RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Persecution Perseverance
nacy. Only with the beginning of the third century, as the national religion entered upon its decay and the principles of monotheism gained ground, does the religious character of Christianity seem to have been recognized. There explain themselves (5) also the policies pursued by emperors like Hadrian (117- 138) and Antoninus Pius (138-161), who, in response to the petitions addressed by fanatical provincial assemblies asking power and permission for the persecution of the Christians (in Greece especially), ordered that trials for purely religious causes should not be initiated and that charges brought by individuals should be made the basis of prosecution only when those were accompanied by evidence of criminal guilt. The magistrates thus were naturally left free to adopt such repressive measures against the Christians as public necessity might dictate, but a policy of general persecution such as the provincial assemblies demanded was not allowed in the Roman state before Decius.
Although their collegia (churches) were illegal, in practise they were tolerated. They could not acquire the rights of a legal person; but, 6. Subse- in indirect ways, the churches by the quent Per- time of Decius had acquired possessecutions. sion of landed property, buildings, and movable treasures throughout the empire. Persecutions in the strict sense of the word there were not on the part of the State, but whenever the observance of the imperial religion had to be insisted upon, the result was an increase in the number of Christian trials. The rescript of Severus against the missionary activity of the Christians issued in the year 202 aims at restricting their growth and not at destroying them. It was a law of Maximinus Thrax (235-238) that first aimed at the destruction of the organization of the Church and therefore of the Church itself through the annihilation of its leaders. The law, however, was never put into execution, and it is with Decius that the great struggle began which was to decide the fate of the old national religion. Only then was the injunction laid upon every citizen publicly to testify his adhesion to the old national religion on a certain day. The failure of this persecution was as rapid as its first measures were sanguinary and overwhelming. Monotheism triumphed by its own inherent power and served for the termination of the absoluteness of imperialism.
(Adolf Harnack.) II. The Ten Persecutions: From the fifth century tradition tells of the " Ten Persecutions of the Christians." The number, however, has no basis in fact and was probably suggested by the ten plagues of Egypt or the ten horns of the beast in the Apocalypse. As already pointed out, there was probably no time from an early date when persecution or annoyance was not going on somewhere, induced by local circumstances or the character of the governor, and only two persecutions (that under Decius and that under Diocletian and his successors) were even theoretically coextensive with the empire. The traditional ten persecutions with approximate dates are: under Nero, 64; Domitian, 96; Trajan, 112-113; Marcus Aurelius, 177; Sep-
timius Severus, 202; Maximinus, 235; Decius, 249- 251; Valerian, 257; Aurelian, 274; and Diocletian and his successors, 303-313. For further information see the articles on the various emperors.
Bibliography: The sources are to be found in the writings of the Fathers of the Church (the " Apologies " of Justin Martyr, Melito, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, and Origen, and Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum; in the early church histories, e.g., of Eusebius), and in the Acta Martyrum — see the article. Great care is necessary in the use of this literature and of the earlier treatises named below, in accordance with the principles enunciated in the text. The subject is, of course, treated in the works on church history dealing with the first three centuries. Consult further: Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap, xvi (in some respects epochal; it caused a reexamination of the subject and a reversal of part of the traditional position respecting the extent and motives of the judicial processes and persecutions); H. Kritzler, Die Heldenzeiten des Christenthums, Leipsic, 1856; O. Hunziker, Regierung und Christenverfolgung des Kaisers Diocletianus und seiner Nachfolger, Leipsic, 186S; T. Preuss, Kaiser Diocletian und seiner Zeit, Leipsic, 1869; B. Aube, Hist, des persecutions de I'eglise, 2 vols., Paris, 1875-78; A. J. Mason, The Persecution of Diocletian, Cambridge, 1876; K. Wieseler, Die Christenverfolgungen der Cdsaren, Giitersloh, 1878; A. Thibault, Les Empereurs romains et I'eglise chretienne, Paris, 1879; G. Uhlhorn, Der Kampf des Christenthums mit dem Heidenthum, Stuttgart, 1879, Eng. transl., Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, New York, 1879; C. T. Keim, Rom und das Christenthum, Berlin, 1881; T. W. Allies, Church and State in the Formation of Christendom, London, 1882; H. Doulcet, Essai sur les rapports de I'eglise avec Vetat romain durant les trois premiers siecles, Paris, 1883; P. Allard, Hist, des persecutions pendant les deux premiers siecles, Paris, 1885; idem, Hist, des persecutions pendant la premiere moitie du troisieme siecle, Paris, 1886; idem, La persecution de Diocletien et le triomphe de I'eglise, Paris, 1890; P. Hochart, Etudes au sujet de la persecution sous Neron, Paris, 1885; C. F. Arnold, Die neronische Christenverfolgungen, Leipsic, 188S; R. Plehwe, Die Christenverfolgungen der ersten drei Jahrhunderten, Berlin, 1889; C. J. Neumann, Der rbmische Stoat und die allgemeine Kirche bis auf Diocletian, Leipsic, 1890 (indispensable); J. Belser, Zur diokletianische Christenverfolgung, Tubingen, 1891; E. Le Blant, Les persecuteurs et les martyrs aux premiers siecles, Paris, 1893; T. Mommsen, in Historische Zeitschrift, new series, xxviii. 389-429; idem, Abriss des rbmischen Staatsrechts, passim, Leipsic, 1893 (both important); E. G. Hardy, Christianity and the Roman Government, London, 1894 (of importance); L. E. le Bourgeois, Les Martyrs de Rome d'apres I'histoire et I'archeologie chretiennes, Paris, 1897; M. Cohn (afterward Conrat), Der Christenverfolgungen im rbmischen Reiche vom Standpunkte des Juristen, Leipsic, 1897; J. A. F. Gregg, The Decian Persecution, Edinburgh, 1897; D. C. Munro and E. Bramhall, The Early Christian Persecutions, Philadelphia, 1897 (contains bibliography); B. Reynolds, Church History. The Early Persecutions and Martyrs, London, 1897; G. Boissier, La Fin du paganisme, 2 vols., Paris, 1901; J. E. Weis, Christenverfolgungen, Marburg, 1901; The Epistle of Psenosiris. A Document from the Diocletian Persecution, ed. A. Deissman, London, 1902; O. Seeck, Geschichte des Unterganges der antiken Welt, 2 vols., Berlin, 1902; H. D. M. Spence, Early Christianity and Paganism, London, 1902; J. Herkless, Early Christian Martyrs and their Persecutions, London, 1904; P. J. Healy, The Valerian Persecution, ib. 1905; A. J. Mason, Historic Martyrs of the Primitive Church, ib. 1905; E. G. Hardy, Studies in Roman History, New York, 1906 (contains considerable on the subject); H. B. Workman, Persecution in the Early Church, London, 1906; E. T. Klette, Die Christenkatastrophe unter Nero, Tubingen, 1907; G. Schoenaich, Die Christenverfolgung des Kaisers Decius, Jauer, 1907; Cabrol, Dictionnaire, i. 266-307, 373- 446, 450^62, 2042-47 (contains much illustrative matter); F. X. Kraus, Realencyklopadie der christlirhen Alterthumer, i. 215-288 (" Christenverfolgung," by F. Gorres, covering the first six centuries), Freiburg, 18S0-85.
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS: The fifth of the so-called " Five Points of Calvinism " is thus
Perseverance Persia