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you possessed by, then,� the freedmen asked in wonder, �that you are not content to live like ordinary mortals, but expose yourselves to danger in order to bear witness to the son of Cod and the forgiveness of sins?�
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    Barbus burst out laughing at the thought that anyone had taken these two Jews for gods. My father reproached him and, putting both his hands to his head, said to Barnabas and Paul, �I have acquainted myself with your way, and I have tried to reconcile Jew with Jew for the sake of my own position among the city fathers. I should like to believe that you speak the truth, but the spirit does not seem to reconcile you among yourselves. On the contrary, you quarrel among yourselves and one says one thing and another another. The holy ones in Jerusalem sold all their possessions and waited for your king to return. They have already wafted for more than sixteen years, the money has gone and they live on alms. What do you say to this?� Paul assured him that he for his part had never taught anyone to cease honest labor and divide his possessions among the poor. Barnabas also said that each person should do as the spirit moved him. After the holy ones in Jerusalem had begun to be persecuted and murdered, many people had fled to foreign lands, to Antioch too, setting up in business and practicing trades, and successfully, some more so and some less so. Barnabas and Paul went on speaking until finally the freedmen were annoyed. �Now that�s enough about your god,� they said. �We wish you to harm, but what is it you want of our master, pushing your way into his house late at night and disturbing him? He has enough troubles of his own.� They related that their activities had stirred up bad blood amongst the Jews in Antioch, so that even the Pharisees and Sadducees had combined against them and the Christians. The Jews were conducting a lively campaign of conversion for the temple Ill Jerusalem and had collected rich gifts from the pious. But the Christian Jewish sect was tempting the newly converted over to its side by promising them forgiveness of their sins and maintaining that they need no longer follow the Jewish laws. For this reason I lie Jews were now bringing an action against the Christians in the city court. Barnabas and Paul intended to leave Antioch before this, but they feared that the council would have them followed and brought back before the court. My father was pleased to be able to calm their fears. �By various means,� he said, �I have managed to ensure that the
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    city council does not interfere with Jewish internal matters of belief. The Jews themselves should settle disputes among their sects. Legally, we regard the Christian sect as one of the many Jewish ones, despite the fact that it demands neither circumcision nor complete obedience to the law of Moses. So the police in the city are duty bound to protect the Christians if other Jews attempt violence against them. In the same way, it is our duty to protect the other Jews if the Christians make trouble for them.� Barnabas was deeply troubled. �Both of us are Jews,� he said, �but circumcision is a seal on true Judaism. So the Jews of Antioch have claimed that although uncircumcised Christians are not legally Jews, they can be tried for violation and abuse of the Jewish faith.� But my father was a stubborn man when he had something firmly in his head, and he said, �As far as I know, the only difference between Christian and Jew is that the Christians, both circumcised and uncircumcised, believe that the Jewish Messiah, or Christ, has already taken human form in Jesus of Nazareth, that he has risen from the dead, and that sooner or later he will return to found the kingdom of a thousand years. The Jews do not believe this, but are still waiting for their Messiah. But from a legal point of view, there is no difference, whether they believe that the Messiah has come or that he will come. The main thing is that they