Constantine The Great

• The advent of Christianity and the role of Church in dark ages o Thesis Statement: How the religious policies of Constantine I unified the Roman Empire and expanded Christianity.

1. Introduction: The behavior of people toward government and state affairs is mostly swayed by their religious beliefs. Religion and government are the two institutions that have capability to mold the society accordingly and unite the empire. The history of establishment of Christianity to its being the state religion of the Roman Empire was led by the efforts and strategies of different rulers of Roman Empire, but distinguished role was played by the sole rule of Constantine the Great (306-337 AD). Here we will analyze the impact of religious policies introduced

The pragmatism in Edict of Milan(313 CE) : Constantine I had born at the time of political chaos and unstable situation in the Roman Empire. There had been a frequent turmoil of almost fifteen emperors, all of whom vanished within a short interval of time. Therefore, witnessing the period, Constantine’s inclination towards the Christianity concerned the balanced and stable state through religious policies. His critical view to look up at Christianity as a success formula is evident in his governmental policies, one which is the “The Edict of Milan”. During the year of 313 CE, Constantine met his contender Licinius at Milan to negotiate on the policies associated to the Christian community. The rationality that lied behind the agreement was to eliminate the persecutions that were being faced by the Christians since long ago and to abolish the strict practices against them . Thus, the agreement allowed the religious freedom to all religious, slightly favoring Christianity. The Edict of Milan was indeed a milestone in legitimizing Christianity as official religion of the state in the years to come. At the time of agreement Constantine was still a pagan but he did not reduce his efforts to popularize Christianity. A year after the agreement, Licinius had started attacking churches. In response to this, Constantine defended the position of Christianity and made a counter-attack on him. Christians were granted the fundamental right to practice their religious and the right

The first Ecumenical Council: A dispute over the nature of Christ had started at the time of Constantine and had become critical. The bishop of Alexandria considered God and Christ to be same while Arius did not agree, arguing that Christ and God are not the same substance. Common man became involved in the issue making the situation more critical and finally fights broke out on the streets and issue demanded attention. It was this point of time when Constantine called the first ever ecumenical council that called bishops from all over the World to end the dispute through debates. The council took place at Nicaea and declared Nicene Christianity to be authentic and orthodox in 325 AD. Constantine had flourished the Roman Empire through the established of Christianity. Earlier when he started supporting the religion, there were many sects around. He resolved the disputes over the sects of Christianity and made Nicene Christianity, the true belief to be held. The Arian controversy was not just a dispute over a belief of Christianity but a threat to the unity of Roman Empire. Constantine’s main concern lied in the discord and disharmony of church which he considered to be war greater than any other and therefore resolved the matter through his intellectual