On The Christianizing Of Byzantine Empire From 4th To 9th Century

Byzantine Empire is Eastern Roman Empire which capital is Constantinople. In the year AD 330, Constantine the Great made "New Rome" (namely Constantinople) the new capital of Byzantine Empire. After that, although Byzantine Empire regarded herself as the successor of Rome Empire, as time went by, Byzantine Empire was growing different from Rome Empire. Byzantine Empire was in new transition, and accepting Christianity as state religion in the fourth century was the most pivotal one. From then on, the "small and unknown" Christianity developed quickly, and became the only legitimate religion in Byzantine Empire. By the ninth century, the transition of religion in Byzantine Empire had ended.With the Christianizing, Christianity was exerting an influence on the politics, economy, society and culture of Byzantine Empire, and it became one basic element to decide the way of the Empire's developing. Christianity plays a very important role in the history of Byzantine Empire, and some scholar even says that you should know Christianity if you want to study the history of Byzantium. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Christianizing in Byzantine Empire from 4th to 9th Century, and to find the answer to the following two questions:the first one is why Christianity could become the only legitimate religion of Byzantine Empire, the second is what important results appeared after Byzantine Empire's accepting Christianity.Christianity developed very quickly in the early period of Byzantine Empire, and this mainly depends on the characters of Christianity itself. Compared with Paganism, That it is an "organizing" group from the beginning is one important character of Christianity. During the early period of Byzantine Empire, the organization of the Christian Church was becoming more perfect and more exclusive. The perfect organization of the Christian Church was the strong fortress for the Christians fighting against Paganism and spreading Christianity. To meet the spiritual need of the people was also an important impetus for the Christianizing during the early period of Byzantine Empire. Christianity not only gave the answer to the questions that the people at that time were caring for, for example, what would be after ones death and why there were so many sufferings in the world, but also gave a "cure" for that——to be a Christian. The Cult of Saints was the most active Christian faith in the early period of Byzantine Empire, it embodied fully the main characters of Christianity itself. On the one hand, the Cult of Saints adopted the popular and traditional conventions of Paganism, on the other hand, it met the needs of the spirit and the world of the people.About politics, in the early period of Byzantine Empire, Christianity offered a new "holy theory" to the sovereign, and at the same time, it also benefited the sovereignty by its administrating in localities. As a result, Christianity got the great support from the emperors of Byzantine Empire. Constantine the Great paved the way for the further development of Christianizing by establishing Christianity as legitimate religion. Theodosius the Great made Christianity fighting against Paganism legal by establishing Christianity as state religion. And Justinian the Great made the Christianizing full development by his theory and practice of holy Christian Empire. With the support of the emperors of Byzantine Empire, Christianity began influencing the politics of empire, and at last, it formed the "Byzantine Theocracy"At the same time, Christianity had the great influence on the economy and society of Byzantine Empire. After the time of the Edict of Milan in 313, the Christian Church got a series of privileges of economy, and these benefited greatly the development of the economy of the Christian Church. Moreover, the Church of the early period of Byzantine Empire had more ways of revenues than before. As a result, the economy of the Christian Church became a strong power of economy in Byzantine Empire, which could even influence the Sovereignty. With the spreading of Christianity and its large economy, the Church began to play an important social role in Byzantine Empire. The Christian Church began to take fully on the responsibility of almsgiving, and at the same time, the ethics of Christianity had much effect on that of the world.In the early period of Byzantine Empire, how to deal with the relations with the Classic Culture was a question that Christianity had to face. Christianity adopted the Classic Culture of Greek and Roman, and the distinctive Christian Culture came into being. Christian Culture mainly includes Christian Literature and Art.In summary, in the early period of Byzantine Empire, Christianity became the only state religion of Byzantine Empire from a minor religionary party which covered only 10 percent of the population of the Empire. The answer may be the following four points:the first one is that it meets the needs of the spirit and the world of the people; the second is that it meets the sovereign's political needs and gets the support from them; the third is that it adopts the Paganism and Classical Culture; the fourth is that it has a strong organization of the Christian Church.Based on these reasons, Christianity influenced the politics, economy, society and culture of the empire in the early period of Byzantine Empire. And the "Byzantine Theocracy", large economy of the Christian Church, Christian almsgiving and ethics, the distinctive Christian Culture came into being.