What did Constantine say about Easter?
Our most common source of information on Constantine’s beliefs is the writings of Eusebius. Few people question Eusebius’ writings since they are just pure history. Or are they just history? I have learned through years of study and research that history is relative. History is always told from the viewpoint of the one writing the history. Each writer’s viewpoint is influenced by his experiences, beliefs, and passions. History is very important but it must be filtered through consistency with other writings and the discoveries of archaeology.
David L. Dungan (1936 – 2008) was a professor at the University of Tennessee. He feels Eusebius’ view of Constantine was inconsistent with other historical accounts.[1] So, as we look at Eusebius’ writings let’s be careful to make sure we understand it in it’s context. Eusebius’ seems to have been one of the most influential voices in theology of his day. It is not clear how much influence Eusebius had with Constantine. It is recorded that the first time Eusebius talked with Constantine was at the Council of Nicaea, of which Eusebius the nominal host. [2] Later Constantine asked Eusebius to produce fifty Bibles for his church at Constantinople.
Eusebius records in his “The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine” Constantine’s dealings with the disputes concerning Easter. In Book III Chapter V Eusebius states that a “virulent disorder had existed, and long afflicted the Church; I mean the difference respecting the salutary feast of Easter. (1) For while one party asserted that the Jewish custom should be adhered to, the other affirmed that the exact recurrence of the period should be observed without following the authority of those who were in error, and strangers to gospel grace.”[3] Eusebius clearly had a passionate hatred for the Jews. He reports that there were two differing ways that Easter was celebrated: The way the Jews observed it and the new way that Christians celebrated it.
As a result of the controversy, Constantine called the Council of Nicaea. At this council of approximately 300 bishops meeting northeast of Constantinople, Constantine addressed several controversies in the church. According to Eusebius, Constantine was the only one on earth who could settle this dispute over the issue of how and when to celebrate Easter. “No one appeared who was capable of devising a remedy for the evil, because the controversy continued equally balanced between both parties. To God alone, the Almighty, was the healing of these differences an easy task; and Constantine appeared to be the only one on earth capable of being his minister for this good end.”[4]
Eusebius quotes Constantine’s words at the council of Nicaea concerning the celebration of Easter. Constantine said, “First of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. For we have it in our power, if we abandon their custom, to prolong the due observance of this ordinance to future ages, by a truer order, which we have preserved from the very day of the passion until the present time. Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way.”
This position seems to have been the position of the church since Constantine first spoke these words in Greek to the council. Some obvious questions come to my mind when I read such a statement.
1. Where does God’s Word say that Jesus gave us a different way of celebrating His resurrection? The standard theological defense comes from Jesus’ words at the “Last Supper.” The dinner Christ observed with His disciples in the Upper Room was the Seder meal which Jews observe the night before Passover begins. Keeping of the Seder meal was instituted by God in Exodus 12 when He delivered His children from Egypt. Notice I said His children, not Jews or Israelites. Those who did not believe God and did not obey His command about the slaying of the Passover lamb were not spared the death of their firstborn. There were also many Egyptians who did believe and left Egypt with the Israelites. God told Moses if they would keep the Passover they would be part of His people. [5] When Jesus kept the Seder meal with His disciples the night before His crucifixion, He commanded His disciples to remember Him when they kept the Seder meal because He is the fulfillment of the Seder meal. When He shared the grape juice with His disciples at that Seder meal He taught them “this cup is the New Covenant in my blood.” He was instructing them to keep observing the Seder meal each year as God had instructed but with His death on the cross He is instituting a change in the way His children worship. The change is that the Holy Spirit no longer resides in the Holy of Holies but now in the heart of His children.[6]
2. Who says the Jews have “blindness of soul” and have “defiled their hands with enormous sin?” It is clear that Constantine had a deep-seated hatred for the Jews. His accusations against the Jews are unwarranted and unfounded. Nowhere does God say that He has rejected the Jews. Even if God had rejected the Jews (which He has not nor ever will) it would not be justification for God changing his clear mandates in His Word. The time and method of celebrating the Passover are clear instructions in God’s Word which He has never changed.
3. Who gave Constantine and the Council of Nicaea the power to change the holiest day of the year? God ordained the celebration of Passover. No man can change that, not even Constantine. This council had no power from God. It was simply a council convened and approved by man. It cannot change God’s Word! Constantine took it upon himself in 321 to standardize Christian worship on Sun Day. This was the day of worship to the Roman Sun God. The pagans were outraged that Christians would be worshipping God on their day of worship to Baal.[7]
There is one other interesting fact that I have found in my study of Eusebius’ biography of Constantine: He did not call the feast in question “Easter.” The English translation we use calls the feast Easter. Constantine spoke to the Council at Nicaea in Greek and Latin. The Greek version of Eusebius’ “The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine” never uses the title “Easter.” The Greek uses the words “Feast of Salvation.” In fact, he even calls it Passover in the Greek.[8] That is exactly what the Early Church celebrated each year. Passover is the story about salvation. It recounts the story of God’s deliverance of His people from their bondage in Egypt. The Passover story pictures the deliverance that God would one day bring through the Messiah. When Jesus (Yeshua) observed the Seder meal with His disciples the night before He was crucified, He declared to them the He is the Messiah who came to deliver us! It is so simple yet we miss the beautiful picture that God has placed in front of us. The church seems so consumed with its traditions instituted by Constantine and the Council of Nicaea that it cannot see the clear teachings God has placed right in front of us.
It appears that it was shortly after the Council of Nicaea that the church stopped calling the holiest day of the year Passover and started referring to it as Easter. Some people argue that the Bible refers to this holiday as Easter in Acts 12:4. I feel the King James Bible is a very accurate translation… but it is just a translation. Here the KJV uses the word Easter but the Greek is Pascha. Pascha is the Greek word for Passover. “Easter” is never used in the Greek Bible
Easter is the English version of Ishtar, Astarte, Ashtaroth, and Ashtoreth. All these names refer to the same person. This is the pagan wife of Baal, the sun god. Why has the church left the practice of celebrating the Passover (as it did until 325) and now moved to celebrating the goddess Easter? If we are going to call ourselves children of God then let’s worship Him on the day He has set forth in His Word and worship in the manner in which He commands us to worship.
© Dr. Steven L. Smith 2015
[1] David L. Dungan, Constantine’s Bible, (Fortress Press, Minneapolis), p. 94. See footnote 1.
[2] Ibid. 111.
[3] Eusebius of Caesarea, “The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine”, the Bagster translation, revised by Ernest Cushing Richardson. www. Legacy.fordham.edu. 2015.
[4] Ibid, Book III, Chapter V.
[5] Numbers 9:14
[6] I Corinthians 6:19, Matthew 27:51, Hebrews 10:20
[7] Dungan, 114.
[8] Eusebius, Book III, Chapter XVIII.
David L. Dungan (1936 – 2008) was a professor at the University of Tennessee. He feels Eusebius’ view of Constantine was inconsistent with other historical accounts.[1] So, as we look at Eusebius’ writings let’s be careful to make sure we understand it in it’s context. Eusebius’ seems to have been one of the most influential voices in theology of his day. It is not clear how much influence Eusebius had with Constantine. It is recorded that the first time Eusebius talked with Constantine was at the Council of Nicaea, of which Eusebius the nominal host. [2] Later Constantine asked Eusebius to produce fifty Bibles for his church at Constantinople.
Eusebius records in his “The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine” Constantine’s dealings with the disputes concerning Easter. In Book III Chapter V Eusebius states that a “virulent disorder had existed, and long afflicted the Church; I mean the difference respecting the salutary feast of Easter. (1) For while one party asserted that the Jewish custom should be adhered to, the other affirmed that the exact recurrence of the period should be observed without following the authority of those who were in error, and strangers to gospel grace.”[3] Eusebius clearly had a passionate hatred for the Jews. He reports that there were two differing ways that Easter was celebrated: The way the Jews observed it and the new way that Christians celebrated it.
As a result of the controversy, Constantine called the Council of Nicaea. At this council of approximately 300 bishops meeting northeast of Constantinople, Constantine addressed several controversies in the church. According to Eusebius, Constantine was the only one on earth who could settle this dispute over the issue of how and when to celebrate Easter. “No one appeared who was capable of devising a remedy for the evil, because the controversy continued equally balanced between both parties. To God alone, the Almighty, was the healing of these differences an easy task; and Constantine appeared to be the only one on earth capable of being his minister for this good end.”[4]
Eusebius quotes Constantine’s words at the council of Nicaea concerning the celebration of Easter. Constantine said, “First of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. For we have it in our power, if we abandon their custom, to prolong the due observance of this ordinance to future ages, by a truer order, which we have preserved from the very day of the passion until the present time. Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way.”
This position seems to have been the position of the church since Constantine first spoke these words in Greek to the council. Some obvious questions come to my mind when I read such a statement.
1. Where does God’s Word say that Jesus gave us a different way of celebrating His resurrection? The standard theological defense comes from Jesus’ words at the “Last Supper.” The dinner Christ observed with His disciples in the Upper Room was the Seder meal which Jews observe the night before Passover begins. Keeping of the Seder meal was instituted by God in Exodus 12 when He delivered His children from Egypt. Notice I said His children, not Jews or Israelites. Those who did not believe God and did not obey His command about the slaying of the Passover lamb were not spared the death of their firstborn. There were also many Egyptians who did believe and left Egypt with the Israelites. God told Moses if they would keep the Passover they would be part of His people. [5] When Jesus kept the Seder meal with His disciples the night before His crucifixion, He commanded His disciples to remember Him when they kept the Seder meal because He is the fulfillment of the Seder meal. When He shared the grape juice with His disciples at that Seder meal He taught them “this cup is the New Covenant in my blood.” He was instructing them to keep observing the Seder meal each year as God had instructed but with His death on the cross He is instituting a change in the way His children worship. The change is that the Holy Spirit no longer resides in the Holy of Holies but now in the heart of His children.[6]
2. Who says the Jews have “blindness of soul” and have “defiled their hands with enormous sin?” It is clear that Constantine had a deep-seated hatred for the Jews. His accusations against the Jews are unwarranted and unfounded. Nowhere does God say that He has rejected the Jews. Even if God had rejected the Jews (which He has not nor ever will) it would not be justification for God changing his clear mandates in His Word. The time and method of celebrating the Passover are clear instructions in God’s Word which He has never changed.
3. Who gave Constantine and the Council of Nicaea the power to change the holiest day of the year? God ordained the celebration of Passover. No man can change that, not even Constantine. This council had no power from God. It was simply a council convened and approved by man. It cannot change God’s Word! Constantine took it upon himself in 321 to standardize Christian worship on Sun Day. This was the day of worship to the Roman Sun God. The pagans were outraged that Christians would be worshipping God on their day of worship to Baal.[7]
There is one other interesting fact that I have found in my study of Eusebius’ biography of Constantine: He did not call the feast in question “Easter.” The English translation we use calls the feast Easter. Constantine spoke to the Council at Nicaea in Greek and Latin. The Greek version of Eusebius’ “The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine” never uses the title “Easter.” The Greek uses the words “Feast of Salvation.” In fact, he even calls it Passover in the Greek.[8] That is exactly what the Early Church celebrated each year. Passover is the story about salvation. It recounts the story of God’s deliverance of His people from their bondage in Egypt. The Passover story pictures the deliverance that God would one day bring through the Messiah. When Jesus (Yeshua) observed the Seder meal with His disciples the night before He was crucified, He declared to them the He is the Messiah who came to deliver us! It is so simple yet we miss the beautiful picture that God has placed in front of us. The church seems so consumed with its traditions instituted by Constantine and the Council of Nicaea that it cannot see the clear teachings God has placed right in front of us.
It appears that it was shortly after the Council of Nicaea that the church stopped calling the holiest day of the year Passover and started referring to it as Easter. Some people argue that the Bible refers to this holiday as Easter in Acts 12:4. I feel the King James Bible is a very accurate translation… but it is just a translation. Here the KJV uses the word Easter but the Greek is Pascha. Pascha is the Greek word for Passover. “Easter” is never used in the Greek Bible
Easter is the English version of Ishtar, Astarte, Ashtaroth, and Ashtoreth. All these names refer to the same person. This is the pagan wife of Baal, the sun god. Why has the church left the practice of celebrating the Passover (as it did until 325) and now moved to celebrating the goddess Easter? If we are going to call ourselves children of God then let’s worship Him on the day He has set forth in His Word and worship in the manner in which He commands us to worship.
© Dr. Steven L. Smith 2015
[1] David L. Dungan, Constantine’s Bible, (Fortress Press, Minneapolis), p. 94. See footnote 1.
[2] Ibid. 111.
[3] Eusebius of Caesarea, “The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine”, the Bagster translation, revised by Ernest Cushing Richardson. www. Legacy.fordham.edu. 2015.
[4] Ibid, Book III, Chapter V.
[5] Numbers 9:14
[6] I Corinthians 6:19, Matthew 27:51, Hebrews 10:20
[7] Dungan, 114.
[8] Eusebius, Book III, Chapter XVIII.