How Did Constantine Legalize Christianity

Constantine was a Roman emperor who ruled during the third century. He was most famous for legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire and is often viewed as the savior of the modern church. Before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine saw God in a dream telling him to fight under the sign of the cross and he would be victorious. By converting to Christianity and ending the persecution of Christians, Constantine allowed Christians to thrive. Constantine took this stand because he had almost completely converted after his vision before the Milvian Bridge and he wanted to support the church as much as possible. This stand is important because it allowed Christianity to thrive and grow and Constantine was the first major figure in

world politics to really get behind Christianity. By being the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity, he set the stage for others to follow in his footsteps.

Also by doing so he created the Byzantine Empire which was a Christian empire and stood well into the 14th century. If Constantine had never legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire than it would not have flourished like it does today.

Constantine took a stand by converting to Christianity and ending the persecution of Christians. Upon his deathbed in Nicomedia Constantine was baptized a Christian by Eusebius of Nicomedia, as it was the custom to be baptized before death (Potter 291). Constantine had always wished to be baptized in the Jordan like Jesus but died before he could. During his reign, he expanded the rights Christians had such as the right to judgment by an episcopal court and that Bishops have the power to act as judge and what decision they make is final (Stephenson 174). Constantine adopted the Chi-rho a Greek version of the cross and a pagan symbol as his official symbol. It appeared on statues, mosaics, and even coins. The Chi-rho being both a cross and a

pagan symbol helped Constantine to blend Christianity with Roman Culture. Even though many people think Constantine instituted Christianity into the lives of the Roman people he actually instituted toleration of Christians (Stephenson 174). He did so by working together with the other Emperor Licinius. In 313 they issued the Edict of Milan which instituted toleration of Christians. Before Constantine came to power there was a mass persecution of Christians instituted by Emperor Diocletian from 284 until 305 A.D. and continued by his successor Galerius until 311. Up until Constantine most Roman emperors had found Christianity a threat to peace in the empire. All Roman citizens had to worship the Roman Gods(except for the Jews) refusing to worship the Gods was punishable by death. The emperors saw Christianity as a threat because it was a quickly growing religion and they refused to worship the Roman Gods. With many people refusing to worship the Gods, the emperors had to persecute them or else more would follow causing mass disruption in the Empire. When Constantine came to power he stopped Christians being persecuted by issuing the Edict of Milan
Constantine took the stand by recognizing Christianity as a religion and helping to get the Church organized.

Constantine was a huge benefactor when it came to the Church. He ordered the construction of many Churches in Rome including St. Paul’s outside the walls and the Basilica of St. Peter in 318 A.D.(Morgan 61-62). Both Churches are built on the spots where both Saints are buried. Constantine wanted to help the church grow and spread throughout the empire. In order to make this easier, he gave tax breaks to priests and made all church land tax free(Morgan 55). He also gave allowances to nuns, monks and others who devoted time to the Church. Even though he never made Christianity the official religion of the empire his conversion was the reason for a massive growth in the Christian population in the 4th century. Even though many people think it was a conversion based on spiritual reasons, it was actually a more political move seeing as many of his soldiers were already Christians and he wanted to be seen as more relatable(Stephenson 14). Also, Constantine wanted to appeal to the large and growing Christian communities within the empire. He feared the Christians would rebel against him if he did not act in their favor. Also, many of his soldiers were converting to Christianity and he did not want a military takeover to take place if he did not act in favor of the Christians. He came to realize through his working with the Church, that there was truth to Christianity and

although his support of Christianity was originally political it later changed to a more spiritual approach as he slowly became more and more Christian. Constantine, when it came to the church, not only gave the Church tax breaks to promote it, but he also helped to organize the way it was run. He organized dioceses and appointed Bishops to lead them. One thousand eight hundred dioceses were created under his watch, with 1000 in greek speaking areas and 800 in latin speaking areas(Grant 160). When it came to getting the population to like the church, he gave people food if they worked on a Church or if they belonged to a congregation. Many people joined this so they would have a steady supply of food in their household(Grant 159). In the year 325, he called the Council of Nicea the first council of Bishops. The council dealt with the Arian controversy, established the date of Easter, addressed the Meletian controversy and composed the Nicene Creed as a way for Christians to fully express their faith and the way their faith should be. The Arian controversy was dealing with the matters stirred up by Arius a presbyter at Alexandria. Arius stated the Jesus because he was created by God is, therefore, subordinate to God, contrary to many Christian beliefs(Grant 168). The date of easter was set to be held on the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The Meletian Controversy was a disagreement on how to treat those Christians who had fallen away from God during the Great Persecution of Christians in Egypt(“Documents Concerning the Meletian Schism” 1). The Nicene Creed was created as a response to the Arian controversy, the Creed clearly states “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God.”(“What we Believe” 1). By stating that the bishops condemned the Arians for their belief that Jesus was not fully human and fully divine at the same time.
The council helped Christianity to be sure of what to believe and what to not believe, even though some people still followed the heresies dismissed at the council many Christians turned back to the right way. Establishing the date of Easter helped people to be sure of when to celebrate and making sure that the entire Church celebrated Easter on the same day. The council of Nicea was the first ecumenical council to be held. This set the tone for how future councils will be held with a large attendance of Bishops and the emperor present. The council also showed how effective they can be when it came to dealing with heresies. With a large number of Bishops condemning a heresy many Christians saw that the Church leaders were against the heresies and therefore did not believe in them. Others saw how effective the councils were in making decisions and the future Popes/Emperors would call a council whenever the Church encountered a problem.
Constantine took the stand because he saw a vision of God telling him to convert and fight under his sign. When he was growing up in Britain, there was a massive movement among the Roman population there to abandon the Pagan ways and become Monotheists even if they did not become Christians(Grant 125). During his time under Diocletian and in his inner circle he witnessed the Great Persecution of Christians and was appalled at how brutal Diocletian was when it came to killing them(Grant 128). Before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in the year 312, he saw Jesus in a dream holding a cross and telling him “Under this sign, you will be victorious”(Stephenson Preface). Immediately he went and had all of his soldiers paint the cross on their shields. Soon after Maxentius made a tactical error in coming out of Rome to face Constantine, Constantine beat Maxentius and became Emperor of Rome.
Constantines stand was important because it allowed Christians everywhere to have no fear of persecution and bolstered the rise of converts to Christianity. When he held the council of Nicea, it allowed for issues to be discussed and dealt with, it dismissed the Arian and Meletian controversies, it gave us a date for easter each year and gave us the Nicene Creed(Potter 235-37). The council also created the tradition of the Pope holding a council whenever they felt an issue was great enough to be discussed by the Bishops. Constantine set up the modern day system of dioceses, with each diocese having a Bishop in charge, he also granted tax benefits to churches and granted special powers to Bishops(Grant 159). By doing so he created cohesiveness in the Church and allowed for the Church to be run easier and more efficiently. Also, he made it easier for the people to know who was in charge of the Church in their area. By allowing his soldiers to worship freely, putting the cross on coins and helping to organize the church Constantine made sure that the persecution of Christians would never happen again because the people were already used to Christians and his Caesar (Apprentice) was tutored to not discriminate against Christians. Constantine established Churches in Rome such as The Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul outside the walls, commemorating both St. Peter and Paul who both were martyred in Rome(Morgan 61-2). During his reign by effectively stopping the persecution of Christians, the amount of Christians in the Empire nearly tripled(Stephenson 100). He also established the city of Constantinople which was the western capital of the Roman empire, was a Christian city and was the capital of the Byzantine empire until the 14th century when it fell to the Ottomans.
Constantine the Great ruled in the Third Century A.D. and was the ruler of the Roman empire. Constantine was the first emperor to issue toleration of Christians and to stop the persecution of Christians. His doing so was mostly political and not spiritual even though he eventually converted on his deathbed. Even though historians will argue that Constantine's treatment of Christians was because he had a vision of God before the Battle of the Milvian bridge, that may have attributed towards it but it was mostly because his troops were mainly Christian and he wanted to maintain their favor. Also, the Christian population was growing rapidly with no sign of slowing down, so Constantine treated them well so he would not have an uprising on his hands. Constantine's ending of the persecution of Christians was vital for the survival of Christianity. Each persecution was getting more brutal and each was getting larger in the amount of Christians killed. Diocletian who ruled 10 years before Constantine had instituted a persecution known as the “Great Persecution”. If Constantine had not stopped the persecution when he did the number Christians in this world would have been nearly wiped out in the years to come. Without Constantine stopping the persecutions of Christians when he had, Christianity would have surely been wiped out and never have been able to flourish.