Christianity - Peace for a While
During the forty years between 261 AD and 303 AD,
the Christians were not officially persecuted by the Roman government.
In terms of Roman history this corresponds to the worst of the Crisis
of the Third Century. Some Christians were still lynched by Roman
mobs, but the Roman government did not officially encourage this sort
of thing.
Because of this peace, the Christians were able to begin building a
church organization. They were also able to start building churches,
instead of meeting in people's houses. One church was even built right
across the street from the Emperor's palace in Split (modern Serbia).
Christians and traditional philosophers
began to argue with each other about who was right.
But some Christians also used this time to fight with each other. The fighting mostly began in places like Carthage where there had been a big persecution. After it was over, the Christians who had gone and sacrificed did not get along very well with the ones who had gone to jail or who had risked being killed to stand up for their faith. There was a lot of arguing about who was a good Christian.
The Great Persecution
Main Christianity page
Main religion page
