Theognis looked deep into the eyes of the younger man, as if searching for a reason to believe Constantine was speaking the truth. Finally he smiled. “I came here to advise you because I told myself I was wiser than you, yet you have shown me the way I should go. I think Dacius and Marios are right in believing you are the man who will one day heal the division between the East and the West and make the Empire whole again.”
“How can you work for the welfare of Rome, when it is burning your comrades alive?”
“God’s purpose never prospers in a state of anarchy,” Theognis said. “Paul, the wisest man in our faith after Christ himself, saw that clearly. We need a government where all men are free to worship whatever gods they choose. My task, and I see it clearly now, is to show them our way is best.” He turned and picked up the cloak he had dropped upon a bench. “May God go with you and guard you in all your endeavors, my son.”
“Even though I am not of your faith?”
“The ways of the Lord are mysterious and wonderful.” Theognis’ smile was warm. “When it is time for you to know his purpose for you, be sure he will make it known. I must go now before the spies of Caesar Galerius report that I have been here.”
Philosopher priest disappear
As he watched the tall form of the philosopher priest disappear into the dusk of the street, Constantine could not help remembering his conversation with Eusebius of Caesarea almost two years ago in Antioch. For Eusebius had said then almost exactly what Theognis had said tonight, that the Christian god would one day make his will known in a way Constantine could not at the moment possibly foresee.
In Gaul and Britain, Constantine learned from letters written to Helena by Constantius, his father had enforced only the first edict of persecution requiring that the Christians give up for destruction whatever holy writings they were not able to hide and that their churches should be tom down. None of these actions prevented the members of the tormented sect from meeting in small groups in homes and elsewhere, however, as they had been forced to do many times before in the history of their faith. And when Constantius gave only a token enforcement to the remaining edicts, the church managed to stay alive in the West, and even flourish in a small way.
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