Thursday, April 19, 2007

Persecution under the Good Emperors (Extra Credit)

Like any historian, Eusebius is only as good as his sources. When it comes to 2nd century persecutions, his sources are sometimes excellent (e.g., Justin Martyr) and sometimes not quite as reliable. Nevertheless, while one might question some of the details he includes, Eusebius is an excellent source for understanding the reasons Christians were persecuted and the reasons Christianity was able to grow despite the persecutions.

Read through some of the martyrdom sections in Books IV and V of Eusebius' History of the Church. Sections you might find particularly useful are 4:14-17 (which includes an account of the martyrdom of Polycarp) and 5:1-3 (which includes the martyrdom of Blandina).

What do you find in these sections that helps explain Roman persecution of the Christians or helps explain the perseverence of the Christians despite the persecutions?

12 comments:

Donna Baskins said...

It is amazing to me that someone can be considered an atheist when they believe in "one" God and not "many" gods. My understanding of the word atheist is that you don't believe there is "any" god or gods at all.

It is amazing what people will do when they feel threatened. If what we believe is genuine,(even if we are genuinely wrong) and if our love of god or God is genuine, there is nothing that should be successful in removing us from it, not even teachings of a new religion that claims that there is only "one" true God.

Even Pagans have faith. Faith is a simple concept that can be applied to Christian and non-Christian ideas about god or God. If you believe in the strength of your faith, it should not matter what someone else believes. If what you believe is genuine to you, what someone else believes should not threaten you.

Obviously these people had doubts about their gods and maybe even frustrations about their gods and couldn't admit that maybe they could be wrong. Who knows?

These persecutions (both of them) are very grousome and I am glad that I have never been put into a position such as they were. Who want's to die a martyr? Not me!

Donna Baskins

Anonymous said...

The Roman Empire at this was in a period of instability. Enemies everywhere and unrest in Rome itself. The Romans wanted to get rid of a religion that contrasted with their own. While the Romans persecuted, the Christians during these times were stubborn and seeking martyrdom. One of them is Polycarp

The story of Polycarp is a case where he knew what was going to happen but faced it willingly. He was burned but it took too long so a soldier decided to kill him with a sword. The blood came out and put out the fire. This display of faith while facing certain death and the glorious display showed that no matter what you do to a Christian martyr, there will be more to pick up the slap and spread the message.

Anonymous said...

During times of great unrest, it is easy to look across the street and accuse those who are different and usually the minority sects for the problems of the day. It happens today, and it happened in Rome.

Christians were blamed for the instability in the country. Jews saw them as a threat to their religion. The pagans did not understand them and believed they performed incest, did not worship the Gods, which is why Rome was falling apart.

Polycarp was an old man who lived a noble life, but was still to be executed for his role. His defiance is what helped strengthen the Christian resolve and the miracles that followed. Even in today, we rally behind the underdogs who show great determination. He went gracefully and remained strong in his convictions. For an outsider it sent a message that this religion had something to offer because people were would to suffer and die for it without a word of opposition.

This would appeal to people and appeals to people today. Think of a mother protecting her child, or a soldier dieing for a noble cause, it causes others to join.

The persecution that Rome led against the Christians is unimaginable. They could have possibly did it because they were annoyed and could not understand why they would not swear allegiance to Rome, which caused their loyalty to Rome to be questioned?

Anonymous said...

The Jewish revolts against the Greeks in Cyrene and Alexandria is an interesting historical event. The Jews began to rebel against their Greek emperor and started slaughtering every Greek in sight. They were under the leadership of Lucuas. They were successful at first as they wiped out many districts in Egypt. The emperor then sent Marcius Turbo to fight of the Jews. Then many Jews were being slaughtered throughout Cyrene, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. It is interesting to read about uprising that occured thousands of years ago. We all know about many uprisings that occured in the last 200 years like Shay's rebellion and Nat Turner rebellion.
Alex Mason

Anonymous said...

The political and cultural environment at this time was terrible for a religious revolution. Only through the hard work and deaths of many people was christianity pulled through it. To be perfectly honest if 20-30% of the martyr's would not have gone through with it and caved then I do not believe we would have the same catholic church that we do today, if any at all.

John Schirado

Anonymous said...

every martyr that dies is another brick that was laid in the foundation of the christian church. The more people saw that people were willing to die for a belief the more these people started to believe that there truely was something to this religion. So in the case of Polycarp having made it a spectical for all those people to see this help spread christianity now if the governor would have brought polycarp in and did a privite interagation there would not have been as much spread of christianity and the church might not have spread. this is the same of all the martyr if it would hav been a privite interagation there actions might not have spread christianity and we would maybe have a different church or still be in pagan religions today

Dave Potts

Anonymous said...

i agree with donna, IT IS HARD TO BELEIVE THAT IF YOU BELIEVE in one god that u are considered a atheist. but i also think that we should down other gods of other religous beleifs. its simplly not our place to judge them and i think god affects people in many different ways, hence, many difference gods.

Anonymous said...

agree with donna, IT IS HARD TO BELEIVE THAT IF YOU BELIEVE in one god that u are considered a atheist. but i also think that we should down other gods of other religous beleifs. its simplly not our place to judge them and i think god affects people in many different ways, hence, many difference gods.


kanova williams

isaac said...

In the story of the martyrdom of Polycarp, we see both the courage of a believer of Christianity and the miracle of Polycarp’s body not burning at his execution. These occurrences could strengthen a Christians beliefs and resolve. Polycarp refused to swear by Caesar’s fortune or to curse Christ. Polycarp’s disobedience here helps explain the Roman’s persecution of himself as well as the Christians who acted in the same manner.

The writings of Justin, to me, would only, again, strengthen a Christian’s resolve to be a Christian, in that the martyrdoms he writes of were not initiated by sins of the martyrs, but rather by admitting to being Christian. Here, it seems to me that the Romans are persecuting the Christians for the only reason that they fear them.

In the story of the martyrdom of Blandina and Ponticus, we see a cruel and sickening martyrdom of a young boy and a woman. This alone would, personally, make me pretty angry. I don't think that I would be so humble as to give up my faith after witnessing such a display. The two denied to pay tribute to the Roman gods, and therefore were condemned. It seems to me that the Caesar , in the perspective of a Roman, made it easy for the Christians to avoid their martyrdom, by sparing the lives of those who would publically deny the Christian faith. The Christians refusal I would imagine would have angered the Caesar. Blandina was first hung in front of wild beasts for food. The beasts would not eat her. The Christians present saw this as a sign of Christ’s fellowship with those who suffered for Him, again strengthening a Christian’s resolve.

Anonymous said...

Eusebius goes into great detail of how Christians were persecuted. Nero and Roman citizens were vicious. The people who were tortured to death became martyrs. This became a basis for Christians to thrive. They wanted to be martyred. Another basis for Christian survival is a human need to go against mainstream society. The early Christians were rebels.

adam J kuehl said...

What do you find in these sections that helps explain Roman persecution of the Christians or helps explain the perseverence of the Christians despite the persecutions?
I think the only thing hat can explain the perseverence of the christians is faith. faith in the fact that at the time the comman perseption was more than likely if you believe hard enough in the lord and if you say proudly that you are a christian, you will be saved in the after life. that by sticking to your beliefs that you can redeme yourself in the eyes of the lord. i would like to believe that they lived in much simpler time. it seems to me that things today get so complicated by so many different things and circumstance, reguardless of what you are dealing with, that life is much more difficult. in dealing with modern religion, people take it to the extreme. people try to say that all actions kind of fall in to catergories,; good or bad. i think that the list of bad things is probably so much longer than the good that it is being taken way too far. that people dont focus as much on belief and more on destictive acts. today faith is no longer enough. i think the christians that were pesecuted would be disipointed in what has happend to christianity.

Anonymous said...

Christianity persevered because the few christians had such good examples to go off of. Many early christians were so strong in their faith that they were willing to die for it. And when other people see that, they are more willing to convert as well. Another reason I think Christianity survived was because many of these persecutions were public. While the torture might turn some people off, the fact that these people went to their deaths for their faith probably made some people curious about what would be worth the ultimate price.

Kevin Dahlberg