Editing Diocletian (section)

===Great Persecution===
[[File:ChristPeterPaul.jpg|thumb|Catacomb of Saints Marcellinus and Peter on the [[Via Labicana]]. Christ between [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]]. To the sides are the martyrs Gorgonius, Peter, Marcellinus, [[Saint Tiburtius|Tiburtius]].]]
Diocletian returned to Antioch in the autumn of 302. He ordered that the [[deacon]] [[Romanus of Caesarea]] have his tongue removed for defying the order of the courts and interrupting official sacrifices. Romanus was then sent to prison, where he was executed on 17 November 303. Diocletian left the city for Nicomedia in the winter, accompanied by Galerius.{{sfn|Barnes|1981|pp=20–21}} According to Lactantius, Diocletian and Galerius argued over imperial policy towards Christians while wintering at Nicomedia in 302. Diocletian believed that forbidding Christians from the bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, but Galerius pushed for extermination. The two men sought the advice of the [[oracle]] of [[Apollo]] at [[Didyma]].{{sfn|Lactantius|loc=10.6–11}}{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=21|2a1=Odahl|2y=2004|2p=67}} The oracle responded that the impious on Earth hindered Apollo's ability to provide advice. Rhetorically Eusebius records the Oracle as saying "The just on Earth..."<ref>Eusebius, ''Life of Constantine'' 2.50</ref> These impious, Diocletian was informed by members of the court, could only refer to the Christians of the empire. At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for universal persecution.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=21|2a1=Odahl|2y=2004|2p=67|3a1=Potter|3y=2005|3p=338}}

On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed. He demanded that its scriptures be burned, and seized its precious stores for the treasury.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=22|2a1=Odahl|2y=2004|2pp=67–69|3a1=Potter|3y=2005|3p=337|4a1=Southern|4y=2001|4p=168}} The next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=22|2a1=Williams|2y=1985|2p=176}} The edict ordered the destruction of Christian scriptures and places of worship across the empire, and prohibited Christians from assembling for worship.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=22|2a1=Liebeschuetz|2y=1979|2pp=249–250}} Before the end of February, a fire destroyed part of the Imperial palace.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=24|2a1=Southern|2y=2001|2p=168}} Galerius convinced Diocletian that the culprits were Christians, conspirators who had plotted with the [[Eunuch (court official)|eunuchs]] of the palace. An investigation was commissioned, but no responsible party was found. Executions followed anyway, and the palace eunuchs Dorotheus and [[Gorgonius]] were executed. One individual, [[Peter Cubicularius]], was stripped, raised high, and scourged. Salt and vinegar were poured in his wounds, and he was [[Boiling to death|slowly boiled]] over an open flame. The executions continued until at least 24 April 303, when six individuals, including the [[bishop]] [[Anthimus of Nicomedia|Anthimus]], were [[decapitation|decapitated]].{{sfn|Barnes|1981|pp=23–24}} A second fire occurred sixteen days after the first. Galerius left the city for Rome, declaring Nicomedia unsafe.{{sfnm|1a1=Barnes|1y=1981|1p=24|2a1=Southern|2y=2001|2p=168}} Diocletian would soon follow.{{sfn|Barnes|1981|pp=23–24}}
[[File:Medallion of Diocletian (obverse).jpg|thumb|left|Medallion of Diocletian, {{circa|AD 303}}]]

Although further persecutory edicts followed, compelling the arrest of the Christian clergy and universal acts of sacrifice,{{sfn|Barnes|1981|pp=23–24}} they were ultimately unsuccessful; most Christians escaped punishment, and pagans too were generally unsympathetic to the persecution. The [[martyr]]s' sufferings strengthened the resolve of their fellow Christians.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=25}} Constantius and Maximian did not apply the later edicts, and left the Christians of the West unharmed.{{sfn|Southern|2001|p=168}} Galerius rescinded the edict in 311, announcing that the persecution had failed to bring Christians back to traditional religion.{{sfn|Barnes|1981|p=39}} The temporary apostasy of some Christians, and the surrendering of scriptures, during the persecution played a major role in the subsequent [[Donatist]] controversy.{{sfn|Tilley|1996|p=xi}} Within twenty-five years of the persecution's inauguration, the Christian emperor [[Constantine I|Constantine]] would rule the empire alone. He would reverse the consequences of the edicts, and return all confiscated property to Christians.{{sfn|Barnes|1981|pp=48–49, 208–213}} Under Constantine's rule, Christianity would become the empire's preferred religion.{{sfn|Barnes|1981|pp=208–213}} Diocletian was demonized by his Christian successors: [[Lactantius]] intimated that Diocletian's ascendancy heralded the apocalypse.<ref>[[Lactantius]], ''[[Divinae Institutiones]]'' 7.16–17; cf. Daniel 7:23–25</ref>{{sfn|Digeser|2000|pp=149–150}}