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In Reality The Story of St Alban But in reality, the third century was as nothing compared with the twentieth century in terms of Christians giving their lives for God and their faith. In fact, it has been estimated that more people perished on account of Christian faith in the 20th century than all previous centuries put together. Most, of course, were put to death by the genocidal totalitarian regimes which were such a curse in the 20th century, such as those of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Idi Amin. But, as the film "Mississippi Burning" makes clear, it was even possible for a Christian to lose his life in God's service in the United States of America. Therefore, it is always a good thing for Christians to learn and to understand the stories of such heroes as St Alban, as one never knows when it will be necessary to apply these lessons in our own lives. And while, at first, it might provoke considerable anxiety to ponder the potential for negative consequences of Christian commitment, a balanced view of Christian history must also take into account its many triumphs. The most recent examples of Christian triumph must surely include the defeat of Apartheid in South Africa, where, at one stage the Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu is reported to have stood up in front of a crowd, held a Bible aloft, and said "I inform the Prime Minister, I have read to the end of the Book and...WE WIN!" Detail of the stained glass window in St Alban’s Anglican Church Highgate Like many Anglican churches in Australia, the parish church located on Beaufort Street Highgate is named after a "saint". This may, at first glance, appear strange, since the Anglican Church has no formal canonisation process as does the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, if one were to come here during regular worship, one would probably hear references to all believing Christians being "saints", following the example of the New Testament writers, such as Paul writing to the "saints at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus". Who was Saint Alban and what was so interesting about him? HEROES THE ‘EAGLES’ Nevertheless, it has been the Anglican tradition for centuries to commemorate certain individuals as heroes of the Church, by naming our places of worship after them. Most of these people lived in the first three centuries AD, and were either apostles or people martyred by the Roman Empire authorities. St Alban was one such martyr, a Roman soldier beheaded at the town of Verulaminum in the province of Britain. This town is now called "St Alban's" and is located in southern England, not far from London. Reasons for hostility were many and varied. It is clear from reading the Roman philosophers, that Christian ideas, such as that all people are created on equal footing by God, including women, slaves, and foreigners, were regarded as unnatural and dangerous by the wider Roman society. Likewise, references to Jesus as the "prince of peace" appalled a society that celebrated war and warriors, and revered the "Eagles" or emblems of the army legions. Even, and especially, the core of the Gospel, that Jesus died as a redeemer for sins, and was raised subsequently from the dead, was anathema to a government structure that depended for its force and its power to inflict death on its st opponents. One must remember that the Roman Empire was a deeply authoritarian, even repressive, society. Certainly, in its better periods, it was justifiably proud of its adherence to Stained glass in St Alban’s the rule of law, but it was, at Anglican Church Highgate all times, ready to harshly punish any convicted offender, with frequent resort to the death penalty. It also had a relationship, for the first three centuries AD, with the Christian church that was, at best, uneasy, but, frequently, hostile and persecutory. This was despite there being no evidence that Christians ever engaged in insurrection or treason. Indeed Pilate said of Jesus himself "I find no basis for a charge against this man", before imposing a death sentence anyway. Likewise, it was said privately of St Paul "This man is doing nothing worthy of death or imprisonment" before he was shipped off to Rome for trial by the Emperor and subsequent execution. The 1 Bristish GONE TO THE DOGS Saint Added to this opposition, by the third century the Roman Empire was in crisis and at risk of imminent collapse. Modern historians tend to explain the crisis in terms of themes familiar to us, such as unstable government, ill-advised and costly wars, and economic crisis. At the time however, there was a strong push among conservatives in Roman society to explain the crisis in terms of divine reaction to "impiety". In short, the gods were said to be angry that many Roman citizens were abandoning the traditional religion for Christianity, and so were withdrawing their protection from Rome and allowing it to "go to the dogs". Therefore, there were strident calls in the Senate and elsewhere to suppress Thus it was that, in AD 250, the Emperor Decius decreed that all persons living in the Roman Empire were required to make a sacrifice to the appropriate deity for the protection of the empire, and obtain a certificate that they had done so, to be produced on demand. Note that the practice, followed in the Christian liturgy to this day, of simply praying for such protection, was insufficient. Christians were unable to comply with this law, as it conflicted with the divine command to have no other gods but God. Hence they were holus bolus, subject to the death penalty. It is thought by many historians that the martyrdom of St Alban occurred during the subsequent persecution. MISTAKEN IDENTITY It appears that Alban was an Stained glass ordinary Roman soldier, who in St Alban’s became a Christian under the ministry of a Christian priest whose name is unknown. This priest was being sought by the authorities, but Alban exchanged cloaks with him, thus fooling the arresting officials and enabling their original target to make good an escape. When hauled before the magistrates, the death sentence originally intended for the priest was imposed on Alban instead. At his trial, Alban reportedly sealed his fate by publicly declaring "I worship the true and living God who Such incidents appear to have been fairly common in the third century AD. Far from suppressing the Church, they enhanced it. A contemporary commentator, Tertullian, is quoted as remarking "the more ye mow us down, the more we grow, for the blood of Christians is seed" (commonly more loosely translated as "the