Rome: The Persecution Of Christians In Rome

Starting from 67 to 303 A.D., Christians suffered from the Roman Empire. The persecutions of Christians were extremely horrible and painful, leading to death of many of them. They were beat, skinned alive, fed to lions and wild beasts, set on fire, tortured, executed, and many more horrifying things. However these persecutions played an important part shaping the Catholic tradition. It caused the Christian faith to spread and grow even stronger. Being against to Roman tradition and refusing to worship Roman gods and emperors were the main reasons why Christians were accused as a traitor to the Roman society and brought them to persecution. Persecutions in the early church occurred under few Roman emperors but the worst were under Nero, Domitian,

Pliny wrote to Emperor Trajan saying that there were thousands of Christians that were put to death without having doing anything wrong to the Roman laws but because the temples were left out and no one was purchasing animals for sacrifice. With the help of Trajan, they were able to catch Christians by having them to take an oath. Ignatius, disciple of John, lost his life during this persecution. He was sent from Syria to Rome to be killed by wild beasts for claiming Christ. He wrote a letter to the Church at Rome saying, “Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, …… be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus” . When he was in Asia, he strengthened the churches of some of the cities while sharing the Word of God. Adrian, next to Trajan persecuted Alexander, bishop of Rome with his two deacons; Quirinus and Henres with their families; Zenon, and thousands of other Christians to continue Trajan’s path. Eustachius with his family were ordered to be killed because he refused to join Adrian to celebrate his winning because of his faith. Many of “other” Christians were crucified, crowned with thorns, and killed by spears. The fourth persecution took place in 162 A.D. under Marcus Aurelius. During his time, many Christians were covered in fear. They were tortured until death. Some of the Christians who suffered were Germanicus, who was delivered to the wild beasts because of his faith and several pagans

Alexander and Epimachus of Alexandria were charged for being Christians. They were beat with staves, torn with hooks, and burned in fire. Decius ordered everyone to sacrifice to the emperor, and those who participated were given a libellus as a proof.
Christians suffered tortures and painful death under Valerian in 275 A.D. The persecution’s goal is to destroy the Christian leadership. He wanted all the clergies and Christian officials to back down, and killed those who did not agree. Marcianus received an order from Emperor Valerian to put to death all the Christian clergy in Rome, the bishop and six deacons in 258 A.D. Emperor Diocletian run the longest and probably the most horrible persecution. His decision did not make any sense, since his wife and daughter and many officials were Christians. It was said in the book that Diocletian had nothing to do with the persecution, it was Galerius, Diocletian’s Caesar who was responsible. He hated Christianity since the beginning and his mother, a worshipper of the pagan god Cybele, pushed him to persecute. Diocletian ordered to burn any scared books, destroy churches, imprisoned all clergy and church officials, and required all Christians to worship Roman gods. This persecution lasted 10