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Constantine's Influence To Religion Essay

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One person that I studied this year is Constantine. Constantine was a very influential being during the period of the early church and served as a model for Christianity. He rose to power when he was elected to be the Roman Emperor by the Roman troops in Britain, and served as the emperor from AD 306-337. During his time as the Roman Emperor, Constantine defeated Maxentius and his army in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and helped Christians in Europe by issuing the Edict of Milan, which granted them the right to worship to all Christians. This helped to unite the Roman Empire, allowing daily activities to run more smoothly and for Constantine to rule as emperor. The empire consisted of people from a lot of different cultures, and he …show more content…

The alliance of Christianity and the Roman Empire allowed for Christianity to become the official religion of the empire in 380, due to Constantine’s efforts. Constantine became influential for his work in the Roman Empire and his efforts to expand Christianity, but he also convened the first ecumenical council at Nicaea in 325. Bishops gathered from all over Europe to meet together, and since they were from different cultures, many of them disagreed with one another. This meeting later declared Arius a heretic and he was condemned. Constantine was very important for the study of the early church because he laid the framework for Christianity to become an official religion later and for it to expand to what it is today. Christianity had been a poor and powerless religion before aligning with the Roman Empire and Constantine, and now it is one of the most dominant and practiced religions in the entire world. Constantine legalized Christianity during his time as a ruler, but he also allowed for the church to become connected with worldly power, which sometimes led to corruption. Through gaining popularity, Christian bishops ranked higher in daily life, and some even served as judges. Also, the church was able to acquire lands to pay for the …show more content…

The meeting accounted for over 300 bishops from Eastern and Western Europe, although 1800 bishops were invited, but could not make the journey because it was very far from their homeland. This led to a serious debate because of the extensive backgrounds these bishops were from. This council meeting established the equality of the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father, and proved that Jesus was both human and divine. Bishops discussed the beliefs of Arianism and how they seemed to be false, leading to Arius’s condemnation and then exile. Their beliefs were inconsistent with the traditional beliefs of the Catholic Church, as they believed saying Jesus was divine would take something away from God. People who followed Arianism were being taught ideas that were not true and led them to not knowing that Jesus was divine and that God could take the form of a human being. The Nicene Creed was produced at the council meeting, which incorporated the true identity of Jesus. This meeting was a turning point for Christianity and the Nicene Creed became a symbol for the religion for years to come. The Nicene Creed gave people a better understanding of the meaning of the Holy Trinity as well. Even today, the Nicene Creed is still recited at Mass and its significance has carried on for thousands of

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