No disagreement - my point was that the adoption of Christianity all at once as the state faith, reduced religious tolerance, particularly in the early years.

No disagreement - my point was that the adoption of Christianity all at once as the state faith, reduced religious tolerance, particularly in the early years. But yeah that was part of what I was getting at - but I kinda just responded with my first thoughts off the cuff. My broader point was that its very hard to have a multi-language, multi-ethnic, continent spanning empire - while also having a nascent single religion that ignores local customs. Eventually tolerance under the new faith evolved to be similar to the old, but it was a process.