The Diocletianic or Great Persecution, a significant event in the history of the Roman Empire, marks a period of intense hostility toward Christians in the early 4th century. It's a concerted effort by the Roman Emperors to suppress the growing influence of Christianity in the Empire.
The series of edicts issued during this time not only strip Christians of their legal rights but also demand their compliance with traditional pagan religious practices. The impact of the persecution varies across different regions of the Roman Empire.
While areas like Gaul and Britain experience relatively milder forms of persecution, the Eastern provinces bears the brunt of the hostility, facing severe measures aimed at eradicating Christian presence. The persecution was particularly harsh on the clergy.
Members of the Christian clergy are specifically targeted by the edicts mandating sacrifices to the Roman gods. Despite the intensity of the persecution, it's not a sustained campaign, and the four different Emperors contribute to its eventual decline.
Christians in the Roman Empire have long been subject to sporadic discrimination, as are other religious groups at one time or another. During the reigns of Emperors Decius and Valerian in the 250s, a bad situation gets worse.
The temporary suspension of these laws under Emperor Gallienus in 260 gives a brief respite, but the situation once more takes a turn with the ascension of Diocletian to the throne in 284. Diocletian doesn't immediately change the empire's stance towards Christianity.
Christian communities experience a significant boom in growth due to the peace brought by Gallienus. This growth was particularly notable in the Eastern regions of the empire. The Christian population goes from 1.1 million in 250 AD to 6 million by 300 AD.
This is a a substantial increase, making up approximately 10% of the Empire's total population. The expansion of Christianity is not limited to urban centers but also extends into rural areas. Large, prominent churches emerge in major Roman cities.
Churches like one in Nicomedia, on a hill overlooking the imperial palace, become iconic symbols of the faith's increasing presence and influence. Diocletian later orders it razed and its treasures confiscated by the Empire.
The rise of the churches signifies the growing prosperity and social status of Christianity in the Empire. In regions where Christianity is predominant, such as North Africa and Egypt, the traditional belief in pagan deities is already on the decline.
Over the course of fifteen years, Diocletian takes various measures against Christians, such as expelling them from the army. He targets Manicheans with torture and execution and surrounds himself with outspoken critics of Christianity.
His governance style, driven by a desire to restore Roman greatness, leads to the most widespread persecution of Christians yet. In the winter of 302 Galerius, a close ally of Diocletian, urges the emperor to launch a general persecution of Christians.
Diocletian, initially hesitant, seeks guidance from the oracle at Didyma. The oracle's response is interpreted as endorsing Galerius's position, ultimately causing the declaration of a general persecution on February 23, 303.
During this time all citizens including Christians, are forced to worship Roman gods or face severe consequences of imprisonment, torture and execution. While the decrees issued during this period don't target Christianity alone they have an impact on the Christian community.
Besides the Emperors, pagan priests of Rome are keen to suppress any threat to traditional religion. They complain their ceremonies are hindered by the Christians, whose presence clouds the sight of oracles and stall the gods' recognition of sacrifices.
The Christian Arnobius, writing during Diocletian's reign, attributes financial concerns to provisioners of pagan services:
The augurs, the dream interpreters, the soothsayers, the prophets, and the priestlings, ever vain...fearing that their own arts be brought to naught, and that they may extort but scanty contributions from the devotees, now few and infrequent, cry aloud, 'The gods are neglected, and in the temples there is now a very thin attendance. Former ceremonies are exposed to derision, and the time-honored rites of institutions once sacred have sunk before the superstitions of new religions.
During the persecutions thousands of Christians are arrested, tortured and slain. Methods of killing Christians include
damnatio ad bestias, or condemnation (death) by beasts
damnatio in crucem or crucifixion
vivi crematio or burning alive
capitis amputation or beheading
furcam damnatio or hanging
being boiled alive
thrown off a cliff onto spikes
rolled down a hill in a barrel into which nails or spikes are hammered
being flayed alive
death by brazen bull, a hollow bronze bull wherein victims are thrown, then a fire is lit beneath, slowly roasting the people alive. Horns, funnels and tubes turn the horrific screams of the dying into the bellowing of a bull.
Eusebius (c. 265 - 339 AD) records in his De Martyribus Palestinae that Urbanus, governor of Palenstine, has martyrs burned, drowned, thrown to beasts, and some youths forced into gladiatorial combat, along with other forms of torture and imprisonment.
There are various methods used to execute individuals condemned to face wild beasts in the arena. Some are given wooden or broken swords to fend off attacking animals who are previously whipped into a frenzy.
Others are bound to posts and coated with blood or draped in animal hides to attract the beasts. Another technique involved placing criminals on top of an animal enclosure and then opening a trapdoor, causing them to fall inside.
Galerius' Edict of Serdica or Edict of Toleration by Galerius in 311 bring a shift in imperial policy towards Christians. The Edict acknowledges Christianity as a religio licita, a religion officially recognized and accepted by the Roman Empire.
This is the initial decree making Christianity legal. The Edict of Milan in 313, issued by Constantine, is widely regarded as the definitive end of the persecution. This edict grants Christians freedom of religion as well as tolerance within the Roman Empire.
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