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Constantine's vision and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in a 9th-century Byzantine manuscript. During the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306–337 AD), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
Constantine and his successors brought wealth, peace, and the opportunity to build a strong local position, to the churches. Christianity had already shown itself as able to distribute money in support of its religious causes; following the Roman tradition of endowments, Constantine became a donor of over-powering generosity.
Constantine's Christian eulogists present the war as a battle between Christianity and paganism; Licinius, aided by Gothic mercenaries, represented the past and ancient paganism, while Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the labarum.
Christian missionary activity directed from the capital of Constantinople did not lead to a lasting expansion of the formal link between the church and the Byzantine emperor, since areas outside the Byzantine Empire's political and military control set up their own distinct churches, as in the case of Bulgaria in 919. [citation needed]
Although the Edict of Milan is commonly presented as Constantine's first great act as a Christian emperor, it is disputed whether the Edict of Milan was an act of genuine faith. The document could be seen as Constantine's first step in creating an alliance with the Christian God, whom he considered the strongest deity. [21]
According to modern theories, Christianity became established in the third century, before Constantine, paganism did not end in the fourth century, and imperial legislation had only limited effect before the era of the Eastern emperor Justinian I (reign 527 to 565).
Statue of Constantine the Great, York. Constantinianism is a religiopolitical ideology in Christian politics that epitomizes the unity of church and state, as opposed to separation of church and state. This view is modeled after an ideal Christendom, which arose during the reign of Constantine the Great.
The Edict of Serdica was issued in 311 by the Roman emperor Galerius, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity in the East. [1] With the passage in 313 AD of the Edict of Milan, in which the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius legalised the Christian religion, persecution of Christians by the Roman state ceased.