Callistus I, who had been born a slave and condemned to the tin mines as a runaway, was ransomed by fellow Christians and eventually rose through Church ranks to the Papacy, only to fall all the way down to the bottom of a well. One of the hotter corners of Hell is surely occupied by the guy who tied a millstone around Pope Callistus I's neck and threw him down a well. Not only did he probably render the well water undrinkable for some time and lose a perfectly good millstone, but he also killed a Pope who had declared that differing economic classes were not a barrier to marriage. He also defended Communion for repentant sinners. Both positions, though orthodox, were condemned as heretical by a faction supporting an anti-Pope.
Sometimes the schismatic nature of Christianity is burdensome, but give me schisms over murder any day.
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