Did the Church fall after Constantine?

Ever since the author became a Christian, I have heard the opinion from time to time that they claim that after Constantine, the church was totally degraded. Therefore, if the Chinese church wants to return, it will also return to the era of the apostles and godfathers, not the era after Constantine.

Since the author came to the United States to study in 2015, I have learned about the Greek Church and the Syrian Church (including Nestorianism), and I can also be regarded as reading a little Greek and Syrian Church Fathers, Church resolutions and canons, etiquette documents, etc. A large part of them are monarchs. Literature after Tandin. More and more I feel that the above views lack sufficient arguments, are too extreme, and are worth discarding. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to refute the theory of the degeneration of the church after Constantine.

After Constantine, the Church Corrupted, But Not Fallen

The author's first argument is that after Constantine, the church was corrupted, but not corrupted.

In my opinion, corruption is not the same as depravity. Degeneration refers to the teaching of heresy in the church, and the whole church has openly abandoned the ceremonies and teachings left by the Lord Jesus Christ through the apostles; corruption refers to the phenomenon of corruption in the church, such as buying and selling priesthood, bribery, committing adultery, in today's words , is the secularization of the church.

Because we still recognize the Council of Nicea chaired by Constantine, especially the Nicene Creed. The pioneers of the Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin, also frequently quoted the writings of the godfathers after Constantine, especially Augustine. If the church is depraved, then we should reject it, and spit out all the church literature between John Calvin and Martin Luther after Constantine as rubbish, at least we can ignore it completely, and declare We are going back to the Apostolic Church, not the post-Constantine Church. However, this view is very unfair. According to the literature that the author has dabbled in, the church, and even the imperial power represented by Constantine, are trying their best to do one thing: to continue the teachings and ceremonies handed down by the apostles, and to strive for make it perfect. They did not scold the apostles and abandoned their teachings and ceremonies, but tried their best to obey and perfect them.

Therefore, the author asks: If the Church after Constantine is striving to hold on to what the apostles have left, why should we refuse to study all the documents and traditions of the Church after Constantine? Do we know more of the apostolic literature and teachings than they do, that we dare to assert that we are going back to the church of the apostolic age, because the post-Constantine fathers and believers collectively rejected the teachings of the apostles? Obviously, this view is extreme and unfounded.

Corruption of the Church brought about by Constantine

Therefore, the author rejects the theory of the degeneration of the church after Constantine. But after accepting Constantine, the church corrupted

So the question arises. After Constantine, the church became corrupted. Didn't the church take corresponding measures to "anti-corruption"? Of course there are.

After Constantine, there was a lot of corruption in the church, which is very certain (of course, echoing Martin Luther's criticism of the corruption of the Roman Empire at that time), but it is very extreme to say that it was completely degenerate, because The church also took a number of anti-corruption prompts accordingly, such as the rise of monasticism, the proposal of liturgical prayer texts, the formation of canons, and the convening of ecumenical and local councils.

In 313, Constantine and the Eastern Roman Emperor Licinius jointly issued the Edict of Milan, which not only allowed "Christians to freely and unrestrictedly practice their own forms of worship"[1], but also urged government officials or individuals to immediately and free of charge. Return all Christian property without delay. [2] Subsequently, churches sprang up like mushrooms after the rain, and the church received a lot of donations from emperors, officials and nobles; church leaders, like today’s Jack Ma, are high officials and respected; the status of church clergy quickly became a kind of can-do within the empire. existence equivalent to the regime. [3] In short, the clergy of the church is very popular, just like people who take the civil servant exam to become an official and go to the sea to do business to make a lot of money.

Under such circumstances, the church has problems such as competition for bishops, buying and selling priesthood, laziness and profligacy of priesthood, and corruption of life. For example, after John Chrysostom was elected bishop of Constantine in 397, he began a series of anti-corruption campaigns. He ousted six bishops who were found to have sold the clergy, condemned the clergy for being lazy and not insisting on vespers, and dismissed the housemaids of the single clergy's homes. He checked the church's finances and demanded that all unnecessary and unhelpful expenditures be stopped immediately, the excess part of the church's daily expenses should be used as a fund for the hospital, and more hospitals should be built, and devout priests and doctors, cooks, and church staff should be sent. Single volunteers participate in the service of the hospital. In this way, the local poor and sick travelers from long distances can be cared for. He advised widows in the church not to care about the beauty of their dress, and suggested that some of them remarry. [4]

Three measures against corruption in the church: monasticism, the formation of canon and liturgy

The rise of monasticism provides a spiritual foundation for the church to fight corruption

It is no accident that monasticism arose in the fourth century—especially after Constantine.

The church has planted the seeds of monasticism since its birth: spiritually, it was the words of the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul, and in form, a group of celibate people appeared in the church. When talking about divorce, the Lord Jesus said: "There are some celibates (εὐνοῦχοι) [5] who have become celibate themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever accepts it, accept it (Matt. 19:12)." Apostle Paul 1 Corinthians 7 also encourages celibacy for the Lord, saying, "I would like all to be like me. But each one receives the gift of God, one in this way and the other in that. (1 Corinthians 7:7)" These words are like the words of the Lord Jesus, that is to say, there will definitely be a group of people in the church who are celibate for the Lord.

Therefore, the celibacy of the church is a sign of the health of the church. We should not despise them because Confucianism has no successor or because Protestantism has a tendency to go against the traditional monasticism. On the contrary, we should respect the celibate people for the Lord, because they are The predecessor of monasticism, please refer to my article in defense of monasticism: Basil Spirituality III . (The specific details will be discussed in a separate article: Did monasticism originate in the fourth century? To discuss the origin of monasticism)

In short, the rise of monasticism was the combination of the early martyrdom of the church and the tradition of celibacy for the Lord, and it was also a movement to resist the corruption of the church after Constantine. When the monks came out to practice Taoism, they refused to mix the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of men, theocracy and government. It was a correct response to the Lord Jesus' words, "My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)."

After Constantine, we saw that most of the bishops at that time were from monastic groups or celibate people, such as Saint Basil the Great, Gregory the theologian, John Chrysostom, etc. As for the Syrian tradition, not to mention, starting from the apostle Thomas, we can see the shadow of the later church, that is, the church clergy group (especially bishops, priests can also marry) and the laity group is basically based on the group of monks and The division of marriage groups, of course, has basically become the default practice of the Eastern Church, that is, bishops can only be celibate people, and most of them come from seminaries.

The formation of the canon provides the church (especially the clergy) with an anti-corruption mechanism

In terms of canons, the first is the canons left by the ecumenical council, the second is the canons left by the local councils, and the third is the documents left by the church fathers when they shepherded the church. Among them, the canons left by the Ecumenical Council are the most authoritative.

Many people have heard of the Nicene Creed and the Council of Nicea, but they don't know that the Council left 20 canons for the church at that time. [6] Subsequent ecumenical councils have left many canons for dealing with church affairs.

More than half of these canons are to limit the power of bishops, to improve the selection requirements of clergy, and to prevent the corruption of clergy. Other contents include the convening of church councils, dealing with heresies, dealing with laymen's bigamy, crimes, etc., and balancing the relationship between the seminary and the church.

The Chinese church as a whole knows very little about the content of these canons, and if they study in depth, it will be of great benefit to the future of the Chinese church.

The formation of liturgical and prayer texts provides guidelines for the spiritual life of believers

The liturgy started with baptism and the Lord's Supper[7], and it extended to every aspect of the believer's life, even 365 days a year[8]. Biblical words (especially the Psalms) and doctrinal creeds make up 70 to 80 percent of the liturgical and prayer texts.

In addition to the Eucharist liturgy used by the clergy of the church, the liturgy mainly refers to the liturgy of John Chrysostom and the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, but also includes baptism, priest or bishop ordination, anointing, church morning and evening prayers, saints' day, and held for believers Funerals, weddings, blessings for women before and after childbirth, consecration after the birth of a child, blessings for believers to build or buy a house, etc., cover all aspects of believers' daily life. [9]

There are also liturgical texts for believers, including daily morning and evening prayers, prayers before meals, and prayers before bed.

In short, since Constantine, the church has been able to organize the liturgical documents handed down from the apostolic period, with baptism and the Eucharist as the core, expanding the prayer documents of clergy and lay people, establishing festivals to commemorate the Lord Jesus, etc. Provides a good guide for the spiritual life of church members.

The Chinese church should study the early liturgical documents, not as the dross of the church after the corruption, but as one of the church's anti-corruption measures, which is indispensable for the cultivation of believers' spiritual life.

Above, the author opposes the theory of the degeneration of the church after Constantine, and encourages readers to actively study the early monasticism, canon and etiquette literature, in order to provide a good foundation for the healthy development of the Chinese church.

[1] Eusebius, History of the Church, translated by Qu Xutong (Beijing: Sanlian Publishing House, 2009), p. 458

[2] Ibid., p. 459.

[3] Ibid, 435-475.

[4] For details, see my article in Generations: John Chrysostom in Exile: The Experience of a Bishop in the Imperial Capital, Generations No. 4, Spring 2018. URL see:

[5] The Greek word εὐνοῦχοι literally translates as eunuch, but from the context, I think the Chinese standard translation and the new Bible translation are more suitable, that is, it is translated as a single person, or a person who is not married, because the apostle said, it is better not to marry is the word true meaning. The Greek word for this word originally refers to one who castrates a man in order to take care of a woman's inner chamber (the Greek word consists of: ευνη bed + εχω).

[6] For details, see: Tanner, Norman P. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils (London : Washington, DC: Sheed & Ward ; Georgetown University Press, 1990.), 6-16.

[7] For the early formation of the Eucharist liturgy literature, and scholarly research, see: Bradshaw, Paul F. Essays on Early Eastern Eucharistic Prayers . Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1997.

[8] The Greek version of Synekdemos ( Synekdemos ) covers the 365 days of the year believers’ liturgical prayer books. Synekdemos is a very popular prayer book in the Greek Orthodox Church. The original book has 1,300 prayers. For the most recent edition, see: Greek Orthodox Service Book – Megas Kai Ieros Synekdemos Orthodoxou Christianou . Greece: Papadimitirou Publishing Company, 2001. For the English version, only the first part of which is translated, see: Vaporis N. Michael ed. Daily Prayers: For Orthodox Christians, The Synekdemos . Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2007. Available online in English at: https://www.goarch.org/-/the-synekdemos-daily-prayers-for-orthodox-christians#Morning Prayers

[9] For example, Service Book of Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church , North American Antioch Orthodox Publishing, 12th ed., 2006.