For more than two centuries those who claimed themselves to be Christians were sporadically
persecuted by the Roman Empire. Thousands of them suffered painful tortures and punishments, making
some of them true martyrs who would go down in posterity for their unwavering faith and courage,
directly influencing the development of Christianity.
Since Emperor Nero initiated all these persecutions in 64 A.D., this deadly
harassment of the followers of Christ always had a purely political and theological motivation,
as it threatened the authority and importance of the state and the emperor, while going against
all the polytheistic beliefs of the time, earning the discontent of the Roman people.
Today we will gather to pray, hide and flee for our lives with all those faithful people,
while the angry heathen mobs are hot on our heels. Welcome to Copernicus’s Galaxy.
The inhumane punishments to which Christians were condemned
Unfortunately, hatred is a powerful catalyst for human creativity. We have an innate talent
to cause suffering when we really want it and we do it well... During the persecution
of Christians that took place between 64 and 313 A.D., we witnessed how far the cruelty
and bloodlust of the human species can go, as well as its strength and convictions.
The tortures and executions applied against the Christians that the Roman Empire captured
consisted of different levels and of course distinguished between social strata. For the
Roman citizens, the punishments used to be slightly more benevolent, however, this does
not mean that they did not suffer, because many times they still ended up dying, while slaves,
foreign residents and lower class people were more likely to suffer a slow and painful death.
If you were in the first group mentioned, you would possibly receive one of the least
harsh punishments approved, which used to be the confiscation of your goods and all
your civil rights. This would be the least of your problems when you were banished,
because in most cases it was not the definition we all know,
but you were taken to one of the islands with the harshest climate under the custody of guards,
who were allowed to whip you with anything including sticks. This,
added to the lack of food and health, ended up leading to a death that usually took too long.
But undoubtedly, the preferred punishment in cases that did not lead directly to the
death penalty was an ancient condemnation of the Roman Empire that dates back to long before these
persecutions. Forced labor was always welcome in the quarries and mines. Being a Christian was the
perfect excuse for the government to benefit from your labor for free, with little food,
almost no clothing and much less a bed to sleep in after the excessive work days and
not even a bath. However, all situations could always get worse, this being the case in the
years 308 and 309 where the mutilation and castration of prisoners began to spread.
Entering the field of executions, many of the Christians suffered death by beheading,
including Pope Sixtus II and his deacons of Rome. This was done in public and without solemnity,
the coup de grace was given with a sword, either kneeling or standing
tied to a pole ... This was the most pious execution imposed by the Roman Empire,
since all following executions were focused on causing a slow and painful,
agonizing and cruel death, which on many occasions also served as a spectacle for the people.
Such are the cases of the famous bonfire and the exposure to the beasts, both of which were held in
large arenas such as stadiums and amphitheaters. These were usually places where hundreds,
if not thousands of people could attend to witness the screams and last sighs of the condemned;
although not many Christian victims burned at the stake are known,
this type of execution is remembered for being a terrible torture. Only Nero
had many Christians burned as living torches, sprinkled with resin to illuminate the night.
There were many variants, from boiling oil cauldrons to hot iron beds to being
slowly roasted on a grill. The chamberlain of Diocletian, Peter,
who was victim to the latter, was gradually put into the fire to lengthen his suffering.
On the other hand, the exposure to the wild beasts was an act of entertainment,
the Christians who were caught and designated this torment were locked up until the arrival
of a holiday to carry out the horrendous spectacle so expected by some. There
were 2 ways to perform it, in the first one they were thrown as a group into the arena,
with nothing to stop them from provoking the animal’s hunting instinct and giving
them the possibility to fight the beast in a futile attempt to preserve their lives.
The second way to carry out this massacre was much more cruel and
distressing since it left you completely defenseless and at the mercy of the beast,
tied to a post while you listened to the screams of hatred and celebration for your death. Once
the beast was released, it slowly approached the condemned man to finally pounce on them.
Another form of execution was crucifixion, this punishment was considered infamous by the Romans
themselves, reserved only for the worst scum of society. However, having been part of the
Calvary of Christ, it was used in a degrading sense. St. Peter was crucified upside down and
with this punishment, the poor wretch was not finished off in order to prolong his agony.
Finally there is submersion. This was mainly used in persecutions before the Christian
religion was legalized, according to Eusebius countless believers were taken in boats to the
sea and thrown into the waves ... It should be noted that this was an illegal execution,
but little mattered the rules when it came to Christians.
Why were Christians persecuted in the ancient Roman Empire?
Certainly until before 250 A.D. with the anti-Christian policy of Decius, there was
no law condemning Christians. Their beliefs and customs alone were not sufficient reason to be
persecuted let alone killed. There is evidence of this in the letter sent by Pliny the Younger,
governor of Bithynia, to emperor Trajan seeking guidance on how to proceed with accusations
against Christians, where it is implied that there was no rule or law applicable to these trials.
Hatred towards what they were and professed was one of the main reasons for these atrocities
against them. The Christian religion prevented them from participating in any activity involving
other gods, they refused to offer them sacrifices or light incense in their name, which provoked
displeasure in the pagan citizens who believed that their actions would bring misfortune.
Over time, the Christians began to hold their meetings in private and at night. This raised
suspicions among the neighbors of the community as they were used to religion being a public act,
creating rumors about evil acts and heinous crimes, such as cannibalism and relationships
between relatives, beliefs fueled by the Christian customs of calling each other
brothers and sisters or saying that they ate the blood and body of Christ in communion.
In turn they were related to the Jewish people, which the Roman citizens abhorred but respected,
since the law allowed them to practice their customs as long as they paid the
so-called "Jewish Tax". However, Christians were considered a derivative of the Jewish religion,
the lowest of the low, besides not being obliged to pay any tax. With
all this together, it was common that at the slightest provocation or occurrence
of any unfortunate disaster the angry mobs would acclaim the death of the Christians.
Faced with the claims, those governors of provinces had no choice but to comply
with the demands of blood by the angry Roman inhabitants,
for their job was to keep the place "Pacata atque quieta", which means "established and orderly",
avoiding riots and lynchings and leaning towards the majority ... but that does not mean that they
did not have their own selfish motives, this was only the tip of the iceberg, because the
high rulers did not like that the state was not the greatest good for Christians. Caesar
did not sympathize with the idea that Christ was the absolute sovereign above him, for these
dictators were sometimes seen as gods, the very embodiment of the desires and aspirations of Rome,
religion could only exist if it was congenial and beneficial to the state, hence they were often
accused of being fanatics.... convenient, because for the Romans fanaticism was an evil, a disease
that made you lose your mind, and it was necessary to exterminate it for the good of the empire.
The bloodiest persecutions of the Roman Empire
Possibly fewer cases of persecution are known than actually occurred because, although its
beginnings were in 64 AD under the rule of Nero, it was not until almost two centuries
later that it began to occur systematically, so it is likely that several lynchings of
Christians went unnoticed, but the largest and bloodiest ones left their mark on history.
Nero not only started the great fire of Rome, but also ignited the spark that would detonate
more than two centuries of persecution, cruelty and murder against the Christians,
having accused them of their own error, or at least that is the widely accepted story
mentioned in the writings of Tacitus... whether true or not, the hatred towards the Christian
community was already great and only needed an excuse to turn things into a nightmare.
It is unknown if they were persecuted at the beginning only for the charge of arson or for
general crimes associated with Christianity, but most of those captured were simply at the whim
of Nero, their last moments were plagued with pain and mockery, while some were covered with
animal skins and rabid dogs dug their teeth into their flesh, others were crucified and set on fire
at nightfall as human torches in the gardens of Nero, while he celebrated with some circus games.
The following reigns likewise had minor sporadic persecutions, such is the case
of Domitian of which few executions of Christians are known, the most referenced being that of Titus
Flavius Clement and the banishment of his wife Flavia Domitilla to the island of Pandateria,
there being a lack of consensus between historians on the reach of the persecutions and putting in
doubt the reliability of the histories. On the other hand, during the years that Trajan was in
power, it is known that a considerable number of Christians were executed, already being seen
as normal, because although there was not a law that prohibited it, to be Christian was illegal.
How many martyrs died because of the persecutions?
Honestly the exact number of victims who perished in these persecutions is
impossible to know. So far we only know 3 different ways to calculate how many
Christians of the ancient Roman Empire became martyrs, each one more reliable
and accurate than the previous one, but with an abysmal gap between each figure.
In the 20th century several historians, most notably L. Hertling for having established
concrete criteria such as historical-literary research, determined that based on historical
sources and contemporary writers which mention the names of the martyrs,
they barely exceed 200. However, if we combine this with archaeological data
taken from the tombs linked to the cult of the martyrs, the figure is 1000. This
number is still very small compared to the scale of the persecutions of those years,
this is mainly because the cult of martyrs began in the middle of the second century,
so most Christians who died earlier defending their beliefs were probably not even remembered.
But there is still a method developed by Hertling that offers a proportion
of martyrs closer to reality. This is based on analyzing the persecutory laws,
appreciation of contemporaries, and the number of Christian communities during each persecution,
among others, giving an approximate of 100,000 Christians over 2 centuries.
The Christianization of the Roman Empire arrived too late
Who would have thought that those who were being hunted for so long would finally win... if it can
be called that... after hundreds of years of being massacred, thousands of Christians had
already suffered unimaginably... but, at last their day would come in the year 380 by the
hand of Theodosius "The Great", who was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and not
only legalize it, but to make it the only official cult of the empire through the Thessalonian Edict.
Fortunately, the new religion had already gained enough popularity that this drastic
turn of events did not lead to terrible lynchings or demonstrations by the pagans. This added to a
strategy of easy and gradual assimilation. The gods were replaced by various saints ironically
martyred by the Romans themselves, all things referring to other divine monuments were destroyed
from the temples and transformed into churches, little by little the ancient festivals and rites
were prohibited publicly to finally eliminate them from the law with the Edict of Constantinople.
The new religion was extremely attractive, especially for the lower social classes,
since they found consolation in it and the promise of a paradise after death. This was much better
than the old gods, whose temperament and conduct, according to the myths, left much to be desired.
It was thus that Christianity was gaining strength. Official institutions now discreetly
favored Christians, so many were converted and baptized for mere convenience, however,
not everything went well in this radical transition. The constant waves of pagan
barbarians, the inhabitants of new conquered territories who refused to abandon their beliefs,
and conflicts between different branches of Christianity were great difficulties, not to
mention the permanence of ancient superstitions such as magic, witchcraft and talismans.
Those were difficult times. Deciding between your life or your beliefs and
convictions sounds hard, but we really do not know how hard until we experience it
in our own flesh. Nowadays we have a certain tolerance towards diversity,
each head is a world on its own, and hopefully we will never again have a reason to lose it...,
otherwise we will be here to tell you about it, at Copernicus’s Galaxy.