Chapter 18
CHAPTER IX. THE CHURCH AND THE EMPIRE. Part 1. In the year 313, Constantine and Licinius found themselves masters of the Roman world. They had joined in the edict which gave full toleration to Christianity, but with very different feelings. Licinius, without actually declaring his hostility, harassed the Christian communities within his dominions by the hundred petty annoyances which are always at the command
of persons in authority. Constantine, though no doubt restrained in some degree by consideration for his partner in the empire, showed in many areas the favor which he bore to Christianity. Several of the measures by which he benefited the church belonged to the period in which he still had Licinius for his colleague. He caused large sums to be given to the churches of Africa. He conferred on Christian masters the power of manumitting their slaves without the presence
of a magistrate, he exempted the clergy from the obligation of undertaking burdensome municipal offices, he permitted churches to accept legacies, he commanded labor to cease, with the exception of necessary work in the fields, on Sunday. This last order, however, must not be assumed to have been given out of pure respect for the great weekly festival of Christians. It is clear that Constantine dreamed in these days of directing to one form of worship,
the common tendency of all mankind to reverence the divinity, thinking that such a universal religion would be an admirable bond for the distracted empire. The worship of the sun, especially under the name of Mithras, was very widely prevalent in the empire, and it may have seemed to the great ruler possible to unite the worship of the material sun with that of the sun of righteousness. Certainly many of his coins bear on one face the sign of the cross or the
Libarium, on the other the sun-god. He retained the title of Pontifex Maximus and discharged the sacrificial duties belonging to the office. In fact, Constantine's real feeling towards the faith of Christ is involved in great obscurity. He was apparently capable of religious emotion and was fond of preaching to his courtiers. Yet he always remained outside the church
and was baptized only on his deathbed. It is certain that his Christianity did not prevent him from putting to death his son Crispus and his wife Fausta. A generation or two later, a story was current that, in great remorse at his bloody deeds,
he had appealed to pagan priests or flamens to cleanse him from his guilt, and it was only when the pagans declared that they had no lustration for guilt such as his, that he turned to the Christians, who promised him purification. This story contains several improbabilities, but it is not
inconceivable that a man of so complex a character may have had some dealings with pagan hierophants even after the date of Nicaea, as Saul resorted to the witch of Endor even after he had endeavored to put down witchcraft. But it was clear that Constantine, with whatever reservation, was favorable to the church, while Licinius was against it. The heathen consequently regarded the latter as their champion, while the Christians flocked around the former, and when in 323 the
smoldering jealousy of the two Augustae broke out into open conflict, the war was in fact one of religion, and the victory of Constantine was a victory of the church. He caused his conquered rival to be put to death, and stood sole master of the empire. Then he could carry out with greater freedom his plans for the reorganization of the state and the recognition of the church. He began with the foundation of New Rome, the city of Constantine, on the beautiful site of
the old Byzantium in Europe, but over against Asia. This city was adorned with a lavish hand by the master of the treasures of East and West. Old Rome was no longer the center of the empire, It clung with great tenacity to the old religion under which its conquests had been won, its traditional republicanism was not extinct, and its pagan and republican citizens by no means hailed with enthusiasm a monarch who deserted the old deities.
The transference of the seat of the imperial government to Byzantium had very important consequences for the Church. If Rome had remained the capital of the empire, the development of the papacy would almost certainly have been retarded, and the whole course of its history changed. Hardly less important was the character of oriental despotism which the empire rapidly acquired in its new seat, and which would probably have grown more slowly in old Rome. Constantinople became, however,
the great bulwark of Christianity against Islam, and the nursery of Greek literature during the Middle Ages. It was there, in fact, that the seeds of the Reformation of the 16th century were preserved. His great city founded, Constantine proceeded with the organization of the empire, in the way which promised to render the control of the central government most effective. He unfortunately, at the same time, increased the oppressive weight of taxation, which in time
crushed the unfortunate provincials. Constantine said to a party of bishops at his table that he was bishop of matters external while they were bishops in the internal affairs of the church, intending probably little more than to gratify the prelates by a polite speech. The distinction was, at any rate, not very accurately observed in subsequent times. But a succession of edicts by Constantine and his successors increased the power, the wealth, and the dignity of the church.
bishops had long arbitrated in ecclesiastical matters and in civil suits between christians who were unwilling to go to law before unbelievers a law of the year three seventy six gave to the decisions of these courts of arbitration the same legal force which belonged to those of the imperial magistrates somewhat later no accusation against a cleric could be heard otherwhere than before the tribunal of the bishop the church itself had already treated with great severity those who being condemned by an ecclesiastical court ventured to appeal to an imperial tribunal that bishops should bring before the emperor's court cases in which injustice had been done to the weak and friendless was right and becoming but they were forbidden to sully the dignity of their office by taking up unworthy or frivolous cases they took cognizance as was natural of matters which were rather offences against the moral law than against the state and sometimes succeeded in overawing even high-placed offenders the privileges of bishops were considerably extended by the legislation of justinian which gave them civil jurisdiction over monks and nuns as well as clerics and added legal sanction to the oversight of public morality and the protection of the suffering which they had hitherto practised on the authority of the church
it enjoined and empowered them to take charge of prisoners minors imbeciles foundlings and other waifs and strays of society it gave them authority to put down gaming and to supplement the judgments of lay tribunals and it endowed them with co-ordinate authority in the management of municipal property bishops thus became very important civil officials and the secular judges were forbidden to summon them as witnesses or to administer an oath to them bishops were also freed like other high officials of the empire from the patria from the fourth century onward they enjoyed the same right of intercession for criminals which had once been enjoyed by the vestals especially on behalf of those who were sentenced to death the right of asylum too which had belonged to certain heathen temples passed by custom to christian churches and was formally legalized by theodosius in the fifth century in addition to these privileges the church also received under the christian emperors large additions to its property from the municipal income of cities from the spoils of heathen temples and occasionally of heretical conventicles
riches flowed in upon the church which was now empowered to receive legacies and gifts from the faithful one effect of this permission was that increased wealth occasioned a great extension of the works of beneficence for which the church even in its poverty had been distinguished attempts were made to succor all kinds of suffering and distress and so greatly did this increase the influence of the church that the emperor julian attempted to transplant charitable institutions into his revived paganism with the increase of wealth came also the necessity to arrange for its equitable distribution for this galasius i decreed that the total income of the church whether derived from property or from the offerings of the faithful should be divided into four equal parts of which one should be given to the bishop one to the other clergy one to the poor and one to the maintenance of the buildings the council of braga a generation or two later divided the income of a church into three portions one for the bishop one for the rest of the clergy and a third for the reparation or lighting of the church
the relations of the clergy and especially of the bishops to the emperor and other high officials present curious contrasts the respect paid to the bishop was from the first very great and it was certainly not diminished when he became a conspicuous person in the eyes of the world even emperors bowed the head before him and kissed his hand jerome whose life was simple and ascetic was indignant at the lofty bearing of some of the prelates and presbyters and begged them to remember that the faithful were their fellow-servants not their bond-servants but whatever respect the emperors might pay to the church and its officers they had in fact immense influence over it from the time when the emperors became christian says socrates the affairs of the church depended upon them it could hardly be otherwise privileges were conferred by law upon the catholic church alone and occasions unfortunately soon arose when it was necessary for the emperor to say which of two contending parties he considered catholic if the defeated party asked what the emperor had to do with the church the victors replied that the church was in the state and that none was over the emperor but god
the fathers at constantinople in the year four forty eight when an imperial rescript had been read cried out long live our high priest the emperor edicts issued by the emperor were published in the churches and as the emperor by influence or direct nomination secured the election of many bishops especially those of constantinople the episcopal order was generally disposed to do him homage justinian showed much favor to the church but at the same time he made it more directly subject to the state whomsoever he may have consulted privately his edicts on the affairs of the church even on a matter so strictly ecclesiastical as the tone in which the liturgy should be said run in precisely the same style as those on purely secular matters no authority but that of the emperor appears in them he issues his commands to the patriarchs of old rome and of constantinople as if they were imperial officials the italian bishops however always maintained a certain independence and noted with some degree of contempt the subservience of their eastern brethren and generally in spite of the temptation to compliance there were never wanting ecclesiastical leaders courageous enough to enforce even upon emperors and their favorites
the claims of the church to a higher sovereignty than that of temporal princes chrysostom could brave imperial anger and go calmly into exile ambrose could repel theodosius bloody with massacre from his church nor were these solitary instances it was perhaps an almost inevitable result of the intimate connection between the church and the empire that dissidents from the faith recognized as catholic were persecuted the greatest leaders of christian thought were indeed opposed to all coercion in matters of faith hilary of poitiers for instance set forth the blessings of religious freedom and the worthlessness of enforced compliance with admirable clearness and force chrysostom would limit persecution to forbidding the assemblies of heretics and depriving them of their churches the great name of augustine however appears among the advocates of persecution he had indeed in his earlier days contended for the freedom of religious convictions but the obstinate resistance of the donatists to his earnest persuasions convinced him that there were some who would own no argument but force theodosius i enacted severe laws against those who did not accept the catholic faith but these were not executed and the first christian prince who actually caused men to be put to death on account of religion was the usurper maximus
whose proceedings called forth general indignation and found no imitator for many generations the excellent martin of tours protested in this case that it was an outrage for a secular judge to try an ecclesiastical case and that no other punishment could fittingly be inflicted on heretics but that of excommunication chapter nine part one
