5 September 394 A.D. A major battle and victory went to Emperor Theodosius I, otherwise known as “Theodosius the Great”
5 September 394 A.D. A major battle and victory went to Emperor Theodosius I, otherwise known as “Theodosius the Great” Christianizing features in the Roman Empire began with Constantine the Great. “In this sign, conquer” became a well-known phrase from his time. He favored Christianity and promoted it. The Roman bureaucracy was full of non-Christian pagans. The Christian majority was in the East: Asian, Bythynia, Pontus, parts of Armenia, and North Africa. Constantine’s successors continued the policy of favoring Christians until Julian the Apostate ascended the throne. Julian the Apostate sought to restore pagan religion and culture. But, he died and Emperor Gratian assumed the throne, adopting a program “more ruthless in the treatment of paganism” (498). Gratian refused the title Pontifex Maximus (senior priest of the Roman religion, essentially, an all-inclusive set of pluralistic deities). Further, he cut off subsidies for the R...