He Ought to Have Included a Unit on Neighborliness in the Catechism
Saint Autonomus lived during the reign of Diocletian, but he did not meet the fate that we might have expected. He was evangelizing in the area of Bithynia -- very successfully too. He recruited so many new Christians that he was able to open an entirely new church, which he dedicated to Michael the Archangel. That is no small accomplishment during the largest, most lethal of the twelve Roman persecutions of Christians.
Part of his success was good relations with his pagan neighbors. Another part was he willingness to bugger off when the execution wagon rolled into town. He had come to Bithynia from Italy, and when things got hot there, he lit out for Claudiopolis, way up on the Black Sea. Eventually, he returned to Bithynia, which was once again peaceful and (relatively) pluralistic.
Some of the recent converts to Christianity took it upon themselves to liberate some temple space from its idolatrous occupation. They entered the temple and smashed the idols, burning the wooden parts and pulverizing the marble. Wood and stone, said one source, became the means by which the idolaters would have their revenge. They entered the church with sticks and stones, beating and battering Autonomus to death. So wood and stone answered the desecration of wood and stone.
Let's all play nice and give the other folks their temple space, shall we?
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