Constantine
Constantine was not a religious man. In fact, most of his cares rest upon his power over the Roman Empire and the Roman Empire's power over the rest of the world. He stood by any god or force that would gain him victory in the battlefield or prosperity at home. (Sayers 280) He did not look at anything religious with an inner reflection to his own feelings or ideas but with a goal or a need with which the religious scheme could provide him. He would back any person of any religion for loyalty and cooperation. Reasons such as these lead to the belief that Constantine converted and encouraged Christianity in the Roman Empire as a means of propagating power, rather than because of strong religious belief on his part. (Sayers 281) According to Eusebius, Constantine's personal biographer and close friend, Constantine was born between AD 273 and 275 in the city of Naissus (a city in the Balkan Islands). (Varner 1) He was enrolled in the military at an early age and thus lacked a formal education. As a teenager he was enrolled in a military group known as the Protectors. (Varner 21) Protectors were used to guard high-ranking officials and including the emperor himself. He was not religious as a young man, concerned only with politics an
His father was promoted to the rank of Caesar, or deputy emperor, in AD 293, thus Constantine was destined to be emperor. The church was also far more organized and powerful than any one pagan institution and Constantine knew he could benefit from a friendship or even alliance. (Lieu 1) Furthermore, it ended the persecution of the Christians and ensuring them the right to build churches and conduct prayers. (Varner 20-24) Constantine knew that Christian people were numerous in places all over the empire and that the persecutions of these people only made the empire weaker. (Varner 2) After his fathers promotion Constantine served in Augustus Maximian's court in the west. However he still authorized the destruction of churches and the removal of land and other possessions from Christian families. (Sayers 282) He did not incorporate Christian virtue into his speeches. He even claimed that he had converted from paganism to Christianity. (Grant 99) His legacy, lie or not, was the single biggest step in the history of Christianity, the backbone of western civilazation. The Christians were extremely grateful to Constantine for his tolerance towards their religion and he soon gained the support and the friendship of Bishops throughout the empire. He placed Bishops in his court who would readily agree with him, supporting his decisions because of their gratefulness for his approval of Christianity in the empire. (Grant 98) This was also not recorded in any of the history of Christianity books that exist. His father had not punished the Christians as much as previous emperors because his wife and other members of the family may have been Christians.
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