Continuous Reading note (2nd Edition)

THE AGE OF THE CHRISTIAN ROMAN EMPIRE 312-590

Chapter 9 LAYING HER SCEPTRE DOWN

CHRISTIANS TO THE FLAMES ---- Page.93

No one seems to know exactly why, but Diocletian, two years before the end of his highly effective reign, suddenly ordered the most vicious of all persecutions of the Christians. For eighteen years, Diocletian, although himself a convinced and practicing pagan, paid no attention to the growing Christian power. His court was full of Christian officials and his wife, Prisca, and his daughter, Valeria, were considered Christians. Impressive church buildings appeared in the principal cities of the empire, the largest in his capital of Nicomedia.

Then, suddenly, the old emperor ordered his army purged of Christians. ......

Page. 94

In the spring of 312, Constantine, the son of Constantius Chlorus, advanced across the Alps to disloge his rival Maxentius from Italy and to capture Rome. It was a daring gamble; and when he came upon his militarily superior enemy at the Milvian Bridge, just outside the walls of Rome, he turned for help to the God of the Christians. In a dream he saw a cross in the sky and the words, "In this sign conquer." This convinced him to advance. When on 28 October 312 he achieved his brilliant victory over the troops of Maxentius, Constantine looked upon his success as proof of the power of Christ and the superiority of the Christian religion.

Some historians have considered Constantine's "conversion" a purely political maneuver. Plenty of paganism remianed. ......

A NEW CAPITAL FOR CHRISTIANITY ---- Page. 95

Along with his new religion, Constantine provided the Roman world with a new capital city. The empire's enemies tended to gather in the east and now the official religion was eastern. A move to the east was natural. The site Constantine chose could hardly have been more perfect for a city that would grow rich through trade. The narrow neck of the Bosporus, the water way between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, is a natural crossroads between Asia and Europe, either by land or by water. Neatly placed to one side of the straits is an ideal natural harbor, narrow enough for a chain to be stretched across it in the old days to keep out intruders. For centuries a town had been there. Byzantium it had been called, until the day in 330 when Constantine was ready to inaugurate his new city. Exactly 1600 years later, in 1930, the Turks changed its name to Istanbul. But for the greater part of its long history, the place has been known as Constantine's city, Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine (or eastern Roman) Empire.

Chapter 10 SPLITTING IMPORTANT HAIRS

MAKING SENSE OF MYSTERY ---- Page. 100

The belief assumed major importance after Constantine's conversion. When the emperor turned to the Christian faith he counted upon the church to bring new life into the weary empire. But, to do that, the church itself had to be united. A quarreling, divided Christianity could not bind the crumbling empire together.

This is why Constantine was troubled by reports from all quarters of the bitterness Christians were displaying over theological issues.

......

.......(Page.101) So, in 325, he called for a council to meet at Nicea not far from Nicomedia in Asia Minor. What a vivid picture that first imperial synode made! Most of the 300 or so bishops had fresh memories of the days of persecution. Many could show the scars of suffering and prison. One had lost an eye during the persecution. Another had lost the use of his hands under torture. But the days of suffering seems over now. The bishops did not set out for Nicea secretly, as they used to do, fearing arrest. They did not painfully walk the long miles as once they did. They rode in comfort to the council, all their expenses paid, the guests of the emperor.

......

He spoke briefly to the churchmen, reminding them that they must come to some agreement on the questions that divided them. Division in the church, he said, was worse than war. Having made his point, he stepped aside, committing the resolution of the conflict into the hands of the church leaders.

......(Page.103) Meanwhile, Constantine was joyful, thinking the issue settled. He held a great banquet. Such as even defied the Christian imagination. The held of the empire and the bishops of the church sitting together, celebrating the coming happy days of the Church of Christ?

......

After Nicea, however, first Constantine and then his sucessors stepped in again and again to banish this churchman or exile that one. Control of church offices too often depended on control of the emperor's favor. The court was overrun by spokesmen for some Christian party. As a result, the imperial power was forever ordering bishops into banishment and almost as often bringing them back again when some new group of eccelesiastical advisers got the upper hand in the palace.

......(Page. 106)