(BA) Roman Empire

...

22 July 2022

The Roman Empire was the context into which Christianity originally was born. Although it it began as an originally marginalized and occasionally persecuted sect within the Roman Empire, by the fourth century Christianity took the Empire over. This began with the conversion of Constantine, who legalized Christianity and promoted it, though maintaining a policy of toleration for pre-Christian gentile religious practices ("paganism"). Christianity's position was consolidated as successive emperors established it as the state religion and moved paganism toward the margins of society.

Starting about 286, the Roman Empire began splitting into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. In time, this separation which see a religious parallel in the split between Western and Eastern Christianity.

In 476, the Western Roman Empire collapsed, while the Eastern Roman Empire, which simply called itself the "Roman Empire", and which is now called the "Byzantine Empire" by historians, continued until 1453. Near the middle of this period, in 1053, Western Christianity, under the Pope, and Eastern Christianity split.

The influence of the Roman Empire continues to be felt especially in the Catholic Church's continued attachment to Rome and the Latin language, while Eastern Orthodoxy continues the debate the relative positions of Constantinople and Moscow since the fall of the Byzantine Empire.