emperor theodosius i made christianity the official religion of the roman empire.
emperor theodosius i made christianity the official religion of the roman empire.
who made christianity official religion of roman empire?
emperor theodosius i
in 313 the edict of milan legalised christianity alongside other religions allowed in the roman empire. in 325 the first council of nicaea signalled consolidation of christianity under an orthodoxy endorsed by constantine, and though this did not make other christian groups outside the adopted definition illegal, the dissenting arian bishops were initially exiled. but constantine reinstated arius just before the heresiarch died in 336 and exiled the orthodox athanasius of alexandria from 335 to 337. in 380 emperor theodosius i made christianity the roman empire's official religion (see state church of the roman empire, byzantine empire and the goths) and did enforce the edict. in 392 theodosius passed legislation prohibiting all pagan cultic worship.
constantinian shift
in 395 theodosius i, who had made christianity the official religion of the roman empire, would be the last emperor to preside over a united roman empire. the empire was split into two halves: the western roman empire centred in ravenna, and the eastern roman empire (later to be referred to as the byzantine empire) centred in constantinople. the roman empire was repeatedly attacked by hunnic, germanic, slavic and other “barbarian” tribes (see: migration period), and in 476 finally the western part fell to the heruli chieftain odoacer.
history of europe