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 PERSECUTION

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PERSECUTION

authority cannot be called persecution, nor can its victims be called martyrs. It is not enough that those who are condemned to death should be suffering for their religious opiniims. A martyr is a witness to the truth; whereas those who suffered the extreme pen- alty of the Churcli were at the iiiosi the uitiii'sscs to their own sincerity, and therefore uiilKii)pily i\o more than pseudo-martyrs. We need not dwell upon the second objection which ))reteiid-; that ii |>:it;:iii govern- ment might be justified in harassing Christian mi.ssion- aries in so far as it considered Christianity to be subversive of estaliUslied authority. The Christian revelation is the supernatural message of the Creator to His creatures, to which there can be no lawful resist- ance. Its missioiuuies have the right and the duty to preach it everywhere. They who die in the propa- gation or maintenance of the Gospel are God's wit- nesses to the truth, suffering persecution for His sake.

Std.ney Smith. The Pope and the SpanUh Inquisition in The Month, LXXIV (1892). 375-99; cf. Dublin Review, LXI (1807), 177-78; KoHLER, Reform und Ketzerprocess (Tiiljingen, 1901); Camct. La Tolerance protestante (Paris, 1903): Russell. Mary- land; The Land of Sanctuary (Baltimore. 1907); Paulus, Zu Lathers These iiber die Ketzerverbrennung in Hist. Polit. Blatter, CXL (1908). 357-67; Moulard, Le Catholique et le pouvoir coercitif de VEglise in Revue pratique de VApologUique, VI (1908), 721-36; Keatin'O, Intolerance, Persecution, and Proselytism in The Month, CXIII (1909). 312-22; de Cadzous, Histoire de fln- Quisition en France, I (Paris, 1909).

Outline of Principal Persecutions. — The brief outline here given of persecutions directed against the Church follows the chronological order, and is scarcely more than a catalogue of the principal formal and public onslaughts against Catholicism. Nor does it take into account other forms of attack, e. g., literary and social persecution, some form of suffering for Christ's sake being a sure note of the True Church (John, x\-, 20; II Tim., iii, 12; Matt., x, 23). For a popular general account of persecutions of Catholics previous to the nineteenth century see Leclercq, "Les Martyrs" (5 vols., Paris, 1902-09).

Roman Persecutions {52-312). The persecutions of this period are treated extensively under Martyr. See also Martyrs, Acts of the, and the articles on individual martyrs or groups of martyrs (Martyrs, The Ten Thousand; Forty Marty-rs; Aqaunum, for the Theban Legion). An exhaustive and reliable work is Allard, "Les Persdcutions " (5 vols., Paris, 1885); also his "Ten Lectures on the Martyrs" (New York, 1907); and for an exhaustive hterature see Healy, "The Valerian Persecution" (Boston).

Under Julian the Apostate (.361-63). — Constantine'a edict of toleration had accelerated the final triumph of Christianity. But the extreme measures passed against the ancient religion of the empire, and espe- cially by Constans, even though they were not strictly carried out, roused considerable opposition. And when Julian the Apostate (361-63) came to the throne, he supported the defenders of paganism, though he strove to strengthen the old religion by recommending works of charity and a priesthood of strictly moral lives which, a thing unheard of, should preach and in- struct. State protection was withdrawn from Chris- tianity, and no section of the Church favoured more than another, so that the Donatists and Arians were enabled to return.

All the privileges formerly granted to clerics were repealed; civil jurisdiction taken from the bishops, and the subsidies to widows and virgins stopped. Higher education, also, was taken out of the hands of Christians by the prohibition of anyone who was not a pagan from teaching classical literature. And finally, the tombs of martyrs were destroyed. The emperor was afraid to proceed to diret^ persecution, but he fomented the dissensions among the Christians, and he tolerated and even encouraged the persecutions raised by pagan commimities and governors, espe- cially in Alexandria, Heliopolis, Maiouma, the port of Gaza, Antioch, Arethusa, and Caisarea in Cappadocia

(cf. Gergory of Nazianzus, Orat. IV, 86-95; P. G.. XXXV, 613-28). Many, in different places, suffered and even died for the Faith, though another pretext was found for their death, at least by the emperor. Of the martyrs of this period mention may be made of John and Paul (q. v.), who suffered in Rome; the soldiers Juventinus and Maximian (cf. St. John Chry- Bostom's sermon on them in P. G., L, 571-77); Mace- donius, Tatian, and Theodulus of Meros in Phrygia (Socrates, III, 15; Sozomen, V, U); Basil, a priest of Ancyra (Sozomen, V, 11). Julian himself seems to have ordered the executions of John and Paul, the steward and secretary respectively of Constantia, daughter of Constantine. However, he reigned only for two years, and his persecution was, in the words of St. Athanasius, "but a passing cloud".

Sozomen, Hist. Eccl., V, 11; Socrates. Ill, 15; Ammianus MAHcELLiNns, XXI-XXV; Tillemont. Mfmoires, VII. 322-43; 717-45; Leclercq, Les Martyrs, III (Paris, 1904); Allard, Le Christianisme et I'empire romain de Niron d Theodore (Paris, 1897), 224-31; Idem, Julien VApostat, III. ,52-102; 152-158 (Paris, 1903); Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de VEglise, II (Paris, 1907), 328-35.

In Persia. — When the persecution of Christianity was abandoned by the Roman Government, it was taken up by Rome's traditional enemy, the Persians, though formerly they had been more or less tolerant of the new religion. On the outbreak of war betv/een the two empires. Sapor II (310-80), under the instiga- tion of the Persian priests, initiated a severe persecu- tion of the Christians in 339 or 340. It comprised the destruction or confiscation of churches and a general massacre, especially of bishops and priests. The num- ber of victims, according to Sozomen (Hist. Eccl., II, 9-14), was no less than 16,0(J0, among them being Symeon, Bishop of Seleucia; there was a respite from the general persecution, but it was resumed and with still greater violence by Bahrain V (420-38), who per- secuted savagely for one year, and was not prevented from causing numerous individual martyrdoms by the treaty he made (422) with Theodosius II, guarantee- ing liberty of conscience to the Christians. Yezdegerd II (438-57), his successor, began a fierce persecution in 445 or 446, traces of which are found shortly be- fore 450. The persecution of Chosroes I from 541 to 545 was directed chiefly against the bishops and clergy. He also destroyed churches and monasteries and imprisoned Persian noblemen who had become Christians. The last persecution by Persian kings was that of Chosroes II (590-628), who made war on all Christians alike during 627 and 628. Speaking generally, the dangerous time for the Church in Persia was when the kings were at war with the Roman Empire.

Sozomen, op. cit., 9-14; Acta Sanctorum Martyrum, ed. Assemani, I (Rome, 1748), Svriac text with Lat. tr.; Acta Mar- tyrum et Sanctorum, II. Ill, IV, ed. Bedjan (Leipzig, 1890-95), Syriac text (for discussion of ttiese two authorities see Duval, Liltiralure syriaque (Paris, 1899), 130-43).

A list of martyrs who suffered under Sapor II was first pub- lished l>y Wright and reproduced in tiie Martyrologium Hierony- mianum by DE Rossi and Duchesne in Acta SS., Nov., II, part I, Ixiii (Brussels, 1894); Hoffmann, AuszUge aus syrischen Akten persischer Martyrer, text, tr., and notes (Leipzig, 1886); Leclercq, op.cif., Ill; Duval, Litterature syriaque (Paris, 1897), 129-i7; Labourt, Le Christianisme dans I'empire perse (Paris, 1904); Duchesne, op. cit. (Paris, 1910), 553-64.

Among the Goths. — Christianity was introduced among the Goths about the middle of the third cen- tury, and "Theophilus Episcopus Gothi;c" was pres- ent at the Council of Nicsea (.325). But, owing to the exertions of Bishop Ulfilas (340, d. 383), an Arian, Arianism was professed by the great majority of the Visigoths of Dacia (Transylvania and West Hungary), converts from paganism; and it passed with them into Lower Moesia across the Danube, when a Gothic chieftain, after a cruel persecution, drove Ulfilas and his converts from his lands, probably in 349. And subsequently, when in 376 the ^'i.sigoths, pressed by the Huns, crossed the Danube and entered the Roman Empire, Arianism was the religion practised by the