Three brothers, shepherds from the province of Dardania, with knapsacks on their shoulders, came on foot to Constantinople to enlist in the guard of the basileus. The fate of the two is unknown. The eldest, Justin, rose to the rank of hypostrategist and after the death of Emperor Anastasius was elevated by the guards to the imperial throne, marking the beginning of the reign of the Justinian dynasty: Justin I, Justinian I the Great, Justin II, Tiberius, Mauritius. This was the time of Byzantium’s struggle against the invasion of barbarians: Huns, Ostrogoths, Avars, Antes, Slavs, Gepids and Lombards, rolling in waves of great migration of peoples onto the tempting rich cities of Byzantium. The time of fierce struggle of Christian sects in the Byzantine Empire for power, for property, for the right to be the state church, easily exchanging for this the principle of their teacher: “For Caesar, what is Caesar’s, and for God, what is God’s!”