From "Heresy" To "Legitimacy": A Study Of The Spread Of Christianity In The Eastern And Western Parts Of The Roman Empire In The 1st To 4th Centuries AD

The 1st to 4th centuries AD was the period of the most frequent cultural exchanges and the most flourishing religious activities in the history of ancient Rome,and it was also the period when Christianity was born and became widely spread.This paper examines the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire during this period,and examines the differences in the spread of Christianity in the eastern and western parts of the empire,from its rapid spread in the eastern part of the empire at the beginning to its widespread spread from the east to the west afterwards;at the same time,it analyzes the differences in the spread of Christianity in the eastern and western regions through the ruling class’ s initial suppression of Christianity as a heresy to its top-down support as it spread widely in the empire.At the same time,through the process of the ruling class’ initial suppression of Christianity as a heresy to the later process of top-down support and declaration of Christianity as a legitimate religion as it spread widely within the empire,we explore the backward and forward changes in the ruling class’ attitudes toward Christianity and its deep-seated reasons,arguing that the great political,economic,and cultural traditions and other differences between the eastern and western regions of the Roman Empire formed during the long historical development,which led to the different spread of Christianity in the eastern and western regions of the empire and It also changed the evolution of the ruling class’ attitude toward it and influenced the different directions of Christianity in the eastern and western parts of the empire after the late imperial period.The main text of this paper is divided into five chapters,with a chronological axis.The first chapter firstly Outlines the social background and characteristics of the early Roman Empire,and explains the internal relationship between Judaism and Christianity,leading to the reason why Christianity has been called “heretical” sect since its birth.The second chapter,from the spread of Christianity from east to west,analyzes the attitude of Imperators to the early Christianity in the 2 century AD,and expounds the changes in the internal relations between Christianity and Judaism during this period.The third chapter discusses how Christianity faced the complicated religious attitude of Imperators in different phase of the “Crisis of the Third Century”,and how it developed rapidly in the western part of the Empire and formed a challenge to Roman polytheism by perfecting its own organizational structure.The fourth chapter analyzes the reasons for the change of Imperators’ attitude towards the spread of Christianity,taking this as a clue and combining with the rulers’ religious policies to explain the relationship between the spread of Christianity and the change of religious status.The fifth chapter provides an overview of the process and reasons for the legalization of Christianity and its state religion,and explores the impact of Christianity becoming a state religion on itself and on both sides of the Roman Empire.This paper takes the different spread of Christianity in the eastern and western parts of the Roman Empire as the starting point,and the changing attitudes of Imperators toward the spread of Christianity as a clue to analyze the transformation of Christianity from “heresy” to “legitimacy” in combination with the political and economic factors,social background and religious and cultural development of the Roman Empire in the 1st to 4th century AD.In order to help people understand more comprehensively the process of the spread of Christianity and the social culture of the Roman Empire.