1 pound pork shoulder or tenderloin, roasted or boiled and sliced lengthwise into strips 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil 1/8 pound ground pork or beef 1½ tablespoons garum or fish sauce 3 leeks, cleaned and sliced in long thin strips, separated into white and green parts 3 teaspoons cumin seed, partially crushed 3 teaspoons coriander seed, partially crushed 4-5 long-pepper catkins, crushed Handful of fresh mint leaves 1 small bunch, cilantro minced ½ cup beef or chicken broth or liquid from par-boiling the pork 1/3 – ½ cup white vinegar 2 tablespoons honey 2 large pinches of asafoetida 2 large firm apples, peeled and sliced lengthwise ¼ cup defruitum (reduced grape juice) 1 teaspoon cracked pepper for garnish
Preparation
-Make defruitum. For this recipe use a white grape juice variety.
-Harvest garum or buy fish sauce
-If necessary cook and cool pork. If you do not have sufficient leftovers from a large pork roast, boil the meat in enough water to cover for 5-7 minutes and then cool in its juice. If boiling the meat, throw some additional crushed peppercorns into the water to season.
Method
1) Place butter or oil in a large sauce pan and warm over medium or medium-low heat. Add ground meat and sauté – breaking up the meat into tiny tidbits as you stir. Add about 1 tablespoon of the garum, stir and warm. Add the white parts of the leeks and cover and cook for a few minutes until the vegetables start to wilt.
2) Add cumin, coriander seed and long pepper all lightly crushed and stir. Add the mint, cilantro and stir again. Add broth or water from parboiling the pork to moisten the contents of the pan. Then add the vinegar and stir well while the liquid warms. Add the honey, remaining garum, and asafoetida and stir again.
3) Add the pork and green part of the leeks, stir and cover to warm. When the pork has warmed, add the apples, stir and cover. After about five minutes add the defruitum and stir again. Cook another five minutes – or until the apples are just done – and remove from the heat.
Constantine's conversion did much to help spread Christianity. Rome had expanded into much of the known world. Even if they did not control certain surrounding territories, they at least influenced other cultures. The Roman roads system was highly developed and allowed for easier travel and trade. When Constantine finally converted Rome into a Christian friendly environment the roads would have been an easier way to carry the Good News, empowering the expanse of the Gospel. Rome had a vast trading system linked to their many foreign ties and relations. This would be another great way, made easy by the Romans, to spread the Gospel. As a believer Constantine did much to better the lives of Christians in Rome and to promote God's Word. Under Constantine, Christians regained their freedom of worship and property that had been taken by the government was restored to the owner. Constantine later wrote to Eusebius, asking for fifty copies of both the New and Old Testament written in Greek, for the ease of Christians, to be used in the churches of Rome. The Roman Catholic Church preserved many historical documents. Because of these documents the Latin language lived on and so did the writings of authors such as Cicero, Virgil, and Livy. Many monasteries and Cathedral schools of medieval Europe used these authors in their "classical" education. Constantine's influence on the church was positive and allowed for great advancements of the Bible to be made. Although the later Roman Catholic church became corrupt this is not directly related to Constantine and what he did for the Christian community in Rome. Christianity was expanding rapidly and many unbelievers soon associated themselves with the church and eventually the church itself was corrupted and caused many brutal and bloody crusades to try to eradicate anyone who defied the Church. Ps this is Rachel
Although Constantine spread most of Christianity, as we know it today he still killed Christians and forced them to do things his way. Constantine is always portrayed as the person who spread Christianity, but you have to take in the fact that he was used to celebrating Roman gods and tried to apply that to the way we worship God. Constantine enforced laws that wouldn’t let Jews celebrate the feasts that God had put in place and he had those who he found doing them killed. He was cruel to Christians that tried to celebrate the days God has put in place for us. Constantine brought many of the holidays that we know of today which have a great significance that we ignore. Constantine claimed to be a Christian yet on the money that he had was imprinted with him as the high priest of the sun god, And it is said that you are either for God or against Him and if he claimed to be a Christian. Why would he publicly show that it was fine to worship other gods? Christians that celebrated the God given days such as Passover and the feast of tabernacles were killed, so If Constantine was a Christian why would he kill those who celebrated days that gave so much insight to God and what he did for us, and how it shows all of the history of our forefathers? It bugs me to think that everyone thinks Constantine to be this great and holy man who spread Christianity around, while what he did was set up a pagan form Christianity while he destroyed the great symbolic days that God himself put into place. He made Christianity look like a simple thing that could be taken lightly. Christianity is sooooo much more though we don’t see how watered down it really is. Constantine has part of the blame resting on his shoulders for how most Christianity today. So yes Constantine spread Christianity, which was good, but the actual result of how it affected the true Christians and church were bad and can still be seen in some of the shallow Christianity we see today.
Constantine had a ok effect on the church. I say even this sparingly, however, because I do not believe that he himself was a Christian. Constantine's conversion I believe could have happened because God can use anything to bring people to him even if it means talking to them directly, however if the Almighty God spoke to you don't you think you would drop everything a do EXACTLY what he tells of you (even though that is what we are supposed to do) an experience like that should have rocked him to the core. Yet when we look back at his life we see some odd behavior for a man with Constantine's encounter. The most unbiblical of which is The Edict of Milan which not only allows Christianity but, "...any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens may be propitious and kindly disposed to us and all who are placed under our rule." and "...that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times." (The Edict of Milan) This "act" is a "bill" if you will of religious tolerance. The influence he had on the church was this; that the Church was growing rapidly without him, but he gave the Church a break from it's persecution to mature more in its doctrinal ideals and theology, yet it lasted to long and part of the "Church" got some weird ideas (they had to long to think about it). Over all I don't see Constantine having a great impact on the church, yet at the same time he stopped the persecution.
The conversion of Constantine had a major impact on Christianity and the church of his time. This impact was both good and bad. One of the most well known acts of Constantine was his end of the persecution of Christians. He made the Edict of Milan which restored possessions and rights to the many Christians that had been persecuted during the reign of Diocletian. This new edict not only stopped the persecution but also protected the Christians in the Roman Empire. Before the time of Constantine Christian churches met in homes or small buildings, but when Constantine came to power he built many churches throughout the Empire. Along with this Constantine made Sunday the official day of rest in the Empire. Finally Constantine favored the Christians, especially in granting government positions. There were also special privileges for Christian leaders. Although Constantine did much good in the Christian church, he also had many negative influences on the church. First, he merged the roles of the government and the church. Church leaders are hired and paid by the government. The old Roman practice of worshiping the emperor was also integrated into the church. Even today the king or queen of many European countries are designated as the head of the church. Christianity is based on a personal relationship with God, but in many ways Constantine made it a religion controlled by the government. Second, because Constantine favored the church so much it drew many people to the church, but not always for the right reasons. People would often join the church because Christians were looked well upon, not because they were actually Christians. This brought much corruption and moral decline into the church that we still have today. As you can see Constantine’s influence on the church was both good and bad. He stopped persecution, but Constantine also changed the original design of the Christian church in a negative way.
Overall, I appreciated what Constantine did for the Christians while he reigned. The things he did for them were quite helpful such as religious freedom and more opportunities to hold governmental positions. It is no wonder that he is known to be one of the most influential people in the Christian church at that time and going toward the Middle Ages. But was he a bad or a good influence on the church because of the good cultural freedoms he gave Christians? The answer may surprise most people, but he was really a bad influence. Despite all the great cultural freedoms Constantine gave Christians, he was a bad influence and ruined what the church should really look like. Constantine ruined the church’s authority and its worship. The Christian church in the 4th century during Constantine’s reign ultimately became the Roman Catholic Church, governed by the pope. Constantine himself was the one who started this type of church authority. He, during his reign, based the church’s authoritative system on his own political and Roman governing system, not on the Bible. The local church would have a pastor over it, the pastors were ordered by a diocese which, with others, were controlled by the patriarchs who were the most important people of the system. The pope then is the head of the church. This is a big problem. If this is how the church is to be governed, we have a hierarchy. Is this biblical? No! The Bible gives clear evidence that Christ is the head of the Church and Scripture is our ultimate authority. “And he is the head of the church.” (Col 1:18, ESV) So clearly Constantine was not a good influence on the church because of this awful change of church government. Constantine unfortunately was not a true Christian which is why he allowed pagan ideas and idol worship into the church. The Roman Catholic Church has many different relics that they adore and even worship. Part of that idolatry came as a result of Constantine. He did establish Christianity as the dominant religion, but he did not establish doctrine, even with the Council of Nicea. Because of the freedoms that Constantine gave to Christians, people simply said they were Christians, joined the church and corrupted its doctrine and worship. That is not what a true Christian would act like. So Constantine was not a true Christian and that was why he was a bad influence on the church. Constantine was an emperor who said he was a Christian, but what the church became after Rome fell did not represent a true Christian church. After reading about Constantine, I have to ask this: Which is more important in the church, a peaceful life with corrupted doctrine, or being persecuted and yet having a true doctrine which follows Scripture?
Constantine had a very positive effect on the growth and spread of Christianity, but it wasn't all positive. He did make Christianity a legal religion in Rome, but at the same time he accepted other religions as well. This is exemplified by one of the laws he made and some of the art associated with him. The law he passed was in 321 and it made Sunday "the venerable day of the Sun," as a day of rest. (Sun worship was first established by Aurelian.) This holiday was not religion specific, but was intended to be celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. In 312, after winning the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine built a triumphal arch, The Arch of Constantine (built in celebration of his victory). On this arch, there are images of the goddess Victoria, and at the time of dedication sacrifices were made to Diana, Apollo, and Hercules. No Christian symbolism is evident in the paintings on the arch. In addition to this, Constantine had Crispus (his first son), and Fausta (his second wife) killed after an alleged affair between the two. Also, despite constantine having claimed to have seen a sign from God in 312, he was not baptized until 337, just before his death (showing he did not have great faith until he faced the adversity of death). I'm not trying to say that Constantine was a bad emperor or had a negative influence on Christianity (both are very true), but he was not entirely Christian and was also very accepting of other religions. Overall, he had an extremely positive impact of Christianity, promoting it and dispersing it throughout the Roman world (both through his influence as emperor and through his military victories).
This is Alica. I think that Constantine's rule had a good efect on the Christian church. Christianity was encouraged during his rule and the church was not persecuted. Some people do not believe that Constantine was really a Christion. I tend to lean towards that side, but at the same time he did do alot of stuff to lead us to believe that he was. He painted a Christion symbol on all of his armies sheilds for instance. He also gave the glory of his victory to God. He did have himself baptized, and he also promoted the word of God. I don't know why he would do all this if he was not a Christion, but I guess we will never know for sure. Whether he was or wasn't he still ahd the same effect on the church which in my opinion was a good one. The gospel now had a chance to spread with out being stopped. Christians could share their faith without the fear of being persecuted, and I think people were probally more willing to listen. Before if a Christian tried to share their faith with me I would have been hesitant to listen if I knew that anyine who was suspected of being a Christian could be killed. Under Constantines rule though Christains were not killed for their faith so other people might have been more willing to hear what they said. This also helped the church because it wouldnot have to meet in secret. It could open its doors to any one nd worship God freely. Peopel who were not believers I think would be more willing to go to church, which was supported by the emperor than to one that had to meet in secret before. In my opinion whether Constantine was a true Christion or if he just claimed to be his rule still had a good effect on the Church.
I believe Constantine had a large impact on the history of the church; however, I do not think Constantine himself was always a good influence on the church. Constantine made many laws and did many things that helped advance the church through this time period. He gave benefits to the Christians such as reclamation of property, reimbursement of losses, and legal rights in disputes. He also issued some legislations that benefited the clergy. He made church lands tax-free, paid an allowance to the clergy, and gave permission to obtain help from government officials in building new churches. He is said to have gone on a church building frenzy at one point in his life. These benefits he gave to the church did have their downsides though. His 'generous' benefits to the church caused him to gain what you could call a monarchical control over the church. Constantine controlled the Christians in his empire. The bishops found themselves in the position of personal advisor to Constantine and many owed their positions to him. This disgusted many Christians at the time. There was also the matter of paganism. Constantine called himself a Christian; yet, as emperor, he was the high priest of paganism. In spite of these advances in Christianity, Constantine still died the high priest of Paganism.
Ever since the rule of Constantine, people have wondered if he was a good influence on the church. Based on the research I did, I believe he was improving it. Emperor Constantine was ruling Rome in 306. His mother, Helena, was a Christian and influenced her son to become one as well. His conversion was the turning point for early Christianity. Constantine did many things for the benefit of Rome such as giving Christians equal rights, helping with church projects and adding Christian values to Roman law. One of the reasons Constantine was a good influence on the church was because he gave Christians equal rights. Christians were able to compete for spots in the “cursus honorum” to earn high governmental positions. Constantine also allowed all religions in the Roman Empire and because of this the church was free to worship however they thought was right. The Edict of Milan not only granted tolerance of all religions but it also returned all stolen land that had previously belonged to any church. Another reason Constantine was a good influence on the church was that he helped with many church projects. The Emperor supported the church financially and granted privileges to the clergy. He also built a great many basilicas along with promoting Christians to high ranking offices. Even with all that Constantine had already done, he gave the church riches and wealth beyond measure to pay for any additional needs. Constantine also helped supply the Church of Constantinople with 50 new bibles. The last reason that he was a good influence on the church was that he added Christian values to the law. One of the first things he decreed was that Sunday was an official day of rest, meaning that markets were banned from the streets and offices were closed. The Romans during that time had also practiced the torture of crucifixion. Constantine made this practice illegal for reasons of piety. But just to make sure the criminals didn’t get too comfortable, he replaced it with hanging to remind them there was still law and order. As this information has shown, I think that Constantine was a good influence on the church because of his courage to stick to his beliefs. The Emperor gave Christians a chance to be equally valued in the Roman community if not more. He put religious beliefs in Roman law and helped the church with all their needs. He went against the normal pagan religion and went above and beyond to support Christian faith and worship.
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Ancient Roman Pork With Apples
Ingredients
1 pound pork shoulder or tenderloin, roasted or boiled and sliced lengthwise into strips
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
1/8 pound ground pork or beef
1½ tablespoons garum or fish sauce
3 leeks, cleaned and sliced in long thin strips, separated into white and green parts
3 teaspoons cumin seed, partially crushed
3 teaspoons coriander seed, partially crushed
4-5 long-pepper catkins, crushed
Handful of fresh mint leaves
1 small bunch, cilantro minced
½ cup beef or chicken broth or liquid from par-boiling the pork
1/3 – ½ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
2 large pinches of asafoetida
2 large firm apples, peeled and sliced lengthwise
¼ cup defruitum (reduced grape juice)
1 teaspoon cracked pepper for garnish
Preparation
-Make defruitum. For this recipe use a white grape juice variety.
-Harvest garum or buy fish sauce
-If necessary cook and cool pork. If you do not have sufficient leftovers from a large pork roast, boil the meat in enough water to cover for 5-7 minutes and then cool in its juice. If boiling the meat, throw some additional crushed peppercorns into the water to season.
Method
1) Place butter or oil in a large sauce pan and warm over medium or medium-low heat. Add ground meat and sauté – breaking up the meat into tiny tidbits as you stir. Add about 1 tablespoon of the garum, stir and warm. Add the white parts of the leeks and cover and cook for a few minutes until the vegetables start to wilt.
2) Add cumin, coriander seed and long pepper all lightly crushed and stir. Add the mint, cilantro and stir again. Add broth or water from parboiling the pork to moisten the contents of the pan. Then add the vinegar and stir well while the liquid warms. Add the honey, remaining garum, and asafoetida and stir again.
3) Add the pork and green part of the leeks, stir and cover to warm. When the pork has warmed, add the apples, stir and cover. After about five minutes add the defruitum and stir again. Cook another five minutes – or until the apples are just done – and remove from the heat.
Constantine's conversion did much to help spread Christianity. Rome had expanded into much of the known world. Even if they did not control certain surrounding territories, they at least influenced other cultures. The Roman roads system was highly developed and allowed for easier travel and trade. When Constantine finally converted Rome into a Christian friendly environment the roads would have been an easier way to carry the Good News, empowering the expanse of the Gospel. Rome had a vast trading system linked to their many foreign ties and relations. This would be another great way, made easy by the Romans, to spread the Gospel. As a believer Constantine did much to better the lives of Christians in Rome and to promote God's Word. Under Constantine, Christians regained their freedom of worship and property that had been taken by the government was restored to the owner. Constantine later wrote to Eusebius, asking for fifty copies of both the New and Old Testament written in Greek, for the ease of Christians, to be used in the churches of Rome. The Roman Catholic Church preserved many historical documents. Because of these documents the Latin language lived on and so did the writings of authors such as Cicero, Virgil, and Livy. Many monasteries and Cathedral schools of medieval Europe used these authors in their "classical" education. Constantine's influence on the church was positive and allowed for great advancements of the Bible to be made. Although the later Roman Catholic church became corrupt this is not directly related to Constantine and what he did for the Christian community in Rome. Christianity was expanding rapidly and many unbelievers soon associated themselves with the church and eventually the church itself was corrupted and caused many brutal and bloody crusades to try to eradicate anyone who defied the Church.
Ps this is Rachel
Although Constantine spread most of Christianity, as we know it today he still killed Christians and forced them to do things his way. Constantine is always portrayed as the person who spread Christianity, but you have to take in the fact that he was used to celebrating Roman gods and tried to apply that to the way we worship God. Constantine enforced laws that wouldn’t let Jews celebrate the feasts that God had put in place and he had those who he found doing them killed. He was cruel to Christians that tried to celebrate the days God has put in place for us. Constantine brought many of the holidays that we know of today which have a great significance that we ignore. Constantine claimed to be a Christian yet on the money that he had was imprinted with him as the high priest of the sun god, And it is said that you are either for God or against Him and if he claimed to be a Christian. Why would he publicly show that it was fine to worship other gods? Christians that celebrated the God given days such as Passover and the feast of tabernacles were killed, so If Constantine was a Christian why would he kill those who celebrated days that gave so much insight to God and what he did for us, and how it shows all of the history of our forefathers? It bugs me to think that everyone thinks Constantine to be this great and holy man who spread Christianity around, while what he did was set up a pagan form Christianity while he destroyed the great symbolic days that God himself put into place. He made Christianity look like a simple thing that could be taken lightly. Christianity is sooooo much more though we don’t see how watered down it really is. Constantine has part of the blame resting on his shoulders for how most Christianity today. So yes Constantine spread Christianity, which was good, but the actual result of how it affected the true Christians and church were bad and can still be seen in some of the shallow Christianity we see today.
Constantine had a ok effect on the church. I say even this sparingly, however, because I do not believe that he himself was a Christian. Constantine's conversion I believe could have happened because God can use anything to bring people to him even if it means talking to them directly, however if the Almighty God spoke to you don't you think you would drop everything a do EXACTLY what he tells of you (even though that is what we are supposed to do) an experience like that should have rocked him to the core. Yet when we look back at his life we see some odd behavior for a man with Constantine's encounter. The most unbiblical of which is The Edict of Milan which not only allows Christianity but, "...any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens may be propitious and kindly disposed to us and all who are placed under our rule." and "...that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times." (The Edict of Milan) This "act" is a "bill" if you will of religious tolerance. The influence he had on the church was this; that the Church was growing rapidly without him, but he gave the Church a break from it's persecution to mature more in its doctrinal ideals and theology, yet it lasted to long and part of the "Church" got some weird ideas (they had to long to think about it). Over all I don't see Constantine having a great impact on the church, yet at the same time he stopped the persecution.
Sorry, I posted my comment in the wrong category.
The conversion of Constantine had a major impact on Christianity and the church of his time. This impact was both good and bad. One of the most well known acts of Constantine was his end of the persecution of Christians. He made the Edict of Milan which restored possessions and rights to the many Christians that had been persecuted during the reign of Diocletian. This new edict not only stopped the persecution but also protected the Christians in the Roman Empire. Before the time of Constantine Christian churches met in homes or small buildings, but when Constantine came to power he built many churches throughout the Empire. Along with this Constantine made Sunday the official day of rest in the Empire. Finally Constantine favored the Christians, especially in granting government positions. There were also special privileges for Christian leaders. Although Constantine did much good in the Christian church, he also had many negative influences on the church. First, he merged the roles of the government and the church. Church leaders are hired and paid by the government. The old Roman practice of worshiping the emperor was also integrated into the church. Even today the king or queen of many European countries are designated as the head of the church. Christianity is based on a personal relationship with God, but in many ways Constantine made it a religion controlled by the government. Second, because Constantine favored the church so much it drew many people to the church, but not always for the right reasons. People would often join the church because Christians were looked well upon, not because they were actually Christians. This brought much corruption and moral decline into the church that we still have today. As you can see Constantine’s influence on the church was both good and bad. He stopped persecution, but Constantine also changed the original design of the Christian church in a negative way.
Overall, I appreciated what Constantine did for the Christians while he reigned. The things he did for them were quite helpful such as religious freedom and more opportunities to hold governmental positions. It is no wonder that he is known to be one of the most influential people in the Christian church at that time and going toward the Middle Ages. But was he a bad or a good influence on the church because of the good cultural freedoms he gave Christians? The answer may surprise most people, but he was really a bad influence. Despite all the great cultural freedoms Constantine gave Christians, he was a bad influence and ruined what the church should really look like. Constantine ruined the church’s authority and its worship.
The Christian church in the 4th century during Constantine’s reign ultimately became the Roman Catholic Church, governed by the pope. Constantine himself was the one who started this type of church authority. He, during his reign, based the church’s authoritative system on his own political and Roman governing system, not on the Bible. The local church would have a pastor over it, the pastors were ordered by a diocese which, with others, were controlled by the patriarchs who were the most important people of the system. The pope then is the head of the church. This is a big problem. If this is how the church is to be governed, we have a hierarchy. Is this biblical? No! The Bible gives clear evidence that Christ is the head of the Church and Scripture is our ultimate authority. “And he is the head of the church.” (Col 1:18, ESV) So clearly Constantine was not a good influence on the church because of this awful change of church government.
Constantine unfortunately was not a true Christian which is why he allowed pagan ideas and idol worship into the church. The Roman Catholic Church has many different relics that they adore and even worship. Part of that idolatry came as a result of Constantine. He did establish Christianity as the dominant religion, but he did not establish doctrine, even with the Council of Nicea. Because of the freedoms that Constantine gave to Christians, people simply said they were Christians, joined the church and corrupted its doctrine and worship. That is not what a true Christian would act like. So Constantine was not a true Christian and that was why he was a bad influence on the church.
Constantine was an emperor who said he was a Christian, but what the church became after Rome fell did not represent a true Christian church. After reading about Constantine, I have to ask this: Which is more important in the church, a peaceful life with corrupted doctrine, or being persecuted and yet having a true doctrine which follows Scripture?
Constantine had a very positive effect on the growth and spread of Christianity, but it wasn't all positive. He did make Christianity a legal religion in Rome, but at the same time he accepted other religions as well. This is exemplified by one of the laws he made and some of the art associated with him. The law he passed was in 321 and it made Sunday "the venerable day of the Sun," as a day of rest. (Sun worship was first established by Aurelian.) This holiday was not religion specific, but was intended to be celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. In 312, after winning the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine built a triumphal arch, The Arch of Constantine (built in celebration of his victory). On this arch, there are images of the goddess Victoria, and at the time of dedication sacrifices were made to Diana, Apollo, and Hercules. No Christian symbolism is evident in the paintings on the arch. In addition to this, Constantine had Crispus (his first son), and Fausta (his second wife) killed after an alleged affair between the two. Also, despite constantine having claimed to have seen a sign from God in 312, he was not baptized until 337, just before his death (showing he did not have great faith until he faced the adversity of death).
I'm not trying to say that Constantine was a bad emperor or had a negative influence on Christianity (both are very true), but he was not entirely Christian and was also very accepting of other religions. Overall, he had an extremely positive impact of Christianity, promoting it and dispersing it throughout the Roman world (both through his influence as emperor and through his military victories).
This is Alica. I think that Constantine's rule had a good efect on the Christian church. Christianity was encouraged during his rule and the church was not persecuted. Some people do not believe that Constantine was really a Christion. I tend to lean towards that side, but at the same time he did do alot of stuff to lead us to believe that he was. He painted a Christion symbol on all of his armies sheilds for instance. He also gave the glory of his victory to God. He did have himself baptized, and he also promoted the word of God. I don't know why he would do all this if he was not a Christion, but I guess we will never know for sure. Whether he was or wasn't he still ahd the same effect on the church which in my opinion was a good one. The gospel now had a chance to spread with out being stopped. Christians could share their faith without the fear of being persecuted, and I think people were probally more willing to listen. Before if a Christian tried to share their faith with me I would have been hesitant to listen if I knew that anyine who was suspected of being a Christian could be killed. Under Constantines rule though Christains were not killed for their faith so other people might have been more willing to hear what they said. This also helped the church because it wouldnot have to meet in secret. It could open its doors to any one nd worship God freely. Peopel who were not believers I think would be more willing to go to church, which was supported by the emperor than to one that had to meet in secret before. In my opinion whether Constantine was a true Christion or if he just claimed to be his rule still had a good effect on the Church.
I believe Constantine had a large impact on the history of the church; however, I do not think Constantine himself was always a good influence on the church. Constantine made many laws and did many things that helped advance the church through this time period. He gave benefits to the Christians such as reclamation of property, reimbursement of losses, and legal rights in disputes. He also issued some legislations that benefited the clergy. He made church lands tax-free, paid an allowance to the clergy, and gave permission to obtain help from government officials in building new churches. He is said to have gone on a church building frenzy at one point in his life. These benefits he gave to the church did have their downsides though. His 'generous' benefits to the church caused him to gain what you could call a monarchical control over the church. Constantine controlled the Christians in his empire. The bishops found themselves in the position of personal advisor to Constantine and many owed their positions to him. This disgusted many Christians at the time. There was also the matter of paganism. Constantine called himself a Christian; yet, as emperor, he was the high priest of paganism. In spite of these advances in Christianity, Constantine still died the high priest of Paganism.
Ever since the rule of Constantine, people have wondered if he was a good influence on the church. Based on the research I did, I believe he was improving it. Emperor Constantine was ruling Rome in 306. His mother, Helena, was a Christian and influenced her son to become one as well. His conversion was the turning point for early Christianity. Constantine did many things for the benefit of Rome such as giving Christians equal rights, helping with church projects and adding Christian values to Roman law.
One of the reasons Constantine was a good influence on the church was because he gave Christians equal rights. Christians were able to compete for spots in the “cursus honorum” to earn high governmental positions. Constantine also allowed all religions in the Roman Empire and because of this the church was free to worship however they thought was right. The Edict of Milan not only granted tolerance of all religions but it also returned all stolen land that had previously belonged to any church.
Another reason Constantine was a good influence on the church was that he helped with many church projects. The Emperor supported the church financially and granted privileges to the clergy. He also built a great many basilicas along with promoting Christians to high ranking offices. Even with all that Constantine had already done, he gave the church riches and wealth beyond measure to pay for any additional needs. Constantine also helped supply the Church of Constantinople with 50 new bibles.
The last reason that he was a good influence on the church was that he added Christian values to the law. One of the first things he decreed was that Sunday was an official day of rest, meaning that markets were banned from the streets and offices were closed. The Romans during that time had also practiced the torture of crucifixion. Constantine made this practice illegal for reasons of piety. But just to make sure the criminals didn’t get too comfortable, he replaced it with hanging to remind them there was still law and order.
As this information has shown, I think that Constantine was a good influence on the church because of his courage to stick to his beliefs. The Emperor gave Christians a chance to be equally valued in the Roman community if not more. He put religious beliefs in Roman law and helped the church with all their needs. He went against the normal pagan religion and went above and beyond to support Christian faith and worship.
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