Why Did The Roman Martyrs Tell Us About Roman Society?

In the early Church, martyrdom was considered a "baptism in blood," similar in itself to the baptism in water. The baptism of martyrdom was at the origin of the conversion of many. To be a true disciple is to die as a martyr. The rationale of costly discipleship is witnessing to non-Christians. This shows that martyrdom can communicate much more deeply than any other discourse. It is difficult to evaluate the intensity and scale of persecution against Christians of the first three centuries; nevertheless what we have are some documents that shed light on the frequency of these afflictions. During the first century, there were occasional persecutions under Nero’s reign, especially the fire of Rome in 64 CE, which Christians were accused of having

Christianity was frowned upon by the Romans. The Roman Emperor wanted the people to worship him and the Roman Gods. Christians were blamed for many of the misfortunes that happened in Rome. Due to the belief that Christians were to blame they were ostracized, tortured and even killed.

‘Christians to the lions’ as Trajan would say, an emperor in the early centuries Christianity to them have alienated the favour of their gods which has and would continue to cause disasters in the Roman Empire. The misfortune of Christians did not stop during this period, but it did come to a composed halt as Galerius, gave Christians the right to worship in some sense. Christianity during the early stages was clearly a course of persecution and forced pagan accusations. Constantine dramatically changed the recourse of religions with the battle of Milvian Bridge as Christianity became the predominant religion of the Roman Empire.

During the persecutions, churches and scripture were destroyed. Many were killed and tortured. Despite this, many remained brave and unafraid according to accounts. The idea of redemption and a magnificent afterlife led many Christians to almost fervently pursue martyrdom. These martyrs were glorified, and miracles were reported to have occurred in their presence. They refused to reject Christ and, in turn, were subjected to torture and humiliation. Eusebius describes the proceedings during the Great Persecution: “…the rules in question brought a certain man into a public place and commanded him to sacrifice. When he refused,

• Writes about Christ suffering extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of Pontius Pilatus. Refers to an immense multitude of Christ followers willing to die for their beliefs. Pg. 82

In Document B it states that Roman officials felt that the people who did not follow the Roman religion were considered treacherous people who deserved to die. This entails the martyrs who were willing to sacrifice their lives fueled the anger of the Roman officials and pushed them to accept the Christians. Document C states that Nero set a tragic fire in Rome but instead of taking the blame for it he accused and murdered the innocent Christian citizens because the obedient citizens of Rome would go along with this act of injustice. This meant that the Christians had so much faith in their religion that they died with courage defending it. In Document D it states that an order was made to destroy all Christian churches along with the Testaments and to throw the leaders of the churches in prison which the martyrs died for. The document proves that even when the church was burned and loved ones had died, the brave martyrs still believed in God’s power to help them. The martyrs strong beliefs helped Christianity become a religion that was accepted by

On pages 22-23, Welborn explains the story about the martyrs in the church and expresses the point about faith. She brings up the point about the martyrs in relation to faith because she hopes to influence the readers to spread the “good news” and Jesus’s resurrection to neighbors around them. Welborn believes the readers should reveal Jesus’s life story and hope his story would influence others to join in on the mission to spread his “good news.” Followers of Jesus who have faith in his story disclose the authenticity and originality of his tale. The only reason why martyrs and followers cannot find another reason to spread his word is because his story is true. Welborn’s point on faith demonstrates what Jesus wants us to do. Jesus hopes his

During the first decades preceding Christ's death, Christians were tolerated but not really liked by the general population of the Roman empire due to their refusal to acknowledge the emperor as a living god. This act of defiance was considered heresy by the state .The real mass persecution of the Christian people came during the reign of the emperor Nero who needed a scapegoat on whom to blame the great fire during his reign.

The Romans had a religion that they believed in but was not something concrete and was not of having a central idea. The religion was based on a mix of certain traditions and beliefs. Religion was not never really a big factor in their Empire. The Romans were stubborn with religion and this could be the reason they had an attitude towards these aspects of life. According to St. Augustine’s book Confession, he states that there were a lot of fake gods and there were two major religions in the Roman Empire. The very first religion was Paganism and that’s what his father was known to believe. Then the second main religion was Christianity which his mother believed in. The emperor of Rome at this time, Constantine himself was not a Christian when he conquered Rome, but rather he had a religious conversion when he won the fight with contending tetrarchs at the Milvian bridge in 306 AD, with help of image of the Cross. The

Justin Martyr answered the Romans objection to Christianity by writing his Apologies. Justin’s Apology 2 to the Romans shows how Christians make better citizens of Rome than do other Romans because of their reason and virtues. Justin gives a thorough discussion of Christian virtues of not being afraid to die and their truthful nature. And he also discusses their belief in the Logos as being Christ and that Christians are definitely not atheist he shows reasonable objections to the Roman’s beliefs concerning Christians.

According to the sources the Christians were hated by the people of Rome. According to a source, that was written by Tacitus in 64 AD, they were “ a class hated for their abominations, who are commonly called criminals......... an immense multitude was convicted, not so much on the charge of arson as because of hatred of the human race.” (Tacitus, Annales 1a). They were convicted of crimes due to the fact that the Romans hated them. The

As Christianity was spread throughout Rome, people began to question the teachings of Jesus. Out of fear, officials arrested and killed a multitude of Christians as a result. The everyday plebeian became impressed with these people dying for a belief. Although persecutions became more common, the number of Christians stayed the same and maybe even grew because of the influx of polytheistic Romans converting to the monotheistic religion of Christianity. People were converting quicker than they were being killed off because of the likeable teachings of love, the bravery of these people dying because of what they believed in, and their appealing message to those not in the affluent classes.

James died a martyr, something that Eusebius holds to be extremely significant which he continues to mention throughout the piece. So important in fact that the following six chapters of the work deal primarily with the persecution and turmoil Christians faced. Eusebius saw it essential that the struggle of the Lord’s people and the many deaths of martyrs not be forgotten. The end of this persecution is said to have come under Diocletian. Despite being the final stint of Roman persecution, that under Diocletian was the most brutal and most severe. Under a proposed return to greatness Diocletian sought to completely eradicate the Christian faith. While other emperors were reluctant to pass specific anti-Christian legislature Diocletian targeted common christians as well as the priesthood and teachers albeit unsuccessfully. Diocletian’s attempted did nothing but facilitated massive growth of the Christian church. Ironically, but not without specific intent, the palace of Diocletian was almost completely covered in crosses following his death, symbolizing that the Christian faith had

The early church was hated by the society and government of the Roman Empire for various reasons, such as the refusal of Christians to sacrifice to the gods. The Empire went through many phases of demanding that the Christians sacrifice which meant denying their faith or be killed. The earliest attacks claimed the lives of many of the apostles.This text is the story, from around 160 AD, of the martyrdom of Polycarp, the Bishop of the church in Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor (modern Izmir in Turkey) devoted to Roman worship. The account is in the form of a letter from eye-witnesses to other churches in the area. It is the earliest chronicle of a martyrdom outside the New Testament.Polycarp was an old man, at least 86, and probably the last surviving person to have known an apostle, having been a disciple of St. John. This was one reason he was greatly revered as a teacher and church leader. One interesting feature of the letter is that the writer is very conscious of how Polycarp’s death followed the pattern of Christ’s. As you read it, look for parallels between this story and the Easter story in the gospels. We are writing to you, brothers, with an account of the martyrs, especially the blessed Polycarp, whose death brought to the persecution to a close. Almost all the events that led up to it reveal it to be another martyrdom in the divine pattern that we see in the Gospel. For he waited for his betrayal, just like the Lord did, so that we might follow him, in looking out

2 First is to provide encouragement to Believers to preach the Gospel despite being persecuted. Second is to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the families of either imprisoned Christians and the families of those martyred. Third to provide the bolster the faith of Christians in areas of high persecution. Fourth is to meet the needs of Christians in areas where they were formerly persecuted. Fifth is to bring awareness to the persecution of Christians.