Commemoration of Constantine the Great, Christian Ruler
Constantine the Great:
Hero of Luther and Exemplary Christian Ruler
By Fr. David P. Ramirez
We are blessed to be able to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea this year. The lion’s share of attention will be rightly paid to the Nicene Creed, the triune nature of God, and heroic confessors of the faith such as Athanasius. However, we ought not overlook the man who convened the council — Imperator Caesar Flavius Valerius Constantinus Augustus. No bishop convened the council, and certainly no pope, but the ruler of the Roman Empire. In the calendar of commemorations in the Lutheran Service Book we remember him, and his mother Helena, on May 21.
It may be necessary to convince some that Constantine is worth both learning about and celebrating. There has long been a strain of Christian thought that has considered Constantine and his defense of the church misguided at best and a disaster at worst. At the time of the Reformation, the Anabaptists believed that the fall of the church coincided with the reign of Constantine and the melding of church and empire. To this day, many American Christians follow in their footsteps, denying that any type of supportive or cooperative relationship can exist between the church and civil government. Luther and the other reformers did not believe this to be the case nor evaluate church history in this fashion. It was the rise of the papacy, in conjunction with the teaching of salvation by works and elevation of monasticism, that led to spiritual tyranny over the church, home and civil government. Though they insisted on maintaining the proper distinction between ecclesiastical and civil authorities, the reformers praised Constantine, Theodosius and other Christian rulers who aided the church by convening councils, promoting unity, and combatting heresy.