Christian Empire

The first Christian emperor – Constantine (273- 337)

Head of Constantine's colossal statue at the Capitoline Museums

Constantine I

Time Line Christian Empire311 - Constantine & Licinius announced toleration of Christianity

312 - Victory at the Milvian bridge: Constantine became emperor of the West

313 - The Edict of Milan : Christianity was legalized

318 - Made Christianity the only legal form of religious worship

324 - Constantine became sole ruler of the empire

The Victory at the Milvian bridge (312)

Battle of the Milvian Bridge - Battle between Constantine and Maxentius

How Constantine to shift his allegiance to a new God ( 312)

Saw a cross of light in the sky – “Conquer by this” Dream about χρ before Battle of Milvian bridge A Christian bishop Osius of Cordova assumed the symbol Of the cross seen in the sky and in his dream signified the God of the Christian religion. Embraced that God and all pagan religious symbols to be Removed from the standards carried by the army. He believed the army would conquer under the bannerOf the Christian cross. God of war concept (Military character of Contantine’s Religious devotion.

Christian religion merged with politics

• public ritual brought divine blessing on the political order

- Christian worship was legitimated

• The Christian bishops enthusiastically embraced the prospect of new Christian empire.

- Eusebius (260 – 339) claimed the Christian kingdom of God was realized on earth through the imperial rule of Constantine

Christ vs Emperor by EusebiusChrist Emperor

1. Word of God – rules over the heavenly realm

1. Friend of God – rules on earth as a divine king

2. Divine order of the universe – arranged all things in heaven and earth according to a beautiful sacred order

2. Divine order of the universe – brought his subjects into alignment with the order of the divine kingdom

3. Protect the divine order against dangerous forces of evil – battled invisible demons

3. Protect the divine order against dangerous forces of evil – Adorned by him from on high with his trophies against enemies, chastens the visible enemies of truth whom he conquered by the law of war.

4. Provides human beings with the knowledge necessary for salvation – seed bearing logos who implanted the seeds.

4. Provides human beings with the knowledge necessary for salvation – an interpreter of the Word of God. With mighty voice called people to worship the “Mighty One”.

Background of Establish a united Christian Church for the unified empire (1)

• Constantinople (it is now Istanbul, Turkey).

- declared to be the “New Rome” of a unified empire.

- constructed as a new center of political and religious power for a Christian empire.

• Arian controversy

The most important of these controversies concerned the relationship between the Creator and Logos, or between God the Father and God the Son.

Background of Establish a united Christian Church for the unified empire (2)

• Churches faith divided

- diversity characterized Christianity from the beginning.

- internal disputes on status and prestige in the churches.

- faction developed due to the mass support for the bishop’s authority in the church

Establish a united Christian Church for the unified empire (1)

• Council of Nicaea in 325

- it resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed.

- The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly ( 250–318 )

- an agreement on when to celebrate the resurrection, the most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar.

Establish a united Christian Church for the unified empire (2)

• Building projects in Jerusalem and Roman Palestine

- the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at a site in city of Jerusalem determined to be ancient Golgotha.

- churches built in Mamre, Bethlehem and the Mount of Olives

Christian Edict in the Christian Empire

1.       317 : took out the pagan’s image on the coins2.       319 : Exempts the taxes paying by Christian clergy 3.       321 : gain the trial authority in their own church

parish4.       352 : pagan’s offering sacrifices was prohibited.

Execution on those who join the pagan offering rituals.

5.       Returned the right of accepting the inheritance to church.

6.       Returned the confiscation church property7.       Proclaimed that Sunday is the public holiday8.       Sponsor the churches in Rome, Jerusalem,

Bethlehem to build the Cathedral

Holiness

The concept of Holiness

• By the teaching of Paul, the Christian church was holy because it was the body of Christ (I Cor.I2; Rom.I2) - maintain to control over the human body.

• 4th century, Jerome advised men should wear short hair

• Men - their heads were open to Christ • Women – their heads were covered.• Beginning of 2nd century, Tertullian claimed that the

church depended not merely on discipling the body, but more specifically on maintaining male control over the opening walls of the church represented by the female body.

The concept of Holiness in 2nd century• Generally

- Christian marriage required sexual discipline. Marriage was only for procreation.

- refuse to marry and exercise complete self-control

- demonstrate mastery over the desires of the flesh• Tertullian

Abstaining from sex not only retained the soil, it also increased the spirit.

• Clement of Alexandria

to develop rational discipline of the body – did not eat or drink too much, sleep too long, or laugh too loud. Sex in marriage is allowed, as long as both partners were conscious the act was only being performed for the reproduction of children in accordance with God’s plan.

Concept of Holiness - Bride of Christ (1)

• the virgins were honored as living exemplars of a holy Christian life.

• practising not only on famale but also male : Sons and Daughters of the Covenant

• Jerome : “The virgin Christ and the virgin Mary have consecrated the pattern of virginity for both sexes.”

• Widows who refused to marry was the “virgin mothers” in the church. (example of Mary)

Concept of Holiness - Bride of Christ (2)

• Enshrined in an imperial law of 354 that called for the protection as “most sacred person

• In the middle of the fourth century, Athanasius : “the virgins provided a foretaste of salvation for Christians and a proof of the validity of Christianity for pagans. – “a sacred vessel dedicated to the Lord”

• Ambrose (339 – 97) : bishop of Milan : maintaining the spiritual integrity of the virginal brides of Christ.

• Jerome (347 – 420) : celebrated the virgins of the church.

Concept of Holiness – The City of the Desert

• New definition of holiness emerged among the renunciates, hermits and monks of the desert.

• Require of the complete withdrawal from the world – anachoresis (Greek)

Concept of Holiness – The City of the Desert

St. Anthony (c 251 – 356)

• Christian saint from Egypt• Leader among desert

father• Was said became a

bearer of the Holy Spirit

Father of Christian Monasticism

Concept of Holiness – The City of the Desert

St. Symeon Stylites (390 – 459)

• Christian ascetic saint• lived for 37 years on a

sixty-foot column on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo in Syria.

• a social death to the world in order to live with God

Struggle of Temptation for the hermits

• Demon of fornication eg sexual fantasies and alluring hallucinations

• Social entanglements of marriage, family, work and other responsibilities of the world

• Demons of greed, avarice, and gluttony by long periods of fasting

• Demons of anger, envy, and jealousy in the interpersonal relations within the desert communities

• The projections of own desires

Concept of Holiness – The City of the Desert

St. Macarius (390 – 459)

• the spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of different nationalities

• Was said to have become “a god upon earth”

• power of the discernment of fears, desires, and demons lurking in the human heart

• Through the rigors of self-denial and life of examination

Pachomius (292 - 346)

• Around 320 established on ascetic commenitic in abandand village neear the Nile

• With rough garment as the uniform in the community

• Divided the time in manual labor in agriculture and crafts and spiritual labor of study and prayer, and forming the liturgy

• Supernatural power of his preaching that induce intensive spiritual experience in his listening.

Monastic Organizations

• In 2nd century, Christian could be distinguished by their practice of meeting once a week

• The church was consecrated by music that Christians were Christians because they sang together.

• Music was also a topic for philosophical reflection• According to Platon, music orchestrated the entire universe that

move the soul and the cosmos.• Music later in the daily routines of manual labor instead of only in

the liturgy• Around 375, Basil defended the monastic practice of men and

women sing hymns while working.• Augustine took this practice for they carried a spiritual influence,

with the descent of the Holy Spirit.• Christian music conveyed an intrinsic sacrality beyond human

understanding• When Augustine had become the bishop of the small North African

town of Hippo, he insisted : “Sing it with human reason but not like birds”.

A New Song

Question

1.Everyone long for the Kingdom of God, however, would that the Christian Empire practising the will of God?

2.What do you think about the merge of politic and religion?

3.Today, if we practise the Christian Empire in China, what would it be? Good or not?

Question

4. Have you even doubt about if the rules or the practices in our churches come from God?

5. Have you ever think about to be celibate?

6. Do you think that the concept of holiness has nowadays has been distorted already?