Uh oh, it is spreading!

One of the biggest influences in the modern world still today is religion. It has been said for years that there should be a separation of church and state, however religion still determines many of the decisions made globally today. One of the largest religions on Earth today is Christianity, and a major question is what factors and mechanisms helped this religion spread and grow to what it is today.

Global trade, with the establishment of the silk road and other trade networks. was one of the biggest influences in the spread of all religions as well as Christianity. With these established routes people of the Christian faith, such as missionaries, could travel great distances spreading the word of their religions to regions of the world that were not as easily accessible before. Not just missionaries but even merchants and anyone really was able to help spread the word of religion.

When the ruler of the entire Roman empire converts to Christianity it is going to make the idea of this religion a bit more popular. When Constantine converted to Christianity it made Christianity much more popular within the empire, and had one of the biggest impacts on the religion still today.

Christianity was appealing in many ways to simple people as well. The idea of salvation was a huge factor in the conversion of so many. Normal people, not rulers, aristocrats or any other elite class was able to reach salvation through this faith which compelled so many. Such a simple route to salvation would be very appealing to many.

http://mr_sedivy.tripod.com/r_life.html

Caesaropapism.

In history and the rise off the Christan church, there would be a time a great trial and great struggle against either different people or different groups. In the beginnings of the Church communication took a long time. For example, to send a message from Constantinople to Rome would take numerous of weeks. An important message pertaining to church issues could takes weeks to get to its destination and it might be too late when the message arrives. Important matters such as church or civic would come too late to do anything about the matter. When the Church was beginning, the Christians were spread throughout the empire and at times they believed different things that they were calling Christian but were in reality not. At the time in history, the Church and State were not separated, thus it created chaos between who was to control what.
At times civic leaders would make Church decisions which is classified as caesaropapism. Caesaropapism was originally created in the Byzantine Empire in its efforts to combine the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Emperor under one throne. Other cases of caesaropapism have came up past the years of the Roman Empire's fall. In Medieval times, the Church and State were not separated. Taxes would go to the Church as well as the government. Examples would be King Henry VIII taking over the Church in England.

www. encyclopedia. com

The Papal States

In class we have discussed the spread of Christianity and as many know this religion had overwhelming effects on the world. In fact the leader of the catholic church, the Pope, became the ruler of a state called the Papal States. The Pope was the sovereign leader of this large chunk of central Italy from 754 to 1870. The Papal State gained its territory by lands given to the Pope. Although the Papal State had little military strength and barely had control over its territories because of Emperors and nobles contesting the rule of the Papacy, it did have a role in the politics of Europe.

The Pope has the power to excommunicate members of the church. This includes kings and leaders of other countries. This can lead to growing political opposition in excommunicated leader's territories and unhappy Christians because their leader has been cast out of the church.

From 1305 to 1378, the Popes lived in Avignon, in what is now France. While the Papacy was in France their were strongly under the influence of the French Kings. 1378 to 1417 was a period know as the great schism. During this period Gregory XI had returned the papacy from Avignon to Rome. Shortly after he died and the Cardinals under fear of an Italian mob elected another Pope named Urban VI because he was Italian. Shortly after this he acted very offensive to all in the church and the Cardinals declared his election null and void because they were under duress when they elected him. The Cardinals elected Clement VII but Urban VI remained in Rome, refusing to step down, and Clement VII fled to Avignon. From there on until 1417 were two declared Popes of the church, both declaring that the other was illegitimate. Many Christians were confused and perhaps some left the catholic church because of the schism.

Slowly of the centuries the Papal States declined and Italy declared war on the Papal States and took Rome. The Papal States technically lives on as the State of the Vatican City.


All this information and more can be found at the following sources.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/441848/Papal-States
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Great_Schism.aspx#1E1-Schism-G
http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ip/papalsta.htm

Constantine the Great

Constantine was born in Naissus around 285 CE. In 293 CE he became a member of the court of Diocletian. When his father died in 306 CE, Constantine took his place as Augustus. His peers tried to force him to give up his title as Augustus and go back to being a Caesar, but he refused.

In 312 CE, Constantine invaded Italy. During his march to Rome, he claimed to have a vision of the sun with the Chi-Ro shining above it. The Chi-Ro is a divine symbol of Christ, so he had all of his soldiers paint it on their shields. They then battled an army with thousands of soldiers, and surprisingly overpowered them.


Constantine attributed this victory to the Chi-Ro he saw before the battle. He then thought of himself as an emperor of the Christian people. He soon became a dominant leader in Rome, and ordered that authorities stop executing the Christians. For a while, he was not familiar with Christian beliefs, but he learned as time went on. He often tried to solve disputes peacefully. However, at time he became increasingly brutal, and even persecuted the ‘wrong type’ of Christians.

For many years, Constantine only ruled the western half of Rome. While he didn’t force Christianity onto any citizens, he appointed Christian officials and was involved with the Christian church. In the east, however, the second emperor Licinius adamantly opposed the religion. There were several confrontations between the east and west, ultimately ending with Constantine defeating Licinius and becoming the single emperor of Rome.

As the emperor of Rome, he enforced many new laws. First he banned Pagan practices and built Christian churches. He implemented a harsh tax system, ruled that any girl who eloped would be burned alive, and sentenced rapists and their women victims to death. Despite these ruthless laws, Constantine still ruled as a Christian.

Toward the end of his life, Constantine planned to invade Persia. He wanted to be baptized along the way, in the river of Jordan where Jesus was baptized. However, he became sick in 337 CE and never made it to the river. Instead, he asked the bishop of Nicomedia, Eusebius, to baptize him on his deathbed.

For more information, follow this link:
http://www.roman-empire.net/decline/constantine-index.html

The Church after the fall of the Roman Empire

In the 3rd and 4th centuries CE the Western Roman Empire began to be invaded by barbarian tribes, which were coming from Central Asia and in 476 CE the Germanic tribe leader Odoacer, "King of Italy", deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, marking the end of Western Rome. This could have easily dealt a major blow to christianity, which had grown so much throughout Rome. Fortunatelly this was not the case, as the barbarian tribes that took control of the Roman territory did not completely change the culture in the area but instead kept it along with christianity. It is infact the opposite that occured. With the fall of this great empire the Roman Catholic Church actually gained power instead of losing it.

There was a large hole left with the collapse of Rome and the Church became one of the main powers that stepped in to fill it. The Church, which based its hierachial organization of popes, bishops, priests, and monastaries on the organization of the Roman Empire, began to take over some of the functions of the government in the new nations which took the place of the Western Roman Empire. These functions included, politics, administration, education, and welfare. These new functions gave the Church more power than it had previously had, while also causing it to become quite wealthy. This new found power and wealth lead to the conversion of the many "pagan" people of Europe and to the expansion of christianity.


Strayer, Robert W. Ways of the World. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2009. 2 vols. Print.
http://books.google.com/books?id=mBuaPAAACAAJ&dq=ways+of+the+world+strayer&ei=0Tj7Su_vK46OMoSi_YQP