Lactantius and Constantine in the fourth century

¶ … Christianity:

The changing role of perceptions of secular authority in relation to Christian teachings

The history of the Early Christian church began with persecution -- early Christians were persecuted by Roman authorities. Religious and civic obligations were conjoined in the ancient world. A Roman citizen was required to pay homage to the gods of Rome, and the emperor himself was conceptualized as a kind of a god. The shift to a Christian schema of belief required a radical shift in terms of how religion and the state were conceived of in the ancient world. But initially, 4th century Christian thinkers and leaders like Lactantius and Constantine thought that the relationship between secular and religious authorities could be beneficial to both secular Rome and Christianity. However, religious leaders in the eleventh century like Gregory VII and secular rulers like Henry IV fell into conflict with each other. The Pope saw secular authorities as meddling in religious matters such as appointments while Henry IV believed the Pope was overstepping his boundaries in secular affairs.

The early Christian writer Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was an adviser to the first Christian emperor Constantine. Constantine famously was converted to Christianity because he was greeted by a vision of the cross instructing him to conquer in the name of that symbol. So it is perhaps unsurprising that Lactantius saw the ascent of Constantine, and the fact that Christianity had been made the official religion of the Roman Empire as divinely-ordained. In his treatise "Of the Manner in which the Persecutors Died," Lactantius wrote: "For God has raised up princes to rescind the impious and sanguinary edicts of the tyrants and provide for the welfare of mankind; so that now the cloud of past times is dispelled, and peace and serenity gladden all hearts," he wrote. In the eyes of Lactantius, the ascent of a Christian emperor was both miraculous and expected, and was proof of the workings of the hand of God and His influence in earthly affairs. Despite "the furious whirlwind and black tempest, the heavens are now become calm, and the wished-for light has shone forth… now God, the hearer of prayer, by His divine aid has lifted His prostrate and afflicted servants from the ground, has brought to an end the united devices of the wicked, and wiped off the tears from the faces of those who mourned," according to Lactantius. The conversion of the representative of the state, Constantine, is evidence of divine agency.

In Lactantius' view, Constantine's conversion is a triumph of goodness over evil -- while before the pagan gods were given prominence in the empire, now there has been a victory of Christ. The all-encompassing power of Roman rulers during the time is clearly why Lactantius sees the state and faith as conjoined in a positive manner. Although Constantine as a Christian did not style himself as a god like previous, pagan Roman emperors, his influence upon the lives of his subjects was immense, just like Nero's before him. Nero's hatred of Christians caused Lactantius to see the former ruler as a kind of an antichrist on earth, because of the terrible nature of his persecution of believers: "execrable and pernicious tyrant, sprung forward to raze the heavenly temple and destroy the true faith. He it was who first persecuted the servants of God." Nero's characterization as an antichrist reflects Lactantius' fundamentally moralistic view of history -- history is a transposition of the truths of the Bible, and in history spiritual truths are enacted. Just as God was made flesh in Christ, the victory of good over evil is made manifest in Constantine's ascent. Even though not all of Constantine's citizens are currently Christian, Lactantius believes that the leader's faith means that the ascent of Christ's word is nigh -- after all, when emperors were pagans and Christians were persecuted, Christians were forced to suffer. Now, there is a Christian emperor. Stability and security and proof of God's goodness and triumph on earth seemed assured in the 4th century, given the influence of religion upon politics. Constantine did not require all Romans to adopt Christianity (given that Christians were still a minority, this would have been too radical a measure for the time) but his sponsorship, in Lactantius' eyes, and his own, personal faith was seen as evidence that God himself had blotted out the bad emperors who had killed Christians and taken their land -- the land subsequently restored by Constantine.

During the 10th century, however, a far less sanguine view of the influence of religion in politics was articulated in Gregory VII's Dictatus Papae (323) and Henry IV's "Letter to Hildebrand" (323-324). In these documents, the two leaders are clearly fighting for political power. The Holy Roman King Henry IV was struggling to retain the ability of secular authorities to have direct influence over church appointments. The Roman Emperor had previously had tremendous power over every facet of medieval life -- powers the Church was attempting to encroach upon. He wrote angrily to the Pope: "Thou hast won favour from the common herd by crushing them; thou hast looked upon all of them as knowing nothing, upon thy sole self, moreover, as knowing all things." Henry criticized what he saw as Gregory's self-interested meddling in politics. When Henry wrote his letter, Christians no longer believed that the kingdom of heaven was nigh and being enacted upon the earth in the personas of the Pope and the Emperor. Instead, Henry was struggling to create a functional state in the midst of chaos, and also to shore up his own power.

Articulated in Henry IV's words is the clear sense that there is a conflict between religion and politics. Instead of being harmonious, Henry creates a dichotomy between the two. He criticizes the Pope of hypocrisy in using force and the seat of faith to serve the Church's own needs: "By wiles, namely, which the profession of monk abhors, thou has achieved money; by money, favour; by the sword, the throne of peace. And from the throne of peace thou hast disturbed peace, inasmuch as thou hast armed subjects against those in authority over them; inasmuch as thou, who wert not called, hast taught that our bishops called of God are to be despised; inasmuch as thou hast usurped for laymen and the ministry over their priests, allowing them to depose or condemn those whom they themselves had received as teachers from the hand of God through the laying on of hands of the bishops." One of the most significant conflicts between Henry IV and Gregory was called the Investiture Controversy, whereby the Pope challenged the authority of kings to make appointment to church offices. This was of great importance, given the power of these positions at the time.