The Life of Constantine the Great - Case Study Example

This paper is a discussion of the life of Constantine the Great with reference to In Hoc Signo Vinces and the part it played in giving strength to the Christian faith. The Roman Empire was dominated by pagans at the time that Constantine the Great became a devout Christian. The way the emperor dealt with the pagans and made Christians the most influential religious group in the empire is a central feature of this research. In Hoc Signo Vinces Needs To Support The Christian Perspective Flavius Valerius Constantinus was born in the year 280 to a man who believed in one true God and a woman named Helena. His father, who became Emperor Constantius I, was indifferent towards Christianity. His mother was to become the canonized St. Helena (Doerries, 1960). Flavius Valerius Constantinus himself was destined to turn into the legendary Emperor Constantine the Great. He was the first Christian Roman Emperor, and In Hoc Signo Vinces played a very important role in this chapter of world history. This Latin phrase, which means “In this sign you shall conquer,” was adopted by Constantine as a motto after he saw a vision of the cross with these words in the sky in the year 312, right before the Milvian Bridge battle. The vision was placed over the sun, and meant nothing whatsoever to Constantine at first. The following night, however, he encountered the Christ in a dream explaining to him that the battle could be won by the use of the cross. Constantine at once pledged to convert to Christianity if he actually did win the battle with the use of the cross. Once he had won the battle, there was no turning back for Constantine, for although he did not go through baptism until he had reached his deathbed, the man turned into a devout Christian who changed the world (Keresztes, 1981). The fact that Constantine the Great proclaimed Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire at the beginning of the fourth century but was baptized shortly before his demise in 337, does not make him a heretic (as some people have suggested) given the early Christian belief that conversion erased all sins even if the acceptance of Christ took place on the deathbed (Wasilewska, 2002). Constantine the Great had been raised in a pagan society. Before turning to Christianity, his two favorite pagan gods had been Mars and Apollo. As a matter of fact, worship of the sun was a very popular belief at the time in the Roman Empire (Grant, 1993). The establishment of the Christian faith throughout the pagan empire must not have been easy. The emperor had to utilize his vision of the cross and In Hoc Signo Vinces to fashion the labarum for the defense of his newfound religion. The labarum was a long golden spear that was joined by a traverse bar with a hanging silk cloth. The weapon was “decorated in precious stones with a monogrammed wreath of Christ’s name at the top.” This, Constantine the Great carried with himself on all military campaigns. The labarum was to become the banner of the Byzantine Empire, while Byzantium’s old city of Constantinople was turned into the emperor’s new capital (Vasiliev, 1964). Christians had been persecuted in the Roman Empire for three centuries. Before Constantine the Great assumed the position of the sole Roman Emperor, he had shared his supremacy as a co-emperor with Lekinius. In the year 313, the two emperors had met at Milan to discuss a governing policy for their empire. The most significant part of their discussion had revolved around Christianity. It was at this juncture that the Christian religion was recognized as one deserving unreserved freedom of practice. It was the first time in the history of the Roman Empire that Christianity had attained a status of absolute respect. Thus it was sealed: “Everyone of those who have the same desire to observe the religion of the Christians is now freely and unconditionally to strive to do so without any interference or molestation.” Complete religious freedom with the edict of Milan was a victory of the Christ, granting all Christians in the empire the same religious privileges that had been previously enjoyed only by the official pagan religion. In point of fact, the edict of Milan granted freedom to all faiths (Keresztes). Christianity was now an official part and parcel of the Roman Empire, and the authorities were under legal obligation to protect it. No more could the Christians be openly persecuted due to pagan hate. The Roman Empire was legally bound to take action against violence targeting the Christian community and church. In the past, the Christian faith had been an illegal element in the empire. Thanks to In Hoc Signo Vinces, paganism had lost its rank as the only state religion to become one of several practiced religions in the empire apart from Christianity (Brown, 1992). Shortly after the edict of Milan, there was a war waged by Maximinus Daia against both Likinius and Constantine the Great. Maximinus Daia represented the purely pagan party, whereas the two Roman Emperors had the newly freed Christians for support. The pagan victory of Maximinus Daia would have meant more turmoil and persecution for the Christians in the region. The result of the battle was in their favor, however. Likinius and Constantine the Great were co-victors. Yet, their union was broken shortly afterwards, as Constantine the Great marched against his co-emperor in the year 323 to overthrow him. Constantine the Great now held dominion over the entire Roman Empire (Burckhardt, 1949). As the only ruler of the Roman Empire, Constantine the Great’s first and foremost task was to declare that his policy concerning religion would remain unaltered, that is, Christians would have equal rights to practice their religion freely as everyone else in the empire. Next, the Roman Emperor issued an edict that was solely in the interests of the Christians. Constantine the Great stated that he would supervise the restoration of the Christians’ personal rights followed by their rights of property usurped during the three centuries of persecution. This edict acted as a turning point in the history of Christianity in the Roman Empire – a critical step to finally terminate the persecution of the Christians, whose cries had apparently been heard and prayers answered by the Almighty. Constantine the Great issued another edict as well at this point. This edict is known as his confession of faith, for it mentions “the violence of polytheism ending in destruction.” The Roman Emperor through this edict expressed his desire for peaceful solutions among all of his subjects by emphasizing that they should live harmoniously together for the common good of the “inhabited world” (Bayes, 1951). Constantine the Great had the power to make Christianity the most influential religion in the empire, and this he did. The miracle of In Hoc Signo Vinces was still at work when the single Roman Emperor decided to end the dispute within the Christian church. Christianity was at that point in time divided into several ideological groups, just as it is today. Two of the groups of differing Christian ideologies at the time of Constantine the Great were the Donatists and the Arians. It was the emperor’s job to establish a sense of unity throughout the Roman Empire. When the Donatists of North Africa were attacked for refusing to do away with sects in their churches, Constantine the Great intervened after six months of brutality to end it. Hence, the Donatists continued to flourish even after the death of the great emperor (Grant). Constantine the Great had indeed issued a number of public statements in an effort to unite the Christian church. Arianism was another component of the church he had to contend with. This was a sect maintaining that Jesus was not equal to God. In the year 325 when the emperor convened the First Council of Nicaea to address church disunity, Arius – a presbyter in Alexandria, and the foundation of Arianism – was excommunicated. All the same, the Roman Emperor was not able to eradicate Arianism altogether. During the Second Council of Nicaea in the year 327, Arius and his supporters were allowed reentry at the expense of the Bishop of Alexandria who backed the orthodox view (Ostrogorsky, 1969). Along with his co-emperor, Constantine the Great had already exempted the Christian clergy from the burdens of public services such as road repairs, building of public works, tax collection as well as military service – just as the traders and the pagan priests had been exempted previously. The great emperor had said that “the clergy exercised an activity that benefits the state and must therefore be rewarded with privileges” (Alf-Idi, 1948). Constantine the Great needed the clerical hierarchy to help him in the administration of the empire. The remaining Christians had grown in number throughout the empire; for them it was a relief, of course, to know that their faith was now a major participant in the governing process. An imperial constitution in the year 318 had given authority to the Christian Episcopal courts to issue decisions on cases that were brought before bishops from the secular courts. According to Constantine the Great, this authority was granted seeing as religious courts were more flexible if bureaucracy did not suffocate them. This acknowledgement of Christian law as a vital presence in public affairs was a huge achievement of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Bishops were granted privileges of a public character, and in 321 the Roman Emperor decreed that the Christian day of worship would be a public holiday. Constantine the Great implied through this legal proclamation that the welfare of the empire was dependent upon the Christian worship of the one and only God. In order not to upset the pagan majority of the Roman Empire, the ruler had used pagan terminology for the Christian day of worship – the word Sunday for the day of the sun (Ostrogorsky). Besides introducing legal reforms that gave the Christian people and the church a healthy representation in the government and a clear preference over people of other faiths – Constantine the Great was occupied with the construction of new buildings in his capital, Constantinople. He built many Christian churches at the same time as no new pagan temples saw construction or repair. The most popular style for these churches was the basilica, and many of its features were imitations of the old pagan basilicas. The new buildings were oblong. They had side aisles and were divided off from the middle nave by arched colonnades (Grant). The Roman Emperor kept friendly ties with the pagans throughout this process of reorganization and reconstruction. He often hosted debating get-togethers with the pagans, and even gave Greek pagan names such as Sophia to churches in his new capital. He continued using the office of the Pontifex Maximus, too, which was a very pagan and imposing title. Changes meant to set aside the already penetrated pagan way of life in the Roman Empire were gradual. The pagan symbols on coins, for example, were slowly transformed into neutral symbols. By the year 331, however, Constantine the Great had started to take open measures against paganism. The removal of treasures from pagan temples, the destruction of some of these temples, the prohibition of sacrifices in the pagan temples, and the elimination of the practice of consulting pagan oracles were swift. In the new city of Constantinople, pagan worship was not recorded. The Roman Emperor had striven to weaken the pagan practices without disturbing the structure of paganism to an extent that it would crumble totally and immediately. He had hoped this would happen eventually at a slow pace, and he was right (Grant). As more and more Christians were recruited for military service by the Roman Emperor, more and more pagans were meant to be attracted to the large and attractive Christian churches that Constantine the Great had been constructing throughout the empire (Alf-Idi). The neutral symbols on the coins were at last replaced by crosses. The military offered protection to both the state and the church; the pagan soldiers had to put up with it even though they disliked the revolution in the name of the supreme Deity that the Christians worshipped as one (Brown). The emperor did have fierce confrontations with pagans in this period, an instance of which was the execution of the pagan philosopher Sopater. Constantine the Great took such stringent measures in his stride as he was chiefly concerned with the good pleasure and obedience of God, believing himself to be His representative on earth (Grant). The slow and steady abolition of pagan practices in the empire was undoubtedly an act performed to please Him. Constantine the Great passed away in a villa near Nicomedia soon after being baptized. Laid in a golden coffin with his body wrapped in purple attire, the first Christian Roman Emperor was taken to Constantinople where his subjects collected to pay him homage. Few days later, the son of Constantine the Great led the funeral procession through the streets of the capital city to the Church of Holy Apostles. Here, his body was interned in the mausoleum constructed by the late emperor himself (Grant). Thus ended a glorious chapter in the life of early Christians. Constantinople the Great would for ever be remembered for strengthening the Christian community like nobody else. References 1. Alf-Idi, Andrew. 1948. The Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome. England: Clarenton Press. 2. Baynes, Norman H. (1951). Constantine the Great and the Christian Church. London: Miford. 3. Brown, Peter. (1992). Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire. Wisconsin, USA: The University of Wisconsin Press. 4. Burckhardt, Jacob. (1949). The Age of Constantine the Great. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. 5. Doerries, Herman. (1960). Constantine and Religious Liberty. USA: Yale University Press. 6. Keresztes, Paul. (1981). Constantine: A Great Christian Monarch and Apostle. Amsterdam: J. C. Gilben Publisher. 7. Grant, Michael. (1993). Constantine the Great: The Man and His Times. New York: Barnes and Noble. 8. Ostrogorsky, George. 1969. History of the Byzantine State. New York, USA: Rutgers University Press. 9. Vasiliev, A. A. (1964). History of the Byzantine Empire – Vol. 1. Wisconsin, USA: The University of Wisconsin Press. 10. Wasilewska, Ewa. (October 2002). “So The Soul Can Rest – Death And Afterlife In The Qur’an.” World and I, Vol. 17, Issue 10, p. 156. Read More