"Under the Roman Emperors, commonly called the Era of the Martyrs, was occasioned partly by the increasing numbers and luxury of the christians, and the hatred of Galerius, the adopted son of Diocletian, who, being stimulated by his mother, a bigoted pagan, never ceased persuading the emperor to enter upon the persecution, till he had accomplished his purpose. The fatal day fixed upon to commence the bloody work, was the 23d of February, A.D. 303."I realized that this was today! Obviously, I don't believe in coincidences, and it's amazing how God works things together like this!
Anyways, today is the 1709th anniversary of the beginning of the Dioclitianic Persecution, a persecution of Christians that, according to Wikipedia, resulted in 3,000 - 3,500 deaths of Christians and the torture and persecution of countless more. In reading the about all of these martyrs, I've really gained an appreciation for the early church, understanding that God used the bloody sacrifice of these men and women to advance his kingdom. Again, I encourage reading at least a little bit of the book and learning a little more about church history! It's really helped me appreciate the sovereignty of God in the growth of the church, and I hope that you can be encouraged in reading the few snippets of text in this post.
[A few extra thoughts: I don't think we can be completely sure that all the records are 100% accurate, and it is totally possible that the martyrdom of early Christians is somewhat romanticized and determination and fortitude of those martyred were exaggerated, but I think that the spirit of resilience in the church is extremely obvious. Another note worth making is that I've found it easy to idolize these early Christians, but we must always remember that in the end, it is Christ who suffered the worst punishment, more than anything we would ever be able to comprehend, and it is Christ who we are to look to and worship, not the martyrs. The martyrs need to point us to Christ, not to substitute him.]
Here are some things that surprised me and stuck out to me as I've been reading the book.
The brutality of the tortures and the executions
Reading of some of the tortures really makes my stomach turn. It's some of the most horrifying things I could ever imagine, and I just try not to picture the tortures as I read the book. I'm not going to go into the details of what I read (there really weren't that many given, anyways), but it became very obvious that being beheaded was probably the most painless way to die, as many of the Christians were boiled to death, burned alive, had hooks run through their body, were beaten to death, and were killed by beasts. The human heart is immeasurably wicked, which we sometimes forget.
The martrydom of women
One of the biggest surprises to me is reading about how many women were martyred. Not only is this a sign of the utter depravity of those in authority, but also really a testament to the fortitude of the females' faiths. From the way we talk about early Christians, it's easy to think that women were marginalized and looked down upon in the early church, but I think that the martyrdom and strength of these Christian women really proves otherwise. Many women were bold in proclaiming their faith, and they paid for it with their lives. The fearlessness with which women clung on to the gospel is worthy of admiration, both from the early church and now. To all the people reading this that may not want to read any of this brutal stuff (like my mother, who is a self-admitted ostrich), this next story is a more heartwarming story that you may "enjoy".
Theodora and Didymus - A tale of two martyrs
"Theodora, a beautiful young lady of Antioch, on refusing to sacrifice to the Roman idols, was contemned to the stews, that her virtue might be sacrificed to the brutality of lust. Didymus, a Christian, disguised himself in the habit of a Roman soldier, went to the house, informed Theodora who he was, and advised her to make her escape in his clothes. This being effected, and a man found in the brothel instead of a beautiful lady, Didymus was taken before the president, to whom confessing the truth, and owning that he was a Christian the sentence of death was immediately pronounced against him. Theodora, hearing that her deliverer was likely to suffer, came to the judge, threw herself at his feet, and begged that the sentence might fall on her as the guilty person; but, deaf to the cries of the innocent, and insensible to the calls of justice, the inflexible judge condemned both, when they were executed accordingly, being first beheaded, and their bodies burnt afterwards."The martrydom of the rich, influential, and soldiers
It was quite surprising to me to hear of Roman senators and wealthy people being martyred. In the current "We are the 99%" day and age, we often think of the rich and powerful as invincible and simply untouchable, but the persecution of the Christians really seemed to be completely indiscriminate. This is a real, powerful reminder that our riches on earth will never compare to the crown of righteousness, which the martyrs so often looked forward to. It was also very interesting to me that it seemed that many, many soldiers died as martyrs. I had thought that being a military state, the Romans would have really glorified their soldiers, like we do here in the US. I had thought that the Romans would also desire to preserve their military strength, but history tells us that the Romans executed entire legions of Christians. Below are two of my favorite stories that I've read so far.
Sebastian - a man martyred twice
"Sebastian, a celebrated martyr, was born at Narbonne, in Gaul, instructed in the principles of Christianity at Milan, and afterward became an officer of the emperor's guard at Rome. He remained a true Christian in the midst of idolatry; unallured by the splendours of a court, untainted by evil examples, and uncontaminated by the hopes of perferment. Refusing to be a pagan, the emperor ordered him to be taken to a field near the city, termed the Campus Martius, and there to by shot to death with arrows; which sentence was executed accordingly. Some pious Christians coming to the place of execution, in order to give his body burial, perceived signs of life in him, and immediately moving him to a place of security, they, in a short time effected his recovery, and prepared him for a second martyrdom; for, as soon as he was able to go out, he placed himself intentionally in the emperor's way as he was going to the temple, and reprehended him for his various cruelties and unreasonable prejudices against Christianity. As soon as Diocletian had overcome his surprise, he ordered Sebastian to be seized, and carried to a place near the palace, and beaten to death; and, that the Christians should not either use means again to recover or bury his body, he ordered that it should be thrown into the common sewer. Nevertheless, a Christian lady, named Lucina, found means to remove it from the sewer, and bury it in the catacombs, or repositories of the dead."The legion of martyrs
"In the year of Christ 286, a most remarkable affair occurred; a legion of soldiers, consisting of 6666 men, contained none but Christians. This legion was called the Theban Legion, because the men had been raised in Thebias...Maximian, about this time, ordered a general sacrifice, at which the whole army was to assist; and likewise he commanded, that they should take the oath of allegiance and swear, at the same time, to assist in the extirpation of Christianity in Gaul.
Alarmed by these orders, each individual of the Theban Legion absolutely refused either to sacrifice or take the oaths prescribed. This so greatly enraged Maximian, that he ordered the legion to be decimated, that is, every tenth man to be selected from the rest, and put to the sword. This bloody order having been put in execution, those who remained alive were still inflexible, when a second decimation took place, and every tenth man of those living were put to death.
This second severity made no more impression than the first had done; the soldiers preserved their fortitude and their principles, but by the advice of their officers they drew up a loyal remonstrance to the emperor. This, it might have been presumed, would have softened the emperor, but it had a contrary effect: for, enraged at their perseverance and unanimity, he commanded , that the whole legion should be put to death, which was accordingly executed by the other troops, who cut them to pieces with their swords, 22d Sept. 286."
The conversion of executioners
Another common theme in many of the stories is that the executioners would see the strength in those they were about to be execute, and would decide to become Christians on the spot and be killed almost instantaneously. This is simply amazing - God's grace at it's best. It isn't foolish of us to pray for the persecutors of the faith. It isn't foolish of us to pray for Al Qaeda or the Chinese government. God saved Paul, a persecutor of the early church, and he saved many in the first few centuries of the church, and he can still do that today. When Jesus said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you", he wasn't simply talking about people that gossip about you and are mean to you, he's calling us to pray for those who are actively trying to destroy the Christian religion.
The danger of being a church leader
As I read through the book, it's really astonishing to me how many times the "Bishop of Rome" (what we would now call the Pope) was martyred. Every time a Bishop of Rome was martyred, the next succeeding Bishop of Rome would probably be martyred too. In fact, according to this list on Wikipedia, 10 of the Popes from Pope 9 to Pope 28 were martyred. That's a mortality rate of over 50%! We've already seen from my previous post that all the apostles but John were martyred, but from the little church history I know, I've found that all of the prominent church leaders whose name I recognize were all martyred. I don't know why it was a surprise to me, but I was kind of shocked that these men (like Polycarp, Origen, and Ignatius), for whom I only know their theological contributions, were all killed for their faith. Nowadays, being a church leader means glory, a big name, a big church, and large book royalties. As young men, we look up to these men of wisdom and insight, for the fame and large sphere of influence that they have. Back then, being a church leader meant almost certain death. These men stepped up to serve God, knowing full well that it would probably cost them their lives. This is an incredibly great reminder to us that being a church leader isn't about glorifying ourselves but about glorifying God, even if it costs us our lives.
Revelation 2:10 - "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Related post - New Insights into Suffering
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