The tradition of the story is stated in Eusebius, History of the Church (Historia Ecclesiastica). Although the events would not be in tune with the official policy worked out by Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan a few decades earlier. This policy declared Christianity "to be illegal, but that members of the faith were not to be sought, but punished if the charge was proven." That would make it necessary to add punishable offenses to the charges of being Christians to justify the torture. Nevertheless, there were some local (not general) anti-Christian persecutions in the early years of Christianity. Emperor Marcus Aurelius personally had nothing to do with the Lyon affair, but was criticized for not intervening. It can be argued that the emperor was busy fighting the Quadi and Marcomanni, who were intent upon invading the Roman Empire at the Danube River.
Louis J Sheehan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment