id author title date pages extension mime words sentences flesch summary cache txt en-wikipedia-org-2086 Christianity in the 4th century - Wikipedia .html text/html 9701 839 61 Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire. By the early 4th century a group in North Africa, later called Donatists, who believed in a very rigid interpretation of Christianity that excluded many who had abandoned the faith during the Diocletian persecutions, created a crisis in the western Empire.[20] A Church synod, or council, was called in Rome in 313 followed by another in Arles in 314. ./cache/en-wikipedia-org-2086.html ./txt/en-wikipedia-org-2086.txt