Difference between revisions of "Persecutions of Christians by Romans"

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# [[Aurelian]]
# [[Aurelian]]
# [[Diocletian]]
# [[Diocletian]]
== Nero ==
== Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus) ==
== Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus) ==
He was a Roman emperor and persecutor of the Church, son of Vespasian and younger brother
and successor of the Emperor Titus. He was borne 24 Oct., A.D. 51, and reigned from 81 to 96. In
of Saturninus he organized a series of bloodthirsty proscriptions against all the wealthy and noble
Sept., 96 AD. 
persecution of the Christians (Tertullian). He was the Emperor who exiled St. John to Patmos where he
saw his revelation.  Among the more famous martyrs in this Second Persecution were Domitian's
Domitilla, the wife of Flavius, was banished to Pandataria. The book of the Apocalypse was written in
the midst of this storm, when many of the Christians had already perished (St. Irenæus). Rome, "the
great Babylon", "was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus". St.
Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians was also written about this time. The Roman Church continued
the exercise of the power committed to their hands (Clement Epistle 9,  Romans 13, 1 Peter 2). Before
the end of his reign Domitian ceased to persecute. 
== Trajan ==
== Trajan ==

Revision as of 20:05, 12 October 2012


  1. Nero
  2. Domitian
  3. Trajan
  4. Marcus Aurelius
  5. Septimius Severus
  6. Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax
  7. Decius
  8. Valerian
  9. Aurelian
  10. Diocletian

Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus)





Marcus Aurelius


His co-reign with Lucius Verus was between 161and 169. After death of Lucius Verus in 169 he reigned alone till his death in 180. He was a great philosopher. Niebuhr calls him the noblest character of his time. It is true that the most marked trait in his character was his devotion to philosophy and letters. Philosophy became a disease in his mind and cut him off from the truths of practical life. He was steeped in the grossest superstition; he surrounded himself with charlatans and magicians. The highest offices in the empire were sometimes conferred on his philosophic teachers, whose lectures he attended even after he became emperor. In the midst of the Parthian war he found time to keep a kind of private diary, his famous "Meditations", or twelve short books of detached thoughts and sentences in which he gave over to posterity the results of a rigorous self-examination.

In his dealings with the Christians, Marcus Aurelius went a step farther than any of his predecessors. Throughout the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius, the procedure followed by Roman authorities in their treatment of the Christians has that outlined in Trajan's prescript to Pliny, by which it was ordered that the Christians should not be sought out; if brought before the courts, legal proof of their guilt should be forthcoming. It is clear that during the reign of Aurelius the comparative leniency of the legislation of Trajan gave way to a more severe temper. In Southern Gaul, at least, an imperial prescript inaugurated an entirely new and much more violent era of persecution (Eusabius). In Asia Minor and in Syria the blood of Christians flowed in torrents. In general the recrudescence of persecution seems to have come immediately through the local action of the provincial governors impelled by the insane outcries of terrified and demoralized city mobs. If any general imperial edict was issued, it has not survived. It seems more probable that the "new decrees" mentioned by Eusebius were local ordinances of municipal authorities or provincial governors; as to the emperor, he maintained against the Christians the existing legislation, though it has been argued that the imperial edict against those who terrify by superstition "the fickle minds of men" was directed against the Christian society. It is clear, however, from the scattered references in contemporary writings (Celsus, Origen. Contra Celsum", Melito, in Eusabius; Athenagoras, "Legatio pro Christianis",) that throughout the empire an active pursuit of the Christians was now undertaken. In order to encourage their numerous enemies, the ban was raised from the delatores, or "denouncers", and they were promised rewards for all cases of successful conviction. The impulse given by this legislation to an unrelenting pursuit of the followers of Christ rendered their condition so precarious that many changes in ecclesiastical organization and discipline date, at least in embryo, from this reign.

Another significant fact, pointing to the growing numbers and influence of the Christians, and the increasing distrust on the part of the imperial authorities and the cultured classes, is that an active literary propaganda, emanating from the imperial surrounding, was commenced at this period. The Cynic philosopher Crescens took part in a public disputation with St. Justin in Rome. Fronto, the preceptor and bosom friend of Marcus Aurelius, denounced the followers of the new religion in a formal discourse and the satirist Lucian of Samosata turned the shafts of his wit against them, as a party of ignorant fanatics. No better proof the tone of the period and of the widespread knowledge of Christian beliefs and practices which prevailed among the pagans is needed than the contemporary "True Word" of Celsus (ORIGEN), a work in which were collected all the calumnies of pagan malice and all the arguments, set forth with the skill of the trained rhetorician, which the philosophy and experience of the pagan world could muster against the new creed. The earnestness and frequency with which the Christians replied to these assaults by the apologetic works (ATHENAGORAS, MINUClUS FELIX, THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH) addressed directly to the emperors themselves, or to the people at large, show how keenly alive they were to the dangers arising from these literary or academic foes.


Septimius Severus

Founder of the African dynasty of Roman emperors, borne at Leptis Magna in Africa, 11 April, 146; died at York, England, 4 February, 211. Severus came from a family that had become Roman citizens. In his career as an official at Rome and in the provinces he had been favored by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. In the reign of Commodus he was appointed legate of the fourth legion on the Euphrates; this gave him the opportunity to become acquainted with affairs in the East. He married Julia Domna, a member of a priestly family of Emesa, who was the mother of Caracalla and Geta. When the Emperor Pertinax was killed by the mutinous soldiers at Rome, Severus, who was then governor of Upper Pannonia, was proclaimed emperor. During the reign of Severus the fifth persecution of the Christians broke out. He forbade conversion to Judaism and to Christianity. The persecution raged especially in Syria and Africa. In 203 Saints Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions suffered martyrdom at Carthage. Lionidas, Origen’s father, Putamnia, Basil the solider were of the famous martyrs during his reign.

Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax

He reigned as Roman Emperor 235-8. He was barbarian and evil in his persecution to Christians.








He was a Roman Emperor and persecutor of the Church, borne of parents who had been slaves, at Dioclea, near Salona, in Dalmatia, A.D. 245; died at Salona, A.D. 313. Our Coptic Orthodox Church began its own calendar of Martyrs by the first year of his reign 284 AD.
