Eusebius was a Christian scholar who believed to have a great leader he should have faith in God and followed the teachings of the lord. During ancient history there have been leaders who have made good and bad decisions for city-states that they’ve ruled. An ideal leader that Eusebius admired was Constantine.
Constantine was a servant of God who would follow all of his practices, confessing that God had the highest power of all. Any conquest given by God Constantine would complete, such as for those people who defied the rules God made. Constantine would bring these people who had completed ungodly acts to God and they would disappear. God had made Constantine a teacher who was told to spread the knowledge of the lord among all the nations, so everyone knew who the true and one and only God was. Constantine is someone we can compare to as Moses because they both took the word of God and spread it among the people in the city-states. God saw that Constantine was a good representative and decided to make him ruler of Rome and Constantine would still complete any conquests given by God. “…he obtained the authority over more nations than any who had preceded him, an yet, undisturbed, to the very close of his life.” (6) With God naming Constantine as ruler he took this position as something serious since he still was following the conquests of God and being held accountable for the things going on in the nations he ruled over.
History continued Alexander the Macedonian of Greece was a leader described as someone who hadn’t fully reached full maturity due to him dying at a young age. Alexander was a king who didn’t know how to represent himself in a hastily manner nor did he make the best of decision. His reign of leadership wasn’t the best due to him not making the best decisions causing nations to dwell in the Western ocean. “Notwithstanding, even among these distant nations, he proclaimed the name of his God in his royal edicts with all boldness.” (9) If you were to compare Constantine and Alexander together you would describe Constantine as being someone who was honored and respected among other nations. Constantine would rule his nation in a way where everyone’s class was accepted, being rich or poor. He felt that if he didn’t put his best foot forward then he would be ashamed of hisself , since he is supposed to be honoring God. Constantine thought it was important to follow all the rules that God and for him to carry them through the nations.
Before Constantine became leader his father, Constantius was also a follower of the works of God. Constantius kept everything that God created the same and he made sure he stayed away from anything that was ungodly, such as crimes. Constantius also ruled the nation that was tranquil where he treated his nations as if they were his kids, very nurturing. He believed that people who had false beliefs in their God were unworthy. Also for those people who believed that the power they had was higher than God’s, Constantius would remove them from the imperial court. “…had proved themselves to be worthy servants of God, would manifest the same fidelity to their king, he entrusted them with the guardianship of his person and empire…”(16) In the eyes of Constantius, those who were servants of the lord were valued and he trusted them. Following the rules of God and leading his nation in peacefulness, Constantius lived the rest of his life with tranquility. The father of Constantine would have his entire household including his attendants study and know the works of God. Having been raised by Constantius, Constantine followed the footsteps of his father leading the people of the nation in a way where people didn’t have to feel like they had to be in a certain class to get what they needed. Once Constantine was put upon the throne of the nation he made sure to check over everything that had been done by his father. For example, he checked the inroads of others seeing if the people needed aid in the remaining areas of the empire. Now there were times when Constantine had difficulties in making decisions on what was best to do, he would call on God to reach out and help him. There was a time when there was wickedness going on throughout the nation and Roman people were being killed. A tyrant had come in Rome using magic taking away women’s newborn infants. This tyrant would enslave people ruining their livelihood, decreasing the amount of food necessary. Constantine was upset about what had been going on and prepared himself to fight against this tyrant, he knew with the strength of God he would be protected and safe. The people in the city of Rome were so happy to have someone save them through the tyranny that they had begun to endure.
In conclusion, thanks to Constantius he had faith in God following his teaching and having his household know about him as well. Constantine wouldn’t have been that great of a leader without the knowledge and wisdom that God gave him and without listening to his father. Constantine is known as “Constantine the Great” because he had the faith of God on his side while spreading knowledge among other nations to help others.
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