the Ten Commandments in Israel, it is the central core itself that is speaking. From Acts 11:26 we know that this name was first applied in Antioch to the community of believers. Though the occasion that gave rise to this epithet is lost to us, and its original signification is disputed (and will remain so, given the sources available to us), there was clearly something ironic about it in the beginning. Moreover, in Roman law it denoted a punishable offence: the christiani were members of Christ’s