Christianity In The Roman Empire

A key factor which made Christianity popular in the Roman Empire was that it offered an afterlife. However, this was not enough to give Christianity an edge over the other cults which also offered an afterlife. Other factors were the facts that it was Salvationist and had a savior, it was redemption, it offered the reward of heaven, and it was messianic, missionary, egalitarian and compassionate towards the poor. Resistance to the persecution and imperial support were other contributory factors. The official or state religion of Rome, like most ancient religions, was polytheistic: it had many gods. It absorbed some gods from other peoples, particularly the Greeks. Cicero described the official religion as a compact with the gods – give them
These innumerable mystery cults included one called Christianity. The popularity of the mystery cults was that initiates, through personal engagement with the god through the rituals of the cult, were given the keys to an afterlife, as opposed to the nothingness of the underworlds which was just a repository for the shades of the dead – a blotting paper. The early mystery cults had a single cult centres, distributed mainly in the eastern Mediterranean (Doronda, Elusis, Samothrace, Alexandria etc) and it was expensive in the time and money to travel to them and pay the fees to become an initiate, so they remained the province of the few. Then some cults travelled to the customer, which meant that a much broader range of people could join. These popular mobile cults included Mithras, Christianity, Isis, Serapis. The Christian cults admitted all comers, even women
It was the cult favored by the emperorers from Aurelian to Constantine the Great. These emperors hopes that their subjects could be united by this cul and that the empire could be founded anew on unity of religion. However, Christianity had extra elements to offer. Unlike the pagan gods who were indifferent to human beings, Jesus was compassionate and deeply concentrated with the fate of humanity. The afterlife was presented as salvation and Jesus was the Savior. Jesus made salvation tangible through his having come among humans as a human and having sacrificed himself to save humans. He was the messiah who offered a clear path towards salvation which went beyond honouring a god. Salvation was also redemption, one which was both everyday experience of the struggling poor. In addition to this, Christianity also offered Principles of equality, compassion towards the poor and charity for the deprived. It is not surprising that Christianity became the religion of the masses of the poor. The reward of heaven for leading a pious Christian life was unique to Christianity. Moreover, Christian preachers had a missionary zeal not found among the Priests of the other religions. Their mission was to save