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[Lecture 15] Persecution Under the Roman Empire 3

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[Lecture 15] Persecution Under the Roman Empire 3 < Church History I > [Lecture 15] Persecution under the Roman Empire 3 4. The Persecution by Hadrian (117-138) 1) Emperor Hadrian Hadrian was the son of General Titus and also the adopted son of Emperor Trajan. His physical and mental passion was greater than others as an emperor. He followed the traditional polytheistic religion of Rome, and he devoted himself to push the divinity of the emperor. 2) Persecution of the Christian Church – Royal edict proclaimed in 125 – Circumcision, the Sabbath, and reading the Law in the Synagogue was prohibited – A statue a Jupiter was put in the Temple of Jupiter, and idol worship was imposed. Persecution followed for non-compliance. – Believing in Christianity was regarded as breaking national law. – Statues of the Emperor were placed throughout the empire, and all people were commanded to worship them. – As they served Christ as the only King and Lord, Hadrian loathed Christians for refusing other gods. – At this time, many Christian apologists appeared. 5. The Persecution by Marcus Aurelius (161-180) 1) Marcus Aurelius He is the author of ‘Meditations’ and demonstrates a deep knowledge of scholarship and philosophy. As one of the intellectuals of the time, he was at first amicable to Christians. Nevertheless, his teacher was a Stoic philosopher, and he fell into superstition and astrology, which led him to consider Christianity as merely superstition. 2) Persecution of the Christian Church Whenever he held an event, he would offer sacrifices to foreign gods, but at the beginning of his rule, there were foreign invasions, floods, plagues, and other disasters. He believed that the gods were angry because of the Christians and had sent the disasters as punishment, and so he captured the Christians and tortured Christians severely in attempts to have them forsake their faith. The torture became gruesome due to the cruelty and was offensive. Most of the believers held fast to their faith no matter the torture and persecution, and some were even martyred. Even the Jews took part in the oppression. 3) Martyrs At the time, many Apologists were martyred, and even Justin Martyr (AD 100-165) was killed as 1 < Church History I > well. In 177 in Leon, there were about 50 martyrs, and even Potinus, the Church leader, was tortured and martyred among them. (A.D 178) Especially Polycarp, the leader of the Church at Smyrna and the Apostle John’s disciple, was martyred during this time period. 6. Persecution by Septimius Severus (193-211) At first Septimius did not care at all about Christians, but he began to oppress Christians due to the circumstances of the empire and the urgings of his wife, Queen Domna. Queen Domna served the sun god and was the daughter of the high priest. She urged the emperor to resurrect the traditional Roman state religion, and she wanted to unify the religious with the political power in order to disintegrate rebellious groups. The Emperor accepted the suggestions of the Queen, and he started to oppress both the Jews and the Christians, who opposed him the most powerfully. The Emperor, in order to obliterate the Jews and the Christians, made a law that would impose the death penalty on any person converting to either Judaism or Christianity, which made it nearly impossible to recruit new members. Martyrs The spiritual life that was passed down from the Apostles to the Apostolic Fathers, went to Irenaeus, who was martyred. Leonidas, The father of the famous theologian Origen, was beheaded. Additionally, the woman Perpetua, who was from Carthage in Northern Africa, was torn to pieces by wild animals with her slave, Felicity, along with five other slaves. 2 .
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