The earliest surviving ancient diary written by a women is “The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity.” In this diary we learn of a group of Christian women and men living in the thriving city of Carthage, Tunisia, during the reign of Emperor Severus. The time was about 203 A.D. and the youngest son of Severus, Geta, was about to turn 14 years of age. The local magistrate, Hilarianus, was a religiously devout man which meant worshipping the Emperor as the “Son of God”, or “Lord.” Hilarianus had a plan to put on a festival in honor of Severus and Geta which included games in the local colosseum. These games would feature gladiators and wild animals ripping apart political prisoners including heretics who would not bow the knee in worshipping the mighty Roman Emperor as “Lord”. Perpetu and Felicity, along with their fellow worshippers of this “Jesus”, fit the bill perfectly. They were rounded up with their children and put in a damp prison until the day of the festival. The problem was that Perpetua was a Roman citizen, an educated woman who wrote in Latin, a daughter of a local merchant who begged for her life, and she knew her rights of due process. She was given a trial at which she was offered clemency if she would simply offer worship and prayer to Severus. Her fellow church members were not offered as much because they were slaves and not citizens of Rome. Her father begged to recant, after all, why not just worship Severus AND Jesus? Why the exclusivity of Jesus and the association with this group of uneducated simpletons?
She records in her diary that she could not deny the title of “Christian”, a derogatory name back then, and that meant she could not worship any other “Lord” than Jesus. Her father was furious, surely this looked bad on him too, but still he begged for her life in the last moments before she was thrown in the arena. Two deacons of her church, Tertius and Pomponius, bribed guards to let her and her child have writing materials and some food as she waited her death. Would God do something miraculous and save them from sure doom? The day came and her group continued to preach to the mob of the love of the One True Son of God, Jesus, even as they were ushered to the colosseum. She would not worship Saturn, Jupiter, Ceres or the Emperor as their “son”. She and her child were gored by a wild heifer. Her diary was smuggled out by the deacons, and lives on today as a testimony of faithfulness to the Lord.
Why didn’t the Lord save her? We know that Geta would die seven years later, killed and expunged by his jealous brother, who also lived a short life. Why the heroic death for the entertainment of a 14 year old boy? I don’t know. But I love what Mark Graham writes about this story,
“…Geta was killed at age 22, the same age Perpetua had been when she died in the arena. His images were defaced and even his name was chiseled out of inscriptions. Severus himself died in fear for the future of his earthly empire. Perpetua’s story has inspired multitudes through the ages, and continues to do so. Such a juxtaposition should not drive us to boastful triumphalism – though such a response is awfully tempting…Rather, it should serve as a sobering reminder that, for every age, the powers that seem so present, so meaningful, and so all encompassing will soon be cast aside. We know precious little about her life, but we can be sure that our sister Perpetua faced death confident in eternal victory.” (“30 Key Moments in the History of Christianity” p. 52)
This is part of the Church’s story, we proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ and no other. (This seems to be as popular a belief today as it was back then) Let us gather this Sunday to worship and bow down before the Lord God our maker. In this way, we taste for a brief moment the eternal reality we will share with all the saints who have gone before us.
Rev. Ben Melli
