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63 BCE
Rome Rule of Israel begins
**Rome took over Israel which started all of the events that made Christianity a major world religion,
2. the Romans killed Jesus Christ
3. Because of the large size of the Roman empire, Christianity spread quickly -
4 BCE
Jesus of Nazareth
- Central figure of Christianity
- He is the Messiah (Christ)
- Romans crucified him and killed him, but then as some people believe, he came back from the dead
- believed to be "son of God"
- He was first a Jewish preacher **Head figure of Christianity, Jesus is literally Christ, hes the lord, died 33 AD on the cross
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4 BCE
Paul of Tarsus
- Was an apostle
- Taught the gospel of Christ to the first century world
- Considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic age
- Founded many churches
- Wrote many things in the New Testament
- died 62-64 ce ** Was an apostle who taught people the ways of Christ
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64
Great Fire of Rome
- Huge fire broke out in Rome, caused many deaths + destruction, 65% was destroyed
- The christian part of town was unharmed, this raised suspicion
- Nero, blamed the fire on the Christians, even though he might of been the one who started it
- Some people believe the Christians started the fire for a prophecy, this event was initial prosecution of Christians
- The city burned for 6 days, until July 23 *One of the first events where the Christians were blamed, started all this prosecution
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182
Perpetua
- Wrote one of the most earliest and notable Christian texts
- Wrote a "diary" on her last days before she got killed for being a christian. Many Christians look at this document today
- Christian noblewoman
- Her written diary also included stuff about the visions of Saturus, another Christian that got killed.
- text was called The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity
- died March 7, 203
** wrote text the showed life and events leading up to her death, was a martyr
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303
Great Persecution of 303 CE
- Diocletian blamed the Christians for the problems in Rome
- Churches were destroyed, sculptures were destroyed, people were killed and put into the Colosseum sometimes.
- About 2 million Christians were killed
- The goal of this persecution was to re unify the empire, and get people believing the same things again, old Gods
- most severe persecution of the Christians
- Some Christians went to the Colosseum *Series of killings and persecutions of the christian people, ended in 311 AD
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312
Constantine the Great
- Came to power after a series of civil wars
- During a battle against Maxentius, Constantine had a vision of a cross in the sky, 312
- Later he had a dream where Christ told him to put XP on his soldiers shields,
- Met with eastern emperor Milan to make Edict of Milan, (made Christianity legal)
- Constantine believed that God was on his side, after he defeated Licinlus this belief went even further and **he legalized Christianity throughout empire, saw cross in the sky, visions
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312
Battle of Milvian Bridge
- Constantine I vs Maxentius, Constantine had vision of cross before this battle.
- Constantine won. Start of the end of persecution of Christians, because Constantine supported Christianity
- Battle let Constantine gain more power,
- Constantine was the main power now and he made Christianity a major religion part of the Roman empire.
- This led to the Edict of Milan
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313
Edict of Milan
- Declared religious peace and toleration in the Roman Empire for the Christians
- Made by Constantine and Licinius
- Stopped the unfair treatment to the Christians that came from emperor Diocletian permanently
- It was a political agreement
- began a period when Constantine granted favors to the Christian Church and its members. ** a letter that said Christians were to tolerated throughout the roman empire, this stopped unfair treatment of the Christians
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379
Emperor Theodosius
- Last emperor to rule over eastern and western Roman empire
- Prosecute Christianity even though he wasn't supposed to
- Even though he persecuted it he soon made Christianity the official church of Rome
- Defended Christianity against paganism and Arianism.
- Theodosius stopped the persecution of Christians **Last emperor of Rome, at first he persecuted the Christians but then he defended them and made Christianity the official church of Rome