"We were not great. We were faithful."

In the shadowed streets of Roman Antioch-where persecution tightens like a noose and faith must flicker like candlelight-Ashes and Oil: A Liturgy in Blood, Bread, and Flame tells the sacred, trembling story of the early Christian church. Before cathedrals, before public pulpits, there were broken cisterns, hidden cellars, oil-stained towels, and tables that welcomed the condemned. Here, believers sang their psalms through tears and cracked lips, baptized their jailers, and left scrolls of gospel inked in berry juice and hope.

This is not a tale of victory by sword or politics. It is the patient, holy resistance of those who refused to silence their worship, even when Rome erased their names. Where others saw defeat, they saw resurrection. Where others fled, they stayed. Every page pulses with the reverent breath of communal worship, secret communion, and the dangerous beauty of a kingdom not of this world.

Told in sacred vignettes and poetic scenes, this novel reads like a devotional tapestry: liturgical, luminous, and lit with embers of both grief and glory. For readers who cherish faith-based historical fiction, Christian persecution stories, house church movements, and the sacramental depth of early Christianity, this book offers not just narrative-but a witness. Every chapter opens like a door to a hidden house of worship, and every scene is a quiet testimony that He still walks among the lowly.

Whether you are drawn to Christian historical novels, liturgical drama, or poetic reflections on endurance and worship, Ashes and Oil will anoint your soul with the tears and fire of the saints who bled before us.