Sand In The Carburetor

      In 293 A.D. "The Tetarchy"  began the  rule of four. Everything became the ruler's property, and this laid the foundation for the many conflicts between the four distinct geographical regions. At this time, most folks were told the supreme deity was considered the Emperor. Now there were four? Lots of trouble here to try and sort all this out. Now a new sect, first called Christian, at Antioch in the province of Syria, had some real problems with all this deity stuff. The Roman governor of this city resided here, and can you believe it, all this developed right under the nose of the Roman's administration. It was Diocletian some 250 years later from these early days of this movement, that decided the Empire needed to get rid of all these folks. Feeling that the growing sect was not following the dogma of  Roman theology, he commanded all were to persecuted. This persecution included ordering their meeting places (churches) to be razed to the ground, and their writings (Scriptures) destroyed by fire. All those in high places would loose their place, and any household folks who continued to profess Christianity would be deprived of their liberty. Ironically, some 37 years later, under a new ruler called Constantine, this persecuted sect became the new Religion of the State. A contemporary of Constatine, named Eusebius, wrote his account of all this turmoil. Sort of like having sand in the carburetor. The cover to my copy follows:

    In his book, he describes the ordeals of 146 martyrs, and the teaching of 47 heretics. Translated by G.A. Williamson and published by Dorset Press, N.Y., 1965, it has a helpful introduction p. 7 - p.29. The appendixes include A.) Emperors and Bishops, B.) Bishoprics, C.) Martyrdoms, D.) Heretics, and E.) Sources Quoted or Summarized, pp.415-424.  The last appendix E. is a good source for those who are interested in references of the day.