through a long process of discipline and instruction, in order to make certain that they understood and lived their new faith, and then they were baptized.

Constantine’s case was very different. Even after the battle of the Milvian bridge, and throughout his entire life, he never placed himself under the direction of Christian teachers

or bishops.

But Constantine reserved the right to determine his own religious practices, and even to intervene in the life of the church, for he considered himself “bishop of bishops.”

Repeatedly, even after his conversion, he took part in pagan rites in which no Christian would participate, and the bishops raised no voice of condemnation.

but also that, in spite of his policies favoring Christianity, and of his repeated confession of the power of Christ, he was not technically a Christian, for he had not been baptized.

In fact, it was only on his deathbed that he was baptized.

On the other hand, there are several reasons why Constantine cannot be seen as a mere opportunist who declared himself in favor of Christianity in order to court the support of Christians.

First of all, such a view is rather anachronistic, for it tends to see Constantine as a forerunner of modern politicians.

Secondly, if Constantine had been such an opportunist, he chose a poor time to seek the support of Christians. When he put the Chi-Rho on his labarum, he was preparing to go to battle for the city of Rome, center of pagan traditions, where his main supporters were the members of the old aristocracy who considered themselves oppressed by Maxentius. Christians were stronger, not in the West, where the battle was to be fought, but in the East, to which Constantine would lay claim only years later.

Among the civilian

population, most Christians belonged to the lower classes, and thus had scarce economic resources to put at the disposal of Constantine.

The truth is probably that Constantine was a sincere believer in the power of Christ. But this does not mean that he understood that power in the same way in which it had been experienced by those Christians who had died for it.

Therefore, when Constantine enacted laws in favor of Christianity, and when he had churches built, what he sought was not the goodwill of Christians, but rather the goodwill of their God.

This interpretation of Constantine’s faith is supported by his own statements, which reveal a sincere man whose understanding of the

Christian message was meager.

During most of his political career, Constantine seems to have thought that the Unconquered Sun and the Christian God were compatible—perhaps two views of the same Supreme Deity—and that the other gods, although subordinate, were nevertheless real and relatively powerful.

if he had attempted to suppress pagan worship, he would soon have had to face an irresistible opposition.

And in any case the emperor himself, who saw no contradiction between the Unconquered Sun and the Incarnate Son, was not inclined to issue such a decree.

On coins minted as late as 320 one finds the names and symbols of the ancient gods, as well as the monogram for the name of Christ—the that Constantine had used for the first time at the Milvian bridge.

Since his tensions with the Roman Senate were growing, and that body was promoting a resurgence of paganism, Constantine felt increasingly inclined to favor Christianity.

In A.D. 324 an imperial edict ordered all soldiers to worship the Supreme God on the first day of the week. This was the day on which Christians celebrated the resurrection of their Lord. But it was also the day of the Unconquered Sun, and therefore pagans saw no reason to oppose such an edict.

First Ecumenical Council ...

In spite of all this, almost to his dying day Constantine continued functioning as the High Priest of paganism. After his death, the three sons who succeeded him did not oppose the Senate’s move to have him declared a god. Thus the ironic anomaly occurred, that Constantine, who had done so much to the detriment of paganism, became one of the pagan gods.

Obviously, the most immediate consequence of Constantine’s conversion was the cessation of persecution. Until then, even at times of relative peace, Christians had lived under the threat of persecution, and what was for many the hope of martyrdom.

The few pagan emperors who reigned after him did not generally persecute Christians, but rather tried to restore paganism by other means.

“official theology.”

Others took the opposite tack. For them, the fact that the emperors declared themselves Christian, and that for this reason people were flocking to the church, was not a blessing, but rather a great apostasy.

Some who tended to

look at matters under this light, but did not wish to break communion with the rest of the church, withdrew to the desert, there to lea...

The fourth century thus witnessed a massive exodus of devoted Christians to the deserts of Egypt and Syria. This early monastic movement will be the subject of Chapter 15.

Others with a negative reaction to the new state of affairs felt that the best course was simply to break communion with the church at large, now become the imperial church, which was to be considered sinful and apostate.

Among those who remained in the church, withdrawing neither into the desert nor into schism, there was a grea...

Most important of these was Arianism, which gave rise to bitter controversies regarding the doctrine of the Trinity.

Thus, while affirming their loyalty to the emperor, as most Christians had always done, they insisted that their ultimate loyalty belonged only to God.

Such was the attitude of the great “fathers” of the church—a misnomer, for there were also some “mothers” among them.

Until Constantine’s time, Christian worship had been relatively simple.

At first, Christians gathered to worship in private homes. Then they

began to gather in cemeteries, such as the Roman catacombs. By the third century there were structures set aside for worship. The oldest church that archaeologists have discovered is that of Dura-Europos, which dates from about A.D. 250....

After Constantine’s conversion, Christian worship began to be influenced...

Officiating ministers, who until then had worn everyday clothes, began dressing in more luxurious garments.

Likewise, a number of gestures indicating respect, which were normally made before the emperor, now became part of Christian worship. The custom was also introduced of beginning services with a processional. Choirs were developed, partly in order to give body to that procession. Eventually, the congregation came to have a less active role in worship.

Eventually, some came to think that worship was particularly valid if it was celebrated in one of those holy places,