How did the early Christians react to their persecution?

Answer 1

One result was spreading the gospel to more corners of the known world. As Christians were persecuted in one area, they fled to other areas and fulfilled the great commission. In a way, the persecution helped make Christianity the fastest growing religion at that time. The Roman Empire was ripe for it. Many pagans had become disenchanted with polytheism and were drawn to the monotheism of Judaism and the gospel of Christ. Also, Roman had unified the world with the largest system of roads up to that point in history, thus making travel easier.

Furthermore, the persecution helped unify the faithful in God. They had to rely on God and one another for peace and support. The book of Revelation was written as a result of the persecutionc. John was on the Isle of patmos when he penned it. It was inspired as a comfort for the persecuted Christians. As Roman Empire began to deteriorate, Christianity became the state religion in order to help unify Rome.

Oddly, Christianity spreads more during times of struggle and persecution.

Answer 2

Ignatius was taken prisoner by the Roman authorities, and was put on a ship to be taken to Rome, where he expected, and in fact eagerly desired, to die as a martyr. His surviving letters refer to a "lust for death" and enumerate in gruesome detail the tortures he expected to suffer. He apparently asked the Christians in Rome to do nothing to save him. It would have been hard for an emperor to refuse such a desire, and Ignatius was executed approximately 110 CE.

Christians began to commemorate their martyrs, to inspire their successors and protect their memory. Martyr Acts were a new genre of Christian literature, invented in the second century. They were brief and purposive accounts of each martyrs' heroism, suffering and death, and were read out in church meetings and on the anniversaries of martyrs' deaths. Where corresponding Roman court transcripts are available, the events they described were most unlike the descriptions of the Martyr Acts.

There seems to be a common structure to the Christian accounts:

• The hero's modest reluctance but unshakeable faith
• The volunteer who then fails and recants
• A crude, uncultured Roman underling
• The governor/judge's initial courtesy and evolving cruelty
• His curiosity about Christianity and his easy deception by the martyr, whose double-entendre jokes only the Christians understand
• The martyr's incredible bravery and endurance under torture
• The pagan crowd as chorus and swing voters
• A loyal minority of fervent Christians
• Miracles
• Death, burial and more miracles.

The story of the martyrdom of Polycarp is a classic Martyr Act. First the incredibly brave Germanicus is tortured and devoured by a wild beast, then a volunteer recants, then Polycarp is dealt with. Polycarp had a prophetic vision of his fate and hid in the countryside. The captain of the guard, called Herod presumably to incite anti-Judaism, captures Polycarp and takes him to the city on a donkey (like Jesus). As Polycarp enters the amphitheatre, a voice from heaven is heard by the Christians alone. Polycarp agrees to say "down with the atheists", with a different meaning than intended. Polycarp refuses to condemn Jesus, and they have a brief discussion about Christianity. His face is suffused with grace, while the mob goes to gather wood to burn him. The flames are lit and blaze mightily and surround Polycarp, but do not burn him, a fact proven by the autopsy. A soldier stabs Polycarp and blood gushes out, to extinguish the flames, and a dove flies out of his body.