Session 3 – Persecution in the Early Church

Much of our information on the early church and persecution comes from Eusebius

He wrote Ecclesiastical History

Eusebius was a close friend of Constantine (emperor) and got permission to collect and write

about the first 300 years of Church history

Matthew - killed by stabbing as ordered by King Hircanus

James, son of Alphaeous – Stoned and clubbed to death (Josephus)

James, brother of Jesus - thrown down from a height, stoned and then beaten to death at the hands of Ananias

(circa AD 66)

John - tortured by boiling oil, exiled to Patmos in AD 95

Mark - burned during Roman emperor Trajan's reign

Peter - crucified upside-down by the gardens of Nero on the Vatican hill circa AD 64

The Death and Martyrdom of Disciples

Andrew - crucified on an "X" shaped cross by Aegeas, governor of the Edessenes, around AD 80

Philip - stoned and crucified in Hierapolis, Phrygia

Simon - crucified in Egypt under Trajan's reign

Thomas - death by spear thrust in Calamina, India

Thaddaeous - killed by arrows

James, son of Zebedee - killed by sword in AD 44 by order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judea

Bartholomew - beaten, flayed alive, crucified upside down, then beheaded

Peter and Paul died under emperor Nero

How were the early Christians seen by others as the Church developed over

the first 2-300 years

We will look at three different perspectives:

How they were view by the Popular

How they were viewed Politically

How they were viewed Philosophically

Viewed by the popular

They were seen as unsocial because they would not involve themselves in festivals

and feasts of the pagans

They were seen and called atheists for denying all the Roman Gods

They participated in strange rituals(Like the Eucharist)

Only appealed to the poor and low classes

PoliticallyThey were seen as unpatriotic because they didn’t

worship to the God’s who protected Rome

Accused often of being revolutionaries

They worshipped Christ who was a Roman criminal

They were not in the military typically (until Constantine)

Philosophically (to the “educated”/educators)

Christian apologists in the early church address many of the objections by these people, and a lot

of what we know is from apologists quoting philosophers

Christianity appealed to the simple minded

They embraced immoral people

Embraced stories that were foolish to them (Virgin birth, Resurrection, OT stories, Incarnation)

There were ten major waves of persecution

They were not all empire wide, some were localized - And they varied on severity

We will be looking at a 250(ish) year period of persecution, starting with Nero in A.D. 64

Nero set fire to the city of Rome and then blamed it on the

Christians to justify his persecution

Peter and Paul both were martyred under emperor Nero as well as many other

Christians at that time

After Nero there is a 30(ish) year gap until the next persecution under emperor Domitian

Under Domitian, John was exiled to the Island of Patmos where he wrote revelation

The seven letters to the sever churches were written during the time of Domitian’s persecution

Persecution under Domitian was rather sporadic, and was not consistent throughout the empire

Domitian referred to himself as Lord and God, so you can image the problems that created

"DOMITIAN, having exercised his cruelty against many, and unjustly slain no small number of noble

and illustrious men at Rome, ... at length established himself as the successor of NERO, in his hatred and hostility to GOD. He was the second that raised a

persecution against us.” - Eusebius

The next persecution came under Emperor Trajan

We have a letter written from Trajan to Pliny (one of his Gov)

that speaks about Christians

He said not to seek them out, but if they are brought to you,

but if brought to Pliny he should get them to recant

Ignatius died under Trajan (Thrown to Beasts in Rome)

Hadrian was the next emperor who persecution came from

Under Hadrian, persecution was more localized

Justin Martyr quotes a script from that time that says how officials should deal with Christians

He said the official ruling was Christians had to be convicted of committing a crime in

order to be tried

If you brought false witness against a Christian that was punished

It was better than other times of persecution, but still had it’s problems

Polycarp was martyred under Hadrian’s rule

Polycarp went into hiding for a while (which was not a bad thing, the church tried everything

they could to keep the bishops alive so they could teach)

One night Polycarp is reported to have had a dream, in the dream his pillow caught fire and he

took it as a sign that he was to be martyred

After fleeing and hiding for a time, he was finally found and surrounded

He invited the soldiers in, fed them, asked for some time to pray, and then

said he was ready to go

“Then, when he had been brought in, the proconsul asked him if he was Polycarp. And when

he confessed, he would have persuaded him to deny, saying, Have respect unto thine age, and

other things like these, as is their custom to say: Swear by the fortunes of Caesar; Repent; Say, Away

with the Atheists. But Polycarp, when he had looked with a grave face at all the multitude of lawless heathen in the arena, having beckoned

unto them with his hand, sighed, and looking up unto heaven, said, Away with the Atheists!...

The Account of Polycarp’s martyrdom

“…And when the proconsul pressed him, and said, Swear, and I will release thee, revile Christ; Polycarp said, Eighty and six years have I served him, and in nothing hath he wronged me; and how, then, can I blaspheme my King, who saved me? But when he again persisted, and said, Swear by the fortune of

Caesar, he answered, If thou art vainly confident that I shall swear by the fortune of Caesar, as thou

suggestest, and pretendest to be ignorant of me who I am, hear distinctly, I am a Christian. But if thou

desirest to learn the scheme of Christianity, give me a day to speak, and hearken unto me…

“But the proconsul said unto him, I have wild beasts; I will deliver thee unto them, unless thou repentest.

But he said, Call them, for repentance from the better to the worse is impossible for us; but it is a good thing

to change from evil deeds to just ones. But he said again unto him, I will cause thee to be consumed by

fire if thou despisest the wild beasts, unless thou repentest. But Polycarp said, Thou threatenest me with fire that burneth but for a season, and is soon quenched. For thou art ignorant of the fire of the judgment to come, and of the eternal punishment

reserved for the wicked. But why delayest thou? Bring whatever thou wishest.”

The next persecution comes under Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Natural disasters were hitting Rome more than usual, and he blamed it on the Christians and

their black magic and not worshipping the Gods

Justin Martyr was beheaded in Rome

Many groups Christians were gathered and thrown to beasts while others were forced to

watch in attempts to get them to recant

Many stood fast and were martyred for their faith, but some recanted and denied Christ

Blandina was a famous female martyr

She had earlier been thrown to the beasts, but they wouldn’t touch her

She encouraged many Christians to not recant

On the last day of the shows she was brought with a teen who they tortured and killed

She was finally killed, tossed by a bull inside a sack

It was people like her who encouraged others to go

through with being martyred and not to recant their faith

It was said that no women ever suffered in persecution like she did

The Romans then burnt the remains of Christians

Next persecution came by Septimius Severus

Under him conversation to Christianity was forbidden and illegal

It’s strange because some people in his household were Christians

The worst persecution came to he North African Church at this time

A very popular martyrdom from this period is that of Perpetua and Felicitas

Perpetua was a 22 year old mother

She took her baby into prison with he for a time

Felicitas was a slave girl who was with Perpetua, she was pregnant and gave

birth while inside prison

She was also baptized in prison

Perpetua’ father visited her three times encouraging her to recant her faith,

but she didn’t

Decius (around 250 A.D.) becomes emperor and starts the first empire wide persecution

The catalyst for the persecution was the impending threat of the Goths, he said Rome may fall because they’ve abandoned sacrifice

to the Gods (mainly the Christians)

Under this massive persecution, many Christians were martyred, but sadly, many Christians

renounced their faith and gave in

Something called a Libellous was issued that signified that

you had made your annual sacrifice to the Gods. If you did

not have one, you were in trouble.

There were three camps of Christians in response:

Those who stood firm, those who sacrificed, and those who bribed officials for a libellous

Next was Emperor Valerian

Under his reign, Cyprian of Carthage and the Bishop at Alexandria were deported

Under this persecution Christians did not collapse like they had under Decius

Orders were given to execute church leads (bishops and deacons etc.) and to

seize church property

Later after being deported, Cyprian was brought back and Martyred in the arenas

The Governor tells Cyprian he is guilty of conspiracy and leading a group that

was against the state

At this time Origen was also tortured and soon after died as a result of it

Valerian was then captured by the Persians and died and 40 years (260-300 A.D.) of peace came

During these years, church buildings are built, Christianity continues to grow, and Christians

become involved in Government positions

This was the calm before the storm to come

The trick at this point for emperors who wanted to kill Christians was there were so many now

But that didn’t stop what was about to come

Next came emperor Diocletian

His wife was a Christian and was an influence him holding him back from

persecuting the Christians

But it only lasted so long before the great 10 year persecution began

The primary proponent wasn’t Diocletian though, at this time the Empire was split

between East and West

Diocletian and the persecution takes place in the East empire, which was further split up between

the Augustis (Political) and Caesars (Military)

Diocletian was the political (Augusti) over the Eastern Empire, and a fellow by the name of

Galerius was the Caesar (military leader)

In the West, Constantius (Constantine's father) was the emperor, and the persecution didn’t

happen in that region of Rome

Galerius’ mother pushed him to persecute the Christians because they wouldn’t sever the Gods

After a while, in 303, near the end of Diocletian's rain, Galerius has taken most of the control after

defeating the Persians in battle, and the persecution begins

The first decree give said for Churches to be torn down, Bibles to be collected and burnt, and

Christians couldn’t be in the Government etc.

The second decree came from Galerius that Christians must sacrifice to the Roman Gods, and

when they didn’t they were thrown in prison and many martyred

Prisons became so full they had to release some Christians to make room for others

They used every method around to kill the Christians at the time, beasts, burning, stabbing,

crucifixion, the rack, etc.

Thousands of Christians were martyred, it became so violent that the people of Rome

started to get upset and disturbed by how bad it was

After 310, Galerius starts to die and no more people are martyred. He eventually calls

for the Christians to pray for him and for Rome before he passes.

For all we know, the great persecutor may have found the truth in Jesus Christ at the end

One thing that was true through all persecutions, the Church did not fight back

When they could they fled, they went into hiding, but they never fought back

and killed the Romans

This is likely the reason why, despite so strong persecution, the church still grew fast

Christians were different, and everyone could tell

Memory Verse

2 Corinthians 12:10: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for

Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”