Symmachia cesarstwa rzymskiego z Bogiem chrześcijan (IV-VI wiek). T. 1. „Niezwykła przemiana" – narodziny nowej epoki. Byzantina Lodziensia XXVII
The Symmachia of the Roman Empire with the God of Christians (3rd – 6th Century AD), vol. 1. An Extraordinary Change: The Birth of a New Era. Byzantina Lodziensia XXVII

Author(s): Sławomir Bralewski
Subject(s): History, Ancient World, Theology and Religion, History of Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: persecution of Christians;Constantine the Great;monasticism;John Chrysostom;Socrates of Constantinople;Salminius Hermias Sozomenus;Christians
Summary/Abstract: Since the 4th century AD, a firm conviction existed among Christians not only regarding the breakthrough occasioned in the world by the revelation of Jesus Christ, but also as to that associated with the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. Contemporary scribes often referred to the “extraordinary” or “miraculous transformation” that had happened to the world by virtue of God's arrangement, and had led to the abandonment of both the previous religion and native traditions. Christians believed that it had all taken place as a result of the alliance of Emperor Constantine I with the Supreme God – the emperor’s guardian and ally. This book is devoted to some aspects of this particular alliance, or symmachia, in which the military dimension played a significant (and initially even dominant) role. It is the first part of the two-volume dissertation and contains reflections on the broadly understood genesis of the alliance of the Roman Empire (Imperium Romanum) with the God of Christians. It contains deliberation on the search for the Supreme God by Constantine, the ideology of victory adhered to by the rulers, or the birth of monasticism treated as a new (and typical at the time) way of practising the love of wisdom, i.e. a kind of new philosophy that would replace the philosophy of the previous era. “This publication is a scientific work on the history of Christian antiquity. S. Bralewski has devoted many years to exploring the subject, and in that time has managed to consolidate his position as a respected researcher in the field of Christian antiquity. The subject of the dissertation has an international and interdisciplinary character. It is well-chosen and bespeaks the author's desire to present his readers with an original approach to the long-researched topic. This book will likely be of considerable interest to experts and lovers of antiquity alike, which suggests it is going to fare very well in bookstores.”

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