The Edict Of Milan As A Form Of Betrayal

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.

The Roman Empire influenced the Byzantine Empire’s culture, mainly through the religion of Christianity. Christianity first appeared in the Roman Empire, with the birth, teachings, and supposed resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the beginning years of it’s arrival, Christianity was not tolerated and Christians were mainly, and most often brutally prosecuted. However, with Constantine’s Edict of Milan, Christianity was officially tolerated, and under Theodosius, it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire inherited this relatively new religion, continuing to follow the beliefs and traditions of the church, as well as spreading the word of Jesus Christ and the message of god. Churches sprung up in the empire, such as the mighty Hagia Sophia. Located in Constantinople and built by Justinian, this church especially exemplified

It was this refusal that caused its practice to be illegal and those who chose to stick with the faith were prosecuted. Although people were being killed for practicing, Christianity started to become even more popular. After seeing Christian martyrs risk their lives for the sake of Christianity, many Romans were compelled and attracted to the faith. Also, there were Apostles who traveled around the empire spreading the message of Christianity. Then in 312 CE, Emperor Constantine proposed the Edict of Milan that banned all laws against Christianity. That allowed people to freely worship, without the fear of harsh punishment. He eventually converted on his deathbed. Then in 392 CE, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Christianity went from being an illegal religion to the official religion of the Roman Empire.

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.

From the first emperor, Augustus, to emperor Constantine, Christianity was illegal. During that time Romans practiced the Pagan religion which meant the persecution of Christians was legal. The emperor after Constantine, Theodosius, was the one who eventually legalized Christianity. This change caused much controversy and decline throughout the empire. The introduction of Christianity especially had a major influence of the decline of Rome.

The Pax Romana allowed Rome to expand, and created a period of peace that would spread the important religion of Christianity throughout the strong empire. The new religion of Christianity was Jesus’ interpertation of monotheistic religion, Judiasm. Christianity was unlike the polytheistic Roman religion which infuriated many Roman rulers. Despite the hatred of rulers it spread quickly throughout the empire and continued even after Jesus died. Although Christianity followers were persecuted they felt strongly about their beliefs and eventually the Edict of Milan was passed whih meant that Christianity was a religion approved by the emperor. Christianity changed from a sect of persecution to a state religion within the Roman Empire because

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.

Constantine is best remembered in modern times for the Edict of Milan in 313, which fully legalized Christianity in the empire for the first time. Constantine’s edict gave Christians the right to openly practice their faith. Until then, they had met in the homes of fellow believers. Within a year of edit, Constantine ordered the building of churches throughout the empire. Although some Christians were very worried about the future of the churches if it became too close with the empire. The only people edit mentioned by name were the Christian, and the laws that came afterwards radically limited the rights of Jews as citizens of the Roman Empire.

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.

In the Edict of Milan when it talks about how emperor Constantine tells his empire that they have finally reached a decision to uplift all the rules that was made to stop the growing of the religion Christianity (Dutton 1). This shows that the Christian religion had enough influence and power

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.

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.

In 312 CE, Roman Emperor Constantine achieved a victory at the Milvian Bridge. The night previous to this battle, Constantine dreamt of a cross inscribed in hoc signo vinces, in this sign you will conquer. As trivial as this dream may seem, it ultimately signified the beginning of the rise of Christianity. With his victory, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and supported and encouraged it throughout the empire. In 313 CE, another milestone occurred as the emperors, both Constantine I of the West and Licinius of the East, signed the Edict of Milan declaring that the Diocletianic Persecution would end, and Christianity would be tolerated in the Roman Empire. This religion began to flourish as people quickly converted from pagan