What is the main significance of Christianity becoming the official religion of the roman empire?

Answer 1

The values taught in Christianity were incompatible with the things held dear in ancient Rome. Jesus taught that we should love our enemies. Rome believed in subjugating its enemies.

It is not surprising that most of the members of the Roman senate did not accept Christianity, even 80 years after Christianity began to be the favoured religion (312) of the Roman Emperor, Constantine.

It is not surprising. Roman culture honoured war. Christ's teachings did not have a place for war, and certainly did not put it in a place of high honour.

However, one must distinguish here between Roman culture and Greek culture, with much of Greek culture being carried over to Rome. While they had a lot in common, there were unique aspects of Roman culture, not shared by the subject Greek and Greek-speaking peoples. This means we must carefully distinguish between the two cultures, even though in regard to those things brought over from the Greeks we can refer to Greco-Roman culture.

Since Christianity was not a natural fit in the strictly-Roman society, the Romans were inclined to try to put Christianity down, presumably on the grounds that is was undermining Roman culture, and more definitely that it was a danger to the Roman state.

Antipathy to Christianity is even seen as early as in Tacticus' report, written at the very beginning of the second century AD. In Annals 15.44 he discussed what he considered to be the false charges made by Emperor Nero against the Christians, that they had started the fire of Rome. Tacitus did not consider the charges to be true, but nevertheless he referred to Christians as being guilty of "hating mankind."

[On account of the fire] Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired. Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.

Tacitus was not a friend of Christians, and while he did not agree with Nero's approach, did not want to see the religion spreading in the Roman Empire.

A similar pattern of antipathy against Christians can be seen to emerge in most of the persecutions subsequently launched against the Christians by the Emperors. These culminated in the empire-wide persecutions of Decius (in 250) and Diocletian (303-313), both of which were intended to smash the Christian religion, and to make all its followers recant.

Answer 2

The roman empire used to murder Christians in the colloseum, until they became aware of what Christianity really taught, then they changed their views and many of the romans hearts changed.