yashaenka
Posts: 10,289
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Rather than risk Imperial disfavor and banishment from the Empire and almost certain death, the bishops met at Nicea, a small town in Turkey where the emperor owned a lake house on June 19th, 325 C.E. They squabbled and squabbled some more, and were able to come to almost no agreement among themselves. The most important of these controversies is called the "Arian Controversy," by historians, after Arius the Preacher, a bishop who was preaching that Jesus had been real enough, but not divine - rather, merely a great preacher and prophet. The other side of the controversy held that Jesus was the physical incarnation of God himself. This was a dispute over the doctrinal outcome resulting from the suppression of the Docetic Heresy, which gave rise to the physical Jesus myth itself. Basically, the Arian Controversy was a whole series of questions over the relationship of Jesus to God the Father.
Now that we have a physical Jesus, was Jesus God? Or was he the son of God? Was he divine? Or was he merely a divine prophet? Did he die and was he resurrected, or was he taken up into heaven? Finally, in exasperation, the emperor himself intervened, and imposed some compromises by direct imperial edict. The principal compromise was simple: Jesus and God the father were of "the same substance" - whatever that meant, but the dear emperor didn't exactly delve into what that actually entailed. But the bishops had little choice but go along with that concept, even if the details were murky to nonexistent. The principal issue being settled, as well as several others, by imperial edict, the bishops went on to hammer out a statement of a few common doctrines (mostly with regard to the date for Easter celebrations, the creation and the nature of the universe, and the first version of the Apostolic Creed), declared themselves in agreement on it - that agreement is now known as the Nicene Creed - and departed totally unconverted to each other's views. So there you have it. Some of the most important of Catholic, even pan-Christian doctrines were the result of the edict of a politician, whose conversion and commitment to Christian ideology itself was highly questionable at best.
Argument and dissension continued for the next six decades with various factions finding themselves in and then out of Imperial favor at various times, in various places and for various reasons, almost all of them political. Athanasius, for example, the actual author of the Nicene Creed, found himself exiled and 'rehabilitated' on no fewer than six separate occasions. It was eventually imperial politics and the wealth of the Roman bishopric, which it shared with the smaller congregations along with instructions for its use, more than theology, that finally governed the form that Christian doctrine and its interpretation would take, as various bishops found themselves in and out of imperial favor at various times. By 430, the council of Nicea, having been frequently reconvened, had become an ongoing affair, designed to stamp out various "heresies" (in particular, Gnosticism as a movement in competition with the Roman church) and create a formal, universal, i.e. catholic church organization, organized in a manner similar to the political structure of the Roman Empire itself.
The Council of Nicea became, in essence, the enforcer of the official, politically correct doctrine, and in essence, the forerunner of the Inquisition. This, along with the influence of the emperor himself, is why the Catholic Church today resembles in its government the government of the Roman Empire of the period. The headquarters of the church was eventually established at Rome, and the head of the church became known as the Pope. New basilicas dotted the landscape, all built with the blessing of the Emperor, and all aligned to the new, imperially blessed, church headquarters in Rome (indeed, the very word "basilica" itself originally meant a building that was the local Roman courthouse and hall of justice). Constantine sent his mother off to Palestine to build basilicas over the sacred sites of the church's early history, and "find" and return with faith-promoting "relics" which of course, local entrepreneurs were happy to produce. The newly established headquarters in Rome set about persecuting the Gnostics (crucifying many of them and sending many others to the lions), and suppressing the Marionite, Arian and other heresies.
In order to popularize the church with the masses, the doctrinal emphasis was changed significantly even when the ideology didn't. These changes were reflected in the art of the Christian church. When early, pre-Constantine Roman Christians met secretly in Rome, the art they produced reflected the pastoral nature of Jesus' teachings - scenes of Jesus feeding the multitudes, blessing the children, and healing the sick were the themes in the art of that period. After the conversion of Constantine, the character of the art suddenly and dramatically changed to reflect the change in doctrinal emphasis. Gone are the sweet, pastoral scenes of a meek Jesus patiently ministering to his humble followers. Instead, images of the crucifixion and the scourging of Jesus in the court of Pilate become common. .
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yashaenka
Posts: 10,289
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This was to help the suffering masses identify with Jesus who was said to have suffered on their behalf. The church had became a political instrument -- be patient with your suffering under Roman rule, the masses were told, and a better life for you is prepared for you if you believe in Jesus the Savior. The emporer may not provide good living in this life, but Jesus would in the next. In other words, shut up and suffer quietly.
It is at this time that the Chi Rho and the symbol of the fish, representing the miraculous nature of Jesus' message (at least as formulated by the gospel writers), is replaced by the cross, at the time a symbol of death and suffering, as the almost universal emblem of Christianity. The political message of the new symbol couldn't have been clearer at the time - join up and Jesus will relieve your suffering in the next world even if the Emperor doesn't do so in this. Fail to join, and you're on your own - and the consequences could be dire. For obvious reasons, the new religion spread quickly in far-off corners of the empire that had barely heard of it before. The Real Source of Christianity
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