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A look at the Roman persecutions of the early Church (PART TWO)

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Two hundred years of suffering under Roman oppression

The first 150 years or so of the early Christian Church were undoubtedly bloody. Roman authorities in the Middle East, Italy and much of the Empire actively hounded early worshipers and those who converted, enacting policies intended to destroy the new sect with executions, apostasy and public pressures.

PART ONE

Highlights

By Robert Mullen (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
3/6/2015 (9 years ago)

Published in Living Faith

Keywords: History, Early Church, Catholicism, Christianity, Jesus, Rome

However, the new religion thrived largely because of many of these very same policies. Instead of scaring Christians into obedience, the martyrs - with their dedication to Christ - only brought more converts from a population who saw this strength in the face of death as their knowledge of a great truth. As Imperial governors closed their fists tighter around innocent Christians, educated Romans spoke out in their defense, creating a large body of written work which spread through the Roman world as easily as did Christian missionaries.

Around the world Christians are suffering horribly, please act today and save your brothers and sisters!

Under the Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138), Christianity was starting to become an accepted and legal religion within the Roman world. Professing belief in Christ was no longer a crime, and Christians enjoyed protection from slander just as traditional pagan Roman's did.

But this new era of acceptance would not last, a little more than two decades later, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180), there was a massive increase in the number of cases of persecution that occurred within the Empire.

While in the beginning, an act of apostasy - renouncing Christ and making a sacrifice to the gods of the Roman state - was enough to set most Christians free, this was soon manipulated to become just another way to humiliate Christians before execution.

In 177 AD, in the city of Lugdunum in Gaul (now Lyons, France), the pagan Romans began to ostracize the Christian community that had established itself there. At first this took the form of banning Christians from public spaces like the market or the baths-important places for developing communal ties for any citizen in the Roman era. Eventually this unofficial persecution became more official.

Christians in the city were arrested and stood trial in the forum. Their slaves were interrogated and claimed that their Christian masters partook in rituals of incest and cannibalism, an echo of early claims made by Roman authorities who misunderstood the symbolic and spiritual nature of the Eucharist and Christian fellowship.

These Christians were tortured or imprisoned, and many were fed to beasts.

Saint Blandina was one of the Christians who was executed. She, however, was a slave who was arrested with her master, and some of her fellow Christians worried that she would turn on them under torture.

Blandina did not though. According to the writings of the Roman historian Eusebius of Caesarea she was tortured in a horrible manner by the Roman official overseeing her, that even those torturing her became exhausted.

But Blandina remained steadfast in her devotion to Christ. Every question asked of her by her captors was met only with: "I am a Christian, and we commit no wrongdoing."

The Roman in charge of the trial wrote to Emperor Aurelius and reported that those who denied or recanted being a Christian would be released, while those who refused were to be executed. Aurelius replied that Roman citizens who did not recant were to be executed by beheading, but those who were not citizens would instead be tortured prior to their execution.

Blandina endured much before her death. According to Eusebius she was bound to a stake in the ground, and wild animals were set upon her, though they reportedly would not touch her. After a number of days she was cut free and taken to the city's arena to watch her fellow Christians suffer and perish. At last her time had come; she was whipped horribly and placed on a heated grate which burned her terribly. Then she was thrown into the arena with a wild bull which gored her. After her great suffering she was executed with a dagger.

Following Aurelius's reign several persecutions occurred during the rule of Septimius Severus (AD 193-211). While traditionally it has been held that Severus personally ordered these persecutions, current historians are unsure, and believe that Severus may be blamed because he was Emperor during these incidents.

The Augustan History claims that Severus decreed that converting to Judaism or Christianity was forbidden, but the nature of these documents are unclear. Eusebius also describes Severus as anti-Christian, but Tertullian, another Roman historian and Christian-apologist wrote that the Emperor had a Christian as his personal physician and thought highly of the upstart religion, evening going out of his way to save a group of Christians from being attacked by a mob.

What is clear is that Severus's son and co-ruler, Publius Septimius Geta (AD 209-211), did actively seek out Christians to persecute.

The most notable case under Geta's rule was that of the Saints Perpetua and Felicity, who were executed in Carthage in Africa during games held on his birthday in 203 AD. Perpetua was a noblewoman who was just 22 when she and her newborn were martyred. Felicity was a pregnant slave who was imprisoned with her and also martyred.


The women and other Christians were first whipped by gladiators. Following this, a boar, bear and leopard were let loose on the men, and a wild cow was set on the women. Those who survived the animals were executed by gladiators.

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Maximinus the Thracian (AD 235-238) undertook a more subtle campaign against the Christian community in Italy. While he did not seek to physically harm Christians, he attempted to destroy their sense of community be exiling Christian leaders from Italy.

A decree exiled Saint Hippolytus - one of the Church's most important early theologians - and Pope Pontain to Sardinia. While a deliberate attempt to take advantage of a schism in Church leadership, Maximinus was unsuccessful in his attempt to destroy the Church foundations.


The early Church and its followers had so far endured two centuries of hostility from Roman authorities, yet still the new religion was expanding. The acceptance of Christians in Roman society was still a long way off, and years of brutality still awaited those who refused to renounce their faith in Christ.

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