Church History 9 - Power sharing, then the grab

Mimosa Tree

Rome was in trouble late in the 3^rd century.  Civil wars were breaking out throughout the empire.  The Emperor Diocletian decided to deploy a power sharing tactic.  Instead of one big guy in charge, he installed two with the title of Augustus and two underlings with the title of Caesar.  The idea was much like the new coach in waiting policy that is being used in college football today.  (Jumbo Fisher knew he would get the top Florida State job when Bobby Bowden retired.) The empire was divided this way.

Gonzalez:  ‘Diocletian himself in the East, and Maximian in the West.  Under each of them were a junior emperor…Galerius under Diocletian, and Constantius Chlorus under Maximian.’

This worked well for a little while and Christians had a peaceful existence.  But because there were constant battles being fought in some quarter of the empire to keep out the Barbarians and the Persians, the empire needed a steady supply of soldiers.  Many Christians didn’t feel obliged to serve in the emperor’s army.  Galerius convinced Diocletian to put a new edict in place to remove Christians from any responsible position in the government.  This set in motion another period of trouble for our old brothers and sisters.  Churches and sacred writings were burned.  Similar to the time when Nero was in power, a great fire broke out in the imperial palace and Christians were blamed again. 

‘Gonzalez:  ‘Thus was unleashed the most cruel of all the persecutions that the ancient church had to endure. Following the example of Decius, efforts were made to encourage Christians to abandon their faith.  Accustomed as there were to the relative ease of several decades, many Christians succumbed.  The rest were tortured with refined cruelty, and eventually killed in a variety of ways.’

Around 304AD, Diocletian and Maximian lost power.  The underlings, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus took charge.  They promoted two ‘inept creatures’ to become Caesars below them.

Soon the power sharing tactic began to weaken.  I saw a story in the news today that illustrates why the best laid plans don’t always go according to plan. 

‘West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart resigned and coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen will take over, the school confirmed Friday.

The parting ends a week-long saga that saw Stewart investigated for trying to undermine coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen.’  USA Today

The emperors began to undermine one another.  In what would be monumental for the future of Christianity, the son of Constantius Chlorus, Constantine began to attract a following.  With civil wars all over the empire, Constantine began to plotting to do battle against his foes.

Gonzalez:  ‘Constantine gathered his armies in Gaul, crossed the Alps and marched on Rome….According to two Christian chroniclers who knew Constantine, on the eve of the battle he had a revelation.  One of the sources, Lactantius, says that it was in a dream that Constantine received the command to place a Christian symbol on the shields of his soldiers.  The other chronicler, Eusebius, says that the vision appeared in the sky, with the words, ‘in this you shall conquer.’

Many think that Constantine had an instant conversion to Christianity.  But the evidence is that Constantine still worshipped the gods for some time after this.  His faith came like ours, over time.

Constantine facilitated the ‘Edict of Milan in 313 AD which put an end to Christian persecution in the Roman Empire.   As we will learn, after Constantine came to power, Christians would have access to power for the first time in its history.

Gonzalez:  ‘Whether this was in truth a victory, or the beginning of new and perhaps greater difficulties, will be the theme of many of the chapters to follow…What would happen when those who called themselves servants of a carpenter, and whose great heroes were fisherfolk, slaves, and criminals condemned to death by the state, suddenly saw themselves surrounded by imperial pomp and power?  Would they remain firm in their faith?  Or would it be that those who had stood before tortures and before beasts would give way to the temptation of an easy life and of social prestige?

‘Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.’ John F. Kennedy

Source:  Justo L. Gonzalez from ‘The Story of Christianity, Volume 1, the Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation’