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ury edit roman empire edit spread of christianity to ad 325 spread of christianity to ad 600 spread edit see also early centers of christianity constantine the great and christianity historiography of the christianization of the roman empire and decline of greco roman polytheism christianity spread to aramaic speaking peoples along the mediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of the roman empire 41 and beyond that into the parthian empire and the later sasanian empire including assyria and mesopotamia which was dominated at different times and to varying extents by these empires in ad 301 the kingdom of armenia became the first state to declare christianity as its state religion following the conversion of the royal house of the arsacids in armenia although the neo assyrian kingdom of osroene became christian earlier with christianity the dominant faith in some urban centers christians accounted for approximately 10 of the roman population by 300 according to some estimates 42 christianity then rapidly grew in the 4th century accounting for 56 5 of the roman population by 350 43 by the latter half of the second century christianity had spread east throughout media persia parthia and bactria the twenty bishops and a number of presbyters were more of the order of itinerant missionaries passing from place to place as paul did and supplying their needs with such occupations as merchant or craftsman various theories attempt to explain how christianity managed to spread so successfully prior to the edict of milan 313 in the rise of christianity rodney stark argues that christianity replaced paganism chiefly because it improved the lives of its adherents in various ways 44 dag øistein endsjø argues that christianity was helped by its promise of a general resurrection of the dead at the end of the world which was compatible with the traditional greek belief that true immortality depended on the survival of the body 45 according to will durant the christian church prevailed over paganism because it offered a much more attractive doctrine and because the church leaders addressed human needs better than their rivals 46 bart d ehrman attributes the rapid spread of christianity to five factors 1 the promise of salvation and eternal life for everyone was an attractive alternative to roman religions 2 stories of miracles and healings purportedly showed that the one christian god was more powerful than the many roman gods 3 christianity began as a grassroots movement providing hope of a better future in the next life for the lower classes 4 christianity took worshipers away from other religions since converts were expected to give up the worship of other gods unusual in antiquity where worship of many gods was common 5 in the roman world converting one person often meant converting the whole household if the head of the household was converted he decided the religion of his wife children and slaves 47 persecutions and legalisation edit see also anti christian policies in the roman empire and persecution of christians in the roman empire there was no empire wide persecution of christians until the reign of decius in the third century web 4 as the roman empire experienced the crisis of the third century the emperor decius enacted measures intended to restore stability and unity including a requirement that roman citizens affirm their loyalty through religious ceremonies pertaining to imperial cult in 212 universal citizenship had been granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire and with the edict of decius enforcing religious conformity in 250 christian citizens faced an intractable conflict any citizen who refused to participate in the empire wide supplicatio was subject to the death penalty 48 although lasting only a year 49 the decian persecution was a severe departure from previous imperial policy that christians were not to be sought out and prosecuted as inherently disloyal 50 even under decius orthodox christians were subject to arrest only for their refusal to participate in roman civic religion and were not prohibited from assembling for worship gnostics seem not to have been persecuted 51 christianity flourished during the four decades known as the little peace of the church beginning with the reign of gallienus 253 268 who issued the first official edict of tolerance regarding christianity 52 the era of coexistence ended when diocletian launched the final and great persecution in 303 the edict of serdica was issued in 311 by the roman emperor galerius officially ending the diocletianic persecution of christianity in the east with the passage in ad 313 of the edict of milan in which the roman emperors constantine the great and licinius legalised the christian religion persecution of christians by the roman state ceased web 5 india edit see also christianity in india and saint thomas christians according to indian christian traditional legends following previous migration by jews 53 christianity arrived along the southern indian malabar coast via thomas the apostle in 52 ad 54 and from this came thomasine christianity but there is no contemporary evidence for this according to the third century acts of thomas thomas visited only the realm of gondophares in northwest india which is now pakistan although little is known of the immediate growth of the church bar daisan ad 154 223 reports that in his time there were christian tribes in northwest india which claimed to have been converted by thomas and to have books and relics to prove it 55 certainly by the time of the establishment of the sassanid empire ad 226 there were bishops of the assyrian church of the east in northwest india afghanistan and baluchistan with laymen and clergy alike engaging in missionary activity 54 late antiquity 313 476 edit main article christianity in late antiquity legalisation and roman state religion edit head of constantine s colossal statue at musei capitolini in 313 constantine and licinius issued the edict of milan officially legalizing christian worship in 316 constantine acted as a judge in a north african dispute concerning the donatist controversy more significantly in 325 he summoned the council of nicaea effectively the first ecumenical council unless the council of jerusalem is so classified to deal mostly with the arian controversy but which also issued the nicene creed which among other things professed a belief in one holy catholic apostolic church the start of christendom on february 27 380 the roman empire officially adopted trinitarian nicene christianity as its state religion 56 prior to this date constantius ii 337 361 and valens 364 378 had personally favored arian or semi arianism forms of christianity but valens successor theodosius i supported the trinitarian doctrine as expounded in the nicene creed in the several centuries of state sponsored christianity that followed pagans and heretical christians were routinely persecuted by the empire and the many kingdoms and countries that later occupied the place of the empire 57 but some germanic tribes remained arian well into the middle ages 58 church of the east edit historically the most widespread christian church in asia was the church of the east now the assyrian church of the east the christian church of sasanian this church is often known as the nestorian church due to its later adoption of the doctrine of nestorianism which emphasized the disunity of the divine and human natures of christ it has also been known as the persia church the east syrian church the assyrian church and in china as the luminous religion the church of the east developed almost wholly apart from the greek and roman churches in the 5th century it endorsed the doctrine of nestorius patriarch of constantinople from 428 to 431 especially following the nestorian schism after the condemnation of nestorius for heresy at the first council of ephesus for at least 1 200 years the church of the east was noted for its missionary zeal its high degree of lay participation its superior educational standards and cultural contributions in less developed countries and its fortitude in the face of persecution persian empires edit main article christianity in iran the church of the east had its inception at a very early date in the buffer zone between the parthian and roman empires in assyria and edessa now şanlıurfa in northwestern mesopotamia was from apostolic times the principal center of syriac speaking christianity when early christians were scattered abroad because of persecution some found refuge at edessa the missionary movement in the east began which gradually spread throughout mesopotamia and persia and by ad 280 while the rulers of the second persian empire 227 640 also followed a policy of religious toleration to begin with they later gave the largely assyrian christians the same status as a subject race these rulers encouraged the revival of the ancient persian dualistic faith of zoroastrianism and established it as the state religion with the result that the christians were increasingly subjected to repressive measures nevertheless it was not until christianity became the state religion in the west that enmity toward rome was focused on the eastern christians the metropolis of seleucia assumed the title of catholicos patriarch and in ad 424 a council of the church at seleucia elected the first patriarch to have jurisdiction over the whole church of the east including india and ceylon sri lanka the establishment of an independent patriarchate with nine subordinate metropolises contributed to a more favorable attitude by the persian government which no longer had to fear an ecclesiastical alliance with the common enemy rome fourth century persecution edit when constantine converted to christianity and the roman empire which was previously violently anti christian became pro christian the persian empire suspecting a new enemy within became violently anti christian the great persecution fell upon the christians in persia about the year 340 though the religious motives were never unrelated the primary cause of the persecution was political it was about 315 that an ill advised letter from the christian emperor constantine to his persian counterpart shapur ii probably triggered the beginnings of an ominous change in the persian attitude toward christians constantine believed he was writing to help his fellow believers in persia but succeeded only in exposing them he wrote to the young shah i rejoice to hear that the fairest provinces of persia are adorned with christians since you are so powerful and pious i commend them to your care and leave them in your protection it was enough to make any persian ruler conditioned by 300 years of war with rome suspicious of the emergence of a fifth column any lingering doubts must have been dispelled when about twenty years later when constantine began to gather his forces for war in the east eusebius records that roman bishops were prepared to accompany their emperor to battle with him and for him by prayers to god whom all victory proceeds and across the border in persian territory the forthright persian preacher aphrahat recklessly predicted on the basis of his reading of old testament prophecy that rome would defeat persia it is little wonder then that when the persecutions began shortly thereafter the first accusation brought against the christians was that they were aiding the roman enemy shah shapur ii s response was to order double taxation on christians and to hold the bishop responsible for collecting it he knew they were poor and that the bishop would be hard pressed to find the money bishop simon refused to be intimidated he branded the tax as unjust and declared i am no tax collector but a shepherd of the lord s flock then the killings began a second decree ordered the destruction of churches and the execution of clergy who refused to participate in the national worship of the sun bishop simon was seized and brought before the shah and was offered gifts to make a token obeisance to the sun and when he refused they cunningly tempted him with the promise that if he alone would apostatize his people would not be harmed but that if he refused he would be condemning not just the church leaders but all christians to destruction at that the christians themselves rose up and refused to accept such deliverance as shameful so according to the tradition in the year 344 he was led outside the city of susa along with a large number of christian clergy five bishops and one hundred priests were beheaded before his eyes and last of all he himself was put to death for the next two decades and more christians were tracked down and hunted from one end of the empire to the other at times the pattern was a general massacre more often as shapur decreed it was intensively organized elimination of the leadership of the church the clergy the third category of suppression was the search for that part of the christian community that was most vulnerable to persecution persians who had been converted from the national religion zoroastrianism as we have already seen the faith had spread first among non persian elements in the population jews and syrians but by the beginning of the 4th century iranians in increasing numbers were attracted to the christian faith for such converts church membership could mean the loss of everything family property rights and life itself converts from the national faith had no rights and in the darker years of the persecution were often put to death sometime before the death of shapur ii in 379 the intensity of the persecution slackened tradition calls it forty year persecution lasting from 339 to 379 and ending only with shapur s death caucasus edit main articles arsacid_dynasty_of_armenia christianization and christianization of iberia christianity became the official religion of armenia in 301 or 314 59 when christianity was still illegal in the roman empire some who claim the armenian apostolic church was founded by gregory the illuminator of the late third early fourth centuries while they trace their origins to the missions of bartholomew the apostle and thaddeus jude the apostle in the 1st century christianity in georgia ancient iberia extends back to the 4th century if not earlier 60 the iberian king mirian iii converted to christianity probably in 326 60 aksum empire eritrea and ethiopia edit according to the fourth century western historian rufinius it was frumentius who brought christianity to ethiopia the city of axum and served as its first bishop probably shortly after 325 61 62 63 germanic peoples edit main article christianisation of the germanic peoples christian states in 495 ad the germanic people underwent gradual christianization from late antiquity in the 4th century the early process of christianization of the various germanic people was partly facilitated by the prestige of the christian roman empire amongst european ...