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208-630: Constantine the Great 's formal adoption of Christianity into the Roman Empire entailed the convention of ecumenical councils to remove theological divisions between opposing sects within the Church. Arius's theology was a prominent topic at the First Council of Nicaea , where Arianism was condemned in favor of Homoousian conceptions of God and Jesus. Opposition to Arianism remains embodied in

416-439: A council to be composed of church prelates from all parts of the empire to resolve this issue, possibly at Hosius's recommendation. "Around 250–300 attended, drawn almost entirely from the eastern half of the empire." Pope Sylvester I , himself too aged to attend, sent two priests as his delegates. Arius himself attended the council, as did his bishop, Alexander. Also there were Eusebius of Caesarea , Eusebius of Nicomedia and

624-688: A fellow -disciple of Lucian." But Williams questions whether "we should assume from the one word in Arius' letter that he had actually been Lucian's student." In the past, many writers have assumed that our Arius is the same as the Arius who was involved in the Melitian schism , "who had an outward appearance of piety, and ... was eager to be a teacher." However, after several pages of detailed analysis, Williams concludes that "the Melitian Arius ... melt(s) away under close investigation." In 313, Arius

832-458: A Christian, he waited to be baptised on his deathbed, believing that the baptism would release him of any sins he committed in the course of carrying out his policies while emperor. He supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (such as exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the long period of persecution. His most famous building projects include

1040-649: A Christian. The Arian Controversy began only 5 years later in 318 when Arius, who was in charge of one of the churches in Alexandria, publicly criticized his bishop Alexander for "carelessness in blurring the distinction of nature between the Father and the Son by his emphasis on eternal generation". The Trinitarian historian Socrates of Constantinople reports that Arius sparked the controversy that bears his name when Alexander of Alexandria , who had succeeded Achillas as

1248-584: A Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1975 with a thesis entitled The Theology of Vladimir Nikolaievich Lossky : An Exposition and Critique . Williams lectured and trained for ordination at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield , West Yorkshire, for two years (1975–1977). In 1977, he returned to Cambridge to teach theology as a tutor (as well as chaplain and Director of Studies) at Westcott House ; he

1456-488: A Freemason. However, he also reiterated his concern about Christian ministers adopting "a private system of profession and initiation, involving the taking of oaths of loyalty." Williams objected to a proposed French law banning the wearing of the hijab , a traditional Islamic headscarf for women, in French schools. He said that the hijab and any other religious symbols should not be outlawed. Williams also spoke up against

1664-657: A November 2011 article he published in the Financial Times . He is also a vocal opponent of tax avoidance and a proponent of corporate social responsibility, arguing that "economic growth and prosperity are about serving the human good, not about serving private ends". Williams was to repeat his opposition to American action in October 2002 when he signed a petition against the Iraq War as being against United Nations (UN) ethics and Christian teaching, and "lowering

1872-557: A collection of panegyrics from the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, provides valuable information on the politics and ideology of the tetrarchic period and the early life of Constantine. Contemporary architecture—such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome and palaces in Gamzigrad and Córdoba — epigraphic remains, and the coinage of the era complement the literary sources. Constantine

2080-486: A council of local priests. Arius's supporters vehemently protested. Numerous bishops and Christian leaders of the era supported his cause, among them Eusebius of Nicomedia , who baptized Constantine the Great. The Christological debate could no longer be contained within the Alexandrian diocese . By the time Bishop Alexander finally acted against Arius, Arius's doctrine had spread far beyond his own see; it had become

2288-484: A divorcee, in a civil ceremony. Afterwards, Williams gave the couple a formal service of blessing. In fact, the arrangements for the wedding and service were strongly supported by the Archbishop "consistent with the Church of England guidelines concerning remarriage". The "strongly-worded" act of penitence by the couple, a confessional prayer written by Thomas Cranmer , Archbishop of Canterbury to King Henry VIII ,

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2496-429: A formal Arian in the sense that he knew and accepted the full logic of Arius, or of Asterius' position. But undoubtedly, he approached it nearly." Like many third-century Christian scholars, Arius was influenced by the writings of Origen , widely regarded as the first great theologian of Christianity. However, while both agreed on the subordination of the Son to the Father, and Arius drew support from Origen's theories on

2704-536: A grand adventus in the city which was met with jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets for all to see. After the ceremonies, the disembodied head was sent to Carthage, and Carthage offered no further resistance. Unlike his predecessors, Constantine neglected to make the trip to the Capitoline Hill and perform customary sacrifices at

2912-550: A helmet emblazoned with the Chi Rho , and coins issued at Siscia in 317/318 repeat the image. The figure was otherwise rare and is uncommon in imperial iconography and propaganda before the 320s. It was not completely unknown, however, being an abbreviation of the Greek word chrēston (good), having previously appeared on the coins of Ptolemy III Euergetes in the 3rd century BC. Following Constantine, centuries of Christians invoked

3120-565: A large donative pledge to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. When Constantine heard of the rebellion, he abandoned his campaign against the Franks and marched his army up the Rhine. At Cabillunum ( Chalon-sur-Saône ), he moved his troops onto waiting boats to row down the slow waters of the Saône to

3328-487: A long evening of drinking, Galerius granted the request. Constantine's later propaganda describes how he fled the court in the night, before Galerius could change his mind. He rode from post-house to post-house at high speed, hamstringing every horse in his wake. By the time Galerius awoke the following morning, Constantine had fled too far to be caught. Constantine joined his father in Gaul , at Bononia ( Boulogne ) before

3536-513: A lot more conservative than he would like me to be. Take the Resurrection . I think he has said that of course I know what all the reputable scholars think on the subject and therefore when I talk about the risen body I must mean something other than the empty tomb. But I don't. I don't know how to persuade him, but I really don't. Although generally considered an Anglo-Catholic , Williams has broad sympathies. One of his first publications, in

3744-544: A major change of heart all round, it may be an unavoidable aspect of limiting the damage we are already doing to ourselves." In such a structure, some churches would be given full membership of the Anglican Communion, while others had a lower-level form of membership, with no more than observer status on some issues. Williams also used his keynote address to issue a profound apology for the way that he had spoken about "exemplary and sacrificial" gay Anglican priests in

3952-460: A military support, which Maxentius accepted. According to Eusebius, inter-regional travel became impossible, and there was military buildup everywhere. There was "not a place where people were not expecting the onset of hostilities every day". Constantine's advisers and generals cautioned against preemptive attack on Maxentius; even his soothsayers recommended against it, stating that the sacrifices had produced unfavourable omens. Constantine, with

4160-782: A number of evangelical and conservative Anglicans. The debate had begun to divide the Anglican Communion, however, and Williams, in his new role as its leader was to have an important role. As Archbishop of Canterbury, Williams acted ex officio as visitor of King's College London , the University of Kent and Keble College, Oxford , governor of Charterhouse School , and, since 2005, as (inaugural) chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University . In addition to these ex officio roles, Cambridge University awarded him an honorary doctorate in divinity in 2006; in April 2007, Trinity College and Wycliffe College , both associated with

4368-830: A number of publications including the anthology of essays to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Oxford Movement entitled Essays Catholic and Radical in 1983. He was in New York at the time of September 2001 attacks , only yards from Ground Zero delivering a lecture; he subsequently wrote a short book, Writing in the Dust , offering reflections on the event. In reference to Al Qaeda , he said that terrorists "can have serious moral goals" and that "Bombast about evil individuals doesn't help in understanding anything." He subsequently worked with Muslim leaders in England and on

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4576-541: A palace complex in the northeastern part of the city. To the south of his palace, he ordered the construction of a large formal audience hall and a massive imperial bathhouse. He sponsored many building projects throughout Gaul during his tenure as emperor of the West, especially in Augustodunum ( Autun ) and Arelate ( Arles ). According to Lactantius, Constantine followed a tolerant policy towards Christianity, although he

4784-415: A particularly significant writer." Those works which have survived are quoted in the works of churchmen who denounced him as a heretic . This leads some—but not all—scholars to question their reliability. For example Bishop R.P.C. Hanson wrote: "Athanasius, a fierce opponent of Arius ... certainly would not have stopped short of misrepresenting what he said." "Athanasius... may be suspected of pressing

4992-700: A patron of the Cogwheel Trust, a local Cambridgeshire charity providing affordable counselling, since 2015 and is active in his support. On 1 May 2013 he became chair of the board of trustees of Christian Aid . He is the Chair of Trustees of the Council for the Defence of the British Universities (CDBU). Together with Grey Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie , and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis , Williams

5200-877: A period referred to as the Constantinian shift . This initiated the Christianization of the Roman Empire . Constantine is associated with the religiopolitical ideology known as Caesaropapism , which epitomizes the unity of church and state. He founded the city of Constantinople and made it the capital of the Empire, which remained so for over a millennium. Born in Naissus , in Dardania within Moesia Superior (now Niš , Serbia), Constantine

5408-634: A regular churchgoer. The play took to the stage in July 2016 and was received favourably. Williams is patron of the Canterbury Open Centre run by Catching Lives , a local charity supporting the destitute. He has also been patron of the Peace Mala Youth Project For World Peace since 2002, one of his last engagements as Archbishop of Wales being to lead the charity's launch ceremony. In addition, he

5616-453: A result of a debilitating sickness taken in the winter of 304–305, announced his resignation. In a parallel ceremony in Milan , Maximian did the same. Lactantius states that Galerius manipulated the weakened Diocletian into resigning and forced him to accept Galerius' allies in the imperial succession. According to Lactantius, the crowd listening to Diocletian's resignation speech believed, until

5824-518: A revolting and horrifying sight." Galerius died soon after the edict's proclamation, destroying what little remained of the Tetrarchy. Maximinus mobilised against Licinius and seized Asia Minor . A hasty peace was signed on a boat in the middle of the Bosphorus . While Constantine toured Britain and Gaul, Maxentius prepared for war. He fortified northern Italy and strengthened his support in

6032-420: A single complete and continuous text." We only have extracts from it in the writings of Arius' enemies, "mostly from the pen of Athanasius of Alexandria, his bitterest and most prejudiced enemy." Emperor Constantine ordered their burning while Arius was still living but R.P.C. Hanson concluded that so little survived because "the people of his day, whether they agreed with him or not, did not regard him (Arius) as

6240-550: A spirit that left a deep impression on his followers, inspiring some to believe that he had some form of supernatural guidance, ignored all these cautions. Early in the spring of 312, Constantine crossed the Cottian Alps with a quarter of his army, a force numbering about 40,000. The first town his army encountered was Segusium ( Susa , Italy), a heavily fortified town that shut its gates to him. Constantine ordered his men to set fire to its gates and scale its walls. He took

6448-413: A supporter of Arius as long as Arius lived." "The conventional picture of Eusebius is of an unscrupulous intriguer." "This is of course because our knowledge of Eusebius derives almost entirely from the evidence of his bitter enemies." Hanson mentions several instances displaying Eusebius' integrity and courage and concludes: "Eusebius certainly was a man of strong character and great ability" (page 29). "It

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6656-460: A temple to Aphrodite . Generations later there was the story that a divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the 'old' Rome as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana , the "New Rome of Constantinople". Constantine was the first emperor to stop the persecution of Christians and to legalize Christianity, along with all other religions/cults in

6864-435: A tolerant and politically skilled man, Constantius advanced through the ranks, earning the governorship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian, another of Aurelian's companions from Illyricum , in 284 or 285. Constantine's mother was Helena , a Greek woman of low social standing from Helenopolis of Bithynia . It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine . His main language

7072-639: A topic of discussion—and disturbance—for the entire Church. The Church was now a powerful force in the Roman world, with Emperors Licinius and Constantine I having legalized it in 313 through the Edict of Milan . Emperor Constantine had taken a personal interest in several ecumenical issues, including the Donatist controversy in 316, and he wanted to bring an end to the Christological dispute. To this end,

7280-484: A university lecturer in divinity at Cambridge. In 1984 he became dean and chaplain of Clare College and, in 1986 at the age of 36, he was appointed to the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford, a position which brought with it appointment to a residentiary canonry of Christ Church Cathedral . In 1989 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity (DD) and, in 1990, was elected a Fellow of

7488-695: A valid means of arbitration (in matters such as marriage) among Muslim communities in the United Kingdom is "unavoidable", and should not be resisted. On 15 November 2008 Williams visited the Balaji Temple in Tividale , West Midlands, on a goodwill mission to represent the friendship between Christianity and Hinduism . On 6 May 2010 Williams met Indian Islamic leader, Mohammed Burhanuddin , at Huseini Mosque in Northolt , London, to discuss

7696-434: A way to live with their differences over women as bishops and homosexual ordination, the church would change shape and become a multi-tier communion of different levels – a schism in all but name. Williams also said that "it may be that the covenant creates a situation in which there are different levels of relationship between those claiming the name of Anglican. I don’t at all want or relish this, but suspect that, without

7904-603: A writing composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed it by fire, his penalty shall be death. As soon as he is discovered in this offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment   [...] The homoousian party's victory at Nicaea was short-lived, however. Despite Arius' exile and the alleged finality of the Council's decrees, the Arian controversy recommenced at once. When Bishop Alexander died in 327, Athanasius succeeded him, despite not meeting

8112-415: A year, rejected it. Constantine sent Galerius an official notice of Constantius' death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a portrait of himself in the robes of an augustus. The portrait was wreathed in bay . He requested recognition as heir to his father's throne and passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had "forced it upon him". Galerius

8320-844: Is a patron of the Wilfred Owen Association, formed in 1989 to commemorate the life and work of the World War I poet Wilfred Owen . He is the visitor of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd , a dispersed Anglican religious community of male priests and lay brothers. He also acts as a visitor to the new monastic Holywell Community in Abergavenny . He is also a patron of the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius which promotes ecumenical relationships between

8528-486: Is called, 'like-in-essence', there ought to be no mention of any of these at all, nor exposition of them in the Church, for this reason and for this consideration, that in divine Scripture nothing is written about them, and that they are above men's knowledge and above men's understanding. Following the abortive effort by Julian the Apostate to restore paganism in the empire, the emperor Valens —himself an Arian—renewed

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8736-586: Is longstanding. While chaplain of Clare College, Cambridge, Williams took part in anti-nuclear demonstrations at United States bases. In 1985, he was arrested for singing psalms as part of a protest organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at Lakenheath , an American air base in Suffolk; his fine was paid by his college. At this time he was a member of the left-wing Anglo-Catholic Jubilee Group headed by Kenneth Leech and he collaborated with Leech in

8944-632: Is my Rome ". Sirmium and Thessalonica were also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium , which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism during the preceding century by Septimius Severus and Caracalla , who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330 and renamed Constantinopolis ("Constantine's City" or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor

9152-472: Is not known. His praenomen is variously given as Lucius , Marcus and Gaius . Whatever the case, praenomina had already disappeared from most public records by this time. He also adopted the name "Valerius", the nomen of emperor Diocletian , following his father's ascension as caesar . Constantine probably spent little time with his father who was an officer in the Roman army, part of Emperor Aurelian 's imperial bodyguard. Being described as

9360-519: Is not uncritical of communitarianism , but his reservations about consumerism have been a constant theme. These views have often been expressed in quite strong terms; for example, he once commented that "Every transaction in the developed economies of the West can be interpreted as an act of aggression against the economic losers in the worldwide game." Williams has supported the Robin Hood tax campaign since March 2010, re-affirming his support in

9568-622: Is president of WaveLength Charity , a UK-wide organisation which gives TVs and radios to isolated and vulnerable people; every Archbishop of Canterbury since the charity's inception in 1939 has actively participated in this role. Williams is also patron of the T. S. Eliot Society and delivered the society's annual lecture in November 2013. Williams was also patron of the Birmingham-based charity The Feast, from 2010 until his retirement as Archbishop of Canterbury. Williams has been

9776-466: Is somewhat doubtful, the fact is that he seems to have been far less open in his support of Christianity than Constantine. Therefore, Licinius was prone to see the Church as a force more loyal to Constantine than to the Imperial system in general, as the explanation offered by the Church historian Sozomen . This dubious arrangement eventually became a challenge to Constantine in the West, climaxing in

9984-518: Is the anonymous Origo Constantini , a work of uncertain date which focuses on military and political events to the neglect of cultural and religious matters. Lactantius ' De mortibus persecutorum , a political Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy , provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life. The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates , Sozomen , and Theodoret describe

10192-533: Is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity , and he did much to push Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman 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

10400-578: The Logos , the two did not agree on everything. For example: Hanson concluded: "Arius probably inherited some terms and even some ideas from Origen, ... he certainly did not adopt any large or significant part of Origen's theology." "He was not without influence from Origen, but cannot seriously be called an Origenist." However, because Origen's theological speculations were often proffered to stimulate further inquiry rather than to put an end to any given dispute, both Arius and his opponents were able to invoke

10608-506: The Via Flaminia , allowing the weakness of Maxentius to draw his regime further into turmoil. Maxentius' support continued to weaken: at chariot races on 27 October, the crowd openly taunted Maxentius, shouting that Constantine was invincible. Maxentius, no longer certain that he would emerge from a siege victorious, built a temporary boat bridge across the Tiber in preparation for a field battle against Constantine. On 28 October 312,

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10816-733: The British Academy (FBA). On 5 December 1991, Williams was elected Bishop of Monmouth in the Church in Wales : he was consecrated a bishop on 1 May 1992 at St Asaph Cathedral and enthroned at Newport Cathedral on 14 May. He continued to serve as Bishop of Monmouth after he was elected to also be the Archbishop of Wales in December 1999, in which capacity he was enthroned again at Newport Cathedral on 26 February 2000. In 2002, he

11024-477: The Church of England . Williams's primacy was marked by speculation that the Anglican Communion (in which the Archbishop of Canterbury is the leading figure) was on the verge of fragmentation over disagreements on contemporary issues such as homosexuality and the ordination of women . Williams worked to keep all sides in dialogue. Notable events during his time as Archbishop of Canterbury include

11232-517: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old St. Peter's Basilica . In constructing the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Constantine went to great lengths to erect the basilica on top of St. Peter 's resting place, so much so that it even affected the design of the basilica, including the challenge of erecting it on the hill where St. Peter rested, making its complete construction time over 30 years from

11440-551: The Coptic Orthodox Church maintain that he was baptised by Pope Sylvester I . He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed . The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his orders at

11648-543: The General Synod of the Church of England , Williams warned that damaging infighting over the ordination of women as bishops and gay priests could lead to a permanent split in the Anglican Communion. He stressed that he did not "want nor relish" the prospect of division and called on the Church of England and Anglicans worldwide to step back from a "betrayal" of God's mission and to put the work of Christ before schism . But he conceded that, unless Anglicans could find

11856-447: The King James Bible in the presence of Queen Elizabeth , Prince Philip and Prince Charles , Patron of the King James Bible Trust. To mark the ending of his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, Williams presented a BBC television documentary about Canterbury Cathedral , in which he reflected upon his time in office. Entitled Goodbye to Canterbury , the programme was screened on 1 January 2013. On 9 February 2010, in an address to

12064-553: The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement , and which is now part of a series of essays collected in the book Theology and Sexuality (ed. Eugene Rogers, Blackwells 2002). At the Lambeth Conference in July 1998, then Bishop Rowan Williams of Monmouth abstained and did not vote in favour of the conservative resolution on human sexuality. These actions, combined with his initial support for openly gay Canon Jeffrey John , gained him support among liberals and caused frustration for conservatives. His interest in and involvement with social issues

12272-524: The Nicene Creed , described as "a deliberately anti-Arian document." Nevertheless, despite concerted opposition, Arian churches persisted for centuries throughout Europe (especially in various Germanic kingdoms), the Middle East, and North Africa. They were suppressed by military conquest or by voluntary royal conversion between the fifth and seventh centuries. Arius's role as the sole originator of Arian theology has been disputed by historians such as Rowan Williams , who stated that "Arius' role in 'Arianism'

12480-413: The Sarmatians —and resettled territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century with citizens of Roman culture. Although Constantine lived much of his life as a pagan and later as a catechumen , he began to favour Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia , an Arian bishop, although the Catholic Church and

12688-477: The Temple of Jupiter . However, he did visit the Senatorial Curia Julia , and he promised to restore its ancestral privileges and give it a secure role in his reformed government; there would be no revenge against Maxentius' supporters. In response, the Senate decreed him "title of the first name", which meant that his name would be listed first in all official documents, and they acclaimed him as "the greatest augustus". He issued decrees returning property that

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12896-453: The University of Oxford in January 2014, he "characterized the impulse to intervene as a need to be seen to do something rather than nothing" and advocated for "a religiously motivated nonviolence which refuses to idolise human intervention in all circumstances." Williams became Archbishop of Canterbury at a particularly difficult time in the relations of the churches of the Anglican Communion. His predecessor, George Carey, had sought to keep

13104-486: The University of Toronto , awarded him a joint Doctor of Divinity degree during his first visit to Canada since being enthroned and he also received honorary degrees and fellowships from various universities including Kent , Oxford , and Roehampton . Williams speaks or reads eleven languages: English, Welsh , Spanish, French, German, Russian, Biblical Hebrew , Syriac , Latin , and both Ancient (koine) and Modern Greek . He learnt Russian in order to be able to read

13312-481: The Wales Book of the Year award in 2004. Besides his own poems, which have a strong spiritual and landscape flavour, the collection contains several fluent translations from Welsh poets . He was criticised in the press for allegedly supporting a " pagan organisation", the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards , which promotes Welsh language and literature and uses druidic ceremonial but is actually not religious in nature. In 2005, Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles ,

13520-414: The de facto principle of dynastic succession by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty . His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. At

13728-537: The peerage as a life peer , so that he could continue to speak in the House of Lords . Following the creation of his title on 8 January and its gazetting on 11 January 2013, he was introduced to the temporal benches of the House of Lords as Baron Williams of Oystermouth on 15 January 2013, sitting as a crossbencher . Oystermouth is a district of Swansea. He retired from the House on 31 August 2020 and from Magdalene College that Autumn, returning to Abergavenny , in his former diocese ( Monmouthshire ). Williams

13936-407: The scapegoating of Muslims in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings on underground trains and a bus, which killed 52 and wounded about 700. The initial blame was placed on Al-Qaeda , but Muslims at large were targeted for reprisals: four mosques in England were assaulted and Muslims were verbally insulted in streets and their cars and houses were vandalised. Williams strongly condemned

14144-404: The African regions and was considered a disturbance of the public order by the Roman Empire. (Eusebius of Caesarea in The Life of Constantine ). "The Thalia appears ... to have circulated only in Alexandria; what is known of him elsewhere seems to stem from Athanasius' quotations." He also had the support of perhaps the two most important church leaders of that time: Eusebius of Nicomedia "was

14352-452: The Anglican and Orthodox churches. Williams, a scholar of the Church Fathers and a historian of Christian spirituality, wrote in 1983 that orthodoxy should be seen "as a tool rather than an end in itself..." It is not something which stands still. Thus "old styles come under increasing strain, new speech needs to be generated". He sees orthodoxy as a number of "dialogues": a constant dialogue with Christ, crucified and risen; but also that of

14560-480: The Arian Philostorgius also survive, though their biases are no less firm. The epitomes of Aurelius Victor ( De Caesaribus ), Eutropius ( Breviarium ), Festus ( Breviarium ), and the anonymous author of the Epitome de Caesaribus offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although not Christian, the epitomes paint a favourable image of Constantine but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies. The Panegyrici Latini ,

14768-460: The Bishop of Alexandria , gave a sermon stating the similarity of the Son to the Father. Arius interpreted Alexander's speech as being a revival of Sabellianism , condemned it, and then argued that "if the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not. It therefore necessarily follows, that he [the Son] had his substance from nothing." This quote describes

14976-802: The Bosphorus and appointed Martinian , his magister officiorum , as nominal augustus in the West, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324. Licinius and Martinian surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively, but in 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius' son (the son of Constantine's half-sister)

15184-555: The Bosporus and invaded European territory. Licinius departed and eventually defeated Maximinus, gaining control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, as Constantine suffered an assassination attempt at the hands of a character that Licinius wanted elevated to the rank of Caesar; Licinius, for his part, had Constantine's statues in Emona destroyed. In either 314 or 316,

15392-540: The Christian community by allowing it to elect Eusebius as bishop of Rome . Maxentius' rule was nevertheless insecure. His early support dissolved in the wake of heightened tax rates and depressed trade; riots broke out in Rome and Carthage ; and Domitius Alexander was able to briefly usurp his authority in Africa. By 312, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported, even among Christian Italians. In

15600-487: The Christian world. Historians report that Constantine, who had not been baptized for most of his lifetime, was baptized on his deathbed in 337 by the Arian bishop, Eusebius of Nicomedia . Constantius II , who succeeded Constantine, was an Arian sympathizer. Under him, Arianism reached its high point at the Third Council of Sirmium in 357. The Seventh Arian Confession (Second Sirmium Confession) held, regarding

15808-566: The Danube with a Sarmatian captive to drop at Galerius' feet. It is uncertain how much these tales can be trusted. Constantine recognised the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius' court, where he was held as a virtual hostage. His career depended on being rescued by his father in the West. Constantius was quick to intervene. In the late spring or early summer of 305, Constantius requested leave for his son to help him campaign in Britain. After

16016-609: The East, and the military strategic importance of protecting the Danube from barbarian excursions and Asia from a hostile Persia in choosing his new capital as well as being able to monitor shipping traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival centre of pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it

16224-643: The East, from Nicomedia ( İzmit , Turkey). The division was merely pragmatic: the empire was called "indivisible" in official panegyric, and both emperors could move freely throughout the empire. In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul . Constantius left Helena to marry Maximian's stepdaughter Theodora in 288 or 289. Diocletian divided the empire again in 293, appointing two caesars to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. Each would be subordinate to his respective augustus but would act with supreme authority in his assigned lands. This system would later be called

16432-666: The Emperor, to serve on campaigns against external enemies or Roman rebels, and frontier-garrison troops ( limitanei ) which were capable of countering barbarian raids, but less and less capable, over time, of countering full-scale barbarian invasions . Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers —such as the Franks , the Alemanni , the Goths , and

16640-540: The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada." The letter acknowledged his eloquence but strongly criticised his reluctance to take sides in the communion's theological crisis and urged him to make explicit threats to those more liberal churches. Questions were later asked about the authority and provenance of the letter as two additional signatories' names had been added although they had left

16848-411: The Father alone was infinite and eternal. Arius maintained that the Son had a beginning. Thus, said Arius, only the Son was directly created and begotten of God; furthermore, there was a time that he had no existence. He was capable of his own free will, said Arius, and thus "were He in the truest sense a son, He must have come after the Father, therefore the time obviously was when He was not, and hence He

17056-406: The Father's permission and power. "Many summary accounts present the Arian controversy as a dispute over whether or not Christ was divine." "It is misleading to assume that these controversies were about 'the divinity of Christ'." "Many fourth-century theologians (including some who were in no way anti-Nicene) made distinctions between being 'God' and being 'true God' that belie any simple account of

17264-504: The Goths and Sarmatians in 322, and on the Goths in 323, defeating and killing their leader Rausimod . In 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan and began to oppress Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian office-holders. Although this characterization of Licinius as anti-Christian

17472-511: The Italian turmoil; now, instead of giving Maxentius military aid, he sent his troops against Germanic tribes along the Rhine. In 308, he raided the territory of the Bructeri and made a bridge across the Rhine at Colonia Agrippinensium ( Cologne ). In 310, he marched to the northern Rhine and fought the Franks. When not campaigning, he toured his lands advertising his benevolence and supporting

17680-570: The Picts and securing his control in the northwestern dioceses. He completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father's rule, and he ordered the repair of the region's roadways. He then left for Augusta Treverorum ( Trier ) in Gaul, the Tetrarchic capital of the northwestern Roman Empire. The Franks learned of Constantine's acclamation and invaded Gaul across the lower Rhine over

17888-690: The Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard . The tombstones of the Imperial Horse Guard were ground up and used in a basilica on the Via Labicana , and their former base was redeveloped into the Lateran Basilica on 9 November 312—barely two weeks after Constantine captured the city. The Legio II Parthica was removed from Albano Laziale , and the remainder of Maxentius' armies were sent to do frontier duty on

18096-470: The Rhine. In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan , officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in

18304-539: The Roman Empire. Constantine the Great Constantine I ( Latin : Flavius Valerius Constantinus ; 27 February c.  272  – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great , was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity . He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, decriminalizing Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution in

18512-533: The Roman Empire. In February 313, he met with Licinius in Milan and developed the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians should be allowed to follow their faith without oppression. This removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many had been martyred previously , and it returned confiscated Church property. The edict protected all religions from persecution, not only Christianity, allowing anyone to worship any deity that they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, senior emperor of

18720-486: The Son was of the same essence ( homoousios ) with the Father (or one in essence with the Father), and was eternally generated from that essence of the Father. Those who instead insisted that the Son of God came after God the Father in time and substance were led by Arius the presbyter. For about two months, the two sides argued and debated, with each appealing to Scripture to justify their respective positions. Arius argued for

18928-560: The Tetrarchy, which granted Christians the right to practise their religion but did not restore any property to them. The Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated churches would be returned, as well as other provisions for previously persecuted Christians. Some scholars think that Helena adopted Christianity as an adult, and according to Eusebius she was converted by Constantine, but other historians debate whether Constantine adopted his mother Helena's Christianity in his youth or whether he adopted it gradually over

19136-417: The Tetrarchy. Diocletian's first appointee for the office of Caesar was Constantius ; his second was Galerius , a native of Felix Romuliana . According to Lactantius , Galerius was a brutal, animalistic man. Although he shared the paganism of Rome's aristocracy, he seemed to them an alien figure, a semi-barbarian. On 1 March, Constantius was promoted to the office of Caesar, and dispatched to Gaul to fight

19344-479: The University of Cambridge in 2017. On 18 June 2013, the University of South Wales announced his appointment as its new chancellor , the ceremonial head of the university. In 2015, it was reported that Williams had written a play called Shakeshafte , about a meeting between William Shakespeare and Edmund Campion , a Jesuit priest and martyr. Williams suspects that Shakespeare was Catholic , though not

19552-544: The Veronese forces and Maxentius' praetorian prefect, was in a strong defensive position since the town was surrounded on three sides by the Adige . Constantine sent a small force north of the town in an attempt to cross the river unnoticed. Ruricius sent a large detachment to counter Constantine's expeditionary force but was defeated. Constantine's forces successfully surrounded the town and laid siege. Ruricius gave Constantine

19760-597: The Windsor Report. In a leaked private letter, Williams said that he "had real misgivings about the compatibility of Masonry and Christian profession" and that while he was Bishop of Monmouth he had prevented the appointment of Freemasons to senior positions within his diocese. The leaking of this letter in 2003 caused a controversy, which he sought to defuse by apologising for the distress caused and stating that he did not question "the good faith and generosity of individual Freemasons", not least as his father had been

19968-497: The age requirements for a hierarch. Still committed to pacifying the conflict between Arians and Trinitarians, Constantine gradually became more lenient toward those whom the Council of Nicaea had exiled. Though he never repudiated the council or its decrees, the emperor ultimately permitted Arius (who had taken refuge in Palestine ) and many of his adherents to return to their homes, once Arius had reformulated his Christology to mute

20176-414: The authority of this revered (at the time) theologian during their debate. Arius emphasized the supremacy and uniqueness of God the Father, meaning that the Father alone is infinite and eternal and almighty, and that therefore the Father's divinity must be greater than the Son's. Arius maintained that the Son possessed neither the eternity nor the true divinity of the Father but was rather made "God" only by

20384-558: The beginning of the Renaissance , there were more critical appraisals of his reign with the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. Constantine was a ruler of major importance and has always been a controversial figure. The fluctuations in his reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but they have been strongly influenced by

20592-545: The challenges to the unity of the Anglican Communion, stemming from the consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire , and the blessing of same-sex unions in the Diocese of New Westminster . (Robinson was in a same-sex relationship.) The Windsor Report , as it was called, was published in October 2004. It recommended solidifying the connection between the churches of the communion by having each church ratify an "Anglican Covenant" that would commit them to consulting

20800-445: The church on the day following: but divine retribution overtook his daring criminalities. For going out of the imperial palace, attended by a crowd of Eusebian partisans like guards, he paraded proudly through the midst of the city, attracting the notice of all the people. As he approached the place called Constantine's Forum , where the column of porphyry is erected, a terror arising from the remorse of conscience seized Arius, and with

21008-429: The cipher of Christ. Having this sign (☧), his troops stood to arms." Eusebius describes a vision that Constantine had while marching at midday in which "he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, In Hoc Signo Vinces " ("In this sign thou shalt conquer"). In Eusebius's account, Constantine had a dream the following night in which Christ appeared with

21216-631: The claimed site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and was deemed the holiest place in all of Christendom . The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine . He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor", but while he did favour the Christian Church, some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity. Nevertheless, he

21424-413: The coinage of Constantine advertised Mars as his patron. From 310 on, Mars was replaced by Sol Invictus , a god conventionally identified with Apollo. There is little reason to believe that either the dynastic connection or the divine vision are anything other than fiction, but their proclamation strengthened Constantine's claims to legitimacy and increased his popularity among the citizens of Gaul. By

21632-490: The community of faith with the world – "a risky enterprise", as he writes. "We ought to be puzzled", he says, "when the world is not challenged by the gospel." It may mean that Christians have not understood the kinds of bondage to which the gospel is addressed. He has also written that "orthodoxy is inseparable from sacramental practice... The eucharist is the paradigm of that dialogue which is 'orthodoxy'". This stance may help to explain both his social radicalism and his view of

21840-403: The controversy in these terms." "It must be understood that in the fourth century the word 'God' (theos, deus) had not acquired the significance which in our twentieth-century world it has acquired ... viz. the one and sole true God. The word could apply to many gradations of divinity and was not as absolute to Athanasius as it is to us." The Bishop of Alexandria exiled the presbyter following

22048-715: The council became so heated that at one point, Nicholas struck Arius across the face. The majority of the bishops ultimately agreed upon a creed, known thereafter as the Nicene creed . It included the word homoousios , meaning "consubstantial", or "one in essence", which was incompatible with Arius's beliefs. On June 19, 325, council and emperor issued a circular to the churches in and around Alexandria: Arius and two of his unyielding partisans (Theonas and Secundus) were deposed and exiled to Illyricum , while three other supporters— Theognis of Nicaea , Eusebius of Nicomedia and Maris of Chalcedon—affixed their signatures solely out of deference to

22256-490: The course of his life. Constantine possibly retained the title of pontifex maximus which emperors bore as heads of the ancient Roman religion until Gratian renounced the title. According to Christian writers, Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, making it clear that he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone. Despite these declarations of being

22464-481: The date Constantine ordered it to be built. Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales , Williams was the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within

22672-430: The demotion and continued to style himself as augustus on his coinage, even as other members of the Tetrarchy referred to him as a caesar on theirs. Maximinus was frustrated that he had been passed over for promotion while the newcomer Licinius had been raised to the office of augustus and demanded that Galerius promote him. Galerius offered to call both Maximinus and Constantine "sons of the augusti", but neither accepted

22880-526: The doctrines homoousios (of one substance) and homoiousios (of similar substance), that both were non-biblical; and that the Father is greater than the Son, a confession later dubbed the Blasphemy of Sirmium : But since many persons are disturbed by questions concerning what is called in Latin substantia , but in Greek ousia , that is, to make it understood more exactly, as to 'coessential', or what

23088-535: The doctrines that Arius was spreading, but his charge of heresy against Arius is vague and unsupported by other authorities. Furthermore, Alexander's language, like that of most controversialists in those days, is quite bitter and abusive. Moreover, even Alexander never accused Lucian of having taught Arianism. It is traditionally taught that Arius had wide support in the areas of the Roman Empire. But it now seems his supporters were limited to Egypt and Alexandria: The controversy had spread from Alexandria into almost all

23296-487: The earlier rupture in their relations, Maxentius was eager to present himself as his father's devoted son after his death. He began minting coins with his father's deified image, proclaiming his desire to avenge Maximian's death. Constantine initially presented the suicide as an unfortunate family tragedy. By 311, however, he was spreading another version. According to this, after Constantine had pardoned him, Maximian planned to murder Constantine in his sleep. Fausta learned of

23504-408: The eastern front by the spring of 303, in time to witness the beginnings of Diocletian's " Great Persecution ", the most severe persecution of Christians in Roman history. In late 302, Diocletian and Galerius sent a messenger to the oracle of Apollo at Didyma with an inquiry about Christians. Constantine could recall his presence at the palace when the messenger returned and Diocletian accepted

23712-511: The eastern provinces (against the Persians ) before being recalled in the west (in AD ;305) to fight alongside his father in the province of Britannia . After his father's death in 306, Constantine was proclaimed as augustus (emperor) by his army at Eboracum ( York , England). He eventually emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become

23920-475: The ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's later reign. Written during the reign of Theodosius II (r. 402–450), a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastical historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation, and deliberate obscurity. The contemporary writings of the orthodox Christian Athanasius and the ecclesiastical history of

24128-400: The economy and the arts. His refusal to participate in the war increased his popularity among his people and strengthened his power base in the West. Maximian returned to Rome in the winter of 307–308 but soon fell out with his son. In early 308, after a failed attempt to usurp Maxentius' title, Maximian returned to Constantine's court. On 11 November 308, Galerius called a general council at

24336-427: The effusion of blood, so that he almost immediately died. The scene of this catastrophe still is shown at Constantinople, as I have said, behind the shambles in the colonnade: and by persons going by pointing the finger at the place, there is a perpetual remembrance preserved of this extraordinary kind of death. The death of Arius did not end the Arian controversy, which would not be settled for centuries in some parts of

24544-471: The elder Emperor Maximian and needed a new source of legitimacy. In a speech delivered in Gaul on 25 July 310, the anonymous orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to Claudius II , a 3rd-century emperor famed for defeating the Goths and restoring order to the empire. Breaking away from tetrarchic models, the speech emphasizes Constantine's ancestral prerogative to rule, rather than principles of imperial equality. The new ideology expressed in

24752-517: The emperor sent Hosius, bishop of Córdoba to investigate and, if possible, resolve the controversy. Hosius was armed with an open letter from the Emperor: "Wherefore let each one of you, showing consideration for the other, listen to the impartial exhortation of your fellow-servant." However, as the debate continued to rage despite Hosius's efforts, Constantine in AD 325 took an unprecedented step: he called

24960-402: The emperor's traditional purple robes . Constantine accepted the decision, knowing that it would remove doubts as to his legitimacy. Constantine's share of the empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, and Spain, and he commanded one of the largest Roman armies which was stationed along the important Rhine frontier. He remained in Britain after his promotion to emperor, driving back the tribes of

25168-425: The emperor. The following is part of the ruling made by the emperor denouncing Arius's teachings with fervor. In addition, if any writing composed by Arius should be found, it should be handed over to the flames, so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated, but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him. And I hereby make a public order, that if someone should be discovered to have hidden

25376-442: The empire. The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution. It repudiates past methods of religious coercion and used only general terms to refer to the divine sphere—"Divinity" and "Supreme Divinity", summa divinitas . The conference was cut short, however, when news reached Licinius that his rival Maximinus had crossed

25584-401: The essence of Arius's doctrine. Socrates of Constantinople believed that Arius was influenced in his thinking by the teachings of Lucian of Antioch , a celebrated Christian teacher and martyr. In a letter to Patriarch Alexander of Constantinople Arius's bishop, Alexander of Alexandria , wrote that Arius derived his theology from Lucian. The express purpose of the letter was to complain about

25792-640: The event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross , the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city. The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism . Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of

26000-402: The field bearing unfamiliar symbols on their standards and their shields. According to Lactantius "Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the letter Χ, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being

26208-655: The first Archbishop of Canterbury since the English Reformation to be appointed to this office from outside the Church of England. His election by the Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral was confirmed by nine bishops in the customary ceremony in London on 2 December 2002, when he officially became Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 27 February 2003 as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. The translation of Williams to Canterbury

26416-420: The first charge. His horse guards and praetorians initially held their position, but they broke under the force of a Constantinian cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with them and attempted to cross the bridge of boats ( Ponte Milvio ), but he was pushed into the Tiber and drowned by the mass of his fleeing soldiers. Constantine entered Rome on 29 October 312 and staged

26624-618: The government's apparent double standards "diminish the credibility of western governments". In December 2006 he expressed doubts in an interview on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 about whether he had done enough to oppose the war. On 5 October 2007, Williams visited Iraqi refugees in Syria. In a BBC interview after his trip he described advocates of a United States attack on Syria or Iran as "criminal, ignorant and potentially murderous". He said, "When people talk about further destabilization of

26832-414: The great civil war of 324. 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 . Outnumbered but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople . Licinius fled across

27040-598: The honours that he had granted to leaders of the Senate were also invalidated. Constantine also attempted to remove Maxentius' influence on Rome's urban landscape. All structures built by him were rededicated to Constantine, including the Temple of Romulus and the Basilica of Maxentius . At the focal point of the basilica, a stone statue was erected of Constantine holding the Christian labarum in its hand. Its inscription bore

27248-583: The ideas found most objectionable by his critics. Athanasius was exiled following his condemnation by the First Synod of Tyre in 335 (though he was later recalled), and the Synod of Jerusalem the following year restored Arius to communion. The emperor directed Alexander of Constantinople to receive Arius, despite the bishop's objections; Bishop Alexander responded by earnestly praying that Arius might perish before this could happen. Modern scholars consider that

27456-404: The imperial court's demands for universal persecution. On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia' s new church, condemned its scriptures to the flames, and had its treasures seized. In the months that followed, churches and scriptures were destroyed, Christians were deprived of official ranks, and priests were imprisoned. It is unlikely that Constantine played any role in

27664-480: The importance of the Church, and thus of the holding together of the Anglican communion over matters such as homosexuality: his belief in the idea of the Church is profound. John Shelby Spong once accused Williams of being a "neo-medievalist", preaching orthodoxy to the people in the pew but knowing in private that it is not true. In an interview with the magazine Third Way , Williams responded: I am genuinely

27872-420: The largely evangelical Grove Books series, has the title Eucharistic Sacrifice: The Roots of a Metaphor . Williams's contributions to Anglican views of homosexuality were perceived as quite liberal before he became the Archbishop of Canterbury. These views are evident in a paper written by Williams called "The Body's Grace", which he originally delivered as the 10th Michael Harding Memorial Address in 1989 to

28080-403: The last moment, that Diocletian would choose Constantine and Maxentius (Maximian's son) as his successors. It was not to be: Constantius and Galerius were promoted to augusti , while Severus and Maximinus , Galerius' nephew, were appointed their caesars respectively. Constantine and Maxentius were ignored. Some of the ancient sources detail plots that Galerius made on Constantine's life in

28288-566: The meeting before it was produced. Subsequently, the Church of Nigeria appointed an American cleric to deal with relations between the United States and Nigerian churches outside the normal channels. Williams expressed his reservations about this to the General Synod of the Church of England. Williams later established a working party to examine what a "covenant" between the provinces of the Anglican Communion would mean in line with

28496-530: The message which the statue illustrated: "By this sign, Constantine had freed Rome from the yoke of the tyrant." Constantine also sought to upstage Maxentius' achievements. For example, the Circus Maximus was redeveloped so that its seating capacity was 25 times larger than that of Maxentius' racing complex on the Via Appia . Maxentius' strongest military supporters were neutralised when he disbanded

28704-524: The middle of 310, Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics. His final act survives: a letter to provincials posted in Nicomedia on 30 April 311, proclaiming an end to the persecutions, and the resumption of religious toleration. Eusebius maintains "divine providence [...] took action against the perpetrator of these crimes" and gives a graphic account of Galerius' demise: "Without warning suppurative inflammation broke out round

28912-408: The middle of his genitals, then a deep-seated fistula ulcer; these ate their way incurably into his innermost bowels. From them came a teeming indescribable mass of worms, and a sickening smell was given off, for the whole of his hulking body, thanks to over eating, had been transformed even before his illness into a huge lump of flabby fat, which then decomposed and presented those who came near it with

29120-455: The military city of Carnuntum ( Petronell-Carnuntum , Austria) to resolve the instability in the western provinces. In attendance were Diocletian, briefly returned from retirement, Galerius, and Maximian. Maximian was forced to abdicate again and Constantine was again demoted to caesar. Licinius , one of Galerius' old military companions, was appointed augustus in the western regions. The new system did not last long: Constantine refused to accept

29328-419: The miraculous or the supernatural when justifying or describing their warfare. Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius' line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius' cavalry. He then sent his infantry against Maxentius' infantry, pushing many into the Tiber where they were slaughtered and drowned. The battle was brief, and Maxentius' troops were broken before

29536-420: The months following Diocletian's abdication. They assert that Galerius assigned Constantine to lead an advance unit in a cavalry charge through a swamp on the middle Danube, made him enter into single combat with a lion, and attempted to kill him in hunts and wars. Constantine always emerged victorious: the lion emerged from the contest in a poorer condition than Constantine; Constantine returned to Nicomedia from

29744-545: The name Constantinople after himself, where it was located in modern Istanbul . It subsequently became the capital of the empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire often being referred to in English as the Byzantine Empire , a term never used by the Empire, invented by German historian Hieronymus Wolf . His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with

29952-489: The need for interfaith co-operation; and planted a "tree of faith" in the mosque's grounds to signify the many commonalities between the two religions. In 2002, Williams delivered the Richard Dimbleby lecture and chose to talk about the problematic nature of the nation-state but also of its successors. He cited the "market state" as offering an inadequate vision of the way a state should operate, partly because it

30160-431: The new title. By the spring of 310, Galerius was referring to both men as augusti. In 310, a dispossessed Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He announced that Constantine was dead and took up the imperial purple. In spite of

30368-426: The north Italian plain sent Constantine embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. Constantine rested his army in Milan until mid-summer 312, when he moved on to Brixia ( Brescia ). Brescia's army was easily dispersed, and Constantine quickly advanced to Verona where a large Maxentian force was camped. Ruricius Pompeianus , general of

30576-596: The north without achieving great success. Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his reign and died on 25 July 306 in Eboracum . Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of full Augustus. The Alamannic king Chrocus , a barbarian taken into service under Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as augustus. The troops loyal to Constantius' memory followed him in acclamation. Gaul and Britain quickly accepted his rule; Hispania , which had been in his father's domain for less than

30784-436: The notion of Arius and his supporters as deliberate radicals, attacking a time-honoured tradition." "Arius was a committed theological conservative; more specifically, a conservative Alexandrian." Very little of Arius' writing has survived. "As far as his own writings go, we have no more than three letters, (and) a few fragments of another." The three are: "The Thalia is Arius' only known theological work" but "we do not possess

30992-400: The notion that Christ was co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father were led by the bishop Alexander . Athanasius was not allowed to sit in on the Council because he was only an arch-deacon. However, Athanasius is seen as doing the legwork and concluded (according to Bishop Alexander's defense of Athanasian Trinitarianism and also according to the Nicene Creed adopted at this Council) that

31200-522: The official propaganda of the period and are often one-sided; no contemporaneous histories or biographies dealing with his life and rule have survived. The nearest replacement is Eusebius 's Vita Constantini —a mixture of eulogy and hagiography written between 335 and circa 339 —that extols Constantine's moral and religious virtues. The Vita creates a contentiously positive image of Constantine, and modern historians have frequently challenged its reliability. The fullest secular life of Constantine

31408-520: The old family alliance between Maximian and Constantius and offer support to Maxentius' cause in Italy. Constantine accepted and married Fausta in Trier in summer 307. Constantine gave Maxentius his meagre support, offering Maxentius political recognition. Constantine remained aloof from the Italian conflict, however. Over the spring and summer of 307, he had left Gaul for Britain to avoid any involvement in

31616-491: The orator proclaims that Constantine experienced a divine vision of Apollo and Victory granting him laurel wreaths of health and a long reign. In the likeness of Apollo, Constantine recognised himself as the saving figure to whom would be granted "rule of the whole world", as the poet Virgil had once foretold. The oration's religious shift is paralleled by a similar shift in Constantine's coinage. In his early reign,

31824-545: The panegyrist the opportunity to comment favourably on the similarities between father and son, and Eusebius remarked that Constantine was a "renewal, as it were, in his own person, of his father's life and reign". Constantinian coinage, sculpture, and oratory also show a tendency for disdain towards the "barbarians" beyond the frontiers. He minted a coin issue after his victory over the Alemanni which depicts weeping and begging Alemannic tribesmen, "the Alemanni conquered" beneath

32032-471: The past. "There are ways of speaking about the question that seem to ignore these human realities or to undervalue them," he said. "I have been criticised for doing just this, and I am profoundly sorry for the carelessness that could give such an impression." On 17 January 2013, Williams was admitted as the 35th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and served until September 2020. He was also made an honorary Professor of Contemporary Christian Thought by

32240-681: The peace between the theologically conservative primates of the communion such as Peter Akinola of Nigeria and Drexel Gomez of the West Indies and liberals such as Frank Griswold , the then primate of the US Episcopal Church. In 2003, in an attempt to encourage dialogue, Williams appointed Robin Eames , Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland , as chairman of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, to examine

32448-550: The persecution of Nicene bishops. However, Valens's successor Theodosius I ended Arianism once and for all among the elites of the Eastern Empire through a combination of imperial decree, persecution, and the calling of the First Council of Constantinople in 381 that condemned Arius anew while reaffirming and expanding the Nicene Creed. This generally ended the influence of Arianism among the non-Germanic peoples of

32656-412: The persecution. In his later writings, he attempted to present himself as an opponent of Diocletian's "sanguinary edicts" against the "Worshippers of God", but nothing indicates that he opposed it effectively at the time. Although no contemporary Christian challenged Constantine for his inaction during the persecutions, it remained a political liability throughout his life. On 1 May 305, Diocletian, as

32864-440: The phrase "Romans' rejoicing". There was little sympathy for these enemies; as his panegyrist declared, "It is a stupid clemency that spares the conquered foe." Following Galerius' recognition of Constantine as caesar, Constantine's portrait was brought to Rome, as was customary. Maxentius mocked the portrait's subject as the son of a harlot and lamented his own powerlessness. Maxentius, envious of Constantine's authority, seized

33072-475: The plot and warned Constantine, who put a eunuch in his own place in bed. Maximian was apprehended when he killed the eunuch and was offered suicide, which he accepted. Along with using propaganda, Constantine instituted a damnatio memoriae on Maximian, destroying all inscriptions referring to him and eliminating any public work bearing his image. The death of Maximian required a shift in Constantine's public image. He could no longer rely on his connection to

33280-525: The position of chancellor of the University of South Wales in 2014 and served as master of Magdalene College, Cambridge between 2013 and 2020. He also delivered the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in 2013. Williams retired as Archbishop of Canterbury on 31 December 2012, succeeded by Justin Welby . On 26 December 2012, 10 Downing Street announced Williams's elevation to

33488-492: The quicker waters of the Rhone . He disembarked at Lugdunum ( Lyon ). Maximian fled to Massilia ( Marseille ), a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted some clemency but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian hanged himself . In spite of

33696-512: The rebels Carausius and Allectus . In spite of meritocratic overtones, the Tetrarchy retained vestiges of hereditary privilege, and Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as Caesar as soon as his father took the position. Constantine went to the court of Diocletian, where he lived as his father's heir presumptive . Constantine received a formal education at Diocletian's court, where he learned Latin literature, Greek, and philosophy. The cultural environment in Nicomedia

33904-527: The region and you read some American political advisers speaking of action against Syria and Iran, I can only say that I regard that as criminal, ignorant and potentially murderous folly." A few days earlier, the former US ambassador to the UN John R. Bolton had called for the bombing of Iran at a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party conference. In Williams's Humanitas Programme lecture at

34112-494: The rejection by a majority of dioceses of his proposed Anglican Covenant and, in the final general synod of his tenure, his unsuccessful attempt to secure a sufficient majority for a measure to allow the appointment of women as bishops in the Church of England. Having spent much of his earlier career as an academic at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford successively, Williams speaks three languages and reads at least nine. After standing down as archbishop, Williams took up

34320-451: The same heavenly sign and told him to make an army standard in the form of the labarum . Eusebius is vague about when and where these events took place, but it enters his narrative before the war begins against Maxentius. He describes the sign as Chi (Χ) traversed by Rho (Ρ) to form ☧, representing the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos). A medallion was issued at Ticinum in 315 which shows Constantine wearing

34528-554: The same type of war he had waged against Severus and Galerius: he occupied Rome and prepared for a siege. He still controlled Rome's Praetorian Guard , was well-stocked with African grain, and was surrounded on all sides by the seemingly impregnable Aurelian Walls . He ordered all bridges across the Tiber cut, reportedly on the counsel of the gods, and left the rest of central Italy undefended; Constantine secured that region's support without challenge. Constantine progressed slowly along

34736-544: The sixth anniversary of his reign, he approached the keepers of the Sibylline Books for guidance. The keepers prophesied that, on that very day, "the enemy of the Romans" would die. Maxentius advanced north to meet Constantine in battle. Maxentius' forces were still twice the size of Constantine's, and he organised them in long lines facing the battle plain with their backs to the river. Constantine's army arrived on

34944-422: The slip and returned with a larger force to oppose Constantine. Constantine refused to let up on the siege and sent only a small force to oppose him. In the desperately fought encounter that followed, Ruricius was killed and his army destroyed. Verona surrendered soon afterwards, followed by Aquileia , Mutina ( Modena ), and Ravenna . The road to Rome was now wide open to Constantine. Maxentius prepared for

35152-471: The sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324. Upon his ascension, Constantine enacted numerous reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation, he introduced the solidus , a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units ( comitatenses ), often around

35360-434: The speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine's right to rule. Indeed, the orator emphasizes ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors: "No chance agreement of men, nor some unexpected consequence of favour, made you emperor," the orator declares to Constantine. The oration also moves away from the religious ideology of the Tetrarchy, with its focus on twin dynasties of Jupiter and Hercules . Instead,

35568-403: The subsequent death of Arius may have been the result of poisoning by his opponents. In contrast, some contemporaries of Arius asserted that the circumstances of his death were a miraculous consequence of Arius's heretical views. The latter view was evident in the account of Arius's death by a bitter enemy, Socrates Scholasticus : It was then Saturday, and Arius was expecting to assemble with

35776-579: The summer of 305. From Bononia, they crossed the English Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum ( York ), capital of the province of Britannia Secunda and home to a large military base. Constantine was able to spend a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius' campaign, like that of Septimius Severus before it, probably advanced far into

35984-581: The summer of 311, Maxentius mobilised against Constantine while Licinius was occupied with affairs in the East. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father's "murder". To prevent Maxentius from forming an alliance against him with Licinius, Constantine forged his own alliance with Licinius over the winter of 311–312 and offered him his sister Constantia in marriage. Maximinus considered Constantine's arrangement with Licinius an affront to his authority. In response, he sent ambassadors to Rome, offering political recognition to Maxentius in exchange for

36192-433: The supremacy of God the Father, and maintained that the Son of God was simply the oldest and most beloved creature of God, made from nothing, because of being the direct offspring. Arius taught that the pre-existent Son was God's first production (the very first thing that God actually ever did in his entire eternal existence up to that point), before all ages. Thus he insisted that only God the Father had no beginning, and that

36400-420: The terror a violent relaxation of the bowels: he therefore enquired whether there was a convenient place near, and being directed to the back of Constantine's Forum, he hastened thither. Soon after a faintness came over him, and together with the evacuations his bowels protruded, followed by a copious hemorrhage, and the descent of the smaller intestines: moreover portions of his spleen and liver were brought off in

36608-441: The theology titled after him has been argued to be a creation "based on the polemic of Nicene writers" such as Athanasius of Alexandria, a Homoousian. Reconstructing the life and doctrine of Arius has proven to be a difficult task. Arius was of Berber descent. His father's name is given as Ammonius. Hanson says that "Arius very probably had at some time studied with Lucian of Antioch" because he refers to somebody else as "truly

36816-616: The third anniversary of 9/11 spoke, by invitation, at the Al-Azhar University Institute in Cairo on the subject of the Trinity. He stated that the followers of the will of God should not be led into ways of violence. He contributed to the debate prior to the 2005 general election criticising assertions that immigration was a cause of crime. Williams has argued that the provisional adoption of Islamic sharia law as

37024-420: The threshold of war unacceptably". Again on 30 June 2004, together with then- Archbishop of York , David Hope , and on behalf of all 114 Church of England bishops, he wrote to Tony Blair expressing deep concern about UK government policy and criticising the coalition troops' conduct in Iraq . The letter cited the abuse of Iraqi detainees, which was described as having been "deeply damaging" — and stated that

37232-528: The title of emperor on 28 October 306. Galerius refused to recognize him but failed to unseat him. Severus was sent against Maxentius in April 307, but during the campaign, Severus' armies, previously under command of Maxentius' father Maximian, defected, and Severus was seized and imprisoned. Maximian, brought out of retirement by his son's rebellion, left for Gaul to confer with Constantine. He offered to marry his daughter Fausta to Constantine and elevate him to augustan rank. In return, Constantine would reaffirm

37440-614: The town quickly. Constantine ordered his troops not to loot the town and advanced into northern Italy. At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum ( Turin , Italy), Constantine met a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry. In the ensuing Battle of Turin Constantine's army encircled Maxentius' cavalry, flanked them with his own cavalry, and dismounted them with blows from his soldiers' iron-tipped clubs. Constantine's armies emerged victorious. Turin refused to give refuge to Maxentius' retreating forces, opening its gates to Constantine instead. Other cities of

37648-445: The two augusti fought against one another at the Battle of Cibalae , with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again at the Battle of Mardia in 317 and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II , and Licinius' son Licinius Junior were made caesars . After this arrangement, Constantine ruled the dioceses of Pannonia and Macedonia and took residence at Sirmium , whence he could wage war on

37856-448: The wider communion when making major decisions. It also urged those who had contributed to disunity to express their regret. In November 2005, following a meeting of Anglicans of the "global south" in Cairo at which Williams had addressed them in conciliatory terms, 12 primates who had been present sent him a letter sharply criticising his leadership which said that "We are troubled by your reluctance to use your moral authority to challenge

38064-401: The winter of 306–307. He drove them back beyond the Rhine and captured kings Ascaric and Merogais ; the kings and their soldiers were fed to the beasts of Trier Amphitheater in the adventus (arrival) celebrations which followed. Constantine began a major expansion of Trier. He strengthened the circuit wall around the city with military towers and fortified gates, and he began building

38272-518: The words maliciously rather further than Arius intended." Archbishop Rowan Williams agrees that Athanasius applied "unscrupulous tactics in polemic and struggle." The Diocletianic Persecution (Great Persecution) of AD 303–313 was Rome's final attempt to limit the expansion of Christianity across the empire. That persecution came to an end when Christianity was legalized with Galerius' Edict of Toleration in 311 followed by Constantine's Edict of Milan in 313, after Emperor Constantine himself had become

38480-406: The works of Dostoevsky in the original. He has since described his spoken German as a "disaster area" and said that he is "a very clumsy reader and writer of Russian". He also stated that he knows some Italian, that would mean he knows twelve languages. Williams is also a poet and translator of poetry. His collection The Poems of Rowan Williams , published by Perpetua Press, was longlisted for

38688-645: The young deacon Athanasius , who would become the champion of the Trinitarian view ultimately adopted by the council and spend most of his life battling Arianism. Before the main conclave convened, Hosius initially met with Alexander and his supporters at Nicomedia . The council was presided over by the emperor himself, who participated in and even led some of its discussions. At this First Council of Nicaea , 22 bishops, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia, came as supporters of Arius. Nonetheless, when some of Arius's writings were read aloud, they are reported to have been denounced as blasphemous by most participants. Those who upheld

38896-487: Was Latin , and during his public speeches he needed Greek translators. In April 286, Diocletian declared Maximian , another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor. Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant. Maximian ruled in the West, from his capitals at Mediolanum ( Milan , Italy) or Augusta Treverorum ( Trier , Germany), while Diocletian ruled in

39104-500: Was made a deacon in the chapel by Eric Wall , Bishop of Huntingdon , at Michaelmas (2 October). While there, he was ordained a priest the Petertide following (2 July 1978), by Peter Walker , Bishop of Ely , at Ely Cathedral . On 4 July 1981, Williams married Jane Paul , a writer and lecturer in theology. They have two children. Williams did not have a formal curacy until 1980, when he served at St George's, Chesterton, Cambridge , until 1983, after having been appointed

39312-422: Was a finite being." Arius appealed to Scripture, quoting verses such as John 14:28: "the Father is greater than I", as well as Colossians 1:15: "the firstborn of all creation." Thus, Arius insisted that the Father's Divinity was greater than the Son's, and that the Son was under God the Father, and not co-equal or co-eternal with him. According to some accounts in the hagiography of Nicholas of Myra , debate at

39520-402: Was announced as the successor to George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury — the senior bishop in the Church of England . The Archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity recognised as primus inter pares ("first among equals") but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside the Church of England. As a bishop of the disestablished Church in Wales, Williams was

39728-523: Was born on 14 June 1950 in Swansea , Wales, into a Welsh -speaking family. He was the only child of Aneurin Williams and his wife Nancy Delphine (known as "Del") Williams (née Morris) – Presbyterians who became Anglicans in 1961. He was educated at the state sector Dynevor School, Swansea , before reading theology at Christ's College, Cambridge , whence he graduated with starred first-class honours . He then went to Wadham College, Oxford , where he studied under A. M. Allchin and graduated with

39936-458: Was born on 27 February, c.  AD 272 in the city of Naissus , a time where the unity of the Empire was threatened by the breakaway wars of the Palmyrene Empire . The city—which is modern day Niš in Serbia —was located in Dardania within Moesia Superior . His father was Flavius Constantius an Illyrian who was born in the same region, and a native of the province of Moesia. His original full name, as well as that of his father,

40144-411: Was certainly an early supporter of Arius." "He was universally acknowledged to be the most scholarly bishop of his day." "Eusebius of Caesarea ... was one of the most influential authors of the fourth century." "Neither Arius nor anti-Arians speak evil of him." "He was made bishop of Caesarea about 313, (and) attended the Council of Nicaea in 325." "We cannot accordingly describe Eusebius (of Caesarea) as

40352-431: Was he who virtually took charge of the affairs of the Greek speaking Eastern Church from 328 until his death" (page 29). He encouraged the spread of the Christian faith beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire. The version of the Christian faith which the missionaries spread was that favoured by Eusebius and not Athanasius. This serves as evidence of his zeal." "Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine [the church historian]

40560-408: Was interpreted as a confession by the bride and groom of past sins, albeit without specific reference and going "some way towards acknowledging concerns" over their past misdemeanours. Williams officiated at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011. On 16 November 2011, Williams attended a special service at Westminster Abbey celebrating the 400th anniversary of

40768-404: Was killed in 326. Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. Diocletian had chosen Nicomedia in the East as his capital during the Tetrarchy —not far from Byzantium, well situated to defend Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, all of which had required his military attention. Constantine had recognised the shift of the empire from the remote and depopulated West to the richer cities of

40976-399: Was liable to short-term and narrowed concerns (thus rendering it incapable of dealing with, for instance, issues relating to the degradation of the natural environment ) and partly because a public arena which had become value-free was liable to disappear amidst the multitude of competing private interests. (He noted the same moral vacuum in British society after his visit to China in 2006.) He

41184-439: Was lost under Maxentius, recalling political exiles, and releasing Maxentius' imprisoned opponents. An extensive propaganda campaign followed, during which Maxentius' image was purged from all public places. He was written up as a "tyrant" and set against an idealised image of Constantine the "liberator". Eusebius is the best representative of this strand of Constantinian propaganda. Maxentius' rescripts were declared invalid, and

41392-479: Was made presbyter of the Baucalis district in Alexandria. Arius' views have always been "represented as ... some hopelessly defective form of belief." Contrary to this view, Rowan Williams recently concluded that Arius is "a thinker and exegete of resourcefulness, sharpness and originality." Although his character has been severely assailed by his opponents, Arius appears to have been a man of personal ascetic achievement, pure morals, and decided convictions. "He

41600-438: Was nonetheless a prominent member of the court: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia and served in a variety of tribunates ; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in 296 and fought the Persians under Diocletian in Syria in 297, as well as under Galerius in Mesopotamia in 298–299. By late 305, he had become a tribune of the first order, a tribunus ordinis primi . Constantine had returned to Nicomedia from

41808-426: Was not that of the founder of a sect. It was not his individual teaching that dominated the mid-century eastern Church." Richard Hanson writes that Arius' specific espousal of subordinationist theology brought "into unavoidable prominence a doctrinal crisis which had gradually been gathering[...] He was the spark that started the explosion. But in himself he was of no great significance." The association between Arius and

42016-528: Was not yet a Christian. He probably judged it a more sensible policy than open persecution and a way to distinguish himself from the "great persecutor" Galerius. He decreed a formal end to persecution and returned to Christians all that they had lost during them. Constantine was largely untried and had a hint of illegitimacy about him; he relied on his father's reputation in his early propaganda, which gave as much coverage to his father's deeds as to his. His military skill and building projects, however, soon gave

42224-417: Was open, fluid, and socially mobile; in it, Constantine could mix with intellectuals both pagan and Christian. He may have attended the lectures of Lactantius, a Christian scholar of Latin in the city. Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the Tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage, a tool to ensure Constantius' best behavior. Constantine

42432-413: Was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a centre of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the Eastern Roman Empire. Among the various locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have toyed earlier with Serdica (present-day Sofia ), as he was reported saying that " Serdica

42640-445: Was put into a fury by the message; he almost set the portrait and messenger on fire. His advisers calmed him and argued that outright denial of Constantine's claims would mean certain war. Galerius was compelled to compromise: he granted Constantine the title "caesar" rather than "augustus" (the latter office went to Severus instead). Wishing to make it clear that he alone gave Constantine legitimacy, Galerius personally sent Constantine

42848-459: Was the son of Flavius Constantius , a Roman army officer of Illyrian origin who had been one of the four rulers of the Tetrarchy . His mother, Helena , was a Greek woman of low birth, probably from Asia Minor in modern Turkey . Later canonised as a saint , she is traditionally credited for the conversion of her son. Constantine served with distinction under the Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius . He began his career by campaigning in

43056-421: Was very tall in stature, with downcast countenance ... always garbed in a short cloak and sleeveless tunic ; he spoke gently, and people found him persuasive and flattering." It is traditional to claim that Arius was a deliberate radical, breaking away from the 'orthodoxy' of the church fathers. However: "A great deal of recent work seeking to understand Arian spirituality has, not surprisingly, helped to demolish

43264-459: Was widely canvassed. As a bishop he had demonstrated a wide range of interests in social and political matters and was widely regarded, by academics and others, as a figure who could make Christianity credible to the intelligent unbeliever. As a patron of Affirming Catholicism , his appointment was a considerable departure from that of his predecessor and his views, such as those expressed in a widely published lecture on homosexuality were seized on by

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