why did the earlychristians face persecution from the romans?

Answer 1

Someone who doesn't believe in your God must be punished.
That's quite normal human behavior.
look around you.

Answer 2

OPM – That’s a good point. The Romans did call the early Christians atheists, because they didn’t believe in all the Greco-Roman gods.

Septerga said “The Roman empire was pluralistic. They generally allowed subjugated peoples to keep their own religions and deities, with the proviso that they must include the Roman pantheon”

That’s quite right. The ironic thing is that in a way the Romans were very tolerant of other religions, as most pagan religions are. The real conflict was between a monotheistic religion and a polytheistic one. The polytheists don’t mind if the person in the next country calls their goddess of love Ishtar, while they call theirs Aphrodite. You can see this in India today where they literally have millions of gods and the Hindus don’t get upset about who worships what. This is because the gods of polytheism are not seen as being ultimately true, only as masks or emanations of the one God that is unknowable.

In monotheism, the believer knows the one true God, and sees that all the other gods are either idols created by man or are demons, or angels at best. In Roman times, their first encounter with monotheism was with the Jews, who refused to pray to the Roma, the goddess of the Roman state. So why didn’t the Romans persecute the Jews? Because they viewed the Jews as a quirky people, and since Judaism was linked to being of Jewish blood, it was not spreading. One thing about the Romans is that they were a very conservative, patriarchal society. And the Jews were following the God of their fathers, and the Romans could respect that.

The Christians however were taking people away from the gods of their fathers, and refusing to worship Roma or the Emperor, and calling all the other gods either idols or demons. Another thing is that Christianity has a lot of values that conflicted with the Romans, such as that it preached that all people, women and men, slave and free were equal in the eyes of God, that non-violence is a way to deal with your enemies, that the last shall be first. And in this male dominated society, a lot of the early Christian converts were women.

The persecutions were brutal. I believe that all the apostles were killed, and most of the early Popes too. But the persecutions were also sporadic. In Decline And Fall Of the Roman Empire, Gibbon cites a quote where a Christian lists what buildings were destroyed in one persecution, and this man talks about how elaborate their buildings were, how they were filled with golden objects, and how numerous they were. So they weren’t worshipping in dark caves an in hiding. Though they weren’t well liked, they were allowed to exist and prosper. But in times of trouble, the Romans would attack the Christians, particularly when the Roman Empire went through a huge crisis in the middle of the third century, and then again early in the fourth century under Diocletian.

Christianity is still and will always be controversial.

Answer 3

Because they were viewed as atheists, according to the Roman texts. It was felt that the bad things which did happen, were a result of Christians refusing to pray to the gods, holding instead that a weird Judean carpenter was not only a god but the only GOD. Further, until the Reformation, it is clear in the writings that all Christians believed in communion the way Catholics and Orthodox do. As such, they were also accused of cannibalism, not realizing that the body and blood were wine and bread.

Further, by setting themselves apart, they were considered a threat, much like David Koresh's followers, since in a communal society the actual phrase for one outside the system is "outlaw."

Originally, in English law, compliance with the law was voluntary. If you elected not to go to prison or pay a fine or an equity judgment, then you were put out of the community and would be outside all law, an outlaw. This concept is deep within all early cultures, hence the real power of excommunication is profound.

Christians, by stepping out of the law of the land either figuratively or literally, since many of the early Christian documents were written like, "from the Church sojourning at Antioch to the Church sojourning at Rome," they were in many ways outlaws. Christians acted much like gypsies and the Roma are still persecuted to this day in all countries because they view themselves as outside ordinary societies.

There is an interesting line still used in some Catholic and Orthodox liturgies, "the doors, the doors, in wisdom be attentive." It is a reminder to the door keeper to watch for Roman soldiers, but to be attentive to what is going on inside since it is far more important.

Rome didn't believe in outlaws, it preferred slavery or crucifixion for offenders. Christians were offered to rejoin the larger community, those who refused were killed.

Answer 4

The Roman empire was pluralistic. They generally allowed subjugated peoples to keep their own religions and deities, with the proviso that they must include the Roman pantheon (and, later, the emperors as well, who were seen as divine) in their worship.

The early Christians, who at the time were seen as just another sect of Judaism, refused to participate in this polytheistic worship. This was perceived as a direct affront to the Roman deities and--more importantly--the emperor, making them not only religious outsiders but political subversives as well in the eyes of Rome. Rome was pretty ruthless about stamping out any kind of political subversion, and was perfectly happy to do what it took to kill off the Christians.

All that changed when Constantine took over and installed Christianity as the official state religion. Julian the Faithful attempted to reinstate the old polytheistic openness, but died before he could succeed; a great loss for the world.

Answer 5

1 . Pure prejudice - Christians did not fit in with the pagan Romans, and were used as scape goats for the Romans (like Hitler with the Jews)
2. Early Christians would not pay homage to Roman gods and was an insult to the Empire

Answer 6

Because the Romans worshiped many false gods, including themselves. The Christians of the time presented them with an obvious problem of which the Romans responded in the only way that they knew how. With violence. Hoping to stamp out and destroy any Christian followers. And in doing that only emboldened the Christian faith in so much that it made believers of the time see the persecution and become more devoted to Christ.

Answer 7

The Romans were under orders to worship only Caesar. Later Constantine changed the rule and turned Rome into the center of Christianity.

Answer 8

They were seen as a subversive cult that was trying to overthrow the Empire. Turns out the Romans were correct, as the Christians seized control of the Roman Empire only a few centuries later.

Answer 9

Roman Law was thus...it stated that the Emperor was to bee seen as a divinity in himself as a child of the gods. ALL citizens were required to take part in the public observances honoring the various deities in the City. While all religious orders were accepted and tolerated in Rome, secret societies were forbidden by law. They defined a secret soceitya sn a group that held their rites in secret and only allowed members to attend or to have knowledge of the religion and its practices.

The very nature of the Christian religion and practices ran contrary to every one of those requirements and restrictions. They were thus, under the law of Rome criminals not because they were Christians but because they refused to recognized the divinity of the emperor, because they refused to take part in the public celebrations honoring the various deities worhsiped in the city and because the held their rites in secret and allowed only members to attend or to know anything about their religion and what they did.

It was becasue they refused to alte4r their practices and their beliefs that they were treated the way they were and seen as criminals.

Answer 10

high amounts of lead in the Roman diet
from mass produced China wares

Answer 11

Because they are troublesome even before Jesus. They want their way of life restored and not with the United Congress of Rome.