
Witnesses for Christ
Understanding the Age of the Martyrs
During the first three centuries of Christianity, some persecutions were horrifying and widespread, but the age was not marked strictly by continuous, state-driven, Roman thuggery. Looking at periods of both tolerance and terror, this lecture explains that Constantine’s edict of Milan was not without precedent and traces the legal and cultural progress that led to Christianity’s status as the official religion of the Empire.
Resources
- Handout
- Trajan's Rescript
- The Christians and the Roman Empire by Marta Sordi
- The Age of Martyrs: Christianity from Diocletian to Constantine by Abbot Giuseppe Ricciott