Offering Incense is Automatically Divine Worship
“Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face.” Nebuchadnezzar hearing these things, and being put in remembrance of his vision, knew that what was spoken by Daniel was true. How great is the power of the grace of God, beloved, that one who a little before was doomed to death with the other wise men of Babylon, should now be worshipped by the king, not as man, but as God! “He commanded that they should offer manaa” (i.e., in Chaldee, “oblation”) “and sweet odours unto him.” Of old, too, the Lord made a similar announcement to Moses, saying, “See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; ” in order that, on account of the signs wrought by him in the land of Egypt, Moses might no longer be reckoned a man, but be worshipped as a god by the Egyptians. – Hippolytus of Rome Commentary on Daniel 2:46
Do you see that the really splendid things are those which relate to God, whereas human things are a shadow? He knew not, it seems, that he was leading away masters for himself, and that he cast into the furnace those whom he was about to worship. But to them, these things were as a dream. Let us fear God, beloved, let us fear [Him]: even should we be in captivity, we are more glorious than all men. Let the fear of God be present with us, and nothing will be grievous, even though thou speak of poverty, or of disease, or of captivity, or of slavery, or of any other grievous thing: Nay even these very things will themselves work together for us the other way. These men were captives, and the king worshipped them: Paul was a tent-maker, and they sacrificed to him as a God.
8. Here a question arises: Why, you ask, did the Apostles prevent the sacrifices, and rend their clothes, and divert them from their attempt, and say with earnest lamentation, What are you doing? We also are men of like passions with you Acts 14:15; whereas Daniel did nothing of this kind…. Why then, you ask, being so humble did he not repel either the adoration which was paid him by the king, or the offerings?
9. This I will not say, for it is sufficient for me simply to mention the question, and the rest I leave to you, that at least in this way I may stir up your thoughts. (This however I conjure you, to choose all things for the fear of God, having such examples; and because in truth we shall obtain the things here also, if we sincerely lay hold on the things which are to come.) For that he did not do this out of arrogance, is evident from his saying, “Your gifts be to yourself” (Daniel 5:17). … However it is necessary to say what this is. In that case [at Lystra] the men were falling into greater idolatry, but in this [of Daniel] not so. How? For his being thus accounted of, was an honor to God. Therefore he said in anticipation, And as to me, not through any wisdom that is in me. Daniel 2:30 And besides he does not even appear to have accepted the offerings. For he [the king] said (as it is written) that they should offer sacrifice, but it did not appear that the act followed. But there [at Lystra] they carried it even to sacrificing the bulls, and they called the one Jupiter and the other Mercurius. Acts 14:12
The chain [of gold] then he accepted, that he might make himself known; the offering however why does it not appear that he rejected it? For in the other case too they did not do it, but they attempted it, and the Apostles hindered them; wherefore here also he ought at once to have rejected [the adoration]. And there it was the entire people: here the King. Why he did not divert him [Daniel] expressed by anticipation, [viz.] that [the king] was not making an offering [to him] as to a God, to the overthrow of religious worship, but for the greater wonder. How so? It was on God’s account that [Nebuchadnezzar] made the decree; wherefore [Daniel] did not mutilate the honor [offered]. But those others [at Lystra] did not act thus, but supposed them to be indeed gods. On this account they were repelled. And here, after having done him reverence, he does these things: for he did not reverence him as a God, but as a wise man. But it is not clear that he made the offering: and even if he did make it, yet not that it was with Daniel’s acceptance. – John Chrysostom, On Hebrews, HOMILY 26:6-9
Verse 47. “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and worshipped Daniel, and ordered sacrifices and incense to be offered up to him. Therefore the king spoke and said to Daniel.” Porphyry falsely impugns this passage on the ground that a very proud king would never worship a mere captive, as if, forsooth, the Lycaonians had not been willing to offer blood sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas on account of the mighty miracles they had wrought (Acts 14:8-18). And so there is no need to impute to the Scripture the error of the Gentiles who deem everything above themselves to be gods, for the Scripture simply is narrating everything as it actually happened. However we can make this further assertion, that the king himself set forth the reasons for his worship and offering of blood-sacrifices when he said to Daniel: “Truly thy God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since thou hast been able to disclose this holy secret.” And so it was not so much that he was worshipping Daniel as that he was through Daniel worshipping the God who had revealed the holy secrets . This is the same thing that we read Alexander the Great, King of the Macedonians, did in the high priesthood of Joaida. Or, if this explanation seem unsatisfactory, we shall have to say that Nebuchadnezzar, overwhelmed by the amazing greatness of the miracles, did not realize what he was doing, but coming to know the true God and Lord of kings he both worshipped His servant and offered him incense. – Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO
Let us call to mind how the Magi of the East worshipped and paid tribute to the Lord; let us estimate the weariness of that long pilgrimage to Bethlehem of Judah. In the toilsome journey of the Magian princes we see the labours of Egypt to which the prophet alludes. For when the Magi executed, in their spurious, material way, the duty ordained for them by the power of God, the whole heathen world was offering in their person the deepest reverence of which its worship was capable. And these same Magi presented gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh from the merchandise of the Ethiopians and Sabeans; a thing foretold by another prophet, who has said, The Ethiopians shall fall down before His face, and His enemies shall lick the dust. The Kings of Tharsis shall offer presents, the Kings of the Arabians and Sabeans shall bring gifts, and there shall be given to Him of the gold of Arabia. The Magi and their offerings stand for the labour of Egypt and for the merchandise of Ethiopians and Sabeans; the adoring Magi represent the heathen world, and offer the choicest gifts of the Gentiles to the Lord Whom they adore. – Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, Book 4, chapter 38
In one God did the Magi believe, and they brought, in adoration, gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Christ’s cradle, confessing, by the gift of gold, His Royalty, and with the incense worshipping Him as God. For gold is the sign of kingdom, incense of God, myrrh of burial. – Ambrose, Exposition of the Christian Faith, Book I, chapter 4
He was wearing, after all, the mortal flesh in which he was representing us, in which in due course he was going to die for us. That is why he received from those Magi not only gold as a sign of honor, and frankincense as a sign of worship, but also myrrh as a sign of his future burial. – Augustine, Sermon 202, chapter 2
A star more brilliant than the other stars arouses wise men that dwell in the far East, and from the brightness of the wondrous light these men, not unskilled in observing such things, appreciate the importance of the sign: this doubtless being brought about in their hearts by Divine inspiration, in order that the mystery of so great a sight might not be hid from them, and, what was an unusual appearance to their eyes, might not be obscure to their minds. In a word they scrupulously set about their duty and provide themselves with such gifts that in worshipping the One they may at the same time show their belief in His threefold function: with gold they honour the Person of a King, with myrrh that of Man, with incense that of God. – Leo the Great, Sermon 33, chapter 2
Offering Incense to the Emperor’s Image:
For the first three centuries of church history, emperors attempted to persuade Christians to deny Christ by offering incense to their images:
And there met him the police chief Herod and his father Niketes, who transferred him into their carriage, and sitting beside him, they tried to persuade him, saying, “Why, what harm is there in saying, ‘Caesar is Lord,’ and offering a pinch of incense, and doing the things that follow from this, and saving yourself?” At first he did not answer them, but when they persisted, he said, “I am not going to do what you advise me.” – The Martyrdom of Polycarp, chapter 8
But now, the Catholics and Orthodox include the offering of incense to images of the emperors as a matter of liturgy. At the Second Council of Nicaea, the council decreed that in the same way as the common people offer incense to the images of the emperor, incense ought to be offered to the images of Christ and the saints.
“For if the people go forth with lights and incense to meet the laurata [the one crowned] and images of the Emperors when they are sent to cities or rural districts, they honour surely not the tablet covered over with wax, but the Emperor himself. How much more is it necessary that in the churches of Christ our God, the image of God our Saviour and of his spotless Mother and of all the holy and blessed fathers and ascetics should be painted?”… To these [images] should be given due salutation and honourable reverence (ἀσπασμὸν καὶ τιμητικὴν προσκύνησιν), not indeed that true worship of faith (λατρείαν) which pertains alone to the divine nature; but to these, as to the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross and to the Book of the Gospels and to the other holy objects, incense and lights may be offered according to ancient pious custom. For the honour which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented. – Second Council of Nicaea
When a new Roman or Byzantine Emperor took power, or when an official imperial decree was sent out to distant provinces and cities, it was accompanied by an official portrait of the Emperor. Because the Emperor could not be everywhere at once, his portrait functioned as his legal and physical proxy. They carried torches/lights and burned incense to show submission and respect to the ruler. The citizens would march out of the city gates to meet the emperor (or his image) in a formal procession called an adventus. Shockingly, in this statement, the bishops at Nicea II appear to find no issue whatsoever with offering incense to the images of the emperor, an act which meant a denial of the Christian religion and immediate excommunication in the early church! Christians used to lament this wicked custom, especially if a believer lived with a pagan spouse who practiced these things:
The handmaid of God dwells with strange household idols, and among them she will be distressed—at the beginning of the year and the beginning of the month—by all the honors paid to demons, by all the solemnities of emperors, and by the stench of incense. She will go forth from a gate decked with laurel and lit with lamps, as if from a new brothel of public lusts. She will recline at table with her husband in social clubs, often in taverns; and she will sometimes minister to the wicked, she who was once accustomed to minister to the saints. And will she not recognize in this the foretaste of her own damnation, while she obeys those whom she was meant to judge? – Tertullian, To His Wife, book 2, chapter 6
They will naturally defend themselves by saying, “We do not offer incense to the images of emperors IN THE SAME WAY as they did! We offer incense to CHRISTIAN emperors!” This is false for three reasons:
- The early church forbade offering incense to ANY image, not just certain ones.
- The early church required all catechumens to reject political office in order to be baptized.
- Even the supposedly “Christian” emperors (Theodosius I, etc.) outlawed offerings of incense and prostration to their images, recognizing it as divine worship.
- These emperors are not even Christians according to YOUR standard.
We’ve addressed the first three points already in separate videos and articles, so we’ll focus on the third point exclusively, the idea that Constantine and Irene were Christians. The church emphatically decreed that a person becomes a Christian when they are baptized. They are not a Christian before that. The first question is, when was Constantine baptized? The answer is, it was on his deathbed. Was Constantine a Christian before his deathbed baptism? Certainly not. So the only hope of the Cathodox is to prove that He was a Christian for the short period of time following his deathbed baptism.
Not only was Constantine baptized on his deathbed, but he was baptized by an Arian named Eusebius of Nicomedia, who was the best friend of Arius and the ringleader inciting persecutions against the Nicene bishops after Nicaea, particularly Athanasius. Constantine himself reversed his own decision against the Arians and embraced Arianism, exiling Athanasius under false charges of murder, adultery, and sorcery. He also commanded that the whole church have communion with Arius and his followers, who had already been formally excommunicated at the first ecumenical council.
So not only was Constantine not baptized, but he was a heretic. And not only was he an unbaptized heretic, but he died as a persecutor of the church. According to the post-Nicene fathers, this kind of persecution coming from a heretical emperor claiming to be a Christian is even worse than the kind inflicted by the pagan emperors:
Moreover, they were not ashamed to add, “for these men profess orthodox opinions;” not fearing that which is written, “Woe unto them that call bitter sweet, that put darkness for light” (Isaiah 5:20); for they are ready to undertake anything in support of their heresy. Now is it not hereby plainly proved to all men, that we both suffered heretofore, and that you now persecute us, not under the authority of an Ecclesiastical sentence, but on the ground of the Emperor’s threats, and on account of our piety towards Christ? – Athanasius, History of the Arians, chapter 1
This heresy has come forth upon the earth like some great monster, which not only injures the innocent with its words, as with teeth; but it has also hired external power to assist it in its designs. – Athanasius, History of the Arians, chapter 3
But the heresy now bursts forth backed by civil authority, and what it once muttered in secret it has of late boasted of in open triumph. Whereas in former times it has tried by secret mines to creep into the Catholic Church, it has now put forth every power of this world in the fawning manners of a false religion. For the perversity of these men has been so audacious that when they dared not preach this doctrine publicly themselves, they beguiled the Emperor to give them hearing. For they did beguile an ignorant sovereign so successfully that though he was busy with war he expounded their infidel creed, and before he was regenerate by baptism imposed a form of faith upon the churches. Opposing bishops they drove into exile. – Hilary of Poitiers, On The Councils, chapter 78
The Cathodox would have us revere Athanasius for standing up against the apostate church and the evil government, reciting phrases like “Athanasius against the world,” but they also expect us to revere the very ones who were persecuting the church! On the one hand, we must praise Athanasius for standing up against the world, and on the other, we must venerate “the world!”
The Cathodox Rewrite History:
Mention the excuses they make for Constantine in the Typicon. “Constantine was deceived by the Arians!” Oh, so that’s the new get-out-of-jail-free card? Every heretic in the world is deceived! Mormons are deceived! Muslims are deceived! Any heretic who is deceived is automatically excused? Well, Constantine is the last person to be excused when an ECUMENICAL COUNCIL condemned Arius and his followers already, a council that CONSTANTINE HIMSELF convened! Don’t the Cathodox claim that a council is only ecumenical (i.e. God-breathed, Spirit-led, etc.) if an emperor convenes it? Well, apparently not a Christian emperor, but an emperor. How could Constantine possibly be excused under the plea of “ignorance” or “deception when he was the one who convene a universal council consisting of all the bishops spread out across the world, and he was the one who exiled the party of offenders that opposed the rest of the church? Did he just forget that happened? Did it slip his mind? Ultimately Constantine condemned himself by condemning the decision of the council – a decision which he himself joined in affirming! “But he had bishops deceiving him, not random people!” With that kind of excuse, you must also excuse his son Constantius, who continued the persecutions and exiles! And yet you say Constantius was evil, and you refuse to acknowledge him as a saint! He is even more to be excused because he was only following the example of his father, the oh-so-righteous Constantine!
From the Typicon:
“May 21, Feast Day of The Holy Emperors and Equals to the Apostles, Constantine and Helen”
“If the local church is dedicated to St. Constantine, before the Liturgy we sing the troparion for Ss. Constantine and Helen and celebrate the Artoklasia with the troparion for the Saturday of Souls, “O only Creator…” and celebrate the Liturgy as usual.”
When we point out that the Apostolic Constitutions say that all ordinations are invalid if made by secular authorities, they reply, “Our authorities are CHRISTIANS! So that doesn’t apply to us!” That’s why they call their emperors “the most holy, Christ-loving empress Irene…” But even if the early church HAD allowed Christians to have government and military positions (which it really forbade), CONSTANTINE WAS NOT BAPTIZED WHEN HE APPOINTED BISHOPS! So they lose! You approve of a WOMAN empress who MURDERED her son to lead the church at a council, but you say women can’t even be deacons, because they’re so weak and unstable….
It has pleased us to decree that from now on the diaconal ordination should not be imparted to any woman, because of the weakness of her [female] nature. – Second Council of Orleans (533 AD), Canon 18
That’s very consistent of you!
But perhaps you would stubbornly insist that a catechumen emperor should NOT be considered a “secular” authority. But firstly, are they in authority? Yes. Are they even a Christian? No. So if they’re neither an authority over the church nor even a Christian, and they were originally a secular authority, how is it that you would say they’ve become a Christian authority just because they’re a catechumen? But we all know he wasn’t even a true catechumen. He not only failed to meet the requirements in the apostolic tradition, he didn’t even confess God to be the one and only true God, but kept continued to call himself Sol Invictus and built monuments to pagan deities, such as The Arch of Constantine. Finally, when he was baptized, it was by Eusebius of Nicomedia, an excommunicated ARIAN! And Constantine himself had only just deposed and exiled Athanasius the year before his deathbed baptism in 337. How can a heretical false catechumen who befriended excommunicated heretics and exiled orthodox Christian bishops be considered a Christian and honored as a saint?
- The Edict of Milan legalized Christians but left all the native cults in place.
- The Arch of Constantine (erected in 315 CE near the Colosseum) lacks Christian symbols and contains sculptures of offerings to Apollo, Diana, and Hercules.
- Constantine issued coins with himself in the figure of Sol Invictus and Helios (making himself out to be divine).
- Constantine befriended Arius’ best friends, Eusebius of Nicomedia and Macedonius (who falsely accused Athanasius).
- Constantine removed and exiled Christian bishops.
- Constantine replaced Christian bishops with Arians.
- Constantine was not baptized until he was on his deathbed.
- Constantine was baptized by his Arian friends, who he put in power.
- Constantine agreed with the Arian doctrine.
Constantine was Baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia
But many Cathodox desperately try to rewrite history by asserting a single forged document as proof that Constantine was baptized by Pope Sylvester of Rome. It was the Catholics who originally did this (who are notorious for forgeries, which the Orthodox admit), and yet the Orthodox have no choice but to rely on this document as proof of a lie.
Eusebius of Caesarea:
Chapter 61. His Sickness at Helenopolis, and Prayers respecting his Baptism.
At first he experienced some slight bodily indisposition, which was soon followed by positive disease. In consequence of this he visited the hot baths of his own city; and thence proceeded to that which bore the name of his mother. Here he passed some time in the church of the martyrs, and offered up supplications and prayers to God. Being at length convinced that his life was drawing to a close, he felt the time had come at which he should seek purification from sins of his past career, firmly believing that whatever errors he had committed as a mortal man, his soul would be purified from them through the efficacy of the mystical words and the salutary waters of baptism. Impressed with these thoughts, he poured forth his supplications and confessions to God, kneeling on the pavement in the church itself, in which he also now for the first time received the imposition of hands with prayer. After this he proceeded as far as the suburbs of Nicomedia, and there, having summoned the bishops to meet him, addressed them in the following words.
Chapter 62. Constantine’s Appeal to the Bishops, requesting them to confer upon him the Rite of Baptism.
“The time is arrived which I have long hoped for, with an earnest desire and prayer that I might obtain the salvation of God. The hour has come in which I too may have the blessing of that seal which confers immortality; the hour in which I may receive the seal of salvation. I had thought to do this in the waters of the river Jordan, wherein our Saviour, for our example, is recorded to have been baptized: but God, who knows what is expedient for us, is pleased that I should receive this blessing here. Be it so, then, without delay: for should it be his will who is Lord of life and death, that my existence here should be prolonged, and should I be destined henceforth to associate with the people of God, and unite with them in prayer as a member of his Church, I will prescribe to myself from this time such a course of life as befits his service. After he had thus spoken, the prelates performed the sacred ceremonies in the usual manner, and, having given him the necessary instructions, made him a partaker of the mystic ordinance.” Thus was Constantine the first of all sovereigns who was regenerated and perfected in a church dedicated to the martyrs of Christ ; thus gifted with the Divine seal of baptism, he rejoiced in spirit, was renewed, and filled with heavenly light: his soul was gladdened by reason of the fervency of his faith, and astonished at the manifestation of the power of God. At the conclusion of the ceremony he arrayed himself in shining imperial vestments, brilliant as the light, and reclined on a couch of the purest white, refusing to clothe himself with the purple any more.
Socrates Scholasticus:
Chapter 37. After the Banishment of Athanasius, Ariushaving been sent for by the Emperor, raises a Disturbance against Alexander Bishop of Constantinople.
While these things were taking place, the thirtieth year of Constantine’s reign was completed. But Arius with his adherents having returned to Alexandria, again disturbed the whole city; for the people of Alexandria were exceedingly indignant both at the restoration of this incorrigible heretic with his partisans, and also because their bishop Athanasius had been sent to exile. When the emperor was apprised of the perverse disposition of Arius, he once more ordered him to repair to Constantinople, to give an account of the commotions he had afresh endeavored to excite. It happened at that time that Alexander, who had some time before succeeded Metrophanes, presided over the church at Constantinople. That this prelate was a man of devoted piety was distinctly manifested by the conflict he entered into with Arius; for when Arius arrived and the people were divided into two factions and the whole city was thrown into confusion: some insisting that the Nicene Creed should be by no means infringed on, while others contended that the opinion of Arius was consonant to reason. In this state of affairs, Alexander was driven to straits: more especially since Eusebius of Nicomedia had violently threatened that he would cause him to be immediately deposed, unless he admitted Arius and his followers to communion. Alexander, however, was far less troubled at the thought of his own deposition as fearful of the subversion of the principles of the faith, which they were so anxious to effect: and regarding himself as the constituted guardian of the doctrines recognized, and the decisions made by the council at Nicæa, he exerted himself to the utmost to prevent their being violated or depraved. Reduced to this extremity, he bade farewell to all logical resources, and made God his refuge, devoting himself to continued fasting and never ceased from praying. Communicating his purpose to no one, he shut himself up alone in the church called Irene: there going up to the altar, and prostrating himself on the ground beneath the holy communion table, he poured forth his fervent prayers weeping; and this he ceased not to do for many successive nights and days. What he thus earnestly asked from God, he received: for his petition was such a one: ‘If the opinion of Arius were correct, he might not be permitted to see the day appointed for its discussion; but that if he himself held the true faith, Arius, as the author of all these evils, might suffer the punishment due to his impiety.’
Chapter 38. The Death of Arius.
Such was the supplication of Alexander. Meanwhile the emperor, being desirous of personally examining Arius, sent for him to the palace, and asked him whether he would assent to the determinations of the Synod at Nicæa. He without hesitation replied in the affirmative, and subscribed the declaration of the faith in the emperor’s presence, acting with duplicity. The emperor, surprised at his ready compliance, obliged him to confirm his signature by an oath. This also he did with equal dissimulation. The way he evaded, as I have heard, was this: he wrote his own opinion on paper, and carried it under his arm, so that he then swore truly that he really held the sentiments he had written. That this is so, however, I have written from hearsay, but that he added an oath to his subscription, I have myself ascertained, from an examination of the emperor’s own letters. The emperor being thus convinced, ordered that he should be received into communion by Alexander, bishop of Constantinople. It was then Saturday, and Arius was expecting to assemble with the church on the day following: but divine retribution overtook his daring criminalities. For going out of the imperial palace, attended by a crowd of Eusebian partisans like guards, he paraded proudly through the midst of the city, attracting the notice of all the people. As he approached the place called Constantine’s Forum, where the column of porphyry is erected, a terror arising from the remorse of conscience seized Arius, and with the terror a violent relaxation of the bowels: he therefore enquired whether there was a convenient place near, and being directed to the back of Constantine’s Forum, he hastened there. Soon after a faintness came over him, and together with the evacuations his bowels protruded, followed by a copious hemorrhage, and the descent of the smaller intestines: moreover portions of his spleen and liver were brought off in the effusion of blood, so that he almost immediately died. The scene of this catastrophe still is shown at Constantinople, as I have said, behind the shambles in the colonnade: and by persons going by pointing the finger at the place, there is a perpetual remembrance preserved of this extraordinary kind of death. So disastrous an occurrence filled with dread and alarm the party of Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia; and the report of it quickly spread itself over the city and throughout the whole world. As the king grew more earnest in Christianity and confessed that the confession at Nicæa was attested by God, he rejoiced at the occurrences. He was also glad because of his three sons whom he had already proclaimed Cæsars; one of each of them having been created at every successive decennial anniversary of his reign. To the eldest, whom he called Constantine, after his own name, he assigned the government of the western parts of the empire, on the completion of his first decade. His second son Constantius, who bore his grandfather’s name, he constituted Cæsar in the eastern division, when the second decade had been completed. And Constans, the youngest, he invested with a similar dignity, in the thirtieth year of his own reign.
Chapter 39. The Emperor falls sick and dies.
A year having passed, the Emperor Constantine having just entered the sixty-fifth year of his age, was taken with a sickness; he therefore left Constantinople, and made a voyage to Helenopolis, that he might try the effect of the medicinal hot springs which are found in the vicinity of that city. Perceiving, however, that his illness increased, he deferred the use of the baths; and removing from Helenopolis to Nicomedia, he took up his residence in the suburbs, and there received Christian baptism. After this he became cheerful; and making his will, appointed his three sons heirs to the empire, allotting to each one of them his portion, in accordance with the arrangements he had made while living. He also granted many privileges to the cities of Rome and Constantinople; and entrusting the custody of his will to that presbyter by whose means Arius had been recalled, and of whom we have already made mention, he charged him to deliver it into no one’s hand, except that of his son Constantius, to whom he had given the sovereignty of the East. After the making of his will, he survived a few days and died. Of his sons none were present at his death. A courier was therefore immediately dispatched into the East, to inform Constantius of his father’s decease.
Sozomen:
Chapter 34. Death of Constantine the Great; he died after Baptism and was buried in the Temple of the Holy Apostles.
The emperor had already divided the empire among his sons, who were styled Cæsars. To Constantine and Constans he awarded the western regions; and to Constantius, the eastern; and as he was indisposed, and required to have recourse to bathing, he repaired for that purpose to Helenopolis, a city of Bithynia. His malady, however, increased, and he went to Nicomedia, and was initiated into holy baptism in one of the suburbs of that city. After the ceremony he was filled with joy, and returned thanks to God. He then confirmed the division of the empire among his sons, according to his former allotment, and bestowed certain privileges on old Rome and on the city named after himself. He placed his testament in the hands of the presbyter who constantly extolled Arius, and who had been recommended to him as a man of virtuous life by his sister Constantia in her last moments, and commanded him with an added oath to deliver it to Constantius on his return, for neither Constantius nor the other Cæsars were with their dying father. After making these arrangements, Constantine survived but a few days; he died in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and the thirty-first of his reign. He was a powerful protector of the Christian religion, and was the first of the emperors who began to be zealous for the Church, and to bestow upon her high benefactions. He was more successful than any other sovereign in all his undertakings; for he formed no design, I am convinced, without God. He was victorious in his wars against the Goths and Sarmatians, and, indeed, in all his military enterprises; and he changed the form of government according to his own mind with so much ease, that he created another senate and another imperial city, to which he gave his own name. He assailed the pagan religion, and in a little while subverted it, although it had prevailed for ages among the princes and the people.
Rufinus:
Church History, book 10:
Chapter 12:
In the meantime, while this vain commotion was going on in Alexandria, the venerable Augustus Constantine died in a suburban villa of Nicomedia in the thirty-first year of his reign, having left his children written in his will as heirs in succession to the Roman world. Because Constantius, to whom he had bequeathed the eastern empire, was not present at the time, it is said that he summoned in secret the presbyter who we said earlier had been recommended by his sister and had thereafter been held in friendship, entrusted to him the will he had written, and bound him by oath to hand it over to no one but Constantius, when he came. Since it was the latter whom the palace eunuchs also supported, news of the emperor’s death was skillfully suppressed until Constantius’s arrival, many who tried to seize power were put down, and the state remained safe and undamaged. But when Constantius arrived, the presbyter restored what had been committed to him. The emperor in his desire for the realm was on account of this favor so bound to him that, anxious as he was to govern others, he cheerfully allowed himself to be governed by him. From that time on, having subjugated the emperor to himself, he began to speak about restoring Arius and to urge him to compel the priests who were reluctant to agree.
Chapter 13:
At that time the priesthood was being exercised in Alexandria by Alexander, in Jerusalem by Maximus the confessor, and in Constantinople likewise by Alexander, as we learn from the writings of Athanasius. Now Eusebius, who was in Nicomedia and about whose pretense in subscribing we spoke earlier, seized his chance: having become friendly with the sovereign through the offices of the presbyter, he bent his efforts to rolling everything back and rendering invalid the council’s actions. He got Arius, who was residing in Alexandria to no purpose, to come, and through imperial edicts had a fresh council summoned to Constantinople. Those who convened were mostly of the party of Arius and Eusebius.
Jerome:
In the 279th Olympiad, AD 337: Constantine, baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia at the very end of his life, falls into the dogma of Arius, and from that time until now seizures of churches and discord of the whole world have followed.
Receiving Baptism While Unrepentent Does Not Save:
While the church accepted baptisms performed by heretics to be valid, and that they could not be repeated, they still maintained that anyone who received baptism while practicing sin and holding to heresies was not cleansed. Constantine could not receive remission of sins while in communion with the Arians and being cut off from communion with orthodox Christians.
How does a murderer cleanse and sanctify the water? How can darkness bless the oil? But if God is present in His sacraments to confirm His words by whomsoever the sacraments may be administered, then both the sacraments of God are everywhere valid, and evil men whom they profit not are everywhere perverse. – Augustine, On Baptism, book 5, chapter 20
Who does not know the prefect [Modestus] of those days, who personally treated us with special arrogance, since he had received his initiation in baptism from the other party or, rather, his destruction? – Gregory of Nazianzus, On St. Basil, chapter 48