Jesus is also known as the ‘King of Martyrs’, and Saint Stephen is generally viewed as the first Christian martyr. Long before the Romans started persecuting the early Christians, Jewish authorities allowed Saul, later to become Saint Paul, to oversee a sustained campaign of persecution. Spaul was responsible for the stoning of Stephen.
The first major persecution of Christians occurred after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Roman Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the fire and created spectacles of violence to placate the masses. The name ‘Nero Caesar’, can be connected to the Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast, 666, through the use of Gematria. The Book of Revelations is interpreted as a veiled reference to this period of persecution and destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Saints Paul and Peter are believed to have been beheaded and crucified in Rome during the time of Nero.
Although the persecution of Christians lasted for approximately 250 years from 64 AD to 313 AD, most events were localised and not empire wide occurrences. The Great Persecution of Diocletian from 303-313 AD, was the last attempt to destroy the faith. Constantine the Great embraced Christianity in 312 AD, declared tolerance for Christians in the Roman Empire, convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325, and built the Church of the Holy Selpulchre in Jerusalem. He also changed the Sabbath to the Holy Day of the Sun, Sunday.
The Festal Letter of 367 authored by Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, listed the books that were in alignment with the faith and biblical canon, and those deemed heretical, the apocrypha. Some scholars believe it was the Easter Letter that led to the burial of the Nag Hammadi scrolls that were only rediscovered in 1945.
Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity as the state religion of the empire in 380 AD. The Latin Vulgate was created by St Jerome in 382, thereby bringing the rise of Christianity full circle from victim, to inevitable tyrant. The topic of the next post.
The earliest Saints were all martyrs, those that chose death over disloyalty, a baptism of blood. What I find fascinating is the fact that Saint Paul was the first persecutor of Christians, and Saint Peter was the first to deny Christ, three times in fact. Thousands of Christians died for refusing to perform sacrifices to honour the Roman gods, yet Peter, the supposed rock of the church blatantly rejected Jesus.
Peter ended up becoming the leader of the early church, and in the process destroyed the original teachings of Christ. That is of course, if he even knew what they were. Neither Peter or Paul were part of the Christ’s inner circle. Have you ever wondered why they call it Pauline Christianity?
Christian Dirce – Henryk Siemiradzki 1897, a Christian woman is martyred under Nero in this re-enactment of the myth of Dirce.
Oct 18, 2024 3:28:00 pm
