Section 1: The sins commited by the New Testament churches and the truth in the spoken words of God

Edward Gibbon on Christianity and Pagan Society

Edward Gibbon wrote:

“By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians incurred the guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as sacred.”
— Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (Christian heroes and martyrs, 1895)

Christianity practiced a level of inclusivity not found in the Roman Empire’s social caste system. Because of this, opponents saw it as a “disruptive and, most significantly, a competitive menace to the traditional class/gender-based order of Roman society.” Gibbon argued that Christian converts’ tendency to renounce family and country, along with their frequent predictions of impending disasters, created fear and suspicion among their pagan neighbors.

Many pagans believed that misfortunes would follow if their gods were not properly worshipped. By the late second century, the Christian apologist Tertullian noted that Christians were widely blamed for disasters, stating:

“They think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is, ‘Away with the Christians to the lions!’”

The Roman Legal System and Trials of Christians

The Roman legal system was informal and personality-driven. To bring a legal case against a Christian, all that was needed was a prosecutor (called a delator), a charge of Christianity, and a governor willing to act on it. Roman law mainly focused on property rights, leaving gaps in criminal and public law. The process known as cognitio extra ordinem (“special investigation”) filled these gaps, allowing provincial governors to run trials as part of their authority.

In this process, the delator presented the accused to the governor, acted as prosecutor, and could receive part of the accused’s property if successful. If the governor agreed, he oversaw the entire trial, decided the verdict, and issued the sentence. Some Christians even voluntarily offered themselves for punishment, and their hearings followed the same procedure.

Outcomes often depended on the governor’s personal opinion. Although some referred to precedent or imperial guidance—like Pliny the Younger’s letter to Emperor Trajan—such guidance was limited. Governors, often far from Rome, relied on their judgment.

Before Emperor Decius’ anti-Christian edicts beginning in 250, no empire-wide policy existed against Christians. Trajan’s reply to Pliny stated that merely being a Christian was enough for punishment, but Christians should not be actively sought out. There is speculation about Christians being condemned for contumacia (disobedience to magistrates), but the evidence is mixed. Melito of Sardis claimed that Antoninus Pius forbade execution without a proper trial.

Given limited guidance and imperial supervision, trial results varied widely. Many governors followed Pliny’s approach: ask if the accused were Christians, allow recantation, and require sacrifices to Roman gods and the emperor’s genius to prove loyalty. Those who refused were executed.

Tertullian noted that some African governors even helped Christians avoid conviction or refused to try them. Generally, governors preferred to make apostates rather than martyrs. One proconsul of Asia, Arrius Antoninus, famously told a group of voluntary martyrs:

“If you want to die, you wretches, you can use ropes or precipices.”

During the Great Persecution (303–312/313), governors received direct edicts from the emperor: Christian churches and texts were to be destroyed, Christian worship forbidden, and legal rights lost for those refusing to recant. Clergy were to be arrested, and all were ordered to sacrifice to the gods. However, no specific punishments were mandated, leaving governors discretion. Lactantius reported some governors claimed no Christians were killed, while others selectively enforced the edicts.

Government Motivation and Religious Context

Roman governors were responsible for keeping provinces pacata atque quieta (settled and orderly). Their main interest was public peace, so when unrest against Christians occurred, they often sought to appease it to prevent riots or lynchings.

Roman political leaders also served as public cult leaders. Roman religion centered on public ceremonies and sacrifices, with personal belief less important than in many modern faiths. To Roman elites, public religious practice was vital for community and empire stability. Honoring tradition—pietas—was essential.

Romans protected ancestral cults and traditions, seeing them as inherently correct. This tolerance extended to the exclusive Jewish sect for a long time, even though some Romans disliked it. Historian H. H. Ben-Sasson noted the “Crisis under Caligula” (37–41 AD) as the first major break between Rome and the Jews. After the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 AD), Jews could practice their religion if they paid the Jewish tax. Debate exists over whether Christians were initially seen as a Jewish sect before Emperor Nerva’s tax modification in 96 AD. After that, Jews paid the tax but Christians did not, marking an official distinction.

Much Roman disdain for Christianity arose from the belief that it was harmful to society. In the 3rd century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote:

“How can people not be in every way impious and atheistic who have apostatised from the customs of our ancestors through which every nation and city is sustained? … What else are they than fighters against God?”

Once Christianity was distinguished from Judaism, it was no longer a strange sect of an ancient religion but labeled a superstition. For Romans, superstition was a serious charge, meaning religious practices that were corrosive and destabilizing to society, causing a loss of Humanitas (humanity).

Persecution of “superstitious” sects was not unusual in Roman history: foreign cults faced punishment during droughts in 428 BC, Bacchic cult initiates were executed in 186 BC, and Druids were targeted during the early Principate.

Despite this, persecution of Christians depended on how threatening local officials considered them. Christians were unpopular because they worshipped a convicted criminal, refused to swear loyalty to the emperor’s genius, criticized Rome in their texts, and conducted rites privately. In the early 3rd century, a magistrate reportedly said:

“I cannot bring myself so much as to listen to people who speak ill of the Roman way of religion.”

History

“Saint Blaise” on trial before the Roman governor, Louvre

Prior to the reign of Decius (249–251 AD), the only known incident of state persecution occurred under Nero in 64 AD. By the mid-2nd century, mobs, often motivated by rival sects, were willing to throw stones at Christians. The Persecution in Lyon (177 AD) was preceded by mob violence, including assaults, robberies, and stonings. Lucian tells of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by a “prophet” of Asclepius, who used a tame snake in Pontus and Paphlagonia. When rumors exposed his fraud, the witty essayist reported in his scathing essay:

“…he issued promulgations designed to scare them, saying that Pontus was full of atheists and Christians who had the hardihood to utter the vilest abuse of him; these he bade them drive away with stones if they wanted to have the god gracious.”

Tertullian’s Apologeticus of 197 was written in defense of persecuted Christians and addressed to Roman governors.

In 250 AD, Emperor Decius issued a decree requiring public sacrifice, a formality equivalent to a loyalty oath to the emperor and the established order. There is no evidence the decree was intended specifically to target Christians but rather as a general loyalty test. Decius authorized roving commissions to supervise these sacrifices and to issue certificates (libelli) to those who complied. Christians who refused were punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and execution. Many Christians fled to the countryside or bought certificates to avoid punishment. Several councils held at Carthage debated the extent to which the community should accept these lapsed Christians.

The persecutions culminated under Diocletian and Galerius at the end of the third and beginning of the 4th century. These were considered the largest state-sponsored actions against Christians and the last major Roman pagan persecutions. The Edict of Serdica, or Edict of Toleration, was issued by Galerius in 311 in Serdica (modern Sofia, Bulgaria), officially ending the Diocletianic persecution in the East. Constantine the Great soon came to power and in 313 legalized Christianity. During this period in the Roman Empire, there were three main religious groups: Christianity (the true church of Jesus Christ), the apostate Roman Catholic Church, and Judaism.

It was not until Emperor Theodosius I in the late 4th century that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Bishop of Rome had an agenda to depart from the true church of Jesus Christ but needed Emperor Constantine’s authority. The Bishop devised a plan convincing Constantine to set aside Sunday worship for Romans to honor their goddess of the Sun. Constantine agreed, unaware of the Bishop’s true intention to lead the church away from its original teachings, knowing Romans’ fondness for idol worship.

“Persecution of the Christians,” Young Folks’ History of Rome (1878).

Before Nero’s accusations of arson and anti-Christian actions in 64, hostility was limited to internal Jewish conflicts. The New Testament (Acts 18:2-3) introduces Aquila and Priscilla, Jews expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius. From Nero’s reign until Decius’s measures in 250, Christian persecution was isolated and localized. Christians were disliked for refusing to worship Roman gods or participate in sacrifices, which were expected in the Empire. Jews, despite similar refusal, were tolerated due to their ancestral religion. Christians were viewed as partaking in strange, dangerous rituals.

During this period, anti-Christian actions were accusatory, not inquisitive. Governors played a larger role than emperors in these actions, but Christians were not actively sought out; rather, accusations led to prosecution through cognitio extra ordinem. No reliable descriptions of Christian trials survive, but punishments varied from acquittal to execution.

The Great Fire of Rome

Main article: Great Fire of Rome
See also: Early Centres of Christianity § Rome

According to Tacitus, Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, which devastated parts of the city and its economy. Tacitus writes:

“…To get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Chrestians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.” — Tacitus, Annals 15.44

This passage is the only independent account that Nero blamed Christians for the fire and is generally considered authentic, though some scholars question its reliability, noting no other contemporary references until the late 4th century.

Suetonius mentions punishments inflicted on Christians, describing them as “men following a new and malefic superstition,” but does not link it directly to the fire or specify reasons for punishment.

It is unclear whether Christians were persecuted solely for arson or other alleged crimes. Tertullian mentions an institutum Neronianum in his apology To the Nations, which some interpret as an anti-Christian law or decree under Nero, but others argue it only describes anti-Christian activities without legal basis. No known sources indicate specific laws against Christians at this time.

Domitian

Some historians argue that Jews and Christians were heavily persecuted toward the end of Domitian’s reign (89–96 AD). The Book of Revelation, which mentions martyrdom (Rev 2:13; cf. 6:9), is thought by many scholars to have been written during Domitian’s reign. Early church historian Eusebius wrote that Revelation reflects Domitian’s organization of cruel banishments and executions of Christians, though this is debated.

Others claim little or no anti-Christian activity during Domitian’s time. The lack of consensus arises because surviving accounts are brief or questionable.

Reference is often made to the execution of Flavius Clemens, a Roman consul and cousin of the emperor, and the banishment of his wife, Flavia Domitilla, to the island of Pandateria. Eusebius stated Domitilla was banished for being a Christian, but Cassius Dio reports she was guilty of sympathy for Judaism. Suetonius does not mention her exile. Some scholars suggest they were converts to Judaism trying to avoid the Jewish tax (Fiscus Judaicus). No legal ordinances against Christians from Domitian’s reign are known.

Trajan

As a civilian emperor, Trajan corresponded with Pliny the Younger about Christians in Pontus. He instructed Pliny to continue persecuting Christians but not to accept anonymous accusations, to maintain justice and the spirit of the age. Non-citizens admitting to being Christians and refusing to recant were to be executed for obstinacy. Citizens were to be sent to Rome for trial.

Despite this, medieval Christian theologians viewed Trajan as a virtuous pagan.

Hadrian

Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138) responded to a governor’s request for advice on dealing with Christians by granting them more leniency. He said being a Christian alone was insufficient for prosecution; an illegal act had to be committed. Moreover, false accusations against Christians were punishable.

Marcus Aurelius to Maximinus the Thracian

Sporadic anti-Christian activity occurred between the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Maximinus. Governors continued to influence persecutions more than emperors.

In the early third century, imperial policy and local actions remained similar: trouble arose mainly from local pressure rather than imperial directives. Official attitudes were passive until provoked at the local level.

Symbolic sacrifice (apostasy) could free a Christian. Initial trials often led to imprisonment with pressure to recant. The number and severity of persecutions increased during Marcus Aurelius’s reign (161–180), though his personal role is debated.

One notable event was the persecution in 177 at Lugdunum (modern Lyon, France), where Christians faced unofficial ostracism that escalated to arrests, trials, and imprisonment with harsh punishments. Slaves accused their Christian masters of incest and cannibalism, leading to further persecution—even after apostasy.

However, Eusebius, writing 120 years later, is the sole source for this. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon at the time, did not mention the persecution but instead wrote of peace and safe travel under Roman rule.