Page 3 - What Constantine News Today

The members of that church were, a kind of hierarchy, sort of modelled on the roman army. >> bishops were the most senior church members in that particular city. >> because rome was the capital and the center of the empire, the bishop of rome becomes the leader of the other bishops, a position that will eventually become known as pope. for 200 years after peters crucifixion, christians roman emperors. persecuted by until an unlikely hero emerges. >> constantine was a great military commander. an...

Barbarians to the north. after a series of invasions and bloody clashes, the barbarians overthrow the last emperor of rome. the eternal city, once home to 2 million people, is reduced to less than 30,000. once the political and spiritual center of the empire, rome is now almost abandoned and stays that way for nearly 200 years. >> rome in the sixth century was muddier, and messier, and perhaps less efficiently governed than it had been in the time of constantine. >> rome is not a good place to l...

Gone from an outlawed sect to the ruling force of the western world. >> constantine was both 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 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. >> despite christianitys new political advantage, after centuries of being persecuted for not believing in the roman gods, christians are now...

After a series of invasions and bloody clashes, the barbarians overthrow the last emperor of rome. the eternal city, once home to 2 million people, is reduced to less than 30,000. once the political and spiritual center of the empire, rome is now almost abandoned and stays that way for nearly 200 years. >> rome in the 6th century was muddier and messier and perhaps less efficiently governed than if it had been in the time of constantine. >> rome is not a good place to live. its very dangerous. t...

Constantine commissioned spectacular building projects in christs name throughout the empire. among the most famous of them, the church of the holy speepulce in jerusalem. >> its one of the holiest places in christiandom. the slab on the floor is the place they say jesus was buried. >> but almost as soon as christians were free from roman persecution, they begin fighting with each other. >> the biggest problem was doctrine. in some peoples eyes, jesus was born of a woman, he cant be divine. ther...

>> bishops become important people in the local community. if people have disputes with each other, they are as likely to go to a bishop to get it sorted out. >> you had to go to him to get the food supply. that made him enormously wealthy and influential. >> constantine gives romans a political and financial incentive to convert to christianity. he gives christians tax breaks and makes churches tax exempt. >> constantine is the reason why churches are now in the u.s. tax free spiti entities. >>...

>> this is the big one. for the first time, a roman emperor decided to ally with the church. that meant the whole of the known world was at the disposal of the church. >> as constantine moves christianity from outlaw to exalted, church and state become intertwined. >> he saw in christianity a way to unite the empire. a new ideology that would give everybody the same god, the same moral values. >> constantine, by legalizing christianity, opened up a space where the bishop of rome could become a p...

Somebody to be over that. >> christians were trying to sep up an organized community, so people would recognize who the members oh of that church were. a model of the roman army. >> bishop of means the most senior church in that particular city. >> because rome is the capital and the center of the empire, the bishop of rome becomes the leader of the other bishops. a position that will eventually become known as pope. the 200 years after peters crucifixion, bishops and their followers continued t...

But now with constantinople acting as a capital, theres a second bishop that believes he should be in charge. >> there were disputes. each saw himself as a very 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 council of nicea, constantine dies, leaving the church still divided and rome without a strong military leader. for over 100 years fo...

>> with the church unified after nicea, constantine looks to further stabilize the foundation of his empire. he establishes a second hub of church power in the east and names the new capital after himself, and calls it constantinople. >> theres a back and forth between rome and constantinople. >> the christians in the east look at the christians in the west as barbarians. they would say that christians in the west baptized their children in wolf saliva. christians in the west looked at christian...