St. Ignatius Letter To The Romans Essay

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Recommended: Significance of the spread of Christianity

The Early Christians had numerous different practices. Some of them sacrificed animals, others held mass, and some even died in order to go with God. This helped with the spread of Christianity because it allowed people to attend mass and be forgiven of their sins. It also showed how cruel the Romans were and that religious freedom was being taken away from them. St. Ignatius' Letter to the Romans is a request for death. St. Ignatius willingly wants to sacrifice himself to join God. He asks them to accept his request and to not attempt to change his mind with material goods. St. Ignatius writes, “If, when I arrive, I make a different plea, pay no attention to me. Rather heed what I am now writing to you. For though alive, it is with a passion for death that I am writing to you”(Ignatius, …show more content…

They thought that the Christians were stubborn when they denied worshiping the Roman gods. Stubbornness and inflexibility were both punishable crimes. “For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished”(Pliny, paragraph 2). The Romans try to understand why the Christians are so stubborn and what it means. They do this by torturing two female slaves who were deaconesses. The Romans take what they hear as excessive superstition. The persecutions did help the spread of Christianity because they showed that people were willing to die for what they believe in. “I am corresponding with all the churches and bidding them all realize that I am voluntarily dying for God”(Ignatius, paragraph 5). This shows that Christianity is a way to unite ourselves with God and to be freed from all evils. Another reason it helped the spread of Christianity is that there were public executions which increased the number of people knowing about it. This also shows that the Romans don't really care for the individual freedom of their

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