days the word church did not mean the little white house on the hill where people go to worship God, it meant united! In essence, the Roman church meant the united people of the Roman Empire. Roman emperors, as did other emperors and kings, often claimed a blood relationship with God or the Gods. So was the case for Constantine who by virtue of his authority was by default the first emperor of the church. The Roman church was not a religion in those days but a political union. Constantine was not a Christian but a pagan who claimed a blood relation with the Gods.
Constantine united the Roman Empire into the Roman church but who was it within the empire that was united, why was it that Constantine needed to take this unprecedented step to unite his people?
Rome was the melting pot for everyone within the empire from the Britons from the Middle East to Africa, a place for commerce, a place of opportunity. The Romans themselves were becoming a minority in their own seat of power…Rome!
There comes a point in the building of an empire where tyranny becomes less effective, a point where the subjugated no longer care whether they live or die. This is a dangerous time for a tyrant, a time to step back and rethink your policies. The Romans had ruled their world with an iron fist in the guise of Roman justice for over 300 years. Rome controlled the flow of information to the masses exactly as the Nazis attempted to do with the Germans and occupied territories, during the 1930s and 40s.
The pagan Romans knew better than to disallow the practice of common religion of the region occupied. After all, the primary purpose for Roman occupation was not to control hearts and minds but wealth; and the Romans sought only to control the