o The church could legally inherit and bequeath property.o Constantine began the practice of donating pagan temples as
Christian sanctuaries and the building of splendid new basilicas
for the exclusive purpose of Christian worship.• The population of the empire was statistically by no means yet
“Christian,” and as we shall see, “paganism” did not immediately
disappear, but the actions of Constantine decisively placed the
imperial power behind the church, with the expectation that the
church would also support a “Christian” imperial power.The Founding of Constantinople
• Constantine’s boldest and most important political (and religious)
innovation was the founding of a “New Rome” in 330, which he
named after himself: Constantinople.
• Politically, Constantine recognized, as Diocletian had, the need to
establish firm control over both the West and East, especially given
that the West was under increased barbarian threat and the East
faced the hostile Sassanid Empire.• He chose to make a new capital for the East at an ancient Greek city
(Byzantium) founded in 667 B.C.E., then destroyed and rebuilt by
the Romans in 198 C.E.
o The location was ideal for purposes of security. Located on a
peninsula extending into the Sea of Marmara at the Bosporus
Strait, with the Golden Horn to its northeast, the city was
supremely defensible. It repelled all invaders for more than
1,000 years, until the Muslims finally conquered it in 1453.o It occupied the join between Europe and Asia, with easy access
by water for trade and the movement of troops. Constantinople
formed the capstone of the prosperous economy and the
predominantly Christian population of Asia Minor.