Eusebius’s perspective on why persecution began:

Early monasticism (Egypt): 1. Heremetic = alone, hermit - e.g. Antony 2. Coenobitic = communal - e.g. Pachomius

Developments within the Church: ~300 AD 1. Almost every church had a bishop - teacher, enforcer of discipline, selected presbyters & deacons, presided at baptisms & eucharist, ordained by neighboring bishops, 2. Church offices: lectors, widows, subdeacons, catechists, acolytes, virgins, exorcists & doorkeepers, 3. Churches in some cities (e.g. Carthage) became metropolitan churches, headed by Metropolitan Bishops, 4. Christian centers (Rome, Alexandria, Antioch) called patriarchial churches; bishops called ‘papas’ by laity - origin of word ‘pope’.

Diocletian’s persecution:

The Martyrdom of Saint George:

Diocletian’s persecution:

~311 Schism of Donatism: 1. Donatus Magnus in Africa, 2. Response to apostasizing under Diocletian: Baptisms administered to those who apostacized, and sacraments celebrated by clergy who apostasized, are invalid, 3. Constantine’s Council of Arles in 314 rejected; decreed heretical in 409; Donatists had to give up their churches, 4. Disappeared during Arab conquest of 7th-8th centuries.

Diocletian ( ) Roman Empire Western Empire Eastern Empire Diocletian ( ) Galerius ( ) Licinius ( ) Maximinus ( ) Maximian ( ) Constantius I ( ) Constantine ( ) Maxentius ( ) Constantine ( ) XX X

313 - Year of the ‘Coming of Age’ of the Church: 1. Edict of Milan, stopping persecution, 2. Athanasios enters service of Bishop Alexander, 3. Pachomius baptized, 4. Antony withdraws to the desert to find God.