Page 2 - What Constantine News Today

>> this is hair-splitting doctrinal difference here, but some people were willing to kill you for that. so christians willing to kill other christians for those differences. >> to unite the empire, constantine must gather his bishops under one church, or risk having the christian empire hes built come crashing down. ♪ ♪ ♪ the greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. the final days of wish list are here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, an...

The westerners look at the east as being not strong. >> the hierarchy of clergy under bishops who reported to the bishop of rome had been working well. but now with constantinoble acting as a second capital, there is a second bishop who believes that he should be in charge. >> there were disputes between the bishop of rome, the bishop of constantinoble, and each saw himself as a very powerful leader. and each one was competing with the others for authority. >> despite constantines best efforts t...

Gone from an outlawed sect to the ruling force of the western world. >> constantine was the head of the state and the head of the church. he was still a roman, and in the old roman religion, the emperor was also the chief priest. constantine definitely took that approach to his faith, rather than what we would now think of as more of a separation of powers. >> but despite christianitys new political advantage, after centuries of being persecuted for not believing in the roman gods, christians ar...

Christianity legal but favored. >> this is a big one. this is the first time a roman emperor decided to ally with the church. so that means the whole known world was at the disposal of the church. >> as nstantine moves christianity from outlawed to exalted, church and state become intertwined. >> constantine saw in the empire, a new ideology that would give everybody the same god, the same moral values. >> constantine opened up the space where the bishop of rome could become the spiritual fixtur...

The church. >> the council, as i see it, is the first time they bring all the bishops together to talk to each other. >> the council marks the first of the churchs leaders. the foundation of the popes cardinals today. >> the bishops were commissioned to write what a christian should believe. >> constantine manages to get the bishops to agree on one singular statement of faith, still used to unify christians today. the creed. >> the creed says we believe in jesus christ as god almighty. and the c...

Bishops who reported to the bishop of rome had been working well. but now with constantnoble acting as a second, there was another who believed he should be in charge. >> there were disputes between the bishops of rome, and the bishop of constantnoble. each one saw himself as a powerful leader, and each one was competing with the others for authority. >> despite constantines best efforts to unify his empire under one church, the east and west remain at odds. seven years after the counsel of nise...

Commander of the east to decide who will be sole emperor of rome. and the day before the battle, he has a startling vision. >> he looks up and he sees the sign of the cross. >> and he thought it was a promise from jesus that he would win the battle. >> konstantin -- constantine does win the battle. and the new emperor is forever changed by his vision. >> he decides hes going to be a christian. >> one of his first official acts as the first christian emperor of rome is to issue the edict of milan...

>> bishops become important people in the local community. if people have disputes with each other, they were likely to go to a bishop to get it worked out. >> you had to go to him to get the food supply. that made him enormously wealthy and influential. >> he gives christians tax breaks and makes churches tax exempt. >> constantine is the reason why churches are now in the u.s. tax free entities. constantine is the reason why churches have this special status. >> from the time of constantine, t...

Hell. so this became the battle cry for christians throughout the world. >> with the church unified after nysea, constantine looks to further stabilize the religious foundation of his empire. he establishes a second hub of church power in the east. he names the new capital after himself and calls it constantanoble. >> theres a bit of back and forth between roam and sk the christians in the et tend to look at the christians in the east as just barbarians. they would say the catholics in the west ...

Kill you for that. christians willing to kill other christians for those differences. >> to unite the empire, constantine must organize his bishops under one roof or risk having the christian empire hes built come crashing down. your sleep number setting. does your bed do that? its the last chance for clearance savings up to $800 on our most popular beds. ends saturday. visit sleepnumber.com for a store near you. ♪ ♪