The first Christian Empire in the world was that of the Byzantine Empire founded by Constantine in 330 A.D. The Byzantine Empire started with the division of the Roman empire into East and West factions, with the eastern provinces becoming the Byzantine Empire. When the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, he moved the governing center from Rome to the city of Byzantium, made Christianity the state religion, and created a state that had a profound effect on the social life and outlook of the people. The first moves toward splitting up the Roman Empire had been made by Constantine's uncle, the Emperor Diocletian, who thought that the problems with the empire were related to having too much territory to the east and north out of direct control (Wenzel, 1965: pp. 11-13). The separation did not take place immediately but over a generation or so and would last for more than 1100 years.
The choice of Byzantium for the new capital was fortunate. The city was on the European side of the Bosporus and overlooked both Europe and Asia and thus was positioned to be a power in both. In many ways, the development of the Byzantine Empire sealed the doom of the Roman Empire. For a time, the organization put in place in the east by Diocletian strengthened this half of the old Roman Empire, but in time it too began to decline steadily, in part because of a shortage of able men to lead: "We have seen that citizenship in the Roman Empire no longer meant a share in the control of public affairs. Able men of affairs were no longer arising among such citizens, except as the army raised one of its commanders to the position of emperor" (Breasted, 1938: p. 629).
There was in fact a greater need than ever before for able leaders with the growth of the Christian churches and their influence. The Christian church would become a new arena for public speaking and thus for public debate and decision making, and church statesmen we...