A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

§ 56. The Diocletian Persecution 285repeated, but perpetual and intolerable, wrongs in the exactingof them.§ 56. The Diocletian PersecutionThe last great persecution was preceded by a number of lawsaimed to annoy the Christians. On March 12, 295, all soldiers inthe army were ordered to offer sacrifice. In 296 sacred books ofthe Christians were sought for and burnt at Alexandria. In 297or 298 Christian persecutions began in the army, but the greatpersecution itself broke out in 303, as described below. Amongother reasons for energetic measures in which Galerius took the [259]lead, appears to have been that prince's desire to establish theunity of the Empire upon a religious basis, which is borne outby his attempts to reorganize the heathen worship immediatelyafter the cessation of the persecution. In April, 311, the edictof Galerius, known as the Edict of the Three Emperors, put anofficial end to the persecution. In parts of the Empire, however,small persecutions took place and the authorities attempted to attackChristianity without actually carrying on persecutions, as inthe wide-spread dissemination of the infamous “Acts of Pilate,”which were posted on walls and spread through the schools. Inthe territories of Constantius Chlorus the persecution had beenvery light, and there was none under Constantine who favoredChristians from the first.Additional source material: Eusebius, Hist. Ec., VIII, and IX,9; his little work On the Martyrs of Palestine will be foundafter the eighth book. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum.The principal texts will be found in Preuschen's Analecta, I,§§ 20, 21; see also R. Knopf, Ausgewählte Märtyreracten.(a) Lactantius. De Mortibus Persecutorum, 12 ff. (MSL. 7:213.)