Not unfrequently the conversions were what may be termed wholesale, large bodies of men offering themselves at the same time for admission to the Church; and these were brought about after what most persons would consider a strange fashion. Thus, in the island of Minorca (A.D. 418), Severus, the bishop, had been greatly distressed by the presence of a Jewish synagogue under a Rabbi named Theodorus, and exerted himself to the utmost to effect their conversion. He had heard that Theodorus was a man of unusual learning and ability, as well as of the highest character, and well accustomed to controversy—a formidable antagonist, in fact, for whom, it was to be feared, the bishop himself was no match. Nevertheless, fortified by the possession of the relics of St. Stephen, which, it appears, had been left in the island, he challenged Theodorus to a disputation, which he proposed to hold in a church at Magona. The Jews declined the contest, on the ground that it was their Sabbath day, on which they could enter no unclean place. The bishop then proposed that the meeting should take place in the Jews’ synagogue; and when they came up in large numbers to his house, to decline that suggestion also, he solved the difficulty by marching with all his followers to the synagogue. A riot broke out in the street, and the Christians pursued their opponents into their place of worship, which they plundered and then burned. This procedure failing to convert the Jews, a disputation was at last held, at which Theodorus made an oration so learned and powerful that Bishop Severus was unable to answer him. Happily, however, there was no need for him to do so. When he had concluded, the whole of the Christians, anxious to gain so worthy a proselyte, broke out into a general cry, ‘Theodorus, believe in Christ.’ The Jews mistook the words for ‘Theodorus _believes_ in Christ,’ and straightway, stricken to the heart by this terrible apostasy, fled into the woods, leaving Theodorus in the hands of the Christians. The bishop did not fail to point out to him that the hand of Heaven was plainly discernible in what had passed; and Theodorus, perplexed by the position in which he found himself placed, angered at his desertion by his countrymen, and possibly influenced by the hopes of worldly advancement, submitted to baptism; and his example was followed by his congregation. The bishop plumed himself on his victory, and besought his brethren everywhere to adopt the same method with the Jews. In burning down synagogues, as Milman remarks, they were ready enough to adopt his advice.