Salve, everyone! This will be my last post on my blog. I am going to end my series of posts by telling you briefly of life in prison.
One must understand that, at least for me, being put into prison was basically a death sentence, especially the Tullianum in the Forum. The Roman leaders do not expect prisoners to be able to survive for long under rough prison conditions, so they often will send prisoners into prisons to die of disease, starvation, suicide, or one of the many other ailments of living in prison. I am one of the "lucky (or perhaps unlucky) few" who manage to live as long as two years in prison. Let me describe this prison for you. It is dark, cold, cramped, and full of horrid stenches. Worst, the lack of water and food is unbearable. The prison food, when I rarely get it, is almost inedible, and the only way I can get food is by having it brought to me by fellow Christians. If I do get food, it is often stolen by my cellmates before I hardly get anything. I have know idea how much weight I have lost now, but it is most definately a great amount. I am so hungry, I cannot even describe to you how hungry I am! Also, it is very difficult to sleep in these conditions, and when I do sleep, it is not good, solid sleep that reguvenates one's body. I can barely go on living, and I feel that I am destined to die within the next year or two at most. Please keep me in your prayers- my life is in God's hands now. At least I know that I will be happy in heaven.
Possibly for the last time, vale!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Post Four
Hello, my friends! Due to the fact that I am pressed for time, I will be making two posts tonight. My first post will be about my experiences with persecution beginning in A.D. 64.
It all began when Nero accused the Christians of starting the fire that engulfed much of Rome for ten days in January A.D. 64. to take the blame off his back. At first, few believed him where I lived and it wasn't a problem. One day, I was selling my wares in my shop, preaching about Jesus all the while, when some new customers came in. I greeted them and showed them my pottery, and they seemed quite pleased with it. As they were preparing to buy the pottery, I told them about Jesus. Suddenly, they announced that they would not buy pottery from a Christian because I would probably cheat them, and stormed off. Apparently, false word spread that I was cheating customers, and my clientele declined. I was barely paying rent and, if I hadn't been arrested, I probably would've been arrested before too long.
Now, during this time, many of my customers were Roman soldiers, so I was used to having soldiers in full uniform enter my shop. One day in early A.D. 65 I was busy in my shop when four soldiers came in. I greeted them, assuming they were customers, and they asked me a bit of personal information. I told them my name and told them about my faith, just as they asked, and then suddenly they told me that I was under arrest under the charge of refusing to worship the emperor and, furthermore, cheating Roman citizens and soldiers. They took me under custody and brought me to the prison in the Forum. There, the judges asked me about my beliefs and tried to force me to change them, and when I refused, I was beaten harshly and the process was repeated. Finally, I was condemned to life in prison. That's where I am today.
I will later tell you about my experiences in prison. Vale!
It all began when Nero accused the Christians of starting the fire that engulfed much of Rome for ten days in January A.D. 64. to take the blame off his back. At first, few believed him where I lived and it wasn't a problem. One day, I was selling my wares in my shop, preaching about Jesus all the while, when some new customers came in. I greeted them and showed them my pottery, and they seemed quite pleased with it. As they were preparing to buy the pottery, I told them about Jesus. Suddenly, they announced that they would not buy pottery from a Christian because I would probably cheat them, and stormed off. Apparently, false word spread that I was cheating customers, and my clientele declined. I was barely paying rent and, if I hadn't been arrested, I probably would've been arrested before too long.
Now, during this time, many of my customers were Roman soldiers, so I was used to having soldiers in full uniform enter my shop. One day in early A.D. 65 I was busy in my shop when four soldiers came in. I greeted them, assuming they were customers, and they asked me a bit of personal information. I told them my name and told them about my faith, just as they asked, and then suddenly they told me that I was under arrest under the charge of refusing to worship the emperor and, furthermore, cheating Roman citizens and soldiers. They took me under custody and brought me to the prison in the Forum. There, the judges asked me about my beliefs and tried to force me to change them, and when I refused, I was beaten harshly and the process was repeated. Finally, I was condemned to life in prison. That's where I am today.
I will later tell you about my experiences in prison. Vale!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Post Three
Salve, amici! Once again it is time for me to tell you a story of my past. Today I would like to tell you about my difficult times in business, beginnand around A.D. 50, when I was thirty years old.
Just as business had been picking up, a new source of competition arose. There are many kinds of pottery; I personally produced course wares, but at that time, terra sigillata was becoming popular in my region of Rome. This factory-made, decorative red pottery was based off of repeated molds and was therefore cheap to make and sell. In contrast, my nice, hand-fashioned pottery took much time to make and was therefore more expensive than the terra sigillata, though it was still reasonably priced. At first, my customers were loyal and I had no difficulty selling my pottery, but over time, business slowed, and I found myself barely able to pay the rent, let alone provide my own food. I was forced to work several hours more on many days, and was completely dependant on the minute amount of food provided by the grain dole.
I stayed constant in my faith the whole time, and God was faithful. Unlike many of my fellow plebeians, I did not go out of business due to this competition. Though it was difficult, I was able to pay the rent. I lived like this for many years, and would have still been living in that fashion at this moment if I hadn't been arrested. However, the story of my arrest is for tomorrow. Vale!
Just as business had been picking up, a new source of competition arose. There are many kinds of pottery; I personally produced course wares, but at that time, terra sigillata was becoming popular in my region of Rome. This factory-made, decorative red pottery was based off of repeated molds and was therefore cheap to make and sell. In contrast, my nice, hand-fashioned pottery took much time to make and was therefore more expensive than the terra sigillata, though it was still reasonably priced. At first, my customers were loyal and I had no difficulty selling my pottery, but over time, business slowed, and I found myself barely able to pay the rent, let alone provide my own food. I was forced to work several hours more on many days, and was completely dependant on the minute amount of food provided by the grain dole.
I stayed constant in my faith the whole time, and God was faithful. Unlike many of my fellow plebeians, I did not go out of business due to this competition. Though it was difficult, I was able to pay the rent. I lived like this for many years, and would have still been living in that fashion at this moment if I hadn't been arrested. However, the story of my arrest is for tomorrow. Vale!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Post Two
Greetings, fellow Romans! Today I would like to tell you more about my life story. I have decided to continue to tell you next about when I first took over the pottery shop from my father.
When I was seventeen years old, I finally took over the shop from my father due to his inability to make pottery anymore because of his old age. At that time, I had been helping my father in the shop in one way or another for about twelve years, and I had therefore become a skilled potter. However, that did not make me a skilled businessman. When I first took over, my father was still able to guide me along with managing the finances, but by the time I was nineteen, he had died and I was on my own. I tell you what, nothing helps you grow in your faith better than having to trust God to help you get enough money to eat and pay rent for many years, let alone a day. I trusted God more than ever before, and he did provide. I was living and working on my own, which meant I had to work more than my normal six hours many days just to make enough pottery to sell to support myself. By the time I was twenty, I was worn out with the work, but I just had to keep going.
Five days a week, I worked in the pottery shop about six hours per day (usually, as I mentioned above). On dies Saturnii, I would head to the front of my shop to sell my wares. These days were the most tiring. I spent a great amount of time each day waiting for customers, and when my shop was visited, I always found my heart racing, wondering if the potential customer would buy anything or not. It took me awhile to build up a customer base, but over time word spread among the plebeians and soldiers that I had nice, practical wares at reasonable prices. By the time I was twenty-five, my business was going well, at least well enough that for a period of time I was not totally dependant on my weekly grain dole and was able to eat at the nearby restaurants on occasion. This would be the high point of my career, as I will tell you about in my next post.
Many of my Christian supporters may be interested to know that I was very active in my faith during this time. As my customer base became more sure, I began to tell my customers about Jesus Christ and his teachings. Some of my customers even joined the Church. God truly blessed me during that time, and for that I am truly grateful. I would encourage other Christians to do the same thing. After all,
When I was seventeen years old, I finally took over the shop from my father due to his inability to make pottery anymore because of his old age. At that time, I had been helping my father in the shop in one way or another for about twelve years, and I had therefore become a skilled potter. However, that did not make me a skilled businessman. When I first took over, my father was still able to guide me along with managing the finances, but by the time I was nineteen, he had died and I was on my own. I tell you what, nothing helps you grow in your faith better than having to trust God to help you get enough money to eat and pay rent for many years, let alone a day. I trusted God more than ever before, and he did provide. I was living and working on my own, which meant I had to work more than my normal six hours many days just to make enough pottery to sell to support myself. By the time I was twenty, I was worn out with the work, but I just had to keep going.
Five days a week, I worked in the pottery shop about six hours per day (usually, as I mentioned above). On dies Saturnii, I would head to the front of my shop to sell my wares. These days were the most tiring. I spent a great amount of time each day waiting for customers, and when my shop was visited, I always found my heart racing, wondering if the potential customer would buy anything or not. It took me awhile to build up a customer base, but over time word spread among the plebeians and soldiers that I had nice, practical wares at reasonable prices. By the time I was twenty-five, my business was going well, at least well enough that for a period of time I was not totally dependant on my weekly grain dole and was able to eat at the nearby restaurants on occasion. This would be the high point of my career, as I will tell you about in my next post.
Many of my Christian supporters may be interested to know that I was very active in my faith during this time. As my customer base became more sure, I began to tell my customers about Jesus Christ and his teachings. Some of my customers even joined the Church. God truly blessed me during that time, and for that I am truly grateful. I would encourage other Christians to do the same thing. After all,
Friday, May 13, 2011
Post One
Greetings, friends! I am writing you now on April 23, A.D. 67 during my freetime in my jail cell. Life can become quite boring here, so I am going to start telling you about major events (to me) in my life up to this point.
Today I will begin by telling you about witnessing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in A.D. 29. When this history-changing crucifixion occurred, I was only nine years old. My parents, devout Jews, and I were in Rome one day when we saw a procession of soldiers in the streets. We headed towards the soldiers to see what was going on, and we saw a poor, beaten man carrying a cross. As we watched, we saw the soldiers force a Jew from the crowd to carry the cross of the man, for the man was too weak to carry the cross any farther. The procession moved on, and we changed our route so we could follow and watch the happenings. The soldiers led the man to Golgotha, or the place of the skull, where he was to be crucified. When we got there, my parents and I asked a man who this criminal was and what was going on. The man replied that this prisoner was Jesus of Nazareth, who was known by many Jews to be the promised Savior. He then told us about the many miracles and stories of Jesus, from the rising of Jesus’ friend Lazarus from the dead to the parable about the sewer and the seeds. After hearing about all these things I was amazed. I asked them man why this Jesus was being crucified, and he replied that he had been arrested by some Jewish leaders who felt threatened by his teachings and accused him of blasphemy. He then later was sentenced to death unwillingly by Pontius Pilate for claiming to be a king, that is, King of the Jews.
Today I will begin by telling you about witnessing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in A.D. 29. When this history-changing crucifixion occurred, I was only nine years old. My parents, devout Jews, and I were in Rome one day when we saw a procession of soldiers in the streets. We headed towards the soldiers to see what was going on, and we saw a poor, beaten man carrying a cross. As we watched, we saw the soldiers force a Jew from the crowd to carry the cross of the man, for the man was too weak to carry the cross any farther. The procession moved on, and we changed our route so we could follow and watch the happenings. The soldiers led the man to Golgotha, or the place of the skull, where he was to be crucified. When we got there, my parents and I asked a man who this criminal was and what was going on. The man replied that this prisoner was Jesus of Nazareth, who was known by many Jews to be the promised Savior. He then told us about the many miracles and stories of Jesus, from the rising of Jesus’ friend Lazarus from the dead to the parable about the sewer and the seeds. After hearing about all these things I was amazed. I asked them man why this Jesus was being crucified, and he replied that he had been arrested by some Jewish leaders who felt threatened by his teachings and accused him of blasphemy. He then later was sentenced to death unwillingly by Pontius Pilate for claiming to be a king, that is, King of the Jews.
After hearing all this from this stranger, I focused my attention on the scene before me. While I had been talking, Jesus had been hung up on the cross, which bore a sign which said: This is Jesus, King of the Jews. I waited there for a bit, but at about the sixth hour, a mysterious darkness came over the land. This darkness lasted for about three hours, and soon after, Jesus died.
I never saw Jesus again with my own eyes after that day, but I heard from many believers that he rose from the dead three days later, was seen for forty days by many people, and then ascended into heaven to wait for those who believe. After hearing this, I accepted Jesus, the Christ, into my heart, which is why I am here today.
That is enough for today, my fellow Romans! I will post again soon! Vale!
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