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The rise of Christianity throughout the Roman world
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Why were Christians persecuted by Roman authorities? What enabled them to have such an enormous following by the fourth century C.E.? When Christianity was still quite young in the Empire, many Christians refused to worship the emperor (which was viewed as treasonous) and refused to acknowledge the pagan gods as well. When a devastating fire broke out in Rome, Emperor Nero blamed the Christians and sentenced many of them to die in awful and horrific ways so cruel that even Roman citizens felt pity. And then when Decius was emperor he called for the aid of the gods in his war with the Goths and required all citizens to worship the gods publicly. When the Christians didn't obey Decius decided to threaten and torture the Christians until they
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
But really, the Romans were trying to prevent people from sharing the Christian beliefs. As part of the religion, Augustus insisted that everyone should view him as God. Augustus didn’t want people to have their own beliefs.
The rise of Christianity in Rome did not come easily. It came with much destruction and death. The spark of Christianity in Rome came from an appearance of Martyrs in Rome. Martyrs were people that were executed for going against the common beliefs of pagan (polytheistic) ways. (Tignor, 2011, p. 286) Because of these awful executions, Christianity is said to be based off of “the blood of martyrs.” One of their main ways of spreading Christianity was through the sharing of their writings and by 300 CE there was an exceptional amount of book production throughout Rome. (Tignor, 2011, p. 289) “Christianity operated as one among many minority religions in the Roman Empire, and on several occasions experienced widespread persecution, especially under the emperors Nero (r. 54–68), Decius (r. 249–251), and Diocletian (r. 284–305). However, the situation changed radically under the emperor Constantine (r. 306–337), who in 313 issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity a legitimate religion in the empire.” (Melton, 2010, p. 634)
First and foremost, the Imperial cult required the worship of many different deities and the worship of the emperor himself. As stated before, the emperor was viewed as Rome’s savior and incarnation of the various gods that were worshiped in the Roman Empire. Citizens were required to show worship to these deities and the emperor by performing activities such as burning incense in their names, holding large extravagant banquets in their honor, and offering sacrifices before their images just to name a few. Christians, on the other hand, worshiped no one other than the one true God of Israel and his only Son Jesus Christ. True followers of Jesus Christ felt that partaking in any of the aforementioned worship activities was despicable and nothing more than narcissistic paganism.
The Emperor personally invited bishops of the church to spend time with him. He treated them favorably by showering them with gifts. This was usual for a Roman to do this, because most Romans were not Christians. The Christians received ill treatment from the Romans for many years. It was then that Constantine began to send letters around the empire of Rome telling them to allow certain privileges to the Christians.
Christianity took hold on the ancient world because it was spread exceptionally fast. Missionary journeys were made every set of to three years and teach people Christianity (Document F). Roman judges held trials for reported Christians, and executed them because they admitted that they were Christian. The trials were held to execute Christians so the Roman religion would continue to flourish and so Christian citizens won’t be more powerful than the government (Documents F and G). This shows that Christianity was gaining a lot of members, really fast, in comparison to the government.
As the Imperial system gained hold, it was common practice for the Emperors to accept divine honors before their deaths. These living gods, in some cases, required sacrificial rituals as signs of loyalty and ingrained themselves with the older more traditional pagan gods. The requirement of a sacrifice to the emperor, as well as the forced belief in the complete pantheon became a significant source of conflict with early Christians. As Christians refused to worship the emperor as a god, persecution of the Christians and conflict with the cult was a constant source of strife. Emperor worship would continue until late in the western Empire until the reign of Constantine. In the early 4th century AD, Constantine either converted to Christianity or made it an acceptable part of Roman religion, eliminating the emperor deification altogether. Later Emperors such as Julian attempted to revive the old ways, but the deeply rooted Mithraism, and Christian cults combined were firmly set within Roman society. By 392 AD, Emperor Theodosius I banned the practice of pagan religions in Rome altogether and Christianity was, without question, the official religion of the state.
Diocletian did strive to unite Rome and restore it back to its former glory and unite the empire spirituality. The Dominus et Deus policy stated that Diocletian was not only the lord of all of Rome but also a God and condition of this policy stated that anyone that refused to adhere would be severely punished and or execute. The Age of the Martyr exact opposite of what Diocletian's policy had intended. Christians were hunted and given the name martyrs, individuals who were willing to die for cars, and that's even more significant stronger in death than in life. Many Romans felt that their gods had failed them when witnessing the Christians who faced their deaths with certainty and peace. Within the pagan community there was a want for personal gods promising an afterlife, a sense of community, and the feeling that God is always on your side no matter what social standing you have. Diocletian's rein came to an ended with his retirement in 305 A.D. Following his retirement there was a 20-year Civil War where Roman German generals fought to gain the entire empire. In the Final battle the battle of Milvian Bridge Constantine was its victor. God wanted him to win not only making his right to the empire a political one but a religious one as well. In 313 A.D. Constantine use the Edict of Milan to end the persecution of Christians, once again making Christianity legal within the Roman empire, and soon
Much to the chagrin of the empire, The Christian Church and its teachings distanced the citizens from full devotion to the empire. Coupled with their objection for reverence of the Roman gods, and not living a “good Roman life,” early followers of Christ were met with incessant persecution. Furthermore, Christians were believed to lack a fundamental component of being proper Romans. They lacked “pieta; that mixture of love and fear that ideally reigned in the Roman family as children showed pietas to their parents, which the family, in turn, showed to the state, and the state manifested to the gods” (Cunningham 12). Additionally, Roman citizens were required to declare the emperor as “Kurios,” a Greek word meaning
During the first half century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government including governors in the eastern provinces took no active measures against Christians. The attitude of the higher Roman authorities had always been that Christianity was merely a sect of Judaism, and as such, were entitled to share in its privileges as a recognized religion. In 64 A.D. this attitude suffered a severe alteration. On July 19, 64 A.D. occurred the great fire of Rome. Half a million people were left homeless. Popular rumor persistently asserted that the fire was started by incendiaries acting under the orders of the Emperor Nero. It was said that Nero wanted the city burnt down so he could build a new city which was to be re-named after himself. Nero felt that something must be done to deflect the public indignation against him. To do this he contrived that accusations should be brought against the Christians. So Nero began an aggressive persecution of the Christians in Rome. Those who confessed their guilt were brought to trail. During these trials a great number of other Christians were uncovered and were also brought to trial. Oddly enough, these people were not charged with starting the great fire of Rome, but rather for “hatred of the humankind.”
Heinous crimes Christians were accused of include sacramental baby-killing, sacramental baby-eating, and performing illicit sexual acts after banquets “under covers of darkness”. As quoted in the Apologia, “We are said to the be the worst of criminals because of our sacramental… modest for our impious lusts”. (2, 8) According to Tertullian, Christians were hated because, they did not worship the Roman gods nor did they offer sacrifices to the emperor. As a result, Christians would be accused of sacrilege and treason. Referenced in the Apologia, “You say, 'You do not worship the gods, and you do not offer sacrifices for the emperors.'… we are accused of sacrilege and treason.” (2, 9) Tertullian’s rebuttal against this claim is, Christians ceased
Early Christian persecution, 30-250 CE, was not a universal event throughout the Roman Empire, but rather sporadic and local. In 64 CE, a massive fire destroyed almost the entirety of Rome, and in order to escape blame, Emperor Nero
However, it is important to point out that while there are instances of Christians being charged for lack of emperor worship it is much more common that these charges were more about sacrificing to the gods on behalf of the emperor. However, it is impossoible to ignore the imperial cults. Herod build temples in Judea in to commemorate Augustus and other emperors such Caligula and Nero were fostering diving honors during the first century. First century Christians refusal to adopt the imperial cults was perceived as a serious statement against the Roman way of life.
Dating back to one of the most known religions in history, Christians constantly go through trials, struggles, temptations, and all the things that someone who goes through persecution face. Persecution is hostility and ill-treatment especially because of race or political or one’s faith or belief, and in the daily life of persecution, someone must go through constant harassment because of their faith. In many Middle Eastern countries like Iran and Pakistan, Evangelical Christians are being massively persecuted for their religious beliefs. In the past decades, many have been trying to spread the awareness of religious conflict by the sacrificial work of different missionary and charity groups, the expansion of the Gospel, and through the provision of financial resources. Several other ways this problem could be addressed is through and
When Christianity became the religion in Rome, some people accepted the change and some people did not. Christianity was brought into the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine during his reforms after a period of crisis in the late Roman Empire. The change in Religion was too big of a modification to society for some people to handle, and instead stuck with the old Roman religion of polytheism. The change in religion caused internal chaos in the empire because not everyone accepted Christianity in empire when the religion changed. With Christianity becoming the new religion, it also changed where people saw who had power, which changed the people of Rome’s believe in the emperor to God because of the religion change. Before Christianity came to Rome, people believed in polytheism, so emperors were basically gods, so the change represents the acceptance of something else to believe in. While Christianity helped with the fall of Rome, the expansion of the empire also assisted in the fall of the Roman Empire.