The atrocities of the evil Rome as the real and the real false prophet revealed to me by our Lord Jesus Christ

Reasons

See also: Religio licita and Religion in ancient Rome“Roman Hall of Justice”, Young Folks’ History of Rome, 1878

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CAUSES[EDIT]

Martyrdom of Calepodius (intaglio print)

Before 250 AD, persecution was not empire-wide; it was localized, sporadic, often mob-led, with occasional actions from local authorities.^[11]:86[12] Reasons for persecution can be understood by looking at a few main areas of conflict.

“The exclusive sovereignty of Christ clashed with Caesar’s claims to his own exclusive sovereignty.”^[11]:87 The Roman empire practised religious Syncretism and did not demand loyalty to one god, but they did demand preeminent loyalty to the state, and this was expected to be demonstrated through the practices of the state religion with numerous feast and festival days throughout the year.^{[13]:84–90[14]}The nature of Christian monotheism prevented Christians from participating in anything involving ‘other gods’.^[15]:60 Christians did not participate in feast days or processionals or offer sacrifices or light incense to the gods; this produced hostility.^[12] They refused to offer incense to the Roman emperor, and in the minds of the people, the “emperor, when viewed as a god, was … the embodiment of the Roman empire”,^[16] so Christians were seen as disloyal to both.^{[11]:87[17]:23} In Rome, “religion could be tolerated only as long as it contributed to the stability of the state” which would “brook no rival for the allegiance of its subjects. The state was the highest good in a union of state and religion.”^[11]:87 In Christian monotheism the state was not the highest good.^{[11]:87[15]:60}

“Christians moved their activities from the streets to the more secluded domains of houses, shops and women’s apartments…severing the normal ties between religion, tradition and public institutions like cities and nations”.^[18]:119 This ‘privatizing of religion’ was another primary factor in persecution.^{[19]:3[18]:112,116,119} They sometimes met at night, in secret, and this aroused suspicion among the pagan population accustomed to religion as a public event; rumors abounded^[18]:120,121 that Christians committed flagitia, scelera, and maleficia— “outrageous crimes”, “wickedness”, and “evil deeds”, specifically, cannibalism and incest(referred to as “Thyestian banquets” and “Oedipodean intercourse“)— due to their rumored practices of eating the “blood and body” of Christ and referring to each other as “brothers” and “sisters”.^[20][21]:128