We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.
-The Apostle Paul
In the year of our Lord 95, 65 years after the death of Christ, Christianity has spread throughout the Roman Empire. Communities of Christians exist in secret, careful of exposing themselves due to the persecutions ordered by the emperor Domitian. Many are exposed as Christians and killed when they refuse to participate in sacrifices to the Roman gods.
It is in this world when God speaks to you. Your mother had been baptized secretly in the night, and she had taken you, her teenage son, to be baptized at the next opportunity. After a few years of practicing your faith in secret, you are working in the field scattering seeds when you hear a quiet voice in the back of your mind.
Go to Rome, and find a man named Clement. Tell him I have sent you.
Rome is a week away on foot. You have nothing on you but the clothes on your back, and your bag of seeds. Travel is dangerous, and you’ve never been to Rome before.