Constantine's legalization of Christianity and its long-term consequences

Constantine

Christianity before legalization

Legalization of Christianity

Effects of legalization

Potential negative consequences of legalization

With Constantine legalizing Christianity and Christian worship with the Edict of Milan, Christianity became a recognized religion in the Roman Empire. With his act, Constantine was able to take Christianity out of the illegitimacy it was in and pave the way for its accession to the position of the dominant religion in the world in terms of geographical expansion and number of faithful adepts. In many ways, through legalizing Christianity, Constantine paved the way for the future of the Church.

On the other hand, this recognition also paved the way for a negative future projection of Christianity, that of its intrinsic continuous relationship with royalty and of a moral justification for secular deeds. This has been persistent throughout the Middle Ages, but has had significant reverberations in our days as well (Pope Pius XII lack of response during the Holocaust could have been seen as a potential tacit acceptance of the fact).

This essay will aim to analyze the Christian status before Constantine's act of legalizing Christianity, as a premise of defending the idea that his act paved the way for subsequent Christian evolution. The eventual recognition of Christianity and its path ever since will be subsequently presented, along with the potential negative outcomes that may have arisen.

The essay will determine that, while the period preceding Constantine's legalization of Christianity, the religion found the resources to consolidate its own faith, characteristics and place among the other religions, with Constantine's recognition, its path opened for a bivalent participation in worldly matters, both for the case of simple individuals, as the case of nation - states.

Effects of legalization

The effects of legalization are numerous, many of them supporting the idea that the moment of legalization paved the way in which the Christian Church subsequently evolved. First of all, there were significant consequences for the Christian believer as well. With the legalization of Christianity, the Christian now had two allegiances. The first one was, as it had been before, towards his Church and towards the Christian God. However, this had been in existence even before legalization. The moment of legalization brought about a new allegiance, that towards the State.

Indeed, as odd as this might seem, the legalization of Christianity also meant a recognition of the Roman State by the Christians, a situation of dual recognition that in many ways characterizes authority recognition even in our days (the Christian believer will be equal in recognizing both state and church authority). This was the first time when State and Church recognized each other mutually, paving way for future cohabitation.

There is another significant way by which the legalization of Christianity paved the way for the future of the Church and this time it is an internal matter. With the legalization of Christianity, Constantine allowed himself to become a mediator between the numerous sects that began to torment the Church during the 4th century, but also as a regulator. Not necessarily as a direct interventionist, Constantine sets secular laws, such as the confiscation of the property of sectarian bishops, that impact Christian religious life.

However, it is important to point out to the limitations of a perception according to which Constantine's legalization of Christianity entirely determined the subsequent evolution of the Church. During the previous three centuries, the new religion had gradually propagated through the Roman world, reaching already administrative and noble ranks as well. It is likely that, in the absence of Constantine, Constantine would have had to be invented.

The analysis so far has centered on the actual moment of legalization, on the general conditions of the environment at that point and on the immediate consequences. In order to support the initial thesis, the essay will concentrate on the centuries to come following the legalization by Constantine.

Indeed, from that point forward, Christianity seems to take off as a main player on the political scene as well. The first step occurred in 380 AD when, under Theodosius, Christianity was recognized as the official religion of the empire. The legalization had thus paved the way to another great success: if only a couple of decades previously, the religion was persecuted, now it was the official religion of the state.

The moment 380 AD cannot be underestimated in importance. First of all, this is the moment when the Emperor refuses the usual title of Pontifex Maximus and leaves this authority to the Pope in Rome. As previously shown, up to this point the Roman Emperor encompassed all the main functions of the Empire and, in fact, this is where his entire authority came from. At this point, he voluntarily renounces one of equal importance to his military or political and administrative functions. Probably from this point forth, as it will happen in numerous occasions throughout the Middle Ages, the Pope, as head of the spiritual world, will always be able to promote himself as a supreme secular ruler as well, one to which all other ruling entities in the Christian faith will need to be accountable to.

On the other hand, the 380 AD moment also marks a moment when authorities of Christianity can begin their own persecutions. This goes not only towards Pagan religions, but also towards factions of Christianity themselves. Only a couple of decades from official legalization, we see Christianity reorganizing itself in the form of an institution, eliminating factions that have derived from the central path and combating other religions and cults.

At the end of Antiquity and of the Roman Empire, Christianity is more powerful and more prestigious than the Empire itself. There are several useful historical facts to prove this. First of all, Christianity is reaching, at this point, where the Roman Empire cannot. Areas such as Britain or Germany are partially Christianized, while the Roman authority has never extended so far or no longer does.

Second of all, Christianity is prestigious even with the Barbarians: Attila the Hun pulls away from Rome after Pope Leo comes to meet with him, while some entire Barbarian tribes, such as the Franks, convert to Christianity, following their ruler. Obviously, none of this could have happened if Christianity had not been legalized and if it had not been able to promote its politics to a more efficient manner than it had previously done.

The same trend continues throughout the Middle Ages as well, when Christianity is the most important moral entity, but also, in many occasions, the mediating political player as well. It has the power not only to name its own responsible authorities, but also to approve or secular tendencies and manifestations. We can rightly point out that the Church during the Middle Ages is the most powerful entity in Europe. If it had not been legalized, it might have been able to become an important religious entity, but it would not have been able to decide political issues to the manner to which it did.

Potential negative consequences of legalization

Different sources have reaffirmed, in history, the perspective of negative consequences that have arisen from the legalization of Christianity. One of these negative consequences was identified as the possibility that the legalization of Christianity created, in fact, a less authentic religious framework than the initial religion had been conceived. In fact, the legalization of Christianity might have only come about from the political need to create a religious structure to back the political power. In this sense, it could be the case that, in fact, Christianity at the point of legalization was changed in principle so as to match the political needs of the times.

The arguments against such an opinion reside on two main pillars. First of all, sources were keen to report that at the point of Christian legalization, it was the Emperor, above all other factors, the element who actually glued together the entire Roman Empire. As a central figure of the Empire, cumulating all main functions (political, military and religious functions), the Roman Emperor did not, at the time of Christian legalization, need a religious backup to his political function.

Further more, most of the religious framework was already well in place for Christianity by the time of the 4th century, some three hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ. This included the Scriptures, the teachings of Apostles and Martyrs, means by which the scattered community of Christians could be brought together etc. This may sustain the idea according to which it was difficult to change such a solidly created infrastructure so as to absorb the political element into the entire puzzle. Christianity had already survived the previous persecutions, notably the one under Diocletian's rule, and had remained as powerful, perhaps even more powerful.

The idea of Christianity losing its authenticity is also supported by Nigel Wright. However, he also adds another different negative consequence brought about by the legalization of Christianity. He points out that once Christianity was embraced as a state religion, it know longer held on to the initial valued principle and could always be used, subsequently, as the moral and ethical arm of the political ruler.

There are many who point out that the legalization of Christianity itself was in fact a political instrumentation meant to benefit from the rising strength of the increasing number of Christians. By this time, one can expect a significant amount of Christian devotees in the noble class as well, close to the Emperor, and increasing their spread as time passed.

History only partially supports this acknowledgement, in the sense that, in many cases throughout history, this was a dual process, with the Church and the State fighting for moral and political supremacy. The Middle Ages were a notable example of this, but this continued right through to the 20th century. While the Church was indeed used as a moral justification for political actions in some historical actions (if we look, for example, at the crusades, essentially acts of political conquest, but using the Church as the morally justifying arm), this cannot be generalized and cannot be necessarily connected with Constantine's legalization.

There were also voices that have supported the belief according to which, because of official political recognition, Christianity lost its initial poverty-based spirit and this led to subsequent acts of corruption, because of the increased power from which the members of the Church benefited.

Conclusions

Constantine's legalization of Christianity marked an essential milestone in the development of the religion. While Christianity had been constantly developing prior to legalization and had, at the same time, conceived its main instruments by which it would become a recognized religious entity (scriptures, internal organizational structure, main strategic objectives and goals, as well as its leadership structure), the fact that it was not officially recognized limited both its area of action and its capacity to attract new worshippers at a faster rate. While the number of Christians had increased in the previous three centuries since formation, it was only after legalization that Christianity was able to reach out to the entire European space and move from its traditional Mediterranean basin into Europe.

Legalization also meant that Christianity could now be a more active and much more important political player. As a political player, especially starting with it being name the official state religion in 380 AD and the Emperor giving up his title of Pontifes Maximus, Christianity was now able to participate actively to decisions being made in the secular state and to act both as a mediating entity and as a powerful force that could actually decide on matters of interest to the secular state.

Its role would continue to entangle with that of the secular state well into the history of mankind.

If we look at things, even today the Catholic Church has retained its mediating role in many aspects. Pope John Paul II, for example, was one of the primary recognized actors in toppling Communism in the 20th century. Pope Pius XII, on the other hand, was accused that he could have intervened to end or limit casualties in the Second World War (especially in what the Holocaust is concerned), but he did not. All this could have not evolved to this extent if Constantine had not legalized the religion in the 4th century, boosting its subsequent evolution.

In this sense, and with the limitations that have already been discussed, we can certainly state that Constantine's legalization of Christianity was crucial in what the further evolution of the Church was concerned, paving the way for its future development and role.