The document discusses the fall of the Western Roman Empire and its implications for Christianity. It describes how the empire was split between West and East, with Constantine uniting it briefly before it split again. The Western empire collapsed in the 5th century due to invasions. This led Christianity to spread and unify Western Europe with the Roman Catholic Church gaining power. Meanwhile, the Eastern Empire became the Byzantine Empire, with the Eastern Orthodox Church developing under imperial control. Tensions later arose between the churches over icons and authority, culminating in their Great Schism in 1054.

1. The Fall of the Roman Empire and Its
Implication to Christianity
YDG & NAJ
Javier
Geroy

2. Establishment of the
Empire
• Fall of Roman Republic due
to internal turmoil and
violence (27 BC)
• Gaius Octavian Thurinus
also known as Augustus
Caesar as the First
Emperor
• Brought the Pax Romana

3. • Agustus Caesar was followed by
Emperor Tiberius (14-37 AD) Christ was
executed during this time.
• After his rule, decades of political
instability came.
• Emperor Diocletian brought back
peace and order.
• In 305 he resigned, Constantine was
proclaimed in 306.
Emperor
Diocletian

4. The Split of the Roman Empire
• Emperor Diocletian split the empire into two, the west and the
east.
• Both empires are ruled by different emperors of the same
powers.
• In 324, Constantine united both empires.
• When he died in 337 both empires split again.
• Cooperation between two empires gradually became less.

6. The Fall of Rome (Western Part of the
Empire)
• In 5th Century, the Western empire
finally collapsed.
• In 406-407, territory (Gaul) of the
Western empire were attacked by
the Germanic Tribes.
• After a few more years, the
Vandals also attacked Rome.
• In 476, Odoacer, a german made
himself a king of Italy and
deposed the last Roman emperor
of Rome.
Odoacer the Barbarian

7. The Debated Reasons
for the Fall of the
Roman Empire

8. Migration and
Maltreatment of
Barbarian Tribal Refugees

9. Overreliance in Slave
labour

10. Overexpansion of the
Empire

11. Corruption

12. Economic
Mismanagement

13. Implication to
Christianity

14. Emperor Constantine (313 CE)
• Ended all persecutions of the Christians and declared
toleration for Christianity. Constantine issued an order,
called the Edict of Milan. It gave religious freedom to
all people and made accepted Christianity.
• By approving Christianity, the Roman state directly
undermined its religious traditions. Before, the Romans
considered their emperor a god. But the Christian belief
in one god – who was not the emperor – weakened the
authority and credibility of the emperor.

15. Emperor Diocletian split the empire into two parts: the West
and the East. It was Emperor Constantine who built a new
capital in the East that was named after himself,
Constantinople.

16. Effects of the Fall of Western Roman Empire
• After the fall of Rome, the people of Western Europe faced
confusion and conflict. As a result, people were looking for order
and unity. Christianity helped to meet this need. It spread rapidly
into lands that had once been part of the Roman empire.
• The Eastern Empire would eventually become the Byzantine
Empire, while the Western Empire would decline into
nonexistence.

17. THE WEST (ROME)
• The church of Rome survived the fall of the Western Roman
empire. Its head, the pope, became the strongest leader in
western Europe. Under the pope, the Latin churches of the
region became known as the Roman Catholic Church.
• As a result of the disintegration of the Roman Empire and
gradual decline of the imperial power, authority and power
were transferred from the palace to the church, and, in
course of time, the church involved in politics.

18. The church became the real authority and decisions of all
affairs would come from the church. “In the absence of
emperor from Rome, the bishop became the most important
official in the city, and considerable power of local political
administration passed into his hands.
Bishop of Rome

19. THE EAST (CONSTANTINOPLE)
• In the East, however, the Roman Empire continued, it
developed into the Byzantine empire. Like the Roman
Catholics, they also developed their own form of
Christianity, and was known as the Eastern Orthodox
Church.

20. The Byzantine Empire (East Roman
Empire)
• Church and government worked
closely in the Byzantine Empire.
It was the emperor who chooses
the patriarch of Constantinople,
the leading church official in the
Byzantine empire. In this way,
the emperor controlled the
church as well as the
government. Eastern Orthodox
Cross

21. Religious Conflicts between the
two Churches:
Rome vs Constantinople

22. 1. Over the Use of
Icons
In A.D. 700s, a major
dispute divided the
Church in the Byzantine
Empire. The argument
was over the use of icons
(images of Jesus, Mary,
the saints, or other
Christian holy
individuals).

23. • Some Byzantines wanted an end to
the use of icons. They thought that
honoring them was a form of idol
worship forbidden by God. The
supporters however, claimed that
the icons were symbols of God’s
presence in daily life.
• Emperor Leo III did not approve of
icons and he ordered all icons to
be removed from churches.
Emperor Leo III of the
Byzantine Empire

24. Most Byzantines, many church leaders, and even the pope of
Rome opposed the emperor’s order. The dispute over the icons
damaged the ties between the churches of Rome and
Constantinople.

25. 2. Organization of the Two
Churches
• The pope of Rome claimed that he was the head of all
Christian churches. The Byzantines did not accept the pope’s
claim. They believed that the patriarch of Constantinople and
other bishops were equal to the pope.

26. 3. Each Church
Refused to Help One
Another
• In A.D 700’s, the Byzantine emperor
refused to help the pope when Italy
was invaded. The pope turned instead
to a Germanic people called the Franks
for help. The Franks were Roman
Catholics and were loyal to the pope.
• The pope was grateful to them for
stopping the invasion. In return, he
gave the Frankish king, Charlemagne,
the title of emperor. This angered the
Byzantines because they believed that
their emperor was the only true Roman
emperor.

27. • After centuries of tension, the pope and the patriarch
took a drastic step in their ongoing feud.
• In A.D. 1054, they excommunicated each other. This began
a separation of the two most important branches of
Christianity. The split between the Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox church has lasted until this day.
• Excommunicated – declare that a person or group no
longer belongs to the church.

28. Christianity Spreads North
• Byzantine missionaries named
Cyril and Methodius carried the
Christian message to the Slavs,
a people of eastern Europe.
• Eastern Orthodox missionaries
traveled in Northern lands that
bordered the Byzantine
empire.
St. Cyril and St.
Methodius

29. Christianity Spreads West
• In the west, Christian missionaries
looked to the islands of Britain and
Ireland. In AD 400s, a priest named
Patrick bought Christianity to Ireland.
He set up a number of monasteries
and churches.
• In AD 597, Pope Gregory I sent about
40 monks from Rome to take
Christianity to England. In about 100
years, most of England was Christian.Pope St. Gregory the
Great