We are men of the middle ages, not only because that is our destiny, the fatality of history, but also because we will it. You, you are still men of modern times, because you refuse to choose. ~ Nicolas Berdyaev
the greatest miracle of Christianity was succeeding in asserting itself among the European peoples, even taking account the decadence into which numerous traditions of these peoples had plunged. … Medieval civilisation would be inconceivable, without phenomena such as the appearance of the great Knightly orders, Thomism, a certain mysticism of a high level (e.g., Meister Eckhart), the spirit of the Crusades, etc. ~ Julius Evola, A Justified Pessimism
At that time, Rome was ruled by two co-equal Augusti and two subordinate Caesars. That system was unwieldly, as would be expected, since the power hungry competed with each other. A hierarchy must have a single head. That is an analytically true statement and it is modelled on the God-centred cosmic hierarchy.
When Constantine’s father — who was the Augustus of the West — died, Constantine was declared Augustus by his troops. But he was not the sole claimant. When Maxentius subsequently claimed to be the Augustus, a war with Constantine became inevitable. Eventually, their respective armies were to do battle at Rome although Constantine was greatly outnumbered. Before the battle, there appeared in the sky a large cross of light above the Sun bearing the inscription, “In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“with this sign, you will conquer”). This was a public event, witnessed not only by Constantine, but also by his army.
This public sign was followed by a private apparition of Lord Jesus to Constantine in a dream. Christ explained to him how to prevail in the battle. He also ordered Constantine to construct a laborum with the letters Chi Rho affixed. This sign was also placed on the shields and arms of the soldiers.
As prophesied, Maxentius was defeated. Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which did not make Christianity the state religion, but rather established freedom of religion; this ended three centuries of Christian persecution. Pagan gods would be worshiped at the Triumphal Arch built to commemorate Constantine’s victory. In this way, Christianity eventually prevailed in the Empire due to its superiority over paganism, which had fallen into decadence. Constantine himself was not baptized until several years later.
So you are left with a choice. You can pretend none of this happened and that there was nothing but natural events. That is the position of scholars and most moderns. However, that does not explain the laborum, which has not secular source; it was not a Roman or pagan symbol.
Or you can accept that Providence works in human events and that Christ intervened in to assure Constantine’s victory. There is the greater holy war within oneself; but there is also the lesser holy war, which is also fought on the material plane in the name of Christ. The Christian state and the holy war are legitimate manifestations in Christendom. Any denial of this is actually some other religion. Hence, there is no Christian pacifism. The existence of Knightly orders, the Templars, Crusades attest to that. It makes no sense to assert that the first 12 centuries of Christianity was not Christian. If doctrine is “up for grabs”, i.e., not more than personal opinion, it would hardly be worth following.
Sophisticates have tried to impugn Constantine’s character, some 17 centuries after the fact. But consider how varied are the judgments of contemporary public figures and you will never again take such speculations across the centuries seriously. Moreover, the mindset of that time is opaque to most of our contemporaries.
Speaking what is good is better than silence, and silence is better than speaking evil.
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