Decian persecution

He had issued an edict ordering everyone in the empire to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods and the well-being of the emperor.

Decius' edict was intended to act as an empire-wide loyalty oath to the new emperor (who had come to power in 249 AD), sanctified through the Roman religion.

I have sacrificed to the gods all my life, and now again, in accordance with the decree and in your presence, I have made sacrifice, and poured a libation, and partaken of the sacred victims.

[5] Christians had abandoned the religion of their forefathers, and were seeking to convert others, which seemed dangerous to the Romans; refusal to sacrifice for the emperor's well-being appeared seditious.

Refusal resulted in the deaths of some notable Christians, including Pope Fabian, Babylas of Antioch and Alexander of Jerusalem.

[6] By 251, efforts to enforce the edict had died down, and although short-lived, the "Decian persecution" became in the collective memory of the church an episode of monstrous tyranny.