Whether carrying a lamb or holding out his arms in a gesture of welcome, the man called Jesus seemed to be waiting to receive any who were troubled or ill in his comforting embrace. In fact, one of the pictures portrayed him in the act of healing a man who lay at full length upon a small bed, while another, obviously part of the same scene, showed the paralyzed man now walking with his pallet rolled up and carried upon his back.
On the wall above the head of Jesus, Constantine noticed a strange symbol that he remembered seeing in the old Temple of Asklepios at Naissus. He had no idea what it meant, though somehow the pattern seemed familiar.
“Those markings over the shepherd’s head, Josiah,” he said. “What are they?”
Josiah held his torch higher, illuminating brightly the strange pattern painted on the stone. “They are Greek letters marking the initials of Christ’s name, sir, two of them Chi and Rho superimposed.”
Tiridates exclaimed
“Ingeniousl” Tiridates exclaimed. “I suppose they have some magical significance.”
“The Son of God has no need of magic, Your Majesty,” Josiah said. “All power is his, over men and over earth and in heaven.”
Constantine made himself as comfortable as he could for the night, rolled up in his long heavy cloak beside the coals of the campfire, for it was cool on the banks of the great river. When perhaps an hour passed and his troubled thoughts would not allow him to sleep, he got up and, going to the coals of the campfire, blew upon them and put on another piece of wood.
The warmth of the flames lightened somewhat the vague sense of depression he’d felt since they had returned from inspecting the ruins of the old church earlier that evening, but it could not entirely remove it. Nor was he unaware of its cause.
For the first time in his life, he had experienced a moment of real panic that afternoon when they had come upon the wreckage of what had been an army scattered across the plain and he’d realized that he and the five hundred, for whom he was responsible, were behind the enemy lines. In the excitement of attacking the Persian forces that had been about to destroy the little band led by Tiridates, and the subsequent crossing of the river, he had forgotten his own fear. But now, surrounded by the ruins of the old city in themselves a reminder of death he felt them flooding in upon him once again.
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