History of Christianity

The Relationship Between the Roman Authorities and the Early Church

When early Christians began to read the Bible and follow The Way , they begun to walk the path and carved which was uniquely Christian history Eusebius was a bishop , an overseer in the tradition of the apostle Paul and John among others . It is amazing that his detailed account during those days were not only preserved for posterity , but that he had the tenacity , the determination and the strength to identify and record people and events he was facing during his day . These

were people who were being murdered or whose bodies were mutilated . We read of characters and personalities - different people - from all walks of life who had a common experience . They became disciples of Jesus the Christ and almost all of them faced the same fate which is martyrdom The Roman government was more than a backdrop for the setting of the story that Eusebius had written . It was an empire whose rule was not to be underestimated for its intelligence and its equally determined goal to subdue all who seemed and were planning to defy that rule . Yet for some observers today , the Rome seemed tolerant for the practice of any religion . The question then remains : why did Rome persecute the Christians ? And why do we look back to this period to call it as the era of the martyrs ? Looking back at Rome 's policy we see the Imperial authorities as remarkably lenient over the religions of those they have power over with . If the national religions of those territories would include homage to the emperor among their other ceremonies or rites Rome almost never get in the way . As long as the Roman authorities think that the Christians were just a sect of the Jews , followers of Jesus enjoyed immunity much like the rest of them . But upon realizing that this supposed Jewish sect were up to more than being very fanatical about their monotheistic beliefs and that this sect ' not just incessantly talked about Jesus but intended to make Christians out of the entire population of the empire and that this was spreading like wildfire , Rome changed its stance and started to view the Christians as threats . From time to time , the Christians felt the wrath of the Roman authorities as well as its very own people . The experiences of every named disciple or follower were more than horrific . These Christians suffered torture of every kind invented by fellow human being . The main cause of the loathing and revulsion that the early Christians felt from within the Roman society lies in the former 's distinctive life-style The real Christian is a person who is essentially unlike the rest Problem is that men always view with suspicion people who are different Then and now , conformity not distinctiveness , is the way to a trouble-free life . So the more early Christians took their faith seriously the more they were in danger of crowd reaction . Thus , simply by...