IMPORTANT POINTS

Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

Poly vs. Mono Theism

Roman religious and government system required worship of many gods, including the emperor.

Jews were exempt from this rule, but the Christians a new religion, which found themselves spreading beyond the realm of Jewish territory into gentile lands and no longer a subset of Judaism the exemption no longer applied to them.

Christians refused to worship the multiple gods because of their belief in God, the almighty. They were hated because of this and became targets. And became scapegoats when Rome found itself in turmoil.

Blame Game

Christians were blamed for natural disasters (ex. plagues & earhtquakes) and epidemics.

Martyrdom –Witness to the saving message of Christ through the sacrifice of one’s life. Christians would suffer death rather than renounce their faith.

Religious persecutions, organized programs of oppression, imprisonment, and cruelty towards Christians resulting in death by martyrdom became commonplace. Emperor Nero blamed Christians for starting a fire that burned Rome in 64AD. Nero started the fire himself but was able to pass the blame because of people’s hatred of Christians.

Emperors and Punishments

Roman emperors such as Nero, Diocletian, Decius, and Domitian caused horrible deaths for Christians for no other reason than belief in Christ. These are names that struck terror into the hearts of Christians.

Jewish Historian Jospehus, as well as Roman writers (Tacitus, Suetonius, & Pliny), that Christians were thought to be atheistic, because the did not believe in the Roman Gods, subversive, because they refused state orders to worship the gods or the emperor, & practitioners of cannibalism because they partook in the Eucharist.

Christianity was punishable by death. Many Christians accepted death instead of denying their faith - martydom

Growth Amid Trouble

Despite the persecution, the Church expanded and thrived. The example of the martyrs showed the powerful truth of the Christian faith.

(Saints Perpetua, Felicity, and Irenaeus were all Martyrs of the Roman Empire under Septimius Severus’ reign (193-211).Christians also stood out because of their

care and love for others and the basic goodness of their way of life.

The Seed of the Church

“The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christian.” (ccc,852) The courage and convictions of the martyred Christians won

hearts.One reason the church thrived as Tertullian states, is that those

who found the faith worth dying for inspired others. In the midst of a corrupt society, capable of such cruelty, the

lives of Christians stood out in their love for one another and their care for those living on the margins of life, outside the Roman mainstream: the poor, slaves, and women.

The basic goodness of the Christian way of life also appealed to intellectuals and others of good will who were looking for spiritual values in their lives as an alternative to cruelty as entertainment and to the worship of sadistic and corrupt emperors.

Early Christian Worship

Pax Romana- Roman Peace- which essentially means travelling was basically safe.. Hence while Paul was able to travel with ease.

For the Jews Saturday was their day of rest. Sunday was the day of rest for Christians, but in

the Roman Empire that did not exist, therefore as Christian you would have spent the day laboring and then when the day was over, they would get together for evening ekklesia (Church). {Generally in someone’s home, or courtyard, known as an atrium.}

Sunday was the Christian day of worship, in honor of the Resurrection of Christ, and the Eucharist is the heart of Christian worship.

Essentially the basic structure of the mass has not changed since the time of the early Christians. So the call to full, active, and conscious participation was always present in the Liturgy.

Early Christian Worship (Continued)

The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist in the early Christian Liturgy were similar to what we experience in the Mass today.

In the early Christian Liturgy, the Liturgy of the Word included readings from the Old Testament and the epistles, as well as a Psalm. There is no Gospel reading, as we have today [They were not written yet.]; but the readings were followed by a homily, as they are today. Petitions for various needs are found in the Liturgy of the early Church and the Mass today. The early Church concluded the Liturgy of the Word with the sign of peace (with a kiss/lip to lip), which today happens in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, after the consecration (shaking of hands).

In both the early Liturgy and the Mass of today, the Liturgy of the Eucharist includes the offering, the Eucharistic Prayer, and the distribution of the Eucharist. The Mass today includes the sign of peace in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, before we receive Communion. (Article 8, pp. 40–41)

Didache

The full title of the Didache is the: Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.

Scholars believe it was written anonymously in the late first or early second century AD.

It offers the Christian community a pastoral manual of teachings and practices, including instructions on the Eucharist and the form of the Eucharistic Prayers. (sidebar in Article 8, p. 42)

Church Authority: Apostolic Succession

Christ gave the Apostles and their successors, the bishops, a share in his own mission: to proclaim the faith and to plant his kingdom on earth. From Christ they receive the power of acting in his very person.

Their role remains unchanged: bishops are obligated to teach the faith; to celebrate divine worship, above all the Eucharist; and to guide their churches as true pastors. They are also, in communion with and under the guidance of the Pope (the successor of Peter), to share responsibility for the leadership of the Church.

The presbyters, today called priests, share in the mission of the bishops but do not have their authority and are not considered successors to the Apostles. In both the early Church and today, bishops delegate priests for service by the laying on of hands. (Article 10, p. 49)

Famous Early Apologists

Saint Ignatius of Antioch was the beloved bishop of Antioch who faced martyrdom at the hands of the Roman Empire when he refused to renounce the Christian faith. On his way to death, he wrote letters of encouragement and instruction to the Christians of Asia Minor and Greece. In his letters he urged Christians to remain faithful to the apostolic teaching and to their bishops, the successors of the Apostles. He explained that he was ready to give up his life and be with God because Christ was the love of his life, and he had no need for any earthly thing.

Saint Justin Martyr was a Gentile convert to Christianity. He was influenced by Stoicism and Platonism. In his writings he included details of his life to make certain points. For example, he described meeting an old man who told him that human knowledge alone cannot lead to God and that we need instruction from the prophets. He also described being unable to believe the Roman Empire’s accusations against the Christians because he saw how courageous they were in spite of fear and death. He was martyred after refusing to offer sacrifices to pagan gods.

Saint Irenaeus had to confront the heresy of Gnosticism when he was bishop of Lyon. In his treatise titles Against Heresies, Saint Irenaeus exposed the errors of Gnosticism and contrasted them with Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Apostles. This treatise is credited with ending Gnosticism in that era. Saint Irenaeus also addressed the question of which Gospel was the “best” by asserting that all four Gospels are canonical and that all four are important.