Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian

Then, after an interval, Domitian, the son of Vespasian, persecuted the Christians. At this time he banished John, the apostle and evangelist, to the island of Patmos. There secret mysteries were revealed to him, and he wrote and published his book of the holy Revelation, which many, either foolishly or impiously, do not accept. Not long afterward came the third persecution, under Trajan. But when, after torturing and racking them, he found nothing in the Christians that deserved death or punishment, he forbade any further cruelty to be used against them. [a]

Then under Hadrian the Jews tried to rebel and set out to plunder both Syria and Palestine, but an army was sent against them and they were subdued. At this time Hadrian, thinking he would destroy the Christian faith by doing harm to the place, set up images of demons both in the temple and in the place where the Lord suffered. And because the Christians were thought to consist mainly of Jews, for the church at Jerusalem did not then have a priest who was not of the circumcision, he ordered a cohort of soldiers to keep constant guard and prevent all Jews from coming near Jerusalem. This, however, actually benefited the Christian faith, because at that time almost all of them believed in Christ as God while still keeping the observance of the law. No doubt this was arranged by the Lord’s overruling care, so that the slavery of the law might be taken away from the freedom of the faith and of the church. In this way Mark was then the first bishop at Jerusalem to come from the Gentiles.

A fourth persecution is counted as having taken place under Hadrian. Afterward, however, he forbade it to go on, declaring it unjust for anyone to be put on trial without a specific charge brought against him.