Rise in Christianity

Rise in Christianity

Christianity began when St. Paul founded churches in the Asia Minor and in Greece. Later, he began to teach in Rome about Christianity. Most people that converted to Christianity were the poor and slaves. If Christianity was successful, the poor and slaves would have a huge heap to benefit from. Most early emperors had a problem with Christianity and outlawed it. If someone was seized, they usually encountered death, mainly for not worshipping the emperor. When Rome suffered difficulties, emperors often blamed the Christians for it. Later, many people began to defy Christians and they were treated terribly. In AD 64, there was a huge fire and emperor Nero blamed the Christians. After that, there was a large number of deaths. Since there was such a risk of being caught, people started to meet in underground tombs, which was completely out of sight. Large quantities of the poor and slaves began coming to meet there. As Christianity began to grow and spread, in 313 emperor Constantine finally allowed Christianity for the first time. Churches were constructed very quickly all over the empire. Lots of people converted to Christianity and in AD 391 Christianity was actually the only religion allowed. Worshipping other gods became illegal.

                                                                        ~Emily Tran