Difference between revisions of "Persecutions of Christians by Romans"

From Coptic Orthodox Church
Jump to: navigation, search
(Decius)
 
(2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 15: Line 15:
 
# [[Aurelian]]
 
# [[Aurelian]]
 
# [[Diocletian]]
 
# [[Diocletian]]
 
 
== Valerian ==
 
 
He was a Roman emperor (253-60). Member of  a distinguished family, he had held several
 
offices before the army proclaimed him emperor in 253 at Rhaetia. Weak and irresolute, his abilities
 
were unequal to the difficulties of the times; his son and coregent, Gallienus, was lacking also in force.
 
Christian tradition regards him as the originator of the persecution of the Christians under Decius. In
 
257 Valerian issued a rescript, in kindly language, taking from Christians the right to hold assemblies
 
or to enter the subterranean places of burial, and sending the clergy into exile. In 258, by a new and
 
absolutely merciless edict, bishops, priests, and deacons were executed immediately, men of senatorial
 
and equestrian rank were is punished with degradation and confiscation of goods to be followed by
 
death if they refused to offer heathen sacrifice,  women were threatened with confiscation of their
 
property and exile, and Christians in the imperial household were sent in chains to perform forced
 
labor on the imperial domains. In this persecution Christian Rome and Carthage lost their leaders:
 
Bishop Sixtus of Rom was seized on 6 August, 258, in one of the Catacombs and was put to death;
 
Cyprian of Carthage suffered martyrdom on 14 September. Another martyr was the Roman deacon, St.
 
Lawrence. In Spain Bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona and his two deacons were put to death on 21
 
January, 259. There were also executions in the eastern provinces. Taken altogether, however, the
 
repressions were limited to scattered spots and had no great success. Valerian was finally captured by
 
the Persians and died a prisoner. Macrianus and his two sons were killed in the struggle for the throne.
 
Gal1ienus, who became Valerian's successor, annulled at once his entire father's laws hostile to
 
Christianity. 
 
 
== Aurelian ==
 
 
Roman Emperor, 270-275, born of humble parents, near Sirmium in Pannonia, 9 September,
 
214; died 275. At the age of twenty he entered the military service, in which, because of exceptional
 
ability and remarkable bodily strength his advancement was rapid. On the death of Claudius he was
 
proclaimed Emperor by the army at Sirmium, and became sole master of the Roman dominions on the
 
suicide of his rival Quintillus, the candidate of the Senate. During the early rears of his reign Aurelian
 
exhibited remarkable justice and tolerance towards the Christians. In 272, when he had gained
 
possession of Antioch, after defeating Zenobia in several battles, he was appealed to by the Christians
 
to decide whether the "Church building" in Antioch belonged to the orthodox bishop Domnus, or to the
 
party represented by the favorite of Zenobia, Paul of Samosata, who had been deposed for heresy by a
 
synod held three or four years before. His decision, based probably on the Edict of Gallienus, was that
 
the property belonged to those who were in union with the bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome. As this act was based on political  motives, it cannot be construed into one of friendliness for the
 
Christians. As soon as he was at liberty to carry out his schemes for internal reform Aurelian revived
 
the polity of his predecessor Valerian, threatened to rescind the Edict of Gallienus, and commenced a
 
systematic persecution of the followers of Christ. The exact date of the inauguration of this policy is
 
not known. It is summer of 275 and dispatched to the governors of the provinces, but Aurelian was
 
slain before he could put it into execution. 
 
 
== Diocletian ==
 
 
He was a Roman Emperor and persecutor of the Church, borne of parents who had been slaves,
 
at Dioclea, near Salona, in Dalmatia, A.D. 245; died at Salona, A.D. 313. Our Coptic Orthodox Church
 
began its own calendar of Martyrs by the first year of his reign 284 AD. 
 
 
He entered the army and by his marked abilities attained the offices of Governor of Mœsia,
 
consul, and commander of the guards of the palace. In the Persian war, under Carus, he especially
 
distinguished himself. When the son and successor of Carus, Numerian, was murdered at Chalcedon,
 
the choice of the army fell upon Diocletian, who immediately slew with his own hand the murderer
 
Aper (17 Sept., 284). His career as emperor belongs to secular history. The reign of Diocletian (284-
 
305) marked an era both in the military and political history of  the empire. The triumph which he
 
celebrated together with his colleague Maximian (20 Nov., 303) was the last triumph which Rome ever
 
beheld. Britain, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Nile furnished trophies; but the proudest boast of the
 
conqueror was that Persia, the persistent enemy of Rome, had at last been subdued. Soon after his
 
accession to power Diocletian realized that the empire was too unwieldy and too much exposed to
 
attack to be safely ruled by a single head. Accordingly, he associated with himself Maximian, a bold
 
but rude soldier, at first as Cæsar and afterwards as Augustus (286). Later on, he further distributed his
 
power by granting the inferior title of Cæsar to two generals, Galerius and Constantius (292). He
 
reserved for his own portion Thrace, Egypt, and Asia; Italy and Africa were Maximian's provinces,
 
while Galerius was stationed on the Danube, and Constantius had charge of Gaul, Spain, and Britain.
 
But the supreme control remained in Diocletian's hands. None of the rulers resided in Rome, and thus
 
the way was prepared for the downfall of the imperial city. Moreover,  Diocletian undermined the
 
authority of the Senate, assumed the diadem, and  introduced the servile ceremonial of the Persian
 
court. After a prosperous reign of nearly twenty-one years, he abdicated the throne and retired to
 
Salona, where he lived in magnificent seclusion until his death. 
 
Diocletian's name is associated with the last and most terrible of all the ten persecutions of the early
 
Church. Nevertheless it is a fact that the Christians enjoyed peace and prosperity during the greater
 
portion of his reign. Eusebius, who lived at this time, describes in glowing terms "the glory and the
 
liberty with which the doctrine of  piety was honored", and he extols the clemency of the emperors
 
towards the Christian governors whom they appointed, and towards the Christian members of their
 
households. He tells us that the rulers of the Church "were courted and honored with the greatest
 
subserviency by all the rulers and governors". He speaks of the vast multitudes that flocked to the
 
religion of Christ, and of the spacious and splendid churches erected in the place of the humbler
 
buildings of earlier days. At the same time he bewails the falling from ancient fervor "by reason of
 
excessive liberty".  Had Diocletian remained sole emperor, he would probably have allowed this
 
toleration to continue undisturbed. It was his subordinate Galerius who first induced him to turn
 
persecutor. These two rulers of the East, at a council held at Nicomedia in 302, resolved to suppress
 
Christianity throughout the empire. The cathedral of Nicomedia was demolished (24 Feb., 303). An
 
edict was issued "to tear down the churches to the foundations and to destroy the Sacred Scriptures by
 
fire; and commanding also that those who were in  honorable stations should  be degraded if they
 
persevered in their adherence to Christianity". Three further edicts (303-304) marked successive stages in the severity of the persecution: the first ordering that the bishops, presbyters, and deacons should be
 
imprisoned; the second that they should be tortured and compelled by every means to sacrifice; the
 
third including the laity as well as the clergy. The atrocious cruelty with those edicts was enforced, and
 
the vast numbers of those who suffered for the Faith are attested by Eusebius and the Acts of the
 
Martyrs. We read even of the massacre of the whole population of a town  because they declared
 
themselves Christians. The abdication of Diocletian (1 May, 305) and the subsequent partition of the
 
empire brought relief to many provinces. In the East, however, where Galerius and Maximian held
 
sway, the persecution continued to rage. Thus it will be seen that the so-called Diocletian persecution
 
should be attributed to the influence of Galerius; it continued for seven years after Diocletian's
 
abdication.
 

Latest revision as of 20:08, 12 October 2012

Although Roman persecutions for Christians continued for about three centuries and never stopped during that era, the historians used to assign it into ten great persecutions happened by ten Roman Emperors, will be mentioned later. Many scholars connected these ten persecutions with the ten plagues that happened to Egyptians in the Old Testament and the ten horns of the beast mentioned in the Holy Book of Revelation.

  1. Nero
  2. Domitian
  3. Trajan
  4. Marcus Aurelius
  5. Septimius Severus
  6. Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
  7. Decius
  8. Valerian
  9. Aurelian
  10. Diocletian