Persecution Of Christians

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.

‘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.

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.

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

In contrast to the persecution experienced by early Christian followers, Christianity today does not experience the level of outward persecution. Christianity is practiced in an atmosphere nearly void of violence. It was not until the reign of Constantine when Christians were authorized to practice their chosen faith. The “Ediet of Milan”(313 A.D.), gave official recognition to the Christian faith, thus ending persecution within the Roman Empire. Before Constantine’s rule, there were many rulers eager to drive out the Christians. The Emperor Trajan (98-117 A.D.) established the first official policy relating to Christians and how they should be dealt with. Diocletion and the Apologists were the last of the persecutors in this era before Constantine. This marked the end of open persecution

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.

Christians went from being persecuted to dominating Rome rather quickly. In a world where separation between church and state does not exist, a Christian becoming the sole emperor of Rome symbolized a huge turning point in history. The power switched and the Pagans in turn became persecuted. Christians rose up and took control of all aspects of Roman society. The Pagan past was destroyed, banned, or forgotten about. Those Christians that did not agree with how things were being run either left the empire and became monks or formed their own sect. All of Rome changed.

When Christianity first emerged it culturally threatened the Greco-Roman social order; they strongly adhered to the belief that Jesus was the messiah and their allegiance was with him, not the Roman Emperor. The emperors were viewed as ‘saviours’, they were not merely human but also divine and at the moment of death their soul would rise to the heavens. Due to them being pedestalized it was a popular tradition to build temples and make sacrifices to the emperor and thus, it also became important that everyone (with the exception of Jews as it was an ancient and already established faith which the Romans respected because of this) did the same. Romans were suspicious of new religions and the proclamation that Christians made deeply offended them. Christians voiced the belief that the person the Jews had sacrificed was the true saviour, the son of God which

This process began when the Romans laid waste to the city of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., and Christians were dispersed throughout Europe and the Middle East. This led to an increase in churches throughout much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, some of the western part of the empire, and in many Latin speaking countries throughout the second and third centuries (Duiker 2014, 150). As Christian populations grew in the Roman Empire some Romans felt threatened. Romans thought Christians were harmful to the empire because they did not believe in their Gods and emperors. This lead to sporadic persecutions of Christians during that time (Duiker 2014, 150).

His wish was never granted and the persecution was extremely violent. These Roman emperors caused pain and strife for Christians. Some were ruthless others, not so much. The worst rule was under Diocletian and Nero. However, along with these rough times, peace found them, allowing Christians to catch their breath before it started up again.

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.

Religion in early Rome was considered to be Pagan. Pagan is considered a belief that a person holds that differs from a main world religious views. The Pagan views were not based on any concepts or just one God. Citizens were believing and practicing their beliefs based on rituals, superstitions, and traditions that were obtained through ancestry. They had festivals and sacrificial rituals to please the Gods. In 64 AD Nero prosecuted Christians in Rome because he blamed them for the burning of the Imperial Capital this is called the Great Persecution due to the amount of people who were killed in the process. This made it seem like there were no other religions that citizens could practice this led to them

A few hundred years after the dawn of the Christianity movement during the first century, Christianity was confirmed to be a legal religion in 313 by emperor Constantine I and emperor Licinius. As a result of its legalization, Christians were more noticeable within society. Eventually, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD under emperor Theodosius I. Its legalization also put an official end to the decades of intense persecution that began in 249 AD under emperor Decius. Unfortunately, by the time the persecution had ceased in 305 AD, the Christians were already facing several internal problems that caused divisions within the community and gave rise to the various schisms. Also, during this time, unification

Back in the ancient days when Rome was still around, the Romans were polytheistic and weren't so fond of the Christians, with emperors of Rome menacingly persecuting Christians for false cases of incest and cannibalism. Nero (a Roman emperor) blamed the Christians for a fire that happened in Rome in 64 A.D., even though he supposedly was responsible for the fire. Nero persecuted the Christians by throwing them into an arena for citizens entertainment. The Christians were beaten, mauled, and even eaten and disassembled by lions or other vicious animals. Through my research, I have discovered that Christianity rose greatly through Christian women, Saint Paul, and Constantine.

Martyrs tells us that the earliest persecution came under the rule of Nero in the year 67