- Valentinus, the Gnostic scholar, was almost elected Pope in the second century AD. What if through him Valentinian Gnosticism became the mainstream (at least likely in the West and the Southeast (Egypt, Syria, where it was already notably present). Now this is all centuries before Constantine’s conversion, so maybe he would find this Valentinian Christianity less appealing than OTLs proto-Orthodox (Orthodox in the sense of Nicene not necessarily of the modern denomination of the same name) Christianity. Maybe he goes for like solar monotheism instead, as throughout his life he was actually pretty ambiguous of the miracle that gave him his victory was from Jesus or from Sol. The “cross” he saw in the sky and painted on his shields was probably like a + in a circle, not a Christogram, because he probably saw a sun dog. It was only later that he decided on Christianity.
So maybe Rome suffers something like Valentinian separatism, with like, IDK, a Christian Kingdom of Egypt or something.
Just a thought.