christianity became the official religion of rome in theodosius i.
christianity became the official religion of rome in theodosius i.
when was christianity became the official religion of rome?
theodosius i
the empire continued to expand under emperors such as antoninus pius and marcus aurelius, who spent time on the empire's northern border fighting germanic, pictish and scottish tribes. the empire began to decline in the 3rd century, particularly in the west. christianity was legalised by constantine i in 313 ad after three centuries of imperial persecution. constantine also permanently moved the capital of the empire from rome to the city of byzantium, which was renamed constantinople in his honour (modern-day istanbul) in 330 ad. christianity became the sole official religion of the empire in 380 ad, and in 391–392 ad, the emperor theodosius outlawed pagan religions. this is sometimes considered to mark the end of antiquity; alternatively antiquity is considered to end with the fall of the western roman empire in 476 ad; the closure of the pagan platonic academy of athens in 529 ad; or the rise of islam in the early 7th century ad.
europe
in the early 4th century, constantine i became the first emperor to convert to christianity. during the rest of the fourth century christianity became the dominant religion of the empire. the emperor julian, under the influence of his adviser mardonius made a short-lived attempt to revive traditional and hellenistic religion and to affirm the special status of judaism, but in 380 (edict of thessalonica), under theodosius i christianity became the official state church of the roman empire, to the exclusion of all others. from the 2nd century onward, the church fathers had begun to condemn the diverse religions practised throughout the empire collectively as "pagan." pleas for religious tolerance from traditionalists such as the senator symmachus (d. 402) were rejected, and christian monotheism became a feature of imperial domination. christian heretics as well as non-christians were subject to exclusion from public life or persecution, but rome's original religious hierarchy and many aspects of its ritual influenced christian forms, and many pre-christian beliefs and practices survived in christian festivals and local traditions.
roman empire