Third Eye

I have heard several times before that Emperor Constantine of Rome had paid Christian scholars to go through their scriptures and pick out wich ones they deemed to be the holiest and put together the Bible. Constantine then proclaimed himself the first Pope and created the Holy Roman Catholic church.

Is is any way true? (Some sources and reading would help me out as well)

Mageth

Well, not really. It's not correct to say that Constantine "paid Christian scholars to go through their scriptures and pick out wich ones they deemed to be the holiest and put together the Bible", nor is it true that "Constantine then proclaimed himself the first Pope and created the Holy Roman Catholic church". (This Constantine was never Pope; there was a Pope Constantine a few centuries later (708-715). And, of course, the Roman Catholic doctrine holds that St. Peter was the first Pope).

Here's a good overview of Emperor Constantine and Nicea:

http://ampm.typepad.com/ampm/2004/06...ntine_nic.html

Some more detail:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine...andt/nicea.htm

The Catholic account:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11044a.htm

Here's a lineage of the popes throughout the ages:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm

Chili

I have heard that too but I think it is protestant theology.

Fortuna

As i understand it, Constantaine commissioned the production of 50 copies of the Christian scriptures. The bishops were now forced to answer the question of what exactly was and was not "Christian scripture", which was decided over the next 100 years, but was not decided at the first council of Nicea. I believe that the primary source for this is Eusibius, but I'm not sure where it can be found in his writings. (Perhaps someone can help, or at least narrow the field somewhat).

Also, as I understand it, Connie didn;t make Christianity the state religion, but only issued the "Edict of Toleration", which made Christianity a recognized religion of the empire. This is not to say that Connie did or did not favor it, it appears that he did grant it special privelege and invest in it. The motives for this are not clear to me. Perhaps he saw it as an answer to unite the empire,
or perhaps it was initially as a type of restitution for the persecutions that occurred just prior to his taking office as emperor.

I do not believe that Connie proclamed himself Pope. This doesn;t make much sense, as he was already emperor. As I also understand it, the emperor also became pontifex maximus of the state religion. I believe that Connie was PM of the cult of Sol Invictus, of which he was a member.

I also read somewhere that Connie was only baptized as Christian on his death bed. Consider this as only heresay for the time being, as I do not know the primary source for this statement.

F

mrmoderate

There were several reasons for Emperor Constantine to proclaim the Roman Empire to be Christian. None of these reasons had anything to do with the Emperors religious convictions.

The Roman Empire was on the decline while Christianity was on the rise. By incorporating Chrisitanity with the Roman Empire, Constantine made a strong alliance of forces that became incorporated under his command.

As mentioned, there was no need for Constantine to make himself Pope, he was already the Emperor. Also, Constantine did not commit himself to Christianity until on his death bed and even then it is mostly considered that the Emporer was coerced into accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savour.

Another reason for the Emporer making the Empire Christian was that his wife had become involved in Christianity after several tours of the relics in Jerusalem. She had decided that she could not in all good conscience be with the Emperor if he did not support her new faith. The Emperor satisfied the little woman with his creation of the Holy Roman Catholic Church without himself having to convert.

One little stumbling block for Constantine was that Chrisitanity was still considered a Jewish faith. Since Jesus was a Jew and since the Christian faith taught Jewish traditions and laws, Constantine felt the need to remove the Jewishness. That is where the Nicene Council comes in. Jesus was made non-Jewish after His resurrection and all Jewish holidays and traits were altered or abolished.

RRK

Baptism at a later age was common in those days, as it was believed that baptism wiped away all sins. After baptism, if you sinned, you had to repent, confess and all that good stuff.

And it appears Constantine's mother (St. Helena to both Catholics and Orthodox) was raised a Christian, and wasn't a convert.

mrmoderate

Baptism in different degrees goes back centuries as various forms of spiritual washing. The Jews used mitzvah baths for this purpose and most likely Bathsheeba was taking a ritual bath when King David spotted her.

Ahhhhh....the good ole days.

Toto

This appears to be a misreading of Eusebius. According to this St. Helen followed her son to Christianity, but became so devout it was as if she had been raised in the faith.

Magdlyn

Resurrecting...

Helena also found the "True Cross" and Jesus' birth cave!

So I would add to the traits above (influence and liberality), gullibility.

Biff the unclean

Helena was the Augusta, she was 85, she had traveled all the way to the Holy land with her entire court only to find when she got there that no one knew where any Jusu stuff was. Lucky for her hosts, who liked having their heads and necks attached, an angel of the Lord suddenly showed up and took her on a guided tour. She also, with the angels assistance, took home the Holy Nails and the Robe (of CinemaScope fame) as souvenirs. She became the patron saint of archaeologists and the angel started a cottage industry in the tourist trade.
I have some Holy Nails right here if anyone would like to make me an offer