I've got a
bit more time available now, so hopefully I should be able to finish the story!
There's nothing as useful as Pliny for the rest of the century. We have a number of detailed accounts of martyrdoms, and these reveal a
good deal. Christians came to the notice of the authorities again about 150, about the time Justin Martyr wrote. A woman divorced her husband, who denounced her as a
Christian. She petitioned the emperor, asking for time to settle her affairs, but we know no more about her. The husband then denounced Ptolemaus, her
Christian teacher. He was imprisoned and tortured. Eventually, he was brought before the urban prefect, who merely asked whether he was
Christian before sentencing him to death. Someone else in court protested this on moral grounds, and was accused of Christianity himself. He and another witness were condemned to death as well. Clearly, Christianity itself was a capital offence at the time. Justin, who addressed
his 'First Apology' to
Antoninus Pius, protested this as immoral.
In the late 150's, a persecution in the city of
Smyrna led to slaves being tortured until they revealed the hiding place of the aged
Bishop Polycarp, who was burnt alive after repeatedly refusing to recant or sacrifice to the
Fortuna of the emperor. This is the first record we have have of an official
search for a
Christian, but it may have been nothing more than a response to popular pressure.
Justin Martyr and six companions died in
Rome in the 160's, again after refusing to recant. Christianity was seen as a 'superstition', and its followers refused to obey state officials.
And so it continued, with sporadic local persecutions. Several more 'Apologies' (strictly libelli) we addressed to the emperors, pleading that Christians were peaceful, loyal and law-abiding citizens who were being punished unjustly, but to no avail.
On the other hand, Tatian argued that both Greek and
Roman legal systems should be abolished, and the world should live under a single law, presumably that of the
church. In particular, no
Christian should hold any state office. Clearly, not all were so uncritical. In the late 1st Century, the Book of Revelation
had prophecied dire punishment for
Rome, and the radical tradition lived on.
In the city of
Lugdunum, probably in 177, popular hostility led to the
military tribune taking Christians into protective custory. They were accused of 'Thyestian fests' and 'Oedipodean intercourse', and, after a trial before the governor,
Marcus Aurelius confirmed that any who did not recant were to be executed. It sems that in this case the
provincial authorities were better-disposed towards the
choice, but in the end thay
had no
choice but to execute the prisoners. The remains were given to dogs, then burnt and the ashes scattered, apparently in order to prevent any chance of resurrection.
It's clear that the persecutions of this period were local and sporadic; the emperors would support them, and insist on the execution of imprisoned Christians, but they never initiated persecution. Towards the end of the century, Tertullian, nothing if not an exaggerator, claimed that 'When the
Tiber rises to the walls, when the Nile fails to rise, when the sky fails to move or the earth does, the cry goes up, "Christians to the
lion!' What, all of them to just one
lion?" On the other hand,
writing in the 240's, Origen, an altogether more sober author, wrote that the martyrs were 'easily numbered'. We have no evidence of large
scale persecution anywhere in the 2nd Century.