The Melitians , sometimes called the Church of the Martyrs , were an early Christian sect in Egypt . They were founded about 306 by Bishop Melitius of Lycopolis and survived as a small group into the eighth century. The point on which they broke with the larger Catholic church was the same as that of the contemporary Donatists in the province of Africa : the ease with which lapsed Christians were received back into communion . The resultant division in the church of Egypt is known as the Melitian schism .
137-524: Melitius advocated the open practice of Christianity in the face of official persecution, including the celebration of the liturgy, and urged Christians not to go into hiding. During the Diocletianic Persecution , he was imprisoned alongside Patriarch Peter I of Alexandria in 305/306. Both of them were released during a lull in the persecutions, and Peter laid down terms for the readmission of "lapsed" Christians, i.e., those who had abjured
274-438: A religio licita , "on a par with Judaism", and secured Christians' property, among other things. Not all have been so enthusiastic. The 17th-century ecclesiastical historian Tillemont called the edict "insignificant"; likewise, the late 20th-century historian Timothy Barnes cautions that the "novelty or importance of [Galerius'] measure should not be overestimated". Barnes notes that Galerius's legislation only brought to
411-591: A Melitian monasticism flourishing in the Egyptian desert in the fourth century. It is clear that Melitian monks lived in communities, but is not certain if these were tightly structured arrangements like the coenobia of the Pachomians or loose quasi- eremitic groupings like the monasteries of Nitria and Scetis . Timothy of Constantinople , in his On the Reception of Heretics written towards 600, says of
548-503: A careful study of the scholastic rhetoric of his time, which displayed the wide and deep range of knowledge he possessed. They were adorned with endless quotations from the Holy Scriptures, a typical feature of patristic writings. The scriptures were quoted whenever a presented argument needed support. In doing so Shenoute also displayed an astonishing memory as he rendered these passages with amazing accuracy. Shenoute's knowledge
685-477: A few days afterward. What followed Marcellinus's act of traditio , if it ever actually happened, is unclear. There appears to have been a break in the episcopal succession since his successor, Marcellus I , was not consecrated until either November or December 308; it was likely not possible to elect a new bishop during the persecution. In the meantime, two factions diverged in the Roman Church, separating
822-528: A general amnesty in a third edict. Any imprisoned clergyman could be freed so long as he agreed to make a sacrifice to the gods. Diocletian may have been searching for some good publicity with this legislation. He may also have sought to fracture the Christian community by publicizing the fact that its clergy had apostatized. The demand to sacrifice was unacceptable to many of the imprisoned, but wardens often managed to obtain at least nominal compliance. Some of
959-470: A gradual shift in official attitudes toward religious minorities. In the first fifteen years of his rule, Diocletian purged the army of Christians, condemned Manicheans to death, and surrounded himself with public opponents of Christianity. Diocletian's preference for activist government, combined with his self-image as a restorer of past Roman glory, foreboded the most pervasive persecution in Roman history. In
1096-456: A monastic leader, Shenoute recognized the need for literacy among monks. He required all his monks and nuns to learn to read and encouraged more of them to pursue the art of writing manuscripts. This made the monastery increasingly appealing to belong to and consequently made the threat of expulsion more painful. In his laudatory Life of Saint Shenoute , his disciple and biographer Saint Wissa (Besa) recounts several incidents of Shenoute coming to
1233-622: A more comprehensive system that was less stringent and more adaptable. This new system had an unusual component: a covenant ( Koinē Greek : διαθήκη , romanized: diathēkē ) to be recited and adhered to literally by the new novices. It read as follows: I vow before God in His Holy Place, the word which I have spoken with my mouth being my witness; I will not defile my body in any way, I will not steal, I will not bear false witness, I will not lie, I will not do anything deceitful secretly. If I transgressed what I have vowed, I will see
1370-800: A particularly intransigent, fanatical, and legalistic variety of Christianity. It was Africa that gave the West most of its martyrdoms. Africa had produced martyrs even in the years immediately prior to the Great Persecution. In 298, Maximilian , a soldier in Tebessa , had been tried for refusing to follow military discipline; in Mauretania in 298, the soldier Marcellus refused his army bonus and took off his uniform in public. Once persecutions began, public authorities were eager to assert their authority. Anullinus, proconsul of Africa, expanded on
1507-531: A saintly individual, a "humble" man. Christ's followers, however, he damned as "arrogant". Around 290, Porphyry wrote a fifteen-volume work entitled Against the Christians . In the work, Porphyry expressed his shock at the rapid expansion of Christianity. He also revised his earlier opinions of Jesus, questioning Jesus' exclusion of the rich from the Kingdom of Heaven, and his permissiveness in regards to
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#17327655653661644-411: A show of support for the faith, proclaimed that all inhabitants of the empire must sacrifice to the gods, eat sacrificial meat, and testify to these acts. Christians were obstinate in their non-compliance. Church leaders, like Fabian , bishop of Rome , and Babylas , bishop of Antioch , were arrested, tried and executed, as were certain members of the Christian laity, like Pionius of Smyrna. Origen
1781-474: A whole. The very capriciousness of official action, however, made the threat of state coercion loom large in the Christian imagination. In the 3rd century, the pattern changed. Emperors became more active, and government officials began to actively pursue Christians rather than merely to respond to the will of the crowd. Christianity also changed. No longer were its practitioners merely "the lower orders fomenting discontent"; some Christians were now rich or from
1918-620: Is a language that ceased in use early in the history of Christianity, which added to the obscurity of his writings. For a long time, his works stopped being transmitted, and the remaining manuscripts were subject to decay from then one. Shenoute was responsible for collecting his own literary works into two collections, which were then transmitted. These were the Canons and the Discourses (or Logoi ). Johannes Leipoldt published several volumes of his works, although he did so without access to all
2055-437: Is increased by the example you set, of veneration for the gods. Surely, men will now understand what power resides in the gods, when you worship them so fervently." Diocletian associated himself with the head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter ; his co-emperor, Maximian, associated himself with Hercules . This connection between god and emperor helped to legitimize the emperors' claims to power and tied imperial government closer to
2192-461: Is little evidence for the theory that the centre of Melitian strength was in Upper Egypt . There were 28 Melitian bishops in 325, and several had Coptic names. The period of concord lasted three years. Melitius died in 327, having appointed John Archaph as his successor. In 328, Athanasius was elected in absentia to succeed Alexander I as patriarch. Encouraged by Eusebius of Nicomedia ,
2329-544: Is one of the most renowned saints of the Coptic Orthodox Church . Shenoute was born in the middle of the fourth century CE (the date 348 CE, often mentioned but not universally accepted, is based on an inscription in his monastery, dating from the 12th or 13th century ). Around 385 CE, Shenoute became the father of the White Monastery in Upper Egypt . It has often been assumed that Shenoute
2466-582: The Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum and addressed to the proconsul of Africa, Diocletian wrote: We have heard that the Manichaens […] have set up new and hitherto unheard-of sects in opposition to the older creeds so that they might cast out the doctrines vouchsafed to us in the past by the divine favour for the benefit of their own depraved doctrine. They have sprung forth very recently like new and unexpected monstrosities among
2603-685: The Donatists in North Africa and the Melitians in Egypt, persisted long after the persecutions. The Donatists would not be reconciled to the Church until after 411. Some historians consider that, in the centuries that followed the persecutory era, Christians created a "cult of the martyrs" and exaggerated the barbarity of the persecutions. Other historians using texts and archeological evidence from
2740-463: The Gospel of Thomas . The writing of Saint Shenoute can be grouped into four categories: As more and more identifications of Saint Shenoute's literary works are made, his contribution to Coptic literature appears to be even greater than previously assumed. On the one hand, it is becoming clear that he treated a wide range of subjects, not only monastic ones. This suggests a more favorable assessment of
2877-564: The Martyrs of Abitinae , another group martyred on February 12, 304 in Carthage, and the martyrs of Milevis ( Mila , Algeria). The persecution in Africa encouraged the development of Donatism , a schismatic movement that forbade any compromise with Roman government or traditor bishops (those who had handed scriptures over to secular authorities). One of the key moments in the break with
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#17327655653663014-623: The Platonic school, and even some of the Greek legends. He certainly read some of Saint Athanasius ' works like the Life of Saint Anthony and some of his homiletic works. Shenoute also knew the letters of Saint Anthony, some of the letters of Saint Pachomius , and most likely some of the works of Evagrius . His knowledge further extended to such popular non-canonical texts as the Acts of Archelaus and
3151-564: The Roman Empire . In 303, the emperors Diocletian , Maximian , Galerius , and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights and demanding that they comply with traditional religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice, ordering all inhabitants to sacrifice to the gods. The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain , where only
3288-476: The imperial cult , avoided public office, and publicly criticized ancient traditions. Conversions tore families apart: Justin Martyr tells of a pagan husband who denounced his Christian wife, and Tertullian tells of children disinherited for becoming Christians. Traditional Roman religion was inextricably interwoven into the fabric of Roman society and state, but Christians refused to observe its practices. In
3425-509: The sign of the cross during the ceremonies and were alleged to have disrupted the haruspices ' divination. Diocletian, enraged by this turn of events, declared that all members of the court must make a sacrifice. Diocletian and Galerius also sent letters to the military command, demanding that the entire army perform the sacrifices or else face discharge. Since there are no reports of bloodshed in Lactantius's narrative, Christians in
3562-620: The upper classes . Origen , writing at about 248, tells of "the multitude of people coming in to the faith, even rich men and persons in positions of honour and ladies of high refinement and birth." Official reaction grew firmer. In 202, according to the Historia Augusta , a 4th-century history of dubious reliability, Septimius Severus ( r . 193–211) issued a general rescript forbidding conversion to either Judaism or Christianity. Maximin ( r . 235–238) targeted Christian leaders. Decius ( r . 249–251), demanding
3699-468: The Church of the Martyrs with clergy of his own ordination. The name "Melitians" was at first used only by the sect's opponents, who sought thereby to contrast them (as heretics) with true Christians. It was also used by the imperial chancery. The name eventually lost its negative connotations and was adopted by the sect. Peter's successor as patriarch, Achillas , failed in his short pontificate to resolve
3836-434: The Church. There were many individuals willing to be martyrs and many provincials willing to ignore any persecutory edicts from the emperors as well. Even Constantius was known to have disapproved of persecutory policies. The lower classes demonstrated little of the enthusiasm they had shown for earlier persecutions. They no longer believed the slanderous accusations that were popular in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Perhaps, as
3973-525: The East rights Christians already possessed in Italy and Africa. In Gaul, Spain, and Britain, moreover, Christians already had far more than Galerius was offering to Eastern Christians. Other late 20th-century historians, like Graeme Clark and David S. Potter, assert that for all its hedging, Galerius's issuance of the edict was a landmark event in the histories of Christianity and the Roman empire. Galerius's law
4110-505: The Establishment". Hierocles thought Christian beliefs absurd. If Christians applied their principles consistently, he argued, they would pray to Apollonius of Tyana instead of Jesus. Hierocles considered that Apollonius's miracles had been far more impressive and Apollonius never had the temerity to call himself "God". He thought the scriptures were full of "lies and contradictions" and Peter and Paul had peddled falsehoods. In
4247-587: The Great that the Melitians claimed the hermit saint as one of their own. As a schismatic sect, the Melitians declined in importance by 400, but they did not disappear. They are mentioned in the writings of Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) and Shenoute (d. c. 465) and persisted into the eighth century (after the Arab conquest of Egypt ) as a small monastic sect. Numerous papyri have been discovered bearing evidence of
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4384-412: The Kingdom of Heaven, but will not enter it. God before whom I made the covenant will destroy my soul and my body in the fiery Hell because I transgressed the covenant I made. Transgressors of that covenant were expelled from the monastery, which was considered a near-death sentence for the peasant monks. Another feature of Shenoute's monastic system was the requirement for the new novices to live outside
4521-493: The Melitians developed unique forms of worship that included hand clapping and music. It has been argued that the movement was dominated by Copts (native Egyptian speakers). Coptic papyri, the writings of the Pachomians and mentions in the writings of Shenoute lend some weight to this view. Diocletianic Persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in
4658-521: The Melitians of lying and conspiring with Arians to unseat him. Constantine I reacted to the Council of Tyre by exiling the Melitian clergy, including John Arkaph. The names of the leaders of the sect following John Archaph (who is not mentioned after 335) are not known. Athanasius continued to refer to them as an ongoing threat in his writings of the 350s and 360s. He claims in his biography of Anthony
4795-658: The Melitians that "they engaged in no [theological] error, but must pronounce their schism anathema " to rejoin the church. According to the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria by John the Deacon , some Melitians were reconciled to the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria by the efforts of Bishop Moses of Letopolis late in the reign of Patriarch Michael I (died 767). According to Theodoret (d. c. 460),
4932-536: The Melitians went into schism and elected a rival patriarch named Theonas with the support of the Arians. Richard Hanson argues that the Arians, the followers of Eusebius, made a pact with the Melitians only after the Melitians had unsuccessfully appealed to the emperor for protection from Athanasius. A certain Pistos, a friend of Arius , was even ordained a bishop in the Melitian church. It is unclear if or to what extent
5069-555: The Melitians' Christology had been influenced by or approximated to Arianism in this period. In several letters, the Melitians accused Athanasius of beating their bishops, even of murdering one, and of desecrating Melitian liturgical vessels. In 335, as a result of these accusations, Athanasius was condemned at the Council of Tyre , excommunicated, deposed and forced into exile. Athanasius responded in his famous anti-Arian tracts Apologia contra Arianos and Historia Arianorum by accusing
5206-570: The Persian war, Galerius might have wished to compensate for a previous humiliation at Antioch, when Diocletian had forced him to walk at the front of the imperial caravan, rather than inside it. His resentment fed his discontent with official policies of tolerance; from 302 on, he probably urged Diocletian to enact a general law against the Christians. Since Diocletian was already surrounded by an anti-Christian clique of counsellors, these suggestions must have carried great force. Affairs quieted after
5343-528: The Persians as with the poison of a malignant (serpent) … We order that the authors and leaders of these sects be subjected to severe punishment, and, together with their abominable writings, burnt in the flames. We direct their followers, if they continue recalcitrant, shall suffer capital punishment, and their goods be forfeited to the imperial treasury. And if those who have gone over to that hitherto unheard-of, scandalous and wholly infamous creed, or to that of
5480-416: The Persians, are persons who hold public office, or are of any rank or of superior social status, you will see to it that their estates are confiscated and the offenders sent to the (quarry) at Phaeno or the mines at Proconnesus. And in order that this plague of iniquity shall be completely extirpated from this our most happy age, let your devotion hasten to carry out our orders and commands. The Christians of
5617-565: The Tetrarchy as a system of government. Constantine, son of Constantius, and Maxentius , son of Maximian, had been overlooked in the Diocletianic succession, offending the parents and angering the sons. Constantine, against Galerius's will, succeeded his father on July 25, 306. He immediately ended any ongoing persecutions and offered Christians full restitution of what they had lost under the persecution. This declaration gave Constantine
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5754-422: The aid of poor Coptic peasants. One time he went to Akhmim to chastise a pagan because of the oppression he was inflicting on the poor (Vita #81-2). Another time he acted to eliminate the cause of grief of the peasants, that the pagan landlords of Paneleou forced them to buy the latter's spoiled wine (Vita #85-6). On a third occasion he risked his life to successfully ask for the freedom of the captives at Psoi from
5891-545: The authority of local government officials. At Bithynia–Pontus in 111, it was Pliny; at Smyrna in 156 and Scilli near Carthage in 180, it was the proconsul ; at Lyon in 177, it was the provincial governor . When Emperor Nero executed Christians for their alleged involvement in the fire of 64 , it was a purely local affair; it did not spread beyond the city limits of Rome. These early persecutions were certainly violent, but they were sporadic, brief and limited in extent. They were of limited threat to Christianity as
6028-470: The authority" of the patriarch of Alexandria. It was permitted for Melitian clergy to be elected to succeed Catholic bishops and Melitius himself was to remain a bishop with no fixed see. He was not restored to Lycopolis. Melitius submitted to the council a list of his bishops and clergy known as the Breviarium Melitii . The list shows a Melitian presence along the whole length of Egypt and there
6165-571: The beginnings of the army purge in Palestine, while Lactantius describes events at court. Woods asserts that the relevant passage in Eusebius's Chronicon was corrupted in the translation to Latin and that Eusebius's text originally located the beginnings of the army persecution at a fort in Betthorus (El-Lejjun, Jordan). Eusebius, Lactantius, and Constantine each allege that Galerius was
6302-420: The bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, while Galerius pushed for their extermination. The two men sought to resolve their dispute by sending a messenger to consult the oracle of Apollo at Didyma . Porphyry may also have been present at this meeting. Upon returning, the messenger told the court that "the just on earth" hindered Apollo's ability to speak. These "just", Diocletian
6439-484: The city, and Caecilian , his deacon, for reasons that remain obscure. In 311, Caecilian was elected bishop of Carthage. His opponents charged that his traditio made him unworthy of the office and declared itself for another candidate, Majorinus . Many others in Africa, including the Abitinians, also supported Majorinus against Caecilian. Majorinus's successor Donatus would give the dissident movement its name. By
6576-478: The clergy sacrificed willingly; others did so on pain of torture. Wardens were eager to be rid of the clergy in their midst. Eusebius, in his Martyrs of Palestine , records the case of one man who after being brought to an altar, had his hands seized and made to complete a sacrificial offering. The clergyman was told that his act of sacrifice had been recognized and was summarily dismissed. Others were told they had sacrificed even when they had done nothing. In 304,
6713-461: The conditions they ought to observe. Consequently, in accord with our indulgence, they ought to pray to their god for our health and the safety of the state, so that the state may be kept safe on all sides, and they may be able to live safely and securely in their own homes. Galerius's words reinforce the Tetrarchy's theological basis for the persecution; the acts did nothing more than attempt to enforce traditional civic and religious practices, even if
6850-485: The cost of their own lives, and there were some cases where the scriptures were not in the end destroyed. Christians were also deprived of the right to petition the courts, making them potential subjects for judicial torture; Christians could not respond to actions brought against them in court; Christian senators , equestrians , decurions , veterans, and soldiers were deprived of their ranks; and Christian imperial freedmen were re-enslaved. Diocletian requested that
6987-489: The council attendees. On 7 Epip (14 July) 466 CE, following a short illness possibly brought upon by advanced age, Shenoute died in the presence of his monks. From his uncle, Saint Pigol , Shenoute inherited a monastery based on the Pachomian system of cenobitic monasticism , though more austere and stringent. This made its followers few in number and probably promoted decline rather than growth. Shenoute implemented
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#17327655653667124-600: The demons residing in pigs' bodies . Like Hierocles, he unfavorably compared Jesus to Apollonius of Tyana. Porphyry held that Christians blasphemed by worshiping a human being rather than the Supreme God and behaved treasonably in forsaking the traditional Roman cult. "To what sort of penalties might we not justly subject people," Porphyry asked, "who are fugitives from their fathers' customs?" Pagan priests, too, were interested in suppressing any threat to traditional religion. They believed their ceremonies were hindered by
7261-552: The devotees, now few and infrequent, cry aloud, 'The gods are neglected, and in the temples there is now a very thin attendance. Former ceremonies are exposed to derision, and the time-honoured rites of institutions once sacred have sunk before the superstitions of new religions.' At the conclusion of the Persian wars in 299, co-emperors Diocletian and Galerius traveled from Persia to Syrian Antioch ( Antakya ). The Christian rhetor Lactantius records that at Antioch some time in 299,
7398-401: The document the " Edict of Milan ". We thought it fit to commend these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given to those Christians free and unrestricted opportunity of religious worship. When you see that this has been granted to them by us, your Worship will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for
7535-666: The early 4th century, an unidentified philosopher published a pamphlet attacking the Christians. This philosopher, who might have been a pupil of the Neoplatonist Iamblichus , dined repeatedly at the imperial court. Diocletian was surrounded by an anti-Christian clique. Porphyry was somewhat restrained in his criticism of Christianity, at least in his early works, On the Return of the Soul and Philosophy from Oracles . He had few complaints about Jesus, whom he praised as
7672-401: The edict be pursued "without bloodshed", against Galerius's demands that all those refusing to sacrifice be burned alive. In spite of Diocletian's request, local judges often enforced executions during the persecution, as capital punishment was among their discretionary powers. Galerius's recommendation—burning alive—became a common method of executing Christians in the East. After
7809-576: The edict in Africa. Africa's political elite were insistent that the persecution be fulfilled, and Africa's Christians, especially in Numidia, were equally insistent on resisting them. For the Numidians, to hand over scriptures was an act of terrible apostasy. Africa had long been home to the Church of the Martyrs —in Africa, martyrs held more religious authority than the clergy —and harbored
7946-510: The edict was posted in Nicomedia, a man named Eutius tore it down and ripped it up, shouting "Here are your Gothic and Sarmatian triumphs!" He was arrested for treason, tortured, and burned alive soon after, becoming the edict's first martyr. The provisions of the edict were known and enforced in Palestine by March or April (just before Easter), and it was in use by local officials in North Africa by May or June. The earliest martyr at Caesarea
8083-450: The edict, deciding that in addition to the destruction of the Christians' scriptures and churches the government should compel Christians to sacrifice to the gods. Governor Valerius Florus enforced the same policy in Numidia during the summer or autumn of 303, when he called for "days of incense burning"; Christians would sacrifice or they would lose their lives. In addition to those already listed, African martyrs also include Saturninus and
8220-418: The edicts were thoroughly nontraditional. Galerius does nothing to violate the spirit of the persecution—Christians are still admonished for their nonconformity and foolish practices—Galerius never admits that he did anything wrong. Certain early 20th-century historians have declared that Galerius's edict definitively nullified the old "legal formula" non licet esse Christianos , made Christianity
8357-441: The emperors were engaged in sacrifice and divination in an attempt to predict the future. The haruspices , diviners of omens from sacrificed animals, were unable to read the sacrificed animals and failed to do so after repeated trials. The master haruspex eventually declared that this failure was the result of interruptions in the process caused by profane men. Certain Christians in the imperial household had been observed making
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#17327655653668494-482: The empire (and especially in the East) after 260, when Gallienus brought peace to the Church. The data to calculate the figures are nearly non-existent, but historian and sociologist Keith Hopkins has given crude and tentative estimates for the Christian population in the 3rd century. Hopkins estimates that the Christian community grew from a population of 1.1 million in 250 to a population of 6 million by 300, about 10% of
8631-523: The empire were vulnerable to the same line of thinking. Diocletian was in Antioch in the autumn of 302, when the next instance of persecution occurred. The deacon Romanus visited a court while preliminary sacrifices were taking place and interrupted the ceremonies, denouncing the act in a loud voice. He was arrested and sentenced to be set aflame, but Diocletian overruled the decision and decided that Romanus should have his tongue removed instead. Romanus
8768-453: The empire's "moral fabric"—and the elimination of religious minorities—was simply one step in that process. The unique position of the Christians and Jews of the empire became increasingly apparent. The Jews had earned imperial toleration on account of the great antiquity of their faith. They had been exempted from Decius's persecution and continued to enjoy freedom from persecution under Tetrarchic government. Because their faith
8905-543: The empire's total population. Christians even expanded into the countryside, where they had never been numerous before. Churches in the later 3rd century were no longer as inconspicuous as they had been in the first and second. Large churches were prominent in certain major cities throughout the empire. The church in Nicomedia even sat on a hill overlooking the imperial palace. These new churches probably represented not only absolute growth in Christian population, but also
9042-510: The empire. But Christians tried to retain the scriptures as far as possible, though, according to de Ste Croix, "it appears that giving them up...was not regarded as a sin" in the East; sufficient numbers of them must have been successfully saved, as is evident from the representative findings of "early biblical papyri" in the stream of the transmission of the text during this period. Christians might have given up apocryphal or pseudepigraphal works, or even refused to surrender their scriptures at
9179-526: The extent of the persecution in Constantius's domain, though all portray it as quite limited. Lactantius states that the destruction of church buildings was the worst thing that came to pass. Eusebius explicitly denies that any churches were destroyed in both his Ecclesiastical History and his Life of Constantine , but lists Gaul as an area suffering from the effects of the persecution in his Martyrs of Palestine . A group of bishops declared that "Gaul
9316-510: The faith under persecution. Melitius found his terms too lax and during the dispute that followed he ordained some of his supporters. Peter excommunicated him. When the persecutions flared up again, Peter was killed (311) and Melitius was condemned to the mines. He was released by the Edict of Serdica (311), but the persecutions came to a permanent end only with the Edict of Milan in 313. When Melitius returned to Egypt, he founded what he called
9453-399: The faith were "countless" (μυρίοι) in number. At first, the new Tetrarchy seemed even more vigorous than the first. Maximinus in particular was eager to persecute. In 306 and 309, he published his own edicts demanding universal sacrifice. Eusebius accuses Galerius of pressing on with the persecution as well. In the West, however, what remained after the Diocletianic settlement had weakened
9590-403: The figures, although reliant on collections of acta that are incomplete and only partially reliable, point to a heavier persecution under Diocletian than under Galerius. The historian Simon Corcoran , in a passage on the origins of the early persecution edicts, criticizes Davies' over-reliance on these "dubious martyr acts" and dismisses his conclusions. The sources are inconsistent regarding
9727-514: The first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors (Galerius with the Edict of Serdica in 311) at different times, but Constantine and Licinius ' Edict of Milan in 313 has traditionally marked the end of the persecution. Christians had been subject to intermittent local discrimination in the empire, but emperors prior to Diocletian were reluctant to issue general laws against
9864-543: The first time in the history of the empire) to declare himself emperor. On October 28, 306, Maxentius convinced the Praetorian Guard to support him, mutiny, and invest him with the purple robes of the emperor. Maxentius did not permit religious freedom for Christians in the realm or the restitution of confiscated property. The Great Persecution continued until 311 when Constantine arrived at Rome's gates and defeated Maxentius with an army only half as big. Maxentius
10001-639: The fourth edict ordered all persons, men, women, and children, to gather in a public space and offer a collective sacrifice. If they refused, they were to be executed. The precise date of the edict is unknown, but it was probably issued in either January or February 304 and was being applied in the Balkans in March. The edict was in use in Thessalonica in April 304 and in Palestine soon after. This last edict
10138-433: The gods, or to the god of the Christians. Considering the observation of our own mild clemency and eternal custom, by which we are accustomed to grant clemency to all people, we have decided to extend our most speedy indulgence to these people as well, so that Christians may once more establish their own meeting places, so long as they do not act in a disorderly way. We are about to send another letter to our officials detailing
10275-577: The governor of Bithynia–Pontus , was sent long lists of denunciations of Christians by anonymous citizens, which Emperor Trajan advised him to ignore. In Lyon in 177, it was only the intervention of civil authorities that stopped a pagan mob from dragging Christians from their houses and beating them to death. To the followers of the traditional cults, Christians were odd creatures: not quite Roman but not quite barbarian either. Their practices were deeply threatening to traditional mores . Christians rejected public festivals, refused to take part in
10412-550: The growing crisis. His successor, Alexander I , who came to power in 313, sought to heal the schism in the Egyptian church in order to better combat Arianism , since he regarded the Melitians' Christology as sound. In 325 the Council of Nicaea under the Emperor Constantine I attempted to incorporate the Melitians into the now legal church. The council agreed to grant Melitian priests "full clerical privileges" if they were willing to forswear schism and "acknowledge
10549-549: The hands of the Blemmyes warriors (Vita #89). He also at times appealed on behalf of the peasants to those in power, including the Roman emperor Theodosius I . In summary, Shenoute fully recognized the misery of his people and emerged as their sincere advocate and popular leader. To talk about Shenoute's writing is to discuss Coptic literature at its best. He wrote in a style that was essentially his own, with writings based on
10686-457: The historian Timothy Barnes has suggested, the long-established Church had become another accepted part of their lives. Within the highest ranks of the imperial administration, however, there were men who were ideologically opposed to the toleration of Christians, like the philosopher Porphyry of Tyre and Sossianus Hierocles , governor of Bithynia . To E.R. Dodds , the works of these men demonstrated "the alliance of pagan intellectuals with
10823-402: The imperial household must have survived the event. Eusebius of Caesarea , a contemporary ecclesiastical historian, tells a similar story: commanders were told to give their troops the choice of sacrifice or loss of rank. These terms were strong—a soldier would lose his career in the military, his state pension and his personal savings—but not fatal. According to Eusebius, the purge
10960-475: The imperial mantle in 253. Though he was at first thought of as "exceptionally friendly" towards the Christians, his actions soon showed otherwise. In July 257, he issued a persecutory edict. As punishment for following the Christian faith, Christians were to face exile or condemnation to the mines. In August 258, he issued a second edict, making the punishment death. This persecution stalled in June 260, when Valerian
11097-462: The increasing affluence of the Christian community. In some areas where Christians were influential, such as North Africa and Egypt, traditional deities were losing credibility. It is unknown how much support there was for persecution within the aristocracy. After Gallienus's peace, Christians reached high ranks in Roman government. Diocletian even appointed several Christians to those positions, and his wife and daughter may have been sympathetic to
11234-523: The initial persecution. Diocletian remained in Antioch for the following three years. He visited Egypt once, over the winter of 301–302, where he began the grain dole in Alexandria. In Egypt, some Manicheans , followers of the prophet Mani , were denounced in the presence of the proconsul of Africa. On March 31, 302, in an official edict called the De Maleficiis et Manichaeis compiled in
11371-403: The lapsed (Christians who had complied with the edicts to ensure their own safety) and the rigorists (those who would not compromise with secular authority). These two groups clashed in street fights and riots, eventually leading to murders. It is said that Marcellus, a rigorist, purged all mention of Marcellinus from church records and removed his name from the official list of bishops. Marcellus
11508-518: The lowest-ranking emperor, Galerius was always listed last in imperial documents. Until the end of the Persian war in 299, he had not even had a major palace. Lactantius states that Galerius hungered for a higher position in the imperial hierarchy. Galerius's mother, Romula, was bitterly anti-Christian, for she had been a pagan priestess in Dacia , and loathed the Christians for avoiding her festivals. Newly prestigious and influential after his victories in
11645-401: The mainline Church occurred in Carthage in 304. The Christians from Abitinae had been brought to the city and imprisoned. Friends and relatives of the prisoners came to visit but encountered resistance from a local mob. The group was harassed, beaten, and whipped; the food they had brought for their imprisoned friends was scattered on the ground. The mob had been sent by Mensurius , the bishop of
11782-477: The matter and secured the appointment of loyal friends to the imperial office. In this "Second Tetrarchy", it seems that only the Eastern emperors, Galerius and Maximinus, continued with the persecution. As they left office, Diocletian and Maximian probably imagined Christianity to be in its last throes. Churches had been destroyed, the Church leadership and hierarchy had been snapped, and the army and civil service had been purged. Eusebius declares that apostates from
11919-474: The monastery before they were deemed worthy to be consecrated as monks. This seemed to be at odds with the Nitrian monastic system, which allowed the monks to live away from the monastic settlements only after they became proficient in the monastic life. Shenoute also utilized the monks' time, outside prayer and worship, in more varied tasks within the monastery than the Nitrian monks were exposed to. Aside from
12056-486: The opinion of historian John Curran. Within forty years, Donatists began spreading rumors that Marcellinus had been a traditor and that he had even sacrificed to the pagan gods. The tale was embroidered in the 5th-century forgery the " Council of Sinuessa ", and the vita Marcelli of the Liber Pontificalis . The latter work states that the bishop had indeed apostatized but redeemed himself through martyrdom
12193-457: The opportunity to portray himself as a possible liberator of oppressed Christians everywhere. Maxentius, meanwhile, had seized power in Rome on October 28, 306, and soon brought toleration to all Christians within his realm. Galerius made two attempts to unseat Maxentius but failed both times. During the first campaign against Maxentius, Severus was captured, imprisoned, and executed. In the East,
12330-499: The other arrangements that we are always making for the benefit and utility of the state, we have heretofore wished to repair all things in accordance with the laws and public discipline of the Romans, and to ensure that even the Christians, who abandoned the practice of their ancestors, should return to good sense. Indeed, for some reason or other, such self-indulgence assailed and idiocy possessed those Christians, that they did not follow
12467-583: The period assert that this position is in error. Christian accounts were criticized during the Enlightenment and afterwards, most notably by Edward Gibbon . This can be attributed to the political anticlerical and secular tenor of that period. Modern historians, such as G. E. M. de Ste. Croix , have attempted to determine whether Christian sources exaggerated the scope of the Diocletianic persecution, but disagreements continue. From its first appearance to its legalization under Constantine , Christianity
12604-471: The persecution in the East in 311, but it was resumed in Egypt , Palestine , and Asia Minor by his successor, Maximinus . Constantine and Licinius, Severus's successor, signed the Edict of Milan in 313, which offered a more comprehensive acceptance of Christianity than Galerius's edict had provided. Licinius ousted Maximinus in 313, bringing an end to persecution in the East. The persecution failed to check
12741-522: The persecution was officially discontinued on April 30, 311, although martyrdoms in Gaza continued until May 4. The Edict of Serdica , also called Edict of Toleration by Galerius, was issued in 311 in Serdica ( Sofia , Bulgaria) Galerius, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity in the East. Galerius issued this proclamation to end hostilities while on his deathbed, which gave Christians
12878-618: The persecution was only lightly enforced; in Maximian's realm (Italy, Spain, and Africa), it was firmly enforced; and in the East, under Diocletian (Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and Egypt) and Galerius (Greece and the Balkans), its provisions were pursued with more fervor than anywhere else. For the Eastern provinces, Peter Davies tabulated the total number of martyrdoms for an article in the Journal of Theological Studies . Davies argues that
13015-598: The persecution, after all, had been the project of the Eastern emperors, not the Western ones. After Constantine succeeded his father in 306, he urged the recovery of Church property lost in the persecution and legislated full freedom for all Christians in his domain. While the persecution under Constantius was relatively light, there is no doubt about the force of the persecution in Maximian's domain. Its effects are recorded at Rome, Sicily, Spain, and in Africa —indeed, Maximian encouraged particularly strict enforcement of
13152-521: The persecution, but how he died is disputed among historians: Eusebius wrote in his Historia Ecclesiastica that Marcellinus was "brought away by the persecution", an obscure phrase that may refer to his martyrdom or to the fact that he fled the city. Others assert that Marcellinus was a traditor . Marcellinus appears in the 4th-century Church's depositio episcoporum but not its feriale , or calendar of feasts, where all Marcellinus's predecessors from Fabian had been listed—a "glaring" absence, in
13289-527: The power of central government to effect major change in morals and society made him unusual. Most earlier emperors tended to be quite cautious in their administrative policies, preferring to work within existing structures rather than overhauling them. Diocletian, by contrast, was willing to reform every aspect of public life to satisfy his goals. Under his rule, coinage, taxation, architecture, law and history were all radically reconstructed to reflect his authoritarian and traditionalist ideology. The reformation of
13426-507: The practices of the ancients, which their own ancestors had, perhaps, instituted, but according to their own will and as it pleased them, they made laws for themselves that they observed, and gathered various peoples in diverse areas. Then when our order was issued stating that they should return themselves to the practices of the ancients, many were subjected to peril, and many were even killed. Many more persevered in their way of life, and we saw that they neither offered proper worship and cult to
13563-461: The presence of Christians, who were thought to cloud the sight of oracles and stall the gods' recognition of their sacrifices. The Christian Arnobius , writing during Diocletian's reign, attributes financial concerns to provisioners of pagan services: The augurs, the dream interpreters, the soothsayers, the prophets, and the priestlings, ever vain...fearing that their own arts be brought to nought, and that they may extort but scanty contributions from
13700-399: The prime impetus for the military purge, and its prime beneficiary. Diocletian, for all his religious conservatism, still had tendencies towards religious tolerance. Galerius, by contrast, was a devoted and passionate pagan. According to Christian sources, he was consistently the main advocate of such persecution. He was also eager to exploit this position to his own political advantage. As
13837-452: The privileged discussion at the emperor's private religion ceremony that Lactantius had access to. Since it was Galerius's army that would have been purged—Diocletian had left his in Egypt to quell continuing unrest—Antiochenes would understandably have believed Galerius to be its instigator. The historian David Woods argues instead that Eusebius and Lactantius are referring to different events. Eusebius, according to Woods, describes
13974-484: The race of the Persians—a nation still hostile to us—and have made their way into our empire, where they are committing many outrages, disturbing the tranquility of our people and even inflicting grave damage to the civic communities. We have cause to fear that with the passage of time they will endeavour, as usually happens, to infect the modest and tranquil of an innocent nature with the damnable customs and perverse laws of
14111-492: The religious group. In the 250s, under the reigns of Decius and Valerian , Roman subjects including Christians were compelled to sacrifice to Roman gods or face imprisonment and execution, but there is no evidence that these edicts were specifically intended to attack Christianity. After Gallienus 's accession in 260, these laws went into abeyance. Diocletian's assumption of power in 284 did not mark an immediate reversal of imperial inattention to Christianity, but it did herald
14248-582: The rights to exist freely under the law and to peaceable assembly. Persecution was everywhere at an end. Lactantius preserves the Latin text of this pronouncement, describing it as an edict. Eusebius provides a Greek translation of the pronouncement. His version includes imperial titles and an address to provincials, suggesting that the proclamation is, in fact, an imperial letter. The document seems to have been promulgated only in Galerius's provinces. Among all
14385-480: The rise of the Church. By 324, Constantine was sole ruler of the empire, and Christianity had become his favored religion. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, most of the empire's Christians avoided punishment. The persecution did, however, cause many churches to split between those who had complied with imperial authority (the traditores ), and those who had remained "pure". Certain schisms, like those of
14522-484: The sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made that we may not seem to detract from any dignity or any religion. The enforcement of the persecutory edicts was inconsistent. Since the Tetrarchs were more or less sovereign in their own realms, they had a good deal of control over persecutory policy. In Constantius's realm (Britain and Gaul)
14659-621: The scholastic Greek rhetoric of his time. Four Coptic Orthodox monasteries worldwide are named after Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, namely: There is also a Coptic Orthodox church – St. Mary and St. Shenouda – in Coulsdon , England. There has been difficulty in accessing and reconstructing the works of Shenoute for a variety of readings. The number of legible manuscripts his works survive in are not many, and he wrote in Coptic, which
14796-464: The summer of 303, following a series of rebellions in Melitene ( Malatya , Turkey) and Syria, a second edict was published, ordering the arrest and imprisonment of all bishops and priests. In the judgment of historian Roger Rees, there was no logical necessity for this second edict; that Diocletian issued one indicates that he was either unaware the first edict was being carried out, or that he felt it
14933-535: The supremacy of Roman law over local law. Its preamble insists that it is every emperor's duty to enforce the sacred precepts of Roman law, for "the immortal gods themselves will favour and be at peace with the Roman name...if we have seen to it that all subject to our rule entirely lead a pious, religious, peaceable and chaste life in every respect". These principles, if given their full extension, would logically require Roman emperors to enforce conformity in religion. Christian communities grew quickly in many parts of
15070-422: The theological character of his writing, his spirituality, and his moral and nationalistic behavior. On the other hand, he accepted the inclusion of literary activity in the religious field. This sets him apart from the Pachomian system that tended to treat religious literature as mere written instructions with no regard to style being given. He further developed a style that is clearly a product of careful study of
15207-574: The time Constantine took over the province, the African Church was deeply divided. The Donatists would not be reconciled to the Catholic Church until after 411. Maximian probably seized the Christian property in Rome quite easily—Roman cemeteries were noticeable, and Christian meeting places could have been easily found out. Senior churchmen would have been similarly prominent. The bishop of Rome Marcellinus died in 304, during
15344-423: The traditional Roman cult. Unlike Aurelian ( r . 270–275), Diocletian did not foster any new cult of his own. He preferred the older Olympian gods . Nonetheless, Diocletian did wish to inspire a general religious revival. As the panegyrist to Maximian declared: "You have heaped the gods with altars and statues, temples and offerings, which you dedicated with your own name and your own image, whose sanctity
15481-410: The traditional cult. Diocletian did not insist on exclusive worship of Jupiter and Hercules, which would have been a drastic change in the pagan tradition. For example, Elagabalus had tried fostering his own god and no others and had failed dramatically. Diocletian built temples for Isis and Sarapis at Rome and a temple to Sol in Italy. He did, however, favor gods who provided for the safety of
15618-433: The traditional trades of rope and basket weaving, the monks engaged in weaving and tailoring linen, cultivating flax, leatherwork and shoemaking, writing and bookbinding, carpentry, metalworking, and pottery. All in all, Shenouda tried as much as possible to employ the monks in their old professions. Such activities made the monastery a vast self-supporting complex, which occupied some 20 square miles (52 km ) of land. As
15755-522: The whole empire instead of the local deities of the provinces. In Africa, Diocletian's revival focused on Jupiter, Hercules, Mercury, Apollo and the imperial cult. The cult of Saturn, the Romanized Baal-hamon , was neglected. In imperial iconography Jupiter and Hercules were pervasive. The same pattern of favoritism affected Egypt as well. Native Egyptian deities saw no revival, nor was the sacred hieroglyphic script used. Unity in worship
15892-420: The winter of 302, Galerius urged Diocletian to begin a general persecution of the Christians. Diocletian was wary and asked the oracle at Didyma for guidance. The oracle's reply was read as an endorsement of Galerius's position, and a general persecution was called on February 23, 303. Persecutory policies varied in intensity across the empire. Whereas Galerius and Diocletian were avid persecutors, Constantius
16029-414: The words of Tacitus , Christians showed "hatred of the human race" ( odium generis humani ). Among the more credulous, Christians were thought to use black magic in pursuit of revolutionary aims and to practise incest and cannibalism . Nonetheless, for the first two centuries of the Christian era, no emperor issued general laws against the faith or its Church. These persecutions were carried out under
16166-466: Was an illegal religion in the eyes of the Roman state. For the first two centuries of its existence, Christianity and its practitioners were unpopular with the people at large. Christians were always suspect, members of a "secret society" who communicated with a private code and who shied away from the public sphere. It was popular hostility—the anger of the crowd—which drove the earliest persecutions, not official action. Around 112, Pliny ,
16303-410: Was banished from the city and died in exile on January 16, 309. The persecution was firmly enforced until Maximian's abdication in 305 but started to wane when Constantius (who seemed not to have been enthusiast about it) succeeded as august. After Constantius's death, Maxentius took advantage of Galerius's unpopularity in Italy (Galerius had introduced taxation for the city and countryside of Rome for
16440-427: Was broadly successful, but Eusebius is confused about the technicalities of the event, and his characterization of the overall size of the apostasy is ambiguous. Eusebius also attributes the initiative for the purge to Galerius, rather than Diocletian. Modern scholar Peter Davies surmises that Eusebius is referring to the same event as Lactantius, but that he heard of the event through public rumors and knew nothing of
16577-416: Was captured in battle. His son Gallienus ( r . 260–268), ended the persecution and inaugurated nearly 40 years of freedom from official sanctions, praised by Eusebius as the " little peace of the Church ". The peace was undisturbed, save for occasional, isolated persecutions, until Diocletian became emperor. Diocletian, acclaimed emperor on November 20, 284, was a religious conservative, faithful to
16714-620: Was central to Diocletian's religious policies. Diocletian, like Augustus and Trajan before him, styled himself a "restorer". He urged the public to see his reign and his governing system, the Tetrarchy (rule by four emperors), as a renewal of traditional Roman values and, after the anarchic third century , a return to the "Golden Age of Rome". As such, he reinforced the long-standing Roman preference for ancient customs and Imperial opposition to independent societies. The Diocletianic regime's activist stance, however, and Diocletian's belief in
16851-409: Was chosen by Cyril , the ecclesiarchal Patriarch of Alexandria , to accompany him in representing the Church of Alexandria at the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE. There he provided the moral support that Cyril needed to defeat the heresy of Nestorius , Bishop of Constantinople . The eventual exile of Nestorius to Akhmim , Shenoute's backyard, was a testimony to the impression Shenoute had made upon
16988-419: Was executed on June 7, and the edict was in force at Cirta from May 19. In Gaul and Britain Constantius did not enforce this edict, but in the East progressively harsher legislation was devised; the edict was firmly enforced in Maximian's domain until his abdication in 305, but persecutions later began to wane when Constantius succeeded Maximian and were officially halted when Maxentius took power in 306. In
17125-546: Was executed on November 18, 303. The boldness of this Christian displeased Diocletian, and he left the city and made for Nicomedia to spend the winter, accompanied by Galerius. Throughout these years the moral and religious didacticism of the emperors was reaching a fevered pitch; at the behest of an oracle, it was to hit its peak. According to Lactantius, Diocletian and Galerius entered into an argument over what imperial policy towards Christians should be while at Nicomedia in 302. Diocletian argued that forbidding Christians from
17262-422: Was immune" ( immunis est Gallia ) from the persecutions under Constantius. The death of Saint Alban , the first British Christian martyr, was once dated to this era, but most now assign it to the reign of Septimius Severus . The second, third and fourth edicts seem not to have been enforced in the West at all. It is possible that Constantius's relatively tolerant policies were the result of Tetrarchic jealousies;
17399-477: Was informed by members of the court, could only refer to the Christians of the empire. At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for a universal persecution. On February 23, 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built Christian church at Nicomedia be razed, its scriptures burned , and its treasures seized. February 23 was the feast of the Terminalia , for Terminus , the god of boundaries. It
17536-440: Was new and unfamiliar and not typically identified with Judaism by this time, Christians had no such excuse. Moreover, Christians had been distancing themselves from their Jewish heritage for their entire history. Persecution was not the only outlet of the Tetrarchy's moral fervor. In 295, either Diocletian or his caesar (subordinate emperor) Galerius issued an edict from Damascus forbidding incestuous marriages and affirming
17673-488: Was not confined to the Holy Bible , as was the case for the majority of the monks in Egypt . He was fluent in both Coptic and Greek , and was fairly well acquainted with Greek thought and theology. The sprinkling of Greek loan-words in his writings was both extensive and sophisticated, and it was definitely not a product of his living environment. He also expressed knowledge of the works of Aristotle , Aristophanes ,
17810-606: Was not effective for long in Maximinus's district. Within seven months of Galerius's proclamation, Maximinus resumed persecution, which continued until 313, shortly before his death. At a meeting between Licinius and Constantine in Milan in February 313, the two emperors drafted the terms of a universal peace. The terms of this peace were posted by the victorious Licinius at Nicomedia on June 13, 313. Later ages have taken to calling
17947-507: Was not enforced at all in the domains of Constantius and was applied in the domains of Maximian until his abdication in 305. In the East, it remained applicable until the issue of the Edict of Milan by Constantine and Licinius in 313. Diocletian and Maximian resigned on May 1, 305. Constantius and Galerius became augusti (senior emperors), while two new emperors, Severus and Maximinus , became caesars (junior emperors). According to Lactantius, Galerius had forced Diocletian's hand in
18084-486: Was not working as quickly as he wanted it to. Following the publication of the second edict, prisons began to fill—the underdeveloped prison system of the time could not handle the deacons, lectors, priests, bishops, and exorcists forced upon it. Eusebius writes that the edict netted so many priests that ordinary criminals were crowded out and had to be released. In anticipation of the upcoming twentieth anniversary of his reign on November 20, 303, Diocletian declared
18221-565: Was such a tyrant that the Romans would not open the gates for his defeated, retreating army, but opened them only for the conqueror Constantine. Shenoute Shenoute of Atripe , also known as Shenoute the Great or Saint Shenoute the Archimandrite ( Coptic : Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ϣⲉⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲡⲓⲁⲣⲭⲓⲙⲁⲛ'ⲇⲣⲓⲧⲏⲥ ) was the abbot of the White Monastery in Egypt . He is considered a saint by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and
18358-440: Was the day they would terminate Christianity. The next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published. The key targets of this piece of legislation were senior Christian clerics and Christians' property, just as they had been during Valerian's persecution. The edict prohibited Christians from assembling for worship and ordered the destruction of their scriptures, liturgical books, and places of worship across
18495-595: Was the immediate successor of the White Monastery's founder, Pacol. However, the reconstruction of Shenoute's literary corpus made it possible to realize that Pacol died in the 370s and was then succeeded not by Shenoute but by another father, Eboh and that a spiritual crisis during Eboh's tenure as head of the White Monastery, a crisis which seems to have involved carnal sin, enabled Shenoute to come to prominence and to become Eboh's immediate successor. Because of his popularity in Upper Egypt and his zeal, Shenoute
18632-653: Was tortured during the persecution and died about a year after from the resulting injuries. The Decian persecution was a grave blow to the Church. At Carthage, there was mass apostasy (renunciation of the faith). At Smyrna, the bishop Euctemon sacrificed and encouraged others to do the same. Because the Church was largely urban, it should have been easy to identify, isolate and destroy the Church hierarchy. This did not happen. In June 251, Decius died in battle, leaving his persecution incomplete. His persecutions were not followed up for another six years, allowing some Church functions to resume. Valerian , Decius's friend, took up
18769-429: Was unenthusiastic. Later persecutory edicts, including the calls for universal sacrifice, were not applied in his domain. His son, Constantine, on taking the imperial office in 306, restored Christians to full legal equality and returned property that had been confiscated during the persecution. In Italy in 306, the usurper Maxentius ousted Maximian's successor Severus , promising full religious toleration. Galerius ended
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