Christianity and Rome

New Religion, New Relations

Christianity to the Romans appeared to be a Jewish sect
and treated them like the Jews. A policy of being left
alone.
Judaism had a agreement with Rome about their
practices.
Council of Jerusalem of 50 AD signified the break
between Christianity and Judaism
Led to Rome viewing Christianity as a new religion that
did not have the protection the Jewish people had
This allowed the purges to happen
Christians were viewed with suspicion due to Christians
refusal to sacrifice to the Roman gods and the Emperor.

Scapegoats and Purges

Nero and the Fire of Rome AD 64.
Emperor Nero blamed a fire that
burned down Rome on Christians to
use them as scapegoats.
Ordered their deaths in the coliseum
and made a spectacle from it using
lions and other wild beasts to kill
Christians.

Basic Toleration
Romans only really prosecuted and purged
Christians at times of great stress to the empire
or needed a scapegoat for a misfortune.
It was mostly tolerated if you did not bring
attention to yourself.
Emperor Hadrian stated that merely being a
Christian was not enough for action against
them
Not official policy to persecute, but was left to
local officials to decide

Later Persecution
In 250 AD, emperor Decian issued an
edict that stated everyone in the
empire must perform a sacrifice to
the Roman gods under supervision.
He wanted to revive the old Roman
religion. This killed a lot of Christians
and forced many to go into hiding

Diocletian Persecution
was the last and most severe persecution from 303313
Series of edicts deigned to rescind the right of
Christians
Purged the military because they could not read the
future
Destruction of Christian property all across the
Empire, arrested the clergy and killed thousands of
people
Thought Christianity was going to be dust at the end
A little too late to stop Christianity

Constantine The Great

The first Christian Emperor and stopped
the Great Persecution
Battle of Milvian Bridge and his conversion
Patron of the Christian faith
sponsored churches and other Christian
architecture
Constantinople, his new capital, had a
heavy influence of Christian architecture
Baptized on his deathbed

Acceptance and Growth

Edict of Milan- 313 AD, gave
Christianity legal status and started
the transition to becoming the
dominant religion in the Roman
Empire
Under Constantines acceptance, The
church expanded into every Roman
Province

State Religion
380 AD Edict of Thessalonica- rendered
Christianity as the only religion
There was differences between the two
sides of empire and their respective
churches even at this point
East- church leaders were appointed by
the emperor and spoke Greek
West- did not listen to the emperor and
spoke Latin.