Page "History of Christianity" Paragraph 11

From the beginning, Christians were subject to various persecutions.

This involved even death for Christians such as Stephen () and James, son of Zebedee ().

Larger-scale persecutions followed at the hands of the authorities of the Roman Empire, beginning with the year 64, when, as reported by the Roman historian Tacitus, the Emperor Nero blamed them for that year's great Fire of Rome.

According to Church tradition, it was under Nero's persecution that Peter and Paul were each martyred in Rome.

Similarly, several of the New Testament writings mention persecutions and stress endurance through them.

For 250 years Christians suffered from sporadic persecutions for their refusal to worship the Roman emperor, considered treasonous and punishable by execution.