Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
Here is an interesting article about the history of Christian persecution, by an unknown author.
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Polycarp and the Persecution of Christians
Polycarp (69-155 AD), the disciple of John the Apostle, before being burned to death in a Roman arena said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want....Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
Polycarp was told to give tribute to Caesar and say “away with the atheists,” (Romans believed that not believing in the pantheistic Roman gods was atheism). Polycarp, waved has hand to the crowd and said, “away with the atheists.”
As men and women died for their faith, so bravely and peacefully, the crowds who witnessed the martyrs wondered—"Who are these people who die like this, so sure of themselves and their God?" Martyrs, like Polycarp, had a profound impact on those who watched.
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However Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was not so impressed. Aurelius spoke of the martyrs “with scorn, tracing their noble enthusiasm for martyrdom to 'sheer obstinacy' and love for theatrical display.”
But the martyrs were a powerful witness, as the word “martyr” in Greek literally means--"witness." Their dignity and serenity in death was a witness to the workings of God. Many Romans came to the spectacle with a morbid excitement but left the stadium struck by the calm of the Christians who faced death so bravely.
The Church Father Tertullian (165-249 AD) had converted to Christianity based in part on his wonder at Christians' faithfulness in the face of martyrdom. He said, “Kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust; your injustice is the proof that we are innocent...The more we are struck down by you, the more numerous do we become. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The seed was planted in the hearts of audiences all over the Roman Empire. The witness of the bold believers calmly facing death was greater than words.
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Justin Martyr who himself was martyred in 165 said, “We do not give up our confession though we be executed by the sword, though we be crucified, thrown to wild beasts, put in chains, and exposed to fire and every other kind of torture. Everyone knows this. On the contrary, the more we are persecuted and martyred, the more do others in ever increasing numbers become believers and God-fearing people through the name of Jesus.”
Origin in the early third century said, “the more that kings, rulers, and peoples have persecuted them everywhere, the more Christians have increased in number and grown in strength."
Historian Philip Schaff writes:
“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.”
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Schaff is referring to the three centuries of martyrdom and oppression by the hands of the Romans before the miraculous and instantaneous Roman reversal of policy and acceptance of Christianity by the emperor Constantine in 313 AD. It was an amazing turn of events for Church history.
