Of the Sixth Persecution of the Christians, Commenced under Maximin, A. D. 237.

The sixth persecution of the Christians, writes J. Gysius, arose under the Emperor Maximin, a naturally cruel man, and was directed against persons of respectability (since he was of low origin), as well as against the Christians, but especially 127 against the ministers of the word. Fortunately for the Christians, this persecution was brief, since he reigned but two years; and as he was a violent enemy of the ministers of the church, the persecution commenced on them, as the teachers and authors, it was said, of the Christian religion; for it was thought that if they were removed, the common people could easily be drawn away from it. Then, Origen, a teacher of the church, in order to exhort the Christians to steadfastness, wrote a book on martyrdom, dedicating it to Ambrose, overseer of the church at Milan, and Proctotus, learned men of that time. J. Gys., fol. 19, col. 1, 2, from Euseb., lib. 6, cap. 20, Oros. lib. 7, cap. 19.

Touching the cause of these persecutions, the author of the Introduction, etc., writes thus: The heathen had such a hatred for the Christians at that time, that, whenever an earthquake, a storm, or the like, occurred, they laid it to the charge of the Christians, saying that their gods were offended, because their honor was waning on account of the Christians; from which it is to be inferred that they treated the Christians in an awful manner. Fol. 39, col. 2, from Baronius, in Chron., A. D. 237, num. 3, and A. D. 256, num. 5.