Amazing read. Get to know some history of people you have never heard of? Possibly.
A Common Tradition
The year was 287 A.D. The place was the Swiss Alps. Roman troops were fighting insurgents and the Emperor Maximian called in the Theban legion under the command of Maurice of Thebes. The legion comprised completely of Christians was ready to fight for the empire, but refused when ordered to attack a local Christian village.
The emperor first ordered the punishment of decimation in which every tenth soldier in the legion was killed. Still they refused and a second decimation was ordered. Orders were again given and again they refused. General Maurice responded to the emperor, “We cannot obey you without denying God, the Creator of all things, our Master as well as yours, whether you acknowledge it or not.” In response, the emperor ordered the execution of the entire legion.
Nearly thirty years earlier, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage refused to sacrifice to pagan deities and denounce…
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