6
lift
Israel from its abject subjugation and make it the first among
nations, giving it a prosperity and happiness that would never end.
The followers of the populist preacher (later renamed Jesus by
the Greeks) believed he was the long-hoped for redeemer.7 Unfortu-
nately, the Roman overlords got wind of the sermonizer's presence,
sensed his subversive potential and executed him. That, however, did
not stop his followers. They still believed fervently that He was The
Chosen One. Surely, they said, He would triumph over death and
return to them.8 In fact, He himself had predicted His resurrection.
Any day now, the faithful told each other, He would come back,
bringing with Him the new earthly order.9
God never quite arrived. Or did he? Over the next three
hundred years, the waiting followers of the martyred Galilean became
a minority spread from one end of the Roman Empire to the other.
Decent Romans spurned and mocked them. Occasionally, they were
the subject of vicious persecutions.
But like a magnet, the Christian beliefs drew a steady stream of
new converts, pulling their devotees into a mass so solid some called it
"the body of Christ."10 By 310 AD, there were massive, well-organized
Christian communities in every major city of the Empire.11 Despite an
official policy of repression, Christian views were argued ever more
openly in the corridors of power. Finally, they reached the ears of the
Emperor. Apparently, these Christian notions made an impression.
In 312 AD, Emperor Constantine was on the eve of battling a
rival at the Milvian Bridge outside of Rome. Tradition has it that he
looked into the sun and thought he saw in its blazing face the sign of
the cross. The Roman ruler took it as an omen. He felt that in the
impending bloodbath, Christ would give him victory. Constantine's
forces won the day. And the Emperor in the coming years made the
religion that he felt had brought him his triumph the official creed of
the state.12
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