3. He was baptized by the Arian heretic Eusebius of Nicomedia.
4. Over 50 percent of his appointments to these positions were given to Christians. See Rodney Stark, Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton, 2016), 57.
5. Michael Grant, Constantine the Great: The Man and His Times (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993), 151.
6. Ibid., 105–107.
7. Philip Hughes, A History of the Church, Volume II: The Church and the World the Church Created (London: Sheed and Ward, 1993 [1979]), 3.
8. Ibid., 4.
9. Lactantius, De Mort. Pers., ch. 48. opera, ed. 0. F. Fritzsche, II, p 288 sq. (Bibl Patr. Ecc. Lat. XI). Translated in University of Pennsylvania. Dept. of History: Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press [1897?–1907?]), Vol 4:, 1, pp. 28–30.
10. Ibid.
11. Abbot Giuseppe Ricciotti, The Age of the Martyrs: Christianity from Diocletian (284) to Constantine (337), trans. Rev. Anthony Bull, C.R.L. (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1999 [1959]), 220.
12. Constantine and his saintly mother, Helena, also engaged in other building projects that directly benefited the Church. Constantine built the first churches dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul in Rome. Helena traveled to the Holy Land, where she was able to locate many relics, including the True Cross. A large basilica was built that incorporated the site of Jesus’ crucifixion as well as his tomb. The structure was consecrated in the year 336 and became a favored place of pilgrimage for Christians from the west for centuries.
13. A distinction that will be useful for the reader: a synod can be a meeting of local or regional bishops or even representative bishops from throughout the world (but not all bishops). Small “c” councils are meetings of local bishops (synod and council can be synonymous). Big “C” Councils are ecumenical (all the bishops in world are invited). Synods and councils are only authoritative for the area or region.
14. See Rod Bennett, The Apostasy that Wasn’t: The Extraordinary Story of the Unbreakable Early Church (El Cajon, CA: Catholic Answers Press, 2015), 130.
15. Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, revised edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1993), 124.
16. Bennett, 138.
17. Grant, Constantine the Great, 171–172.
18. Ibid.
19. Jerome, Ad Paulium, epistle 5, quoted in Ricciotti, The Age of Martyrs, 247.
20. See Bennett, 214.
21. Hilaire Belloc, The Great Heresies (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1991 [1938]), 11.
22. Other sources indicate the number was a little more than 200. See Wilken, The First Thousand Years, 91.
23. Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History, I:10, quoted in Bennett, 128.
24. Other names for the heresy are Sabellianism and Patripassianism.
25. The Nicene Creed is still recited at Mass today. Dan Brown in his The Da Vinci Code has a fictional dialogue between two characters who discuss the deliberations at the Council of Nicaea. Brown writes that the vote taken by the bishops was a “relatively close vote” — not only is his book pure fiction, but apparently his math is off as well! See Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 233.
26. This precedent would become significant in future centuries during the medieval period and the establishment of papal inquisitors.
27. Saint Polycarp traveled to Rome to discuss the matter with Pope Saint Pius I in the second century.
28. Ricciotti, 269–270.
29. Wilken, The First Thousand Years, 99.
30. Saint Athanasius spent some time with Anthony in the desert before he became bishop. He also wrote a popular biography of the great saint in which he recorded that the hermit told the Alexandrians to “have no fellowship with the most impious Arians. For there is no communion between light and darkness.” Athanasius, Life of Saint Anthony, 69, quoted in Warren H. Carroll, The Building of Christendom: A History of Christendom, vol. 2 (Front Royal, VA: Christendom College Press, 1987), 21.
31. Wilken, The First Thousand Years, 101.
32. This is just one example of many in the lives of the saints of the axiom that holiness attracts. There is a deep desire in all human beings for communion with God, as we are all created in his image and likeness. Saints like Anthony illustrate through their lives that communion with God is possible, albeit in an imperfect manner this side of the veil, and that example attracts others.
33. Basil, Homily on the Creation of Man 1.17.
34. Basil, Epistle 190.1.
35. Henry Chadwick, The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 335.
36. Wilken, The First Thousand Years, 160.
37. Ibid., 160–162.
38. Ricciotti, 273.
39. Athanasius, De Incarnatione, 54, 3.
40. Bennett, 171.
41. Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History, I:28, quoted in Carroll, The Building of Christendom, 18.
42. Athanasius was bishop for forty-five years and spent twenty of them in exile.
43. Carroll, The Building of Christendom, 15.
44. Ricciotti, 280.
45. G.P. Baker, Constantine the Great and the Christian Revolution (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001), 292.
46. Ibid., 309.
47. Rodney Stark, Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History (West Consho-hocken, PA: Templeton Press, 2016), 53.
48. Bennett, 216.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid., 218.
51. Known as the Second Formula of Sirmium. There is some debate of whether Liberius actually signed the condemnation. Some sources indicate the story was propaganda created by the Arians citing the fact that when Liberius returned to Rome from exile he was treated as a conqueror. Athanasius and others believed Liberius signed the condemnation. Athanasius wrote, “Liberius, having been exiled, gave in after two years, and, in fear of the death with which he was threatened, signed.” (Hist. Ar., xli). He is the first pope not considered a saint, which is an indication that he likely did sign, although under extreme duress.
52. Régine Pernoud, Martin of Tours: Soldier, Bishop, Saint, trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 42.
53. Jerome, Dialogue Against the Luciferians, 19.
54. Bennett, 207.
55. Robert Louis Wilken, The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Second Edition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984), 164.
56. Wilken, The First Thousand Years, 119.
57. Julian, Against the Galilaeans, 39A, quoted in Adrian Murdoch, The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the Death of the Ancient World (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2008), 132.
58. Adrian Goldsworthy, How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower (New Haven, CT: Yale University