New Rome= Constantinople

[shmuel-the-confessor]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and as you can probably see- this is my first post.

I have a question that has been bugging me all week.

If Rome was the centre and heart of universal Christianity in the early Church, why did Constantine move the Church from Rome to Constantinople?

[DavidObeid]

Hi shmuel,

Welcome to TCF. I'll do some research and get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

[DavidObeid]

I'm still working on the answer Shmuel, but in the mean time, it occurred to me to point out that Rome wasn't the heart and centre because it was the capital of the Empire, but because St. Peter was it's Bishop when he died. It wasn't the pre-eminence of the city that made it the centre, but the pre-eminence of it's bishop.

Nobody could move St. Peter's last See any more than they could turn back time and change where he was Bishop before he died.

[DavidObeid]

Hi Shmuel,

Here's the answer I got back from my friend Robert Haddad.


The short answer is that Constantine didn’t “move the Church from Rome to Constantinople.”

Constantine founded a new city in AD 330 which in his great humility he named after himself. This city was unique because it was the first city to be founded allowing Christian churches only. All pagan temples were banned.

Constantine made this new city and not Rome his administrative capital. This was not a new precedent as Diocletian had made Nicomedia his capital and other Augusti and Caesars during the period of the Tetrarchy (AD 281- 311) had their respective capitals in cities other than Rome, for example Milan, Rimini. Constantine’s father, Constantius, as Caesar of the West had his capital in York in Briton.

Because Constantine moved his capital to Constantinople it was natural that the Church in that same city would have a high profile. But the Pope always remained in Rome and primacy of the Church remained with him. This primacy was acknowledged by the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. This same Council placed the See of Constantinople second in authority and honour to Rome (much to the anger of the Alexandrians who were displaced to third despite being at the forefront in the struggles against Arianism which had dominated the church in Constantinople for decades).

[shmuel-the-confessor]

Thanks for clearing that up David.