How did Constantine you help make Christianity a unifying force in the Byzantine Empire?

Answer 1

Some historians believe that Constantine's interest in Christianity was because he saw it as a potential force for unity in the Roman Empire, with its strong discipline and well-defined hierarchy. He was dismayed to find that Christianity was not at all united even within itself, and eventually found that Christianity did not help him create a united empire.

Constantine attempted to resolve some of the divisions in the faith. The Gnostics were effectively excluded from the protection or support of the state, so that Christianity was to mean that branch of the faith that was controlled by the bishops. He called the Council of Nicaea, in order to resolve differences of practice and of doctrine, particularly the Arian controversy. When Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome in 380, he specified that this was Christianity, "as taught by the bishops of Rome and Alexandria".

In spite of efforts by the Roman Emperors, there never was a united Christianity. Arianism lasted for decades after the time of Constantine and, at one stage could have become the official religion of Rome, instead of Trinitarian Christianity. Persecution destroyed Gnosticism in the West, but it survived for centuries in the East, and returned in the West as Catharism, only to be persecuted by the Roman Church. Other minor schisms followed, then the Great Schism of 1054.

In any case, the Roman Empire only remained united until 394 CE, just 14 years after Christianity became the official religion of empire. The split was not directly caused by Christianity, just the size and unwieldly nature of the empire. The Western Empire broke up after 476 CE, less than 100 years after Christianity became the official religion of empire. The Eastern Empire survived much longer, but was destroyed in the aftermath of the sack of Constantinople by Western Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade. This fragmentation can be very much blamed on the Crusades, and therefore on a Christian enterprise authorised by the Pope, although the sacking of Constantinople was outside his control.