Origin from 250
Two empire-wide persecutions, a century and a half apart, are the best documented episodes of organised violence against Christianity under pagan Rome. In January 250 CE the emperor Decius issued an edict requiring every inhabitant of the empire to sacrifice to the Roman gods and obtain a certificate, a libellus, proving compliance; refusal brought imprisonment, torture or death, and surviving papyri from Roman Egypt preserve dozens of these certificates. Decius's own death in battle the following year ended the edict's enforcement. In February 303 CE the emperor Diocletian, urged on by his junior colleague Galerius, opened what later Christian writers called the Great Persecution: four escalating edicts ordered the destruction of church buildings and scriptures, the imprisonment of clergy, and eventually universal sacrifice on pain of death. Enforcement varied sharply by region and ruler, harshest and longest in the eastern provinces under Galerius and Maximinus Daia, lighter and shorter in the west under Constantius. It ended only with Galerius's own Edict of Toleration, issued from Nicomedia in April 311 CE as he lay dying, two years before Constantine and Licinius met at Milan.
Facts
Dates
End Year311 CE is Galerius's own Edict of Toleration, issued from Nicomedia as he lay dying, the well documented close of the Great Persecution as state policy; sporadic local violence continued in a few places until Constantine and Licinius met at Milan in 313. Learn More
How the Decian and Diocletianic Persecutions Suppressed Christianity in Rome
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Christianity is suppressed across the Roman Empire through two empire wide persecutions a century and a half apart, the best documented episodes of organized violence against the faith under pagan Rome. In January 250 CE the emperor Decius issued an edict requiring every inhabitant of the empire to sacrifice to the Roman gods and obtain a certificate, a libellus, proving compliance, refusal brought imprisonment, torture or death, and Decius's own death in battle the following year ended the edict's enforcement.
The second and larger persecution came in February 303 CE, when the emperor Diocletian, urged on by his junior colleague Galerius, opened what later Christian writers called the Great Persecution. Four escalating edicts ordered the destruction of church buildings and scriptures, the imprisonment of clergy and eventually universal sacrifice on pain of death, enforced harshest and longest in the eastern provinces under Galerius and Maximinus Daia, and lighter and shorter in the west under Constantius.
What this changed for Christianity's spread was a temporary but severe check on the faith's public life across the empire, one that ended only with Galerius's own Edict of Toleration, issued from Nicomedia in April 311 CE as he lay dying, two years before Constantine and Licinius met at Milan and set the empire on a different course toward the faith altogether.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Egypt directly: "death, and surviving papyri from Roman Egypt preserve dozens of these certificates."
Milan, Cities This source names Milan directly: "before Constantine and Licinius met at Milan."
Rome, Cities This source names Rome directly: "against Christianity under pagan Rome."
Occurred In
Anchored to Italy as the seat of the imperial authority issuing each edict; both persecutions were enforced empire-wide, and Decius's edict and the harshest enforcement of the Great Persecution under Galerius and Maximinus Daia were felt most heavily in Egypt and the eastern provinces, not in Italy itself, an approximation named here rather than rounded silently.
Spread Event Of
The suppression is as much a part of Christianity's own spread history as any arrival, and this atlas records it exactly that plainly.
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