The Emperor Constantine I earned his place in history in 313 A.D. when he legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire with the Edict of Milan and gave Christians a broad range of new rights, including the right to own property.
The Revs. Erik Stadler and Michael Sis say the man who is also remembered as Constantine the Great founded in 330 the city of Constantinople, which has been Istanbul, Turkey, since 1923.
The Rev. Stadler, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, said the emperor dreamed that he saw a cross in the sky before a crucial battle in 312 and heard a voice say, “By his sign shalt thou conquer.”
Substituting a cross for the traditional Roman eagle as his army’s emblem, Stadler said, Constantine won the battle against his brother-in-law, who was rivaling him to be emperor.
“My understanding is that he needed the Christians’ backing for his government,” the pastor said. “The Christians’ population had been growing and he could not ignore it any more.”
The Most Rev. Sis, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo, said Constantine was born around 280 in Naissus, a Roman city located in what is now Serbia.
“He was a native Latin speaker, but he also had some knowledge of Greek,” the bishop said. “For example, he could converse in Greek, but when he delivered the opening address at the Council of Nicaea an interpreter translated his words into Greek.
“His mother, St. Helen, came from a humble background, but she was a woman of remarkable character.
“He has never been canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church. However, our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters do consider him to be a saint.
“He was the first Roman Emperor to profess the Christian faith. He had a deep personal commitment to Christianity, although he was not baptized until his deathbed in 337.”
Sis said the postponement of baptism was common in that era and Constantine told people that his delay was due to the fact that he had hoped to get baptized in the Jordan River but was not able to.
“The traditional way for an adult to convert to Christianity was to join the group of catechumens for a time of intense spiritual preparation for baptism, but he never joined the catechumens. He did, however, read the Scriptures and he organized religious ceremonies for Christians in his royal palace.”
Sis said Constantine could be ruthless as a soldier, military commander and emperor.
“He was an ambitious man,” he said. “He was a very capable military leader and his troops were well disciplined.
“He attributed his final military victory over his brother-in-law Maxentius near the Milvian Bridge in 312 to assistance from the Christian God.
“He created an environment in which Christianity could flourish. He offered Christians access to wealth, power and privilege.”
In 313, Sis said, Constantine and his co-emperor in the East, Licinius, brought about a turning point in the history of Christianity by granting religious tolerance to everyone in the Roman Empire and restoring property rights to Christians.
“He ended the brutal persecution of Christians in the empire and opened the door for Christians to go mainstream,” the bishop said. “He became sole emperor in 325 and ruled until his death in 337.
“He constructed churches that have had tremendous historic significance such as St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican hill in Rome over the site of the grave of Peter, the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome over the site of the grave of Paul, the Basilica of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Resurrection in Jerusalem.”
Sis said the emperor got involved in Christian affairs in many ways, exerting his influence to promote unity among Christians.
“He believed that the well-being of the empire was connected to the unity of the church and he encouraged bishops to overcome their differences,” he said. “In 313 he attempted to settle the Donatist schism in North Africa and wrote to the Persian King Sapor in support of the Christians there.
“He supported the Christian kingdom of Armenia and in 325 he called together the bishops for the Council of Nicaea to resolve the huge Arian controversy. He was a promoter of literature and art.”
Sis said Constantine rebuilt the city of Byzantium as the new capitol in the East, renaming it Constantinople, and he enlarged, strengthened and beautified the city.
“He dedicated the new city in 330 in honor of the Christian martyrs, calling it the ‘Second Rome,’” he said. “There he laid plans for the Basilica of the Holy Wisdom or Hagia Sophia.”
During Constantine’s time, Sis said, the majority of the citizens in the Roman Empire were pagans.
“In the West Christians were only about a fifth of the population and they were about half of the population in a large section of the East,” he said.
“Nevertheless, he gradually modified Roman law to accommodate Christian values. His legislation was consistently pro-Christian. For example, sexual offenses were punished and more humane policies were adopted toward slaves, orphans, widows and children.
“Constantine made Sunday a civil holiday and he allowed Christian soldiers the opportunity to attend religious services. He prohibited crucifixion.”
Sis said Constantine established the right of the church to emancipate slaves and pursued humanitarian projects to help debtors, the poor, slave girls and children.
“He was very generous in almsgiving,” he said. “He brought up his children as Christians.
“Constantine spoke of his belief in God’s providence in his life and claimed that he had a divine vocation to protect Christians. He encouraged pagans to convert to Christianity, but he allowed religious liberty for all. His government policies tolerated paganism.”
Referring to the blending of religious belief systems into a new system, Sis said, “To varying degrees his reign allowed some amount of religious syncretism, but gradually he moved more and more in a Christian direction.
“In preparation for his death he got baptized by Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. Eusebius was considered an Arian, which was a heretical form of Christianity.
“Constantine approached his death with peace.”
