of death. Finally, a particularly severe edict prescribed death for church leaders, and the confiscation of property, slavery, and even death for other Christians who would not desert the faith. Again, only a war against foreign invaders—this time the Persians—put an end to the Christians’ ordeal. A few decades of relative peace and prosperity followed, only to be interrupted in 303 by the most severe persecution the church had yet faced, often known as the ‘Great Persecution’.