The history of Christianity in the Roman Empire covers the period from the birth of Christianity in the first half of the 1st century to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. During the II century, Christianity spread throughout almost the entire Roman Empire; in the II century, extensive apologetic literature appeared, as well as messages and writings by authoritative Christian authors.
The very conversion of the Roman Empire from the pagan to the Christian took place slowly, over several centuries; we distinguish in it the following eras:
the era of the birth and initial development of Christianity in the Roman Empire under the shadow of Judaism, before the Jewish uprising and the second destruction of the Jerusalem temple (half a century after the death of Jesus Christ);
the era of persecution and at the same time the open spread of Christianity until it was recognized as an equal religion by Constantine the Great, with its division into:
the era of sporadic persecution (under Domitian, Antoninas and Severs) and
the era of universal persecution aimed at the destruction of the Christian church (in the Time of Troubles and under Diocletian);
the era of the preponderance of Christianity and the destruction of paganism (from Constantine the Great to the sixth century).
In all of these periods should be distinguished:
the political and cultural history of Christianity,
the history of the development of Christian dogmas in the fight against heresies and
the history of Christian literature.
In other words, a purely historical, theological, and literary-historical point of view.
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