Constantine and His Effect on Christianity

When Constantine was battling for control of Rome, he prayed for divine interference and saw a cross, the sign of Christianity. He put a cross on all of his soldiers, and they were victorious, with Constantine crediting his triumph to the Christian God. After Constantine took power in 313 AD, he announced the end of Christians persecutions. Later, in AD YEAR, Constantine converted, and Christianity grew faster than ever. Of all factors that influenced Christianity development, Constantine’s conversion was one of the most important, because he made it acceptable.

While Constantine I ruled the Roman Empire, Christianity became the overriding faith of Rome. 5 While Constantine I had been exposed to Christianity during childhood through his mother, Helena, he was never a true believer. Many Christian sources write that Constantine received a revelation in 312 before the Battle of Milvian Bridge.

The new faith that brought a message and established the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the faith that Constantine adopted as a child from his mother. Christianity during Constantine’s reign established much dominance over other religions and was the main reason for influence of the Christian. Christianity in the Roman world had many perils from gladiatorial battles, to forms of charity which affected the Roman world for good (McGiffert, 34). Charity became with

The History of the Jews in the Roman Empire traces the interaction of Jews and Romans during the period of Roman Empire. Emperor Constantine I is often credited with converting the Roman Empire to Christianity. In fact, though he ended the persecution of Christians and eventually converted, some historians debate the true nature of his faith. When Constantine, the emperor of Rome, became a Christian it meant that the empire became Christian,

The conversion of Roman Emperor, Constantine, marked the start of a reform that would change Rome forever. A once pagan society, Rome was one of the last to grasp the Christianity concept. The start of “Christianizing” Rome began with two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and James, as well as the apostle Paul in the Roman province of Antioch during the first century ("New Women of Color Study Bible" 1742). From this, Christianity spread all over the province, by the time it got to Rome it was not widely practiced. It wasn’t until the reign of Constantine that Christianity took its place as the empires forefront religion. Since Rome was known for its worship and idolizing of gods, how and for what reasons did Constantine transform his subjects’ beliefs? According to authors, Ramsay MacMullen, John Curran, and A.H.M. Jones, a number of tactics were used to sway the masses’ minds. Use of coercion, money, and campaigns aided Constantine’s questionable Christian “cleanse”.

Constantine the ruler of the Roman Empire had been surrounded by many controversies during his reign (Cameron, 14). He was the son of a great warrior and he defeated Manutius a great ruler at Milia Bridge. He had gained much respect and admiration among the Romans as a fair ruler. He emerged as a ruler who supported Christianity and then became popular as a Christian ruler himself. His reign and victory over the Roman Empire is a significant event in the history of Christian religion. With the Edict of Milan in 313 Christianity was recognized as a religion, and the followers were free to practice Christianity without fear. It has been argued that Constantine failed to treat different religions equally as paganism (Cameron, 57). Constantine also sponsored churches, promoted Christians to high government ranks, exempted taxes for the clergy. In the latter days of his rule Constantine had a stricter approach towards Christianity and professed that there is one God, the Christian God. He rewarded building temples into churches. He played a key role in framing important church policies namely The Council of Arles, A.D. 314 and The Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325.

Constantine used Christianity to find a sense of unity and stability throughout Rome. It allowed him to connect with Romans on a more personal level. He made the city of Constantinople a hub for Christianity, and at the First Council of Nicea in 325 CE, he helped to create the Roman Catholic Church and compiled the New Testament. Him emphasizing and opening a door for the population of Rome to convert helped to set up Theodosius I to declare Christianity the “official” religion of Rome in 380 CE. The government of Rome became closely tied to the Church, but they weren't the same thing.

As there were many positives to Constantine's conversion to Christianity there are also some negatives. Which includes; Constantine had a monarchical control over the entire church, as he controlled the Christians in his empire. Constantine even maid the bishops his personal assistants and had to do what he said. Because Constantine favoured Christians many of them were given religious powers and political powers so they owed their life to him. After Constantine abused his power many Christians accepted to the desserts to become harmonic.

Constantine I is credited with adapting Christianity to the Roman Empire, ending persecution of Christians, and eventually converting to the religion himself. However, historians have debated over his motives; some consider them to be politically fueled, while others argue that they were based on personal beliefs. After considering the various changes that were brought upon following the conversion, it is clear that while Constantine’s efforts were primarily strategically rooted, personal beliefs did play a subsidiary role.

People would only do things, if there was money in it for them. In Rome, the rise of Christianity started and people joined to worship Jesus. The Roman government was not a fan of Christianity. For years they tried, and tried to end the religion once and for all, but their attempts were in vain. Most emperors thought Christianity was a barbaric religion, until Emperor Constantine declared that he was Christian. Unlike Constantine, his father believed in the Roman gods, which led him and his father declared a battle on each other. Constantine ended up winning the fight, and made sure the government would stop harassing people for being Christian. After Constantine won, uproar in Rome started over Jesus, and their beliefs. After trying to solve the uproar in Christianity, Constantine changed the location of the Roman capital, and renamed it to Constantinople. He then tried to convince more noble families of Rome to move there. This caused the empire to split into two. The two sides also adapted two different forms of Christianity. They were also separated from each other, which caused them to fall at different times. Augustine then finally decided to put his faith into

From the first century to the fourth, there were very few Christians in Rome. Romans and Jews fully disagreed with Christianity’s ideology, as they believed that it was nothing but a foolish superstition. During Jesus’s life, and even after, there were many factors that aided the spread of Christianity, such as Paul, the martyrs, and Jesus himself. Another one of these factors is the emperor, Constantine. Born as a son to a successful general, and Constantine became one himself.

The rise of universal religions across the continents was greatly influenced by commerce, politics and the political leaders at the time. Political leaders were accepting the teachings and foundations of various faiths, and this allowed for these regions to thrive. In the Roman Empire, the conversion of Emperor Constantine played a key role in the spread of Christianity. Constantine and the people who succeeded him were pleased with the teachings of Christianity, and this allowed for the religion to spread beyond the cities into hinterlands. In addition, the collapse of the Roman Empire further led to the spread of Christianity since the church was the only source of unity around which people coalesced. Also, trade and commerce further facilitated

Constantine’s dealings with Christianity greatly propagated the religion. Hoping that the Christian God would aid him in battle, Constantine became the first Roman emperor to convert to the religion. His conversion marked an end to the persecution Christians faced from Diocletian, and a start to Christianity eventually becoming the state religion of the Empire. Constantine’s dedication to the advancement of Christianity can be best shown through the fact that he is regarded as a saint by Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Although scholars debate whether he was actually a convert to Christianity, Constantine’s legalization of the religion helped to spread Christianity and secured Constantine’s political authority over a large geographic region. During the 30 years of Constantine’s reign, many changes were made to the status, structure, and beliefs of the Christian Church. These changes helped to secure Constantine’s power and ensured both the survival of the Christian faith and its proliferation.

Constantine’s continuous support for Christianity is one of the reasons that it is still a major religion today. I believe that Constantine was a great ruler because of his dedication to the unity of Christianity. Regardless of the different schisms in the religion, Constantine was determined to make Christianity unified. The Edict of Milan shows that Constantine had respect for other religions and allowed them, but preferred Christianity. It also shows that, even