Christians have lived in peace during most…

Christians have lived in peace during most of the rule of Diocletian, but the victories of the staunchly pagan Galerius against the Sassanians have increased his influence; as he is a fierce advocate of the old ways and old gods, Christians credit Galerius with persuading the emperor to initiate the persecution of the Christians that begins with an edict of February 24, 303.

Christian houses of assembly are destroyed, for fear of sedition in secret gatherings.

Hierocles, proconsul of Bithynia and Alexandria, is said to have been the instigator of the fierce persecution of the Christians.

He is the author of a work (not extant) in two books, in which he endeavors to persuade the Christians that their sacred books are full of contradictions, and that in moral influence and miraculous power Christ is inferior to Apollonius of Tyana.

Our knowledge of this treatise is derived from Lactantius (Instit.

div.

v. 2) and Eusebius, who wrote a refutation.

Diocletian had not been anti-Christian during the first part of his reign, and historians have claimed that Galerius decided to prod him into persecuting them by secretly burning the Imperial Palace and blaming it on Christian saboteurs.

Regardless of who was at fault for the fire, Diocletian's rage is aroused and he begins one of the last and greatest Christian persecutions in the history of the Roman Empire.

On February 23, 303, Diocletian orders that the newly built Christian church at Nicomedia be razed, its scriptures burned, and its treasures seized.

February 23 is the feast of the Terminalia, for Terminus, the god of boundaries, and the day the Tetrarchy terminates Christianity.

The next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" is published.

The key targets of this piece of legislation are, as they had been during Valerian's persecution, Christian property and senior clerics.

The edict orders the destruction of Christian scriptures, liturgical books, and places of worship across the empire, and prohibits Christians from assembling for worship.

Christians are also deprived of the right to petition the courts, making them potential subjects for judicial torture; Christians cannot respond to actions brought against them in court; Christian senators, equestrians, decurions, veterans, and soldiers are deprived of their ranks; and imperial freedmen are re-enslaved.

Diocletian requests that the edict be pursued "without bloodshed", against Galerius's demands that all those refusing to sacrifice be burned alive.

In spite of Diocletian's request, local judges will often enforce executions during the persecution, as capital punishment is among their discretionary powers.

Galerius's recommendation—burning alive—will become a common method of executing Christians in the East.

After the edict is posted in Nicomedia, a man named Eutius tears it down and rips it up, shouting "Here are your Gothic and Sarmatian triumphs!"

He is arrested for treason, tortured, and burned alive soon after, becoming the edict's first martyr.