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

§ 22. Persecutions under Decius, and Valerian. a.d. 249–260. Martyrdom of Cyprian.

Dionysius Alex., in Euseb. VI. 40–42; VII. 10, 11.

Cyprian: De Lapsis, and particularly his Epistles of this period. On Cyprian’s martyrdom see the

Proconsular Acts, and Pontius: Vita Cypriani.

Franz Görres: 

Die Toleranzedicte des Kaisers Gallienus,

 in the "Jahrbücher für protest. Theol.," 1877, pp.

606–630. By the same: 

Die angebliche Christenverfolgung zur Zeit der Kaiser Numerianus und Carinus,

 in Hilgenfeld’s

"Zeitschrift für wissenschaftl. Theologie." 1880 pp. 31–64.

Decius Trajan (249–251), an earnest and energetic emperor, in whom the old Roman spirit once

more awoke, resolved to root out the church as an atheistic and seditious sect, and in the year 250

published an edict to all the governors of the provinces, enjoining return to the pagan state religion

under the heaviest penalties. This was the signal for a persecution which, in extent, consistency,

and cruelty, exceeded all before it. In truth it was properly the first which covered the whole empire,

and accordingly produced a far greater number of martyrs than any former persecution. In the

execution of the imperial decree confiscation, exile, torture, promises and threats of all kinds, were

employed to move the Christians to apostasy. Multitudes of nominal Christians,

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 especially at

the beginning, sacrificed to the gods (sacrificati, thurificati), or procured from the, magistrate a

false certificate that they had done so (libellatici), and were then excommunicated as apostates

(lapsi); while hundreds rushed with impetuous zeal to the prisons and the tribunals, to obtain the

confessor’s or martyr’s crown. The confessors of Rome wrote from prison to their brethren of

Africa: "What more glorious and blessed lot can fall to man by the grace of God, than to confess

God the Lord amidst tortures and in the face of death itself; to confess Christ the Son of God with

lacerated body and with a spirit departing, yet free; and to become fellow-sufferers with Christ in

the name of Christ? Though we have not yet shed our blood, we are ready to do so. Pray for us,

then, dear Cyprian, that the Lord, the best captain, would daily strengthen each one of us more and

more, and at last lead us to the field as faithful soldiers, armed with those divine weapons (Eph.

6:2) which can never be conquered."

The authorities were specially severe with the bishops and officers of the churches. Fabianus

of Rome, Babylas of Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem, perished in this persecution. Others

withdrew to places of concealment; some from cowardice; some from Christian prudence, in hope

of allaying by their absence the fury of the pagans against their flocks, and of saving their own

lives for the good of the church in better times.

Among the latter was Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who incurred much censure by his

course, but fully vindicated himself by his pastoral industry during his absence, and by his subsequent

martyrdom. He says concerning the matter: "Our Lord commanded us in times of persecution to

yield and to fly. He taught this, and he practised it himself. For since the martyr’s crown comes by

the grace of God, and cannot be gained before the appointed hour, he who retires for a time, and

remains true to Christ, does not deny his faith, but only abides his time."

The poetical legend of the seven brothers at Ephesus, who fell asleep in a cave, whither

they had fled, and awoke two hundred years afterwards, under Theodosius II. (447), astonished to

see the once despised and hated cross now ruling over city and country, dates itself internally from

the time of Decius, but is not mentioned before Gregory of Tours in the sixth century.

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"Maximus fratrum numerus," says Cyprian.

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Philip Schaff

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

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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Under Gallus (251–253) the persecution received a fresh impulse thorough the incursions

of the Goths, and the prevalence of a pestilence, drought, and famine. Under this reign the Roman

bishops Cornelius and Lucius were banished, and then condemned to death.

Valerian (253–260) was at first mild towards the Christians; but in 257 he changed his

course, and made an effort to check the progress of their religion without bloodshed, by the

banishment of ministers and prominent laymen, the confiscation of their property, and the prohibition

of religious assemblies. These measures, however, proving fruitless, he brought the death penalty

again into play.

The most distinguished martyrs of this persecution under Valerian are the bishops Sixtus

II. of Rome, and Cyprian of Carthage.

When Cyprian received his sentence of death, representing him as an enemy of the Roman

gods and laws, he calmly answered: "Deo gratias!" Then, attended by a vast multitude to the scaffold,

he proved once more, undressed himself, covered his eyes, requested a presbyter to bind his hands,

and to pay the executioner, who tremblingly drew the sword, twenty-five pieces of gold, and won

the incorruptible crown (Sept. 14, 258). His faithful friends caught the blood in handkerchiefs, and

buried the body of their sainted pastor with great solemnity.

Gibbon describes the martyrdom of Cyprian with circumstantial minuteness, and dwells

with evident satisfaction on the small decorum which attended his execution. But this is no fair

average specimen of the style in which Christians were executed throughout the empire. For Cyprian

was a man of the highest social standing and connection from his former eminence, as a rhetorician

and statesman. His deacon, Pontius relates that "numbers of eminent and illustrious persons, men

of mark family and secular distinction, often urged him, for the sake of their old friendship with

him, to retire." We shall return to Cyprian again in the history of church government, where he

figures as a typical, ante-Nicene high-churchman, advocating both the visible unity of the church

and episcopal independence of Rome.

The much lauded martyrdom of the deacon St. Laurentius of Rome, who pointed the

avaricious magistrates to the poor and sick of the congregation as the richest treasure of the church,

and is said to have been slowly roasted to death (Aug. 10, 258) is scarcely reliable in its details,

being first mentioned by Ambrose a century later, and then glorified by the poet Prudentius. A

Basilica on the Via Tiburtina celebrates the memory of this saint, who occupies the same position

among the martyrs of the church of Rome as Stephen among those of Jerusalem.

§ 23. Temporary Repose. a.d. 260–303.

Gallienus (260–268) gave peace to the church once more, and even acknowledged Christianity

as a religio licita. And this calm continued forty years; for the edict of persecution, issued by the

energetic and warlike Aurelian (270–275), was rendered void by his assassination; and the six

emperors who rapidly followed, from 275 to 284, let the Christians alone.

The persecutions under Carus, Numerianus and Carinus from 284 to 285 are not historical,

but legendary.

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See Franz Görres, l.c.

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Philip Schaff

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

Christianity. A.D. 100-325.

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