A marked change in the life of the church occurred in 313 when Emperor Constantine the Great proclaimed the Edict of Milan and legalized Christianity within the Roman Empire. As the communities united by a Christian faith and tradition lived on to see the legalization of their religion they were faced with the need to address various misconceptions and unclear definitions of their faith and tradition. This culminated in the early writings of the Church fathers and then later the Ecumenical councils set to define the Christian faith and tradition. It is this origin founded by Christ, his apostles, the seventy disciples, Patristics church fathers, ecumenical councils, teaching of the Holiest Christians and witness of martyrs that the Eastern Christian Orthodox community is based on.