hen Constantine's father, Constantius I, died at York in 306, his soldiers proclaimed Constantine emperor.  Even though this ensued much rivalry for the vacated office, Constantine gradually eliminated all his rivals.  His victory over Maxentius, emperor of the west, at the Milvian Bridge near Rome established him as the Augustus in the west (312).  His victory over Licinius, the emperor of the east, established him as the sole emperor (324).

  Before the Battle at the Milvian bridge in 312, Constantine was already sympathetic toward Christianity.  he said to Eusebius of Caesarea to have seen in the sky a flaming cross inscribed with the words, "In this sign thou shall conquer."  he adopted the cross and was victorious. In this battle, which is regarded as a turning point for Christianity, Maxentius was routed and killed.
 
    In 313 Constantine and his fellow emperor, Licinius, met at Milan and there issued the so-called Edict of Milan, confirming Galerius' edict of 309, which stated that Christianity would be tolerated throughout empire. The edict in effect made Christianity a lawful religion that granted freedom of worship to all Christians, although it did not, as is sometimes believed, make Christianity the official state religion.

    Constantine continued to tolerate paganism and even to encourage the imperial cult. At the same time, however, he endeavored to unify and strengthen Christianity. In 314 he convened a synod at Arles to regulate the Church in the West, and in 325 he convened and presided over a Council at Nicaea.

    The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council called deal with the problems raised by Arianism. It has been said that 318 persons attended, but a more likely number is 225, including every Eastern bishop of importance, four western bishops (among them Hosius of Cordoba, president of the council), and two papal legates.

    One of the main goals of the council was to settle the doctrinal dispute caused by the Arius" views of the Trinity. As a priest in Alexandria, Arius taught that God created, before all things, a Son who was the first creature, but who was neither equal nor eternal with the Father. According to Arius, Jesus Christ ws a supernatural creature not quite human and not quite divine, but more like a demigod.

    The council adopted the so-called Nicene Creed, based on the eastern Baptismal creed. The Nicaean Creed excluded Arianism by using the term Homoousios ("of one substance") of God the son. This term, suggested probably by Hosius, became the touchstone of orthodoxy and the bugbear of Arianis, for it established the divinity and the same essence and it summarized the chief articles of the Christian faith of that time. IT was adopted originally in the following form, but has been amplified since:

    We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Only begotten of the Father, that is to say, of the substance of the Father, God of God and Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things on earth; who, for us men and for our salvation, came down and was made flesh, was made man, suffered and rose again on the third day, went up into the heavens, and is to come again to judge both the quick and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit.

    The original form ends abruptly with "and in the Holy Spirit", adding anthems on Arian doctrines. With the defeat of Arianism it became the common creed of the Church, but for practical purposes needed further expansion. The form commonly used is connected, probably correctly, with the Council of Constantinople(381). It enlarges the section on the Spirit, thus incidentally repudiating Macedonianism, and omits the anathemas. This is the form used liturgically, except by the Armenians, who use the older form. At the union of the Visigothic Arians with the Catholic Church in Spain in 589 the word Filioque (and from the Son) was added with reference to the origin of the Spirit, to stress the equality of Father and Son. This addition came into general use in the West, and since 9th century, has been a point of distinction between the Greek and Latin churches.

     The councils also attempted to change the time for observing Easter. In some regions, the Christian Easter had been observed on the same day as the Jewish Passover. In others, Easter had been observed on the following Sunday. Other questions the council ruled on ,as well, included undertaking to form the clergy, and granting patriarchal authority to the bishop of Alexandria.

    The First Council of Nicaea was significant as the model and the original of ecumenical councils. It evolved the idea of the ecumenical council and the test it adopted provided a universal statement of faith in place of the earlier and varying baptismal formulas.

 
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