The Lord Jesus Christ warned his disciples and apostles that they would be persecuted in the world. These events were not to be expected for a long time - already in the second half of the first century, the Roman authorities began an active activity dedicated to the persecution of followers of the Christian dogma.
Christians began to suffer persecution immediately after the ascension of Christ. These events are described in the scriptures of the New Testament. The main persecutors were first the Jews, and only then the Roman authorities.
The first Roman emperor to persecute Christians was Nero. He was the initiator of the arson of Rome, and the fault fell on the followers of Christ. Christians were called not only apostates from the pagan religion, but also harmful members of Roman society, because of which there were terrible consequences of a fire that destroyed several large areas of Rome. Thus, Christians were considered as opponents of the state and religious system of the Roman Empire.
Further, historically, other "sins" were attributed to Christians against society, paganism and authorities. Thus, in the followers of Christ's teachings, the Gentiles saw terrible cannibals, supposedly gathering in caves in order to drink the blood of infants. The roots of this belief lie in the fact that Christians from the first centuries understood the need for the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. Also, Christians were reproached for various depraved orgies, incomprehensible sacrifices that they made to their God.
During the time of persecution of Christians under the emperor Trajan (98 - 117 years of reign), a new reason for persecution appears. One of the most frightening and inexplicable. The so-called persecution of nomen ipsum, which is translated from Latin means “only for the name”. It was enough to call yourself a Christian to be executed. Under the emperor, certain bodies existed that sought out Christians for the purpose of subsequent torment.
One of the main reasons for the persecution is the refusal of Christians to offer sacrifices to pagan gods. Any Roman emperor-persecutor was entitled to execute for this "crime." It is for this that many outstanding church leaders of the first centuries suffered even before death.
The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire continued in waves until Christianity became the state religion under Emperor Constantine the Great (the Edict of Milan of 313 was the main step towards the subsequent formation of Christianity as the state religion of Rome). However, it should be noted that even after Constantine emperors appeared who could persecute Christians for refusing to return to pagan worship.
