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August 11 - October 9, 2017
Galerius viewed this attitude of Christians toward military service as a serious danger, for it was conceivable that at a critical moment Christians in the army would refuse to obey orders.
Galerius seems to have become increasingly prejudiced against Christians,
It was then ordered that Christians be dismissed from any government position, and that all Christian buildings and books be destroyed.
Diocletian’s fury was not slow in coming, and it was decreed that all Christians in the imperial court must offer sacrifice before the gods.
He then decreed, first, that all the leaders of the churches be arrested and, somewhat later, that all Christians must offer sacrifice to the gods.
Constantine, the son of Constantius Chlorus, was simply biding his time and strengthening his position in his territories in Gaul and Great Britain.
Such was the edict that ended the most cruel persecution that the church had to suffer from the Roman Empire.
But a great political change was about to take place which would put an end to persecution.
Constantine ordered that his soldiers should use on their shield and on their standard or labarum a symbol that looked like the superimposition of the Greek letters chi and rho.
historians point out that even after this event Constantine continued worshiping the Unconquered Sun.
Whether this was in truth a victory, or the beginning of new and perhaps greater difficulties, will be the theme of many of the chapters to follow.
the conversion of Constantine had enormous consequences for Christianity,
These were the burning issues that the Christian church had to face in the next period of its history.
That impact was such that it has even been suggested that throughout most of its history the church has lived in its Constantinian era, and that even now, in the twenty-first century, we are going through crises connected with the end of that long era.
he took great care to develop a strong base of operations in Gaul and Great Britain.
he seems to have had that rare gift of rulers who know just how far they can tax their subjects without losing their loyalty.
Thus, although his campaign against Maxentius seemed sudden, he had been preparing for it, both militarily and politically, for many years.
Since the two emperors were related by marriage, there was hope that the civil wars had come to an end.
For a while, each of the two rivals devoted himself to consolidate his power and to prepare for the inevitable conflict.
Constantine wished to go to war with his brother-in-law, but was able to make his rival appear as the aggressor.
The main reason for conflict was still the ambition of both men,
by the time war finally broke out, the question of religious policy had also become a bone of contention.
Licinius was not a Christian, but there are indications that he feared the power of the Christian God; and therefore, when he learned that his subjects were praying for his rival, he felt that this was high treason.
this was a period of rebuilding and prosperity. But there was always political uneasiness,
Constantine had not sought absolute power for the mere pleasure of it. He also dreamed, like Decius and Diocletian before him, of restoring the ancient glory of the empire.
Constantine believed that it could best be achieved on the basis of Christianity.
Byzantium seemed the ideal location for the new capital.
By the end of the ceremonies, Constantine had set aside a vast area, capable of holding a teeming multitude.
Constantine’s agents scoured the empire in search of anything that could embellish the new capital.
Constantine’s decision to found a new capital had enormous 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.
Constantine’s conversion was very different from that of other Christians.
he never placed himself under the direction of Christian teachers or 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.
he was not technically a Christian, for he had not been baptized.
Such a person could receive the advice and even the support of the church, but not its direction.
if Constantine had been such an opportunist, he chose a poor time to seek the support of Christians.
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. For him, the Christian God was a very powerful being who would support him as long as he favored the faithful. 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.
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.
The official religion of the empire was paganism. As head of that empire Constantine took the title of Supreme Pontiff or High Priest, and performed the functions pertaining to that title.
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.
almost to his dying day Constantine continued functioning as the High Priest of paganism.
Thus, the ironic anomaly occurred, that Constantine, who had done so much to the detriment of paganism, became one of the pagan gods—and to compound the irony, the Eastern church considers him a saint, thus resulting in a saint who is also a pagan god!
he did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire.
In 391, Theodosius outlawed pagan sacrifices and ordered the temples closed or devoted to public use. In 392, all pagan worship—private as well as public—was forbidden.
the greatest threat to the ancient religion was the manner in which overzealous bishops and mobs took these decrees as license to use force against paganism.
as Christianity was favored by the empire, and paganism lost its protection, the use of force against pagans—and Jews—was seldom punished.
The ancient religion had no name, except those of the various gods.
The most immediate consequence of Constantine’s conversion was the cessation of persecution.
Constantine also sought to legislate on matters of personal conduct—particularly sexual morality—in ways that seem to have been influenced by Christian teaching.
