mP -> Leo
I see a trend in your answers, you continue to state that xianity was everywhere, and yet have prsented no proof.
I have tried to present many interseting reads, nobody can accuse me of not giving references. Now its your turn to demonstrate that xians, not jews, gnostics etc actually existd in the thousands you claim. Stories or traditions cant really honestly be accepted, they are well full of too many lies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_martyrs
While the persecution-martyr theme was prominent in the literature of early Christianity, none of several major martyrologies was finally canonized.
Although the general consensus of scholars is that relatively few Christians were actually executed, [citation needed] the experience of persecution and martyrdom would be memorialized by successive generations of Christians and thereby become a central feature of their self-understanding continuing even to modern times. Thus, many Christians would come to view persecution as an integral part of the Christian experience. The implications of this self-image have had far-reaching ramifications, especially in Western cultures.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Rome
The Catacombs of Rome (Italian: Catacombe di Roma ) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places under or near Rome, Italy, of which there are at least forty, some discovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christianburials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, they began in the 2nd century, [1] much as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land. Many scholars have written that catacombs came about to help persecuted Christians to bury their dead secretly. The soft volcanic tuff rock under Rome is highly suitable for tunnelling, as it is softer when first exposed to air, hardening afterwards. Many have kilometres of tunnels, in up to four stories (or layers).
The Christian catacombs are extremely important for the art history of early Christian art, as they contain the great majority of examples from before about 400 AD, in fresco and sculpture. The Jewish catacombs are similarly important for the study of Jewish art at this period.
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Christian catacombs
The first large-scale catacombs were excavated from the 2nd century onwards.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius
In the 5th century, the Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus described Eusebius as writing for “rhetorical finish” and for the “praises of the Emperor” rather than the “accurate statement of facts.” [43] The methods of Eusebius were criticised by Edward Gibbon in the 18th century. [44] In the 19th century Jacob Burckhardt viewed Eusebius as 'a liar', the “first thoroughly dishonest historian of antiquity.” [44] Ramsay MacMullen in the 20th century regarded Eusebius's work as representative of early Christian historical accounts in which “Hostile writings and discarded views were not recopied or passed on, or they were actively suppressed..., matters discreditable to the faith were to be consigned to silence
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So basically one of the main guys telling us about early xianity is a downright liar, those ar e the words of scholars not mine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Roman_Empire#Martyrdom
stimates for total martyred dead for the Great Persecution depend on the report of Eusebius of Caesarea in the Martyrs of Palestine . There are no other viable sources for the total number of martyrdoms in a province. [37] Ancient writers did not think statistically. When the size of a Christian population is described, whether by a pagan, Jewish, or Christian source, it is opinion or metaphor, not accurate reportage. [38]
Ah church father honesty ..