[dramatic music]
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- [Narrator] The
world forever changed.
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His legacy, an empire
reaching across centuries.
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His name,
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Constantine
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"Shadow Empire."
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[dramatic music]
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[dramatic music]
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- The world knows
him as Constantine,
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the great conqueror who managed
to unite the Roman Empire
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and the man who
turned the religion of Rome
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completely on its head.
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He propelled an
obscure Jewish sect
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into the global religion
we know as Christianity.
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But what most people don't
know is how this incredible man
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got his star.
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and how profoundly his
roots shaped his thinking
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and how he changed the
thinking of the whole world.
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He was born to a peasant girl
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who had to prove
that her son's father
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was the governor of Dalmatia,
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a powerful and influential
man named Flavius Constantius.
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But once that happened,
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once she produced
indisputable proof,
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it started a chain of events
that rocked the whole planet.
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[dramatic
music] [fire crackling]
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There's a passage in
the last book of the Bible
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that makes reference to
10 days of fierce persecution
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that the followers
of Jesus would suffer.
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It's found in the seven letters
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to the seven
churches of Asia Minor
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in the Book of Revelation.
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They were seven letters from
Jesus to a region of the earth
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that eventually
became the headquarters
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for the whole Roman Empire.
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Most people naturally
think of the city of Rome
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as the capital because it
was known as the Eternal City,
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the birthplace of the empire.
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It was the home
of Romulus and Remus.
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But while Rome was
always important to the Romans,
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over time, the center of power
actually moved to the east.
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[dramatic music]
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And some of the
Christians moved here too,
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even though their
roots were in Jerusalem.
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By the time John
writes the Book of Revelation
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toward the end of
the first century,
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he's a prisoner on
the island of Patmos,
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a Roman penal colony
way out in the Aegean Sea,
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some 40 miles off of the coast.
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Tradition has it that
he was actually the pastor
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of the church in Ephesus,
which is one of the seven cities
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mentioned in the
Book of Revelation.
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Over the years,
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Bible students have
found an interesting pattern
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in the first three
chapters of Revelation.
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The seven letters were
written to very real churches
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that existed
right here in Asia Minor
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back in the first century.
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But the astonishing
thing about those letters
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is the way they
also seem to track
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the entire
history of Christianity.
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It's as if each letter
actually predicts some phase
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of the development of
Christianity far in advance.
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The first letter is addressed
to the church in Ephesus,
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and it seems to clearly point
to first century Christianity,
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a time when the church
was still being led by people
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who knew Jesus personally.
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The second letter is addressed
to the people of Smyrna,
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a city whose very name
implies something being crushed.
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Smyrna, you see, is
virtually synonymous
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with the word myrrh,
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which you probably
know is one of the gifts
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the wise men
brought to baby Jesus.
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Remember, gold,
frankincense and myrrh.
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Myrrh was a
sweet-smelling fragrance
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you obtain by
crushing the myrrh plant.
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You had to brutally destroy
it to bring out the nice scent.
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And oddly enough,
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that's exactly what
happened to the Christian Church
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as the Roman Empire
became more and more aware
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of its presence,
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as they began to consider it
a threat to Roman's stability.
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Christians
worshiped a king who said
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He would cleanse the
earth by fire one day
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and establish His own kingdom.
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And of course, that
started Roman tongues wagging
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and people started telling
the most outrageous stories
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about Christ's followers.
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It was a very unhappy time
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for the
Christians to say the least.
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And most Bible students believe
there's a special message
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from Jesus to those
suffering Christians,
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a message encoded in
the Letter to Smyrna.
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"Do not fear any of those things
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which you are about to suffer.
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Indeed, the devil is about to
throw some of you into prison,
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that you may be tested,
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and you will have
tribulation ten days.
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Be faithful until death,
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and I will give
you the crown of life."
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[gentle music]
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It fits perfectly.
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By the end of the first century,
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the Christians started to feel
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the wrath of the Roman Empire.
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For the most part, the Romans
were actually pretty tolerant.
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They allowed you to practice
any religion you wanted,
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that is until they perceived
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that you might be a threat
to the unity of the empire.
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Roman culture loved a scapegoat.
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They loved to blame someone
when the favor of the Roman gods
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no longer seemed
to be falling on them.
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And by the end of the first
century, the Christians were it.
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They were the scapegoat.
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[fire crackling]
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At one point, there was a
fire here in the city of Rome
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and something like 70% of
the city burned to the ground.
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According to the
Roman historian, Tacitus
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Nero blamed the
Christians because after all,
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they were the ones
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talking about the end
of the world with fire.
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This is the moment that
Christians started meeting
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with all those
cruel and painful deaths.
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This is the moment they
took Paul outside the city
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and beheaded him.
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And it was at this
time that they took Peter
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and locked him up
in a dark musty cell
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here at the bottom
of Mamertine Prison.
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It was the
beginning of the persecution
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mentioned in the
Letter to Smyrna.
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That persecution
would come to a head.
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It would reach its absolute
apex for a period of 10 days.
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That's what the letter said.
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And this is the point
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where the stories of
Jesus and Constantine
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actually begin to merge.
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[gentle music]
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Several
centuries after its birth,
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the Roman Empire
became a little unstable,
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and out on the
battlefields of the empire,
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something incredible took place.
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In 284 AD,
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right here near the
modern day city of Izmit Turkey,
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the commander of
the imperial bodyguard
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was suddenly declared the
Roman emperor by his troops.
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His name was Diocletian.
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His rise to
power was very unusual.
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One year before
he came to power,
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the emperor Carus suddenly died
while fighting the Persians,
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we think he
actually had a heart attack.
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And just before his death,
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his two sons had
been made caesars,
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which was kind of
like a vice emperor.
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He was trying to
build a family dynasty.
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Now, after Carus died,
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one son was given
control of the west
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and the other son was
given control of the east.
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The son who got the
west, his name was Carinus,
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and he was such a brutal man
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that eventually
one of his own soldiers
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stabbed him in the
back for raping his wife.
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The other son, the one
who got control of the east,
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his name was Numerian,
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and we think
somebody murdered him too.
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And some historians think
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that Diocletian
actually had him killed.
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Here's what we know.
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They said Numerian
had an eye infection,
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so he had to
spend all day, every day
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riding inside a litter,
a hand-carried carriage.
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He had to be in there
to keep the dust and light
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out of his eye.
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But after a number of days
when a slave opened the door,
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there he was, the emperor's
son, dead as a doorpost.
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Now, that was a real
problem for Diocletian
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because he was responsible
for the emperor's safety.
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So what did he do?
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He found a scapegoat.
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He blamed
Numerian's father-in-law,
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a guy by the
name of Lucius Aper.
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In the middle of the night,
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he went into Lucius's
tent and had him arrested,
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and then he gathered
his legion commanders
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all around the tent
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and dumped the badly
decomposing body of Numerian
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on the ground.
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"You did this," he said.
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And of course, Lucius denied it,
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so they had a trial
just three miles from here.
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- In the name of Rome-
- Diocletian made a speech
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in front of all the soldiers.
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"For the past
four days," he said,
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"legion commanders
have been asking Lucius
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to arrange a
meeting with the emperor
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and the requests were denied.
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I, the commander
of the Protectorate,
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asked Lucius about
the emperor's health
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and I was told he was
suffering from an eye ailment.
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I didn't become suspicious until
a faithful soldier reported
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that for days the emperor
hadn't even left the litter
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to relieve himself."
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At the end of the speech,
he pointed straight at Lucius,
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"He is the murderer."
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Of course, Lucius blew a gasket.
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"He's the murderer,
not me!" He responded.
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"Are you going to
believe the words of a plotter?
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The words of a
filthy son of a slave?"
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That was the last
straw for Diocletian.
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He pulled out a knife and
stabbed Lucius on the spot.
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Then, his men unanimously
declared him the new emperor.
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[dramatic music]
[people chanting]
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But emperor was a big job.
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The Roman territories
were huge and hard to control,
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so Diocletian did
something pretty smart.
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He divided
responsibility amongst four men
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with two halves of the empire.
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In the east, he
would have two emperors,
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a senior known as an Augustus,
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and a junior known as a Caesar.
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The same was true for
the other half of the empire
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in the west.
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So in the east, you
had Diocletian himself,
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the number one
emperor, and his assistant,
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a Caesar by the
name of Galerius.
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Over in the west,
Maximian was appointed Augustus,
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the senior emperor,
and his junior, the Caesar
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was a guy by the name
of Flavius Constantius,
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Constantine's father.
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Now, as soon as Constantine's
father got the appointment,
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he moved his family
to the city of Arelate
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in modern-day France.
00:10:50.35\00:10:51.85
So what does that have to
do with 10 days of persecution?
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Well, follow me carefully
00:10:56.69\00:10:58.02
because this is
really pretty amazing.
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When Flavius Constantius
became the junior emperor
00:11:00.46\00:11:03.59
or the Caesar in the west,
he suddenly divorces Helena,
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the mother of Constantine
because she was a commoner,
00:11:07.13\00:11:10.23
just a concubine.
00:11:10.23\00:11:11.83
And of course, a Caesar
00:11:11.83\00:11:13.97
can't have a
village girl for a wife.
00:11:13.97\00:11:16.24
And besides, he
now had the opportunity
00:11:16.24\00:11:18.51
to marry his
senior emperor's daughter,
00:11:18.51\00:11:20.91
a girl by the name of Theodora.
00:11:20.91\00:11:23.41
Now, it's at this point
00:11:23.41\00:11:24.78
during the bitter
disappointment of divorce
00:11:24.78\00:11:27.08
that many historians think
Constantine's mother Helena
00:11:27.08\00:11:30.25
became a Christ
follower, a Christian.
00:11:30.25\00:11:33.69
Now, think about that.
00:11:33.69\00:11:34.92
Constantine's mother
00:11:34.92\00:11:36.16
belongs to one of the
highest-ranking families
00:11:36.16\00:11:37.79
in the Roman Empire, an
empire that hates Christianity,
00:11:37.79\00:11:41.80
and suddenly,
she turns to Jesus.
00:11:41.80\00:11:44.73
[gentle music]
00:11:44.73\00:11:47.24
But the boy, Constantine,
00:11:49.90\00:11:51.64
well, he didn't
turn to Christianity.
00:11:51.64\00:11:53.41
History suggests that he
reacted a little differently.
00:11:53.41\00:11:56.91
He got bitter and angry.
00:11:56.91\00:11:58.45
Now of course, we
don't know that for sure,
00:11:58.45\00:12:00.48
but the circumstantial
evidence suggests it.
00:12:00.48\00:12:03.49
What we do know is
that he's all grown up now
00:12:03.49\00:12:05.49
and he gets sent to go
work for the Emperor Diocletian.
00:12:05.49\00:12:08.49
He becomes a
centurion in the Imperial Guard,
00:12:08.49\00:12:10.89
and he works with Diocletian
for something like 11 years.
00:12:10.89\00:12:15.13
That's a long time.
00:12:15.13\00:12:16.63
You can't work with a guy
like Diocletian for that long
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and not have
something rub off on you.
00:12:19.03\00:12:21.50
Historians
suggest that Constantine
00:12:21.50\00:12:23.64
learned much of his
own management style
00:12:23.64\00:12:25.34
from one of the most notorious
emperors in all of history.
00:12:25.34\00:12:28.48
[waves crashing]
00:12:29.31\00:12:32.15
Across the ocean, down in Egypt,
00:12:33.15\00:12:35.15
Diocletian was suddenly
faced with a big problem,
00:12:35.15\00:12:38.75
a group of Gnostics
known as the Manicheans.
00:12:38.75\00:12:42.09
Now, the Manicheans
were a religious movement
00:12:42.09\00:12:44.16
started by a Persian
prophet by the name of Mani,
00:12:44.16\00:12:47.66
and he taught that you can
find salvation through education
00:12:47.66\00:12:51.30
and fasting by living an
aesthetic, self-denying life.
00:12:51.30\00:12:55.90
Unfortunately,
for the Christians,
00:12:55.90\00:12:57.31
while Mani the
prophet was not a Christian,
00:12:57.31\00:12:59.81
he did borrow
some of his teachings
00:12:59.81\00:13:02.38
from the Christian faith.
00:13:02.38\00:13:04.38
In fact, he declared
himself to be an apostle.
00:13:04.38\00:13:08.45
Most Christians
weren't too keen on that
00:13:08.45\00:13:10.39
because Mani also taught stuff
00:13:10.39\00:13:12.32
that was completely at
odds with Christianity,
00:13:12.32\00:13:15.09
like reincarnation.
00:13:15.09\00:13:17.59
Mani was also a fan of
Buddha, Zoroaster and Krishna.
00:13:17.59\00:13:22.56
Manichaeism had some of
the trappings of Christianity,
00:13:22.56\00:13:26.60
but they were not Christians.
00:13:26.60\00:13:29.54
But that didn't
matter to the Romans
00:13:29.54\00:13:31.57
because they didn't
care what you believe,
00:13:31.57\00:13:33.71
as long as you weren't
a threat to the empire.
00:13:33.71\00:13:36.54
By all means, go
ahead, become a Manichean,
00:13:36.54\00:13:39.05
the emperor will not care,
00:13:39.05\00:13:41.22
unless you do what
the Manicheans did.
00:13:42.28\00:13:45.42
They staged a revolt,
and that was a problem.
00:13:45.42\00:13:49.39
[ethereal music]
00:13:59.93\00:14:02.67
Diocletian had no
choice but to take action.
00:14:05.94\00:14:08.94
He suddenly marched into Egypt
00:14:08.94\00:14:10.88
to put an end to the rebellion.
00:14:10.88\00:14:13.18
He believed that the
Manicheans were planted in Egypt
00:14:13.18\00:14:16.72
by the Persian king,
00:14:16.72\00:14:18.69
spies sent into Roman
territory to destabilize it,
00:14:18.69\00:14:22.79
so Diocletian brutally
squashed their movement.
00:14:22.79\00:14:26.53
He literally sent the
Manicheans to the salt mines.
00:14:26.53\00:14:29.93
And of course, Constantine,
who was now 25 years old,
00:14:29.93\00:14:33.54
was there for the whole thing.
00:14:33.54\00:14:35.84
The Roman
persecution of the Manicheans
00:14:35.84\00:14:37.97
gives us a great
example of what would happen
00:14:37.97\00:14:40.94
if you threaten the
stability of the empire,
00:14:40.94\00:14:43.78
or if you even
appeared to be a threat,
00:14:43.78\00:14:46.21
and the crushing of
the Manicheans revolt
00:14:46.21\00:14:48.32
was a disturbing foreshadow
00:14:48.32\00:14:50.65
of what was just about
to happen to the Christians.
00:14:50.65\00:14:53.36
As far as the
Romans were concerned,
00:14:57.46\00:14:59.63
there was a crucial
link between the Manicheans
00:14:59.63\00:15:02.50
and the Christians.
00:15:02.50\00:15:04.07
Roman religion
with all its pagan gods
00:15:04.07\00:15:06.17
really didn't offer an afterlife
00:15:06.17\00:15:08.44
or any kind of eternal reward.
00:15:08.44\00:15:10.84
It also didn't offer any
kind of redemption from sin.
00:15:10.84\00:15:15.44
But the prophet Mani
did offer that stuff,
00:15:15.44\00:15:18.35
and so did Jesus.
00:15:18.35\00:15:20.05
As far as the
Romans were concerned,
00:15:20.05\00:15:21.68
they were both mystery religions
00:15:21.68\00:15:23.85
because both groups seemed
to offer secret knowledge,
00:15:23.85\00:15:26.89
this secret path to heaven.
00:15:26.89\00:15:29.62
Now, in reality,
00:15:29.62\00:15:30.86
that wasn't actually
true of the Christians,
00:15:30.86\00:15:33.09
but there was another group
00:15:33.09\00:15:34.36
that latched onto
Christian thinking,
00:15:34.36\00:15:36.43
a group known as the Gnostics,
00:15:36.43\00:15:38.43
and they believed
that their followers
00:15:38.43\00:15:40.87
had secret sacred knowledge.
00:15:40.87\00:15:43.07
In fact, that's
where they got their name.
00:15:43.07\00:15:45.17
Gnostics are named for the
Greek word gnosis or knowledge.
00:15:45.17\00:15:50.25
But the Christians,
well, they did have a mystery,
00:15:51.61\00:15:53.52
the mystery of the
Gospel, as Paul put it.
00:15:53.52\00:15:56.35
But they were
willing to share that mystery
00:15:56.35\00:15:58.55
with anybody who
was willing to listen.
00:15:58.55\00:16:00.96
[gentle music]
00:16:00.96\00:16:04.16
For the most part, however,
00:16:04.16\00:16:05.69
Diocletian didn't really care
what the Christians believed.
00:16:05.69\00:16:09.30
He did care about the Manicheans
00:16:09.30\00:16:11.23
because they were
a political threat.
00:16:11.23\00:16:13.80
But the Christians, well,
they actually even had a church
00:16:13.80\00:16:16.91
right in Nicomedia,
00:16:16.91\00:16:18.17
proof that they were
still relatively free
00:16:18.17\00:16:20.94
in the early years
of Diocletian's reign.
00:16:20.94\00:16:23.91
Diocletian didn't really have
a problem with these people,
00:16:23.91\00:16:27.48
but the junior
emperor in the east,
00:16:27.48\00:16:29.58
Diocletian's right
hand man, the Caesar,
00:16:29.58\00:16:33.09
he did have a
problem with Christians.
00:16:33.09\00:16:35.02
[gentle music]
00:16:35.02\00:16:37.66
His name was
Galerius, and in the year 302,
00:16:39.26\00:16:42.60
he started to complain
that the Christians in Nicomedia
00:16:42.60\00:16:45.63
were offending the Romans
00:16:45.63\00:16:46.94
by disregarding the
traditional Roman gods.
00:16:46.94\00:16:49.90
And I guess to some
extent, that was probably true.
00:16:51.47\00:16:55.14
Not that the
Christians were trying
00:16:55.14\00:16:57.01
to disrespect the emperor,
00:16:57.01\00:16:58.75
but as some of
them started to rise up
00:16:58.75\00:17:00.35
through Roman society,
00:17:00.35\00:17:01.55
they became more
exposed to Rome's religion,
00:17:01.55\00:17:04.65
and the emperor was considered
to be the son of a god,
00:17:04.65\00:17:07.56
or even one of the gods, and
if you disrespected the gods,
00:17:07.56\00:17:12.19
you were also disrespecting
00:17:12.19\00:17:13.66
the divine
authority of the emperor.
00:17:13.66\00:17:16.63
Now, Galerius, the
second in command, the Caesar,
00:17:16.63\00:17:19.97
he had a mother named Romula
00:17:19.97\00:17:21.40
who came to this city
from modern-day Bulgaria.
00:17:21.40\00:17:24.97
She was a pagan priestess
00:17:24.97\00:17:26.54
who worshiped the
ancient gods of the mountains.
00:17:26.54\00:17:29.04
And when she discovered that
Christians were not interested
00:17:29.04\00:17:31.91
in her pagan rituals, she
got angry, she hated them.
00:17:31.91\00:17:35.48
And of course, her son Galerius
00:17:35.48\00:17:37.42
had the ear of the
emperor Diocletian.
00:17:37.42\00:17:40.22
[waves crashing]
00:17:40.22\00:17:43.02
Now, at about the same time,
00:17:46.09\00:17:48.50
a pagan philosopher
by the name of Porphyry
00:17:48.50\00:17:51.47
started writing
these vitriolic hit pieces
00:17:51.47\00:17:54.20
against the Christians.
00:17:54.20\00:17:55.97
And his writings
were so influential
00:17:55.97\00:17:58.41
that even after he died,
00:17:58.41\00:18:00.78
Christians still felt the
need to answer his charges.
00:18:00.78\00:18:04.78
When you combine that
00:18:04.78\00:18:05.95
with the hatred of
Galerius and his mother,
00:18:05.95\00:18:08.48
you suddenly had
this renewed discomfort
00:18:08.48\00:18:10.72
with the Christian religion.
00:18:10.72\00:18:12.42
They had a pretty good
life for almost 50 years,
00:18:12.42\00:18:15.49
no real persecution.
00:18:15.49\00:18:17.93
But now the heat
was rising again,
00:18:17.93\00:18:20.60
and with a junior emperor
00:18:20.60\00:18:22.06
eager to get rid of
the followers of Jesus,
00:18:22.06\00:18:24.63
something had to give.
00:18:24.63\00:18:26.87
For the first 17
years of Diocletian's reign,
00:18:26.87\00:18:30.11
he was so busy
securing his empire
00:18:30.11\00:18:33.04
that he never really
thought about the Christians.
00:18:33.04\00:18:35.61
Of course, he knew they existed,
00:18:35.61\00:18:38.15
but the only thing he
really knew about them
00:18:38.15\00:18:39.95
was that Christian
soldiers obeyed his orders,
00:18:39.95\00:18:42.88
just like everybody else.
00:18:42.88\00:18:45.12
But after the Manichean revolt
00:18:45.12\00:18:47.16
and the complaints of Galerius,
00:18:47.16\00:18:49.22
he started to suspect that
maybe Christians were a problem.
00:18:49.22\00:18:53.16
[suspenseful music]
00:18:55.53\00:18:58.57
In September of 302,
Diocletian went to visit
00:19:06.37\00:19:09.68
some of his frontier
garrisons in the Balkans.
00:19:09.68\00:19:12.81
And because of
Galerius's insistence
00:19:12.81\00:19:15.02
that the
Christians were no good,
00:19:15.02\00:19:16.82
he started to ask questions.
00:19:16.82\00:19:18.95
And everybody he
asked, commanders, civilian
00:19:18.95\00:19:22.86
administrators, the locals, they
all told them the same thing.
00:19:22.86\00:19:25.53
Christians were good
citizens and faithful soldiers.
00:19:25.53\00:19:29.80
But they did have one complaint.
00:19:29.80\00:19:32.33
The Christians would
not participate in public
00:19:32.33\00:19:36.44
sacrifices, and the army
was worried that eventually,
00:19:36.44\00:19:38.97
the Roman gods
would get offended
00:19:38.97\00:19:40.94
and quit helping
them on the battlefield.
00:19:40.94\00:19:43.78
[suspenseful music]
00:19:43.78\00:19:46.85
"Their numbers are growing,"
someone said to the emperor.
00:19:48.85\00:19:52.12
The army is full
of these Christians,
00:19:52.12\00:19:54.19
and so is the civil list.
00:19:54.19\00:19:56.29
Their first loyalty is to a
crucified Jew they call Dominus,
00:19:56.29\00:20:01.20
and they claim that
Jesus is Lord and Savior.
00:20:01.20\00:20:05.10
Now, that's the part that
really bothered Diocletian.
00:20:05.10\00:20:08.77
Here he was, doing his very
best to unify a massive empire,
00:20:08.77\00:20:13.81
and the Christians
were loyal to someone else.
00:20:14.94\00:20:17.48
In October of 302,
00:20:17.48\00:20:19.45
he called a meeting
of high-ranking officials
00:20:19.45\00:20:22.32
and he got more disturbing news.
00:20:22.32\00:20:24.85
A man by the name of Hierocles,
00:20:24.85\00:20:26.79
the governor of Bithynia, said,
00:20:26.79\00:20:29.06
"Don't you think this cult
is like the cult of Mithras.
00:20:29.06\00:20:32.89
The followers of Mithras never
spoke against the Roman gods,
00:20:32.89\00:20:37.03
but the Christians
consider our gods to be demons,
00:20:37.03\00:20:41.00
unholy spirits, and they claim
00:20:41.00\00:20:44.27
that the Hebrew rebel they
worship is the only true God."
00:20:44.27\00:20:49.04
[suspenseful music]
00:20:49.04\00:20:52.01
That bothered Diocletian,
00:20:56.65\00:20:58.35
but he was still
reluctant to use violence
00:20:58.35\00:21:00.29
against the
Christians because, well,
00:21:00.29\00:21:02.39
violence doesn't
tend to create loyalty.
00:21:02.39\00:21:05.69
And he knew from history
00:21:05.69\00:21:06.93
that if he tried to
kill the Christians,
00:21:06.93\00:21:09.16
they would just voluntarily
march to their deaths,
00:21:09.16\00:21:11.53
glad to be martyrs,
00:21:11.53\00:21:13.37
and that would only attract
more people to the movement,
00:21:13.37\00:21:17.01
so Diocletian
started with civil penalties.
00:21:17.01\00:21:20.28
He just dismissed all
the Christians from the army
00:21:20.28\00:21:22.68
and he fired all the
Christians in his palace.
00:21:22.68\00:21:25.85
And to make sure he
was doing the right thing,
00:21:25.85\00:21:28.28
he sent a messenger to
the famous oracle at Didyma
00:21:28.28\00:21:31.05
to ask Apollo what he thought.
00:21:31.05\00:21:33.76
And Apollo told the emperor
through the oracle, of course,
00:21:33.76\00:21:37.69
that Christians were the reason
00:21:37.69\00:21:39.19
he had no message for the king.
00:21:39.19\00:21:41.86
The presence of Christians
00:21:41.86\00:21:43.53
was keeping the
Roman gods from speaking.
00:21:43.53\00:21:46.03
[suspenseful music]
00:21:47.00\00:21:50.01
[dramatic music]
00:21:54.24\00:21:56.95
That was the last straw.
00:22:00.45\00:22:02.65
On February 23 of 303,
soldiers suddenly stormed
00:22:02.65\00:22:06.45
the Christian
Church here in Nicomedia,.
00:22:06.45\00:22:08.76
They knocked down the
building with a battering ram
00:22:08.76\00:22:11.63
and they burned all the books.
00:22:11.63\00:22:13.19
[bang echoes]
00:22:13.19\00:22:14.40
Galerius actually
wanted to burn the church,
00:22:14.40\00:22:16.13
but Diocletian said no, that
would endanger the whole city,
00:22:16.13\00:22:19.63
so we'll just
use a battering ram.
00:22:19.63\00:22:23.00
The next day, they posted a
public edict against Christians.
00:22:23.00\00:22:27.08
They no longer had
a right to worship.
00:22:27.08\00:22:29.31
And to make matters worse,
00:22:29.31\00:22:30.98
if you attacked a
Christian or robbed him,
00:22:30.98\00:22:33.78
you could do it
with absolute impunity
00:22:33.78\00:22:36.12
because they no longer had
access to the Roman courts.
00:22:36.12\00:22:39.95
Then a few months later,
00:22:39.95\00:22:41.26
the leaders of the
church were rounded up
00:22:41.26\00:22:43.46
and told that if they
did not offer sacrifices
00:22:43.46\00:22:45.93
to the emperor, they
would be put to death.
00:22:45.93\00:22:48.63
The same day
they posted the edict,
00:22:50.67\00:22:52.50
a Christian by the
name of Eleutherius
00:22:52.50\00:22:54.74
unfortunately lost his
temper and ripped it down.
00:22:54.74\00:22:58.24
He stomped on it and shouted
insults against the emperor,
00:22:58.24\00:23:01.31
a direct
challenge to Diocletian.
00:23:01.31\00:23:03.71
So he was immediately arrested
and taken before a judge.
00:23:03.71\00:23:07.98
In the courtroom, the guards
described what he had done
00:23:07.98\00:23:10.92
and the judge asked
him, "Is that true?"
00:23:10.92\00:23:14.49
"Yes, it is."
00:23:14.49\00:23:15.89
"So you admit that you insulted
00:23:15.89\00:23:17.86
the sacred
person of the Augustus?"
00:23:17.86\00:23:20.40
"For me," Eleutherius said,
00:23:20.40\00:23:22.16
"only the Person
of Christ is sacred."
00:23:22.16\00:23:25.47
Now, pay attention to
what the judge said next,
00:23:25.47\00:23:28.30
because it's important.
00:23:28.30\00:23:30.34
"If I condemn you, it
will not be for your religion,
00:23:30.34\00:23:33.58
but for your insolent
act against the emperor."
00:23:33.58\00:23:36.81
The judge was trying to
defend religious liberty
00:23:36.81\00:23:40.15
because remember,
00:23:40.15\00:23:41.68
the Romans didn't actually
care about your religion.
00:23:41.68\00:23:43.69
What they cared about
was political stability.
00:23:43.69\00:23:46.72
That's the reason they
allowed Jesus to be crucified.
00:23:46.72\00:23:49.99
They didn't care what He taught.
00:23:49.99\00:23:51.33
They didn't care
what He believed.
00:23:51.33\00:23:52.99
They only cared that He
was perceived as a threat
00:23:52.99\00:23:56.23
to political stability.
00:23:56.23\00:23:57.67
Eleutherius answered the judge,
00:23:58.63\00:24:00.54
"I insulted the emperor
00:24:00.54\00:24:01.97
only because he
insulted my Lord and Savior.
00:24:01.97\00:24:04.71
If you kill me, you
will not give me death
00:24:04.71\00:24:08.14
but life eternal.
00:24:08.14\00:24:09.41
I pity you."
00:24:09.41\00:24:10.71
"You are an
idiot," the judge said,
00:24:11.78\00:24:13.78
"but the law does not exempt
idiots from just punishment.
00:24:13.78\00:24:17.29
Take him away.
00:24:17.29\00:24:18.55
Torture him, and then
burn him on the stake."
00:24:18.55\00:24:21.89
[dramatic music]
00:24:21.89\00:24:24.73
That's precisely what they did.
00:24:27.96\00:24:30.20
They hung him on an iron hook
00:24:30.20\00:24:31.63
and whipped him all night long.
00:24:31.63\00:24:34.20
And when the sun
rose in the morning,
00:24:34.20\00:24:36.47
they tied him to a
stake and burned him to death.
00:24:36.47\00:24:40.04
Eleutherius was the first victim
00:24:40.04\00:24:41.94
of the Diocletian persecution.
00:24:41.94\00:24:43.71
He might have been the last,
00:24:44.55\00:24:46.21
except for something that
happened just a few weeks later,
00:24:46.21\00:24:50.05
a fire in Diocletian's Palace.
00:24:50.05\00:24:52.95
It started on the ground
floor near the slave quarters,
00:24:52.95\00:24:56.12
and today, some
historians believe
00:24:56.12\00:24:58.39
that Galerius actually
started the fire himself
00:24:58.39\00:25:01.53
trying to frame the Christians.
00:25:01.53\00:25:03.93
It was the same thing Nero
did almost 250 years earlier,
00:25:03.93\00:25:07.67
he burned the city of
Rome and blamed the Christians.
00:25:07.67\00:25:11.01
[fire crackling]
00:25:11.01\00:25:13.38
So, how did Galerius
blame the Christians?
00:25:13.38\00:25:17.45
He planned a public
ceremony to thank the Roman gods
00:25:17.45\00:25:20.22
for saving the emperor's
family who survived the fire,
00:25:20.22\00:25:24.05
and he knew the Christians
would not participate.
00:25:24.05\00:25:27.46
"Anybody who doesn't
participate," he said,
00:25:27.46\00:25:29.96
"must not be
glad that we survived,
00:25:29.96\00:25:32.53
and those people are
obviously party to this crime."
00:25:32.53\00:25:36.70
Now, Diocletian loved the plan,
00:25:36.70\00:25:38.33
so he called for
the priests of Jupiter
00:25:38.33\00:25:40.10
and organized a
public sacrifice.
00:25:40.10\00:25:43.10
Everybody had to
walk past the fire
00:25:43.10\00:25:45.77
and toss in just
a pinch of incense.
00:25:45.77\00:25:49.54
Two people refused to do it,
00:25:49.54\00:25:51.15
both of them
lifelong secretaries
00:25:51.15\00:25:52.95
in the service of Diocletian.
00:25:52.95\00:25:55.28
They were people
Diocletian loved,
00:25:55.28\00:25:57.29
and he tried to save them.
00:25:57.29\00:25:58.69
"Just one
little pinch," he said.
00:25:58.69\00:26:01.76
But one of those
Christians answered,
00:26:01.76\00:26:04.36
"Domine, I have served
you faithfully for many years.
00:26:04.36\00:26:08.26
I would give my
earthly life for you,
00:26:08.26\00:26:11.07
but you are asking me
to forfeit my eternal life.
00:26:11.07\00:26:14.34
This, I cannot do."
00:26:14.34\00:26:16.57
Diocletian had no choice.
00:26:18.57\00:26:20.68
He had the man
tortured and beheaded.
00:26:20.68\00:26:23.51
Two weeks later, there was
another fire in the palace,
00:26:23.51\00:26:26.01
one that started
during a lightning storm,
00:26:26.01\00:26:28.38
so there is a pretty good chance
it was actually accidental,
00:26:28.38\00:26:32.12
but still, the
Christians got the blame.
00:26:32.12\00:26:35.19
Persecution put down deep roots,
00:26:35.19\00:26:37.93
and the persecution
lasted exactly 10 years.
00:26:37.93\00:26:42.23
"You will have
tribulation 10 days,"
00:26:42.23\00:26:44.10
the Book of Revelation
said, and in Bible prophecy,
00:26:44.10\00:26:46.77
a day is often used
to represent a year.
00:26:46.77\00:26:50.51
It seems that even before the
Diocletian persecution began,
00:26:50.51\00:26:53.58
the Christians
knew it was coming.
00:26:53.58\00:26:56.41
The God they worshiped,
00:26:56.41\00:26:57.61
the humble
carpenter's son from Nazareth,
00:26:57.61\00:26:59.85
was able to warn
them centuries in advance
00:26:59.85\00:27:02.75
that the church would experience
some incredible hardship
00:27:02.75\00:27:05.82
as they took the
Gospel to the world.
00:27:05.82\00:27:08.42
That message, Revelations
Letter to Smyrna, was a message
00:27:08.42\00:27:12.79
from someone who knew a
thing or two about death.
00:27:12.79\00:27:15.56
It's a letter from someone
00:27:15.56\00:27:17.07
who identifies himself
as the first and the last,
00:27:17.07\00:27:20.57
someone who was dead
and came back to life.
00:27:20.57\00:27:23.94
Now, why were
the early Christians
00:27:25.24\00:27:27.01
so willing to
die for their faith?
00:27:27.01\00:27:29.34
It was because
the God they worshiped
00:27:29.34\00:27:31.58
had already conquered the grave,
00:27:31.58\00:27:33.78
and shortly before
the persecution started,
00:27:33.78\00:27:36.08
he had also conquered the
heart of one humble woman,
00:27:36.08\00:27:38.92
a girl named Helena.
00:27:38.92\00:27:41.16
And Helena's son
had a front row seat
00:27:41.16\00:27:43.76
to the Diocletian persecutions.
00:27:43.76\00:27:46.16
Constantine was also the man
00:27:46.16\00:27:48.13
who finally brought
that persecution to an end
00:27:48.13\00:27:51.07
exactly 10 years later.
00:27:51.07\00:27:53.30
[dramatic music]
00:27:53.30\00:27:56.10
- [Announcer] This
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00:28:08.42\00:28:09.92
of the "Voice of Prophecy."
00:28:09.92\00:28:11.82
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00:28:11.82\00:28:14.66
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00:28:14.66\00:28:16.99
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00:28:20.73\00:28:25.40