March 303 A.D. There was no Empire wide persecution afterwards until Diocletian. Diocletian was a “strong military leader” who felt that only a strong monarch “could save the Empire and its classical culture.” In 285 A.D., he ended the diarchy of the principate, that is, the shared power of the Emperor and Senate (something that went back to Caesar Augustus in 27 B.C.). He wanted centralization of power and despotism. He was hostile to Christian Churchmen and any who were “hostile to the state religion” (Cairns, 100).
March 303. An an anti-Christ energized by Satanic energies, Diocletian issued his verdict against Christ and His Churchmen: (1) no Christian meetings, (2) destruction of Christian buildings, (3) deposition of Church officers, (4) imprisonments, and (5) burn the Scriptures. Eusebius later notes that the “prisons became so crowded with Christians that there was no room for criminals” (Cairns, 101).
On this latter point, handing over
the traditores (= Scriptures, books),
some Christians complied, later repented, sought and readmission to the
Church’s fellowship. Some did not
believe they should be readmitted after such disloyalty. This would give rise to the Donatist
controversy that would hold forth well into Augustine’s times.
No comments:
Post a Comment