Customer Reviews

The Age of Martyrs: Christianity from Diocletian (284) to Constantine (337)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The seed of the Church is fed by the blood of martyrs. In a time when so much is made of supposedly Muslin martyrs, it is refreshing for Christians to recall what a true martyr is- someone who bears witness to their faith in Christ by laying down their life by the hands of persecutors. Ricciotti does an excellent job in weaving both historical narrative and quotations from primary sources to give the reader a real flavor of the stresses and glories of the early Church's position in society between 284 and 337.

The various forms of martyrdom are covered thoroughly. As well, an excellent prologue sets the stage for the political and religious climate of the era. It ends with a long discussion of various heresies that were rampant at the time (such as Arianism and Donatism). This is a very good source, in fact, for information of the Donatist Schism if you can't get a hold of Frend's massive study.

I was a bit surprised at one reviewer's remarks that this book was fit for the fire. The author of the book makes distinctions between the historical and fictional accounts of martyrdom in detail. While sympathetic to Latin Christianity, Ricciotti does not compromise his integrity as a historian. This is why I give the book five stars and the other lame review a thumbs down.

You may also enjoy reading "The Cruelty of Heresy" and Hengel's "The Cross of the Son of God".

This book covers some crucial ground in the history of the early Church, including the Great Persecution, the career of Constantine, the Donatist and Arian heresies, and the Council of Nicaea. Although the information is valuable, the scope is awfully broad, and Abbot Ricciotti has difficulty keeping the chronology of his narrative in order, making it a little hard to follow in spots. His writing style is scholarly and almost bland, but that may be due to the translation. In any event, he is very careful when citing his authorities to make sure we understand how reliable or unreliable they might be. This is a big plus, because this time period is rife with legends, misrepresentations, and wildly divergent points of view. On the whole, I came away with a much fuller understanding of the tensions between pagan and Christian Rome and of the sordid details of the persecutions and political scheming for power that unfortunately dominated the entire period.

I am a huge fan of Abbott Ricciotti's work, and have read just about all of his books which have been translated into English. His style is incredible - calm, clear, and rational - and he makes his points in such a magisterial fashion that is hard to refute them. This book covers the last persecutions of the church and Constantine's reign with his usual style and wit, with a nice section on the Arians. Highly recommended.

This is first-rate historiography.

The author analyzes the relevant sources and gives an objective assessment of which are reliable (e.g, portions of his Church History which Eusebius indeed witnessed, court transcripts) and which are not (e.g., Eusebius' Life of Constantine, embellished passions of martyrs). His description of the political situation of the Roman Empire at the time was lucid and exciting to read. I now understand exactly what Diocletian meant to do with the tetrarchy. His depiction of the Donatist schism read like a Grisham courtroom thriller.

He impartially criticizes the laxity to which the clergy's morals had succumbed during the peaceful years since the persecution of Valerian, and equally praises Arius as a man of impeccable conduct (whose only error was placing his opinion above that of the Church magisterium). He does not hide nor whitewash that many, many more Christians lapsed than were martyrs during the persecution. And this book is hardly a glorification of Constantine as alleged by the first reviewer (who clearly did not read the book). Constantine is here exposed with all of his numerous flaws and errors, along with his actual virtues. On the other hand, it was also particularly disturbing to read how these persecutions aimed to destroy Sacred Scriptures and how many precious volumes were lost.

Yet the Church survived and flourished. One can only ascribe such a turnaround to the spirit infused unto the Church by the martyrs, and such is the implicit lesson of this book. I cannot imagine that a Christian reader today would not be impressed by the martyrs' courage, and not realize the immense debt of gratitude we have to those men and women.

The author, writing from an Italian and Latin perspective, is understandably less than effusive regarding the interventions of St. Constantine in the internal affairs of the Church. Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate the Great Councils, beginning with Nicea in 325 as establishing the "conciliar" pattern by which Orthodoxy defined itself against the variety of heretical uprisings in the Patristic age. With certain limitations, this is a factual, sympathetic, and balanced account of an heroic, and sinful, and ultimately repentant, man. Nevertheless, the result, with Contantine's acceptance, of the rise of Christianity in the Empire was dramatic and swift. Crucifixion and other public cruelties were abolished, the infanticide of female children was suppressed so that women came from perhaps 1/3 of the population to equality in numbers with males, slavery and other evils eventually disapeared... and the Empire lasted another thousand years until overwhelmed by the Muslim invasions.

This author uses fiction and mythology to write this book. It is filled with historical errors and pure sugar coated wishes...the major one: Constantine as a Christian Martyr....He was far from it.