During the first centuries of the Church's existence, the Roman government suppressed the spread of Christianity. Many emperors did their best to try to stop the Christian population from spreading, without success (evidenced by the fact that Christianity still exists today). It was not until 322 AD, when Constantine unified all of Europe under his throne, that Christianity could spread without threat of persecution. Under Constantine, Christianity, numerically, flourished. Councils were held, doctrine developed, and great progress was made so that Christianity was one Catholic Church. However, over the next two centuries, the Church would fall apart and the rulers would fall, leading to massive unrest throughout the Western Empire. The Roman Catholic Church (as it would later be called) used these events to secure its hold over the entire western empire. In the western half of the once great Roman Empire, Rome, along with the surrounding territories, fell to barbarians. The barbarians, mainly from Germanic tribes, had no system of government by which their people had to live. In other words, each village and each group of people was left to its own devices in terms of government and protection; however, the Church never faltered or collapsed while the barbarians took control. In light of this fact, the Church began to grow in power and stability. As people flocked to churches and monasteries for help and protection, power began to shift to the bishop rather than a king/political ruler. This bishop was the archbishop of Rome. In the universal Church, there were mainly five bishops in each of the main Christian cities of the empire: Alexandria, Antioc...... middle of paper ......Y: Oxford University Press, 2001. Foote , GW and JM Wheeler. “The Rise of the Papacy.” The Nazarene Way. Accessed April 18, 2014. http://www.thenazareneway.com/rise_of_the_papacy.htm.Gonzalez, Justo L. The History of Christianity. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2010. McFarland Kathy L. “Rome-Centered Power in the 6th-9th Centuries.” Becker Bible Studies. December 2008. Accessed April 18, 2014. http://guidedbiblestudies.com/history/Centered_Power_Rome.html. Pinedo, Moisés. “The Origin of the Papacy.” Apologetics Press. 2008. Accessed April 18, 2014. http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=11&article=2386. Walker, Williston. History of the Christian Church. New York, NY: Scribner, 1985. Worldology. “How Christianity grew to dominate Europe.” Worldology. Accessed April 18, 2014. http://www.worldology.com/Christianity/rise_christianity.htm.