19. Гонения на христиан от язычников (в кратком очерке)

When the persecution of the Church by the Jews ended, the terrible persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire began, which lasted two and a half centuries. The main and more general reason for the persecution of Christians by pagans is the complete opposition of Christian teaching to the established customs, morals and views of paganism. The pagans tolerated any faith, as long as it did not interfere with their lives as before. The Christian faith changed the way of life in everything. Instead of selfishness, she preached love, put humility in place of pride, instead of luxury, which reached terrible proportions in the Roman Empire, she demanded abstinence and fasting; eradicated polygamy, elevated the importance of slaves, and appealed to the rich for mercy and charity. This struggle of new beginnings with the old pagan orders was so great that it shook the building of the Roman Empire. Her decrepit organism could not withstand the power of the new teaching and had to disintegrate. In its place, by the wave of Providence, new peoples moved from the depths of Asia. During the struggle of Christianity against paganism, they crowded into vast crowds within the Greco-Roman world, and the new Christian teaching subsequently influenced their young hearts with all its strength. With this general reason for the hatred of the pagan world towards Christianity, there were specific reasons that aroused enmity towards it from the common people, the educated public, from priests, oracles and other adherents of the old order, and, finally, from regional boards and emperors. The common people saw that Christians were separated from them in faith, in their way of life, interpreted this according to their crude concepts to the detriment of Christians, and often became a blind tool with which the enemies of Christianity acted. For example: Christians did not make pagan sacrifices - for this they were called atheists; Christians did not participate in pagan amusements that were contrary to their morality - for this they were called enemies of the human race, misanthropes. There were public disasters somewhere, for example: drought, ulcers - the priests and oracles blamed Christians for them, who allegedly brought their wrath upon their country by disrespecting the gods. And so the fury of a bloodthirsty crowd rose against the Christians. Educated people, or so-called philosophers, out of their learned pride, considered as superstition the holy faith in the Lord, who, out of ineffable love, suffered for the human race on the cross. And seeing with what firmness Christians endure their suffering, they said that this was blind and harmful fanaticism. Even such scholars as Tacitus and Pliny the Younger called Christianity a superstition: the first “pernicious,” the second “crude and immeasurable.” Subsequently, when this imaginary superstition began to undermine the very foundations of paganism, a whole series of writers appeared who tried to refute and humiliate Christianity from a scientific point of view. Feeling their weakness in the fight against him, they tried to arm kings and rulers against him. Pagan priests, soothsayers, idol makers hated Christians, among other things, because they undermined their profession, deprived them of income and earnings (Acts 19:23-29); from their midst came those evil slander against Christians that were widespread during the persecution: as if they indulged in debauchery in their meetings, drank the blood of babies, etc. The oracles incited the rulers and people against Christians, giving answers unfavorable to them. Why there was failure in the war, why the gods sent drought, pestilence, why the oracle did not answer the emperor or commander who asked him - all the blame lay with Christians. The history of persecution of Christians in the first three centuries can be divided into the following periods: 1) The Roman government throughout the first century did not pay special attention to the spread of Christianity, and if Christians were persecuted, it was due to personal motives on the part of the emperors, and not as a result of government actions. 2) At the beginning of the second century, government persecution began against Christians, but for a long time these persecutions were random in nature and depended on the arbitrariness of the rulers, on the views and character of the sovereigns. 3) From the middle of the third century, persecution took on a more intense and fierce character. Christianity is being persecuted as a sect hostile to the empire, with the goal of completely eradicating it. In the first of these periods, persecution occurred under the emperors Nero and Domitian. Nero blamed Christians for the burning of Rome, carried out at his own request. The years 64–68 were terrible for Christians: they were crucified on crosses, sewn into animal skins and in this form given to be eaten by wild animals, sewn into bags that were doused with resin and lit during public festivities. Domitian was a suspicious and money-greedy sovereign. His anger especially haunted rich people whose estates went into his treasury. He put to death his close relative Flavius ​​Clement for professing the holy faith, and exiled his wife Domitilla to a remote deserted island. Once Domitian heard that relatives of the Lord Jesus Christ lived in Palestine and were awaiting His coming. They were requested to Rome. These were the grandchildren of the Apostle Jude, the brother of the Lord. The suspicious king only calmed down when he became convinced of their poverty and learned that they were expecting not an earthly, but a heavenly kingdom. In the second period, the most severe persecutions came from the emperors Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus. Emperor Trajan (98–117) strictly prohibited the existence of secret societies that had their own laws, in addition to the general state ones. Many of the regional rulers hastened to direct this law against Christians and began to persecute them. But one of them, namely the proconsul of Asia Minor Pliny the Younger (nephew of the famous naturalist), was horrified by the multitude of those accused of Christianity and turned to the emperor for clarification on how to deal with them. Trajan decided this: Christians should not be searched for, but if anyone is accused by the judiciary of belonging to Christianity, he should be executed 42 . Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180) hated Christians for their, in his opinion, superstitious teaching. Hitherto the Roman government had not been looking for Christians: now it began to look for them, and a system of torture was introduced to force them to renounce their faith. Such government measures caused a riot of black people against the confessors of the holy faith. Christians were expelled from their homes, scourged, stoned, rolled on the ground, thrown into prison, and deprived of burial. Never during previous persecutions were there so many martyrs as at this time; It happened that the bodies of tortured Christians lay in masses on the streets of cities. An extraordinary event involving a thunderous legion contributed to the weakening of this terrible persecution. In 174, the emperor fought with various barbarians (Quads, Sarmatians, Marcomanni). In Pannonia (now Hungary) he was brought by enemies to a completely waterless place. His army perished from the scorching heat and lack of water. Then, through the prayer of the Christians who were in his army, a thunderstorm suddenly broke out and threw the enemies into confusion, and then rain poured down and quenched the thirst of the Roman soldiers. From that time on, the emperor, under pain of death, forbade the persecution of Christians and gave the name thunderous to the legion through whose prayer the miracle took place. Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211) in the first ten years of his reign not only did not persecute Christians, but even showed them favor because one Christian, named Proculus, healed him of an illness through anointing with oil. Then he began to change his thoughts about them and began to confuse them with the rebellious Jews. In this conviction, he forbade, on pain of death, the transition from paganism to both Judaism and Christianity. The enemies of the faith took advantage of both the previous and these new decrees and began to persecute Christians. The persecution finally became so severe that some Christians saw it as a sign of the coming of the Antichrist. In the third of these periods, especially fierce persecution against Christians was carried out by the emperors Decius and Diocletian. Emperor Decius (249–251) was of a rude and cruel character. He was convinced that the integrity of the state was inextricably linked with the preservation of paganism, and Decius decided to destroy Christianity. It was decreed that on a certain day all Christians in a certain area should appear to offer a pagan sacrifice. Those who did not appear were sought out: if found, they were tortured with slow execution, forcing them to renounce Christ; if anyone fled, he was deprived of his estate and civil rights. Fortunately, this terrible persecution did not last long. Diocletian (284–305) was a smart sovereign. Realizing the difficulty of managing a huge empire with constant attacks on its outskirts by barbarians, he shared his power with the commander Maximian Herculus and two Caesars: Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. Galerius, a sworn enemy of Christians, married the daughter of Diocletian and at the end of his reign had a strong influence over him. He incited him against Christians. Four edicts issued by Diocletian, each more severe than the other, had the goal of destroying Christianity 43. All sorts of tortures and executions were used, and no cruelty was thought of. A date was set for the existence of Christianity (the pagan holiday of Terminalia on February 23, 303). At the very dawn of this day, a detachment of soldiers surrounded the Nicomedia church: the doors of the church were broken down, the sacred books were burned, the jewelry was looted - and the entire church was destroyed to the ground. After this, horrors began that are impossible to depict. “If I,” writes Lactantius, a contemporary of the persecution, “had hundreds of lips and an iron chest, then even then I would not be able to count all the types of torment that the believers endured.” The ferocity of the torturers reached such an extent that the mutilated were again treated in order to torture; They tortured from ten to one hundred people a day in one place, without distinction of gender and age. “I myself witnessed this,” says the historian Eusebius, “so that the iron became dull and broke, and the murderers themselves, tired, took turns replacing each other.” But during the most terrible time of Diocletian’s persecution, Constantine, the defender of Christianity, grew and became stronger at his court, and after the most terrible trial, days of peace came for the church. – To this, one of the Christian apologists (Tertulian) rightly objected: “If you execute Christians as guilty, then why don’t you look for them? If you are not looking for innocent people, why are you executing them?” – 1st Edict: all liturgical gatherings of Christians are prohibited; Christian churches must be destroyed; copies of the Holy Scriptures must be taken away and burned (a feature of persecution); all those who hold the Christian faith are deprived of their dignity and civil rights; Christian slaves are forever deprived of hope for liberation; during the trial of Christians, torture is allowed and no complaints from them are accepted; 2nd Edict: to imprison all Christians and clergy in general; 3rd Edict: demand that they offer sacrifices to idols; whoever brings it will be released from prison, and whoever remains adamant will be tortured with cruel torture; By the 4th edict, all Christians without exception were condemned to torture and torment in order to force them to renounce Christianity. You might be interested in: