Alexander Schmemann

2. The Triumph Of Christianity (27 pages)

From Schmemann's A History of the Orthodox Church

Page 17

New Relation of Christianity to the World.

All the complexity and ambiguity of the Church’s new position in the world was revealed in the Arian rebellion. Victory frequently alternated with defeat, and freedom from persecution with dependence on authority. It must be acknowledged that the modern Christian tends to judge the age of Constantine unfavorably. We have recently become sensitive again to the eschatology of the early Church, and the question arises whether these centuries of union and peace with state, culture, and society were not a fatal mistake — whether the Church did not become worldly during this time and reject “the one thing necessary.” As always in tragic periods of decline, the Christian mind is subtly tempted to refuse the highway of responsibility and withdraw into pure “spirituality.”

Yet only the pain of historical defeat hinders us from perceiving that during these fateful decades a Christian world began to evolve which was far more significant than its actual historical framework. By this I do not mean any particular form of relation between Church and state, nor the formal adoption by the public of Christian ceremonies, symbols, or customs, but rather that profound transformation of the human mind which lay behind all these developments — almost imperceptible at first, but crucially important in its consequences. This was the inoculation of the human mind and conscience with the image of Christ. After Constantine, Christianity became indeed the fate of the world, so that fundamentally whatever occurred in the world became somehow connected with Christianity and was resolved in relation to it. This is the vital significance of the period.

The first impression of the fourth century is usually that of a nominal conversion. Outwardly it was indeed filled with disputes about Christianity; splendid churches arose in the cities; the services were more majestically performed, and gold and precious stones appeared on the vestments. But do we see any moral transformation of society? Did Christianity influence the laws, customs, or principles of the state that had adopted it?

It is true that Constantine declared Sunday a day of rest, freed the churches and the clergy from taxes, granted bishops the judiciary right, and protected the family. But a part of his “Christian” legislation was directed toward the privileges of the Church, and the rest — the legislation that really strove to humanize life — continued the trend of Roman law toward philanthropy, which had begun in the third century. In any case, we do not note any sharp break or crisis of conscience, and in many ways the fourth century was marked, on the contrary, by a greater enslavement of man than before. Indeed, the iron Middle Ages are foreshadowed in the greater pressure on him from the state.

 

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