What impact did Marcus Aurelius have on Christian history?

Answer

Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (AD 121—180) was a Roman emperor (161—180) and Stoic philosopher. He is perhaps most famous in popular culture as the father of the villainous emperor Commodus, the antagonist in the 2000 film Gladiator. He is recognized in other circles as the author of Meditations, a manual for self-improvement rooted in Stoic philosophy, which continues to be published and read today.

Marcus Aurelius is also remembered by many as a persecutor of Christians, largely due to John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, which reports, “Marcus Aurelius, around the year 161 AD, was a man of a more stern and severe nature; although commendable in his pursuit of philosophy and civil governance, he was harsh and fierce towards Christians, leading to the fourth persecution.

“The atrocities committed during this persecution were so severe that many onlookers were horrified and amazed by the courage of the victims. Some martyrs were forced to walk over thorns, nails, sharp shells, etc., with their already wounded feet, while others were whipped until their tendons and veins were exposed. After enduring the most agonizing tortures imaginable, they met their ends in the most dreadful ways.

“Germanicus, a young man and devout Christian, was thrown to wild beasts due to his faith. His remarkable bravery led several pagans to convert to a faith that instilled such resilience” (from “The Fourth Persecution, Under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, A.D. 162,” https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/the-fourth-persecution-under-marcus-aurelius-antoninus-a-d-162.html, accessed 4/14/20).

Foxe, writing in the mid-1500s, does not provide sources for his account. Many contemporary scholars challenge this portrayal of Marcus Aurelius. Donald Robertson, the author of HowTo Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius (St. Martin’s Press, 2019) challenges this assumption convincingly in an article on his website (https://donaldrobertson.name/2017/01/13/did-marcus-aurelius-persecute-the-christians/, accessed 3/25/20). Robertson quotes H. D. Sedgwick, a previous researcher on Marcus Aurelius, who states, “The only evidence there is that Marcus Aurelius had any direct relation with any of these cases is this statement in Eusebius that during the trial at Lyons the governor wrote to ask him for instructions.” Eusebius, writing about 300 years later in his Ecclesiastical History, records some reports of persecution in the city of Lyons during Marcus Aurelius’s reign. However, Eusebius does not mention that Marcus Aurelius himself initiated the persecution. Additionally, other Christian writers who were closer to or living at the time of this persecution do not emphasize it as much.

Robertson highlights the words of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons: “Through their [the Romans’] instrumentality the world is at peace, and we walk on the highways without fear, and sail where we will” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, Book IV, Chapter 30, section 3). Tertullian, who lived during Marcus Aurelius’s era, refers to Marcus Aurelius as a protector, using this to show that Christianity is beneficial for the world: “But of all the emperors down to this present reign, who understood anything of religion or humanity, name me one who persecuted the Christians. On the contrary, we show you the excellent M. Aurelius for our protector and patron; for if you look into his letters, you will find him there testifying that his army in Germany, being on the brink of perishing with thirst, some Christian soldiers in his troops, through the power of prayer, brought down a tremendous shower to relieve the entire army; for this, the grateful prince, though unable to publicly overturn the penal law.”S, yet he did as well, he publicly rendered them ineffectual another way, by discouraging our accusers with the last of punishments, viz. burning alive” (The Apology of Tertullian, translated by Wm. Reeve, online facsimile of the 1709 text, p. 8, http://www.tertullian.org/articles/reeve_apology.htm, accessed 3/25/20).

This position as protector is bolstered if we accept that “The Epistle of Antoninus to the Common Assembly of Asia in Regard to Our Doctrine” is actually written by Marcus Aurelius. The following is recorded in Eusebius, who attributes the letter to someone else, but the text of the document attributes it to Marcus Aurelius:

“1. The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, Armenicus, Pontifex Maximus, for the fifteenth time Tribune, for the third time Consul, to the Common Assembly of Asia, Greeting.

“2. I know that the gods also take care that such persons do not escape detection. For they would much rather punish those who will not worship them than you would.

“3. But you throw them into confusion, and while you accuse them of atheism you only confirm them in the opinion which they hold. It would indeed be more desirable for them, when accused, to appear to die for their God, than to live. Wherefore also they come off victorious when they give up their lives rather than yield obedience to your commands.

“4. And in regard to the earthquakes which have been and are still taking place, it is not improper to admonish you who lose heart whenever they occur, and nevertheless are accustomed to compare your conduct with theirs.

“5. They indeed become the more confident in God, while you, during the whole time, neglect, in apparent ignorance, the other gods and the worship of the Immortal, and oppress and persecute even unto death the Christians who worship him.

“6. But in regard to these persons, many of the governors of the provinces wrote also to our most divine father, to whom he wrote in reply that they should not trouble these people unless it

It should appear that they were attempting something affecting the Roman government. Also, many have sent communications concerning these men to me, but I have replied to them in the same way that my father did.

“7. But if anyone still persists in bringing accusations against any of these people as such, the person who is accused shall be acquitted of the charge, even if it appears that he is one of them, but the accuser shall be punished.”

(The above is from A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series, under the editorial supervision of Philip Schaff and Henry Wallace, source, accessed 3/25/20).

The evidence we have is scant and somewhat contradictory, although the current scholarly consensus is that Marcus Aurelius was not a persecutor of the church. This would seem to be in keeping with his Stoic philosophy, which emphasized virtue. As C. R. Haines notes, “Marcus has been condemned as a persecutor of the Christians on purely circumstantial and quite insufficient grounds. The general testimony of contemporary Christian writers is against the supposition. So is the known character of Marcus” (The Communing with Himself of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Emperor of Rome, Together with His Speeches and Sayings, tr. by C. R. Haines, London: Wm. Heinemann, 1906, p. 384).

If Marcus Aurelius was a persecutor of the church, he was simply one in a long line of persecutors. If he was not, his treatment by subsequent Christian writers demonstrates that even Christians writing for a good purpose may at times distort the facts—a temptation for any who write with intent to persuade others of their position.