The Diocletian Persecution

The last great persecution was preceded by a number of laws aimed to annoy

the Christians. On March 12, 295, all soldiers in the army were ordered to

offer sacrifice. In 296 sacred books of the Christians were sought for and

burnt at Alexandria. In 297 or 298 Christian persecutions began in the

army, but the great persecution itself broke out in 303, as described

below. Among other reasons for energetic measures in which Galerius t ok

the lead, appears to have been that prince's desire to establish the unity

of the Empire upon a religious basis, which is borne out by his attempts

to reorganize the heathen worship immediately after the cessation of the

persecution. In April, 311, the edict of Galerius, known as the Edict of

the Three Emperors, put an official end to the persecution. In parts of

the Empire, however, small persecutions took place and the authorities

attempted to attack Christianity without actually carrying on

persecutions, as in the wide-spread dissemination of the infamous "Acts of

Pilate," which were posted on walls and spread through the schools. In the

territories of Constantius Chlorus the persecution had been very light,

and there was none under Constantine who favored Christians from the

first.





Additional source material: Eusebius, Hist. Ec., VIII, and IX,

9; his little work On the Martyrs of Palestine will be found

after the eighth book. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum. The

principal texts will be found in Preuschen's Analecta, I, §§ 20,

21; see also R. Knopf, Ausgewaehlte Maertyreracten.





(a) Lactantius. De Mortibus Persecutorum, 12 ff. (MSL. 7:213.)





The outbreak of the persecution.





A fit and auspicious day was sought for the accomplishment of this

undertaking [i.e., the persecution of the Christians]; and the festival

of the great god Terminus, celebrated on the seventh calends of March

[Feb. 23], was chosen, to put an end, as it were, to this religion,



"That day the first of death, was first of evil's cause" (Vergil),



and cause of evils which befell not only the Christians but the whole

world. When that day dawned, in the eighth consulship of Diocletian and

seventh of Maximianus, suddenly, while it was hardly light, the prefect,

together with the chief commanders, tribunes, and officers of the

treasury, came to the church [in Nicomedia], and when the gates had been

forced open they sought for an image of God. The books of the Holy

Scriptures were found and burnt; the spoil was given to all. Rapine,

confusion, and tumult reigned. Since the church was situated on rising

ground, and was visible from the palace, Diocletian and Galerius stood

there as if on a watch-tower and disputed long together whether it ought

to be set on fire. The opinion of Diocletian prevailed, for he feared

lest, when so great a fire should once be started, the city might be

burnt; for many and large buildings surrounded the church on all sides.

Then the praetorian guard, in battle array, came with axes and other iron

instruments, and having been let loose everywhere, in a few hours they

levelled that very lofty building to the ground.



Ch. 13. Next day the edict was published ordaining that men of the

Christian religion should be deprived of all honors and dignities; and

also that they should be subjected to torture, of whatsoever rank or

position they might be; and that every suit of law should be entertained

against them; but they, on the other hand, could not bring any suit for

any wrong, adultery, or theft; and finally, that they should have neither

freedom nor the right of suffrage. A certain person, although not

properly, yet with a brave soul, tore down this edict and cut it up,

saying in derision: "These are the triumphs of Goths and Samaritans."

Having been brought to judgment, he was not only tortured, but was burnt

in the legal manner, and with admirable patience he was consumed to ashes.



Ch. 14. But Galerius was not satisfied with the terms of the edict, and

sought another way to gain over the Emperor. That he might urge him to

excess of cruelty in persecution, he employed private agents to set the

palace on fire; and when some part of it had been burnt the Christians

were accused as public enemies, and the very appellation of Christian grew

odious on account of its connection with the fire in the palace. It was

said that the Christians, in concert with the eunuchs, had plotted to

destroy the princes, and that both the emperors had well-nigh been burnt

alive in their own palace. Diocletian, who always wanted to appear shrewd

and intelligent, suspecting nothing of the deception, but inflamed with

anger, began immediately to torture all his domestics.





(b) Eusebius, Hist. Ec., VIII, 2; 6: 8. (MSG, 20:753.)





The edicts of Diocletian.





The first passage occurs, with slight variations, in the

introduction to the work On the Martyrs of Palestine.





Ch. 2. It was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the

month Dystus, called March by the Romans, when the feast of the Saviour's

passion was near at hand, that royal edicts were published everywhere

commanding that the churches be levelled to the ground, the Scriptures be

destroyed by fire, and all holding places of honor be branded with infamy,

and that the household servants, if they persisted in the profession of

Christianity, be deprived of their freedom.



Such was the original edict against us. But not long after other decrees

were issued, commanding that all the rulers of the churches everywhere

should be first thrown into prison, and afterward compelled by every means

to sacrifice.



Ch. 6:8. Such things occurred in Nicomedia at the beginning of the

persecution. But not long after, as persons in the country called Melitina

and others throughout Syria attempted to usurp the government, a royal

edict commanded that the rulers of the churches everywhere be thrown into

prison and bonds. What was to be seen after this exceeds all description.

A vast multitude were imprisoned in every place; and the prisons

everywhere, which had long before been prepared for murderers and

grave-robbers, were filled with bishops, presbyters and deacons, readers

and exorcists, so that room was no longer left in them for those condemned

for crimes. And as other decrees followed the first, directing that those

in prison, if they sacrificed, should be permitted to depart from the

prison in freedom, but that those who refused should be harassed with many

tortures, how could any one again number the multitude of martyrs in every

province, and especially those in Africa and Mauretania, and Thebais and

Egypt?





(c) Edict of Galerius, A.D. 311. Eusebius, Hist. Ec., VIII. 17. (MSG,

20:792.) Cf. Preuschen, Analecta, I, § 21:5.





This may also be found in Lactantius. De Mortibus Persecutorum,

ch. 34. It is known as the "Edict of Three Emperors," as it was

issued from Nicomedia in the name of Galerius, Constantine, and

Licinius. The date is April 30, 311. By it the persecution was not

wholly ended. Galerius died in the next month, but Maximinus Daza

resumed the persecution. There was for six months, however, some

mitigation of the persecutions in the East, granted at the request

of Constantine.





Amongst our other measures, which we are always making for the use and

profit of the commonwealth, we have hitherto endeavored to bring all

things into conformity with the ancient laws and public order of the

Romans, and to bring it about also that the Christians, who have abandoned

the religion of their ancestors, should return to sound reason. For in

some way such wilfulness has seized the Christians and such folly

possessed them that they do not follow those constitutions of the

ancients, which peradventure their own ancestors first established, but

entirely according to their own judgment and as it pleased them they were

making such laws for themselves as they would observe, and in different

places were assembling various sorts of people. In short, when our command

was issued that they were to betake themselves to the institutions of the

ancients, many of them were subdued by danger, many also were ruined. Yet

when great numbers of them held to their determination, and we saw that

they neither gave worship and due reverence to the gods nor yet regarded

the God of the Christians, we therefore, mindful of our most mild clemency

and of the unbroken custom whereby we are accustomed to grant pardon to

all men, have thought that in this case also speediest indulgence ought to

be granted to them, that the Christians might exist again and might

establish their gatherings, yet so that they do nothing contrary to good

order. By another letter we shall signify to magistrates how they are to

proceed. Wherefore, in accordance with this our indulgence, they ought to

pray their God for our good estate, for that of the commonwealth, and for

their own, that the commonwealth may endure on every side unharmed and

that they may be able to live securely in their own homes.





(d) Constantine, Edict of Milan, A. D. 313, in Lactantius, De

Mortibus Persecutorum, 48. (MSL, 7:267.) See also Eusebius. Hist. Ec.,

X, 5:2. (MSG, 20:880.)





The so-called Edict of Milan, granting toleration to the

Christians, is not the actual edict, but a letter addressed to a

prefect and referring to the edict, which probably was much

briefer. The following passage is translated from the emended text

of Lactantius, as given in Preuschen, op. cit., I, § 22:4.





When I, Constantine Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, had happily met

together at Milan, and were having under consideration all things which

concern the advantage and security of the State, we thought that, among

other things which seemed likely to profit men generally, we ought, in the

very first place, to set in order the conditions of the reverence paid to

the Divinity by giving to the Christians and all others full permission to

follow whatever worship any man had chosen; whereby whatever divinity

there is in heaven may be benevolent and propitious to us, and to all

placed under our authority. Therefore we thought we ought, with sound

counsel and very right reason, to lay down this law, that we should in no

way refuse to any man any legal right who has given up his mind either to

the observance of Christianity or to that worship which he personally

feels best suited to himself; to the end that the Supreme Divinity, whose

worship we freely follow, may continue in all things to grant us his

accustomed favor and good-will. Wherefore your devotion should know that

it is our pleasure that all provisions whatsoever which have appeared in

documents hitherto directed to your office regarding Christians and which

appeared utterly improper and opposed to our clemency should be abolished,

and that every one of those men who have the same wish to observe

Christian worship may now freely and unconditionally endeavor to observe

the same without any annoyance or molestation. These things we thought it

well to signify in the fullest manner to your carefulness, that you might

know that we have given free and absolute permission to the said

Christians to practise their worship. And when you perceive that we have

granted this to the said Christians, your devotion understands that to

others also a similarly full and free permission for their own worship and

observance is granted, for the quiet of our times, so that every man may

have freedom in the practice of whatever worship he has chosen. And these

things were done by us that nothing be taken away from any honor or form

of worship. Moreover, in regard to the Christians, we have thought fit to

ordain this also, that if any appear to have bought, either from our

exchequer or from others, the places in which they were accustomed

formerly to assemble, and concerning which definite orders have been given

before now, and that by letters sent to your office, the same be restored

to the Christians, setting aside all delay and dispute, without payment or

demand of price. Those also who have obtained them by gift shall restore

them in like manner without delay to the said Christians; and those,

moreover, who have bought them, as well as those who have obtained them by

gift, if they request anything of our benevolence, they shall apply to the

deputy that order may be taken for them too by our clemency. All these

must be delivered over at once and without delay by your intervention to

the corporation of the Christians. And since the same Christians are known

to have possessed not only the places where they are accustomed to

assemble, but also others belonging to their corporation, namely, to the

churches and not to individuals, all these by the law which we have

described above you will order to be restored without any doubtfulness or

dispute to the said Christians--that is, to their said corporations and

assemblies; provided always, as aforesaid, that those who restore them

without price, as we said, shall expect a compensation from our

benevolence. In all these things you must give the aforesaid Christians

your most effective intervention, that our command may be fulfilled as

soon as may be, and that in this matter also order may be taken by our

clemency for the public quiet. And may it be, as already said, that the

divine favor which we have already experienced in so many affairs, shall

continue for all time to give us prosperity and successes, together with

happiness for the State. But that it may be possible for the nature of

this decree and of our benevolence to come to the knowledge of all men, it

will be your duty by a proclamation of your own to publish everywhere and

bring to the notice of all men this present document when it reaches you,

that the decree of this our benevolence may not be hidden.