"The Great Persecution"

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The Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire of 303-313, which began under the emperor Diocletian and continued under his heirs.

In 303, the Tetrarchs Diocletian and Maximian, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus issued an edict officially abolishing the civil rights of Christians and requiring them to observe traditional Roman religious practices. Subsequently, new edicts were issued against priests, as well as obliging all inhabitants of the empire to make pagan sacrifices. The intensity of the persecution varied within the empire; in Gaul and Britain, where Constantius ruled at the time, only the first edict was fulfilled, it was weaker than in the eastern part of the empire. The punitive laws were gradually abolished, and it is believed that the Edict of Milan, issued by Constantine the Great in 313, finally ended this period.

Christians in the first centuries of their existence were discriminated against in the empire, but the early emperors were reluctant to pass laws on this issue. Only in the 250s, under the emperors Decius and Valerian, began the legal persecution of Christians. With the coming to power of Gallienus, these laws ceased to be enforced, as a result of which for almost 40 years it was established.The accession to the throne in 284 Diocletian did not lead to an instant abandonment of the policy of ignoring Christians, but in the first fifteen years of his reign Diocletian consistently cleansed the army of Christians, condemned the Manicheans to death and surrounded himself with ardent opponents of Christianity. In the winter of 302, Galerius advised Diocletian to begin a general persecution of Christians. Wishing to receive divine support for this endeavor, Diocletian turned to the oracle of Apollo, and the latter's response was interpreted as approval of Galerius' proposal. The first edict to initiate the Great Persecution was issued on February 24, 303.

The persecution could not prevent the spread of Christianity and its establishment as the main religion of the empire. Although the persecution has led to the death of an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 people, torture, imprisonment, and exile of more, most Christians have not suffered. Another consequence of these events was the division of the church into those who chose to accept the demands, the so-called Traditors, and those who remained faithful to Christian teaching. Some of the church schisms that arose during this period, such as the Donatist schism in North Africa and the Melitian schism in Egypt, persisted for a long time. The “cult of martyrs” that received a new impetus, exaggerating the cruelty of events, has been criticized since the Enlightenment. Some modern historians, such as J. de Saint-Croix, also consider the accounts of Christian historians about the events of the Great Persecution exaggerated.

Background

Persecution to Diocletian

From its inception to its legalization under Constantine, Christianity had no official status in the Roman Empire.