Christianity In The Roman Empire

The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was, perhaps, not as severe as led to believe, because the eyewitnesses that remained were Christian, so the record can reflect a subjective Christian opinion. The story of Jesus Christ has many versions, one being the Jews killed him the other being the Romans. According to myth; the Romans in 30 BCE crucified Jesus, however, according to the Gospels the Jews were the ones who persecuted Jesus. Perhaps, in a way, the persecution of Christ in the myth was a foreshadowing or a parallel between himself and his followers. Christianity spread throughout the empire because of the apostles, like Paul, speaking to the less fortunate in society, such as the poor and sick, thus gathering a following.
. “Decius issued a decree that everyone in the empire must sacrifice to the genius (divine spirit) of the emperor.” According to Moss the sacrificing for the emperor was a test of loyalty, and if failed, they would be alienated and punished because it was legislation put forth by the emperor. It was unprecedented because Christians had to choose between renouncing their faith and being publicly known as a Christian and henceforth being looked down upon. Views on the Christians changed from this point forward they went from being associated with criminals and the lowest class. They were seen as people who were intolerant and brought bad luck for disrespecting the
Martyrs were used to spread the word even faster through the empire because of the insane tortures and deaths they suffered in the name of Christianity. “Roman society sought to hold in play life and death, violence and order, society and its enemies, that many Christians went willingly to their deaths.” The idea of voluntarily being killed or tortured was seen as suicide, which really turned the Roman people off to the idea of Christianity. Perhaps the Christians being so willing to sacrifice themselves and give up their lives so easily puzzled pagans. The pagans thought that being alive was the most important that dying was insane. The Christians were the opposite salvation was in heaven and life on earth was an obstacle to get there. Martyrs and martyrdom emphasized and made these theories even more important and