At the beginning of the Roman Empire, Christianity did not exist and the majority of Romans were Pagans. It wasn’t until a few hundred years after the execution of Jesus that his followers started gaining support and soon Christian leaders became very influential and started gaining power over the Roman Emperor. “This came in the early 4th century, with Constantine, who was actively involved in Christian policy-making.” (About.com, 2014) For a long time people for persecuted for believing in Christianity but Constantine put a stop to the persecutions. Constantine became Rome’s first Christian Emperor making Rome a Christian Empire and the Christian beliefs clashed with the working of the Empire. The introduction of Christianity into the Roman Empire directly undermined the states previous pagan religion. The Christian belief in only one God “weakened the authority and credibility of the Emperor” (ushistory.org, 2008-2014). Now that the Roman Empire was a Christian Empire, under Constantine’s rule he contributed to another factor for fall of Rome. He split the Roman Empire into the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire and he moved the capital of the Em...
Constantine succeeded Diocletian as ruler of both empires after going to war with the Western Empire’s ruler Maximian due to the fact that they both wanted to be the ruler of the entirety of the Roman Empire. As the ruler of both the Western and Eastern empires, Constantine set out to make the Eastern Empire the dominant one. One aspect of the plan was to give it a stronger capital, so he recreated Byzantium, turning it into Constantinople. The new capital was easier to defend because of its location in a little peninsula surrounded by water . Constantine’s new capital flourished rapidly, becoming richer than Rome itself. With the flourishing of Constantinople came the flourishing of the Eastern Empire itself. From Constantine, to Justinian I, the Eastern Empire managed to keep itself on its feet. This is due in part to the fact that they were so strong enough that invaders went to the Western Empir...
PBS, "The Roman empire in the first century." Last modified 2006. Accessed February 2, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/christians.html.
Constantine’s departure from Rome took with him the political seat of power. With the removal of the political head a power vacuum was created. The body that remained in Rome was that of the Christian church, feeble though it may have been. Rome’s identity was so deeply rooted in the pagan tradition that despite his best efforts Constantine was unable to convert it entirely. The former capital was still home to a powerful group of aristocrats which held on firmly to the roots of paganism. Gradually, with the support of the imperial court and the city’s urban masses, the church was able to gain a foothold in the fifth century (Krautheimer 33).
Learning from his predecessors that divine assistance was needed for a more powerful aid than his military forces, Constantine, Caesar of the Western Roman Empire, went on a quest to find a god he can rely on for protection and assistance. After having a vision of a “trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, bearing the inscription, Conquer by this,” he affirmed it was not the pagan gods but rather, “God, the only begotten Son of the one and only God.” Hence, he determined to devote himself to the readings of the Bible. Leading his army with his newfound allegiance to the Christian God, Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. In the year 313, he issued the Edict of Toleration, ending the persecution of Christians. Although Constantine’s conquest of the Roman Empire appeared to be a positive event for Christianity, the original biblical canon of Christianity manifested into a liberal doctrine of faith that lacked the true devotion of a real disciple.
Throughout the early centuries of the church’s existence, the Roman government suppressed the spread of Christianity. Many emperors did their absolute best to try to stop the Christian populace from spreading with none succeeding (demonstrated by the fact that Christianity is still in existence today). It was not until 322 A.D. when Constantine united all of Europe under his throne that Christianity could be spread without threat of persecution. Under Constantine, Christianity, in terms of numerically, thrived. Councils were held, doctrine developed, and great strides were taken in order to have Christianity be one catholic church. However, in the next couple centuries, the church would grow apart and rulers would fall resulting in mass turmoil throughout the Western Empire. The Roman Catholic Church (as it would later be called) used these events to secure its grip over the entire western empire.
...accepted Roman religion. Constantine was converted to Christianity by his mother, but did not call himself a Christian until he was in his forties. He did not get baptized until shortly before he died. If it was not for Constantine, it is hard telling where Christianity would be at today. He affected all of the people talked about in this paper, plus a lot of others.
Constantine the Great or Constantine I was the emperor of Rome from 306 to 337 AD. He was born Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus May 22, 337 AD. In Naissus, Moesia Superior (present-day Serbia). He was the first emperor of Rome to be Christian. “And thus by this wholesome counsel and most upright provision we thought to arrange that no one whatsoever should be denied the opportunity to give his heart to the observance of the Christian religion, of that religion which he should think best for himself, so that the Supreme Deity, to whose worship we freely yield our hearts may show in all things His usual favor and benevolence”. He was declared emperor a series of civil wars against the emperors Maxentius and Licinius. He gained control of the east and the west. He is important because of his history with the church and also because he founded the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empires capital would later be named Constantinople after Constantine. Constantine is very import to the church because he helped spread Christianity throughout much of Rome. In his early years C...
Of the two campaigns, however, it was the first against Maxentius which guaranteed Constantine an important place in the history of western civilization because he attributed his victory to Jesus Christ. On the evening of October 27th, 312, he had seen the Chi-Rho, the si...
Constantinople was established as the new capital of the Roman Empire in A.D. 330 by Constantine on the Bosporus Strait. Constantinople, or the city of Constantine, was strategically placed on the Bosporus Strait for trade and defense purposes that would later allow for cultural diffusion. As a result of replacing Rome, Constantinople was under immense Roman influence. Their culture as well as architecture was based on Rome’s. Constantinople was occupied with buildings modeled after those in Rome. Along with being the new capital of the Roman Empire and under Roman influence, Constantinople was the center of Roman region. Constantine made Christianity legal and emperor Theodosius made Christianity the empire’s official religion. By moving the capital from Rome to Constantinople, Constantine moved the center of Rome’s religion to Constantinople. But this was Constantinople before the political and religious changes that could have caused the decline of Constantinople if it wasn’t for the influential continuities.
Christianity’s history is filled with division, controversy, and conflict. One of the most important people who contributed to the lasting success of this diverse religion was Constantine. While legalizing Christianity in Roman society, he founded the capital of the eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople. Because of this and other great accomplishments, Constantine appropriately earned the name Constantine the Great.
A new emperor took hold, emperor Constantine. He favored Christianity, made churches, relocated his capital to the Greek city of Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople.A changing Population
The first clear instance where Christianity is seen in Constantine's life is during his campaign against Maxentius. In the spring of 311, when Constantine was marching to Rome to battle against Maxentius, he saw a vision in the sky, a bright cross along with the words "by this sign conquer." Later that night, he had a dream in which God told him to use that sign as a safeguard to use in all of his future battles. Constantine awoke and immediately ordered his troops to inscribe the chi-rho, the sign he saw a combination of the Greek letters chi and rho, onto their shields (Constantine Converts to Christianity 312). Some historians have deemed it more appropriate to consider Constantine a patron of Christianity at this point rather than a convert as it appears that he is using it as a means to conquer and attributes his success to it rather being convicted and committed to Jesus Christ as a true Christian should (Legitimization Under Constantine). Meanwhile, at the same time that Constantine is having holy visions and dreams, Maxentius sought guidance and confirmation from pagan oracles and found a prophecy declaring the "the enemy of the Romans would parish." Emboldened by this prophecy, he left the defensive position of Rome and met Constantine at Milvian Bridge. Constantine was victorious despite having an army about a third of the size of Maxentius'. It is said that Maxentius' army became confused and scattered during the battle. Maxentius was drive...
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.
Constantine went far beyond the Edict of Milan, which extended indulgence of Christians during the persecution. By 313 A.D., Constantine had donated the property of Lateran, where a new cathedral, the Basilica Constantiniana was soon built, to the bishop of Rome. Constantine had an arch erected in his honour at Rome after the defeat of Maxentius ascribed the victory to the “inspiration of the Divinity”. After his victory over Licinius in 324, Constantine wrote that he had come from the farthest shores of Britain as God’s chosen instrument for the suppression of impiety. Later, in a letter he proclaimed that he had come to bring peace and prosperity to all lands, with the help of God. He gave vast amounts of money from his own personal treasury to the churches of God, to help enlarge the sacred buildings and to decorate the sanctuaries. Throughout his life, Constantine ascribed his success to his conversion to Christianity and the support of the Christian