The Official Christianization of the Empire, 312–c. 540

The process of Christianization of the Roman Empire was gradual: Christianity was not officially made the state religion until the end of the fourth century, and even then many people continued to worship the traditional gods in private. Eventually, Christianity became the religion of most people by attracting converts among women and men of all classes, assuring believers of personal salvation, offering the social advantages and security of belonging to the emperors’ religion, nourishing a strong sense of shared identity and community, developing a hierarchy to govern the church, and creating communities of devoted monks (male and female). The transformation from a polytheist into a Christian state was the Roman Empire’s most important long-term influence on Western civilization.