Diocletianic Persecution
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Search complete. 41 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Diocletianic Persecution".
Oct 18, 2026
speaker_5NARRATOR
The History of the Church of Christ, Century Four by Joseph Milner.
speaker_5NARRATOR
The Persecution of Diocletian.
speaker_5NARRATOR
The last century concluded with some symptoms of a storm ready to burst on the church which had long been in a state of ease and prosperity and was at the same time deeply declined from the purity and simplicity of the gospel.
speaker_5NARRATOR
Besides the martyrdom of Marcellus in Africa, an attempt had been made in a more general and yet in a covert manner to corrupt the army.
speaker_5NARRATOR
Some few were put to death for a terror to the rest.
speaker_5NARRATOR
But the general persecution which afterwards destroyed such numbers was withheld for some time.
speaker_5NARRATOR
In this prelude, which has been mentioned above, and of which we have only a dark and imperfect account, something of the political maneuvers of Diocletian seems conspicuous.
speaker_5NARRATOR
It is evident that after he had so long favored the Christians he had now contracted a prejudice against them, though at first he made use of artifice rather than violence.
Rick WarrenHOST
There were just too many eyewitnesses, and it scared them to death.
Rick WarrenHOST
So the Roman Empire started what was called the Great Persecution.
Rick WarrenHOST
And for the first three hundred years of Christianity, it was illegal to be a Christian.
Rick WarrenHOST
And if you made the decision to say, "I'm gonna become a follower of Christ," you were more likely to be fed to lions in the Colosseum or crucified yourself or beheaded.
speaker_3NARRATOR
The History of the Church of Christ, Century 4 by Joseph Milner.
speaker_3NARRATOR
The Persecution of Diocletian The last century concluded with some symptoms of a storm ready to burst on the church which had long been in a state of ease and prosperity and was at the same time deeply declined from the purity and simplicity of the gospel.
speaker_3NARRATOR
Besides the martyrdom of Marcellus in Africa, an attempt had been made in a more general and yet in a covert manner to corrupt the army.
speaker_3NARRATOR
It was put to the option of Christian officers whether they would offer sacrifice and enjoy their dignity or refuse and be deprived.
8 HRS LATER
speaker_3NARRATOR
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
speaker_3NARRATOR
Basil of Caesarea.
speaker_3NARRATOR
Basil, surnamed the Great on account of his learning and piety, was descended from Christian ancestors, who suffered much during the persecution of Diocletian.
speaker_3NARRATOR
His grandmother Macrina, herself a confessor for the faith of Christ and a disciple of Gregory Thaumaturgus, was eminently useful to him in superintending his education and fixing his principles.
Ana MunleyHOST
But the persecutions were so brutal that the number of martyrs became impossible to keep up with.
Ana MunleyHOST
During the Great Persecution under the Emperor Diocletian in the early 300s, so many Christians were killed that there weren't even enough days in the year to give every single one of them its own feast, and countless martyrs also died with no one ever recording their names.
Ana MunleyHOST
So the Church began celebrating all the martyrs together.
Ana MunleyHOST
In the East, this commemoration was tied to the season after Easter and Pentecost, and the Eastern Churches still celebrate All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost to this day.
Johnny HansenHOST
Um, what we see after that is, like, this, they actually have a date on this.
Johnny HansenHOST
The Great Persecution begins February 23rd-
Andy LambHOST
303
Johnny HansenHOST
... 303 AD.
Andy LambHOST
All it takes is one person to step in as a dictator and decide that this is the, the new rule of the land.
Andy LambHOST
And if you have the armory behind you, then there's nothing really you can do about it then.
Andy LambHOST
Second part that I, I think through this, especially with the Great Persecution, any time- There is persecution, we see Christianity flourish.
Johnny HansenHOST
Yes.
Joe HeschmeyerHOST
So with that, let's talk about the bloodiest persecution of Christians in Roman history.
Joe HeschmeyerHOST
This was the Diocletian persecution, sometimes known as the Great Persecution.
Joe HeschmeyerHOST
But you may not know, the Emperor Diocletian didn't actually start out hating Christians.
Joe HeschmeyerHOST
He didn't start out with persecuting and killing them.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
I'm more convinced by the two vision theory not only because we have historical documents that say he had a vision in 310 and 312, but also because Constantine claims to have had thousands and thousands of dreams.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
Plus, something must have occurred before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, because soon after seizing power, Constantine thought of himself as a Christian and almost immediately started returning property to Christians that had been confiscated during the Great Persecution a few years before under Emperor In 313, he sponsored the construction of a bunch of huge churches like the Lateran Basilica in Rome, and he even granted food rations to the Christians of North Africa.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
This series of pro-Christian policies culminated with the Edict of Milan, a decision between Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius to legalize Christianity in the empire.
Andrew M. HenryHOST
In 314, one year later, Constantine wrote a letter to a bunch of bishops calling them dearest brethren and claiming to be a follower of the almighty God like them.
Jean-Paul JugeGUEST
Okay.
Jean-Paul JugeGUEST
Yeah, we think they died during what's known as the Great Persecution.
Jean-Paul JugeGUEST
So this is an empire-wide systematic persecution by the Emperor Diocletian.
Jean-Paul JugeGUEST
And so that's why usually 303 is estimated to be the date.
Elizabeth KleinHOST
Yeah, and listeners to the podcast may have heard us talk about the Great Persecution before.
Elizabeth KleinHOST
I in particular like to talk about martyrs.
Elizabeth KleinHOST
So they're right in that period.
Elizabeth KleinHOST
And so listeners to the podcast may know that my husband is Byzantine Catholic and we have a Byzantine Catholic calendar on our wall.