Persecution, far from eradicating the Christian faith, served to highlight its remarkable powers of survival. Without publicized campaigns or even an explicit evangelistic strategy, Christianity had made its way quietly and effectively in an environment not wholly unlike that in the post-Christian West today. It was, in some respects, an empire within the Empire. So, how did it grow so large that one emperor felt threatened enough to persecute it mercilessly, and another was intrigued enough to adopt