Re: Roman state religion

Walter Nusbaum (nusbaum@iglobal.net)
Tue, 1 Apr 1997 16:27:43 -0600

At 09:13 PM 4/1/97 GMT, you wrote:
>On Tue, 1 Apr 1997 09:33:21 -0600, Walter Nusbaum
><nusbaum@iglobal.net> wrote:
>
>>>And here's an interesting turn. Eusebius, who brought us the current
>>>version of the gospels, both recanted christianity during the last
>>>persecution before Constantine make it the de facto state religion and
>>>did a flip flop on Arianism. Did he know something that he WASN'T
>>>willing to die for?
>>>
>>
>>(Walt Sr. 4/1)
>>As a matter of fact, Constatine did not make xtianity the state religion, as
>>many people believe. He merely allowed it to "officially" co-exist with
>>Mithraism. It was not until 425 CE(I don't remember the emperor's name),
>>that xtianity was was made the *only* religion sanctioned by Rome, and
>>*that's* when the xtians began systematically to oppress believers in all
>>other cults. In other words, it took nearly four centuries after the death
>>of its founder before it was endorsed with the kind of political/state
>>power to allow it to spread without opposition from other beliefs.

(Walt Sr. 4/1(again)

Larry,
Excellent post. You are quite right. I was "winging it" when I should have
been researching and my main point about "co-existing with Mithraism" should
read "obtained equal status with *all* pagan religions". Also, 425 CE as
shown above should be 380 CE as you show below. Thanks for setting me straight.
Best wishes,
Walt Sr.

>You are off a bit about when christianity became the only "official"
>state religion. Below is a section of a file I got off the net some
>time ago. In fact, without Constantines support, christianity would
>have faded away long ago. Robin Lane Fox,, in _Pagans and Christians_
>describes how the Con man and the Con religion used each other. It was
>during this period that the Sibyls were used to sell christianity to
>the pagans. The christians had such a free reign that Julian, the only
>ruler after Con man to attempt to re-establish paganism, made fun of
>their complaints of persecution by saying that turnabout was only fair
>play for what they had already done. Will Durant describes it on page
>18 of his _The Age of Faith_. Emperor Julian ordered the christians of
>each community to make full reparation for past damages to pagan
>temples including demolition of christian churches built upon pagan
>sights. When confusion resulted, he reminded them that "their
>Scriptures exhort them to support their misfortunes with patience." It
>was during this time, btw, that the Trinity dogma got the lead over
>the Arians. In Alexandria the pagans disliked the Arian Bishop George
>who had taken Athanasius' see. When he provoked them by a
>public procession satirizing the Mithratic rites, they offed him,
>alowing Athanasius, who brought us the trinity, to regain power.
>
>In any case, it was Eusebius that got to write christian history and
>produce "official" bibles for the Con man. As I said, he recanted
>christianity before that. There are no gospel accounts including JC's
>miraculous birth and death dated before this time. Here we have a guy
>that lied about JC's written correspondence with the king of Odessa,
>wrote a chapter on how it was ok to lie for god, and had a free hand
>to create religion as he and the Con man desired. I'd say that the
>odds of an inerrant book getting past this point are about nil.
>
>312: Oct 28: Constantine defeats Maxentius at Milvian Bridge, reunites
>Empire
>313: Edict of Milan: Constantine establishes toleration of
>Christianity
>314: Council of Arles: called by Constantine against Donatist
>(Donatus) schism
>317: Letters of Lactantius: early Christian church father
>321: Constantine decrees SUNday (dies Solis) as Roman day of rest
>[CJ3.12.2]
>324: Constantine defeats and executes Licinius emperor of the East
>325: Council of Nicaea: called by Constantine against Arianism (336),
>called "1st great Christian council" by Jerome, 1st ecumenical, 318
>bishops attend, adopted Origen's (253) use of "homoousios" (Jesus &
>God of same substance) which gave rise to "Homoiousians" led by
>Meletius of Antioch, Cyril of Jerusalem & Basil of Ancyra:
>"homoiousios" = Jesus & God of *like* substance
>337-352: Constantius II: emperor of East, Arianism official state
>religion
>352-360: Constantius II: emperor of united Roman Empire
>355-365: antipope Felix II: Arianism (336), supported by Constantius
>II
>360-363: Emperor Julian the Apostate attempts to revive Paganism;
>Loeb:3v (Gk)
>362: Synod of Alexandria: led by Athanasius (367) decreed God is 3
>hypostases
>363-364: Jovian: emperor of united Roman Empire
>363: Council of Laodicea: names 26NT books (excludes Revelations)
>364: Council of Laodicea decrees death for Christians who keep 7th day
>Sabbath
>378-395: Theodosius the Great: last emperor of united Roman empire
>380: Feb 27: Christianity declared official state religion by
>Theodosius
>381: Council of Theodosius at Const.: 2d ecumenical, Jesus had true
>human soul
>384: Jerome presents Pope Damasus I with new Latin Gospels, originals
>lost
>391: Theodosius' Edicts against Paganism
>395: Theodosius prohibits practice of Pagan rituals including Olympic
>Games
>