When did christian persecution in the roman empire b egin?

Answer 1

A:Two important stories of early persecution were the executions of Peter and Paul in Rome, under the orders of Emperor Nero in 64 CE. The problem with these stories is that they only surfaced in the second century - the executions probably never happened. Undoubtedly, Emperor Nero blamed the Christians of Rome for the Great Fire of Rome, probably unfairly, but by ancient standards such accusations scarcely amounted to persecution. It is possible that Domitian (81-96) sanctioned persection of Christians, although Edward Gibbon (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) says that any persecution that took place must have been of no long duration.

An exchange of letters between Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan regarding the regulation of trials involving those accused of being Christians, in about 112, is illuminating first because Pliny seems unaware of any previous trials of Christians and secondly because neither Nero, Domitian nor any previous emperor could have issued an edict or set any imperial precedent for the official persecution of Christians. The available evidence suggests that the first emperor to encourage persecution of Christians was Decius (249-251).

Both before and after the time of Decius, there undoubtedly were outbreaks of localised persecution, but the third-century Church Father, Origen, writing (Contra Celsum, 3.8) of the total of Christian martyrs up to his own time, in Rome and elsewhere, states that there were not many - and that it was easy to count them.

The great tradition of Christianity that very large numbers of early Christians suffered terrible fates under the pagan emperors must have come from somewhere. We know that the Christian emperors and bishops from the fourth century onwards did engage in terrible persecutions of the pagans in an attempt to eliminate that religion, and Edward Gibbon (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) links the Christian tradition of pagan persecution to this. In his words, the ecclesiastical writers of the fourth or fifth centuries ascribed to the magistrates of Rome the same degree of implacable and unrelenting zeal which filled their own breasts against the heretics or the idolaters of their own times.

Answer 2

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

Answer 3

The actual beginning of the "persecutions" of the Christians is hazy. Some say it was under Nero, however if one looks closely at the circumstances during the time of Nero, one can see that Nero prosecuted the Christians, rather than persecutedthem. It was under Domitian that the next persecution began, but this too, was more against the Jews rather than against the Christians, although the Christians came under fire because they were still, at that time, considered a branch of Judaism.

Answer 4

This question requires two answers, as the question itself can have two meanings.
Roman persecution of Christians

There is no real evidence of the Romans persecuting Christians before at least 97 CE, and only sporadic periods of persecution even after that. A Christian tradition holds that Nero persecuted the Christians living in Rome because he blamed them for the Great Fire, but historians have been unable to find any evidence of such persecution or even a reason for Nero to want to blame them unjustly. The alleged persecution of Christians following the great fire was never even mentioned by Christian commentators for the next several centuries.

Professor Keith Hopkins (A world full of gods: the Strange Triumph of Christianity) says that although in its early years Christianity was both illegal and at loggerheads with the state, it was largely ignored until the three purges of 250, 257 and 303- 311.

Christian persecution of pagans

Emperor Constantine, either a Christian himself or at least sympathetic to the Christians, began the Christian tradition of persecuting the pagans when he sent Christians into the temples to remove their treasures. Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official state religion of Rome in the 380s. Worship at pagan temples was outlawed in 391 and the Christian church, with state support, began to destroy, pillage and expropriate pagan temples. The Church also began a program of destroying books and all sources of knowledge and art that may distract the population from the worship of God. The great library at Alexandria, said to have contained over 700,000 scrolls, was burned down in 391 CE. The period now known as the Dark Ages would commence within the next century.