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On June 5th we walked around the Constantine Arch in Rome. This was the Arch of Triumph for many rulers over the years as they returned from battle to Rome.
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Who was Constantine?
Constantine the Great was born in 272 AD to Helena and Flavius Constantius and lived until 337 AD. His father was one of four rulers of the Roman Empire. But by 306, Constantine (the Great) was the sole Emporer.
By 303, persecution of Christians had reached its greatest intensity in Rome. In 313 Constantine declared such persecution illegal. Over the years of his reign, he did many things to help bolster Christian churches and embraced Christianity himself on his deathbed.
Constantine was instrumental in having the day of rest for Christians changed from Saturday to Sunday. This partly had to do with Christ’s resurrection having been on Sunday.
At one point during his reign, Constantine developed the christogram formed by the first and second Greek letters, chi and rho, that spell Christ (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ).
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He used this labarum as the army standard going into battle and is said to have defeated many adversaries who had outnumbered his men.
Constantine’s family was not without its issues, though. He had one of his sons killed for supposedly seducing his wife. Then upon learning that his wife had lied about it, he had her killed, too.
In the end, he converted to Christianity and was baptized just prior to succumbing to a fatal illness.
Intricacies of the Constantine Arch
The Arch of Constantine is one of only a few triumphal arches to have three entryways. Interestingly only the ground level has carvings dealing with Constantine the Great. The second level has pieces taken from Hadrian sculptures while the third level has Trajan and Marcus Aurelius sculptures. It is said that the arch was built so quickly that they had to swipe art from other sculptures in order to complete it on time.
LORD, Regardless of when Constantine was actually converted, how thankful I am that he made it possible for the persecution of Christians in Rome to stop. That was crucial. Thank you for letting us see this incredible arch. Amen.
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