A Call to Share in Suffering
Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. (Romans 8:17 NIV)
The Night of Fire
Galloping horses’ hooves, clanking chain mail, and shouts from the Roman soldiers shattered the stillness of the night. Pounding up the hillside, the Praetorian guard came to a sudden stop outside of the Christian church of Nicomedia. Without warning, the doors of the church burst open. Emperor Diocletian’s personal guards marched forcefully into the sanctuary, faces grim, helmets lowered over their foreheads as they brandished their axes high, striking everything in their path. The low benches and wooden altar were demolished in moments. “Find the writings!” the centurion shouted. “Heap them high in the center of the room!”
The angry Diocletian and his junior emperor, Galerius, sat astride their horses and watched as the church and all of its Scriptures and sacred writings were set on fire. As the golden flames rose in the night sky, Diocletian determined that this would be the first night of the annihilation of all Christian believers. It was February 23, AD 303, and the annual celebration of the god Terminalia. The cruel Roman emperors had decided that this night a new persecution would begin-one that would terminate the Christians.
A Decade of Brutality
The Great Persecution of AD 303-313 lasted for a brutal ten years and cost the lives of thousands of Christian disciples. Towns, churches, families fell to the sword and the flames of the ruthless Roman death squads. From one major city to the next, arrests and executions were performed in a frenzy, as though Satan was putting forth his last great effort to destroy the church. One major reason for the madness was that the Roman Empire’s golden years were passing quickly. As the fourth century progressed, Rome’s enemies were growing stronger along its borders, especially the Persians in the east and the Germanic barbarians in the west. Diocletian had ascended to the Roman throne in AD 285 and realized that one emperor could not handle all of the attacks from outside and within. He divided the empire in half-east and west-and set up a Roman Tetrarchy. A tetrarchy meant rule by four emperors, two senior emperors called augusti and two junior emperors called caesars. In the east, Domitian was the augustus and Galerius served as his caesar. In the west, Maximian was the augustus and Constantius (the father of Constantine, whom we shall meet again later) was the caesar.
Diocletian was a traditionalist who decided he would become the “restorer” of the golden days of the empire. He honored the old Olympic gods, particularly Jupiter, and adamantly believed that only the favor of the gods would bring back the glory of Rome. Seldom had a Roman emperor been more suspicious of the Christian citizens and their lack of loyalty to the throne. Diocletian was convinced that the Christian rejection of the Roman gods was the source of all Rome’s troubles. One of Diocletian’s first acts as emperor was to purge the military of all believers in Jesus Christ. Perhaps Diocletian wouldn’t have executed as many Christians as he did, but his caesar, Galerius, was a “passionate pagan,” who continually goaded Diocletian to destroy the “superstitious Christian society” once and for all.
Date: 6th April 2024
Martyr: Not Specified
Location: Not Specified
Source: God’s Generals – The Martyrs
Author: Roberts Liardon
Suffering Saturday 085
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