On This Day In Roman History, February 23.
The Diocletianic persecutions begin with the destruction of the church in Nicomedia on February 23, 303 CE. These edicts were issued by Emperor Diocletian, as the name implies, and were aimed at forcing universal sacrifice in compliance with classical Roman religion. The problems for Diocletian were arising as early as 299 during the Persian wars when a sacrificial divination meant to predict the future failed. The haruspex declared it must have been because of profane men in the form of Christians within the imperial household. Diocletian and his co-Emperor agreed the best course of action was to force the entire army to perform pagan sacrifices or else face discharge. Later by 303, the initial edicts targeted high-ranking and property holding Christians. The second set of edicts in the summer of 303 ordered the arrest of all bishops and priests.
Did you know?
In a large majority of Roman provinces, the edicts were very loosely followed and enforced. Many pagans were recorded as being sympathetic for persecuted Christians, and several Christians bought their way out of sacrificing. One of the more interesting stories is a record of a man giving his pagan brother the power of attorney to sacrifice in court on his behalf, therefore avoiding the actual sacrifice.
Pictured: The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883). Via Wikimedia Commons.
The passage from Gibbon's work I choose to use today must be recognized for being somewhat bias against Christians, however, his point on the exaggeration of some persecutions are correct regarding their nature.
"After the church had triumphed over all her enemies, the interest as well as vanity of the captives prompted them to magnify the merit of their respective suffering. A convenient distance of time and place gave an ample scope to the progress of fiction; and the frequent instances which might be alleged of holy martyrs, whose wounds had been instantly healed, whose strength had been renewed, and whose lost members had miraculously been restored, were extremely convenient for the purpose of removing every difficulty, and of silencing every objection. The most extravagant legends, as they conduced to the honour of the church, were applauded by the incredulous multitude, countenanced by the power of the clergy, and attested by the suspicious evidence of ecclesiastical history."
Opinion
Welcome to my daily opinion! It's important to view these events from the middle of the road. While the above quote is somewhat biased, by this point in history there was a large number of practicing Christians within the Empire and local authorities commonly recognized their place in Roman society. It is true that there were some exaggerations put into place by history's "Christian-centric" ways of thinking at later dates, especially in the early dark ages. There is still some truth to these stories, however, and many Christians did in fact pay with their lives simply because of their religious beliefs. At the beginning of the 4th-century, these edicts were simply too little too late, and Christianity was already far too well implanted in large bodies and institutions across the Empire. I have said it before in my daily opinions but if you want to successfully run a multi-cultural/ multi-religious Empire you need to not marginalize, or persecute for that matter, groups within your state.
Sources
Frend, W. H. (1991). The rise of Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Gibbon, E., & Womersley, D. (2005). The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: Volume the first (1776) and Volume the second (1781). London: Penguin.
Liebeschuetz, J. H. (1996). Continuity and change in Roman religion. London: Sandpiper Books.
Louth, A., & Williamson, G. A. (1989). Eusebius: the history of the church from Christ to Constantine. London: Penguin.
Further Reading:
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