Religious Intolerance in the Later Roman Empire - Bad request ...

with the cleric Chrestus. Although never familiar in his language with Aelafius, (who
is only known from this document), Constantine ensured that Aelafius knew that they
were both of one mind. 65 Aelafius, Constantine has been informed, was also, like the
emperor, “a worshipper of the Most High God.” 66 Constantine then went on to end
the letter by sharing with Aelafius his hope that the council would settle the dispute
after a full discussion and thus God’s benevolence to the empire, and also to
Constantine himself, would be maintained; further discord could, Constantine feared,
provoke divine wrath. For Constantine the highly personal nature of the dispute,
which he shared with Aelafius, is evidenced by the last sentence: “For only then [when
concord is achieved and heavenly favour secured] shall true and full security be
possible for me…when I am aware that all men worship the most holy God by the due
rites of the catholic religion in harmonious and brotherly observance. Amen. 67
It seems likely that Constantine valued the support of the local Vicar more than
that of the bishop. But also, it perhaps shows how seriously Constantine took the
business of building a consensus amongst his officials and in demonstrating his desire
to do so. In a sense, the support of a bishop in efforts to secure ecclesiastical unity
could be relied upon, whereas the support and opinions of an official, who may well
have been an officer of the previous regime, could not necessarily be relied upon and
had to be cultivated. Part of this cultivation apparently involved sharing what would
perhaps have been some of the emperor’s most intimate concerns (possibly feigned for
effect) about himself and his fears for the empire entrusted to him by God: the
salvation of Constantine as an individual rested upon his correct handling of this
dispute. Constantine evidently thought carefully about who he should share his
intimate sentiments with, as well as to what extent; and, naturally, he increased the
65 See Corcoran (2000) 168, 329-330, on Constantine's form of address to Aelafius; Corcoran points out
that Constantine used dictatio tuae and grav itas tuas when addressing Aelafius, the same terms as for
Prefects and other Vicars
66 Opt. App. 3; Ziwsa 206; Edwards 183: te quoque dei sum m i esse cultorem
67 Opt. App. 3; Ziwsa 206; Edwards 184: tunc enim rev era et plenissim e potero esse securus…cum univ ersos
sensero deito cultu catholicae religionis san ctissim um deum concordi observ antiae fraternitate v enerari.
Am en.
69