Before the Persecution

How great and of what kind were the glory and the freedom that the word of godliness toward the God of the universe, proclaimed to the world through Christ, enjoyed among all people, Greeks and barbarians alike, before the persecution of our day, is more than we can describe as it deserves. The kindness of the rulers toward our people might serve as proof. They even entrusted them with the government of provinces, and because of the great friendship they kept toward our teaching, they freed them from distress over sacrificing. [a] What need is there to speak of those in the imperial palaces, and of the supreme rulers? They allowed the members of their households, wives and children and servants, to speak openly to their face for the divine word and life, and all but let them boast of the freedom of their faith. [b] They singled these out and valued them more highly than their fellow servants. Such was the famous Dorotheus, the most devoted and faithful to them of all, and for that reason honored above those who held offices and governorships; and with him the celebrated Gorgonius, and all who had been counted worthy of the same honor as they for the sake of the word of God. [c] One could see, too, what favor the leaders of each church received from all the procurators and governors. And how could anyone describe those gatherings of thousands, and the crowds that assembled in every city, and the remarkable throngs in the houses of prayer? Because of them, no longer content with the old buildings, they raised spacious churches from the foundations in all the cities. [d] These things went forward with time and grew in size and greatness day by day. No envy held them back, nor could any evil demon cast its evil eye on them or stop them by human plots, so long as the divine and heavenly hand sheltered and guarded its own people, as being worthy. [e]

But when, from too much freedom, our affairs turned to carelessness and sloth, we envied and abused one another. We were all but making war on ourselves, if it came to that, with weapons; leaders clashed with leaders, using words as spears; people formed factions against people; and unspeakable hypocrisy and pretense rose to the very height of wickedness. Then the divine judgment, sparing us as is its way, while the assemblies were still being held, quietly and moderately began to exercise its own oversight. [f] The persecution began with the brothers in the army. But we were like people without feeling. We were not eager to make the Deity gracious and merciful; instead, like some godless people, we thought our affairs went uncared for and unwatched, and we added one wickedness to another. Those who seemed to be our shepherds thrust aside the rule of godliness and were inflamed with rivalries against one another, increasing only these things: quarrels and threats, jealousy, and enmity and hatred toward one another, claiming their ambitions for power fiercely, as if they were tyrannies. Then, then indeed, as the voice of Jeremiah says, “The Lord in his anger has darkened the daughter of Zion, and has cast down from heaven the glory of Israel, and has not remembered the footstool of his feet in the day of his anger. The Lord has also swallowed up all the beautiful things of Israel, and has pulled down all his walls.” [g] And as was foretold in the Psalms, “He has overturned the covenant of his servant, and profaned his sanctuary to the ground,” by the pulling down of the churches, “and has pulled down all his walls; he has turned his strongholds into cowardice. All who pass along the road have plundered the multitudes of the people, and on top of this he has become a reproach to his neighbors. For he has raised high the right hand of his enemies, and has turned back the help of his sword, and has not supported him in the war. He has also stripped him of his cleansing, and has dashed his throne to the ground. He has shortened the days of his time, and on top of all has poured shame over him.” [i]