Editing Persecution of Christians (section)

==Antiquity==
[[File:The Death of Stephen by Gustave Doré.jpg|thumb|Death of [[Saint Stephen]], "the Protomartyr", recounted in [[Acts 7|''Acts'' 7]], depicted in an engraving by [[Gustave Doré]] (published 1866)]]
[[File:Crucifixion of Saint Peter-Caravaggio (c.1600).jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Crucifixion of Saint Peter (Caravaggio)|''Crucifixion of Saint Peter'']] by [[Caravaggio]] (1600, [[Cerasi Chapel]])]]

===New Testament===
{{main|Persecution of Christians in the New Testament}}
[[Early Christianity]] began as a sect among [[Second Temple Judaism|Second Temple Jews]]. Inter-communal dissension began almost immediately.{{sfn|Wand|1990|p=13}}
According to the [[New Testament]] account, Saul of Tarsus prior to [[Conversion of Paul the Apostle|his conversion to Christianity]] persecuted early [[Judeo-Christian]]s. 
According to the ''[[Acts of the Apostles]]'', a year after the Roman [[crucifixion of Jesus]], [[Saint Stephen|Stephen]] was [[Stoning|stoned]] for what the Jews saw as transgressions of the [[Jewish law]].<ref name="Characteristics of the Early Church">{{Cite book|last=Burke|first=John J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWtbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA101 |title=Characteristics of the Early Church|date=1993|orig-date=1899 |publisher=M.H. Wiltzius |isbn=978-1-4086-5991-5|page=101}}</ref> And [[Paul of Tarsus|Saul]] (also known as ''Paul'') acquiesced, looking on and witnessing Steven's death.{{sfn|Wand|1990|p=13}} Later, Paul begins a listing of his own sufferings after conversion in 2 Corinthians 11: "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned ..."<ref name="Kar Yong Lim">{{cite book |last1=Lim |first1=Kar Yong |title=The Sufferings of Christ Are Abundant In Us': A Narrative Dynamics Investigation of Paul's Sufferings in 2 Corinthians |date=2009 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9780567635143 |pages=214–227}}</ref>

===Early Judeo-Christian===
In 41&nbsp;AD, [[Herod Agrippa]], who already possessed the territory of [[Herod Antipas]] and [[Philip the Tetrarch|Philip]] (his former colleagues in the [[Herodian Tetrarchy]]), obtained the title of ''King of the Jews'', and in a sense, re-formed the [[Herodian Kingdom of Judea|Kingdom of Judea]] of [[Herod the Great]] ({{Reign|37|4|era=BC}}). Herod Agrippa was reportedly responsible for the persecution in which [[James the Great]] lost his life, [[Saint Peter]] narrowly escaped and the rest of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|apostles]] took flight.{{sfn|Wand|1990|p=13}} After Agrippa's death in 44, the Roman procuratorship began (before 41 they were [[Prefects]] in Iudaea Province) and those leaders maintained a neutral peace, until the procurator [[Porcius Festus]] died in 62 and the high priest [[Ananus ben Ananus]] took advantage of the [[power vacuum]] to execute [[James the Just]], then leader of [[First Christian church|Jerusalem's Christians]].

According to the New Testament, Paul was imprisoned on several occasions by the Roman authorities, stoned by Jews and left for dead on one occasion, and was eventually taken to Rome as a prisoner. Peter and other early Christians were also imprisoned and prosecuted. The [[First Jewish Rebellion]] led to the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destruction of Jerusalem in 70&nbsp;AD]], the end of [[Second Temple Judaism]] (and the subsequent slow rise of [[Rabbinic Judaism]]).{{sfn|Wand|1990|p=13}}

Claudia Setzer asserts that, "Jews did not see Christians as clearly separate from their own community until at least the middle of the second century" but most scholars place the "parting of the ways" much earlier, with theological separation occurring immediately.<ref>{{cite book|last=Setzer |first=Claudia |title=Jewish Responses to Early Christians: History and Polemics, 30–150 C.E. |publisher=Fortress |location=Minneapolis |year=1994}}</ref> Second Temple Judaism had allowed more than one way to be Jewish. After the fall of the Temple, one way led to rabbinic Judaism, while another way became Christianity; but Christianity was "molded around the conviction that the Jew, Jesus of Nazareth, was not only the Messiah promised to the Jews, but God's son, offering access to God, and God's blessing to non-Jew as much as, and perhaps eventually more than, to Jews".<ref name="lieu 2003">{{cite journal|last=Lieu| first= Judith| title=The Synagogue and the Separation of the Christians|journal= Coniectanea Biblica| volume=New Testament series 39| year=2003|pages= 189–207|url=https://www.jcrelations.net/pt/article/the-synagogue-and-the-separation-of-the-christians.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|189}} While Messianic eschatology had deep roots in Judaism, and the idea of the suffering servant, known as Messiah Ephraim, had been an aspect since the time of Isaiah (7th century BCE), in the first century, this idea was seen as being usurped by the Christians. It was then suppressed, and did not make its way back into rabbinic teaching till the seventh century writings of Pesiqta Rabati.<ref name="Peter Schäfer">{{cite book |last1=Schäfer |first1=Peter |title=The Jewish Jesus: How Judaism and Christianity Shaped Each Other |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691160955 |page=18 |edition=illustrated, reprint}}</ref>

The traditional view of the separation of Judaism and Christianity has Jewish-Christians fleeing, ''en masse'', to Pella (shortly before the fall of the Temple in 70 AD) as a result of persecution.<ref name="Adolf von Harnack">{{cite book |last1=von Harnack |first1=Adolf |editor1-last=Moffatt |editor1-first=James |title=The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries |date=1908 |publisher=Williams and Norgate |pages=103–104 |edition=2}}</ref> Steven D. Katz says "there can be no doubt that the post-70 situation witnessed a change in the relations of Jews and Christians".<ref name="Steven T. Katz">{{cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Steven T. |title=Issues in the Separation of Judaism and Christianity after 70 C.E.: A Reconsideration |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |year=1984 |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=43–44 |doi=10.2307/3260313 |jstor=3260313 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3260313}}</ref> Judaism sought to reconstitute itself after the disaster which included determining the proper response to Jewish Christianity. The exact shape of this is not directly known but is traditionally alleged to have taken four forms: the circulation of official anti-Christian pronouncements, the issuing of an official ban against Christians attending synagogue, a prohibition against reading heretical writings, and the spreading of the curse against heretics.<ref name="Steven T. Katz"/>

===Roman Empire===
{{Main|Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire|Religious persecution in the Roman Empire#Christianity}}

==== Neronian persecution ====
[[File:Siemiradzki Christian Dirce.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|''A Christian Dirce'', by [[Henryk Siemiradzki]] (1897, [[National Museum, Warsaw]]) A Christian woman is martyred under [[Nero]] in this re-enactment of the myth of [[Dirce]]]]
{{Main|Neronian persecution}}
The first documented case of imperially supervised persecution of Christians in the [[Roman Empire]] begins with [[Nero]] (54–68). In the ''Annals'', [[Tacitus]] states that Nero blamed Christians for the [[Great Fire of Rome]], and while it is generally believed to be authentic and reliable, some modern scholars have cast doubt on this view, largely because there is no further reference to Nero's blaming of Christians for the fire until the late 4th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Myth of the Neronian Persecution|last1=Shaw|first1=Brent|journal=The Journal of Roman Studies|volume=105|pages=73–100|doi=10.1017/S0075435815000982|date=14 August 2015|s2cid=162564651}}</ref><ref name="carrier">{{Cite journal|url=https://brill.com/abstract/journals/vc/68/3/article-p264_2.xml|title=The prospect of a Christian interpolation in Tacitus, Annals 15.44.|last1=Carrier|first1=Richard|journal=Vigiliae Christianae|volume=68|issue=3|pages=264–283|doi=10.1163/15700720-12341171|publisher=[[Brill Academic Publishers]]|date=2 July 2014}}</ref> [[Suetonius]] mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, defined as men following a new and malefic superstition, but does not specify the reasons for the punishment; he simply lists the fact together with other abuses put down by Nero.<ref name="carrier" />{{rp|269}} It is widely agreed on that the [[Number of the beast]] in the [[Book of Revelation]], adding up to 666, is derived from a [[gematria]] of the name of Nero Caesar, indicating that Nero was viewed as an exceptionally evil figure.<ref>Ben Witherington III, Revelation, Cambridge 2003, p177</ref> Several Christian sources report that [[Paul the Apostle]] and [[Saint Peter]] both died during the Neronian persecution.<ref>[[Tertullian]], ''Adversus Gnosticos Scorpiace'', Book 15, Chapters 2-5</ref><ref>[[Lactantius]], ''[[De mortibus persecutorum]]'', Book 2, Chapters 4-6</ref><ref>[[Sulpicius Severus]], ''Chronicorum'', Book 3, Chapter 29.</ref><ref>[[Orosius]], ''Historiarum'', Book 7, Chapters 7-10</ref>

==== From Nero to Decius ====
[[File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer - Walters 37113.jpg|thumb|''The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer'' by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] (1863–1883, [[Walters Art Museum]]). A fanciful scene of ''[[damnatio ad bestias]]'' in ancient Rome's [[Circus Maximus]] beneath the [[Palatine Hill]].]]
In the first two centuries Christianity was a relatively small sect which was not a significant concern of the Emperor. [[Rodney Stark]] estimates there were fewer than 10,000 Christians in the year 100. Christianity grew to about 200,000 by the year 200, which works out to about 0.36% of the population of the empire, and then to almost 2&nbsp;million by 250, still making up less than 2% of the empire's overall population.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stark |first1=Rodney |title=The Rise of Christianity How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries |date=1997 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9780060677015 |page=7}}</ref> According to [[Guy Laurie]], the Church was not in a struggle for its existence during its first centuries.<ref name=earlychristianity>{{cite book|first=Laurie|last=Guy|title=Introducing Early Christianity: A Topical Survey of Its Life, Beliefs Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CqJ8A2CSb9EC&pg=PA50|date=28 October 2011|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-3942-1|page=50}}</ref> However, [[Bernard Green]] says that, although early persecutions of Christians were generally sporadic, local, and under the direction of regional governors, not emperors, Christians "were always subject to oppression and at risk of open persecution."<ref name="Bernard Green">{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Bernard |title=Christianity in Ancient Rome The First Three Centuries |date=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9780567032508 |page=120}}</ref> [[Trajan]]'s policy towards Christians was no different from the treatment of other sects; that is, they would only be punished if they refused to worship the emperor and the gods, but they were not to be sought out.{{sfn|González|2010|p=97}}

[[File:Ignatius of Antioch.jpg|thumb|Execution of [[Ignatius of Antioch]], reputed to have been killed in Rome under the emperor [[Trajan]], depicted in the ''[[Menologion of Basil II]]'', an illuminated manuscript prepared for the emperor [[Basil II]] in {{Circa|1000}}]]
[[James L. Papandrea]] says there are ten emperors generally accepted to have sponsored state-sanctioned persecution of Christians,<ref name="Papandrea">{{cite book |last1=Papandrea |first1=James L. |title=The Wedding of the Lamb A Historical Approach to the Book of Revelation |date=2011 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=9781498273428 |page=38}}</ref> though the first empire-wide government-sponsored persecution was not until Decius in 249.<ref name = Scarre170/> One early account of a mass killing is the [[persecution in Lyon]] in which Christians were purportedly mass-slaughtered by being thrown to wild beasts under the decree of Roman officials for reportedly refusing to renounce their faith according to [[Irenaeus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christianhistoryproject.org/to-the-decian-persecution/irenaeus/|title=IRENAEUS – The mass slaughter of Lyon's Christians|work=Christian History Project}}</ref><ref>Christopher Reyes (2010). ''In His Name''. California: AuthorHouse. p.33</ref> In the 3rd century, Emperor [[Severus Alexander]]'s household contained many Christians, but his successor, [[Maximinus Thrax]], hating this household, ordered that the leaders of the churches should be put to death.<ref name="Eusebius">{{cite web|last=Eusebius|title=Church History|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250106.htm|work=Book 6, Chapter 28|publisher=New Advent|access-date=25 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Papandrea|first=James L.|title=Reading the Early Church Fathers: From the Didache to Nicaea|date=23 January 2012|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0809147519}}</ref> According to Eusebius, this persecution sent [[Hippolytus of Rome]] and [[Pope Pontian]] into exile, but other evidence suggests that the persecutions were local to the provinces where they occurred rather than happening under the direction of the Emperor.<ref>{{cite book|author=Graeme Clark|chapter=Third-Century Christianity|title=Cambridge Ancient History|edition=2nd|volume=12: The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193–337|editor1=Alan K. Bowman|editor2=Peter Garnsey|editor3=Averil Cameron|place=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|page=623}}</ref>

According to two different Christian traditions, [[Simon bar Kokhba]], the leader of the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|third Jewish revolt against Rome]] (132–136 AD), who was proclaimed Messiah, persecuted the Christians: [[Justin Martyr]] claims that Christians were punished if they did not deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ, while Eusebius asserts that Bar Kokhba harassed them because they refused to join his revolt against the Romans.<ref>Justin, I ''Apology'' 31, 6; Eusebius, ''Chronicle'', seventeenth year of the Emperor Hadrian. See: Bourgel, Jonathan, ″The Jewish-Christians in the storm of the Bar Kokhba Revolt″, in: ''From One Identity to Another: The Mother Church of Jerusalem Between the Two Jewish Revolts Against Rome (66-135/6 EC)''. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, collection Judaïsme ancien et Christianisme primitif, (French), pp. 127–175.</ref>

=====Voluntary martyrdom=====
[[File:Martyrdom and persecution of Christians by the Romans. Woodc Wellcome V0033591.jpg|thumb|Woodcut illustration for the 1570 edition of [[John Foxe]]'s [[Foxe's Book of Martyrs|''Book of Martyrs'']] showing the "persecutions of the primitive Church under the heathen tyrants of Rome" and depicting the "sundry kinds of torments devised against the Christians"]]
Some early Christians sought out and welcomed martyrdom.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ide|first1=Arthur Frederick|url=https://archive.org/details/martyrdomofwomen0000idea|title=Martyrdom of Women: A Study of Death Psychology in the Early Christian Church to 301 CE|last2=Smith|first2=John Paul|publisher=Tangelwuld|year=1985|isbn=978-0-930383-49-7|location=Garland|page=[https://archive.org/details/martyrdomofwomen0000idea/page/21 21]|author-link2=John Paul Smith|url-access=registration}} apud {{cite book|last1=deMause|first1=Lloyd|title=The Emotional Life of Nations|publisher=Karnac|year=2002|isbn=1-892746-98-0|location=New York|chapter=Ch. 9. The Evolution of Psyche and Society. Part III.|quote=Both Christians and Jews "engaged in a contest and reflection about the new-fangled practice of martyrdom,"<sup>191</sup> even unto suicide...and Augustine spoke of "the mania for self-destruction" of early Christians.<sup>192</sup> But the Christians, following Tertullian's dicta that "martyrdom is required by God," forced their own martyrdom so they could die in an ecstatic trance: "Although their tortures were gruesome, the martyrs did not suffer, enjoying their analgesic state."<sup>195</sup><br />192. Arthur J. Droge and James D. Tabor, A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom Among Christians and Jews in Antiquity. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992, p. 5.<br />193. Arthur F. Ide, Martyrdom of Women: A Study of Death Psychology in the Early Christian Church to 301 CE. Garland: Tangelwuld, 1985, p. 21.<br />194. Ibid., p. 136.<br />195. Ibid., pp. 146, 138.|author-link1=Lloyd deMause|chapter-url=http://primal-page.com/ps3.htm}}</ref><ref>Boyarin, Daniel. ''Dying for God: Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999, p. 40.</ref> According to Droge and Tabor, "in 185 the proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus, was approached by a group of Christians demanding to be executed. The proconsul obliged some of them and then sent the rest away, saying that if they wanted to kill themselves there was plenty of rope available or cliffs they could jump off."<ref>{{cite book  |last1=Droge |first1=Arthur J. |url=https://archive.org/details/nobledeathsuicid00drog/page/136 |title=A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom Among Christians and Jews in Antiquity |last2=Tabor |first2=James D. |date=November 1992 |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |isbn=978-0-06-062095-0 |location=San Francisco |page=[https://archive.org/details/nobledeathsuicid00drog/page/136 136] |author-link2=James D. Tabor}} Misquoted as Groge and Tabor (1992:136) by C. Douzinas in {{cite book|last1=Closs Stephens|first1=Angharad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2cAF2OQ7RkC&pg=PA198|title=Terrorism and the Politics of Response|last2=Vaughan-Williams|first2=Nick|author3=Douzinas, C.|publisher=Routledge|year=2009|isbn=978-0-415-45506-0|location=Oxon and New York|page=198}}</ref> Such enthusiasm for death is found in the letters of [[Saint Ignatius of Antioch]], who was arrested and condemned as a criminal before writing his letters while on the way to execution. Ignatius casts his own martyrdom as a voluntary eucharistic sacrifice to be embraced.<ref name="Candida Moss"/>{{rp|55}}

"Many martyr acts present martyrdom as a sharp choice that cut to the core of Christian identity – life or death, salvation or damnation, Christ or apostacy..."<ref name="Candida Moss">{{cite book |last1=Moss |first1=Candida R. |title=Ancient Christian Martyrdom Diverse Practices, Theologies, and Traditions |date=2012 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300154658}}</ref>{{rp|145}} Subsequently, the martyr literature has drawn distinctions between those who were enthusiastically pro-voluntary-martyrdom (the [[Montanism|Montanists]] and [[Donatism|Donatists]]), those who occupied a neutral, moderate position (the orthodox), and those who were anti-martyrdom (the [[Gnostic Christianity|Gnostics]]).<ref name="Candida Moss"/>{{rp|145}}

The category of voluntary martyr began to emerge only in the third century in the context of efforts to justify flight from persecution.<ref name="Moss journal">Moss, Candida R. "The Discourse of Voluntary Martyrdom: Ancient and Modern.” Church History, vol. 81, no. 3, 2012, pp. 531–551., www.jstor.org/stable/23252340. Retrieved 23 January 2021.</ref> The condemnation of voluntary martyrdom is used to justify Clement fleeing the Severan persecution in Alexandria in 202 AD, and the ''Martyrdom of Polycarp'' justifies Polycarp's flight on the same grounds. "Voluntary martyrdom is parsed as passionate foolishness" whereas "flight from persecution is patience" and the result a true martyrdom.<ref name="Candida Moss"/>{{rp|155}}

[[Daniel Boyarin]] rejects use of the term "voluntary martyrdom", saying, "if martyrdom is not voluntary, it is not martyrdom".<ref name="Daniel Boyarin">{{cite book |last1=Boyarin |first1=Daniel |title=Dying for God Martyrdom and the Making of Christianity and Judaism |year=1999 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804737043 |page=121}}</ref> [[G. E. M. de Ste. Croix]] adds a category of "quasi-voluntary martyrdom": "martyrs who were not directly responsible for their own arrest but who, after being arrested, behaved with" a stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority.<ref name="Candida Moss"/>{{rp|153}} [[Candida Moss]] asserts that De Ste. Croix's judgment of what values are worth dying for is modern, and does not represent classical values. According to her there was no such concept as "quasi-volunteer martyrdom" in ancient times.<ref name="Candida Moss"/>{{rp|153}}

==== Decian persecution ====
{{Main|Decian persecution}}
In the reign of the emperor [[Decius]] ({{Reign|249|251}}), a decree was issued requiring that all residents of the empire should perform sacrifices, to be enforced by the issuing of each person with a ''[[libellus]]'' certifying that they had performed the necessary ritual.<ref name=":0" /> It is not known what motivated Decius's decree, or whether it was intended to target Christians, though it is possible the emperor was seeking divine favors in the forthcoming wars with the [[Carpi (people)|Carpi]] and the [[Goths]].<ref name=":0" /> Christians that refused to publicly offer sacrifices or burn incense to Roman gods were accused of impiety and punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture or execution.<ref name="Scarre170"/> According to Eusebius, bishops [[Alexander of Jerusalem]], [[Babylas of Antioch]], and [[Pope Fabian|Fabian of Rome]] were all imprisoned and killed.<ref name=":0" /> The patriarch [[Pope Dionysius of Alexandria|Dionysius of Alexandria]] escaped captivity, while the bishop [[Cyprian of Carthage]] fled his [[episcopal see]] to the countryside.<ref name=":0" /> The Christian church, despite no indication in the surviving texts that the edict targeted any specific group, never forgot the reign of Decius whom they labelled as that "fierce tyrant".<ref name="Scarre170">Scarre 1995, p. 170</ref> After Decius died, [[Trebonianus Gallus]] ({{Reign|251|253}}) succeeded him and continued the Decian persecution for the duration of his reign.<ref name=":0" />

==== Valerianic persecution ====
The accession of Trebonianus Gallus's successor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] ({{Reign|253|260}}) ended the Decian persecution.<ref name=":0" /> In 257 however, Valerian began to enforce public religion. Cyprian of Carthage was exiled and executed the following year, while [[Pope Sixtus II]] was also put to death.<ref name=":0" /> Dionysius of Alexandria was tried, urged to recognize "the natural gods" in the hope his congregation would imitate him, and exiled when he refused.<ref name=":0" />

Valerian was defeated by the Persians at the [[Battle of Edessa]] and himself taken prisoner in 260. According to Eusebius, Valerian's son, co-''augustus'', and successor [[Gallienus]] ({{Reign|253|268}}) allowed Christian communities to use again their cemeteries and made restitution of their confiscated buildings.<ref name=":0" /> Eusebius wrote that Gallienus allowed the Christians "freedom of action".<ref name=":0" />