Christians wen omelly perseented, and Stophqi w« stoned and became the first martyr. But cne of tfe leading instigatcnrs of the persecution, Saul c£ Tbibm, was soon converted in a miracnloos msuuier, aad is- tablished new churches, not only amoos tiie Jews k a great many provinoes of the Roman empire, Int il» among the pagans. At Antioch, the foUowera of Je- sus, who during his lifetime had had no distingindaBi name, recdved the name Chriatiasu. See Chbohax. Paul warned the congregation in Corinth not to mmamt party names, as parties of Apdloe, of Psol, of Ofpbai, or of Christ; but the term is applied, not to dietingwb Aparig among Christians, but to dis^hgnish CfarirtiBi fhnn pagans and Jews. By the Jews, the ClxristiaBi were for a long time called Galilssans or TTaiiiiaii The Christians of Jewish extraction aepaxatod odr by degrees firom outward connection with the sjas- gogues, and the f^damental elements of & cfaarA constitution were not devdoped before the aeoond hilf of the first century. The details of this developsiia have been of late the subject of most minnte and iiif^ nious investigations, but the darknwa in which tk subject, on account of the meagreneas of the coatsn poraneous literature, has been mvolved, is far htm being removed. Comp. Apostolic Age ; Cbtvecb. The aposties remained the centze for the Oiristiu churches, and devoted themsdvea, in connection wA so-called evangelists, to the spreading of the Goqwi while under them presbyters (or bishops) wen tbe teachers and superintendents of particalar oongrefa- tions. Deacons, and sometimes also deaoonessec, war charged with the care of the poor and other social waatz of the community. The spread of Christian]^ gave nse to repeated persecntions by the Roman empenm, some of which were' local, while others were more or leis general. Usually ton persecutions are counted, til first, nnder Nero, 6^-68, by whose order sereral Chra- tians of Rome were put to death, Nero, aa is reported, charging them with having caused the great confls- gration. In the second persecution (98-95), DonitisB, misinterpreting the royal office of Christ, ordered tfe surviving relations of Christ, whom he looked upon u rivals, to be put to death. The third persecntioa vii under Trajan, in Bithynia, in 116. Many were pn- ished as apostates fh>m the state religioii, althoi^ a report from the younger Pliny bore a good lesliiiifj to their character. The fbnrth persecution, in 118. under Hadrian, did not proceed firom the goverameat, but the Christians greatly suffered in many places especially In Asia Minor, f^om riota of the mob. The fifth persecution, nnder Marcus Aurdins, in 177, af- fected especially the congregations of Lyons and Ti- enne, in Granl, and the churches of Asia Minor. Anuog the martyrs was Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna^ Fnm the sixth persecution, under Septimhis Severos, a. 202, especially the Christians g( Egypt and Asia Vbcr bad to suffer. The seventh persecution, nnder Msxi- min, in 285, was properly directed only against the bishops and leaders of the congregations, but tfe Christians suffered greatiy during his reign from tfe mob, espedally in Cappadocia, becanse earthqoske* and other calamities of that kind were laid to their charge. Very severe and extendve was the aiath persecution, under the emperor Dedns (24^251), vfe was alarmed at the rapid increase of the Chrbtisn population. In consequence of the severity of tfe persecution, many Christians apostatized and manj congregations were destroyed. The ninth persecs- tion, under Valerian, in 257 and 258, was also voy cruel. He ordered bishops to.be ezHed, prohibited the assemblies of the Christians, and declared state officers who were Christians to have forfeited their ef* fices, and, later, also their lives. The tenth and last persecution, under Diocletian, in 808 and 304^ was tfe severest of all. The edict of 803 ordered all the diarcb- es of the Christians to be burned, the state offiecfs who were Christians to be declared infamoo% aad all
OHBISTIANITY
271
CHRISTIANITY
tree ChriitiAQS to be nade slaTM. ' Aooording to an •diet of 904, all Chriatlaiia ware to be compelled by tortures to aacrifioe to the pagan goda. With the ab- dkation of Diodetian in 805, the era of persecutiona ended (see Benkendorf^ Hiatorie der wehn Hcmptoer- /oigmt^m, Leipe. 1700, 8to). Those ChriatiAns who, in some way or other, snccumbed in the persecution, wero called XfOpfi (q. ▼.), of whom there were several claaofiB, as LOMiiici, SacnficaU^ Tkurifioati^ and Tra- diiotneaf those who remained steadfast were called Con- fmmmu See CoH fbssors. Christianity was, how- ever, not ISersecnted by all the Roman emperors, but was tolerated by some, and even favored by a few, e. g. Caracalla, Alexander Sevems, and Philippus. In 306 Gonstantine established ttderatbn of Christianity in the provinces of Britain, Gaol, and Spain. Con- version to Christianity was expressly permitted by an- other edict of Constantine in 818, and restoration of the Christian churches ordered. Even an indemnification from the public treasury was promised. Constantino, by a decree of 824, established fall religions liberty for the Christian religion in the whole Roman empire, and restored to liberty those who, nnder Diocletian, had been enslaved. Toward the end of his reign he even issued edicts against paganism. He was baptised him- self dioray before his death. See Comstaktiits.
Christiaiiity during the first period of its history was not only exposed to the persecution of the em- perors, but also to the UUrary attacks of many pagan scholars, as Lncian, Celsus, PcHphyrius, Hierodes, snd others, which called forth among the Christians a number of apologetic writers. See Apologists. Dissensions and divisions were very numerous among the Christians from the earliest period of the Church. A strict line of demarcation established itself between the common fiUth (orthodoxy) and the secessions (her- esy). As early as the apostolic age we find the Gnos- tics, Simonians, Nicolaites, Corinthians ; in the seoond century the BasUidians, Carpocratians, Valentinians, Nazareans, Ophites, Patripassians, Artemonites, Mon- tanists, Manicheans, and others ; in the third century theMonarohians, Samosatensians, Noetians, Sabellians, No vatians, etc. Most of these controversies concerned the person of Christ; some related to the creation of the world and of the spirits ; others to the Lord's Sup- per ; only a few had regard to the discipline of the Church and some other points.