Thus Constantine became sole ruler in the West, and in conjunction with his colleague in the East, Licinius, issued an edict of toleration at Milan, which was designed to favor the propagation of the Gospel in an unprecedented way. In 323 he broke with Licinius also, and after defeating him and being proclaimed sole ruler, he soon proceeded to manifest his interest in Christianity by more vigorous measures. He restored to the Christian communities property that had been confiscated from them by the civil authorities, and conferred on them the right to receive gifts and bequests. He introduced into the army, for the first time, a monotheistic form of prayer; supplied churches with copies of sacred Scriptures, appointed Sunday as a holiday, and forbade crucifixion as a method of execution for criminals. He helped his pious mother to find the True Cross on Golgotha and to build the Holy Sepulcher; and when, in 330, he built Constantinople, on the site of old Byzantium by the Bosphorus, and adorned it with churches and other admirable monuments, he called it “New Rome,” to mark it as the starting-point of his new life, cut off for ever from the abominations of Ancient Rome. But Constantine was clever enough to avoid making sudden changes which might arouse resentment and hamper his work of reform; thus, he instigated no persecutions against the pagans, and retained the title of “Pontifex Maximus” as an inseparable adjunct to his imperial status. His private life, like that of all monarchs who live in a suspicious environment, was not free from ugly blots; before he was baptized, Constantine was responsible for the death of his wife Fausta and his son Crispus. But the sincere repentance with which he received Baptism at the end of his life purified his soul from guilt, and much will be forgiven him for the great love he bore to God's Church. David, too, was a sinner; yet he holds his rightful place in the gallery of the saints by virtue of his repentance, which washed out his two-fold sin, and handed down to posterity his great work for the Lord pure and untarnished.

The Sons of Constantine the Great.

   Constantine the Great died in 337, leaving three sons, Constantine II, Constantius and Constans, who, unfortunately, did not follow the prudent policy of their father. Instead of leaving paganism, which was decaying from day to day, to expire of its own accord, as Constantine had done, they made use of violence. They closed pagan temples forcibly, and exacted from their courtiers a profession of Christianity that only served to make hypocrites of them. This policy defeated its own ends, for it aroused the fanaticism of the persecuted pagans, and drove them to band themselves together in secret machinations until a suitable opportunity presented itself for the public outbreak of fierce opposition. This opportunity occurred on the accession of Julian to the imperial throne. Though a nephew of Constantine the Great, this dreaming poet was a lover of the pagan gods, to whom he was drawn as much by his natural disposition for poetry as by reason of the many acts of violence and murder committed against his family by the sons of Constantine the Great.

Julian the Apostate.

   Julian imagined that he had been designated by fate to revive the religion of paganism, and this belief was covertly fostered by the philosophers of his day. At first he pretended to be a Christian, and even read the Scriptures in church. But in 361 Constantius, who in consequence of his brothers' death had been sole ruler since 353, died suddenly; and Julian, ascending the throne to the acclamation of his soldiers, who adored him for his military virtues, showed himself in his true colors as a violent hater of Christianity. He forbade the attendance of Christians in the Greek schools, ironically relegating them to the Galileans, Matthew and Luke. He summoned turbulent bishops back from exile to foment quarrels and disturbances in the Christian communities. He imposed taxes on the clergy, and abolished the Church's right to receive bequests. He sent builders to Jerusalem to reconstruct the Jewish temple, which had been destroyed in the reign of Titus (A.D. 70), in order to belie the Lord's prophecy concerning its destruction. He tried to revive oracles that had for years been silent, presided over public pagan ceremonies, often himself sacrificing elaborate hecatombs. He introduced into paganism choir-singing, the preaching of sermons, and collections for the poor, all features borrowed from Christianity. But all his efforts were in vain, and after a reign of only twenty months the Apostate and Transgressor — for so history has stigmatized him, — died from a wound in the liver which he received in battle against the Persians. It is said that as he lay dying he filled his hand with blood from his wound, and, shaking the drops of blood into the air as though Christ stood before him, he cried with his dying breath: “Thou has conquered, Galilean!”