Valerian's Persecution: The Untold Attack on Christianity

Different from the Decian persecutions, Valerian wanted to take out the Christian church by simply banning it’s activities altogether. Beginning with the first edict he ordered, the church’s property and religious ceremonies were to be seized by the imperial officials and any religious ceremonies that would have been halted, or if continued, members would have most likely been arrested and sent to trial. This has been implied through the later rescript of toleration that Gallienus would eventually put out to the empire. Even while the property of the church was being seized and the edict was also causing public ceremonies to be halted, the Christians would have continued to hold their religious activities in secret and away from the public. The damage to the Christians in the Roman Empire before the second

He professed to the congregation that he would go to the proconsul to be tried and in so doing, he would be martyred in front of his congregation willingly and they would become “partners in the graces” with him. It was recorded that Galerius Maximus, issued and judged the trial and after Cyprian denied the religion of Rome, he was acceptably sentenced to death. This martyr, would set off a ricochet of fellow martyrs from the Christian church, causing fear and loss of leadership to continue to damage the Christians throughout the empire. Valerian’s persecutions would be the most devastating actions from the emperor up until the time of Diocletian, the motivation behind the persecutions were in some way similar to his predecessor’s, Decius, but also involved many other problems, which will now be discussed below. There is plenty of debate about what the motivation was behind the Valerian persecutions. Three main theories that seem to be the most probable include; increased barbarian invasion causing a need for a scapegoat for the public, Valerian’s goal of pax deorum or a unified religious Rome, and