header

Christian Martyrs: Ten Persecutions Under Ten Roman Emperors
by Samson Hutagalung

The Sixth Persecution: Under the Emperor Maximinus

The sixth persecution of the Roman Emperor occurred during the reign of Maximinus. History recorded that before his reign the church was free from persecution for more then six years. After Maximinus came to throne, persecution started in AD 249. The method he used not so much different from other emperors before him. Christians were forced to worship idols or false gods. To those who refused to obey would receive various consequences and eventually would be put to death. The same thing occured to the Roman soldiers who confessed as a Christian. Thus whosoever confessed as a Christian, would be imprisoned and put to death.[36]

Although the reign of Maximinus was considered short, and yet a number of church leaders had faced much consequences for being Christians. Among the leaders who had martyred during this persecution were ‘Pontianus, bishop of Rome,’ ‘Antoros, a Grecian who succeeded Pontianus,’ ‘Pammachius, a Roman senator,’ ‘Calepodius, a Christian minister,’ ‘Ouritus, a Roman nobleman,’ ‘Matina, a noble young lady’ and ‘fourty other Christians.’[37] Most of these martyrs were beheaded. Despite of the severe punishment that would be faced by Christians in those days, Christianity continued to grow and many Christians had stood for their faith. Though it was difficult, yet the Lord had strengthened them till the end of their lives.

The Seventh Persecution: Under the Emperor Decius

Before the reign of Decius (249-251) ‘the Christian churches were crowded with converts.’ On the other hand, ‘the heathen temples of Rome were almost forsaken.’ But in the beginning of Decius’s reign, Decius realised ‘the military dimensions of problem.’ He recognised that the soldiers had perceived some spiritual things. Decius was also concerned the weakening of traditional polytheism that the Roman rulers had practised and supported in the past. Thus he desired to restore the strength of the Roman Empire. As a result, Decius initiated an Empire-wide persecution of Christians.[38] In the eyes of Decius Christianity was the enemy of the Empire and “their atheism was responsible for the many troubles in the realm.”[39] Thus during this persecution a far greater number of Christians were martyred.[40]

It was said that under the persecution of the emperor Decius, more Christians were killed than the former persecutions. The bishop of Rome by the name of Fabian was first person of authority who felt the severity of this persecution and he was finally beheaded. The faith of many Christians were tested during this time. Many so-called Christians had obeyed the instruction of the emperor. They had offered a sacrifice to the false gods and received a Certificate of Sacrifice from the local Commission. On the other hand some Christians did not offer any sacrifice to idols, yet they purchased certificates in order to avoid punishment.[41] However those who truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ they refused to obey the emperor and chose to die for the sake of their faith in the Lord Jesus.

It was during this persecution, Origen, being a minister of the Lord wrote many books and exhorted Christians to the truth but he was arrested at the age of sixty-four and put into prison in chains. The time Origen spent in prison was all under the control of the hand of the Almighty God. His life was threatened with fire and tormented by every means available, but he endured for the Word of Christ. By the grace of God, Origen was ordered to prolong his imprisonment, facing more sufferings and this was the time where the emperor Decius was engaging in battle which caused the attention of the emperor away from Christians. This opportunity was a great relief for Origen and eventually he was feed and lived in Tyre until he died at the age of sixty-nine.[42] Because of the widespread of persecution in the entire empire of Rome, in Antioch there was a lady who was also condemned to prison by the name of Theodora and finally was beheaded and burned.[43]

The Eighth Persecution: Under the Emperor Valerian

The reign of Valerian was similar to what some other emperors. Valerian was very kind to Christians. Eusebius recorded that Valerian was so remarkable in character and wonderfully friendly and gentle to the Christians.[44] Apparently at the beginning of his reign in AD 253 many Christians might have said that they truly thanked God for this emperor because they had a freedom of worship. However, soon the situation changed. The influence of the magicians from Egypt had brought difficulties to the Christians. Thus in AD 257 the Christians started facing persecutions as again Eusebius recorded,

What a change when he was induced to get rid of them by the teacher and guild-leader of the magicians from Egypt, who urged him to kill or persecute pure and saintly men as rivals who hindered his own foul, disgusting incantations! For they are and were able, by being present and seen, and simply by breathing on them and speaking boldly, to frustrate the schemes of the wicked demons. He also induced him to perform devilish rites, loathsome tricks, and unholy sacrifices, to cut the throats of unfortunate boys, use the children of unhappy parents as sacrificial victims, and tear out the vitals of newborn babies, cutting up and mincing God’s handiwork, as if these things would bring them happiness.[45]

At the beginning this persecution was just to check the progress of Christianity without any bloodshed “by the banishment of ministers and prominent laymen, the confiscation of their property, and prohibition of religious assemblies.”[46] But Valerian saw this action as fruitless. For this reason, “he intensified Decius’s policies by ordering clergy to sacrifice to the gods of the state.”[47] Thus under this persecution bishop Sixtus II of Rome, and Cyprian of Carthage were martyred.[48] On another event, history recorded that a deacon by name of Lawrence was demanded by the authorities to hand over all the possession of the church.[49]

The Ninth Persecution: Under the Emperor Aurelian

The reign of Aurelian the emperor was started in AD 270 as a successor of the emperor, Claudius II (268-270) and ended in AD 275.[50] In the beginning of his reign he was much concerned with the affair of the Christians.  He involved solving the matter in the church especially with regard to the church building, even to the extent of sending a letter to the bishop of the religion in Italy and Rome that Christians might use the proper building or church for worship.[51] However as years went by, the attitude of Aurelian changed toward Christianity because of the oppression of some of his advisers.[52]

Although the emperor had not yet given any decree of persecution against Christianity, the issue of persecution had spread to every corner of the empire. Thus the emperor had not any other way but to instigate persecution against Christianity. But what the evil men had planned would never happen unless the Lord allowed it. This was seen in the time of Aurelian who wanted to sign the decree against Christianity but something happened to the emperor. As Eusebius said,

Divine justice struck, seizing him in an iron grip to frustrate the attempt – clear proof for all to see that it would never be easy for the rulers of this world to resist the churches of Christ, unless the protecting hand, as a divine and heavenly judgement to chasten and reform us, should at times of its own choosing allow this to be done.[53]

However though it was not so clear when the ninth persecution started during the reign of Aurelian, the history recorded that persecution truly occurred. Here are some records of the persecution:

Among those who suffered at this time was Felix, Bishop of Rome, who was beheaded. Agapetus, a young Roman who sold his estate and gave the money to the poor, was seized as a Christian, tortured and then brought to Praeneste, a city near Rome, where he was beheaded. These were the only martyrs whose names were recorded during this reign.[54]

The Tenth Persecution: Under the Emperor Diocletian

The tenth persecution was the most severe and widespread from all the nine persecutions under the Roman Emperors. The beginning of this persecution was under the reign of Diocletian and ended by his successor, Maximian. The tenth persecution was the result of the evil heats of the emperor, which developed progressively. On the other hand, many Christians might have thought that persecution would end starting from the reign of this emperor because in the first 19 years of Diocletian’s reign Christianity had enjoyed freedom to worship the true and living God. This was the time Christianity growing very rapidly.[55] As Schaff recorded,

In the first twenty years of his reign Diocletian respected the toleration edict of Gallienus. His own wife Prisca, his daughter Valeria, and most of his eunuchs and court officers, besides many of the most of prominent public functionaries, were Christians, or at least favourable to the Christians religion.[56]

At the nineteenth year of his reign, Diocletian chose Galerius to be Caesar to serve under him. As a result of this, Christianity began to face persecutio because Diocletian was instigated by the Caesar Galerius “who was a cruel and fanatical heathen and attempting to rouse patriotic feeling.”[57] The influence of Galerius’ instigation, new rules had been made in order to fulfil Galerius’ intention. Within two years (303-304), there were four edicts issued against Christianity.[58] The edict given by Diocletian was so severe that every Christians could not escape but to pay the price as being followers of Christ Jesus. Every Christian was required to renounce his faith or to be sold into slavery. This was the time Christians were forbidden to worship the Lord. On third edict given by the emperor was more severe where every church leader should be arrested and they had to sacrifice to the gods. On the fourth decree given by Maximian was the worst of all that “all Christians without exception to sacrifice to the gods with the penalty for non-compliance being imprisonment or death.”[59]

Under this condition, we who live in this generation, are we able to think the response of those brethren in those days? Truly, only by the grace and love of God which were given to them that they might be able to refuse to obey what the evil emperors had done to them. Thus during the persecution which lasted for ten years many Christians, young and old died and tortured to death. As Boer says,

At its end, if a church leader did not have the marks of the whip or of other forms of torture on his body, he was suspected of having betrayed the faith. Thousands died and thousands more went through life maimed, blinded or disfigured by torture.[60]

However though the punishments for being a Christian was so severe, yet there were many believers whose love, faithfulness, zeal, fidelity to the Lord became greater even to be faithful to death.[61]

The severe events that happened during the tenth persecution were witnessed by the church father Eusebius. He was the witness of all events and saw with his own eyes how the Christians were tortured and the Holy Scriptures burnt, the pastor hunted and tortured and torn to pieces. But despite of all these, the Christians were still able to sing hymn of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord who had enabled them to endure in time like these.[62] For Eusebius there was no way to escape but to be ready to put to prison and later was released.[63]

The end of the persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire was in AD 313 when Constantine one day at sunset saw the bright form of a cross and the words “In this overcome.” By this sign Constantine and his men were astonished even though they did not know the meaning of this sign. However the same sign was conformed to Constantine at night while he was sleeping, Christ appeared to him with the same cross, telling him to make a cross to carry before him into battle. Thus, Constantine established the right of Christians to worship God and this was followed by the issue of the Edict of Milan, which decreed full legal toleration of Christianity.[64]

Conclusion

The ten persecutions under the Roman Empire portrayed to all the Christians both in the past and present that every Christian would pay the price for being a follower of Jesus Christ. The long history of persecution was the total fulfilment of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ that there would be a time where Christians would face persecution. As Christ said in Matthew 10:16-22,

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues, and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak…. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

During these ten persecutions thousands of Christians, young and old had died for their faith. It was the grace of the Lord given to Christians in those days that persecution ended during the reign of Constantine with the issue of the Edict of Milan. From this time onward Christians had much privilege both to worship and serve the Lord in the church. However because of the freedom Christians had, Christianity had entered into the dark ages where the church had made use of the freedom and gone astray from the truth. The leaders of the church developed their own authority and power. The word of the Lord was not preached to God's people. Nonetheless, through the reformation Christianity had directed back to the truth and the word of the Lord was also proclaimed and spread to the whole world. Many Christian gave themselves as missionaries in order to bring the Good News to the unbelievers. It was during this time many countries and nations hated Christianity and even persecuted Christians. As one had said, “More Christians have been martyred in our century than during all the other eras of church history combined.”[65] Therefore let us be ready and ask the Lord to strengthen us in any circumstance that we are facing that we may be found faithful to the end as our fellow believers have done in the past.

<<< Previous Page

Bibliography

Boyle, Isaac. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprinted, 1979.

Dowley, Tim. A Lion Handbook: The History of Christianity. England: Lion Publishing, 1977.

Houghton, S. M. Sketches From Church History. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1980.

Jones, William. The History of the Christian Church. Vol. I. Conrad, Montana: Triangle Press, 1993.

Kuiper, B. K. The Church in History. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964.

Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of the Expansion of Christianity. USA: The Paternoster Press, 1970.

Shaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church: Ante-Nicene Christianity. Vol. II. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1910.

Sin, Jack. Syllabus of the Christian Martyrs of the Church. Singapore: Unpublished notes FEBC, 1999.

William, G. A. Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine. New York: Dorset Press, 1965.

[36]Ibid., 55; One has said that “Maximinus directed  his measures primarily against the heads of the Churches, and a number of martyrdoms are recorded during his short tenure of office.” Latourette., 146. 

[37]Sin, 55.

[38]One has said that the raising of the persecution under the reign of Decius was as a result of his hatred to the emperor Philip who reigned just before his time. Isaac Boycle, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprinted 1979), 254.

[39]Sin, 56.

[40]Schaff recorded that “In the execution of the imperial decree confiscation, exile, torture, promises and treats of all kinds, were employed to move the Christians to apostasy. Multitudes of nominal Christians, especially at the beginning, sacrificed to the gods, or procured from magistrate a false certificate that they had done so, and were then excommunicated as apostates; while hundreds rushed with impetuous zeal to the prisons and the tribunals, to obtain the confessor’s or martyr’s crown.” Schaff, 60-1.

[41]Sin, 56; see also Latouoratte, 149.

[42]This was the record of Eusebius of the suffering of Origen. “As for Origen, the terrible sufferings that befell him in the persecution, and how they ended, when the evil demon, bent on his destruction, brought all the weapons in his armoury to bear and fought him with every device and expedient, attacking him with more determination than anyone he was fighting at that  time-the dreadful cruelties he endured for the word of Christ, chains and bodily torments, agony in iron and the darkness of his prison.” Williamson, 273; Ibid., 56-7.

[43]The boyfriend of Theodora, Didymus who desired to rescue her and escape from prison, but soon it was discovered and both of them were beheaded and their bodies burned. Ibid., 56.

[44]In the full comments written by Eusebius saying, “Both phases of Valerian’s rule are astonishing, the first being especially remarkable in character: he was so wonderfully friendly and gentle to the people of God. Not one of the emperors before him – not even those who were supposed to have been avowed Christians – was so kindly and sympathetic in his attitude to them as was Valerian at first, when he received them publicly with all friendship and affection and filled his whole palace with godfearing people, making it a church of God.” Williamson, 292.

[45]Ibid.,292-3.

[46]Schaff, 62.

[47]Sin, 57.

[48]Schaff, 62.

[49]Sin, 58.

[50]It was recorded that Aurelian was the ninth persecution emperor that reigned before Diocletian (284-305). Latourette, 153.

[51]Williamson, 318-9.

[52]Ibid., 319.

[53]Ibid., 319.

[54]Sin, 58.

[55]Ibid., 58;  Schaff recorded that Christianity truly was having freedom in those days, even the gospel was preached to the high officers of the empire and the members of the family of the emperor. This was the result of the edict of toleration which has been passed by Gallienus to the emperor, Deocletian. Further the example given as the result of evangelism was that, a city in the province of Phrygia, had become almost wholly Christian, but after the issues of the edict against Christianity this was burned, its entire population perishing in the flames. In some areas and provinces, the Christians were so numerous that the attempt to implement the decrees would have led to collapse of society.

[56]Schaff, 65.

[57]Sin, 59;  Ibid., 66.

[58]“In 303 Diocletian issued in rapid succession three edicts, each more severe than its predecessor. Maximian issued the fourth, the worst of all, April 30, 304. Christian churches were to be destroyed; all copies of the Bible were to be burned; all Christians were to be deprived of public office and civil rights; and at last all, without exception, were to sacrifice to the gods upon pain of death.” In addition to these decrees, he commanded that “on one to approach him except on bended knees, and with the forehead touching the ground, while he was seated on the throne in rich vestments from the far East.” This was the starting of the practice as the Pope requires today. Ibid., 66.

[59]Sin, 59. On the other hand, Maximin also issued the fifth edict of persecution against Christianity which commanded that “all males with their wives and servants, and even their children, should sacrifice and actually taste the accursed offerings, and that all provisions in the markets should be sprinkled with sacrificial wine.” Ibid., 68.

[60]Sin quoted this from Boer page 103.

[61]Ibid., 60.

[62]Eusebius said in his book: “I saw with my own eyes the places of worship thrown down from top to bottom, to the very foundations, the inspired Holy Scriptures committed to the flames in the middle of the public squares, and the pastors of the churches hiding disgracefully in one place or another, while others suffered the indignity of being help up to ridicule by their enemies – a reminder of another prophetic saying: for contempt was poured on rulers, and He made them wander in a trackless land where there was no road.” G. A. Williamson, Eusebius: The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine (New York: Dorset Press, 1969), 329.

[63]Schaff, 69.

[64]Latourette, 158. See also Kuiper, 24-5, and Sin, 61.

[65]James and Marti Hefley, By Their Blood: Christianity Martyrs of the Twentieth Century (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1997), on the back cover.