Diocletian Persecution

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Throughout history, the church has faced many issues concerning persecution and the freedom to practice their faith. During the Roman Empire, issues escalated, which lead to a dark time in the history of the church. These issues include heresies such as novatianism and donatism, apostasy and the councils that pertain to it, and the creation of the catacombs and hidden symbols in order to practice their faith in secret and hide from persecution. Although many emperors wanted to destroy Christianity, some were committed to restoring the faith. These conflicts between emperors and the church lead to a period of history, which was filled with mass persecutions and suppression of the faith. To a substantial extent the rule of emperors such as …show more content…

Diocletian is also known for the greatest persecution of Christians in the history of the Empire. In the beginning of Diocletian’s rule he focused on suppressing the Empire’s foreign enemies and on strengthening the government, which he did by splitting the empire into a rule under four emperors. He then looked towards Christianity and saw it as a threat to the unity of the empire. Diocletian then established the four edicts, which declared the destruction of all churches and books. This lead to the greatest persecution of Christians under Roman Rule. Christians were brutally martyred, put into prison, and tortured during this time. Similar to previous emperors, Diocletian gave Christians the option of apostasy or death, which once again lead to the formation of many heresies and challengers of the faith. Diocletian’s rule affected the growth of the doctrine of the Church by causing much of the population of Christians to go into hiding and practice their faith by having mass in the catacombs and showing their faith through hidden symbols. Diocletian's edicts also resulted in a great decline in the population of the Church and in a great number of heresies involving apostasy to arise. The church will have to deal with these heresies, such as Novatianism and Donatism, through various councils after the persecutions. In conclusion, Diocletian, with his establishment of the four edicts, produced the largest persecution of Christians under Roman Rule, which declined the church population exponentially, and brought various heresies into the church, making this one of the toughest time to be a Christian in the Roman

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