ON CONSTANTINE THE GREAT: Why do myths abound? Yes, I mean myths. History is full of myths, tales in where we make mere men as gods and heroes. Molehills of moments blown into mountains of false memories. How many of us truly know that George Washington did not really cut down the cherry tree, or that Helen Keller was a communist, that the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims was an American fabrication, that Martin Luther was an anti-semite and John Calvin a murderer? We paint our heroes with the broad stroke of perfection, and the same goes for Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor. Some books will have you believe that Constantine was used by God, he was a Saint. And in this they need to. The central doctrine of Christendom is the Trinity, which was brought about through no small measure of help by Constantine the Great. If Constantines portrait was less than Christian, then the next logical step is to wonder what problems there are with the Trinity doctrine. So, the question put forward is: Is Constantine sinner or Saint? It is significant, for instance, not that the pagan gods and their legends survived for a few years on Constantines coinage but that they disappeared so quickly: the last of them, the relatively inoffensive Unconquered Sun had been eliminated within little over a decade after the defeat of Maxentius (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1979, Constantine the Great, Vol. 5, p.71) Reply: How can the Sun-God be considered “relatively inoffensive” to a Christian? “Constantine’s nephew Julian speaks of Constantine’s connection with a special cult of Helios. From a familiar obverse on coins of Constantine, representing the sun-god with the inscription SOLI. INVICTI. COMITI, we deduce that the personification of the sun as Mithras is here implied. Anyone who has dealt with ancient coins knows that out of five Constantinian pieces probably four will bear this obverse, so that there is a high probability that this device was retained until the Emporer’s death…But the coins with unequivocal Christian emblems which he is said to have struck are yet to be found” The Age of Constantine the Great, 1949, Jacob Burckhardt, p.293 Nor was the visit to Rome a success. Constantines refusal to take part in a pagan procession offended the Romans; and when he left after a short visit, it was never to return. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1979, Constantine the Great, Vol. 5, p.71) the accusation that his [Constantine’s] generosity was only made possible by his looting of the treasures of the pagan temples (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1979, Constantine the Great, Vol. 5, p.71) Reply: Although Constantine attributed his success to the divine message that he beleived he had read in the skies before the battle at the Milvian Bridge in 312, he could not officially--and privately, it seems, did not-abandon paganism at once. Encyclopedia Americana 2000 However, until his preparations for his final campaign by 323, he did not abandon his allegiance to the Sun god, even though he regarded himself as a servant of the Christian God... Constantines public image remained - the Sun god was the emperors companion. The liberation of Rome was attributed to the Sun on a medallion struck at the time. The Rise of Christianity, W.H.C. Frend, p.484 Constantine’s Conversion and Genuineness of Faith Assessment. The reign of Constantine must be interpreted against the background of his clear and unambiguous personal commitment to Christianity. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1979, Constantine the Great, Vol. 5, p.71) Reply: Some things have been established with reasonable certainty: Constantine was no intellectual giant; he took himself very seriously with regard to what he considered his mission to promote Christianity; and lacking more than one of the Christian virtues, he was on occasion cruel, ruthless, and even inhumane. Encyclopedia Americana 2000 Constantine was almost certainly a Mithraic, and his triumphal arch, built after his conversion, testifies to the Sun-god, or unconquered sun. Many Christians did not make a clear distinction between this sun-cult and their own. They referred to Christ driving his chariot across the sky; they held their services on Sunday, knelt towards the East and had their nativity feast on 25 December, the birthday of the sun at the winter solstice. During the later pagan revival under the Emperor Julian many Christian found it easy to apostacize because of this confusion; the Bishop of Troy told Julian he had always secretely prayed to the sun. Constantine never abandoned sun-worship and kept the sun on his coins. He made Sunday into a day of rest, closing the law courts and forbidding all work except agricultural labour. In his new city of Constantinople, he set up a statue of the sun-god, bearing his own features, in the Forum; and another of the mother-Goddess Cybele, though she was presented in a posture of Christian prayer. Constantines motives were probably confused. He was an exceptionally superstitious man, and he no doubt shared the view, popular among professinal soldiers, that all religous cults should be respected, to appease their respective gods....Vain and superstitious, Constantine may have embraced Chrstianity because it suited his personal interests, and his growing megalomania.... His own role was not wholly removed from that of the pagan God-emperor - as witness the colossal heads and statues of himself with which he littered his empire...How could the Christian Church, apparently quite willingly, accomodate this weird megalomaniac in its theocratic system? A History of Christianity Paul Johnson pp. 67, 68 Few of the essential elements of Christian belief interested Constantine very much-neither Gods mercy nor mans sinfulness, neither damnation nor salvation, neither brotherly love nor, needless to say, humility. Ardent in his convictions, he remained nevertheless oblivious to their moral implications. Modern historians have been bothered by this; [Constantine by Ramsay MacMullen, p. 239] This is the same man that even some of his time was considered analogous to Christ. [cf. pp 176, 177] What about the famous council of Nicaea: Constantine, who treated religious questions solely from a political point of view, assured unanimity by banishing all the bishops who would not sign the new profession of faith. In this way unity was achieved/ It was altogether unheardof that a universal creed should be instituted solely on the authority of the emperor, who as a catechumen was not even admitted to the mystery of the Eucharist and was totally unempowered to rule on the highest mysteries of the faith. Not a single bishop said a single word against this monstrous thing. [Walter Nigg, The Heretics, Heresy Throught the Ages, p127] 4yhwh/Bible-Files/constantine.htm
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 17:15:26 +0000
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