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40 ◆ Christianity A SHORT GLOBAL HISTORY
that is perhaps the present Sri Lanka or the eastern coast of India. The
royal chronicle of Sri Lanka, a set of stone inscriptions very difficult to
decipher, seems to know about Christians who served in the court from
471 to 508.
Christians also were traveling along the Silk Road all the way to
China. The North African apologist Arnobius (died c. 327) mentions
Christians among the Seres, the Chinese. We have no idea what his
source was. Mar Sergis, an East Syrian leader, perhaps was the earliest
named missionary to China. By 578 he had settled in Lint’ao, a center on
the Silk Road about three hundred miles west of the Chinese capital,
Chang’an (Xi’an). In 591 Byzantine mercenaries in northern Persia (Iran)
captured Turkic soldiers who had crosses tattooed on their heads. Their
explanation was that some of their people were Christians and the
crosses had proved to be successful in warding off disease.
CHRISTIANS AND PEOPLE OF OTHER FAITHS
During this period Christians continued to have various types of relations
with believers in other religions. Constantine’s preferential treatment
was not nearly as effective as some scholars have assumed.
Constantine did put the Christian faith in place as an acknowledged religion
of the empire. Belief in Christ as the savior of the world received
growing emphasis, but the roots of other religions were deep and
healthy. During his two-year reign the emperor Julian (died 363) showed
some sympathy with Jews; at least they still made sacrifices to their god.
But the ‘Galileans’, as he called Christians, stood against all other religions
in believing that no more sacrifices were needed. Only an explosion
at the site (probably gas seeping from underground set off by some
spark) coupled with his early death kept him from having the Jerusalem
temple rebuilt. Jews throughout the Roman Empire had sections in
various cities where by law they pursued their way of life. They were a
significant part of the population in both Alexandria and Rome. Excavations
in the twentieth century discovered there was a thriving Jewish
community at Sardis in Asia Minor (Turkey). Its leaders used both
wealth and political power to make their presence known. They owned
property well located in the city and during this period kept refurbishing
or enlarging the synagogue on the site.
John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) is often viewed as one of the Christian
leaders who most vehemently attacked the Jews. Any reader could select