The name Roman came from the Roman State or Empire, while the Catholic means Universal. This implies that Christianity in 313 AD. was declared the official religion of the Roman State by Emperor Constantine.
Before the Roman Catholic Church became a Church or denomination, there was the Roman state or Empire. After the death of Augustus Caesar I, the first Emperor of Rome and the most powerful as of 27 BCE, the Roman empire was divided into various empires or states, these states also include the nations captured by Rome. Various Roman citizens of high status were in charge and/or emperors of each of these states. One was ruled by the father of Constantine, whose name was Flavius Valerius Constantius, who was a Roman Army officer of Illyrian origins. From an army officer, Constantius became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west of the Roman state, in 293 AD.
Before Flavius, Emperor Nero who became emperor in 54 AD, a tyrant and one of those that tormented Christians have lived. He killed so many Christians including Apostle Peter in 67 AD. It was said that he burnt Christians alive as they are being tired on poles at night, so that, those working at his garden at night could see light. This was about AD 64 when Christianity has been declared “Religio Illicita” (illegal or prohibited religion). After Nero, three other emperors succeeded him but reigned for just two years. After they came number two emperor known as Emperor Vespasian. His reign was prosperous, and it was him that ordered the siege of Jerusalem and granted his son Titus the power or the go-ahead in destroying the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. After Vespasian, his son Titus became the next emperor. Titus led the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of its temple in AD 70. After Titus, came emperor Domitian, he was one of the most tyrant and wicked emperors recorded in the history of Roman emperors. He was more tyrant than Nero. He carried out the most brutal persecution, torment, and killing of Christians during his reign as emperor of Rome. he was the brother of emperor Titus and reigned for fifteen (15) years. He started reigning from 81 AD. He was the emperor that ordered the arrest of Apostle John. When John was brought to him, he claimed to have examined John, found him guilty, he, therefore, condemned John to be killed by being put into a cauldron of flaming oil, but after a few hours, John came out of the boiling oil unhurt. Domitian then banished John to the island of Patmos, where the worst of criminals were sent to labor in the mines. After him, came another emperor, who was very less tyrant than he was. This emperor was Nerva, he canceled the edicts of Domitian over John and other Christians, and John was released and he returned to Ephesus, where he had been a bishop, and ended his days at the age of 100. Apostle John was a key person and the leader of about 90 men canons that did the gathering of the Bible, Old, and New Testaments, and who also ascertain which of the writing was inspired by God and worthy to be accepted as Bible- the word of God.
During the time of emperor Nerva, the killing of Christians was at its minimum. But after Nerva, came emperor Marcus Aurelius, another tyrant who carried out fierce persecution among Christians.
Back to emperor Flavius Valerius Constantius. In 305 AD, Constantius rose to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor. When he became emperor of the western Roman state or region (empire) he stopped in his region (west) the persecution and killing of Christians that has been going on in Roman states, including nations captured by Rome now under Roman territory. The persecution of Christians has been going on even before the time of emperor Nero in 64 AD, this was during the time that Christianity has been declared Religio Illicita in Rome. In 306 AD Constantius died and his son, Constantine the Great or Constantine I, became the next emperor of the western Roman state. The vision of Constantine was to unite the entire Roman states as one, under one emperor (himself), as it was in the beginning, especially during the time of Julius Caesar I, the first dictator of Rome and Augustus the first Emperor of Rome. Constantine was successful in his civil wars, but his war of the Milvian Bridge with emperor Maxentius was a tough one.
Emperor Maxentius was believed to be a diabolic emperor, who used his demonic power for war and in protecting his territory, and it was difficult, close to impossible for emperor Constantine to defeat him. It was not only the diabolic nature of Maxentius that made it difficult to be defeated by Constantine, but also because of the location of the battle- Milvian Bridge. While emperor Constantine was wondering on how best to defeat Maxentius, he fell asleep (some say he saw it as a vision while awake) and saw a cross or the sun overlain by the figure of a cross in the sky with the words: IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, which when translated is IN THIS SIGN DIVIDE AND CONQUER OR PREVAIL. The next day, he ordered his men to paint crosses on their shields and he commanded that a cross should be constructed and a symbol of the sun should be designed on the front of the meeting point of the cross. This became the origin of the cross called the “Processional Cross” which the Roman Catholic Church carries during their service procession. When he won the battle, he believed that it was through the help of Christain God, therefore, the declaration of Christianity as the state religion in 313 AD, from where we have Roman, meaning Roman state, Catholic, meaning Universal, that is, Christianity is the official religion that should be practiced throughout the Roman states; hence, Roman Catholic, but it was not a Church or denomination yet. Churches were still retaining their names based on where the churches were located, like Church in Rome, or Roman Church, Corinthian Church, Church of Ephesus, etc. but all under the name and umbrella of Christianity, ruled or governed by the apostles in the apostolic era, apostolic fathers (direct disciples of the 12 apostles) and by the Church fathers after the apostolic era. It was this unity in the Church that made it very possible for the papacy to take over and control the entire Church or Christendom during the Roman Catholic Church era, around 325 or 410 AD.
Constantine also declared himself a Christian and made official, most of the things Christians were doing and were persecuted for. Such as refusing to work on Sunday, and observing it as “The Day of the Lord” (Matthew 28:1-6, Mark 16:1-6), because the Lord Jesus resurrected on Sunday morning and Apostle John called it the Day of the Lord, and while worshiping on this day of the Lord in Island of Patmos where he was banished for the gospel, he received the revelations from Christ that led to his writing the Book of Revelation (Rev. chapter one), their refusal to partake in pagan practices like the worship of Roman emperors, etc.
It is true that Constantine declared Christianity, but whether or not he had an actual encounter with Christ to have a change of life is still under debate to date. Since the number one man and the most powerful man in the state has identified with Christianity, other Roman pagans of high status began to confess and join Christianity, not because most among them actually repented, but because they needed a favor from their Emperor, Emperor Constantine. With this, most Roman pagans began to take over the Church and rise to the prominent positions in the Church, especially the Church of or in Rome. This gave birth to or led to the formation of the Papacy. And in so doing, they began to introduce strange doctrines and practices in the church, but will tactically make them look Christianized and/or Biblical.
By 410 AD, the Roman Catholic, now a denomination or church, had already gained dominance over the Christian body and was able to make herself the only official Church (Catholic, that is, universal but in a different sense during the time of Constantine). Roman Catholic Church declared other small (Mushroom as it was referred to) and every other doctrine outside or against Roman Catholic heretic and demon-possessed.
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Nwoko Solomon Ikechukwu
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