The
Constantinian Shift
The
concept of the 'Constantinian Shift' is central to the Christian
Anarchists' historical thesis. It appears in
many alternative Christian political theologies and was popularised
most recently by John Howard Yoder, but it has an older provenance
within Christian Anarchism. Peter
Chelčicky's
1443 Net
of True Faith1
views the Pope and the Emperor as the two great whales that broke
the net of faith. He articulates the Constantinian Shift idea very
clearly: “When Emperor Constantine was received into the fold of
faith with his pagan rule and rights and offices,
then the innocence of the true Christians was saddened and defiled.”2
The
conversion of Constantine has been seen as a watershed – the moment
when Christianity lost its political identity as a radical group
willing to endure persecution and became a power-hungry
state-sponsored religion. In Gregory A. Boyd's words, the church was
transformed “From resident aliens to conquering warlords.”3
Critics
of church interaction with political power have used Constantine as a
potent symbol of church compromise, or of complete a betrayal of
Christ's teachings. In 1443 Chelčicky
writes:
All
the temporal lords who, begotten by Constantine and established
through deception in the name of faith, enjoy pagan ruling and pagan
sodomitic living; they put themselves apart from Christ and cannot be
partakers of his fellowship.4
Likewise,
Adin Ballou in 1900:
It could be only a worldly convenience, a bond-servant of worldly power, an instrument of political engineering or of social respectability, a tool of cunning priestcraft in an unholy alliance with worldly statecraft. Alas, that, as a matter of fact, the Christian Church, since the days of Constantine, has been to a large extent thus prostituted.5
It could be only a worldly convenience, a bond-servant of worldly power, an instrument of political engineering or of social respectability, a tool of cunning priestcraft in an unholy alliance with worldly statecraft. Alas, that, as a matter of fact, the Christian Church, since the days of Constantine, has been to a large extent thus prostituted.5
In
2011 Alexandre Christoyannopoulos
states: “Constantine
tempted the church with political power and economic comfort. The
higher clergy was seduced. ”6
The
strong language7
indicates the intensity of feeling around church-government
interactions that has persisted throughout history. The
'Constantinian shift' has been a focus for these feelings.
While
it is demonstrably true that a 'shift' in the church's attitude to
government occurred, attributing that change solely to Constantine's
conversion is overly simplistic. Jonathan Bartley acknowledges:
“There
is no clear dividing line between pre-Christendom and Christendom”8
Rather than a single, catastrophic event which caused the unravelling
of the church's radical politics, a slow and gradual change can be
charted. Under threat of persecution and heresy the church had found
security in its own power structures. The hierarchy was crystallised.
Christian writings began to soften in their attitude to the state. In
248 Origen wrote that Christians would make better rulers and began
to conceive of a Christian State - a temporal 'City of God'.9
Bartley writes:
In
their apologies for a more sympathetic view of government church
leaders more often appealed to the Hebrew scriptures and the writings
of Paul than to the teachings of Jesus. Already, the political Jesus
was beginning to be sidelined by some in the church, well before the
time of Constantine.10
The
politics of the Christian church encountered by Constantine was
already far
removed from the radical counter-imperial movement of the previous
century. Yet the conversion of Constantine11
and the institution of Nicene Christianity as the state church of the
Roman Empire under Theodosius I12
are important watersheds. In summary, the 'Constantinian Shift' idea
is not a historically accurate account of the development of the
church's attitude to government, but it is a culturally significant
myth – a useful short-hand that represents the wider reality.
The
myth originates with a Vatican document Donatio
Constantini (later
discovered to be a forgery) which had been used by Popes to justify
the church's political power. The document was an alleged imperial
decree, giving power over Rome and the western part of the empire to
the Pope. The
document and the idea that it represented then became a significant
target for those who wished to criticise the church's use of
political power. The Waldensians created an origin story that
stretched back to Constantine and the event of the donation. The
story states that Pope Sylvester's colleagues argued with him that it
was against Christ to accept political power. Interestingly, they
outline what would later become classic Christian Anarchist
arguments:
'Has
not the Lord given us a precept not to possess temporal and material
goods? Indeed, did He not say to his disciples that they should ‘take
neither gold, nor silver, nor money in their purse, neither two
coats, nor shoes, nor yet staves,’ and that ‘the workman is
worthy of his hire?’ And did He not also say, ‘If thou wilt be
perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me?’ It was
indeed so, and we know that Peter said to Him, ‘Behold, we have
forsaken all, and followed thee.’'13
The
Waldensians claimed the donation of Constantine as the single moment
that the church compromised with the state and caused the schism to
which they owed their origins. It was said that this fundamental
change was heralded by a voice from heaven: “Today
poison has been introduced into the Church of God.”14
It
is the version of the story that is passed on to Peter Chelčicky,
and from him to Tolstoy15,
cementing its place in the Christian Anarchist psyche.
1This
is a proto-Christian-Anarchist work which focusses on equality,
church-state interaction as compromise, and Christians having Jesus
as their only authority.
2Enrico
C. S. Molnár.
A Study of Peter Chelčicky's
Life and a Translation from Czech of Part One of his Net of Faith: A
Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Church History,
Pacific School of Religion. Berkeley,
California, 1947. Pg 83
http://www.elcristianismoprimitivo.com/Net_of_Faith.pdf
(accessed
16/08/12)
4Enrico
C. S. Molnár.
A Study of Peter Chelčicky's
Life and a Translation from Czech of Part One of his Net of Faith: A
Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Church History,
Pacific School of Religion. Berkeley,
California, 1947. Pg 83
http://www.elcristianismoprimitivo.com/Net_of_Faith.pdf
(accessed
16/08/12)
5Adin
Ballou. Primitive
Christianity and its Corruptions. Vol. III. Department of
Ecclesiastical Polity: A Series of Discourses.
Lowell, Massachusetts: Thompson & Hill, 1900. Pg.48
http://archive.org/details/primitivechristicc03ball
(accessed
16/8/12)
6Alexandre
Christoyannopoulos. Christian
Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel (Abridged Edition).
Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2011. Pg. 109
7It
is probably no coincidence that the three quotes above each include
a degree of sexual language. Sexual betrayal is used throughout
scripture as an image of unfaithfulness to God. In the anarchist
context, these quotes particularly echo the depiction of empire in
the book of Revelation as the Great Whore from whom God's people are
commanded to 'come out'. Revelation 18:4 (NIV)
8Jonathan
Bartley. Faith
and Politics after Christendom: The Church as a Movement for
Anarchy.
Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2006.Pg 30
9Origen.
Against Celsus III:29-30
cited in Jonathan
Bartley. Faith
and Politics after Christendom: The Church as a Movement for
Anarchy.
Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2006.Pg 30
10Jonathan
Bartley. Faith
and Politics after Christendom: The Church as a Movement for
Anarchy.
Milton Keynes: Paternoster Press, 2006.Pg 30
12380-381
AD
13Anonymous.
From the Archives: Waldensian Legend Concerning the Donation of
Constantine to Pope Sylvester (date unknown).
Christian History.net
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1989/issue22/2233b.html
(accessed 16/08/12)
14Anonymous.
From the Archives: Waldensian Legend Concerning the Donation of
Constantine to Pope Sylvester (date unknown).
Christian History.net
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1989/issue22/2233b.html
(accessed 16/08/12)
15Leo
Tolstoy.
The
Kingdom of God is Within You.
Translated by Constance Garnet. Kansas: Digireads, 2005. Pg. 15
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