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[2] [3] According to Hans Pohlsander, professor emeritus of history at the State University of New York at Albany, Constantine's conversion was a matter of realpolitik, meant to serve his political interest in keeping the empire united under his control: The prevailing spirit of Constantine's government was one of conservatism.
The Crisis of the Third Century (AD 235–284), was a period of heavy barbarian invasions and migrations into Roman territory. [4]: 19, 22 According to Peter Brown, imperial Rome's system of government was an easy–going system which governed indirectly through the regional, local elites, and was not built to survive the strain of continuous invasions and civil wars.
Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine (centre), accompanied by the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325), holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. In the history of Christianity, the first seven ecumenical councils include the following: the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Council of Chalcedon ...
The fall of Constantinople made an enormous impression on contemporaries, causing shock throughout Christian Europe and jubilation at the courts of Cairo, Tunis, and Granada. In addition, the destruction of many of the Roman and Byzantine cultural treasures of the once-flourishing city caused irreparable damage to all of European culture.
The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He built a new imperial residence in the city of Byzantium and renamed it New Rome, later adopting the name Constantinople after himself, where it was located in modern Istanbul.
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
Though by 800 Western Europe was ruled entirely by Christian kings, Eastern Europe remained an area of missionary activity. The First Bulgarian Empire was the first of the Eastern European nations to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 868. It declared independence of Constantinople and Rome soon after.
On February 27, 380, the Roman Empire officially adopted Trinitarian Nicene Christianity as its state religion. [8] Prior to this date, Constantius II (337-361) and Valens (364-378) had personally favored Arian or Semi-Arianism forms of Christianity, but Valens' successor Theodosius I supported the Trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the Nicene Creed.