Asia Minor (3)

When I was not engaged in my duties, nor busy learning the
extra responsibilities of a senior officer, I browsed around
Ephesus. Once again I began pursuing my pastime of looking
into the various religious cults come my way. One of the most
curious was the cult of Christus.

From what I could tell, this particular religious cult began in
Judaea and eventually spread into Asia Minor via teachings
presented in certain Jewish synagogues. Over time most Jews
turned against this movement, which was about a god-man who
died and came back to life. Evidently there was a split, and
most of the followers now living in Ephesus are not Jews.

I was able to discover some small buildings called "churches"
or "assemblies" where the followers of Christus would meet.
Much of the time they meet in their homes, coming together over
a ceremonial meal and wine. This is not unusual, since these
kind of rituals are occasionally employed by other religious
cults around the Empire.

Upon inquiry, I discovered that under the Emperor Nero, some
twenty years before my birth, there was a persecution of these
people. It seems he falsely blamed and executed Christus'
followers for the burning of Rome at that time--though it was
more likely that Nero, himself, ordered the foul deed. Later he
declared these people as a danger to the Empire.

As far as I could tell, many of these followers of Christus were
either slaves or freedmen or, at most, Plebians. Easy scapegoats,
so to speak, in that they were mostly powerless people from the
lower social orders. Still I wondered why they were so attracted
by this Christus. I was in luck, in that Ephesus turned out to be
one of the major centers for these people.

It wasn't easy getting to know any of the followers of Christus.
They were dubious of any Roman asking questions. And who
could blame them? Eventually I ran into a Greek bookseller
who had a copy of a scroll written by one of the leaders of this
Christus movement. I bought the copy , which I was told was
written originally maybe about the time I was born--or a little
later--by a man called John, who claimed to be a disciple of
Christus.

Reading through this small book, John told his story about this
Jewish rabbi (or teacher). It was a poignant story, tragic too!
It seems that Christus, himself, was a peaceful man. A wise man,
a healer also. He mainly taught in rural areas of Galilee, now
part of the Judaea or Syria Palaestina Provinces? His message
was about caring for one's neighbor, doing good, living generously.
His earlier Jewish disciples considered him a Messiah for the Jews,
even the Son of God. During a Jewish festival he came down to
Jerusalem, and made the mistake of speaking against the Temple
priests and upsetting the coin exchange there.

From John's story, it was not clear what the nuances of Christus'
execution were. The Jewish priests hauled him before the Roman
Governor and demanded his death. Why ever this pro-counsel
gave in to their demands seemed unclear. Anyway, Christus was
crucified under Roman Law--in that it was said that he declared
himself a "King of the Jews." All in all, this seemed a barbarous
act against a kind and probably innocent man! After his death, his
followers claimed that he was resurrected and ascended to Heaven.