Winning Over Paganism

Winning Over Paganism

What should the Christian’s strategy be in dealing with pagans?

THE FIRST major step in the Christianization of the Roman Empire came in 312 when Constantine the Great, just prior to the determinative battle for control of the western Roman Empire, saw in a dream a cross in the sky and the words “In this sign conquer.” The next day Constantine was victorious over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge and credited his victory to the power of Christ.

Constantine immediately began favoring Christianity openly and the following year issued the Edict of Milan, which granted Christians freedom of religion. Yet Constantine had a major problem in promoting Christianity. Virtually the entire imperial bureaucracy was pagan as well as a majority of the population. Roman religion at that time was polytheistic, and gods of other nations were added to the Roman pantheon.

At this time Christians were a majority only in the Roman provinces of Asia, Bithynia and Pontus (present-day western Turkey), a portion of Armenia, and part of the seacoast of North Africa, which is now Tunisia. Vast areas, such as western Europe and the Balkans, were home to few, if any, Christians.

To deal with this situation, Constantine made a wise decision. He refused to attempt to destroy the pagans, as earlier caesars had tried to eradicate Christianity. Instead, he took a positive approach, promoting the precepts of Christianity in a way that made them socially preferable. He created an atmosphere where over time the zeal of the Christian population would win the day.

His successors continued his policies until 355, when Emperor Julian the Apostate attempted to restore paganism. After his death in 363 he was succeeded by another Christian.

The Christian emperors of the second half of the fourth century became more ruthless in their treatment of paganism, the traditional Roman religion. Emperor Gratian ceased using the traditional title Pontifex Maximus (senior priest of the Roman religion) and cut off all subsidies to Roman cults.

The final victory over paganism was led by Theodosius I, the emperor of the eastern Roman Empire, from his capital in Constantinople, now Istanbul. He is called Theodosius the Great because of his enthusiastic, though often cruel, brand of Christianity. Beginning in 379 at the prompting of Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, Theodosius passed harsh laws making it treason to offer any kind of a sacrifice, removing all idols, and fining anyone who visited a pagan temple.

But paganism wasn’t about to quietly fade away. In 392 in Rome, Eugenius, a supposed Christian, was made emperor of the western Roman Empire. When Theodosius refused to recognize him as emperor of the west, Eugenius defiantly restored traditional Roman religion to Rome. Then he rode off with his general to do battle against Theodosius and Christianity in the name of the Roman gods.

Eugenius and his general decided to try to ambush Theodosius at a pass near the Frigidus River on the southern end of the Alps. On September 5, 394, Theodosius and his troops reached the pass and found Eugenius and his troops prepared for battle with their pagan banners displaying Hercules waving in the wind.

Theodosius ordered an immediate head-on assault, and a fierce battle ensued. By the end of the day Theodosius had lost ten thousand men, and Eugenius, thinking he was victorious, ordered victory celebrations. Theodosius, however, refused to retreat, and the following day the battle reconvened with a terrible toll on both sides. The battle was again a standoff until a reported great gust of wind blasted down from the Alps through the pass, blinding Eugenius’s soldiers. With that the battle was won by the Christian army of Theodosius. The Battle of Frigidus was the final victory of Christianity over the old Roman gods.

Reflection

Obviously we don’t want to adopt Theodosius’s methodology of head-on assault toward the pagans that we know. Yet we should have a strategy for bringing them into the kingdom. Ask God to show you how to reach each one of your friends who are in the same spiritual category as the pagans of Theodosius’s day.

It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.

Zechariah 4:6