The First Persecution
THE FIRST PERSECUTION
The first of the ten persecutions was stirred up by Nero about AD 64. His rage against the Christians was so fierce that Eusebius records, “A man might then see cities full of men’s bodies, the old lying together with the young, and the dead bodies of women cast out naked, without reverence of that sex, in the open streets.” Many Christians in those days thought that Nero was the Antichrist because of his cruelty and abominations.
The apostle Peter was condemned to death during this persecution, although some say he escaped. It is known that many Christians encouraged him to leave the city, and the story goes that as he came to the city’s gate, Peter saw Jesus coming to meet him. “Lord, where are You going?” Peter asked.
“I am come again to be crucified,” was the answer.
Seeing that his suffering was understood, Peter returned to the city, where Jerome tells us he was crucified head down at his own request, saying that he was not worthy to be crucified the same way his Lord was.
Paul also suffered under this persecution when Nero sent two of his esquires, Ferega and Parthemius, to bring him to his execution. They found Paul instructing the people and asked him to pray for them so they might believe. Receiving Paul’s assurance that they would soon be baptized, the two men led him out of the city to the place of execution, where Paul was beheaded. This persecution ended under Vespasian’s reign, giving the Christians a little peace.
THE SECOND PERSECUTION
The second persecution began during the reign of Domitian, the brother of Titus. Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos, but on Domitian’s death, John was allowed to return to Ephesus in the year AD 97. He remained there until the reign of Trajan, governing the churches in Asia and writing his Gospel until he died at about the age of one hundred.
Why did the Roman emperors and senate persecute the Christians so? First of all, they didn’t understand that Christ’s kingdom is not a temporal kingdom, and they feared for their powerful leadership roles if too many citizens followed Christ. Second, Christians despised the false Roman gods, preferring to worship only the true, living God. Whatever happened in Rome—famine, disease, earthquake, wars, bad weather—was blamed on the Christians, who defied the Roman gods.
Death was not considered enough punishment for the Christians, who were subjected to the cruelest treatment possible. They were whipped, disemboweled, torn apart, and stoned. Plates of hot iron were laid on them; they were strangled, eaten by wild animals, hung, and tossed on the horns of bulls. After they were dead, their bodies were piled in heaps and left to rot without burial. Nevertheless, the church continued to grow, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the apostles and watered with the blood of the saints.
THE THIRD PERSECUTION
During the third persecution, Pliny the Second wrote to the emperor Trajan, complaining that thousands of Christians were being killed daily, although none of them had done anything worthy of persecution.
During this persecution, Ignatius was condemned to death because he professed Christ. At the time, he was living in Antioch, next in line as bishop after Peter. As he made the trip from Syria to Rome, he preached under heavy guard; he preached to the churches he passed and asked the church in Rome not to try to save him. Condemned to be thrown to the lions, Ignatius replied, “I am the wheat of Christ: I am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread.”
THE FOURTH PERSECUTION
After a respite, the Christians again came under persecution, this time from Marcus Aurelius, in AD 161.
One of those who suffered this time was Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna. Three days before he was captured, Polycarp dreamed that a pillow under his head caught fire, and when he awoke, he told those around him that he would burn alive for Christ’s sake.
Hearing his captors had arrived one evening, Polycarp left his bed to welcome them, ordered a meal prepared for them, and then asked for an hour alone to pray. The soldiers were so impressed by Polycarp’s advanced age and composure that they began to wonder why they had been sent to take him; but as soon as he had finished his prayers, they put him on a donkey and brought him to the city.
As he entered the stadium with his guards, a voice from heaven was heard to say, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.” No one nearby saw anyone speaking, but many people heard the voice.
Brought before the tribunal and the crowd, Polycarp refused to deny Christ, although the proconsul begged him: “Consider yourself and have pity on your great age. Reproach Christ and I will release you.”
Polycarp replied, “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never once wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
Threatened with wild beasts and fire, Polycarp stood his ground. “What are you waiting for? Do whatever you please.” The crowd demanded Polycarp’s death, gathering wood for the fire and preparing to tie him to the stake.
“Leave me,” he said. “He who will give me strength to sustain the fire will help me not to flinch from the pile.” So they bound him but didn’t nail him to the stake. As soon as Polycarp finished his prayer, the fire was lit, but it leaped up around him, leaving him unburned, until the people convinced a soldier to plunge a sword into him. When he did, so much blood gushed out that the fire was immediately extinguished. The soldiers then placed his body into a fire and burned it to ashes, which some Christians later gathered up and buried properly.
In this same persecution, the Christians of Lyons and Vienne, two cities in France, also suffered, including Sanctus of Vienne, Maturus, Attalus of Pergamos, and the woman Blandina, all of whom endured extreme torture and death with fortitude and grace.
THE FIFTH PERSECUTION, AD 200
During the reign of Severus, the Christians had several years of rest and could worship God without fear of punishment. But after a time, the hatred of the ignorant mob again prevailed, and the old laws were remembered and put in force against them. Fire, sword, wild beasts, and imprisonment were resorted to again, and even the dead bodies of Christians were stolen from their graves and mutilated. Yet the faithful continued to multiply. Tertullian, who lived at this time, said that if the Christians had all gone away from the Roman territories, the empire would have been greatly weakened.
By now, the persecutions had extended to northern Africa, which was a Roman province, and many were murdered in that area. One of these was Perpetua, a married lady twenty-six years old with a baby at her breast. On being taken before the proconsul Minutius, Perpetua was commanded to sacrifice to the idols. Refusing to do so, she was put in a dark dungeon and deprived of her child; but two of her keepers, Tertius and Pomponius, allowed her out in the fresh air several hours a day, during which time she was permitted to nurse her child.
Finally the Christians were summoned to appear before the judge and urged to deny their Lord, but all remained firm. When Perpetua’s turn came, her father suddenly appeared, carrying her infant in his arms, and begged her to save her own life for the sake of her child. Even the judge seemed to be moved. “Spare the gray hairs of your father,” he said. “Spare your child. Offer sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor.”
Perpetua answered, “I will not sacrifice.”
“Are you a Christian?” demanded Hilarianus, the judge.
“I am a Christian” was her answer.
Perpetua and all the other Christians tried with her that day were ordered killed by wild beasts as a show for the crowd on the next holiday. They entered the place of execution clad in the simplest of robes, Perpetua singing a hymn of triumph. The men were to be torn to pieces by leopards and bears. Perpetua and a young woman named Felicitas were hung up in nets, at first naked, but the crowd demanded that they should be allowed their clothing.
When they were again returned to the arena, a bull was let loose on them. Felicitas fell, seriously wounded. Perpetua was tossed, her loose robe torn and her hair falling loose, but she hastened to the side of the dying Felicitas and gently raised her from the ground. When the bull refused to attack them again, they were dragged out of the arena, to the disappointment of the crowd, which wanted to see their deaths. Finally brought back in to be killed by gladiators, Perpetua was assigned to a trembling young man who stabbed her weakly several times, not being used to such scenes of violence. When she saw how upset the young man was, Perpetua guided his sword to a vital area and died.
THE SIXTH PERSECUTION, AD 235
This persecution was begun by the emperor Maximinus, who ordered all the Christians hunted down and killed. A Roman soldier who refused to wear a laurel crown bestowed on him by the emperor and confessed he was a Christian was scourged, imprisoned, and put to death.
Pontianus, bishop of Rome, was banished to Sardinia for preaching against idolatry and murdered. Anteros, a Grecian who succeeded Pontianus as bishop of Rome, collected a history of the martyrs and suffered martyrdom himself after only forty days in office.
Pammachius, a Roman senator, and forty-two other Christians were all beheaded in one day and their heads set out on the city gates. Calepodius, a Christian minister, after being dragged through the streets, was thrown into the Tiber River with a millstone fastened around his neck. Quiritus, a Roman nobleman, and his family and servants were barbarously tortured and put to death. Martina, a noble young lady, was beheaded; and Hippolitus, a Christian prelate, was tied to a wild horse and dragged through fields until he died.
Maximinus was succeeded by Gordian, during whose reign and that of his successor, Philip, the church was free from persecution for more than six years. But in 249, a violent persecution broke out in Alexandria without the emperor’s knowledge.
Metrus, an old Christian of Alexandria, refused to worship idols. He was beaten with clubs, pricked with sharp reeds, and stoned to death. Quinta, a Christian woman, was dragged by her feet over sharp flint stones, scourged with whips, and finally stoned to death. Apollonia, an old woman nearly seventy, confessed that she was a Christian, and the mob fastened her to a stake, preparing to burn her. She begged to be let loose, and the mob untied her, thinking she was ready to recant, but to their astonishment, she immediately threw herself back into the flames and died.
THE SEVENTH PERSECUTION, AD 249
By now, the heathen temples of Rome were almost forsaken, and the Christian churches were crowded with converts. The emperor Decius decided it was time to crush the Christians once and for all.
Fabian, the bishop of Rome, was the first person of authority to feel the severity of this persecution. The former emperor, Philip, had put his treasure into the care of Fabian. When Decius examined the treasure, there was far less than he had expected, so he had Fabian arrested and beheaded.
Decius, having built a pagan temple at Ephesus, commanded everyone in the city to sacrifice to its idols. This order was refused by seven of his own soldiers: Maximianus, Martianus, Joannes, Malchus, Dionysius, Constantinus, and Seraion. The emperor, willing to try a little persuasion, gave them time to consider until he returned from a journey, but in his absence, they escaped and hid in a cave. Decius was told of this on his return, and the mouth of the cave was closed up so all seven soldiers starved to death.
Theodora, a beautiful young lady of Antioch, refused to sacrifice to the Roman idols and was condemned to prison. Didymus, her Christian lover, disguised himself as a Roman soldier and went to Theodora’s cell, where he convinced her to put on his armor and escape. When he was discovered, Didymus was taken to the governor and condemned to death. When she heard Didymus’s sentence, Theodora threw herself at the judge’s feet and begged that she be the one to suffer, not Didymus. The judge ordered them both beheaded and their bodies burned.
Origen, the celebrated author and teacher of Alexandria, was arrested at the age of sixty-four and thrown into prison in chains, his feet placed in the stocks, which held his legs stretched widely apart. Even though Origen was rich and famous, he received no mercy. He was threatened by fire and tormented by every means available, but his fortitude carried him through it all, even when his judge ordered the torturers to prolong his suffering. During the torture, Decius died and his successor began a war with the Goths, which turned the empire’s attention away from the Christians. Origen was freed; he lived in Tyre until he died at the age of sixty-nine.
THE EIGHTH PERSECUTION, AD 257
When Valerian was first made emperor, he was moderate and kind to the Christians, but then he fell under the influence of an Egyptian magician named Macrianus and ordered the persecutions to continue, which they did for the next three years and six months.
Stephen, the bishop of Rome, was beheaded; and Saturnius, bishop of Toulouse, was attacked and seized by the crowd there for preventing the oracles from speaking. On refusing to sacrifice to the idols, he was fastened by the feet to the tail of a bull, which was then driven down the steps of the temple, dragging Saturnius until his head opened and his brains fell out. None of the Christians in Toulouse had the courage to carry away his dead body until two women took it and buried it in a ditch.
In Rome, Lawrence was brought before the authorities, who knew he was not only a minister of the sacraments but also a distributor of the church’s riches. When they demanded he hand over all the church possessed, Lawrence asked for three days to collect it. On the third day, when the persecutor demanded the wealth of the church, Lawrence stretched his arms out over a group of poor Christians he’d gathered together. “These are the precious treasures of the church,” he told his judge. “What more precious jewels can Christ have than those in whom He promised to dwell?”
Furious at being tricked and out of his mind with anger, Lawrence’s persecutor ordered him whipped, beaten, tied to burning-hot plates of iron, then laid out on a bed of iron over a fire and roasted alive.
The first English martyr was a man named Alban, who was converted by a poor clerk who took shelter in his house. When the authorities eventually came for the clerk, Alban dressed in his clothes and went in his place. The judge recognized Alban and demanded he sacrifice to his heathen gods or die. When Alban refused, he was tortured and beheaded.
THE NINTH PERSECUTION, AD 270
This persecution began under the emperor Aurelian. Among those who suffered at this time was Felix, bishop of Rome, who was beheaded. Agapetas, 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 are the only martyrs whose names were recorded during this reign.
THE TENTH PERSECUTION, AD 303
In the beginning of the tenth persecution, which was in the nineteenth year of his reign, the emperor Diocletian appointed Maximian to share his throne with him; and the two of them chose Galerius and Constatius to serve under them. Under these rulers, the Christians were again persecuted furiously, a state that would continue until AD 313, even though Diocletian and Maximian gave up their offices in the year AD 305.
Constatius and Galerius divided the empire between them, Galerius taking the eastern countries and Constatius ruling France, Spain, and Britain. Meanwhile, the Roman soldiers set up Maxentius as their caesar in Rome. While Galerius and Maxentius continued the persecution for seven or eight years, Constatius became a supporter of the Christians in his empire, being an enlightened, intelligent ruler who was always concerned for the welfare of his subjects, never waging unjust wars or aiding those who did. Churches were terribly persecuted in other parts of the empire, but Constatius gave Christians the freedom to live and worship as they chose, even appointing them as his closest protectors and advisers.
Constatius died in AD 306 and was buried at York, England. His son Constantine, an English-born Christian, succeeded him—a ruler every bit as compassionate and dedicated as his father.
In Rome, Maxentius was ruling as a tyrant, killing his own noblemen, confiscating their goods for himself, and practicing magic—the only thing he seemed to do well. In the beginning of his reign, he pretended to be a friend of the Christians, but only to win popular support while he secretly continued the persecution.
The citizens and senators of Rome soon grew weary of Maxentius’s tyranny and wickedness and petitioned Constantine to come and free them. At first Constantine tried to convince Maxentius to mend his ways; but when it had no effect, he gathered an army in Britain and France and began marching toward Italy in AD 313.
Knowing he didn’t have the support of his people, Maxentius had to rely on his magic arts and occasional ambushes of Constantine’s advancing army, neither of which slowed Constantine’s advance toward Rome.
But as he neared Rome, Constantine began to feel nervous about the coming battle. He’d seen Maxentius defeat others by the use of his magic, and he wished he had a force to use against it. One day at sunset, Constantine looked to the south to see the bright form of the cross and the words “In this overcome.” He and the men with him were astonished at the sign, although no one was too sure what it actually meant. But one night as Constantine slept, Christ appeared to him with the same cross, telling him to make a cross to carry before him into battle.
This sign and its message weren’t given to induce superstitious worship of the cross, as though the cross had any power in itself, but as an admonition to seek Jesus and set forth the glory of His name.
The next day Constantine had a cross made of gold and precious stones, which he had carried before the army in place of his flag.
With added confidence that God had blessed his cause, he hurried toward Rome and the showdown with Maxentius.
Maxentius was now forced out of the city to meet Constantine on the far side of the Tiber River. After he crossed the bridge named Pons Milvius, Maxentius destroyed it, replacing it with an unstable bridge made of boats and planks, thinking to trap Constantine. The two armies clashed. Constantine drove Maxentius backward farther and farther until, in his haste to safety, he tried to retreat over the new bridge and fell into his own trap. His horse tumbled off the unstable planking, taking Maxentius and his armor to the bottom of the Tiber, where he drowned.
Maxentius was the last Roman persecutor of the Christians, whom Constantine set free after three hundred years of oppression and death. Constantine so firmly established the rights of Christians to worship God that it would be a thousand years before they would again suffer for their faith.
For three hundred years, the strongest and richest rulers in the world had tried to snuff out Christianity, using force, politics, torture, and death—everything at their disposal. Now all those emperors were gone, while Christ and His church still stood.