The Rise and Fall of Christendom 1C - Persecution

“And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” (Acts 8:1)

Carthage, March 7, 203 A.D.

Vibia Perpetua was led into the arena with her friend Felicity and three other Christian companions. Perpetua, a 22 year old wife and mother of a young son, was of noble birth. She had refused the opportunity to recant  - if she had done so, as her father had begged, she would have been spared.  In the arena, the five believers were first scourged by gladiators, then set upon by animals. Perpetua was gored by a wild bull, but still alive, a gladiator had the task to finish her life. The hand of the young man was unsteady, and Perpetua had to guide his sword to her own throat.

     Early Christianity was heavily marked by persecution. During the New Testament period described in the gospels and the book of Acts, persecution came mostly from Jewish sources, but as the faith spread to the gentile world, this quickly changed. Sporadic local persecution accompanied the Christians almost from the beginning, but it was the Emperor Nero who first made it more widespread. Needing a scapegoat to blame for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D., Nero chose to blame the Christians, and the ensuing persecution famously took the life of both the apostles Peter and Paul.

     The pagan Romans usually tolerated many religions within their borders under the condition that at designated times, every man must confess it: Kaiseros kurios – Caesar is Lord. Afterwards, a man could return to his regularly practiced religion. Christians wouldn’t do it, instead confessing Christos Kurios – Christ is Lord. The Christian refusal on this point was steadfastly and absolute, to the point of facing the arena rather than making the false confession. At various times and locales, the persecution eased and Christians lived what could be considered a normal life in the Roman Empire, but periods of persecution continually recurred. Even during times when Christians were not targeted on an Empire-wide basis, the local populations often blamed Christians for any disasters or misfortunes that occurred. The Christian apologist Tertullian complained: “They think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its water up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is, “Away with the Christians to the lions!”” [Bart D. Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament, Oxford University Press 2004, pp. 313-314]

     Yet perhaps it would be incomplete to state that persecution was a feature of Christianity before Christendom. Indeed, persecution of Christians is a feature of Christianity outside Christendom. Historically and up through the present day, Christian persecution is prominent in Islamic countries, and the communist countries with an atheistic ideology have been notorious persecutors of Christians. Christians today may consider that religious persecution could someday become a feature of a post-Christendom world.