Neither the whole of the Senate, or any other of the greatest corporations in the Roman Empire, could be compared with these churches in wealth.

They had gold and silver plate and jewels more than any man could count or describe; they owned many mansions and villages, and large estates everywhere, and everything else which is reckoned and called wealth among men.
As none of the previous Emperors had interfered with them, many people, even of the orthodox faith, procured, through this wealth, work and the means of livelihood.

But the Emperor Justinian first of all sequestrated all the property of these churches, and suddenly took away all that they possessed, by which many people lost the means of subsistence.

Many agents were straightway sent out to all parts of the Empire to force whomsoever they met to change the faith of his forefathers.

These homely people, considering this an act of impiety, decided to oppose the Emperor's agents.