In support of Rev. Smith's assertions:Rev. Smith said:Constantine converted because he believed that Jesus had blessed his victory in a civil war, that lead him to the throne. He knew little of the nature of the dispute, only that it was divisive (it was, about 40% of the Bishops sided with Arius). A lot of evidance suggests that Constantine didn't much care what the Synod concluded, as long as it reached one.
1) At the time of the Donatist controversy, Constantine wrote:
I consider it absolutely contrary to the divine law that we should overlook such quarrels and contentions ... whereby the Highest Divinity may perhaps be roused not only against the human race but also against myself, to whose care he has by his celestial will committed the government of all earthly things.
2) In a letter to Arius and his chief opponent, Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, Constantine wrote:
The cause of your differences has not been any of the leadership doctrines or precepts of the Divine Law, nor has any new heresy respecting the worship of God arisen among you. You are in truth of one and the same judgment: you may therefore well join in communion and fellowship.
3) Constantine ordered his own distant relative, Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, into exile for continuing to defend Arius after the Nicene Council. (He was allowed to return in 329.)
4) In 335, Constantine ordered Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria -- Alexander's successor, and a fierce opponent of Arius -- into exile. He was only allowed to return when Constantine died.
5) Also in 335, Constantine summoned Arius to Constantinople and ordered Bishop Alexander of Constantinople to admit Arius to communion. (Alexander prayed that either he or Arius might die before this came to pass, and the day before he was to have been admitted to communion, Arius died of a hemorrhage in a public latrine. It was widely considered a clear sign from God of the error of Arius' teachings.)
6) When Constantine was finally baptized shortly before his death in 337, he chose to be baptized by the Arian Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia.
All in all, it's absolutely clear that Constantine was not particularly interested in or passionate about theology, that his interest was in promoting unity, and that, as Rev. Smith says, he didn't much care what conclusion the Nicene Council reached, as long as it reached one.
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