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Roman Persecutions

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Reynald Villanueva
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2 views

Roman Persecutions

Uploaded by

Reynald Villanueva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THE ROMAN PERSECUTIONS

Constantine was born in 272 AD to


•Helena and Constantius Chlorus, who
became Caesar and then eventually
Augustus of the western half of the
Roman Empire.
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge
• With the bridges destroyed, Maxentius had a temporary
bridge built at the site of the Milvian Bridge so that he
could meet Constantine’s approaching forces.
• Maxentius’s troops outnumbered those of Constantine,
but Constantine’s forces were eager for battle. They
were fighting under a new sign, the labarum ( ), a
Christian symbol that stood for the first two letters in
Christ’s name, which Constantine had ordered them to
paint on their shields.
Constantine’s Christianity
• According to the most famous account, by bishop Eusebius
of Caesarea in his biography of Constantine, the emperor
and his army saw a cross in the sky shortly before the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge marked with the words “In
this sign you shall conquer.” Then Constantine had a
dream in which God instructed him make that sign his
standard.
• the Christian author Lactantius was first to report the story
that Constantine had a dream before the battle and then
ordered his troops to paint a labarum on their shields.
• they issued a statement of religious toleration
known as the Edict of Milan.
• This document lifted all restrictions on Christian
worship and put a permanent end to
persecution.
• In fact, the edict proclaimed freedom of worship
for all Roman citizens, no matter their religion.
• Christianization of the Roman Empire, its
proclamation of universal toleration did not
The Edict of Milan
• To reaffirm their alliance, Constantine and
Licinius met in Milan.
• There, Constantine married his sister, to Licinius,
cementing their partnership.
• They called an end to the persecution of the
Christians, and
• They returned all property confiscated from the
church during the persecution.
• By 313 he had already begun to build churches in his
realm. After he took Rome from Maxentius, he donated
the imperial property of the Lateran to the bishop of
Rome, where the Constantinian Basilica (modern-day
San Giovanni in Laterano) was constructed.
• Constantine went on to sponsor many new churches,
promote Christians to high offices in the government,
and give special rights and exemptions to the Christian
clergy, but he never divorced himself or his government
completely from pagan imagery.
Constantine dealt with some of the most
significant theological controversies of
•Donatism and
•Arianism.
He called the first ecumenical church
council at Nicaea in 325 AD, at which
Arianism was declared a heresy
1. Donatist controversy.
• This arose in North Africa after many bishops had given in to
Diocletian’s persecution and had handed over their
scriptures to be burned
• In response, some congregations had refused to recognize
the authority of these “traitorous” bishops anymore.
• This caused a split in the church. When the new bishop of
Carthage Caecilian was ordained by such a “traitor”, many
refused to accept him and instead declared a man named
Donatus to be the true bishop of Carthage.
The result was two parallel churches,
• one governed by Caecilian and
• the other by Donatus.
When a meeting of bishops in Rome declared
Donatus and his followers illegitimate, the
Donatists appealed to Constantine for help.
• This was the first time Christian officials
appealed to a Roman emperor
• Constantine called a church council in 314 AD in
the city of Arles, which again ruled against the
Donatists and excommunicated Donatus.
Constantine supported the decision, and saw two
separate churches as an affront to the universal
church he had supported. He tried to ban the
Donatist church entirely.
• Donatist controversy was restricted to North
Africa
2. Arian controversy (the nature of Christ)
• Arius- Egyptian priest
• Arianism affirmed that Christ is a created, finite nature
rather than equal divinity with God the Father
• The opponents of this view, led by Alexander, the
bishop of Alexandria (and later and more importantly,
by his successor Athanasius), held that Christ and God
were of the same nature, and that Christ was not a
creation but actually God.
•The Arians accused their opponents of
remaining too close to the polytheism of
the pagan past by holding that the Son
and the Father are both God,
•while their opponents accused the
Arians of remaining too close to the
church’s Jewish past by denying the
complete divinity of Christ.
• Constantine convened another council of
bishops in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea.
• This was considered the first ecumenical
(worldwide) council; that is, it was not just a
meeting of local bishops but all bishops of the
church were invited and it was supposed to
represent a church-wide decision.
The Council of Nicaea
•voted that the Arian position was wrong
and heretical, that Christ and God were of
the same substance and both eternal,
•promulgated a creed that outlined the
orthodox, or correct position. That creed
became known as the Nicene Creed.

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