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Who in fact was over all. 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 can't 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 christian story, building great shrines that remain among the holiest christian places today. >> she was a very noble lady, and she le...

It was another roman emperor, constantine, who came to the rescue. was his vision of jesus just before battle a miracle, or just smart politics to pacify a growing faith? ♪

His culturally diverse empire, so he wanted christians throughout the empire to agree on major theological issues. >> in the year 325 a.d., constantine called the world's bishops to the small town of nicaea outside the imperial city of byzantium to grapple with the 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. >...

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 wasn't the head of the roman empire from being mr. nice emperor. >> indeed, constantine was ruthless. he killed his son, his wife and several relatives. he had persecuted and tortured christians. yet with numbers in the millions, he knew they were crucial to keeping his fragile empire together. so he made christianity legal in the year 313 that ended decades of brutal persecution. but it marked fierce internal battles in the church. the biggest of which...

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 can't 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 christian story, building great shrines that remain among the holiest christian places today. >> she was a very noble lady, and she led the building program in the holy land to have the church of the holy sepulcher ...