- INTRODUCTION
- For the first 30 years, the church suffered at the hands of
Jewish religious leaders who persecuted Christians because they
feared that Christianity would destroy Judaism and the leaders
would lose their positions.
- Starting around A.D. 60, the church had to fight a war on
two fronts. It opposed the foes within, namely heretics and
their teachings (such as Gnosticism, Docetism, Montanism,
Neoplatonism, Monarchianism), and it fought the foes without,
namely the state which persecuted the church.
- Multiplied thousands of Christians gave their lives for the
Christian faith because of persecution from Rome. When the
Christian had to chose between Caesar and Christ, he chose
Christ. This often meant that he would lose his life.
- CAUSES OF PERSECUTION BY THE STATE
- The Roman state considered Christianity in its early stages
just another sect of Judaism, and Judaism was a legal religion.
But as soon as Christianity was recognized as a separate
religion, it became an illegal religion and was considered a
threat to the Roman Empire. Christians spoke of Christ as their
ruler, and as the king of his kingdom. The Romans thought
Christians guilty of treason.
- The Roman government acknowledged the emperor as the highest
god and demanded that all religions include worship of him. As
long as religions included worship of the emperor, they could
practice their own particular rites. Christians refused to
acknowledge any king but Christ, and would not offer any
sacrifice to Caesar. Consequently, they were considered disloyal
to the state. In point of fact, Christians were very loyal to
the State (cf. Rom. 13), but they would only worship Christ.
- Christians held their meetings early in the morning or late
at night, and Roman authorities felt this could only be done for
reasons of conspiracy.
- The Roman pagan religions were mechanical and external with
altars, idols, priests, processionals, rites, and practices that
people could see. The Christians had no idols, and their worship
was spiritual and internal. Because Christians refused to
recognize the pagan gods and idols, they were called atheists.
- The early Christians partook regularly of communion, and
spoke of eating and drinking Christ’s body and blood in a
symbolic sense. But this was misunderstood by Roman authorities
to mean that Christians were guilty of cannibalism. The close
fellowship of Christians and the holy kiss were misconstrued as
incest and immoral practices.
- Christianity had a great appeal to the slaves and lower
classes, although many in the middle and upper classes also
responded to Christ. The Christians upheld the equality of all
men (Col. 3:11); paganism insisted upon an aristocratic
structure of society in which the privileged few were served by
the lower class and slaves.
- Because most everything in the Roman Empire was somehow
connected with emperor worship, the Christians separated
themselves from pagan gatherings at temples, theaters and places
of recreation. This nonconformity to accepted social patterns
brought upon them the dislike that the nonconformist always
faces in any period of history. The purity of lives of early
Christians was a silent rebuke to the immoral lives that the
upper class in Rome were leading. Despite of their virtuous
living, the government thought Christians were a threat to
society and the state.
- There were also economic reasons for the dislike of
Christians. Priests, idol makers, and other vested religious
interests could hardly look on disinterestedly while their
incomes dwindled and their very livelihoods stood in jeopardy.
Pliny the Younger (A.D. 112), governor of Bithynia, wrote to
Emperor Trajan that “the contagion of this superstition” had
spread in the villages and rural areas as well as in the larger
cities to such an extent that the temples had been almost
deserted and the sellers of sacrificial animals impoverished.
- Christians were also made the scapegoats for great
calamities, such as famine, earthquakes and pestilence, which
were sometimes regarded as punishment meted out because people
had forsaken the Graeco-Roman gods.
- THE STATE PERSECUTES THE CHURCH
- Introduction: Persecutions by the state were local
andsporadic throughout the Empire until A.D. 250 when they
became general and violent, beginning with Decius.
- Persecution Under Nero (54-68 A.D.):
- Nero had the distinction of being the first emperor to
persecute the Christian church. This took place in and
around Rome. Nero, a madman, had much of Rome burned to the
ground and then blamed it on the Christians. This was a lie,
but the people believed it and hated the Christians for this
wicked act.
- It was during this time that the apostle Peter,
according to tradition, was crucified upside down because he
felt himself not worthy to die exactly like his Master. Also
Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded under Nero’s reign.
- For the burning of Rome, Christians were arrested and
terribly persecuted. Many Christians were crucified. Some
were sewn up in the skins of wild beasts; then big dogs were
let loose on them, and they were torn to pieces. Women were
tied to mad bulls and dragged to death. After nightfall
Christians were burned at the stake in Nero’s garden. The
Roman people who hated the Christians were free to come into
the garden, and Nero drove around in his chariot wickedly
enjoying the horrible scene.
- From A.D. 68 (after the death of Nero) to 90, there was
very little physical persecution of Christians. These breaks
in persecution gave the Church time to recuperate and build.
- Persecution Under Domitain (68-96 A.D.):
- This persecution lasted from about A.D. 90 to 95 and was
really caused because Jews refused to pay a poll tax to the
state. Rome still considered Christianity at that time to be
part of Judaism, so they punished Jews and Christians alike.
- Some Christians were martyred, some dispossessed of
property, and others were banished. It was at this time that
the apostle John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, where he
received the vision of the Revelation.
- Persecution Under Trajan (A.D. 98-117)
- Until this time no official policy was set by the state
on the handling of Christians. Pliny the Younger, governor
of Bithynia, wrote the Emperor Trajan his policy on state
discipline for Christians. Pliny said that when someone
informed upon a Christian, he brought the Christian before
his tribunal and asked him if he were a Christian. If he
still admitted the charge after three such questions, he was
sentenced to death. In his answer Trajan assured Pliny that
he was following the correct procedure. No Christians were
to be sought out, but if someone reported that a certain
individual was a Christian, the Christian was to be punished
unless he recanted and worshiped the gods of the Romans.
This became official procedure, and governors throughout the
empire followed the principles Trajan had approved.
- It was during this time (about A.D. 115) that Ignatius,
bishop of Antioch, was thrown to the wild beasts in the
Colosseum. Ignatius longed for the honor of giving his life
for his Saviour, saying, “May the wild beasts be eager to
rush upon me. If they be unwilling, I will compel them.
Come, crowds of wild beasts; come, tearings and manglings,
wracking of bones and hacking of limbs; come, cruel tortures
of the devil; only let me attain unto Christ.”
- Persecution Under Hadrian (A.D. 117-138):
- Hadrian followed the general policy of Traj an, but in
actuality Christians were persecuted in moderation. When it
became common for mobs at heathen festivals to demand the
blood of Christians, Hadrian published an edict against such
riots.
- Christianity made marked progress in numbers, wealth,
learning and social influence during his reign.
- Persecution Under Antoninus Pius (A.D. 139-161):
- Antoninus was rat`er sympathetic to the Christian cause,
but felt obligated to uphold established imperial policy.
Thus many persecutions took place. Most were done by mobs
and not by consent of the Emperor.
- It was during this time that Polycarp, who was
personally taught by the apostle John, was martyred. He was
arrested and brought into the amphitheater in Smyrna, which
was filled with an immense multitude. Since there were no
images of gods in the houses of worship of the Christians,
the heathen rightly concluded that the Christians did not
believe in the existence of the Roman gods, and they accused
him of being an atheist. The proconsul reminded Polycarp of
his great age, and urged him to show his penitence by
joining in the cry, “Away with the atheists!” Polycarp
looked straight at the excited crowd, pointed his finger at
them, and cried, “Away with the atheists!” Then the
proconsul said, “Revile Christ, and I will release you.” But
Polycarp answered, “Eighty and six years have I served him,
and he has never done me wrong; how can I blaspheme him, my
King, who has served me? I am a Christian.” To the crowd the
proconsul then proclaimed, “Polycarp has confessed himself
to be a Christian.” The crowd yelled, “Let him be burned!”
Wood was collected and made into a pile. Polycarp asked not
to be fastened to the stake. “Leave me thus,” he said. “He
who strengthens me to endure the flames will also enable me
to stand firm at the stake without being fastened with
nails.” The woodpile was lighted. While Polycarp prayed with
a loud voice, “Lord God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, I praise thee that thou has judged me worthy of this
day and of this hour, to participate in the number of thy
witnesses, and in the cup of thy Christ,” the flames
consumed him.
- Persecutions Under Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180):
- Marcus Aurelius was an intolerant Stoic who had no love
in his heart for Christians. He thought all this martyrdom
by Christians was silly nonsense, and bordered on the
theatrical. He was the first to introduce a spy system
against Christians, and promised that the property of
Christians would be given to their accusers. With such
rewards for the informers, many Christians were turned over
to authorities and persecution became almost universal. This
persecution was cruel and barbarous.
- What happened to the Church in Lyons and Vienna in
southern Gaul (modern France) can give us some idea of the
severity of the persecution. By the most horrible tortures,
they sought to make the Christians deny their faith. When at
last the persecutors became convinced that no amount of
torture would make the Christians deny their faith, they
beheaded those Christians who were Roman citizens, and the
others they threw to the wild beasts in the arena of the
amphitheater. The mobs, possessed of a Satanic spirit,
committed shocking atrocities such as the murder of Bishop
Pothinus, aged 90. The heroic witness of Blandina, a slave
girl, who was fragile of body and timid of spirit, can never
be forgotten. Day after day she was subjected to every kind
of torture, but her tormentors could not compel her to deny
her faith. She continued to encourage and exhort her
comrades in Christ to remain steadfast to the end. She
seemed clearly sustained by God, and even that diabolical
crowd said, “Never woman in our time suffered so much.”
Finally she was put into the arena, a net thrown over her,
and she was exposed to the fury of a wild bull. Several
times the bull took her upon his horns and tossed her into
the air. In the end she was butchered by an official. The
bodies of the martyrs were burned, and the ashes were thrown
into the river Rhone. The heathen said mockingly, “Now we
shall see whether there will be a resurrection of their
bodies.”
- It was during this time that Justin Martyr (A.D. 166)
was scourged and beheaded in Rome with six other Christians.
In the face of death he bore with joy the witness to the
truth. His last words were, “We desire nothing more than to
suffer for our Lord Jesus Christ; for this gives us
salvation and joyfulness before his dreadful judgment seat.”
Justin was also asked, “Do you suppose that you will rise
again and live for ever?” Justin’ s noble reply was, “I do
not suppose it. I know it.”
- After Marcus Aurelius, there was a twenty year lull in
the persecution of the church.
- Persecution Under Septimus Severus (A.D. 193-211):
- Septimus Severus directed his persecutions mainly in
Egypt and North Africa in order to stop what he called
proselyting. Thousands were leaving the pagan religions of
Rome and becoming Christians.
- It was during this time that Irenaeus suffered a
martyr’s death by decapitation.
- Persecution Under Maximus (A.D. 235-238):
- There were a few local persecutions, but not
empire-wide.
- From Septimus Severus to Diocletian there were about
seventy years of relative calm in relation to persecution by
the State. There had to be breaks in the persecution of
Christians, or the church might have passed out of
existence.
- Persecution Under Decius (A.D. 249-251):
- Decius took the imperial throne about the time Rome was
reaching the end of the first millennium of her history, and
at a time when the Empire was reeling under natural
calamities, and internal and external attacks upon its
stability. Christianity, because of its rapid growth, was
picked out as the major cause of all the Empire’s troubles.
Decius issued an edict in A.D. 250 that demanded an annual
offering of sacrifice on the Roman altars to the gods and
the genius of the emperor. Those who offered the sacrifice
were given a certificate (libellus). Christians were
demanded to give up their faith or suffer loss of property,
torture and death. The persecution was very cruel and
empire-wide. Multitudes perished.
- During this time, many also denied the Christian Faith,
but many true Christians persevered to the end. Fortunately
for the church, the persecution lasted only several years.
- Persecution Under Valerian (A.D. 253-260):
- Valerian was more sympathetic to Christians at first but
later he continued the persecution.
- Many saints and important men lost their lives for
Christ during this time. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was
beheaded as a Christian martyr (A.D. 258). Origen also was
decapitated for Christ.
- From Valerian to Diocletian (A.D. 260-303), the Church
enjoyed a respite from persecution that lasted about forty
years. But then in A.D. 303 all fury broke loose.
- Persecution Under Diocletian (A.D. 303-305):
- Diocletian was a strong military leader who came to the
imperial throne at the end of a century that was marked by
political disorder in the Roman Empire. He decided that only
a strong monarchy could save the Empire and its classical
culture. In A.D. 285 he ended the dyarchy of the principate,
created by Caesar Augustus in 27 B.C., by which the emperor
and senate had shared authority. A strong monarchy offered
the only alternative to chaos. In such a despotic empire
there was no place for the toleration of faiths hostile to
the state religion.
- The first edict in A.D. 303 ordered the cessation of
meetings of Christians, the destruction of church buildings,
the imprisonment of bishops, elders and deacons, the torture
of all who persisted in their testimony to Christ, and the
destruction of all Scriptures by fire. The second edict
ordered Christians to sacrifice to pagan gods — upon pain of
death if they refused to do so. The historian Eusebius
points out that prisons became so crowded with Christian
leaders and their congregations that there was not even
enough room for criminals.
- Christians were punished by loss of property, exile,
imprisonment, or execution by the sword or wild beasts. Some
were sent to the Roman labor camp where they were worked to
death in the mines or starved to death.
- These persecutions were a determined and systematic
attempt to uproot Christianity completely and to wipe the
Church off the face of the earth. Vos, in Highlights of
Church History, makes an interesting observation:
“Accounts of the deaths of martyrs during the period of
the Roman persecutions have been greatly dramatized.
Their faith and courage were magnificent, but theirs was
the easy way. Much greater suffering was endured by
those who lay in their own filth in heavy irons in hot
Eastern prisons — with little water or food until they
died of disease or starvation. Equally hard was the lot
of those sentenced to work the field and mines. Half
naked, underfed, beaten for low production, the damp
ground their bed — theirs was a living death. Are
American Christians, living behind a plush curtain and
enjoying a cushioned prosperity, made of the same stuff
as they?”
- The pace of persecution slackened when Diocletian
abdicated and retired in A.D. 305.
- Persecution Under Galerius (A.D. 305-311):
- Galerius at first persecuted the Christians, but
realized that the Christians could not be put out of
existence. He later sought a new approach to handling the
Christian problem.
- Galerius became ill and suffered unspeakable torments.
His disease was dreaded and incurable. From his sick bed,
which became his death bed, he issued an edict in AD. 311
which granted to the Christians permission to hold their
assemblies again. He asked for their prayers on behalf of
himself and the empire. This resulted in only a halfhearted
toleration.
- Persecution Under Constantine (A.D. 313-337):
- When Constantine became master of the western part of
the empire, he issued the Edict of Milan (A.D. 313), and the
great persecutions ended. Constantine made Christianity a
legal religion of the state and favored its development in
many ways.
- It was not until near the end of the fourth century
(A.D. 395) that Theodosius made Christianity the official
religion of the empire.
- RESULTS OF PERSECUTION
- Positive
- Purity: It cost something to follow Christ in the
first three centuries of the church. Therefore, people would
not become Christians for political, social or economic
reasons.
- Numerical Growth: The more the Church was
persecuted, the more was its evangelical zeal and the
greater its growth in numbers. The Church began with around
500 followers of Christ in Jerusalem, and from the Day of
Pentecost until A.D. 300 it is estimated that between five
and twelve per cent of the population of the empire, which
was about 75 million, were Christians. At the minimum, there
were five million professing Christians.
- New Testament: Persecution, especially under
Diocletian, brought about serious thought on what was the
true New Testament canon. If Christians were going to die
for possession of Holy Scripture, they wanted to be sure
that they were dying for inspired books.
- Relationship of Church to the State: The
Christian was to be obedient to the State as long as it did
not ask him to violate his moral and spiritual allegiance to
God. Christians did not bear arms against the state.
- Negative:
- Controversy Over Deserters: During the severe
persecutions under Decius and later Diocletian, many
professing Christians, especially in North Africa, fled
persecution or turned over Scriptures to the state. There
arose a controversy as to how to accept these lapsed ones
back after they had buckled under persecution. Some favored
easy restoration, but the Novatians (persecutions under
Decius) and the Donatists (persecution under Diocletian)
wanted a pure church and would not let the deserters back in
without being rebaptized.
- Poor Literature: Christians were so busy
protecting themselves that there was little opportunity to
leave a literary legacy.
- Fanaticism and False Doctrine: The very matter of
martyrdom became warped as to its purpose or benefits. Many
came to believe that dying for the Faith had some
sin-atoning merit.
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