Page 2 - Though Constantine News Today

Image of the cross painted on the shields of all of his warriors. >> constantine vowed to convert to christianity if he won the battle. and for centuries, his victory was seen as a turning point for christianity. but did constantine really convert to the faith his empire had tried to destroy? >> some historians have doubted whether constantine actually converted in the year 312, and its true that theres some evidence that he retained a devotion to some of the roman gods. even after allegedly con...

Sun, a reference to the sun god who in fact was overall. and so was he really a worshipper of the god of jesus or was he a worshipper of the sun god? >> by that time, of course, christians ran in the millions. and i suppose constantine thought if you cant beat them, join them. and i think with his mother, too, well, he thought that this is true. >> constantine had an influential mother, helena, a devoted christian. she traveled to the holy land and located the most important sites from the chris...

Rose from the dead. and also a church built to honor the giving of our father, the lords prayer. she had a building program there. and she had the money and his support. >> constantine also found in her faith something that would redeem him. >> he knew christian faith very well, and he knew baptism remitted all your sins, and he had quite a bit of blood on his hands. he wasnt the head of the roman empire for being mr. nice emperor. >> indeed, constantine was ruthless. he killed his son, his wife...

Essence of christian belief. >> what we now call the nicaean creed, "i believe in god, the father almighty and heaven on earth." those tenets of faith come down from the 4th century and are still the bottom line of christian teaching today. >> in the heart of the nicaean creed and christian faith is the jesus was both god and man. >> the earliest communities were already giving jesus the worship that could only be given to god. this is happening 30 years of jesus death, but to find a philosophic...

>> the empire at this time was maybe 60 million people, so there might have been something like 3 million christians at this time. and they were known to be a problem throughout the empire, and so dioclesians decided to try to persecute the christians. >> a religion whose founder told people to turn the other cheek now witnessed its followers slaughtered by the thousands in public spectacles. it was another roman emperor, constantine, who came to the rescue. was his vision of jesus just before b...

On october 28th in 312 a.d., emperors maxentius and constantine and their armies met on the banks of the tiber river near the milvian bridge to fight for control of the empire. though constantines soldiers were outnumbered four to one, he had a secret weapon. >> before the battle, he had a vision in which he saw a sign of the cross in the sky, and the words written over it that said "by this conquer" he didnt know what this meant, so he called in some dream interpreters, and they told him this m...

>> the empire at this time was maybe 60 million people, so there might have been something like 3 million christians at this time. and they were known to be a problem throughout the empire, and so dioclesian decided to try and persecute the christians. >> a religion whose founder told people to turn the other cheek now witnessed its followers slaughtered by the thousands in public spectacles. it was another roman emperor, constantine, who came to the rescue. was his vision of jesus just before b...

Saul invictus, the unconquerable sun, a reference to the sun god who in fact was overall. and so was he really a worshipper of the god of jesus or was he a worshipper of the sun god? >> by that time, of course, christians ran in the millions. and i suppose constantine thought.if you cant beat them, join them. and i think with his mother, too, well, he thought that this is true. >> constantine had an influential mother, helena, a devoted christian. she traveled to the holy land and located the mo...

Utterly and beautifully coherent. about everything, from the smallest detail of your daily life and the community around you through to eternity. this is very compelling. >> some would say it was ultimately power politics, both divine and earthly, with an emperor recognizing the power of the people and their faith. >> it seems to me that what really made the difference in turning what was the whole greco-roman world into christian was essentially the roman government decision. that is to say, ch...

And christianity offering something that appeared to be utterly and beautifully coherent. about everything, from the smallest detail of your daily live and community around you through to eternity. this is very compelling. >> some would say it was ultimately power politics, both divine and earthly, with an emperor recognizing the power of the people and their faith. >> it seems to me that what really made the difference in turning what was the whole greco-roman world into christian was essential...