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36 ◆ Christianity A SHORT GLOBAL HISTORY
the empire were neither well enough positioned politically nor numerous
enough for him to have supported their deity on those grounds.
When during his reign Christians at first were tolerated and then
became members of a religion legally recognized throughout the empire,
some of them were almost ecstatic. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–c. 339)
wrote a fawning treatise of praise in which he suggested that Constantine
was the Christian bishop for those outside the faith. Anyone like
Eusebius who had a long view of Christian history must have been overjoyed
that the ever-looming possibility of persecution was lifted. But
Constantine’s support was always a mixed blessing. He continued to
have members of his family killed when they emerged in his mind as
threats. He attended worship services and considered himself a believer,
but postponed his baptism – as many did – until his deathbed. His new
capital in the east, Constantinople, still had a marked non-Christian
presence. Even in 326 he underwrote the journey to Egypt of a leader in
the Eleusinian mystery religion. For the empire to function properly,
Constantine thought that pagans should also be supported.
The privileges and riches he lavished on Christians, however, were
considerable. His mother, Helena, visited holy sites in Jerusalem and had
imposing churches built there. Constantine provided the funds for the
expensive task of copying Bibles. The new copies were sent to important
churches. Legislation allowed Christians to recover property taken from
them during persecutions; it also excused their leaders from various
taxes and military service. Constantine, like other emperors before him,
viewed religion as an important pillar of the state. He began to attend or
call church councils early in his reign. The most imposing was the
Council of Nicea (325), which he funded and attended in order to influence
it. According to the emperor, Christians should not be distracted by
doctrinal disputes that disunited them. The state needed their unity.
Because of his limited vision and that of many participants, the council
did not represent the full global character of the faith; a few representatives
from the East attended, but Christians in places as near as Armenia
(between the Black and Caspian Seas) did not appear in numbers because
in so many ways this was an affair of the Roman Empire.
It is difficult to slight the importance of Constantine’s recognition of
Christians. Pagans continued to follow their ways of life and worship,
but Catholic and Orthodox Christians lived for well over a thousand
years in this climate of preference. Members of other religions, including
the Jews, were opposed by the powers of the state. Saintly figures like the