Diocletian was the Roman emperor from 285 to 305 AD. The empire was on verge of collapse when he was a youth, but as a result of his reforms and reorganizations it was able to survive for another 150 years. As far as I know, he was the only emperor to leave office voluntarily. He retired to spend the rest of his years at his palace in Split (in present day Croatia) supposedly tending his vegetable garden. His palace survives in part today, but some of the walls have been incorporated into other buildings.
 

​While Diocletian was one of the most competent emperors, his coming to power brought suffering to the Christians. At the urging of his pagan priests, he ordered an empire wide persecution of Christians in 303 AD; the priests convinced him that some of the empire’s problems were due to ungodliness, especially on the part of Christians. There other previous persecutions, but they were locally instigated; even Nero’s most cruel actions against the Christians were an attempt to place blame for the burning of Rome. Diocletian requested that the edict be carried out without bloodshed, but the historian Peter Davies estimates that there were about 100 martyrdoms. The Persecution took several forms; some Christians were imprisoned, Christian documents were destroyed (remember church services involved the reading of the prophets and the gospels), and some Christians were purged from civic positions and the army.

​Despite the actions described above, the Great Persecution was not a success. Many local leaders refused to enforce the edict or did so only minimally; it was not enforced at all in the western half of the empire. In the end the status of Christians had improved, and in less than a generation Christianity became the preferred religion of the empire under Constantine. This failure was because while the Christians were not a large group (less than ten percent of the population), they were respected by most of the public, who were also sympathetic to their suffering. Some Christians had become wealthy and others had positions in government or the military, which made them harder to attack. As a group they were considered good citizens who supported the public good. But I think the main reason is that they were admired for their Christian virtues: their love for one another, their humble righteousness, and most of all their selfless, charitable acts. I think the failure of the Great Persecution is a witness to their witness.

​Read John 13:34-35, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim

Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13%3A34-35&version=NRSV

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