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Constantine Effect on Christianity
Introduction
Ever since its advent, the course of Christianity was marked by persecutions and
martyrdoms.
1
The first persecutions were from Jews for they suspected Christianity of
threatening the public order and the peace of the Sadducean priesthood.
2
But the next set of
persecution originated from the imperial authorities considering Christianity as an illicit religion.
As an illicit religion, Christianity was categorized as a religion of atheists
3
. In the long
experience of aggressive hostility, conventionally ten major persecutions in Roman Empire are
spelt out.
4
The decisive turning point in the relations of the Church and the empire happened
with Constantine. Constantine stands as the breakpoint of imperial attitude towards Christianity
and the transformation point of Christianity from religia illicita to the most favored and then to
official-imperial religion of the Roman Empire. He was buried in the Church of twelve apostles
at Constantinople and was even acknowledged as the thirteenth apostle and a saint.
5
What
motivated Constantine is matter of debate. Much of the post-Nicene historians and Christian
writers admired his actions and his intentions. They tried to interpret him and his actions in
terms of divine providence and retributive justice. Even though judgments of his intentions vary
most of the modern scholars remain compassionate to his objectives and accomplishments.
Sometimes it is assumed that political considerations played the most influential part in the
turnaround of the official attitude to Christianity.
Background
In the Roman region emperors tried to wipe out the Christians from all over the empire
through systematized persecutions. Since the reign of Emperor Nero, Roman courts viewed
Christianity with suspicion and that was catalyzed by the refusal of the Christians to swear
allegiance to the gods of the state and acknowledge divinity to the emperor
6
. Ten major
persecutions are projected beginning with Nero and concluding in the one that was launched by
Diocletian.
7
Until 250 AD, persecution was sporadic, localized and unofficial, but in that year in

1
Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity Vol. 1: The First Five Centuries (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970), 135
2
Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity Vol. 1: The First Five Centuries 137
3
They were categorized as atheists for not having faith in God, but for the reason that their worship centered round
God in Jesus Christ and they did not acknowledge any one of he gods accredited by the Roman authorities. Hence
categorizing Christians as atheists had a political agenda.
4
They are under Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Hardian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimus Severus, Maximinus, Decius,
Valerian and Diocletian.
5
Robert M. Grant, "Constantine the Great," in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, edited by Ferguson. (New York
& London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998), 280
6
Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787) (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical
Press, 1990), 24
Nero accused the Christians of the infamous burning of Rome that instigated the persecution during that time.
7
Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, vol. I, (Peabody, MA: Prince Press, an imprint of Hendrickson
Publishers, 2003), 85

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order to check the general decline, Emperor Decius started state sponsored persecution of
atheistic Christians.
8
Even though the late third century saw a period free of persecution, intense
persecution was revived during the time of Diocletian.
9
Galerius, a fervent pagan who is said to
have been ambitious to succeed Diocletian is commonly viewed as the instigator. He is accused
of eying to secure the support of the army which was predominantly pagan.
10
Hence the
political consideration behind the religious persecution of Christians cannot be undermined.
In 305 AD, Diocletian resigned along with Maximian, his co-Augustus in the West.
Constantius Chlorus who became the new Augustus of the West, requested Galerius to send him
his son Constantine.
11
Even though Galerius agreed at first, later he tried to halt Constantines
journey. But Constantine escaped and joined his father. After his fathers death in 306 AD, he
was applauded Augustus by the multitude. But in defiance the praetorian soldiers raised
Maxentius, the son of Maximian Herculius as the emperor at Rome.
12
Constantine entered into
an assault with Maxentius who became a tyrant. Maxentius was relying on pagan magic and
pagan men in his army. Constantine felt the need for a supernatural alternative
13
and the need for
committed army that was willing to sacrifice themselves for their master. In Christians he saw a
committed group who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the one in whom they had faith.
Galerius Maximian who exercised chief authority also died, but before his death he
appointed his friend Licinius as his successor.
14
After defeating Maxentius, Constantine entered
into a treaty with Licinius. Constantine gave his half-sister Constantia in marriage to Licinius
making a political understanding between the two emperors.
15
It is in this context of
relationship, Edict of toleration was activated in 313 AD. After being in friendship, Constantine
and Licinius became enemies and several conflicts both by sea and land took place. Licinius was
utterly defeated near Chrysopolis in Bithynia and he surrendered himself to Constantine.
16

Though Licinius was accorded permission to live in tranquility at Thessalonica he tried to gather

8
Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787) 24 , Latourette, A History of Christianity 87
Roman populace viewed Christians as atheists for the reason that they did not worship the traditional gods.
Christian love feasts were misinterpreted as sexual license. Ecuahristic participation of the Christians was
misunderstood as cannibalism. Hence the popular understanding supported the official suspicion. Action against
Christians was well accepted by the pagan public.
9
About 298 Diocletian along with Galerius performed a sacrifice to obtain the omens. But the soothsayers were not
able to find the usual marking and the presence of Christian officials was accused as responsible for the failure. In
his outrage, Emperor Diocletian ordered every official to offer sacrifice. Severe persecution followed this instance.
10
Latourette, A History of Christianity 90
11
Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787) 26
Constantine was the son of Chlorus in Helena whom he had divorced in 293. Though Constantine was living at
Diocletians court pursuing his education from 293, he was actually kept there as a hostage for his fathers good
conduct.
12
Socrates, "The Ecclesiastical History," in A Select Library of Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers of the Christian
Church (Second Series), vol. III, edited by Schaff and Wace. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1957), 1
13
Latourette, A History of Christianity 91
14
Socrates, "The Ecclesiastical History,"), 1
15
Hans A. Pohlsander, The Emperor Constantine (London & New York: Routledge, 2004), 25
16
Socrates, "The Ecclesiastical History,"), 2

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arms for another revolt, which resulted in his assassination. Thus, Constantine became
possessed of the sole dominion and he became the sovereign authority.
17
He understood the
signs of the times and acted accordingly
18
and that became evident in his religious policy
towards Christianity.
Reasons for Constantines Shift in Religious Policy
During the beginning of the 4
th
century, Constantine began showing goodwill to Christianity and
soon it became the religion of the political authority. With that, organized connection between
Church and political authority was established
19
. Reasons that prompted this change have
become a matter of controversy. Socrates states that Constantine realized that Diocletians
propitiation of pagan gods did not provide any profit for him where as Constantius renouncing
of various pagan gods did not hamper him from experiencing far better prosperity.
20
Socrates
vouches that even when it is not possible to assert with full certainty the positive realization by
Constantine regarding the power of the Christian God, Constantine was certain about the
unworthiness of pagan gods. Therefore, Socrates gives weight on the genuine religious
conviction as the motif behind Constantines conversion. Consequently, he presents the
preternatural vision that preceded the Mulvian war against Maxentius as a turning point in his
religious conviction. Further, this assumption prompts Socrates to present the final elimination
of Licinius also from a religious point of view.
21
Eusebius gives a minute account of this vision
in his Vita Constantine
22
but he is conspicuously silent about the vision in his Ecclesiastical
history written before 326 AD. Lactantius provides the first reference of the vision of
Constantine. His report says that Constantine was directed in a dream to place the sign of Chi-
Rho on the shield of his soldiers. According to Vita Constantine, the vision occurred in broad
daylight. This contradiction is very hard to reconcile. Pohlsander has raised a valid argument in
pointing out that if the entire army observed the vision, then it should have been widely known.
23

This shift in Eusabius might be to present Constantine in a glorified manner. The fact that the
work Vita Constantine is more of a panegyric work rather than historical one, points to this
observation. Because of this Eusebius had been criticized as a dishonest historian, publicist of
the first Christian emperor, a political theologian, first in the long succession of ecclesiastical

17
Socrates, "The Ecclesiastical History,"), 3
18
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, (Peabody, Massachussetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002),
12
19
Wolfgang Hage, Syriac Christianity in the East (Kottayam: St. Ephraem Ecumenical Research Institute, 1988), 4
20
Socrates, "The Ecclesiastical History,"), 2
21
Socrates, "The Ecclesiastical History,"), 2
22
1. 27-30. This work was done in 338 AD i.e. one year after the death of Constantine.
23
Pohlsander, The Emperor Constantine 24

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politicians etc.
24
But people like Michael J. Hollerich have argued that such an approach fails to
do justice to him as a churchman and scholar.
25

Some have seen in Constantine a subtle attempt to attach the Church to the state and thus taking
care of any probable opposition from it and at the same time taming her as a submissive
instrument for state policy.
26
It also is suggested that Constantine was intending to conciliate the
East where Christians were extremely influential. However, he wanted to do that without
alienating the pagan majority in the west. This is evident in his action for not going over fully to
Christianity and when the sign of the Cross appears on his coins for the first time in 314 AD, the
figures of Sol Invictus and Mars Conservator accompanied it.
27
This question of intention is
hard to reconcile, but the swing towards the identification of Empire and its political interest are
solid to go unnoticed. Whatever may be the reason behind this change in policy, this created
tremendous influence on the life of the Christian Church not only inside the Roman Empire but
also outside it; especially in the Persian Empire.
Effect of Constantinian conversion on the Roman (Byzantine) Church
Constantine joined the Church with imperial dignity and with all the authority of the ruler
and the emperor as the ruler of the state became the ruler of the Church
28
. It propagated the
development of a new notion of Christian political theology. Eusebius gave this a shape
through his Ecclesiastical History. In the background of Porphyrys attack on Christianity, he
formulated a comprehensive and systematic defense of Christianity and presenting the triumph of
Christianity as the process of the fulfillment of the divine prophesies.
29
This approach squeezed
the empire and the emperor inside the divine Oikonomia. The framework of the promise and
fulfillment theory became handy in doing so. It projected Constantine as the elected one by God
to implement His providence. With him emerged an imposing idea of a Christian theocracy that
envisages a system of monolithic population
30
that enjoins church and state as the two sides of
the one and same divine government on earth.
31

During the pre-Constantine persecution period, Christians were categorized and
convicted as atheists. In the Greco-Roman world, politics and religion went hand in hand and
consequently patriotism and official religion maintained a close link making the charge of

24
Michael J. Hollerich, "Religion and Politics in the Writings of Eusebius: Reassessing the First "Court
Theologian"," in Recent Studies in Early Christianity: Christianity in Relation to Jews, Greeks, and Romans, edited
by Ferguson. (New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1999), 323
25
Hollerich, "Religion and Politics in the Writings of Eusebius: Reassessing the First "Court Theologian","), 324
26
Edward G. Farrugia, ""Better Nero than Constantine?" Christianity's Re-evaluation of War and Peace in its Rise as
World Religion," Ephrem's Theological Journal 5 /1 (October 2001): 119
27
Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity Vol. 1: The First Five Centuries 159
28
Hage, Syriac Christianity in the East 5
29
W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 478-479
30
Such a system assumes that all subjects represent the same order of faith. In this case it is Christianity.
31
Schaff, History of the Christian Church 12

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political subversiveness as a logical extension of the charge of atheism.
32
Atheism was not
defined in terms of the faith in God, but in terms of the faith in one of the Senate acknowledged
and authenticated god. In the process of transition from the Republic to the Empire, Romans
elevated the figure of the emperor as the divinely sanctioned mediator between the public and
their gods. Here authenticity of god depended and was subjected to the political administrative
system of Roman imperialism. The Roman government considered the oversight and regulation
of religious affairs as one of the legitimate functions to maintain the pax deorum the harmonious
relationship between the Roman people and the gods.
33
Acknowledgement of the Roman
imperial ruler as the son of god developed within this understanding of politically depending
pantheon and the imperial overseeing. Emperor became the integrative center of the newly built
Empire.
34
They accredited the emperor as the represented Divinity on earth. They associated
the title of savior to the propaganda of imperial soteriology.
35

Christian God in Christ stood outside this political cataloging. Emphasis on Jesus as the
son of God and savior presented a resistance to the imperialists political tagging of God. In the
context of the political theology of Roman imperialism, Christ as Son of God represented a
counter to the imperial claim of represented Divinity. This political resistance of the religious
identity was shattered and under Constantine as well as further afterwards under the so-called
Christian emperors, both taming and domestication of Jesus and Church became a culture. They
utilized and perverted Church and its theological theoretization for establishing their position.
Convening of the Synods like Nicea, and installing and removing bishops by the emperors attest
this attitude. Constanitnian peace with the Church was bought at the high price of lowered
morale and constant state interference in the daily matters of the Church.
36
Overall, Constantine
was well within the Roman tradition of controlling religion when he sided with Christianity.
Another significant impact created by Constantinian favor was on Churchs approach to
violence and war. After the violent death of Christ on the cross, Cross became the symbol of
Christ and Christ like resistance to the nexus of imperially sanctioned religion and politically
oppressive authority. When Constantine employed the monogram XP (Chai-Rho) on the shields
of the soldiers and propagated the vision of getting advised to conquer using the very sign and

32
Helen Rhee, Early Christian Literature (London & New York: Routledge, 2005), 159
33
Pohlsander, The Emperor Constantine 31
34
Rhee, Early Christian Literature 160
The cultic development of emperor worship was initiated by Julius Caesar. But Augustus institutionalized and
established its pattern for subsequent emperors. He directed the loyalty of his subjects from himself to the worship
of the personified divine virtues. This shift in turn provided safe ground to emphasize devotion making it as the sign
of political loyalty.
35
Through out the imperial period the title oetq tou kooou was conferred on the emperors. By doing so the
imperialists were projecting the emperor as the essential component of salvation. Hence adherence to the political
designs of the empire and loyalty to the emperor were made mandatory for salvation. As a resistence to this
imperial soteriological understanding Christianity designated the same attribute Jesus. This is seen in the Johannine
corpus.
36
Farrugia, ""Better Nero than Constantine?" Christianity's Re-evaluation of War and Peace in its Rise as World
Religion," 115

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when the sign was acknowledged representing the first two letters of Christ, a paradigm shift
became inevitable. Christ and Christianity no longer represent the resistance to oppressive
political-religious hegemony. Such an approach transmuted the principle of the Kingdom of God
envisaged and visioned as a counter culture to imperial Empire to an entity realized through the
intervention of imperial might and resources. This prompted the sanctification of war and
violence. It interpreted the extension of imperial dominance through the utilization of war and
violence as a means to extend the Kingdom of God. With the development of the Christian
political theology that squeezed the Emperor and Empire into the divine Oikonomia, Christianity
easily accommodated the above view. Consequently, outside world started considering
Christianity not as a resistance movement against the oppressive imperialistic hegemony, but as
corroborators of them. Largely writers before him tended to be pacifist
37
in outlook whereas,
many who came after him argued for the legitimacy of war
38
under certain conditions.
39
Hence,
Constantine represents typological shift of an undiscriminating and damaging conjunction of
Christianity with politics, of the holy symbol of peace with terror of war and the spiritual
interests of the kingdom of heaven with the material interests of the state.
40

Effect of Constantinian Conversion on the Persian Church
Constantines espousal of Christianity was the gateway towards the fusion of religion,
state and culture in the Roman world.
41
Sassanians had already done that in the Persian Empire.
They acknowledged Zoroastrianism as the state religion and the ultimate factor of imperial
unifying interests. Hence, acceptance of official faith was accredited as the norm for political
fidelity. Under such a religio-political speculation, religious minorities were under the scanner
of suspicion. Any religion that has a common background and similarity with the preferential
religion of the politically antagonist empire is bound to suffer official retribution. In the
background of this religio-political ideology, Persians considered Christians as a political threat
and religious opponent. With differences in acknowledged preferred religion and unity in
understanding of the role of the inter-connection of religion and political loyalty, Constantinian
turnaround created a volatile situation in the Persian Empire.
Roman recognition of Christianity as the most favored religion caused complexity as
Rome and Persia continued their struggle for primacy over the buffer states. Persians assumed
that the religious identity of Christians make them political corroborators with the Roman
imperial interests. The unwanted action of Constantine projecting an unsolicited interest shown
through sending a letter to Shapur II regarding the well-being of the Christians in the Persian

37
Tertullian and Origen represent this strong pacifist approach.
38
Augustine represents the advocates of bellum justm (Just War). People like Ambrose of Milan also take the
similar view.
39
Louis J. Swift, The Early Fathers on War and Military Service, vol. 19, (Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier,
Inc., 1983), 27
40
Schaff, History of the Christian Church 12
41
Irvin and Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement 155

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territory finely tuned up this suspicion.
42
Shapur read the letter of Constantine with an entirely
different interpretation and the letter did not improve Shapurs confidence on local Christians,
instead it catalyzed his reservations more. Shapur began to warn of aggression, but he was not in
a hurry to enforce it. Reason for his holding back is that he recognized Constantine as a
formidable power with undisputed command of the resources of the Roman Empire.
43
However,
the death of Constantine in 337 AD dramatically changed the political equation. Roman power
was divided among the sons of Constantine and Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia were placed
under Constantius II who was devoid of the powerful Roman armies of Europe.
44
This gave
Shapur the much-awaited opportunity to try for control over the buffer states. In 313 AD,
Tiridates III of Armenia died and the pagan elements in Armenia rebelled against Tiranus (327-
337). Shapur supported them and Tiranus was overturned and handed over to Shapur. Shapur
started making incursions into the Roman territory and tried to push the Romans back to the
Euphrates. He attempted to recapture Nisibis.
Christianity started making inroads into various parts of the Persian Empire and it
organized bishoprics in different parts even in the royal twin cities, Seleucia and Ctesiphon. The
Magi who acted as the guardians of Persian religion became incensed against this growing
popularity of Christianity. They instigated emperor Shapur II against the Christians. The Jewish
community there sided with the Magi in accusing the Christians as the corroborators of the
Roman Caesar.
45
In the milieu of the reciprocated co-dependency of religio-political ideology,
Shapur became indignant and unleashed severe persecution on the Christians. In the context of
the redundant letter of Constantine to Shapur, this suspicion was well accepted. Sozomen places
this letter in the context of Shapurian persecution. However, this is a misplacing. Persecution
started in 343 AD, only after the death of Constantine. Constantine wrote this letter way before
that in 324 AD. In that case, Sozomen was mistaken or he was deliberately trying to give a
better face for Constantine as the champion of Christian community all over the world. This
becomes significant in the context of the development of hagiographic historiography as
exemplified in the writings like of Eusabius, Lactatinus etc and in the development of fulfillment
theory of the political theology that tried to squeeze Constantine and his empire into the divine
Oikonomia.
Persecution started with the first step of levying double taxes on the Christian
community.
46
He year-marked this amount to raise fund for future campaign. Then he ordered
the slaying of bishops, priests and conductors of worship. Churches were demolished and their

42
This letter is supposed to have been written around 324 AD.
43
Sicker, "The Pre-Islamic Middle East," 184
44
Sicker, "The Pre-Islamic Middle East,"184
45
Sozomen, "History of the Church From AD 323 to AD 425," in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers of the Christian Church (Second Series), vol. II, edited by Schaff and Wace. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1957), 264
Symeon, the then archbishop of Selucia and Ctesiphon was accused of as a friend of the Roman Caesar and of
communicating the affairs of the Persians to him.
46
Irvin and Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement 196

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belongings were deposited in the treasury. They arrested many, tried and decapitated them as
traitors to the kingdom.
47
They asked those who were arrested to recant their Christian faith and
affirm faith in the Zoroastrian gods as a sign of their political allegiance. The bullying was so
harsh that the capital city Seleucia-Ctesiphon remained without a senior bishop for several
decades, because each appointment resulted in instant execution.
48

Middle of the fourth century witnessed a new wave of conflict between the Romans and
the Persians. Shapur made three distinct sieges on Nisibis. Shapur devised the novel idea of
subduing Nisibis by intercepting river Mygdonius by constructing a dam and then letting loose
the whole volume of water to create a destructive rush against the city wall. Bishop Jacob and
St. Ephrem with their prayers and exhortation equipped the garrison and the people of the city to
rapidly complete an inside wall, thereby foiling Shapurs plan of recapturing Nisibis.
Christians in the Persian regions, especially in the buffer states were also not sympathetic
to the Sassanians. We could see this sentiment well represented in the Fifth Demonstration of
Aphrahat. He visualized the ultimate perish of the Persian Emperor and presented him as the
self-exalting ram.
49
Resisting stand taken by St. Ephrem and his bishop during the Shapurian
attack on Nisibis in 337 is another instance of this attitude. In the context of Shapurs inability to
capture Nisibis, he recalled the role of the bishop of Nisibis and the Christian community. He
interpreted that the Christians of his own country longed for the defeat of the Persian Emperor.
Consequence was rigorous persecution from the Persian side. This created further fear syndrome
among the Christians resulting in a positive urge for the defeat of the Persians.
In 363 AD the Roman Emperor Julian the apostate, carried out a catastrophic campaign
to the outskirts of Selucia-Ctesiphon that resulted in his death. Jovian who succeeded him
entered into a treaty with Persians. In the settlement, Nisibis and the surrounding provinces of
Mesopotamia were surrendered to Shapur II. During the time of this cession to the Persians,
Nisibis was a Christian centre. The first theological school of Nisibis was closed when the city
was ceded. In the context of suspecting Christians as political traitors of the Persians and
corroborators with Rome, the Persians viewed the Christian populace of Nisibis as a liability.
Therefore, the treaty upheld the territorial ownership of the Persians over Nisibis but negated the
existence of Christians in Nisibis. Thus, the condition demanded the Christian population to
move out to somewhere else.
50
Hence, the closure of the theological school at Nisibis and the
forced creation of Christian refugees from Nisibis are the after effects of the conversion scenario

47
Sozomen, "History of the Church From AD 323 to AD 425,"), 265-267
They include Bishop Symeon, Usthazanes the eunuch, Pusices the superintendent of the artisans of Shapor and
Bishop Acepsimas.
48
Irvin and Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement 196
49
Aphrahat, "Select Demonstrations," in A Select Library of the Christian Church, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
(Second Series), vol. 13, edited by Schaff and Wace. (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 352-
362
50
Sebastian P. Brock, Spirituality in the Syriac Tradition (Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute
(SEERI), 1989), 20

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of Constantine and its retaliatory effect on the Syriac Christianity by the Persian Emperor. This
political reasoning is further evident in the action of Shapur who took captive from Nisibis about
100,000 Christians and settled them in eastern Persia, a place distant from Roman territory.
51

Conclusion
Constantine stands as the turning point in the official Roman approach towards Christianity.
With him Christianity moved from the state of illicit religion to the official religion of the Roman
Empire. The real reason behind the turnaround of Constantine in his attitude towards
Christianity still remains a matter of controversy very hard to reconcile with. Was it out of real
religious conviction or was it a shrewd political opportunism? Scholars are divided on their
evaluation. What ever may be the reason, the political impact was tremendous, not only in the
Roman Empire but in the Persian also. Even though Constantine exhibited a paradigm shift in
the Roman attitude towards Christianity, there was no change in his official religious policy.
Even when he favored Christianity he did not forsook the imperialistic policy of controlling the
religion and he tamed Christianity in line with the imperial policy. He was able to maintain the
imperial policy of projecting emperor as the symbol of represented Divinity on earth. This
squeezing of emperor and empire into the divine Oikonomia formulated a Christian political
theology that sanctified war and violence by the so-called Christian imperialism. In such a
context, Christianity came to be identified as the corroborators of Roman imperialism. Because
of this severe political taint and the denigration of Christianity to the political controlling of
imperial designs, though categorizing Constantine as political manipulator would become too
severe a judgment, eulogizing of Constantine becomes an out of proportion evaluation.
Sassanian Persian Empire also maintained a similar ideology acknowledging Zoroastrianism as
the official religion. In the context of severe political animosity between Persian and Roman
imperial powers, religious identity became a matter of serious consideration. Persian emperor
Shapur II true to his political theology interpreted adherence to official religion Zoroastrianism
as the sign of political loyalty to the Persian Empire. In the background of the Christian political
theology of the Roman imperialism, Christianity was adjudged corroborator to Roman
imperialism. In such a situation, intolerance to Christianity becomes a natural reaction from the
political antagonists of Roman Empire. In other words, political theology emanated form the
religio-political background forced Shapur II to such a heinous reaction. Probably any other
with the same political ideology could have made such a move at that particular point of time.
Hence, Shapurian intolerance to Christianity was a political reaction to Constantines action in
the Roman Empire.



51
Kees W. Bolle and Frederick W. Norris, "Zoroastrianism and Christianity," in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity,
edited by Ferguson. (New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998), 1189

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0

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(Seminar Paper Submitted by Rev. Sunni E. Mathew at the FFRRC Seminar on February 10,
2009 at Mar Thoma Theological Seminary Kottayam)