 of Constantine, Theodosius and Justinian, who were seen as "godly emperors (...) serving the church and crushing its enemies," has been cited repeatedly by Christian authors who endorsed religious persecution. According to the historian Ramsay MacMullen, a council of bishops at Toledo in 681 called on civil authorities to seize and behead all those guilty of non-Christian practices of any sort. Medieval Emperor Charlemagne ruled in September 774 that the Saxons (Westfali, Ostfali, and Angrarii) must be presented with the alternative of baptism or death and had 4,500 pagan Saxons beheaded in the Massacre of Verden. In 1685, when Louis XIV of France issued the Edict of Fontainebleau initiating the persecution of Huguenots, he was saluted as a 'new Constantine' by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet.
The Christian view shifted away from an endorsement of religious persecution in the 17th century. The first Christian church to grant adherents of other Christian denominations freedom of worship was the Church of England, with the Act of Toleration 1689 (still retaining some forms of religious discrimination and with the notable exception of Catholics).
The Catholic Church issued the decree "Dignitatis Humanae" that fully embraced the right of every human person to religious freedom, as part of the Vatican II council, on 7 December 1965. On 12 March 2000, Pope John Paul II prayed publicly for forgiveness because "Christians have often denied the Gospel; yielding to a mentality of power, they have violated the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and shown contempt for their cultures and religious traditions".
- History of persecutions by Christians
- History of Christianity
- Religious persecution in the Roman Empire
- Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism
Notes and references
- R. MacMullen, "Christianizing The Roman Empire A.D.100-400, Yale University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-300-03642-6
- "A History of the Church," Philip Hughes, Sheed & Ward, rev ed 1949, vol I chapter 6.
- Eusebius Pamphilius and Schaff, Philip (Editor) and McGiffert, Rev. Arthur Cushman, Ph.D. (Translator) NPNF2-01. Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine quote: "he razed to their foundations those of them which had been the chief objects of superstitious reverence"
- Kirsch, J. (2004) God against the Gods, pp. 200-1, Viking Compass
- "The Codex Theodosianus On Religion," XVI.x.4, 4 CE
- Sheridan, J.J. (1966) The Altar of Victor – Paganism's Last Battle. in L'Antiquite Classique 35 : 186-187.
- Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 22.4.3
- Sozomen Ecclesiastical History 3.18.
- Theodosian Code 16.10.3
- Theodosian Code 9.17.2
- Byfield (2003) pp. 92-4 quote:
In the west, such [anti-Pagan] tendencies were less pronounced, although they had one especially powerful advocate. No one was more determined to destroy paganism than Ambrose, bishop of Milan, a major influence upon both Gratian and Valentinian II. [...] p. 94 The man who ruled the ruler - Wether Ambrose, the senator-bureaucrat-turned-bishop, was Theodosius's mentor or his autocrat, the emperor heeded him--as did most of the fourth-century church.
- MacMullen (1984) p. 100 quote:
The law of June 391, issued by Theodosius [...] was issued from Milan and represented the will of its bishop, Ambrose; for Theodosius--recently excommunicated by Ambrose, penitent, and very much under his influence43--was no natural zealot. Ambrose, on the other hand, was very much a Christian. His restless and imperious ambition for the church's growth, come what might for the non-Christians, is suggested by his preaching.
- King (1961) p.78
- Gerberding, R. and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) p. 28.
- Peter Brown, The Rise of Christendom 2nd edition (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 60.
- Theodosian Code 16.10.6
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1914) Flavius Julius Constantius
- Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 9.10, 19.12. quote summary: Ammianus describes Pagan sacrifices and worship taking place openly in Alexandria and Rome. The Roman Calendar of 354 