Redimete Diem!

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15-16, ESV)

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Confronting The Da Vinci Code

Part 9:  The Life and Times of Constantine

“[Constantine] was a lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to protest. … Three centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Christ’s followers had multiplied exponentially.  Christians and pagans began warring, and the conflict grew to such proportions that it threatened to rend Rome in two. … [H]e simply backed the winning horse.”

(Prof. Teabing in The DaVinci Code, p. 232)

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Tertullian, Apologeticum (c. 210)

            The 3^rd century in Rome is the time most often depicted and described in textbooks and films dealing with the rise of Christianity.  Starting with Septimus Severus (193-211), persecution against Christians took the form of empire-wide policy and blanket intolerance.  That was followed by the persecutions of Decius, Valerian, Aurelian and Diocletian, each making decrees for arrest, destruction and extermination of Christians, churches, ministers, and copies of the Scriptures.  Each wave was worse than the one before it.  But there was no “warring” as Mr. Brown puts it.  Christianity grew incessantly but peacefully, the martyrs literally giving themselves over to soldiers out of trust in their Savior and of joyful hope for life to come, the soldiers having no other recourse other than to slaughter them – men, women and children - at will and in cold blood.

            That is because the war was not with swords but with ideas.  The revolution that was slowly taking over Rome was a new world and life view that persuaded many in a day and age when the old religious and philosophical systems continued to buckle under the weight of increasing depravity and decadence.  Diocletian, desperate for anything that would keep the empire from imploding, divided up the empire into two sections – east and west – and appointed several “junior emperors” to be in charge of each.  Then, he promptly slipped into quiet retirement.  One of Diocletian’s junior emperors, Galarius, the real architect of the last, great wave of persecution against Christians, finally gave up that fight, issuing the Edict of Toleration in 311.

            Constantius, a junior emperor in the west, died in 306 and his son, Constantine, took his place.  Along with Licinius, Constantine issued a second decree of toleration in 313.  His famous battle against Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in 312 made Constantine the sole emperor in the west and in possession of the city of Rome.  Later, he also defeated Galarius to once again unite the empire under one rule.

            The only historical record we have of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity is from the historian, Eusebius.  Although historians since have debated the sincerity of that conversion, the evidences really bear witness of the traumatic struggle going on to keep the empire afloat and the powerful, positive effect, albeit inconsistent at many levels, of the Christian faith on more and more people’s lives.

            Most likely, Constantine was exposed to Christianity through the conversion of various and increasing numbers of his own household.  Before facing Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, the account describes a vision Constantine received encouraging and rewarding his own trust in Jesus Christ.  Rather than being an impulsive thing, there apparently was at least enough time to determine and decide to act and depend upon such faith, and then mold and mount the symbol of the cross on the staffs of his army before going into battle.  And Constantine readily credited his victory to this newfound faith – issuing his own Edict of Milan, in 313, which reversed public policy regarding the Christian faith from public enemy number one to a vital force for public good in the empire.

            The other things Constantine does as emperor that relate to Christianity seem to fit the character and practice of one who is a) trying to keep his empire from falling apart, and b) is only a young student, at best, of his newfound faith.  The coins of the realm did continue for several years to bear his pagan title, Pontifex Maximus but that may have only been politically expedient for him to do.  And it is true that he did not submit to baptism until near the end of his life.  But far from not wanting it, Constantine had been taught, as many others at the time, to understand baptism as a cleansing for only past sins thus making it much more useful at the end of one’s life.

            Constantine also demonstrated great favor toward the historicity of Christianity.  He showed a great interest in the sites of the Holy Land and, along with his mother, Helena, established and retained the historic claims of the faith building the first church buildings over the sites of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, at Calvary in Jerusalem, as well as other sites such as the supposed site of Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula.

            Constantine also encouraged the church publicly.  He richly gifted the church in Rome, particularly, and granted the clergy immunity from various impositions placed on the general citizenry (the remnants of such are still with us today in the form of tax breaks, etc.).  His letters reflect a distinct and clear Christian witness and testimony.

            But with the new era and the conversion of the emperor came with it the marriage of politics and religion and that was not ever really called into question.  Most of the church, after such centuries of persecution and misery, embraced and welcomed the influence and favor that the emperor gave to the church.  (Only Donatus, in Africa, is on record as having challenged this thinking: “What does the Emperor have to do with the Church?”  It would be a voice not again heard for several centuries.)  And Constantine, wanting as much influence over his struggling empire as he could get, embraced involvement in the church whole heartedly.

“What higher duty have I as emperor than to destroy error and repress rash indiscretions,

and so cause all to offer to Almighty God true religion, honest concord and due worship?”

            Constantine died in 337.  Constantine’s son, Flavius Julius Constantius, eventually took control.  We know he was a Christian because of the ardent Arian direction in which he desired to take the empire.  But he also moved Christianity forward as the official religion of the empire.  He closed pagan temples and prohibited making sacrifices to them upon pain of death.  He also removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate House.  Even Athanasius was turned off by his zeal.

            He was followed in 361 by Julian, Constantine’s nephew, who was known for definitely not being a Christian and in making as many strides as he could to revert the empire “back to Hellenism”.  For instance, he would “steal” the idea of doing Christian acts of piety & morality, encouraging pagans also to be “just as good and merciful” in the name of other gods.

            Jovian followed Julian in 363 and Valentinius followed him in 364, both Christians.  After them, Gratian began his rule in 375.  It was here that the fate of Roman paganism was decided.  At first, Gratian tolerated other religions, but under the influence of Ambrose, bishop of Milan, he took definitive steps to destroy paganism by process.  In 380 he ordered all his subjects to subscribe to Christianity.  In 381 he called for the council of Constantinople to finally put to rest the Arian controversy.  In 391 he prohibited all sacrifices and closed all pagan temples.  Organized paganism was effectively removed from the face of the empire for good.