10. THE FOURTH CENTURY--CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

The fourth century after the death of Constantine witnessed the struggle between paganism and Christianity and the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the empire. At issue were several concerns: 1) the survival of the dynasty of Constantine, 2) the Germanic threat, and 3) religious disputes (Christian and pagan and, within Christianity orthodoxy and Arianism). A pivotal figure in this period was the emperor Julian, last member of the dynasty of Constantine the Great.

A. The Politics of the Fourth Century

1. The Succession

a. Constantine died in 337 and, after some hesitation and confusion, he was succeeded by his three sons.

b. Constantine II and Constans shared rule in the West until Constantine's death in 340.

c. Constantius II was the strongest of the sons of Constantine and he ruled the East until his death in 361.

d. Constantius II was an Arian and a staunch supporter of a Constantinopolitan-centered view of the empire.

e. All the sons of Constantine were Christians who had been raised as Christians: they viewed things differently from their father.

f. The division of the empire among the sons of Constantine showed that the principle of divided rule, established under Tetrarachy, could work.

g. Constans died in 350 and after that date Constantius II was emperor of an undivided empire, despite some unsuccessful usurpation attempts in the West.

2. Julian the Apostate (361-63)

a. Julian was the nephew of Constantine, the last member of the House of Constantine; most of the members of his family had been killed at the time of the succession of Constantine's sons, to eliminate possible rivals; Julian's brother was later murdered on orders of Constantius II.

b. Julian was raised as a Christian, but he decided to return to the religion of his ancestors and he attempted a revival of paganism.

c. Julian did not openly persecute Christianity, but he favored paganism and put severe restrictions on Christians (e.g. forbidding them to teach classical literature).

d. He attempted to organize pagan worship to compete with the highly- organized Christian church; he also tried to revive the cities of the empire and make them the economic and cultural bases of society, as they once had been.

e. Julian's primary supporters were members of the educated aristocracy, but one should not assume that he or they represented a rationalist opposition to Christian superstition: the paganism of the fourth century was dominated by magic and theurgy.

f. Julian was an attractive personality and a good general; he died under mysterious circumstances while on campaign against the Persians.

g. It is difficult to know whether Julian's revival of paganism could have succeeded had he lived longer.

3. Julian was succeeded by Jovian (363-64), who was a Christian.

4. After the death of Jovian, the empire was divided between the two brothers Valens (364-78) and Valentinian I (364-75), military officers from Panonia.

a. Valens ruled in the East, Valentinian in the West.

b. Valens was an Arian, Valentinian was orthodox.

c. In 378 the empire experienced one of the worst defeats, at the Battle of Adrianople, by the Visigoths, Germanic allies, who had been settled within the empire.

5. Theodosius the Great (379-95)

a. Upon the death of Valentinian I, his son Gratian (375-83) succeeded him.

b. After the disaster of Adrianople, Gratian selected Theodosius as emperor in the East; Theodosius was the son of a general of Spanish extraction.

c. Theodosius was a capable soldier and a good administrator.

d. He was a convinced Christian, apparently someone who really believed in all that the theories of Eusebius entailed.

e. He was also orthodox and at the Council of Constantinople in 381 he virtually put an end to Arianism, a doctrine which had dominated the East for the past fifty years.

f. Theodosius moved ardently against both pagans and heretics and most would date the establishment of Christianity as the state religion to his reign.

g. After the death of Gratian, Theodosius became involved in the West, and by the time of his death he ruled the whole of an undivided empire-- the last emperor to do so.

B. The Growth of Christianity in the Fourth Century

1. It is impossible to trace the growth of Christianity with any accuracy.

a. Clearly is was a minority religion with little significance in A. D. 300, but by the end of the century it had become the dominant religion of the state.

b. Why was this? It cannot simply have been that Christianity was the "religion of the age," since many religious systems of the period resembled Christianity.

2. The reign of Constantius II would seem to have been crucial in this development.

a. He ruled for a long time and was confident of his own position; Christianity had an opportunity to become established.

b. Constantius II established many of the important characteristics of the Christian ruler for centuries to come.

3. One inescapable observation about this period is the growth of intolerance on a higher level.

a. This culminated in the removal of the Statue of Victory from the Senate in Rome and the "debate" between Symmachus and St. Ambrose.

b. Such intolerance was also a characteristic of relations among various Christian groups; the persecution of heresy became commonplace.

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