Constantine, the Gospels and Common Misconceptions (Part Two)

3. The practice of Holy Communion is extremely old

We all know about Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples, but apparently his early followers did not take long to begin the Holy Communion, also known as the Eucharist. In 1 Corinthians  11:23-34, written around 55 A.D., Paul described how the Christians at Corinth were not practicing the meal correctly. Apparently, some of the Christians didn't wait for the others to get there before they started eating the bread and drinking the wine... Paul basically told them to eat at home before coming to the meal if they were hungry and couldn't wait. This shows the practice was already in place within 25 years of Jesus' death and could have been in place much earlier. Clearly, it was a tradition important to Christians from a very early time.


4. Roman persecution of Christians was typically inconsistent before the beginning of the fourth century.

While it is undoubtedly true Christians dealt with persecution, imprisonment, torture and even death from an early period, the scope of this persecution varied greatly depending on the emperor in charge. Some emperors were fairly tolerant of Christianity and various other faiths. Others, such as the infamous Nero, were extremely cruel toward Christians. Generally, there were not any state-sponsored persecutions of Christians until the early fourth century, when the Emperors Diocletian and Galerius launched bloody persecutions of Christians.

Sadly, a good number of Christian places of worship and scriptures were destroyed by the persecutors. Some Christians unfortunately met a bloody faith if they refused to give up their religion. Thankfully, the Edict of Milan ordered tolerance of all faiths in the Empire and Emperor Constantine himself would come to openly favor the religion (though he never made it the "official" religion, as many have argued.

As as a rule, Roman emperors were somewhat tolerant of Christians before Diocletian and Galerius launched their violent persecutions of the Empire's Christians. To say Christians fought widespread persecution from Romans from the earliest days until Constantine's legalization of the faith is simply wrong. Many Pagan intellectuals ridiculed Christians about their faith and many frowned upon Christianity, but the extent of actual persecution is often exaggerated by Christians today.

In summary, times were very tough for Christians under some Roman emperors, but others pretty much let them worship as they wished. Christians also experienced some scattered mob violence at the hands of Jews, but this has also been exaggerated.

NOTE: Roman emperors who showed tolerance to Christians and other non-pagan religious groups did not extend this tolerance out of the kindness of their hearts. Tolerating religious views was a way in which emperors could keep peace in the Roman Empire.