"The construction of Constantinople was by far the most important and influential cultural project in the whole history of Christianity, for Constantinople was not merely the capital city of Byzantine - it was the capital of the Christian State. The new Rome was designed and actually built up by its founder, St. Constantine the Great, to be the Christian capital of the world. The small town of Byzantion is not the real "parent" of Constantinople but only gave it its geographical location. The real spiritual "father" of the spiritual capital of the world is the Emperor St, Constantine, the fore-father of Christianity, therefore the city bears his name by right...."
The excerpt is taken from Georgi Todorov's article "The Fall of Constantinople", published in the KULTURA (i.e. Culture) Newspaper