Introduction
Christians experienced great persecution in the first few centuries of the Christian church. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teacher who proclaimed the Kingdom of God to a small people of Jewish people in Judea. It was adopted as the official religion in the Roman Empire and contributed to the legal status of the Roman state. Christians were widely persecuted and opposed in Rome due to the perception that Christians caused natural disasters and that they were a political threat.
History of the Appearance of Christianity
Introduction of Christianity in the world has spiritual foundations. The founder of the Church, to the first Christians in Judea, was Jesus Christ – God incarnate, the Son of God. Jesus ended his Christianity mission with persecution and violent death, having determined the same path for his followers. From the very beginning of its existence, the Church experienced opposition from the people, the state and the intelligentsia. This opposition was twofold – forceful and ideological.
Background of Persecution and Serious Contradictions
At a very early stage, the Church encountered the people and the state, which tried to eradicate the new religious community by force. The ideological struggle against Christianity was waged by the forces of the intelligentsia, which began much later, causing no significant consequences. The result of forceful opposition was a persecution of Christians, and the result of persecution was such a phenomenon as martyrdom. Tertullian, who was a 3rd-century church teacher, described that the blood of the martyrs became the seed of Christianity (Clark 99). Persecution and martyrdom contributed to the consolidation and strengthening of Christianity, the growth of its public authority and the universal recognition of its moral strength.
Persecution and Oppression
State, religious, and social reasons caused the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. The first and second reasons were determined by the fact that religion in the empire was a function of state power. The close relationship between religion and the state led to the fact that the encroachment on the Roman religion was seen as an encroachment on Roman power. The third reason was related to the fact that the pagan religion permeated the entire public life, reflected in all the monuments of Roman culture. The rejection of paganism by Christians could lead them to a rejection of all Roman social life and culture and, consequently, to an unfavorable attitude of pagans towards Christians (Miletti 7). Such an examination of the causes of persecution does not take into account the peculiarities of the attitude towards Christians on the part of the state authorities and various social strata.
There are comprehensible reasons for the persecution of Christians by the common people during the initial stages of Christianity’s development. Early Christianity was notable for its isolation, which made the Christians refrain from the pagan cult. Christians gathered for secret meetings that took place at night when any meetings were prohibited by law (Milman 24). All this gave rise to suspicion and hostility on the part of the pagan people.
Evidence of Persecution
Common people supposed that Christians were atheists who inevitably provoked the wrath of the gods. The common people perceived that the anger manifested itself in natural disasters and natural disasters from which everyone could suffer. People often called for reprisals against Christians when such disasters occurred. It can be assumed that this popular anger was restrained only by the state authorities, who did not approve of the riots. In the writings of apologists, Christian writers of the 2nd century defended Christians from unjust accusations, including cannibalism and incest.
Christians were isolated and seemed atheists since they refused to take part in the generally accepted pagan cult and did not pay proper respect to the gods (Sauer and Howell 161). In their defense, the followers of Christ spoke of their faith in God. However, the pagans understood religious faith as participation in a cult, even if it was formal. The representatives of the intelligentsia, who did not have an internal faith, but fulfilled external requirements, were not atheists in the eyes of society, the people. In addition, Christians did not take part in the common pagan cult. At the same time, the people did not see that Christians followed any of their rituals since Christian worship was hidden from prying eyes, and one could only guess about its existence. Rumors reached the people that Christians in their closed meetings, eat human flesh and blood. Therefore, the people called the meetings of Christians Tiesta’s suppers. This name is connected with the well-known legend of Tiesta. This is a popular plot that formed the basis of more than one ancient tragedy, for example, the tragedy written by the famous philosopher of the 1st century Seneca. Rumors about the Eucharist, and communion with Flesh and Blood, easily gave rise to familiar images in the memory of the people.
If in the persecution of Christians by the people there was arbitrariness, then the persecution of Christians by the Roman state was carried out in accordance with existing legal norms. Christianity appeared in the world as a kingdom not of this world, and therefore had no legal basis for its existence. Christianity was prevented from obtaining the status of a legally existing religious society by the existing legislative traditions with which Christianity came into conflict. The complexity of the position of Christianity was determined by the close connection between paganism and the state, the irreconcilable attitude of Christianity towards paganism, and the conservatism and formalism of the Romans.
In the Roman Empire, there was no independent religious community of pagans, which had its own structure and administration independent of the state. Paganism did not have an organization similar to that of the Church. Only Emperor Julian the Apostate in the 4th century tried to create a kind of pagan church. Religion was a matter of state, a function of state power. The emperor was the high priest, and the priests were state officials. Therefore, the struggle of Christianity against paganism became, at the same time, the struggle of Christianity against state power and the state system. This situation became especially evident due to the existence of the cult of emperors, which became especially widespread during the period of the empire. The irreconcilability of Christianity in relation to the pagan religion under these conditions made Christians the enemies of the emperor and the entire Roman state, whose great past was entirely connected with paganism.
Conclusion
Jesus was the founder of Christianity and the first early Christian to be persecuted. The persecution and opposition of Christians then developed in the Roman state as it was perceived as a political threat and bad omen causing disasters. This was due to Christianity isolation, dissent to pagan behaviors, and the non-tolerance of political figures. The perceptions combined with negative misconceptions such as Cannibalistic behaviors made the majority suppose Christianity as atheist hence persecution and opposition. I take the position that a combination of causes and parties came together in their time to try to eradicate religion. This was due to the fact that there were too serious contradictions between worldviews, which led to religious conflicts. Based on this, even the first Christians must be considered persecuted and oppressed by other contemporaries.
Reference List
Clark, Gillian. “Bodies and blood: late antique debate on martyrdom, virginity and resurrection.” Changing bodies, changing meanings. Routledge, 2002. 115-131.
Miletti, Domenico. The Blood of the Martyrs: The Attitudes of Pagan Emperors and Crowds Towards Christians, From Nero to Julian. Diss. University of Ottawa, 2016.
Milman, Henry Hart. The History of Christianity, from the Birth of Christ to the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire. Harper & brothers, 1841.
Sauer, Christof, and Richard Howell (Eds.). “Suffering, persecution and martyrdom.” Theological reflections. Kempton Park: AcadSA/Bonn: VKW (2010).