Barnabas and the Early Christiane 73And so Barnabas who had been regarded by the disciples of Jesus
as one of the most reliable of his close followers subsequently came
to be considered an arch-heretic, and, as we shall see in greater
detail further on, every attempt was made by the followers of Paul
to destroy his writings and diminish his influence.
Thus it was that very soon after the disappearance of Jesus, there
was a sharp disagreement, followed by a parting of the ways, be
tween the true followers of Jesus and the enthusiastic followers of
Paul, which in time was to develop into all-out war between what
became the Unitarian church on the one hand, and the Trinitarian
church on the other.
To the followers of Jesus, the path of Truth, like a geometrical
straight line, had length but no breadth. They were not prepared
to change the teaching of Jesus merely because it seemed expedi
ent. To them what Jesus had taught was the Truth and the whole
Truth. Barnabas and his followers continued to preach and prac
tise the Christianity they had learned fromjesus himself. They were
always and still are to be reckoned with as a force. From among
them came many saints and scholars respected by every sect of
Christianity.
The true followers of Jesus and Barnabas never developed a
central organisation, yet, due to the devotion of their leaders for
the Truth, their number increased rapidly. These leaders were wise
and learned men who loved and feared God. They went into the
deserts and mountains. Small communities formed around each
saint. They were independent of each other, largely due to the rough
terrain which surrounded them. Their lack of a structured organi
sation was a source of strength because it was not so easy for their
persecutors to pick them out or up.
While Paul's version of Christianity spread northwards up
through Greece and Italy, and then Europe, these men of God -the
'real' Christians - spread with their knowledge to the east and to
the south and, eventually, right across North Africa, The commu
nities they formed retained the life-style of Jesus. Although the time
came when what these people knew by heart began to be recorded
in writing, those who still embodied [esus's teaching transmitted
much of their knowledge directly from person to person. Behav
iour was imitated and the doctrine of Jesus passed on orally. They
continued to affirm the Divine Unity.