The Christians refusal to sacrifice to the Pagan Gods, angered the Romans, as they believed by not doing so, their Gods would be enraged and bring disaster to them. With the Christians consistent refusal, things were starting to turn sour for them in the Empire, and the Christians boasting of their numbers, and those such as Celsus calling them frauds, trouble was brewing. According to Gaddis (2005) some disturbing news came to the Emperor’s attention regarding some soldier refusing to make sacrifices. He was so disturbed by this information, and the fact that the Christians influence had reached so far into the Empire and its ranks, that he had no other recourse than to put into action a plan that might rid the Empire of the Christians. In 303 C.E according to Gaddis (2005), Emperor Diocletian ordered that all the Christian churches and scriptures to be destroyed. Furthermore, any Christian that held a rank in the government were to be dismissed. Diocletian was hopeful that these actions that he was taking would put an end to the Christians. However, once the decree was posted, many Christians were angered by this and were not about to give up so easily. …show more content…
According to Gaddis (2005) some of the Christians were tortured as well as being burnt alive, while others were publicly executed. Furthermore, it would seem that the more the Romans persecuted them, the more their hatred grew for them, as they believed them to be disobedient and a danger to the Empire. As such they did everything in their power to rid themselves of the Christians. The only consequence for the Christians at this time was, they either obeyed the law by sacrificing to the Pagan Gods or face persecution. However, Gaddis (2005) suggests that some of the Christians looked at the Roman persecution as not so much a Roman persecution, but one from their own God, who was testing their faith so that they could repent for their
Roman society didn’t care for the Christians very much. They would blame them for communal catastrophes, such as earthquakes and outbreaks of diseases. They would claim that these misfortunes were caused by the Christians angering the gods. Being Christian by itself was illegal. “The crime of being Christians; that is, to belonging to an illegal sect or association. The penalty for such unlicensed association was death.” (pg. 174) There was freedom given to anyone who renounced their faith and was willing to worship a Roman god. The martyrs went through vicious punishments for staying in their faith. This tells us that living in Roman society could be fatal if you don’t follow what the Roman Empire expected you to be.
Christianity was frowned upon by the Romans. The Roman Emperor wanted the people to worship him and the Roman Gods. Christians were blamed for many of the misfortunes that happened in Rome. Due to the belief that Christians were to blame they were ostracized, tortured and even killed.
The document, The Passions of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, shows how brave the Christian faith was in Rome. During Diocletian’s ruling, Christianity was not a common religion. In fact, most Romans practiced polytheism. Under these circumstances, many Christian followers were publicly persecuted for their faith. The Roman government assumed that if the executions were public, it would discourage others from becoming Christians and shift away from the Roman life traditions, in which would guarantee wealth and prominence to the Roman elites. Shockingly, this did not bother the Christians that they were publicly sentenced to death because their faith in god was so strong they believed that by dying for their faith would bring them closer to god. Despite the cruelty and crudness of these executions however, it did not stop christianity from spreading. As a result, all persecutions were ended and it was declared leniency for the Christians. After such changes, Christianity became the official state religion of the Roman Empire. Such adjustments in policy spread Christian religion throughout every edge of the Empire. Although these legal orders ended a lifetime of Christian persecutions, they also could have shattered the traditional Roman values system. By this time, the Christians had only believed in one god, who was not the emperor. Due to the disregarding of the emperor, it weakened his authority and credibility. Lastly, another change was enacted which caused the fall
‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.
But neither human resourcefulness nor the emperor’s largesse nor appeasement of the gods could stop belief in the nasty rumor that an order had been given for the fire. To dispel the gossip Nero therefore found culprits on whom he inflicted the most exotic punishments. These were people hated for their shameful offences whom the common people called Christians. The man who gave them their name, Christus, had been executed
Because Christianity could not be completely purged by the Empire, it created an opportunity for Christians to display how strongly they were devoted to the religion. The way in which they responded made all the difference. Under pressure, they would not submit, and this was proof of the force and influence of Christianity.
On Doc A, It explains one of the many reasons the Romans persecuted the Christians. “As Christianity spread through the Roman world, some local officials feared that Christians were conspiring against them.” This quote not only shows why the Romans did what they did but it also kind of explains a little bit of background from the Romans side. It also says how there were some rulers that came to see Christianity as a threat to them and of course, they began to persecute the people who practiced it.
With this spread Romans became very suspicious about the Christian cult. In fact in 35AD, the Senate decreed it a “strange and unlawful11. They did not like the idea of monotheism, believing to favor one God so highly above others would anger them. The idea of polytheism also supported the Roman Empire, as by worshipping the gods an individual in turn worshipped the emperor in a way and believed the signs of priests and words to the emperors to be directly from the Gods12. Christians also refused to pledge allegiance to the emperor believing their allegiance could only be sworn to God and Jesus13. Theophilius of Antioch described it as such “The emperor, given authority by God, must be honored with a proper respect, but he must not be adored. You see, he is not God; he is a man whom God has placed in that office not to be adored, but in order that he exercise justice on earth… As the emperor may not tolerate that his title be taken over by those subject to him, so no one may be adored, save God”14. Romans also found the idea that Christians did not make sacrifices to be very disturbing, especially when combined with the fact that they would gather to “drink the blood and body of Christ”15. Sacrifice was the norm throughout polytheism and the fact that Christians refused sacrifice of any kind, to
In Document E it says that although the Emperor Galerius does not agree with the Christians religion they will be accepted in Roman society. This means that the emperor saw the loss of the Christian's life so terrible he needed to save them before the Roman empire crumbled. Document F expresses that Constantine issued the Edict of Milan to stop the persecution of Christians in Rome for their religion. This shows that the emperors took action so that Christianity could grow and expand as a religion and gain followers to work for the greater good. Document G says that Theodosius created a code that entailed that Christianity was now a state religion and was to be completely accepted throughout Rome. This ended any persecution of Christians in Rome and made the final step for Christianity to become a state religion. The emperors of Rome made laws that stopped the persecution of
Within the Roman Empire, Christianity was banned and Christians were punished for many years. Feeding Christians to the lions were seen as entertainment in Ancient Rome. In AD 313, the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal and for the first time, they were allowed to openly worship. Churches were quickly built not just in Rome but throughout the empire, The main beliefs of Christianity The belief of one god, so it was monotheistic and the god that they worshipped was not the emperor so that is why the emperor was upset. The religions started out fairly similar to each other but as I said earlier when there imperial Rome's religion changed there was really no more similarities in the two empires religion.
According to Constantine’s Porphyry Column, “Constantine brutally murdered his son and wife.” These acts were directly against the Christian church, which gave the people of the Roman Empire an inaccurate portrayal of the word of God. Many historians also believe that Constantine’s acceptance of Christianity was rooted in his hatred for the Jewish People. He used his negativity of Judaism as a way to promote his new laws. Many of his new laws had Christian Characteristics. He believed that these new laws would help him to dominate his people. Despite the fact that he gave Christians legal freedom to practice their religion, he made them feel subordinate. This is a crucial flaw in the strategy of Constantine. It removes the genuine nature of his acceptance. Because of this his actions are viewed as blasphemy rather than something to be celebrated. This is largely due to the fact that he accepted Christianity in the Roman Empire for selfish reasons. Because of his violent methods and selfish ruling, Constantine hurt Christianity’s image among the Roman people.
Imperial persecution became wholesale throughout the Empire. Initially the Jewish community was the instigators of this persecution of Christians. The book of Acts outlines several incidents involving such persecution. During the decade of 60 A.D., periods of Roman persecution occurred, however this persecution was sporadic. For example, Nero was ruler of the Roman Empire, under his reign Rome was set on fire and burnt to the ground. Christians became the scapegoat for this cowardly act. Tasitus wrote that perhaps Nero himself started the blaze, as an excuse to persecute the Christians. Nero’s acts of persecution were contained within the confines of Rome.
During the first decades preceding Christ's death, Christians were tolerated but not really liked by the general population of the Roman empire due to their refusal to acknowledge the emperor as a living god. This act of defiance was considered heresy by the state .The real mass persecution of the Christian people came during the reign of the emperor Nero who needed a scapegoat on whom to blame the great fire during his reign.
The relationship between Christians and the Roman Empire is complicated to say the least. Before the summation of the primary sources begin there must be a little background information provided. Rome was in power over a big portion of the Mediterranean region. A good portion of Christians lived under Rome’s rule. Rome was a very tolerant state when it came to religious flexibility. As long as you recognized the Roman God’s then they were tolerant with any other practices you decided to have. The Christians would not recognize the Roman God’s and that caused great friction. There are many primary sources historians have found on the relationship between the Christians and the Romans. The majority of the sources being used in this summation are from the Documents of the Christian Church the fourth edition. Also three primary sources from the times of Constantine, the emperor of Rome in the fourth century. The Romans start as thinking of the Christians as criminals, to being tolerant with them, to eventually they embrace the Christian faith.
As Christianity was spread throughout Rome, people began to question the teachings of Jesus. Out of fear, officials arrested and killed a multitude of Christians as a result. The everyday plebeian became impressed with these people dying for a belief. Although persecutions became more common, the number of Christians stayed the same and maybe even grew because of the influx of polytheistic Romans converting to the monotheistic religion of Christianity. People were converting quicker than they were being killed off because of the likeable teachings of love, the bravery of these people dying because of what they believed in, and their appealing message to those not in the affluent classes.