Crisis in the 3rd Century

The third century brought afflictions, instability, and opposition for Christians in the Roman Empire. Today, Stephen Nichols examines how the Lord preserved His church in the midst of these adversities.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are visiting the 3rd century and specifically the crisis of the 3rd century. Now, to put this in a context, let's look at one hundred years from 235 AD to 337. The first part of that century, from 235 to 284, this fifty year period, is known as the crisis of the 3rd century, and we're going to get into that in a moment.

It begins to come to an end with the next Roman emperor Diocletian, who ruled from 284 to 304, and he was the first emperor to voluntarily resign. He stepped away, and he would die a few years later in 311. And then the final period sees Constantine coming in as Emperor of Rome (306), and then until his death in 337. So, this is a very important 100 years, 235 to 337. And understanding a little bit of this political backdrop is very helpful for us in understanding what is going on in the church in this crucial century. Of course, in there, just during Constantine's reign, of course, is the legalization of Christianity and then the Nicene Council. So these are some important moments, but let's get back to the crisis of the 3rd century.

It began in 235 AD, and the Roman Empire plunged into chaos after Emperor Alexander Severus was assassinated along with his mother by soldiers who were for the person who would become the next emperor, Maximus Thrax. This is a military general. He came from rather humble beginnings from what we can understand, grew in power, and then through his supporters seized power in 235, and he sets off the crisis of the 3rd century. It's described by historians as a time of military anarchy. Over the 50 years (235 to 284), there will be twenty-six emperors.

And not only was it a time of military anarchy, but it was a time of financial difficulty for Rome. It was a time of plagues. It was a time of runaway inflation. It was a time of currency debasement. The emperors would actually reduce the amount of silver that would go into coins to stretch the money, which just made matters worse. And these emperors needed a scapegoat, and Maximus Thrax started them off by pointing to Christians and blaming Christians for the instability of the empire. This is the same thing that happened back in the 1st century, and it happened under Nero and the burning of Rome, and he needed a scapegoat, and he pointed his finger at the Christians. So Thrax did this, and he began arresting church leaders and began martyring church leaders. One of these figures was Hippolytus of Rome, and Hippolytus of Rome wrote a book with, really, it's one of my favorite titles from books of church history, and it is Refutation of All the Heresies. Why limit yourself to refuting a couple heresies? Let's just go for all of them. So that was Hippolytus. He was arrested by Thrax, and he was sent to the mines in Sardinia, and that year he died likely due to the conditions there in those mines.

Well, two more emperors, especially noted for persecution were Decius. In fact, it's Decius who comes along in 250, and he is the first emperor to institute empire wide persecution of the church. And he did this by requiring all citizens to offer sacrifices to the Roman gods. And when they did that, they would receive a certificate of compliance. And if they didn't have that certificate of compliance on them, they could be arrested and martyred. And so Christians, under the time of Decius were faced with a dire dilemma. They could sacrifice and apostatize and leave the faith, they could hide, or they could die. Well, let's pick up this story next week with how one Christian in particular responded to Decius, and that would be Cyprian. Well, that's the crisis of the 3rd century. And I'm Steve Nichols, and thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.