amazing, especially in light of the fact that Diocletian, who reigned prior to Constantine in ad 244-312, bitterly opposed the Church, persecuting it fiercely. Some of the bishops who attended the Nicean Council bore in their bodies the marks of Diocletian’s persecutions. How mesmerized they must have been to now be sitting in a hall with a Roman emperor not only sympathetic to the faith but directly involved in its affairs.
