How did Emperor Theodosius make Christianity the official religion of Rome?
Imperial support for Christianity and opposition to paganism were already underway from the time of Constantine, and there was arguably no definitive year in which Christianity became the official religion of empire. Paganism had to survive nearly a century of persecution before Emperor Theodosius (379-395) finally outlawed worship at pagan temples in 391 CE and forbade gatherings of another recent religion, Manichaeanism. He also gave tacit approval for the triumphant Christian church to pillage and destroy those pagan temples that had survived nearly a century of persecution. This marked the end of public worship of the pagan gods, thus making Christianity the only authorised religion of empire.
