Aggressive Persecution Of The Christians In Rome example essay topic

During the first half century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government including governors in the eastern provinces took no active measures against Christians. The attitude of the higher Roman authorities had always been that Christianity was merely a sect of Judaism, and as such, were entitled to share in its privileges as a recognized religion. In 64 A.D. this attitude suffered a severe alteration. On July 19, 64 A.D. occurred the great fire of Rome. Half a million people were left homeless. Popular rumor persistently asserted that the fire was started by incendiaries acting under the orders of the Emperor Nero.

It was said that Nero wanted the city burnt down so he could build a new city which was to be re-named after himself. Nero felt that something must be done to deflect the public indignation against him. To do this he contrived that accusations should be brought against the Christians. So Nero began an aggressive persecution of the Christians in Rome. Those who confessed their guilt were brought to trail. During these trials a great number of other Christians were uncovered and were also brought to trial.

Oddly enough, these people were not charged with starting the great fire of Rome, but rather for "hatred of the humankind". Adding mockery to their death, the Christians were dressed in the skins of wild beasts and torn to pieces by crazed dogs. Others were put on crosses and set on fire so that when the sun set they would serve as illumination for the night. As a general rule, from this time forward Christians were dealt with by the Roman authorities as a matter of policy by the ordinary laws in force, rather than as a result of any definite edict issued against them. Therefore the first act of persecution on the part of the state was due to the personal act of the Emperor himself.

In the closing years of the 1st century, Roman authorities executed a sufficient number of Christians. In general, the provincial governors had wide discretionary powers of jurisdiction, but knowledge of Nero's actions may have set a precedent in regards to the handling of Christians and may have also encouraged local enemies of Christians to try to persuade a governor to accept their accusations and proceed against the accused on the assumption that they were guilty of conduct detrimental to the interest of the Roman State. Pliny was faced with this problem when he was sent as Legates August to reorganize the troubled province of Bithynia-Pontus in 110 A.D. In a letter to the Roman Emperor at the time Trajan, Pliny asked for a clarification or more definite instructions regarding Christians. Specifically he wanted to know if they should be punished because he had never taken part in a trial concerning Christians.

At the onset of his governorship he executed anyone who had been accused of being a Christian. He released those who denied they were Christians and those wiling to invoke the Gods, sacrifice to them and to the Emperor's statue, and to curse Christ. But he was unsure if he should release them, hence he asked Trajan for his opinion. Trajan's reply did not lay out any universal rule. Instead his reply was as such: .".. it is not possible to lay down some general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved to be guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and quite clearly proves it, that is by worshiping our gods, he shall gain pardon because of his change of mind, despite having been under suspicion in the past.

But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution, since they set the worst precedent and are unworthy of our times". Trajan adhered blindly to the principle of the routine administrator, that a practice once covered by precedents, must continue. He missed the opportunity to regulate an official position regarding Christians, like Augustus when he exempted the Jews from Caesar worship. The practical effect of Trajan's response was that in the second century, sporadic executions of Christians continued although under Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) and Antoninus (A.D. 138-161) the Christians enjoyed a lull in being persecuted. Unfortunately this lull would not last. By the mid 2nd century Christian refusal to take part in the cult of the Emperor or the pagan gods led to a widespread feeling that the Christians were enemies of the "community" and therefore threatened its security.

They became the scape-goats for all kinds of public disturbances and disasters like famine and disease. Under Marcus Aurelius (161 180 A.D.) the persecutions resumed, however, they were not as systematic or organized as they had been or were to be. By the time of Marcus Aurelius, the number of Christians had substantially increased, especially in the major cities of the Empire. Popular sentiments against the enemies of pagan gods was growing more violent within the populous and officials in many cities were forced by mob excitement to act against the Christians. In 177 A.D. outbreaks by angry mobs stimulated governors in Lugundum and Vienna to take action against the Christians, which they did by handing out death sentences on a very liberal scale. It is unclear however, the influence Marcus had on the resumption of Christian persecutions.

"To Marcus... the Christians seem to have appeared chiefly as irritating petty nuisances in the path of smooth administration". Between the time of Commodus (180-192) and the mid third century, Christians relatively enjoyed a further immunity from persecutions. A temporary break in this immunity occurred when Septimius in 202 A.D. banned conversion to Christianity. It resulted in some martyrdom's but it was still relatively calm. This immunity ended when full scale persecution was resumed by Decius (249 251 A.D. ). In the first "great persecution" Decius attempted to crush the general insubordination and create a greater unity in the empire.

This occurred in different stages. Decius first attacked the church clergy which resulted in many martyrs including Pope Fabian. Then Decius called for a general sacrifice of homage before the images of the pagan gods of the empire. In all cities and hamlets, sacrificial commissions were set up to supervise the proceedings and to de liver certificates to anyone who preformed the act of sacrifice. Any Christians who refused to conform were either killed or imprisoned. Some managed to buy their freedom but it is understood that thousands perished.

The death of Decius in 251 A.D. brought an end to one of the most severe and widespread onslaughts against Christianity. The next couple of years were relatively tranquil until peace was once again shattered when Valerian (253-260 A.D.) became Emperor and unleashed the second "great persecution". Valerian's first targets were leaders of the Christian community. He executed bishop Xystus of Rome along with his deacons, and bishop Cyprian of Carthage. During this period, suspicious and excited mobs would seek out Christians and either kill them on the spot or drag them away to be prosecuted. The second "great persecution" ended when Valerian was captured by the Persians.

His death brought full reconciliation between Christianity and the state. Valerian's son Gallienus issued an edict of Toleration, effectively giving back to them their places of worship, cemeteries and a general ordinance stating Christians were no longer to be bothered. For the next forty years, Christians went unmolested, being exempted from the obligation to participate in the Imperial Cult. The third and last of the "great persecutions" started during the reign of Diocletian.

In 303, after nineteen years of tolerant disposition, Diocletian issued his first edict ordering churches to be destroyed and scriptures to be set on fire. Christians within the higher-classes were stripped of the immunities including torture in judicial proceedings. All Christians were once again placed outside the law. Under a second edict large numbers of clergy were imprisoned and by a third edict, all clergy who were incarcerated where to be constrained to sacrifice with the possibility of being granted freedom. With Diocletian struck with illness his military commander, Galerius, seized the opportunity by issuing a forth edict that demanded universal sacrifice upon threat of execution. After Diocletian's retirement, Galerius's new emperor Maximin us Data issued two new edicts in 306 and 309 calling upon the provincial governors to enforce upon all men women and children the obligation to sacrifice to the gods.

The brutal repression of the Christians was continued with a redoubled energy. In 311 A.D. the unexpected happened. Galerius, the author of the final round of persecutions, suffering from a horrible illness, made a death bed repentance and stopped the persecutions with an edict published on April 30th 311 A.D. Christians were once and for all granted their legal recognition. So why was it that the Romans persecuted the Christians?

If you compare the Roman treatment of other foreign religious sects you will see that there is common ground between Livy's account of the repression of the Bacchic cult in the second century B.C., the Julio-C laudian policy towards the Druids and the persecutions of the Christians. The Romans were not intolerant of new religions; on the contrary, they were inclined to welcome the representatives of other religions to their culture, so long as they did not threaten the sanctity of the Imperial religion. In practice, almost every form of religion was accepted, even Eastern cults that had a reputation for immorality. The members of the ruling class of Rome readily did business with people who worshiped different gods.

Roman polytheism easily adapted itself to local traditions and customs. Greek and Roman gods practically became identical and Celtic, Semitic, Pannonian and African gods were either assimilated into the Greco-Roman gods or accepted as respectable gods in their own right. The toleration of Rome was really not a liberal religious attitude at all; rather, it was founded on political expediency. "It is always a prudent thing for a conqueror to respect local religious usages, so long as they are not contrary to good government". Good governance was therefore subject to local considerations rather than a broad set of laws that covered the entire empire. It was the political expediency rather than abstract theory that lay at the heart of Roman toleration.

A local cult which was willing to admit the claims of the Imperial religion could do no harm. Why then was Christianity alone made an exception and savagely persecuted while others went relatively unmolested? The answer to this question is that Christians were unwilling to participate in the public worship of the Emperor and the Roman state. Christianity was unique not only because it rejected polytheism; Judaism also did, but because it was a pro-actively offensive religion. The monotheist religion of the Jews could be tolerated because it was an ancient national religion which might win converts, but was not actively looking to spread across the empire. The non-national "superstition" of Christianity wanted to win the world for Christ and thus was instinctively felt as a threat by those who rejected it.

Gradually, as the distinction between Jews and Christians was made more evident, the persecutions became more focused in its legality and philosophy. It is believed that by the end of the third Jewish revolt (132-135 A.D.) there was a socially recognizable distinction between Jews and Christians. Prior to this however, during the reign of Trajan, the mere fact of being a Christian had become a capital crime. This development was based on the general acknowledgement that Christians were resolutely opposed to polytheism, and therefore threatened the sanctity of the Imperial religion. As noted before, the Christianity was viewed as a superstition. As a superstition, many pagans believed that Christians were practitioners of magic.

This perception was reinforced by early Christian writers who talked like magicians when they bragged about their ability to summon powers from other worlds, and that by manipulating the correct elements under the correct circumstances they could force the divine to do their will. They also claimed to have the powers of incantation, "being able to dissipate the artifices of wicked demons". Lactantius (240-320 A.D.) blamed the Christian use of magic during the disruption of pagan ceremonies as the initial cause of the outbreak of prosecutions in 303 A.D. under.