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by E. D. S. Smith (Author)
CHRISTIANITY BECOMES LEGAL AND PERSECUTIONS STOP BUT HERESY THREATENS THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN CHURCH. IT IS UP TO THE BISHOPS TO SETTLE THE CRISIS. It is the night of October 27, A.D. 312 and Constantine, Caesar Augustus of the Western Roman Empire, stands outside the gates of Rome to conquer the city and become the supreme ruler. But he has doubts about victory. He has fewer soldiers than his enemy and Rome is surrounded by a great wall. He falls asleep before the battle when suddenly a brilliant light shines in his eyes. Jesus Christ appears before him and tells him that he will be victorious if he fights under the sign of the cross. When he awakes he orders his soldiers to place the cross on their shields and helmets, and march under the Christian banner. He wins the battle, becomes supreme ruler, stops Christian persecutions, and makes Christianity a legal religion. But a heresy emerges among Christians. The question whether Jesus is God, or inferior and subordinate to God the Father, divides the Christians creating a theological crisis, which threatens to weaken the Roman Empire. Emperor Constantine invites the bishops to his imperial palace in Nicaea to settle the dispute. The bishops affirm the Divinity of Jesus and condemn the heresy, at what is known as the Council of Nicaea. Anastasia accompanies her uncle bishop on his journey from Rome to Nicaea. In the splendor of the imperial palace in Nicaea she finds forbidden love with a Greek slave Demetrius. But a Roman commander, Valerius, becomes obsessed with her and abducts her, threatening to kill her if she refuses to be his wife. She must escape from her captor and find a way to free the slave she loves. Only then will she find happiness.
Author Biography
This is E.D.S. Smith's third historical novel written against the background of fourth century Christianity and the crisis it faced. As in previous novels the author weaves the story into world events: Emperor Constantine's adoption of Christianity and the bishops' affirmation of the Divinity of Jesus at the Council of Nicaea. The author's novels include: Honor and Betrayal The Birth of Christian Poland; The Plague at Bordeaux A Historical Novel of Love, Greed, and Human Transformation.
