After these humble beginnings,
Christianity spread far and wide throughout the known world, but the Good News
of Christ aroused intense opposition, and the first three centuries of the
Church were characterized by sporadic, but bloody, persecutions. Church
tradition is full of the lives of these early martyrs for the faith, and one
cannot but admire the courage and perseverance of these heroes who willingly
gave up their lives rather than denounce Christ. Among these were Ignatius,
Bishop of Antioch, Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, burned at the stake when over
eighty years old, Justin the Martyr, and Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, as well
as many other men and women martyrs, who are commemorated in the Church
Calendar.
These persecutions were often local
in character and of limited duration, and although there were long periods of
de-facto toleration, the threat of persecution was always there. Christians
knew that at any time the threat of persecution could become a very present
reality and the idea of martyrdom held a central place in the spiritual outlook
of these warriors for Christ. Later, when persecution and martyrdom ceased to
be a major concern of the Christians, the idea, nonetheless, did not disappear,
but took other forms. Chief among these was the monastic life, regarded by many
as a form of martyrdom equal to bodily death.
In 312, however, a momentous event
occurred, for in that year, seeing, in a vision, a Cross in the sky with the
inscription, In this sign conquer, and placing the Cross on the shields of his
army, the Emperor Constantine defeated a rival army and ultimately became the
first Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity. In 313, Constantine and his fellow
Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which proclaimed the official
toleration of the Christian faith. Fifty years later, the Emperor Theodosius
carried this policy even further when he legislated Christianity as the only accepted
religion of the Empire, while outlawing paganism.
In 324, Constantine moved
his imperial capital from Rome to Byzantium, on the shores of the Bosporus, where he built a new capital, Constantinople (dedicated in 330). From here, in 325, he summoned to Nicea what
was to be the first of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.