CH101 - The Third Century
The Expansion of the Church, 202 - 303 A.D.|
Outline: The Severan Persecution Clement of Alexandria Origen of Alexandria The Decian Persecution Cyprian, Bishops and Pope New Testament Canon, Part 5 The Issue of the Trinity The Church Prospers |
Key People: Clement-Alexandria Origen-Alexandria Cyprian-Carthage Sabellius-Libya Paul-Samosata Emperor Diocletian |
Key Documents: Protrepticus-The Exhortation Paidagogus-The Tutor Stromateis-Miscellanies On First Principles Contra Celsum On the Lapsed On the Unity of the Church |
The Decian Persecution
In 247-248 Rome celebrated 1,000 years of existence with a three day, nonstop party. The church had grow immensely during this first half of the third century, had begun to reach into every strata of society, and had experienced a relative respite from persecutions for around 30 years.
248 - the troops of Decius proclaim him as emperor
249 - Decius takes control of the government
250 - Decius participates in the annual sacrifice to Jupiter and then orders that his example be followed throughout the empire.
It appears that resentments or prejudice had built up against the Christians - the order of Decius was quickly carried all around the empire, which was somewhat unusual. It was a brutal time for around 18 months. The bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Jerusalem were executed. When the wave of persecution had passed bishops came out from hiding and exile to find thousands of lapsed believers wishing to be readmitted to fellowship.
Second repentance had once again become an issue and the man who addressed it was bishop Cyprian of Carthage.
Learn more about Decius:
Trajan Decius (249-251 A.D.) Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Decius New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia
Questions, Comments or Criticisms:
You can send an email to directly to me Al Baker, CH101.
CH101 retains the right to edit and post comments/questions unless you specifically ask that your comments NOT be posted. Comments that are personal or private are never posted...only questions about Church History, the Bible, etc.
top of page |
go to page 5 - New Testament Canon, Part 5
Questions/Answers
Ask Your Questions
Part of what drives the CH101 website is attempting to answer questions from our readers.
Send your question directly to Dr. Baker's InBox.
We will do our best to give you an Answer...
And that helps grow our website!
| - CH101 All rights reserved. |
1st Century | 2nd Century | 3rd Century | 4th Century | Resources | Podcasts | Survey | Site Map |