“The blood of

the martyrs is the seed

of the Church”

-Tertullian

PERSECUTION in the EARLY

CHURCH

PERSECUTION in the EARLY

CHURCH

-Christians were accused of cannibalism, perversion, and incest

-Christians were used as scapegoats for every misfortune-Christians were arrested, harassed, and persecuted

Shortly After the Death of Christ

The Apostles• Simon Peter: crucified up-side down• Andrew: crucified—St. Andrew’s Cross• James the Greater: beheaded• John: boiled in oil then imprisoned on the island of

Patmos• Phillip: crucified• Bartholomew/Nathanael: beaten and crucified • Matthew/Levi: mortally wounded with a sword• Thomas: stabbed with a spear• James the Lesser: thrown from the Temple pinnacle

then beaten with a fuller's club • Simon the Zealot: crucified• Jude/Judas/Thaddeus: crucified• Judas Iscariot: suicide by hanging• Matthias (replaced Judas Iscariot): stoned then

beheaded

Other Early Christian Martyrs

Ignatius of Antioch

He was martyred around the year 107 in the arena. The Roman authorities hoped to make an example of

him and thus discourage Christianity

from spreading. Instead, he met with

and encouraged Christians who flocked to meet him all along

his route, and he wrote letters to the churches.

Bishop of Antioch

Perpetua, her slave Felicity, and three men were arrested for converting to Christianity. The details of their visions while in prison and their martyrdom survive through Perpetua’s writings, which is

the earliest surviving text written by a Christian woman.

Perpetua and Felicity (d. 202)

• Perpetua’s father repeatedly begged her to renounce Christianity. Her mother brought Perpetua’s infant son, whom Perpetua was permitted to nurse and retain in prison with her.

• Felicity was eight months pregnant, and she feared that she would not be permitted to suffer martyrdom with the others (the law forbade the execution of pregnant women), but two days before the games she gave birth to a daughter, who was adopted by a Christian woman.

• On the day of the games, the five confessors were led into the amphitheatre in Carthage. At the demand of the pagan mob they were first scourged; then a boar, a bear, and a leopard, were set at the three men, and a wild cow at the two women. Wounded by the wild animals, they gave each other the kiss of peace and were then put to the sword.

Sts. Sergius and Bacchus were early Christian Martyrs. They were the leaders of a group of Roman soldiers under the Emperor Diocletian who were renowned for their bravery.

When it became known that they were Christians, however, they were tortured to renounce their faith. St. Bacchus died during the torture, but St. Sergius continued to be tortured

before he was beheaded.

The Roman Coliseum

Caesar NeroEmperor: 54-68

• The first to persecute Christians, including saints Peter and Paul.

• Nero's persecution began after a nine-day fire ravaged Rome in July 64. To stop rumors that he had started the fire, Nero decided to blame the renegade Jews called Christians (they already had a bad reputation in the city—for starting upheavals in Jewish synagogues).

• Nero executed the Christians publicly in his gardens and in the circus. "Mockery of every sort accompanied their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired." -Tacitus

Caesar DeciusEmperor: 249-251 He was the first to make Christian

persecution world-wide. He was ruthless and violent.

“They seized first an old man and commanded him to utter impious words.

They beat him with clubs, tore his face and eyes with sharp sticks, and dragged him out of the city to stone him. Then they carried to their temple a faithful woman. As she turned away in detestation, they bound her feet and dragged her through the city over the stone-

paved streets, dashed her against the millstones, scourged her, and stoned her.

Then they rushed to the homes of the pious to steal and plunder. Then they seized the most admirable virgin and broke out her

teeth. They threatened to burn her alive if she would not utter impious cries. She

leaped eagerly into the fire. There was no street, nor public road, nor

lane open to us, by night or day; for always and everywhere, all of them cried out that if

any one would not repeat their impious words, he should immediately be dragged

away and burned.”

Caesar DiocletianEmperor: 284-305

Diocletian began his furious persecution against the

Christians in 303. The emperor ordered the doors of a Christian

church to be barred and then burnt with 600 Christians within. Many edicts were issued by him

against Christians. Churches were demolished, Christian books were seized and burnt, Christians were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured

and killed.

“We saw with our own eyes the houses of prayer thrown down to the very foundations, and the Divine and Sacred

Scriptures committed to the flames in the midst of the market-places, and several of the shepherds of the churches captured and mocked by their enemies.”

“We shall not mention those who were shaken by the persecution, nor those who in everything pertaining to

salvation were shipwrecked…Let us therefore proceed to describe briefly the sacred conflicts of the witnesses of

the Divine Word. It was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, [A.D. 303] when the feast of the Savior's

passion was near at hand, that royal edicts were published everywhere, commanding that the churches be leveled to the ground and the Scriptures be destroyed by fire, and ordering that those who held places of honor be

degraded, and that the household servants, if they persisted in the profession of Christianity, be deprived of

freedom.”

-Eusebius (263-340) who witnessed numerous martyrdoms in Caesarea

Libelli & ConfessorsThe libelli were documents notarized by Roman authorities to certify that someone has offered

sacrifice to their idols. In times of persecution these documents were accepted as proof that someone

was not a Christian. Many of these libelli have been discovered in excavations in Egypt.

Confessors were Christians who confessed their faith (they did NOT commit apostacy). They were

imprisoned for their faith, where other Christians flocked for strength and guidance. Many Christians

even sought them for forgiveness of their sins, which became extremely controversial in the Church.

“…they think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if

the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is,

‘Away with the Christians to the lion!’”- Tertullian (A.D. 197)

False Accusations

Quote from a debate:

“And now…corrupt ways of life are spreading…throughout the world, and those most abominable sanctuaries of impious assemblies are growing.

This conspiracy must be absolutely eradicated and accursed. They recognize each other by secret marks and signs, and they love one another almost before they become acquainted. Everywhere they mingle together in a kind of religion of lust, indiscriminately calling each other brothers and

sisters, with the result that ordinary debauchery…is converted into incest.”

“If there were not an underlying basis of truth, shrewd rumor would not spread about them such a great variety of charges that can hardly be

mentioned in polite company. I hear that persuaded by some absurd idea, they consecrate and worship the head of an ass, the lowest of

animals. A religion worthy of the sort of practices that gave it birth! Some say that they worship the genitals of their own leader and priest,

revering the sexual parts of their own parent. I do not know whether it is false, but certainly a suspicion is attached to secret rites performed at

night.”

-Caecillius in a debate with the Christian Octavius (second or third century)

Quote continued:

“Now the story about the initiation of novices is as disgusting as it is well known. An infant covered with flour, in order to deceive the

unwary, is placed before the one who is to be initiated into their rites. The novice, encouraged by the surface of flour to strike without harm, kills the infant with unseen and hidden wounds. The infant's blood -

oh horrible! - they lap up thirstily; its limbs they parcel out eagerly. By this victim they ally themselves with one another; by their complicity in this crime they pledge themselves to mutual silence. These rites

are fouler than any sacrifice.”

-Caecillius in a debate with the Christian Octavius (second or third century)

Quote continued:

“And what happens at their banquets is well known; it is spoken of everywhere. The speech of our friend from Cirta testifies to it. On an

appointed day they gather for a feast with all their children, sisters and mothers, people from both sexes and of every age. There after much

feasting, when the banquet has inflamed them and they are burning with the drunken heat of incestuous lust, they provoke a dog tied to a lamp to leap forward by tossing a scrap of food beyond the length of the rope

to which it is tied. The light, which would have been a witness, is thus turned over and extinguished, and in the shameless darkness, connections

of unspeakable desire take place with the uncertainty of chance.”

-Caecillius in a debate with the Christian Octavius (second or third century)

Catacombs of Rome• The first large-scale catacombs were carved in

the second century. They were used both for burial and the memorial services and celebrations of the anniversaries of Christian martyrs.

• In 380, Christianity became a state religion. At first many still desired to be buried in chambers alongside martyrs. However, the practice of catacomb burial declined slowly, and the dead were increasingly buried in church cemeteries.

• In the 6th century, catacombs were used only for martyrs’ memorial services.

• By the 10th century catacombs were practically abandoned, and holy relics were transferred to above-ground basilicas.

• They remained forgotten until they were accidentally rediscovered in 1578.

Christian excavators built vast

systems of galleries

and passages on top of

each other. They lie

22-65 feet below the surface. Narrow

steps that descend as

many as four stories

join the levels.

Passages are about

8’ x 3’

Burial niches were carved into walls: 16-24” high and 47-59” long

Some bodies were placed in chambers in

stone sarcophagi in their clothes and bound in

linen. Then the chamber was sealed with a slab bearing

the name, age and the day of

death.

Modern Persecution

Religious persecution continues around the world…many argue that today’s

persecution is worse as it is more wide-spread and results in more martyrs.

Pope John Paul II wrote in his 1994 apostolic letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente (The

Coming Third Millennium), "The Church has once again become a Church of martyrs."

Christians today are the most persecuted religious group in the world. Torture, enslavement, rape, imprisonment,

killings...even crucifixions are among the atrocities perpetrated upon believers

around the world.

Around the World

Modern Persecution• An estimated 200 million Christians

worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ.

• 160,000 people die every year as a result of violence directed against Christianity.

• In the 20th century, more Catholics lost their lives as martyrs than in any previous century in the history of the Church.

Modern Day Persecution

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uekLQTA25tU

• http://www.persecution.com/

In the Sudan

The terrorist government of Sudan has been waging a holy

war against the country's Christians for years. Scenes such as these sketches depict are far

too common. One and a half million people have been

slaughtered in the war, and many women and children have

been sold into slavery by government-armed soldiers.

Church in Indonesia

Modern MartyrsWho are these heroic men and

women? In one sense, people very much like us—people who never

expected to be honored as martyrs, any more than we might. But for

them, it really happened. And thus we are bound to them, bound by a

debt that can never be fully repaid.

Modern MartyrsSt. Edith Stein, a convert from

Judaism to Catholicism who died at the hands of the Nazis in Auschwitz in

1942.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest who gave up his life

for that of a fellow prisoner in Auschwitz in 1942.

The Archbishop of San Salvador was a champion

of the poor who was assassinated while

celebrating Mass in 1980.

Archbishop Oscar Romero

Born in southern Sudan, Josephine was kidnapped at the age of seven, sold

into slavery and given the name Bakhita, which means fortunate. Her

body was mutilated by those who enslaved her, but they could not touch her inner spirit. She was later baptized

and became a Canossian sister.

St. Josephine Bakhita

Charles was a servant of King Mwanga of Uganda. He converted to

Christianity in 1885 and then instructed his friends in the Catholic

Faith. He inspired and encouraged his companions to remain chaste and

faithful against the immoral acts and homosexual demands of King

Mwanga.

In June 1886 Charles was sentenced to death by burning. While the pyre was being prepared, he asked to be untied so that he could arrange the sticks. He

then lay down upon them. He made no cry of pain but just twisted and moaned, "Kotanda! (O my God!)."

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

Are you willing to stand in the face of persecution?

Modern ChristiansHow do you compare with modern

martyrs?

Do you take advantage of being able to freely attend Mass?

Do you appreciate open religious dialogue?

Are you spreading the

Message of Christ?

Are you living the

Message of Christ?