Posted: Jun 03, 2019 2:53 am
Stein wrote:Svartalf wrote:Maybe Constantine did not officially make christianity the state religion, I'll have to look that up again, but, following the Council of NiKaia, he sure set up the grounds for it to become so by creating a semi unified 'official" church from which the heretics like the Arians were well defined and easy to distinguish..
He did lay the ground work for a unified Christianity. But obviously, asking that all have "their temples" and that there be "equal privileges to all" is still at a polar opposite from a state religion.
What he supposedly said and what he actually did are two different things. Constantine destroyed some of the "most ancient and highly revered" pagan temples in the Eastern empire, and tore down the largest and sole-remaining obelisk (dedicated to the Sun) in Egypt.
He legislated 326 CE that "Religious privileges are reserved for Christians" (or Chrestians, its not completely clear).
His three decade rule can be summarised as follows:
The first decade was good, the second decade was bad, and the final decade, commencing with the Nicene council, was ugly.
http://www.mountainman.com.au/essenes/C ... e-Ugly.htm