Christian Persecution And Persecutions

At the beginning ages of Christianity, the religion as a whole was despised and underwent over 300 years of hostility to ultimately become the dominant religion in the Roman Empire. Just as Christ had died on the cross, early Christians believed there to be no higher honor than to imitate that death; they expected suffering. Christian persecution gave rise to cults, among other things, and also contributed greatly to the rapid growth of Christianity. Tension caused from strife between religions, imperial policies, and empire-wide persecutions, initiated by many different emperors, make up the majority of situations that motivated the Roman Empire to persecute Christians, only to be ended by Constantine.

When it came to religion, Christians weren’t necessarily persecuted just for being Christians. “The Roman understanding of religion generally focused on civil virtues and outward observance” (Toivo 7), which basically meant that the Roman Empire allowed any religion to exist as long as the ruling emperor was recognized as divine and was also worshipped. “During the first centuries, Christian loyalty to God was frequently interpreted by the Roman state authorities as disloyalty to their state” (Toivo 7). While a massive amount of Christian persecutions by the Roman Empire were from disregarding the culture, lifestyle, and for speaking ill of the Roman Empire, “Tertullian said that Christians were blamed 'for every public disaster and every misfortune' that befell the people” (Toivo 7). The Christian religion as a whole almost always took the blame for any unfortunate event that took place in the Roman Empire. This aided in much of the Roman public viewing Christians as genuinely suspicious and intolerable, regardless of the situat...

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... Christians, of Jews and Muslims by Christians” (Wright 23). From 312-313, Constantine’s actions showed his increasing favor for the Christian church. He sent three letters to Carthage, ordering the Roman governor “to restore to ‘the catholic church of the Christians in any city’ all the property it had formerly owned, [regardless] of its present owner” (Wright 23).

In conclusion, Christians that belonged to the early church found themselves being persecuted from massive amounts of tension caused from strife between religions, imperial policies that were set into place by hostile emperors, and empire-wide persecutions that were set in place against Christianity. Constantine ultimately aided in keeping Christianity alive throughout the 300 years of hostility that the religion as a whole underwent, and made way for the growth and development of the Christian church.