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The effect of Constantine's christianization of the church
Rise and spread of Christianity
The significance of Constantine the Great converting to Christianity
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Historians still question why Emperor Constantine decided to get baptized on his deathbed, converting him to a Christian just minutes before his passing- but his decision changed the fate of Christianity forever. In the Roman Empire, the only option was the belief in the Greek-Roman Gods, such as Apollo. Those who believed in Christianity were victimized for their beliefs, often killed, and were considered martyrs. However, after Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, it inspired more people to believe in Jesus Christ. Christianity became the foundation for Byzantine culture, and established order and control in the empire until its collapse in the 15th century.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, a new empire, the Byzantine Empire, arose out of the eastern half of Byzantium. Byzantium stood partway along the straits between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. It occupied the tip of a small peninsula, with a body of water to the South called the Sea of Marmara, which led to a passage called the Bosporus. The site that Constantine chose to be the new capital was a town called ...
While Rome was being ramp sacked from Germanic and other barbaric groups, the imperial power shifted to the eastern part of the Roman Empire, where the center city was Byzantium (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 354, 2009). Between 324 and 330 BCE, Constantine the Great became emperor and rebuilt the city and renamed it after himself (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 354, 2009). After Constantine died, power shifted to Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora in 527 BCE (Craig/Graham/Kagan/Ozment /Turner, 354, 2009).
Roman Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE as a continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. The characteristics of the empire led to the modern definition of “Byzantine,” which means “strangely complicated.” This was true, as in the Byzantine Empire was very chaotic, complex, and strange at times, but it was very massive and influential worldwide. The empire heavily influenced modern religion, laws, and engineering making it worthwhile learning about the empire.
When he won the throne, similar to Emperor Han Wudi’s conversion to Confucianism in Han Dynasty China, converted to Christianity. Because of this conversion, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Christian way became very involved in government in the Roman Empire. Even though Christianity’s message is a sense of universal love, because of it intolerance of other religions, there was persecutions of pagans that lead to death. It was not until 450 CE. that a small majority of the Roman Empire was Christian. There ultimately was a split in the empire between the east and the west. The Western Empire struggled on its survival unlike the eastern Empire. The Eastern Empire strived because it stayed involved in Roman politics, administration, and armies. Because the east stayed involved within the government, they were able to last longer. The east was able to spread Christianity more effectively than that of the
As the greatest empire in the western world began to crumble one city at a time, the leader of the Roman Empire, Constantine, under pressure from external and internal sources moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople around 330 AD. The movement of the capital was after his conversion to Christianity in 312 AD, a growing religion throughout the empire despite being officially illegal. Constantine was not the devote saint that the church may speak of today, “from 312-320 Constantine was tolerant of paganism, keeping pagan gods on coins and retaining his pagan high priest title "Pontifex Maximus" in order to maintain popularity with his subjects, possibly indicating that he never understood the theology of Christianity” (Ferguson & Grupp, 1998). The first Christian Emperor claimed to have converted after a victorious battle with his brother and there are many that corroborate this story it appears highly suspicious to only promote Christian ideals and worship. Constantine was not even the Emperor that made Christianity the religion of the Roman people, but simply permitted religiou...
Byzantine culture begins with the establishment of the city Constantinople by Emperor Constantine in 330 AD. This is considered by some historians to be the beginning of Byzantium, the term for the Eastern Roman Empire. Other historians argue that Byzantium was only established after the fall of the empire in the West in 476 (Loverance 6). The Byzantines continued many Roman traditions, but as time went on, Byzantine culture became more and more distant from that of the Romans.
Both the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim Empire specifically were two very prominent societies that gained popularity from the fourth to the sixth century. Though the Byzantine and Muslim empires rose at the same time they were extremely different in ways of having separate rulers, beliefs, and people, however they were both greatly influenced by the Roman Empire. They both resembled in ways of their religion, art, and law. They Byzantine Empire was centered around the city of Constantinople and managed to remain in power for more than 1000 years. At the height of their power they were the most powerful both economically and militarily in...
Constantine I (February 27, 280 C.E.- May 22, 337 C.E.), also known as Constantine the Great, was the first Roman emperor to not only abolish persecution of Christians, but he was also the first to convert to Christianity in 312 A.D. Around 200 years later, in 496 A.D. Clovis I (466 C.E.- 511 C.E.), the King of the Franks, converted to Christianity, in which he was called a “new Constantine” . Constantine and Clovis’ reign through Christianity were alike in the way that they decided to convert. However, the two emperors were different in their commitment to God and their impacts on the church and state.
There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one interweaved with the other. Many even blame the initiation of Christianity in 337 AD by Constantine the Great as the definitive cause while others blame it on increases in unemployment, inflation, military expenditure and slave labour while others blame it on the ethical issues such the decline in morals, the lack of discipline of the armies and the political corruption within the Empire. Three major contributions that led to the collapse of the once great empire were: the heavy military spending in order to expand the Empire, the over-reliance on slave labour which led to an increase in unemployment, and the political corruption and abuse of power by the Praetorian Guard leading to the unfair selection of many disreputable emperors and the assassination of those not favoured by the Guard.
The purpose of this essay is to examine the barriers to the spread of Christianity during the Roman Empire. The relationship between Christians, Jews, and the Roman Empire was quite complicated. The Romans became involved with the Jews in 63 B.C.E. as part of their domination of the eastern Mediterranean. Christianity originated 6 B.C.E – 29 C. E. by a Palestinian Jew named Jesus, proclaiming to be the Messiah. The NIV Bible is the primary source for this essay. Leviticus from the Old Testament is written as a series of rituals or laws given to Moses by God. The book of Acts, I Corinthians and Galatians are from the New Testament. Acts was written by Luke, one of Jesus’ disciples, and outlines the spread of Christianity. I Corinthians and Galatians are letters to the early church written by Paul, a leader and missionary. The authors of the books of the Bible record eye witness accounts and revelations from God. The World History I textbook and The Survey of World History/Civilization online content are secondary sources used to connect events in the Bible to historical events during the Roman Empire. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire despite opposition from the Jews, the Romans, and problems with the early church.
As the Imperial system gained hold, it was common practice for the Emperors to accept divine honors before their deaths. These living gods, in some cases, required sacrificial rituals as signs of loyalty and ingrained themselves with the older more traditional pagan gods. The requirement of a sacrifice to the emperor, as well as the forced belief in the complete pantheon became a significant source of conflict with early Christians. As Christians refused to worship the emperor as a god, persecution of the Christians and conflict with the cult was a constant source of strife. Emperor worship would continue until late in the western Empire until the reign of Constantine. In the early 4th century AD, Constantine either converted to Christianity or made it an acceptable part of Roman religion, eliminating the emperor deification altogether. Later Emperors such as Julian attempted to revive the old ways, but the deeply rooted Mithraism, and Christian cults combined were firmly set within Roman society. By 392 AD, Emperor Theodosius I banned the practice of pagan religions in Rome altogether and Christianity was, without question, the official religion of the state.
Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.
Much of past civilizations have endured many failures and triumphs throughout their existence. In the third century, there were many civilizations that started to flourish. One of these civilizations that started to expand was the Byzantine civilization. The Byzantine civilization, also regarded as Byzantium, was part of the Roman Empire which was divided in 395 AD. Byzantium had shared the same attitude, as the Roman Empire, toward exercising its authority over its citizens and throughout its empire. The Islamic civilization had started thrive in the fifth century. The Islamic civilization was unified together as unison by Islam and it has expanded its civilization throughout parts of Europe through jihad. Because of their expansions throughout parts of Europe, they shared various similarities which include their political system, social structure, and economy.
Christianity became more prevalent in Roman society as time went on because it appealed to Rome and what Roman ideals were. In the beginning Romans were skeptical of changing religion, but as the years went by, the Romans adopted and changed. Christianity appealed to the Roman ideals, as it gave certain perks that their current polytheistic religion did not offer to them. The emperors of Rome had many different views on Christianity; some emperors encouraged change, and others were more traditional and wanted to stick to their current, polytheistic religion. Roman views on Christianity have changed drastically from the early years of the Roman Empire to the 4th century, as well as its appeal to the ordinary Roman citizen.
Constantine the Great, first Christian Emperor, originator of Constantinople, creator of the Byzantine Empire, military conqueror, and honored saint, has been labeled by many the most instrumental emperor of the Roman Empire. Constantine played a crucial role in the development of Europe during the Middle Ages, and founded Christianity as the formal religion of the Roman Empire. His dynamic yet effective predominance laid the infrastructure of European development. From his humble beginnings, to his command of the Roman Empire, to his final days, Constantine’s impact on world history and Christianity has left behind an unforgettable legacy. He was described by Eusebius as “such an emperor as all history records not.” Ware compared him to, “a watershed in the history of the Church.” Additionally, Meyendorff states, “No single human being in history has contributed to the conversion of so many to the Christian faith.” Norwich declared that “No ruler in all of history has ever more fully merited his title of ‘the Great’…Constantine has serious claim to be considered the most influential man in all of history.” Some of Constantine’s notable acts in the history of Christianity was his calling of the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, his institution of freedom for Christianity with the Edict of Milan, and the relocation of the capital of empire from Rome to Constantinople.
The city of Istanbul was originally known as Constantinople back in the time of the Byzantine Empire Days. Then, in 1453, Constantinople became part of Ottoman Empire and over the years, the name of the city was changed to Istanbul. Since both empires occupied Istanbul at one point, its leaders brought over many rich and diverse cultures, ideas, and many architectural designs. This beautiful city is separated by the Bosphorus Strait which is the main waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, that separates Europe from Asia.