The legislation of the Roman Empire and the Christian faith

The article highlights the problems of the relationship between the state and the church of the period of the Roman Empire and their motivational foundations. The author focuses primarily on the religious policies of the emperors Decius (249-251), Diocletian (284-305) and Constantine the Great (306-337). It is noted that during the first four centuries of our era the Christian church passed through three stages of its existence: 1) the church persecuted, 2) the church is tolerant and 3) the church is dominant. As a result, it is noted that the government gradually realized the universal, unifying, loyal, state direction of the Christian ideology. This was the key to the union of the church with the state - a powerful unifying force in the politics of that time.