Christianity is a religion that, being one of the most popular in the world, experienced difficult times during the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicaea became the turning point in the religion since it created the principle of the Holy Trinity. The church persecutions, as well as the crisis in the Empire, played a considerable role in the positive result of the Board of Nicaea.
Under the cumulative strains of war, internal conflict, epidemic, and economic despair, the Roman Empire came close to collapsing in the crisis of the III-IV centuries. The main reason for the Roman persecution was based on the refusal of Christians to exalt the emperor and the neglect of the necessity to sacrifice life for his sake (Boer 46). The crisis brought people to a desperate state, where a new breath of faith was needed. The persecution provoked the appearance of faith defenders that wrote their works explaining the religion and creating the preconditions for the Board’s success.
The Council of Nicaea decided to affirm the equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity, as well as the fact that only the Son was born as Jesus Christ. The Arian rulers were expelled from their religious institutions and temples. The Board’s decision had a substantial impact on the Christian church since it provided people with a new spiritual guideline and changed the method of Christian prayer.
To summarize, the crisis of the III-IV centuries brought people to the level of hopelessness and the need for a new value system. The Christian persecution influenced the success of the Council of Nicaea by the emergence of clever faith protectors. The Board of Nicaea decided to introduce the major concept of the Holy Trinity, emphasizing the equality of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Work Cited
Boer, Harry. A Short History of the Early Church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1976.