Constantine & the Christians

I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to class today.  We tried everything we could to get to Mass & Sunday school.  This morning, Chip tried to back the car out and it got stuck in the driveway.  He had to dig it out.  Then we tried to make it to the 12:30 Spanish Mass, but it had apparently been cancelled from what I and the others that showed up could tell.  But I still read through the chapter and I'm going to try to post a few things about it.

In Chapter 4, we learn about the persecutions of the Christians and finally the relief from that persecution due to the emperor Constantine.  The persecutions were thought to begin with the emperor Nero in A.D. 64.  He was a brutal and vicious emperor not only to Christians, but to his own pagan followers. In fact, it is Nero that is thought to be the "beast" of St. John's vision in Revelation. 

We read in Revelation:  "Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six." Rev. 13: 16-18 (RSV-CE).  Biblical scholars have narrowed it down to Nero because his name "Caesar Nero" equals the number 666 in Hebrew.  

It was in the 3rd century, however, that we see the persecution of Christians on a larger scale.  This occurred because edicts were now issued to allow the governors of the provinces to persecute them.  Several emperors throughout the next years persecuted Christians, and it was during this time we had many, many martyrs of the faith.  In a decree in February 303, the emperor Diocletian ordered all Christian places of worship and books to be destroyed.  This began what our book calls the "final agony" (p. 39) of the Church, which lasted from 303 to 312.  In 311, Galerius issued a decree that allowed Christians to resume their assemblies.

It was finally, in 312, with Constantine's victory that Christians saw the light and the persecutions began to end.  Constantine had done something that no other emperor had done...he attributed his victory to the help of the Christian God.   Constantine is thought to have had a vision where Christ appeared to him and told him to put the Savior's monogram (the Greek chi and rho) on his shields.  Constantine eventually even started to impose restrictions on pagan practices, and he began to display Christian symbols publicly.  He even allowed certain privileges to members of Christian clergy.  

Sadly, though, Constantine did not "officially" become a Christian until his death.  History tells us he was baptized on his death bed.  However, thanks to him, the Church was to change forever.  His conversion was one of the great turning points in Church history.

One part of Constantine's life and the Church history that is related to it that I find interesting is what tradition tells us about his mother, St. Helen or Helena.  St. Helen converted to Christianity at age 60 and then went on a pilgramage to the Holy Land.  Upon her arrival, St. Helen began to look for Judeo-Christian relics, specifically the True Cross and Jesus' tomb.
Once she arrived in Jerusalem, aimed at Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher, she found the site was covered by a temple to Venus built earlier by Emperor Hadrian. Helena ordered the temple torn down. It was during the dismantling that the tomb of Jesus Christ and the three wooden crosses were discovered. The True Cross of the Lord was recognized as the one which wrought a miraculous cure for the sufferer who was placed upon. On the site of her great discovery Helen built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. Then she continued building churches on every Holy site, from Jesus' birth- cave to His point of Ascension.

When she returned to Rome, she brought with her large pieces of the cross and enshrined the relics in her palace's private chapel, where they can still be seen today. In 329 Helen died with her son Constantine at her side. Her red porphyry sarcophagus is on display in the Vatican Museum. The relics of St. Helen are entombed in the church of Santa Maria, overlooking the Roman Forum . In liturgical art Helena is depicted as an empress, holding a cross. She was revered as a saint, and the veneration spread, early in the ninth century, even to Western countries. Her feast falls on August 18th.  You can find more on St. Helena here, and you can find a little bit more about the cross and the crucifix and her discoveries here.

I hope everyone has a great week!!!