pressed by its moral precepts and its clear-cut monotheism. At the same time it had competed successfully with a host of mystery religions in winning converts among the masses, who sought the solace of eternal salvation and the satisfaction of belonging to a close-knit community. The acceptance of Christianity by the Roman state following the conversion of Constantine came as a bolt from the blue, and also as a mixed blessing. Many of the converts who flocked to the new faith did so for reasons of ambition rather than conviction, and in return for the state's political and financial backing, bishops came to be treated as imperial officials and church councils often had to follow imperial instructions.
The Church's new-found wealth and power aggravated internal tensions among its members. In Africa major conflicts arose between the conservative Romanizing wing, who accepted the Church's new position, and diehard 'Donatist' elements, who favoured a radical rejection of the world and the exclusion of those who had apostatized during earlier persecutions. Disputes also arose concerning the Trinity, the repercussions of which lasted for centuries. For a time the Church bowed to imperial pressure and accepted the heretical view of the Alexandrian priest Arius that Christ the Son was inferior to the Father. Although this doctrine was condemned later in the fourth century it was not before Arian priests had converted Visigoths living in the Balkans to their form of Christianity. During the fifth century Arianism was taken up by most of the German peoples who settled in the empire, in part as a 'national' faith to underline their distinctiveness from the culturally superior Romans.
In the east serious divisions were caused by christological disputes. The orthodox position was upheld at the Council of Chalcedon of 451, but resistance remained strong in Egypt and Syria, particularly among the Monophysites, who believed that Christ's humanity was subsumed into a single divine nature. Although these heresies were not simply political or social movements in disguise, they were undoubtedly fuelled by local resentment of a politically and culturally dominant Greek élite. Such opposition took on a political dimension in a
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