Christianity began its existence as a small sect and ended up being a major worldwide religion. Its history starts in the Roman Empire, where it managed to survive the cruel persecutions and was legalised by Emperor Constantine I, who has become a Christian himself. The reason for the triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire is that the church has successfully taken advantage of the negative condition of the country.
In the middle of the 1st century A.D. the Roman Empire went through a hard political crisis, which eventually led to a civil war. Economic decline that followed had a strong negative influence on the life of people. A great number of Roman citizens wanted to believe that their living would improve, or at least they would get better life after they die. The state religion required to worship the emperor, but this cult could no longer satisfy the spiritual needs of the population. Various cults of saviour gods began to appear in all the parts of the empire. One of them was Christianity, a religion that adopted Jewish literary canon.
The Roman authorities were persecuting Christians, mainly for the reason that they denied the cult of the emperor. Additionally, their enemies were unfairly accusing Christians of various crimes. From 64 A.D. to 324 A.D., Christians went through ten major persecutions. Surprisingly, the threat of being executed has only made them stronger. Christians tended to unite in the face of death, and their talented writers (“apologists”) wrote a lot of papers, in which they tried to fight the false accusations and explain the main points of their religion (Lindberg par. 95). These writings helped many people to learn more about Christianity, and the number of its followers grew. The Christians that were put to death were proclaimed saint martyrs, which set a heroic example for the others.
During the 3rd century, the empire faced another economic collapse, a barbarian invasion, a soldier uprising, and came to a complete political disarray (Lindberg par. 90). Christianity continued to attract more and more people. Not only did it provide them with spiritual satisfaction, but it also has built a strong hierarchical structure and was able to offer a career path (Lunn-Rockliffe par. 33).
Finally, the growing force of Christianity attracted the attention of Emperor Constantine I (306 – 337). Constantine was looking for a means to unite his empire, and he decided that the Christian church, with its well-developed structure and increasing popularity, could make a great ally for him. Even though he did not make Christianity an official religion, he started the process that led to such consequences (Lindberg par. 114). It is often considered that it was Constantine who has made the Christian church so powerful. But the emperor chose to unite with Christians only for the reason that they had already become a strong organization by that time (Lunn-Rockliffe par. 30-32).
In conclusion, the very conditions that made the Roman Empire decline, made Christianity a great force. Because of the economic and political crisis, people were looking for a religion that offered them salvation and paradise, which led them to Christianity. Even the false accusations and severe persecution did not destroy the Christian church. Moreover, it allowed the believers to express themselves into writings and to create a cult of heroes (martyrs). In general, religions often grow strong in hard times, since they give people a hope for a better life, which the authorities cannot provide, and they make people unite for a common cause.
Works Cited
Lindberg, Carter H. “Christianity.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 2014.
Lunn-Rockliffe, Sophie. “Christianity and the Roman Empire.” BBC History. Web. 2011.