Decius orders every inhabitant of the empire to sacrifice before witnesses; the first empire-wide persecution, and the crisis of the lapsed that follows it.
Tagged: Persecution Christian
The Event
- Date
- 249–251 (exact)
- Era
- Patristic; Standard ecumenical periodization
- Location
- Empire-wide
- Traditions
- Christianity
- Key figures
- Decius, Cyprian of Carthage
- Key texts
- Cyprian, On the Lapsed
Primary Sources
- Cyprian, On the Lapsed
- Cyprian, Letters
Secondary Sources
- Chadwick, The Early Church (Penguin, 1967)
- Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Fortress, 1984)
Provenance: HIST-0010; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-26.
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