Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under the ruler Constantine I the Great (272-337). In 313, he officially permits this religion on the territory of his country by issuing a decree equalizing Christianity with other religions, and in 324 it becomes the official religion of the united Roman Empire. In 330, Constantine transferred his capital to the city of Byzantium, which in his honor would be renamed Constantinople.
Time period of the Early Christian Church
In 325, the First
Ecumenical Council was held in Nicaea (now the city of Iznik, Turkey)
, at which the basic dogmas of Christianity were adopted, and thus put an end to disputes about the official religion. The early Christian church, or apostolic age, also ends its existence at the Council of Nicaea. The starting date is considered to be the 30s of the 1st century AD, when nascent Christianity was considered a sect of the Jewish religion. The persecution of Christians did not begin on the part of the Gentiles, namely the Jews. The first martyr of the Christian church,
Archdeacon Stephen, was executed by the Jews in the year 34.
Harassment of Christians and the end of persecution
The period of the early Christian church was a time of oppression of Christians by all emperors of the Roman Empire. The most difficult was the “Diocletian persecution,” which lasted from 302 to 311 years. This Roman ruler set out to completely destroy the nascent faith. Diocletian himself died in 305, but the heirs continued his bloody business. The Great Persecution was legalized by a verdict issued in 303.
The history of the Christian church did not know much oppression - dozens of Christians were sacrificed, drove by their families into the arena with lions. And although some scientists consider the number of victims of Diocletian bullying exaggerated, anyway, the called figure is impressive - 3500 people. The tortured and expelled righteous were many times more. Constantine the Great put an end to ostracism and gave rise to the flourishing of one of the main religions of mankind. Giving Christianity a special status, Constantine provided this religion with rapid development. Byzantium first becomes the center of Christianity, and later the capital of Orthodoxy, in which, like in some other churches, this ruler is canonized. Catholicism does not consider him a saint.
Connection of times
Even on the donations of the mother of Constantine, Empress Helena, churches were built. Under Constantine, the Temple of Hagia Sophia was laid in Constantinople - a city named after the emperor. But the very first and most beautiful is the Jerusalem Church, which the Bible tells about. However, many of the first cult buildings were not preserved. The oldest Christian church on earth, which has survived to this day, is located in the French city of Poitiers, the main settlement of the department of Vienne. This is the baptistery of John the Baptist, built in the IV century. That is, even before the history of the Early Middle Ages began, during which the construction of churches, temples and cathedrals became widespread.
Intense historical period
It is generally accepted that the Early Middle Ages lasted 5 centuries, from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 to the end of the 10th century. But some scholars consider the beginning of this first period of the Middle Ages to be exactly the 313 year - the time to end the persecution of followers of the Christian religion.
The most difficult historical period, including the
fall of the Roman Empire, the Great Migration of Peoples, the emergence of Byzantium, the strengthening of Muslim influence, the invasion of the Arabs in Spain, was completely based on the Christian religion. The church in the Early Middle Ages was the main political, cultural, educational and economic institution for many tribes and peoples inhabiting Europe. All schools were run by churches, monasteries were cultural and educational centers. In addition, already in the IV century, all the cloisters were very rich and strong. However, the church not only sowed the rational, the good, the eternal. Dissent was severely persecuted. Pagan altars and temples were destroyed, heretics were destroyed physically.
Faith as a stronghold of the state
The Christian church in its early Middle Ages experienced its first heyday, and by the end of the period it had somewhat lost ground. And later, in the following periods of the Middle Ages, a new rise of the Christian religion began. At the beginning of the 5th century, Ireland became one of the centers of Christianity. The Frankish state, which significantly expanded its territory under Clovis of the Merovingian clan, adopted a new religion under it. In the V century, with this ruler, there were already 250 monasteries in the territory of the Frankish state. The church becomes the most powerful organization with the full patronage of Clovis. The Christian Church in the Early Middle Ages played a cementing role. The flock that accepted the faith rallied at the direction of the church around the monarch, the country became much stronger and more impregnable for external enemies. For the same reasons, other countries of Europe accepted the new faith. In the 9th century, Russia was baptized. Christianity gained strength, it penetrated into Asia and upstream the Nile (the territory of modern Sudan).
Cruel methods
But for various reasons - both objective (gaining Islam) and subjective (the reign of the descendants of Clovis, nicknamed the "lazy kings" who ruined the Frankish state), Christianity temporarily lost its position. Arabs briefly occupied part of the Iberian Peninsula. The papacy was very weak. The Christian Church in the Early Middle Ages became the religious ideology of feudalism.
Born in antiquity, the surviving Christianity was at the cradle of feudalism, serving him faithfully, justified oppression and social inequality by the "will of the Lord." In order to keep the masses in subjection, the church resorted to intimidation, especially with fears of the afterlife. The rebels were declared servants of the devil, heretics, which later led to the creation of the Inquisition.
The positive role of the church
But the Christian Church in the Early Middle Ages smoothed out social conflicts, differences and antagonisms whenever possible. One of the main tenets of the church is that before God everyone is equal. The church did not have open hostility towards the peasants, who were the main labor force of feudal society. She called for mercy in relation to the disadvantaged and oppressed. This was the official position of the church, albeit sometimes hypocritical.
In the Early Middle Ages with almost complete illiteracy of the population, in the absence of any other means of communication, the church played the role of a communication center - people came here, they talked here and found out all the news.
Cruel planting of Christianity
The history of the Christian church, like any other great religion, is unusually rich. All the masterpieces of art and literature over the centuries have been created with the support of the church, for its needs and its subjects. She influenced the policies pursued by states, the Crusades alone are worth something. True, they began in the 11th century, but even in the period from the 5th to the 10th centuries Christianity was instilled not only by persuasion and missionary or economic considerations. Weapons played a very large role. Cruelly suppressed by the pagans during their inception, the Christian faith very often, including during the conquest of the New World, was implanted with bayonets.
Page in the history of mankind
The whole history of the Middle Ages is full of wars. The Early Middle Ages, or the Early Feudal Period, is the time when feudalism arose and took shape as a socio-political formation. By the end of the X century, the feudalization of land was almost over.
Despite the fact that obscurantism and backwardness often serve as synonyms for the term “feudalism,” as in the church of this period, there were also positive features that contributed to the progressive development of society, which led to the emergence of the Renaissance.