82 Jesus, Prophet of Islam
With this unexpected backing, the Christian Church became a
much stronger force almost overnight, and Constantine made full
use of her, By now the countryside bordering the Mediterranean
was dotted about with Christian churches, and the Emperor uti
lised them to great advantage in the wars he was fighting. Many of
the priests carried out very useful intelligence work for him, and
their help was an important factor in his efforts to unite Europe
and the Middle East under him. PartIy as a token of his gratitude
and partly in order to diminish the power of the Roman priests in
the temple of Jupiter who had refused to support him, Constan
tine encouraged the Christians of Constantinople to open a church
in Rome. However, he did not become a Christian himself, for many
of his subjects still believed in Jupiter and the other gods in the
Pantheon of Rome. In order to allay any suspicions they might have,
he made a number of decisions which seemed to prove that he too
worshipped the Roman gods. Everything appeared to be going very
weIl when the old controversy between the Pauline and Apostolic
Churches again flared up and intensified.
The leader of the Apostolic Church, which continued to affirm
belief in One Reality, was at this time a presbyter known to history
as Arius. He was a Libyan by birth, He gave new strength to the
Apostolic Church. He followed the teaching of Jesus implicitIy, and
refused to accept the innovations introduced by Paul. 'Follow Je
sus as he preached,' was the motto of Arius. His importance can be
gauged by the fact that his name became and has remained a syno
nym for Unitarianism even up until today.
The Pauline Church received a violent jolt from Arius. He was
no mere 'bustling schemer' as his enemies would have people be
lieve, and even they were forced to admit that he was a sincere and
blameless presbyter. At a time when the oral tradition which had
kept the teaching of Jesus alive was beginning to weaken, and when
the understanding of what had been written down was starting to
diminish, Arius revived both and renewed them with his vigour
and wisdom. He remained aloof from the alliance which the or
ganised Church had made with the Emperor Constantine.
Arius was the disciple of the greatest critic of the Pauline Church
at that time, the venerated martyr, Lucian of Antioch, who was
known for his great learning and who, like his predecessors, was
killed for holding views not approved of by the Pauline Church.
Thus Arius was fully aware of the dangers involved in entertain
ing beliefs which differed from those acceptable to this Church.
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