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After a 23 year rule, Emperor Athonius Pius died in 161 AD. He had been the best emperor since Caesar Augustus.The phase of the “good emperors” (Trajan: 98-117 AD, Hadrian: 117-138 AD, Antoninus Pius: 138-161 AD and Marcus Aurelius: 161-180 AD) was now to end with the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
Marcus Aurelius (161-180) was the adopted son of Emperor Pius and the fulfilment of Plato’s hope of a philosopher king. He was not just a king of a country, but the emperor of the western world covering most of the coastal countries of the Mediterranean. Marcus was a real philosopher adopting one of the most practical philosophies for an emperor --Stoicism. Unlike Buddhism, which denies reality, Stoics embrace reality. Marcus’ book: “Meditations” is still a classic of stoic thought. The caricature of stoics being unemotional is not accurate. They just were not controlled by sentiment. It definitely lacked the insights of mercy that Christianity could give, as well as the sanctity of life.
Even though Marcus was fair, he was still a pagan, and treated Christians with suspicion. Persecution of Christians still continued under his reign. One of the worst since the time of Nero happened in Lyons, France.
A persecution broke out in Lyon, in AD 177. Lyons was called Lugdunum, and France was called Roman Gaul, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. An account of this persecution is in a letter preserved in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chapter 1 and Gregory of Tours describes the persecution in his, De Gloria Martyrum.
Lyons was an important Roman city in Gaul. Founded on the Rhone river in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, it served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis. The emperor Claudius was born in Lyons. The first known Christian community established in Lyons some time in the 2nd century headed by a bishop named Pothinus from Asia Minor.
Local Roman officials were largely responsible for persecutions during the reign of the good emperors. These Caesars were largely content to treat Christianity as a local problem, and leave it to their subordinates to deal with; persecution was largely sporadic. For Roman governors being a Christian was a subversive act, because of the refusal to worship the gods of Rome, including the deified emperor, leading to a lack of trust among the populace.
The Christians in the area of Lyons were mainly Greeks from Turkey. Before the actual outbreak of violence, Christians were forbidden from the marketplace, the forum, the baths, or to appear in any public places. If they did appear in public they were mocked, beaten, or robbed by mobs. The homes of Christians were vandalized. (Hist. Eccl., 5.1.5,7). The martyrs of Lyons were accused of "Thyestean banquets and Oedipean intercourse," a reference to cannibalism and incest. As mentioned before, eating the Eucharist was considered by the first Christians as truly the body of Christ, and it was common to call each other brother and sister, even when married. So the misunderstanding is understandable.
How long all of this lasted is not indicated, but eventually the authorities seized the Christians and questioned them in the forum in front of the populace. They were then imprisoned until the arrival of the governor.
According to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl.,5.4), St. Irenaeus, who stayed in Rome, after traveling there with Polycarp, traveled to Lyons to minister to the Christians there. Irenaeus returned to Rome with a letter, from the church of Lyons being persecuted some jailed, to Pope Eleutherus. This letter dealt mainly with the refutation of Montanism. The main persecution started while Irenaeus was still in Rome.
When the governor interrogated the Christians in Lyons, in front of the populace, mistreating them to such a degree that Vettius Epagathus, a Christian, and man of high social standing, requested permission to testify on behalf of the accused. This request was refused and instead the governor arrested Vettius Epagathus; who confessed to being a Christian.
These Christians endured torture, while the authorities continued to apprehend others. Two of their pagan servants were seized and, fearing torture, falsely charged the Christians with incest and cannibalism (Hist. Eccl., 5.1.12-13).
What followed was the torture of the captive Christians by various means. The elderly Bishop Pothinus, first Bishop of Lyons, was beaten and scourged, and died shortly after in prison.
A slave, Blandina, was subjected to extreme torture. She was initially exposed, hung on a stake, to be the food of the beasts let loose upon her. But none of the beasts at that time touched her, although being hungry, for not being fed; she was brought back again to prison, before being cast in a net and thrown before a bull, meeting her martyrdom.
Also martyred at this time were Attalus, Epipodius and Alexander, Maturus, Saint Ponticus, a fifteen-year-old boy, and Sanctus, a deacon. There were 48 victims all totaled. (Hist. Eccl., 5.1.45-46)
There were some Christians who betrayed their fellow Christians at trial, by falsely accusing them of crimes of incest and cannibalism. This only made things worse for all because they were also arrested and killed. They repented before their death, but suffered more than the ones who stayed firm in the Faith.
continue to the next chapter
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