Throughout history, reformers have been confronted with diverse problems and have gone about resolving them in radically different ways. Two notable reformers are Diocletian and St. Paul. The Emperor Diocletian transformed the declining Roman by creating policies and laws that stripped a person of individual freedom. St. Paul, who went about reform in a different way, changed the Christian community through love for one another and having faith in God.
At the beginning of the forth century, Diocletian (284-305) became emperor and could be considered a reformer of the nearly collapsed Roman Empire. He restored order and solidity, basing his policies on oppression and the loss of personal freedom. The restoration of the empire included political, military, economic, social and religious changes.
When Diocletian became ruler, the empire had been the product of many years of chaos and instability. He first sought to change this through political restructuring and reform. Diocletian was a constructive statesman who could plan in long-range terms for the Empire's future and make bold innovations to secure efficient administration. He created a system of rule by four called the Tetrarchy. Diocletian wisely decided that the empire was too large for one man to rule effectively. He divided the power with three others, and established four imperial courts, none of them in Rome. His own court he established in Nicomedia, where he could keep a close watch on threatening monarchs and tribes along the eastern borders. There were two Augusti, each with a slightly subordinate Caesar, with Diocletian himself as the senior Augustus. Once an Augustus stepped down, his Caesar would take his place. This political reformation of .
Diocletian, who occupied the throne for 20 years, would result in the change from chaos to stability for the empire.
Once the political system had been set in place, Diocletian began to structure military, economic, social, and religious reform.