History of Christianity

===Synthesis or state religion===
{{See also|Christianity as the Roman state religion|Christianity and Judaism|Supersessionism}}
{{Further|Christianity and paganism|Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire|Theodosius I|Religious policies of Constantius II|Christian monasticism|Chronology of early Christian monasticism}}
Late Roman culture accommodated both Christian and Greco-Roman heritage. Christian intellectuals adapted Greek philosophy and Roman traditions to Christian use.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|p=179}} 

Substantial growth in the third and fourth centuries made Christianity the majority religion by the mid-fourth century. All Roman emperors after Constantine, except [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], were Christian. Christian Emperors wanted the empire to become a Christian empire.{{sfn|Salzman|1993|pp=362–365}}{{sfn|Stark|1996|pp=5, 7–8}} In the centuries following his death, Roman Emperor [[Theodosius I]] (347–395) was acclaimed by the Christian literary tradition, as the emperor who destroyed paganism and established Nicene Christianity as the official religion of the empire. Many twenty-first century scholars see this as a distortion created by Nicene  Christian authors as part of their war with the Arians.{{sfn|MacMullen|1986|p=337}}{{sfn|Cameron|1993|p=74 (note 177)}}{{sfn|Errington|2006|pp=248–249}}{{sfn|Hebblewhite|2020|loc=chapter 8}}{{sfn|Rosser|1997|p=795}} New explanations of "multiculturalism, cohabitation, cooperation, identity and group cohesion" have shifted modern understanding.{{sfn|Sághy|Schoolman|2017|pp=1-3}}{{refn|group=note|[[R. Malcolm Errington]] studied responses to imperial law by Christian and non-Christian historians and commentators who wrote during and following the publication of the [[Theodosian Code]] of 438.{{sfn|Errington|1997|p=398}} Errington writes that these authors were almost universally unaware of the existence of these laws, "even about rulings such as [[Edict of Thessalonica|''Cunctos Populos'']] or ''Episcopis Tradi'' which in modern times have been stylized into turning points in the history of Christianity".{{sfn|Errington|1997|p=435}}
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Some previous scholars interpreted the [[Edict of Thessalonica]] (380) as establishing Christianity as the state religion.{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=67; 70}} German ancient historian {{ill|Karl Leo Noethlichs|de}} and Hungarian legal scholar Pál Sáry say the Edict made no requirement for pagans or Jews to convert to Christianity, since in the years after 380, Theodosius said "the sect of the Jews was forbidden by no law."{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=72–74; fn. 32, 33, 34; 77}}
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Ehrman says these laws lacked empire wide enforcement clauses.{{sfn|Ehrman|2018|pp=251, 258}} According to S. L. Greenslade, Theodosius's immediate concern was heresy. The ''Episcopis tradi'' uses communion with named orthodox bishops to reveal heretics, not convert pagans against their will.{{sfn|Greenslade|1972|p=14}}}} Errington has written that none of the imperial laws recorded in the [[Theodosian Code]] made a noticeable contribution to establishing Christian Orthodoxy in the west, nor did Theodosius ever see himself "as a destroyer of the old cults".{{sfn|Errington|2006|p=251}}{{sfn|Cameron|2011|p=71}}{{sfn|Errington|1997|p=435}} No legislation forcing the conversion of pagans existed until the reign of [[Justinian I|Justinian]] in A.D. 529.{{sfn|Salzman|1993|p=364}} 

====Relations with polytheists====
Christians of the fourth century believed Constantine's conversion was evidence the Christian God had conquered the many polytheist gods in Heaven.{{sfn|Stark|1996|p=5}}{{sfn|Brown|1993|p=90}}{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=634}} This "triumph of Christianity" became the primary Christian narrative in writings of the late antique age in spite of the fact that Christians represented only ten to fifteen percent of the population in 313. As a minority, triumph did not generally involve an increase in violence aimed at polytheists – with some exceptions.{{sfn|Johnson|2015|p=xx}}{{sfn|Brown|1998|pp=632–635}}{{sfn|Salzman|2006|pp=266–267, 272, 285}} In general, there was more violent rhetoric than actual violence.{{sfn|Bremmer|2020|p=9}}

Constantine wrote the first laws against sacrifice. Thereafter, sacrifice largely disappeared by the mid-fourth century.{{sfn|Drake|1995|pp=3, 7}}{{sfn|Kahlos|2019|p=35}}{{sfn|Boyd|2005|p=21}} [[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter Brown]] notes that the language of these anti-sacrifice laws "was uniformly vehement", and the "penalties they proposed were frequently horrifying", evidencing the intent of "terrorizing" the populace into accepting removal of this tradition.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=638}} Even so, polytheistic religions continued.{{sfn|Cameron|1993|pp=4, 112}} 

The fourth century historian [[Eusebius]] also attributes to Constantine widespread temple destruction, however, while the destruction of temples is in 43 written sources, only four have been confirmed archaeologically.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|pp=xxvii; xxiv}}{{refn|group=note| At the sacred oak and spring at [[Mamre]], a site venerated and occupied by Jews, Christians, and pagans alike, the literature says Constantine ordered the burning of the idols, the destruction of the altar, and erection of a church on the spot of the temple.{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=131}} The archaeology of the site shows that Constantine's church, along with its attendant buildings, occupied a peripheral sector of the precinct leaving the rest unhindered.{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=31}}{{paragraph break}} Sources on what happened to the temples conflict. The ancient chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] claimed Constantine destroyed all the temples; then he said Theodisius destroyed them all; then he said Constantine converted them all to churches.{{sfn|Trombley|2001|pp=246–282}}{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=110}}{{paragraph break}}A number of elements coincided to end the temples, but none of them were strictly religious.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}} Earthquakes caused much of the destruction of this era.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=28}} Civil conflict and external invasions also destroyed many temples and shrines.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|p=xxvi}}
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Neglect led to progressive decay that was accompanied by an increased trade in salvaged building materials, as the practice of [[recycling]] became common in Late Antiquity.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=2}} Economic struggles meant that necessity drove much of the destruction and conversion of pagan religious monuments.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=353}}{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=60}} In many instances, such as in [[Tripolitania]], this happened before Constantine the Great became emperor.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=29}}}} What is known with some certainty is that Constantine was vigorous in reclaiming confiscated properties for the Church, and he used reclamation to justify the destruction of some Greco-Roman temples such as [[Aphrodite|Aphrodite's]] temple in Jerusalem. For the most part, Constantine simply neglected them.{{sfn|Wiemer|1994|p=523}}{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=30}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=132}}

====Relations with Jews====
In the fourth century, [[Augustine of Hippo]] argued against the persecution of the Jewish people. A relative peace existed between Jews and Christians until the thirteenth century.{{sfn|Abulafia|2002|p=xii}}{{sfn|Bachrach|1977|p=3}} Significant Jewish communities existed throughout the Christian Roman empire, and attitudes varied in different areas.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2007|p=abstract}} Jews and Christians were both religious minorities claiming the same inheritance, and competing in a direct and sometimes violent clash.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2007|p=abstract}} Although anti-Semitic violence erupted occasionally, attacks on Jews by mobs, local leaders and lower level clergy were carried out without the support of church leaders who generally followed Augustine's teachings.{{sfn|Cohen|1998|pp=78–80}}{{sfn|Roth|1994|pp=1–17}}

Sometime before the fifth century, the theology of [[supersessionism]] emerged, claiming that Christianity had displaced Judaism as God's chosen people.{{sfn|Tapie|2017|p=3}} Supersessionism was not an official or universally held doctrine, but replacement theology has been part of Christian thought through much of history.{{sfn|Aguzzi|2017|pp=xi, 3, 5, 12, 25, 133}}{{sfn|Vlach|2010|p=27}} Many attribute the emergence of [[antisemitism]] to this doctrine while others make a distinction between supersessionism and modern anti-Semitism.{{sfn|Kim|2006|pp=2,4, 8–9}}{{sfn|Gerdmar|2009|p=25}}

====Relations between East and West====
Eastern Christianity was becoming more and more distinct from Western Christianity by the fourth century. The western church spoke Latin, while the East spoke and wrote in at least five other languages. Theological differences became more pronounced. The Christian church related to the State in almost opposite ways in these different regions.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=1-8}}{{sfn|Eastern Christianity|2024|p=n/a}} 

In the Roman west, the church condemned Roman culture as "demonic" and sinful, keeping itself as separate as possible, remaining resistant to State control for the next 800 years.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=7-8}}{{sfn|Rahner|2013|pp=xiii, xiv}}{{sfn|Eichbauer|2022|p=1}}{{sfn|Thompson|2016|pp=176–177}} This is in pointed contrast with eastern Christianity which acclaimed harmony with Greek culture, and whose emperors and Patriarchs upheld unanimity between church and state.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=7-8}}{{refn|group=note| This difference was determined largely by how East and West defined what was "holy" in relation to society.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=8}} In the west, holiness was only truly achieved after death and was, therefore, increasingly connected to the monastery and great basilica-shrines with relics of dead saints and martyrs. In the Byzantine empire, holiness remained a part of the vast ceremoniousness of Byzantine urban life.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=20}}}} 

Increasing diversity formed competing orthodoxies.{{sfn|Löhr|2007|p=abstract}} Theological controversies led to the Armenian, Assyrian, and Egyptian churches combining into what is today known as [[Oriental Orthodoxy]], one of three major branches of Eastern Christianity, along with the [[Church of the East]] in Persia and [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] in Byzantium.{{sfn|Adams|2021|pp=366–367}}{{sfn|Micheau|2006|p=375}}{{sfn|Bussell|1910|p=346}}

Asian and African Christians did not have access to structures of power, and their institutions developed without state support.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|pp=118-119}}{{refn|group=note|There is no consensus on the origins of Christianity beyond Byzantium in Asia or East Africa. Though it is scattered throughout these areas by the fourth century, there is little documentation and no complete record of it from this period.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|pp=119-122; 125}} There are some good sources from Syria, Armenia and Georgia, a few "suggestive" ones from Soghdia, China and India, while Coptic and Ethiopic sources tend to be recent, and in other places only a few sources survive at all.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|pp=119-120}}}} Practicing the Christian faith sometimes brought opposition and persecution.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=118}} Asian Christianity never developed the social, intellectual and political power of Byzantium or the Latin West.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=118}} Yet, in 314 [[Urnayr|King Urnayr]] of [[Caucasian Albania]] adopted Christianity as the state religion. [[Christianization of Armenia|Armenia]] also adopted Christianity as their [[state religion]] in the fourth century,{{sfn|Cowe|2006|pp=404–405}} as did [[Christianization of Iberia|Georgia]], [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]].{{sfn|Cohan|2005|p=333}}{{sfn|Rapp|2007|p=138}}{{sfn|Brita|2020|p=252}} In an environment where the religious group was without cultural or political power, the merging of church and state is thought to instead represent survival of the ethnic group.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=144}} 
[[File:Justinien 527-565.svg|thumb|The extent of the Byzantine Empire under Justin I is shown in the darker color. The lighter color shows the conquests of Justinian I|alt=this is a map showing the area that Justinian I conquered]]
Events in the Western Roman Empire after 476 had little direct impact on the Eastern Roman Empire centered in Constantinople.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|pp=181; 198–199}} By the time of the Byzantine emperor [[Justinian I]] (527–565), Constantinople was the largest, most prosperous and powerful city on the Mediterranean.{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=3}} Justinian attempted to unite East and West by fighting the western tribes, taking territory and control of the Church. From 537 to 752, this meant [[Byzantine Papacy|Roman Popes had to be approved by the Eastern emperor]] before they could be installed. This required consistency with Eastern policies, such as forcing conversion of pagans, that had not previously been policies in the west.{{sfn|Ekonomou|2007|pp=245–247}}{{sfn|Salzman|1993|p=364}}
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