5.

 What age, according to the textbook, ended with the con of Constantine?

            The textbook states that Constantine's conversion brought an end to the age of martyrs. This emperor's recognition of Christianity stands as a watershed in the history of the Church, for under him, Christianity received legal status in the Roman Empire, and this development supported the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman world.  Under Constantine, the Church of the catacombs  became the Church of the Empire.

            However, while Constantine's conversion did bring about a radical transformation in the relations between the Christian Church and the Roman state (and Orthodox Christianity — not Roman Catholicism — was the Church of the Roman Empire and of the known earth), the age of martyrs did not end in the fourth century. Since that time, millions of martyrs have been tormented and killed for the truth of Christ's Holy Church, and Orthodox Christianity has been persecuted unendingly. As noted in the previous chapter, one can cite any number of large-scale martyrdoms throughout Church history; the one preceding Constantine's reign was but one. In fact, after Byzantium, under the boot of the Turks, the Unia, and finally Communism, Orthodoxy suffered near-continual martyrdom and was largely taken up with matters of simple survival. Such is the Orthodox Church — crucified, yet having the glory of the Resurrected Christ; poor, yet having within a priceless treasure.