Interesting facts about religion

Christianity originates from the creed of a group of Palestinian Jews who believed Jesus to be the Messiah, or “anointed” (from Greek. Ρριστός – “the anointed one”, “Messiah”), who should free the Jews from Roman rule. The new teaching was spread by the followers of the Master, especially the converted Pharisee Paul. Traveling through Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, Paul preached that faith in Jesus freed his followers from the rituals prescribed by the law of Moses. This attracted numerous non-Jews to the Christian faith, who were busy looking for an alternative to Roman paganism, but at the same time did not want to recognize the obligatory rites of Judaism. Despite the fact that the Roman authorities from time to time renewed the fight against Christianity, its popularity grew rapidly. This continued until the time of the Emperor Decius, under whom (250) the systematic persecution of Christians began. However, instead of weakening the new faith, oppression only strengthened it, and in the third century Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empir

Before Rome, in 301, Christianity was adopted as the state religion of Armenia, then an independent Kingdom. And soon began the victorious March of the Christian faith in the Roman lands. The Eastern Empire was built from the very beginning as a Christian state. Emperor Constantine, the founder of Constantinople, stopped the persecution of Christians and patronized them. Under Emperor Constantine I, starting with the edict of 313 on freedom of religion, Christianity began to acquire the status of the state religion in the Roman Empire, and on his deathbed in 337 he was baptized. He and his mother, the Christian Helen, are revered by the Church as saints. Under Emperor Theodosius the Great at the end of the IV century. Christianity in Byzantium was established as a state religion. But only in the VI century. Justinian I, a zealous Christian, finally banned pagan rites in the lands of the Byzantine Empire.