A Slave Among the Believers of Lyons
Blandina belonged to the church at Lyons, ancient Lugdunum, the chief city of Roman Gaul, where the Rhône and Saône rivers meet. Many of its believers had roots in Asia Minor, and its aged bishop, Pothinus, led what seems to have been a largely Greek-speaking church in a Latin city. Blandina was a slave. Everything we know about her comes from a letter the surviving believers of Lyons and Vienne wrote to the churches of Asia and Phrygia after the persecution of 177, which Eusebius quoted at length in his Church History.
The persecution began with the crowd. Believers were barred from houses, baths, and the market, then insulted, beaten, stoned, and dragged before the city authorities. When the governor arrived, the arrests became a trial, and the trial became torture. Pagan slaves of Christian households, terrified of the rack, accused their masters of cannibal feasts and incest (the age of the martyrs).
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