f. Constatine the Great

Constantine the Great.

"Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death."

John 18:31.

In 306 Constantius I Chlorus died in York, in England. He was succeeded by Severus. However, the army did not agree with

this. They revolted, and appointed Constantine, the son of Constantius as Augustus. The other emperors did not agree, but they did not have the means to change it. Step by step Constantine (he was a brilliant general) conquered the Western parts of the Roman Empire, until he defeated in 312 Maxentius near Rome, and was now officially recognized as Western Augustus. Before this battle (of the Milvian Bridge) he was believed to have seen a vision the Cross, with "In this sign you shall be victorious" as a caption. He had also asked the opinion of the heathen augures, who had advised against engaging in battle.

Together with Licinius, the Eastern Augustus, the edict of Milan was issued, recognizing Christianity as an allowed religion.

De Egyptian Christians had to wait some time before the prosecutions stopped there as well.

The question whether Constantine himself was a Christian at that time has been discussed extensively. His mother Helena was a Christian, and his father refused to prosecute the Christians. But he remained Pontifex Maximus, the High Priest of the State religion and looked after that as well. And his coins display the sun-god. On the other hand he banned the temple prostitution. Some suppose that he wanted to use Christianity to unite the empire. He was baptized only shortly before his death, and his life was not exemplary. It resembled that of Herod more than is fit for a Christian: He had his wife Fausta, his son Crispus, his father-in-law Maximianus, his brother-in-law Maxentius and most of his other collegues murdered.

Constantines choice for Christianity had great consequences:

• 1. Many churches were built during his reign. A.o. the St. Peter, the predecessor of the current church, on the site where according to tradition Peter had been buried.

  2. His mother Helena made journey to Jerusalem. Until that moment Christians were not very much interested in Jerusalem, because it was since 135 a completely Roman city, where Jews were not allowed to live, and it had even a Roman name (Aelia Capitolina).

  3. Helena did a lot of excavations and found many relics, including the cross of Christ. The correctness of this assumption was proven by the fact that a miracle occurred when somebody was touched with it.

  4. Relics became increasingly popular since her journey.

  5. Constantine wanted a definitive version of the New Testament established. According to some people the text has been modified during this process. The guilt of the Jews to the death of Christ had to be increased, and that of the Romans had to be diminished. As an example the text above this document is given. There is no trace of evidence that the Romans ever forbade the Jews to execute other Jews. According to Acts they stoned Stephen to death, without repercussions. So the Jews did not need the Romans to have Jesus executed. So when the Romans do so it is their own idea not a Jewish initiative. So the Romans would have to be blamed for the death of Jesus and they did not like that idea.

  6. The Christians saw possibilities to make Christianity the religion for the whole people. For that purpose they introduced new rituals. The Sunday was introduced as the day of the Lord. Up to then it was devoted to the Sun-god Sol Invictis. The birth of Christ was celebrated on the 25th of December. It used to be the 6th of January. But 25 December was celebrated as the birth-day of the Sun-god, and the worhippers of Mithras celebrated it too.

  7. The worship of Mary was increased to compete with the worship of Isis. Mary got some of her titles like "Stella Maris", Star of the Sea, which has no reference to her. Until that time Mary was not worshipped overmuch. The worship of saints had been derived from martyrdom. It was taken for granted that a martyr after his or her death went immediately to heaven and had direct access to Jesus. Just before the execution the martyr was asked to intervene for somebody who had sacrificed in the face of execution, and had regretted it afterwards.

  8. After the death of the martyr one went on asking for intervention. But Mary died a natural death.

     1. The Egyptian Christians did not comply with everything. Not with the celebration of Christ's birth on December 25. But the worship of Mary became very popular in Egypt, as that of Isis had been. And Isis was the mother-goddess, who had a husband, (Osiris) who had been raised from the death. So there was some similarity.

  9. The Christians had great conflicts among themselves. Two Egyptian Christians played an important part in this respect: Athanasius the twintiest patriarch of Alexandria, and Arius, also from Alexandria. That will be treated in the next part.