What did Roman emperors Constantine and Theodosius you have in common and how did their actions differ?

Answer 1

Both Constantine I (or the Great) and Theodosius I (or the Great) were both supporters of Christianity. However, both the times in which they ruled and their actions differed greatly.

Constantine's reign was one of religious freedom and in his days Christianity was not the established religion of the empire yet. He finalised the end of the Great Persecution of Christians which had been decreed by the emperor Galerius in his Edict of Toleration of 311. His Edict of Milan decreed freedom of worship for all religions. Constantine ruled when Christianity was not established at the elite level. He promoted Christians in the higher offices of the imperial administration and he built important Christian Churches. He also arbitrated disputes between different Christian doctrines. Under his rule there was freedom of religious expression. Moreover, Constantine respected the Roman religion and still practiced it. He retained the title of Ponifex Maximus, and, thus, was the head of Roman state religion, throughout his life. He continued to worship the sun god and told both Christians and pagans to observe Sunday as a day for the worship of the Sun God.

Theodosius's reign was one of religious repression. In his days Christianity was the established religion of the empire. He was a staunch supporter of Greek (or Eastern) Christianity . Theodosius, Gratian, and Valentinian II signed the Edict of Thessalonica in 380. This made mainstream Christianity (Latin or Western Christianity and Greek or Eastern Christianity) the sole legitimate religion of the Roman Empire. The purpose of the edict was to ban dissident Christian doctrines, which were branded as heretic. The main target was Arian Christianity, which was popular around the empire.

At that time the Latin/Western church and the Greek/Eastern Church, which were the church of the western and eastern part of the Roman Empire respectively, were two branches of one church which was called Catholic Church, which subscribed to the Nicene Creed, a particular interpretation of the trinity. Later these two churches spit and came to be called Catholic and Orthodox respectively. The Edict of Thessalonica made Nicene Christianity the state religion of the empire.

Theodosius I immediately started to persecute the Arian Christians and other dissident Christian sects in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He expelled the Arian Bishop of Constantinople and replaced his with a mainstream bishop. He summoned the First Council of Constantinople to bring the Eastern and Western churches closer together. This council defended the Nicene Creed and condemned Christian "heresies." Theodosius I issued the Theodosian Decrees which banned non-Nicene Christians from church office

Theodosius I also persecuted the pagans. The Theodosian Decrees also banned Roman religious practices, such as blood sacrifices and the auspices (the divination of the omens of the Roman gods) and made them punishable by death. He made Roman religious holidays working days, and disbanded the important priesthood of the Vestal Virgins. He pioneered the practice of criminalising officials who did not enforce anti- pagan laws. He authorised or participated in the destruction of Roman temples sacred places and scared images. Two years before his death he issued a comprehensive law which banned any Roman and other pagan religious practice. He ignored outspoken pleas for toleration of paganism.