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A. N. Sherwin-White records that serious discussion of the reasons for Roman persecution of Christians began in 1890 when it produced "20 years of controversy" and three main opinions: first, there was the theory held by most French and Belgian scholars that "there was a general enactment, precisely formulated and valid for the whole empire, which forbade the practice of the Christian religion.
According to Jacob Neusner, the only religion in antiquity that was persistently outlawed and subject of systematic persecution was not Judaism, but Christianity. [15] Christian martyrs were a significant part of Early Christianity, until the Peace of the Church in 313. [citation needed] Suetonius mentions passingly that "[during Nero's reign p ...
According to two different Christian traditions, Simon bar Kokhba, the leader of the second Jewish revolt against Rome (132–136 AD), who was proclaimed Messiah, persecuted the Christians: Justin Martyr claims that Christians were punished if they did not deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ, while Eusebius asserts that Bar Kokhba harassed them ...
May 21—There were more bad Roman emperors than good ones, but one of the worst was Nero, who began the empire's pattern of persecuting Christians. Clergymen Mike Atkins and Leslie Boone say Nero ...
Church leaders, like Fabian, bishop of Rome, and Babylas, bishop of Antioch, were arrested, tried and executed, [30] as were certain members of the Christian laity, like Pionius of Smyrna. [ 31 ] [ notes 3 ] Origen was tortured during the persecution and died about a year after from the resulting injuries.
The great persecution fell upon the Christians in Persia about 340. Though the religious motives were never unrelated, the primary cause of the persecution was political. When Rome became Christian, its old enemy turned anti-Christian. For the first three centuries [clarification needed] after Christ it was in the West that Christians were ...
The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome were Christians martyred in the city of Rome during Nero's persecution in 64. The event is recorded by both Tacitus and Pope Clement I , among others. They are celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church as an optional memorial on 30 June.
Christians were persecuted by local authorities on an intermittent and ad hoc basis. In addition, there were several periods of empire-wide persecution which were directed from the seat of government in Rome. Christians were the targets of persecution because they refused to worship the Roman gods or to pay homage to the emperor as divine.