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Constantinian changes

Constantinian changes. Church & State. Church & society. Sacred Space. Sacred Time. Religious Laws. CONSTANTINIAN CHANGES: CHURCH & STATE. BEFORE CONSTANTINE TOWARDS THE END OF 4 TH C.  max. 10% of the population  more than half of the population

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Constantinian changes

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  1. Constantinian changes • Church & State. • Church & society. • Sacred Space. • Sacred Time. • Religious Laws.

  2. CONSTANTINIAN CHANGES: CHURCH & STATE BEFORE CONSTANTINE TOWARDS THE END OF 4TH C.  max. 10% of the population  more than half of the population • illegal religion  imperial patronage • persecuted minority  persecuting majority • property confiscated  pagan shrines attacked • defense against slanders needed  polytheism criticized • Magistrates against Christians  Church leaders as judges  Church freed from taxation

  3. CHRISTIANIZATION OF PAGAN SOCIETY & ‘PAGANIZATION’ OF CHRISTIANITY BEFORE CONSTANTINE TOWARDS THE END OF THE 4TH C.  relatively poor, little property wealthy • did not participate in festivals & games  church as means of social promotion • tended to undercut family and tribal relations  cemented social and family ties  other-worldly and ascetic  world-embracing  sense of detachment  monasticism as a separate movement

  4. HOLY PLACES, SACRED SPACES BEFORE CONSTANTINE TOWARDS THE END OF THE 4TH C. • sense of non-belonging, homelessness  the whole Empire became home  no holy places  holy land recovered • use catacombs for burial  street parades • private houses used as churches  public buildings became churches

  5. Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. 4th c.

  6. The simplicity of the exterior…

  7. …and the the splendor of the interior

  8. Basilica of St. Apollianare Nuovo. Ravenna, Italy. Early 6th c.

  9. ‘Mausoleum’ of Galla Placidia (daughter of Theodosius I), 5th c., Ravenna

  10. Ruins of the Temple of Venus. Baalbek, Lebanon. Venus of Milos. Louvre. Paris.

  11. Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. (reconstruction).

  12. Cross-shaped basilica. Plan. St. Simpliciano, Milan, late 4th c.

  13. Cross-shaped basilica. Exterior. St. Simpliciano, Milan, late 4th c.

  14. SACRED TIME BEFORE CONSTANTINE AFTER CONSTANTINE • expected Jesus to return soon  apocalyptic expectations faded • lived in the future  lived sanctifying the present • alienation from pagan calendar & feasts  replaced pagan feasts with Christian holidays  Intellectually marginal group  intellectually dominating  Movement was fluid doctrinally  norms of orthodoxy precisely defined

  15. Theodosius I (346-395) makes pro-Nicene orthodoxy the only acceptable form of religion All the people who are ruled by the administration of our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans… It is evident that this is the religion that is followed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity… We command that those persons who follow this rule shall embrace the name of Catholic Christians. The rest, however, whom we adjure demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of our own initiative, which we shall assume in accordance with the divine judgment.

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