Conditions in the city went from desperate to horrific. A large number of people had come to the city for the Passover feast when the Romans began the siege. As months passed, starvation reigned. People ate leather and hay, and even sifted through cow dung looking for scraps of food — for “what had once revolted them now became their normal diet.”16 There was even a ghastly account of a mother, delirious from hunger, who ate her infant child.17 The death toll climbed until the Jewish soldiers were forced to walk over corpses to sally forth from the city. After six months of siege, the Romans prepared their final assault. Titus personally led the way and ordered that the Temple was not to be destroyed. Unfortunately, those orders were not obeyed, and the Roman troops rampaged through the city. The destruction of the Temple, which had been only recently completed in A.D. 64, was a watershed moment in the life of the children of Israel, although it was not the first time the Temple had been destroyed. In fact, the Babylonians destroyed the first Temple on August 10, 587 B.C. The second Temple was destroyed 657 years later on the same day. The loss of the Temple fundamentally changed the practice of Judaism from a worship that required animal sacrifice to an observance of the Law as the defining characteristic of Jewish faith. Titus triumphantly marched back to Rome in A.D. 71 and carried with him the great menorah from the Temple.18
Although Jerusalem had fallen to the Roman legions, a group of Jews led by Eleazar ben Ya’ir took refuge in the isolated rock plateau fortress of Masada for three years. The Romans, under the command of Lucius Flavius Silva, built an impressive 400-foot ramp in order to enter the fortress. Knowing the final Roman assault was near, Eleazar ordered his troops to commit suicide with their families to avoid capture. When the Romans broke into Masada in the morning, a ghastly sight greeted them.
After years of continued clashes, another Jewish revolt commenced in A.D. 132 under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba. Once more, the Romans violently put down the rebellion, this time leveling the entire city of Jerusalem. It was replaced by a new city, founded by Emperor Hadrian, and renamed Aelia Capitolina.
Over one million Jews died in the Great Jewish Revolt, and tens of thousands were sold into slavery. Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem, remembering Jesus’ prophetic words, fled to the countryside before the siege and were not deeply impacted by the war. The destruction of the Temple and the subsequent change in Judaism helped solidify the distinction between Jews and Christians. Originally viewed as a Jewish phenomenon, the Christian faith became a permanent separate entity as a result of the Jewish war with Rome.
The Didache
The early Church produced an interesting document known as the Didache, or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.19 The Didache outlines the choice each person faces — the way of life and the way of death. The way of life involves living out the Ten Commandments, whereas the way of death involves living by the sins of pride, lust, lying, stealing, murder, adultery, sodomy, and abortion. From the earliest days of the Faith, as the Didache illuminates, Christian living was focused on morality, on living in accordance with the example of Christ and the teachings of the Church. The Didache also provides information on the worship and sacramental life of the early Church. The document exhorts Christians to pray every day — especially the Lord’s Prayer, which should be recited three times a day. The Sacrament of Baptism and its application is mentioned in the Didache. The candidate was required to fast before reception of the sacrament and was baptized in the Trinitarian formula with water. Prayers for the celebration of the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day are found in the Didache, along with the admonition that only those who are baptized can receive the Lord’s body and blood. Finally, the document also testifies to the practice of the early Church that only worthy, morally upright men should be appointed as bishops and deacons in the Church.
The Faith Spreads
The Faith spread rapidly within the Roman Empire for several reasons. The Empire itself provided a universal organized structure for the rapid spread of ideas. Although many groups of people lived within the confines of the Empire, each with their own culture and language, all shared the common tongue, Greek, which was the language for business, education, and everyday life (at this time, Latin was the official state language and used primarily for political purposes). Moreover, the initial decades of the Church were times of peace in the Empire, which afforded people the time to ask important life questions and seek answers. The Roman Empire was overall a religious society. Romans understood that there was a connection between religious faith and morality, and between conduct in life and one’s fate in the afterlife. Religion had a political dimension as well; participation in the state cults was viewed as a civic duty. All forms of religious cults existed in the Empire, from nature-worship to emperor-worship. The mystery religions that originated in Egypt and Persia were also popular and contained rites of initiation, sacred food, sacrifices, and a hierarchical structure, elements found also in the Faith, which assisted in conversions. Within the Roman religious environment, several groups were predisposed to accept the Gospel, such as the “proto-Christians,” known to Jews as “God-fearers.” These proto-Christians were Gentiles (Roman pagans) who, as a result of contact with Judaism, came to adore the one true God. They read the Old Testament and tried to live in accordance with the Ten Commandments.20 Additionally, Hellenized Jews had been part of the Jewish Diaspora and were considered half-pagan by Palestine Jews. Hellenized Jews took Greek names, spoke Latin and Greek, and dressed like the pagans. The several large communities of Hellenized Jews throughout the Empire provided rich evangelization opportunities for the missionaries of the early Church.
Pagans were attracted to the Faith by the witness of the early Christians, especially the martyrs. Romans were also astounded by how the Christians treated the poor with a dignity unknown to the pagan world.21 Christian charity toward pagans was a deeply effective form of evangelization. Pagans understood Christians caring for Christians, but when believers also cared for pagans during plagues and other times of need, the pagans were intrigued. Indeed, “the practical application of charity was probably the most potent single cause of Christian success.”22 Ultimately, what allowed the Faith to spread rapidly in its first few decades was the fact that the Gospel was inclusive — it was meant for everyone. Roman society was very class-oriented, and religious cults were organized similarly. In contrast, the Catholic Church accepted everyone regardless of race, class status, education, or profession. That openness was unique and intriguing to people in the first-century Roman Empire.
More Persecution
Vespasian, the Roman general who had quashed the Great Jewish Revolt, reigned as emperor for a decade (A.D. 69–79). Upon his death, his son Titus, commanding general of the Roman forces that had taken Jerusalem, succeeded to the imperial purple. Titus became the first Roman emperor to succeed his biological father, in what became known as the Flavian dynasty. Titus’s brief reign lasted only two years, but during those two years the Flavian amphitheater (also known as the Colosseum) in Rome was completed and Mount Vesuvius erupted. After Titus died of fever, his younger brother Domitian became emperor. Domitian struggled with his mental health while emperor and was an “unpredictable and treacherous, [and] a truly horrible man who delighted in cruelty.”23 He was the first Roman emperor to deify himself with the title “Lord and God” during his reign.24 Domitian was paranoid; he spent his last days in a specially constructed hall of polished surfaces that acted as mirrors so he could see anyone trying to sneak up on him. He also delighted in the sadistic task of catching flies and spearing them with a special needle. Domitian initiated a limited persecution of the Church by striking down members of the imperial family who had become Christians. It was during his fifteen-year reign that the beloved Saint John the Evangelist was exiled to the island of Patmos. Eventually, imperial officials grew angry at the whims of the mentally ill Domitian. He was assassinated in 96, and was succeeded by his adviser