THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE FIRST CENTURY

[...]of the persecution, many of the Jerusalem believers were forced to leave the city, fleeing to towns in Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1, 4-5) where they were presumably taken in by relatives and friends, or by other followers of Jesus. Since Agrippa had been appointed king of the Jews by imperial edict, he would have tried James in his court of law before he executed him, and he would have put Peter on trial after his arrest before the planned execution. Two years later, when Porcius Festus arrived in the province as the new prefect, Paul's opponents plan an ambush to kill Paul during a requested transfer of the case to Jerusalem (Acts 25:2-3). Since Festus was inclined to grant the request of the Jewish leaders, Paul feared that he would not get a fair hearing and consequently appealed to be tried by the emperor, a right that he had as a Roman citizen (Acts 25:1-12). [...]even though they were guilty and deserved the most exemplary punishment, pity for them arose on account of the impression that they were destroyed not for the public good but to gratify one man's cruelty.67 25.Persecution in the provinces of Pontus-Bithynia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia.