Christianity Response Paper

The most important factor in the success of early Christianity is the growth of the church in the Roman Empire under Constantine.

Previous to the reign of Constantine, Christians faced 300 years of sporadic persecution in the Roman Empire. Christians were in the minority and their unfamiliar practices led them to be accused of cannibalism and sexual deviance. Further, the refusal by early Christians to conform to the Imperial Cult (which calls for sacrifice to the emperor, and is thereby in direct opposition to the third commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”) resulted in their being accused of treason and anti-patriotism. Naturally, Christians became the scape goats for problems within the empire. For example, in 64 CE, Nero’s palace burned to the ground and the Christians were targeted as arsonists. Christianity threatened religious and social orders and seemed to contradict the traditional Roman values of strength, pride, and prowess as military leaders.

This persecution of the Christians reached its peak under Diocletian (284-305) but would subside and end officially under the reign of Constantine (312-337), the first Roman emperor to support Christianity. Though Constantine himself was not a Christian for the majority of his life, his wife and mother were, and the two proved to have strong influence over him. In 313 CE, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which allowed Christianity the same privileges as other religions, officially ending the persecution of Christians. Constantine followed the Edict of Milan in 325 CE with the Church Council of Nicaea, whose goal it was to reach a consensus as to the three-fold nature of God and thus stop warring between the Christian factions to unite the church. Under the reign of Constantine the Christian church saw tax breaks and support by imperial funds for the building of churches, including the first St. Peter’s basilica.

Several emperors who followed Constantine, such as Julian the Apostate, attempted to reinstate paganism as the foremost religion of the empire but ultimately failed. In 379 CE Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and all other religions were suppressed.