Persecution and Martyrdom in The Early Church History, Motives and Theology

Abstract

The article is an inquiry on the persecution and martyrdom experienced by the Church in the nascent years of her existence. There are three points under which the said phenomenon is investigated. The first part concerns with looking at the said experience of the Church under the lens of history. In the second, persecution is viewed from the perspective of the Romans themselves who have initiated and carried out the oppressive measures to suppress the religion of Christians. In this section the politico-religious culture of the Romans is discussed, taking as its sources the Roman writers themselves, in order to understand the way they acted toward Christians. The third and the last part, discusses the same phenomenon, taking this time the perspective of the subjects of persecution themselves, that is, the Christians. How they were able to turn this negative experience into positive, drawing from it the testimony of the love and providence of God to those willing to imitate him until the end, is shown in this chapter. The different acts and passions of the martyrs and the treatises on martyrdom composed by Christians from this period are analyzed to discover the meaning that they imputed in their suffering.