Constantine And The Council Of Nicea Flashcards
When did Constantine become emperor
312 CE(common era)
Who was Constantine going into battle against
Maxentius , and it was rumoured that he had help from magical powers so Constantine was afraid he might lose
Why did Constantine convert
His mother was Christian. So he decided to pray to her god for help/victory in battle.
When he was praying he looked up and say in the clouds a bright cross with the words “conquer by this”
So Constantine sent his army into battle carrying a cross. And crosses on their shields.
He won and believed that the Christian god had helped him so he converted to Christianity.
How likely was it that Constantine would win
Unlikely because maxentius’ army was 4 times stronger
Who won the battle
Constantine, so he then converted to Christianity
What is the symbol called that Constantine used
Chi-Rho
What does the chi rho symbol represent
The Chi Rho symbol represents both Christ and Christianity and exists today in several variations. It is also behind the practice of abbreviating ‘Christ’ in Christmas to ‘X’.
What is the name of one of the Greek signs and why did they have to use them?
ichthus
Because of the threat of persecution, the Early Church often had to be secretive. They met in secret locations and they had secret signs.
What does each letter of ichthus stand for
I - Jesus
Ch - Christ
Th- god (theos)
U - son
S - saviour
What does the ichthus symbol look like
A fish
What happened a year later
Constantine passed the edict if milan
What was the edict of Milan
This made Christianity legal and allowed Christians to meet and worship freely, without fear of persecution. The edict also banned Jews from owning Christian slaves.
What did Constantine order when he passed the edict of Milan
Constantine ordered that any property that had been taken from Christians must be returned to them. He even gave his wife’s palace to the Bishop of Rome.
What is the Sabbath
A day of rest on Sunday
From the edict of Milan, what changed for Christian’s
Constantine ordered more copies of Christian scriptures to be made and more churches built. Christians were now offered good jobs and given privileged treatment in court. Church leaders were not required to pay certain taxes.
Who was arius
He was a man who began causing arguments in the Christian community by raising questions about the identity of Jesus.
What did arius claim
Arius claimed that God had created Jesus, so Jesus must be a lesser being than God. This is known as the ‘Arian controversy’.
What was discussed at the council of nicea
They discussed the Arian controversy in 325CE and to agree exactly what relationship Jesus had to god.
How many bishops were at the council of nicea
220 bishops
What was Constantine afraid of about Arius
That his ideas were becoming popular and they might split the Christian Church and the Roman Empire.
What did the bishops of nicea agree about arius
That Arius’ ideas were heresy
What did they create at the council of nicea
They wrote a creed, known as the Nicene Creed, outlining the beliefs that Christians should hold.
the Nicene Creed states that Jesus is both God and man at the same time.
The Nicene creed states that Jesus is ‘true god’ and “one of substance with the father”
