| Officially
sponsored suppression of Christianity directed against the church
from 64 to 324. |
Christianity in the
Roman Empire was originally protected from persecution because authorities
extended to it privileges long granted to the Jewish
religion. Beginning with persecutions ordered by the Emperor Nero in
64, there were several waves of persecution which ended with the persecution
under Galerius which ceased in 311. Sporadic persecutions continued until
324. The earlier persecutions were largely local, but under the emperors
Decius and Diocletian the persecutions of 250 and 304-305 were widespread
and severe. The persecutions contributed to the development of the cult
of martyrs and to the spread of Christianity when
Christians fled persecution. Often persecutions were related to Christian
refusal to participate in emperor worship. |
