Christian Rome?

[hannibal_barca]

I was scrolling through the emperor list but I couldn't find it so I decided to consult you guys. What was the name of the Emperor who was the first to except Christianity as the official Roman religion?

[Primus Pilus]

Theodosius made it official. Constantine is often regarded as the first Christian empire, but that is debatable. Regardless, Constantine certainly paved the way for Christian acceptance, and began to allow some cultural shifts that made pagan practice more difficult.

[pompeius magnus]

Theodoscius and his proclamation of Christianity as official relgion.

[pompeius magnus]

looks like Primus beat me to it.

[hannibal_barca]

thnx guys

[Augur]

Having spend a number of years living there I am able to report with some degree of certainly that the first officially Christian country was Armenia, where Christianity "for all" was proclaimed by its king, Tiridates III (A.D. 238-314) in 306 AD, (the locals claim it was 301) and where the main cathederal of the Armenian Church (as seperate from the other seven Orthodox Churches), is located in the ancient, still capital city of Yerevan. The cathederal was build in 304 AD, is still beautiful, and is open for buisness every Sunday, as it has been for 1,701 years running. In Georgia, Armenia's immediate neighbor to the north, Christianity became the official state religion in 330 AD, also well before the official conversion of Rome.

[Primus Pilus]

Augur, just out of curiousity, do you know off hand the current Christian population of Armenia (percentage). Has it resisted the spread of Islam?

[Augur]

PP, good question, and one that has bedeviled all who have tried to help rebuild that unfortunate place. As far a percentage, the percentage of Muslims is very small, primarily because the percentage of Armenians in Armenia (who are all Christians of one shade or another) is remarkably high. They claim 97%, remarkably homogenious in that ethnically varied region of the world. As for the number of Muslims (all locally referred to as "Turks"), this is obviously very small, which is due in part to still deeply held feelings (some might call it unending virulent hatred) that remains from "The Genocide" (the still denied mass killing of 1.5M Armenians by the Turks during WWI); feelings that were revived by the recent, particularly vicious war fought between Armenia and Azberjian (also a Muslim country but also referred to as simply "Turks"). No, I see little chance of Armenia becoming highly populated by Muslims, ie. Turks.

 

But the real problem in discussing population and demographics in places like Armenia is that no one really knows how many people are still there. When I left (2001) the official population of Armenia was 3.7 million, but informed sources indicated that the real number was probably below 2.0M, and possibly as low as 1.0M. Where de all go? Well, the Armenian Diaspora is a grand and remarkable thing. Hell, there are well over a million Armenians is California alone and much of the world's finest agricultural land, California's Great Central Valley, is owned by them. A smiled goodby salutation when Armenian friends say farwell to each other: "Until we all meet again in Fresno."

 

My sincere appologies to all those who may have little interest in things Armenian.

[roman wargamer]

Constantine is often regarded as the first Christian empire.

Theodosius made it official.

i see it diffrently. after the council of Nicea , Christ was declared and made a God .

and with the imprimatur of the Roman Emperor Constantine. and Arius objection.

Roman Catholic is the apotasized church built by Christ in the 33 bce.

or the Romanized church with blend of roman culture paganism.

[longbow]

Anyone know which was the last European country to accept Christianity?i heard somewhere it was Estonia,but not sure

thx L