Christianity
- THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
Roman officials began to see christians as a threat to the government. All people in Rome were usually allowed to worship freely, but Romans expected everyone to see the emperor as a god and christians refused. Christians also refused to serve in the army or hold public office. They criticized Roman festivals and Romans began persecuting Christians. Emperor Nero then accused Christians of a fire that burned much of Rome. Christianity was then made illegal, and Christians killed. Christians became martyr people or people willing to die for a religion. Christians were also forced to bury dead in catacombs or in underground burial places. Even with all the hardships, Christianity grew and over time it attracted people from all classes. Many Romans began to admire Christians and Christians started to accept the empire.
Why does Rome adopt Christianity?
In the early 300's emperor Diocletian carried out the last major persecution of Christians and he failed. Roman officials discovered that Christianity had become to strong to be destroyed by force. Constantine was the first emperor to accept Christianity. According to tradition he saw a flaming cross in the sky and beneath was "In this sign you conquer." They ended up winning the battle and believed the Christian god helped him. In 313 Constantine issued an order called the Edict of Milan which gave religous freedom to all people and made Christianity legal. Constantine became giving government support to Christianity, with the help of his mother ,Helena, he built churches in Rome and Jerusalem. He also let Christian officials serve in the government and excused the m of paying taxes. Emperor Theodesius then made Christianity the official religion of the Empire.
What is the New Testament & Pope?
Church leaders put together writings to help guide Christians and tell about Jesus's life. Jesus himself left no writings but by 300 there were 4 accounts of Jesus's life. These accounts came from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each work is known as a gospel. All of these form the New Testament. As the church grew the bishop of Rome over the other bishops, he believed he had the authority of Peter, Jesus's leading disciple. By 600 the bishop had a new title, Pope. This comes from the Latin word meaning "Father". Latin speaking christians accepted this and became the Roman Catholic Church. Greek speaking Christians became the Eastern Orthodox Church.
What is the Great Schism?
One of the biggest arguments between both churches were how to be run. The pope claimed he had power over all Christians, but the Byzantines did not accept his power. They believed that all bishops had the same power. Making matters worse the church refused to help when outsiders attacked. In the Byzantine empire the Emperor was in political power with church leaders respecting him. But in the west the pope was in both political and spiritual power.The pope often quarreled with other kings about government ideas. In 1054 both churches excommunicated each other. This was known as Great Schism. Excommunication is claiming a person no longer belongs to the church. This created the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox church.
How does Christianity spread to England?
Christian missionaries went west to the islands of Britain and Ireland. The Romans were called home to defend against Germanic invaders. When Romans left, Britain was open to attack.Germanic Groups known as the Angels and the Saxons joined and were called the Anglo-Saxons. The went into England and Britain was soon known as Angleland or England. In doing this they pushed out people called the Celts who went to the mountainous region of Britain and others went to Ireland. In 400s a priest named Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. He set up multiple churches and Irish monks played a big role in conserving christianity in Roman learning.The Anglo-saxons were slower to accept this new religion. In 597 missionaries in England converted Ethelbert, a ruler of a English kingdom. He allowed the missionaries to build churches and in 100 years England was Christian.