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Heelllllllllllllloooooooooo??? Anybody out there??? No didn't think so.... |
Heelllllllllllllloooooooooo??? Anybody out there??? No didn't think so.... |
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'''This site must be run by Fox news, since it is sooo fair and balanced!!''' |
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=='''On my article'''== |
=='''On my article'''== |
Revision as of 19:17, 8 August 2007
Why Constantine is responsible for the spread of Christianity
I am going to give references to all the material that I am going to present. If you need more info. on the books or authors let me know. I only want to provide a honest straight narrative of the history of Europe. My point is that Constantine the Great and the Roman Empire were responsible for spreading Christianity to Europe in the 4th Century AD as opposed to the time Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope as the "Emperor of the Romans" in the 9th Century AD, which became the Holy Roman Empire and that became the Habsburg dynasty. If anyone disagrees with my explanation as why my revision should not remain, please let me know. We should come to an agreed consensus and I hope the referenced material I am going to provide proves this. I took nothing from any of the links from Wikipedia so I suggest you check these out too. I got everything from my books. I used 5 seperate books, if need be, I can provide more sources. I am kinda embarrassed but I don't remeber exactly the proper way to do historical references nor do I know the system of putting up references on Wikipedia, but I will do my best....
The year 306 AD Rome and Italy were much less vital to the empire than they had been in the days of Hannibal or Augustus, but the ancient seat of power still had sufficient mystique that possession of it made it of great moral value to its imperial possessor.(1) In the West, the struggle was Maxentius, who had seized Italy and North Africa, and Constantine, who had suceeded his father Constantius as Western Emperor. in 312 Constantine invaded Italy and defeated Maxentius at Turin and Verona.(2) Constantine himself needed a to unite and inspire his troops, with the very conception of legitimate succesion under Diocletian system. He found God, or God found him, in a vision of a cross across the sun, a phenomenon that does in fact naturally occur under proper atmospheric conditions. Having seen the amazing sight, Constantine later told a biographer of a dream in which the long persecuted Christians had shown him a 'rho'[P] crossed with a 'chi'[X] and commanded 'In hoc signo, vincere'(In this sign conquer). If for no other reason than their remarkable persistence in the face of extensive persecution, the Christians were a moral force in the empire, and the soldiers accepted the generals vision and painted their emblem upon their shields. Constantines army had victory and vision on their side.(3)
He defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge and made Christianity the state religion, confiscating temple treasure and building many new churches. This left him undisputed ruler of the Western provinces.(4) In 313 at the Edict of Milan constantine granted the Christians toleration and almost immediately, with the emperors patronage, an impressive building programme of cathedrals and churches started in Italy. In a few years the enormous Basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Peter were built in Rome. Christian bishops were allowed to give Roman citizenship to slaves, and conduct their own law courts. A new heirarchy and a new kind of authority had come to Italy.(5)
At the Edict of Milan, Constantine iniated the Christianization of the Roman Empire. The conversion of parts of the Roman elite and promulagation of Christianity by Roman administrators set Europe on paths towards conversion, but fairly quickly the Church gathered its own momentum. charismatic individuals, some isolated holy men and women, others popular bishops and clergy, held great sway over local populations, while shrines devoted their lives to spiritual salvation achieved renown across Europe. Impressive ecclestical practices, such as cathedrals and monasteries, based upon traditional Roman imperial structures, began to replace these on the nascent urban landscapes across the continent.(6)
In 316 Constantine felt strong enough to attack his rival Licinius seizing Greece and the Balkans. The ensuing truce lasted until 324, when Constantine finally defeated Licinius; his victory reunited the Roman Empire. He also took personal interest in theology, participating in church councils at Arles in 314 and Nicaea in 325, and baptised on his deathbed in 337.(7) At Nicaea he presided over the first ecunenical council, representing the whole church, which defined beliefs for all Christians. A full ecclesiatical organization developed, with a heirarchy of bishops and a framework of patriarchates, provinces and dioceses throughout the empire.(8)
The two halves of the Roman Empire remained linked for half a century after the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine. Only in 395 AD, with the bitter death of Theodosius, did the complete break occure(9)
So based on that information, without Constantine and the incredible sway he had over the population and the networks and well connected logistics and roads of the Roman Empire allowed Christianity to spread rapidly and uniformly. At this time the Roman Empire was from Europe(England, France to the Rhine, Belgium, Swiss, [[Austria}], Spain, Italy, The Balkans, Greece, the Near East and North Africa). This is the majority of the known world at this time and without Constantine church councils, massive religious reforms, tolerance and promotion of christianity and the Roman empires connected and integrated society and logistics this would have never been possible, and Christianity may never had the chance to grow as it did. Nonetheless, it was constantine who gave Christianity its acceptance to the empire, its freedom to develop, the money and donations provided by the emperor for it to prosper, and its greatest push to a incredibly large, homogenious(culture-wise) society. If their is any disagreement with what I am saying please let me know. But please bring references and factual material, as that is the only thing that will suffice. Thanks for reading
1)M. Spilling(editor), "Battles of the Ancient World."(Barnes & Noble, Inc, 2007)*
2)C. Scarre, "The Penguin historical Atlas of Ancient Rome."(Penguin books, 1995)
3)M. Spilling(editor), "Battles of the Ancient World."(Barnes & Noble, Inc, 2007
4)C. Scarre, "The Penguin historical Atlas of Ancient Rome."(Penguin books, 1995)
5)H. Hearder, "Italy:A short history."(Cambridge University press, 1990)
6)A. Jotischky & C. Hull, "The Penguin Historical Guide of the MEdieval World."(Penguin books, 2005)
7)C. Scarre, "The Penguin historical Atlas of Ancient Rome."(Penguin books, 1995)
8)G.Parker(ed.), "The Compact hsitory of the world."(Times books, 1995)
9)H. Hearder, "Italy:A short history."(Cambridge University press, 1990)
- Books has 5 different authors if you need me to name them let me know.
EL_C
I have nothing to do with the person "Thesicilianist"..A) There are other Sicilians in America besides me, so that seems unfair to associate me with another person who uses the name related to Sicily. I don't think that is fair of you to go around doing that, If you want me to play be your rules, than it is only fair WE all follow them. And most importantly B)That person deleted all my edits! That alone would make little sense, that I would be that person. But how am I am to repond to this person and tell them we need to come to a consensus, I worked hard to fixed that and it was completely undone....The material she revived has a lot of non factual material. Why did they change it and What can I do?(Scipio3000 16:56, 8 August 2007 (UTC))
Besides El you put a block on my own computer, but again simply the fact that they erased my edits and added their own should have given you the clue it is not me, and to be honest I would like to contact that user and get on the same page and explain why I condensed it, thanks(Scipio3000 17:01, 8 August 2007 (UTC))
Heelllllllllllllloooooooooo??? Anybody out there??? No didn't think so....
This site must be run by Fox news, since it is sooo fair and balanced!!
On my article
I am trying to give a cleaner more consolidated article on Sicily that was more informative, easier to read and summarized to get the overall scheme. I tried to give definite facts in a summarized overview. I don't wish harm on any culture and I respect them each for their own history. I only thought some material was forced into an article and did not fit, and some sections were too sloppy, random and they really weren't getting to the point, it was alot of names and dates and it was rushed. I still left a direct link to that article, too. If you feel yours is better than lets discuss it, but please have some knowledge and facts about the subject material. I mean no one any harm and don't want 'newbie' abuse, good luck and thanks for reading.(Scipio3000 04:34, 6 August 2007 (UTC))