Everything that has ever happened in Niš has been mainly conditioned by its geographic position. Being an important crossroads and a renowned geographic nucleus of the Balkans, Niš was involved in many events that shall make it famous for the time immemorial. To get familiarized with the past of Niš means to pass at the same time through the most important periods of Serbian history and major epochs in the Balkan Peninsula chronicle. Numerous military campaigns, spiritual turmoil and cultural changes are embedded into the historical tissue of Niš. Among them, one event shall not only celebrate the name of the town, but it shall mark a turning point in the history of mankind.

The town of Niš is the birthplace of the most famous Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, later the Saint Czar Constantine for the Christians.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT - ST. CZAR CONSTANTINE

Apart from the Edict of Milan (313), which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire, he issued a lot of laws to the benefit of the Christianity and Christians.

By moving the Empire capital from Rome to Byzantium-Constantinople in 330, he laid the fundaments of the Byzantine Empire, which shall spread Greek wisdom and glorify the name of Christ worldwide, respecting the Roman tradition as well. A converted Christian himself shortly before his death, Constantine the Great paid respect to his native city by "decorating Niš magnificently", as a chronicler recorded. There supposedly were several Christian temples among the magnificent buildings that he had erected. The discovered sacral objects and known historical facts bear witness to it.

Niš had experienced the peak in its political, economic and cultural blooming during the 4th century. The town can be regarded as a strongpoint of Christianity during that period. Before that, in the 3rd century, as well as in the first half of the 4th, there is no evidence of Niš as a place of suffering of the first Christians. It seems that the new religion, brought from the East by soldiers and merchants, had been established even earlier in Niš as a military base and trade center.

Tabula Peuntingeriana

How else to explain the fact that Niš was well-known all around the then Christendom by the relics of local martyrs as early as in the 4th century? The famous Christian philosopher of the 4th century, Sanctus Victricius from Rouen in France, cited Niš in his work "De laude sanctorum" as the one of significant towns that keep the relics of martyrs. So Niš was classified as equal with the most important centers of such reputation, like Constantinople, Antioch, Thessaloniki and Rome. Niš seemingly was a town of martyrs - Martyriopolis, after some larger centers in Asia Minor.

After Constantine the Great died in 337, his three sons, Constantine II, Constantius and Constans, started quarreling. Their political disputes were followed by religious disagreement, as well. Generally, spreading of Christianity through Illiricum was marked by numerous discords and fights against heresy during the 4th century. The loudest among the heretics was the Alexandrian priest Arius, who preached that God-the-Son as the creation of God-the-Father was not the same, but only similar to God. This doctrine was discarded in 325, at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, and Arius was expelled to Illyricum, where he continued spreading his opinions. Some ten years later, he gained the followers in the Balkans. One of them was the bishop of Niš Ciriacus, mentioned in sources before the Council of Serdica (Sofia) in 343. The Arians were supported by the Emperor Constantius, while the Emperor Constans stuck to the Nicene Creed. Maybe it was not by a pure chance that Constantine's sons Constantius and Constans met in 340 and signed two laws in the native town of Constantine who advocated the unity of church. Only three years later, in 343, they jointly summoned the Council in Serdica as the metropolitan diocese in Dacia Mediterranea, having tried to alleviate religious disputes. Again, the Arianism was not accepted. Its fiery opponent Athanasius was joined by the bishop Gaudentius from Niš. Gaudentius turned back the ranks to the priests that were deposed during Ciriacus.

The Arianism got weakened by the death of the Emperor Constantius, but dogmatic fights continued in Illyricum. Niš was again the center of heretic teaching, which is attributed to the bishop Bonosus. His heresy was based on the false teaching of Fotin about the St. Mother of God, and it was rejected at the Council of Sirmium in 378. Bonosus remained the head of Niš Episcopacy until 391, when he was removed. The consequences of his teaching could be felt all the way to the 6th century, to the reign of Justinian I, in spite of the activities of the bishop Nicetas from the neighboring Remesiana. Bonosus was substituted with Marcianus, who was the bishop of Niš from 409 to 414. He had a heavy duty to put in order the circumstances in the eparchy in which priests had been ordained by the heretic Bonosus. The series of known bishops of Niš gets broken for the period of Hun conquest. The next bishop that we know of, by the name of Gaianus, got punished in Constantinople 516, on the grounds of his defense of the Orthodox religion. The bishop of Niš Proiectus took part in the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 553. This Council was also marked by disputes, as the Emperor Justinian's call was not answered by all the bishops.

The disagreements inside the church were influenced by the threats of Huns and Goths. The Huns demolished Niš for the first time in 441, and the town threatened Goths up to 448.

The first days of Christianity in Niš may be best illustrated by the discovered epitaphs in bad Latin. The epitaphs are about the members of the same family, ones of them bearing Greek-Byzantine names (Thomas, Peter), and the others still having Latin names (Antonine, Gentius). In these epitaphs, there is no Christian believing in a better life in another world as yet.