Faith and the Emperors
Question:
Is it true that “the beginning of the Church’s stumbling was the day she sought refuge in Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, to protect the faith by the sword,” as I read from one of the monastic fathers?
And is it true that “after him came Emperor Theodosius, who ordered the destruction of pagan temples by military force instead of preaching Christ and persuading with the word of the Gospel,” as the same father mentioned?
Answer:
It never happened at any time in the entire history of the Church that the Holy Universal Church resorted to the sword of emperors to protect or spread the faith! Such a statement is very serious.
It is also strange that this is said about the fourth century, which was one of the most glorious ages of the Church — in terms of the number and strength of its saintly martyrs, its monastic fathers filled with the Spirit, and its champions of faith and profound theological fathers.
Can we really say that the fourth century was the beginning of the Church’s stumblings, when it was in fact the greatest century of Christianity after the apostolic age?!
The Christian faith had already spread throughout the world before Constantine came to power. Its weapon was preaching and martyrdom, for Christianity endured bitter persecutions by emperors.
From the apostolic era, in the first century of Christianity, “The Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47), and “believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14), while the Lord worked miracles and signs through the apostles (Acts 5:12).
“Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). The churches had peace, were edified, and multiplied (Acts 9:31).
Even by the time of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul in 67 A.D. during Nero’s fierce reign, Christianity had spread throughout the world — filling the Middle East, extending westward into Europe as far as Spain, eastward into Asia as far as India, and southward into Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth” (Psalm 19).
The faith was in no need of Constantine or anyone else.
Constantine’s wars were purely civil, unrelated to faith. He fought his rivals for power, had not yet been baptized, and the Church never asked him to wage war. Even if God granted him victory, that was between him and God, not the Church. Constantine saw a vision promising victory — and he did win — but these were political and civil wars, having nothing to do with protecting the faith.
Faith had spread without his sword. For example, Pope Alexander (the 19th Coptic Patriarch) convened a local council against Arianism (before the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea), attended by one hundred bishops of the Alexandrian See — showing how widely Christianity had spread within the Markian evangelism alone.
The Ecumenical Council of Nicaea itself included 318 bishops — merely delegates, not the total number of bishops worldwide! Consider how many bishops existed then, despite earlier persecutions — and only twelve years after the Edict of Milan!
Constantine did not protect the faith; rather, faith was endangered because of him, through the influence of heretics — the enemies of faith — upon him.
Those who sought refuge in Constantine were the Arians, enemies of the Church, not the Church herself. They all fought against the faith and swayed Constantine to their side:
Arius pretended to repent and deceived Constantine, who asked St. Athanasius to receive him back. Athanasius refused, and the emperor grew angry, forcing Athanasius to go to Nicomedia to explain the matter to him.
Through the intrigues of the Arians and their ally Eusebius, the emperor ordered a council in Tyre to try Athanasius — threatening the peace of the Church and giving the Arians a chance to attack the faith. St. Athanasius was then forced to go to Constantinople and told Constantine, “God will judge between you and me.”
Influenced again by the Arians, Constantine exiled St. Athanasius to Trier, and he only returned after Constantine’s death.
In another Arian intervention, Constantine ordered St. Alexander, Patriarch of Constantinople, to receive Arius into communion. The saint replied with the same words as St. Athanasius: “He whom an Ecumenical Council has condemned cannot be absolved except by another Ecumenical Council.” The emperor insisted — endangering the entire faith of the Church — but God intervened, heard the prayers of the faithful, and Arius died.
So, did the Church resort to Constantine for protection of the faith — or did the Church’s enemies resort to him, causing her to suffer from both him and them?
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year 11, Issue 36, September 5, 1980
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