Posted by St Silvester/Within the Octave of Christmas
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Silvester, as well as continuing to commemorate the Octave of Christmas. St. Silvester became Bishop of Rome soon after the Emperor Constantine granted toleration to Christianity at the Edict of Milan in 313. He is probably best known for being the Bishop of Rome mentioned in the so called Donation of Constantine, a document which probably dates from the eighth century and purports to show that the Emperor Constantine, who was suffering from leprosy, was cured by his baptism by Pope Silvester. In gratitude for this Constantine is said to have granted numerous rights to the Bishop of Rome and his successors and endowed them with the provinces of Italy. The claims put forward in the Donation of Constantine played an important role in the controversies in the medieval period, but since the fifteenth century it has come to be recognised that the Donation of Constantine does not accurately reflect the period it purports to describe, but is rather reflective of attitudes that were widespread many centuries later.
However, although the contents of the Donation of Constantine cannot be accepted as historically accurate they do bear witness to one important fact, namely that from this time onwards Christianity was no longer the religion only of a persecuted minority but was now the faith of the Roman Emperor himself. It is not clear why Constantine decided to align himself with Christianity. The sincerity of his conversion has often been questioned and his decision has been represented as one that was an exercise in political expediency rather than genuine theological conviction. The probable truth of the matter is not that Constantine was insincere but rather that his knowledge of Christian faith was confused. He was not so much interested in the actual teaching of Jesus who had taught that the last would be first and the humble would be exalted, but rather in what he saw as the potential of the growing Christian minority among his subjects to stabilise the empire, rather than subvert it as his predecessors had supposed. It was clear that the attempt to eliminate Christianity outright by persecution under Diocletian had failed. Christians were simply too large a minority to suppress. It made far better political sense to support rather than persecute the Church. Hence, Christianity was not simply granted toleration, the clergy were endowed by Constantine with the same privileges as pagan priests. The Christian day of worship (Sunday) was recognised as a holy day and the bishops were allowed to exercise many of the same powers as secular magistrates. They worshipped in basilicas, which were modelled not on pagan temples, but on the buildings used by secular rulers. It was to Pope Silvester that Constantine gave the palace on the Lateran as the cathedral church at Rome. He also built the Church of St. Peter, of the Holy Cross and St. Lawrence outside the walls. Though paganism was still tolerated and remained the faith of the majority, it was clear that Constantine now favoured the God of the Christians.
Though Constantine saw supporting Christianity as a means of stabilising the Empire, he soon found himself having to take a position on some of the theological controversies that were dividing the Church. There were bitter divisions in North Africa over the Donatist dispute. This concerned the belief that those clergy who had apostasised in the great persecution under Diocletian and handed over church property had invalidated their faith and their sacraments. A Council at Arles had decided against the Donatists that the unworthiness of the minister did not invalidate the sacraments that they celebrated, but the controversy fatally divided the Church in North Africa and many decades later much exercised St. Augustine. In 325 the Emperor summoned the first ecumenical council of the Church at Nicea to address the problems caused by an Alexandrian presbyter called Arius who claimed that the Son was inferior to the Father. Though Nicea seemed to settle the matter against Arius at the time, the controversy bitterly divided the Church for many decades after that and was only finally settled by the second ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 379.
Hence, while some at the time such as the church historian Eusebius of Ceasarea saw Constantine as a heaven sent deliverer who had finally brought peace to the Church the reality on the ground was far more complicated. It has often been plausibly argued that it would have been better for the Church if she had simply accepted her newly found tolerated status and not made any attempt to accept the temporal privileges and endowments that Constantine and his successors bestowed on her. While Constantine himself only gave the Church the status of the most favoured religion his successors increasingly sought to make Christianity rather than paganism the religion of the Empire. This was finally established by the Emperor Theodosius in the last decades of the fourth century. Theodosius officially outlawed paganism and made Orthodox Christianity the faith of the Empire. The consequence of this decision was that there were now a massive influx of nominal Christians into the Church and a consequent lowering of the standard expected of Christians. The formerly persecuted now often became the persecutors.
This matter involves an almost insoluble paradox. In the time of persecution when Christianity was not officially recognised the ability to preach the Gospel was hindered by the lack of official recognition given to the Church. Once the faith was granted toleration and firstly the status of the most favoured and then the only recognised religion it was finally possible for the Church to preach the Gospel to all without hindrance. In that sense the bestowing upon the Church of temporal privileges and endowments greatly assisted the work of the Church. In another sense, it tended to dilute the Christian faith to something that was more palatable in the eyes of the world. There were now a mass of nominal Christians who were only lukewarm in their commitment and had never seriously embraced the demands of the Gospel.
Whereas in many ways in the western world today society is moving back to the age before Constantine, the situation in contemporary Russia is not unlike that faced by the Church in the fourth century. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Christianity was finally granted official toleration. Increasingly Putin, rather like the Emperor Constantine, has come to bestow on the Church the status of the most favoured religion. Churches have been built and there have now been a large influx of nominal believers. It seems that Putin, rather like Constantine, is not interested in the actual demands of the Gospel, but rather in the role of the Church as a stabilising force in society. Hence, the Church has been greatly strengthened on a temporal level and many have praised Putin as a heaven sent deliverer as Eusebius once praised Constantine. There has been a severe price paid in the consequent weakening of the content of what it means to be a Christian. It looks increasingly as though Russia may win the war in the Ukraine, but the Church in Russia has been fatally weakened by identifying itself with war and violence, rather than the cause of peace.
This is not only a problem for Christianity. It applies to Judaism as well. It was necessary to establish the modern state of Israel in order to protect the Jewish people from the terrible persecutions that they had suffered from and to help ensure that it would not happen again. But this has only recapitulated the same problems that were originally faced by ancient Israel. The ancient state of Israel was established to give a land to a people who had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. But it also embroiled the nation in the power politics of the ancient world which led to the ultimate fall of first Israel to the Assyrians and then Judah to the Babylonians. In the same way in the modern state of Israel the formerly persecuted have now become the persecutors, as is now seen in the oppressive policy towards the Palestinians, sadly including Palestinian Christians.
Perhaps this paradox is an inherent part of living in a fallen world. It has been said that all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once the formerly persecuted are placed in positions of power they too will sadly often abuse it and become persecutors.
Let us pray that we will take heed to this lesson and this warning in our own time and place.