Why were the citizens of the roman empire so receptive to a new religion at this time?

Answer 1

A key factor which made Christianity popular in the Roman Empire was that it offered an afterlife. However, other cults which also offered an afterlife also arose. Additional factors were the facts that it was salvationist and had a saviour, it was redemptionist, it offered the reward of heaven, and it was messianic, missionary, egalitarian and compassionate towards the poor. Resistance to persecutions and imperial support were other contributory factors.

Historians think that Christianity became popular around the empire people's needs better, in particular he offender an afterlife. However, there were other factors as well. Christianity also provided an explanation for the creation of the world and offered redemption and salvation, heaven after the suffering on earth following good conduct, and ethical values. The Christian ethos was also sympathetic to the plight of the poor, preached respect for the poor and advocated compassion and charity.

The early spread of Christianity faced the competition of the cult of Mithras, a divinity thought to have been originally Indo-Persian. It was the religion which offered the greatest opportunity for prayers. There were three services a day and many festivals. It also had irregular priests, ascetics and preachers. It was embraced by the soldiers and became the religion of the military, which made it popular and spread it throughout the empire. Mithras came to be called Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun). He was the all-seeing author and protector of life and the giver of immortal life. There was also a moral element in this cult. Therefore the cult bore some resemblance to that of the Christians and this god had similarities with their Father-God. It was a unitarian religion. It aimed at uniting all the gods and myths together in a vast synthesis. Therefore, it also had the potential to bring monotheism to the empire and to unify it religiously. Given this potential, Aurelian made the cult of Sol Invictus an official religion. It was the cult favoured by the emperors from Aurelian to Constantine the Great. These emperors hoped that their subjects could be untied by this cult and that the empire could be founded anew on unity of religion.

However, Christianity had extra elements to offer. Unlike the pagan gods who were indifferent to human beings, Jesus was compassionate and deeply concerned with the fate of humanity. Christianity also had salvation and a saviour. The afterlife was presented as salvation and Jesus was the saviour. Jesus made salvation tangible through his having come among humans as a human and having sacrificed himself to save humans. He was a messiah who offered a clear path towards salvation which went beyond just honouring a god. Salvation was also redemption, one which was both from having sinned, but also of the suffering of life on earth which was the everyday experience of the struggling poor. In addition to this,

Christianity also offered the principles of equality, compassion towards the poor and charity for the deprived. It is not surprising that first Christianity became the religion of the masses of the poor. The reward of heaven for leading a pious Christian life was unique to Christianity.

Christian preachers had a missionary zeal, while the pagan religions did not have missionaries and even Mithraism did not have many of them. Their mission was to save humanity. Therefore, unlike pagan priests, they undertook proselytising with vigour and were very successful in doing do.

Constantine the Great's support also helped the further spread of Christianity. He built important Christian churches, such as the original Basilica of St Peter's in Rome, the St John Lateran's Basilica (the city of Rome's first Cathedral and the original residence of the Popes), the Church of the Holy Apostles and the Hagia Eirene in Constantinople and Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem. He promoted Christians in the ranks of the imperial administration and tried to mediate between competing Christian doctrines.

Answer 2

They were no more receptive than anyone else, in fact they were responsible for the greatest slaughter of Christians until the Communists. The fact is many were converted because of a sincere belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Answer 3

Christianity was accepted in the Roman Empire because it was endorsed by emperors.

Constantine the Great favoured Christianity. He built important Christian churches, promoted Christians in the imperial bureaucracy, tried to arbitrate disputes between different Christian doctrines and introduced some laws which favoured the Christians. Although he favoured Christianity, he tried to maintain a balance between the Christians and the pagans. Constantine's sons, who succeeded him, pursued similar policies. After this there was a brief rule by a pagan emperor, Julian. This was followed by the Valentinian dynasty, which was Christian.

Valentinian I was tolerant towards paganism, and only persecuted some types of sacrifices and banned the practice of magic. His son Gratian and his co-emperor Theodosius I, instead, pursued aggressive religious policies. They issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380. This made mainstream Christianity (Latin or Western Christianity and Greek or Eastern Christianity) the sole legitimate religion of the Roman Empire. The purpose of the edict was to ban dissident Christian doctrines, which were branded as heretic. Theodosius started to persecute them soon afterwards. His main target was Arian Christianity, which was popular around the empire. He expelled Demophilus of Constantinople, the most important Arian Bishop and pursued the Arians.

At that time the Latin/Western church and the Greek/Eastern Church, which were the main church of the western and eastern part of the empire respectively, were two branches of one church which was called Catholic Church and they both subscribed to the Nicene Creed, a particular interpretation of the trinity Later these two churches spit and came to be called Catholic and Orthodox respectively.

Theodosius I also persecuted paganism. He reiterated an existing ban on the customs of (pagan) Roman religion, made divination (which was a centrepiece of Roman religion) , pioneered the criminalization of officials who did not enforce laws against the Roman religion and destroyed Roman temples. He issued further decrees (the Theodosian decrees) which removed non-mainstream Christians from church office, and eliminated the remnants of Roman religion by tuning its holidays into working days, banning sacrifices (another centrepiece of Roman religion) , making divination (another centrepiece of Roman religion) punishable by death, and disbanding the very important priesthood of the Vestal Virgins. His final law forbad all public customs of Roman religion. Theodosius also persecuted the Manicheans.

Answer 4

One reason a Roman might accept religion is that many Romans were poor, and the idea of a level playing field, at least spiritually, would appeal to poor people. Another reason is that the spread of rumors of miracles might feel exciting and new to people in less scientifically aware times.