Persecutions Against Christians

PERSECUTIONS AGAINST CHRISTIANS. - This expression designates the harassments that the Church suffered at the hands of the Roman Empire, from Nero (64 A.D.) to the promulgation of the so-called Edict of Milan (313).

The first signs of the p. seem to have arisen under Claudius [IV.], 50 A.D.) when, according to Suetonius, that Emperor drove from Rome the Jews rioting on account of Chrestus (Vita Claudii, 25, 4; Acts 18:1; Rom. 16:3). That the phrase is to be connected with Christianity is now commonly accepted (cf. H. Janne, Impulsore Chresto, in Ann. de l'Inst. de philos. et d'hist. orient., Brussels 1934, p. 254); while it is not certain that certain unclear phrases of a letter of the same Claudius to the Alexandrians refer to it (id., Un passage controversé de la lettre de Claude aux Alexandriens, in Rev. archéol., 5th series, 35 [1932], p. 273). In those years, as in the following decades, the general public did not distinguish the Jews from the Christians; and so the latter were caught up in the pagans' hatred of the former.

The Romans tolerated the profession of all those cults that were not in conflict with the laws and morality, but they did not allow anyone to disregard those public manifestations that were bound up with the public life of the nation and in particular with the goddess Rome and the genius of the Emperor, which were, especially in the provinces, the mark of legitimate subjection. The Christians, who shunned every religious ceremony and from the outset every public office, military service and social obligations intimately connected with idolatrous acts, living apart, far from all manifestations of dissolute and profane life, were regarded as haters of the human race (v. ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS). Hence an effort to exterminate them on the part of the authorities, and a pretext for popular riots.

I. LEGAL FOUNDATION OF THE PERSECUTIONS AGAINST CHRISTIANS

During the three centuries of the persecutions, Christians lived in a hostile atmosphere that had moments of particular violence. However, despite all the hatred and calumnies accumulated against them, Christians could not be legally prosecuted except by virtue of specific legal provisions issued against them; indeed, it is not established that proceedings were brought against them for common crimes. All agree in holding that during the 2nd century the rule established by Trajan was in force: «conquirendi non sunt (i cristiani), si deferantur et arguantur puniendi sunt». But on what legal foundation did Trajan establish this procedure? Some (Le Blant) have therefore thought that Christians were persecuted by virtue of the common law enacted against the crimes of lèse-majesté and impiety, wrongly or rightly attributed to Christians. Others instead (Profumo) think that a provision of Tiberius was enforced against every sort of enemy of the Empire and of the Roman people, and that it was first applied to Christians by Nero. Still others (Th. Mommsen), while admitting that Christians could very well be persecuted by virtue of the common laws already existing against those guilty of lèse-majesté, hold that they were nevertheless persecuted by virtue of the «ius coercitionis» granted to the Roman authorities to safeguard the security of the Empire and social tranquillity: a police authority by which they could and had to act against all those who had in any way attacked the public good and order. Others finally (P. Allard, C. Callewaert), and perhaps they are closer to the truth, think that Nero, following the inquiry conducted after the fire, issued a legal provision, that institutum Neronianum of which Tertullian speaks, which was summed up in the legal aphorism: christianos esse non licet. This also explains that persistence, in the Roman ruling classes, of aversion to Christianity, which lasted for many years. One fact, however, is established and admitted by all: that Christians were persecuted for a religious reason: every time an accused denied being a Christian he was set free, whereas if he persisted in his ideas he was held guilty of a capital penalty, which could be death or relegation.

II. JUDGMENTS, TORTURES AND PENALTIES IN THE PERSECUTIONS AGAINST CHRISTIANS

If during the Empire civil law was slowly becoming milder, criminal law on the contrary became more despotic and cruel. Torture, at first reserved for slaves, was extended also to the plebeians, and no effort was spared in devising new kinds of torment. Of this harshening the Christians bore the greatest burden. Arrested by municipal agents or soldiers, they were shut up in prison, where, however, with the interested connivance of the guards, they could be visited by relatives and friends who brought them food, clothing and especially by the ministers of the Church. The trial, quite brief moreover, took place before the ordinary magistrate in the «secretarium» or in a public place in the presence of the people: the Christian was induced to put himself in order with the laws, and attempts were made to induce him to do so also by torture, during which it was not rare for the sufferer to die. There was no need of witnesses or of defense by advocates: abjuration alone was enough to be safe. The judgment generally concluded with the capital sentence, with condemnation to forced labor, exile, decapitation, exposure to beasts or to fire, crucifixion, immersion in boiling liquids and other kinds of death.

III. HISTORY OF THE PERSECUTIONS AGAINST CHRISTIANS

The first was stirred up by Nero. The immediate cause is indicated by Tacitus (Annales, XV, 44) in the fire that in July of A.D. 64 devastated 10 of the 14 regions of Rome. Accused by popular rumor as its author, the Emperor cast the blame on the Christians, who were arrested en masse, tried and condemned. To the injustice were added mockery and cruelty, since to make the slaughter more spectacular Nero opened his gardens to the public, where the Christians, covered with wild-beast skins, were exposed to the bites of dogs, or, crucified, were burned to give light in the night. Unfortunately no trustworthy document has handed down their names, except those of the apostles Peter and Paul, the one dying crucified, the other beheaded. The persecution, which broke out for a contingent and local cause, must have extended also to the provinces.

From the death of Nero, owing to the intestine struggles for the conquest of the Empire and the disinterest of the Flavians, the Christians were left in peace. In his last years, however, Domitian, because of the opposition of the Senate, became cruel and bloodthirsty. In the storm the Christians too were involved, perhaps because it was intended to involve them in the payment to the treasury imposed on all Jews and on those who lived "more judaico." In any case the Christian writers are unanimous in designating Domitian as the second persecutor. The persecution, as far as is known, struck illustrious persons, and among them the relatives of the emperor himself, Flavius Clemens with his wife Domitilla, and Atilius Glabrio. The apostle St. John, according to the testimony of Tertullian (De praescrip. haeret., 36, 3), after being plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil, was relegated to the island of Patmos. There were martyrs not only in Rome but in all the provinces of the Empire, as may be deduced from the Apocalypse, from the letters of Pliny to Trajan and from Eusebius of Caesarea. Domitian recognized his error toward the Christians and revoked his orders (Tertullian, Apol., 5; Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III, 20).

Trajan (98-117) issued no new edicts of persecution, but regulated the procedure with the famous Rescript to Pliny the Younger (v.), and established that no search should be made for Christians; if they were denounced and convicted of being such, they were to be punished provided they did not renounce their faith by sacrificing; in any case anonymous accusations were not to be accepted. Tertullian noted the illegality of this provision (Apolog., 2); for if there was guilt in the Christians, they should be convicted and punished for it, not for the fact of being Christians. Victims were not lacking under Trajan; among the most illustrious are remembered Ignatius bishop of Antioch, exposed to the beasts in Rome, Simeon bishop of Jerusalem and many others of whom the letter of Pliny the Younger and that of St. Polycarp to the Philippians speak.

The provisions that in Trajan's mind were directed at mitigating the persecution by regulating its application remained in force under his successor Hadrian (117-38), who took care to prevent popular coups against the Christians and to impress upon the governors of the provinces that they should act according to juridical norms, threatening severe penalties also against false informers (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, 8, 26). Martyrs were not lacking, among them the pontiff Telesphorus (137). The same situation continued under Antoninus Pius (138-61); St. Justin speaks of certain Roman martyrs in his second Apology (ch. 1). During the empire of Marcus Aurelius (161-80) the application of the laws underwent a harshening. He and his philosophical circle nourished a lofty contempt for Christianity. The people, on the other hand, multiplied the riots against the Christians, and all the more as they saw them increase in number and social importance. Victims of this state of mind were in Rome St. Justin, accused by the Cynic philosopher Crescens, the group of the martyrs of Lyons (177; v. LYONS), and in Smyrna the venerable bishop Polycarp (v.). The same religious policy was continued by the son of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, in the first three years of his government. From 183, the favorite Marcia obtained, among other benefits, the return of certain Christians relegated to Sardinia (Philosophumena, 9, 12). In those first years, however, martyrs were not lacking, especially through the hostility of certain governors. To this period belong those of Scilli (Africa), sacrificed at Carthage in 180, the senator Apollonius in Rome and others in Phrygia, Syria and Cappadocia. With the 3rd century the relations between the Empire and Christianity take on a new aspect, thanks to new legislative provisions; on the other hand the Church, expanding ever more, also acquires greater influence in social life, organizes itself and comes to possess property. A new persecuting policy was inaugurated by Septimius Severus (193-211). In his first years of government, involved as he was in the struggles against his competitors, he did not change the previous jurisprudence. At the beginning of the 3rd century, however, he issued a decree by which he forbade conversions to Christianity (Spartianus, Vita Severi, 17) and, along with the neophytes and catechumens, struck also their teachers and instructors; in consequence there came the closing of the famous School of Alexandria, already flourishing, and the martyrdom of many of its frequenters (Eusebius,

Hist. eccl., VI, 1-5); the father of Origen was also killed, and the virgin Potamiaena; at Carthage Perpetua, Felicity and companions (v.). The edict of Severus was applied also under his son Caracalla, especially in Africa (Tertullian, Ad Scapulam, 3 f.); but Alexander Severus (217-35), according to his biographer, "christianos esse passus est" (Lampridius, Vita, 22). Maximinus the Thracian (235-38), who succeeded him, rough and cruel, in reaction to the policy of Alexander (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, 28) sought to disorganize the Church by eliminating its heads, and by an edict condemned to death the bishops, the presbyters and the doctors. In consequence of this the pope Pontian and the presbyter Hippolytus were exiled to Sardinia; there were martyrs in Cappadocia, in Palestine and elsewhere.

The last phase of the persecutions was inaugurated by Decius (249-51). A rigidly conservative spirit, to avoid the collapse of the Empire he decided to restore its foundations by reviving the official cult. To this end in 250 he issued an edict by which he ordered that all the citizens of the Empire, without distinction, should give proof of their attachment to the fatherland by sacrificing and participating in the sacred banquets before the public authority. But if the lapsi were many, the martyrs were no fewer: in Rome the pope Fabian was the first victim. More certain and copious information is available about the African martyrs; in his letters St. Cyprian recalls several of them, those of Egypt are recalled by Dionysius of Alexandria (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, 40), others there were in Syria and in Palestine (ibid., VI, 39), in proconsular Asia, in Pamphylia, etc. Many too were the "confessors," that is, those who endured prison and torments but did not lose their lives. The persecution in fact, however cruel and terrible, did not last long: Decius was killed in Nov. 251 during the war against the Goths.

Under his successor Gallus (251-53), the plague of 252 gave pretext for a worsening, because Gallus ordered public propitiatory sacrifices and, under the pressure of popular fury, issued a new edict. Pope Cornelius (v.) with others was relegated to Centumcellae (Civitavecchia), where he died in 253, and his successor Lucius (v.) met the same fate. It seems, however, that the death of Gallus prevented the Edict from being applied outside Rome.

During the first years of Valerian's reign (253-260), the Christians were not molested, and some of them were even at court. But in August 257 Valerian, by an edict, ordered the heads of the Church to sacrifice under penalty of exile, and forbade the faithful, under penalty of death, to attend their assemblies or to enter the cemeteries (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VII, 11). As a result of this, Dionysius of Alexandria (v.) and St. Cyprian (v.) were exiled; in Africa many other bishops, priests and faithful were condemned to the mines (St. Cyprian, Epp., 76-79). In 258 a more severe edict was issued, by which the death penalty was imposed on the heads of the churches; on the nobles, deprivation of their dignities and confiscation of their property and, if they still persisted, the death penalty; on women, exile; on the Caesarians, perpetual slavery (St. Cyprian, Ep., 80). Many were the victims after this Edict: at Rome the pope Sixtus II, surprised while presiding over a liturgical assembly, was beheaded together with four deacons; St. Cyprian was recalled from exile to be beheaded. In Africa there were many other martyrs, among whom stand out Marianus and James, Montanus, Lucius and companions; in Spain the bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona; others fell in Egypt, in Palestine, etc. In 260 Valerian was taken prisoner and killed by the Persians; his son Gallienus revoked the edicts of persecution and restored all the confiscated property at the request of many bishops (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VII, 13). From Gallienus until the beginning of the last persecution, stirred up by Diocletian, for about 40 years the Christians lived in peace, consolidating their organization. There was a threat under Aurelian ([v.], 270-75), but without consequences, since Aurelian did not have the time to promulgate any edict (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VII, 30).

The last persecution was commonly attributed to Diocletian because he was the head of the tetrarchy that governed the Empire, but the instigator was his Caesar Galerius. Peace reigned supreme in the Church (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VII, 1) when as a prelude there was the purge of all Christians from the army in 297. Then, in February 303, the first Edict appeared, by which the destruction of the churches and the burning of the Holy Scriptures were ordered; noble faithful were deprived of their dignities and plebeians of their freedom (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VIII, 2). The Edict was applied at once in the various provinces of the Empire, and at Nicomedia there were even some martyrs (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VIII, 6). Shortly afterwards, at a brief interval, a second edict appeared, which ordered the imprisonment of the ecclesiastical heads, and then a third with the death sentence for anyone who had not sacrificed. The martyrs were numerous, but the situation worsened still further when in 304 a fourth edict ordered that all the faithful, without distinction, should sacrifice under penalty of death: the blood of the Christians ran in every part of the Empire. In 305, however, Diocletian abdicated, followed by his colleague Maximian; Galerius and Maximinus Daia divided the eastern part of the Empire, where in 306 an edict was promulgated by which the governors were ordered to compel, by name-by-name summons, all Christians to sacrifice, and in 308 a sixth edict ordered that all the provisions put up for sale in the markets be sprinkled with lustral water, while the soldiers had to stand at the doors of the baths to compel those frequenting them to idolatrous acts (Eusebius, De martyr. Palaest., 4). In the West, on the other hand, once Constantius Chlorus became Augustus (305) and then his son Constantine in 306, the persecution in fact ceased. In 311 there was a sudden change. Galerius, the principal instigator of the persecution, being near death, by an edict also signed by Constantine and Licinius, in which he acknowledged his efforts against the Christians to be vain, granted them toleration. Maximinus Daia, their colleague, who had only verbally permitted the publication of the edict, having become master of all the East through the death of Galerius (May 311), resumed the persecution, even provoking petitions from the various cities that the Christians be exterminated from the Empire. Meanwhile, in February 313, on the occasion of the marriage of Licinius to Constantia, sister of Constantine, the so-called Edict of Milan (v.) was promulgated, which immediately became effective throughout the West, where Constantine, because of the victory won at the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius, had remained sole emperor, and shortly afterwards also in the East, where Maximinus was defeated and killed by Licinius. The official persecutions had ended with the victory and triumph of the Church.

Agostino Amore