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Imperial Religious Policy and Valerian's Persecution of the Church, A.D. 257–260

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Christopher J. Haas
Christopher J. Haas
Affiliation:
graduate student and teaching fellow in the department of history in theUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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Extract

The persecution instituted by the emperor Valerian (AD. 253–260) long has presented modern scholars with several important problems. One of the most pressing questions concerns the reasons behind Valerian's sudden shift in religious policy in 257. Prior to that time the church was largely undisturbed, but the years 257–258 witnessed a series of increasingly severe imperial edicts directed against Christianity. What prompted this sudden reversal of imperial religious policy in 257? Moreover, given the change in the official position, what was the nature of this revised religious policy? The overall picture that emerges out of an attempt to answer these questions indicates that the primary motives behind this persecution were, in fact, religious. Further, the government's religious outlook also encompassed certain related social aims. In order to deal with these issues effectively, however, one first must compare Valerian's religious policy to those of his predecessors from 249 to 253.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , June 1983 , pp. 133 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1983

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References

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28. This interpretation is most succinctly set forth in Alföldi, Andreas, “The Crisis of the Empire,” Cambridge Ancient History, 12:171, 204–205Google Scholar, which is a summary of points elaborated more fully in Alföldi, , “Zu den Christenverfolgungen in der Mitte des 3. Jahrhunderts,” Klio 31 (1938): 323–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Alföldi's view is followed, in the main, by Parker, H. M. D., A History of the Roman World from A.D. 138–337 (New York, 1939), p. 170;Google Scholar and by Sage, , Cyprian, p. 338.Google Scholar

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31. One of the earliest and most outspoken proponents of this economic interpretation was George Oborn, T., “Why Did Decius and Valerian Proscribe Christianity?” Church History 2 (1933): 67–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar While describing the Decian persecution, Oborn goes so far as to say, “The primary and fundamental cause of the imperial action taken by Decius was economic. It does not matter in the least whether he was fully conscious of the fact or not” (p. 68). Other scholars are more circumspect in their support for the economic interpretation: Frend, , Martyrdom and Persecution, p. 316;Google Scholar Joseph Vogt, Reallexikon für Antike und Christenturn, s.v. “Christenverfolgungen”; Oost, Steward I., “The Alexandrian Seditions under Philip and Gallienus,” Classical Philology 61 (1961): 7;Google ScholarKeresztes, , “Two Edicts of the Emperor Valerian,” pp. 91–94.Google Scholar

32. One exception is HE 7.11.18, but see also Clarke, , “Prosopographical Notes III,” p. 444.Google Scholar

33. Clarke, , “Prosopographical Notes III,” p. 444.Google Scholar After the pogrom of Domitian, Nerva restored the property of those who had been exiled (Cassius Dio 68.2.1; HE 3.20.8).

34. Cyprian, , Epistula 80.1Google Scholar, quotes Valerian's edict as especially calling for the punishment of senatores vero et egregii viri et equites Romani as well as matronae.

35. This is the view of Jones, A. H. M., The Later Roman Empire, 284–602, 2 vols. (Norman, OkIa., 1964) 1:33–34;Google ScholarMillar, Fergus, “The Imperial Cult and the Persecutions,” in Willem den, Boer, ed., Le Culte des souverains dans l'Empire Romaine (Geneva, 1972), p. 164;Google Scholarde Ste. Croix, G. E. M., “Why Were the Early Christians Persecuted?” Past and Present 26 (1963): 24–28;Google Scholar and Molthagen, , Der römische Staat und die Christen, pp. 87–89.Google Scholar For the concept of the pax deorum, see Fowler, W. Warde, The Religious Experience of the Roman People (1911; reprint ed., New York, 1971), pp. 169–174.Google Scholar

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37. Supplicationes were offered after the terrible defeat at Lake Trasimene in 217 B.C (Livy 22. 10.8).

38. Cassius Dio 52.36.2–3. One might object to this interpretation on the grounds that Valerian did not order supplicationes in 253, after a period of similar invasions and civil wars. However, these upheavals were the means by which he acquired the throne and instead demonstrated (to Valerian at least) the providentia deorum. In 257, on the other hand, his own administration was threatened.

39. The contemporary sources include Cyprian, , Epistulae 76–81;Google Scholar the letters of Dionysius quoted in HE 7.10–12; the Acta Proconsularia Sancti Cypriani; the Passio Fructuosi Episcopt, Auguri, et Eulogi; and the Oracula Sibyllina 13.155–161. Fourth-century histories may also be consulted, but with caution. For the coinage of the years 253–260, see RIC, vol. 5, pt. 1, pp. 27–128. This includes the coinage of Gallienus up to 260, since father and son often shared reverse types and legends.

40. Valerian's view of his role as the restorer of past glories is also reflected in the coin legends RESTITVTOR ORBIS and RESTIVT[OR] GENER[IS] HVMANI (RIC, Valerian 45, 117–118, 149, 171–172, 220).

41. RIC, Valerian 7–8, 20, 22, 39–40, 72, 73, 76, 83–85, 94, Gallienus 298, Salonina 4,9, 13,37, 68.

42. Θεούς τούς σωξοντας αύτωῶν τήν ßασιλείαν (HE 7.11.7).

43. Passio Fructuosi 2.6.

44. The god Vulcan appears as a coin type in 258 for the first time in nearly two hundred years (RIC, Valerian 1, 5).

45. Acta Proconsularia 1.2, 4.1; HE 7.11.7–9; Passio Fructuosi 2.3–6; Pontius, , Vita Cypriani 17;Google Scholar see also Millar, , “The Imperial Cult and the Persecutions,” pp. 150–163.Google Scholar

46. Zosimus 1.14.1; Historia Augusta: Gordiani: Tres 9.7; Prosopographia Imperii Romani, pt. 5, fasc. 1, no. 258; see also Syme, Ronald, Emperors and Biography (Oxford, 1971), pp. 163–165.Google Scholar

47. Historia Augusta: Valerian: Duo 5.1–7; Zonaras 12.20.4–5.

48. Zonaras 12.20.6 goes so far as to say that “they urged one another on to persecution” (αύτικα άλλέους εις Θεομαχιαν παρακροτήσαντες).

49. In the same breath, however, they also make reference to his “ill-fortune” (Historia Augusta:Aurelianus 42.4; Eutropius, Breviarium 9.7; Zosimus 1.29.2).

50. RIC, Valerian 284–285.

51. Charlesworth, M. P., “The Virtues of a Roman Emperor,” Proceedings of the British Academy 23 (1937): 113;Google Scholar see also Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew, “The Emperor and His Virtues” Historia 30 (1981): 298–323;Google ScholarFears, J. Rufus, “The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology,” in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Principat, ed. Hildegard, Temporini and Wolfgang, Haase (Berlin, 1981), vol. 17, Pt. 2, pp. 828–948.Google Scholar

52. Sometimes it was RELERIGIO (RIC Valerian 114, Salonianus 29).

53. Acta Proconsularia (trans. Mursurillo, Herbert)3.4, 4.1;Google ScholarPassio Fructuosi 2.3; HE 7.11.7–9. In the latter account, the prefect Aemilianus argues with Dionysius that he is not required to give up the worship of the Christian god, but only that he perform sacrifice to the “natural gods.”

54. Several third-century authors make reference to contemporary instances of προσκυνησις (Cassius Dio 58.11.2; Herodian 3.11.18; Είς Βαςιλέα 19).

55. “Aemilianus said … ‘They gave you the opportunity of safety if ye were willing to turn to that which is according to nature and worship [προσκυνεîν] the gods which preserve their empire…’ Dionysius replied: ‘Not all men worship [προςκυνουσι] all gods, but each one certain whom he regards as such.…’ Aemilianus: ‘And who prevents you from worshipping [προσκυνεīν] this god also, if he be a god, along with the natural gods. For ye were bidden to worship [σέßειν] gods, and gods who all know.’ Dionysius replied ‘We worship (προσκυνουμεν) no other god.’” HE 7.11.7–9; compare Passio Fructuosi 2.6.

56. de Blois, p. 117; Jones, , Later Roman Empire, p. 34;Google Scholar compare Origen, , Contra Celsum 3.9.Google Scholar

57. Cyprian, , Epistula 80.1;Google ScholarLiber Pontificalis 30; Clarke, , “Prosopographical Notes III,” pp. 439–443.Google Scholar

58. Zosimus 1.36.1–2; Lactantius, , de Mortibus Persecutorum 5;Google Scholar see also Ensslin, W., “The Persian Wars with Rome,” Cambridge Ancient History, 12:135.Google Scholar

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