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He granted state patronage to the Church, provided substantial stipends to its clergy and exempted them from taxes, and embarked on a campaign of building magnificent churches across the empire. The new city of Constantinople was to be a Christian city, devoid of the usual pagan temples. Along with Constantine's personal extravagance, this required the imposition of swingeing taxes on the middle classes, as the landed classes were favoured. Lactantius, a Christian who usually supported Constantine, said that as the fatal time for taxation approached, all the towns were seen in tears and grief. The scourge and the rack were used against those whose extreme poverty could not support this unjust tax. Mothers sold their children, and fathers prostituted their daughters to pay the tax.
In addition to the state patronage and support Constantine provided for the Christian Church, he began the long persecution of the pagan temples. Across the empire many were demolished on various pretexts, to make way for Christian churches. He sent Christians into the temples to plunder them for the state treasury and allowed the Church to enrich itself from some of the plunder. The temples were being weakened as the churches prospered.
Another AnswerConstantine the Great even commissioned the construction of several grand cathedrals.
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CoachHe didn't. Constantine was not on a conversion mission. All he did was make Christianity legal along with all the other religions of the time. It is true that Constantine was favorable to the Christians but politics played a part there. It was Theodosius who made Christianity mandatory for all in the year 380.
He did not persecute them in the Roman Empire. He favoured them: would try not to hire pagans, gave them the sabbath off, gives a large sum of money to churches, reinstated churches lost in the great purge.
Constantine attributed his conversion to Christianity to the vision he saw in the sky, presumably of stars (or other stellar objects) that formed the shape of a cross or something cross-like. This happened just before the battle of the Milvian Bridge, in 312.
Beyond reporting what he claimed, it is only speculation. However, Constantine's actions after his victory at Milvian Bridge, over the usurper Maxentius, leads us to think that Constantine believed that his safety as emperor, and the safety of the empire as a whole, depended upon the Christian god, known to us simply as God.
If we seek for the underlying reasons for his conversion, it is notable that his father, Caesar and then Emperor Constantius I, was a very reluctant persecutor, despite the pressure that would have been put on him by his colleagues in the Tetrarchy (two (equal) emperors and two (subordinate) caesars) during the so-called Great Persecution. It is possible that Constantius' wife (and Constantine's mother), Helena, was already a Christian when she married Constantius.
It is also notable that Constantine received much of his education in Nicomedia, in the province of Bithynia in Anatolia (modern Turkey), and Christianity was already very strong in that region. Here Christianity is likely to have been given a high status as a form of philosophy.
In addition, Constantine could not have helped noticing that almost all of the more recent persecutors, one after another, abandoned the persecution of the Church. If he perceived that the persecutors had all failed, it is likely that Constantine considered that they had all been wrong.
For more information, see the related questions below:
- "Was Constantine's conversion to Christianity real?"
- "Why was Constantine's conversion to Christianity so important?"
Additional Comments:
Though mainstream history notes Constantine as the first 'Christian' Roman Emperor, it appears more likely that he converted for alterior motives. Being challenged with the keeping of his new empire united, Constantine surely recognized the value of religion in this unification process he was engaged in. IMO, this was one of Constantine's primary motivations in accepting and sanctioning the 'Christian' religion - which at this time it looked and behaved nothing like the teachings of Christ or the Apostles (corollary to Muhammed in 7th Century perhaps).
Here was a Roman Emeror who worshipped the sun god 'Sol Invictus' and was baptized into the Christian faith upon his deathbed. During his reign as Emperor of Rome, he had his eldest son killed and his wife murdered. Also, during his reign, he was vehemently anti-Semetic, referring to them in one of his edicts as 'the detestable Jewish crowd' and 'the customs of these most wicked men' (Sunday becomes new day of worship to differentiate from the Jewish tradition). However, these Jewish people are of the same line of Christ's human ancestry and that of the Apostles. These customs noted were rooted in the Scripture and practiced by Jesus and the Apostles as well. Now does this sound like a converted man showing signs of his new faith?
Solidifying his power was the main impetus for his religious 'conversion.' He quickly convened the Council of Nicaea to stem the 'new danger' arising in his Empire which was splitting his base of support into bitter and warring camps.
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Did Constantine defeat Diocletian to become Emperor of Rome?
No. Constantine defeated a rival general named Severus to become Emperor of Rome. In fact, Diocletian was the first emperor to abdicate, and he lived out the rest of his life quietly.
What year did Constantine overcome Maxentius and become sole emperor?
October 28, 312 Constantine marches on Rome and meets Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Maxentius is slain, and Constantine emerges as the sole ruler in the West. Constantine erects a triumphal arch in Rome, crediting the “inspiration of the Divinity” for his victory.
The first christian emperor of Rome was?
It was Augustus. His original name was Gaius Octavius. It changed to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus when he was adopted by Julius Caesar. After Caesar’s assassination he had himself called Gaius Julius Caesar Divi Filius (son of the divine Julius Caesar, Caesar was deified after his death) to strengthen his ties with Julius Caesar’s veteran troops. He changed his name again: Imperator Caesar Divi Filius. Then the senate gave his the honorary title of Augustus which comes from the verb augere (to augment) and meant ‘the illustrious one’ or ‘the venerable one’ and was a title of religious, rather than political authority. His full name became Imperator Caesar Divi Filus Augustus.
What obstacle did Constantine have to overcome before he became sole emperor?
Constanine had to overcome a system we call the tetrarchy, where the roman empire was ruled by 4 emperors, Constantine was one of these and he successfully defeated his colleagues to become the sole emperor.
Who were non-Christians in the Roman Empire?
Most people who lived in the Roman Empire were non-Christians until the Empire itself became Christian (and even then, there were many non-Christians). Most people who lived in the Roman Empire were polytheists (especially the Romans; remember, the Romans conquered many other peoples), though not all believed in the same gods. Others were Jews or had other religious beliefs. There were basically no atheists.Another answerNon-Christians were called pagans.
