This week in Christian history: Constantine’s vision, Martin Luther’s German Mass

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 27, 2024

Constantine’s Christian vision – Oct. 27, 312

Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, as depicted in a Medieval mosaic at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of when Roman Emperor Constantine had a vision shortly before a major battle, inspiring him to legalize and adopt Christianity.

Since its founding in the first century, Christianity had often been the subject of persecution at the hands of Roman officials and emperors who professed belief in various pagan deities.

The night before a battle that would secure Constantine’s rule of the Western Roman Empire, he was said to have had a vision in which he saw a cross in the sky and a message generally translated to English as “In this sign, you will conquer.”

“And so, this former devotee of the sun god, Sol Invictus, attributed his victory to the God of the Christians,” noted History Today in a 2019 article.

“In adopting Christianity, he gave it the legitimacy that would see it acquire the status of Rome’s state religion and change the course of Roman and European history and, consequently, that of the world.”