A libellus (plural libelli) in the Roman Empire was any official document written on individual pages (as opposed to scrolls or tablets), issued by governmental authorities.
The term libellus has particular historical significance for the libelli that were issued during the reign of Emperor Decius ,to citizens to certify performance of required pagan sacrifices in order to demonstrate loyalty to the authorities of the Roman Empire.
Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire occurred intermittently over a period of two or more centuries between the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD under Nero Caesar and the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, in which the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius ,legalized the Christianity.
The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was carried out by the state and also by local authorities on a sporadic, ad hoc basis, often at the whims of local communities.
Starting in 250 AD, empire-wide persecution took place by decree of the emperor Decius.
The edict of persecution was in force for eighteen months, during which time Christians were killed while others apostatised ( renounced a religious or political belief or principle to escape execution).
Responses of the Early Church to Christian Persecutions
| Martyrs | a person who had died for Christ |
| Confessors | defined as one who proclaimed Christ’s lordship at trial or torture but did not suffer the death penalty |
| Traditores | Christians giving up to Roman Authorities the Scriptures, the sacred vessels, or the names of their brethren during the Roman persecutions |
| Lapsed | Compromised their faith by complying with imperial directives or cooperating with government authorities under the threat of persecution. |
| Fled | Leaving an area to avoid persecution |
Although Decius’s origins are not known, it is certain that he was a Senator and Consul before ascending to the throne.
Emperor Philip the Arabian entrusted him with a command on the Danube; four years later Decius was proclaimed emperor, allegedly against his will. After killing Philip in battle near Verona, Italy.
Decius issued an edict ordering all citizens to perform a religious sacrifice in the presence of commissioners , because he wanted to be worshiped as a god.
A large number of Christians defied the government, for which the bishops of Rome, Jerusalem, and Antioch lost their lives and many others were arrested because Emperor worship is seen as a sin to a false idol.
However, the suppression strengthened rather than weakened the Christian movement, public opinion condemned the government’s violence and applauded the passive resistance of the martyrs.
below: Phillip the Arab
Philip was betrayed and killed following a rebellion led by his successor, Emperor Decius (Trajan Decius).
Roman officials were required to oversee the sacrifices on a fixed day, also receive in writing a statement from the person, and countersign the testimony in the name of the emperor.
During this time many christians apostatized ( renounced a religious or political belief ). Others bought certificates of sacrifices or had them procured by pagan friends and there seems to have been a connivance by the officials, which was widly spread. Those who refused to sacrifice were often imprisoned or even put to death.
Forty-six similar certificates have been published, all dating from the same year, 250 AD. Four libelli were found among the thousands of papyri at the archaeological site near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt .
Its first part reads: “To the Commissioners for sacrifices in the village of Alexander’s island, from Aurelius Diogenes, son of Satabus, of the village of Alexander’s island, aged 72; scar on right eyebrow.” The receipt of the presiding official reads: “I certify that I witnessed his sacrifice, Aurelius Syrus. Dated this first year of the Emperor Caesar Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, Pius, Felix, Augustus, the 2nd of Epiph. (26 Jun 250).”
However, not participating and absence of a certificate of performance of required pagan sacrifices , made one liable to arrest by the Roman authorities.
below: Modern Christian in Cairo
At various times under Roman rule, failure to sacrifice was punishable by death. Christian theologians (for example Cyprian) debated whether the threat of the death penalty mitigated (make less severe, serious, or painful the sin of having communion with idols, leaving room for forgiveness and restoration to the Christian community.
In some cases christian officials or bishops also betrayed their fellow Christians to the Roman authorities under threat of persecution . When the persecution ended, Christians who did so were called traditors—”those who handed (the holy things) over”.
For example, during the Diocletianic Persecution, many church leaders had gone as far as turning in Christians to the authorities and “handed over” sacred religious texts to authorities to be burned. They were knows as traditores.
Later, some of the traditors would be returned to positions of authority under Constantine I, sparking a split with the Donatist movement. Donatism had its roots in the long-established Christian community of the Roman Africa province (now Algeria and Tunisia) in the persecutions of Christians under Diocletian.
Named after the Roman governor of North Africa, a Berber Christian Bishop Donatus Magnus , was lenient to the large christian minority under his rule throughout the persecutions, was satisfied when Christians handed over their scriptures as a token repudiation of faith.
Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to be valid.
While many early church members would eventually come to forgive the traditors, the Donatists were less forgiving.
They proclaimed that any sacraments celebrated by these priests and bishops were invalid.
The sect had particularly developed and grown in North Africa. In 314, EmperorConstantine I (Constantine the Great) called the Council of Arles, Gaul, now in France.
EmperorConstantine I became involved in the dispute and, the issue was debated, and the decision went against the Donatists.
The Donatists refused to accept the decision of the council. Their “distaste for bishops who had collaborated” with Rome came out of their broader view of the empire.
One example of resistance was called a “Confessor” a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.
The term is still used that way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared blessed, who cannot be categorized by another title: martyr, apostle, evangelist, or virgin.
As Christianity emerged as the dominant religion in Europe, persecutions became rarer, and the title of Confessor was given to saints who lived a holy life and died in peace. Perhaps the most well known example is the English king St. Edward the Confessor.
Also held out as a counterexample to the traditors, were martyrs -someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by an external party. )
St. Vincent was ordained by Saint Valerius,Bishop of Saragossa, and commissioned to do the preaching in the diocese because Valerius suffered from a speech impediment. St.Vincent acted as his spokesman.
When the Roman Emperor Diocletian began persecuting Christians in Spain, St. Vincent answered in the bishop’s name and both were brought before Dacian, the Roman Governor. For both his bishop and his church, St.Vincent spoke eloquently proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and condemning paganism.
By order of the Governor Dacian, he and his bishop were dragged in chains to Valencia and kept in prison for a long time. Then St Valerius was exiled, but St. Vincent was subjected to many cruel torments.
He was stretched upon a rack, torn with metal hooks, and laid upon a frame of sharp iron bars heated from beneath by fire; lard and salt were rubbed into his wounds; and amid all this he kept his eyes raised to heaven, and remained unmoved.
When even this cruelty failed to break his will, he was again imprisoned and thrown into a solitary dungeon the floor of which was strewn with broken crockery that added to the agony of his already lacerated body
St. Vincent ‘s declared God sent his angels to comfort him,and his cell, was said, was illuminated with a heavenly light .
Just as some American civil rights activists , He sang hymns as he suffered, so that even the jailer was astounded.
As he looked into the cell of the tormented saint and saw him upon his broken knees, suffering agony yet singing the praises to God, he was overcome by wonder, and confessed in that hour his conversion.
On hearing this, the Roman governor was infuriated, but finding all his efforts to unnerve his victim were useless, gave orders for the torture to stop – perhaps to win St.Vincent by clemency or to prevent him from becoming a martyr.
For a time Vincent had some relief. The faithful were permitted to gaze upon his broken body, probably in the hope that they would abandon their faith.
Instead, they came in troops, kissed the open sores, and carried away as relics cloths dipped in his blood.
The gentle hands of Christian women tended his wounds.
But he did not survive long and died of his injuries in prison on January 22 in 304. When he died, the anger of the authorities was renewed.
His body was thrown in a bog as prey to the wild birds and beasts, but it was strangely preserved it is said by the protection of a raven.
When any wild beast or bird tried to attack the mortal remains of the saint, the raven drove them away.
Thwarted, Dacian had ST.Vincent’s body sewn into a bag, tied to a stone, and cast into the sea. But in the night it was washed ashore, and again loving hands gave it reverent care and secret burial. After peace was restored to the Church, a chapel was built over the remains outside the walls of Valencia.
During the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (306–337 AD), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. … In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan decriminalizing Christian worship.