“Publish it, of course. After all, I’ve been doing the same thing in Gaul and Britain for several years.”
“Your mother will be happy to hear it.”
“Then she has really become one of them?”
“Yes. She couldn’t join the Christians before for fear of embarrassing you while laws were in effect ordering their persecution.” Something in Dacius’ tone told Constantine he had not heard the whole story. “Is something wrong with Mother?”
“Not her, but it is with the Christians. They claim to be set apart by their god, but they’re proving to be frail vessels indeed.” “What do you mean?”
“As soon as the edicts of persecution were rescinded in the Asian provinces and in Illyria, the Christians began fighting among themselves. Those who let themselves be tortured rather than give up the Scriptures to be burned refuse to recognize the ones who pretended to obey the edicts in order to stay alive. They now claim that only they are the rightful priests and, as a result, bishops are damning other bishops. Even churches that kept together are beginning to split over who is pure and who is not.”
“Do you blame them?”
“Not if they admitted they were like other men and subject to the same weaknesses,” Dacius said. “But those who resisted the edicts now claim to possess a special holiness and have even set themselves up as a court to judge those whose faith may not have been quite as strong as theirs. I’ve read the teachings of the man they call Christ more than once, and I found nothing there to support this sort of an idea.”
Constantine said firmly
“We will have none of it here in Gaul either,” Constantine said firmly. “Properly controlled, I believe Christianity can be a powerful force for keeping order. If one day I am to rule from Persia to Britain and from Germany to Egypt, I must control it everywhere.”
“When did you decide that?”
“These past few months, while I was traveling through my own realm and saw how the sect has grown. Do you know Hosius of Cordoba?”
“The Spanish priest who is confessor to Empress Theodora?” “Yes.”
“Only by sight, but he and Eumenius are close friends.”
“Hosius is actually a Christian bishop,” Constantine explained. “I’m thinking of making him one of my chief advisers, when Eumenius goes with Crispus to Autun.”
“Why not become a Christian yourself?”
“I may, some day. The old gods and the old days are dying, Dacius, and Christianity may one day be the strongest religion in the Empire. Diocletian made enemies of them when he issued the edicts of persecution and Rome has suffered because of it. I shall not make that mistake.”
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