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 dorture, 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 of 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 mroe 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 persecutions 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 nobleman, 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 men 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 up to the south to see a 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 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 Constatine. 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 riches 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.
PERSECUTIONS UNDER JULIAN, AD 361
Julian became emperor at the death of his brother Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great. Although Julian had been educated by his father in the Christian faith, he was at heart a pagan; no sooner was he seated on the throne than he made a public avowal of his belief and trust in the ancient gods of the heathen, earning himself the title Julian the Apostate.
Julian restored idolatrous worship by opening the temples and ordering the magistrates and people to follow his example, but he did not make any laws against Christianity. He allowed every religious sect its freedom, although he exerted all the influence he could to restore the old faith. Although no violent deaths of Christians are recorded as resulting from any orders from Julian, several executions did take place around the empire on orders of heathen governors and officers.
SEVERUS
Venus, the goddess of love, was revered by the Romans, and April was considered the appropriate month to celebrate the triumphs of this goddess. During the month, her temples were thronged with worshipers and her marble statues were decked with flowers. Severus, a Christian centurion in the Roman army, dared to raise his voice against this popular custom, not only refusing to take part in the heathen ceremony but denouncing Venus herself. Enraged by his words, the crowd seized Severus and dragged him before the judge. He repeated his beliefs firmly in the judge’s presence and was condemned to be taken before the temple of Venus to be insulted, stripped, and scourged with a whip called the plumbetae, which had lead balls tied to the end of each of its thongs. Severus was beaten by two strong men, delivered over to the public executioners, and beheaded.
CASSIAN
Cassian was a schoolmaster in a town not far from Rome. When he was arrested for refusing to sacrifice to the idols, his judge decided that his punishment should be entrusted to his students, who didn’t like their schoolmaster at all. He was bound and delivered to his students, who fell on him with their styles (the sharp-pointed pieces of iron used to write on wax-covered tablets) and stabbed him to death.
Theodorus, a Christian, was seized and tortured. After being taken from the rack, he was asked how he could endure the pain so patiently. “At first I felt some pain,” he replied, “but afterward there appeared to be a young man beside me who wiped the sweat from my face and refreshed me with cold water. I enjoyed it so much that I was sorry to be released.”
MARCUS
Marcus, the bishop of Arethusa, a town in Thrace, destroyed a heathen temple and had a Christian church built in its place. This so enraged the heathens of the town that they waited until he was alone and captured him one day. After they had beaten him with sticks, they asked whether he would rebuild the temple he’d torn down. Marcus not only refused to rebuilt it but threatened to destroy it again if anyone else rebuilt it. His persecutors looked around for some way of punishing him, finally deciding on a plan that was as cruel as it was unusual. They tried Marcus with ropes and placed him in a large basket, which they hung in a tree after smearing the poor man’s body with honey. After being hung up in the tree, Marcus was asked once more to restore the temple; he refused, and his tormentors left him to die from the stings of the waps he attracted.
PERSECUTION BY THE GOTHS
During the reign of Constantine the Great, the light of the gospel penetrated into the land of the barbarians. In northeastern Europe, which was then called Scythia, some of the Goths were converted, but most of them continued as pagans.
Fritegern, king of the Western Goths, was a friend of the Romans; but Athanaric, king of the Eastern Goths, was at war with them. The Christians living in Fritegern’s area lived in peace; but Athanaric, being defeated by the Romans, took out his anger on the Christians in his land.
Sabas was the first to feel the king’s anger. He was a humble, modest man, eager to see the church expand. Athanaric sent out orders that everyone in his land had to sacrifice to the heathen gods and eat the meat that had been offered to the idols. If they refused, they would be put to death. Some of the heathens who had Christian relatives provided them with meat that hasn’t been sacrificed to the idols, but Sabas refused to take this way out. He not only refused to comply with the new laws but publicly said that those who ate the substitute meat were not true Christians.
Sabas was soon arrested and taken before a judge who, seeing he was a poor, unimportant man, had him released. Soon Sabas went to visit Sansala, a Christian missionary; on the third night after his arrival, they were both arrested by a party of soldiers. Sansala was allowed to dress himself and ride, but Sabas was forced to leave his clothing behind and walk. All during the long journey, they drove him through thorns and briars, beating him all the way. In the evenings, they stretched him between two beams, fastening his legs to the one and his arms to the other, and left him that way for the night. Even when he was released by a woman who pitied him, Sabas refused to run away.
In the morning, the soldiers tried to persuade both men to renounce their religion and eat the meat that had been consecrated to the idols. They refused, and although Sansala was finally set free, Sabas was drowned.
Nicetas, a Goth living near the Danube with his parents, was a Christian, too. One day Athanaric commanded that an idol should be drawn around on a chariot in all the Christian towns; everyone was ordered to worship the idol when it stopped in front of their house. Nicetas refused to come out when the idol arrived at his house, so the house was set on fire and everyone in it burned to death.
(To be continued …)
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