How did Christianity survive persecution?

“Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.”

“Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”

“Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed.”

“I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if they confessed it I repeated the question twice again, adding the threat of capital punishment; if they still persevered, I ordered them to be executed.”

“For whatever the nature of their creed might be, I could at least feel no doubt that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy deserved chastisement.”

“I judged it so much the more necessary to extract the real truth, with the assistance of torture, from two female slaves, who were styled deaconesses: but I could discover nothing more than depraved and excessive superstition.”

“You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws.”

“What a soul that is which is ready, if at any moment it must be separated from the body, and ready either to be extinguished or dispersed or continue to exist; but so that this readiness comes from a man’s own judgment, not from mere obstinacy, as with the Christians, but considerately and with dignity and in a way to persuade another, without tragic show.”

“After the publication of our edict, ordaining the Christians to betake themselves to the observance of the ancient institutions, many of them were subdued through the fear of danger, and moreover many of them were exposed to jeopardy; nevertheless, because great numbers still persist in their opinions, and because we have perceived that at present they neither pay reverence and due adoration to the gods, nor yet worship their own God, therefore we, from our wonted clemency in bestowing pardon on all, have judged it fit to extend our indulgence to those men, and to permit them again to be Christians, and to establish the places of their religious assemblies; yet so as that they offend not against good order.”

“It has been our aim in an especial manner, that the Christians also, who had abandoned the religion of their forefathers, should return to right opinions.”

“And the tribe of evil demons is appointed to punish those who do not worship the gods, and stung to madness by them many atheists are induced to court death in the belief that they will fly up to heaven when they have brought their lives to a violent end.”

“Islam was offered to them many times, but they would not accept it, and they said: “We have come only to be purified, and to draw near with our souls to the Lord Christ.” So the men were brought forward beneath the window of the Salihiyya madrasa, Between the Two Palaces, and their necks were struck; and Islam was offered to the women, and they refused to become Muslims, so the Maliki judge took them to below the Citadel and struck their necks.”

“One of the Christian converts to Islam, of the Coptic clerks, was brought to the gate of the Citadel, of the Citadel of the Mountain. He had apostatized from Islam, and was known in his Islam as Burhan al-Din Ibrahim ibn Burayniyya, comptroller of the Mansuri Hospital. Islam was offered to him many times, and he was urged to return to it, but he would not accept, and persisted in his apostasy to Christianity. He was asked the reason for his apostasy, and he disclosed nothing. When they despaired of him, his neck was struck in the presence of the emir, the eunuch Shahin al-Hasani, one of the Sultan's Khassakiyya.”

“Of the adherents of the bateren sect, those who were in Kyoto and Osaka have in this interval mostly apostatized; there remain seventy-odd who did not apostatize, and it was decided that they should be exiled to Sotogahama in Ōshū; today they left the capital and went east.”

“Takayama Minami-no-bō, residing in Kaga, had for some time been staying at Sakamoto; he too, with his wife and children and others, about ten persons, goes down to Nagasaki in Kyūshū.”

“A Kirishitan called Seian, while in the prison, urged the religion upon two criminals who were in the prison; for this a cross-shaped brand was put on his forehead, his ten fingers were cut off, and he was banished, it is said.”

“Therefore, though the lord's command, "Change the religion of Deus and take refuge in the Buddhas and kami," is ever so weighty, they do not spare their lives; though they meet the penalties of the five punishments, on the contrary they rejoice in it.”

“Ki—Peitoro did not apostatize, and was hung until he was killed.”

“After Kibe had died, the two dōjuku apostatized, so they were raised from the hanging place and sent to the prison, and they stayed alive for a long time.”

“The evil ones who had been apprehended by the governor of Nagasaki and cast into prison were daily summoned by him and remonstrated with on their evil conduct, but they remained obstinate and gave no signs of repentance. On the contrary, they actually begged that they might be openly permitted to join the Roman Catholic sect.”

“On the 19th day the collector and judges set out to Urakami with the priests of the nine temples, and tried to exhort those people; but they were obstinate and refused to be convinced in the slightest degree.”

“Altogether, there were more than one thousand persons on those islands who professed Christianity. Out of those, three hundred and thirty-five were reconverted to their own country’s religion, after having been gradually advised and disciplined. Five hundred and ninety-three were kept in prison, where they continued to receive advice, and one hundred and forty of those persons escaped from their prison.”

“We have hoped the respite given them would induce them to amend their ways. In this we were mistaken.”

“As the pregnant woman, just spoken of, seemed close to her confinement, her case was a very pitiable one, and she was recommended to stay behind and be attended to, but she persisted in her desire to go on board ship with the rest, which was accordingly done; she was certainly not urged by the officers to go on board.”

“When they were put to judicial torture, each examined one by one, their blood and flesh were pulped, yet no grimace or groan showed in their faces or their words; with every word they invoked the teaching of the Lord of Heaven.”

“They went so far as to say that the command of the sovereign may be disobeyed and the command of parents may be disobeyed, but the teaching of the Lord of Heaven, even if they suffer the extreme penalty, can by no means be changed. Truly they have the mind that counts the blade a glory.”

“he was sent out as a medicine inspector, and was made, having no wife, to have a wife, and having no house, to have a house. Still he did not repent and change.”

“And now, on the day of the State Tribunal’s interrogation, he deposed, saying: “Death is my decision. The learning of the Lord of Heaven is what anyone who has understanding and awareness ought to practice, and he has absolutely no mind to change.””

“Kim Jeong-deuk, Kim Gwang-ok and others of Hoseo, and Han Jeong-heum, Choe Yeo-gyeom, the slave Cheon-ae and others of Honam, deceiving and leading astray, believing earnestly and practicing it, say that the Ten Commandments are hard to give up, and willingly accept death.”

“To delight in life and hate death is human feeling, yet they look on knife and saw as on a sleeping mat.”

“And yet they stay sunk in it unto death: how can this be inferred by ordinary reason?”

“Even those who have been caught and are facing punishment still do not fear death. That before they are caught they would be able to fear the law and reform themselves: how can that be counted on?”

“Generally, when the authorities press followers of the religion to step across the cross in open court, they press only the husbands and men and do not reach the wives and women; and so the women for their part have no thought of changing and repenting.”

“As in the capital some years ago, when a man of Dương Xuân commune was sentenced in a case of following the religion of Jesus and strangled, among his fellow believers there was an old woman who wished to die with him; though she was threatened with the terror of being struck by elephants and of sword and blade, she still gladly wished to die so as to see the Lord of Heaven.”

“How extreme their delusion is!”

“Nam Định captured the masters of the religion of Jesus Đinh Viết Dụ and Nguyễn Văn Xuyên (both natives of this country). Ordered to step across the cross, both would not. The provincial officials reported it, and they were ordered executed.”

“The emperor pitied them for having broken the law in ignorance, and ordered them first to be singled out and instructed: if they could awaken and leave the teaching, they would be granted leniency in proportion; or if they clung to their delusion and did not awaken, they would again be dealt with according to the original sentence.”

“The four firmly would not leave the teaching. The emperor, his face darkening, said: “How can a depraved teaching delude men to such a degree!””

“I announce to the public that I asked them till I was tired, to tell me their leaders and their comrades, and the houses where they met to pray; they have refused to tell me, for their comrades are dearer to them than I am”

“These praying people are so stubborn that, even if you were to kill them and cut them in pieces, they will not impeach their companions”

“I have killed some, I have made some slaves till death, I have put some in long and heavy fetters, and still you continue doing that practice. How is it that you cannot give up that?”

“Let us stop the examinations, lest all the people declare as these have done.”

“But in vain. Niemöller firmly maintained his attitude that no state had the right to interfere with canon law or to promulgate new laws concerning the Church.”

“The Bekenntniskirche flourished. Niemöller became its martyr.”