Martiri și mărturisitori creștini care au pătimit după „edictul“ de la Mediolanum, din anul 313, sub stăpânirea împăratului Licinius

Abstract

Very important events for the Christian history between the years 313-325 are still extremely controversial and difficult to be cleared up in an unchallenged manner, between those we can find the issue of the Christians’ persecution under the emperor Licinius, if it was a persecution or not. From the beginning, the historical sources show a positive attitude of the emperor Licinius towards the Christians. First of all, together with the emperor Constantine the Great, he gave freedom of expression to all religions, including the Christian one. Second of all, according to Lactantius, before the fight from 30 April 313, against the emperor Maximin Daia, from Campus Ergenus, near Adrianopol, the emperor Licinius saw an angel, and this angel of God taught him how to pray himself, together with his army, to the mighty God of the Christians, and with His help he gained the battle. Until the year 316, both Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesareea presented the emperor Licinius as the man chosen by God to punish those who had persecuted the Christians. After the conflict with the emperor Constantine the Great, the attitude of the emperor Licinius changed; Eusebius of Caesareea presented him as an enemy of the God and of the Christians, because he started the persecution against them. The 22 cases of persecutions against the Christians, in which died over 400 Christian soldiers, over 75 civil Christians, among them 2 children, 3 deacons and 2 bishops, and other 5 bishops who had suffered without being murdered, testifies that even if the emperor Licinius didn’t gave an edict of general persecution, however he persecuted those Christians who were suspected of betrayal or having the intention of betray, in favor of the emperor Constantine the Great. The minimization, made by some researchers, of the importance of the anti-Christian actions taken by the emperor Licinius and of the cases of martyrs, which had happened at his command, whishing to present him as being a Christian emperor, and to criticize Constantine the Great’s merits and actions against Licnius, is useless and doomed to failure. The arguments given by these researchers are based by the information given by the Martyr Acts of the martyrs who suffered under Licinius. Without being able to talk about a systematical and open persecution “against the Churches of God that were in his possession”, but “a hidden persecution, here and there”, as Eusebius saying, after the year 316, the emperor Licinius persecuted the Christian soldiers from his army or “the most influential” bishops, from revenge, suspecting them of being in Constantine the Great’s favour and acting against him; those who confessed their beliefs in Jesus Christ with their own lives or being tortured, are honoured by the Christ’s Church as saint martyrs and confessors.