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Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Raphael, Vatican Rooms. The artist depicted the troops of Constantine bearing the labarum.
Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Raphael, Vatican Rooms. Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone (in Italian Raffaello) (April 6 or March 28 1483 – April 6 1520 was an Italian painter and The artist depicted the troops of Constantine bearing the labarum. The Labarum (☧ was a military standard that displayed the first two Greek letters of the word " Christ " ( Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ or Χριστός

Constantinian shift is a term used by Anabaptist and Post-Christendom theologians to describe the political and theological aspects of the 4th century process of Constantine's legalisation of Christianity. Anabaptists ( Greek ανα (again twice + βαπτιζω (baptize thus "re-baptizers" are Christians of the Radical Reformation Postchristianity, postChristendom or postChristianism are variants of a term used to describe a contemporary cultural attitude strictly linked to Postmodernism As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century Persecutions See also Persecution of Christians The first recorded significant persecution of Christians at the hands of the authorities of the Roman Empire

Contents

Historical context

Around 312 when Constantine I adopted Christianity as his personal system of belief after the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February ca. 272 &ndash 22 May 337 commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place on October 28, 312, between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius His legions, who were victorious, fought under the "labarum", a standard with the first two Greek letters of Christ's name. For other uses see Legion The Roman Legion (from Latin legio "military levy Conscription," The Labarum (☧ was a military standard that displayed the first two Greek letters of the word " Christ " ( Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ or Χριστός The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed "

In 313 the Edict of Milan legalised Christianity alongside other religions practiced in the Roman Empire. The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine and Licinius, that proclaimed Religious toleration in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial In 325, the First Council of Nicaea signalled consolidation of Christianity under an orthodoxy endorsed by Constantine, though this did not make other Christian groups outside the adopted definition illegal. The First Council of Nicaea, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day İznik in Turkey) convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine In 380 Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the Roman Empire's official religion (see Byzantine Empire and the Goths) and did enforce the edict in 392 he passed legislation prohibiting all pagan cultic worship. Flavius Theodosius (January 11 347 – January 17 395 also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great ( Greek: Θεοδόσιος Α΄ A state religion (also called an official religion, established church or state church) is a religious body or Creed officially The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world

During the 4th century, there was no such unity between church and state, though: In the course of the Arian controversy, leading trinitarian bishops such as Athanasius, Hilary of Poitiers, and Gregory of Nyssa were exiled by Arian emperors, as were leading Arian and Anomoean theologians such as Aëtius. The Arian controversy describes several controversies which divided the Christian church from before the Council of Nicaea in 325 to after the Hilarius or Saint Hilary (ca 300 – 368 was Bishop of Poitiers ('Pictavium' and considered an eminent doctor of the Western Christian Gregory of Nyssa ( Greek: Άγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης Latin: Gregorius Nyssenus; Arabic: غريغوريوس النيصي Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius (c AD 250-336 who was ruled a heretic by the Christian church at the Council of Nicea. This article is about Aetius of Antioch the 4th-century CE theologian for Aetius of Antioch the 1st-century BCE philosopher see Aetius (philosopher.

Towards the end of the century, bishop Ambrose of Milan made the powerful emperor Theodosius do penance for several months after the massacre of Thessalonica before admitting him again to the eucharist. Saint Ambrose (c 338 &ndash 4 April 397) was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century The Massacre of Thessaloniki was a retaliatory action by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 390 against the inhabitants of the Greek city of Thessaloniki The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names is a Christian Sacrament by which in a common interpretation those On the other hand, only a few years later, Chrysostom who, as bishop of Constantinople was notorious for criticizing the excesses of the royal court, was eventually banished and died while traveling to his place of exile. This article refers to the Christian saint For other uses of the name see Chrysostomos. Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS

Theological implications of shift

Critics point to this shift of the beginning of the era when Christianity and the will of God gradually came to be identified with the state. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. This phenomenon is known as Caesaropapism. Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the power of secular government with or making it superior to the spiritual authority of the Christian Church; especially In its extreme form, such critics say, Christianity became little more than a religious justification for the exercise of power and a tool in the expansion and maintenance of empire, a Christian empire, also known as Christendom. Christendom usually refers to Christianity as a territorial phenomenon

Augustine of Hippo, who originally had rejected violence in religious matters, later justified it theologically against those he considered heretics, such as the Donatists, who themselves violently harassed their opponents. The Donatists (named for the Berber Christian Donatus Magnus) were followers of a belief considered a Schism by the broader churches of the Before him, Athanasius believed that violence was justified in weeding out heresies that could damn all future Christians. [1] This continued a line of thought started by Athanasius who felt that any means was justified in repressing the Arian heresy. Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius (c AD 250-336 who was ruled a heretic by the Christian church at the Council of Nicea. [2] In 385, Priscillian, a bishop in Spain, was the first Christian to be executed for heresy, though the most prominent church leaders rejected this verdict. Priscillian, Bishop of Ávila (died 385 a theologian from Roman Gallaecia (in the Iberian Peninsula) was the first person in the

Theologians critical of the Constantinian shift also see it as the point at which membership in the Christian church became associated with citizenship rather than a personal decision. American theologian Stanley Hauerwas names the shift as the foundation for the expression of Christianity in the United States today that is closely associated with patriotism and civil religion. Stanley Hauerwas (b July 24, 1940) is a United Methodist Theologian, Ethicist, and professor of Law. Patriotism is commonly defined as love of and/or devotion to one's country The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator

Criticisms

See also: Council of Seleucia

Vladimir Lossky in his discourse on theology in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, argued that Western Christianity had changed its understanding of the Christian religion theologically, which he attributes to a disconnect with Eastern traditions, mainly due to the Middle East falling under Islamic rule and the Schism of 1054 between the Pope of Rome and the Orthodox churches of the Middle East. Council of Rimini|First Council of Constantinople (360 The Council of Seleucia was an early Christian church Synod at Seleucia Isauria (now Silifke Vladimir Nikolayevich Lossky (Владимир Николаевич Лосский &ndash February 7, 1958) was an influential Eastern Orthodox The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and

Little of the historical events addressed in the "Constantinian shift" have been addressed in the West by Eastern Christian scholars or Eastern Christian theologians. There are a marked few, small exceptions. [3]

From the Eastern Christian traditions, this part of their history does not contain any modern address or refutation as church doctrine. This disconnect also comes from historical distortions. Constantine continued to engage in imperial pagan religious practices. He also engaged in astrology even though possibly being addressed as a catechumen. Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems In Ecclesiology, a catechumen (ˌkætəˈkjuːmən from Latin catechumenus, Greek κατηχουμενος, instructed is one receiving instruction It was only on his death bed that Constantine himself was baptized a Christian, though this was a common practice at the time. Constantine, after the council, eventually recalled Arius from exile and banished Athanasius of Alexandria to Trier. Arius ( AD ca 250 or 256 - 336 was a Christian priest from Alexandria Egypt in the early fourth century whose teachings now called Arianism Trier (Trèves Luxembourgish: Tréier; Augusta Treverorum is a City in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River.

Within a historical context, these two factions of Christianity (Arianism and Trinitarianism) did not resolve this conflict at the Council of Nicea. Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius (c AD 250-336 who was ruled a heretic by the Christian church at the Council of Nicea. SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных

As for the matter of state religion or the charge of Caesaropapism, none of the major world historical religious traditions has ever functioned within the framework of not being a state religion at some point in history. Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the power of secular government with or making it superior to the spiritual authority of the Christian Church; especially In the Buddhist traditions, we see the theocracy of Tibet, which was only brought to an end by the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European In the Hebrew tradition, this practice can be seen starting in the Torah with Abraham, followed by the Levite, and continuing through to the Sadducees. Hebrews (or Hebertes, Eberites, Hebreians, " Habiru " or " Habiri " Hebrew: עברים term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to Abraham ( Ashkenazi   Avrohom or Avruhom; ابراهيم, {{Unicode|Ibrāhīm}}; Ge'ez: In the Jewish tradition a Levite ( is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. The Sadducees were members of a Jewish sect founded in the second century BC, possibly as a political party Islam grew in tandem with the caliphate, and it enjoys the status of state religion in numerous contemporary countries, from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan to Iran. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. A caliphate (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa) is the political leadership of the Muslim community in classical and medieval Islamic history The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Each of the above examplifies a civic power taking over or controlling a religious institution even though the civic power may not actually subscribe to the given religion or act in the best interests of the religious tradition it has co-opted.

After the Reformation, many European State Churches themselves were and remain Protestant (see Church of Denmark, Church of Norway, Church of Iceland (Protestant churches being outside the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communion,) and also the Anglican state churches of the Church of England and the Anglican Church of Canada. The Danish National Church, Church of Denmark or Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark ( Danish: Den Danske Folkekirke or Folkekirken The Church of Norway ( Den norske kirke in Bokmål or Den norske kyrkja in Nynorsk) is the state church of Norway The National Church of Iceland, or Þjóðkirkjan, formally called the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, is the State church in Iceland The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican The Anglican Church of Canada is the sole Canadian representative of the Anglican Communion.

In the West, a very important contextual component of this conflict seems to lack recognition. Of the two main characters at the Nicene Council, both Athanasius and Arius were from the Egyptian church in Alexandria. Arius ( AD ca 250 or 256 - 336 was a Christian priest from Alexandria Egypt in the early fourth century whose teachings now called Arianism As the teachings of Arius are the basis for the Council of Nicaea, so too can it be said that the teachings of St Athanasius, St Cyril of Alexandria were the basis of the Council of Chalcedon through Eutyches. Cyril of Alexandria (ca 378 - 444 was the Pope of Alexandria when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. The Council of Chalcedon was the fourth Ecumenical council. It was held from 8 October to 1 November 451 at Chalcedon (a city of Eutyches ( c 380— c 456 was a Presbyter and Archimandrite at Constantinople. So to give to the idea that a shift or change in Christianity's validitity or sincerety should be attributed to Constantine would be to take the incidents out of historical context and give far too much weight to Emperor Constantine's legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Nor does the Constantinian shift take into account the climate at the time in the Roman Empire and the effects of both Christians and Christian sectarians on the stability of the empire.

The conclusions of Constantinian shift would be to deny an active movement within the Christian communities of the time, and that movement's historical significance to the clarification of what it meant specifically to be a Christian ie Orthodox movement. [4], [5]

The theory of a Constantinian shift also denies the history that followed Constantine's legalization of Christianity as well as specifics that proceeded it, a history that contained a brief unity between the Arians and Trinitarians. When Julian the Apostate ascended after Constantine II to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire, Julian then began to reinstate paganism (see Neoplatonism and theurgy) at the expense of Christianity. Flavius Claudius Julianus, known also as Julian or Julian the Apostate (331 or 332 to 26 June 363) was Roman Emperor (Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantinus, known in English as Constantine II, (316 – 340 was Roman Emperor from 337 to 340 Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical Philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD founded by Theurgy (from Greek θεουργία) describes the practice of Rituals sometimes seen as magical in nature performed with the intention of The theory of the shift completely denies the existence of the two Arian Roman Emperors after Constantine the I, Constantius II (Constantine's son) and Flavius Iulius Valens who ruled Byzantium after the death of Constantine. Flavius Iulius Constantius, known in English as Constantius II ( 7 August, 317 - November 3, 361) was a Roman Emperor This article is about the Roman Emperor For other people called Valens see Valens Flavius Julius Valens ( Latin: DOMINVS A point to note here is that though Theodosius I did institute Christianity as a Roman Empire State religion, caused by the Gothic War (376–382), it was short lived. Flavius Theodosius (January 11 347 – January 17 395 also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great ( Greek: Θεοδόσιος Α΄ One decisive moment was the Battle of Chalons in 451 piting Christian against the Pagan Huns. As well as Byzantium being also sacked by the Goths the Christianity that was instituted by Theodosius I, was not the one embraced by the ruling Goths (see Huneric of the Vandals and Fritigern). Huneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the Vandals (477 – 484 and the oldest son of Geiseric. Fritigern, or Fritigernus (died ca 380 was a Gothic war-leader whose military victories in the Gothic War (376-382 extracted favourable terms for the Also see Belisarius. Flavius Belisarius (Βελισάριος (505(? – 565 was one of the greatest Generals of the Byzantine Empire and one of the most acclaimed generals in history

While being in the status of state religion none could guarantee not being removed from this position (see Julian the apostate), no religious tradition appears to have been able to keep such a role permanently either , with the possible exceptions being in the Muslim world (see Turkey as a possible Muslim example of Church and State separation). Flavius Claudius Julianus, known also as Julian or Julian the Apostate (331 or 332 to 26 June 363) was Roman Emperor (Caesar Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches With pre-Christian pagan empires being run by the emperor as a designated pagan god.

This criterion also appears to be unsatisfiable in that either the religion is subjective to the state aka Caesaropapism or the religious tradition is the state aka Theocracy. Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the power of secular government with or making it superior to the spiritual authority of the Christian Church; especially Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler Either characteristic being depicted as a negative one.

Support for the theory of a Constantian shift also would be to deny that Constantine considered himself to be partial or sympathetic to Arianism due to the influence of his historian, Eusebius of Caesarea, as well as the Arian opposition leader (and relative to Constantine I), Eusebius of Nicomedia. Eusebius of Nicomedia (died 341 was a bishop of Berytus (modern-day Beirut) in Phoenicia, then of Nicomedia where the imperial court resided in Bithynia Eusebius of Nicomedia was the person Constantine had chosen to perform Constantine's baptism. Eusebius of Caesarea's Conflict with Athanasius of Alexandria and Marcellus of Ancyra influenced Constantine to reinstate Arius, exile Athanasius and contributed to Marcellus being deposed for heresy. Marcellus of Ancyra (? - c 374 CE) was one of the Bishops present at the Councils of Ancyra and of Nicaea. In conclusion to claim such a thing as a Constantinian shift would be a reductionistic approach which denies in the ensuing historical struggles, that the Orthodox movement almost lost out to the Arian movement. Reductionism can either mean (a an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts or to simpler or more fundamental things It is to attempt to use the idea that we can superimpose upon the past our modern morals and perspectives. To suggest that an idea (of separation of church and state) existed at the time of Constantine and there was some place in the world were a society practiced separation of church and state which is patently untrue (and Constantine refused to follow the example). So to say that Constantian was imposing onto Christianity an orthdoxy that he espoused would be to deny the historical context. The Constantinian shift does not acknowledge the power of the Arian sectarians and or the influence over Constantine I both the Eusebiuses and Arians had. The theory does however over simplify history to the point of creating a great many misconceptions about the true struggles and difficulties of the Christian church after its legalization. Also strange to the ancient Eastern Christian traditions is the idea that Christianity was supposedly corrupted by the involvement of Emperor Constantine but not when Charlemagne insisted on the philoque and the King of England Henry the Eighth intervened during the Protestant reformation. Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February ca. 272 &ndash 22 May 337 commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine Charlemagne (ˈʃɑrlɨmeɪn Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus meaning Charles the Great) (747 – 28 January 814 was King of the Franks from 768 to his Henry VIII (28 June 1491 &ndash 28 January 1547 was King of England and Lord of Ireland, later King of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ^ Olson, 172
  2. ^ Barnes, 230.
  3. ^ The Orthodox Church by Kallistos Ware St. Vladimir's Seminary Press 1995 ISBN-13: 978-0913836583
  4. ^ Kallistos Ware
  5. ^ Communion and Intercommunion (Light & Life, 1980, ISBN 0-937032-20-4)

See also

External links

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