There is a myth rampant on this board, that preceeds the DaVinci Code, that Constantine created the Catholic Church, picked the books of the bibles and changed Christianity and used the Council of Nicea to create his own Christianity. As none of this fits the historical record, who started this? Further, it is far from what actually happened. My gut says the myth came from the time of the Reformation as a lot of non-truths got published by partisans in what became a very bloody civil war (1/3rd of Germans killed each other). As Satan is the "Father of Lies," I would think the more stringent groups such as fundamentalists would seek to have this lie quashed. Anyone have an idea where this myth first appears in the historical record and who the oldest author of it is?
Desperado2006-12-06T06:41:54Z
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Yes, I too would like to know where this fairy tale came from. It is possible it could have been spawned around the time of the reformation. From my recollection of history Constantine really had only one major affect on Christianity. That was to make it illegal to persecute Christians-since his mother was one. I believe Constantine made this rule in about 312, but it did not become law for another 25-30 years. Constantine certainly had nothing to do with the Bible and, or little with the council of Nicea. He certainly did not create the Catholic church. The Christian church was catholic (little "c"), meaning universal or for all, from the beginning, and had nothing to do with the "Roman Catholic Church". After about 340 or so the church was allowed to grow without persecution-and it did. The bishop of Rome had many more small churches in his parish (for lack of a better term), so he became more influential over the years. Probably by 450 the bishop of Rome may have been the supreme or head bishop. The first pope was not official until around 600. This is when the official Roman Catholic Church began. Some could argue maybe 100-150 years before that it had its roots. Since Germany was the "Holy Roman Empire" and the pope was supposedly was the "apostolic" successor as head of the only church, just maybe king of England was jealous. Basically this was a struggle of who was in charge. When Henry took over all the churches in England and kicked out the pope's bishops, maybe he needed some reason to have this authority. The fable about Jesus having children and the royal (divine) bloodline traced to France or England may have given him all the authority he felt necessary to justify his actions. This is fertile soil for a good yarn. But you are asking about Constintine??? And i don't remember much, if I ever knew it. I think he was not a Christian (his mother was), but he used Christianity to help him build an army, and rule. I think his main influence of Christianity was to set it free from persecution-not much more.
I don't think this little piece of ignorant, sophomoric propaganda has any historical pedigree. It couldn't have originated with the Reformers, who held the scriptures in such high regard.
The only solution for people who hawk this idea is for them to do some real reading of the relevant scholarship about the origins of the canon and the early history of the church. How many of them are going to do that?
FWIW, in case any partisans are reading this: early Christianity had many different strands, different teachings, different groups. What Constantine did was to throw the weight of imperial authority behind one of them -- possibly the majority, but certainly not representative of all of them. It certainly had an incalculable effect on the subsequent history of Christianity, but he in no way "created" the Catholic Church, or determined the canon of scripture. That canon was largely set before his time (as can be seen in the third-century works of Irenaeus of Lyons against the Gnostics) and remained somewhat fluid for quite awhile after his death.
Their is some Merritt in what you say, as the Roman Catholic Church has always been for power over the people, as the Pope puts himself between man and God, as with the 'Treaty of Verona', etc. The bible was taken from a number of other books of dogma, where about fifteen books were not used as it didn't enhance the the church, one such book was the book of Thomas, among others. So even today we are under 'legal' laws of the Roman Catholic Church, which emanates from London, England, and spreads across our world like a cancer.
The bloodline continues. The messiah brings good and bad news. Life will end and start a new. The world must be cleansed and there's one that will bring peace to war. Both parties, good and evil have come to an agreement. Contantine is stuck between the middle and in debt with the universe our almighty. The King of Gods. The Ruler of middle earth. The Prince of sadness. Constantine is consistant. When the debt is paid and the world is clean. It will start a new. Bring peace to my people, and the wicked shall fall and the worthy shall rise. Please for the love of god................ do good or you shall perish in hell for eternity. Amen