The Decian Persecutions: Rome's First Empire-Wide Targeting of Christians
Summary
TLDRThis script explores the rise of Christianity within the Roman Empire and its initial perception as a curious sect. It details how Christians were seen as a threat due to their rejection of Roman traditions and gods, leading to sporadic persecutions, notably under Nero and later systematic ones under Decius. Despite the trials, Christianity persisted, influencing the Empire's eventual conversion under Constantine.
Takeaways
- 🟢 Christianity was born in the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus Caesar and spread throughout the empire after Christ’s crucifixion.
- 📉 Roman religion was already in decline during Augustus’s time, with Roman polytheism more of a ritual than deeply felt belief, and many new mystery cults rising.
- 😲 Early Christians were initially seen as a curious and strange sect by Romans, who regarded their rejection of Roman and Jewish traditions with suspicion.
- ⚔️ The first organized persecutions of Christians occurred under Emperor Nero, with Christians blamed for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D. and subjected to brutal executions.
- 📜 Early Christians refused to worship Roman gods or perform sacrifices, leading to perceptions of them as atheists in the Roman context where public religious practices were central.
- 💥 Roman elites saw Christianity as a threat to social order, as it rejected family traditions, polytheism, and loyalty to the emperor, which were key to Roman society.
- 🔥 While Nero’s persecution was harsh, it was mostly limited to Rome, and broader, systematic persecution only began later under emperors like Decius and Diocletian.
- ⚖️ Under Decius in 250 A.D., all inhabitants of the empire were required to offer sacrifices for the empire’s well-being, but Christians faced death for refusing to do so.
- ⛪ Despite waves of persecution, Christian communities survived and grew, with many persecuted Christian leaders becoming martyrs and later saints in the church.
- ✝️ Christianity ultimately triumphed, with Emperor Constantine converting to Christianity in 306 A.D., beginning the transformation of the Roman Empire into a Christian empire.
Q & A
What role did the Roman Empire play in the spread of Christianity?
-Christianity began to spread throughout the Roman Empire after Christ's crucifixion, initially being viewed as a strange sect before eventually gaining prominence within the empire.
How did Augustus Caesar attempt to revive traditional Roman religion?
-Augustus Caesar made organized efforts to restore traditional Roman paganism by emphasizing rituals and customs, but these efforts ultimately proved too late as Roman religion continued to decline.
How did early Christians’ rejection of Roman polytheism contribute to their persecution?
-Early Christians rejected Roman polytheism and refused to participate in public sacrifices or rituals, leading the Roman Empire to view them with suspicion, ultimately perceiving them as social threats and atheists.
Why were Christians referred to as 'atheists' in the Roman context?
-In the Roman context, Christians were called 'atheists' because they refused to make sacrifices to the Roman gods or recognize the emperor as divine, which led Romans to believe that Christians did not recognize any supernatural reality.
How did the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D. impact the treatment of Christians?
-After the Great Fire of Rome, Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the disaster, resulting in violent persecutions, including torture, crucifixions, and public executions.
What was the significance of Emperor Decius's persecution of Christians?
-Emperor Decius's persecution marked the first empire-wide effort to compel Christians to perform public sacrifices to show loyalty to Rome, leading to widespread martyrdom among Christians who refused.
How did Emperor Trajan's policy towards Christians differ from earlier persecution efforts?
-Emperor Trajan’s policy was more lenient, allowing Christians who performed a sacrifice to the emperor to avoid punishment, though those who refused were still executed.
Why did many Romans initially tolerate Jews but become hostile toward Christians?
-Romans tolerated Jews because they maintained their ancient customs and traditions, but Christians were seen as socially disruptive because they rejected both their own traditions and Roman religious practices.
What motivated Emperor Decius to enforce traditional Roman religious practices across the empire?
-Decius wanted to revive traditional Roman religious values, which he believed were essential for the stability of the empire, especially in the face of internal and external threats.
What lasting impact did the persecutions of early Christians have on the Christian Church?
-The persecutions united the Christian community, strengthened their resolve, and contributed to the emergence of key figures, such as Saint Fabian and Saint Cyprian, whose legacy helped shape the early Christian Church.
Outlines
🌐 The Birth of Christianity and Roman Religious Decline
This paragraph discusses the origins of Christianity during the Roman Empire under Emperor Augustus. It highlights how Christianity emerged in a time when traditional Roman religion was in decline, with many turning to mystery cults or viewing the emperor as divine. The early Christians were seen as a peculiar sect that rejected their ancestral faith, Judaism, and were viewed with skepticism by Romans. The paragraph also touches on the confusion Romans had regarding Christian beliefs, leading them to label early Christians as atheists. The narrative sets the stage for understanding the growing tensions between the Roman Empire and the emerging Christian faith.
🔥 The Persecution of Christians Under Nero
Paragraph 2 delves into the organized persecution of Christians during Nero's reign. It describes how Christians were scapegoated, especially after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D., where they were accused and punished for the catastrophe. The text recounts the brutal tortures inflicted upon Christians, as documented by Tacitus, and how Nero's reign became synonymous with cruelty. Despite these persecutions, the paragraph notes that systematic targeting of Christians was largely confined to Rome and did not extend to a unified policy across the empire under subsequent emperors like Trajan. The narrative illustrates the beginning of Roman efforts to suppress what they saw as a disruptive and potentially subversive religious movement.
📜 The Decline and the Rise of Decius's Persecution
This section explores the broader context of the Roman Empire's internal struggles and the rise of Emperor Decius, who initiated empire-wide persecution of Christians. It discusses the empire's political instability, economic challenges, and military discontent leading up to Decius's reign. The paragraph explains Decius's efforts to restore traditional Roman values and his introduction of an edict requiring public sacrifices to the emperor's health, which indirectly targeted Christians. It also details how some Christians complied with the edict while others refused, leading to severe penalties. The narrative captures the escalating conflict between the Christian faith and the Roman state, culminating in Decius's reign.
🛐 The Impact and Legacy of Decius's Persecution
Paragraph 4 examines the impact of Decius's persecution on the Christian community, detailing the social stigma, imprisonment, torture, and death that Christians faced for refusing to comply with the emperor's edict. It highlights the martyrdom of several prominent Christian figures, such as Pope Fabian, and the widespread sentiment of fear and alienation among believers. The paragraph also discusses the collective trauma experienced by Christians and how it forged a stronger sense of community and identity. Furthermore, it mentions the eventual decline of Decius's religious reforms and the subsequent rise of Christian figures who survived the persecution, setting the stage for the eventual triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Christianity
💡Roman polytheism
💡Augustus Caesar
💡Nero
💡Great Fire of Rome
💡Persecutions of Christians
💡Decius
💡Libellus
💡Paganism
💡Mystery cults
Highlights
Christianity was born in the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus Caesar and began spreading after Christ's crucifixion.
Traditional Roman religion had already been in decline by Augustus's time, with polytheism existing more as ritual and tradition.
Roman views of Christianity began as a strange curiosity, perceived as a sect of bizarre zealots who had rejected Judaism.
The Roman Empire became suspicious of Christianity as it rapidly diverged from its Jewish roots and rejected traditional Roman beliefs.
Romans valued adherence to ancient traditions, and the Christian rejection of these traditions was seen as socially dangerous.
The first organized persecution of Christians occurred under Emperor Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D.
Tacitus wrote about Nero’s brutal persecutions of Christians, including their use as scapegoats and public spectacles of torture.
Nero’s persecutions of Christians were largely limited to Rome itself, with no wider empire-wide actions against Christians at that time.
Emperor Decius initiated the first empire-wide persecution of Christians in 250 A.D., mandating sacrifices to show loyalty to Rome.
Christians who refused to perform sacrifices for the empire’s well-being faced penalties such as property confiscation, imprisonment, or death.
Decius's persecution targeted Christian clerics like Pope Fabian, who were either martyred or sent into exile.
Despite Decius's efforts, his reign ended after less than two years, and his persecution of Christians was relatively short-lived.
The DC persecution created a collective trauma that unified the early Christian community, enhancing their sense of survival and identity.
The story of the 'Seven Sleepers,' a group of Christians who survived the Decian persecution by hiding in a cave, became a popular legend.
Christianity ultimately triumphed as Emperor Constantine would later convert and initiate Rome’s gradual conversion into a Christian empire.
Transcripts
if you've ever been to a Christmas
service you've heard the story of how
Jesus was born and the Roman controlled
territory of Judea during the reign of
Rome's first emperor Augustus Caesar
Christianity as religion was literally
born in the Roman Empire and after
Christ's crucifixion the new Creed began
to spread throughout its territory
the rise of Christianity coincided with
a general decline in adherence to
traditional Roman religion after a
century of immigration cross-cultural
exchange economic growth and even Civil
War by augustus's time Roman polytheism
existed more as ritual and tradition
than as deeply felt belief and its
customary Pantheon of gods competed for
attention against dozens of various
mystery Cults as well as the new belief
that the Empire itself and possibly the
emperor himself were divine entities
during his reign as print caps Augustus
made organized efforts to restore the
centrality of traditional Roman paganism
but it would prove to be too little too
late and in the centuries following
after augustus's death the slow decline
of Roman religion accelerated
in its first years of proliferation the
empire did not view Christianity as
anything more than a strange curiosity
it was yet another Messianic movement
emerging from the Eastern fringes of its
territory
in contrast to proper Roman piety the
very first Christians were generally
perceived to be a sect of bizarre
zealots if anything Romans broadly
viewed the early spread of Christianity
with bemusement and faint pity
the initial Christians were people who
had foolishly rejected the religion of
their fathers Judaism and in doing so
had shattered the family bonds and the
ancient traditions of their own people
it was this radicalism however this
willingness to give up one's own
cultural heritage based on faith alone
that would eventually lead the Empire to
view Christianity with greater suspicion
as Edward Gibbon wrote in his massive
series the history of the decline and
fall of the Roman Empire
the whole body of Christians unanimously
refused to hold any communion with the
gods of Rome of the Empire and of
mankind
they had separated themselves from every
mode of superstition of polytheism but
it was not altogether so evident what
deity or form of worship they had
substituted to the gods and temples of
antiquity
the pure and Sublime idea which they
entertained of the Supreme Being escaped
the gross conception of the Pagan
multitude who were at a loss to discover
a spiritual and solitary God that was
neither represented under a corporeal
figure or visible symbol nor was adored
with a custom pump of Libations and
festivals of altars and sacrifices it
was this confusion regarding the beliefs
of the first Christians that would see
Romans refer to this upstart sect as
atheists
though this terminology is utterly at
odds with the modern use of the word it
made sense in a Roman context where
public practice of religion mattered
more than interior belief someone who
made no sacrifices to the recognized
Pantheon clearly didn't believe in a
supernatural reality that they could
recognize it was dissonance like this
that led some within the Empire to see
the emerging Christian communities and
their bizarre practices as more of a
threat in the half a century after
Christ's death
the most natural comparison to a modern
audience is with Judaism and the heavy
Jewish population in the East and the
emergence of communities in Rome itself
meant that most Romans were at least
passingly familiar with Jews and their
distinct religion Jews had long stood
apart from the bulk of Rome citizenry in
custom and religion but prior to the
Jewish revolts of the first century
there had generally been an
understanding of Live and Let Live
between the Jews and the leadership of
Rome Christians joined Jews in insisting
that the most basic foundations and
traditions of Roman religion were
immoral both believe that polytheism was
an abhorrent system they acknowledged
only one God
but the Christian communities began
rapidly diverging from their Jewish
roots when speaking of a new Divine
figure the son of this one God
Christianity first came to Roman
attention because of how disruptive it
was proving to be Christians
proselytized and boldly pronounced with
borderline apocalyptic fervor that they
held no other Allegiance not to Nation
nor even to their own families
Romans had accommodated and even
respected Jews because they had Customs
that had gone mostly unchanged for
centuries this was Paramount to the
Romans a differing religion or culture
could be trusted only insofar as it
honored its own ancient history in
Traditions to honor one's predecessors
and their ways was the mark of a
civilized people and one with whom the
Romans could find shared interests
Christians in contrast were a people who
would actively and consciously reject
their own Traditions these people had in
many cases alienated their closest
relatives by insisting that the way
they'd done things for thousands of
years was wrong the Christians believed
that they had borne witness to a new
revelation one that was incompatible
with the ways of their forefathers to
the Roman mind this decision however
honestly motivated was a mark of
insolence and ingratitude
thus Christianity was not merely a
different Creed as Judaism had been it
was to the Roman Elite an engine of
social dissolution a force which ripped
apart the traditional bonds upon which
Roman society was built
in the hierarchical and conservative
Society of Rome how can a person who
rejected his or her own parents ever be
trusted how could they ever become a
loyal or honorable citizen
the first organized reprisals against
Christians took place during the reign
of the emperor Nero the fifth Roman
Emperor who reigned from 54 to 68 A.D
during his Reign Christians often made
convenient scapegoats for the various
failings of the Empire
unsurprisingly these shortcomings were
growing exponentially with Nero at the
helm
The Watershed event was The Great Fire
of Rome in 64 A.D the fire lasted for
six days and damaged or destroyed
two-thirds of the city's structure
in the face of such an enormous
catastrophe blame had to be assigned and
a recently formed and radical sect of
marginalized social outcasts which
refused to swear loyalty to the emperor
made for an easy and obvious Target
as tacitus writes in Book 15 of his
annals Nero fastened the guilt and
inflicted the most Exquisite tortures on
a class hated for their Abominations
called Christians by the populace
Christus from whom the name had its
origin suffered the extreme penalty
during the reign of Tiberius at the
hands of one of our pro-curators Pontius
Pilate and a most mischievous
Superstition thus checked for the moment
again broke out not only in Judea the
first source of the evil but even in
Rome were all things hideous and
shameful from every part of the world
find their Center and become popular
accordingly an arrest was first made of
all who pleaded guilty then upon their
information an immense multitude was
convicted not so much of the crime of
firing the city as of hatred against
mankind
mockery of every sort was added to their
deaths
covered with the skins of beasts they
were torn by dogs and perished or were
nailed to crosses or were doomed to the
flames and burnt to serve as a nightly
illumination when daylight had expired
Nero offered his Gardens for the
spectacle and was exhibiting a show in
the circus while he mingled with the
people in the dress of a charioteer or
stood Aloft on a car this wanton cruelty
would in time come to Define Nero's
reign in popular imagination he's not
remembered as the artist he fancied
himself but as a bloodthirsty psychopath
whose name will live forever as the
inspiration for the enigmatic 666 of
Revelation
however despite the extremity of his
persecutions the campaign against
Christians would remain largely
restricted to the city of Rome itself
perhaps because the fire remained
limited to the capital city Nero made no
wider efforts to persecute Christians in
other parts of the Empire after Nero's
suicide in 68 systematic persecutions of
Christians slowed considerably and
Christian populations largely became
regarded as a local nuisance dealt with
sporadically by the governors of
concerned provinces and their
subordinate officials rather than by
Emperors no unified policy of
persecution existed and correspondence
between Pliny and trajan indicated that
the emperor did not want Christians to
be sought out or to be condemned through
Anonymous accusations alone anyone
brought before Pliny who was willing to
perform a sacrifice to the emperor's
genius was free to leave but those that
refused were to be killed by providing
such an easy way to escape drastic
punishment we can see that trajan did
not care so much about about the content
of a Christian's belief so much as their
societal impact it's doubtful that he
cared about the defendant's theology at
all Christian or not it was only those
that refused to sacrifice that risk
punishment
but before we begin thinking of this as
tolerant we can't lose sight of the fact
that people died for their refusal to
honor the Divinity of trajan which is
somewhat out of sync with his modern
reputation as Optimus print caps
one notable uptick in anti-christian
violence however is believed to have
occurred during the reign of Marcus
Aurelius a man that most modern Scholars
likewise regard as the height of
erudition and sophistication from 161 to
180 A.D
the exact causes of this spike in the
actual involvement of irelius himself
are disputed
the first truly empire-wide persecution
of Christians was to occur during the
reign of the Emperor decius who ruled
for only a few short years between 249
and 151 A.D before being killed
alongside his son and battle against the
gods and what is now Bulgaria this
defeat made him the first emperor to die
in combat against a foreign enemy and a
sign of the cataclysmic disruption that
punctuated the third Century Romans no
longer had a monopoly on Emperor murder
to understand decius's motivations for
taking systemic action against the
Christians though it's helpful to look
at his predecessor
the Emperor who preceded Theseus was
born in the Roman province of Arabia and
was popularly known as Philip the Arab
during Philip's Reign the Empire had
celebrated the Milestone of the Roman
Millennium according to the Roman
Calendar the year 248 A.D marked one
thousand years since the founding of the
city the occasion was marked with
widespread festivities and Philip
ordered the celebration of the lavish
secular games daring which more than 100
Gladiators were killed in the Coliseum
alone to Mark the passage of an era
however like any great historical
Milestone the Millennium was also an
occasion for reflection and many Romans
both in and out of the halls of power
couldn't escape the sense that things
were trending unfavorably
by 248 the territory held by the empire
was slowly but surely Contracting within
its borders it faced widespread revolts
and uprisings its politics were volatile
with the title of Emperor Changing Hands
often and often through violence
the economy was similarly unpredictable
with frequent problems including grain
shortages inflation and inconsistent
taxation
most of all Rome's military felt itself
badly neglected the soldiers of its
Legions were frequently underpaid and
overworked and in time the situation
became so dire that several Legions
revolted proclaiming decius a general to
be the new emperor and marched on Rome
to install him
Philip's own Legions opposed them but
decius's faction won-handily and Philip
himself was killed in battle
however during Philip's Reign rumors had
begun to circulate that the emperor was
secretly a Christian
this rumor would later be recorded as
fact in the history of the Christian
Church written by eusebius Bishop of the
Roman province of caesarea some 70 years
after the end of Philip's Reign most
modern historians reject the idea that
Philip was actually a Christian but the
mere suggestion combined with the chaos
of Philips later Reign would have been
damning in the Roman imagination and
it's possible that decius's
anti-christian efforts were to some
extent a reaction against a predecessor
he imagined to have been a secret
Christian himself either way decius
began his consulship with a coordinated
effort to make Rome culturally Roman
again
he led a failed attempt to revive the
bygone office of censor in an attempt to
restore Morality In traditional values
in public discourse when that was
unsuccessful he began an organized
empire-wide campaign to bring Rome back
to its traditional religious roots
in late January of 250 A.D DC has passed
an edict that all inhabitants of the
Empire had to offer in the presence of a
Roman magistrate a public sacrifice of
food or drink or burn incense for the
health of the Empire and the emperor
in return the person offering the
sacrifice would receive an official
government-issued certificate a lie
bellus proving his or her loyalty to
Rome and its Traditions these
certificates were issued in such great
numbers that many survived today
this edict was not officially targeted
at Christians or at any other minority
religious group though Jews were
specifically Exempted but the popular
belief was that Christians in particular
would be unwilling to offer sacrifice in
the name of the emperor
the exact wording of the edict stated
that the offering was for or in Latin
Pro the emperor not to the emperor and
thus many Christians saw no issue with
completing the sacrifice and receiving a
certificate having found a kind of
loophole by which they could be
satisfied that they were not worshiping
the emperor but merely wishing him
health
however it was not uncommon for
individual magistrates to demand a
sacrifice not merely for the emperor but
to the traditional gods of Rome
additionally magistrates often demanded
the sacrifice in the name of local or
Patron gods in the Roman province of
Carthage for example applicants were
made to sacrifice specifically in the
names of Jupiter Juno and Minerva
all the same a significant number of
Christians still complied even
confronted with these more stringent
circumstances some engaged in a kind of
legalistic interpretation since there
was only one actual God calling him by
another name didn't matter God was God
regardless and God would know the heart
of the believer
others though refused outright the
penalties for failing to obtain a
certificate of loyalty ranged from
confiscation of property and
imprisonment to if the refusal persisted
torture and death
Additionally the perception that one was
putting off receiving the certificate
was enough to cause social stigma and
alienation from one's Neighbors
many of Rome's most prominent Christians
refused to obtain a certificate the
bishop of Rome Fabian had previously
divided the city into seven districts
and had appointed a deacon and a
subdeacon as the governing authorities
of each district
many of these deacons died during the DC
in persecution as did Fabian himself now
more commonly known as the saint Pope
Fabian the title of Pope from the Greek
Papas father was not a title unique to
the bishop of Rome during early
Christianity
it is thought that Fabian and the other
martyred Roman deacons likely died in
prison rather than being executed
as the edict went out throughout the
empire was accompanied by a wave of
anti-christian sentiment Bishops and
other clerics throughout the empire were
killed including BaByliss Bishop of
Antioch and Alexander Bishop of
Jerusalem both now regarded as Saints by
the Orthodox and Catholic churches
those clerics who were not killed were
generally sent into exile
many Believers went into hiding there
were anti-christian pogroms in Carthage
Alexandria and several other cities
across North Africa and the Middle East
Alexandria in modern-day Egypt became
home to an especially large underground
population of Christian refugees some of
whom buried their dead beneath the same
safe houses where they hid
after only a short time facing the new
reality of the prescriptions many
Christians came to mythologize the time
before Odysseus as a golden age when
they had not known how good they had it
still others gave up the faith when the
DC and persecutions ended the question
of whether or not to honor the
sacraments of the church leaders who had
lapsed would fuel controversy
scale and ferocity of the persecutions
waned after only a year by early 251
decius seemed to have shifted his
priorities and in June of that year he
was killed in battle
his successors tribonius gallus and Son
volusianus allowed decius's religious
reforms to lapse bringing the total
duration of the persecution to roughly
11 months
early Christians would remember DCS as a
horrific Tyrant and his Reign is a time
of Great Tribulation for the church
nonetheless the ordeal of the DC and
persecutions would also have a binding
effect as collective traumas often do
giving the Christian Community a sense
of having survived a great trial and
emerged mostly intact
several survivors of the dcn era would
go on to become prominent figures in the
church including Dionysus the great who
would become Bishop of Alexandria and
cyprian who would become Bishop of
Carthage both were forced into hiding
during the first year of decius's Reign
and both are now regarded as Saints by
the Orthodox and Catholic churches
a curious Legend would also emerge from
the time of the DC in persecution that
of the seven sleepers a group of seven
sometimes fewer sometimes more Christian
youths who hid in a cave to escape the
DC and tribulations were walled in left
to die and emerged no worse for the wear
some 300 years later it's a kind of
proto-rip Van Winkle story and the
sleepers are venerated not only by the
Catholic and Orthodox Churches but
within Islam as well
though Christians in the empire were no
doubt relieved to have the DC and
prescriptions rolled back in 251 A.D
they were not out of the woods only six
years later in 257 the emperor Valerian
would introduce his own anti-christian
mandates and in 303 under Diocletian the
final and worst persecution of
Christians the great persecution would
ensue
the Christian Church would ultimately
have the last laugh though only three
years later in 306 the empire was in the
hands of Constantine who would not only
convert to Christianity himself but
began the slow inexorable process of
converting all of Rome into a Christian
Empire
[Music]
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