In 202 C.E., Rome issued an edict forbidding all further conversions, and by the middle of that century, the Empire’s Christian subjects were being persecuted on a massive scale. Many Romans blamed the political and economic instability that plagued the Empire during this era on the people’s turning their backs on the old gods, and naturally much of this anger was directed toward Christians, who, if nothing else, were conspicuous in their refusal to offer sacrifices to Roman deities.
