
In the first two centuries of the Christian era, it was local Roman officials who were largely responsible for persecutions.
In the second century, the Caesars were largely content to treat Christianity as a local problem, and leave it to their subordinates to deal with. For Roman governors being a Christian was in itself a subversive act, because it entailed a refusal to sacrifice to the gods of Rome, including the deified emperor.
One of the most ruthless persecutions occurred with Blandina (c. 162-177 AD), a young Christian slave who lived in the 2nd century and died in Lugdunum (Lyon) after being martyred for her faith in Jesus Christ under the reign of Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 - March 17, 180).
Blandina, the Strength of Faith
In the year 177 in the present-day French city of Lyon, a violent persecution took place that led to the massacre of many Christians. Among those tortured and sentenced to death was a young Christian girl of about 15 years of age, who had been arrested during the month of June and whose heroic resistance and ability to inspire courage in the other Christian prisoners aroused true admiration in each of them.
Her companions greatly feared that on account of her bodily frailty she might not remain steadfast under torture. But although the imperial legate caused her to be tortured in a horrible manner, so that even the executioners became exhausted "as they did not know what more they could do to her", still she remained faithful and repeated to every question "I am a Christian, and we commit no wrongdoing."
After several tortures, Blandina was taken to an amphitheater with a group of other Christians, including Pothinus (87-177 AD), hung from a post and handed over to the wild beasts, but they did not touch her. She was later whipped, placed on a hot iron chair, and then delivered again in a net to a bull who tossed her into the air with its horns several times. Her executioners were exhausted, admiring her strength, because just one of the torments they inflicted on her would have been enough to take her life, and she endured them with lightness, consoled by her faith.
The traditional account of the young Blandina is recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea (c. AD 260/265 - 30 May AD 339), in his Ecclesiastical History, in the Koine language, with some surviving manuscripts in Latin, Syriac and Armenian.
"Blessed Blandina, from whom it was least expected, like a most worthy mother exhorted her children and sent them ahead victorious to the King, walking herself along the same path of conflict that they walked, and hastened towards them, rejoicing triumphantly at their departure, like one who had been invited to a wedding feast rather than to be thrown to the beasts."
At that time, for fear of being tortured, slaves had testified against their masters that the Christians committed cannibalism and incest when assembled, which was a common rumor about Christians during this and later centuries.
In his report to the emperor the imperial legate stated that those who held to their Christian belief were to be executed and those who denied their faith were to be released, and the legate received instructions from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 - March 17, 180) allowing the Roman citizens who persisted in the faith to be executed by beheading, but those without citizenship were to be tortured.
Blandina was therefore subjected to new tortures with a number of companions in the town's amphitheater (now known as the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls) at the time of the public games. One such companion was Ponticus, a 15-year-old boy and the youngest of the martyrs, who was encouraged by Blandina to have faith in Christ which gave Ponticus of Lugdunum the strength to continue.
Almost everything we know about Blandina comes from a letter sent from the Church of Lyon to the Churches of Asia Minor. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. AD 260/265 - 30 May AD 339) devotes a significant amount of space to his life and death in his book, citing the aforementioned Epistle to Asia Minor.
"They have endured with great dignity," the letter states, "the abuses of the plebs: insults, beatings, shaking, robbery, stoning and everything that usually pleases an enraged mob against a people it considers hateful."
On many occasions, when the time came to torture her, she showed such resistance that the executioners had to take turns. First they whipped her, then they tried to have her devoured by wild beasts, and despite so much torment, Blandina (c. 162-177 AD) remained firm in her faith in Jesus Christ, until finally the authorities ordered her murder.
The young Christian stoically endured all the torture, repeatedly affirming her faith in public in front of her executioners.
"Brought to the beasts for a common spectacle, Blandina was hung from a piece of wood and left there exposed for the beasts to eat, but they respected her and ended up returning her to prison to save her for another fight."
After enduring this for several days, in an effort to persuade her to recant, she was taken to the arena of the Amphitheatre to see the sufferings of her brothers in Christ Jesus. Finally, as the last of the martyrs, she was again whipped and killed with a dagger in 177.
His body, along with the remains of his companions, remained outdoors for six days before being cremated and his ashes thrown into the Rhône River.
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