o The numbers of Christians killed over these centuries is
particularly difficult to assess, although to be sure, the effect
of persecution should not be measured only by numbers
of fatalities.o It seems clear, moreover, that Christians enjoyed periods of
peace that sometimes lasted for decades.• Overall, however, a consistent pattern appears to emerge:
When Christians were persecuted by state authority, it was as a
corollary of some larger political concern for the security of the
imperial order.
• The best known (or suspected)
persecutions can be summarized
according to century.
o In the 1st century, Nero killed
Christians in 64 as a way
of deflecting blame for the
fire in Rome from himself.
According to Tacitus, Nero
“inflicted the most exquisite
tortures on a class hated
for their abominations...
[and] hatred of mankind.” A
persecution under Domitian
(89–96) is postulated as the
backdrop to the oppression
and murder depicted in the
book of Revelation.
o In the 2nd century, a regional repression under Trajan (109–111)
in Asia Minor is known from the letter of Pliny, as well as
from the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. Under Marcus Aurelius
(162–177), a persecution in Lyons can be documented and may
have been more widespread.In the 1st-century persecution
under the emperor Nero, it
was said that Christians were
mocked, attacked by dogs,
crucified, and burned.© Photos.com/Thinkstock.