Christianity of the Era of the Principate

Abstract

Thus, for almost two and a half centuries, there was a brutal confrontation between the imperial power and Christianity. The level of cruelty of the persecutions varied: sometimes there were times when the Christian religion was legalized, but the general tendency of the struggle against Christianity was maintained.

Christians were severely persecuted under the emperors Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Septimius Severus, and the last persecutions occurred during the reigns of Domitian and Galerius. Emperors Marcus Aurelius, his son Commodus, and Alexander Severus were more loyal to the Christian religion, thanks to the influence of their mother, Julia Mammea.

At the same time, for the new religion, these were times of natural selection, and the weak in spirit could not stand it, renounced the faith, that is, there was a moral and ideological hardening of Christianity. This confrontation forced Christianity to move forward in the doctrinal and ideological direction, repelling the attacks of external and internal opponents.

The attitude of the Roman state towards Christianity cannot be considered in isolation from the internal policy of Rome as a whole. The essence of this policy was to ensure a broad social base for the current regime. Everything that hindered the achievement of this goal, including the activities of Christians, had to be destroyed or changed.

Therefore, the relationship between the Roman state and Christianity in the 1st–3rd centuries was determined both by the position of Christians towards the state and traditional religion, and by the perception of Christianity by Roman society. And periods of aggravation of relations were replaced by times of peaceful coexistence.

Even during the time of persecution, there were regions in the Roman Empire where Christians felt at ease. And, finally, it was the realities of existence within the Roman Empire that turned Christianity into a phenomenon of world religion and world culture.