Revelation 2:10 - Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
The coldest part of winter is behind us and springtime is soon to follow. I always enjoyed the crispness of the winter air because it made me miss the warmth of the summer sun. This time of year the Praetorian are scattered around the empire and I am stationed in Nicomedia.
In the early hours of the morning, I rose up from my bed, knelt facing the east, and prayed before the Most High God with prostrations, praise, and adoration of Him. For because of Him I have been called out of darkness into His glorious light. I have been promoted up the ranks and was given the command of 1,000 men under me. He has allowed me to find favor in the sight of my superiors though I am only the age of thirty. I have been spared in many a battle and the Lord protected me from the fiery darts of the enemy. Many victories have been given into my hand, but no credit can be given to me. The Lord has saved me countless times and it is to Him that I lift up my song of praise and thanksgiving.
I arose to change into my uniform and I continued my daily prayers. As I put on my tunica, I asked for Him to clothe me with mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering. When I put on my leather caligae, I asked to be made ready with the gospel of peace. I fitted the lorica segmentata over my chest and shoulders asking the Lord to fasten it as a breastplate of righteousness. My red sagum had a beautiful fibula embroidered on it and I asked to be wrapped in zeal for the Lord. I armed myself with a gladius to my side and a sidearm of a pugio asking for the sword of the Spirit. On the table sat my galea which was unique from the other Praetorian as it had a transverse crest signifying my role as Tribunus. I placed this on top of my head and asked for God to armor me with the helmet of salvation.
I crossed myself and walked out of my quarters ready for the day. Immediately upon exiting my quarters, one of those in my cohort had already made ready my white horse. It stood tall, confident, brilliant, and brave. He has been with me through many battles and even though he is a war horse, he is my horse. I walked up to him and whispered in his ear,
“Did you remember to say your prayers? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of His glory.”
His ears pricked forward as I said this morning prayer with him and then I mounted him. I looked around at the city which was beginning to bustle and the sun was just breaking over the horizon. My lorica segmentata and galea had been polished the night before by one of my Praetorian and now reflected in the light of the sun.
A small retinue rode up to me, gave me their morning report, and would accompany me as I toured the city. This is a traditional practice to show a display of military presence and reassure the security of the city to the people. Me and my retinue took off and it was going to be a glorious day. I turned my horse and started to walk towards the east. The hoofs of our horses clap on the stones and the breeze blew behind into my sagum so that it trailed behind me.
First we went round the walls of the city in a perimeter lap and soldiers saluted as we went. As we passed through the poorer part of the city, I slowed my horse’s gait whereas other Praetorian would normally go quicker to avoid interactions here. The children ran out to greet me and walked alongside my horse. Their faces were bright with smiles, they waved, they cried out to me, and showed me new tricks they had learned. The men stopped their work and waved to us. The Praetorian with me were annoyed by this delay, but they would have to wait for me as the senior ranking Praetorian. The older women rushed out of their homes and coming up next to me grabbed me by the hands, kissed them repeatedly, and thanked me. Some of them poured out their hearts as they looked up telling me of their plights, their troubles, and asked for any help I could offer, any prayers I could lift up on their behalf. I reassured them, I comforted them, I squeezed their hands in mine, and treasured their faces on which the love of God so brightly shined.
We continued our patrol and after the perimeter had been encircled, we went up towards the center of the city. The buildings became larger, more regal, and more impressive. By the time we had reached the city center there was already quite the bustle.
But this morning was different. Normally we would see people talking and moving about in all directions, but the large majority were gathered at the Forum. Me and my retinue road up to the Forum to see what the commotion was and I could see quite a stir of discussion around a document that had been nailed up for all to see. I asked what the meaning of the commotion was and a citizen replied,
“It is an edict from the Emperor.”
Not wanting to appear uninformed due to my role as Tribunus, I paused in silence, but I also needed to know what had the citizens in a stir as this could become disorderly. I looked over at my Praetorians and they shrugged. I gave a nod of my head for them inspect it and report back to me. One of them dismounted and walked through the crowd of people as I sat on horseback watching. As I waited, the cool wind blew and making the leather and metal of my armor feel colder on my body. My horse wanted to pull to the left and leave the Forum, but I pulled him back in line and he shifted his body back into place. The Praetorian returned to and walked up to me and said,
“Tribunus, I report that the Emperor is going to burn down all the Christians churches, burn their holy books, and forbid them from meeting. If they disobey, they’ll be killed. You should lead your Praetorians to the temple of Mars so that we can offer sacrifices to the gods.”
My brow furrowed in disbelief and I scanned his face and then looked over at the people and the edict hanging up in the Forum. Many of the people were looking back at me. The world seemed to pause its progression of time for a moment and all seemed quiet. I dismounted and then walked over with authority and composure to the edict and the sea of people parted for me as I walked up to it to read it with my own eyes.
Emperor Diocletian had indeed ordered that all churches and places of Christian worship be razed to the ground. All Scriptures, books, and sacred writings were to be surrendered to the magistrates and publicly burned. Secretive meetings of Christians who are found out faced the penalty of death. Anyone serving in the imperial court who refused to obey would be stripped of their rank and privileges. Any Christian slaves were not allowed to be freed. Anyone serving as soldier, officer or official of the Empire would have to procure a libellus that they had offered a sacrifice to the gods.
This can’t be happening. Who has convinced the emperor to do such a thing? What wrong have the Christians done to him or any of the citizens of the Empire? As if we were a seditious, evil sort of people who were breaking his laws and terrorizing his people? This is unjust. This is cruel. This is evil. He has lost his mind and I will tell him to his face so that he might see reason.
I pulled the edict off the nail and ripped it clean in two. Everyone in the Forum fell silent and stared in horror. I angrily squeezed the two halves of the edict in my hand and marched out of the Forum and mounted my horse in haste.
The Praetorian next to me said,
“Tribunus, don’t do this. You’ll provoke the anger of the gods and the Emperor himself.”
I whipped round in my saddle to him and said,
“It is the Emperor who has angered the One True God and I will tell him myself.”
I turned my horse away from the Forum and dug my heels into his side and off we went straight towards the emperor’s residence with the ripped edict clutched in my hand with the rein. I wanted the horse to gallop, but there were far too many people to gain that kind of speed, so I had to restrict myself to a canter and my retinue followed behind me. My heart pounded with the thuds of my horse’s hooves hitting the stones and I felt every rush of blood through my body from my heart.
I had to abruptly stop my horse because a man was pushing a giant wheel through the street. The man stopped and looked at me fearing that I was about to charge into him, but I signaled him to keep moving. While I waited, I heard the crack of a whip to my right. In the smithy, I saw a man testing out a new scourge with metal tips and another pulling out red hot irons from the furnace. The blacksmith’s hammer kept coming down on the anvil, strike after strike after strike.
I turned my attention back to where I was going and I could hear my retinue pleading with me to turn back from this madness. The way was clear now and I charged ahead without giving them a response. If I stopped and waited for them they would either detain me or try to arrest me. This was to be the only outcome whether I waited for them or spoke before the emperor, but at least if I spoke to the emperor I might have a chance of turning him back from enforcing this hellish law. I arrived at the emperor’s residence and Praetorian guards stood outside the front steps. I dismounted quickly and handed the reins to one of the guards and said,
“Whatever happens, take care of this horse as if it were your own.”
“Yes, Tribunus.”
I walked past the guards and into the emperor’s residence. I sped through the entrance courtyard which was covered in idols of the deities, manmade fountains, and thorny vines growing up the walls. By this time of morning, I knew he’d either be in his administrative chambers or the aula regia and I made the snap decision to charge into the aula regia. As I entered the large audience hall, one would normally be impressed by the workmanship of the stones, the columns, the windows, the draperies, the busts, the tiles, and the mosaics. It was like being transported into a royal kingdom all in one room and at the opposite end was stationed on an elevated platform the throne of the emperor which was occupied.
Without pausing, I continued my walk with a salute towards him and as I moved closer, I paused about 15 feet away from him and bowed and then said,
“Hail Augustus, I report.”
I looked up at him and then he nodded a consent for me to proceed and said,
“Tribunus, what is your report?”
I removed my galea and kept it at my side under my left arm and with my right hand I raised up the ripped edict in my hand and said,
“This is my report! Imperator, you have unjustly ordered the persecution of those citizens practicing the Christian religion. The razing of their churches, the burning of their scriptures, the removal of their office, denying them freedom from slavery. What crime have they committed? How have they wronged you? What threat to the empire do they pose?”
Emperor Diocletian looked at me bewildered. I am sure that this was not at all the report that he expected to hear from one of his Praetorian and nor was he accustomed to being questioned in such a bold way. He paused as he pondered the situation and then opened with a question,
“Tribunus, surely a man of your rank doesn’t waste pity on these fools? Surely you are not one of them? For how can a man so favored by the gods be a Christian? You know as well as I do that these people do not sacrifice to me or any of our gods. By allowing them to persist in their dissidence and rejection of our gods, they are inviting the punishment of the gods and robbing the Empire of the glory that is to be ours. Surely, every Tribunus in the Praetorian understands this, and, do you not?”
I was about to respond when I noticed another man coming from the back left of the room into the audience hall and he moved closer to the emperor and was dressed quite princely. The emperor paid him no mind and did not even acknowledge his presence. I turned my attention back to the emperor and said,
“Emperor, I have served you faithfully all these years with diligence and courage on the battlefield. I have fought valiantly for you and this Empire and would have willingly laid down my life for you, my Empire, my brothers, my sisters, my family, the poor, the weak, the helpless, even for the good of all. In all these years I have served at your command with distinguished honor. My own Christian faith has never hindered me in my service to you, the Empire, or its citizens. I implore you now to revoke this edict and see how we Christians are law abiding citizens who loyally serve our Emperor and live peaceably with our fellow man. Consider my own life as an example of such loyalty.”
The princely man whispered to the emperor, but the emperor did not offer any form of acknowledgment that he knew the princely man was beside him and advising him. The emperor then said,
“Tribunus, I know of you and your valor. I know of your goodness to the people. I know of your loyalty to me and the Empire. But to refuse an edict signed by my own hand puts you at odds with me and the gods to your own peril, it will ruin you as you will be dishonored among your brethren, and you will be dismissed from my service. You may not love the gods in your heart, but you are commanded to offer sacrifice to them and to lead your Praetorian to do the same. Defiance will not be tolerated. You know as well as I do that it always leads to rebellions. You have only to look at the barbarians to know that sparing dissidents always ends up in a revolt and it will be no different with these Christians. So rather than see you be dishonored and shamed, I want to exalt you. A man of your stature and reputation deserves to be recognized. Offer your sacrifices before sundown today in the sight of all people and I will address you as Legatus legionis…”
He let the words hang in the air so that I could consider the offer of stepping up from commanding a cohort to a legion. It would be unheard of for someone my age to be a Legatus legionis and to command 5,000 Praetorians. The wealth and influence that would come with that would be substantial. I looked on him intently to see if there was any chance of his heart being moved to revoke the edict, but pride was his necklace and violence was his garment. He had set his mouth against the heavens and his tongue struts scoffing words as if he created the earth himself. I had no desire for this offer of betrayal, but he read my silence as a hesitation and followed with,
“And if you serve me and the gods faithfully in the years to come, I will appoint you as a Praetorian Prefect. Put this folly behind you and lead the Empire into its former glory with me. The world can be and will be yours.”
“Imperator, you offer me all of the treasures of the world, but these are not to be compared with the riches of knowing the One True God. If I should gain the whole world by renouncing my Christian faith, then I will lose the only thing worth having… which is Christ.”
The countenance of the emperor fell. He seemed internally conflicted as if he didn’t understand how someone could say no to such an offer. But then I saw his expression change and his gaze began more intently malicious as he said,
“George, are you really going to be a fool and die over this?”
I responded with calm resolve,
“I would die 1,000 deaths for Christ and still never betray Him for He has never betrayed me. For it has been my God who has strengthened my hand in battle, who has deflected the enemy’s fiery arrows, who has upheld the horse which carried me through torrents of battles, who has strengthened me to slay the dragons of darkness. Indeed, Christ is the only thing worth having and He is the only thing worth living for. All of my work has been for His glory. You can take my life, but He holds my soul!”
The guards in the audience hall widened their eyes and looked in the direction of the emperor. The emperor burned with anger for being defied and his hands clenched into fists. I can see that this earthly emperor thinks he can intimidate and persecute Christians into renouncing their faith and thereby thwart the power of the Christ. This mortal emperor thinks that by killing Christians he can kill the true God, the living God, the everlasting King. But Christ has already conquered death by His own death. He is the resurrection and the life.
My eyes shifted left and the prince standing beside the emperor bore the expression of unrepressed hatred. He seethed and gnashed his teeth at me. As furious as the furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, his face blazed with wrath against me, against all Christians, but most of all against Jesus. Christ is the One whom he waged war with. Though he will try to strike me down along with my brothers and sisters in Christ, he really wishes he could strike down Christ… but he cannot. He is one who motivated the Pharaoh to kill the sons of the Hebrews to prevent their imminent freedom. It was he who nurtured Haman’s desire to destroy God’s people. He is the one impelled Herod to strike down the sons of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the True King. Yet this evil prince of darkness simply cannot strike down Christ.
The hall began to fill with wave after wave of onlookers. These were no ordinary onlookers. They were imperceptible to the emperor and the guards in the audience hall, but indeed they were the audience in a cosmic colosseum. They had come for a show and to give their approval of what would happen next by spurring on the emperor and guards. They were dark, twisted, and only interested in serving their own will by deceiving everyone into the destruction of everything. A sense of dread falls down into the pit of my stomach.
The guards in the audience hall were ordered to strip me of my armor and weaponry and I did not resist them. They first removed my gladius and pugia and then they detached my sagum and took the galea out of my left hand. The red sagum which had been my honor fell to the floor like a piece of meaningless fabric. The world had woven and embroidered that red sagum for me. The world had told me that I possessed power and prestige and robed me in its beauty, but when I stood firm for my love of Christ, the world cast me off in an instant without any love or remorse. Her offerings of power lay on the floor worthless as the guards trampled it underfoot like it were only piece of cloth ready to be thrown out.
I maintained an unwavering eye contact with the furious emperor. Though they disarmed me, my heart and mind was steadily armed in prayer. Though they stripped me, I had put on Christ. Though they intended for me to die, I will live with Christ.
Finally, the guards took my leather caligae off my feet, so that I stood barefoot on the tiles. Then one of the guards took it and using the sole struck me across the face. With a mocking laugh he said,
“Looks like you’re going to need new shoes.”
The guards laughed and the onlookers jeered at me and reveled in my pain and humiliation. They erupted into wild, maniacal delight to see human suffering. They were lustful for injustice. They were greedy for pain. They were ravenous for death.
Another of the guards was encouraged by this and swung his fist into my jaw and the first guard then struck me in my stomach so that I bent over in pain. I looked down at the floor and saw the blood from my mouth drip onto the tiles. I raised myself up slowly without retaliation and noticed someone was approaching from behind the guards. It was a Man of gladsome light, a joyous light of glory. The onlookers saw Him and were dumbstruck and aghast. As He moved closer I could see the Man’s face and I knew Him and He knew me. His face is indescribable. What man can He be compared to? He is the radiance of God’s glory. There is none like Him.
The hideous onlookers shriek in terror at His presence and fall back in chaos. Their cosmic colosseum collapses like the temple of Dagon and they flee from Him. They cannot endure to be near His humility and they tremble in fear at His power. The evil prince of darkness who had dared to show his hideous face is now petrified and flees from the hall. That imposter prince has already lost and will befall the most tragic unending end. His days are numbered. He knows that we know his time is running out. Christ has won.
As I am led away in chains to the prison, the holy blessed Jesus Christ, looks on me with love and compassion and in that moment I see in His eyes all of the sufferings He endured for me. The profundity of His love cannot be measured. He has renewed my strength so that I will not grow weary. Despite all that they have planned for me, He is my ever-present help. I know that whatever happens next, I can endure it for Him, because of Him, with Him.
Christ is the only thing worth having. Christ is the only thing worth living for. Christ is the only thing worth dying for when one is offered an ultimatum to renounce Him or die for Him. The riches, the power, the fame, the pleasures, the comforts of this world are not to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us who are in Christ. For if we are faithful unto death, we will receive the crown of life.