The co-operation of the Christian Church and the State for mutual support and benefit began in Rome in 312 C.E. when the Emperor Constantine invaded Italy in an attempt to seize control of Rome...
The co-operation of the Christian Church and the State for mutual support and benefit began in Rome in 312 C.E. when the Emperor Constantine invaded Italy in an attempt to seize control of Rome (and thus the empire) from his rival Maxentius. Constantine’s successful invasion of Italy and his eventual adoption of Christianity as the dominant state religion, transformed the history of Europe.
As Constantine waited outside Rome planning his strategy for taking the city, he and his army reported seeing an illuminated cross in the sky with a text which read: “By this sign, conquer”. Constantine later reported that the Christian god (a new god to the majority of Romans and certainly not a god Constantine had previously acknowledged, his personal deity being The Sun God) appeared to him in a dream, telling him to make a copy of the sign of the cross and use it as protection against his enemies. The next day Constantine’s army marched under the sign of the cross and won when his army joined battle with Maxentius’ army at the Milvian Bridge. Constantine was a skilled and capable general, which accounts for his success, but the propaganda value of the belief among his men of being under the protection of a new and powerful god should not be underestimated. It was a huge boost to his army’s morale and the morale of an army determines success and defeat in battle, as can currently be seen playing out in the war in Ukraine.
Once Constantine was in control of Rome, he solidified his hold on power by unifying the eastern and western halves of the empire through a policy of divide and rule. He divided the Empire into 12 “dioceses”, 6 in the East and 6 in the West, and undertook a series of military campaigns to eliminate his rivals. He then set about building an impressive new capital in the East on the site of Byzantium, modestly naming the new city after himself (Constantinople) in case there was any question about who was in charge. However, he needed a unifying force that would create a sense of shared community and common purpose across the Empire. Perhaps because of the impact the “cross in the sky” had on his men and their subsequent success in battle, he decided this force would be the new religion of the Christians, and he undertook a massive programme of church building, especially in the Holy Land.
Up to that time, Christianity, an off-shoot of Judaism and initially seen by many as part of the same cult, had been the preserve of the humble members of Roman society – of women, the poor, and slaves – but once it came under the patronage of the Emperor, the Church grew and flourished. It watched, learnt, and came to adopt Rome’s organizing principles of empire. The secret to Rome’s success in controlling vast tracts of territory over extended periods of time, lay in its organizational abilities. Rome did not deplete its limited manpower by attempting direct rule of the lands it conquered, but instead offered patronage and protection to local elites in return for a guarantee that the people controlled by those elites submit to Roman rule and remain quiescent.
The church adopted the idea of patronage as a tool and made use of other aspects of Roman control and domination. One method was the construction of an impressive network of roads. The excellent system of Roman roads (still the route of many modern roads around the world) promoted the movement of troops, of people, and of ideas as well as facilitating trade and commerce. The road system, it can be noted, allowed easy passage for the Apostle Paul and other missionaries as they pursued their work of spreading the Gospel. The methods Rome used to hold and run its empire were absorbed by the Church into its own structure. Traces are apparent. The chief (pagan) priest at Rome, the Pontifex Maximus, wielded political as well as spiritual authority as does the current Pontifex Maximus, the Pope, who as head of the Catholic Church, retains the old Latin title.
Heads of state across Europe understood very well the advantages a symbiotic relationship between Church and State conferred, with the State patronizing and protecting the Church in exchange for the Church supporting and promoting the claim of the “Divine Right of Kings”. Congregations were kept in line, and heretics eliminated, through state-authorized physical punishments. This symbiotic relationship is exemplified by England’s most famous king, Henry VIII (reigned 1509 to 1547) who broke with the Church when his request to have his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled in order to marry Anne Boleyn was denied by the Pope. Thereupon Henry broke with Rome. But not wishing to deny himself the support of religious authority to bolster his claim to rule with absolute power, Henry simply established his own church, the Church of England, and appointed himself as its head. It was Henry who introduced the ideology of the Divine Right of Kings into England, an ideology in direct opposition to papal authority that rejected all papal control over the governance of England. In this way Henry established a new political theology of obedience to the Crown. English monarchs still remain head of the Church of England, taking an oath at their coronation to uphold the Church, and senior clergy of the Church of England sit in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament, as a right.
Once he had broken with Rome, Henry moved quickly to dissolve convents and monasteries, selling off their properties and resources (which were rich and extensive) to loyalists in his desire to create a landed gentry beholden to the Crown.
Thus, there exists a continuum of an unholy (but mutually beneficial) alliance between Church and State from Rome through to the present day, with the United States, the most powerful country in the world, teetering on the edge of being transformed into a theocratic autocracy as one candidate panders to churches across the country in order to secure enough votes to win the election. The deal the candidate offers the churches is to realize their full agenda (already partially realized by the overturning of Roe v. Wade which impinges on women’s reproductive rights) if members, in turn, vote to make that candidate Head of State for one more term. 