14b: Rome as a Christian Empire

The Crisis of the Third Century AD changed the Roman world for good, internally and externally. The crisis is said to have ended in 284 AD, with the rise of Diocletian. Diocletian's solution was establishing the Dominate, a totalitarian state which extracted the maximum wealth from the economy in order to protect the Roman world's borders. Except for those closely connected to the Roman imperial families, life had gotten much tougher for everyone right across the board. The old state religion of the Romans had changed into the emperor's cult of personality: Diocletian had been chosen by the gods, was a god himself, and if you didn't like that... you kept your mouth shut. Understandably, many people were uncomfortable with this sort of existence. With so many possible religions to choose from, none grew during the Imperial crisis quite like Christianity did. To the Christians, Rome's struggles were a sign of the end times and the Second Coming. Yet at the same time Christians functioned well enough within the Roman empire (despite the persecutions) that they impressed many as excellent citizens. Indeed, during the tough times of the Third Century AD, the Christian communities often gave charity to fellow Christians who were down on their luck. Other religious sects had nothing similar to offer to the Roman Empire's people spiritually, intellectually or socially.

Up through the Crisis of the Third Century, the Roman government hardly noticed the Christian Church, except for isolated outbursts of persecution. The Christians were not yet numerous enough to challenge Roman morals or Roman security. They did not want to proselytize other Romans, and they did not want to claim a part in Roman society. More than anything else, they just wanted to earn a living and to be left alone. But as the second coming of Jesus Christ seemed less and less imminent, the Christian Church evolved into a permanent institution. Rituals became officially established and a governing hierarchy emerged. Increasingly, individual Christians were compelled to play greater roles in public life, which required a balancing act between God and Caesar, as it were. There was never any doubt, though, that God came before Caesar to the Christians' mind. As the Christian church became more entrenched as a social force, it drew more attention from the Roman government, always unfavorable. The bigger the threat to Roman security and stability - especially during the Crisis of the Third Century AD - the more that Christians were persecuted. Even after Diocletian effectively stabilized the Empire, the Christians became official scapegoats for whatever problems (and there were many) remained. Elaborate loyalty tests were administered. Those Christians who would not burn incense before the emperor's statue, or swear oaths against the Christian faith, were executed. Not all Christians held to their beliefs under such terrible circumstances, but most did. Moreover, the courage of those martyrs who refused to give in won even more converts - proof that the secular Roman empire was just a phase, and that a human being's true reward existed in the heavenly Kingdom of God.

Contrary to popular belief, the emperor Constantine the Great (306-337 AD) did not make Christianity the state religion of Rome, nor was he formally baptized a Christian until just before his death. Rather, evidence indicates that Constantine became interested in Christianity as he clawed his way from a wannabe Tetrarch to sole ruler of the Roman world. In 312 AD, Constantine and his troops stood at the Milvian Bridge just outside Rome, preparing to attack the army of his bitter rival Maxentius. The chances of his success were not good. As tradition has it, he then saw a vision of the labarum (the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ) and  heard the Greek words en toutoi nika - "In this sign, conquer." As history has it, Constantine won despite the odds. His victory at the Milvian Bridge made him ruler of the Western Roman Empire. In 313 Constantine and his Eastern counterpart Licinius issued the Edict of Milan. This famous decree made Christianity one of the Empire's officially tolerated religions and officially permitted Christians to participate in public life. After Licinius broke with Constantine and fought with him for control of the entire Roman Empire, he - Licinius, that is - resumed persecuting Christians.

Constantine's defeat of Licinius in 324, established him permanently as sole Emperor of the Roman world. In turn, Constantine established Christianity once and for all as a legitimate Roman religion, with his official blessing as sole Emperor. As sole Emperor, Constantine reserved the right to involve himself in Church matters, such as the Arian controversy. At the synod of Nicaea in 325 (although not baptized himself), Constantine compelled the Christian bishops to select the "orthodox view" that God the Father and Christ the Son were of exactly the same substance, instead of the "Arian" view that Christ the Son was merely of "similar" substance to God the Father. In Constantine's defense, though, Christian theological disputes often threatened the peace of the Empire - especially when they led to rioting. The streets of the Eastern Empire's great cities were choked by Christians brawling to the death over whether Christ the Son was of the same substance as God the Father, or merely similar. Obviously, the Christians could persecute each other even worse than the pagans persecuted them.

When Constantine founded his "Second Rome" on the former site of Byzantium in 330 BC, the city known as Constantinople (or Istanbul, or Constantinople) was intended as a Christian community. Although Christianity was still not the Empire's only official religion, Constantine saw it moving in that direction.  Baptized at last upon his deathbed in 337 AD, Constantine left the Empire to his three sons. In the best Roman tradition, they fought among themselves until only one, Constantius II (337-361 AD) survived. Being of the "Arian" persuasion himself, Constantius II fought hard against the "orthodox" view adopted at the Council of Nicaea. Constantius II was challenged and eventually succeeded by his nephew Julian (361-363 AD), known better as "Julian the Apostate." Julian had merely pretended to be a Christian in order to preserve his life. As emperor, he tried to bring back that good old time Greco-Roman religion, slathered with a healthy dose of Neo-Platonic funkiness. He had hoped to eclipse the Christian religion, but in fact the pagan religion he advocated was all but dead itself. Julian's invasion of Persia fared no better. Like several of his predecessors, he saw the need for a pre-emptive strike on Persia. He had also become convinced he was the reincarnation of Alexander the Great. After Julian was killed in a skirmish in 363 AD, the Roman Empire would be ruled only by Christians.