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Decius became emperor in 249, at a time of crisis. Externally, the Empire was threatened by invasions on the northern frontiers. Internally, the citizens lacked cohesion and moral fiber.

Decius decided to strengthen and unite the Empire on the basis of religion. He ordered that all citizens take part in a general sacrifice, pouring out a libation to the Roman gods and eating part of the sacrificial meat. This order was aimed particularly at prominent Christian leaders. Decius operated on the theory that if you cut off the head, the body will die of itself.

Citizens who refused to sacrifice were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Great bishops such as Fabian of Rome, Babylas of Antioch, and Alexander of Jerusalem were killed or died in prison. Others, like Cyprian of Carthage, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Gregory the Wonderworker, were banished or went into hiding.

Eusebius describes the torture of Origen, the great theologian, in his Ecclesiastical History: “The dreadful cruelties he endured for the word of Christ, chains and bodily torments, agony in iron and the darkness of his cell; how for days on end his legs were pulled four paces apart in the torturer’s stocks—the courage with which he bore the threats of fire and every torture devised by his enemies.… ” Origen survived and was freed but died as a result of his torture.

While the government targeted Christian leaders, mobs in Alexandria and other cities attacked the rank and file. Eusebius preserves a letter from Dionysius of Alexandria describing the attacks of a mob: “Next they took a female convert named Quinta to the idol’s temple and tried to make her worship. When she turned her back in disgust, they tied her feet and dragged her right through the city over the rough paved road, bumping her on the great stones and beating her as they went, till they arrived at the same place, where they stoned her to death. Then they ran in a body to the houses of the Christians, charged in by groups on those they knew as neighbors, raided, plundered, and looted.”

The church practically collapsed. Thousands of Christians either offered sacrifices or obtained a certificate (libellus) saying that they had sacrificed.

In 251 Decius died in battle, ending the persecution (which still ranks as one of the bloodiest in the history of the church). But then the church found itself facing a tempestuous internal struggle. What was the church to do with all these apostates who, when the crisis was over, wanted to rejoin the church? On what basis could they be readmitted? The struggle for an answer reflects a deeper tension about the nature of the church.

Behind the struggle lies the question of post-baptismal sin. In Against Marcion, Tertullian listed what seems to have been a common understanding of the benefits of baptism: remission of sins, deliverance from death, rebirth to new life, and endowment with the Holy Spirit. In his work On Pennance, Tertullian said that because baptism is so important, there can be no second repentance after baptism. Particularly could there be no forgiveness of what would later be called mortal sins—adultery, murder, apostasy. Since the lapsed had apostatized, the answer was clear: they could not be received back.

Tertullian’s strict position was based on an understanding of the church as the pure body and bride of Christ. The church stood separate, against the Empire.

Another view of the church led to a different understanding of penance and of how to treat the lapsed. Hermas, in The Shepherd (c. 150), had said there could be one repentance after baptism. Hermas even suggested that apostasy might be forgiven once. Callistus, the bishop of Rome from 217 to 222, apparently was willing to offer penance and forgiveness for adultery and murder (at least Hippolytus and Tertullian accused him of that).

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