Three hundred and 13 years after Jesus Christ had walked the earth, Constantine the Great, the emperor of Rome, made history with his establishment of religious freedom throughout his empire.
The Rev. David Chisham and Bishop Michael Sis say Constantine was facing the Battle of Milvian Bridge in Rome against rival Emperor Maxentius on Oct. 28, 313 A.D. when God visited him a dream and told him he would prevail.
Having had the Greek words “Chi Rho,” the first two letters of “Christ,” painted on all his soldiers’ shields, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan after they won, making Christianity the official Roman religion.
“He was a complex character,” said the Rev. Chisham, pastor of the First Christian Church in Midland. “Some of his decisions seem very politically oriented, but on the other hand his legalization of Christianity brought huge growth to the church. He brought changes to the church that did not remain so faithful to what Christ had meant when he talked about the kingdom of God.”
Chisham said there was “an increase in political interplay and entanglements between religious ideas that in many ways set up things that would be around till the Reformation era and beyond that like the monastic movement, which caused St. Anthony to flee into the desert.
Begun in the Third Century A.D., the monastic movement was a structured, ascetic pursuit of the Christian life involving a return to God through silence, chastity, fasting, confession, good works, obedience and vigils, according to references.
“There was an assertion of church growth, status, prestige and wealth behind the Constantinian shift, but there was a downside as well with some of the trajectories Constantine put into place that in many ways we have yet to figure out how to extract ourselves from,” Chisham said. “He had a deathbed baptism because he understood that being an emperor, he had a lot of things to apologize to God for.
“Constantine was basically a practicing Christian for many years and his mother Helena became a strong advocate for the faith. According to legend, Helena found the original Cross in Jerusalem. He is a mixed bag. It isn’t easy for us to label him one thing or another.
“He turned to Christianity because his empire was disintegrating and he was trying to hold it together. The western empire lasted for another 100 years, but the Byzantine eastern empire was beginning to fracture and crumble. His priority was about his power and holding the empire together.”
Constantinople, Turkey, renamed Istanbul in 1930, was named for the emperor.
The Most Rev. Sis, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo, said Constantine is indispensable in the history of Christianity. “Before Constantine, Christianity had suffered bloody persecution in the Roman Empire,” Sis said.
“After his military victory in 312 over Maxentius, his brother-in-law, he soon issued the Edict of Toleration, which is popularly referred to as the ‘Edict of Milan.’ In that letter, he and Licinius granted religious toleration to everyone in the Roman Empire, including Christians. This decree allowed everyone to follow the religion of their choice.
“Constantine delayed his baptism until the end of his life in 337 because he had desired to get baptized in the Jordan River. That never worked out, so he was baptized just before his death. He was a man of prayer. He had a personal commitment to Christianity. He had a chapel in his palace where he would go to pray and read the Bible. He brought up his children as Christians.”
Sis said Eastern Orthodox Christians consider Constantine to be a saint, but Roman Catholic Christians have never put him on their list of saints. “Catholics do, however, consider his mother Helena to be a saint,” he said.
“He made major changes in how Christians were treated by the empire, creating an environment in which Christianity could flourish. He provided resources to build many Christian churches. He gradually gave Christianity a privileged position in the Roman Empire.”
While many of Constantine’s predecessors had persecuted Christians, Sis said, “I believe he had a sincere experience of conversion as a young adult and his faith continued to grow.
“After the initial experience of conversion, God continues to work on a person’s heart. There were likely several factors that led to his conversion and ongoing spiritual development. I believe he was influenced by some holy Christians that he knew, including his own mother. He was also influenced by the Bible and Christian worship.
“Constantine had a great respect for many Christian bishops and he kissed the scars of those who had been injured in the persecutions under his predecessors. Through the sincere, ongoing practice of the Christian faith, a person will mature in spirituality over the years.”
