Dr. Jared Pack, Associate Professor of History and Department Chair at York University, began his recent lecture declaring that Roman Emperor Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, had died in York in 306 CE (CE is the same as AD; CE stands for “current era").
“No, it wasn’t our York in Nebraska,” joked Dr. Pack. He clarified that it was North Yorkshire, now called York, in England when Constantius was leading a campaign of the Roman army against the Britons.
Dr. Pack’s lecture was held on the first day of the recent 45th annual Yorkfest, a four-day community festival organized by the York Chamber of Commerce. Every year, York University supports Yorkfest in a number of ways, including a free lecture, open to the public, held on campus at the Clayton Museum of Ancient History that is housed in the Mackey Center. This year’s talk was the 8th Clayton Museum Fall Speaker Series lecture.
“Constantine Converts: Constantine the Great’s Impact on the Christian Faith” was the title of Dr. Pack’s lecture. Dr. Pack said historians sometimes credit Constantine with achievements that Constantine did not actually achieve.
“There is a bit of separating fact from fiction in dealing with the historical record surrounding the life and legacy of Constantine the Great,” said Dr. Pack. “Constantine did not make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Rather, 42 years after the death of Constantine, Christianity became the official state religion under the reign of Theodosius I in 379 or 380.
“However, Constantine certainly made Christianity more acceptable in his time. In the Edict of Milan in 313, a letter from Constantine stated that no one would ‘be denied the right to follow and choose the Christian observance or form of worship.’ This letter was a transformational moment in the life of the church as it legalizes Christianity and officially ends any persecutions that Christians may have faced. Also, it said that any property belonging to Christians that had been seized, sold or given must be returned back to Christians.”
Dr. Pack also noted that Constantine chaired the opening sessions of the Council of Nicaea in 325, a meeting that rejected Arianism and affirmed the divinity of Christ, as stated in the Nicene Creed. Regarding the Holy Trinity, the Nicene Creed opens with the statement, "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible."
Constantine also is known for his massive financial support of Christianity through the construction of churches, Dr. Pack said. “Such efforts led to a massive wave of building some of the most famous churches in the world, including the first St. Peter’s Basilica, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,” Dr. Pack said. “Constantine not only gave official sanction to churches, but he also converted churches into architecturally significant sites rather than unassuming buildings dotted within residential lots.”
Overall, Dr. Pack said, “Constantine ended the general persecutions of Christians and invested into the growth and expansion of the church. He used his position as emperor to improve the morality of the laws governing his empire. He helped promote clear enunciation of the Christian faith that still forms the basis of belief today. Constantine’s impact on the Christian faith was indeed `Great.’”
A recording of Dr. Pack’s lecture can be watched here.