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By the 5th century, Christianity was the empire's predominant faith, and filled the same role paganism had at the end of the 3rd century. [342] Because of the persecution, however, a number of Christian communities were riven between those who had complied with imperial authorities (traditores) and those who had refused.
Saint George before Diocletian, in a 14th-century mural in Ubisi The reign of the emperor Diocletian (284−305) marked the final widespread persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire . The most intense period of violence came after Diocletian issued an edict in 303 more strictly enforcing adherence to the traditional religious practices of ...
The three young women were martyred under Emperor Valerian's persecution in the 3rd century. [3] It is also possible they were executed under Diocletian given the dates Proconsul Anullinus was procurator .
The category of voluntary martyr began to emerge only in the third century in the context of efforts to justify flight from persecution. [43] The condemnation of voluntary martyrdom is used to justify Clement fleeing the Severan persecution in Alexandria in 202 AD, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp justifies Polycarp's flight on the same grounds ...
A. N. Sherwin-White records that serious discussion of the reasons for Roman persecution of Christians began in 1890 when it produced "20 years of controversy" and three main opinions: first, there was the theory held by most French and Belgian scholars that "there was a general enactment, precisely formulated and valid for the whole empire, which forbade the practice of the Christian religion.
There was no empire-wide persecution of Christians until the reign of Decius in the third century. [ web 1 ] As the Roman Empire experienced the Crisis of the Third Century , the emperor Decius enacted measures intended to restore stability and unity, including a requirement that Roman citizens affirm their loyalty through religious ceremonies ...
The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy [1] or the Imperial Crisis (235–284), was a period in Roman history during which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressure of repeated foreign invasions, civil wars and economic disintegration. At the height of the crisis, the Roman state split into three ...
This peaceful co-existence came to an end during the reign of Diocletian (284–311). [4] [7] Diocletian's efforts to promote stability and unity for the Empire following the Crisis of the Third Century included the enforcement of religious conformity since citizens expressed their loyalty through participation in the public religion of Rome.