History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. A. D. 100-325

Countries, but was ultimately at different dates incorporated with the Roman church. It took its

origin probably from Gaul, and afterwards from Italy also. The legend traces it to St. Paul and other

apostolic founders. The venerable Bede (†735) says, that the British king Lucius (about 167) applied

to the Roman bishop Eleutherus for missionaries. At the council of Arles, in Gaul (Arelate), in 314,

three British bishops, of Eboracum (York), Londinum (London), and Colonia Londinensium (i.e.

either Lincoln or more probably Colchester), were present.

The conversion of the barbarians of Northern and Western Europe did not begin in earnest

before the fifth and sixth centuries, and will claim our attention in the history of the Middle Ages.

CHAPTER II:

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANITY AND CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM.

"Semen est sanguis Christianorum."—Tertullian.

–––––

§ 12. Literature.

I. Sources:

Eusebius: H. E., particularly Lib. viii. and ix.

Lactantius: De Mortibus persecutorum.

The Apologies of Justin Martyr, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, and Origen, and the Epistles of Cyprian.

Theod. Ruinart: Acta primorum martyrum sincera et selecta. Par. 1689; 2nd ed. Amstel. 1713

(covering the first four cent.).

Several biographies in the Acta Sanctorum. Antw. 1643 sqq.

Les Acts des martyrs depuis l’origine de l’église Chrétienne jusqu’à nos temps. Traduits et publiés par les R. R. P. P bénédictins de la congreg.

de France

. Par. 1857 sqq.

The Martyrol. Hieronymianum (ed. Florentini, Luc. 1668, and in Migne’s Patrol. Lat. Opp. Hieron.

xi. 434 sqq.); the Martyrol. Romanum (ed. Baron. 1586), the Menolog. Graec. (ed. Urbini,

1727); De Rossi, Roller, and other works on the Roman Catacombs.

II. Works.

John Foxe (or Fox, d. 1587): Acts and Monuments of the Church (commonly called Book of

Martyrs), first pub. at Strasburg 1554, and Basle 1559; first complete ed. fol. London 1563; 9th

ed. fol. 1684, 3 vols. fol.; best ed. by G. Townsend, Lond. 1843, 8 vols. 8o.; also many abridged

editions. Foxe exhibits the entire history of Christian martyrdom, including the Protestant

martyrs of the middle age and the sixteenth century, with polemical reference to the church of

Rome as the successor of heathen Rome in the work of blood persecution. "The Ten Roman

persecutions" are related in the first volume.

Kortholdt: De persecutionibus eccl. primcevae. Kiel, 1629.

Gibbon: chap. xvi.

Münter: 

Die Christen im heidnischen Hause vor Constantin

. Copenh. 1828.

Schumann Von Mansegg (R.C.)

: Die Verfolgungen der ersten christlichen Kirche.

 Vienna, 1821.

W. Ad. Schmidt: 

Geschichte der Denk u. Glaubensfreiheit im ersten Jahrhundert der Kaiserherrschaft und des Christenthums.

 Berl.

1847.

Kritzler: 

Die Heldenzeiten des Christenthums.

 Vol. i. 

Der Kampf mit dem Heidthum.

 Leipz. 1856.

24

Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

---

Fr. W. Gass: 

Das christl. Märtyrerthum

 in den 

ersten Jahrhunderten.

 1859–60 (in Niedner’s "Zeitschrift für Hist.

Theol." for 1859, pp. 323–392, and 1860, pp. 315–381).

F. Overbeck: 

Gesetze der röm. Kaiser gegen die Christen,

 in his 

Studien zur Gesch. der alten Kirche,

 I. Chemn. 1875.

B. Aubé: 

Histoire des persécutions de l’église jusqu’ à la fin des Antonins

. 2nd ed. Paris 1875 (Crowned by the

Académie française). By the same: 

Histoire des persécutions de l’église, La polémique paÿenne à la fin du II. siècle

,

1878. 

Les Chréstiens dans l’empire romain, de la fin des Antonins au milieu du IIIe siécle

 (180–249), 1881. 

L’église et L’état

dans la seconde moitié du III

e

 siécle

, 1886.

K. Wieseler: 

Die Christenverfolgungen der Cäsaren, Hist. und chronol. untersucht.

 Gütersloh, 1878.

Gerh. Uhlhorn: 

Der Kampf des Christenthums mit dem Heidenthum

. 3d ed. Stuttgart, 1879. Engl. transl. by Smyth

& Ropes, 1879.

Theod. Keim: 

Rom und das Christenthum.

 Berlin, 1881.

E. Renan: Marc-Aurèle. Paris, 1882, pp. 53–69.

§ 13. General Survey.

The persecutions of Christianity during the first three centuries appear like a long tragedy: first,

foreboding signs; then a succession of bloody assaults of heathenism upon the religion of the cross;

amidst the dark scenes of fiendish hatred and cruelty the bright exhibitions of suffering virtue; now

and then a short pause; at last a fearful and desperate struggle of the old pagan empire for life and

death, ending in the abiding victory of the Christian religion. Thus this bloody baptism of the church

resulted in the birth of a Christian world. It was a repetition and prolongation of the crucifixion,

but followed by a resurrection.

Our Lord had predicted this conflict, and prepared His disciples for it. "Behold, I send you

forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. They will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues

they will scourge you; yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for My sake, for a

testimony to them and to the Gentiles. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father

his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall

be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."

These, and similar words, as well as the recollection of the crucifixion and resurrection, fortified

and cheered many a confessor and martyr in the dungeon and at the stake.

The persecutions proceeded first from the Jews, afterwards from the Gentiles, and continued,

with interruptions, for nearly three hundred years. History reports no mightier, longer and deadlier

conflict than this war of extermination waged by heathen Rome against defenseless Christianity.

It was a most unequal struggle, a struggle of the sword and of the cross; carnal power all on one

side, moral power all on the other. It was a struggle for life and death. One or the other of the

combatants must succumb. A compromise was impossible. The future of the world’s history

depended on the downfall of heathenism and the triumph of Christianity. Behind the scene were

the powers of the invisible world, God and the prince of darkness. Justin, Tertullian, and other

confessors traced the persecutions to Satan and the demons, though they did not ignore the human

and moral aspects; they viewed them also as a punishment for past sins, and a school of Christian

virtue. Some denied that martyrdom was an evil, since it only brought Christians the sooner to God

and the glory of heaven. As war brings out the heroic qualities of men, so did the persecutions

25

Philip Schaff

History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

---