"AUGUSTUS Caesar had been Rulerf the Wrld. He had fund Rme brick and left it marble.
He had had a mnth named after him， and He had been made a gd！
Surely nne culd ever be greater than he！ Yet a greater man than he was living at the very same time-althugh Augustus himself knew nthing abut Him and lived and died withut ever having heardf Him. This man was brn in the eastern partf Augustus"s empire in a tiny little village called Bethlehem， and His name was Jesus.
Fr many， many years after Jesus was brn nne except His family and friends knewr cared anything abut His birthr paid the slightest attentin t it.
Jesus was a Jew， the snf a carpenter. As a by and yung man He led a very simple and quiet life wrking in His father"s shp. He did nt begin t preach until He was mre than thirty yearsld. Then He went abut teaching the peple what we learn tday as the Christian religin.
He taught that there wasne Gdver all.
He taught brtherly lve， thatne shuld lvene"s neighbr asneself.
He taught the Glden Rule； that is， "D untthers as yu wuld have them d unt yu."He taught that there was a life after death fr which this shrt lifen earth wasnly a preparatin； that therefre yu shuld "lay up yur treasures in heaven" by ding gd wrks here.
Smef the Jews listened t Jesus and believed what He taught them. They thught He was ging t set them free frm the rulef the Rmans， which they hated. Smef the temple priests， hwever， were afraidf what Jesus taught. Because s many peple listened t Him and believed in Him， the priests were afraid they wuld lse their influence t a man whse ideas they believed were wrng. S they pltted t have Him put t death.
Nw the men wh were pltting Jesus"s death culd nt have Him put t death withut the permissinf the Rman rulerf that partf the empirewhere Jesus lived. This ruler was named Pilate. S they went t Pilate and tld him that Jesus was trying t make Himself king. Jesusf curse meant and always said that He was a heavenly ruler and nt an earthly king. These men knew that Pilate wuld nt care at all what religin Jesus taught. There were all srtsf religins in the Rman Empire-thse that believed in idls and thse that believed in the sun， mn， and sn.ne mre new religin made little difference t the Rmans， and Jesus wuld nt be put t death simply fr teaching anther. But the priests knew if they culd make Pilate believe that Jesus was trying t make Himself a king， that was a thing fr which He culd be crucified. Pilate did nt believe much in what they said against Jesus. It was a small matter t him. But he wanted t please them and keep his gvernment inrder， s he tld them he wuld have Jesus put t death because they wanted it. S He was crucified.
Jesus had chsen twelvef his fellw Jews t teach what he tld them. These twelve men were called apstles. After Jesus was crucified， the apstles went thrugh the land teaching the peple what He had taught them. Thse wh believed in and fllwed His teachings were called disciplesf Christ (the Greek wrd fr "messiah")r Christians. The apstles were teachers； the disciples were pupils.
ne thing that n Christian，r Jew either， culd d was wrship the Rman emperr. Mst peple in the empire fund it easy t addne new gd， but Christians，f curse， culd nt d that. The Rmans thught that these disciplesf Christ were trying t start a new wrld empire and that they were against Rme and the emperr and shuld be arrested and put in prisn. The Christians， therefre， held their meetings in secret places， smetimes even undergrund， s that they wuld nt be fund and arrested.
After a while the leadersf the Christians became blder. They cameutf their secret places and taught and preachedpenly， althugh they knew they might snerr later be thrwn int prisn and perhaps killed. Indeed， s strngly did they believe in the teachingsf Christ that they seemed even glad t die fr His sake， as He had diedn the crss fr them.
In the first hundred years after Christ， there were a great many Christians put t death because they were thught traitrs. Christians wh died fr Christ"s sake were called martyrs. The first martyr was named Stephen. He was stned t death abut 33 A.D. .
nef the men wh helped in putting Stephen t death was a man named Saul. Saul was a Rman citizen and， likether Rman citizens， was prudf that fact. He thught the Christians were enemiesf his cuntry， and he did everything he culd t have the Christians punished. Then， allf a sudden， Saulhad a changef heart and came t believe in the religinf the very peple whm he had been fighting. Whatever Saul didr whatever he believed， he didr believed with his whle sul. Thugh he had never seen Christ， he becamenef the chief Christians and then was made an apstle and was called by his Rman name， Paul.
Paul preached the new religin far and wide just as earnestly as he had fught against it at first. Then he， t， was cndemned t death. Paul， hwever， was， as I have said， a Rman citizen， and a Rman citizen culd nt be put t death by therdinary judges wh were nt Rman citizens nr in therdinary way by crucifying. S Paul appealed t the emperr， but he was put in prisn in Rme and afterward beheaded. He is nw knwn as St. Paul.
Peter was antherf the chief apstles. Christ had said t him， "I will give unt thee the keysf the kingdmf heaven."1 Peter， t， was thrwn int prisn， and was sentenced t be crucified. He asked t be crucified with his head dwnward. He thught it t great an hnr t die in just the same way as his Lrd.n this spt in Rme where Peter was put t death was built lng afterward the largest church in the wrld， the Cathedralf St. Peter.
As everything befre Christ"s birth is called B.C. and everything since his birth is called A.D.， yu wuld naturally suppse that 0 wuld be the datef His birth.
It was nt until sme five hundred years later that peple began t date frm Christ"s birth. And then， when they did begin t date frm this event， they made a mistake. It was fundut that Christ was really brn fur years befre He was suppsed t have been brn-that is， in 4 B.C.-but when the mistake was fundut， it was then t late t change.
【中文阅读】
奥古斯都 恺撒曾是全世界的统治者。 他得到的罗马是砖做的，而留下的罗马是大理石做的。 他的名字用来命名一个月份，而且 他死后还被奉为神明！
肯定没有人会比他更伟大了！但是，有个人与奥古斯都生活在同一个时代，却 比他更伟大--不过奥古斯都本人对他一无所知，一辈子也没听说过这个人。这个 人出生于奥古斯都的帝国东部一个叫伯利恒的小村庄，他的名字叫耶稣。
在耶稣出生后的很多很多年，除了他的家人和朋友，没人知道或在意他的出生，1 Matthew 16：19哪怕一点点的关注也不曾有。 耶稣是个犹太人，一个木匠的儿子。青少年时期，他在他父亲的店里工作，过着非常简单、宁静的生活。他三十多岁之后，才开始传教布道。这时，他开始教诲 人们的，正是我们现在已作为基督教而学的教义。
他教诲人们，整个宇宙只有一个上帝。 他教诲人们要像兄弟一样互相友爱，教诲人们应该爱人如己。 他教诲的"为人准则"是："你想人家怎样待你，你也要怎样待人。" 他教诲人们，人死后有另一种人生，地球上的短促一生只是为来生作准备；因此，要通过此世的积德行善，才能"积攒财宝在天上"。 有些犹太人倾听耶稣的宣讲，并且相信他所教诲的一切。他们认为他要把他们从罗马人的统治下解救出来，他们对罗马人的暴政已痛恨万分。然而，有些祭司则 对耶稣的教诲心存忌惮。因为有那么多人倾听他，信任他，祭司们担心，由于这个 人的存在，他们会失去他们的权势，他们认为他的观点是错误的。于是，他们密谋 把耶稣处死。
但是，如果没有耶稣所属地区的罗马帝国长官的同意，这些祭司们想要害死耶 稣的阴谋是不能得逞的。这个长官叫彼拉多。于是，祭司们就去找彼拉多，告诉他 耶稣试图要称王。耶稣的意思当然是指他是天国的统治者，而不是尘世间的国王， 他也总是这么宣讲的。这些祭司们知道彼拉多一点都不关心耶稣所宣传的宗教。罗 马帝国内有各种各样的宗教信仰--有些人信仰多神教，还有些人信仰太阳、月亮 等等。多了一个新的宗教对罗马人来说没什么影响，仅仅因为耶稣宣扬了另一种宗 教是不能将他处死的。但是，祭司们明白，如果他们使彼拉多相信耶稣试图要称王， 那才构成一项严重罪行，足以使耶稣钉十字架。彼拉多对祭司们控告耶稣的话并不 怎么相信，在他看来，这事无关紧要。但是他想讨好这些祭司，也好让自己的统治 不出乱子，于是他对祭司们说，他会处死耶稣，因为是他们提出了这样的要求。耶 稣就这样被钉死在十字架上了。
耶稣生前曾选了十二个犹太同胞去传布他的教诲。这十二个人被称为"使徒"。 耶稣被处死后，使徒们四处游历向众人传布耶稣对他们的教训。那些信仰和遵循耶 稣教训的人被称为基督 1 的门徒或基督徒。使徒是老师，而门徒是学生。
有一件事基督徒或犹太教徒绝不能做，那就是敬奉罗马皇帝。大多数罗马帝国 的人可以很轻易地在自己的信仰中又添一个神灵，而基督徒当然是不能那样做的。 罗马人认为这些基督徒想要开创一个新的世界帝国，他们是在和罗马以及罗马皇帝 作对，所以应当把他们抓起来关进监狱。因此，基督徒在秘密的地方集会，有时甚 至在地下，以免自己暴露、被抓。
过了一段时间以后，基督徒的领导者们变得大胆了。他们从秘密集会的地方走 出来，公开地传教布道，尽管他们知道自己迟早会被关进监狱，很可能还会被处死。 其实，他们对耶稣教导的信仰已是坚定不移，似乎为了基督他们甚至愿意牺牲自己1 "基督"是希腊语，意思是"救世主基督"--译者注。
的生命，就如耶稣为了他们而死在十字架上一样。 在耶稣死后一百年内，许许多多的基督徒被作为叛徒处死。为了基督而牺牲的基督徒被称为"殉道者"。第一位殉道者名叫司提反。他大约在公元 33 年被人用石 头砸死。
在帮忙处死司提反的人中有个人叫扫罗。扫罗是一名罗马公民，和其他罗马人 一样，他为自己身为罗马人而深感自豪。他认为基督徒是国家的敌人，所以尽一切 努力要让基督徒受到惩罚。后来，扫罗忽然改变了态度，转而皈依他一直在迫害的 那些人的宗教。不管扫罗做什么和信仰什么，他都是真心诚意的。虽然他从没见过 基督，却成为基督徒的首要人物之一，后来被认为是使徒，人们用他的罗马名叫他 保罗。
保罗四处宣讲新宗教，就跟当初反对它一样尽心竭力。后来，他也被判死刑。 不过，我在前面提到过，保罗是罗马公民，而非罗马公民的普通法官是不能处死罗 马公民的，也不能用钉死在十字架上这种普通方式来处决他。于是，保罗向罗马皇 帝上诉，但是他还是被关进了罗马的监狱，后来被斩首。现在他被称为"圣保罗"。
彼得是另一位主要使徒。耶稣曾对他说："我把天国的钥匙给你。"后来，彼得也 被关进监狱，被判决钉十字架。他要求头朝下被钉死在十字架上。因为耶稣就是被 钉十字架而死的，他觉得和他的主一样死去是一种莫大的荣耀。很久之后，在彼得 被处死的地方，罗马建成了世界上最大的教堂，圣彼得大教堂。
因为耶稣诞生之前的时间都称为公元前，他诞生之后的时间都称为公元，你自 然会认为他诞生的日期就是 0 了。
大约在耶稣诞生五百多年后，人们才开始以耶稣诞生的时间为起点来纪年。可他们开始正式以此事纪年时，却犯了个错。后来，人们才发现，耶稣真正出生的时 间比人们认为他出生的时间早 4 年--也就是在公元前 4 年--但是，人们发现这 个错误的时候，已经太迟了，来不及改正了。
公元前 4 年