History of Christendom

Chapter 4 notes:

In 306, Constantine was declared emperor over Britain, Gaul, and Spain. Maxentius ruled over Italy and North Africa but he wanted what Constantine had. Before Maxentius could make his move, Constantine marched to war on him with 40,000 men. Shortly after, Maxentius started his army marching so that they would meet in the middle. It was very obvious that Maxentius had the larger army and so Constantine needed some kind of supernatural intervention. The night before he had a sign that he would conquer Maxentius and sure enough, the next day, he did. After that battle, he was sure that this supernatural help came from the God of the Christians. In 313, he issued a decree that said basically what Galerius had done in 311 on his deathbed: that Christians were free to worship. This edict marked the rise of Christianity. They finally got a foothold on heathenism. People from everywhere were interested. After three hundred years, Christianity was free of cruel persecutions. The blood of the martyrs was the seed for the Church’s victory. But the one thing that saw the Church through every suffering, and that is the love and care of Christ for His bride, the Church.
There were plenty of Christians, but many of them didn’t act like true Christians. Rome had finally been won over by Christianity. Although Constantine gave many freedoms to the Church, he also demanded that he should have a large say in everything that went on. This eventually led to a wrong relationship between the State and the Church.
In 361, Julian, the nephew of Constantine became the emperor. He was raised a Christian, but was really a pagan. He tried his hardest to break down the Church, but no matter how hard he tried, heathenism fell on its face. In 363, he finally died in battle.

1) To take over and rule it under his thumb
2) The effects were that people flocked to the church doors. The church grew very unstable. The church grew close to the state and was ruled by it.
3) No, it is ruled instead by popes and bishops.
4) Because it had been under persecution for 300 years.