Septimius Severus Persecution

A number of persecutions of Christians occurred in the Roman empire during the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211), but the persecution of Christians  intensified around 202 AD. Tertullian states that Severus was well disposed towards Christians, leading some historians to argue that Severus initially held a favorable policy towards Christians during his early years of reign, but later changed, and in his tenth year of reign he began to persecute them. Severus sought to unify his diverse empire and saw Christianity, with its exclusive claims to truth, as a threat to traditional Roman religious practices and social cohesion.  According to the Historia Augusta, he issued edicts prohibiting conversions to Christianity and Judaism, leading to widespread arrests and executions of believers.  Clement of Alexandria wrote:

“we have exhibited before our eyes every day abundant sources of martyrs that are burnt, impaled, beheaded.” –Stromata 2:20

Among the notable martyrs during this period were Perpetua and Felicity, whose steadfast faith in the face of brutal persecution has been immortalized in the “Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity.”  According to the narrative, five people were arrested and executed at the military games in celebration of the emperor Septimius Severus’s birthday.  Perpetua, a young noblewoman, faced death in the arena alongside Felicity, her slave and fellow Christian, who was also pregnant at the time.  Along with Felicity and Perpetua, the other martyrs included Saturninus and Secundulus, and an enslaved man named Revocatus.  All were catechumens or Christians being instructed in the faith but not yet baptized. 

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