CONSTANTINE THE GREAT - ROMAN EMPEROR

BIJELJINA, MAY 21 /SRNA/ - Roman Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantine the Great /271-337/, the first Roman ruler to seek support in Christianity and grant privileges to the Church, and the most significant Roman emperor born on the territory of present-day Serbia - in Niš, died on May 22, 337.

He was proclaimed emperor by Roman legions in Britain in 306, after which he defeated rivals in a series of conflicts and came to rule the western part of the Roman Empire.

From 312 onward, he ruled jointly with Eastern Roman Emperor Valerius Licinius, and after defeating him in 324, Constantine became sole ruler of the entire empire until his death.

In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, granting Christians freedom of religion.

At the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, Constantine helped the Church suppress the Arian heresy in an effort to end divisions and place a unified Christianity under imperial authority.

In 330, he founded Constantinople - present-day Istanbul as the new capital of the Roman Empire.