INSIGHT
FEATURE
■
C O N S T A
Written by
Dr. Gary G. Cohen
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For the believer, the study of Christian history should
be seen as something far more than simply an academic pursuit. An understanding of Christian history can
broaden our perspective and allow us to see the movement of God’s plan through time and how it relates
to both current events and Bible prophecy. Roman
history – especially as it relates to Emperor
Constantine – is one such example. Much of what occurred in ancient Constantinople and the spread of
the Church throughout the Middle East during the
Byzantine Empire has significant ramifications today.
Constantinople, which is modern-day Istanbul,
Turkey, will play a major role in the last days.
I once heard two Christians speak ill of
Emperor Constantine, and knew this was unfair. On the contrary, Constantine was a courageous hero of the faith, whom God used greatly.
Constantine is known as the first Christian
emperor of the Roman Empire. He lived during
A.D. 272-337 and began serving as Emperor in
A.D. 305. In the system following Diocletian’s
dividing of the Roman Empire into four quarters in A.D. 293, there were a corresponding
four emperors. One was the “Augustus” (the
“most majestic”) in the West (the Roman
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DR. GARY G. COHEN
the first
christian
emperor
ANTINE
world), and under him, the Caesars in the
West. Then there was the Augustus in the East
(the Greek world), and his deputies, the Caesars
in the East. Each in turn ruled over a quarter
of the empire in this “tetrarchy.” Constantine’s
father became Caesar in the West in A.D. 293,
and, by A.D. 305, Constantine rose to Augustus
in the West. A series of civil wars followed,
with Maximian and his son, Maxentius, rising
against Constantine.
In December, A.D. 312, Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian
Bridge across the Tiber River just outside of
Rome. His cavalry broke Maxentius’ cavalry,
and his infantry followed, with Maxentius
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drowning in the river. Constantine proclaimed
before the battle that he saw a cross in the sky
among the clouds and heard a voice in a dream
cry out, “In hoc signo vinces,” which means, “in
this sign you will conquer.” Before the battle,
Constantine had his soldiers place an X (Greek,
Chi), as a form of a cross or as the first letter of
Christos, on their shields. They won a momentous victory and soon after, in January, A.D. 313,
Constantine, as a clearly proclaimed Christian,
passed the Edict of Milan (also known as the
Edict of Toleration). This law, at last, permitted
Christians to practice their faith legally and openly along with Rome’s traditional Mithraic and
Mount Olympus pagan religions, and Judaism.
Constantine proclaimed,
before the battle, he
saw a cross in the sky
and heard a voice in a
dream cry out, “In hoc
signo vinces,” which
means, “in this sign
you will conquer.”
Constantine had his
soldiers place an X
(Greek, Chi), as a form
of a cross or as the
first letter of Christos,
on their shields …
they won a momentous
victory.
Constantine passed the
Edict of Milan (Edict of
Toleration) permitting
Christians to practice
their faith legally and
openly....
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INSIGHT
FEATURE
The Chi-Rho symbol
was used by the
Roman emperor
Constantine I as
part of a military
standard.
■
Constantine, the First Christian Emperor
In A.D. 324, Licinius and his army,
allied with the Goths, challenged
Constantine and his Franks in the Battle
of Adrianople, with Constantine’s soldiers’
shields wearing the Labarum, or XP,
Chi-rho, which clearly represented Christ.
Constantine was again victorious, all
serious opposition had been quelled, and
Constantine stood as absolute ruler of the
Roman Empire. By A.D 325, he moved
the chief capital of the Empire out of
Rome, the chief city of the Latin West, to
Byzantium, the capital city of the Greek
East, calling it at first, New Rome. The
eastern Greek people were not keen on this
name and it soon became “Constantine’s
City,” which, in Greek, is Constantine Polis, hence
Constantinople. (This great city, which uniquely
spanned Europe and Asia, was the chief city
and capital of the Eastern Christian world for
over a millennium, until its fall to the Ottoman
Turks on May 29, 1453. Its new conquerors
called it “[Con-] stan-bul,” which became
Istanbul.
probably made Christianity a legal
religion because he saw which way
the political wind was blowing and
wanted to be on the winning side.
With this they ask the question, “Do
we really know whether or not he
was born again?”
2. They note that he was responsible for
convening the Council of Nicaea in
A.D. 325, which connected the
“Easter Date” to the Roman solar calendar, and thus moved it away from
the Hebrew lunar calendar and its
Passover connection.
3. He somehow paganized the Christian
religion by raising it to the status of
the in-house Roman Empire’s state
religion.
Of course, we should speak also of that
which God accomplished through Constantine.
1. CONSTANTINE STOPPED THE
PERSECUTIONS.
From A.D. 64 to 312, Rome’s emperors
waged ten brutal persecutions against the
Christians, an average of one every 25 years.
This put every generation of Christians through
an awful persecution, which lasted one or more
years each. Millions of prayers went up, saying,
“O Lord, stop them from persecuting us! Stop
the killing!” If Constantine alone was used of
God to accomplish the ceasing of the killing,
every time his name is mentioned, we should
lift a prayer saying, “Thank you, Lord.” Give
God the glory, but don’t speak evil of
Constantine. He is known in history as
“Constantine the Great,” and this ceasing of the
persecutions was a key reason for this title.
2. CONSTANTINE MADE CHRISTIANITY
AN APPROVED RELIGION, AND THE
FAVORED RELIGION.
When people speak ill of Constantine, they
usually itemize three things:
1. They heard or read someone who
suggested that Emperor Constantine
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Constantine did more than, for humanitarian reasons, at last stop the state killing of
Christians, he also secured the ceasing of
future mass slaughter of innocents by making
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DR. GARY G. COHEN
Christianity a permanently approved religion.
He made it at last possible for:
(a) Christians to openly possess and
read the New Testament;
(b) Church assembly and meetings to
be held in the open without fear;
(c) Christians to openly partake in the
Lord’s Supper without accusation;
and
(d) Church edifices to at last be built –
and how they were built through
the centuries!
3. HE PROCLAIMED HIMSELF TO BE A
CHRISTIAN AND FOSTERED
CHRISTIAN CAUSES.
Constantine, as Emperor, fully and publicly
endorsed Christianity. Isn’t this what we hear
conservative radio talk show phone-in people
calling for every day? Isn’t this what pastors call
for from their pulpits – for national leaders
who will clearly stand up for their faith in
Christ and openly declare their wish to see our
government and courts follow Judeo-Christian
principles? Constantine, the Emperor, professed his faith in Christ clearly, openly, and
publicly. Here, at last, was a government official
and leader who fearlessly proclaimed himself
to be a Christian – and who did not wait for a
voter opinion poll to see if this would gain or
lose him popularity.
4. CONSTANTINE SENT HIS MOTHER,
HELENA, TO THE HOLY LAND TO
LOCATE ANCIENT CHRISTIAN SITES
AND BUILD SHRINES OVER THE
HOLY PLACES.
Helena, c. A.D. 250-330, was a Christian
scholar as well as a pious and energetic woman.
She is known as “Saint Helena” among the
Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican,
and Lutheran churches. She was given the title
Augusta Imperatrix, “Revered Royal Lady” in
A.D. 325; and in A.D. 326-328, backed by the
royal treasury, went on a journey to Israel to
locate biblical holy places. Now that Christianity
was a permitted faith and no longer persecuted, church buildings could be built.
Eusebius wrote that Helena had built the
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Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem and the Church of
the Ascension on the Mount of
Olives to mark these traditional
holy sites.
Helena also identified two
adjacent sites just outside the
walls of Jerusalem as the places
where Christ was crucified and
buried. She told of a healing of a
fellow traveler which took place
there confirming to her that the
sites were genuine. She believed
she had been guided by God to
locate the place of the crucifixion just outside west Jerusalem
by the confirmation of finding three pieces of
ancient wood, signifying the three crosses,
when they dug into the hill.
Constantine soon after began the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher over
these spots. The church was constructed with
two large connected rotundas, the larger over
the burial tomb and the other over the rock of
Calvary. It is certainly legitimate to question
whether these locations are accurate based on
Helena’s discovery of three pieces of ancient
wood and the healing of a fellow traveler, but it
should be noted there are other historic and
plausible reasons for the locations she selected
to build these churches in commemoration of
biblical events. (Today, many Protestants prefer the nearby “Garden Tomb” location as containing the sites of the crucifixion and
resurrection.)
Among other landmarks, she had a chapel
built in the Sinai Peninsula where St. Catherine’s
monastery now stands.
5. CONSTANTINE ENABLED EUSEBIUS
OF CAESAREA TO WRITE HIS EARLY
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.
Because of Constantine, Eusebius (A.D.
260-340) had the liberty, means, and encouragement to give us his Ecclesiastical History
(English translation 439 pages), which is considered by many as the finest and most detailed
history of the first 300 years of the Christian
era. Originally written in Greek, it contains
lengthy accounts of the origin of each of the
Gospels. Eusebius, also known as Eusebius
The Church of the
Holy Sepulcher was
constructed with
two large connected
rotundas, the larger
over the burial tomb
and the other over
the rock of Calvary.
Because of
Constantine, Eusebius
(A.D. 260-340) had
the liberty, means,
and encouragement to give us his
Ecclesiastical History,
which is considered
by many as the finest
and most detailed
history of the first
300 years of the
Christian era.
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FEATURE
Eusebius, a contemporary of
Constantine, quotes
extensively from
writings that are
no longer with us,
and quotes from
believers and eyewitnesses such as
the martyr Polycarp.
Anyone who doubts
the authenticity
and genuineness of
John’s or Matthew’s
Gospels should
read Eusebius’ detailed history, and
their faith will be
strengthened.
■
Constantine, the First Christian Emperor
Pamphili, was a contemporary of Constantine,
a Roman of Greek lineage, and a brilliant and
pious defender of the Christian faith. He quotes
extensively from writings that are no longer
with us, and quotes from believers and eyewitnesses such as the martyr Polycarp, c. A.D.
69-160, who tells us of his talks with the apostle
John, and of the latter’s seeing the vision of the
Revelation while imprisoned on the island of
Patmos. Anyone who doubts the authenticity
and genuineness of John’s or Matthew’s
Gospels should read Eusebius’ detailed history, and their faith will be strengthened.
6. CONSTANTINE ORDERED AS
MANY AS 50 COPIES OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT TO BE WRITTEN ON
THE BEST PARCHMENTS.
Our two oldest complete New Testaments
(or almost complete, with a few pages missing)
are Codex Sinaiticus, discovered and salvaged
by Constantin von Tishendorf in 1869 at the
Mount Sinai monastery (symbol: Hebrew letter
aleph) and Codex Vaticanus (symbol: B), discovered also circa A.D. 1900, buried amid the
endless shelves of the Vatican Library. According
to a library notation with it, its previous usage
had occurred some 400 years prior. These are
fourth-century manuscripts, circa A.D. 325350, written in Greek capital letters. They are
not only the two oldest nearly complete Bibles
ever discovered, but probably will never be superseded by any older full Bibles since, prior to
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this time, copies of biblical books were penned
on individual scrolls of vellum or parchment
sheets; the “book” or “codex” had not yet been
invented. [Note: We have many parchments of
individual New Testament books which are
centuries older than Sinaiticus and Vaticanus,
but these two are the oldest complete Bibles.]
It is thought by many that these two earliest
Bibles were among those 50 which Constantine
commanded to be copied from the most
ancient manuscripts. Eusebius tells us that
Constantine ordered the copying of Bibles,
which was a complete and marvelous turnaround from their destruction by previous
sovereigns.
7. CONSTANTINE CONVENED THE
COUNCIL OF NICAEA, A.D. 325,
WHICH SETTLED THE QUESTION
OF CHRIST’S DEITY.
The early Church was persecuted and,
until Constantine, usually did not have the
freedom to meet in public to settle pressing
theological issues. By A.D. 325, the Church,
particularly the Greek church in the east, was
divided over the “deity of Christ” question –
the nature of Jesus and His relationship to the
Father. An elder named Arius taught and sang
rhymes that, “There was a time when He
[Jesus] was not,” and that Jesus was “a distinct
substance different from the Father,” being the
greatest of prophets, but not deity. Another
voice arose, Athanasius of Alexandria, who
championed the deity of Christ against the
“Arian heresy.”
This soon had the Christian world bitterly divided, and Constantine, realized the
vital importance of this issue. He grieved as
he saw the Church split so soon after the
persecutions had been lifted. He called for
an Ecumenical (“the inhabited world”)
Council to prayerfully settle the matter.
He decreed that it be held in Nicaea, about
45 miles southeast of Constantinople. Some
2,000 delegates were invited. The result of
this Council was the Nicene Creed which
declared that the Scriptures teach and
demand the deity of Christ, and a triune
nature of God as per John 1:1-4, 10; 6:62;
10:30; Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 1:8-20.
The Nicene Creed reads as follows:
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DR. GARY G. COHEN
We believe in one God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the onlybegotten Son of God, begotten of the
Father before all worlds, God of God,
Light of Light, Very God of Very God,
begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all
things were made; who for us men, and
for our salvation, came down from
heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy
Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made
man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was
buried, and the third day he rose again
according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the
right hand of the Father. And he shall
come again with glory to judge both the
quick and the dead, whose kingdom
shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the
Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeded
from the Father [“and the Son” – added
in the 6th century in the West], who
with the Father and the Son together is
worshipped and glorified, who spoke
by the prophets. And we believe in one
holy catholic* and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the
remission of sins**. And we look for the
resurrection of the dead, and the life of
the world to come. Amen.
8. CONSTANTINE ASKED THE
COUNCIL OF NICAEA TO ALSO
SETTLE THE DATE OF THE
RESURRECTION HOLY DAY,
“EASTER.”
Many Christians today do not dearly regard days of the Christian calendar as did
those in past centuries. The Resurrection
Day is commonly called Easter, possibly
because the Germans who settled in Rome
in the fifth century labeled it Ostern, which
means “east” or “sunrise.” Others suggest
“Easter” comes from Eostre, the pagan
goddess of the dawn; or from other pagan
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origins such as the goddesses Astarte
(Phoenician) and Ishtar (Babylonian).
The problem was that Christians across
the empire were observing Good Friday (by
tradition the day Jesus was crucified) and
Resurrection Sunday on different dates.
Constantine heard the bishops’ pleas for the
entire Church to observe the Resurrection on
the same day. He turned the problem over to
the Council and, after prayer and debate, the
Council decided not to put it on a fixed calendar date, but to make it a movable feast. Also,
Christians at this time did not want their holy
day to depend upon Jewish rabbinical lunar
calculations, which had to be adjusted by the
rabbis every few years. Thus, the Resurrection
was to be celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon following the vernal
equinox (the Paschal full moon). This put it
reasonably near the Jewish Passover, in Nisan,
the Jewish first month (Leviticus 23:5).
Constantine wrote, “When the question
arose concerning the most holy day of Easter,
it was decreed by common consent to be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated
on the same day by all, in every place. For what
can be more beautiful, what more venerable
and becoming, than that this festival, from
which we receive the hope of immortality,
should be suitably observed by all in one and
the same order, and by a certain rule” (Eusebius,
Council of Nicaea, p. 52).
9. CONSTANTINE ESTABLISHED
CONSTANTINOPLE AS A CITY,
WHICH BECAME THE HEAD OF
EASTERN CHRISTIANITY FOR OVER
1,000 YEARS.
Western Christians usually pay little attention to Eastern Christian history. However,
from A.D. 325 until A.D. 1453 (when
Constantinople finally fell to the Ottoman
Turks), it stood as the capital of the Eastern
Roman Empire and a bastion of the Christian
faith. Justinian the Great ruled from here, from
A.D. 527 to A.D. 565, with his strong wife
Theodora, who proved to be the backbone
of the empire, standing at his side. They also
laid a foundation for the East to stand for
another 900 years against the pressures of
Islamic armies. Their stand in the East con-
* The word “catholic”
here does not refer
to religion of
Catholicism, but
means “pertaining to
the whole Christian
body or church.”
** The evangelical
Church does not
concur with this
statement. The Bible
teaches that baptism
cannot save one
from his sin. Rather,
baptism is symbolic
of the Christian’s
“change of identity,”
from an individual
condemned to death
for his sins to one
transformed into a
“new creation” (2
Corinthians 5:17).
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INSIGHT
FEATURE
■
Constantine, the First Christian Emperor
The Hagia Sophia
(Church of Holy
Wisdom) built in
A.D. 537, famed
for its immense and
wondrous intersecting domes, stood as
the largest church
building until Saint
Peter’s in Rome
in the sixteenth
century.
The Islamic minaret towers were
added later when
the Ottoman Turks
converted it into a
mosque in 1453.
tributed to the preservation of the Christian
West by causing the armies of Islam to fight a
two-front war and thus have their Islamic
strength divided. These regents built the largest Christian church edifice, Hagia Sophia
(Church of Holy Wisdom) in A.D. 537, famed
for its immense and wondrous intersecting
domes, and stood as the largest church building until Saint Peter’s in Rome in the sixteenth
century. It served as the center of the faith and
of the Eastern Patriarchate until 1453, when
it was converted into a mosque until 1931.
Today it is a museum.
10. CONSTANTINE MOVED THE CHIEF
EMPEROR’S CAPITAL TO THE EAST,
WHICH HAD GREAT REPERCUSSIONS
FOR THE BISHOP OF ROME AND FOR
WESTERN CHRISTIANITY.
While the Roman emperor was situated in
Rome, the Bishop of Rome had less authority
and influence as the emperor was the dominant figure both in the city and in the empire.
When in A.D. 325 Constantine moved the
chief seat of his capital to the East, the Bishop
of Rome suddenly became the chief person of
stature and influence in the West. This power
grew and by A.D. 600, Pope Gregory I in Rome
(pope from A.D. 590 to 604) was the leading
influence in the West. By the thirteenth century, the height of papal power, popes from
Innocent III to Bonifice VIII claimed papal supremacy, crowned and disposed of kings, declared and stopped crusades, and ruled in
opulence and might. This all began with
Constantine’s move to the East.
As for the “Donation of Constantine,” this
was a document now almost universally con24
ZF1509_Cohen_v007.indd 8
sidered to have been a forgery made some 400
years after Constantine. Its words contain a
supposed decree of Constantine that, at his
death, the authority over and ownership of the
city of Rome and the western portion of the
Roman Empire was bequeathed to the Bishop
of Rome. The document was used in the thirteenth century to support papal claims of ownership of lands far beyond the Vatican and
authority over the entire empire. While still
debated by some, Lorenzo Valla, an Italian
Catholic priest, in A.D. 1440 showed it to be a
late forgery. Thus we needn’t chide Constantine
for directly giving the empire to the Pope when
he moved his capital to the East.
Constantine waited until A.D. 327 to be
baptized, when he realized he might be dying.
He perhaps thought, in error, this ceremony
was the final cleansing and that sins after
baptism clung to a person, or perhaps he felt
through the years of his wars that he was personally unworthy. In A.D. 326, he had one of
his sons, Crispus, executed, and soon after,
one of his wives, Fausta, as well. Little is known
about these. Some said the two were living in
immorality, while others attribute it to the
plots and counter-plots connected with a
king’s soon demise and the jostling for position for the next in line to be emperor.
As for his words about Constantine, there
is not space here to quote more of his lengthy
and detailed accounts of his friend and
sovereign Constantine (however, if you care
to look it up, you will find it goes on and on in
praise of Constantine’s humility and of his
crediting the true God and Christ with blessing him and his people). We find in Eusebius’
writings that he – a personal friend of the
Emperor – regarded Constantine to be the
finest and most pious Christian ruler who
ever lived. Here is an excerpt:
And God himself, whom Constantine
worshiped, has confirmed this truth
by the clearest manifestations of his
will, being present to aid him at the
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DR. GARY G. COHEN
commencement, during the course,
and at the end of his reign, and holding him up to the human race as an
instructive example of godliness.
Accordingly, by the manifold blessings
he has conferred on him, he has distinguished him alone of all the sovereigns of whom we have ever heard
as at once a mighty luminary and
most clear-voiced herald of genuine
piety (Nicene and Ante-Nicene Fathers:
The Life of Constantine with Orations
of Constantine and Eusebius: Chapter 4).
Constantine to Eusebius of Caesarea
VICTOR CONSTANTINUS, MAXIMUS
AUGUSTUS, to Eusebius:
Forasmuch as the unholy and willful
rule of tyranny has persecuted the servants of our Saviour until this present
time, I believe and have fully satisfied
myself, best beloved brother, that the
buildings belonging to all the churches
have either become ruinous through
actual neglect, or have received inadequate attention from the dread of the
violent spirit of the times. But now
that liberty is restored, and that serpent driven from the administration
of public affairs by the providence of
the Supreme God, and our instrumentality, we trust that all can see the efficacy of the Divine power, and that
they who through fear of persecution
or through unbelief have fallen into
any errors, will now acknowledge the
true God, and adopt in future that
course of life which is according to
truth and rectitude. With respect,
therefore, to the churches over which
you yourself preside, as well as the
bishops, presbyters, and deacons of
other churches with whom you are acquainted, do you admonish all to be
zealous in their attention to the buildings of the churches, and either to repair or enlarge those which at present
exist, or, in cases of necessity, to erect
new ones” (ibid, Ch. 46).
AND now I beseech thee, most mighty
God, to be merciful and gracious to
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thine Eastern nations, to thy people in
these provinces, worn as they are by
protracted miseries; and grant them
healing through thy servant. Not without cause, O holy God, do I prefer this
prayer to thee, the Lord of all. Under
thy guidance have I devised and accomplished measures fraught with
blessings: preceded by thy sacred sign
I have led thy armies to victory: and
still, on each occasion of public danger, I follow the same symbol of thy
perfections while advancing to meet
the foe. Therefore have I dedicated to
thy service a soul duly tempered by
love and fear. For thy name I truly
love, while I regard with reverence
that power of which thou hast given
abundant proofs, to the confirmation
and increase of my faith. I hasten,
then, to devote all my powers to the
restoration of thy most holy dwellingplace, which those profane and impious
men have defiled by the contamination
of violence (ibid, Ch. 55).
IMPORTANT
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF CONSTANTINE
1. Stopped the
persecutions
2. Made Christianity
an approved
religion
3. Proclaimed himself
Christian and
fostered Christian
causes
4. Sent his mother
to the Holy Land
to locate Christian
sites and build
shrines over them
5. Enabled Eusebius
to write his early
History of
Christianity
6. Ordered 50 copies
of the New
Testament to be
written on the best
parchments
And truly our worship is no new or recent thing, but one which thou hast
ordained for thine own due honor,
from the time when, as we believe, this
system of the universe was first established. And, although mankind have
deeply fallen, and have been seduced
by manifold errors, yet hast thou revealed a pure light in the person of thy
Son, that the power of evil should not
utterly prevail, and hast thus given testimony to all men concerning thyself
(ibid, Ch. 57).
7. Convened the
Council of Nicaea
A.D. 325 which
settled the question
of Christ’s diety
8. Asked the Council
to also settle
the date of the
Resurrection Holy
Day
9. Established the city
of Constantinople,
which became the
head of Eastern
Christianity for over
1,000 years
10. Moved the Chief
Emperor’s Capital
to the East which
had great repercussions for Western
Christianity
It is my hope that this brief study on the life
of Constantine has shed some light on the
movement of Christian history and has provided some helpful information that may encourage believers to re-evaluate their notions of this
first Christian emperor.
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