Mass Murderer
The pagans themselves were sickened by so much bloodshed.
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church
For decades, the television show Sesame Street has used many creative approaches to entertaining and educating children. One segment that has endured teaches children to recognize what makes some items the same and others different. The segment is introduced with the song, “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others.” Four items are presented, and children are encouraged to find the “one that doesn’t belong.” For example, there might be four bowls, three of which are the same size. The larger one doesn’t fit.
Seeing the name Diocletian in a book dedicated to those who shaped the church seems out of place. After all, this Roman emperor is known for instigating the greatest persecution the church has known. So why include him in this work? Because just as people are shaped by the good and bad events in their lives, so it is with the church.
Diocletian was an able man in many respects, and successful in several areas of his life. His was a “rags to riches” story. He did much good for the Roman Empire, but the one thing he will always be remembered for was starting a campaign of horrific persecution against Christians. On the one hand there is a long list of achievements; on the other hand is blood.
A Mixed Bag
Diocletian was born in obscurity as Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus. He joined the military and rose rapidly through the ranks. His skill led to the role of governor of Moesia. This was during a time of rival emperors. Often armies selected their generals to be emperor in their region. Diocletian, however, focused on his military duties instead of glory.
The praetorian prefect Carus was proclaimed emperor in 282, and Diocletian quickly earned his favor. Two years later, during a military campaign against the Persians, Carus was, by some accounts, killed by a bolt of lightning. His two young sons took power, Numerian in the east and Carinus in the west. Both were killed. Diocletian succeeded them as emperor of the troubled Roman Empire in 284—all this before the age of forty. Recognizing the impossibility of one man effectively governing such a large empire, Diocletian created a tetrarchy, sharing leadership with three others. He and Maximan were augusti; Galerius and Constantius were titled caesars. All answered to Diocletian.
When Diocletian came to power, Rome was near anarchy. He was able to curtail the decline for a time, restore order, regain frontier land lost to others, and create an efficient form of government. However, despite these positive contributions, Diocletian is best known for a series of decrees he issued against Christians. These decrees led to the death of thousands of believers, often in horrible fashion, and succeeded in driving the church underground and into the catacombs.
From the time Diocletian took the emperor’s chair until his first edict against the Christians on February 23, 303, he paid little attention to the still emergent religion. However, Christianity had grown rapidly since its inception. Some have estimated that the number of people calling themselves Christians was seventy-five million, or about 15 percent of the empire’s population. The widespread growth of Christianity led to concerns within Roman leadership.
Christians were everywhere, including Diocletian’s home and court. His wife, Prisca, and daughter Valeria were Christians. Many of his advisors and members of his administration were also believers. Church buildings were springing up across the empire. There was an increasing threat that Christians could form an empire within an empire. This, coupled with the knowledge that Rome was failing, compelled Diocletian to encourage the Roman Empire to rededicate itself to the adherence of its original pagan ways. The greatest danger to the Roman gods were the Christians who pledged allegiance to Jesus alone and would rather die than acknowledge any other god.
Around this time, Diocletian’s palace endured two fires, one in early February 303 and another sixteen days later. As was often the case, Christians were blamed. No proof supporting arson by Christians was found but the accusation stuck. Horrible executions began.
Several edicts were issued, the first of which ordered the burning of the Scriptures and churches. The summer of 303 saw a second edict requiring the arrest of priests and bishops. So many were arrested the prison system could not hold them. In November of that year, a third edict was issued allowing clergy to be freed if they made a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Most would not and many were tortured. Early in 304, an additional edict called for corporate sacrifices to the gods be held in public places. Those who refused could be executed.
During the next eight years, Christians endured the worst kind of treatment. Diocletian’s edicts gave the freedom to persecute. No Christian was safe. Churches were destroyed, Scriptures were made illegal and burned, and pastors were hunted down. Christians died by the sword, wild beasts, and fire. They were forced to swear an allegiance to Roman gods and make sacrifices or die. The violence was directed at men, women, and children. Many Christians were sent to labor in mines where they were worked to death. They were put in a position of deciding between starvation and faithfulness.
Year after year this continued, until the Romans themselves grew weary of the bloodshed and hatred. Executioners had to work shifts to keep up with their duties.
Galerius, one of the four leaders of Diocletian’s empire and Diocletian’s son-in-law, harbored a hatred for all things Christian. It is possible Galerius pushed his father-in-law to issuing the edicts. He persecuted with zeal even after Diocletian abdicated to return home and grow cabbage. The persecution continued until 311 when, on his deathbed, Diocletian put an end to it and asked Christians to pray for their leaders.
Can Any Good Come Out of This?
Yes.
A century before these persecutions, one of the early church fathers, Tertullian, wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”1 He also said that the more Christians the persecutors killed, the more Christians there were. The Christian faith could not be exterminated. He was right. As a result of Diocletian’s persecution, Christians were driven from the cities and took the gospel message with them.
In April 1906, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake nearly destroyed San Francisco, California. It leveled many buildings but some of the greatest damage occurred later. Many buildings caught fire, and the thinking of the day was that dynamite could be used to snuff out the blazes. However, blowing up the burning buildings only made things worse, spreading the fire farther than it might have reached on its own.
Diocletian’s edicts against Christians did the same. They didn’t end the gospel message but rather ignited a blaze of growth.
Diocletian made it illegal to possess Christian Scriptures, what we would call the New Testament today. But the New Testament as we know it was not compiled by this time. All the New Testament books and letters were known and collected, but the process of canonization—choosing which books were inspired—was still incomplete. It was not unusual to have many Christian writings in circulation that were not inspired. What writings of the church were worth dying for? Which were truly God-inspired? The persecution forced church leaders to think about these questions, about which books had God’s fingerprints on them and therefore were worth risking death to preserve for future generations.
Fire is refining. The persecution separated those with a casual faith from those willing to endure torture and die for it, leaving a purer, stronger, more committed body of Christians. The church was being purified.
None of this is to say that Diocletian’s persecution was a good thing. It wasn’t. It was horrible in every way. The martyrs—men, women, and children—endured indescribable pain and fear. Christians watched friends and loved ones executed. These are the unnamed heroes of the faith. However, despite the violence and slaughter, good did come out of it, a good that continues to make a difference today.
Diocletian would certainly chafe at this description, but like it or not, he was a shaper of the church he set out to destroy.