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#Third Century

The Third Century saw more sporadic, localized persecution. There are a number of reported persecutions during the reign of Septimius Severus, but it still appears to be mostly based on local initiative and carried out under the guidance Trajan had given Pliny. Tertullian had written that Septimius had a Christian as his personal physician.

After Severus’ death, Church tradition says Christians lived pretty peacefully until Emperor Decius. Decius issued an edict that all citizens and residents of the Empire had to make a sacrifice to the gods before their local magistrates. Decius died two years later, but Emperor Valerian would go a step further two years after that. Valerian sent letters to the Senate ordering Christian clergy to sacrifice to the Roman gods or face banishment. A year later, Valerian ordered the execution of Christian leaders. Any Christians in the Senate were to worship the Roman gods or lose all property and privileges, and executed. Anyone who would not worship the Roman gods could be sold into slavery. This policy was reversed by Emperor Gallinus.

What these letters tell us, in addition to persecution details, is that the Christians were very well established and reached into some high places in society. Therefore, it is probable that the Roman Empire, despite having the legal authority to persecute Christians, didn’t necessarily do so at large. Persecution, though widespread across geography and time, was not the standard.

#Diocletian and the Great Persecution

This was the slaughter some imagine when they talk about Roman persecution. Now, the Roman military was always the most zealous branch of Roman society and you can see a pattern in military Emperors and persecution of Christians. Diocletian was a very military man. He, to some extent, blamed Christians for the Empire’s problems (Crisis of the Third Century) as they made the Empire lose the favor of the gods; or so one theory says. In 303, Diocletian and his co-rulers issued edicts removing all of the legal rights and protections applying to Christians. All inhabitants of the Empire had to sacrifice to the Roman gods, like Valerian had ordered. Christians were purged from the military and high imperial offices. Christians were prohibited from assembling, ordered to destroy their scriptures and liturgical books and tear down their places of worship. Christians that refused to surrender their scriptures were killed. Christians also were refused the right to petition in court or respond to petitions against them in court. Christians that had been freed were sold back into slavery.

Galerius, Diocletian’s primary advisor on the persecution, wanted Christians burned alive. Diocletian ordered the edict be enforced “without bloodshed” if possible, but many Roman governors and judges ordered executions regardless. In the East, many Christians were burned alive. Constantius, ruler of Gaul and Britain, did not enforce this persecution. All of that was only the first of four edicts. Second was an Imperial order for the arrest of all clergy. This resulted in the arrest of so many people that criminals were released to make room in the jails. The third edict allowed for their release, if they would sacrifice to the Roman gods. The fourth was to gather all men, women, and children into public space for a communal sacrifice and the execution of any who did not comply. Maximian and Constantius did not enforce this edict.

#Donatist Schism

In response to the mass apostasy during the Diocletian Persecution, there was a great argument within the Church. Should we allow back in these clergy who denied the Lord? Many of the Christians said no, but many also argued that even Saint Peter denied Christ and Christ ordered love and forgiveness. A penitential forgiveness plan was accepted at a council headed by Constantine and Pope Miltiades. The Donatists were a group that refused to accept the decision to allow the clergy back into the Church. The Donatists were never brought back into the fold of the Christian Church and were wiped out by the Muslim Caliphate in the 7th Century.

#Conclusion & Summary

Persecution would cease a few years later upon the rise of Constantine, son of Constantius. The persecution of Christians had been mostly localized, though supported by the Roman state. The persecution became empire wide during the reign of Diocletian and resulted in both mass murder and mass apostasy. This mass apostasy fractured the church, but not as severely as other schisms had. The fractured schism no longer exists, not because of reconciliation, but because they were eliminated in conquest.

#References

Annals by Tacitus

Letters by Pliny the Younger and Emperor Trajan

The Jewish War by Josephus

Apologetics by Tertullian

The Letter to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia from the Churches of Vienna and Lyons

Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus.

The Orthodox Faith, Volume III, Church History by Father Thomas Hopko

The Martyrdom of Polycarp by Unknown Church Fathers.

Church History by Eusebius.

Additional Resources

Dr. Ryan Reeves, Professor of Historical Theology, Gordon-Conwell Seminary

Acts of the Apostles by Saint Luke.

(1/2) The harshness of persecution of Christians would vary from place to place and time to time throughout the Roman Empire. However, the Roman state itself was not guilty of persecution until the reign of Nero in 64AD, 31-34 years after the Crucifixion. How harshly the persecution continued after Nero would also vary, but you can find a pretty sharp contrast between the Principate and the Dominate.

#Early Persecution

The earliest persecution was done by Jews in Roman Judea, though despite the implications of Pilate as a Roman governor and Saul of Tarsus (Saint Paul the Apostle) as a Roman citizen, the violence conducted against Christians were carried out by Second Temple Jews believing they were carrying out inter-community discipline. Examples of this include the stoning of Saint Stephen the First Martyr. Christians were considered heretics and apostates and were subject to beatings, jailing, and extra-judicial stonings. Agrippa, having been named “King of the Jews”, wanted to win them over the helping in their persecution of Christians. Saint James was reportedly killed under Agrippa’s authority and Saint Peter was reportedly imprisoned; though this bit comes from the New Testament which I understand some don’t accept as a historical record. So let’s look on to the Roman persecution.

#Nero

From the bits we can piece together from church tradition, Tacitus, Josephus, the New Testament, Pliny the Elder, Cassius Dio, and Suetonius we can conclude that persecution of Christians, though a small ember up until now, was about to spread across the Empire in 64AD, on a local basis. Saint Paul, having been arrested in Judea, demanded a trial by the Emperor Nero. (By tradition, Saint Peter had also been in Rome at this time, but there’s no Biblical evidence for this. What may exist as archaeological evidence is in possession of the Roman Catholic Church.) At the same time Saints Peter and Paul were in Rome, a great fire broke out. According to Tacitus, who was 8-10 at the time of the fire, Emperor Nero was catching too much blame for the fire and decided to scapegoat the Christians. Suetonius, Pliny the Elder, and Cassius Dio all also blame Nero for the fire, and Suetonious mentions persecution of Christians afterward but not necessarily as a direct result of the fire. (Suetonius was born a few years after the fire. As Tacitus was alive at the time, I tend to follow his account.) What exactly this persecution entailed is not recorded, but according to church tradition Saint Peter and several others were crucified (Saint Peter requesting to be crucified upside down) and Saint Paul was beheaded. Not long after, in AD70, the Romans put Jerusalem to the sword, destroyed the Second Temple, and exiled the Jews.

#Second Century

In AD112, Pliny the Younger, Governor of Bithynia and Pontus, wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan asking for guidance on how to deal with Christians. From this letter we are informed of a few things:

1). Trajan nor Pliny mentioned any specific crimes Christians had committed; indicating that Christianity itself was considered illegal by the Romans in some form or fashion.

2). There was a great confusion among Romans about the practice of the Eucharist; some of them literally though Christians were eating flesh and blood.

3). Systematic persecution existed on a local level, but not Empire-wide yet.

Trajan suggests four things to his Governor:

1). Do not seek out Christians to arrest.

2). If they accused and guilty of being Christian then they must be punished.

3). If the accused deny being Christian, test them by sacrificing to the Roman gods.

4). Do not allow anonymous accusations.

Some Christians, like myself, and others, would say this persecutory policy by Trajan was almost more diabolic than the en masse slaughter we’ll talk about shortly, because it recognized that the Emperor felt Christians were harmless, but still killed them for no reason other than being Christian.

Hadrian was even more lenient, telling his governors that being Christian was not crime enough to punish them. The first record outside of church tradition and the New Testament of a specific martyrdom is that of Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. The record exists in a manuscript titled The Martyrdom of Polycarp in AD156, burned alive. Later, in AD177 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, in Roman Gaul Christians were known to be banned from the market, public baths, the public forum, and if they did appear in public were subjected to mob violence. Their homes were vandalized and they were accused of cannibalism and incest. (Again, likely a misunderstanding of the Eucharist.) Eventually the Christians in Lugdunum (Lyons) were rounded up into the forum, beaten and questioned, and then tortured by the Governor. All were executed by various means, including being trampled or fed to animals alive.

In AD197, Tertullian wrote his Apologeticus in defense of Christians and argued to their fair treatment by the Romans.