Persecution of the Early Church
Pliny's Letter to the
Emperor Trajan
Persecution after the Fire
of Rome
Acts of the Scillitan
Martyrs
False Reports and
Accusations
Scapegoats for Every
Misfortune
The Diocletian
Persecution
Libelli - Certificates
of Paganism
Pliny the Younger was governor of Pontus/Bithynia from A.D. 111-113. The
following letter from him to the Emperor was preserved in Rome with a number
of other letters on a variety of administrative and political matters.
Pliny to the Emperor Trajan (Letters 10.96; written A.D. 111
or 112)
| It is my practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters concerning which
I am in doubt. For who can better give guidance to my hesitation or inform
my ignorance? I have never participated in trials of Christians. I
therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or
investigate, and to what extent. And I have been not a little hesitant as to
whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no difference
between the very young and the more mature; whether pardon is to be granted
for repentance, or, if a man has once been a Christian, it does him no good
to have ceased to be one; whether the name itself, even without offenses, or
only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished.
Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I
have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether
they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a
third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persevered I ordered
executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed,
stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There
were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman
citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.
Soon accusations spread, as usually happens, because of the proceedings
going on, and several incidents occurred. An anonymous document was
published containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they
were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by
me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered
to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and
moreover cursed Christ--none of which those who are really Christians, it is
said, can be forced to do--these I thought should be discharged. Others
named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied
it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years
before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. All of these
also worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.
They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or
error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn
and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves
by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not
falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do
so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again
to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they
affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with
your instructions, I had forbidden secret societies. Accordingly, I judged
it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two
female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but
a perverse and extravagant superstition.
I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For
the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the
number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both
sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has
spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it
seems possible to check and cure it. It is certainly quite clear that the
temples, which had been almost deserted, have begun to be frequented, that
the established religious rites, long neglected, are being resumed, and that
from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for which until now very few
purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine what a multitude of
people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is afforded. |
The Emperor Trajan to Pliny (Letters 10.97)
| You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of
those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to
lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not
to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be
punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian
and really proves it--that is, by worshiping our gods--even though he was
under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But
anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution.
For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the
spirit of our age. |
Tacitus, Annals book 15 ch. 44 (circa A.D. 117)
| So far, the precautions taken were suggested by human prudence: now
means were sought for appeasing deity, and application was made to the
Sibylline books; at the injunction of which public prayers were offered to
Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpine, while Juno was propitiated by the matrons,
first in the Capitol, then at the nearest point of the seashore, where water
was drawn for sprinkling the temple and image of the goddess. Ritual
banquets and all-night vigils were celebrated by women in the married state.
But neither human help, nor imperial munificence, nor all the modes of
placating Heaven, could stifle scandal or dispel the belief that the fire
had taken place by order. Therefore, to scotch the rumor, Nero substituted
as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of
men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus,
the founder of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of
Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilatus, and the pernicious
superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not
merely in Judaea, the home of the disease, but in the capital itself, where
all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue.
First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their
disclosures, vast numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson
as for hatred of the human race. And derision accompanied their end: they
were covered with wild beasts' skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were
fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps
by night. Nero had offered his Gardens for the spectacle, and gave an
exhibition in his Circus, mixing with the crowd in the habit of a
charioteer, or mounted on his car. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had
earned the most exemplary punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity, due
to the impression that they were being sacrificed not for the welfare of the
state but to the ferocity of a single man. |
The Scillitan Martyrs were condemned and executed at Carthage on the
17th July, A.D. 180. The martyrs belonged to Scili, a place in that part of
Numidia which belonged to proconsular Africa.
| 1. When Praesens, for the second time, and Claudianus were the consuls,
on the seventeenth day of July, at Carthage, there were set in the
judgment-hall Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Secunda and Vestia.
Saturninus the proconsul said: Ye can win the indulgence of our lord the
Emperor, if ye return to a sound mind. 2. Speratus said: We have never done
ill, we have not lent ourselves to wrong, we have never spoken ill, but when
ill-treated we have given thanks; because we pay heed to our Emperor. 3.
Saturninus the proconsul said: We too are religious, and our religion is
simple, and we swear by the genius of our lord the Emperor, and pray for his
welfare, as ye also ought to do. 4. Speratus said: If thou wilt peaceably
lend me thine ears, I can tell thee the mystery of simplicity. 5. Saturninus
said: I will not lend mine ears to thee, when thou beginnest to speak evil
things of our sacred rites; but rather swear thou by the genius of our lord
the Emperor. 6. Speratus said: The empire of this world I know not; but
rather I serve that God, whom no man hath seen, nor with these eyes can see.
I have committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax;
because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations. 7.
Saturninus the proconsul said to the rest: Cease to be of this persuasion.
8. Speratus said: It is an ill persuasion to do murder, to speak false
witness. 9. Saturninus the proconsul said: Be not partakers of this folly.
10. Cittinus said: We have none other to fear, save only our Lord God, who
is in heaven. 11. Donata said: Honour to Caesar as Caesar: but fear to God.
12. Vestia said: I am a Christian. 13. Secunda said: What I am, that I wish
to be. 14. Saturninus the proconsul said to Speratus: Dost thou persist in
being a Christian? 15. Speratus said: I am a Christian. And with him they
all agreed. 16. Saturninus the proconsul said: Will ye have a space to
consider? 17. Speratus said: In a matter so straightforward there is no
considering. 18. Saturninus the proconsul said: What are the things in your
chest? 19. Speratus said: Books and epistles of Paul, a just man. 20.
Saturninus the proconsul said: Have a delay of thirty days and bethink
yourselves. 21. Speratus said a second time: I am a Christian. And with him
they all agreed. 22. Saturninus the proconsul read out the decree from the
tablet: Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Vestia, Secunda and the rest
having confessed that they live according to the Christian rite, since after
opportunity offered them of returning to the custom of the Romans they have
obstinately persisted, it is determined that they be put to the sword. 23.
Speratus said: We give thanks to God. 24. Nartzalus said: To-day we are
martyrs in heaven; thanks be to God. 25. Saturninus the proconsul ordered it
to be declared by the herald: Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius,
Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata and Secunda,
I have ordered to be executed. 26. They all said: Thanks be to God. 27. And
so they all together were crowned with martyrdom; and they reign with the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. |
Minucius Felix, Octavius ch. 9 (2nd or 3rd century).
The author attributes the following words to a certain heathen,
Caecilius, in a debate with the Christian Octavius.
And now, as wickedness multiplies more quickly, corrupt ways of
life are spreading day by day throughout the world, and those most abominable
sanctuaries of impious assemblies are growing. This conspiracy must be
absolutely eradicated and accursed. They recognize each other by secret marks
and signs, and they love one another almost before they become acquainted.
Everywhere they mingle together in a kind of religion of lust, indiscriminately
calling each other brothers and sisters, with the result that ordinary
debauchery, by means of a sacred name, is converted into incest. Thus their vain
and demented superstition (vana et demens superstitio) glories in its
crimes.
If there were not an underlying basis of truth, shrewd Rumor
would not spread about them such a great variety of charges that can hardly be
mentioned in polite company. I hear that persuaded by some absurd idea, they
consecrate and worship the head of an ass, the lowest of animals. A religion
worthy of the sort of practices that gave it birth! Some say that they worship
the genitals of their own leader and priest, revering the sexual parts of their
own parent. I do not know whether it is false, but certainly a suspicion is
attached to secret rites performed at night. Whoever calls the objects of their
rituals a man punished with death for his crime and the deadly wood of the cross
assigns proper altars to such corrupt and wicked people, with the result that
they worship what they deserve.
Now the story about the initiation of novices is as disgusting
as it is well known. An infant covered with flour, in order to deceive the
unwary, is placed before the one who is to be initiated into their rites. The
novice, encouraged by the surface of flour to strike without harm, kills the
infant with unseen and hidden wounds. The infant's blood - oh horrible! - they
lap up thirstily; its limbs they parcel out eagerly. By this victim they ally
themselves with one another; by their complicity in this crime they pledge
themselves to mutual silence. These rites are fouler than any sacrifice.
And what happens at their banquets is well known; it is spoken
of everywhere. The speech of our friend from Cirta testifies to it. On an
appointed day they gather for a feast with all their children, sisters and
mothers, people from both sexes and of every age. There after much feasting,
when the banquet has inflamed them and they are burning with the drunken heat of
incestuous lust, they provoke a dog tied to a lamp to leap forward by tossing a
scrap of food beyond the length of the rope to which it is tied. The light,
which would have been a witness, is thus turned over and extinguished, and in
the shameless darkness, connections of unspeakable desire take place with the
uncertainty of chance. All are equally defiled, if not by the deed, nevertheless
by their complicity in it, since the will of everyone desires whatever acts
might happen to be committed by individuals.
Tertullian, Apology 40.1-2 (A.D. 197)
On the contrary, they deserve the name of faction who
conspire to bring odium on good men and virtuous, who cry out against innocent
blood, offering as the justification of their enmity the baseless plea, that
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 waters 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 lion!"
Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, book
VIII. (A.D. 324)
Eusebius (263-340) was an eyewitness to many martyrdoms in Caesarea
during the persecution commenced by Diocletian in 303. This persecution lasted
10 years and was ended by Constantine's Edict of Milan (313).
...This persecution began with the brethren in the army. But as if without
sensibility, we were not eager to make the Deity favorable and propitious; and
some, like atheists, thought that our affairs were unheeded and ungoverned; and
thus we added one wickedness to another. And those esteemed our shepherds,
casting aside the bond of piety, were excited to conflicts with one another, and
did nothing else than heap up strifes and threats and jealousy and enmity and
hatred toward each other, like tyrants eagerly endeavoring to assert their
power. Then, truly, according to the word of Jeremiah, "The Lord in his wrath
darkened the daughter of Zion, and cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to
earth, and remembered not his foot-stool in the day of his anger. The Lord also
overwhelmed all the beautiful things of Israel, and threw down all his
strongholds." And according to what was foretold in the Psalms: "He has made
void the covenant of his servant, and profaned his sanctuary to the earth, - in
the destruction of the churches, - and has thrown down all his strongholds, and
has made his fortresses cowardice. All that pass by have plundered the multitude
of the people; and he has become besides a reproach to his neighbors. For he has
exalted the right hand of his enemies, and has turned back the help of his
sword, and has not taken his part in the war. But he has deprived him of
purification, and has cast his throne to the ground. He has shortened the days
of his time, and besides all, has poured out shame upon him." All these things
were fulfilled in us, when we saw with our own eyes the houses of prayer thrown
down to the very foundations, and the Divine and Sacred Scriptures committed to
the flames in the midst of the market-places, and the shepherds of the churches
basely hidden here and there, and some of them captured ignominiously, and
mocked by their enemies. When also, according to another prophetic word,
"Contempt was poured out upon rulers, and he caused them to wander in an
untrodden and pathless way." But it is not our place to describe the sad
misfortunes which finally came upon them, as we do not think it proper,
moreover, to record their divisions and unnatural conduct to each other before
the persecution. Wherefore we have decided to relate nothing concerning them
except the things in which we can vindicate the Divine judgment. Hence we shall
not mention those who were shaken by the persecution, nor those who in
everything pertaining to salvation were shipwrecked, and by their own will were
sunk in the depths of the flood. But we shall introduce into this history in
general only those events which may be usefull first to ourselves and afterwards
to posterity. Let us therefore proceed to describe briefly the sacred conflicts
of the witnesses of the Divine Word. It was in the nineteenth year of the reign
of Diocletian, [A.D. 303] in the month Dystrus, 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 leveled to the ground and
the Scriptures be destroyed by fire, and ordering that those who held places of
honor be degraded, and that the household servants, if they persisted in the
profession of Christianity, be deprived of freedom.
The libelli were documents notarized by Roman authorities to certify
that someone has offered sacrifice to their idols. In times of persecution
these documents were accepted as proof that someone was not a Christian. Many
of these libelli have been discovered in excavations in Egypt.
A Libellus of the Decian Persecution (A.D. 250)
| To those in charge of the sacrifices of the village Theadelphia, from
Aurelia Bellias, daughter of Peteres, and her daughter, Kapinis. We have
always been constant in sacrificing to the gods, and now too, in your
presence, in accordance with the regulations, I have poured libations and
sacrificed and tasted the offerings, and I ask you to certify this for us
below. May you continue to prosper. (2nd hand) We, Aurelius Serenus and
Aurelius Hermas, saw you sacrificing.
(3rd hand) I, Hermas, certify.
(1st hand) The 1st year if the Emperor Caesar Gaius Messius Quintus
Traianus Decius Pius Felix Augustus, Pauni 27. |
|
