History: The Early Christians [33-500AD]

325-451AD From Nicaea to Chalcedon: What happened when Church became Empire

For 300 years, Christianity was a strange, small, persecuted community of faith, on the fringes of society. Then, suddenly, everything changed. The Roman Emperor had become a Christian and, almost overnight, the Church became one of the most powerful forces in the Roman Empire. But this led to new challenges. What does it mean to be a Jesus-follower when Jesus-followers rule the world? It’s one thing to be tested by persecution and suffering, but a whole different thing to be tested by power and position. The years between 325 and 451 was a particularly uncomfortable and challenging time in Christian history – when Christians began to take power for the first time; when theological debates spilled out onto the streets; and when, at the end of it, the Church experienced its first permanent split.