Constantine’s Bible
David L. Dungan
Number of quotes: 18
Book ID: 67 Page: 13
Section: 2C
Aristotle described Athen’s revolutionary new polis as consisting of a body of citizens (politeia), united by agreements and laws they had voted into existence (the politeia, “constitution”) and led by a people’s assembly, the ekklesia, which was responsible for all decisions pertaining to internal and external policy, The Athenian ekklesia numbered some six thousand citizens, was selected by lot on a rotation basis, and met some forty to fifty times a year.
Quote ID: 1791
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 67 Page: 22
Section: 2C
Most significant in my estimation was the designation of the Christian congregation by the term “assembly” (ekklesia), which, as we saw above, was the name of the popular assembly in a Greek polis responsible for all decisions of internal or external policy. This term came into the early Christian movement from two sources: The first is the Greek Old Testament, where ekklesia is the translation for Hebrew terms for “assembly” more than one hundred times.
Quote ID: 1792
Time Periods: 12
Book ID: 67 Page: 32/33
Section: 4A
For instance, it is during the middle of the second century that Christian philosophers wrote the first dialogues defending the Christian philosophy against Jewish and pagan critics. Public defenses of the faith, apologiai in Greek, began to appear, setting the Christian philosophy in as favorable a light as possible and appealing for a fair hearing from indifferent and hostile outsiders. A good example of the tone and attitude adopted in these apologies/public defenses is the Apology for the Christian Faith, addressed to the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180) by Melito, the second-century orthodox bishop of Sardis.Note the interchangeable use of the terms philosophy and religion in his statement:
Our philosophy became a good omen to your Empire, for from that time [of Augustus Caesar] the power of Rome has increased in size and splendor. You are now his happy successor and shall be, along with your son, if you protect the philosophy which grew up with the Empire and began with Augustus [namely, Christianity]. Your ancestors held it in honor together with other religions.
Quote ID: 1793
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 67 Page: 45
Section: 2D1
For Irenaeus, the succession of bishops was the ultimate court of appeal: suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us such as what is the true doctrine or whether there were secret gospels, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question?
Quote ID: 1794
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 67 Page: 47
Section: 2D1
The Catholic Church does not need to worry, Tertullian concludes, when the Marcionites or others accuse it of corrupt doctrine and corrupt sacraments. The Catholic Church can have complete confidence in these matters because of the consistency of its teaching across its multiple international apostolic successions in each of the great centers (Jerusalem, Alexandria, Ephesus, Rome) of the Christian faith.
Quote ID: 1795
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 67 Page: 49
Section: 2D1
Bishop Hippolytus of Rome (active 210) was a disciple of Irenaeus and, like his master, also went to great lengths to combat what he considered to be false or aberrant systems of thought within the Christian movement. His Refutation of All Heresies also relied heavily on the argument from true succession.
Quote ID: 1796
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 67 Page: 90
Section: 2D3A
The orthodox bishops in the region banded together and sent letters of warning out to their brethren in their region (Hist. eccl. 5.19). In short, claims to inspiration, no matter how extravagant, were of no avail unless what was inspired coincided with received orthodoxy.
Quote ID: 1797
Time Periods: 23
Book ID: 67 Page: 94/95
Section: 3C
If there was shock at the ease with which Constantine defeated and killed Maxentius, there was astonishment at the speed and extent of the newly Christian emperor’s efforts to influence virtually every aspect of his newfound ally, Catholic Christianity--from building new churches to paying clergy out of the state treasury, to intervening in church disputes, to convening councils of bishops and issuing edicts and making their decisions the law of the realm, to helping to determine the date for celebrating Easter, to mandating Sunday as the universal day of worship, to outlawing heresy, to de facto implementation of Eusebius’s “acknowledged books” as the standard Bible of the Catholic Church.Surely some astonishment must be reserved for the role played in all this by the Catholic bishops and theologians at the the time. We look in vain for any record that any bishop or theologian ever objected that Constantine--who was not baptized, had never joined a church, knew little theology, and was not ordained.
Quote ID: 7422
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 67 Page: 95
Section: 3C
The reason appears plain: to a man, they welcomed the emperor’s interventions because they were convinced that he had been given the authority to do all these things by their God. And the reason for that belief is equally obvious: at great risk to himself and to his family, Constantine repeatedly rescued the church from certain destruction and actively sought to support, extend, and enrich the Catholic Church, relentlessly pressing everyone in the Roman empire to convert to Catholic orthodoxy--actions from which the bishops all benefited and for which they were profoundly grateful, to him and to their God.
Quote ID: 1798
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 67 Page: 95
Section: 3C
As that symbiotic relationship grew and matured, what had been the persecuted Church of the Martyrs underwent a period of rapid enculturation during which it shed its original antagonistic, otherworldly posture in favor of the values, concerns, and--if it is not putting the matter too strongly--the god of Mighty Rome. Catholic theology and the church politics became thoroughly imbued with Roman imperial ideology.
Quote ID: 1799
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 67 Page: 113
Section: 2D1
Eusebius makes this striking comment: To the Church of God Constantine paid particular personal attention. When some were at variance with each other in various places, like a universal bishop koinos episkopos appointed by God, he convoked councils of the ministers of God. Nor did he disdain to be present and attend during their proceedings, and he participated in the subjects reviewed, by arbitration promoting the peace of God among all.The striking expression “universal bishop” speaks volumes. It shows that Eusebius well knew how strange it was for the Roman emperor to be intruding himself so deeply into every aspect of the church’s life and doctrine. Eusebius seeks both to illustrate, and to justify this intrusion, by inventing a new office in the Catholic church: “universal bishop”.
Quote ID: 1800
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 67 Page: 114/115
Section: 3C
What were some of the other things this “universal bishop” did?In 321, Constantine decided to standardize Christian worship by making the Roman Sun Day (dies Solis) a legal day of rest so that Christians across the empire would not have to work and could attend worship.
That same year, Constantine issued an edict making it legal to free slaves using Catholic Churches as the place of manumission (instead of the courts)--a major public-relations boon. He also legalized the bequeathing of estates, lands, and other legacies to Catholic churches. Thus the Catholic church began to acquire property on an unprecedented scale.
From the very beginning, in 312, Constantine promoted and encouraged an unprecedented building campaign in magnificent large buildings. In addition to repeated legislation providing for the rebuilding and improvement of house-churches that had been destroyed during the Great Persecution, Constantine provided government funds and valuable space for large, beautifully appointed basilicas in Rome, Nicomedia, and elsewhere.
Far surpassing all previous building activities on behalf of the Christian religion was Constantine’s decision to abandon ancient polytheistic Rome, the old pagan capital of the empire, and to build a new Christian capital at Byzantium on the peninsula overlooking the straits of the Bosporus. It would have glorious new buildings, many of them intended solely for Christian worship. He called it “new Rome”, but his subjects called in Constantinople--“Constantine’s polis”. He did not object.
As part of his relentless campaign to bring everyone into the Christian religion (since that would please the Christian God and cause him to look favorably on Constantine and the empire), Eusebius reports that Constantine used the army as a guinea pig in the methods of mass conversion. Having ordained Sun Day as the universal day of rest, he gave orders that Christian soldiers should be permitted to leave their bases on that day to attend church. For the other soldiers who stubbornly clung to their pagan beliefs, he composed a little monotheistic prayer and ordered them to recite it every Sunday:
We acknowledge thee the only God: we acknowledge thee as our King and implore thy help. By thy favor have we gotten the victory: through thee are we mightier than our enemies. We render thanks for thy past benefits, and trust thee for future blessing. Together we pray to thee, and beseech thee long to preserve to us, safe and triumphant, our emperor Constantine and his pious sons.
But pagans did not convert to the new religion fast enough for the Christian emperor. He decided to increase the pressure on them and passed an edict outlawing pagan rituals. He sent government agents out to remove from pagan temples all of their gold and silver (greatly increasing the contents of the state treasury), and transported statues and notable relics to adorn his new Christian capital city, Constantinople.
Quote ID: 1801
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 67 Page: 115/116
Section: 3C
Toward the end of his life, Constantine completely abandoned his original moderate approach and adopted a far more severe attitude toward all types of Christianity not in compliance with Catholic orthodozy. Eusebius proudly relates that after he “reduced the Church of God to a state of uniform harmony” by means of the councils just discussed, Constantine...... We have directed, accordingly, that you be be deprived of all the housed in which you are accustomed to hold your assemblies...and that you should enter the Catholic Church and unite with it in holy fellowship...and your houses made over without delay to the Catholic Church.
Quote ID: 1802
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 67 Page: 116
Section: 3C2
Thus were the lurking-places of the heretics broken up by the emperor’s command and the savage beasts they harbored. I mean the chief authors of their impious doctrines driven to flight....Some, intimidated by the emperor’s threats, disguising their real sentiments, crept secretly into the Church. For the law directed that search should be made for their books which they had to give up....Thus the members of the entire church became united and compacted in one harmonious whole; and the one Catholic Church, at unity with itself, shone with full luster, while no heretical or schismatic body anywhere continued to exist.
Quote ID: 1803
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 67 Page: 118
Section: 3C
Constantine didn’t have long to wait. In February 337, while en route to give battle to the Persians, he became ill near the coastal city of Drepanum. As his condition worsened, he realized he was dying and requested baptism and full admission to the Catholic church. Eusebuis of Nicomedia and the other clergy who were traveling with him on the expedition conducted the ritual, and a few weeks later, on May 22, 337, he died at the age of 65.
Quote ID: 1804
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 67 Page: 118/119
Section: 3C
The account given above can only suggest the scope and depth of the transformation, under Constantine, of the Christian faith, which had had its origins in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the heroic example of the apostles. The Church had long been fiercely loyal to its traditions. After the Edict of Milan in 313, and as a result of Constantine’s bountiful gifts and numerous direct interventions and the eager cooperation of the Catholic bishops, virtually all of institutions, regulations, customs, rituals, calendar, places of worship - were replaced by the eloborate customs, values, pregogatives, rituals, calendar, places of worship and governmental machinery of imperial Rome.
Quote ID: 1805
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 67 Page: 123
Section: 3A2A
The willingness of Constantine and the bishops to resolve theological disputes by means of banishment begun at Nicaea, grew more violent with subsequent emperors and bishops, forever poisoning theological debates. When Ambrose, the eminent theologian and bishop of Milan and Augustine’s teacher (340-97), said something that offended the emperor Valentinian II and his mother, suddenly, as Augustine later remembered, the church was ringed around with soldiers bearing arms. By the end of the fourth century, bishops and emperors were relying on violence to subdue, coerce, and marginalize dissident thinkers - a trend that continued on into the bloody Middle Ages and beyond.
Quote ID: 1806
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 67 Page: 125
Section: 3A2,3C
At the beginning of the fourth century, the Catholic Church faced a great temptation. The church of Jesus Christ, hailed as the “Prince of Peace,” was offered recourse to the imperial sword - and took it, gladly. No longer would it have to give reasoned, honest replies to difficult questions from critics and fellow theologians; now it could simply compel agreement and punish disagreement. When it began to use the sword against its enemies, the “heresies” (haireseis), the church thus became deeply twisted and lost its way. Power-hungry, greedy politicians began to take over positions of leadership.In this alien atmosphere, how could Jesus of Nazareth or the Apostle Paul or Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the prophets speak? Were not their voices almost snuffed out, encased in heavy leather bindings of the lavishly illustrated codexes, lying on cold stone altars in giant stone buildings? How could those voices speak and he heard?
Quote ID: 1807
Time Periods: 4
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