St Maximilian, a Christian martyr in N Africa, was beheaded for refusing to serve in the Roman army. He declared, “I cannot enlist for I am a Christian. I cannot serve, I cannot do evil.” To this his judge replied, “You must serve or die.” (Icon Wm Hart McNichols.)
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Significantly, the martyr’s offense was not simply his refusal to fight but his refusal to take an oath to the emperor. The early Christians were accused of “impiety”—their confession of Christ represented a kind of blasphemous rejection of the gods of empire. Thus it remains.
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