Great Persecution
Diocletian’s edicts ordered churches destroyed, scriptures burned and Christians forced to sacrifice — the last and most severe persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
- Date
- 24 February 303 – 313start: exact date; end: year known · duration: ≈ 10 yearsDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Nicomediatoday: İzmit, Kocaeli Province, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Diocletian, Galerius, Roman Empire
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Diocletianic Persecution; Гонение Диоклетиана
On 23 February 303 soldiers demolished the church of Nicomedia, and the next day the first edict was posted: churches were to be destroyed, scriptures surrendered and Christian meetings banned. Further edicts in 303–304 ordered the arrest of the clergy and finally required everyone to sacrifice to the gods. Galerius was the chief advocate of the policy. It was enforced most harshly in the East and most leniently in Gaul and Britain under Constantius.
Constantine ended the persecution in his lands in 306; the dying Galerius issued an edict of toleration on 30 April 311, and the Milan agreement of 313 brought it to an end. The memory of the martyrs shaped the Church for centuries, and disputes over those who had lapsed gave rise to the Donatist schism in Africa.
Connections
Related events
- Great Fire of Rome19 July 64 – c. 27 July 64 · Western and Central Europethe first and the last great persecutions of Christians by the Roman state
- Edict of MilanFebruary 313 · Western and Central Europethe Milan agreement ended the persecution
Same participants
- Establishment of the Tetrarchy1 March 293 · Western and Central Europevia Diocletian
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312 · Western and Central Europevia Roman Empire
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312
- Edict of MilanFebruary 313
- Establishment of the Tetrarchy1 March 293
- Crisis of the Third CenturyMarch 235 – 20 November 284
Eastern Europe
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Diocletianic Persecution
- Wikipedia (Russian): Великое гонение
- Frend W. H. C. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church. — Oxford: Blackwell, 1965.
- Wikidata: Q1265674