|
Dubbing himself "God's man," Constantine raised Christian churches, freed clergy from civic duties, made Sunday a holiday, put the chi-rho in standards of the empire. Byzantium blossomed as Constantinople, his new capital; soon its bishops ranked with patriarchs of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. But if Constantine expected the church to cement the empire, he was disappointed. As no other major faith, Christianity had been splintered by dissent since its birth. Paul chided preachers of "another gospel" as he taught of the Son of God. And was Jesus fully divine, fully human, both-- or neither?
(317:1)
|