Persecution Of Christianity

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.

When Constantine was battling for control of Rome, he prayed for divine interference and saw a cross, the sign of Christianity. He put a cross on all of his soldiers, and they were victorious, with Constantine crediting his triumph to the Christian God. After Constantine took power in 313 AD, he announced the end of Christians persecutions. Later, in AD YEAR, Constantine converted, and Christianity grew faster than ever. Of all factors that influenced Christianity development, Constantine’s conversion was one of the most important, because he made it acceptable.

The battle of Milvian Bridge lead by Constantine in 312 (Allan, 45), gave Christians a surge of hope and faith as Constantine would claim king of the Roman Empire. After such a great battle, Christianity would be put into question how it was impacted through living and socio-economic standards.

From the third to the fourth century, the Roman Empire witnessed a widespread attempt to stop the spread of Christianity. Initially, leaders of the church were predominately targeted, but later anyone admitting to Christianity became a target. The persecutions hit a climax during Diocletian’s reign. These persecutions actually helped the spread of Christianity by glorifying Christians and beginning a tradition of martyrdom that shaped the Church, and the strength that Christians displayed shows that the persecutions could not have possible stopped the spread of Christianity.

Constantine used Christianity to find a sense of unity and stability throughout Rome. It allowed him to connect with Romans on a more personal level. He made the city of Constantinople a hub for Christianity, and at the First Council of Nicea in 325 CE, he helped to create the Roman Catholic Church and compiled the New Testament. Him emphasizing and opening a door for the population of Rome to convert helped to set up Theodosius I to declare Christianity the “official” religion of Rome in 380 CE. The government of Rome became closely tied to the Church, but they weren't the same thing.

These famous lines of the Christian Bible describe the first mention of a Roman Emperor and would be remembered throughout history with the birth of Jesus Christ ,the symbol of christianity. Though his life was short and he was crucified at an extremely young age, Jesus developed a cult following due to his presumed miracles and of his preaching of eternal peace and everlasting life. His crucifixion resulted in the spreading of his faith throughout the Roman empire and in the beginning of the end of traditional Roman religion. Ironically enough it was the Romanization of Europe that allowed the Christian faith to easily spread. By the death of Christ, the whole Roman empire was connected with well constructed roads and inns which allowed the prophets to spread their message easily and safely.

Christianity and Islam were both universalizing religions, which were the two main religions in the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliphates. When people from a specific religion or church reach out to other people to persuade people or convert them to their religion, it is considered universalizing. Because of both religions being universalizing, the empires started rapidly increasing in population, and spreading Islamic and Christian culture around the world. The reason Christianity developed so quickly was because of Emperor Constantine, one of the most famous Roman leaders, converted to Christianity in 330 CE, declaring Christianity Rome's official religion. The religion spread like wildfires, and soon became one of the most popular

He immediately freed all of the Christians under his control after his victory at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. The treatment of Christians became his first priority as he began to see himself as one of them. Constantine believed his military prowess was due to the support of the Christian god and reacted accordingly. He immediately set about attempting to convert the entire Byzantine Empire by favouring Christianity above the imperial polytheistic cults. Without the changes implemented by Constantine, Christianity would never had a foothold to gain traction with.

Constantine won the battle of Milvian Bridge near Rome by defeating Emperor Maxentius, his last Western rival in 312 A.D. However, the victorious battle paved the way for the spread of Christianity. It is well known that before the battle, Constantine had a “heavenly vision”, in which he saw the “trophy of a cross of light right above the sun” with the message “by this, conquer” (Keresztes 27). Later on, Constantine also had a dream in which he was commanded “by Christ” to mark the “heavenly sign of God” on to the “shields of his soldiers” and the

Conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity played an important part in establishing Christianity as a state religion of Roman Empire. However, even prior to Constantine’s rise to power, Christianity was already a well-organized and unified force, which sustained regardless of the opposition and lack of support from the state (Paulgaard, 2007).

Eventually the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, proclaimed himself a Christian and issued an edict promising the Christians his favor and protection. Attitudes in the Roman Empire changed from being antagonistic to becoming pacifistic(‘causes for the Fall of the Roman Empire’).” “The Christian religion, which was monotheistic ran counter to the traditional Roman religion, which was polytheistic (many gods). At different times, the Romans persecuted the Christians because of their beliefs, which were popular among the poor(The Fall of the Roman Empire).

After Nero was blamed for the fire that ruined a part of Rome, he got mad and retaliated against the people by casting blame on others, including the Christians. Of course, to make it more believable, the Christians held the most responsibility and were punished very badly. They tried so many things to suppress Christianity such like having them enter “the arena in which they were now called to strive, to bleed, to die for their faith during two and a half centuries.” The Heathen’s found Christianity to be strange in terms of their beliefs and because Christians were looked at negatively and known to hate humans, the Heathen’s felt that they should be hated back in

The extent of persecution has been well documented to this day, but the precise number of Christians persecuted is not revealed. Numerous historical manuscripts have not to this date given a precise number of those persecuted. Instead, it is simply stated as a great number or that it was a massive amount. The exact number of early Christians persecuted is not known. Many historical texts do not specify the exact number of people persecuted, but claim that it was a large number or simply a multitude. It has been stated that from 30 AD to 311 AD, a period in which 54 emperors ruled the Empire, only about a dozen took the trouble to harass Christians. It seemed that Claudius, because of his dislike for the Jews, and belief that the Christians

In Christianity today it states that Christians face religious persecutions in more countries than any other religious group, according to the recent study by Pew Research Center. These persecutions have resulted in a decline of the Christian population in the Middle East according to the New York Times. The New York Times also states that in Iraq, less than half a million Christians are left since many of them have been targeted by extremist for more than a decade. The problem became worse with the rise of the Islamic State as it intensified the Muslim persecution of Christians as a part of its campaign of terror in the region. Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat in the US House of Representatives and an advocate of Eastern Christians, states

In 313 AD the Emperor Constantine formally recognized the Christian religion. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, this event affected the way people thought and lived their lives. Had a great impact on how rulers viewed their power and used their powers. Such influence was portrayed in Christian art as we know today.