Constantine

Murder and mayhem ran rampant throughout the Roman Empire. A hunger for power and wealth served as the driving force for the rulers. Many were losing their lives due to their religious views. Those worshipping multiple gods versus monotheism were at battle with one another, monotheism was losing the battle. Constantine believed he was a Messiah, who had a goal of finishing where Jesus left off. He felt he was an equal to Jesus in every sense of the word. He believed in one god, Sol Invictus, the pagan sun god. The only way he could serve as a priest-king and accomplish what he wanted to achieve was to be revered as the ultimate holy one. He gained a lot of power and respect from his followers. Constantine’s goal was to take over the entire Roman Empire and run things the way he saw fit.

            Kingship during Constantine’s time served as a conduit for individuals who wanted to be linked through lineage to the gods. Many in powerful positions became gods in their own right. Egyptian pharoahs commonly were deified who were associated with lineage associated with gods such as Osiris, Amun and/or Ra. Roman emperors appointed themselves to godhood, claiming lineage to demigods such as Hercules and gods such as Jupiter. Concerning Judaism, the prevalent monotheism of the time, acclaiming oneself as a Messiah served as deification. Constantine considered himself a warrior Messiah. The early Church recognized Constantine as a fully empowered priest-king in the customary biblical sense. They accepted Constantine’s claim of being a Messiah and a warrior who implemented God’s word by the use of a sword and Constantine’s military victories gained God’s favor. The Church also believed that Constantine achieved what Jesus failed to accomplish.

            Constantine looked upon his support from the Christians as a matter of expediency, one that would serve a politacl purpose of uniting his empire and gaining the support of the Christians as allies when he went to battle against Maxentius. Constantine had a vision in which he saw a cross luminating across the sky portraying a sign “Hoc Signo Vinces” (By this sign you will conquer). He ordered that his troops’ shields bear the Christian monograms of “chi” and “rho” from the words “christos.” Constantine’s victory over Maxentius represented a win for Christianity over paganism (Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, 1986).

            In the following years, Constantine merged and strengthened his military supremacy over his rivals in the collapsing empire. In 313, he met with Licinius in Milan to secure his alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine’s half-sister, Constantia. At the same time, the emperors agreed to the Edict of Milan, which officially granted tolerance to Christianity in the Roman Empire. Constantine gained favor with the Christians. They started to trust Constantine.

            Licinius had to depart immediately when his arch enemy Maximin crossed the Bosporus and invaded the European region. It took some time but Licinius finally defeated Maximin and took control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. The relationship between Constantine and Licinius went south when Licinius tried to have Constantine assassinated. Licinius wanted to appoint someone else as Caesar in place of Constantine.

            “Be prepared my followers, because things are coming to a head with Licinius. There is going to be a nasty war between us,” warned Constantine. “My spies told me that Licinius is going to go against the Church very soon. He wants to have the inhabitants of this empire buy into his beliefs which honor multiple gods. This will thwart our future plans for this empire and the world as a whole. We must put a stop to this,” said Constantine.

            “We agree, sir,” replied many of the bishops and priests.

            The two emperors, Licinius and Constantine, ended the Battle of Mardia in 317 without a victor. They both agreed to a settlement in which Constantine’s sons, Crispus and Constantine II, and Licinius’ son, Licinianus, were made caesars. After this arrangement was made, Constantine ruled the dioceses of Pannonia and Macedonia and decided to reside in Sirmium. He could engage in wars against the Goths and Sarmarians more readily in this location. Constantine’s taste for bloodshed was being satisfied.

           

            “We are going to war,” exclaimed Constantine as he called upon his soldier slaves and  generals he had appointed from his Nephilim descendant followers. “We need to gain back control of the West from Licinius.”

            “We are ready to serve,” announced the generals.

            The tension between the two Caesars led to the civil war of 324AD. The Goths joined forces with Licinius to bring back and preserve the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and the Franks he enlisted were fighting to protect and secure the rights of the Christians. Constantine’s army was out-numbered but he provided the drive and his personal abilities needed to win the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Boshorus and appointed his bodyguard as Caesar, Martius Martinianus, but Constantine continued to be victorious and won the Battle of the Hellespont, and finally won the Battle of Chrysopolis in 324.

            Licinius and Martinianus were forced to surrender at Nicomedia. During their surrender they were promised their lives would be spared. However, shortly after-wards Constantine went back on his word and accused Licinius of plotting against him so he was arrested and hanged for treason. Licinius’ son, the son of Constantine’s half-sister, was also murdered because of his loyalty to Licinius. Finally, Constantine had achieved his ultimate goal of becoming the sole emperor of the Roman Empire while at the same time wiping out many of his opponents through his war efforts.

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            Constantine won outright in the west and the east, and as a result he gave gifts and property to the churches. In Rome, he renovated the Lateran Palace and had the Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul built. During his reign over the Roman empire the area became a Christian territory. The inhabitants saw Constantine, the emperor, as sent by God. He became as powerful as he desired to be. He was revered as the all-powerful.

            Constantine appointed bishops who became influential with the rest of the inhabitants.   He pushed for the bishops to be given equal status with the emperors and others in a ruling capacity. During this time period, Constantine inspired the belief that all human beings were essentially sinners and their sins could be lessened by obeying their laws. 

            Soon after this proclamation the Church and the state were viewed as one entity, joined by similar goals to control the empire. The state became the ruler of the inhabitants and their actions, and the Church became the ruler of souls. Constantine was in his glory when this finally occurred.

            Within a short amount of time, the Christians were converted from being those who were persecuted and a large minority to members of the only lawful religion in the Roman Empire.  Constantine awarded a massive amount of land to the rule of the popes. These donations were referred to as Constitutum Constantini, or the Donation of Constantine (Chadwick, 1995). 

            Things were falling into place for Constantine. He wanted Rome to set a precedent for all churches in the world. Constantine announced that he had a vision at Mount Soracte. He saw Rome as the leader in religion. The Lateran cathedral was considered the birth place of all things religious. He gave endowments to the countries of Judaea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa and Italy to the pastoral care of the pope, his appointee. The symbols of the empire were conferred on Constantine by the nations. He served as the sole holder of the symbols of the Roman Empire. Constantine was enthralled with what he had accomplished as a ruler.

            Constantine called upon his appointed rulers to discuss his future plans. “I want to thank all of you for coming today and meeting with me,” said Constantine as he viewed his audience. His followers looked at him adoringly.

            “I have some great things in mind. First of all, I want to create a city that will be named after me, Constantinople. I don’t believe I should remain here as the secular emperor in the city that represents the head of the Christian religion. I believe the rule should rest with the pope and the pope’s successors. I am going to make this well known all over the world that the pope should rule in Rome and I will put this decree in the tomb of St. Peter announcing this to be true for the rest of eternity. The main purpose of religion is to use it as a tool for the elite to prevent revolts and to keep our subjects in line,” said Constantine.

            Constantine raised the clergy to the rank of Senators, which elevated them to rulers of souls and bodies. Since the majority of the population was illiterate, the people had to turn to the priests for salvation.

            He constructed the citadel of Constantinople and it became the new capital of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. Constantinople remained the capital for over a thousand years.  The city was a flourishing port that other countries envied and wanted to seize because of its location. It took over six years to build the capital city to the glory Constantine saw fit. The city was finally blessed in 330 AD. It was divided into 14 regions. He embellished the kingdom with public works to provide a constant water supply by the building of massive aqueducts. Senators were placed in charge of the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, and other public administrative offices. 

            Columns, marble, doors, and tiles were taken from the temples of the Roman Empire and moved to the new city. In the same manner, much of the great Roman and Greek art were moved to the new city and could be seen in the squares and streets. The growth of the city was stimulated by promising gifts of land to the common people. The location of the city provided easy access to the Danube. It soon became the envy of other empires due to its splendor.

            “Things are falling right into place for us,” said Constantine smugly.

            “We have a city that belongs to us to do as we wish, and you are the leaders. Things cannot go wrong,” replied one of the bishops.

            The new senate house was placed in a basilica on the east side of the city square. On the south side of the newly built square the Great Palace of the Emperor was constructed and contained a ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne. A large dome shape structure referred to as the Hippodrome was where chariot races were held, and the arena contained seating for 80,000 spectators. The baths of Zeuxippus was also located in this area. At the western entrance of Constantinople was the Milion, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured from across the Eastern Roman Empire (Chadwick, 1995).

            “This city is so pleasing to the eyes. I love the artwork, the basilica, and the hot baths. These are luxuries we all have worked so long for and so much deserve. The inhabitants, our slaves, are working so hard to build up this city for a few handfuls of food we provide to them daily. I know I promised they would be given parcels of land if they worked hard, but I am not sure I will carry out that promise,” said Constantine.

            “I wouldn’t. They already have a place to sleep,” replied one of the bishops.

           

                                   

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            Constantine pounded his fist on the large table to call the meeting to order of the First Council of Nicea in 328 AD.

            “You are probably wondering why you were appointed to the First Council of Nicea and why I called this meeting. Things need to be standardized within the Christian sectors in order to ensure further unity. We need to develop a creed that will give all Christians a document to base their beliefs on. This is a time of need for this empire. Our empire faces constant attack by outsiders. We need to promote this doctrine and put it into place immediately. We are facing some major opposition from pagans and the Gnostic group. They want to force us to accept their beliefs,” exclaimed Constantine.

            Constantine sighed and said, “We need to settle the issue of Jesus. There are varying degrees of how Jesus is viewed amongst the Christians. Some say Jesus was born without divine intervention from their god and others say god impregnated Mary.  What level of divinity do we want to give Jesus?”  

            “Jesus should be honored as the Lord along with God and refer to Jesus as God’s only son. We need to refer to the Father as the maker of all things. Humans are referred to as God’s children and then add that Jesus is his only son,” said one of the council members.

            “To accredit Jesus with divinity, we need to ensure Jesus is known to have skills that only the divine can possess,” replied Constantine.

            “Since you are considered the Messiah, should you be given the same notoriety as Jesus,” said one of the council members.

            “That should occur after I die and this book referred to as the Bible can be altered to include my name and the things that I have done,” said Constantine.

When Book of Enoch was discussed, the Council decided to leave the book out of the Bible which explained about the fallen angels and the Nephilim. Other books were discussed and many of the other books were allowed in the Bible.

            The Council of Nicea developed a creed that represented what they wanted the Christians to follow. The final creed was established years after the first one was written and it read: (Much of it remained the same as the original.)

“We believe in one God,
      the Father almighty,
      maker of heaven and earth,
      of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
      the only Son of God,
      begotten from the Father before all ages,
           God from God,
           Light from Light,
           true God from true God,
      begotten, not made;
      of the same essence as the Father.
      Through him all things were made.
      For us and for our salvation
           he came down from heaven;
           he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
           and was made human.
           He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
           he suffered and was buried.
           The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
           He ascended to heaven
           and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
           He will come again with glory
           to judge the living and the dead.
           His kingdom will never end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
      the Lord, the giver of life.
      He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
      and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
      He spoke through the prophets.
      We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
      We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
      We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
      and to life in the world to come. Amen.”

            Christianity was indebted to Constantine. All of his efforts to bestow the importance of Christianity was a forgery. Constantine was not a Christian at all, he worshipped the pagan temple of Apollo, his visions and faith of the sun god was associated with the Sol Invictus (the Invincible Sun). Constantine was newly initiated into a Sol Invictus cult after he forbade Christians from being persecuted and served as the Christian Messiah so he could exert his power over them and he truly believed he was the Messiah. After he led the Council of Nicea in determining Jesus’ divinity, standardization of Christianity was established and the creed was completed, he decided to head back home to Constantinople.

When he returned home, he murdered both his wife, Fausta, and his eldest son, Crispus. Fausta was Crispus’ stepmother. He believed the rumors that Fausta and Crispus were immorally involved with one another. Constantine had his wife slowly boiled to death in a bath and his son was poisoned.

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            Constantine had the Roman Senate erect an arch in honor of the sun god after the battle of Milvian. According to Constantine’s vision, he won the battle because of sun god’s blessing. The imperial banners and coinage also represented the sun god. The halo above Jesus’ head was actually the sun god’s emblem.

            Constantine ordered the state to set aside Sunday as the day of rest. Originally, Christianity chose Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath as the sacred day. Everyone needed to concede with Constantine’s wishes. Jesus’ birthday was actually January 6^th but the most important day for the Sol Invictus cults was December 25^th. This day was the festival of Natalis Invictus, the birth or rebirth of the sun when the days grew longer. Christianity aligned itself with the state’s main religion, Sol Invictus. To keep the peace, Constantine did honor the Christians by building Christian churches in parts of the city while other part of the city honored the sun god.

            When Constantine became older, he would be superstitious and worship the Christian God on occasion. He did not consider Jesus worthy of being held at a level he felt he did not deserve, he felt he was above Jesus and accomplished more as a Messiah than he did. He would only pray to God, the Father.

           

            Constantinople was the site of many hardships as well as commercial success for centuries. Being such a desirable site for commercial endeavors and because it was more easily defended due to its location, it became a target for nations that wanted to take over this valuable land base. Constantine continued to pursue his plans to promote the sun god and Christianity. He created a city associated with the Byzantine era filled with beautiful artwork and fabulous architecture. Constantinople still exists today under a new name of Istanbul. Many Christians still refer to the city by its original name and thus Constantine’s name lives on.

            The Roman Church believed at the time that Constantine was a powerful and successful Messiah. He was fierce warrior who ended up presiding over the Roman Empire from 312 to 337, time of his death, unchallenged. Many including Constantine equated his role of a Messiah as being more successful than Jesus’ and he was noted as completing what Jesus did not successfully finish. He has been referred to as the savior of Christianity by the Christian dignitaries. Because of his efforts to protect and procure Christianity, he was considered the savior of the world. What was Constantine? Was he fully human or did he possess his abilities due to some connection with beings that were considered superior to the humans? Why didn’t he want the Book of Enoch included in the Bible?