Decius
Emperor who required the inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the gods and obtain a certificate of having done so. Christians who refused were imprisoned, tortured or killed. He died in battle after less than two years.
Decius succeeded the emperor Philip. Eusebius says that he began to persecute the churches out of hatred for Philip, which is a Christian writer’s guess at his motive (Eusebius, Church History 6.39.1). None of the writers cited here quotes his order. What it required is seen in the certificates issued in Egypt in the first year of his reign, which name him with his full titles and record that the holder has sacrificed, poured a libation and tasted the offerings in the presence of officials (P.Mich. inv. 262).
He reigned not quite two years and was succeeded by Gallus (Eusebius, Church History 7.1). The Roman list of bishops names Decius as consul for 251 and Gallus as consul for 252 (Chronograph of 354 part 13 (Liberian Catalogue), Cornelius). Lactantius, who counts him among the persecutors punished by God, says that he was surrounded and killed with much of his army on campaign against the Carpi, and that his body lay unburied (Lactantius, Deaths of the Persecutors 4).
In the timeline
- AD 250, firm dateThe Decian Persecution
The emperor Decius orders the inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the gods and obtain a certificate. Bishops are executed or driven into hiding, many Christians comply, and the churches are left divided over how to receive them back.