Constantine Presides Over the Council of Nicaea

Constantine’s chief goal was always creating and maintaining unity, be it political, economic or, eventually, religious. For Constantine, one of the greatest threats to Roman domination and peace was disunity. Christianity filled Constantine’s need for a basis of religious unity quite well.

Christians may have been a minority in the empire, but they were a well-organized minority. In addition, no one had yet tried to claim their political allegiance, leaving Constantine no competitors and giving him a group of people who would be supremely grateful and loyal for finally finding a political patron.