Emperor Constantine and Christianity

The M+G+R Foundation

How the Original Catholic Church Hierarchy Allowed Emperor Constantine to Act as a Pope

The Price that Had to be Paid

PURPOSE

The purpose of this brief historical document is not to denigrate the Catholic Faith that we uphold and strive to live with every breath we take, nor the office of the Bishop of Rome - the true Petrine Ministry. Our sole intent is to help the Faithful understand the historical facts which eventually caused the Roman Church Administration to abandon the path set by Our Lord Jesus Christ while, at the same time, and in spite of those errors, defend and uphold the core of the Catholic Faith that has reached the 21st Century to help and nourish us through this very difficult times.

BACKGROUND

Emperor Constantine intervened in Church matters such as dogmas and discipline although his interest was strictly political. Tragically, his actions were setting the pace that the Church, back in the hands of the Hierarchy, would take in the future, distancing, at every step, more and more from the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Religious discrepancies were a threat to the unity of the Roman Empire thus a personal threat to Constantine. His concerns were so great that he went as far, with the tacit approval of the Hierarchy as if he were the Vicar of Christ and not the Pope. Constantine's excessive interference in Ecclesiastical affairs are highlighted by his direct or indirect participation in three Church Councils.

DETAILS

* The Donatist Problem

Around the year 312 an ecclesial movement took form in Northern Africa to oppose the appointment of Ceciliano as Bishop of Carthage. The Donatists, followers of Donato, the former diocese ordinary, considered Ceciliano's ordination invalid. Ceciliano's consecration was considered invalid because it was performed by priest who had abjured the Faith during Diocletian persecutions.

* Two Synods

Constantine could care less about the theological aspects of the Donatist issue. What he was concerned about was that the Donatists rejected his interference in Church affairs.

After convening two Synods, Lateran (313) and Arles (314), Constantine ordered their elimination through violent means in the year 317. Nonetheless, the Donatist schism lasted until the Seventh Century Muslim expansion in North Africa.

* The Heresy of Arrio

While the Donatist controversy was running its course, a worse heresy made its debut. This heresy was formulated around the year 320 by a priest of Alexandria named Arrio. This heresy set the Church of the East against the Church of the West.

Arianism held that the Son was subordinate to the Father since the Son was created. That is, they denied the Divinity of Jesus. This question, paraphrasing Constantine, "blown out of proportion" caused the greatest schims of the Fourth Century.

* The Church Unity Begins to Crack

In spite of the fact that Arianism drew the support of influential members of the Church such as Eusebio of Cesarea, Constantine biographer, and Eusebio of Nicomedia, the one who baptized Constantine, Arrio was excommunicated by the Egyptian Episcopate at the insistence of Alexander and Atanasio of Alexandria.

The Church Unity begins to fail and, with it, the unity of the Empire. In 21st Century terms - Constantine panics and decides to directly intervene.

* The Council of Nicea

Constantine convened the first Ecumenical Council of the history which lasted from May 20th through August 25th, 325. This first Ecumenical Council was attended by 300 Bishops, mostly Greek, in addition to priests, deacons and laity.

The Synod was presided by Osio of Cordoba, but the real director was Constantine. Pope Silvester I limited his involvement by sending two priests as representatives - Victor and Vicentio.

* The Church Headed by the Emperor and Not the Pope

The Council of Nicea condemned Arianism as expected; after all, that was Constantine's reason for convening the Council. It proclaimed that the Father and the Son are co- substantial (foundation, in union with the Holy Spirit, of the Trinity), established the date for Easter and approved the first Creed.

In addition, the Council served to prove, without a doubt, that it was Constantine the one who controlled the Administration of the Church and not the Pope (Silvester I at the time). Constantine opened and closed the Council from a golden throne amidst the reverences and adulation of the Bishops in attendance.

* Constantine's Baptism - Another Great Incoherence

In spite of of condemning Arianism, Constantine was baptized in his deathbed by Eusebio of Nicomedia, a supporter of Arianism, and not by Pope Silvester I as it was invented later on.

This is another example of the Imperial authority over the Ecclesiastical authority. In his last years, Constantine did not think it wise to harass the followers of Arianism since they were a majority in the East. It was Emperor Theodosio and the Council of Constantinople who brought the schism caused by Arianism to an end in the year 381.

CONCLUSION

As the reader may see, it was Constantine, by the default of the understandably weak Church Administration, who converted the Church of Jesus Christ into an Imperial Church. Later on, the Church Administrators invented the Constantine Donation (1) to regain their rightful control of the Church.

The problem was that instead of creating a document in which Constantine, once he had established the Church on solid temporal ground, surrendered all Imperial rights over the Church Administration to the rightful Hierarchy, they became very greedy and claimed that Constantine had willed the Roman Empire - East and West to the Pope.

The proposed first pseudo-fabrication would have sailed through the centuries and up to today uncontested, but the ridiculous notion that the Empire had been willed to the Pope could not last very long and, as all other lies from the Church Administrators, ended up weakening the Faith and propitiating the foundation of groups which became enemies of the Church, this the Faith, such as the Illuminati (2) and others.

We cannot allow, by means of prayer and setting every possible record straight, that what is left of the pristine Catholic Faith (3) be destroyed by the continuous unchecked abuses within its Administration (4) and the activities of the sects (5) within it.

NOTES

(1) The Forgery of the Alleged Donation of Constantine

(2) The Illuminati. Fact or Fiction?

(3) The pristine Catholic Faith

(4) From "Karol Cardinal Wojtyla" To "His Holiness John Paul II"

(5) Simple questions to ask yourserlf... before joining an overly zealous religious group