Rise Of Christianity Research Paper

To be a Christian during the time of the fall of the Roman Empire would not be a pleasant time to live. Christians believed in a higher power and devoted their lives, souls, and minds to God. And by doing this, they inevitably sealed their fate to be persecuted. Christianity began to rise slowly, but began to rise rapidly after the death of Jesus. The Romans had many problems with the Christians and they showed their anger by pursuing the Christian's faith, which proved to back fire because the Christian belief just grew stronger. The problem with Christianity began with the conservative Romans and how they felt violated by Christian beliefs. Their main problem with the Christians was worshipping someone who had died but the kicker was rejecting the traditional Roman gods. Another problem with Christians was their concept of involving all classes of the social order, including slaves, women, and the poor, which shocked the Romans. Christianity appealed to the lower classes of people for the very
reason that they were included. Women, slaves and the poor also were drawn to Christianity because they were taught that in God's eyes all sins were forgiven and all are equal. These beliefs are what drove Christians to give up their life to worshipping God. As it says in Sherman and Salisbury's book, "...Christian men and women were brought to the arena many died so bravely that some Roman spectators promptly converted" (The West and the World pg. 177). It was these kinds of displays that prompted non-believers to switch to Christianity. A moving story depicting this is found in the book Jesus Freaks. This book describes Christians and their struggle to stand up in what they believe in, in spite of being persecuted for it. The story that comes next happened in the Roman Coliseum around 391 A.D. In this tale, Telemachus, an old man stumbles upon gladiator games, which were banned seventy years ago by Constantine. He watches horrified by the bloody battle and interferes with the battle to stop them. So the story continues:
"Telemachus placed his hands on the chests of the two men, separating them, calling out "In the name of Christian, stop!
Do not despise God's mercy in turning away the sword of your enemies by murdering one another!" The crowd was stunned for only moment before they cried out their anger at the old man. One of the gladiators hit the old man in the stomach but before Telemachus hit the ground he yelled, "In the name of Christ stop!" The crowd started chanting: "Down with him! Run him through! Get him!' and throwing rocks at Telemachus. One of the gladiators turned on him suddenly in the frenzy and drove his sword up to its hilt into the old man's stomach. With his last breath, Telemachus cried, "In the name of Jesus, stop!" He fell on his face and did not move again. No one said a word and no one stirred. Then one man got up and left...and slowly the trickle of people leaving grew and people made their way out of the Coliseum in a painful, guilty silence" (pg.
262-3).
This story is one of many in the book and each one will give a person chills up and down their spine. To feel the power of belief so strongly, to be able to die for it, is totally unbelievable. There are probably many stories like this that occurred in Rome during the fall. These stories were not only told over and over again, but they were witnessed and were so powerful that many people converted because of them. After the fall of Rome, the Christian church still had its problems. Constantine's rule and support of the church did not last as long as Christians wanted it to. Constantine had made the church become powerful and made Christianity a well known thing. But the ever present threat to the Romans was invasion. During the period of 376-476 A.D. the Roman people and their territory were invaded and Rome fell. There were three parts of Rome and it was no longer united. In the west, Germanic peoples invaded; in the west there were Latins and in the north Slavic tribes lived. Slowly the Roman Empire was falling apart, but what would that do to Christianity? In the Sherman and Salisbury book, they stated that, "the western empire did not "fall" with a crash… but had undergone a major shift" (The West in the World pg. 195). Well the major shift included uncertainty for Christians, so they looked to their church leaders for answer and guidance. In some cases, the religious leaders played role to the government and helped Christians gain control of their lives again. Also, by this time there were many different forms of Christianity. There were missionaries who went out to help convert non-believers in different parts of the empire too. Sure, there was still persecution through out certain parts of Europe and Asia, but Christianity still held strong within the hearts of those who believed. And the true Christians stuck through the "Fall" of Rome and still prevailed to tell the good word of Christianity.