Abstract

Heinz Sproll:
In hoc signo vinces
The Theophany in the Vision of the Cross of Constantine the Great
(FKTh 2021-1, p. 1–26)

In hoc signo vinces (Eus VC I, 28,2). The Theophany in Constantin’s the Great Vision of the Cross: the Real Symbol of the Cross in the Memory Space as ars in the res publica Christiana before the Saddle Period and after it in the Theologumenon of the Social Reign of Christ of Christus Universorum Rex. In this study, the theophany Christi in Constantin’s the Great vision of the cross in hoc signo vinces is understood as a trans-historical interpretation in the sense of Reinhart Koselleck, which represented the memory space of the Occident as ars up to the saddle period. With the temporalization of thinking in the Enlightenment, this theophany was denied any substance-theological meaning and, in the sense of the vis, only a construct, a topos or an imagination was seen therein as a functional equivalent. The papal magisterium, on the other hand, has put the re-ontologizing understanding of this vision of the cross into its own position since the middle of the 19th century. With the introduction of the Feast of Christ the King by Pius XI in 1925 the veneration of Christ the King was anchored in broad ecclesiastical milieus and, together with Catholic social teaching, formed a protective wall against the slumping totalitarianism of the National Socialism and the atheist Communism.