Maximinus Thrax Persecution
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Biographical Details:
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Maximinus Thrax Persecution (AD 235):
The Christian community enjoyed relative peace under Emperor Severus Alexander, who implemented a policy of tolerance toward various religions, including Christianity. One of his commanders, Maximinus “Thrax” (c. 173 – 238), who was given the nickname Thrax or “the Thracian” due to his birthplace of Thrace, held the high command in the army of the Rhine under Emperor Severus Alexander. After Severus was murdered in 235, he was proclaimed emperor by the army, beginning the Crisis of the Third Century, a 50-year period of instability and civil war.
According to early church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, the Imperial household of Alexander Severus had contained many Christians. Eusebius claims that Maximinus hated his predecessor’s household and overturned his predecessor’s policy of tolerance towards Christianity. Maximinus then ordered that the leaders of the churches should be put to death. (Eusebius’ Church History 6:28).
Pope Pontian, who was the bishop of Rome from 230 to 235 AD, along with the first antipope, Hippolytus of Rome, were arrested and exiled to labor in the mines of Sardinia, generally regarded as a death sentence. Some accounts say Pope Pontian was beaten to death with sticks only weeks after his arrival on Sardinia. Like Pontian, Hippolytus did not survive his exile. It is possible that the two may have reconciled with one another in Sardinia before their deaths. Pope Fabian later had the bodies of both Pontian and Hippolytus brought back to Rome sometime in 236 AD. The body of Pope Pontian was buried in the papal crypt in the Catacomb of Callixtus on the Appian Way.
Upon sentencing, Pope Pontian, knowing it was unlikely he would return, abdicated his position in order to make the election of a new pope possible. He Resigned on 28 September 235, making him the first pope to do so. This date was recorded in the Liberian Catalogue and is notable for being the first full date of a papal reign given by contemporaries. This action ended a schism that had existed in the Church for eighteen years.