In Myra, Nicholas heard the reports of the spreading horror and prepared himself. He did not have to wait long for the tromp of Roman soldiers in the street, the banging on the door, the command to surrender to Caesar’s will. He followed the soldiers into the depths of a black, suffocating prison, wondering if he would ever see daylight again. He must have asked himself that question countless times during the following years. Threats were the first weapons his captors used to break him down. When those didn’t work, they tried hunger and thirst. When that failed, they moved on to beatings.
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