Constantine and The Establishment of Christian Theology

        Constantine became the emperor of the Roman Empire in the year 306 BCE after his father died, but his major contributions to this nation began after his victory in the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 BCE. Constantine claims that while he was praying, a cross appeared to him with a sign saying “By this, conquer.” That night, Constantine again saw this same sign in his dream and decided to construct a military standard in accordance with these orders, which is what ultimately led to their success and made Constantine the ruler of the entire Western empire (Nicholson, page 310). 

        Constantine had very little understanding of Christian theology and was not even baptized until he was on his deathbed, but he felt so swayed by the message and positive results that he believed had come from the Christian God that he decided it would only be right to permit the public practice of Christianity in his empire. Constantine is often considered the “first Christian emperor,” but this narrative feels slightly misleading because Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was based almost entirely on a singular experience, but he did not make significant efforts to integrate himself into the beliefs and morals that most of the Christians in his empire believed in. 

Visualization of Battle of Milvian Bridge showing Constantine and his vision.

        Without much understanding of Christian theology, Constantine was infuriated when Christianity within his empire began to divide into two sides. The conflict began when Arius, an elder minister in the church, put forth the argument that Jesus was not divine by nature in the same way that God was. Arius claims that “even Jesus himself had said that his father was greater than he” (Armstrong, page 176). Around the same time, his bishop Alexander and the bishop’s assistant Athanasius made an opposing argument saying that Jesus, the Logos made flesh, shared the divinity of God the Father. He claimed that Jesus came to the earth with his primary task being salvation of the world. 

        These issues and theories were beyond the realm of anything that could be physically proven, but people stood so firm in their beliefs that this seemingly simple theological debate was threatening to tear the entire church apart. Constantine cared very little about the history and beliefs of Christianity and just wanted a united institution, so he chose to support Athanasius' side of the debate and therefore to excommunicate the Christian members who had sided with Arius. This ultimately meant that the bishops who had supported Athanasius' ideas automatically had a leg up over the others. One such case was the controversy between Eusebius (bishop of Caesarea and supporter of Arius) and Makarios (bishop of Aelia and supporter of Athanasius). There was an observed power shift after Eusebius was unknowingly excluded from participation in the Christian church, being that Makarios had been campaigning for many years to change the “metropolitan sea of Palestine” from Caesarea to Aelia, where he claimed there were more sacred associations to the history of Christianity, and he now had the power to do so.

        It is particularly interesting to know that the ultimate decision between which model of Christian theology was to be ruled “correct” came from a ruler who had very little care about the logistics of the Christian religion. Even to the present day, Christians believe that Jesus is the same as God who is the same as the Holy Spirit, and that these three figures are one and the same, but are just three representations of this divine figure that Christians are to worship. The belief in the Holy Trinity is very clearly influenced by the beliefs of Athanasius, suggesting that a simple decision that was likely made by Constantine with little actual opinion about the theology, has ruled the history of this religion for many decades.

Citations -

Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. Ballantine Books, 1997.

Nicholson, Oliver. "Constantine's Vision of the Cross." Vigiliae christianae 54.3 (2000): 309-323.

Image Source - https://cdn.britannica.com/20/219520-050-0984BD8E/Detail-from-The-Battle-of-Milvian-Bridge-by-Giulio-Romano.jpg