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-- Thomas Jefferson, January 19, 1810
The "Christian Emperor"
One of the most well known and well respected figures in Christian history was the Roman Emperor, "Constantine". Known as "Constantine the Great", Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus ruled Rome from 306 to 337 AD. Heralded as the "Christian Emperor", Constantine was a pivotal figure in bring the Christian faith into the mainstream of Rome. He also unfortunately was responsible for some of the greatest corruption of the pure Gospel of Christ. In fact, his rule led to a new view of Christianity, which merged the Christian faith with the doctrines of man.
Although referred to as the "Christian Emperor", this was not actually the case for Constantine. Constantine was never a practicing Christian during his lifetime, regardless of popular belief. Many religious apologists have tried to ascribe piety to Constantine through various claims and anecdotal stories but the fact is Constantine never converted to Christianity during his life and merely leveraged Christianity to further his political gains. Much like politicians do today, albeit most of them actually join a Christian faith and are baptized whereas Constantine never even went that far and was never baptized until his death, and even that is in serious doubt.
"..for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones,"
To this day
The Battle of Milvian Bridge
Perhaps the key turning point in Constantines early rule that identified him as a Christian figurehead was the famous Battle of Milvian Bridge. It was here that Christian historians claim Constantine had his famous vision of the Cross prior to battle, ensuring his victory and making him the warrior Christian King. But this event is not well documented and highly conflicting accounts exist casting serious doubt on even Constantines own belief in the event. Yet it was key to his rise to ultimate Emperor of the entire Roman empire.
Early in the Spring of 312 AD, Constantine who then was General of the Northern Legions based in Germany, led his armies over the Alps into Italy. There his army of roughly 40,000 confronted and defeated the armies of his brother-in-law "Maxentius",(Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius Augustus) who was the current Emperor of Italy and Northern Africa. Common lore claims that Constantines later vision caused him to start winning battles when heretofore he had lost, but in fact he had already easily defeated the armies of Maxentius at Verona and Turin. As the year waned on, Maxentius was on the defense, and for some reason never determined, Maxentius abandoned the more logical defense of holding his armies in well defended Rome and instead offered to meet Constantines army north of the city near the Milvian bridge on October 28th, the day of his acension to Emperor of the Northern Empire.
It is here that Eusebius records the vision of Constantine, although even his own account varies as well as varies from other accounts including the account of Lactantius. Lactantius records that the previous night of October 27th, 312 AD, Constantine had a dream in which Christ commanded him to carry the sign of Christ into battle and Constantine then instructed his soldiers to mark their shield with the "Staurogram", a Latin Cross which would protect them in battle. Most accounts of the battle however do not indicate that the Constantine army bore the Staurogram but instead used the Chi-Rho, which was effectively an X with a P through it, which was what Eusebius records in his "Life of Constantine". Eusebius records that while marching his army to battle Constantine saw a sign of the cross above the sun and words inscribed above it reading "En toutō níka" , or more commonly in the Latin "in hoc signo vinces" meaning "In this sign, conquer", or as it is usually represented, "In this sign, you shall conquer". Notably however Eusebius makes no mention of this vision in his orginal account of the battle and only reveals this supposed vision in his later biography on Constantine. Constantine himself made no mention of the vision prior to the battle. In the battle, Constantine pushed the army of Maxentius back to the edge of the river Tiber, and Maxentius Pratorian Guard made a last defiant stand on the bridge of Milvian as Maxentius attemped to retreat back to Rome, but ended up drowning in the river in an apparent attempt to cross to the other side.Thus the victory was in, and the stage for the one of the greatest hoaxes of all time was set. Following the accounts of Constantines vision from the Christian authors Lactantius and Eusebius, the Gospel of Peace had now become the Gospel of War.
The Edict of Milan
In 313 AD Constantine still did not rule all of Rome, but thanks to his victories over the armies of Maxentius, was Emperor in Rome. In February of that year Constantine met with Licinius in Milan Italy, and together they concluded that freedom of religion should be practiced and that all religions including Christianity should be free to worship the dieties of their choice. The resulting "Edict of Milan" removed any remaining persecution of Christianity (although 2 years earlier Galerius had legalized Christianity with the "Edict of Toleration"). Christians were now not only free to worship without fear of persecution but Christian property that had been confiscated by authority was now returned. Constantine had not made Christianity the state religion, but instead insisted Rome be neutral to religion. The Edict of Milan was a good thing, and one of the actions of Constantine that heralded him as a great friend to Christianity and rightfully so in that act. Unfortunately he did not follow his own advice.
It can be argued that it wasn't Constantine who blasphemied the Gospel of Christ with the account of visions of Christ leading him to battle, but it cannot be argued that he took it upon himself to decide just what constituted "good Christianity" and proceeded to war in the name of Christ. In 316 AD he led an army of Christians against the Donatist Christians in North Africa. Later he called the Council of Nicea, deciding what constituted Christ's gospel and what practices would be followed or not followed. He introduced restrictions against Jews, mingled pagan religion with Christian theology and thus defined the face of Christianity to come. Yet he never actually joined the church or was baptized into it. It is believed that on his deathbed he was baptized by a relative, the Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, yet there is doubt either way. Regardless Constantine was a strong figure in Christianity, and no doubt sought to utilize the faith for political control of the people. Thus we see how his actions and the actions of his followers led to the bastardization of the Gospel of Christ from the pure Gospel of Peace taught by Christ, to on of war, mysticism and empty ritual. All the things Christ himself, condemned. The account of his visions of war have been used ever since to justify war, killing and mass murder in the name of Christ. While it is true Constantine performed many great acts throughout his life and no doubt was a great ruler in many respects, the fact is the rule of Constantine, by mingling religion with government paved the way for the ultimate apostasy which was soon to follow. Had he adhered to the plain and simple Gospel of Christ, then he would never have attempted to define Christianity via pagan ritual, or even mingle it with his own government but instead merely set the example for Christlike conduct and humanity. Instead he brought the sword, and with it the end of Christ's gospel teachings in Rome and in their place a gospel of war and conquest that would permeate Christianity for the next 2000 years.
The Nicene Creed
In 325 AD, Constantine assisted the Bishops of the Church to hold the first Council of Nicea. Here at this event, a key dogma was introduced that was not introduced by Christ during his ministry. The concept of the "Triune God". Fears of being accused of a paganistic religion where multiple dieties were worshipped, the existence of Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirt or "Ghost" created a conundrum for the early church. After all, three Gods as opposed to the "One God" taught in the Old Testament meant the new Gospel was more akin to the multiple gods of paganism than the one God of the Hebrew Bible. Thus the concept of the Triune God was created, wherein Christ, God and the Holy Spirit were presented as a single entity of both material substance and being. No longer was there "God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Ghost. Now there was one God, and once again the differences between Christianity and Paganism could be heralded with ease.
To complicate matters, this new Triune God became law. Never mind the New Testament never confirmed or even mentions the Trinity. Now it was Canon, and failure to teach this dogma or worse, to teach its opposite had become heresy, and was punishable by the government in the severist of terms. Of course there were more than a few problems with this new dogma, the least of which was Christ himself never taught such a doctrine.
The doctrine is based on a passage from the last of the four Gospels, the Gospel of St John. In John Chapter 10, verse 30 we hear Christ state, "I and my father, are one". Since Christ had already demonstrated the differences between his father and himself, not the least of which was praying to him and having his voice heard as seperate from Christs. On several occasions Christ makes clear that his "father" is a seperate and distinct individual from himself. His statement as to him being one with the father naturally referred to in thought and purpose. Just like a football team is a single entity (the team) made up of seperate and distinct individuals (the team members) . The entity is the team itself made up of individuals dedicated to a common cause and with a common purpose. This constitutes a trinity". but not a Triune God. The concept of the triune God sees them as a single, solitary figure being manifested in diverse forms.Thisw as to avoid the multiple God syndrome of paganism and maintain the Hebrew "one God" so that Christianity would be consistent with the desired "one God" doctrine.
Doctrines such as these added mysticism and lore founded by man that was never taught by Christ. And to believe such fanciful dogmas is to accept the absurd, such as Christ prayed to himself from his agony in Gethsemane and on the cross. The logical mind will quickly see the fallacy of such contrasts in logic. Christ was not praying to himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, nor did he tell his parents that he was about "his" business, but instead was about his fathers business. He was not God, but he was the Son of God. The foretold Messiah, the Prince of Peace.
Unfortunately such doctrines and dogmas took root in the early, fledgling church and soon overshadowed the principles of the Gospel itself. Some pious monks, like the Jesuits and Fransiscans attempted to put focus back to the plain and simple teachings of Christ, but the mother church held dominance over the people and these doctrines soon replaced the plain and simple Gospel of Christ in both focus and importance.
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elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandising their oppressors in Church and State; that the purest system of morals ever before preached to man, has been adulterated and sophisticated by artificial constructions, into a mere contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves; that rational men not being able to swallow their impious heresies, in order to force them down their throats, they raise the hue and cry of infidelity, while themselves are the greatest obstacles to the advancement of the real doctrines of Jesus, and do in fact constitute the real Anti-Christ."
Constantine is hailed as a hero to the Christian faith, and is revered as a great man who helped spread Christianity throughout the Roman empire and beyond. No doubt he was in fact a great friend to the Christian faith as it existed at that time with its corruption and division, but never for reasons of any piety or belief. His fellowship with the early church stemmed from a desperate need to control an ever expanding and turbulent empire saturated with various religious sects and faiths who were constantly at odds with one another, and usually with the Roman empire. Constantine was committed to uniting the divided country and bringing order, and felt a "natiional religion" would accomplish this goal. No doubt a difficult challenge when poverty was the norm and people were sick and starving while Roman citizens lived abundent and lavish lifestyles by comparison. Thus Christianity presented an attractive alternative to the gods of Rome and the old school Jewish law. After all, what better religion to make the national religion than one that taught that the poor were particularly favored by their God while simultaneously admonishing them to pay taxes to Rome? (render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasars). And even better, one that taught its followers to not fight back against authority and to submit and be passive like "sheep'. These Gospel tenets no doubt influenced Constantines decision to make Christianity the national religion, although this transformation did not happen all at once. It took several years for this national conversion to come to fruition, and several key milestones were realized that made Constantine "the Christian Emperor". Here was a ruler that murdered his own son and his own wife, and yet he is heralded as a Christian leader. Beautiful and white perhaps on the outside, but within full of dead mens bones.
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