Constantine viewed conflict within the early Christian church as a tool of Satan and saw it as his duty to heal schisms wherever they appeared. His first attempt to do so was at the Council of Arles, which he convened in 314 to address the Donatist controversy in the Western Roman Empire. He saw the Arian heresy as a trivial disagreement between academics who had too much time on their hands, and he believed that the issues could be resolved at Nicaea without difficulty. He was mistaken.
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