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The Fourth Century The last Persecution. In the early part of the fourth century the persecutions of the church by the Romans continued, but they would shortly come to an end. In the last great persecution, Emperor Diocletian ordered church buildings destroyed in AD 303– yes, there were church buildings by this time. The sacred writings, which were copies of the Bible, were collected and burned. Church meetings were outlawed. Pastors and bishops of the churches were arrested. But so many Christians were arrested that there were not enough prisons to put them in. So the emperor’s order was stopped. Some bishops and pastors had been executed. In some cases the eyes of Christians had been put out or an arm or leg injured so that they would be lame. But by 310 the persecutions ended. Growth of the Church. The spread of the church did not continue in the 4th century as rapidly as it had earlier. By this time there were Christians throughout the Roman Empire (and in the East), but reaching beyond the empire was difficult because there was political and military opposition to Rome from the north. It was unfriendly territory. Numbers of Christians continued to grow, however. By the AD 400 almost 20% of the people in the Roman world were Christians. Politics. At the beginning of the 4th century (AD 300) the rule of the empire had been divided between several emperors, one in the east and the other in the west. But following Diocletian a new emperor, Constantine, brought the empire together again. In one of the battles to bring together the warring groups in the western empire, Constantine saw a cross in the heavens. He knew enough about Christians to think that this was a sign that God was giving him victory. And he did gain victory. He then became a Christian. When Constantine became the sole ruler in the western Empire in 313, he proclaimed freedom of religion and made Christianity one of the approved religions of the empire. Later in AD 381 under another emperor that Christianity became the official religion of the empire. In AD 324 Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople. He did that to make it easier to govern the large empire. But the move left the city of Rome without the leadership it once had under the emperor. So the church began to fill that leadership gap. This was the beginning of the political church. Church Divided. During this century a number of differences arose between Christians. Many of these differences were about who Jesus really was. Was he God? Was he man? Was he both? One of the issues was raised by a man named Arius who believed that Jesus was not God, but was something less. That caused great conflict between Christians. In order to settle the conflict and have peace in the church Constantine called for a council of the churches. It met in Nicaea in Turkey in 325. The bishops voted on the issue, and it was agreed by most that Jesus was both God and man.