Executive Summary
Constantine the Great, as he would later be referred to, won a battle against his enemy, a victory that acted as a turning point both to him as person and to Christianity at large. In the said battle, he saw a vision, a heavenly manifestation, and a brilliant light, which in a way described the cross or the monogram of Christ upon which he believed to have defeated the enemy. Forthwith, Christianity was to be tolerated in the Roman Empire and no more bloody prosecutions of Christians would be allowed.
Even after Christianity would be tolerated, other challenges still bedeviled this faith and its propagators. Such included the process of becoming a Christian which was often difficult, complex and lengthy, as one needed to go through various stages and even then, no guarantees were offered. However, the conversion and subsequent baptism of Emperor Constantine prior to his death gave this a new face, that becoming a Christian could be easy, fast and not necessarily accompanied by length catechumenism. In light of the above, this paper discusses in great depth Constantines The Greats contribution and Impacts on the early church.
1.0 Introduction
The dominance of Christianity in the early centuries was given major impetus by Emperor Constantine the great. He officially permitted and promoted Christianity through out the Roman Empire. Consequently, all the emperors who followed Constantine I continued this legacy, as they were all Christians except one. Later on, the Odosius I came into power and demanded that all his subjects must be Christians. This gave the church that had previously been persecuted a chance to become worldly and an oppressing one. At the reign and Edict of Milan, the Roman Empire was at war with Persia. Rome therefore began to consider the Christians in the Persian Empire as potential threats and as a result, Persian Empire persecuted Christians under its rule. During this time, thousands of Christians were martyred. However, by the time he died, Constantine had raised Christianity from being a position of persecuted minority to the dominant power in religious life all over the Roman Empire.
2.0 Background
Constantine the great, Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 was born in 272, at a place known as Naissus in Upper Moesia. He was the eldest son of Constantius Chlorus and Helena.After his father was elevated to the dignity of a Caesar, Constantine is next found at the court of Diocletian and later in a battle with the Galerius on the Danube. After the resignation of his father, Constantius was made Augustus and the new emperor of the west asked Galerius, the eastern emperor at the time, to allow Constantine to return to his fathers court. This was granted and Constantine joined his father. Unfortunately, he only had time to distinguish himself in Britain before the father died in 305. Following the death of his father, Constantine was immediately proclaimed Caesar by his troops and this title was equally acknowledged by Galerius. This together with the proclamation of Maxentius, son to Maximian, as Caesar in October 306 was the first headway in Diocletians plan for four-headed empire.
In the battles between Maxentius on one side and the Emperors Severus and Galerius on the other side, Constantine remained silent in his provinces. The failure of the attempts by the two old Emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, to restore order in the empire, the promotion of Licinius to the position of Augustus, the assumption of the imperial title by Maximinus Daia as well as the claim by Maxentius as the sole emperor in 308 led to the proclamation of Constantine as Augustus. He had the most efficient army, something that Galerius, who was at the time in war with Maximinus also acknowledged. He however had not involved himself in any battles and was defending his own frontier against the Germans.
In 311, Galerius who was not only the eldest Augustus but also the most violent prosecutor of Christians died. Maxentius threw down Constantines statues and proclaimed him a tyrant, and this made war inevitable. With his army numbering between 25000 to 100000 men compared to Maxentius 190000 men, he did not hesitate to march into Italy.He stormed Susa and almost annihilated a very powerful army in Turin, while he continued his match to Verona where he met a hostile army which was under the prefect of Maxentius guard Ruricius and who shut himself up in the fortress. Constantine however managed to defeat Verona and it surrendered. Despite the overwhelming number of his enemies, he marched toward Rome. He had a vision that had assured him that he could conquer all with the sign of Christ and as such, all his warriors carried Christs monogram on their shields despite majority of them being pagans.
The two opposing forces met near the bridge called the Milvian Bridge, and here, the Maxentius troops suffered a humiliating defeat, with the tyrant himself getting killed at the spot. From this, the victor with gratitude to the God of Christians gave a proof, that the Christian worship was from then on to be tolerated throughout the Roman Empire. After the Milvian bridge victory, there were no more bloody executions while Constantine remained in Rome though only for a short time before departing for Milan at the end of 312.
In Milan, he met his colleague the Augustus Licinius and married off his sister to him. Through this, he was able to secure his protection for the Christians even to the East and even promised Licinius his support against Maximinus Daia. The last pagan and a cruel tyrant, Maximinus Daia, who had continued to persecute Christians even after the death of Galerius was therefore defeated by Licinius. By his order, Licinius soldiers had invoked the God of Christians while Maximinus implored the God of Christians but later died due to a painful disease in the autumn season that followed.
From the Diocletians tetrarchs, only Licinius was now alive. His treachery soon persuaded Constantine to wage war on Licinius. Consequently, a battle that was fought at Castra Jarba left the two parties in such a position that they thought it best to make peace. This peace lasted for ten years but around 322, Licinius openly professing paganism, started persecuting Christians while at the same time treating with contempt the undoubted rights and privileges of Constantine and the outbreak of war was certain.
The two opposing troops met at Adrianople on 3rd July, 324, and the well disciplined Constantines troops defeated and put to flight the less disciplined Licinius force. A fierce battle later ensued and on seeing defeat, Licinius with only 30000 men that had survived escaped to Nicomedia. He now saw that any further resistance was futile and therefore his noble hearted conqueror spared his life. The following year however, he tried to rekindle his treacherous practices which forced the Roman Senate to condemn him to death and which resulted to his execution.
From then on, Constantine became the sole master of the Roman Empire. After the defeat of Licinius, Constantine embarked on beatifying Constantinople with an aim of making it the capital of the empire. With his usual enthusiasm, he took every measure to expand and enlarge the city. For the next ten years, he embarked on promoting the moral, political and economic welfare of his property while making dispositions for the future leaders. Accordingly, he placed his two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, to be leaders in the lesser provinces while his sons, Constantius, Constantine and Constans were to be the future rulers of the Empire. Later, the unfriendly movement of the Persian king, Shapur, challenged him, but before he could march against the enemy, he got sick and died in May 337, after his baptism though.
3.0 Recognition and Impact on the Early Church
From the foregoing, Constantine can rightfully claim the Great. He made history in the world and made Christianity, which prior to his rule had witnessed bloody persecution, the religion of the state. The deeper reasons given for this change can however be attributable to the religious movements that existed at the time, as Christians only formed a small portion of the entire population. They accounted for only a fifth of the population in the west, and half in the large section of the East. Constantines decision depended less on the general situation and more on personal drive , and as such, his personality and contribution is a worth a consideration.
Prior to the reign of Constantine though, belief in many gods had been shaken in various solid ways such as the Diocletian, which only showed significance in superstition and magic. People were completely ready for monotheism or at least its modified form henotheism which took different forms such as the worship of the sun, Judaism or even Christianity. Those who did not wish to make a breakaway from the past and their surroundings often sought an ornamental form of worship, in whose consideration Christianity naturally came last.
Some of the noble minded people such as Emperor Alexander Severus recognized the truth contained in Judaism and Christianity but believed that they would appropriate it with no obligation to renounce the beauty of their worships. In fact, Leo the Great in his days says that it was a belief and custom for many Christians to stand on the steps of the church of St. Peter and pay homage to the sun through prayers.With this, it is therefore easy to understand why most emperors yielded to the delusion that they could unite the entire empire through the Mithras god, one sun-god who combined in him the father-God, of Christians and the other much worshiped gods. Even Constantine, at some point cherished this belief.
Constantine was raised under the influence of his fathers ideas. He was the son to Constantius Chlorus in his first informal marriage, otherwise called the concubinants. For a brief moment, he had been compelled to stay at the court of Galerius and where he had not received a good impression from the surrounding. In his life, he had witnessed various challenges bedeviling the Roman Empire. In all directions, new and vigorous, national forces had shown themselves and only two options were available, giving way to the various national movements or taking a firm stand on the foundation of the antiquity. Several emperors had tried this latter approach but in vain. It was just as impossible to bring men back to the old simplicity as to make them return to the old beliefs of paganism and conform to a national form of worship.
In choosing Christianity, Constantine was no doubt also influenced by forces of conscience. Such includes the impression made on every unprejudiced person, both Christians and the moral force of Christianity, as well as the knowledge that the emperors had concerning Christian military officers and other state officials. This is evidenced by the fact that before Constantine advanced against his enemy Maxentius, he is said to have summoned the haruspices according to the customs, and who had prophesied disaster. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, when other gods could not yield, one god urged him on, as he had close contact with the divinity itself. Constantine is said to have seen in a vision, a heavenly manifestation, and a brilliant light, which in a way described the cross or the monogram of Christ. Encouraged by this vision, he had advanced into the battle and defeated the enemy.
It was as a result of the win that he saw a complete importance of the vision. On reflecting further, it was clear that the cross in the vision had the inscription, HOC VINCES which means In this sign wilt thou conquer. As soon as this victory came forth, Constantine had tolerated the Christians and which had been followed by a further favor with respect to the Christians in the following year, 313. He and Licinius at Milan had issued the famous joint edict of tolerance. Through this edict they therefore had decide to give Christians and all others freedom as regarded religion.
A close examination of the wording of the edict reveals that indeed it contained a lot more than just a belief. It is in regard to the same that Galerius had given a voice, that the persecution of the Christians was useless. The edict therefore granted the Christians the freedom to worship while at the same time not affronting the pagans. For some time, the Constantines approach appeared just like mere tolerance and equality between the Christians and the pagans equally seemed to prevail. He watched over the heathens worship and even protected its rights as well. However, he suppressed divination and magic, something that even the pagan emperors had sought to do. As a result, in 320, he put in place laws that would govern diviners 11.
The laws demanded that any person who either by entreaty or promise of payment encouraged a diviner to practice heathen ways, such a person would have all his property confiscated and himself burnt to death. In addition, informers were to be rewarded. Any person who desired to practice any heathen ways was required to so openly but had to go to the public alters and other sacred places and there, he had to observe the traditional ways of worship. According to the Article by Kevin Knight, the Emperor said that observing the old usage in the light of the day was not forbidden.. In the same way, he directed that if a lightning struck a palace or a public premise, the haruspices were, according to the ancient traditions, to seek out what such an action signified, the interpretation recorded down and then reported to the emperor. Private Individual were also permitted to make use of the old customs but had to abstain from any forbidden sacrifices.
In 330 during the dedication of Constantinople, a ceremony half pagan and half Christian was used. A chariot of the sun-god was set up at the market place with the cross of Christ placed over it. Before his death, Constantine confirmed the privileges of priests but above all, he commanded the non believer troops to make use of a prayer in which any believer could join, and which went as follows,
We acknowledge thee alone as god and king, we call upon thee as our helper. From thee have we received the victory, by thee have we overcome the foe. To thee we owe that good which we have received up to now, from thee do we hope for it in the future. To thee we offer our entreaties and implore thee that thou wilt preserve to us our emperor Constantine and his god-fearing sons for many years uninjured and victorious.
The emperor further went ahead and withdrew his statues from the temples used by the pagans and he equally forbid all forms of offensive worship.
From the foregoing, the persecution had made Christians realize that in order to defend religion, one had to be willing to die and not to kill. In this light, Christians had become the defenders of freedom for all. Constantine, whether knowingly or otherwise had continued to accord the church one privilege after another. By 313, the church obtained foredoom from taxation, compulsory services and other obligatory state offices such as curial dignity which was often a big burden. The church could also inherit property, and Constantine had placed Sunday under State protection. Consequently, on this day, even the pagans were obliged to go out to the open, raise their hands and recite the prayer stated above as a state requirement. Constantine granted all those privileges to the church on the basis that it took care of the poor and was active in benevolence.
Later, a law of 318 denied the competence of civil courts if in a suit an appeal was made to a court of Christian Bishop. This law stated that even if a hearing had began in civil courts, transferring the same to a bishops court was permissible and the bishops ruling would still be binding. Further, a law of 333 required that all state officials enforce the decisions of bishops. In a court of law, a bishops testimony was to be considered sufficient and further witnesses would not be summoned by judges once a bishop had testified. The effects of these concessions were wide reaching such that even the church felt a great increase in its jurisdiction.
In further efforts to promote Christianity, Constantine further did much for children, slaves and women whom the Roman law had earlier despised and treated harshly. Some of the emperors who were ahead of Constantine had put in place laws that forbid the exposure of children but to no success. Exposed children or foundlings were adopted as they could benefit the founder in various ways. Christians had particularly gotten possession of such foundlings and as such, Constantine did not prohibit exposure. He however commanded that foundlings should belong to the finder and the parents to such children were not allowed to claim them. Those who obtained such children could sell or enslave them, as they had property rights in them. This was later prohibited by laws although the bigger burden of protecting such children fell on the church.
Further, in harmony with the church doctrines, Constantine rendered divorce more difficult. He made no changes when request for divorce came from both parties but in the case of such a request coming from one party, severe condition were imposed. According to Constantines laws, a man was allowed to divorce his wife on basis of adultery, poisoning or pandering and in such cases, he was allowed to retain his dowry. However if he discarded his wife for any other reason, he was required to return the dowry and was not allowed to remarry again. If he did, the divorced wife was free to enter such a mans house and take away all the property brought by the new wife. All these laws, the church did not hold any in disfavor.
Concerning slaves and slavery, Constantine promoted the position held by the church. Neither the Christians nor the pagan emperors permitted slaves to seek freedom without regard to the law. The Christian rulers sought to ameliorate slavery by reduction of corporal punishment. Masters were only allowed to use rods or at worst send a slave to prison. Worse still, the owner was not liable even if the slave died under such circumstances. However, in case death resulted out of use of such items as clubs, stones or other weapon of torture, the master responsible was to be treated as a murderer. In the support of this law which was strongly advocated for by the church, Constantine was equally obliged to follow the same when he wanted to get rid of Licinianus. On the same, criminals were no longer to be branded on the face but only on the feet. The face of a human being was perceived to have been fashioned in the likeness of God.
Constantine has often been branded by extremists and pagans as the emperor who used religion only to advance his political goals. He has also been regarded as the enlightened despot who made use of Christianity merely to advance his policies. However, he certainly cannot be acquitted of grasping any ambition. In situations where the policy of the state required firmness, firm and cruel described him perfectly. Even after he had been converted, he still was party to the execution of his brother-in-law Licinius as well as the death of the latters son. In the same way, he was responsible for the death of his own son with his first wife and that of the wife herself who was called Fausta. Constantine had differed with Licinius over religious policies and in 323, and had defeated him in a battle. Licinius surrendered and had been promised personal safety but half a year down the line, Constantines conversion not withstanding, he ordered that Licinius be killed.
Licinianus, the son to Licinius and Crispus, Constantines own son were both Caesars during the joint reign of their fathers. Crispus was executed on the charges of immorality that were made against him by his fathers second wife Fausta. However, Constantine later learnt from his mother that the allegations were untrue and as the state as well Christian rules required, Fausta was suffocated in a superheated bath. Licinianus, on the other hand, was not a son to her sister but to a slave-woman and as such was treated as a slave. At such points, one can not fail to question whether Constantine was surely in support of Christianity but as usual, human nature is full of contradictions.
In light of all the above, Constantine had promoted and impacted on the growth of the early in a big way. He was liberal to prodigality and even preached to those around him. That he was greatly endowed with a religious sense is no doubt. According to article Constantine the great by Kevin Knight, Constantine had a chapel in his palace where he was fond of retiring and reading the bible. The article further states that at fixed hour, he would shut himself up in the most secluded part of the palace as if to assist in the sacred mysteries.. Despite being a ruler, he obeyed all the precepts of Christianity, more so observing the virtues of chastity and morality. He also respected the principle of celibacy, and elevated Christianity by punishing with great severity offences against Christianity.
The emperor preferred the company of bishops as opposed to that of pagan priests. He frequently invited bishops to the court, invited them frequently to his table and gave the church the use of imperial postal service. Constantine always referred to church bishops as brothers and when they suffered for the sake of religion, he kissed their scars. As he approached his death, he received baptism declaring to the bishops who had assembled during his baptism that he had always desired to receive the saving seal of the Jordan. Among his sons, the eldest, Constantine II showed decided support for paganism but the second and the favorite son was a pronounced Christian, closed all the temples and forbade all sacrifices under pain of death.
For the first two decades of Constantines reign, he offered the world a new possibility, the possibility of easily becoming a Christian without being baptized or even catechized. For him, it was not until he was on his death bed that he received baptism as indicated earlier. And even then, it was because he knew he was almost at his death point. This was one of the greatest contributions that he made to Christianity. Prior to his reign, becoming a fully fledged Christian was not only along but also a strenuous process. The converted needed to truly devote their life, and change everything including their beliefs, behavior and lifestyle. The process of becoming a Christian was broken into four stages, notably conversion, catechumenate, belief on individuals and finally mystogogy.
In the first stage of conversion, the candidate would first meet with the Christians and decide that he would want to become one himself. He needed to apply to the church in order to be considered while the church gave instructions on the way forward. The church would then examine the candidates life style and life choices before giving a go ahead to the second stage. In case the candidate met the required threshold, he would then proceed to stage two, the catechumenate. However, one needed to make drastic changes in life as a great difference between a normal and Christian life was evident. As an example, if the candidate was a military soldier, he would need to promise never to kill, or else he risked being rejected into the Christian life.
At the catechumenate stage, the church put in effort to change the candidates life style and behavior. The stage often involved several meetings with the church officials on several days of the week to receive the instructions on the process of conversion. What is interesting is that depending on the candidate, this stage could last for even five years. According to Ian Mugfords article on the Constantines impact on Christianity, regarding the time it took in the catechumenate stage, he states, that if a man is keen and perseveres well in the matter, then the time shall not be judged but only his conduct.
The third stage, enlightment stage as its name would suggest, focused on the belief of an individual. Throughout this stage, he would receive orthodox teachings, alongside being exorcised to make sure that he was pure. Having gone through the orthodox teachings, he would then be baptized, which was equally an elaborate and a ritualistic process in itself. Finally, he would move to the mystagogy which was the final stage. This involved the catechists explaining to the newly converted Christians the meaning of baptism and the ritual rites that they had just gone through. This was usually done on the week that seceded Easter.
It is beyond any reasonable doubt that by the time of Constantines death, Christianity had acquired a new look altogether. Prior to his reign, the imperial government was in the efforts of getting g rid of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire which was mainly through persecutions. Even after his death, Constantine would have been against the decisions by his successors. One can however be forgiven for attributing their decisions to his life, his edicts or even his conversion. All these had ensured that by the time Constantine died in 337, Christians had assumed all imperial ranks, dress and duties as well as responsibilities of the social elite. Additionally, every successive emperor, say for a very brief period of 360s, was in one form or the other a Christian.
Were it not for Constantine, Christianity in the Roman Empire, and probably in the rest of the world would have been what it is. Had Constantine not devoted his life to Christianity, the conversion process would have remained complex while his successors, in all likelihood, would have forced paganism upon the entire Roman Empire. It is after Christianity had been well established in the Roan Empire that it spread to the rest of the world. Without Constantine, it is possible that Christianity would not be what is today, accepted and the most widely practiced religion of today.
4.0 Conclusion
A critical evaluation of the mileage covered in the spread of Christianity reveals that its growth to be the most widely spread and practiced religion in the world has not been a smooth flow situation, but one marked by ups and downs. The early Christians went through torture and had to endure a lot for Christianity to be what it is today, while some even lost their lives through persecution from non believers. Such was the case in the Roman Empire where early Christians are known to have suffered persecutions at least up to the reign of Emperor Constantine whose contribution to Christianity was enormous as illustrated from the fore going.
His success over Licinius who was his co-emperor in the west, and which he attributed to a supreme power inclined to Christianity gave this religion and its faith a strong footing. Further, his conversion, baptism and all privileges helped Christianity in many ways, and therefore leave no doubt that he had every interest of Christianity at heart. As far as the genesis of early Christianity and its history are concerned, this Emperor truly deserved the title The Great.
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