page_title: Bishops of Rome under Constantine the Great
section_title: Sylvester I
hierarchical_section_title: Bishops of Rome under Constantine the Great / Popes under Constantine / Sylvester I
context_page_description: Constantine the Great's relationship with the four Bishops of Rome during his reign is an important component of the history of the Papacy, and more generally the history of the Catholic Church.
  The legend surrounding Constantine I's victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge relates his vision of the Chi Rho and the text in hoc signo vinces in the sky and his reproducing this symbol on the shields of his troops. The following year Constantine and Licinius proclaimed the toleration of Christianity with the Edict of Milan, and in 325 Constantine convened and presided over the First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council. None of this, however, has particularly much to do with the popes, who did not even attend the Council; in fact, the first bishop of Rome to be contemporaneously referred to as "Pope" is Damasus I. Moreover, between 324 and 330, he built Constantinople as a new capital for the empire, and—with no apologies to the Roman community of Christians—relocated key Roman families and translated many Christian relics to the new churches.
context_section_description: Miltiades died, and his successor, Sylvester I (313–335), did not travel to Arles. The Arles synod gave Silvester I somewhat of a nod by asking him to circulate their decisions to the other bishops, although he had no part in the process. During Silvester I's reign, construction began on the Lateran Basilica, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, and St. Peter's. Silvester did not attend the first ecumenical council, the First Council of Nicaea (325), but sent two priests as his representatives; the Western bishops of Carthage and Milan were also in attendance.
  Silvester would have viewed Arianism as a heresy; Constantine himself probably did not understand the complex theological issues in dispute, although he had surrounded himself with many followers of Arius, including Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, his eventual baptizer. Arius's followers did poorly at Nicaea, and the Nicene Creed that was adopted was squarely against their Christological position. The Arians were "silenced, not persuaded" by the Council, and the controversy in the larger Christian community was not resolved. The Arian position would persist in the East for three generations, and even eventually be adopted by Constantine's son, Constantius II. Constantine himself supported the Nicene position mainly because it was "his Council" sought a compromise text that would "paper over the differences between the two sides." Eusebius remained an Arian, although he assured Constantine his views were compatible with his interpretation of the Nicene Creed, and baptized Constantine in 337.
  The chief supporter of the Nicene Creed was Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, but in 335 he was deposed and exiled to Gaul over unrelated fears about the Egyptian corn supply to Constantinople. His followers were rounded up and picked off. The key debates in Nicaea had been conducted in the Greek language, with the subtleties of particular words inciting great controversy; the Latin language of the West simply "did not yet even possess adequate terminology to handle the debate properly." The pope's legates signed onto the findings of the Council, and it continued to be supported by the next two popes, just as followers of Athanasius remained welcome in Rome, but the theological issues were little examined in the West.
caption: Athanasius of Alexandria
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