"Persecuted by Rome" and more lies No claim that Christians had been "thrown to wild beasts in the Colosseum"

was made until the 17th century until the amphitheatre was being pillaged for building material to rebuild St Peters. Link (Clearly, the claims of historic Christian persecution in the Colosseum were made to justify the pillaging for St Peters.) Jesuit Fr. Delehaye, a Bollandist - that is, an expert on saints and martyrs: Delehaye has shown in a special study that all stories of Christians being exposed to lions in the Roman Amphitheater [the Colosseum] (which so moved Mr. G.B. Shaw that he based a play on them) are bogus. -- How Christianity Grew Out of Paganism, by Joseph McCabe He has shown that no Christian was put to death in the Coliseum -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Nevertheless, the Pope commemorates the martyrs at the Colosseum every Easter, having consecrated the area to these non-existent Christian martyrs. Of course, he is fully aware that not a single Christian was executed there. But then, that's the least of the fictions he's involved in. The much-touted persecution of Christians by the Romans requires a closer look. Edward Gibbon in his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: "In this general view of the persecution which was first authorised by the edicts of Diocletian, I have purposely refrained from describing the particular sufferings and deaths of the Christian martyrs. It would have been an easy task. From the history of Eusebius, from the declamations of Lactantius, to collect a long series of horrid and disgusting pictures ... But I cannot determine what I ought to transcribe, till I am satisfied how much I ought to believe. The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly confesses that he has related whatever might redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace, of religion. (178) Such an acknowledgement will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has soopenly violated one of the fundamental laws of history has not paid a very strict regard to the observance of the other; and the suspicion will derive additional credit from the character of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with credulity, and more practised in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of his contemporaries." And from William Manchester's book A World Lit Only by Fire - The Medieval Mind and The Renaissance: In the 4th century, Constantine, the first Roman Emperor to become a Christian, had over 3000 Christians executed because their interpretation of the Bible did not agree with his. That is more than the number of Christians who died at the hands of the Romans during the well known 1st century "Christians to the lions" persecutions. Who persecuted whom?:

After the big fire in Rome in 64 AD, Emperor Nero executed several Christians as arsonists. According to Roman sources, the Christians were not a very popular group in Rome at this time. They were considered a small, uneducated group of religious troublemakers from the lowest social classes, operating in the shadowy sides of society. Emperor Neros persecutions of Christians on this occasion had very little to do with religious persecutions (Deschner 1990). According to even the Nero hostile historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the prosecutions against the arsonists after the big fire in Rome were just and fair. The fact that several of the arsonists were Christians was probably of insignificant importance to both Nero and to the Romans at large (ibid). Nero's persecution [of Christians] in Rome, if we admit it [as an instance of persecution], was the work of a man whom all historians now regard as more or less insane; and Tacitus implies that it was not liked by the Romans themselves. Moreover, it is too often forgotten that "an immense number" of good pagans met their death under Nero. A later pagan writer composed a "martyrology" of the men and women who were victims of Nero's insanity; and it has been suggested that the Christians borrowed this model, if not many of the pagan names in the book. -- Legends of Saints and Martyrs, from The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe the cold historical truth is that we cannot admit more than two, or at the most three, "general persecutions." So Professor Gwatkin, the ecclesiastical historian of Cambridge University (England), sums up the matter in the authoritative "Dictionary of Religion and Ethics." We may be content with his verdict, and need not draw upon the more radical, and sometimes strained, criticism which reduces the persecutions still further. Decius and Diocletian, in the third and fourth centuries, set afoot general persecution. Valerian, in the third century, possibly did the same, in milder terms. The rest is mob-movements locally against the unpopular Christians. Why Rome, one of the most tolerant of powers, persecuted ... Christianity was detested mainly for three reasons. First, and from the start, because its meetings were secret, and generally by night; so they were put down as orgies if not conspiracies. Secondly, the Christians spoke with infinite scorn of the beliefs of their pagan neighbors , of the official deities of Rome. Thirdly, as time went on, because in proportion as the difficulties of the Empire increased, the Christians became increasingly disloyal, refusing service and almost exulting in its enfeeblement. A number of competent modern scholars doubt if there ever was a persecution under Nero . ...The passage in which the Roman historian Tacitus describes the persecution half a century later is strongly suspected of Christian adulteration. It speaks, not only of Jesus being crucified under Pontius Pilate, but of the martyrdom of "an immense multitude" of Christians at Rome. There were only a few thousand (as we shall see) two centuries later, so the phrase is very doubtful.

Decius (249-251), Valerian (257), and Diocletian (303) were the only general and systematic persecutors. There is no doubt in the mind of any historian that in trying to suppress or check Christianity -- at first in each case by the lighter penalties -- they were consulting the welfare of the state, which was then sinking. Professor Gwatkin himself remarks that many of the Christians, so far from being willing to defend the Empire, were "half inclined to welcome the Goths and Persians as avengers." The Pope insolently and openly defied Valerian at Rome: and Diocletian's decrees were torn down by Christians in his own palace who relied on the protection of his womenfolk. Before Diocletian the Church had had forty years of peace, and it had grown sufficiently to make its anti-patriotic teaching a matter of concern. Yet in not one of the three decrees of Diocletian is the death sentence imposed. -- Legends of Saints and Martyrs, from The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe McCabe further tells us that with respect to Christianity: Diocletian never urged the death-sentence for religion, in spite of revolt and insolence and even arson in his own palace. -- The Story of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe Thus, the persecutions of Christians by Decius (249-251), Valerian (257), and Diocletian (303) were because the Christians were traitors and causing the "welfare of the state to sink". It turns out that their persecutions were also not anywhere as terrible as made out. Contrast this with Constantine's Christian successor, his son, Emperor Constantius II: Constantius ... made ten times as many Christian martyrs in twenty years as the Pagan emperors had made in two hundred and fifty, and introduced methods of savagery which even the Goths and Vandals would not emulate. -- The Testament of Christian Civilization, by Joseph McCabe Let us also reflect that Christianity introduced the systematic persecution of heresy and unbelief. Such a principle was entirely foreign to Paganism. The Roman law tolerated every form of religion and every system of philosophy. Its impartiality was so absolute that the Pantheon of the eternal city afforded niches to all the gods of the empire; yet when Tiberius was asked to allow the prosecution of a Roman citizen for blaspheming the deities he replied: "No, let the gods defend their own honor." We do not deny that the Christians were persecuted, although we challenge their exaggerated account of their sufferings. But their partial and occasional persecutions were prompted by political motives. They were regarded as members of a secret society, at once offensive to their Pagan neighbors and dangerous to the State; and although they were sometimes punished, their doctrines were never proscribed. The principle of persecution was first infused into the Roman law by Constantine. According to Renan (Les Aptres): "We may search in vain the whole Roman law before Constantine for a single passage against freedom of thought, and the history of the imperial government furnishes no instance of a prosecution for entertaining an abstract doctrine." -- Crimes of Christianity, by G W Foote & J M Wheeler Link See more:

 Excerpts from Legends of Saints and Martyrs, from The Story Of Religious Controversy by Joseph McCabe, historian and former Franciscan monk Persecution Holy Mother Church Invents Heroic Origins - takes a closer look at what exactly happened to the Christians under Rome and why Who persecuted whom? An Examination of the "Evidence" for Jesus - the section on Tacitus discusses Nero The "Acts" of the martyrs: forged tales of persecution and mass martyrdom The facts of the case have been exposed by Christian (mainly Catholic) experts on saints and martyrs:

Though Joseph McCabe added the Valerian persecution to the list, he tells how scholars only recognise 2 general persecutions: the Decian and Diocletian persecutions, named after the Roman emperors Decius and Diocletian. There were no more Imperial persecutions, in spite of Christian fictions to the contrary. Decian Persecution: According to the Church, vast numbers of the early Christians were martyred during this persecution. However, the facts are that in Rome no more than 5 or 6 were martyred. And no more than 2 or 3 dozen (itself dubious) in the entire empire. Decius' decree of persecution is "lost" and the Christian versions of it are doubtful. Diocletian persecution: Christian fiction claims up to 40,000 martyrs, many in Rome. Scholars have shown that there were only 20 (a score of) genuine martyrs in the whole Roman Empire, and none in Rome. A few hundred were executed, where many perished in jail - and most of them were zealous Christians who demanded death in order to become martyrs. The first 20 years of Diocletian's rule showed him to be highly tolerant of Christianity. However, Christians showed themselves intolerant. No Christians were ever executed in the Colosseum (Amphitheatre). Tales of them being thrown to the lions there have been exposed as fiction. The Acta (records of trials and execution) of the martyrs are taken entirely from fictitious lives or forged. Pagan deities were sometimes used as martyrs in these fictional stories often sainted with their pagan names intact. The most popular martyred saints are actually fictional, whilst the ones that might possibly be true would not have become popular amongst most Christians. The Relic Industry was born out of this and, for centuries, it continued duping Christians who piously purchased relics of non-existent martyrs and saints. Instead of the popularised fiction of a vast number of Christians martyring themselves for their faith upon persecution and thereby inspiring pagans to convert, the facts show that there was a vast apostasy(Christians who left the faith). One of the apostates was Pope Marcellinus, still wrongly revered as a Saint and Martyr.

The literature that exposed the martyr fraud

The study of the lives or legends of saints and martyrs is now a science, hagiography (from hagios, or saint). It has engaged the labors of hundreds of first-class scholars for the last hundred years, and only a small minority of these have been Rationalists. Leading Catholic scholars like Mgr. Duchesne, leading Protestant scholars like Harnack, and scores of less prominent though more concentrated workers have joined in the search. -- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe ...the ignorant majority of Catholics are still encouraged to believe the most blatant stories , and even the Catholic Encyclopaedia is far from complete candour. ...the work of exposure began among the French clergy... Tillemont's Memoirs (1698) slew [exposed the fictional nature of] tens of thousands of martyrs with great cheerfulness, but Rome, except for a short and futile attempt at reform by Benedict XIV, remained obstinate until, in the nineteenth century, Protestant critics took up the subject. We have now a large Catholic literature analysing the stories. ... The most important are the works of the Jesuit Fr. Delehaye, who is a Bollandist (or expert on saints and martyrs), but the English and American authorities seem to have found the translation of one of his books (The Legends of the Saints, 1922) so disturbing to the faithful that the more important, including one in which he shows that no Christian was put to death in the Coliseum, remain in French. The Catholic Prof. A. Ehrhard has a useful summary of the entire literature (Die altchristliche Literatur, 1900) which also is untranslated, and the liberal Mgr. Duchesne and other Continental priests co-operate. Protestant writers like Graf, Grres, Fhrer, Usener, etc., keep pace with them, but Prof. Biddle is insufficiently critical in The Martyrs (1931), and this must be said also of Prof. Gwatkin's article in the Ency. of Religion and Ethics. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Only 2 general persecutions The Decian Persecution in 250CE was the first and the Diocletian Persecution was the second of the only two general persecutions of Christians in the Roman Empire admitted by modern historians. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe The Decian persecution in 250CE - under Emperor Decius He [Decius] is supposed to have entertained an obscure hatred which moved him to attempt to "exterminate the Christian religion." Although, as will be shown, the highest Catholic authorities have proved that these "Acts of the Martyrs" (purporting to be contemporary records of their trial and execution) are generally spurious, even responsible Church writers continue to repeat the mythical horrors of the Decian persecution. [Bishop Gregg] acknowledges that the text of the Emperor's decree is "lost" (suppressed) ,

but even the Christian versions of and references to it make it very doubtful if Decius ordered the execution of Christians who would not sacrifice to the gods. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Fiction: a great many martyrs Catholic literature about the martyrs--the "Acts" of the martyrs and works based thereon-ascribes a very large number to the fifteen months of the persecution under Decius. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Facts: straining to find 50 executed in the whole empire and half a dozen martyrs in Rome Rome had around 20,000-30,000 Christians at the time. [A] vast crowd are claimed for the Decian Persecution; yet the Catholic writer Gregg finds, after heavy research, only five (out of tens of thousands of Christians) at Rome and possibly thirty or forty (out of at least a million Christians) elsewhere. ...we cannot trace fifty individuals who were executed, and most of the evidence of crowds pressing to assert their faith and suffer torture or famine in jail is from a fourthcentury literature which reeks with fiction. [In his The Decian Persecution] J.A. Gregg, who later became the Catholic Bishop of Ossory.... finds, however, after diligent search, that only five Christians of the city of Rome (where Church writers claim a body of 20,000 faithful, 46 priests, and more than 100 other clerics) are known to have been martyred; that even less are positively identifiable in all the rest of Europe; and that in the East and Africa we have few quite reliable accounts of executions. Even on Gregg's uncritical acceptance of some of the evidence, we are left with a vague impression of at the most two or three dozen executions and a few hundred suffering, and in some cases dying, in jail or exile. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe The Diocletian persecution of 303-305CE - under Emperor Diocletian Diocletian (284-305) was the ablest and finest Roman Emperor since Hadrian, and he allowed remarkable freedom to Christians for nearly twenty years. They were permitted to build a large church near his palace at Nicomedia, and his wife and daughter joined the [Christian] sect. The Christian orator Lactantius, who lived at Nicomedia and was employed by the Court, tells his usual untruthful stories about the change of the Emperor's mood in his Deaths of the Persecutors, but reveals, incidentally, that the numerous Christian officials of the Court were insolent, on religious grounds, to the Emperor (making the sign of the cross at the sacrifices) and his mother, and that when Diocletian, whose life-aim was the restoration of the Empire to its old strength, ordered the destruction of their chapel, they tore down his edict and were suspected of having set fire to the palace. The Christian religion being still illicit in Roman law, Diocletian, who, though of humble origin, had a strong feeling of imperial dignity, issued a

series of decrees ordering that the churches be destroyed and the copies of the Scriptures given up, and that all must offer sacrifice (burn a few grains of incense) or produce an official certificate that they had done so. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Fiction: about 40,000 martyrs Until modern times Christian literature counted a mass of martyrs under Diocletian that ran to something like 40,000, and Rome claimed a large share of these heroes. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Facts: a score (20) of martyrs in the whole empire - none in Rome, and a few hundred suicidal Christians executed. [Catholic historian] Duchesne (History of the Christian Church, 3 vols., 1904) laboriously finds about a score of genuine martyrs in the whole Empire, including three at Rome, but the leading (and strictly orthodox) Catholic authority on martyrs, the Jesuit Fr. Delehaye, supported by his colleagues, does not find a single genuine contemporary record of a martyrdom at Rome (Prof. Ehrhard,Die altchristliche Literatur, 1900, 556). -- How Christianity Grew Out of Paganism, by Joseph McCabe It is impossible to estimate how many were executed--these were largely zealots who demanded death--in the Empire, though the documents passed by modern experts suggest only a few hundred, but in Rome itself the apostasy was extraordinary. The Pope led the betrayal, and Diocletian's wife, Prisca (who nevertheless appears as three different lady-martyrs in the pious fiction), and daughter promptly quitted the Church. Pope Marcellinus is still "Saint and Martyr" in Catholic official literature, but the chief modern Catholic historian, Mgr. Duchesne, proves that he died in bed, and the official Papal Chronicle admits that he abjured the faith. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe More fictions: mass martyrdoms A fair summary of the critical work is that it claims definite reliability for accounts of a few Score martyrdoms (in 250 years) and a fair historical probability for a few hundreds mentioned in contemporary letters or local traditions. All the stories of mass martyrdoms (the 11,000 Virgins of Cologne, St. Pappus and his 24,000 companions, the Thundering Legion, etc.) are disdainfully put aside, and theoverwhelming majority of the Acta (the supposed verbatim reports of trials) are found to be spurious. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe The Acts (of the martyrs) and other forgeries This question of martyrdoms gives you a general indication of the character of the Christians of the 3rd century, when the only two real general persecutions of Christians occurred, and at the same time gives you the measure of the fairy tales that are still told about the early church--told, that is to say, to the people and cherished by politicians, and editorial writers, though Catholic scholars who have specialized in martyr literature (the Jesuit Father Delehaye, the Austrian

Professor Ehrhard, Bishop Gregg, etc.) have to admit that it is the finest collection of forgeries that we have. -- How Christianity Grew Out of Paganism, by Joseph McCabe Delehaye, a Jesuit, has made a special study of the martyrs of the Roman Church and has found that all the "Acts" of them -- including such treasured memories as St. Agnes and St. Cecilia -are late compilations which do not even profess to quote earlier authorities. -- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe The common use, as a proverb, of a phrase from a piece of early Christian fiction, "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church," illustrates the thorough permeation of our general literature and the mind of the public with apologetic untruth. The scandal is in this case all the more flagrant from the fact that it is almost entirely Christian scholars, and mainly Catholic scholars, who have exposed the fiction . They have shown that not one martyr story in a hundred survives critical examination , and in particular that at each of the two general persecutions not one Christian in many thousands was loyal to his faith, and that, instead of the blood of the very few martyrs being the seed of the Church, the close of each persecution saw the church everywhere appallingly shrunken and in a state of complete demoralization. Stories of pagans rushing to join the faithful at sight of the fortitude of the martyrs are taken entirely from fictitious lives or forged Acta (records of trials) of the martyrs. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe In short, modern experts on this literature find that only a few dozen of the supposed "acts" (accounts of trial and execution) of the martyrs are not blatant forgeries, and beyond these we just have thevague reports of local bishops that a number of the more zealous of their people-generally enthusiasts who regarded martyrdom as a sure ticket to paradise--were executed. Delehaye has shown in a special study that all stories of Christians being exposed to lions in the Roman Amphitheater [the Colosseum] (which so moved Mr. G.B. Shaw that he based a play on them) are bogus. Of three generations of Christians in the 3rd century--certainly at least six or seven millions--only a hundred or two did not deny the faith or take to flight; and the learned Origen himself says that for the first two centuries you could count the martyrs on your fingers. -- How Christianity Grew Out of Paganism, by Joseph McCabe Real martyrs are unpopular, fictional saints are revered Moreover, the martyrs in whose cases the Acta are considered genuine are such as Fructuosus, Augurius, Carpus, Papylus, etc., in whom even the Catholic is not interested, while the men and women who are popular--St. George, Catherine, Agnes, Laurence, Sebastian, Cecilia, Denis, etc.--the saints who are pressed upon children in all Roman and Anglican schools and even mentioned reverently in the Press, are fictitious. In a few cases the consolation is offered that a grave or a church testifies that a person of that name did exist, but the use to-day of detailed and often ludicrously false stories based upon these is dishonest; especially when the apologist builds upon them an argument that its richness in martyrs proves the supernatural

character of the Church. Beyond these few dozen Acta which are, often on slender grounds, declared to be genuine, we have only letters of one church to another when persecution ceases. In some cases the martyr-makers used pagan deities (see Rendel Harris's Cult of the Heavenly Twins, and especially Ehrhard), and the same story was used repeatedly. Only a few hundred real martyrs in 250 years can be reasonably claimed; while the Catholics killed many times that number of Arians in half a century, and between 1200 and 1700 they slew millions [Crusades, Inquisitions, Witch hunts] -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Duchesne particularly studied the martyrs of his own country, France, and few of them kept their crowns and halos. Ehrhard studied the Greek martyrs, and they melted one by one into myth. One man, Professor von Gebhardt, spent almost a lifetime in studying the "Acts of Paul and Thecla" and, says Father Delehaye, "the result shows us the fatal lot reserved for hagiographical documents which have long been esteemed." Professor Usener and others showed that pagan deities had been dressed up as Christian martyrs. Others took up the study of the "saintly" actors who, as pagans, refused to parody Christianity on the stage, and wiped out all their naughtiness of a long and happy life by martyrdom; yet one legend, which proved popular, was the basis of all the stories (St. Genesius, St. Gelasinus, St. Ardalion, St. Porphyrius, St. Philemon, etc.). -- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe Fact: a vast apostasy, instead of many martyrs By 312, on the eve of Constantine's popularised conversion to Christianity: All the blood of all the martyrs had converted only a small fraction of the Roman world, and a recent persecution had made apostates of ninety-nine in a hundred of those. -- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by historian and former Franciscan monk Joseph McCabe We must remember that within ten years [after Diocletian's persecution] Constantine gave the Christians freedom, and they had full opportunity to write their records. The story of the [Diocletian] persecution, like that of the Decian persecution, shows the appalling growth of what is politely called "pious fiction" in the Church after the year 305, and the superficial faith and low character of the overwhelming majority. There were at least 20,000 Christians at Rome, yet, allowing for a few hundred who concealed themselves, all but a handful offered the pagan sacrifice, or bought fraudulent certificates that they had done so. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe The Christian persecution-complex rewrote actual history: No distinction is made between the emperors who ordered or those who allowed proceedings against Christians; there is but one epithet for them, they are all impiissimus ["evil"], whether it be Nero, Decius or Diocletian, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius or Alexander Severus. All are equally inspired by the same insane hatred of Christianity, none has any concern but to destroy it. Often

it is the emperor in person who presides at the trial of Christians, involving long journeys for himself which history does not record-and for good reason. It was obvious that the head of state could not be everywhere at once, but that is no obstacle to his rage; he is worthily represented by emissaries, who scour the whole empire. Christians are outlawed everywhere, searched out and dragged before ferocious judges, who contrive to invent frightful tortures, that in fact were never inflicted on even the worst criminals. The intervention from on high which prevents these ingenious torments from harming the martyrs throws their persecutors' cruelty into higher relief, and at the same time provides an adequate and perceptible explanation of the numerous conversions which atrocious cruelty could do nothing to stop. That is a miniature sketch of the persecutions -- The Legends of the Saints, Hippolyte Delehaye Birth of the martyr-fiction tradition and the relic industry The contemporary bishops (Cyprian, Eusebius, etc.) speak of a few heroes and heroines and a vast apostasy. Read Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History (VIII, 1). But the work of fiction [the martyr stories], which in the end produced a literature without parallel in the story of any other religion, began as soon as the axe of the persecutor was laid aside. It was started by Lactantius, an employee of the imperial household, who was in an exceptional position to know the truth, but wrote a recklessly false work On the Deaths of the Persecutors. The unscrupulous Pope (St.) Damasus gave a powerful impetus to the work at Rome and, as the provincial churches now vied with each other to purchase "relics" of the glorious dead -even St. Ambrose stooped to cater dishonestly to this--the trade assumed heroic proportions during several centuries. -- A Rationalist Encyclopaedia, by Joseph McCabe Who did the persecuting? When the Empire was still mostly pagan: In A.D. 380 the Emperor Theodosius destroyed the temples of the Goddesses and closed down the temple, known as the seventh wonder of the world, the temple of the Goddess in Ephesus. This Christian emperor followed that by a massacre of 7000 people in Thessalonica. -- William Edelen The Edict of Milan - ensured religious freedom for Christians In 312 (the labarum year) Constantine, now emperor, met his co-Emperor Licinius at Milan and together they issued a formal edict recognizing the freedom of the Christians. as seen in popular legend.

This famous Edict of Milan was not, as is commonly said, the first chapter of liberty. The Christians were already free, except that the Emperor Maximian still persecuted in the east; though he in turn was killed in 313. Constantine, in the next year, attacked and beat Licinius, but he continued to share the empire with him for nine years, when, at the close of a fresh struggle, he had him treacherously murdered. -- The Story Of Religious Controversy, by Joseph McCabe Constantine, after publicly pardoning Licinius, had him and his son murdered in private. Emperor Licinius was a Mithraist: Several of the Roman Emperors, down to Licinius, colleague of Constantine, built temples to Mithra, and issued coins with his symbols. "But with the triumph of Christianity [after Constantine] Mithraism came to a sudden end. The laws of Theodosius [proscribing it under penalty of death, to please the Christians] signed its death warrant. ..." -- Forgery in Christianity, by Joseph Wheless But Constantine immediately went beyond this declaration of religious neutrality and evinced an attitude of what is now called benevolent neutrality. In the same year, 313, he exempted the Christian clergy from municipal offices. In the Roman administration these local functions, so far from being paid, were extremely costly and onerous to the citizens who were compelled to discharge them, and there was a very general attempt to evade them. Exemption was regarded as so valuable a privilege that the Christian clergy now discovered a remarkable number of "vocations" to their body, and great disorder ensued in the municipal administration, I leave it to the Catholic historian Count Beugnot ("Histoire de la destruction du paganisme" I, 78) to estimate the result: The effect of this measure was soon felt. On all sides one saw crowds of people make for the churches who were moved not so much by conviction as by the hope of reward; and this first favor granted to Christianity admitted to its bosom guilty passions which had hitherto been foreign to it, passions which had speedy and pernicious consequences. The complaints of the municipal bodies and the disorder that followed in the administration of the provinces soon compelled Constantine to modify the privilege. This, in fact, was Constantine's invariable experience when he listened to clerical suggestions of legislation in their favor. The anger of his solidly pagan empire compelled him to withdraw it. In 319 he issued a savage decree that any auspex who entered the house of a citizen should be burned alive, though the auspices might continue to function in the temples. It is said that the aim of the decree was to prevent the fraudulent exploitation of the citizens by private fortune-telling for money, but, as Beugnot observes, the real aim was a deadly blow at the old religion by making impossible the assumption of its offices. Two years later Constantine was forced to modify, or virtually repeal, his law, and it was probably never applied. In the same year, however, he tried to impose the Christian Sunday as a day of rest on his Empire. How stupid or ignorant is the idea that the Christian Church brought a great boon to the Roman worker with its one day's rest out of seven. The Romans rested on the Thursday (Thor's or Jupiter's Day -- Dies Jovis), and, as I said, they had more than a hundred holidays in addition in the year. Constantine's aim was, as in his previous measures, to enforce

Christianity. Again, however, he failed, and he had to modify his own decree. -- The Story of Religious Controversy, by historian and former Catholic priest Joseph McCabe Though Constantine had somewhat unsuccessfully started Christianity's attempts to wipe out the pre-Christian religions of the Greco-Roman civilisation (as stipulated by the clergy), succeeding Christian Emperors would piously implement highly discriminatory laws enforced by such violence that it led to Christianity's triumph over the ancient civilisation. The Codes of Theodosius and and Justinian In the famous Code of Theodosius, about 384, it was at priestly instigation enacted: "We desire that all the people under our clemency should live by that religion which divine Peter the apostle is said to have given the Romans. ... We desire that heretics and schismatists be subjected to various fines. ... We decree also that we shall cease making sacrifices to the gods. And if anyone has committed such a crime, let him be stricken with the avenging sword." (Cod. Theod. xvi, 1, 2; v, 1; x, 4.) the accursed words "Inquisition of the Faith" and "Inquisitors" first appear in this Christian Code. "Theodosius I was called the Great because he was the first Emperor to act against heathenism, and also because he contributed to the victory over the Arians." (CE. iii, 101. [Catholic Encyclopaedia]) -- Forgery in Christianity, by Joseph Wheless Christian Emperors enact incremental persecution of non-Christian Romans From Forgery in Christianity, by Joseph Wheless: When the Christians were weak and powerless and subjected to occasional persecutions as "enemies of the human race," they were vocal and insistent advocates of liberty of conscience and freedom to worship whatever God one chose; the Christian "Apologies" to the Emperors abound in eloquent pleas for religious tolerance; and this was granted to them and to all by the Edict of Milan and other imperial Decrees. But when by the favor of Constantine they got into the saddle of the State, they at once grasped the sword and began to murder and despoil all who would not pretend to believe as the Catholic priest commanded them to believe. When today the Church screams "Persecution!" and "Bigotry!" at every criticism and every attempt to restrict it in some of its presumptuous usurpations, let it recall a few of the laws of intolerance, plunder and death which it procured and enforced from the moment it got the prostituted power, so long as that power lasted. Beginning with Constantine, and under succeeding "Christian" emperors, there is a series of scores of laws which the Christians procured to be enacted for the suppression and persecution to death of Pagans, heretics and Jews. These laws and edicts are to be found in the Codes of Theodosius and of Justinian, the two famous codifleations of Roman Law. Laws of Constantine The Edict of Milan, co-authored with murdered pagan co-emperor Licinius, ensured religious

freedom of Christians. Thereafter, the Laws of Constantine, in "redressing" injuries done to the Christians [when they were traitors to the Empire], heaped favours upon them: [Besides the] laws for the redress of injuries done to Christians; such as release of prisoners and those in servitude, and the restoration of property

"The Church is the heir of those who leave no kindred; and free gifts to it are confirmed"; "Those who have purchased property belonging to the Church or received it as a gift, are to restore it." (Eusebius, Vita Constantine, N&PNF. Bk. II, chs. xxiv-xliii.) "Granting Money to the Churches." (Ib. Bk, x, ch. vi.) "Catholic Clergy exempt from Certain Civic Duties." (Code Theod. xvi, 2, 1; 313.) "The Catholic Church freed from Tribute." (Id. xi, 1, 1; 815.) "Clergymen freed from Financial Burdens." (Id. xvi, 2, 2; 319.) "The Church allowed to Receive Bequests." (Id. xvi, 2, 4; 321.) "Bishop's Powers as Judges and Witnesses": "Whatever may be settled by a sentence of bishops shall ever be held as sacred and venerable ... All testimony given, even by a single bishop, shall be accepted without hesitation, by every judge, neither shall the testimony of any other witness be heard, when the testimony of a bishop is brought forward by either party"! (Const. Sirm. i; 333.) "The Day of the Sun a Time of Rest." "All judges, and city folk and all craftsmen shall rest on the venerated day of the Sun." (Cod. Just. iii, 12, 2; 321.)

It should be borne in mind that these laws were enacted at a time when Rome's Christian population was still, according to the most favourable calculation, no more than 5%. A number of laws follow in favor of the Pagans, and while prohibiting "private divination and soothsaying," and "Malevolent Magic Prohibited, but Beneficial Magic Encouraged" ; also exempting Pagan Flamens, priests and magistrates from sundry restrictions and disabilities. No law of Constantine seems to be preserved which prescribes active persecution; he seems to have sought to hold an even balance of toleration to Pagans and Christians. But that he did enact such laws seems to be proved by recital in the first of the laws of his sons, Constantius [II] and Constans, who were Arian heretics. And yet, the Laws of Constantine already fore-shadowed the intolerance that the subsequent Christian Emperors under the guidance of their Churches would soon enact: "Edict to the People of the Provinces Concerning the Error of Polytheism." (Ib. [Eusebius, Vita Constantine, N&PNF. Bk. II] chs. xlviii-xlix.) And of course, upon his Christian mother Helena's request, Constantine had preChristian Roman and Greek temples destroyed all over the empire, to be replaced with the nowfamous Christian Churches. No anti-pagan measures need to be preserved in the Laws of Constantine to know that he persecuted them. Laws of Constantius [II] and Constans

"Sacrifice Prohibited.": "Let superstition cease and the folly of sacrifices be abolished. Whoever has dared in the face of the law of the divine prince, our father [Constantine] ...

to make sacrifices, shall have appropriate penalty, and immediate sentence dealt to him." (Cod. Theod. xvi, 10, 2; 341.) "All Temples Closed and Sacrifices Forbidden." "but if any one commit any offense of this sort, let him fall by the avenging sword," and his property forfeited; judges neglecting to "mete out penalties for these offenses, they shall be similarly punished." (Cod. Theod. xvi, 10, 4; 846.)

"Sacrificing and Idolatry Punishable by Death." "We order that all found guilty of attending sacrifices or of worshipping idols shall suffer capital punishment." (Id. xvi, 10, 6; 356.)

Laws of Gratian and Theodosius

"Wills of Apostate Christians to be Set Aside": "The right of making a will shall be taken from Christians who become pagans; and if such persons make wills, they shall be set aside without regard to circumstances." (Cod. Theod. xvi, 7, 1; 381: cf. Cod. Justin. i, 7, 2; 382.) "The Right to Bequeath or Inherit Property Denied Apostates" : "We deny to Christians and the faithful who have adopted pagan rites and religion all power of making a will in favor of any person whatsoever, in order that they may be without the Roman law [outlaws]; ... even of enjoying a will with the power of acquiring an inheritance." (Cod. Theod. xvi, 7, 2; 383.) "The Right of Making a Will Denied Christians Who enter Temples." ( Id. xvi, 7, 3; 383.)

Laws of Theodosius and Valentinian

"Testamentary Disqualification for Christian Apostates," and Outlawry as Witnesses. -- "Those who betray the sacred faith and profane holy baptism are shut off from association of all and from giving testimony. ... They may not exercise the right of making a will, nor enter upon any inheritance; they may not be made anyone's heir." (Id. xvi, 7, 4; 391.) "Sacrificing and Visiting Shrines Prohibited." (Id. xvi, 10, 10; 391.) "Sacrifices Forbidden and Temples Closed." (Id. xvi, 10, 11; 391.) "PAGANISM OUTLAWED." -- "IF any one dares [to sacrifice, etc.], let any man be free to accuse him and let him receive, as one guilty of lese majeste, ... for it is sufficiently a crime." (Id. xvi, 10. 12; 392.)

Laws of Honorius and Arcadius

"Pagan Holidays Abolished." (Cod. Theod. ii, 8, "Privileges of Pagan Priests Abolished." (Id. xvi, 10, "Rural Temples to be Destroyed." (Id. xvi. 10,

22; 14; 16;

895.) 396.) 399.)

"Temples to be Appropriated by the Churches." (Id. xvi, 5, 43; 408.) "Temples to be Appropriated by the Churches. Temple Buildings and their Revenues to be Confiscated and idols and Shrines to be Destroyed." (Id. xvi, 5, 43; xvi, 10, 19; 407.) "Only Catholics to Serve as Palace Guards." (Cod. Theod. xvi. 5, 42; 408.) "Laws Against the Pagans to be Enforced": "The Donatists and other vain heretics and those others who cannot be converted to the worship of the Catholic communion, Jews and Gentiles who are vulgarly known as pagans; ... Let all judges understand, and not fail to carry out all decrees against such persons." (Id. xvi,. 5, 46; 409.) "Pagans Barred from Civil and Military Offices." (Id. xvi, 10, 21; 416.) "Existing Laws against Pagans to be Enforced." (Id. xvi, 10, 22; 423.) "Pagans Who Sacrifice Shall Lose their Property and be Exiled"' (Id. xvi, 10, 23; 423.) "Pagan Superstition to be Rooted Out": "We are extirpating all heresies and all falsehoods, all schisms and all superstitions of the pagans and all errors that are inimicable to the Catholic religion. ... And since all attempt at supplication is denied forever, they will be punished with the severity befitting crimes." (Id. xvi, 5, 63; 423.) "Pagans Barred from Pleading a Case or Serving as Soldiers": "... and every sect unfriendly with the Catholics should be driven out of every city in order that they may not be sullied by the contagious presence of criminals. We deny to Jews or pagans the right of pleading a case in court or of serving as soldiers." (Const. Sirm. No. 6; 425.)

Later laws against paganism

"Pagan Rites Forbidden and Bequests for Pagan Cults Prohibited." (Cod. Just. i, 11, 9; 472.) "Baptized Persons who follow Pagan Practices to Suffer Death . Provisions for the Conversion of the Unbaptized. Pagans Forbidden to Give Instruction." (Cod. Just. 1, 11, 10; no date given.) "Pagans Barred from Office and their Real Property Confiscated." "The Emperors Justin and Justinian. ... It is our intention to restore the existing laws which affect the rest of the heretics of whatever name they are, (and we label as heretic whoever is not a member of the Catholic Church and of our orthodox and holy faith); likewise the pagans who attempt to introduce the worship of many gods, and the Jews and the Samaritans. ... We forbid any of the above-mentioned persons to aspire to any dignity or to acquire civil or military office or to attain to any rank." (Id. i, 5, 12; 527.)

Thus was Pagan Superstition proscribed and destroyed by Christian law and sword; and the identical Pagan Superstitions under the veneer of the name of Christian established and enthroned. The subject is thoroughly examined by Prof. Maude A. Huttmann, in The Establishment of Christianity Through the Proscription of Paganism; (Columbia University Press, 1914). -- Forgery in Christianity, by Joseph Wheless

Compare the above to Rome's last pagan Emperor, Julian, who reigned after Constantius II from 361 CE: There was a striking contrast between the reign of [Christian Emperor] Constantius and that of his pagan successor. Julian decreed universal tolerance. No Christian was visited with punishment on account of his religion. The only means he employed to combat the growing superstition was to write against it, and throughout his short but beneficent reign he afforded convincing proof of the superiority of his Paganism to the Christianity of his predecessors. His temper and his philosophy were so humane that he pardoned a band of Christian soldiers who conspired to assassinate him, and he forgave the people of Antioch for an insult such as the pious Theodosius avenged at Thessalonica by a wholesale massacre. -- Crimes of Christianity, by G W Foote and J M Wheeler Link After the assassination of Julian, his Christian successors eventually repealed all of Julian's edicts and continued to persecute the pagans, as seen above.
http://freetruth.50webs.org/B3b.htm#EdictAndCodes