Diocletianic Persecution

The Diocletianic Persecution, also called ‘The Great Persecution’, was an attempt to crush Christianity and took place between 303-313 CE under the Emperor Diocletian.
The purge only ended in 313 CE when Constantine I passed the Edict of Milan authorising Christianity to be worshipped along with the Ancient Roman and Greek Religions.

The Diocletianic Persecution is also called ‘The Great Persecution’.
The Emperor Diocletian conducted a Purge of Christianity.
An attempt to erase Christianity resulted in a wave of Martyrdoms and Torture, particularly in the East, which ultimately failed and led to the acceptance of Christianity.
Christians included Senators, Equestrians, Army Officers and soldiers, and Imperial Freedmen who were forced back into slavery.
The Persecution included Disfigurements and Mutilations of the Bishops and Priests.
Christians were sentenced to Slavery in the Two Turqoise Mines in Sinai Peninsular, Arabia: Wadi Maghareh (Egyptian Temples and mines and Serabit el-Khadim).
The Coptic Church starts its Calendar from 284 CE, the start of the rule of Diocletian.

First Edict (23 Feb 303 CE)
- The Edict forbad Christians to assemble for worship, decreed the destruction of their books, and the destruction of their temples, throughout the Roman Empire.
- Although Diocletian requested there be no bloodshed, Galerius, Augustus in the East, set out to burn alive all those Christians found guilty in the East. By contrast, Constantius I Chlorus in Gaul and Britannia, only vaguely applied the Edict by destroying a few token churches.
Second Edict (Summer 303 CE)
- All Bishops and Priests were ordered to be arrested. Eusebius reports that so many clerics were filling the prisons, that common criminals had to be released to make room for them.
Third Edict (20 November 303 CE)
- Amnesty to all if they sacrificed to the Roman Gods.
Fourth Edict (January or February 304 CE)
- The whole population was commanded to gather in a public place and offer a sacrifice collectively. Anybody who refused was to be summarily executed. Maximian and Constantius I Chlorus completely failed to enforce this Edict in the West. It remained in force in the East until rescinded by Constantine I with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE.

Finally, when Constantine I implemented the Edict of Milan, Christianity was accepted as the State Religion throughout the Roman Empire.

On May 1st 305 CE, Diocletian and Maximian resigned, leaving Constantius I Chlorus as Augustus in the West, and Galerius as Augustus in the East.
In the East, Maximinus Daia issued two more Edicts in 306 CE and 309 CE, and continued the Persecution.
In the West, Constantius I Chlorus did not fully apply the Edicts. After his death, his son Constantine I was proclaimed Emperor on 25th July 306 CE, and stopped all persecution against the Christians. He then set out to portray himself as the saviour of Christians throughout the Roman Empire.
Galerius continued oppressing the Christians until just before he died, issuing an Edict of Toleration at Serdica on 30 April 311 CE ending the persecution. However, Maximinus Daia continued the Persecution.

In February 313 CE, Licinius and Constantine I met in Milan, to decide how to end the Persecution.
The Treaty that followed is now known as the Edict of Milan, which recognised Christianity and gave it legal recognition in the Roman Empire.

The Edict of Milan did not make Christianity the State Religion. This was done much later by Theodosius I in 380 CE with the Edict of Thessalonica.
The West was not persecuted as badly as the East.
Egypt suffered the worst persecution of all the Provinces, followed by Asia Minor. To mark this period, the Coptic Church in Egypt starts its Calendar from 284 CE, the start of the rule of Diocletian.
In Britannia, the martyrs were St Albans of Verulamium (St. Albans today) (or he may have died possibly during Septimius Severus reign during 209 CE), and Aaron and Julius of Carlisle.