Tibor Tonhaizer УДК: 255.6-67:27
322(37)”03”
321.18:929 Константин I Велики
Head of Church History Department,
Hungarian Adventist Theological College,
Original scientific paper
Hungary, [email protected]
Primljen: 01.06.2015.
RELIGION HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO
THE INVESTIGATION OF THE CHANGE OF
CONSTANTINE
Abstract
By the middle of the 3rd century the once glorious Roman Empire was past its
prime; weakened considerably from the perspective of economy and society. Emperor
Constantine the Great expected the solution of the severe, seemingly to be hopeless situation from the intensification of monotheistic religiousness. He hardly was adept at matters of theology but was quite sure that he can also achieve the stability of his own power
by combining the strongest religions of the empire ideologically. In the spirit of this policy Christianity and sun-worship got close to each other and the emperor supported both.
The interest of the indicated process is that the Christians of the 4th century did not object this tendency; moreover, they saw the evidence of Providence in it.
Key words: Syncretism, sun-worship, genius, solar monotheism, political stability, Romanism, Byzantinism.
In the Shadow of a Falling Empire
As we know it from history, the Roman Empire have lost its halos by the
middle of the 3rd century - by the age of the so-called soldier emperors -, which
it had without any doubt a century before. In 274 Emperor Aurelian thought that after making the universal cult of Sol Invictus the official state religion - the central power, at last, found the resolution which restores the long-ago power of the
empire and stabilizes it for a long time. But all that was an illusion. The emperor’s attempts did not reach fully the desired goal, moreover, the crisis of empire
deepened and it seemed that by the end of the century the decline is unstoppable.
After the multifaceted resolution attempts - which basically cannot be regarded
as successful - Diocletian started comprehensive empire-organizational reforms;
his work was finished by Emperor Constantine. Diocletian - almost immediately
after his ascension to the throne – began the kind of economical and administra-
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Tibor Tonhaizer: Religion historical contributions to the investigation of…
tive reorganization of the empire whose ideology based on the combining of plural interests and the creating of global trade. The emperor introduced a single and
common currency into the entire empire. He converted the empire to tetrarchy in
order to facilitate the more effective governance and the so far centralised administrative structure of empire was dismantled to minor and major administrative
units. Closely related to this, the issue of legitimacy of the supreme political authority arose as an increasingly pressing one. For the sake of cooperation of units
now experiencing a high degree of autonomy administratively, the transcendent
nature of the centralized political power’s prestige being above one and all needed to be emphasised even more strikingly. Rostovtzeff wrote as follows:
„The problems, which were faced by Diocletian and his successors, were
multifaceted. Though, the key question was how can they stabilize and organise
the major power so that the emperor ceases to be a marionette controlled by the
army.“1
The Strengthening of the Role of Monotheistic Religion
Religion, however, still played an unavoidable part in the solution of the
problems – at least what showed to the outside world, for the sake of keeping the
crowds under control -, and from the perspective of leadership, it was also equally important to find a correct ideology, that can be considered the one salvation,
or to further develop existing ones.
Religion emerged gradually as one of the major questions for almost everybody. Religious restoration took a political importance in the newly split empire,
together with truth, morality and loyalty towards tradition considered to be the
absolute yardstick.2
It allowed Diocletian to stress the supernatural and holy nature of his power and to strengthen the belief that his dominion and authority is secured - if you
like, guaranteed - transcendentally. This conception was communicated again by
the expectation of the cult of the emperor all over the empire which led to the
greatest - lasted more than 10 years (303–313) - systematic and global persecution of Christians.
Constantine’s reform emperor nature was reflected - among others - in the
fact that he recognized: Rome should not see the enemy of the imperial ideology in Christianity any more but quite the contrary, it is worth compromising with
1 Michael Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire. Vol 2. p.507.
2 Ibid. p.509.
Religija i tolerancija, Vol. XIII, № 24, Jul – Decembar, 2015.235
them in any terms. This compromise was the backbone of the so-called Constantine-turn but, of course, this was only the beginning. The compromise by itself
would not go beyond the policy of religious tolerance validated previously also
against other religions, from which the Empire could have benefited far too little.
It seems to be that it was rather necessary to establish a kind of ideological link
between the two strongest and most widespread religious systems. It substantially meant from politics the finding of the sun-worship and Christianity’s common
denominator to be worked out artificially, from above and naturally, from below,
and also its consistent application. But let us see what it is about in specific terms.
Christianity and Sun-Worship
The Christian Church enjoyed religious freedom - as all religions and cults
of the empire - from February 313 by the edict issued by Constantine and Licinius in Mediolanum and the edict ended the persecutions of Christians. According to Eusebio’s writings and other contemporary accounts, Emperor Constantine
turned to the God of the Christians because of his famous vision.
Such a vision - apart from the fact that its credibility is unprovable - apparently does not explain a change of such magnitude that took place then and there.
Therefore it is worth analysing this special change behind the scenes.
Constantine already unequivocally believed in Sol Invictus, the sun-worship introduced by Aurelian in 274, from 310, moreover he saw the theoretical
foundation of his empire in it. Figurative works of art, coins and epigraphs often
bear the image of the Sun, says Eliade.3
According to Edit Szabó’s research, Constantine did not speak out about
his religious orientation during the early years of his reign but subsequently within a very short period of time he declared his loyalty to the following of solar
monotheism:
His coin propaganda had a specific image from 310: Hercules vanished
and Mars became limited entirely, and they were replaced almost exclusively by
Sol Invictus, from which it can be told that his religious principles were characterized by a kind of solar monotheism at that time. 4
But the state of the empire I outlined earlier and the growing internal and
external challenges which seemed to be out of control made the emperor realize that the most important and the most urgent task of power is the “question of
3 Mircea Eliade, Vallási hiedelmek és eszmék története: II. k. [History of Religious Ideas,
Vol. II]. p.324.
4 Havas László – Hegyi W. György – Szabó Edit, Római történelem [Roman History] p.606.
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choosing of a deity to whom the empire can be entrusted, that is the alliance with
the most powerful god.“ 5
Making the sun-worship mandatory played provisionally such a role, all
the more so given that the emperor was the pontifex maximus of the imperial religion. Thus the religion and politics could be concentrated in one hand. You can
see the emperor’s profile associated with Sol Invictus in a coin from 313.
According to Sordi, the fact that Constantine did not break immediately
with the symbols of sun-worship has a much deeper significance than only to be
a political expediency. He considered the adoption of Christianity to be the sublimating of sun-worship; therefore he saw his „conversion“ in resigning a religion to another. 6
But the worship of the Sun and the establishment of religious freedom by
itself could not have ensured fully the preservation of imperial unity. It was necessary to establish such a religious system and organization which could implement the compressing of the total population of the empire cultically and which
has a hierarchical structure, transparent and checkable functioning.
He clearly understood also that the Christianity was able to create a practical network of relationships and communication based on the idea of „brotherhood in Christ“ which arched over successfully the decentralised distribution of
pagan cult centers and the decaying structure of the empire. 7
He himself did not declare Christianity as imperial religion but the process
initiated by him led to this within a few decades (380).
Christianity grew to be a sophisticated religion which assimilated the complexity of mystery cults and the severeness of ascetical theology. It attracted
more and more educated people who improved the theology to comply with the
Greco-Roman culture. The welfare system developed by congregations and the
compassionate behaviour of Christians attracted the pagans specially. While the
church had a long fight with the external persecution and interior gnawing disunity, it set up an effective organisation which reflected the empire in little. Because
it brought stability, it gained also Emperor Constantine’s favour. 8
Clearly, it can be said that Constantine saw the extension of the idea already proved in connection with the sun-worship within the alliance with the
Christian Church.
5 Marta Sordi, The Christians and the Roman Empire p.134.
6 Ibid. p.139.
7 Mathijs Lamberigts, History of Church and Theology. p.41.
8 Karen Armstrong, A History of God. The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and
Islam. p.137.
Religija i tolerancija, Vol. XIII, № 24, Jul – Decembar, 2015.237
The idea that has been in Constantine’s mind was the same as which motivated Aurelian and Diocletian: search of the most powerful god, a god who would
be able to undertake successfully the protection of empire. Religion, above all,
was an alliance between Rome and the deity having as object the salvation of
Rome and the Roman Empire. 9
Williston Walker concentrates on the same process in one of his works upon the history of Christianity, highlighting that probably in Constantine’s eyes –
at least at first – there were no significant differences between the monotheism of
Christians and the monotheism of sun-worship. Both of them proclaimed the authority of a transcendent deity. Therefore both announced the picture of a world
order which coincided with Constantine’s own mission approach: to restore the
universal monarchy which would integrate and unite human society on Earth. 10
The prominent English historian of religion Karen Armstrong also argues
that Constantine did not deal with studying the dogma system of sun-worship and
of Christianity in greater depth in particular because, on one hand, the theoretical roots of differences were indifferent for him, on the other hand „he probably
would not have seen through the matters of theology”. 11
Sheperd continues our train of thought with consistent logic against this
background who says that Constantine’s plan with the church was to consecrate
the political order by the Christian restoration of the empire. 12
Personal Piety of Constantine the Great
For these reasons it was an undoubtedly unimportant factor for the emperor that under the auspices of which cult he establishes the much-desired unity of
the empire, the main issue here was only to cobble together this ideological unity
as soon as possible. Henry Chadwick explains the reform emperor’s religion policy with incredible insight and adequate brevity which was, as shown in quotation
below, a conscious and calculating policy more than lived religion:
„Constantine never fully understood Christian teaching but he was quite
sure that victory during the fights is the gift of some deity after all… He did not
think that Christianity and his faith in the invincible sun are mutually exclusive.“ 13
9 Marta Sordi, op. cit. p.141-143.
10 Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church. p.129.
11 Karen Armstrong, op. cit. p.144.
12 Sheperd Massey, Liturgical Expressions of the Constantinion Triumph. p.75.
13 Henry Chadwick, The Early Church. p.115-116.
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The following train of thought reflects the same approach, in the present
case from the then senate side:
„The senate thanked Constantine for saving Rome from Maxentius’ tyrannous rule with the triumphal arch next to the Colosseum. But the senate rather
made reverence to the sun-god Apollo with the epigraph on the arch than it would
have expressed its gratitude to the God of Christians persecuted for years.“ 14
The well-known British historian Gibbon also suggests in his work dealing
with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire that Emperor Constantine gravitated towards the genius of Sun even when he substantially recognized the strength
of Christianity and set the goal of using it in order to establish the long-awaited
imperial unity, but the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to
the genius of the Sun, Apollo from Greek and Roman mythology. The Sun was
universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine.15
The author here is writing about the gullible mass of people which was
made up of followers of the extensive polytheist religion system of that age and
whose unification was without question the pledge of the strong empire.
The religion of Sol Invictus played a unifying role in the polytheist world
– maybe that is why Constantine the Great also liked it – and Sol identified with
Christ, the real Sun and the Sun of truth or justice relatively quickly. 16
The Position of Early Christianity
But how did the contemporary leading personalities of Christianity relate
to the new opportunities granted by the empire for them and for the church? there are good grounds for asking this question which is far from being merely
academic. While the emperor saw a big opportunity in the support of the Christian religion for the sake of imperial unity and the preservation of his own power, the ruling class of church also recognized the new opportunities in the alliance
with the empire and the imperial power. The church of the 4th century began to interpret the existence of Roman Empire increasingly as a sign from God, which is
destined by God himself to be the future institutional architecture for the achievement of order represented by the church, that is the essential vehicle to complete
God’s work at the same time.
14 Karádi Ilona (ed.), A kereszténység krónikája. [Chronicle of Christianity] p.55.
15 Edward Gibbon, History of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol 2
16 Vanyó László, Katekézis, költészet és ikonográfia a 4. században.[Catechism, Poetry
and Iconography in the 4th Century] p.79.
Religija i tolerancija, Vol. XIII, № 24, Jul – Decembar, 2015.239
Eusebius comments the unexpectedness of the unforeseen turn of events
with genuine admiration which came like a bolt from the blue – though positively - on Christians not even recovered from the trauma of the bloody centuries of
persecutions. 17
Jenő Gergely wrote about Christian Church that heads towards becoming
the state religion due to the turn. The windfall profit resulting from the arrangement surprised the church itself as well: the persecuted minority became almost
all-powerful from one day to the next, it was lifted up becoming the first institution of the state by Constantine. 18
More and more of the church leaders considered that the evangel can
spread even more rapidly in the well-organized empire having one official language with the assistance of the power, and also the kingdom of God may come.
Tamás Csabai, historian of ideas, perfectly highlighted the fact in one of
his studies that the subjects adoring the Sun and other celestial bodies might have
felt the evangel closer to themselves if it was presented with the inclusion of
proper symbols, rites and holy days. 19
This idea, even though it seemed to be good and noble in itself, bore significant risks. Because – as the consequence of the afore-mentioned ideology –,
the church and the conception of Romanism were already linked together inseparably. According to the new religious thinking the church had to fulfil its earthly
mission by creating a unified political community which has its roots in the eternal divine order. A unified world order has to be created as the earthly anticipation of Christ’s kingdom in which the political and religious authority are able to
speak with one voice in order to vindicate Christ’s authority on the whole inhabited Earth (oikumene). Therefore the politics and the religion intertwined more and
more tightly from the early 4th century and they became inseparable from each
other for a long time.
„The political and military monopoly of the Roman Empire was replaced
with the intellectual monopoly of the new religion and the expansion of faith…
had unlimited potential. Rome became the center of Christ’s church just as Caesar’s empire was ruled from this city.” – said Halecki. 20
At the same time we cannot hide the fact that the reconciliation of Christianity and paganism, or the development of the alliance between the throne and
17 Ókeresztény írók IV.k. [Early Christian Writings Vol. 4] p.372-373; 390.
18 Gergely Jenő, A pápaság története [History of the Papacy] p.28.
19 Csabai Tamás, Európa, Amerika, az iszlám és a kommunizmus [Europe, America, the
Islam and the Communism] p.53.
20 Oscar Halecki, The Millennium of Europe. p.40.
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the altar did not only contain positive elements but in some sense it also had adverse effects on the moral life of the church.
Konrád Szántó, the Hungarian historian of Catholic church, highlights that
the church, that had been supported by the state, and which had been made the
state religion at the end of the century, have indeed benefited from the power, but
at the same time the temptation of the abuse of said power, and that of the use
of force became permanent within the life of the church. The fact, that many became Christians without real faith, for personal gain - as belonging to the church
that had firstly the support of the state, then became the ruling religion brought
its social and economic advantages – became a factor that pointed to the negative direction.21
Erich Schnepel discusses the backgrounds, reasons and effects of the intrusion of such a heathen and profane spirit rather expressively when he talks about
how Christians were placed in the highest offices after the turnpoint, meaning that
whoever wanted to make a career, had to become a Christian first. People joined
the church in crowds, to make a living either in the administrative or in the business life. If it was dangerous to be a Christian before – now it suddenly „worth it“.
The emperor himself never got the real internal meaning of the cross and Christianity, and even though he baptized before his death, he never became Christian. His
mind tackled the thoughts of the New Testament, but had no grasp of sin or mercy. 22
George Bancroft, American historian, puts it harder than Szántó and Schnepel, when he writes that no one thought that the need for the protection of religion is needed in regard of keeping the individual’s conscience in respect, until a
voice coming from Judea, indicating the dawn of humanity’s greatest era, founded the universal religion that was standing solely on spiritual basis, and said „give
only back to the Caesar what is Caesar“. At the beginning of the preaching of the
Gospel they kept this rule. But as soon as the ruler of the Roman Empire accepted this religion, Christianity lost its universal quality and was forced into an unholy alliance with the unholy state. 23
Rudolf Sohm claims as well that „within triumph, there has been danger.
Not only that now, together with freedom, honor and power, greed and job-seeking entered the church.“ 24
p.138.
21 Szántó Konrád, A katolikus egyház története [The History of the Catholic Church]
22 Erich Schnepel, Az út kezdete, Jézus Krisztus gyülekezete a Római Birodalomban [The
Beginning of the Path. Jesus Christ’s Congregation in the Roman Empire] p.42-44.
23 George Bancroft, History of the Formation of the Constitution of the United States of
America. p.378.
24 Sohm Rudolf, Rövid egyháztörténet [A Short History of the Church] p.53-54.
Religija i tolerancija, Vol. XIII, № 24, Jul – Decembar, 2015.241
István Orosz academician adopts a more differentiated approach, namely that Christianity only „acknowledged“ the interference at most – as it did not
have many choices against the strong centralized power at that time - however the
unreligious help could have been favourable at times.
In the triumph of victory Christianity accepted that Constantine the Great,
as dominus, will interfere with the matters of the church and the internal affairs
of Christianity will become the affairs of the state. The churchmen have also fostered this interference from time to time.25
Rostovtzeff thinks that Constantine offered peace to the church, provided
that it acknowledges the state and supports the centralized power in the empire.
The church – according to many scholars, for its own detriment – accepted the
offer. Imperial power was eternal, as the church supporting it, and it was a global
power, as the church was world church. 26
József Török, historian of Catholic Church, wrote about this process that –
for Christianity – was harmful in a sense, that profane and sacred world, the order of this world and that of the religion never were truly separated. Constantine,
compromising with Christianity, did not reject this social role of religion; moreover, he provided priority to the characteristic facilitating social togetherness of
Christianity. The emperor used the same positive discrimination with the official
representatives of Christianity, that his predecessors used with the ancient religion. Christianity obtained civil rights, then enjoyed immunity, and finally got
open support. But all this had its price of course. 27
According to Jenő Gergely: „The liberation of Christianity and its alliance
with power came with a great price: it had to serve the power of the empire, and
for this cause, emperors interfered with matters of church and religion. The interlocking of state and Christianity became a common fate.“28
The process that started such, as we have indicated it before, could not be
stopped, and in fact, almost no one wanted to make it stop.
„Harnessing“ the new ideology proved to be pretty effective, it was able
to not only just strengthen the centralized power and economy temporarily, but
– largely because of this reason – provided satisfaction to the society at the same
time.
25 Gunst Péter (ed.), Európa története [History of Europe] p.26.
26 Michael Rostovtzeff, ibid p.509-510.
27 Török József, Egyetemes egyháztörténelem I.köt.[Universal History of the Church, Vol.
1] p.65-66.
28 Gergely Jenő, A pápaság története [History of the Papacy] p.29-30.
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Tibor Tonhaizer: Religion historical contributions to the investigation of…
While the alliance between Constantine and Christianity has been considered as a very risky game at that time, it was greatly worth the price. Combining
Byzantinism, Roman institutes, Hellenistic cultural ideas and the religious pursuits of Christianity proved to be way more effective in winning all of the social
and ethnical groups, than Romanism and Hellenism were separately. 29
After the issue of the Edict of Milan, Emperor Constantine started to increase the power of the church more and more purposefully. At almost the same
time the previous pagan religion started to lose ground. The spreading of the
state-supported new idealism has been facilitated by many imperial regulations.
The punishment of crucifixion has been ceased from 315, and children, slaves
and prisoners were defended by special laws. A law, issued in 316, prohibited
branding criminals’ forehead with hot iron with the justification that at the end
of it all, every person has been created to the image of God. Church has been endowed with a multitude of such privileges, that were enjoyed by the pagan state
religion a few years earlier, like the exemption from military service and taxes,
church asylum, the right of litigation of bishops in different lawsuits and criminal
cases, and the enormous dotation from the state.
It is interesting, that the first Christian emblems started to appear on coins
after 315, and the last pagan emblems disappeared in 323. Church got a privileged legal status, meaning that the state acknowledged the sentence of the bishop’s court in civil law as well. Christians got into the highest offices and the restrictive measures against pagans became numerous. During the reign of Theodosius the Great (379–395) Christianity became a state religion, paganism became
officially banned, and persecuted became the persecutors. 30
While this final accord of the historical process detailed so far is undoubtedly an exciting and determinating point of ancient church history, we still have
to cut the line of the events that followed. We do so because further and concrete
detailing the elaboration of the frames of state religion would be, beyond all disputes, more than what the historical frames of the title of this essay can hold, from
the aspects of both extent and theme.
29 F.E.Peters, The Harvest of Hellenism. p.682.
30 Mircea Eliade, Vallási hiedelmek és eszmék története, II.köt. [History of Religious Ideas, Vol. 2] p.325.
Religija i tolerancija, Vol. XIII, № 24, Jul – Decembar, 2015.243
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Tibor Tonhaizer
Direktor Odeljenja za istoriju crkve,
Mađarski Adventistički teoloski koledž,
Mađarska, [email protected]
PRILOZI ISTORIJE RELIGIJE ISPITIVANJU
KONSTANTINOVE PROMENE
Rezime
Do sredine 3. veka završile su se najbolje godine nekada slavnog Rimskog carstva,
značajno oslabljenog u ekonomskom i socijalnom smislu. Car Konstantin Veliki očekivao
je da je rešenje teške, naizgled beznadežne situacije u jačanju monoteističke religioznosti. On nije bio vičan teološkim pitanjima, ali je bio uveren da može postići stabilnost svoje moći tako što će ideološki iskombinovati najjače religije carstva. U tom smislu politike
hrišćanstva i obožavanja Sunca se približavaju jedna dugoj i car podržava obe. Ono što
je interesantno u ovom procesu jeste da se hrišćanstvo četvrtog veka nije protivilo ovim
tendencijama; štaviše, oni su u tome videli dokaz Božjeg proviđenja.
Ključne reči: sinkretizam, kult Sunca, genij, solarni monoteizam, politička stabilnost, romanizam, vizantizam.