Constantine the Great

Abstract

"One of the most significant figures of early Church history remains shrouded in mystery. Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus, better known as Con- stantine I or Constantine the Great, is important because he ended the imperial persecutions of the Church and unified the declining Roman empire. Yet compar- atively little is known about him personally. Constantine was born sometime between A.D. 272 and 288 at Naissus in upper Moesia (now Nish in Yugoslavia).1 He was an illegitimate son of the pagan Constantius Chlorus (later to become the Emperor Constantius I) and Flavia Helena, whom Ambrose describes as an innkeeper. Apparently Helena was a Christian, and Constantius appears to have been tolerant of Christianity even though as emperor he reportedly destroyed some churches. Helena traveled widely, assisting Christians monetarily and through various personal services until shortly before her death at the age of eighty. The sources vary as to whether her son Constantine actually converted to the Christian faith, but his memory of his devout Christian mother appears to have been a factor in his own openness and kindness toward the early Church."