The Power Behind Constantine's Greatness

The Lost Religion of Constantine the Great

There was a tremendous upsurge of the awareness and usage of the powers that unite individuals and God together which reached its peak during the reign of Constantine the Great. The value of this union is best illustrated by the remaining artifacts found in the Catacombs under Rome. These tombs were forgotten or overlooked when the rising Catholic Church attempted to remove all traces of the existence of the dominant state religion that powered the uniting of God, individuals, and their deep yearnings. The tombs present a view of faith, love and union that is virtually unknown today and requires a deeper study into the actual beliefs at that time.

The state religion of Rome, symbolized by Sol Invictus, was nearly eradicated in the fifth and sixth centuries by the power of the androcentric clergy of the rising Catholic Church. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the early Church initiated its attack on the grounds that even though the existing explanation for the relationship between God and humans was quite simple, logical, rational and supportable by Scripture, it was nonetheless heretical because it denied that Jesus was the Trinitarian God as defined by the Councils of the Church. It is also of interest that the Encyclopedia makes the special point of noting that God does not communicate with individuals through ‘emanations’.

In stark contrast to the restrictive dogma of the Catholic Church, the religion of Rome consisted of many different religious sects who were able to accept Rome’s symbol of Sol Invictus as depicting the nature and emanation of God. This emanation, called Christos (Greek Christos meaning to cover or anoint), could cover and anoint all people with the heavenly or divine Will and power. This covering, coating, or anointing of individuals could be compared to that which a sun bather experienced when exposed to the radiation of the remote sun. In nearly all of the religions of that time, God or the Divine Power was described as an effulgent heavenly Light which could directly light the path for the mortals below on earth. Those who absorbed the Light were depicted in paintings as having the aureole of the sun over their heads. Constantine labeled Sol Invictus as the symbol for this radiance of the heavenly Light and depicted it on the coinage of the Empire. Sol Invictus was also publicly honored during ‘Sun’s day’ each week as well as at the birth of the Sun during the Winter Solstice and for its creative power at Easter time. Constantine openly described his personal reliance upon Christos and was honored by the Roman Senate in the inscription on the Arch of Constantine for his heroic actions and his ‘Divine Inspiration.’

In our modern sheltered society it is difficult to remember that the sun is the source of all life on earth. Certainly the acceptance of Sol Invictus as the symbol of the power of God is quite fundamental. The early Christians used a stance called the Orans pose to open to the Christos of Sol Invictus. This practice was continued even into the fifth century when Leo the Great noted that it was the custom of many Christians to stand on the steps of the Church of St. Peter and pay homage to the sun.

Another critical power that the Romans were well aware was the power of directing the future for the desired changes that take place during life. In order to be an individual and not an automaton, there must some personal inner power for controlling one’s future. This inner power must be similar to that of the original Creator, generally called Zeus. Further, since individuals are able to interact together or control each other in different ways, then each person must also have his or her own emanation or Christos or some power to unite with others.

The Greeks and early Romans considered that the inner creative and controlling power of an individual was the feminine offspring of Zeus called the Soul, Psyche or Aphrodite. The Soul was feminine because of its inherent knowledge of goodness and beauty that is perceived rising up from the loins rather than down from the brain. It is not connected with the physical maintenance or continuation of the individual or with self-preservation since it exists eternally. As the offspring of Zeus, the Soul is able to absorb the higher creative aspects of the Christos of Sol Invictus which allowed the individual to call forth the special powers to be creative and do that which was never done before. The Soul is experienced as residing deep within the bowels, heart or center of the body (but not in the chest). The power of the Soul is felt as an inner Christos or feeling that is without words, yet rich in knowledge or gnosis in the same manner as warmth is sensed from a fire.

As the sun was able to supply the energy for the evolution and creations of the concepts of Zeus, so too was there a related source of energy within individuals that is able to manifest the desires or concepts of the Soul. This source of inner energy, called Eros, is aptly named because the word Eros is the root for the word hero (ērōs in Greek). To complete the definition, a hero was recognized to be half god and half mortal or endowed with god-like powers because he was able to manifest the deep yearnings or drives that most people could not.

The early Catholic Religion reverted to exaggerated pagan teachings by deifying the physical body of Jesus as had often been done before in other religious traditions, but Catholicism also created the notion that suffering such as found during crucifixion was a source of purification and transformational power. Since God became identified with the physical body of Jesus and then resurrected to rise to the heaven above, the physical body became the dominant aspect of an individual and the concept of a separate Soul was denied or considered to be locked into the body. When an individual died, the new belief was that one ‘slept’ in the decaying body until judgment day when the body was resurrected in perfected form if the individual was also cleansed by the suffering of Jesus and the rites of the Church.

Needless to say, it took hundreds of years for the Catholic teachings to become entrenched into society. This was assisted by the persecution of those who did not believe that Jesus was the anointing of God as well as God. Those who could not accept the new teachings were labeled as Arian Heretics and ‘anathematized’ by the Church. Most of the artifacts of the Arian Religion were destroyed; however, the Catacombs of Rome in which the early Christians were buried continue to bear witness to the earlier beliefs. People today are amazed that the Catacombs contain no signs of the cross or the resurrection of Jesus but do have many drawings of the female soul rising out of the dying or dead body in the milieu of joy rather than suffering as in modern depictions of death.

Constantine described himself as a Henotheist, derived from the Greek word heno (from en meaning oneness), which means a belief in the oneness of God as opposed to a monotheist who believes in only a singular god. Constantine explained, at the council of Nicea in 325 CE, that Christos was not another form of God but rather the extension or emanation of God and of the same nature (homoousion). In many subsequent councils his statement was highly added to and altered to appear to support the later Catholic Trinitarian view that the man Jesus was Christos and also God, which Constantine and the earliest Christians certainly did not believe.

The modern world is finally starting to break free of the restraints introduced with the androcentric views of Catholicism and its denial of the Soul and inner powers of individuals. The location of the metaphysical heart is gradually being recognized as being in the lower gut rather than in the blood pumping organ in the chest. The conditioned and programmed brain is being recognized as inferior to the inner feelings of the gut in terms of cognition, meditation, creation and creating health. The ability of the inner powers to exert a physical external force, albeit very weak, is also being accepted. It is becoming more and more recognized that in the rapid development of technology, the inner powers of individuals were ignored but are now becoming recognized as opening doors to more freedom and evolution than institutions could ever offer.