Who made Christianity legal in Rome and why?

Answer 1

By and large, Christianity was always accepted as legal, as long as its followers did not cause problems for the authorities and did not make an open display of rejecting the Roman gods. Edward Gibbon (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) says the provincial governors declared themselves ready to listen to any accusation that might affect the public safety; but as soon as they were informed that it was a question not of facts but of words, a dispute relating only to the interpretation of the Jewish laws and prophecies, they deemed it unworthy of the majesty of Rome seriously to discuss the obscure differences that might arise among a barbarous and superstitious people.

However, Emperor Decius (249-251) condemned Christianity as a recent and criminal superstition. The clergy of Rome were even prevented during sixteen months from electing a new bishop of Rome. His successor Valerian restored clemency to the Christians for a while, before reinstituting persecution of Christians in the last period of his reign.

It was Gallienus (260-268) who restored peace to the church and allowed the free exercise of the Christian religion by an edict addressed to the bishops, and conceived in such terms as seemed to acknowledge their office and public character. The ancient laws, without being formally repealed, were allowed to sink into oblivion.

Diocletian (284-305) for more than eighteen years from the start of his reign allowed the Christians to enjoy a mild and liberal spirit of toleration. Later in his reign it seemed that the Christians, renouncing the gods and institutions of Rome, had constituted a distinct republic to be suppressed before it had acquired any military force, but which was already governed by its own laws and magistrates, was possessed of its own public treasury and was intimately connected to all its parts by the frequent assemblies of the bishops, to whose decrees their numerous and.opulent congregations yielded an implicit obedience. Whether or not these factors influenced him, Diocletian began the Great Persecution, which lasted until 305 in the West, but continued until 311 in the East.

Shortly after instituting the persecution of the Christians, Diocletian abdicated as emperor. His successor, Galerius, who had actually supported the persecution and may have proposed it to Diocletian, at length became convinced of its futility. He published in his own name and in those of Licinius and Constantine, a general edict which permitted the Christians freedom of religion.

Answer 2

after the fall of rome it some of it was accepted accepted in western area


Christianity grew steadily after the death of Christ and became the state religion of the Roman Empire in 325 AD. How/why it supplanted paganism is a matter of opinion, but one answer is that it offered a simple explanation of how to attain eternal life from a loving god.

Answer 3

Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration in 311 CE, thus bringing to an end the Great Persecution that he himself had urged on his predecessor, Diocletian. This brought to an end a period of three centuries during which Christianity was theoretically illegal, although usually ignored, often tolerated and rarely persecuted. In practice, the Great Persecution, which began in 303 CE, had already come to an end in the west, following the abdication of Diocletian in 305, and the immediate effect of the Edict of Toleration was to end the persecution of Christians in the east.

The Great Persecution had come about, not so much for religious reasons, but because the Christian Church posed a threat to the Roman state itself. The Church raised its own revenues, its bishops across the empire met regularly for unknown reasons and its people gave greater allegiance to the bishops than to their Roman governors. It seemed only a matter of time before the Christians would seek to overthrow the Roman emperors and destroy paganism.

Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration because it was becoming clear that persecution had no general support among the population and was not having the desired effect of removing the Christian threat. He hoped that a different approach would temper Christian ambitions.

His original fears of Christian domination were soon realised, when Constantine ruthlessly overcame all opposition, to become sole emperor, and began the persecution of the pagan temples. By the end of the century, public worship of the pagan gods had been prohibited.

Answer 4

Rome eventually adopted or more properly adapted to Christianity because of the overwhelming numbers of activist Christians. Although Constantine made the Christian beliefs legal, there were many ways that the early Christians manifested those beliefs, which resurrected in many early Christian sects.

Answer 5

He did not do that. He only made freedom of religion. He did not make any official religion.