3rd & 4th-Century Persecutions

The Severan Dynasty and the Crisis of the Third Century

Under the Severan dynasty (193–235 AD)—beginning with Septimius Severus and continuing through Caracalla, Geta, Macrinus, Elagabalus, and Severus Alexander—imperial policy toward Christians shifted from local harassment to occasional imperial interest. While late traditions attributed an edict forbidding conversion to Septimius Severus, most persecutions during this era remained localized, notably claiming martyrs like Perpetua and Felicity in Carthage (203 AD). Under Severus Alexander, the imperial court exhibited marked tolerance, with the emperor even placing an image of Christ in his private chapel. However, as political instability deepened into the Crisis of the Third Century, soldier-emperors like Maximinus Thrax inverted this tolerance, targeting Christian clergy to undermine rival political factions. Short-lived reigns, such as those of Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian III, left the Church largely unmolested, allowing Christian populations and property holdings to expand significantly across the Empire's urban centers.

The Decian Edict: Universal Sacrifice and Imperial Enforcement

In 249 AD, Emperor Decius initiated the first systematic, empire-wide persecution of Christians. Motivated by a desire to restore traditional Roman piety (pietas) and secure divine favor during severe economic and military crises, Decius issued an edict in 250 AD requiring all inhabitants of the Empire to offer sacrifice to the gods in the presence of a magistrate. Those who complied received an official written certificate (libellus) proving their loyalty to the state cults. Christians who refused to perform these sacrifices faced immediate arrest, harsh imprisonment, brutal torture, and execution, claiming prominent victims such as Pope Fabian in Rome. This decree forced every Christian community across the Mediterranean into a direct confrontation with the Roman state apparatus. Following Decius's death in battle against the Goths in 251 AD, emperors Trebonianus Gallus and Aemilianus maintained brief, sporadic anti-Christian measures targeting Church clergy.

Valerian’s Edicts and the Little Peace of Gallienus

Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260 AD) initially treated Christians with leniency, but severe military threats from Sasanian Persia and Germanic tribes prompted a sharp change in policy. In 257 and 258 AD, Valerian issued imperial edicts targeting the Church's institutional structure: Christian assembly was outlawed, church properties and cemeteries were confiscated, and clergy were ordered to sacrifice under pain of exile or death. Prominent leaders, including Saint Cyprian of Carthage and Pope Sixtus II alongside Saint Lawrence, were martyred during this campaign. However, when Valerian was captured by Persian King Shapur I in 260 AD, his son and co-emperor, Gallienus, promptly rescinded the anti-Christian decrees. Gallienus issued an edict of toleration that restored church property, launching a forty-year period known as the "Little Peace of the Church." During the subsequent reigns of Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Tacitus, Florianus, Probus, Carus, and Numerian, Christianity flourished openly within Roman society.

The Great Persecution under Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

The forty years of growth ended abruptly under Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305 AD). Seeking to standardize and purify the Empire under the Tetrarchy, Diocletian—influenced heavily by his Caesar, Galerius—launched the largest, most severe anti-Christian campaign in Roman history in 303 AD, known as the Diocletianic or "Great" Persecution. A series of four imperial edicts ordered the destruction of church buildings, the burning of sacred Scriptures, the confiscation of church assets, and the immediate arrest of all Christian clergy. The final edicts demanded that every inhabitant of the Empire offer public pagan sacrifices under penalty of torture, hard labor in imperial mines, or execution. Thousands of Christians across the Mediterranean were executed or mutilated as local governors enforced the decrees with varying degrees of severity.

The Edict of Serdica and the Triumph of Constantine

Despite its brutal execution, the Great Persecution failed to dismantle the Church or erase the Christian presence from Roman public life. Recognizing the failure of the policy, a dying Emperor Galerius issued the Edict of Serdica in 311 AD, granting official legal tolerance to Christians and ending state-sponsored persecution in the Eastern provinces. The political transformation culminated in 313 AD when Emperor Constantine the Great, alongside co-emperor Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan. This landmark decree granted full freedom of worship to all religions, mandated the complete restitution of confiscated Christian properties, and permanently integrated Christianity into the legal and cultural fabric of the Roman Empire.