Asa H. Craig, (Asa Hollister), 1847-1934
After the death of Nero, the terrible persecution ceased for a short period, but again broke forth in all its wildest terror, and for nearly three hundred years the Church of Christ was almost one constant record of the martyrdom of the followers of the Faith of God. So unrelenting and determined was this pagan conflict, that had Christianity been the work of man, it must have succumbed to the blind fury of its enemies, but as it was the teachings of Christ, through his saints and apostles, and upheld and sustained by the power of God, it but more firmly rooted itself into the real religion of men, and spread with a grander vigor, and a more perfect faith in the undying love for the light and blessings of the sanctified crucifixion.
When we consider that the emperors of Rome were the absolute rulers of the world, that they were armed with the deadly power of extermination, and that Christianity was feeble and in its first existence, how is it possible to account for its growth, and the unflinching readiness of its followers to submit to persecution and death, except that the divine power of God gave them strength and encouragement?
But in all these adversities the Church has been miraculously preserved in this unequal contest. The persecution of Nero came like a terrible storm-cloud, breaking with all the force of malignant fury, and driving its darts of hate deep into the body, the mind, the very soul of Christian faith. But not once, only, was this tempest of annihilation hurled against the Church of God, but at two, three, and even ten important periods do we record the same awful details of murder and persecution during the first three centuries of its existence, and yet, through these seeming impossibilities, these renewed violences, these repeated scenes of rack, torture, and death, the cause of Christianity grew, its adherents became more passionately faithful, more determined to resist this Pagan infidelity, and more enduring also became their hope of future reward.
The second great persecution was by Domitian, the third by Trajan, the fourth by Hadrian, the fifth by Marcus Aurelius, the sixth by Septimius Severus, the seventh by Maximinus, the eighth by Decius, the ninth by Valerian, and the tenth by Diocletian. In each of these periods the Christians were subjected to every device known to torture and death.
While all emperors did not persecute, yet these ten periods were terrible to contemplate. The heathen populace were superstitious and ignorant, and when their priests declared that their misfortunes were the visitations of wrath from their mythical gods because of the heresy of the Christians, they were willing tools in demanding that Christ’s people should be rejected from all office, from all favors, and from all society; that they were without religious rights, fit only to become outcasts, or must be mercilessly exterminated. When once an edict for persecution was published, it always remained the law. Some emperors did not enforce these cruel edicts, but they always remained ready to fan the flame into a conflagration and thus start another awful horror.
For three hundred years the whole Pagan force of the great Roman empire was directed against the suppression of Christianity; three hundred years dyed with the blood of a countless multitude of martyrs; three hundred years of murders, persecutions, and unrelenting desecration against the worship of God; and three hundred years of glorious victory— not a victory of Pagan bloodshed and oppression, but the victory of the Word of God in its sustaining influence to hold and maintain the true light, and to spread its faith through all the countries of earth. These persecutions not only failed to destroy Christianity, but instead, it seemed to increase in intensity, to become more expansive; its votaries praised God with more fervency, and feared less the awful fate decreed by the tyrants for the hated Christian.
Rome, the capital of the heathen world, and the center of all the abominations of idolatry, was more than any other place the great slaughterhouse for the children of Christ. As it was the center of Christianity, so was it the center of persecution: It was here that the great Pagan stream of persecution spread with an angry deluge over the whole earth. It was here that the deadly strife between Paganism and Christianity was waged with its terrible tide of extermination. Rome was mistress of the world, and her idolatrous glory had cemented the entire heathen worships, and now in her pride she would trample beneath her feet the unyielding, the uncomplaining, and the ever-faithful Christian.
The modesty and purity of the Christian life only served to arouse a depraved populace. They were wedded to the with actions of a corrupt society, of idolatry, and of dishonor. With these attributes of corruption and sinful degradation, they bated the presence of purity, of simplicity, and the divine truths of immortality.
If Christianity was the true religion of God, then this countless cruel, inhuman, and depraved multitude must be lost in the judgment of the Great Hereafter. Such things could not be. Rome was the power of the earth, and in its might must be the power of infinity. The Roman emperors had decreed against the faith in Christ, and from this decree there could be no appeal, no thought of mistaken authority, and no deviation from its declared purpose.
In the writings of ancient historiographers, who were witnesses of these terrible persecutions of the Christians, we find the same spirit of uncomplaining endurance, the same faith, the same meekness and forgiveness, and the same undying love for God and His Holy Word.
In quoting from these testimonials, we find a line of evidence so perfect that no one can doubt that these martyrs even gloried in the cross they were destined to carry in the great unfolding of God’s Christianity.
“Who would not admire the constancy of purpose, the perseverance, the divine love of those who, when scourged till their veins were laid open, were enabled by their faith and courage to utter neither sigh nor complaint, whilst the very spectators, full of compassion, sorrowed for them? The fire they endured seemed to them cool, because their soul’s eyes were opened to behold both the eternal fire which they thus shunned, and the glory and blessedness in store for those who continued to the end in the faith.”
Eusebius, who was an eye witness, says that he saw them “confess the Son of God with joyful courage, heard them- selves sentenced to die with smiles, and some to their very last breath sang psalms and hymns of praise.”
Other testimony declares that “those who embrace Christianity know what is in store for them, and rejoice more when they are condemned to death than when they are pardoned.”
“Thanks be to God! thanks be to God!” was often heard by the holy confessors on hearing their sentence of death.
So great was their desire to prove to the world their love for Christ, that to die for Him and the Church was their highest wish.
“When Pope St. Sixtus was led out to martyrdom, Lawrence, archdeacon of the Roman Church, followed him, weeping and saying: ‘Father, whither goes thou without thy son? Holy bishop, whither without thy deacon? Nothing could console this loving servant of Christ but the assurance given him by the aged pontiff that he, too, should follow within three days, and after yet greater suffering; and with what heroic courage he fought his battle, we all know.”
“Whilst Leonidas, father to the young Origen, lay bound in prison for Christ’s sake, the boy’s desire for a martyr’s death became so uncontrollable, that his mother could scarcely hinder him by her entreaties from delivering himself up to the heathen judge. She was even forced to hide his clothes to prevent him from leaving the house.”
“With what ardor, too, did St. Ignatius, the aged bishop of Antioch, long for the privilege of martyrdom. His one fear, when condemned by the Emperor Trajan to be cast to wild beasts in Rome, was lest the fervent prayers of the faithful should obtain his release. I beseech you, he wrote during his journey to the Christians at Rome, ‘that you show not an unseasonable goodwill towards me. Suffer me to be the food of beasts, for I am the wheat of Christ, and being ground by their teeth, shall be found God’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me, that by these instruments I may become a sacrifice to God. I long earnestly for the beasts that await me; I desire to find them fierce, and would provoke them to devour me quickly, so that that should not befall me which has befallen others, of whom the beasts were afraid, and left them untouched. Forgive me. I know what is for my good; now do I begin to be Christ’s disciple. Come fire; come cross; come beasts without number; let my bones be crushed and my whole body rent; let all the torments of the devil be let loose upon me, so that only 1 become a partaker of Jesus Christ. Better it is for me that I should die for Jesus, than rule over the whole earth., On reaching Rome, he heard, as a messenger from Heaven, the command given that he should be cast immediately to the beasts. As he had desired, the lions threw themselves with such fury upon him that but a few bones of his body were left remaining.
Christians of every rank, age, and sex were animated with the same heroic purpose. Those whom imperial favor had raised to the highest honors, old men bowed down with years, delicate women and feeble children, all went forth with unflinching joy to deaths the most painful and terrible.
Sebastine was captain of the imperial body-guard, and a favorite of the emperor. Maurice was leader of the Theban legion. Others such as Peter, Dorothaeus, and Gorgonius, were chamberlains of the emperors, beloved by their masters, residing amid all the luxuries of a court, and loaded with marks of imperial favor. But one and all proved themselves true disciples of Jesus Christ, and amidst every torture remained constant until death to their divine Lord.
Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, and a kinsman of our Lord, was one hundred and twenty years of age when he suffered martyrdom by crucifixion. By the same death the aged Theodulus, who had seen his descendants to the third generation, attained the crown of glory.
And how many glorious examples are furnished us by the weaker sex! Over and over again were the word’s of Lactantius proved true: “Not powerful men only, but children and women, have triumphed in silence over their tortures; even fire itself had no power to make them utter a cry.”
Blandina, who won her victory at Lyons, was a virgin so weak and tender by nature, that the faithful feared not a little for her constancy. But from morning to evening she endured every kind of torment. Her executioners, wearied out, were forced to acknowledge themselves vanquished, and marveled that tortures, each one of which would have seemed sufficient to cause death, should not be able to quell her courage. The words, “I am a Christian” ever gave fresh strength to
the blessed martyr. She was at last thrown before a wild bull, who tossed her with his horns, gored her, and trampled her to death.
Agnes, a child of thirteen, crowned her pure and innocent life with a martyr’s death. The only daughter of rich and noble parents, she had early consecrated herself to be the bride of her Savior. To remain true to this heavenly Bridegroom she feared not the revenge of her disappointed suitors. When accused of being a Christian, she boldly avowed her faith, and denounced fearlessly the folly of idolatry. She remained unmoved at the sight of the burning pile and the horrible instruments of torture. She heard her sentence to death with joy, went gladly to the place of execution, and received her deathblow with unflinching courage.
The young Soteris, also a member of a noble Roman family, was beheaded at the same time. To break her resolution the judge had ordered that she should be struck on the face, and she immediately unveiled herself to receive the blows. She endured them calmly and tearlessly, and remained equally steadfast under all the tortures which followed.
Who can read, without wonder, of the high courage of Eulalia, a girl twelve years old, who suffered a glorious martyrdom at Merida, in Spain? Her parents had sent her into the country that she might be safe from the fury of the Emperor Maximian; but she could not withstand the ardent
longing which possessed her to suffer and die for Christ. She returned to Merida during the night, went boldly before the judge, and proclaimed herself a Christian. Wishing to spare her youth, he tried in vain by gentle means to induce her not to sacrifice herself. Eulalia, to show her contempt for idols, pushed an image from the altar, (and trampled it under foot. The executioners fell upon her in anger, tore her sides with iron claws, and burned her wounds with torches. Quietly, without a sigh or tear, she endured her martyrdom, till she bowed her head and died.
These are but a few of the countless numbers who suffered persecution and death in those three hundred years of awful Christian endurance. Victims innumerable fell before the imperial edicts in every corner of the huge Roman empire. Not a place existed in the East or West where Christians were not delivered to their mortal enemies. A war of extermination was waged against them, and the same hideous cruelties were practiced in all parts of the empire. There was no security against the rage either of emperor or populace. Christianity was a plague-spot upon their idolatrous worship and Christians must suffer the penalty of death.
But the last of these great persecutions, that which took place under Diocletian, exceeded all the others in violence and duration. It seemed as though hell itself had come to earth for one final assault. The whole force of Pagan machinery was arrayed against even the name of Christianity. The decree of Diocletian Was to destroy, as the fire burns the grass, every form of Christian life, of name, and of worship. So extensive were his plans and so determined was he to crush the spreading of God’s Holy Word, that he believed his triumph was already secured, and to celebrate his victory over Christianity he constructed triumphal pillars, and arrogant inscriptions. He erected marble columns to celebrate “the destruction of the name of Christians,” and the “universal extirpation of the superstition of Christ,” and even struck off medals bearing the inscription, “After the extermination of the Christian name.”
His was a raging tempest of fire, sword, and crucifixion. From sunrise to sundown the whole earth was bathed in the blood of martyrs. It was the pent-up rage of an idolatrous power, seeking to destroy Christianity and to blot out forever the Word of God. Others had failed in their blasphemous efforts, but Diocletian had vowed that this extermination should destroy every root, branch, and seed of this accursed creed. The gods had long been desecrated by these heretics of Christ, and now they should be avenged. His sword of destruction was sent into every land, and none were spared from his awful executions.
The old, young, innocent, and strong, fell like leaves in an autumn blast, but the swifter the destruction the faster arose the new converts to Christ. Not only did they fill his whole kingdom, his cities, islands, fortresses, camps, palaces, corporations, senates, and courts of justice, but they spread the light of God among the unknown people of distant and barbarous provinces. They established their Christian influence among the Moors, the Germans, Gauls, Spaniards, Scythians, Sarmatians, Dacians, Armedians, Egyptians, Medes, and the inaccessible tribes of Britain. In every place in which man dwelt the faith in Christ ever grew as a strong tree spreads its branches in a protecting influence against the hellish fury of a Pagan world.
“The signs and wonders wrought by the confessors of Christ, and, above all, the joyful calmness with which they encountered torture and death in their most terrible forms, brought to the heathen the conviction that the God of the Christians could alone be the true God. Not seldom it happened that whilst the most fearful martyrdoms were going on, voices were heard to cry from among the heathen spectators, ‘We are Christians also; kill us with them. Thus the blood of the martyrs was indeed the fruitful seed from which Christians were brought forth in ever-increasing numbers.” To estimate the millions of martyrs who fell during these three hundred years of Pagan butchery is an impossibility. In Rome alone, these ancient historians declare, not less than 2,600,000 suffered death in all the varied forms of persecution. Whole cities of Christians were mowed down with this pestilential fire of idolatrous oppression. But strong as was the arm of despotism, yet stronger still was the blessed light of the Spirit of God as he directed his children, and raised up from the Pagan world new multitudes to proclaim Christianity as the one true religion of men. Well did Tertullian exclaim to the heathens: “Afflict us, torment us, crush us — in proportion as we are mowed down we increase; the blood of the martyrs is the seed of new Christians.”